#MY NUMBER ONE ALWAYS KAMUI HIT ME UP
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Spirited Towards
Summary: As Leo is introduced to the art of the snowman, he thinks about how much their foreign guest is significant in his life.
Rating: T - Suitable for teens, 13 years and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.
Words: 1500
Notes: I wonder how Valla is, culturally speaking, is different from the other realms. Following the east-west motifs, they are supposed to be Russian? Turkish?
Prince Leo of Nohr is fucked, that is for sure.
He does not normally have this sort of vocabulary, but there is no way around it this time. He is completely, utterly fucked and that is putting it lightly.
Lady Kamui is smiling at him like he coloured the sky above blue or hung up that pretty sun and he cannot get enough.
“What? You have never made a snowman before?” She asks, surprised. “What would you do when the first snow of the winter hits?
Clearly, the fact that he has never made a snowman, whatever that even is, is completely baffling to her, as she almost seems offended. He bites down a smile at that.
“I am afraid not.” He chuckled, amused. “Our early winters are busy with the last preparations for the season. What is a snowman, my lady?”
The blond prince kneels down to where she has already knelt, a pile of clear white snow in front of her. It is not as graceful as he would like, considering the sheer number of layers he has on, but he manages to get into a somewhat comfortable position next to her.
“Well, it is as the name suggests. It is a man made up of snow.” Kamui squints her eyes at him. “And I told you to drop the formalities and call me by my given name.”
“Apologies, Kamui, but your snowman talk has me unable to think of anything else.”
She chuckles and it is almost embarrassing how his chest swells with pride and adoration.
“Just you wait until you see it, then. You will be speechless too.”
The foreign lady is teasing him now, but he is laughing along. A warmth bubbles up right where his heart beats.
“Very well, then.” The prince concedes with a smile. “Show me this snowman of yours.”
Just like the races, she is off like a horse. Her hands are balling, rolling heaps of snow and he cannot say that he is not intrigued.
Leo tries to help too. It is at a much, much slower pace than hers, but her praises to the technique keep him going. Even if his face should burn off if his cheeks turn any redder.
Kamui says something about “snow angels” and he catches the words “snow ball fight” in between, but, truth be told, he cannot seem to focus on what she is saying. Maybe the cold has got to him or the bitter ale he downed for lunch was much too strong.
All he can see is that little strand of sand-coloured hair falling onto her face, a strand that she blows at it away. Expertly, if he may add, but it is relentless. It keeps falling onto her face every time she bends just a little forward.
The young man wants to tuck it away for her, maybe behind her ear.
His thoughts stop dead on his brain. The idea of doing that seems somewhat more daunting than falling headfirst into the Bottomless Canyon.
“We will make it the prettiest snowman anyone has ever seen!” Kamui excitedly exclaims.
“On this land, my lady, snow men are not called pretty.”
A chill run through his spine. The jab slips from his mouth, and he is already rethinking it, hoping he has not ruined the moment.
“Nowhere is perfect, it seems.” She comments lightly. “Such a lovely land, too! What a shame.”
The prince is chuckling again, partially at himself too because he always seems to forget that Kamui is herself: the lady from a faraway land, with a very, very strange name and even stranger names for the stars in the sky, and who does not seem to care for anyone’s last name.
“That is Cassiopeia right there!”
She had shown him the constellation one summer night, even traced the shape on his palm for him. Truth be told, he could not see the damned thing at first.
Perhaps, he did not want to so she would trace the shape of it on his palm again.
Some dark night last spring, his father has summoned his three children. He presented Lady Kamui to them as a foreigner from “beyond the chasm” on a sojourn in Nohr, with clear instructions for entreating her with irreproachable hospitality.
The siblings followed their orders to the letter, and the foreigner has merited the good-will of all princes of the land have shown to her, but Xander, Camilla and Elise have duties which she cannot accompany, while Leo had no such impediment. Alas, they began increasingly orbit around one another.
Now, almost a year into her visit, he is unwilling to think about a time that she returns to wherever, and he has to return to his lonely routine from before.
“Can you, please, pass me that twig right there?”
Kamui is pointing to a desolate twig, blackened and broken, lying next to many other such twigs. He raises his brows slightly, questioning a need for it.
“It is supposed to be his nose.”
Of course, it is his nose. He is stifling a laugh as she stabs the poor head with the twig and even place two rocks as its eyes.
“Will he have a name?” He manages to choke out between a fit of just embarrassingly high-pitched laughter.
Lady Kamui looks at the work appraisingly and hums. “Hans, I think he must be named Hans. It resembles him, somewhat.”
There she goes again with her mentions of these strange things he proves himself unable to see. The way she has talked about certain things, they have to be true in some level, and no one can convince him otherwise. He only wishes to see them as well.
She gives him a airy smile every time that he points it out, as if she is reminded of both the times when she learned of it and how naïve he is to the ways of her world.
“It is so. I name thee Hans of the Northern Fortress.” He pretends to knight the lumps of snow. “It has a nice ring to it, I suppose.”
Leo watches she draws a little slit where its mouth should be in a lopsided grin.
Then, it hits him. Longing, love, lust, want, need all embroiled into one deep in his guts.
Lady Kamui is right here next to him, yet his heart is still crying out for something more, more than just stolen glances or lingering touches. He has told her everything he has ever known and she has listened, providing him with understanding, never pity. The oceans would drown before she ever belittled him with pity. She has told him everything he had no idea of knowing, and he has listened, hung on to every word like a prayer.
Yet, somehow, that is not enough for him.
Leo wants to tell her about the other times too, like when he bit down on his quivering lips so hard all he could taste was blood and not the feast laid in front of him as he watched his father and step-mother feasting as well, just a few metres away at the dining table.
He wishes to tell she about the time his father smiled at him, even praised him for his magic. He longs to tell her about how the sweetest cherries grow right beside the river bank, he would like to take her there himself, too. However, they only grow after winter fades into spring and no one knows how long a winter lasts.
A sense of urgency overcomes him. He is scared that he will not be able to, that she will somehow disappear back into the dark night before he can.
How one makes a moment last forever?
There has always been a nagging thought on his head that repeatedly reminded him that Kamui is not of this land. Not just Nohr, not just the east or the west, not of anywhere in this continent, perhaps not even from anywhere in the known world.
This knowledge tugs at his heart. She is not supposed to be here and it means that the dragons could take her away just as easily as they put her here. The thought is crippling, he wants, he needs, her to stay.
For once, he feels selfish to think that way. He understands that she is not to stay here, especially when he has seen her cry for her home, her father, and, even if he knows nothing about that place beyond the chasm, he has consoled her through all of it.
He knows that, and yet his heart sinks every time at the thought of letting her go.
“Where is your mind at, Leo?” Sha wonders.
He almost tells her. He has spent countless nights thinking of ways to say how he truly feels about her. Maybe get down on one knee, as well. It is on the tip of his tongue, begging to be said.
The way she is looking at him, he is almost sure she already knows.
*_*_*_*_*
Fire Emblem Masterlist
Conquest Masterlist
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Aqua!! Look at this gintama x genshin thing I found AHAHAHA
omg i saw this!! i love gintama and genshin coming together
do you know ayato became the best selling banner in japan a day after his release cus he shared a voice actor with katsura?
the power of vas
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OFF YOUR CHEST - M. TOGATA (i)
pairing: mirio togata x fem!reader
summary: Mirio tears himself apart, and you're there to heal the pieces.
word count: 2k
tags: angst, hurt/comfort, strangers(ish) to lovers, AU where UA is college, not highschool (i dont want 2 write about minors), mirio is quirkless and is Dealing With It, slow burn, trauma and anxiety coping
ao3
He splits another knuckle open.
It’s no different than any other exercise or training, but he’s different. He’s stronger now, and smarter but he’s still less. He punches the wall again, willing it to go through. For a second, he thinks he can feel the soft tendrils of the void past the surface beckoning him, urging him forth. It’s asking him where he’s been, that it missed him and that he’s back. For that second, it’s real. His hand is sinking through and he’s back.
But the rough texture of the wall sinks into the cuts he’s ripped into his skin and he’s pulling back, sucking in air through his teeth and withholding curses.
He cradles his right hand with his left, blood trailing down the grooves of the taught tendons on both battered hands.
Mirio’s chest is heaving, his breaths varying from deep to shallow, his heart rate erratic. The buzz in his pocket disrupts his stare at the red stains his punches had left.
TAMAKI
where r u
It hurts to curl his hand around the device, but he does anyway. He wipes the other hand on his pants before responding.
Training! What’s up?
TAMAKI
patrolling tn. just wanted to lyk
Okay - Stay safe! 😀
Mirio pockets his phone. He wants to manually rub the grime out of the cuts or even just leave them the way they are. The sting is a juxtaposition from how his life was before. No longer can he float in the nothingness, phase through infinity until he needs to come up for air.
He feels everything now.
He makes his way towards UA’s medical clinic. It’s late, past dinner at least, which means it’ll be empty save for one person. Recovery Girl doesn’t work the hours like she used to, not since you came in. The clinic after hours feels safe, secretive and his. You’re always there late, as far as Mirio knows. Since the first time he injured himself by pushing himself past his newfound limits (which were significantly less than what they used to be) you’d always been there when he’d sneak in.
Tonight, you were hunched over textbooks, highlighter dangling out of your mouth. If he could’ve, he would’ve lingered in the doorway to watch you. Instead, the few droplets of blood spilling from his hands alerted you of his presence. You peek over your shoulder at him before capping the marker and nodding for him to sit on one of the empty exam beds. It was routine.
“You outdid yourself this time,” You said as you cleaned the open wounds. He’d beaten the flesh raw, almost exposing bone and you wanted to scold him but you knew it was useless. He’d just brush you off with a shrug, a smile and tell you it’s not that big of a deal. Pain is part of getting stronger.
Mirio doesn’t respond. Instead, he chooses to let his eyes flick around the room. Recovery Girl’s absence is notable - no more jar of candy, and you’ve taken over her desk and littered it with your own knicknacks. Your textbooks, an All Might water bottle, a Kamui Woods pez dispenser. It’s cute, he thinks.
“Did you have a punching match with one of those hardening quirks?” You’re frowning as you pop a piece of jerky in your mouth. “Maybe Cementoss?”
“Cementoss,” he confirms, only because that would be the only way he’d have so much...particulate within the splits. Cementoss was made of rock, and Mirio would rather die than admit to you he was relentlessly punching a wall.
You snort, shaking your head as you chew. You both know he’s full of it, but you drop it. You always do.
A soft, blue glow escapes from underneath your hand. His hand feels fuzzy, like it's fallen asleep before it dissipates and you remove your hand, motioning for him to lift his other so you can begin the same process.
As you clean the other hand, Mirio watches you work. You ignore the weight of his gaze the best you can, focusing on repairing the skin and not how strong and smooth his fingers are. His hand is heavy in yours, and the glow of your quirk flickers as you lose focus imaging what his grip would feel like on you.
“Done,” you said, flicking your used gloves into the wastebasket by your feet. Mirio flexes his fingers. Healed. “Y’know, after all these visits,” You raise an eyebrow, “I think you owe me.”
Mirio looks up from his hands to tilt his head at you.
“Tell me how you really get these injuries,” you grab one of his hands loosely and run your thumb over the freshly regenerated skin.
He wasn’t expecting that.
Mirio gapes at you like a fish out of water, like you’re Thirteen and you’ve sucked all of the air out of the room. He pulls himself from your grip to rest his hands in his lap. He’s uncomfortable, uneasy now. He’s liked this place, liked you because questions weren’t asked that he had to give real answers to. It’s not betrayal that Mirio feels, it’s more like loss. It’s the loss that comes with the realization that you can’t outrun everything you want forever. With all the training, all the work Mirio had put in, he thought he could.
“They’re self-inflicted. The bruising, the wound placements. It’s like you’re training yourself to death.”
“It’s not like that - I’m fine, I promise!” Mirio throws his hands up in a defensive motion. He’s summoning the sunlight, the optimism and charm that swooned UA and motivated him to keep working, keep training, to save a million people. He can feel it churning in his chest, but it’s been pressed so deep he’s grasping at the edges and they don’t want to meet his fingertips.
Mirio knew you never believed his excuses - you knew he knew that and you’d been pulled thin between wanting to show concern and ask what was up and respecting his privacy. But at the previous state of his knuckles, you couldn’t drag your feet any longer.
You watch him, face soft and stoic. You’re not coddling, but you’re not cold either. He realizes that you’re just simply waiting.
“I just train too hard,” he gives in, just a little. You raise your eyebrows a fraction and he continues. “I have a lot to make up for, so I tend to overdo it!” He laughs it off - the injuries are a joke, truly. They’re funny to him.
“You get more banged up than Midoriya,” you look at him over the clear frame of the glasses you seem to only wear at the clinic. “How does your training get you more banged up than the other heroes?”
“I’m not a hero,” he’s quick to say, and it stings more than it should. He was, should’ve been, should be.
Your face is soft again, and it’s an art you’ve mastered over time. You’re good at composing your features to appear passive and static. In your many hero encounters, pity is the quickest way to lose trust. So you watch Mirio, with his soft smile and now long hair tied back at the nape of his neck. He’s analyzing you just as you are him, and you keep your eyes from flicking to his knuckles when you respond with, “Okay.”
His stomach is churning, still sour with his words but he rubs his hands on his thighs. Why are they so sweaty?
In his distracted state, Mirio doesn’t notice you scribbling down something on a notecard shaped like an anatomical heart. You hand it to him, knocking him out of his trance.
Seven digits, followed by the letters 3G, and four more digits.
“What’s this?” he asks. Obviously the first line is your number, but you lost him with the rest.
“My number,” you aren’t looking at him. Instead you choose to refold the sleeves of your white coat as you continue, “and the passcode to get into my dorm building.”
Mirio does white. The passcode? Why would he need that?”
“I can’t be staying here late every night in case you show up.” You hated trudging back to your dorm on the nights he didn’t show, both eyelids and textbooks weighing you down. “Just stop by my dorm if it’s late like this.”
Mirio opens his mouth but you cut him off.
“Floor 5F, my name is on the door.”
He closes his mouth and smiles, nodding and bowing in thanks. He doesn’t trust his voice, not right now. You’re packing up your textbooks as he exits the clinic.
It doesn’t hit him until he gets back to the 3A dorms that he doesn’t know your name.
He beats himself up about it the whole night. He wishes he could go into Tamaki’s room to distract himself, to ask him about the person who’s basically taken over Recovery Girl’s mantle. Tamaki frequented the clinic as well - used it as an excuse to get out of the heroics lessons and sleep. He’d definitely know your name, unlike his golden counterpart who visited her frequently and never thought to ask.
Mirio tried to comfort himself by thinking that maybe you didn’t know his name either. You’d never asked. But then again, Mirio is (was?) part of UA’s Big Three. The aftermath of the Shie Hassaikai was all anyone talked about for weeks. You’d definitely have to know who he was. Mirio Togata, the kid who lost his quirk. Le Million, the hero who gave and lost everything. You went to UA yourself - there was no way.
He didn’t want to be that sob story to you. But he was constantly coming to you with injuries - split knuckles, a dislocated shoulder, a torn achilles. Maybe he wasn’t exactly that sob story, but he knew you pitied him regardless. Maybe that’s why you always stayed so late - you felt bad for him.
The thoughts makes Mirio uncomfortable.
And so much so that to make himself feel better, he adds your number to his phone. Typing in the numbers, he thinks about how he likes that your handwriting was shitty. Another little thing you let him see, let him learn about you. In lieu of a name, he makes your contact name the stethoscope emoji. He laughs to himself when he saves the contact and types out a message:
How late is too late?
He hesitates, but hits send. It delivers, and after fifteen minutes, Mirio is worried he confused one of your twos for a seven or vice versa. Or, maybe he should’ve introduced himself instead of just sending you a basic question that revealed his identity in no way whatsoever. In the eighteenth minute, you buzz back a response.
🩺
Why?
Might break a bone tomorrow.
It only takes eleven minutes for you to respond this time, and Mirio hates that he’s counting.
🩺
I’ll be sure to eat breakfast then.
No later than midnight, tho.
Okay!
Seven minutes this time. He wasn’t expecting a response.
🩺
You don’t need an injury to stop by, you know.
Mirio grins. A real one.
If you insist. Still might have a scratch or two, though. 😀
Two minutes. Mirio is oblivious to the fact that you are cringing hard at his emoji usage.
🩺
don’t be taking advantage of my quirk :(
You’re right… promise you will be compensated for your time. 👍
It’s immediate.
If it’s not edible, I don’t want it.
Mirio decides he might take it a little easy when he trains tomorrow.
#mirio togata#my hero academia#my hero academia fic#mha fic#mirio togata x reader#mirio x reader#mirio x you#mirio x femreader#reader has a regeneration quirk#slow burn#hurt/comfort#angst#mirio is quirkless#oyc#tamaki amakiji#suneater#kirishima eijiro fanart#fluff#sad mirio tbh#its ok tho
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I felt like the plf war was rushed
1.Plf advisors getting hype but no payoff
2.Only miruko, Momo, and Kirishma got time to shine
3.Machia got defeated to easily
4.The war felt more like a raid
I don't know if I feel like it was rushed, per se--it's by far the longest arc in the story so far by number of chapters, and would be even if you cut off the Tartarus jailbreak and the entirety of the hospital aftermath. What it absolutely does feel like to me is unbalanced.
You note that the "war" feels more like a raid, and you're right. As a caveat, it's worth keeping in mind that "Paranormal Liberation War" as a name for the arc in question is entirely an invention of the fanbase. To the best of my knowledge, the reasoning for the name was that big action shonen series like BNHA (Naruto, Bleach, Hunter x Hunter, etc) always have a war arc, so what we were seeing in the lengthy, mass combat confrontation with the PLF had to be HeroAca's equivalent. It's not a term that's in the manga itself, however, not called as such by the characters, not referred to as such by Horikoshi or his editors, not even namedropped in chapter or volume titles. If it feels like a raid, that's probably because that's what it was intended to be.
And that's the problem, really. This arc shouldn't have been about a couple of raids; it should have been about a war.
(Below the cut: a bunch of fired-up complaining. Uses some harsh language, and talks about both injuries and deaths we did see and some we logically should have.)
From the outset, we were told that the resources Shigaraki had amassed were "on par with, or even stronger than" the resources of the hero-saturated society. Yet, we're expected to believe that a force that strong is so easily taken down by a single coordinated set of raids? Yes, the heroes had the benefit of surprise, but there's just so much that doesn't work for me.
First off, and to get this out of the way, it's ridiculous that the heroes even had the benefit of surprise. The MLA had an unknown number of hero double agents. They had people in the government; they had people in the infrastructure. This is an organization that had been living undercover completely unsuspected for multiple generations--how did the HPSC ever manage to carry out a massive, country-wide investigation on such a secretive group and coordinate multiple simultaneous, comprehensive raids without a single person finding out and alerting the higher-ups over a period of only three and a half months?
When exactly did Hawks have time to go and revive Best Jeanist--which he tells us he did personally--such that none of the bugs and micro-cameras he was covered with picked up on it, and both he and BJ could be back in the positions they needed to be in for the raid to begin?
How did Skeptic find out about the raid such that he only discovered it at the last possible second and not minutes, even hours, before it kicked off? How did hundreds of heroes (and even "hundreds" is being conservative, given the fact that they had seventeen thousand people to detain) close in on the villa without anyone from the PLF noticing, either Skeptic with his information network or mundane precautions like people on watch?
Even granting the heroes their surprise advantage--which I don't want to--if the advisors were all supposedly "stronger than the average hero," why didn't we see any of them winning? Okay, yes, Hose Face beat Midnight, but he had every possible advantage in that "fight"; I hardly count it as some big impressive defeat that shows us that the villains were holding their own.
Here's another thing: the MLA styled themselves as an army--they were demonstrably trained in troop tactics. When we saw them in Deika, even their nameless on-the-ground people were capable of coordinating with each other on the fly in response to the movements of the enemy, as we saw come up repeatedly:
Yeah, they were off-guard at first, but as soon as the advisors made the front line (which, you'll note, was immediately), that disadvantage really should have begun eroding. Certainly once Geten--Geten! The number one MLA member most willing to disregard collateral damage! And there he was being a proper leader!--got to the front and started yelling orders, we should have seen the PLF rallying, and I can't imagine any sensible justification for the tides not turning when a) Re-Destro showed up to occupy the highest-ranked hero on the field, b) a bunch of heroes peeled off to try to stop Machia only to get trampled for their efforts, and c) Trumpet got dug out.
You know who don't style themselves as an army, though? Heroes. Oh, they get some basic lessons in cooperation as students, but the extent of such lessons we see is stuff like "why it's important for heroes to have signature moves"--so that on group missions, their reputations will precede them and fellow heroes will already know their shtick. U.A. teaches the odd lesson plan that involves the kids fighting in groups, but there's a huge difference between you and 3 to 6 of your buddies fighting a similarly-sized group in a practice fight, or a handful of heroes teaming up to take down some criminal low-lives, and the mass combat scenario that was the raid. For heaven's sake, look at our closest other equivalent: the raid on the Hassaikai base. At every turn in that encounter, the heroes let themselves get split up and picked off, winnowing down their numbers. It's even explicit in the narrative that hero team-ups were, in the age of All Might, uncommon, and heroes are only just beginning to adjust to fighting in teams. The erstwhile MLA should have had the advantage there.
As to Machia's defeat, I think the big problem with it is not how it happened, per se, but the timescale involved. The plan itself was sound enough, and even with all the kids' efforts, it still took Machia reaching Shigaraki and not getting any new orders to follow to really do him in. Given what we can extrapolate about his movement speed, though, I just don't think the kids should have had time to set all those traps, especially given how much of that equipment would have had to be fabricated by Momo on the fly. I know she's gotten stronger and all, and good for her, but you're telling me that in the four months between Joint Training and the raid, she went from passing out because she created a bag of goodies and one (1) cannon to being totally fine and still able to coordinate her fellow students while cranking out 23 jars of sedative, dozens of feet of rope/cable, multiple fire-resistant coats, explosives they somehow had time to bury, and three cannons?
For fuck's sake, Jirou gave Machia's ETA as under ten seconds. Yeah, Mount Lady slowed him down, but "only a little"--how much time could she possibly have bought them, that the kids were able to to coordinate and enact everything that plan involved?
You guys, go read this post by @codenamesazanka. Machia is so fast. So unbelievably, incredibly fast. "Twice as fast as the fastest train in the world" fast. "Horikoshi clearly did not stop to think about the distances involved here" fast. Three miles in ten seconds fast. It would have been hard enough to square with the needs of the plot that the kids were sufficiently far from the villa to have the kind of time they needed to swing Momo's plan at all, but Horikoshi explicitly letting Machia get right on top of them before the kids even start just makes it completely impossible for me to credit. Machia clearly being slower aboveground than he is when burrowing does not make that much difference to my suspension of disbelief.
My other big complaint? More people should have died, for real. The PLF warriors would not have been holding back. They were ready and willing to kill anyone they came up against. The heroes did have to hold back, because heroes, as we're told over and over again, are not supposed to kill, no matter how dire the circumstances. That difference in ability to exercise force should have been yet another significant advantage for the PLF. I could write an entire list of characters that I think could have reasonably been killed during the raids. That wouldn't be to say that I think any individual, specific character on that list should have died, just that, based on the parameters as they were presented to audience, some number of them should have.
I mean, honestly. How did Horikoshi wanna show us Gang Orca's unmoving claw in the wake of Machia's passage and not have Gang Orca on the list of the dead? How did Fat Gun run right into a mass melee and still have enough fat left over afterward to survive getting trampled by a walking mountain? How did Thirteen survive not getting pulled out of the hospital basement when Shigaraki's Decay hit? How did Trumpet survive getting a staircase dropped on top of him? How did Gran Torino survive a fist through his tiny old man chest cavity?
I could go on and on, but it's not just about the deaths, either. I'm not saying that Kamui Woods necessarily should have died by swinging himself face-first into a blast of blue fire, but I am saying that he should have been out of commission for longer than three goddamn days. You bet your ass I'm saying that after telling us that Hawks' weak point is fire, making us watch him spend at a solid minute or more with his wings wholly enveloped in Dabi's 2000 degree flames, and having Dark Shadow exclaim that his back is completely burned away, Hawks should never have grown his wings back, much less so quickly that they were already visible under his shirt a single day later.
More deaths, more maiming--heck, even more retirements. I'm not saying I love that kind of thing in my fiction--I don't, actually. I think an overreliance on it is a sign of edgelordy nonsense. But the scenario that we had demanded to be treated with the kind of gravity that would have led to such an outcome. To set up a conflict like the raid and have the villains only barely be able to scrape a partial escape, to try to tell us that Shigaraki's victory in Deika granted him such a terrifyingly powerful force only to have them lose every battle they got into, to tell us this was a blow that shook Hero Society to its core, only to be so unwilling to kill or retire any heroes the audience cares about that Midnight is literally the only significant loss… It doesn't work. None of it works.
I don't have much to say on which characters did or didn't get a highlight. I think there were a few more people than you listed that got some good scenes--Tokoyami and Uraraka both got material I liked quite a bit; Dabi famously out-trended the U.S. presidential election on Twitter when he (literally) came clean, and Mr. Compress gave us some wonderfully interesting and characteristically opaque material to chew on. On the whole, though, adding more character moments would only have been dragging out the problem: the scale of the PLF's threat and the HPSC's chosen method of dealing with it are simply incompatible with the feeble "neither side truly won or lost" resolution we got.
And that's my rant on that--thanks for the ask!
#and yet#i still hate it less than the shitshow that went down with lady n and overhaul#inkbuckets#paranormal liberation front#meta liberation army#bnha#stillness has salt#stillness answers
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Bakugou X Reader
Okay, well, I wrote this a while ago, so I'm posting it as my first post haha. Um. Ok here are the TW so if you're not comfortable please don't read!
Also, please read until the end :D it gets better
I was listening to this so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ~
Tw: slight smut, fluff, described violence (mineta yk), coronavirus
"So everyone stays inside, no going to the grocery store, the food will get transported every week. The school will be off until health is guaranteed. Understood?" Aizawa sternly announced over Iida's phone as everyone in the UA 1A dorms stood around it, in the common area.
There had been a deadly virus spread, and they called it Covid 19, or Corona.
No one really understood how the fuck this virus started, more so why the most infected was Asia, but they understood the rules they were given.
"Yes sensei. Thank you for telling us. Have a good night." Iida answered as he hung up. It was currently around 7 PM, so most of the students were in either PJ's or workout clothes (khm Kiri).
"What the fuck?!" Bakugou yelled as he rubbed his eye. He was about to go to bed, actually, so this was pretty annoying. I mean, they're under literal house arrest. How the fuck are heroes supposed to act?
"Well, everyone heard Aizawa sensei. You can keep doing whatever you were doing, just no going outside. As long as we're inside, everyone will be okay." Iida said as he quickly bowed to everyone, leaving to go to his room.
"Sounds kind of made up, don't you think?" Denki said as he fell on the couch, his head falling on Sero's lap.
"Kind of," Mina said as she sat down next to him, putting his sprawled out feet on her lap.
"Everyone inside at all times. Girls. This is heaven." Mineta mumbled as he drooled next to the table in between the two couches, before getting a kick to the face that sent him flying to the other side of the room.
"Shut the fuck up you perverted asswipe," Y/n said as she sat down next to Mina, resting the back of her head on her shoulder as she opened her phone, going on social media to check if this virus is actually real. Which, if it was, concerned her a lot. The crimes are definitely gonna go up and isn't this the perfect opportunity for the LOV to attack, AGAIN?
"Thanks, babes." Mina said as she pat Y/n head, earning a tiny smile.
"Yup, it's real. Twitter is swarming with it." Y/n added, answering Denki's earlier question. By now, everyone was either on the couches or the floor in front of the couches.
"Damn, lemme see," Denki answered as he put his arm out, palm open as he quickly made a grabbing motion.
Y/n went to hand it to him, but it got snatched away by the angry blonde she always kind of adored. He was mean, but have you seen him blush? It was the cutest thing in the world.
He scanned the phone as he scrolled down, reading a load of media bullshit before his eyes widened, groaning. He threw the phone back at Y/n, which ended up hitting her flat on the face. "Ow." She said bored as she scanned her phone, seeing a random, and obviously photoshopped, Kamui woods nude. She laughed as she showed the poorly edited picture to Mina, who also laughed.
"What the fucks wrong with you," Bakugou mumbled as he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger.
Y/n shrugged as she hid the photo, before handing the phone to Denki like she originally planned. He read over the news, sighing as he handed her back the phone with a black phone case on it.
"How stupid," Denki added as he snugged his head into Sero's lap.
"Whatever. Im gonna go to my room. Goodnight to all the bad bitches and Mineta. No, actually, fuck you, Mineta." Y/n said as she stood up, Kissing Mina's cheek.
People mumbled goodnight as she walked to the elevator, feeling the sensation of being followed. She glanced behind her, seeing the angry blonde as she smirked to herself, before regaining her composure. She favored him more than Mina, which was pretty weird.
"Sleepy?" She asked with a smirk as the two of them walked into the elevator, both with their hands deep into their pockets. She pulled one hand out, clicking the number for the 4th floor. They had actually gotten much closer ever since the summer training camp incident. Bakugou actually had a lot of PTSD and nightmares, resulting in serious panic attacks in the middle of the night, as well as the middle of the day, and since he knew Y/n used to go through it too, he somehow got forced to tell her. Y/n was glad he did because he was able to text or call her whenever he had one of them, making her always be there to help. She never asked for anything in return, which Bakugou found weird. He wondered why, anyone really, would want to help him without asking for something in return. He was also really weirded out by the fact that she was awake at 5 AM every other night.
"Tch, shut up. At least I sleep." He answered as he leaned on the glass wall of the elevator. The glass was clear, but thick, for safety and family-friendly reasons.
"Oh shut up. It's not my fault I have insomnia." She averted her eyes as he furrowed her brows a bit. She had insomnia ever since Bakugou got kidnapped. She had actually really liked his personality, meaning she liked him. Not in a romantic way though. (Yet)
Once she saw him get taken before her eyes, it was the only thing she saw when she fell asleep, as well as worst-case scenarios. So, she gave up on trying to sleep. Once he was safely returned, she expected everything to go back to normal, but it didn't. She even tried taking melatonin, but it didn't help. So, over time, she developed small purple eye bags. Nothing too serious, but everyone knew she had insomnia. And why. Except for Bakugou. She asked everyone nicely (which wasn't her best trait) not to tell him, so he doesn't feel guilty. Even though he would deny it, she knew he would feel that way at one point.
The elevator let out a ding as the doors opened, letting them exit as they both went the same direction. Since Y/n wasn't allowed to live in the dorms at first, and most of the rooms were taken, they put her on the boys side, the fourth floor, far far away from Mineta. Y/n was actually caught beating the shit out of him 2 times behind the school. Well, she did it more than 2 times. That was only when they caught her. To be frank, Mineta annoyed and frustrated her to no ends, and the fact that he didn't even bother stopping after being beaten up multiple times, says something. Yes, that was a bit violent, but sexual harassment was not a joke. At least not to her. She would've been suspended, but then they'd have to suspend Mineta as well, which wasn't their top priority. Not that he favored him or anything, and by he I mean Aizawa, he actually hated the little shit, but he couldn't admit that to anyone. Mineta was still a student.
She opened her door as Bakugou took a couple more steps, opening the door right next to hers. "Good night B. Call me if anything happens, okay?" She asked seriously as she smiled at him.
"Tch." Bakugou retorted as he nodded his head, barely, but she noticed as she smiled before going in.
Bakugou was really grateful for Y/n. Not that he'd even admit it to, even himself, but he actually was. She was one of the blunter and mean people in the class, except for those she liked, so he felt like someone actually cared. Everyone else was way too nice. And, to be real, he actually admired that. She always told the truth, no matter how harsh it was, but if it was to someone she liked, her words were more gentle. She wasn't a person to lie to either. Every time, anyone really, lied to her, she knew. It was like an instinct. She was really special. To think someone random he met would comfort him and try more than his own mother is unimaginable. She never lost her temper around him, and if she did, she would smile as leave for a minute to cool off. The scary thing about her was, she knows how to control her emotions. She knows exactly what to say every time. She knows self-control better than anyone.
Bakugou sighed as he stepped into his room, taking his shirt off as he went to his closet, taking out towels, pajamas, and his toothbrush and toothpaste. Bakugou liked to go to sleep early since he was disciplined, but he also liked to hope that would make his nightmares go away. He hated his PTSD. It was his worst enemy. Worse than any villain. He felt like he was weak. Not his body, but his mind. Like he was too weak to take one traumatic experience, when people had many.
Y/n set her phone on her bed as she took her pajamas and towels, as well as her hygiene stuff. Her room was pretty clean, some random clothes were thrown around, but the rest was pretty nice. Her bed had pretty, white sheets, some faint stains on them, and it was in the corner of her room. Next to that was a balcony, and then her closet. The rest of it was just random decorations and paintings she made and liked.
She left her room at the same time as Bakugou as she looked at him, smiling before waiting for him so they walk to the showers together. He rolled his eyes playfully as he tried his best not to smile. "Wanna shower together?" She said as she winked at the slightly taller boy, whose face erupted into a blushing ness at her comment making her chuckle. "Shut the fuck up." Bakugou mumbled as they stepped into the elevator, which was surprisingly still there, clicking on the first-floor button.
"If that pervert tries anything, tell me." He said as he tried to start a conversation, barely think about his words.
"Pft, why? I beat him up multiple times. At this point, I know all his weak spots and how not to leave marks." She smirked as she nudged Bakugou's shoulder with her elbow, before resting her head on it. "But thank you for worrying. I appreciate it." She said as she softly smiled. The elevator seemed to move slower as Bakugou's heartbeat increased. Every time they made physical contact, he'd get flustered. It kind of made him annoyed that his body could give in so easily.
"Do you want me to sleep in your dorm tonight?" She asked as she glanced up at him, still leaning on his bare shoulder.
Bakugou shook his head no, as the doors opened, causing her to pull herself away from him and walk out together.
Y/n and Bakugou were known as best friends around the class. Even Aizawa knew it. He also knew about Bakugou's nightmares, hence he let Y/n sleepover in Bakugou's room anytime she wants. Aizawa, as well as the rest of the class, knew that she was the only one able to calm him down in said situations. Some girls were jealous since Bakugou had a soft spot for her, but she never used that to her advantage.
Y/n waved, wiggling her fingers as they went separate ways, each into the bathroom of their gender.
Y/n set her stuff down as she stepped into a shower, turning on the water as she did her hygiene, as well as washing her body and hair. Once she was done, she put her PJ's on and brushed her teeth after.
Y/n turned her body as she went to leave the bathroom, but her knee hit something. Y/n looked down, spotting the familiar purple sex offender in front of her, smirking with only underwear on.
Y/n groaned as she tilted her head back, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, sexy." He said with a lisp as he walked into the girl's bathroom, closing the door.
Y/n looked at him, already knowing what he was going to fail at trying, so she played along. Y/n smirked as she leaned over, locking the door behind him, before going back, crouching down to his height. She was still smirking, which somehow only made Mineta horny, instead of alarmed.
"Okay. I guess I was playing hard to get. Come here." She smiled as she stood up, walking further away from the door. Mineta's eyes widened as he jogged up to her, placing his hands on her hips. It took every muscle in her body not to puke, but she managed to keep calm.
"But I'm more into tying." She said as she took one of the towels the girls used to clean the floors, putting it around the gremlin's eyes. He was smirking hard as Y/n noticed a tiny thing sticking out of his pants.
"Oh, you naughty girl." He said as he allowed her to tie him up completely, hands and ankles involved.
After she was done, Y/n stood up, chuckling.
"Did you really think I was going to fuck you?" She laughed as she picked him up by the hem of his shirt easily, walking over to the door, ignoring his voice filled with confusion.
"This is the last time I beat you up. If there's a next time, you won't make it out alive. I don't care if Im suspended or expelled for committing murder, as long as you're dead." She said slyly in his ear as she slammed his face into the tiles on the wall, earning a cry and groan from him. She actually held back a lot. She could've broken his skull with that hit, but she held back. His nose wasn't even
broken.
"Y/n? What the fuck was that? Are you okay?" Bakugous voice asked roughly from the other side as the doorknob jiggled. Y/n was still smirking as she scanned Mineta's bloody nose. She unlocked the door as she looked at Bakugou with an innocent smile. "I'm okay. He just tried to do something with me, that's all." She said as she stepped out to see a very angry Bakugou glaring at Mineta in Y/n's hand.
Bakugou went to jump on him, and probably kill him, but Y/n put a hand on his chest, gently pushing him back as she kissed his cheek. "It's okay now. You can go to bed." She smiled as she left, entering the common room, earning a few confused looks from students that were still in there.
"Uh, Y/n. What are you doing?" Denki asked as he scanned the bloody and tied up Mineta, furrowing his brows as Mina laughed next to him.
"Oh, nothing, just my usual nightly activities. Sero, could you help me?" She asked as she smiled at Sero who looked at her concerned.
"Uh, sure? What's up?" He asked as he stood up, walking over to her, ignoring Mineta's yells. "Just some tape. Thank you." She said as she smiled at him. Sero reluctantly shot some tape out, ripping it as he handed it to her, earning a kiss on the cheek.
Y/n walked up to in front of the common room TV as she took a chair, ignoring everyone's stares as she taped Mineta up to the wall above the TV. "If anyone takes him down before the morning you come to talk to me okay?" She said as she looked at everyone who nodded, before she smiled, bowing. "Thank you." She said as she left the common room, taking Bakugou's hand as they walked back to the elevator. Bakugou's hair was damp, the ends of his spikes tilting downwards as she smiled, ruffling his hair.
"What did he do?" Bakugou asked, almost in a growl as she cracked his knuckles. Y/n put her hands over Bakugou's, stopping the cracking. "Don't crack your fingers. It's bad for your joints." She said as they went into the elevator.
* * *
It was around 3:26 AM, and Y/n was in her dorm, eating ice cream and watching TikTok. She chuckled at a random video as she scrolled, eating a spoonful of chocolate ice cream. As she went to take another bite, she heard two knocks on the wall behind her head. Her head shot up as she set her phone down, carrying her pint of ice cream as she quietly left her room, opening Bakugou's door as she went inside, locking it behind her.
In front of her, on his bed, was the same scene she had been seeing almost every night. Bakugou, red puffy eyes, and cheeks, sitting leaned onto the wall, on the other side of which was Y/n's bed, with his arms hugging his knees.
Y/n sighed as she took the spoon out of her mouth, walking over to Bakugou as she set the ice cream next to her, cupping his cheeks as she made him look into her eyes.
"It's okay my love. It's okay." She whispered as she pushed his knees down, straightening them as she sat on his upper thighs, hugging him tightly. Y/n started calling him the nickname a while ago, so it wasn't weird to either of them. He actually found it very comforting. And she was just happy to be able to help and connect. Well, maybe she needed some reassuring as well.
Bakugou squeezed her tight with his arms wrapped around her waist, intertwining with each other. He sobbed into her shoulder as he shook, making the girl sigh. She hated that he had to go through this, but it had gotten better. He used to have nightmares even when napping but after some reassurance from Y/n, it had gotten better. Y/n's goal was to just get him to feel good again. No nightmares. He refused to go to therapy, so Y/n started researching and going to a therapist herself to learn how to help him. It wasn't the best, but she tried.
"I know. Focus on my breathing okay? On my heartbeat." She mumbled as she started balancing her breathing, hoping he'd follow along, which he thankfully did. Bakugou inhaled, shaking, as he tried to follow her breathing, trying his best. Since Y/n and Bakugou were room to room, they both put their beds on the same side of the wall connecting them and using a knocking technique to decipher. 1 knock meant a flashback. 2 knocks were a nightmare. And 3 knocks was a full-on panic attack. Bakugou rarely ever used three knocks, even though he had panic attacks more than nightmares, but he wanted not to be seen as weak. He thought that she had already seen him in such a weak state, she didn't need to think he was even more of a crybaby.
Once Bakugou managed to calm down a bit, she pulled back, still hugging him as she put her forehead on his. She looked into his piercing red eyes as she blinked slowly, smiling at him. Bakugou's view went to her lips for a second, before quickly returning back to her eyes. Y/n smiled surprised. He had done that a couple of times, but she always ignored it, thinking he just didn't want eye contact. But, this time, he started leaning in slowly. At first, she didn't notice it, but when she did, she looked at his eyes. He looked back as he blinked a couple of times, finally closing the gap as he kissed her gently. It wasn't a french kiss or anything. More like a long peck. Both of their eyes closed as they kissed before Bakugou pulled back. Y/n chuckled as she raised her hand, putting it in his hair. "Didn't think you had the balls for that." She whispered as she smiled at him. His brows furrowed as he made a tch noise before kissing her again, this time a bit more passionately.
Y/n kissed back as she smiled into the kiss. She had never thought he'd do this, and she could bet her life he'd regret it in the morning. This is just the heat of the moment, and she was sad that was all it was, but she had made peace with the fact that the only label Bakugou wanted, was the #1 hero. Not a boyfriend.
Y/n felt a warm sensation on her bottom lip as her eyes shot open, looking at Bakugou's closed ones. She felt a gentle tug on her hair as she opened her mouth slightly to protest, but he had already put his tongue in her mouth, twirling it around hers. Y/n blinked a couple of times before he pulled back, licking his lips after. "Do you have chocolate?" He asked as he looked at her confused.
Y/n rolled her eyes as she moved off of him, taking the pint of ice cream with a single spoon, setting it next to her as she sat to the right of him.
Bakugou's arms extended as he grabbed her hips, pulling her back onto his lap as she yelped quietly. He smirked at the small blush he could see in the moonlight as she rolled her eyes and picking the food up, taking a spoonful and putting it up to his mouth. Bakugou's mouth opened as he took the ice cream. Y/n went to have a spoon herself, but a hand snaked up to the nape of her neck as his arm pushed her lips back onto his, transferring some of the ice cream into her mouth with his tongue. Y/n's eyes widened as she pulled back, swallowing the ice cream and licking her lips as looked at him with a grimace. "Ew, you're disgusting!" She said as she chuckled, wiping her lips with the back of her hand.
Bakugou chuckled as well as he licked his lips, swallowing the treat in his mouth. "More." He said as he opened his mouth, motioning to the ice cream.
Y/n rolled her eyes as she took another spoon, putting it in his mouth as she moved her hips a bit to make herself comfortable, shifting her feet as well. Bakugou's eyes widened as he blinked, grabbing her hips roughly. "Don't. Move." He said as she furrowed her brows, before feeling something poke her from underneath. Her eyes widened as well as she looked down, before looking at Bakugou again, who aggressively swallowed whatever was left, groaning as he put his head in the crook of her neck. "This is all your fault." He mumbled into her shoulder as she blushed hard.
She did NOT expect that at all. She just wanted to comfort him at 4 am without thinking about getting railed, but here we are.
"So what the fuck do I do now." She whispered as she blushed even deeper, staring at the wall in front of her. This wasn't uncomfortable or anything, but it was quite awkward. She might have been a virgin, but she knew stuff. And she knew boners don't leave on their own.
"Ugh. Fuck." Bakugou groaned as he dug his head deeper into her neck. He was embarrassed, yes, but the thing that annoyed him was how he already knew what he wanted her to do. He could picture the whole scenario in his head, making him even harder. He really just hated himself right then.
"Um. So. I guess we're stuck." She said as she felt an itch on her inner thigh. "Oh no." She whispered as her eyes fell. How was she gonna explain this one.
"What." Bakugou mumbled as his voice was muffled from her hoodie. It was pure agony. But, he'd rather this happen with her than anyone else.
"Um. My thigh itches. Like...bad." She said as she gripped onto his shirt from the mix of horniness and itches. It was almost getting painful, so before Bakugou could answer, she moved her hips back and forth a couple of times as she felt his member poke harder. A small smirk made its way to her lips as she heard Bakugou's low groans. She knew exactly what she was doing, and she felt like she was in charge.
"Stop. Ugh, stop moving." He managed to groan out as he squeezed her hips tighter, resulting in a low moan from her. Both of their eyes widened as she blushed again, and Bakugou got even harder.
"Can. Can I just like. Ugh, it feels annoying saying it." She said as she put her head on top of his, wanting to disappear.
"Then. Ngh. Then just do it." He said as quickly as he could before she took a deep breath.
"Don't hate me in the morning." She whispered as she closed her eyes starting to slowly sway her hips back and forth. The thin biker shorts she was wearing were starting to get wet from her already soaked underwear, and he could feel it. Low groans escaped him as his breathing deepened. He never thought this would happen after a fucking panic attack, especially not in the middle of the night, but never say never I guess.
Only one thing was on Y/n's mind as she swayed a bit faster with every move. That was, how did I even get here? She never even wanted to lose her virginity in high school, and even though this technically wasn't it, she was sure this wasn't the only time it would happen. Whimpers left her slightly open mouth as she gripped her arms around his neck, the small sounds turning Bakugou even more as his brain just said 'fuck it'.
Bakugou swiftly turned the tables as Y/n was now kissing him, still in his lap, but pushed down a bit more. Her eyes widened slightly as she finally saw his red, sparkly eyes again. They were red from crying earlier and half-lidded, making him look even more attractive. He broke the kiss as his hand traveled up, behind her head, on the back of her neck as he hugged her again, stopping her movements.
She was confused. Was she doing anything wrong? Was he done? Is this what it's like? One way or another, she felt small kisses on her collar bone as her eyes were closed. Small bites and sucks were what Bakugou did to her collarbone, leaving tiny red hickeys. Once she realized what he was doing, she smiled as she pulled his head up. She smiled before kissing him as he stood up without warning, setting her on his bed next to him in a cuddling position. They were still facing each other as his hand was cupping her face as he looked her deep in the eye. "Go to sleep, my love." He mocked tiredly as he closed his eyes with a tiny grin, earning one from her.
"Fuck off." She mumbled as she rolled her eyes, placing her forehead on his. She hadnt expected any if this, but she was glad it happened. And, sure enough, she fell asleep. The funny thing is, Bakugou didn't have any other attacks that night.
#bakugou katsuki#mha bakugou#my hero academia#anime#boku no hero academia#bnha#bnha kirishima#mina ashido#Spotify
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Golden Kamuy chapter 259 & 260 - predictable events [shrugs]
Chapter 259 starts with a flashback to Abashiri Prison as Boutarou is released from solitary confinement. Shiraishi asks him what he did to land in solitary, specifically who he beat up - and we learn it was Ueji. This goes back to the story by Ueji about how he told Boutarou he saw his aunt, a woman that Boutarou has now confirmed never existed. Since Ueji was messing with Boutarou, he was upset/offended enough that he had no problem killing him.
This shows us that Boutarou seems to be sensitive to joking/teasing/bullying as Shiraishi chides him for his frequent trips to solitary.
This allows for us to see a contemplative/serious facial expression on Boutarou’s face before he continues the conversation with Shiraishi who is picking his nose with his toes?
This then allows for a wistful looking image of Shiraishi replying that he doesn’t have any family waiting for him outside of prison, and he was abandoned at a temple as a baby. This knowledge of abandonment is how Boutarou wants to connect with Shiraishi; that they are alone in this world at the present.
This allows Boutarou to ask him if he’d return to the temple, but Shiraishi could careless; he ran away in the first place and it likely doesn’t exist as it seemed to be on its way out. As expected, he just jokes if he had a lot of money he’d spent it on prostitutes (and implying that he’s filling his emptiness with transactional sex).
Nihei, reminds them the only thing that matters is to use the tattoo as a way to get out of prison and do whatever you want unrelated to the gold. This is expected for the man who returned to the mountain to hunt.
They return to Boutarou’s goal, to amass a small fortune e.g. the gold and create his own kingdom. The next page or so just focuses on how he came from a large family with 14 members and how he was the only one who didn’t die of smallpox. He isn’t just interested in having a large family to compensate for his lost family, he goes beyond that where by becoming the king, he’ll always be remembered and not forgotten as the founder. He is a man who wants to preserve himself not only genetically through having lots of kids but also through mythology and nation building concepts.
Shiraishi and Nihei tease him a little about his dreams which they find to be completely unrealistic which he is not amused with. Speaking very frankly with him, Shiraishi points out that Boutarou is a lonely guy and that his dream is a reflection of his loneliness.
This exchange is interesting to me for two reasons. 1.) This shows us that Shiraishi is an observant guy which we know but it is another instance of it in his past. 2.) He can be very blunt and forward with Boutarou. I find him to be very assertive with Boutarou, a man who just came out of solitary for beating up another prisoner. Yet, Shiraishi can speak like this with him and this also alludes to their current time line interactions where Boutarou respects Shiraishi and understands him well - as well as Shiraishi understands him.
This frank openness between them continues on the next page. Shiraishi jokes back that he’s been a king - and escape king. But Boutarou’s critique of him is a valid and honest one.
Breaking out of jail isn’t a long term plan. Having a dream like Boutarou’s is a viable plan, that since he is unwelcome in current society, he’s like ‘fuck this - I’ll just make my own society’ He lost his home and community support and it was clearly influential on him as a child both having a family and then the loss. So, for him creating his own special home is his driving force in his actions and reason to become involved in the hunt for the gold.
And not missing a beat, he tells Shiraishi he also needs to create his own home if he lacks one - just like him. The level of frankness between the two of them - they clearly have more than just a passing ‘professional’ relationship.
The manga returns to the current events and Boutarou is telling Asirpa to let go of the door so that she can return to her home with Sugimoto and that they can become a family. I get it, he knows she has a crush on him and all little girls dream of finding a man and getting married etc etc. I don’t doubt Asirpa’s crush on Sugimoto, but she is also not the type of young teen girl who would be so simple minded.
Sugimoto is struggling to breathe in a corridor of the brewery as he falls into his rather pathetic monologuing about how pathetic he is. Nice copy and paste of the rifle there Noda. We saw it a few chapters ago when Ogata was eyeing Usami’s which was also Ogata’s when Vasily sniped at them.
Why do I not take Sugimoto’s whole ‘boo hoo’ bit seriously? Because this shows us how he actually sees Asirpa and her relationship with him. He ‘finally got her back’ she ‘got stolen away again’. Even with the English translation, the intention is still clear, Asirpa is like an object to him.
Read these following sentences;
1. Kiro and Ogata stole Asirpa from Sugimoto.
2. Kiro and Ogata kidnapped Asirpa from Sugimoto.
3. Kiro, and Ogata took Asirpa to Karafuto.
As an objective reader of the manga which of these is the most factually correct? Number 3, at heart Kiro and Ogata had a plan to take Asirpa to Karafuto to learn the code and connect with Sofia. Yet, this is not the narrative that Sugimoto tells himself or others. He continues to go with number 1, that Kiro and Ogata stole Asirpa from him and now Boutarou stole Asirpa from him. Asirpa is something that he possesses. This is problematic as it shows how unequal their partnership is.
I’d argue a more equal partnership if he used number 2. That she was kidnapped which is a word we use to distinguish people from mere objects in English. Is my argument 100% based on this - not quite since we are working with the translation of the original text, but ever since Karafuto, Sugimoto has acted like Asirpa is something that he and only he has privy to and completely ignores the fact that she is her own person and will exercise free will.
Therefore, this also pokes holes in Boutarou’s reading that Asirpa will cave to the idea that if he tells her to go home and marry Sugimoto that will solve her problems. I’m pretty confident that Asirpa does not see her relationship with Sugimoto the same way that he sees her and Shiraishi already made a point about this back before they were to meet up with Tsurumi.
Anyways, back to the action. We don’t see if Asirpa let’s go of the door, we just see that Koito is aggressively approaching Boutarou with his sabre raised and notices that he has Asirpa.
With is luscious locks, Bouatrou is able to distract Koito and punch him with his long reach. He goes to shoot Koito, but a shot hits his hand with the revolver and it is Tsukishima close behind.
He orders Boutarou to withdraw, and he dashes out with Asirpa and heads to a lower level where the beer flood happened.
Asirpa is still resisting trying to hold onto the railings of a staircase, making his fast escape a bit of an issue. She also is able to raise a fundamental question - the gold was supposed to be used by the Ainu to create their own country. Therefore, if the gold is stolen by Boutarou, she will be unable to protect her own homeland - the one he keeps telling her to go back to.
We get an image of the clear cutting of the forest in Hokkaido that almost killed her and then she thinks of the kotan where Wilk was born that is now a fox farm. The traces of her Karafuto relatives is already gone, taken over by the Japanese for less sustainable practices.
Boutarou sweats nervously, he doesn’t have an answer for her since this is now an example of conflict with their own dreams and goals for the gold. However, this philosophical pause from him, allows for Koito the strike him with his sabre from behind. Koito prepares for his second strike as Boutarou falls back into the pool of beer.
Asirpa meanwhile still clings to the stair railing as Koito is ready to strike again.
Boutarou swims off and it is unclear where he’s gone to. Koito is impressed by Boutarou’s toughness as Asirpa coughs on the stairs. Only then do we hear Tsukishima’s voice asking Koito where he is. And with that I internally groan.
Me - goddammit Koito! Why did you go and do almost the exact same thing you did on the ice floe and with Sugimoto. Don’t rush ahead with no back up. You just realized he’s a tough guy. Well, at least this time he tells Tsukishima where he is and to come quickly.
He says that he secured Asirpa and doesn’t notice that Boutarou has emerged from the beer and is clearly going to attack him. He looks like a gross beer/swamp monster, his teeth visible and eyes covered by his long hair.
By time Tsukishima arrives with his rifle at ready he sees Asirpa and only Koito’s sabre.
[facepalms]
Come on Koito, I’m rooting for you buddy, but please stop running ahead. You are slowly getting better, but one aspect of being a leader of men is to have men to lead, not leave behind.
And the chapter ends with his heightened tension that Koito has been pulled back under the beer.
I have other deep thoughts (lol. terrible pun) about chapter 259 so lets move onto 260 which goes back a few seconds to show us what happened to Koito. Boutarou reaches out towards Koito and he’s able to overpower him.
Asirpa tries to crawl away as Koito drops his sabre and is drug under the surface of the beer. We all know that Boutarou is going to try to drown him as he can hold his breath longer than his victims.
Tsukishima finally reaches where Asirpa is and he flat out asks her were Koito is. She ignores him and tries to dash away, but he grabs onto her wolf pelt cloak. The last panel then shoes her as she draws her knife and swings at Tsukishima!
Yes! Asirpa is about to use her knife against him! There is so much desperation in her behavior. Koito then reaches his hand up as bubbles come to the surface, and we see Tsukishima holding Asirpa’s hand on her knife. Tsukishima calls out for Koito and Asirpa tells him that he was pulled into the beer.
He then uses his rifle to hold her against him and still holds her hand with the knife out of the way as he tells himself that Asirpa is more important than everything else.
Koito is held underwater as his boot sticks out and we see that Boutarou is trying to strangle him with his hair (he truly has impressive hair!) as Koito begins to weaken. We are left briefly wondering if Koito will be abandoned - but come on, we know what will happen.
Tsukishima kicks Boutarou in the head allowing Koito to sit up. Tsukishima then shoots Boutarou, and we see some blood diffuse out into the beer. Tsukishima is focused as he ejects the empty shell and Boutarou swims off.
He tells Koito to get out of the beer as he may return, and Koito angrily asks about Asirpa. She’s heading out on her own, as the smoke causes her to cough her knife out and ready. Koito is upset that Tsukishima[aaaa] let her go to save him. This is so interesting to me as it does show that Koito felt that he is less important than Asirpa. He was willing to potentially die which, despite his impulsive behaviors, this time he at least seems to be aware of it.
Tsukishima can’t look at him as he apologizes and Koito berates him that saving him is not a priority. This pretty much seals the deal for these two men. Tsukishima is Koito’s older brother and he has shown that he doesn’t have it in himself to hurt Koito for Tsurumi.
This is at least one instance where Koito does at least own up and state that he should have followed orders. So, kudos to more self-aware Koito, though I’m sure he’s still thankful that Tsukishima saved him.
Nikaido is randomly wandering around (clearly no longer wanting to kill Sugimoto) as he finds her.
She again aggressively goes to strike him with her knife. Asirpa is beyond desperate - is she trying to mirror Sugimoto by just forging ahead and attacking everyone with no thought about harming them?
But just like with Tsukishima, she is immediately overpowered. Without her poison tipped arrows, she’s at a huge disadvantage. Emulating your crush’s fighting style isn’t going to work.
Thankfully, karma intervenes and she doesn’t harm him. Instead, she activates his chopstick dispenser and she’s taken down by a chopstick to the forehead.
This is rather fitting since, she’s been stopped by an item she would find important, chopsticks which along with spoons facilitate one of her loves - food. And with that she is delivered to Tsurumi who praises Nikaido.
The next page is when things get really interesting. Nikaido is upset that Sugimoto is alive and Tsurumi blows him off. Very rough looking Tsukishima and Koito then make it to Tsurumi to see that Asirpa has been caught. Likely on autopilot, Tsukishima starts speaking . . . but Koito then continues and reports to him as the commanding officer of the two.
He then mid-explaination becomes incredibly uncomfortable unable to speak. We can’t see Tsurumi’s facial expression, it would be nice to know what Koito sees as he only awkwardly ends stating they were in the brewery.
Koito is sweating profusely, whatever Tsurumi looked like, he just realized that he should have let Tsukishima do the talking as he’s given away that his fear of speaking to Tsurumi is gone. The fact that Tsurumi hesitates before telling him that he understands, leaves Koito in shock as Tsukishima is likely trying to not lose it with him. Since he now knows that Koito has given away something about his changed status towards Tsurumi. Since Tsurumi is in the realm of super smart villain, I’d guess Tsukishima knows that Tsurumi knows about how Koito learned something about his kidnapping which was what lead to his in ability to speak to him in the first place. Recall, that when they were in Kagoshima, young Koito could speak to Tsurumi with little issue.
Tsurumi then calls for a retreat and avoid any more fights. Apparently, he now has enough information to crack the code. Okay Tsurumi - does this mean you can do so with Asirpa? Since, he still doesn’t know the Ainu name that is matches with. . . .
Nikaido pouts in the background as Koito looks like he wants to fade into the background. Tsukishima clearly doesn’t look happy either as he holds Asirpa. I guess being Tsurumi’s right hand man means he gets to hold onto her?
He likely feels uncomfortable about things since now that Koito has let the cat out of the bag, Tsurumi will likely ask him about what happened between them.
Boutarou exits, pissed off at how he lost Asirpa but seems to be alright overall. Of course, the next page reveals Sugimoto charging towards him to give Asirpa back. Yep, attack first, ask questions later/maybe Sugimoto.
Sugimoto pretty much has murder eyes as he thinks attacking Boutarou will solve his problem.
Now, the fact that Boutarou has survived this well, tells me that he likely has the same ‘luck’ that Sugimoto has. He was stabbed by Sugimoto, his ear cut off, slashed by Koito, and shot twice by Tsukishima. It is pretty damn obvious that Boutarou is to be both a foil and a twin to Sugimoto. The only difference between them is Boutarou became a criminal, while Sugimoto became a soldier a man with a license to kill under the laws of the government while enlisted in the army. Since leaving the army, he’s killed many people in the quest for the gold, but that doesn’t make him a ‘good guy’ because he’s a former soldier.
Sugimoto is always trying to tell others how he’s better than they are. He’s better than the convicts because he didn’t break the law. But, if we look at his own actions, he may have been worse than some of the convicts having killed more people than they did. Think of Shiraishi or Nihei. Nihei killed those hunters, but he refused to go off to war and lost his son in the Sino-Japanese war. Therefore, we could argue that based on the number of people killed, Sugimoto is far worse than Nihei as he was almost karmic in his revenge. Furthermore, Nihei even let himself be arrested, he killed the one man but didn’t even fight the police as his revenge was complete and he accepted his fate.
What I’m getting to is that Boutarou is the character who is going to disrupt Sugimoto and make him very uncomfortable and be unable to keep acting like he’s on the ‘right’ side of things. Sugimoto needs to stop othering the convicts and tell himself he’s better than all of them - his own decisions led him to this just like something drove Boutarou to become a pirate and criminal.
I predict that Shiraishi will rush in to stop Sugimoto from killing Boutarou. We still need to learn more about their past and what is the full connection between Shiraishi and Boutarou. There is much more to learn, Shiraishi is too open and frank with him and he lets Boutarou get close to him physically and emotionally.
Hijikata’s group then regroups and decides what to do. Of course Hijikata being the manly man that he is, states he’ll enter if required.
Kirawus then begins to panic that that no one has seen Kadokura. Apparently shooting off the firework was too distracting for him and he didn’t keep track of his drinking buddy. What were you doing man? Where were you? You aren’t very good at these sorts of things?
Kadokura apologizes to Hijikata for failing to stick with him to the end as he lie on the floor of the room with the mash pots. We see Kirawus at his most emotional as he cries out and Kantarou holds him back.
Is Kirawus a softy at heart? I was predicting that he’d have gone in to save him but no, we get a demonstration of Kadokura’s good bad luck as the collapsing building makes a bed for him, tucks him into the futon and even gives him a beer to enjoy.
I personally like this use of extremely unlikely events surrounding him. Sometimes, I find some of the more crass humor in GK to be not my cup of tea, but this sort of absurdist humor is good. For a very action and emotionally charged chapter this is a good resolution of the tension.
Kadokura is rewarded for trying his best by being rescued by the building. Yep, he’s certainly more competent than he appears. Is he the secret weapon of team Hijikata?
Conclusions on these chapters.
As I stated in the title, things are pretty predictable, but rewarding for the readers at least.
Asirpa has shown that when she loses her cool, she leads to her own capture. Separated from Sugimoto, she makes many poor decisions. She tries to leave Koito to be killed by Boutarou. She attacks Tsukishima and Nikaido. She tried to use the poison arrow on Kikuta. As a character who started out with a strong do no harm to other humans, she’s quickly sliding into grey. I think the worst part was almost ignoring Koito. She is hesitant to tell Tsukishima what happened and uses his pause to try to attack him.
Her capture is the worst outcome of events. She should have listened to Kikuta and found another solution. She could have just let Boutarou escape with her and bide her time. It seems that her reckless and aggressive behavior has backfired. Sure, some readers will be like ‘She was just defending herself!’ but without her arrows, she is at a huge disadvantage and should know when to give up. I’m pretty sure that this mindset comes from her being with Sugimoto.
Boutarou will team up with Sugimoto with Shiraishi as the mediator. ‘Cause it is obvious.
Koito is freaked out that he gave away his personal growth, Nikaido is stewing in the background and Tsukishma just looks guilty.
Hijikata’s group will likely retreat with Kadokura leaving Shiraishi, Boutarou, and Sugimoto behind. Since other than Shiraishi, the other two men are just annoyances to Hijikata.
Ogata is somewhere. Is he going to continue his sniper battle or will he retreat? He seemed pretty chill when he walked by Kikuta. The smoke and fire and chaos will really mess with things, but Vasily is likely losing his cool.
Vasily, the character who had potential but currently is lame may be waiting for Ogata? Or maybe he could pull back?
Lastly, where is Kikuta? Does he know that Ogata shot Usami? I can’t help but seeing him stroll into the headquarters of the 27th and be like “Hey everyone. What did I miss?” [as he strikes a sexy pose and lights a cigarette].
It would be neat to learn if they at least chatted about something.
Well that is all for now. Let’s see how the insanity continues to unfold.
#golden kamuy#golden kamuy meta#asirpa#koito otonoshin#tsukishima hajime#tsurumi tokushirou#nikaido#sugimoto saichi#boutarou the pirate#Shiraishi Yoshitake#warrant officer kikuta#kadokura#kirawus#hijikata toshizo
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Let’s Try This Again
Chapter 2: Memory Lane Can Burn
———————————————————
Damn, how is it already getting so fucking hot? Katsuki tugged at his collar as he continues his walk towards the meeting point with his gang of idiots. Even with his first button undone like it always is, there is no escaping this annoying-ass heatwave.
Hopefully, it will die down soon. Katsuki just started his second year at UA a few weeks ago, and he doesn't want his first few months dying of fucking heatstroke. He also hates the feeling of sweating all over his body.
With workouts and any other physical activities, he didn't mind because it cooled down his body. But he found the feeling just disgusting and suffering when it was just walking to school.
He keeps his leisurely pace to the coffee shop as he hears the loud honking of traffic and random useless chatter from extras he passes by on his way. Damnit, he should have grabbed his headphones before he left his house; he hated endless noise. Of course, he hated any noise.
"WHOA! LOOK HOW COOL ALL MIGHT LOOKS! ISN'T HE THE COOLEST, HIEKO-CHAN?!" A small, high-pitched voice rings out.
At the mention of the familiar name, Katsuki stops and snaps his head over to two little small kids gushing over a movie poster of the upcoming new All Might movie. One kid is a girl with wild cardinal hair, cerulean eyes, and pale skin, while the other kid is a boy with cropped white hair, blood-red eyes, and dark skin. Both looked to be in kindergarten and wore their respective school uniforms.
"LOOK AT HIM PUNCH THAT BAD GUY! HE CAN DROP ANY VILLIAN IN A MINUTE!" The boy shouted as he threw some air punches and air kicks. 'Hieko-chan' giggled and cheered at the boy's antics.
"YEAH! ALL MIGHT IS THE BEST! I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE MOVIE TO COME OUT! I WANT TO SEE IT WITH KAZU-CHAN!"
Katsuki guessed that was the boy's name because the boy's face suddenly bursts into a bright shade of red.
"O-Of course! I'm your best friend, baka! W-Why wouldn't I see it with you?!" He grinned with pride. The girl wasn't fazed by the slight insult but instead giggled some more at his comment. The two then went into a more raucous conversation about 'how cool and super powerful All Might is' and 'why he is the best superhero in the world.'
Katsuki stares at the two and was hit by the nostalgia of the scene. Slowly, everyone and every sound around him fade as he keeps his gaze on the two young children.
He's super cool, neh? A feather-like voice giggled in his mind and a hazy image of a radiant, wide smile and glowing, speckled cheeks filled his head.
Immediately, Katsuki chokes at the memory and snaps out of his daydream, his heartbeat filling his ears. He cursed under his breath, snapped his head away from the two brats, and stomped his way back onto his path.
Katsuki decides to deny how much hotter his face suddenly feels and just blames this stupid-ass heatwave.
But then before he gets the chance to cool down, he hears a recognizable yelp of "BAKUBRO!" and gets jumped on from behind.
"Oi, Shitty Hair! Get off! I'm burning up enough as it is!" He yelled at his idiot best friend as he elbows him in the face. Katsuki hopes to God that his best friend's observation skills are below par as usual, and he won't notice the change of color in Katsuki's face.
"OW! Damn, dude! You got my nose!" Eijirou says as he rubs at the sore spot. Katsuki lets out a 'tch' before he looks to his best friend.
"Shut up! You've fucking dealt with worse from me, so stop whining like some wimpy-ass bitch!"
"What's wrong, man? Didn't get your eight hours of sleep? I guess geezers like you can get pretty cranky when you don't go to bed before nine." A laughing Eijirou teased at his blonde firecracker of a best friend.
Katsuki quickly flipped him off before the two kept on their walk to the coffee shop. Secretly, Katsuki was glad that Kirishima managed to come at the right time, so he doesn't drift off into any more pointless daydreams and stupid memories.
"Seriously, though, what's up?" Spoke too soon.
"None of your fucking business, Shitty Hair."
"Eh? Come on, man. You seem a bit hotter under the collar than usual."
"I'm hotter under the collar because of this damn, fucking heatwave! Damn idiot."
Eijirou lets a sigh, deciding not to poke the bear further. "Alright, man. If you say so."
After this little back-and-forth, the two second-year boys get into a discussion about the mixed-martial-arts match the both of them watched last night and boasted how cool and fluid the moves were before they find themselves in front of the 'Kamui Woods' Coffee Shop'.
Both walked into the place and were hit by the overpowering scents of fresh coffee and pastries. Katsuki gagged a bit at the overly sweet pastry scent but is willing to ignore it if it means that he can get his usual Spicy Woodlands coffee drink.
"YO, GUYS, OVER HERE!" A boisterous female voice screams.
Situated over at a giant table in the corner of the shop, there was the rest of Katsuki's idiot gang: Mina Ashido, Denki Kaminari, and Hanta Sero.
Mina waved with no shame at how loud she was being as Denki and Sero hovered over some textbooks and notebooks scattered across the table. Denki looked to be in massive pain as he stared over his textbook, his hand buried in his electric blond hair as he rubbed his head in frustration. Meanwhile, Hanta giggled and snickered at the blonde's situation.
"Dude, I told you not to procrastinate last night with the English homework. It's harder this time." Hanta snickered.
"Bro, I was not gonna waste an opportunity to see Kyouka at that soccer match last night. She looked so damn hot." Denki said with a goofy smile.
"Yeah, but considering English is 1st period, you just screwed yourself."
Denki groans before he slams his forehead into the textbook.
"What up guys!" Kirishima yells back before rushing over to the table. Katsuki takes the opposite approach as he lazily scrolls behind.
As Eijirou reaches the table, he fist-bumps Hanta and drops his backpack beside the table before looking over at Denki.
"...Jirou had a soccer match?"
"Yep and this guy decided he would go and drool over his mad crush and take an L on today's English assignment." Mina giggled mischievously.
"Come on guys, give me a break! You would have done the same thing if you had the chance to watch your girl go kick some ass."
"Would make better sense if she WAS your girlfriend, you fucking idiot." Katsuki snapped as he hovered next to the table.
"So mean! I'm working on it!"
"And that tally is at Month 17 and counting!" Eijirou laughed.
Denki mumbles out a 'fucking traitors' and goes back to trying to figure out Yamada-sensei's boring English work. Mina, Hanta, and Eijirou laugh some more while Katsuki scoffs at the blonde's hole he dug himself into.
"Don't know why you would waste time with something so pointless as romance." He spats out.
Mina and Denki quickly snap their heads up to address their Satan friend.
"ROMANCE ISN'T POINTLESS!" They both cried.
"Guys, remember how you're talking to. This is the same guy who never hesitates to take his lighter out and burn any confession letter he is given." Eijirou explains.
"And most of the time, he does it in front of the person who's confessing." Hanta puts his hand over his chest as a sympathy grab.
"Shut up! I don't have any fucking interest in that type of shit!" He said. Denki just sighs before propping his hand upon his cheek.
"Come on, man. I don't think even you can go through life without some sort of partner. If you do, that's one sad path to go down on."
"I kinda agree, Bakugo, it seems a bit lonely." Hanta chimes in.
"Of course it's sad! How can anyone scoff and give up the opportunity to be with their one-and-only soulmate?!" Mina faked cried with slight tears and hands clenched together.
Eijirou laughed uneasily. "Soulmate is a bit much..."
He then turns to Katsuki and reaches up to clap a hand on his shoulder. "I think you just haven't met the right girl yet, bro! She's out there somewhere!" He encourages with a bright smile.
Katsuki clicked his tongue and smacks off his hand. "Whatever. I'm getting my damn coffee." He spats.
He spins around before stomping over to the front counter, ignoring the gang's continuing conversation about relationships and new hookups this year.
What do love and romance have to do with anything remotely important? Katsuki doesn't need some damn bitch dragging him down with meaningless dates, pointless anniversaries, and overbearing 'pay attention to me!' conversations. All he needs to do is focus on his studies, train, graduate, and climb his way to the top of becoming the youngest MMA fighter to reach number one in the ranks.
You're so brave and cool, Kacchan!
Katsuki freezes and grits his teeth.
Damn it, get out of my fucking head!
"Um...sir? A-Are you okay?" A mousy, fearful voice squeaked out. Katsuki's fog gets clear once again as he looks to see the fidgeting cashier waiting for him to put in his order.
"Spicy Woodlands, medium. Extra hot and extra spicy." He demanded before slapping the money down on the table.
"Y-Yes, sir!" The poor cashier squeaks out before ringing him up and rushing away to get the order done.
Katsuki scoffs before stepping from the counter and gets out his phone to waste time before his drink is ready.
"Oh, ho? Is that you, Bakugo?" A nasal voice drags out.
Katsuki looks up annoyed at the voice and finds some random extras in third-rate school uniforms. The one who spoke out was lanky, pasty-skinned, and oily-looking while the other was short, heavy, and had horrible acne.
"Who the fuck are you, idiots?" He snaps.
The lanky one just lets out an annoying nasal laugh. "Of course, you don't remember me. You are always so self-centered even back in middle school."
At the mention of middle school, Katsuki freezes before anger starts to bubble. "Listen, fuckfaces, I don't know who the hell you are, and I couldn't care less about what you want, so get out of my face before I destroy you." The heavier set friend was a little fearful at the threat and put his hands up in surrender. "Y-Yeah, of course, dud-de! N-no problem!" He said before he tugged on his friend's arm. "Tadami, stop it..." He whispers.
"Oh, but Daichi, you have to hear about the great Bakugo Katsuki! He was pretty famous back in the days, you know?" Katsuki's stomach dropped at the tone in his voice. "He was famous since back in grade school in fact!" Oh, this shit-stain wasn't going there, was he? Katsuki started to see flashes of red as the brave soul kept talking.
"Back when we were nine, he told some girl to go off herself and you know what? She disappeared the very next day! Weird, right?" he explained. Katsuki tightened the grip on his phone. "Maybe she actually went and did what he said? It wouldn't surprise me, I mean he did bully and beat her up every single day..." He smirked.
Katsuki's insides started to melt and burn as memories started to flood him full-force. Memories of a small crying girl covered with scrapes and cuts while a boy laughed cruelly with pride at the pain in her big, doe eyes.
Daichi froze at the story and looked between his friend and Katsuki before he swallowed. "Ta-Tadami, let's just go, dude..." He offered meekly.
Tadami just shrugs with another smirk and walks pass Katsuki with a bump to the shoulder before he and his friend left the shop.
Katsuki stood there unmoving only breaking out of it when the cashier brought him his coffee in a wood textured mug. He grabs it from them with a slight, soft 'thanks' before just continuing to stand there and stare into the brown, scorching liquid.
A hand clapped upon his back for the third time that day by Eijirou.
"Hey, dude, what's takin-" He stopped when he sees the brooding look on Katsuki's face. "Bakugo? Are you alright?" He says with genuine worry.
Katsuki just offers a twitch of a nod.
"I'm fine."
#anime#my hero academia#bnha#boku no hero academia#mha#boku no academia#bkdk#bkdk fic#bakudeku#katsuki bakugou#fem izuku#genderbend izuku#female izuku midoriya#midoriya izuku#izuku midoriya#bnha fanfiction#boku no hero fic#boku no hero#boku no hero manga#my hero fanfic#bnha bkdk#bakusquad#fem!izuku#fem!deku#fem deku#deku#deku x kacchan
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Live tweeting episode 49
SPOILERS
Let’s get after this preview why don’t we
BRUH AIZAWAS FACE WHY DOES HE LOOK SO YOUNG- he shaved. He fuckinf shaved for that press interview I am gone
SMALL MIGHT NO :( you jsut got exposed biotch
All might YOUNG ALL MIGHT VOICE YOUNG ALL MIGHT VOICE ALL MIGJT VOICE YOUNG
Oh shit, she’s hot. Nana 💖💖💖
Oh my god his cute little face and the dumb hair I love Toshinori
Bitch just called him crazy I KEEP MY IDEALS SKABWOSJFBWLSOEHEHDJABWKWPFUWJQBDKWOEHEHWVW
I’m back to jamming to this opening I love it
I’m nervous I love all might so much
Oh Katsuki you did get rescued dummy
I cannot explain how hot half all might half small might is THE FLAVOR
Oh shit I Nana and I love All might
Oop all might said exactly what I said last time “keep her name out of your filthy mouth” we are meant to be we even finish each other’s sentences
This whole fire up All Might and make him lose all his stamina is really working for All for One unfortunately
Gran Torino is such a good father figure
NEZU IS WORRIED FUCK THIS IS BAD.
Oh shit oh fuck
All might straight up about to lose his quirk I also love how all the kids are just watching this on their computers like 👁👄👁
Tsuyu AOYAMA cute
All might is a true hero taking that blast to save someone when he knows he’s at his limit FUCKING MINT
He’s so small :(( all might no
Fuckinf Bakugous face he looked so fucking distraught at Small Might oof
Secrets out!
All might looks so serious Damn. HES NOT GIVING UP!
“In my heart I remain the symbol of peace and there’s nothing you can do to take that from me” 🥺🥺
Oop and Shigarakis identity is revealed.
THE MANIPULATION ITS SO GROSS I HATE TO ONE FOR ALL SO MUCH
Nana is so smart and pretty I love her I’m smiling for you baby
All might is CRYUNF IM GONE-
My god I’m crying random citizen please give all might the strength he has to do something
Katsuki quietly “Beat this guy.”
BEAT HIM. COME ON, ALL MIGHT! I love these boys
When you hit them with the “Fear not, Miss.”
Straight up ruined, this is mid season for the love of god.
Young All might remains adorable. Currently All Might remains a God.
Can another hero please show up for the love of- ENDEAVOR!!!!!!!!! EDGESHOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
MY SONS ARE HERE
Oh wow why is Endeavor hot I should not be feeling something don’t show me him young with red hair I can’t
Edgeshot owns my whole ass “Think again mad man we’re here to assist” he says as he pulls some kick ass fuckinf moves
And here kamui saving Jeanist, Mt Lady, and Gang Orca king
Oh tiger is there getting the civilian
Literally I cannot even express how much I enjoy pro heroes working together it rocks my whole world
“No matter what you look like you’re still everyone’s number one hero!” Edgeshot 🥺
Nezu and Vlad King cheering on all might from afar is so cute and Aizawa is just standing like there worried I stan these kings
Ochaco is doing it too aww and Tokoyami
“The entire world continues to cheer you on” I fucking love this show so much
I just got chills hearing everyone scream All Might all together oof
One for all no longer dwells within him that makes me so sad I know it has to happen but I’m so sad :(
Oh shit he knows it’s Izuku that’s not good
“It sounds as thought you’ll die full of regrets, All Might.” >:(
You didn’t fail all might you never failed
“Until he’s ready- I REFUSE TO DIE!” Okay Izuku please never be ready so I can always have Toshinori
“That’s because I didn’t put my back into it that time!” What a king though I hate to see his arm busted like izukus
This is so sexual UNITED STATES OF SMASH bye. Goodbye. Smash me toshi.
And that’s the flame out-
One for all’s face is kind cute from the side Oop
This ransom guy cryinf in a helicopter I relate to yes I do
All Might using his hero form one last time I fucking love this man so much
Katsuki looks dangerously close to cryinf Oop
They have One for all captured yay
“Now. Now it’s your turn.”
PEOPLE CRYINF ABOUT HOW MUCH THEY LOVE ALL MIGHT BITCH ME TOO
Kacchan you look soft rn stop it
-UPDATE-
Oof that was quite the episode as always I’ll leave the preview for the next one lol bye
Masterlist of all episodes I’ve live tweeted
#bakugou#bakugou katsuki#bnha#bnha kacchan#boku no hero academia#katsuki#katsuki bakugou#my hero academia#mha#all might#toshinori yagi#yagi toshinori#midoriya izuku#izuku midoriya#all for one#one for all#nana shimura#shimura nana#live tweeting
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Pokémon: the Dark Circuit (aka Vanguard Descends season 2)
Chapter 4 The Calm Before the Storm
Aichi’s current team
Level 79 Wingal (Lycanroc (dusk)) rock
Moves:
Stealth rock
Crunch
Stone edge
Play rough
Level 77 Llew (Golisopod) water/bug
Moves:
Sucker punch
Blizzard
Liquidation
First impression
Level 78 Gancelot (Lucario) fighting/steel
Moves:
Focus blast
Stone edge
Meteor mash
Dragon pulse
Level 85 Soul Saver (Haxorus) dragon
Moves:
Outrage
Iron tail
Dragon dance
Scale shot
Level 100 Alfred (Aegislash) ghost/steel
Moves:
Sacred sword
King’s shield
Iron head
Shadow Claw
In Sanctuary town…
Some students sat around their desks chatting at Hitsue Middle. The residents of Sanctuary town recently returned. Thankfully there wasn’t much damage to the buildings in the town. Morikawa sat back in his chair with his feet on the desk.
“I wonder where Sendou is?”, one of the students murmured.
“Who knows.”, another replied.
“I heard a rumor that he has powers just like Suzugamori Ren’s.”, another whispered.
“Yeah, I heard he could also understand Pokémon and did you see when Sendou fought those dynamaxed Pokémon?”, a different student added.
“What if he’s been in cahoots with him this whole time?”, one of them asked.
“Hmph. Aren’t the same flies that were buzzing around him not too long ago, telling him how cool he is. Now the second he’s gone their trashing him like this. These guys were just trying to lick his boots to get in his good graces.”, Morikawa thought.
“Why would he beat him them?”, the other questioned.
“I don’t know, but Sendou looks an awful lot like Gin Gaillard. What if it’s some big conspiracy?”, one of them replied.
“Your right! They look almost exactly like except their hair and age!”, a different student replied.
They all jumped as they suddenly heard the loud slamming of a book against the desk.
“Ahem!”, Mark called out, to gain his students attention for their class about to start.
“Before we start I must inform you that Sendou Aichi won’t be with us today. Also, it's not very nice to talk about your classmate behind their backs.”, Mark added.
“Ah, sorry!”, they hastily apologized as a unit with no sense of individuality.
(Speaking of Aichi..) In Alola…
“Maximillion Pegasus?”, Aichi questioned, having no idea who that was.
“Golisopod! Golisopod! Golisopod! Golisopod! Golisopod! Golisopod! Golisopod! Golisopod! (Don’t worry if these suits try any funny business we’ll just beat them up!)”, Llew assured, cupping his ‘fist’ with his claw.
“I guess so...why is he letting us in exactly?”, Aichi asked.
“No idea. I’m just following orders.”, the suited man with really pointy hair replied.
“Alright.”, Aichi nodded, still keeping his guard up as he started to follow one of the suited men in.
“So, who is Maximilion Pegasus exactly?”, Aichi asked.
“He’s a very wealthy businessman. He’s always had quite the interest in Pokémon battling especially after his trip to Kairos region. He’s held several Pokémon battle tournaments including the private Trainers Kingdom tournament which was held here in Alola. That’s what this castle was originally built for.”, the suited man explained.
“Kairos huh...Didn’t Pokémon battling originate there?”, Aichi asked.
“Yes, the sport of Pokémon battling as we know it originated from that region many millennia ago.”, the suited man replied.
They stopped before a door which the suited man opened. Aichi’s Pokémon kept very close to him preparing themselves for any sort of attack. They saw the back of a revolving chair. They could see someone holding a wine glass. With a swift kick the chair spun around and they could fully see the man sitting in it. He had long straight silver hair which covered one of his eyes. His eyes were brown and he wore a flamboyant red suit with red pants and white shoes.
“Hello, what brings you to the wonderful region of Alola? I am Maximillion Pegasus.”, Pegasus greeted.
“Haxorus. Haxorus. Haxorus. Haxorus. (I wouldn’t call the locals wonderful.)”, Soul Saver said.
Aichi’s eyes widened in disbelief and let out a startled gasp at Soul Saver’s sass.
“Soul Saver! That’s rude!”, Aichi blurted out, briefly forgetting that other people can’t understand Pokémon.
“Lucario! Lucario! Lucario! Lucario! Lucario! (Soul Saver! Wingal and Llew are native to Alola!)”, Gancelot hastily informed him.
“Hax...Haxorus. (Ooh...sorry guys.)”, Soul Saver apologized.
“Golisopod. Golisopod. Golisopod. Golisopod. Golisopod. Golisopod. Golisopod. Golisopod. Golisopod. Golisopod. Golisopod. Golisopod. (It’s fine I’ve never been here before anyway and I have to agree a lot of the Pokémon here aren’t nice. Besides, I was born in Kakusa.)”, Llew replied.
“Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. Lycanroc. (Yeah, I don’t care. What Llew said a lot of the mon here are jerks anyway. They try to suck out your life essence or hug you to death or gush out poisonous gases with no regards to others or eject their organs at you. That’s why I left.)”, Wingal added.
They minus Pegasus and the suited man looked stunned at what Wingal told them. The suited man looked rather confused wondering why Aichi was talking to his Pokémon. Pegasus simply chuckled at this and Aichi looked rather embarrassed.
“How very amusing. The way you talk to your Pokémon. I met a person once who could really understand them. I wonder if your the same way.”, Pegasus said as Aichi flinched.
“Who was it?”, Aichi asked.
“I was at a rather fancy party in Johto when I met them. He was a bit younger than you and rather unruly. Way too much arrogance for his own good. For some weird reason he referred to himself as a number though he gave me a second name to make it easier. His other name was Christopher Lo.”, Pegasus answered.
“Christopher Lo”, Aichi muttered.
Lo definitely sounded strangely familiar to him like Ren’s name did. He tried to search his memory for that name. Slowly over time pieces of his past in Galar had been returning to him. So far he was mostly remembering the moments he had with Oliver. Perhaps it was triggered back when his mother mentioned him? After all he didn’t remember 002f.
…
Aichi struggled a bit before he suddenly had a brief flashback.
Flashback…
“I don’t see much of a reason to create another Psyqualia user.”, Gin replied, boredly to someone.
One of the men had short desaturated pink hair and blue eyes. He wore glasses and a green suit with a red A. He had a name tag that said Jonathan Lo. The other man who was with them was Ryuzu. 003v looked up a bit curious about what they were talking about.
“Another one. Dad’s right we don’t need another one. I’m all we need.”, 003v thought.
“Well, Jonathan here has contributed about as much as Katsuki and Triton so why not?”, Ryuzu replied.
“You say that as if their just rewards. I don’t think we should have too many. If we had a large number a few might get some unsavory ideas.”, Gin replied.
“I’m not saying we’ll make a bunch. It’s just one more.”, Ryuzu replied as Gin narrowed his eyes.
“I’m not sure...I’ll have to think about it.”, Gin replied.
Flashback end
“Jonathan Lo...that’s his father right?”, Aichi asked.
“Oh you know him?”, Pegasus asked.
“So, they went through with it didn’t they…why! Why! How could he allow another to be made! Doesn’t he believe in me! I can fulfill father’s ambition on my own!”, Aichi thought.
He felt a weird feeling in his chest that he tried to push down. Part of him felt a bit outraged that they felt the need to make another one after him. Like a wounded pride. It felt like the more he remembered the more 003v’s thoughts and feelings started to blend into his own. Aichi blinked, shaking his head to snap out of it.
“No! I’m not him! Why does this keep happening? I don’t want to help my father with his twisted ambition!”, Aichi thought.
“Don’t we though? Can you really resist it when it’s hard coded into your brain?”, Aichi flinched confused, were those his thoughts? Or 003v? He wasn’t sure and it was worrying him.
Soul Saver, Gancelot, and Alfred looked rather worried. Soul Saver could feel his emotions through the link. Gancelot could read his aura so he knew exactly what he was thinking and feeling. Alfred being the wise old ghost he was he knew how to read people well. Wingal and Llew were a bit confused and concerned by Aichi’s strange behavior.
“...Kind of...I think I’ve met his father before.”, Aichi replied simply.
“Something seems to be troubling you ah…”, Pegasus trailed off awkwardly, pretending not to know his name.
“O-oh! I forgot to introduce myself! I’m so sorry. My name is Sendou Aichi. I am from Kakusa. As for how I ended up here it’s kind of a weird story…”, Aichi replied sheepishly.
“Ah, I love stories!”, Pegasus replied.
“Oh...okay well…”, Aichi replied as he started to recount when he met Leon and him getting hit by a tsunami.
In Kanto…
“He’s at that Pegasus jerk’s doorstep!”, Honda said.
“Pegasus? You mean like the business man?”, Misaki questioned confusedly.
“It’s...a long story.”, Yugi replied.
“He stole Yugs gramps soul!”, Jonouchi blurted out and Anzu face palmed.
“Say what?”, Kourin questioned.
“Oh Arceus…”, Anzu groaned.
“And he got better!”, Honda added.
The Kakusans looked at the Kantonians like they were insane minus Kai.
“Uhh...well you see it all started when I got this weird video and somehow I battled Pegasus on the video…”, Yugi started.
“How did you battle a video?”, Kamui questioned.
“Magic!”, Jonouchi replied, like that explained everything.
“Anyway there was a time limit, it ran out and he took my grandpa’s soul and forced me to battle in his tournament…”, Yugi continued as Misaki and Kourin looked at each other with the ‘these people are crazy look’.
“Then you know I participated with Jonouchi and I beat Pegasus and won my grandpa's soul back.”, Yugi finished.
“I know it sounds like they're clinically insane, but it’s actually true.”, Kai said.
“Sure...whatever you say Kai.”, Misaki replied.
“So, we have to get to Alola!”, Yugi said.
“Alright. Let’s go.”, Misaki replied.
In Galar…
Oliver looked determined as he got the back of his Garchomp. With him on their Pokémon was the tall brown haired teen, the short dark skinned girl, both from before and Raul. The tall teen had a Corviknight. The dark skinned girl had a Mismagius. Raul had a Hydreigon. He wasted no time flying towards Alola full speed while the others tried to catch up.
“He really can’t wait to meet 003v can’t he?”, the dark skinned girl questioned jokingly.
“Oliver, wait up! Oh whatever...you want to make this a race Oliver? I’m going to win!”, the tall teen yelled.
“Oliver. Neve. Ah...those two and their rivalry…”, Raul sighed face palming a bit.
The tall teen was now known as Neve. Raul and the dark skinned followed after the two who were going rather fast.
In Kanto…
They had gotten to the boat they had arrived in and were now setting course to the Alola region. Yami looked over in the direction of the Johto region with a concerned expression. Yami closed his eyes looking away.
“Yami?”, Yugi questioned.
“I’m just worried about 004a attacking, but with their friend we should be able to stop him.”, Yami replied.
“Don’t worry about it too much. We won’t be gone for long. And once we’re back we’ll be able to stop him once and for all.”, Yugi assured and Yami nodded in response.
“Hey just in case we should avoid getting as close to Johto as possible. It’s been occupied by Team Asteroid.”, Yugi warned, the Kakusans.
Thus the race to find Aichi began between our heroes and Team Asteroid.
In Johto…
A boy around Kamui’s age yawned. He had desaturated pink hair in a ponytail and blue eyes. He wore a green Teddiursa hoodie and jeans. He sat on a throne, his feet rested on a trembling person bent over.
“Your shaking is getting quite annoying foot rest.”, the boy said in an annoyed tone.
“S-sorry!”, the poor person being used as a footrest hastily apologized.
The poor guy was covered in sweat with his heart beating loudly against his chest.
“Footrests don’t talk. You stupid Caterpies keep forgetting that.”, the boy replied as the guy shook more in fear.
The boy showed no empathy to the man’s frightened expression. The man let out a pained whine as he was surrounded in gold aura and was forced to uncomfortably fold his limbs. He felt extremely uncomfortable as his face was pressed against the ground and he was folded unnaturally into more of a foot rest position. Bits of drool leaked from the guy’s mouth as he tried to hold in another whine. The boy looked down still rather unamused and dissatisfied. Loud cracking sounds could be heard as the man yelped in pain. Though all you could really see was his hands in foot in awkward positions and the boy sitting there with an unfazed expression.
“Hmm...that guy is leaving? Why? Maybe I should burn down that little town. Nah, that would be lame without him there to try and stop me. Maybe I could inconvenience him?”, the boy thought.
The boy had a dark expression as he held out a master ball. All of the citizens turned servants flinched as they saw the master ball. He jumped off his chair making sure to land on his human foot rest before walking forward. The servants had rather horrified looks and reluctantly went back to their labor.
In Alola…
“Wow! It sounds like you experienced something like something out of an old story! Well, you are welcomed to stay here for now Aichi-boy. You look like you need to wash up anyway.”, Pegasus said.
Aichi looked rather embarrassed when he mentioned washing up. Yeah, with how much he was sweating under Alola’s searing sun he needs a bath. He was still a bit cautious, but the offer sounded rather alluring. He looked down at Wingal. All of his Pokémon were hurt by the tsunami, but Wingal had it the worst. He needed help quickly or...he didn’t even want to think about the or.
#cardfight vanguard#pokémon#yugioh duel monsters#ygo dm#aichi sendou#kai toshiki#misaki tokura#kamui katsuragi#kourin tatsunagi#taishi miwa#yugi mutou#yami yugi#atem#katsuya jonouchi#joey wheeler#honda hiroto#tristan taylor#anzu mazaki#tea gardner#maximillion pegasus#christopher lo#oliver gaillard#philipe neve#Raul Serra#Rati curi#lycanroc dusk form#golisopod#lucario#haxorus#my crappy writing
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Next Bnha Arc
It’s obvious that the next arc of BNHA is going to be another internship arc. This time it will probably focus on Bakugou, Todoroki Midoriya and possibly Tokoyami. Here’s my theory/rant about who I believe will be signifigant charcters next arc.
U.A. students:
Midoriya Izuku: I’m not sure who he is going to internship yet. Kamui woods seem like a good contender to help with black whip. However I think Midoriya will also focus on all for one first. Maybe he will internship with another student(maybe one below?) Although, no matter who he internships with, he will find the main trouble of this because he’s mc.
Rest of Students, Pro Hero’s , villians and TL;DR under the cut.
Todoroki Shoto: Todoroki will most likely continue intern under his father. He wants to improve his fire side, which Endeavor will be happy to help with. There is a possibility of more Tokoyami and Todoroki interactions due to Hawks and Endeavors teaming up.
Bakugo Katsuki: Bunny Lady!!!! Bakugou needs to learn how to calm down his attitude towards the others and the media. Miruko is perfect for this. She has a similar attitude and personality to Bakugo but still is likable. Rather than being seen as an asshole( Like Bakugo) she seems tough and cool. I think she’ll teach Bakugou that he doesn’t have to be the perfect media hero with best attitude but still needs to act civilized to be a hero that the citizens can count on and like.
Tokoyami Fumikage: Icarus..... I mean Hawks. He might be pulled into a LOV/PLF(Paranormal League Front) scenario due to Hawks’ connection to the league. It will be cool to see him fight a villain while dark shadow isn’t uncontrollable.
Others: Other internships might be mentioned but not that important.( as always.....) While it would be nice to someone else in a spotlight, the characters above internships allow them to have something to do with the league. 2-A ?
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Pro heroes:
Endeavor: Will see him and Shoto working together. I don’t think his hero #1 status will last for long.. The hero society is bound to fall and the UA students will bring it back by proving themselves as capable heroes(The Fall isn’t going to happen this arc but the foundation/beginning of the fall will start). I think possibly his past with his family will come out and cause distrust among the citizens and have them question “ Who are we letting to become Top heroes?’. Maybe Touya will have something to do in this.... Will connect with Hawks to track down the LOV/PLF while they have the advantage of surprise because they don’t have the advantage of power anymore.
Hawks: Hawks’ story is going to be concluded somehow.....maybe death by flying too close to the sun or he actually succeeds(X Doubt). Hey, maybe even someone( a villain or the media) will put his LOV/PLF connection out into the world but portray it in a way that looks like he actually working for the villains. While the pro heroes/Hawks can make a statement that he is a double agent and isn’t evil, many will not believe in them and push it off as damage control.
Miruko: She going to have a major battle(hopefully with Bakugo at her side). Will probably help with LOV/PLF investigation.
All might: ahhhh..... not the best future... he is going to die eventually, maybe not this arc but soon. Will continue to see him research about his predecessors and write notes for Midoriya.
Other: Others might be mentioned for the class -1a internships. Most likely Kamui Woods. Edge shot maybe. Also might see what happened to Best Jeanist. Aizawa will care/worry for his students
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Villains:
Shigaraki: Hahah ....has power. We won’t see hi, do the task for the doctor this arc but still probably will be talked about by the pro heroes. While he does have great power, due to his position, I think he doesn’t care about liberation but destroying hero society.
Dabi: Touya Todoroki? There is a reason why Dabi’s and Geten’s fight was sidelined. While we did get more evidence for the theory, the main reveal was saved for a better time where it has a better impact in story. The only LOV charcters that we don’t know any background/life story of are: Dabi, Mr. Compress, and Kurogiri.( also Giran but......)So only two active members. I feel like he will be targeted first as he and hawks are the connection between the pro heroes and the LOV/PLF . If he does get targeted(or goes to the pro heroes)he most likely lose. Despit that, no matter what he does like escapes, gets captured, or dies he will do with a boom. I feel like he will reveal what Endeavor did to him, his sibling and his mom. An important factor in bringing down a society(like the hero society) is having citizen support. While the LOV/PLF does have the liberation army’s followers, those followers primarily want free usage of their quirk and have nothing against heroes. If this news about Endeavor does come out (or maybe even about Hawks) people will start to question hero society more that ever and see the point in Stains’ ideal(we know already that a good amount of people thought he made a good point or he was cool but never acted on it). People will not trust their Heroes and have fear that they are corrupted. The people of Japan will start to ask: “How did Endeavor become the number#1 hero did that to his children and wife, even allowing/pushing one to become a villain?”, “Can we trust our other heroes” , “Should we just create a new hero society”, and finally “ Maybe the villains have a point”. With this the hero society will start to crumble and all the LOV/PLF will have to do is hit them hard, which isn’t a problem to do with their arsenal. Overall, I smell the Touya reveal coming soon and that will be the start of the domino effect.
TL;DR: My theory is that Next Arc will focus on Todoroki, Bakugou, Midoryia, and Tokoyami with this respective internships with Endeavor, Miriko, Kamui woods?, and Hawks. This will lead to the LOV/PLF(Paranormal Liberation Front) investigation which they will get caught up in. Possibly, Endeavor past of his abuse towards is family will come out and cause the citizens of Japan to question the hero society. With this.....the LOV/PLF will be able to hit the hero society hard.
This all theory .....not canon.......f you have any theories or input you want to share leave a comment, send me an ask or message me .
#Damn the Dabi part is longg#mha#bnha#my hero academia#boku no hero academia#Dabi#dabi is a todoroki#hawks#league of villians#mha endeavor#bnha todoroki#mha midoriya#bakugou#paranormal liberation front#but it's just a game theory#touya todoroki#all might#miruko#tokoyami#internships#chapter 241#sparks
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The Library is Open: part 2
part two for my favourite listener @ladycakepops! love ya kween
Read part one here :)
***
The dressing room lights make her skin look too pale. The mirror highlights every flaw- the slight smudge of her eyeliner below her right eye, the cakiness of her cheap foundation. Who can afford the expensive stuff when she’s layering this shit on every night? Her fake lashes stayed on tonight, at least, and she didn’t bother covering up her tattoos this time- the dragon crawling up her neck is sickening. The lights cast bright white rings in her green eyes.
With one last look, Hizashi takes a makeup wipe. With a slow, intentional movement, washes a streak of Present Mic away.
“You’re gonna be late, girl.”
Hizashi doesn’t need to turn to look to know who’s talking to her. Miss Hawks has been in the table next to hers for just over a year now. Besides, the moment she sits down, feathers start falling off her dress and they scatter all over Hizashi’s dressing table.
“Yo, you’re getting feathers all up in my shit.”
“You love it.”
“I absolutely do not, I am literally two seconds away from calling animal control.”
Hawks is too cool to laugh at Mic’s jibes, usually. Now that Hizashi is de-dragging, it’s no different- all he gets is a lazy smirk. He has to admit to himself that out of drag, Hawks is hot. He looks like the kind of dude who’d model for a watch advert in a fine suit. But then, he knows just how cool he is and that is very much not Hizashi- or Mic’s- type.
Besides, Hizashi doesn’t think he could cope with all the fucking feathers.
“You’re going to be late.”
Hawks repeats this, largely because he likes talking, but more than that, he likes being provocative. Hizashi continues to slowly remove his makeup, ignoring the building nerves and anxiety and guilt and excitement warring inside his chest. Instead, he concentrates on the purple lipstick that comes away onto the makeup wipe that makes his mouth taste like chemically flavoured cucumber.
“You can ignore me all you want, that’s fine, I don’t give a shit.”
Hizashi doesn’t reply. Hawks makes her taunt and gently removes the feathered wig from her head to reveal a messy nest of blonde hair falling out of its bun. The smokey eye is on point, even after her performance. Along the other dressing tables, the other queens tut and complain about the feathers landing in their stuff. Best Jeanist stares in silent judgement at a yellow feather that sticks onto her contouring kit.
“I just think that this guy seemed really cute. And standing him up would be a super shitty thing to do-”
“Oh my god,” Hizashi finally exclaims. He was never good at keeping quiet about his feelings anyway, why bother? “Will you shut the fuck up about it?”
“You’re standing him up?” Best Jeanist asks with a cocked brow.
Hizashi twists his lips, sits up straighter in his seat and turns back to his reflection to remove the rest of the makeup. His brows are pulled together comically. He’s always had a bit of a ridiculous face, overly expressive. “I’ll message him in a minute,” he settles with, not wanting to discuss further.
“What did he do? What did he say? Was he a creep after all?” Kamui Woods is still in full woodland nymph makeup, too distracted by her conversation with Tiger to take anything off.
“You know that’s not what it was,” Jeanist says, acting like she knows it all. “Miss Mic’s just got commitment phobia.”
There’s a round of scandalised ooing. Jeanist really has no business sharing that sort of shit in here. But then, Hizashi is easy to tease. Mic’s is all bark no bite, and Hizashi isn’t any difference. He’ll throw hands, for sure, but only in defence of one of his sisters.
Right now, Hizashi covers the feelings of embarrassment and anger with a cocky smirk and flipping the bird. He finds himself instinctively moving turning towards her and pointing an accusatory bag of makeup wipes in her direction. “Mamma, don’t be acting shady now.”
Jeanist raises her hands in a poor mimicry of apology, looking a lot like she doesn’t think she’s done anything wrong.
“Alright now, alright,” Tensei says, Ingenium outfit half removed and makeup off. Ingenium’s got that futuristic 60s sci-fi robot feel that Hizashi absolutely lives for. So chic. Tensei also happens to be Hizashi’s best friend here, aside from Nemuri. “Let’s not get personal, it’s only eight thirty.”
Hizashi casts Tensei a smile. Tensei rolls his eyes and shakes his head: just ignore them, the gesture says.
“It’s hard to date, you know?” Kamui comments, finally unpinning flowers from herself. “Drag doesn’t make it easy for us.”
Hizashi nods vigorously, dragging a makeup wipe along his neck. A shadow of facial hair already coming through. “I wouldn’t sacrifice my drag for no man,” he replies.
A chorus of mmhmms.
“For real, though, queen,” Tensei says. Hizashi catches his eye in the mirror. “He seemed cute. You’re really gonna stand him up?”
For once, the dressing room goes quiet, and Hizashi feels all eyes on him as he pulls off the straps of his dress to reveal his entire torso, tattooed and blushing from the heat of the stage. The silence weighs on his shoulders and he lets out a long, infuriated groan.
“For fuck’s sake- look, it’s just, too good to be true, you feel? A cute guy gives me his number after a show? Expects me to turn up- how? In drag, in the middle of a bar in Mustafu? Out of drag, just to disappoint him because I’m not what he expected? Yo, nobody wants to find out that I’m just as noisy and annoying out of drag-”
“Ey, ey, ey. Nah,” Hawks wags her finger disapprovingly at this speech. “Nobody gets to make you feel like that. Don’t let The Man get you down.”
“Even if he is tall dark and handsome.”
“Especially if he’s tall dark and handsome.”
“He was just- like, over text he’s really cute and all,” Hizashi continues, on a roll now, “But holy shit he don’t say much- and like, I’m trying so hard not to be over the top or clingy or weird or annoying or too much of a smartass-”
“He loved that you were a smartass, remember?” Kamui adds. “That’s like half the reason he gave you his number, right?”
Tiger nods in silent assent of this.
“-And I try so hard to keep my drag life and real life separate ‘cause you just never know what people will think, but he seemed super chill and he does seem nice but he could be a total weirdo and the fact he’s so quiet and says so little, like, probably means he’d hate me in real life ‘cause I’m the total opposite, you know, and-”
“You won’t know that till you meet him,” Jeanist says, placing her wig on its stand.
“-And we lead such different lives, like, he’s your standard salaryman and I’m here taping my dick between my legs-”
“A salaryman.” It’s the first that Shigaraki has said all this time in the dressing room. Now out of drag, he’s using the moisturiser that Hizashi practically forced on him and is lathering the stuff all over his face. He looks around Hawks at Hizashi with a mocking smile and a wrinkled brow. “A rich wanker-banker and a club worker. Like Pretty Woman. Seriously?”
“Hey, no tea, no shade,” Hawks says shaking her head. Another flurry of feathers comes tumbling down from the huge collar of her dress.
Hizashi measures their descent onto the floor. “Bitch you betta have superglue.”
“Nothing wrong with a macho boy with lots of money realising the moment he lays eyes on you he’s been queer this whole time,” Hawks continues, concentrating fiercely on removing the dress.
“Sounds like a nice daydream, too bad that shit only ever happens in your head,” Shigaraki snorts.
“I wouldn’t say no to a handsomer salaryman walking in right now and-”
“Point is,” Jeanist interrupts, throwing a denim minidress onto a hanger in her dressing gown. And yep, you guessed it, it’s denim. “You know this could go badly, of course it could, but it could go well. You could hit it off. You’ll regret it if you don’t go.”
“Don’t break that poor salaryman’s heart,” Shigaraki mutters cynically, massaging moisturiser into his face.
Hizashi stares back at his reflection and considers this. The night that Mic had read Aizawa’s colleague has cemented itself in his mind. The look on Aizawa’s face. The ridiculous chemistry and the almost bashful way he’d handed over his business card.
Brows pinched nervously, he nods, and gives himself a smack in the cheeks for good measure.
***
Tatooin station is busy, people filing out of the ticket barriers with beers in hand ready for Friday night. It’s a summer night, so the sun hasn’t quite set. At 7:30, it’ll be a while until the purple blue sky goes dark.
Hizashi leans from one leg to the other, tapping his foot and fidgeting and muttering Avril Lavigne lyrics to himself like a prayer.
It’s silly to be nervous, really. Hizashi has mad charisma skills, even if the exuberance does become borderline overwhelming. First dates usually go well for him. It’s the follow-up that never lasts; when people realise that he really is always just that hyperactive. And yes, he does wear skirts in public, and no, he doesn’t tone it down for anyone.
“Shit,” he mutters to himself, picking at his nail varnish.
Looking down at his phone, he sees a message from Aizawa. Here
And looking back up, he scans the station through 60s style circular sunglasses. There are too many people for Hizashi to spot him, and Aizawa will be blending in with the rest of the salarymen. He has no idea what to look for.
But then he appears, and he wonders how he could have forgotten how much this man stands out.
Not because he’s particularly tall, or has a loud fashion sense. Not because he does anything to intentionally make himself noticeable- nothing other than just looking like he doesn’t give a fuck. It’s the messiness of the appearance, the half tied up bundle of hair. The unmistakable scar on his cheek and the perpetual hands in pockets. It’s a look that completely contradicts the salaryman lifestyle, and he seems to reveal himself easily in the crowd of tidy, urgently power-walking businessmen in suits.
Unsurprisingly, he spots Hizashi quickly.
On seeing Hizashi’s outfit- which he planned very carefully, with the added borrowed item from his sisters’ wardrobes- his eyebrows don’t even raise. It’s as if he isn’t at all taken aback to see a man standing in Tatooin station looking like a 60s androgynous witch. Instead, Hizashi watches in anticipation, growing nervousness, and pleasant surprise as Aizawa gives a small, lazy wave and wanders over. Not at all embarrassed to be seen with him.
“Hope I didn’t keep you waiting. Trains were fucked,” he says soberly.
He gestures for the two of them to leave the station, and Hizashi is momentarily speechless by how relaxed this man is.
“Um,” Hizashi starts, fiddling with the ends of his sleeves. He hates how awkward dating makes him. Give him a microphone and he’ll rule the stage, but his love life? His confidence is in the negatives. “How was work today?”
Aizawa tilts his head from side to side in brief contemplation. Then, “I quit.”
Hizashi can tell his expression is ridiculous as he stares at Aizawa open mouthed. “Oh, fuck! That’s-? Yo, that’s pretty-”
“It’s been a long time coming,” Aizawa shrugs.
They walk down the street towards nowhere in particular. He wonders if Aizawa has anything in mind for their date, or whether they’re just aimlessly walking.
“Well, you seem super chill about it, so I guess- congrats!” Hizashi says, his words laced with laughter.
“Who wants to be a businessman, anyway,” Aizawa says, a slight grimace on his typically neutral face. He rubs at the back of his neck, tie loosened.
“Not you, huh. I guess no one dreams of sitting in front of a computer crunching numbers for hours at a time.”
“Mm. It’s not that I’m not willing to work hard at something. Just got to be actually worth the effort.”
Hizashi considers his rather tedious, if not intellectually stimulating job before he became a full time drag queen and entertainer. “Yeah, I get that feeling,” he says sincerely.
“What do you want to do,” Aizawa asks suddenly. His questions rarely sound like questions, more like statements that expect an answer. “Tonight, that is.”
“Well- we could do whatever! I’m chill with whatever, man,” Hizashi grins.
“I’m not really into formal dinners and stuff,” Aizawa says simply.
How refreshingly honest.
“That’s cool! I like them but I also like just doing jack-shit and drinking a couple of beers, too. Whatever floats your boat, my dude!”
“Doing jack-shit and drinking beers sounds good,” Aizawa admits with a smile.
And what a nice smile it is. It immediately takes Hizashi back to when their eyes first met back at Club Hero. It makes his stomach squirm, in a way that’s not exactly nice but not bad either.
From there, they make their way to the nearest supermarket, finding beers and a couple of snacks, all the while Hizashi chattering about himself and sharing his entire life story. It’s one thing to be a chatterbox in normal circumstances, but when he’s nervous, it’s an entirely different ballgame. Most people find it a little amusing, always overwhelming, and sometimes annoying. Aizawa, however, mildly picks up ready-to-eat gyoza and listens with the occasional nod or ‘mm’.
It would be easy to feel judged in this sort of situation. Hizashi is used to feeling judged- more often than not, it’s water off a duck’s back. Sometimes it isn’t.
Aizawa doesn’t seem the judgemental type.
There’s a park a couple of minutes down the road, past the bars that are beginning to overflow with customers and past the traffic jams. It’s a large green with a water fountain, the type that children play in in the afternoons- running through jets of water and screeching in delight. Now, it’s fairly quiet, all except for the occasional young couple or jogger. Parks are nice and all, but Hizashi is wearing a nice outfit, elements of which he has to return to his friends after tonight, so he’s not sure how much he wants to sit on the grass and possibly stain his clothes. Especially if there are insects, which there almost certainly are around here.
This is the precise reason why Hizashi hesitates, cocking his hip and crossing his arms in front of his chest, trying to figure out how to break it to this man that he’s an absolute princess when it comes to nature.
Aizawa peers up at him. A lock of hair in front of his face and the look in his dark eyes softening in amusement.
“Do you want to sit on my jacket,” he suggests.
Hizashi whines in complaint, shuffling on the spot and sighing to himself. He wants to say yes, but he also doesn’t want to make him-
Oh, Hizashi thinks, as he sees Aizawa wordlessly shrugging off his jacket and laying it on the bleached dry summer grass.
“There. Better?” he adds drily.
Somehow, Hizashi enjoys the teasing tone.
They sit side by side on the grass (and the jacket) watching the sun set behind the buildings. The taste of beer on Hizashi’s tongue and the fizz mixing with nerves in his stomach. The sweet floral scent of mochi as he licks the sticky sugar off his fingers. And the feeling of a man sitting next to him, a man unlike any other that he’s known. A man quietly confident, quietly calming, quietly kind. A man with a sharp tongue and tired eyes and a straightforward, unashamed honesty that he’s never come across before.
When the stars come out- barely visible through the city lights and pollution, but still there- they don’t question how long they have been there. They don’t consider that this first date is going on for quite a while, a lot longer than the usual, at least. What’s the point in overthinking it?
Hizashi’s mind has never felt quieter.
“It sort of started because Nemuri runs Club Hero, and I kinda- accidentally stumbled into commentating,” Hizashi explains, looking up at the sky on his back, glasses off. He feels Aizawa’s arm stretched beside his, not quite touching, but close. Close enough that his skin tingles.
“And then you started doing drag.”
“Yeah. I can’t actually remember why I thought I’d give it a go, putting on the wig and the heels and stuff. It was probably given a makeover. Those bitches will jump at the chance to give someone a drag makeover.”
For a moment, Aizawa considers this. “Do you like being on stage?”
Hizashi laughs. “Ho yeah. I’m a bit of a slut for picking up a microphone and just. Chatting shit. The fact that people actually pay to hear me talk and being a total weirdo is- like- it’s still too good to be true.”
“It must be freeing.”
“Yeah. I guess it is. It’s a way of sorta… channeling a part of myself that I don’t get to show everyday. Or at least, that people don’t appreciate when I look like this.”
He sees Aizawa turn his head towards him in his peripheral. Hizashi’s too afraid to look back, in case he ruins the moment. It’s nice enough just being looked at like this.
“Not everyone’s brave enough to be themselves like that. On stage.”
“Nah. I guess not.” Hizashi snorts, thinking back on the night Aizawa had shamelessly thrown his boss under the bus. “You don’t seem to hold back much, either.”
“Life’s too short to care what everyone else thinks.”
Hizashi finally turns to measure Aizawa. There’s a gentle look in his eye, but his brows are furrowed, as if in deep thought.
“You’d make an epic drag queen, dude,” Hizashi says seriously.
At first he seems a little taken aback. Then a huge, almost frightening grin. “I wouldn’t have thought that.”
“Yo, are you serious? Rule number one of being a queen is not caring what the haters say. Just doing you!”
“Hm,” Aizawa hums in consideration. He rolls his head back to look up at the sky, and Hizashi lets his eyes linger on the shape of his profile, the dip of his adam’s apple a little longer than he should. They both stare at the stars, in no particular rush to go anywhere else.
Hizashi brushes his pinky finger against Aizawa’s, and slowly, uncertainly, they link hands.
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Burn The Candle At Both Ends Ch 6
AO3 Link
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
When Dabi chose this path, feelings were supposed to be on the backburner. When he decided to drink at that club, a quick fuck was all he was expecting. Maybe a one night stand at best. The pit called commitment was something that was supposed to be behind him. Even being part of the Leauge of villains wasn't as constricting on him.
The Leauge of villains
That would surely scare you away. He could mention he's a villain, maybe burn a curtain or two. You'd send him packing and he'd never have to see you again. He wouldn't have to see you again.
But he didn't want that.
Dabi admitted he would avoid attention when the media would cover their missions. He secretly took steps to avoid himself becoming gossip for the heroes. It kept him up at night thinking one day he'd see you and you'd be afraid of him. You'd scream, swat him away, call the police and run. Every time in his nightmares, you'd hate him.
A part of him told him differently. Ever since you muttered the words he never wanted to hear. That damn phrase that made his heart accelerate and stop all at once. Words he had long forgotten and thrown away with his past. Whenever his mind wandered, he would hear it.
"I love you"
Pitiful
Dabi glared a hole into the countertop, wishing he could burn his problems. "Do you have a problem with the decor?" Kurogiri's attempt to lighten the mood fell flat as Dabi raised his head into a tired stare. "Yeah, but that's not my priority right now" Dabi stood up quickly to leave. The last thing he needed was a damn interrogation. He made it to the door before the last person he wanted to talk to announce his presence.
"Wait, I have something to discuss" Shigaraki sauntered in slowly. He sat down at the counter, folding his hands on the smooth surface. "I need you to conduct a low scale attack" he began. Dabi perked up, a chance to relieve some stress? Just what he needed. "We need to make the public uneasy, to build up to our large-scale plan" Shigaraki continued. He motioned for Kurogiri to hand Dabi a slip of paper. Dabi accepted the paper from the wispy hands of Kurogiri, glancing at the address. "It's to a local ranking station, they cover hero news and the likes" Kurogiri explained.
"I want you to destroy the place, make it a sign that we are ready to play" Shigaraki smiled wickedly. "Sure, sure" Dabi waved off the two. "Take Twice with you" Dabi groaned inwardly. He knew Shigaraki was doing it within reason, but he couldn't stop the feeling it was to dampen his mood. Either way, Dabi would be able to release his pent-up stress, it was the only way for him to now...
Since he couldn't face you.
After your last intimate night with Dabi, you felt uneasy. You vaguely remembered confessing your feelings to him. Your stomach had twisted into painful knots of anxiety when you thought about it. The next morning, Dabit had left while you were still asleep. He hadn't texted you like the last time, in fact, he hadn't texted you at all. You had sent him a standard good morning, a nude felt like too much right now.
You hadn't received a reply and he was a no-show at the club that night. You stopped texting after the fifth check-in text. It felt wrong to continually beg from a sign that he was okay. Not because it seemed clingy, rather, because Dabi was always so free. You felt that trying to get a grasp on him would just push him further away. Your stomach twisted again, had your words done exactly that?
You hadn't much time to ponder it over, you still had work after all. The Ranking office was currently busy with tallying hero work for the yearly ranking. A new number one hero was to be announced so that meant extra work for you. You had pushed your ill-feeling into the small safe in your heart and went about your workday. For once, your boss was on the floor helping with keeping track of the rankings.
The Ranking Hero, Numero, continued to speed through the papers as they came to his desk. His quirk, Quick Calculus, made him a living calculator. "Keep up the work everybody! Tonight we will party on my dime!" he encouraged loudly. Everyone wore tired smiles as they crunched numbers, looking forward to tonight. You were currently calculating the number two hero's score. Endeavor, you didn't know much about him and you didn't want to know more. When you reported to his agency, he didn't give off the feeling of being a hero. In fact, he didn't pay you any mind until you announced why you were there.
Even so, you spent most of the time talking with his sidekicks to get his records. Thankfully, they had already organized most of it so all you had to do was submit it. You stood up and approached the poor girl frantically writing down the totals as they were given to her. "Oh! You have Mr.Endeavor's total yes?" she hurried over to you and took the file from your hands. "Thank you for your hard work" she praised you before scurrying back to the board.
Just as you began walking back to your desk, the floor shook. Everyone began screaming as they hugged the walls and their desk. "Everyone please calm down!" Numero quickly took charge, attempting to round up his employees. You braced yourself against the nearby wall, the room felt hot and stuffy. Suddenly, alarms went off in the building. You recognized them as both fire and villain attack alarms. Everyone began running to the exit, you followed behind near the back, avoiding being trampled by the crowd.
"Hey ____! Get over here!" Numero called out to you. He had stayed behind making sure everyone left. You stayed low, following the wall to the exit. "Go down the stairs and don't stop for anything!" he ordered. You nodded and ran down the stairs. As you descended, you were able to see the damage within the building. Most of the foundation had been burned away, by a blue flame. Large blue infernos filled the office spaces and utility rooms.
Your throat tightened as you began to wonder why they seemed so familiar. A silhouette stood out amongst the flames, catching your interest. You stopped at the doorway to the room. "Hey! Get out of there!" you yelled at the figure. You saw a spiky head tilt in your direction, bright blue eyes staring back at you. As the figure approached you, dark purple patches came into view. Your voice caught in your throat.
It was Dabi.
He reached his hand out, palm in your direction. At first, you began to raise your hand to his. You noticed a tiny blue spark and ducked in time to avoid the flame. "Dabi! What the hell?!" you yelled at him. He smirked, a haunting one, unlike his usual smart-ass ones. "You move pretty fast, let's see you doge this" he mused as he sent another onslaught of flames in your direction. You managed to run down the hallway, escaping his sight. You ran toward the main entrance, but another wall fire blocked your way.
"Hey now, it's rude to run away when someone is talking to you" Dabi announced as he casually walked through the flames. Dabi wore a wicked grin as you backed away, hitting the wall behind you. "This isn't funny Dabi" your voice shook with each step he took. "Maybe not on your end, but I'm really enjoying myself here" he laughed swinging his arm back for another attack.
It never came. Large streams of water broke through the flames, dousing them until they were only smoke. A burst of water hit Dabi directly, creating a wider distance between you and him. You rose to your feet and headed to the entrance. Large roots tore the doors open, allowing you to escape the building. Outside, you saw the pro hero Backdraft and his sidekicks putting out the flames in the building. Kamui wood appeared as well, moving the debris from cleared areas to make a path for escape. "Please this way" one of the sidekicks guided you to where your other coworkers were being treated for burns.
You received aid for the small wounds you had, but you felt a bigger one on your heart. Dabi had attacked you, he was a villain, he had lied to you. While you waited to be released by authorities, you checked your phone any texts. Still nothing from Dabi.
You thought that was for the best.
Dabi clicked his tongue as he escaped down a nearby alleyway, Twice running behind him. "That place was on fire! Well, literally and figuratively!" Twice bellowed as followed Dabi. "Yeah no shit, the heroes came faster than expected" Dabi sighed tiredly. He had hoped he would have more time to destroy the place. "Those pedestrians were too fast man! Really cramped my style! But at least I got to scare that woman!" Twice ranted off excitedly. Dabi ignored him, he always talked too much for his liking.
"She knew who you were, must have been your number one fan! Just kidding, no one likes you!" Twice chortled loudly. Dabi turned to him with a glare. "Knew me? What she'd look like?" Dabi asked. He had a hunch but hoped he was wrong. Twice began explaining, rather crudely, your disheveled appearance to Dabi. Each word made Dabi's hands twitch. He hadn't asked you about your job, he had no idea you were at that office. You had encountered Twice's clone of Dabi. The clone who had no ties to you had acted out of his disposition.
"Hey man, you look like you need to take a shit, gonna take one? Like a dog?" Twice prodded Dabi curiously. This earned him a hard swipe into the brick walls. "Go back alone, tell Shigaraki I need a break" Dabi excused himself abruptly. Whatever Twice shouted at him fell on deaf ears, Dabi needed to get to you. His feet carried him to your apartment complex. He stopped in the shadows of the building.
Why did he come? Surely, you didn't want to see him. This was right, he could walk away from you now and never look back. That was when the regret settled back in. He had already walked out on important people in his life because of one incident. So, why would doing it again matter to him? Your smile flashed in his mind, causing his heart to beat rudely against his chest. He couldn't live without seeing that smile, even if it was for the last time.
His feet carried him to your floor. He stopped at your door, hesitating to knock. Dabi took out his phone and texted you.
<Hey, let me in>
Your reply came quickly, regret washing over you for not thinking before doing so.
<No>
<Please? I want to talk>
<No. Are you outside my door?>
<Yes, I need to explain what happened today>
<Then talk through the door>
<It's safer if I come inside>
<Safer for who?>
Dabi felt a grin break out on his face.
<For both of us>
You knew he could break the door down if he wanted to. You were sitting against the door, your back pressed against it. Dabi had slid to the ground, back against your door. It felt like ages had passed as you steadied your breathing. Dabi felt like his chances with you were slipping away with each second. His phone finally buzzed, giving him closure.
<I'm opening the door>
#mha dabi#mha#bnha#dabi bnha#dabi x reader#boku no hero academia#my hero academia#burn the candle at both ends
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Villainous Heroics - Chapter 15
Woo! This took so much longer than I wanted it to where midterms hit hard. Here we are, though, with Chapter 15. There's three more chapters left after this, so the story will be wrapping up shortly. Don't despair, however! I have "end game" drabbles planned for this series as well as two spin-offs that deal with mind sharing and body swapping. That's right, readers, we are FAR from done!
Enjoy!
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Summary: Eraserhead is an underground hero who is constantly busy and doesn’t have time to be dealing with new villains - even if they aren’t all that villainous and make the night interesting.
Present Mic is the latest up-and-coming villain in the world and he has a point to prove to everyone out there - as long as he doesn’t keep getting distracted by Eraserhead.
Aizawa Shota is someone who soon learns that there is more to someone than the mask they show to the world - especially when it comes to playing heroes and villains.
Yamada Hizashi learns that there is more to heroics and villainy than he could have ever thought - especially in a world where some heroes still care about those lost in the shadows.
(Inspired and dedicated to corndog-patrol’s Villain!Mic AU on Tumblr.)
<<First/Chapter>> <<Last Chapter>> <<Next Chapter>>
Chapter Fifteen
Halfheartedly scribbling a thumbs-up on Ashido’s latest test paper where she had achieved a low B, Shouta glanced at his phone as it started vibrating for the fifteenth time that hour. Considering his contact list was five names long, he could safely narrow it down to the only person who would find the need to text multiple messages in a row instead of confining her words into a single text box like a sane person.
‘Eraser!!!’ ‘When were you going to tell me that Present Mic was a hero?!?!?!’ ‘He just saved me and my sidekick a bunch of trouble!!!’ ‘He’s so great too!!!’ ‘He’s really a SCREAM!!’ ‘Lol but no seriously when were you going to tell me??’ ‘ERASER HE HELPED BANDAGE MY SIDEKICKS ARM AND GAVE HER A PIECE OF CANDY’ ‘IT WASN’T POISONED CANDY EITHER’ ‘OI ERASER CAN YOU HEAR ME???’ ‘He told me to tell you hi by the way he’s so cute’ ‘Really tho is he licensed?? When did that happen??’ ‘Ah he’s leaving now but seriously check the news it’ll probably be on there.’ ‘Did you delete my number again?? It’s me!! Ms Joke!! Your fiance!!’ ‘erASER’ ‘Tell Nem I said hi’
Exhausting. Joke was utterly exhausting and Shouta regretted every day that he hadn’t killed Nemuri for giving her his number. Moving to turn his phone off, Shouta frowned as it started ringing with an annoying American song that Nemuri had chosen for herself years ago. He almost let it go to voicemail before he decided he didn’t want to deal with her in person.
“What do you want, Nemuri?” Shouta answered, pushing himself up from where he had been working at the kotatsu for the past few hours. It was really showing he hadn’t moved in a while, he mused.
“I thought you said Present Mic wasn’t a vigilante?” Right. Joke had been talking about a fight that Present Mic had showed up to help out on.
“He wasn’t last time I saw him. What happened?” Shouta shuffled to the kitchen, smiling softly as he deftly avoided Jelly’s playful jumps and nudges against his ankles.
“Joke and that new sidekick of hers, Bullseye, were having some problems with a mutation quirk villain. Some sort of large animal with a lot of teeth and not that good at laughing.”
“Not good for Joke,” Shouta muttered, frowning as he checked his coffee pot, wrinkling his nose at the cold dregs left behind. He’d need to brew some more.
“No, not good for Joke. They were waiting for backup when your vigilante came on the scene and took care of the guy. Five minutes and he was down.”
“Sounds about right. Why are you calling me, then?” Flicking his phone to be on speaker, Shouta started a fresh pot, eying Jelly’s food bowl. He could probably give her at least another half scoop for the night.
“Because you said he was still a villain last time we talked!” Snorting at that, Shouta picked his phone back up, collapsing at the kitchen table.
“He probably still thinks he is.” Really, though… Yamada hadn’t been a villain for a very long time. After their talk the other night at the man’s apartment, Shouta was almost certain that Yamada had never been a villain. He was far too kind for that.
“He keeps saving people! That’s the opposite of a villain!” Stifling a laugh against his fist, Shouta listened to Nemuri’s ranting and complaining as he kept an ear out for the quiet sounds of a happy cat and a brewing coffee pot and thought about the ‘villain’ that was Present Mic, or, rather, the hero that was Present Mic. Shouta had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the last they heard of the new vigilante and hero.
Two weeks later proved him more right than he was expecting. In two weeks Present Mic had teamed up with Nemuri for a raid that had gotten out of control, aided Kamui Woods with a building evacuation during a fire, bonded scarily well with Mt. Lady during a bomb threat, and had even managed to work together with Endeavour of all people. Although, Shouta had heard from Nemuri that Endeavour's ears had been ringing for a few days afterwards.
All in all, Present Mic was finally making an impact like he had wanted to, turning the spotlight on him and making sure the media, and by extension their world of heroes and villains, knew just who he was. And yet, here he was, hiding away on the top of a roof like he was scared of being seen.
Landing on the edge of the roof lightly, Shouta hid a sigh in the wraps of his binding cloth as he stepped forward, letting his footsteps be heard. He knew Yamada knew it was him when the man didn’t even tense or look back. Not sure what to say, Shouta finally settled on something that he at least knew would get a response. “How goes the day, hero?”
The laugh was dry and brittle, an inch away from snapping as much as Yamada was. The man still responded, though, tilting his head to look back at him, “Shouldn’t it be night?”
“Probably,” Shouta said softly as he gave a twitch of a smile at Yamada before moving to take a seat beside him, still marveling on how a man as loud and outspoken as Present Mic had such a common name. Then again, after speaking with him in his civilian life, he supposed it made more sense. Yamada Hizashi seemed scared to speak louder than a whisper. “You know, typically heroes stick around to do the paperwork that comes with the work you’ve been doing.”
“It’s a good thing I’m not a hero, then.” The words were clipped, short, and to the point. Shouta believed them as much as Yamada seemed to. “I know what you’re going to say and I’m not changing my mind. I’m not… I’m not some hero.”
“No,” Shouta finally sighed, looking down over the city that spread out around them. From the building they were on it felt like they could see their entire world awash in cool blacks and bright neon lights. “You’re not.” Shouta hated how, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yamada relax. “But you could be.”
For once, Yamada didn’t have a quick response or a sharp denial ready. Instead he looked towards the night sky, hints of stars just barely peeking past the light pollution of the night. Silence settled around them, but Shouta noticed it wasn’t a comfortable silence. It wasn’t upsetting, to any degree, but… there was tension.
Shouta finally sighed, fingertips curling around the sleeve edge of Yamada’s leather jacket, giving it a light tug. The man didn’t move, but Shouta knew he had his attention as he asked, “What are you doing, Mic?”
“I… thought I could help. People, good people, were at the risk of getting hurt on all those occasions. I thought… I don’t know. I thought maybe I could at least make sure no one died. I thought I could help-”
“You did help.” Did he really not see that? After all of this, did he really not see that he was doing good? “Joke told me how you helped her and her new sidekick. It could have been a lot worse. Nemuri won’t stop bugging me to get your phone number for her, half the other pros thought you were a new hero, and Endeavour is still absolutely pissed - which, if you ask me, is always the mark of a good hero.”
His last line, just like he had hoped, had Yamada giving a startled laugh. Tension seemed to drain out of both of them, Shouta feeling a shoulder press against his own. He didn’t move away. Instead, he sat calmly, relaxing at the swath of warmth until he heard Yamada suck in a shaking breath, “I’m supposed to be the villain, Eraser.” Eraser? Ah, right. Yamada didn’t know that Shouta knew who he was - both parts of him.
“Is that what you really think? Or is that what you’ve been told to think?” Because Shouta had a theory that Yamada wasn’t a villain by choice. He had started all of this to help people in his own way, after all. A man like that could never be a villain. “You keep saying your quirk was dangerous… Who told you that?”
Just as he suspected. Yamada was tense against his side once more, wound up and tightly coiled as if ready to cut his losses and run. It was almost cute that Yamada thought Shouta would ever let him leave. Maybe that wasn’t the right question to ask, though. Maybe the better question…
“Why have you been helping the pros, Mic?” If he was so dead set on being a villain, why help? “A villain would have taken advantage and taken them all down. You stopped and helped. Why?”
It felt like an eternity, but finally, finally, Yamada let out a shaking, wobbling sigh. It was a sound that was a step above a sob and Shouta wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact that he wanted nothing more than to draw Yamada over and hug him. He was getting too soft.
“Mic.” Biting his lip, Shouta pushed his embarrassment aside and slowly moved a hand up, freezing for a few seconds before setting his fingertips against Yamada’s cheek and carefully pressing until he had the man finally looking at him. Yamada looked like he was shaking to pieces and Shouta didn’t stop to think before he pressed his palm against Yamada’s cheek, thumb rubbing against soft, smooth skin. “Why are you helping, Mic?”
There was a single moment where Shouta thought Yamada would jerk away and bolt. That moment passed, however, and Shouta shivered as he felt Yamada completely relax and lean into his touch as if he was starved for it. Distracted as he was, Shouta almost missed the words Mic said next.
“Someone important to me told me that I could be a hero.” The words were whisper soft - a secret that he knew Shouta would protect. “I think he might have been right.”
::
Shouta had never lied. He knew that Yamada Hizashi could be a great hero, but that didn’t mean he could ignore the truth. Yamada had grown up on rough streets and knew how to fight both with and without his quirk - which was powerful on its own. He hadn’t been trained as a pro, though.
There were some pros that didn’t go to a school specialized in hero training, yes, but that meant they usually served out internships and acted as sidekicks until they had the knowledge and experience they needed to go forward. Some sidekicks spent over a decade learning from pros, and even a new pro had the force of an agency behind them. Hell, Shouta himself worked for an agency and he was underground.
Yamada had none of that. He had no idea what the common strategies or signals were, he had never been trained to keep calm in mentally taxing situations, and he no doubt had only ever interacted with panicking civilians briefly. There was also the fact that he had never been trained to deal with real villains.
Present Mic fought thugs and gangs and kept the streets safer, but he didn’t deal with smuggling rings, quirk black markets, and hostage threats. Present Mic should never have been near a raid for an underground market that dealt in trading children with promising and powerful quirks. It was too dangerous - for him and everyone else involved in the scene.
It was all well and good to call him a hero, but that did not make him a pro. At best he was a vigilante and at worst he was an idiot who was trying to get himself killed.
“Mic!” The busy and upscale neighborhood (which hadn’t that been terrifying to know this was all taking place in somewhere considered safe) was filled with nosy civilians, handcuffed villains, crying and screaming children, and the wailing of sirens. Shouta could barely hear himself think in the mess, but he knew Yamada could hear him. Yamada always heard him. “You are not just walking off after all of that! You can barely walk!”
This raid had been dangerous from the start, but, as was the case these days, they had underestimated their opponents. While all the children had been rescued and were still alive and breathing, Yamada and half of the smugglers had almost died when the man had brought down the building to keep them from escaping. Shouta himself had barely gotten out and it had taken over an hour to dig everyone out. Yamada had been lucky that he was still alive!
“You could’ve died from a stunt like that! Are you even listening to me?!” Yamada was bruised, bleeding, and limping, his glasses having been cracked during the initial crumbling of the building.
“So what if I die? You wouldn’t care. I’m a villain - and a piss poor one at that.” Yamada had spun around to meet his approach, fist clenched around his broken sunglasses as he stared at Shouta with tear-filled eyes. Shouta wasn’t sure if it was the tears that made it feel like the breath was knocked out of him or the fact that Yamada had just said those words so casually. No… he had said them so bitterly. “I give it my all and you still hate me!”
Shouta had failed. If Yamada thought that he hated him after all that had happened, then he had well and truly failed in everything. Yamada looked close to even more tears, voice sounding so defeated as he muttered, “At least let me sulk in peace.”
Shouta was moving before he was even fully aware of it, catching Yamada by the lapels of that stupid leather jacket of his and tugging him close and keeping him from running away. His fingers had gone white with how tight his grip was, but he paid it no mind, instead entirely wrapped up in how their foreheads bumped together, Shouta hearing the hitch in Yamada’s breaths as he slammed his eyes shut, unwilling or unable to meet Shouta’s own gaze. It hurt more than he thought it would. There were a million words he could say, but words had never been Shouta’s strong point, and all he could get out was, “I don’t hate you.”
“So what is it?” Yamada was quick with words like always, but his voice shook as if expecting the fall that was about to come. “What’s wrong with me?” Shouta was so tired of Yamada thinking he was worthless. He was tired of Yamada thinking that Shouta would ever let him fall. “Why all the rejections?”
Shouta was bad with words. He always had been. There had been a hundred situations where Shouta had destroyed or ruined something because he had said the wrong words. He was determined to not let that happen with this man. So instead of words that would fumble and fall flat, Shouta tightened his grip on Yamada’s jacket before pushing himself forward, lips slotting themselves against ones that were chapped and dry. The silly man probably bit his lip every moment he grew nervous.
For a moment the lips against his were still and unmoving and Shouta felt his heart drop. There was no way he had read all of this wrong. Present Mic had flirted from the start, but Yamada Hizashi had stared at him with eyes that were filled with the same emotion Shouta had constantly been feeling around him.
When he felt hands curl into his jumpsuit and pull him closer, lips pressing hard and messy against his, Shouta realized he shouldn’t have even bothered to worry.
Pulling back, because even a moment like this needed a few words, Shouta bit his lip as he looked at Yamada’s face, still bruised and dirty from the raid, but flushed with pink and holding wide green eyes that practically shone.
“If I hated you,” Shouta near whispered, “I wouldn’t have bothered putting up with all of your stupid hijinks.”
“Oh!” The exclamation was quirk strong, Shouta not giving Yamada the chance to apologize before he was pressing forward again, lips finding Yamada’s as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Yamada didn’t hesitate, this time.
Shouta would be lying if he said he hadn’t pictured this moment before. He tried not to, but when the thoughts slipped in they usually revolved around adrenaline and something fast and rough and more about actions than words. This… wasn’t.
The kiss stayed hard for only a moment before Shouta felt hands cupping his cheeks, calloused fingers resting against him and a rough thumb pressing into the scar under his eye, dragging against it like he had after the USJ incident.
Shouta wanted to know those hands. He wanted to know each dip and curve and he wanted to know what had caused each scar and callous. Shouta could spend hours kissing his way across each inch of skin, giving the man all the contact and attention he had so obviously been starved of.
He had to have been starved of touch. It was in the way Yamada clung to him like he was afraid Shouta would pull away and never return. It was in how he pushed forward with the same amount of force he pushed back, arching into the hand that Shouta had pressed against the back of his head, keeping him close.
It wasn’t rough and fast and hard, though. It may have started like that, but Shouta was becoming lost far too quickly as Yamada curled into him like he belonged there, lips moving slowly and assuredly against his, a hint of teeth pressing against his own lower lip that had Shouta shivering and fighting back any sort of noise. Yamada didn’t have the same concern, a low, soft moan leaving him when Shouta’s fingers dug against the man’s scalp.
Slowly remembering that they were in the middle of a raid scene and they were both sore and injured, Shouta carefully pulled back, almost going right back when he saw Yamada staring at him with a flushed and dazed expression.
“Come on, hero,” Shouta mumbled, indulging enough to let himself press his lips to the edge of Yamada’s jaw, skin smooth and soft as he returned the favor from so long ago and flicked at the skin with the tip of his tongue. The noise Yamada gave had Shouta swallowing roughly as he pulled away again. “Let’s get you patched up.”
“Promise not to let go?” Yamada’s voice was rough and low and nothing at all like the smooth, high tones he had as Present Mic. It had Shouta tightening his grip more than he thought possible.
“I won’t.”
::
“How hard would it be to have an adult get a pro hero license?” Shouta kept his expression perfectly blank and even, laid back as ever as he watched Nemuri cycle through at least eight different expressions in the middle of the staff room. When her face finally settled on a sharp smirk, though, Shouta wondered how fast he could get away.
“This is for Present Mic, I take it?” Nemuri’s voice was a purr and Shouta hated her. He still gave a single, sharp nod, however. “Well, well, it looks like my little Shou-chan finally found love! Ah, they grow up so fast!”
Shouta kept silent and, by the time he realized his mistake, it was too late. Nemuri was staring at him with sharp, narrowed eyes. Shouta stared back evenly, trying not to show any fear. She could no doubt sense it.
“Shou-chan,” Nemuri cooed, voice light and sweet and containing all the horrors of the world. “When I said you found love, that’s usually when you correct me and tell me how wrong I am.” Right. There were many ways to do this.
“There’s no use in correcting you when you aren’t wrong.” In hindsight, Shouta should have expected the squeal. “Are you going to help me with this or not?”
“Of course I am!” As usual, Nemuri didn’t seem put off by his sharp voice and sharper glare at all. “Oh you’ll have to tell me all about it. Did you two finally admit to your feelings?”
“Sure.” In truth, there hadn’t been much time. The raid had been a few nights ago and Yamada had been absolutely exhausted after having an EMT on the scene use a minor healing quirk on the worst of his injuries. Shouta had followed to make sure he got home alright, but they hadn’t had a chance to talk about… what had happened. Yamada had whispered that he would see him soon, though, before leaving, and that was more than enough. “Here’s the paperwork I’ve managed to gather so far.”
“You can leave it all to me, Shou-chan!” Nemuri grabbed the paperwork, near spinning in circles she looked so happy. Shouta had the urge to tie her up and shove her away in a closet for a few days. “I’ve witnessed a true miracle! Not only is my sweet Shouta in love, but his feelings are returned!”
“You’re lucky I still need you alive.” Shouta hated to admit it, but Nemuri was far better with loopholes and paperwork than he was. Besides, this was important. He wanted to have all the paperwork ready when he finally sat Yamada down and truly talked to him about all of this. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I have things to do.”
“Right, right, go train your secret love child,” Nemuri waved off, suddenly pausing and going completely still. Shouta was already reaching for his binding cloth as Nemuri looked at him with wide eyes. “Does Mic know you have a son?”
“I am going to skin you alive and feed you to my cat,” Shouta hissed, refusing to admit any heat in his cheeks. “I do not have a son.”
“Yet.” Turning on his heel, he decided that ignoring Nemuri was the best thing he could do. “Boo, no fun. I’ll get the paperwork to you later!”
Pausing at the door, Shouta glanced back and gave a small nod before deciding that he could be cruel, too. “Mic and Shinsou have already met. He seemed delighted that I ‘had a son.’” With that, Shouta left the lounge and closed the door, smiling a little to himself as Nemuri’s pleas and whines for more information.
Heading to the indoor gym he had been spending most of his afternoons in, Shouta peeked his head in and smiled to himself as he saw Shinsou going through his warm-up routine, focused intently as he moved through his stretches. The kid had come far since that first fight in the festival and Shouta knew without a doubt that he would make it into the hero course.
“I know you’re there, Sensei.” Kid was getting more observational, too. Shouta hated how stupidly proud that made him. “It’s creepy when you just watch, you know.”
“It’s my job to watch.” Striding into the room and over to his student, Shouta helped him to his feet, noticing the look. “You have two minutes.” It had taken months to get Shinsou relaxed enough to talk with him honestly and openly. It had then taken a few minutes to realize he had made a horrible mistake. Once Shinsou was comfortable enough to talk, he didn’t stop. Shouta almost wanted to throw him in a room with Yamada and see which one ran out of words first.
“The new hero Present Mic, huh?” Shinsou had a large grin on his face, Shouta placing a hand on the teen’s head and gently tipping his head down towards the ground. All it did was cause laughter. “Is he still saying he’s a villain?”
“Not for much longer.” Not if Shouta had anything to say about it, at least. “He was never much of a villain to begin with, anyways.”
“I thought he was that night when I first met him.” Oh? That was news to him. “He came striding in like he was one of them and the guys who had me cornered started talking about how he was always fighting against Eraserhead.”
“Well, they weren’t wrong,” Shouta snorted, nudging Shinsou along. “Come on. Second set of stretches.”
“I don’t think I was afraid of him even when I heard that, though.” Shinsou kept talking even as he began the next set of stretches, Shouta shucking off his capture weapon and joining him. “He was glaring, but he was glaring at the one that was holding that muzzle-”
“Muzzle?” Shouta stumbled out of his own stretch, eyes snapping to Shinsou. He silently conceded to Nemuri that he might have grown a touch attached when he had the immediate urge to check the kid over and make sure he was alright after an event that had happened months ago.
“Oh, I didn’t tell you that part?” Shinsou blinked, looking entirely nonplussed. “They were talking about how I’d fetch a nice price.” The fact he could say that with such a detached tone had Shouta feeling even more worry. He didn’t much like it. “He played them all, though. Present Mic.”
“Let me guess. He got rid of the muzzle and then screamed at them until they passed out?” Because he remembered the state those men had been in when Shouta had come across the scene.
“He took the muzzle and fooled them into thinking that he was helping and that he was going to put it on me himself,” Shinsou recounted, tongue poking out as he focused on a pose he always had problems with. Shouta was nudging him into the correct position almost absently, Shinsou flashing him a smile. “He had them all fooled even as he dropped that muzzle and put his headphones on me instead.”
“That sounds like him,” Shouta snorted, remembering that night clearly, now, and how Yamada had been without his headphones when Shouta had found him. “He’s not all that intimidating once you see that stupid smile of his.”
“Yeah. He had me hide behind the dumpster and reassured me the whole time. He made it seem like he was on their side right until he took them down.” Shinsou stood up from his stretch, entering a more relaxed one as he stretched his arms up, a small crack coming from his back. “He’s a pretty amazing hero when you think about it.”
“Vigilante, you mean?” Shouta glanced down to see Shinsou’s smile, wide and honest as he shook his head.
“No. I meant hero.” Shinsou laughed as Shouta rolled his eyes, fighting to hide a smile. Shinsou was right, though. Yamada truly was an amazing hero. A hero that… deserved to know the truth.
Next time. Next time they spoke, Shouta would tell Present Mic he knew exactly who he was and he and Yamada Hizashi could sit down and figure things out. It wasn’t going to be easy - not by any stretch of the imagination - but Shouta had a good feeling about where it was going to go from here.
It was time for Aizawa Shouta and Yamada Hizashi to be more than just Eraserhead and Present Mic.
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mama i'm struggling mentally, do you have anything about our trash son Obito you're willing to share?
Please. Please. Just call me Kat. I am not mama and it honestly weirds me out a little to be called that, even over the internet. Just. Use my name.
Obito digs his fingers into theporcelain of his mask and wonders what the hell he’s doing.
The blank white face stares backat him without answer, one-eyed and watchful and cold to the touch, and Obitobreathes in, drags a hand over his eye and ignores the whisper in his head thattells him it would be better to give up now, go back to the base, return totheir plans for the Eye of the Moon. It sounds like Madara's voice, andZetsu's. Like anger and madness and cold, hard grief ready to drown him.
Obito still doesn’t feel sane,can't even begin to imagine how to exist without that edge of madness ridinghim, churning at his thoughts, but for the first time in years his head is clear. He can breathewithout feeling like his chest is on fire, like each inhale is a moment wastedthat could be spent plotting his revenge on the world as a whole. Gone, now,like it never existed, and Obito's never been so glad for anything in his life.
The moon is rising over theHokage Mountain, full and bloated and touched with red, and Obito lifts hisgaze from his mask to watch it, stomach twisting. Time’s running short—he cantravel instantaneously, but if he delays too long he’s definitely going to bemissed. Zetsu keeps close tabs on him at the most inconvenient times, and whilethe moon is full tends to be one of those moments.
He has a plan, technically. Nota good one, but he’s been working on desperationand furious stubbornness for weeks now, driven to the very edge and over it. There'sno time for a better plan, not if hewants his actions to amount to anything at all. Just this moment, in a villagehe set out to destroy, with a low-level ache in his chest and one last bit ofhope left.
(Konan caught him in the heartwhile they were sparring. Hit him with a paper shuriken that hid an explosivetag, and Obito was a bare half an instant too slow to slip into Kamui. He’dbeen distracted, thinking of jinchuuriki locations, the appearance of a newmissing-nin from Iwa they could recruit. Stupid, with someone of Konan's level,but Obito thought of it as sparring and failed to remember that Konan always fightsto kill, regardless of who she’s facing.
Obito has never, ever been soglad to die, even counting the first time.)
Taking a breath, he lifts themask, carefully fits it over his face. His newly-shorn hair is a strangesensation, obscenely light around his head, soft beneath his fingertips; he’dforgotten, over the years, the ease of short hair, and while there's more of arisk of being recognized wearing it like this, he couldn’t stand to look likeMadara for one instant more. Bad enough to walk through the halls, to wanderthe throne room where Madara kept him, because Obito can't change any of thatnow. But his appearance—that at least is still under his control.
Nothing else is, but he’sworking on it.
Knotting the mask’s ties, hepushes off the edge of the Shodai’s head, lets gravity catch him with a rush ofwind past his ears. The twist of Kamui steals his momentum, spends it as hewhirls through the other dimension and drops lightly to the ground on the otherside of it, crouched and wary. There's no movement around him, though; the Administrationbuilding and the Academy are both still in the darkness, no lights in anywindows. Konoha is never quite asleep, given the number of shinobi within itswalls, but it comes close sometimes, and this is one of those nights. Betterfor Obito; he slips into the shadows, perfectly silent as he marks the one patrolin this area and avoids them easily.
It’s tempting to turn his feettowards the graveyard, maybe the Memorial Stone, but Obito doesn’t allow hisattention to waver. There's no time to linger in front of Rin's grave rightnow; he has no idea how long this part of the mission will take, and if hespends his seconds unwisely it could ruin everything. If he finishes quickly,if it’s easier than he thinks, he might have a minute to spare, but for nowObito contents himself with the knowledge that Rin would much rather he putthings as much to rights as possible than bring flowers to her grave. There'sno fixing everything, no way to really atone, but—at the very least Obito cantry to keep things from getting worse.
He checked Konoha's registryyesterday, slipped into the Records Building while Zetsu was distracted, andthe address he needs is burned into his memory. The streets are still familiar,wild and overgrown enough that the green feeling hums under his skin like thereverberation of a gong, and Obito slips between leaning trees and thickets ofvines to follow the bend of a particular road. The buildings are low and lookcloser to barracks than homes, worn and greyed out in the moonlight, butthere's more chakra from this section of the village than there is from most ofthe rest of it. ANBU, mostly, Obito thinks, and it’s the perfect place for ashinobi to feel safe, inconspicuous and surrounded by other powerful, paranoidpeople.
Keeping to the street instead ofthe rooftops is a precaution, but there are enough seals and booby traps thatObito can see just from a glance that he doesn’t want to risk stepping insomething particularly well-concealed. It’s already enough of a hassle havingto limit his use of Kamui here, but—Kakashi’s eye is connected to his, and evenif Kakashi left the village this morning with his new genin team, Obito stilldoesn’t want to chance Kakashi seeing something, maybe recognizing him. All itwould take is one incautious word, and Kakashi doesn’t know to be wary. Notyet.
The house he’s looking for isn'tquite on the corner, but it’s the building before it, a small, narrow placesandwiched between two rows of apartments, with a verdant rooftop garden fullof flowers. Obito eyes it for a long moment, considering, but there are nolights on, no signs of movement. With a faint frown, he leaps up, redirectingoff the railing of the walkway that fronts the next building over, and landslightly in an old persimmon tree that overlooks the far side of the house.There's a balcony halfway down, but one glance from Obito's Sharingan is enoughto see the currents of chakra in it, the tastefully nasty seals ready toincapacitate any person or unwary bird that sets foot there. It makes Obitosnort, because there’s regular shinobi paranoia and then there’s the Head ofInterrogation’s paranoia, and he leans out, snatching a particularly largepersimmon from the nearest branch. He weighs it in his hand for a moment, thentosses it lightly, watching the arc as it falls to hit the balcony with a loudthump.
Kamui is like a cold wind acrosshis skin, utterly familiar. Obito slips down through the roof, intangible, andlands soundlessly on the floor of the interior just as a large figure pullsopen the balcony door. Being dressed only in boxers doesn’t make him any lessintimidating, especially with a kunai in his hand, and Obito takes a carefulstep back, grips the back of the couch and pulls himself up to sit on it,watching with a hidden smirk as Ibiki sweeps a long, assessing look around thestreet, then grabs the persimmon and steps back inside. He turns, and—
Obito plucks the kunai out ofthe air with ease, twirling it around his finger as he leans back, and says, “Goodmorning.”
Ibiki is frozen, every line ofhis body tense and wary. Not precisely unarmed, because no shinobi is in theirown home, but more vulnerable, and it’s clear he doesn’t like it. His fists areclenched, ready to swing, and he’s perfectly balanced to dodge or attack at amoment’s notice.
“What, no return greeting? Obitoneedles, flipping the kunai up into the air and catching it again. “That’spretty rude of you.”
“Greetings are for guests,”Ibiki says, but it’s mild, and he straightens slightly. “How did you get pastthe wards?”
“Asking me to give up my secretsalready?” Obito asks, makes it light and almost teasing. Not the Tobi personahe uses sometimes—that would just annoy Ibiki, and Obito needs the man to takehim seriously. Needs it desperately,because he doesn’t have backup plans if this fails. Might be able to come upwith one, but—not easily. “Well, I did come to share some secrets with you.They're just not mine.”
Even true, this time. No information about Akatsukithis visit, no information about Obito's own plans. This is a test for both ofthem.
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2018 is over and I feel compelled to write a retrospective of sorts, but since I don’t feel like talking about myself I’m gonna talk about Every Anime (Series) I Watched in 2018. Each one comes with a numerical rating out of 10 and a short blurb of what I thought about it.
Recovery of an MMO Junkie - 9/10 - Incredibly sweet and heartfelt, with mature adult characters who act as such. Drama and comedy both are mined from real issues rather than petty miscommunication, and is all the more compelling for it.
Land of the Lustrous - 10/10 - A delightfully unique setting with an enrapturing story and fantastically constructed characters. The moments of levity and sweetness only serve to make the deeply engrained sadness and loneliness more poignant. The CGI animation is shockingly gorgeous, and a triumph of the medium.
Kino’s Journey: The Beautiful World (2018) - 5/10 - Certainly entertaining in spots, but ultimately rings rather hollow. Not really an improvement on the original in any respect.
Princess Principal - 8/10 - An absolutely gorgeous setting brimming with atmosphere and style, and a fun ensemble cast. The series-wide arc is a little hard to follow or understand, but each individual episodic plot is really enjoyable and engaging.
The Vision of Escaflowne - 8/10 - A well-built fantasy that’s occasionally ridiculous but never not fun. The new dub is really slick and helps the series go down nice and smooth.
A Place Further Than the Universe - 10/10 - Extraordinarily sweet, earnest and heartfelt. Deftly written, smartly directed, and masterfully executed. I cried really hard, a lot.
Tsuredure Children - 8/10 - Cute, ridiculous, and eminently relatable. If you’ve ever had a crush, you’re bound to identify with at least one character in this series.
From the New World - 5/10 - Had a glimmer of potential, but mostly ended up fake deep, poorly paced, and fucking ugly to look at. The more I thought about this series the less I realized I enjoyed it.
The Ancient Magus’ Bride - 5/10 - An extraordinarily promising start that’s disappointingly squandered by wildly inconsistent tone, static plots, nonsensical character arcs, excessive cliffhangers, and hollow stakes.
Princess Tutu - 10/10 - An expertly built deconstruction of fairy tales as well as a sweeping, gorgeous love note to ballet, classical music, and romantic storybook heroism. Wonderfully intricate plotting and stunning character work, a true gem.
Kaiba - 8/10 - Brilliantly unique and emotionally engrossing, if not a bit obscure and hard to follow at times. You never have, and probably never will again, see an anime quite like this.
Girls’ Last Tour - 7/10 - Deeply atmospheric and sometimes quite poignant, but also dreadfully, awfully, agonizingly slow.
Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto - 9/10 - A smooth and even mix between laughable absurdity and actual real emotional stakes. Somehow, I feel like I learned something about myself.
Megalobox - 8/10 - Briskly paced and action-packed, but by far the biggest draw is a classic 90s aesthetic reminiscent of pre-digital legends like Cowboy Bebop. This series lives and breathes style.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These - 6/10 - Would have the potential to be interesting if it wasn’t so hollow and boring. I wanted to get more engaged in the politics of this complicated war, but the plot is held at arms length and the characters are more like walking philosophy textbooks than actual people. That said, the ship designs are pretty cool.
Hinamatsuri - 10/10 - Sweet, pure-hearted, and gut-bustingly funny. Any moment I wasn’t laughing until my sides hurt, I was near to tearing up from actually caring about these characters so much. Each episode was a joy and I loved every second of it.
Golden Kamuy (S1) - 7/10 - Absurd, charming, and goofy, with a surprising amount of gore. Seems to care more about food than plot, but I’m kind of into it.
Revolutionary Girl Utena - 9/10 - Brilliantly dense, symbolic, and metaphorical. Sometimes hard to understand, sometimes hard to watch, but always excellent.
Dragon Pilot: Hisone & Masotan - 7/10 - Gorgeously animated and undeniably charming, but still a little awkward, garbled, and uncomfortable at times. The most earnest vore anime I’ve ever watched.
Steins;Gate 0 - 4/10 - A total, utter, crushing disappointment. Follows up a spectacular prequel with a nonsensical, contrived plot, inaccurate characters, and piss-poor visuals. This series is only carried by its relationship to the original. I will never trust again.
Princess Jellyfish - 7/10 - Charming, varied characters populating an unfulfilling narrative.
The Big O - 6/10 - Plenty of goofy, stylish fun, but slowly devolves into an inscrutable, incomprehensible mess. R. Dorothy Wayneright is the best part of this series by far. Roger Smith is a louse.
Aggretsuko - 7/10 - Fun and relatable, if a bit simple.
TOP 3
3. Hinamatsuri - This series came totally out of left field for me. I usually don’t emotionally respond to comedies very well but this one somehow hit all the right buttons. None of the humor was mean-spirited or put anyone down, the situations were absurd but didn’t cripple me with secondhand embarrassment, and on top of it all I really started to care about the cast. I wish I could get surprised like this more often.
2. Land of the Lustrous - As you can tell if you’ve been following me at all recently, this series has been absolutely consuming me from the moment I watched it. The plot is gripping and excellently paced, and I don’t know if I’ve ever been invested in another main character quite as much as Phos. It’s plenty easy to get wrapped up in thinking about the plot and the character arcs and the meta, but then when I go back and watch the series again I’m shocked by how good it is on a technical level, too. The CG animation is beyond gorgeous and the technical grace of each scene, the pacing, the colors, the music, the character animation, the voice acting, are all stellar. If this anime had more of an ending it would absolutely be my number 1 pick, but for now I just have to read the manga (AS SHOULD YOU, YOU COWARDS. IT’S EVERY BIT AS GOOD AS THE ANIME).
1. Princess Tutu - I, like many people, I think, reacted with derision at the title of this series, but by the time I was done I was completely blown away, and every time I thought about it more I was even more shocked. Every inch of this series shows some of the smartest construction I’ve ever seen in fiction, every layer is filled with stylistic flourish, brilliant writing, and metatextual commentary. You can dig as deep as you want and Princess Tutu will always have something to offer you. It’s been less than a year, I’ve already watched it twice, and I’m still discovering new things about it. A story this brilliant would be a once in a lifetime experience on its own, but Tutu is fulfilling on the surface level, too. Even if you’re not diving deep into what the series means you can still be just as enraptured by the characters. Fakir probably has the best redemption arc this side of Prince Zuko, and I could sing the praises of every other major cast member. And the music, the music! I was doomed from the start the moment I heard both The Nutcracker and Pictures at an Exhibition in the score. Princess Tutu takes some of the greatest masterpieces of western art music and builds off them, creating a sense of atmosphere as deep and vast and dramatic as the finest opera or ballet could ever be. Princess Tutu is one of the greatest works of fiction I’ve ever consumed, and absolutely the best I’ve watched this year.
BOTTOM THREE
3. From the New World - Immediately after I stopped watching this series I actually sort of thought I’d liked it, and I think the reason for this is because From the New World tries its very best to engage in ideas a bit deeper and more ambiguous than a lot of other anime do. But the more I thought about it, the more I disliked this series. Everything about the plot was confusing and off-putting, I didn’t find the characters particularly charming, and perhaps most of all, this series is butt-ugly. It might have a high score of MAL. but my advice is to give this series a hard pass.
2. The Ancient Magus’ Bride - I wanted to like this series so fucking bad. I fell in love with the prequel OVA and waited anxiously for each new installment to come out. I even bought tickets to my local Artsy Fartsy Theater to see the first three episodes when the screened there. And I liked them! Finally, an anime engaged in Celtic and English mythology, some of my favorites, and a protagonist with a truly gripping internal struggle. I was certain from the very first moment that this series would sit in my Top 10 list, and that Chise would be one of my favorite protagonists ever. And then it... didn’t happen. As the episodes unfolded I was treated to a series that had no idea how to establish or maintain stakes, how to relate its two main characters to each other, or how to use the wealth of mythology it was referencing and drawing from. How am I supposed to care when Chise gets stabbed in the chest every 2 episodes and then just kind of shrugs it off for the sake of drama? How am I supposed to be interested in the mythology when it’s all just watered-down fantasy archetypes with giant boobs? Don’t even get me started on the main villain. I feel very betrayed by this series and honestly I’m still bitter.
1. Steins;Gate 0 - This series is as much a lesson in betrayal as Ancient Magus’ Bride, but I think this one stings worse because it’s preceded by Steins;Gate, and anime I love dearly. I sincerely believe that the original Steins;Gate is one of the best anime ever produced, and this sequel struggles to live up to even a single aspect of it. As it began I was hopeful- I liked the darker tone, I liked the idea of a story within a failed timeline. But as I kept watching, I realized something awful: I was bored. All of the charm and intrigue was gone. The characters were all acting different, all looked different (why are all the girls wearing skintight winter coats? Why have their chests all inflated three sizes??), and there was no impetus for the plot. Steins;Gate was driven by simple goals; in the first half, it was to build a time-leap machine. In the second half, it was to save Mayuri. In Steins;Gate 0 the impetus is to... watch Okabe be sad. Hope he gets less sad. There’s nothing to keep the plot moving, and this listlessness was so overwhelming that the random bits of unforeshadowed action and unprecedented (for this franchise) violence felt cheap and confusing after the doldrums we just sat through. By the time the plot finally, finally, picks up towards the final quarter of the series, the damage is done. I don’t care anymore, I can’t figure out what’s going on, and I’m just so done with a franchise I used to love. One day I’ll go back and rewatch the original Steins;Gate and remind myself why I cared so much, but for now I’m nursing wounds. If you say the name “Kagari” in my presence, I’ll probably blitz the fuck out.
Here’s to a good 2019!
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Top of the Bops: the 18 Best Anime Opening Songs of 2018
At the end of every year, I like to do some sort of retrospective list about the media I've been enjoying over the past year, and since most of the media I've consumed this year happens to be Japanese anime, I decided to focus on something near and dear to me: sweet, slappin anime opening themes. I've compiled 18 of the best opening theme songs from 2018 into a list of Japan's best TV bangers this year.
NOTE: While I did give extra points to some songs for fitting the tone of their show or for enhancing the show experience, this list is not really focused on the quality of the shows these songs are from but rather on whether the song is great to listen to. Also, I am by no means an expert on the genre, just a lady who watches too much anime.
Listen to the full playlist
18 - "Kiss of Death" from Darling in the Franxx
This song always stood out to me as a terrific moodsetter and got me more excited than the plot did during those first few eps of Darling in the Franxx. Sexy, melodic and upbeat, with those moody moody vocals, "Kiss of Death" did its job as a worthy hype man for this mecha anime.
17 - "Heading to Over" from Free! Dive to the Future
Free! has always, always, ALWAYS had these wonderful, insanely aggressive, and super catchy power rock songs as their openings...despite the fact that the show's plot is constantly running on the lowest stakes. The opening songs always feel like some terrible lie about what you're going to watch, in my opinion. That it even made my list despite my dislike of Free! is a testament how good this opening song really is.
16 - "Power to the Dream" from Fairy Tail
This is not the best Fairy Tail opening. It's probably not even top three, but that's because Fairy Tail has an absolute embarrassment of riches when it comes to catchy openings. The long-running series’s final season starts off with another good one.
15 - "Adabana Necromancy" from Zombie Land Saga
This opening has been cited by many as one of the best of the year. It's a madcap zany opening credits sequence that's as wild and entertaining as the show itself. "Adabana Necromancy" is catchy but maybe not as much of an ear worm as some of the other songs on the list (or other songs within Zombie Land Saga). However, it's sung by Franchouchou, the fictional zombie girl band at the center of the show, and I'm a sucker for songs by fake bands.
14 - "Dark Sun..." from Persona 5 the Animation
The one constant between all the Persona games and series is incredible genre stylization. While the first opening "Break In to Break Out" was a nod to the mood and style of Persona 5, I think the second opening embraces this more fully and is the superior song because of that. It is a cool, cool bop.
13 - "Spatto! Spy & Spyce" from Release the Spyce
I have yet to start Release the Spyce, but this opening is so terrific. It's catchy and cute as shit. This type of girly pop tune definitely doesn't dominate my Best of 2018 list, but that genre of opening has its place in anime. I had the option to include the Magical Girl Ore opening, for example, but I kept that off the list because it's funny and cute but not 100% easy on the ears. This hits every note of being cheeky and charming and catchy AF.
12 - "Deadly Drive" from Bungou Stray Dogs DEAD APPLE
Yes, this is technically a movie opening, and yes, maybe that's cheating. But! DEAD APPLE really functions like a long episode of BSD, complete with integrated opening credits. This song rocks so hard and fits well in the canon of Bungou Stray Dogs openings by being a little bit grim, a little bit rough and very, very catchy.
11 - "Fighting Gold" from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind
This is the James Bond opening of anime theme songs. It is Dramatic with a capital D, and I love it.
10 - "Howling" from Seven Deadly Sins
This marked the second collaboration between shonen music all-stars FLOW and GRANRODEO, following their successful team up on the Seven Deadly Sins season one closing song. And just like that song "Howling" does not disappoint. A song to get you real hype about full-blooded adventure. Hey! Get low! Hey! Howling!
9 - "Lonely Go!" from Boruto: Naruto Next Generation
I am really mad that this opening is so catchy and the animation is so wonderful because I don't want to give this show the free press, but here we are. This is a fucking good opening. *grumble*
8 - "katharsis" from Tokyo Ghoul:re
Tokyo Ghoul has struggled in the past to capture the perfect tonal match that their first opening found in "Unravel," so the clear solution was to get another song out of the same artist. While I am also a big fan of the first :re opening, this one is just flat out better.
7 - "Guess Who is Back" from Black Clover
BRB, starting a petition to have Koda Kumi sing every anime opening forever. I was a huge fan of the water temple arc and its funky little banger of an opening theme.
6 - "Freedom" from Banana Fish
I had a really hard time choosing between Banana Fish's two rock influenced angst anthems, but at the end of the day, only one of them regularly makes me scream sing along to the chorus.
5 - "Clear" from Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card
Peak sweet shoujo tunes. Maaya Sakamoto at her very best. I swear this isn't my CLAMP bias showing--I think Clear Card arc was more than a little boring in execution, but this song is great.
4 - "Winding Road" from Golden Kamuy
I have yet to watch Golden Kamuy, but I have heard a lot of good things. When researching options of this list, I was pleasantly surprised to hear this song since it has everything I want in an adventure show opening. With a driving drum line and catchy melody you can really wail along to, the music perfectly compliments the stunning opening visuals. The credits have me convinced that this is one I need to get on my watchlist immediately. (And I've already listened to it a lot of times on loop :X)
3 - "ODD FUTURE" from My Hero Academia
I KEEP MY IDEALS BLAAAALAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
2 - "Man Human" from Devilman Crybaby
If anything had a chance of slapping as hard as the number one song...point deduction for having only two lyrics. But I refused to let my friends skip it when we watched through.
1 - "Flashback" from Kokkoku
It's been a long time since an anime opening slapped this hard. Even if that anime was a weird-but-interesting one off with a lackluster ending.
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