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suzubelle-chan · 1 year

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Breaking Chains Chapter 2

(Just a quick note, you may be spoiled if you haven’t finished the manga up to say Volume 12 since I mention characters and events that happen later on. Just in case you haven’t gotten that far or want to watch the anime first)

Thank you so much Ipham2525 for beta reading this for me. Now onto the fic!

In which the Doctor gives the King of Beasts a consultation and a cup of coffee

Leona found herself in a room, watching a woman with black hair snoring on a bed taking up most of the space. A crib that might have been mistaken for a work of art stood right next to it, a light blue bundle wiggling a bit inside the bars. A small whine filled the air. The woman stirred, creeping over to the bundle, reaching a hand out. “What’s wrong, my cub? Do you miss your papa that much?” A little brown paw wrapped around her finger, whining growing louder now. The woman sighed and sat up, revealing red scars slashed on her face. “Yeah, I miss him too. Don’t tell him though,” she said as she picked up the bundle, rocking it slowly. “You know how worried and fussy he gets. Don’t you?”

Leona squeezed her fists. This was a memory. This was a dream. A dream she kept having for a better part of a century. She stopped counting how many times, it was too torturous, too obsessive. She knew now what was going to happen at the end. She knew there was nothing she could do. Yet it still fucking hurt to watch.

A knock on the door turned both Leonas’ heads. Cold swept through the older one, now biting her lip. The younger one beamed, leaning into her child. “Looks like that’s your Papa now.” She got up, still holding the child. She hummed a little tune as she made her way to the door.

Leona fought the urge to scream, the urge to go and drag herself away, the urge to pile up furniture in front of the door. That would do no good. This was the past. She couldn’t change it. She had given up changing it long ago. She watched as the woman approached the door.

“I cannot change what’s happened.”

Now it slowed as the door opened to reveal a figure around her height with a golden horn standing firm on its head. The younger Leona’s face filled with horror as she clutched at the babe.

“But what’s happening now and what will happen, I can change.”

The beast raised a paw in the air, blinding white light filling the air. Younger Leona fell to the ground on her side, eyes glazed over. The babe now wiggled furiously, paws waving, screaming his lungs out.

“And I will change it for the better.”

Both Leonas watched as the beast picked up the child, the younger shedding tears, fingers barely moving, the older blinking back tears, hands in fists. The beast walked out the door, giving the woman on the floor a sad pitiful look, before shutting it. Leaving her alone.

With a gasp, Leona found herself awake, lying on a soft bed, staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling, tears staining her cheeks.

She closed her eyes and sighed. Seeing that memory, reliving that memory, was never easy. Reopening the old wound on her heart, bleeding out longing and regrets. She then turned over, intent on going back to sleep. Hearing a slight wheezing, Leona opened her eyes.

There slept Sariphi, her newest patient, the reason she was here. The reason she could be here. While she gave a small smile in her sleep, Leona knew the maiden’s illness continued. Leona got up from her bed, revealing the large shirt she slept it, and gave the girl a gentle pat on the face. Sariphi nuzzled against her hand for a brief moment, melting the older woman’s heart. She knew what brought this girl here, perhaps what made her stay. Yet Leona couldn’t help but wonder: why this girl out of all the others? What made this girl so special? So many mysteries hidden inside this tiny thing. She wanted to know so much.

“What is happening now and what will happen, I can change,” Leona said to herself.

Leona then stretched. She saw Juno, William, and Sariphi’s friends sleeping in other beds too. She then saw Sekhmet, nuzzling against Sariphi’s forehead, Bennu sleeping on the kitten’s belly. She smiled at the image, picking up her bag on the floor. The doctor whispered, “Take good care of her until I get back, okay?” patting the two beasts. The bird made a grumbling sound as it turned over, his wing waving her off. The kitten yawned, curling up tighter but she gave a slight nod.

“Good.”

Leona stepped out into the hallway, twisting her head to see if anyone else was out there. The hallway was so much bigger without all the beasts filling it. She started her way down the red floors flanked by white walls. Turning here and there to see bare walls, some curtains allowing in some night sky, dark purple clouds covering it like a blanket. However, after a few turns, she grumbled, “Come on, a palace filled with centuries-living beings can’t have changed that much. Sure, some of those vases were eyesores, but there’s got to be something familiar around here…” She then took a few steps and then admitted, “Of course, relying on almost-century-old-memories isn’t really helping.”

She sighed, figuring she could at least get back to the infirmary. Yet as she turned, she found herself in an unfamiliar hallway. How did she know? Because she was not alone anymore.

The King of Beasts stood, his giant paws at his side. He gazed out the window, red eyes watching nothing. Leona clutched her chest, right at her heart. The urge to run up to him, to wrap as much of his neck as she could in her arms, start kissing that muzzle, telling him everything she kept locked up for a century, surged through her veins. However, she knew she couldn’t tell him.

She took a deep breath. “Not yet. Someday,” she vowed. Leona took several steps forward. “Hello there,” she called, warmly.

The king turned; his gaze now stern like when they first met in the hall.

“Ah forgive me.” Leona stopped, put down her bag, and cleared her throat. She then crumbled to her knees, hair flowing out from her. “Oh mighty, great, magnificent king of beasts. ‘Tis I, Leona Carrin, read to serve you as well as I, a pathetic human, can do.”

“That’s enough. You don’t need to prostrate yourself like that.”

Leona looked up from the floor. “Oh? Prefer the more subtle tail-kissing? I gotcha.” She stood up, cleared her throat, and curtsied with her large shirt. “Pardon my liege,” she started in a highbrow tone. “I dare not cause any offense.”

“Enough mockery, woman. Just a simple greeting will do,” the king grumbled.

“Good. I honestly think being that formal makes me itchy.” Leona smirked as she scratched at her neck.

Leona looked up and saw the king’s eyes widen. She then noticed how her face wasn’t half covered. She placed a hand over her scarred cheek. “Yeah, I got attacked by a Beast before. But I’ve no ill will towards beasts. This happened long before your bride was born and I’ve met several nice beasts since then. You’ve met my friends. No need to worry I’ve got any ill towards you all as a whole.”

“Really?”

“I mean I still hate the bastard who did this, but for other reasons. But I bet it’ll be easy for people to whisper I’ve got ulterior motives because of these, so I hid them. I promise I’m here to help, honest.”

“Fair, but we would advise you to keep your scars covered in front of the court. If only to save yourself from scrutiny.”

“Your majesty, I’m a middle-aged woman who works outside the home, scrutiny comes at me any time I leave my house. But I’ll take your advice though.”

“Fair.”

A moment passed before Leona took in a deep breath. “Is there any way you can take me to a kitchen? Since I’m already up, might as well make something for Sariphi to eat for breakfast.”

He swiftly turned. “This way,” he said.

She fell into step beside him as they walked in a strange silence. Leona would open her mouth, only to shut it. She wasn’t sure what to ask or say. She kept glancing at him. He kept his muzzle forward, not really sparing her any attention.

He finally stopped at a wide arch. Leona peered in, seeing large stone stoves, counters, and cabinets. On one wall, serving trays waited in a row. She let out a long whistle. “Nice.”

The king turned away, walking away.

“You’re not going to stay for breakfast?” She asked, opening a cabinet, finding several large pots.

“We’ve shown you to the kitchen. We have work to do.”

“Come on, it’s,” Leona stopped and dug around in her bag, pulling out something round and shiny with a metal chain. She pressed on it. With a click, it opened up. “Almost six o’clock in the morning. I think any work can wait until you’ve had breakfast. Stick around and I’ll make you a helping.”

“We are fine.” The king skulked off.

Leona sighed. True, she didn’t expect a magical re-connection after all these years. But at least a little curiosity on his end might start a good conversation or two. She put her hand on the handle of a large pot. “Guess he gets that from his Pa.” She tugged at the handle, but the pot didn’t budge, it was too heavy. She grabbed it with both hands, dug in her heels, and pulled with a small groan. Yet still no movement.

She gasped, letting go, hands red. She sighed, leaning and then sliding down the counters. She looked up to see his hulking frame in the doorway.

“Seems like you need some help.”

“Indeed, I do.” She smiled. Seemed like that was something else he got from his father as well.

It turned out that a lot of the cookware was too heavy and the stoves a bit too large for the human to use on her own. In a few minutes’ time, however, two pots boiled on the stove; a teapot with water the other-larger pot- contained some white goop bubbling away. Leona stirred at the larger pot while the king, now a reluctant guest, settled down at a large serving table, a small lamp lighting their faces and sand timer dripping away.

“Thanks again for all the help,” Leona said, sitting on her legs on the stool.

“Well, it’s all for Sariphi, so it was no concern. We might as well see what you are preparing for her.”

She shifted her legs around, leaning on the table with her elbow. “You know, you don’t have to impress or scare me into submission, I’m here to help someone. You can be yourself, whoever that is.”

The king stared at her blankly.

The doctor gave a wide, rather uncomfortable smile. “Huh…he certainly takes more after his Pa. Well I managed to get through to that man so his son shouldn’t be too hard. But please Mothers, make it a bit easier? We’ve already been separated for almost a century. His father only took three years….”

The kettle whistling directed her attention back to the stove. The king watched as she fiddled around with items in her bag. She poured the hot water over another pot, a clothed filled with something brown at its opening. A warm, deep scent slowly filled the room. The king deeply exhaled as she poured the now brown liquid into two cups, one large, beast-sized one, and the other, a human-sized, rather lumpy mug. She also grabbed a bowl of sugar and some milk. She offered the beast-sized cup to his majesty. “Here, try some.”

The king breathed in deeply, but didn’t pick up the cup. “What is this?”

“It’s coffee, a drink we humans have to wake up. If it’s too bitter for you, try adding some of these.” She tilted her head towards the bowl and jug. “If it’s not to your taste, then I’ve got other things you can try.”

“Thank you.”

She raised her mug to the king. “To Sariphi’s health.”

“To her health,” the king agreed.

They both took long sips of their drinks. Leonhart let the bitter deep taste settle on his tongue; the warmth flowed down his throat. “This is pleasant, thank you.”

“Anytime. Though I don’t recommend drinking this in late afternoon or evening, unless you’re working overnight.”

Another silence fell over the two, broken only by sips.

The king looked at the woman right in the eye. “Is Sariphi’s name…odd? Or is it well-known?”

Leona paused midsip, “What makes you say that?

“You seemed surprised to hear the name.”

Leona sighed, putting her mug down, crossing her legs. “Tell me, do you know what happens to the sacrifices after you’ve eaten them and used their bones to pick your teeth?”

“They are dead. Nothing happens to them after that.”

“Physically, yes. But what about spiritually? What happens to their souls?”

“They pass on to…whatever afterlife humans imagine for themselves.”

“You think there’s an afterlife?” She tilted her head.

“Humans don’t have one?”

“We do but it varies.” Leona played with her hands, looking at them. The king noted knicks and callouses as they moved around. “For those women who are sacrificed to the King of Beasts, the Temple of the True Disciples of Breza declares that they get eternal glory and paradise. They will forever be remembered as women who gave their lives to keep all of humanity safe from the beasts. The moment they cross over into your land, the church wastes no time spreading their names and faces around, making sure everyone knows who died for them. From taverns to grand ball rooms, their names are sung in praise. When I first heard the name, I thought maybe the bard misheard it or just shortened it to make it more lyrical…” She took up her mug. “I’d like to ask her folks what they were thinking, giving a girl a name like that. Just asking for her to be gobbled up.”

The beast’s ears twisted. “You know what her name means?”

“Yeah. Sacrifice.” She then leaned into her chair, arms out to the side. “Can you believe it? Thousands of years, hundreds of cultures, and of course in the era where we are literally sacrificing girls to beasts, they decide on that. It even sounds like sacrifice.” She picked up her mug, grumbling, “What were they thinking?”

The king steeled his gaze at the doctor. “They were probably thinking, since this girl will be sacrificed anyway, might as well give her a name that fits her.’”

Leona straightened up in her chair, eyes wide as she stared at the king. “Say what?”

“Sariphi…was raised to be a sacrifice. Her parents, her adoptive parents, apparently knew that a girl from their village would be sacrificed one day. In order to spare their own daughter, they took in someone else.”

Leona continued her stare, even as her body started to shake. “Sariphi….Sariphi knows about this, doesn’t she? Otherwise, you wouldn’t.”

“Yes. On a stormy night, she came across her name’s meaning in a book. When she sought her parents for answers, she caught them talking about it. From that night on, Sariphi lived with that truth. Long before she came here, she had resigned herself to her death.”

“That’s….That’s…” Leona said, clutching the mug in her hand. Leonhart could see the bones underneath, he wouldn’t be surprised if the mug shattered in her hands. That’s when he noticed the shaking of her shoulders and her sobs.

“Leona?”

“That girl…that poor girl…she lived like that for so long…” The woman slumped over, shaking and sobbing harder.

The king placed a paw on the woman’s shoulder, bringing the woman to look up at him.

“I…We too called her ‘poor girl’ when she told me this. Yet despite such a fate, she continued to face what little time she had with kindness and a smile. We decided to make her our queen, so we could keep her by our side. We thought that our might would be enough to make her queen, yet we are met with often opposition. Still despite challenges others enforce, she continues to walk down this path with me. With each step, she continues displaying more strength, wisdom, and kindness than one would think possible, especially for one with such a past. She may have been a ‘poor girl’ once, but she is certainly not one anymore. It is the greatest honor…and pride to have her by our side.”

Leona stared at the king, wiping her face with her arms. She gave him a warm smile. “Well, well, looks like the King of Beasts has a heart after all and it looks like it belongs to that little girl.”

The king huffed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret.” She then glanced at the timer between them, the top part almost empty. “Ah, it looks like the porridge is done.”

The doctor stepped back to the pot on the stove. She tried lifting it, “Come on…it’s just a pot.”

The king silently rose, lifting the pot easily onto the counter, “Here.”

“Thank you kindly.” She quickly began to scoop the globby mixture into bowls. She held one up to the king’s muzzle. “Here try some.”

“What is it?”

“Beasts have grains, right? You’ve never seen porridge before?”

“No.”

She allowed herself a small smile. “Interesting. Well, it’s a kind of stew made from a grain. Since it’s easy to digest, it’s a good thing for sick people to eat. Plus, you can add all kinds of toppings to it to make it really tasty.”

“We see…” The king watched the substance as if the bubbles would explode any moment on him.

“Oh, for the love of Comfa,” Leona groaned. She set down the bowl, scooping up porridge in with a spoon and held it out in front of his muzzle. “Here have some. It’s good for you as well.”

The King of Beasts glanced between at the spoon and the woman offering it and let out a sigh. “This is a human thing, isn’t it?”

“Uh...yeah, it's human food.”

“No…not that…we’ll try it,” The king commented and obligatorily opened his mouth.

With a smile and huff, “Good.” Leona slipped the spoon into his mouth. Despite the lumpiness present, it had a softness he didn’t mind as he swallowed, easing down his throat. The taste felt weak but not too bad. If he were sick, he’d probably want something like that.

“So…what do you think?”

“It’s not unpleasant, thank you.”

“Help yourself, oh,” Leona opened up her bag and took something wrapped in paper. The scent of some roasted meat drifted to the king. She quickly glanced around, headed over to the drawer, and pulled out a knife. With several clunks, she slammed the knife down and then returned with her hands full. She then plopped deep red squares in front of the king.

“What is this?”

“Jerky. Preserved meat. My husband loves to have some on his porridge, you’ll probably like it too.” She then ate some of hers and paused. “Though I probably should have made it a bit thinner if we’re having meat with it…”

The king picked up one of the squares and pushed it into his mouth. The meat held a wonderful rough texture, each chomp satisfying. Something gave the meat a smoky-like scent, delighting his nose and taste buds. He blinked.

“I…We’ve had this before…”

“Really? Do you like it?”

“Yes…yes we do.” Leonhart looked away, fighting the memories coming back. Of the brown paw and grin that often came with these snacks. “This is delicious.”

Leona blinked a bit, bright eyed. “Glad to hear it.”

He put some of the squares in his bowl. The two sat the table, both eating rather than talking to one another. The warmth and softness of this porridge complimented the jerky well. After a few bites, the king rose. “We shall take our leave.”

“No wait just a moment. I know Sariphi isn’t feeling well, but that doesn’t mean you can let your health slip away.”

“We are fine.”

“Really?” Leona set her bowl down with a clank. “Allow me to prove you wrong.” She got up and walked around the kitchen, neck twisting as she searched. She quickly scrambled over to a door, opened it, and jumped just in time to avoid a broom smacking her in the head. Once it clattered to the floor, the human snatched it and vigorously swept around the room.

The king decided that it was best to leave the crazy woman to her cleaning and escape while she was distracted. However, just as he got up, she pushed a pile of brown fur right at his feet.

Leaning against the broom, hand on hip, Leona declared, “Because I know Beasts and Humans lose their hair like this in three situations: they are old, they are sick, or they are stressed out. And I think I can tell which one you are.”

The king stepped aside and continued on his way to the door. “’Tis nothing. Focus on Sariphi.”

Leona stepped in front again, dropping the broom behind as she spread her arms open. “Come on, if I dragged that priest guy to you, he’d say the same thing. You need to take a break, to take care of yourself.”

The king glared down at the woman, once again the two in a battle of wills, determined eyes locked.

Leona rubbed her chin. “Think about it this way. If you were the one sick and when you woke up, you found a Sariphi who hasn’t been sleeping or eating enough because she was trying to do all of your job and hers? Or let’s forget illness for a bit, what if she pushed herself so hard in her queenly studies that she collapsed? Pushing yourself until you break isn’t helping anyone. Not your loved ones and certainly not yourself.”

Leona made her way over to the line of serving trays, taking one for herself. She continued her lesson as she scooped porridge into bowls. “I’m not asking you to pretend that everything is fine, because I’ll be honest with you, it’s not. Sariphi is still ill, getting treatment now, but it’s gonna be a bit before she’s well again. And even knowing someone is getting better, it’s still not easy to see someone you care for sick. Especially after something serious. What I’m asking is for you to take care of yourself. That way when Sariphi wakes up, she sees you’re alright. It’s a great relief to those suffering, knowing their loved ones are alright when they wake up. So do it for her sake and yours.”

“You need to take care of yourself Leo, for your kingdom and for yourself.”

Suddenly he was pulled into a memory. A night where the papers piled high with demands and requests from all over, needing his attention. Sometimes the urge to just say “Yes” to everything, to let whoever get whatever they wanted or needed, just so he could go to bed felt so strong, like the growing headache he got on nights like these. Yet he knew one careless mistake on his part may result in famine or conflict. So thus, he poured himself over these documents, hoping to keep the fragile peace of his nation going.

He heard Sariphi’s steps approach even before she reached the door. Just as it creaked open, Leonhart declared, “Sariphi, it’s late. Go back to our room. I’ll be with you shortly.”

The maiden’s steps grew slightly louder as she approached. “This is the third time this week. You need to get some rest too.”

“The kingdom’s needs don’t sleep. I should be done shortly. Don’t worry yourself.”

“That only makes me worry more.” Sariphi pouted, “It’s not helping anyone, your majesty, if you’re not getting enough sleep.” She clutched his arm. “You need to take care of yourself, Leo, for your kingdom and for yourself. Once I’m queen, I’ll work hard so that way you don’t have late nights like this.”

Leonhart glanced at the pile then at her. “Thank you, but trust me, no matter how much work is done, there will still be nights like these.”

Sariphi looked at him. “Well then, once I’m queen, you won’t work alone on these nights. I’ll be on the other side, taking care of what papers I can…oh I’ll make us tea too!”

Leonhart smiled. “I look forward to those nights very much.”

The King of Beasts looked down at his cup, seeing his reflection vaguely in the dark brew. He then looked up at the woman.

“We shall consider what you’ve said, doctor.”

Leona waved her hand. “Ah, it’s just years of experience. My husband used to lose his hair like that whenever I was about to give birth. From how tense he was, you’d think he was expecting an invasion, not a baby.” She chuckled. “I’d send him off to swim or chop wood, just something to get him out of the house and out of his head…Do you have anything you like to do when you’re not roaring your head off at folks?”

The king said, “There is something.”

“Great. It’s still early, so how about you go do that for a bit? Given your stress levels, I’d say you need at least an hour to yourself.” Leona walked over to a row of serving carts lining the wall, ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice. She started shoving it over to the stove with a series of long grunts, but the tray barely inched forward. “What’s with you Beasts and heavy things?” Leona grumbled through gritted teeth.

The king huffed, rolling his eyes. He then got up and pushed the cart over easily to the stove. He then set the pots on the tray. “If you require assistance, you only need to ask.”

Leona smiled, opening a cabinet for more bowls, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

They made their way to the infirmary door, the king pushing the cart now hosting bowls, spoons, cups, the milk pitcher and the sugar jar along with the pots.

“Thank you for your help, your majesty,” Leona stated, opening the door for him.

“Think nothing of it,” the king replied, pushing the cart in but not entering the room himself.

Leona gave a small curtsey and turned towards the room, but twisted around at the last moment. “Oh, before I go.” Leona fumbled with her bag, offered him the rest of the jerky, placing it in the beast’s paw. “You can snack on the rest of this. You need to keep your strength up. Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty more where that came from. Do try to relax. I know it’s hard when everything seems so much, but you’ve got to try.”

The king watched the woman shut the door behind her. He then gazed out the window. “I suppose it has been a while since I’ve flown by myself.” He stepped onto one of the balconies of the castle and raised his paw up into the air, his holy beast rising up and taking him on his back.

While his majesty’s back was at this door, Leona opened it just a crack. She watched him get up on his Holy Beast and fly away. She put her hands together and let out a small prayer, “Be safe, son.”

“Let me know when you tire, Gwibber.” Leonhart gave a small shout to be heard over the winds and the flapping of his holy beast’s wings.

“I shall be fine, milord. Just let me know when you find a spot to land,” the wyrm stated.

Leonhart looked out on the large desolate land before him, red sand and giant rocks stacked on top of each other. Now he was far away from the white or yellow stone houses common beasts lived in or the pure white stone for nobles and royals. No one, except perhaps for a few banished souls or stragglers, would see him on his holy beast here. He exhaled a sigh of relief. There was a kind of freedom in being unseen, of not having to worry what others thought of him. It was just him and the wind. And Gwibber of course. The king looked over again and spotted one bare-limbed tree on one of the large rock formations.

“Land there please.” Leonhart pointed to the tree.

“Of course milord.”

The wyrm dipped down, landing on the rock. He tipped himself, letting his master get off easier. There was a pause as Gwibber waited to be dismissed, yet it did not happen. “Sire?”

“Forgive me Gwibber, at this moment, I’m not sure I’d like to be alone.”

The wyrm blinked and then settled down, head close to the king’s side, his body supporting his master’s. “Of course, my lord. I’m here for you whenever and whatever you need me for.”

The king placed a paw on the wyrm’s head. “Thank you, friend.”

For a while the king stared out into the vast, empty land, idly scratching the wyrm’s head.

“What is on your mind my lord?” Gwibber asked.

“I wonder how much do I know about Sariphi.”

“You know plenty of things my lord.”

“Oh?”

“Well, perhaps you don’t know much about her life before you met. To be honest, you haven’t shared much of your past with her either. But you do know what Sariphi is like here, in this land, with you. You two have been through a lot with one another, you trust one another, and do care deeply about one another, I would say. If there’s something from her past that might be an obstacle, I’m sure you two will overcome it. You took care of that, pardon my language, lout from her past, easily enough.”

“Lout?”

“That yellow haired man that kidnapped her. It is worrisome she would consider someone like that a friend. She’s such a generous soul, it’d be best to keep an eye on her in case she gets tricked again.”

The king smiled, stroking the wyrm’s head. “Thank your old friend.”

The holy beast sniffed the air. “Pardon me sir, I can’t help but notice how delicious that meat is. Would it be alright if I had some?

“Of course.” The beast took out the wrapped meat. With his claw, he cut off a large piece and handed it to his familiar.

Gwibber nibbled on the meat. He let out a small moan of delight. “Pardon me my lord. It’s just so delicious.”

“No mind.” Leonhart took a few bites of the jerky. “It is quite good.” He stared out on the land, chewing on the meat. He then let his mind wander into the past, when he once shared snacks with a friend.

….

The young prince glanced around the library. There didn’t appear to be anyone else, but he closed his eyes—focusing around him. No other breaths, no other smells. He opened his eyes and declared, “All clear.”

From behind him, a young brown elephant calf with golden-brown eyes in a pink dress sighed. “Good.”

The prince watched the girl make her way around the shelves. He’d known her, Shanti, all of his life. Her mother was his nursemaid, caring for both of them. They’d grown up side by side; the only time he wouldn’t see her nowadays was when he had lessons.

However, the king declared that the prince couldn’t see her anymore.

As the two walked around, the prince looked down. “I’m sorry.”

Shanti paused, her trunk on a book, almost freeing it from the shelf. “What for, prince?”

“That we always have to be so cautious when we are together…I really don’t want to cause you any trouble.”

The girl walked over, wrapping her trunk around his two paws. “I’m sorry I’m not noble enough to be your friend anymore. Maybe if I had a father, your father wouldn’t be so mad at us being friends.”

“It doesn’t matter to me whether or not you’ve got a father. You’ll always be a friend to me, Shanti.”

“Really?” the girl asked, eyes wide, ears flapping.

“Of course!” He loosened his paws out of her grip, turning his back on her, tail up and wagging. Over his shoulder, he looked at her and asked, “Promise?”

Shanti beamed and quickly turned around. She wrapped her thin tail around the prince’s tail. “Promise!”

The two gathered books and pillows, making a nest for themselves. They quickly snuggled into their creation, bellies on the floor, book propped open.

“This one is about your family, right?” the prince asked.

“Yep!” Shanti pointed to an elephant depicted on the page, in armor. “This one is my great-great-grandmother—she fought the Elementals, the White Bull-folks, and even humans! She’s amazing. I hope Mommy lets me fight someday.”

“Your mother was a warrior too, before you were born, right?”

“Yep.”

A male voice spoke ominously, “There you are.”

The two children slowly looked back. There stood a brown mouse with green eyes in a soldier’s uniform. His nose scrunched in disapproval.

“Please Sir Cyrus—don’t tell my father!” The prince rose to his knees, paws up.

“Please Russy!” Shanti pressed her feet together.

“I can’t believe it!” The mouse quickly flopped himself in between the two. “You’re reading without me? How can you! I thought we were friends! I guess I’ll keep all of my snacks to myself then.” The soldier pulled out a pouch from his pocket, grabbed its contents, and started stuffing his cheeks.

“Wait…you’re not mad at us?” Shanti asked.

“You’re not going to tell on us?” the prince also inquired.

The mouse rose, sitting crossed legged on the floor by the kids. “What, of course not! I don’t see any reason why you two should stop being friends?”

“Because my mom is a servant. And I don’t have a dad?”

“Well, that’s not your fault…” the mouse stated. “The king hired your mom in the first place, knowing full well she was a widow with a child. If the king is making such a big deal about her status now, he’s a few decades too late. It’s too late now for you two to stop being friends, I’d say.”

He ruffled through his pockets. “I bet his majesty will change his mind. It’s those old fogies on the council really whispering about it. They are probably just worried about you two kissing.” He added with a smirk.

“Kissing?” The prince gasped.

Shanti made a face, tongue out. “Ew!”

The soldier shrugged. “It’s what those relics are always concerned about. Bloodline contamination or whatever.”

“Sounds like what Mommy calls, ‘pervert talk’,” Shanti commented. She then turned to the prince. “Your highness, don’t grow up to be a pervert.”

The cub nodded. “I’ll try really hard.”

“Do your best,” the mouse snickered. “And in the meantime, let’s keep on reading and snacking.” He pulled out another pouch. “I found this great snack earlier, thought of you.”

The prince looked down, seeing dark red—almost black—cubes. A few sniffs told him it was meat, but really smoky. He looked up at Cyrus. “What is this?”

“It’s called jerky. Apparently, humans have this method of smoking meat to make it last longer. Go on and try a bit.”

The cub picked up a cube and lifted it to his mouth. With the first chomp, his eyes widened, ears twitched, and tail wagged. After he swallowed, he beamed. “This is so delicious!”

“Glad to hear it!” Cyrus beamed, “Have as much as you like!”

Shanti, now with the other bag, sniffed the prince’s snacks. She swiftly turned her head. “No thanks, I’ll stick with my berries.”

“You mean, my berries,” Cyrus commented, snatching a few berries to pop into his mouth.

“Hey!” Shanti cried out.

The prince chuckled a bit, chomping down on a few more cubes as he watched his companions. Cyrus had been at the castle almost as long as Shanti and her mother had. Despite his small frame, his speed helped him take down opponents-some even twice his size-and pass the knight auditions. With his jokes and hugs, closest thing to a father Shanti had. Sometimes the prince wished his father was a bit more like Cyrus, at least he’d get more hugs.

A large dark shadow loomed over the group. Everyone slowly glanced up to see a large white elephant woman, scars scattered across her trunk, dressed in orange. Her golden-brown eyes glared at the group. The kids dropped their bags, dried berries and jerky cubes scattered across the ground.

Cyrus quickly rose. “Hey there Indra! Let’s talk about—” However, Indra clasped his tail, pulling him up so that he dangled right at eye level with her. “Sorry, Lady Indra.” He lifted his cap in respect. “Let’s talk about—”

“Mommy, please!” Shanti stomped over to the woman, determined to plead her case. While her head didn’t even reach the woman’s knee, she still continued, eyes dewy. “I’ll do anything! Let the prince and me be friends again!”

The cub also approached, paws up in prayer. “Please Lady Indra. I want to keep being friends with Shanti.”

The woman slightly turned her head, placing the soldier on top of the table. “It’s not easy for me either, your highness. But it’s his majesty’s orders.”

“Orders, smorders,” Cyrus stated, still on the table with a paw up. “He didn’t say anything about them sleeping in the same crib. Telling them to not be friends now is madness.”

“He is the prince, he can’t be friends with just anyone.” Indra declared.

“I can’t?”

“Yes, your highness.”

“Because of my father’s orders?” the prince asked with a tilted head.

The elephant woman sighed, “In part. It’s more of a tradition, for royalty to be friends with other royalty and nobles.”

“Then...” the prince let down his paws, turning them into small fists against his sides. He then turned to Shanti. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we can be friends for now.”

Shanti’s brown eyes widened, filling with tears. Her ears drooped. “What? Really?”

The prince gasped, paws up. “Wait. We can be friends when we are all grown up! Just have to wait.”

“What do you mean?” the calf asked.

“Yeah,” Cyrus commented, still on the table but sitting now. “What are you thinking?”

“Well, the reason why we can’t be friends is because of the king’s orders. However, when I’m king, I can change things. I’ll make it so people can be friends with whoever they like to be friends with. I’ll work hard to make it happen.” The prince looked mournful. “I promise. So please be patient. And I hope you’ll still want to be friends.”

The woman watched the child, giving him a sad smile. She knelt down, trunk caressing the boy’s face. “You know what, I think this is one king’s rule I can overlook.”

Everyone whipped to look at the lady. “Really?” the group said.

“I don’t care much for this order either,” Indra stated. “The last thing I want is to make either of the children I love miserable. So how about this? Let’s act separated in all other places, but you two can be friends in my quarters.”

“Of course!” the prince beamed, tail wagging.

“Yes!” Shanti dashed over to the prince, wrapping her trunk around him, slamming her cheek next to him. “I’ll always want to be friends with your highness, no matter what!”

Now the prince had tears in his eyes, he quickly wrapped his paws around the girl and nuzzled into her. “Thank you…Thank you!”

The woman sighed, kneeling down and wrapping the two in her trunk.

Cyrus now loomed down over the group. “Any chance I can get some hug too?”

The two children looked up, beaming. Indra glared, “Absolutely-”

“Sure!” Shanti declared.

“Of course!” The prince wiggled an arm free, offering his paw.

Cyrus smirked. Indra sighed, “You give him an inch, he’ll take a mile.” She shot him a glare as she unwrapped her trunk. “Keep your paws on the kids or else I will toss you to the moon, Cyrus. To. The. Moon.”

“And people wonder how come you don’t have a husband.”

“And people wonder how you have a wife.”

The prince blinked and turned towards the soldier. “Wait, you’re married?”

“What? Come on!” the soldier groaned.

“I mean, it’s just that you live by yourself in the soldiers’ quarters. If you have a wife, where is she?”

The mouse scratched the back of his head, “Currently she lives back in my homeland for…health reasons.”

“Really? I hope she gets better soon. I’d like to meet her.”

“I’m sure you will.” Cyrus smiled, rubbing the prince’s head.

“Excuse me, less talking, more hugging please!” Shanti declared.

Soon enough, the prince found himself wrapped up. He savored the moment, enjoying all of the warmth and contact.

“I’ll always want to be friends with your highness, no matter what!”

He wanted to cling onto those words. Because he really hoped they were true.

The prince thought, “Maybe if I make a great kingdom, they will be…”

Back in the present, now as Leonhart, the king pondered, “I wonder what Sariphi has lived through, what she’s experienced in the human realm, the people she knew…I’ll make sure to ask her sometime, once she’s better.”

The two continued to sit on the rock, eating the jerky. The sun started to rise over the horizon and they took it in, enjoying the peaceful moment.

However back in the infirmary, there was a distinct lack of peace. Mainly due to the whack-whack-whack Juno created as she hacked at a block of jerky, rendering it into slivers so small Cy or Clops could hold them. The two beasts in question trembled as they watched the woman, fury snarling her mouth, showing her teeth. She reached for more jerky, but found the paper empty.

Leona reached into her bag and plopped various nuts down in front of her friend.

“Thank. You.” Juno grunted as she laid her knife broad-side down on top of some of the nuts. She pressed down hard. Shells cracked underneath and Juno swiftly pushed them aside. Bennu toddled over to the nuts, picked up the edible parts, and then scurried back to Sariphi’s bed. He pecked at his food while Sehkmet lapped her small bowl of milk.

Leona turned towards her patient. “Sorry about the noise.”

Sariphi, sitting up now but eyes still closed, shook her head, a small smile on her face. Leona looked up at an almost empty bowl in her hand. When a patient recovers their appetite, the rest will soon follow-another one of her ma’s sayings.

Amit watched the other reptilian woman, trembling herself. “Pardon me, Miss Juno. I think it’s best for you to calm down…”

Juno whipped around, knife still in hand. “Calm down?!? You want me to calm down?!? After hearing that?!?” She panted for a bit, but then took in the terrified maiden in front of her. She quickly set down the knife and bowed. “I’m sorry dearie. I’m sorry.” She gripped the table, sighing. “I’m so sorry. I just…let my anger get away from me.”

“Clearly,” Lanteveldt stated, scooping some of the meat chunks into his bowl.

Juno whipped around, hands on hips. “Excuse me young man, if hearing that a young girl was not only raised her whole life just to be sacrificed, but that she knew most of her life that she would be sacrificed, makes me angry. And I’ve found it’s better to be doing something while you’re angry rather than just sitting there letting your thoughts get all stormy. So thus,” She returned to the nuts and started slamming the knife into them. “It would be so nice if this were their fingers…” she muttered.

“Fair,” the hyena commented, scraping his bowl clean. He peered at Will. The golden dog hadn’t even touched his bowl, not even the spoon. Instead, he just stared into his cup of coffee. “Are you going to eat that?” Lan asked.

“Hmm? Ah no. I’ve…lost my appetite,” the dog sighed and pushed the bowl towards the young man. “You can have it.”

“Thanks.”

Amit stepped over to the older man, hand on his paw. “Are you alright sir?”

Will stroked his mug. “I suppose I’m still in shock over hearing such news…While I doubt she suffered much physically at that household, it couldn’t have been a completely happy home. Not with that secret hanging over her head.” Will turned towards his human friend. “Any chance I can be, say, the third person to hug the young lady, when she gets better?”

“Why third?” Clops asked.

“Why?” Cy followed up.

“Well, I expect Leona here will probably hug Sariphi once she gets better. And I don’t think the king will want me to hug her before he can. Anyone else want to go ahead of me?”

“We want to hug her too!”

“Hug!”

Amit offered up her hand. “I would like to hug her as well.”

Will commented, “Better start making a list.” He looked at Lante, muzzle deep in his food. “Young man, you want in?”

“No thanks, I’m good,” the knight stated. He then picked up a mug and gulped down some coffee.

“Still, I wish we can do something about those terrible people,” Juno sighed. The nuts were all chopped up now, so she set the knife down, leaning against the tray, arms folded.

Leona shrugged. “Not much we can do about the past. Only can change what’s going on now, in hopes that the future is better.” She then cast a glance at her patient. “Still…” She started gathering pillows around the room and placing them by Sariphi’s head. “Alright.” The woman then raised her hands, closing her eyes. In a grand voice she began to pray, “Oh mighty and kind Comfa and Pruvada, hear my humble plea. May Sariphi’s sister….” Her tone changed to complete snark. “Run off in the middle of the night and may her parents never see or hear from her again.”

Juno cackled; hands clenched at her side. Will guffawed with them. “Now that’s a good one.”

“Comfa…Pruvuda?” Amit repeated.

“Who are they?” Clops asked.

“Who?” Cy repeated.

Will then brightened. “Ah you see, humans worship many gods. The gods Leona spoke of just now are the gods of motherhood and fatherhood respectively. They are often prayed to in hopes of building healthy, happy homes, but can be asked to exact revenge on parents who abuse or mistreat their children.” He lifted his mug towards the woman. “An excellent idea by the way.”

“Thanks. If they love their ‘own’” Leona groaned at the last word, “daughter enough to launch a fifteen-year-long scheme and push someone else in her way, probably the best punishment is for her to leave them and never contact them again…” She looked over at Lan, drinking from his mug. “By the way young man, are you in the market for a wife?”

Lantevelt spat out all of his coffee. “What?”

“Hey, I mean, it could be that Sariphi and her sister may have similar tastes in men. And it seems like Sariphi likes her men on the hairier…or well, furrier side. Plus you’ll be the king’s brother-in-law which is often a very cushy position…”

“Eh…no thanks. I’d like a higher station in life…I don’t think I’d really want to be family with the king…” Lan shivered a bit. “I’m sure the feeling’s mutual.”

“Alright. But if you ever decide you’d like a human bride, I can think of a few young girls who wouldn’t say no to a man in uniform. They might not say no a beast in one, either.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” the knight murmured.

Then the door burst open, Anubis stomping into the room. “YOU HUMAN WENCH!”

Leona swiftly covered her scarred face, blinked, then waved a finger between herself and her patient. “Which one? There’s two of us now. But if you’re expecting any conversations with Sariphi, that’s going to have to be a while. I’m a doctor, not a magic woman.”

“Don’t toy with me, you know very well what I mean,” he growled. “The king is missing and you were the last person who saw him. Where did he go?”

“I told him to take a break and he took my advice and flew off on some kind of dragon beast. How am I supposed to know where he went?” Leona shrugged, “What am I, his mother?”

“Insolence.”

“You know… seems like you could use a break yourself, young man. Do something for yourself for an hour like the king. Unless you fear the king leaving will cause the whole kingdom to collapse, then you might want to change the system.” She pondered for a second. “Have you considered replacing those old men that follow you and the king around? They look old enough to work with his great-great-great-great-great-”

Leona kept repeating the word for about another minute, one could see the veins popping out of Anubis’s head. Amit whispered towards Will, “Is she going to stop soon?”

Will whispered back, “I know all of Leona’s tricks, she’ll stop when he finally gets annoyed enough to tell her to.”

“ENOUGH!” Anubis yelled.

Leona blinked and added quickly, “…great-great grandfather.”

“See?” Will added, taking a sip of his coffee.

Anubis raised a paw, no doubt ready to launch an attack on the human woman when his ears pricked up. The other canines’ ears also pricked up. They turned towards the window, the others in the room following to see the king’s holy beast landing. Anubis dashed out of the room while Leona smirked and idly followed. While she was several paces behind, she did hear Anubis holler, “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, YOUR MAJESTY?”

Leona didn’t hear the king’s reply, it was too low and too far away. She could just see a calmer glint in his eyes, his brows not scrunched. Sighing in relief, she walked the hall a bit more, then saw the King of Beasts and his chancellor coming up. She quickly curtsied. “Greetings your majesty. I trust you had a pleasant hour?”

“Indeed we did. Thank you.”

Leona rose, smiling. She couldn’t help the feeling of glory and a bit of smugness when she saw the black dog flinching. The king may not have been smiling but there was more of a gentle air about him now, less stiff than when she met him this morning. “I still have some coffee if you need any. I’d offer some to the Chancellor here, but it looks like he doesn’t need any.”

“Both of us are fine for now. We have business to attend to. Farewell.”

Leona watched as the two beasts walked off. She didn’t pay much attention to the scolding that Anubis was giving the king. Instead, she continued to watch the king as if he were the only thing she could see. “Have a nice day,” she murmured.

A warmth tapped her shoulder, causing her to swiftly turn around to see Will smiling at her. He looked at the king and then at her. “Looks like there’s something to that old human saying after all.”

“Which one?” Leona asked.

“Mother knows best.” Will offered a smile.

“Ah and there’s the silver tongue that got you a wife.” The human smirked.

The dog sighed, “If only it had been that easy…but since you’ve taken care of the king and queen for now.” He offered her a large journal, spine scuffed, edges of the paper covered in stains of various colors and a fountain pen. “I think it’s time you checked in on that husband of yours.”

Leona slammed a hand to her cheek, “Oh Family, I forgot to write to him!” Leona declared. “It’s been…what, three days? He’s probably been bent over waiting for me to tell him…” She looked up at her friend. “What should I tell him?”

“The truth. It’s what he’s been waiting to hear,” Will said. “The kids have left the room for duties. Juno’s gone off to a kitchen to stress cook. I’m going to head to the library.” He lightly pushed her shoulder, “Take your own advice and relax.”

“Thanks.” Leona dashed upstairs and back into the room. She quickly settled Sariphi, laying her down to sleep and putting the pillows back on their beds. She then sat down on her own bed, journal propped up on her leg. She opened the journal, after she turned some pages she found a right page crinkled, a small river of something wet down its left side. Right by the river was some writings:

“Hey Ma. Pa fell asleep waiting for you to write to him again. It’s drool this time, we promise. We’ll take care of him as usual while you’re out. Please come home soon, preferably alive and in one piece. But at worst, just one broken limb please? Love you Ma. La.”

“Hello Ma. Don’t worry about Pa. We’ll have a real waffle frolic when he gets up. A good meal is always good for you, like you say. Hope your royal job goes well. I’m still worried about you going to the Beast King’s castle of all places, but if anyone can cure a queen to be, it’ll be you. We all love and miss you. Le.”

“Hi Mama. I hope the Beast King is nice to you. Take care of his queen-lady and come back soon. I’m taking good care of your plants as usual. I love you. Lo.”

Leona sighed, hand on her heart. She picked up a pen, ready to turn the page, when her eyes caught on tiny writing in the right corner:

Good luck Ma. Bring him home. Glo.

Now tears pricked at her eyes. “Kids…” she rubbed her eyes with her arm, sniffling. After a long breath, she turned the page and wrote:

My Dearest Rein,

KIDS THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING. READ BELOW THIS AND I WILL MAKE YOU ALL CLEAN EVERY HOUSE IN THE VILLAGE WITHOUT MAGIC! AND YES THAT INCLUDES THE GUTTERS!

I’ve finally made it to the palace. And I finally met him... He reminds me of you, back in those days we first met. Although he’s spoken more to me in one hour than you did the first three days. But he does have a kindness to him, he’s willing to listen to me. And I can tell he deeply loves this human girl. I must say Sirius hasn’t changed much…he’s just as loud as he was when he was a puppy! Not as patient as his father. I made that ‘great-great-great joke’ and Sirius broke in like a minute. Polaris lasted three! To think father and son would be so different…

KIDS I KNOW YOU ARE TRYING TO READ OVER YOUR PA’S SHOULDER. NOT ONLY CLEANING THE WHOLE VILLAGE, I WILL ACTIVELY ENCOURAGE SABOTAGE! YOU KNOW HOW MUCH HERA’S GIRLS LOVE PAINT!!!

Leona glanced at the maiden on the bed.

As for the bride in question, she’s a small lovely thing. Smaller than I am. I know that’ll shock you. Can’t tell you much about her, she’s spent the last two weeks bedridden and barely can keep her eyes open. But she’s got quite a few Beast friends who care for her so that’s a good start. Of course, she’s the one he loves so it’s a given she’d be so lovely. Our son probably gets his great taste from you after all. I hope…I can really talk with her soon. She’s been through a lot herself. I’ll do whatever I can to get to know them enough so we can trust each other and I can bring them home. Please wait for me.

Also remember to help Leo in the garden, keep the house standing, keep an eye on Bai’s arm for me, make sure Mwindo has enough ear drops for Vulka, and let me know how he and the rest of the village are doing. I’ll write to you tonight so we can really talk.

Always yours,

Leona

#niehime to kemono no ou #sacrificial princess and the king of beasts #tw: kidnapping #tw: parental abuse #tw: language #fanfiction

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crispy-chan · 1 year

Note

omg dude, i remember literally crying over your work “a story rewritten” when i first read it about a year ago because isekai stories are top tier mygod 👌👌👌 and your story is literally the first and only fic i found that goes under that genre. so i definitely made up my mind to take the time to find that webtoon you were talking about in your note.

anyways, i legit just finished chapter one of this newly encountered manhwa i am reading and holy god, all the emotions are coming back all of the sudden. when the male lead here turned into a zombie, i just knew i found what ive been looking for for over a year (even if i forgot about it after giving up after a week of searching lol). o m g, i need to read “a story rewritten” again just to emote about it.

idk why in the world i rambled so much but if you still haven’t remembered yet interested in its title, it s called “surviving romance” in webtoon.

since this is already such a long ask, ill just say whatever is remaining in my mind. i often recall “a story rewritten” in the most random times, usually in class because i get sleepy so much. so every once in a while, id come back to read it again. nothing beats the first reading though. i remember being overwhelmed and so emotional LMAO.

it kinda became a comfort fic and legit the sole reason why i would come back to tumblr every now and then. took a break from reading fics in general since december to continue my manga/manhwa spree. but your work makes me feel nostalgic so much, UHM IDK WHY THOUGH,,,,

i just love it so much omg lol. you probably dont remember but i believe ive also told you this in the past (i made an ask, dont recall what i wrote though LOL) you dont have to look for it, i just want to let you know how much of an impact your writing gives to me.

as a closing ehem, you might not know me but it s a fact that your stories never fail to make me happy. another fun fact, you were actually the one who introduced me to fic reading in tumblr!! LOL your “astronaut, ksm” and its sequel “serendipitous” was what got me reading here in this platform. you were the first fic writer i came across here and thought that “oh, are there more writers like jas that makes stories this good?” thats why for a good year, i came to appreciate and enjoy a lot of writes and of course, a lot more stories here in tumblr.

once i fully come back to tumblr, i would definitely catch up with your stories that ive missed for the half year. good luck and keep safe! you re doing a great job :>>

Hello, Anon. yes, i capitalized anon bcs i am truly at a loss of words rn. what hurts the most is the fact that you won't my see my reply to this ask bcs I took so fucking long to open my inbox.

i am an a-grade asshole. now that this is out of the way...

firstly, the fact that you cried over my stories :((( this always simultaneously makes me sad and warms my heart bcs I want to make people feel something while reading my stories and my fave fics are the ones I cried over...

i'm always surprised af to see how much love "a story untold" gets. it's pretty short and rather old but it seems to be some sort of hidden favorite amongst my fics lol. I'm really glad you enjoyed it so much <3 I teased a sequel but never got around to it lmao.

haha i can't believe you actually found the webtoon!! my acc reset so I never actually returned to it lmao. also had to refresh my memory and google isekai bcs it's been a few years since my weeb phase lol. now that you mention it, there really aren't that many isekai-esque skz fics, are there 🧐

also, this is so sweet :((( i'm honored. it's really nice to hear that someone remembers the fic and even thinks about it, I'm genuinely flattered. I'm so happy that it managed to make such an impact on you <333

akjsksjasj truly honored to know that you like to come back to my fics. i also awwed when you said that my stuff makes you nostalgic :(( like that's literally such a massive compliment and it makes me really happy!!

i'm also touched to know that my fics managed to impact you so much <3 truly, reading this ask was such a pleasure :(

i also can't believe that i was the person who introduced you to tumblr. that's really cool akjsksjsk and I'm surprised to hear that it was astronaut. ngl, that was one of my first ever fic ideas and I was really proud of it back then. the only thing i'd change now is that i'd make it a lot longer, which is why I've wanted to write a prequel (but probably never will lol)...

i'm so glad that you enjoyed my stories and were able to discover many more amazing people on this platform!! thank you so much <33

i truly hope you come back some day since I selfishly wish you could see my response <3 on the off chance that you do, please accept my warmest hugs.

feel free to reach out any time <3 much love :)))

#mail 💌#anon ☁️#feedback 📮#🗒: a story rewritten #thank you so much anon #from the bottom of my heart #this was so sweet #<3

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violettelueur · 3 years

Text

— JUJUTSU KAISEN EPISODE EIGHT || BOREDOM

↳ featuring : fushiguro megumi + kugisaki nobara + gojo satoru + zenin maki + inumaki toge + panda + aoi todo + zenin mai + miwa kasumi + gakuganji yoshinobu (mentions of itadori yuji + ieiri shoko) from jujutsu kaisen

↳ warnings : mention of violence + EXTREME grammar issues

↳ form : story

↳ published : 02 march

↳ pronouns : she/her

↳ word count : 5.8k

↳ synopsis : within the jujutsu world, there were three famous clans to be aware of, the Kamo clan, Zenin clan and the Gojo clan. However, unknown to many sorcerers there was one last family that was known to be apart of the three, only for them to disappear after the golden era leading some to speculate that they had died in battle after the sealing of ryomen sukuna, but....

↳ previous episode : assault

↳ next episode : small fry and reverse retribution

↳ barista’s notes : hi there everyone! right now i know i haven’t been the most active i have been but i really thankful on how patient you all are ʕ •ᴥ•ʔゝ☆ my procrastination has reach a new all time high since my birthday is on saturday and i am dreading becoming 18 because that means i will be a legal adult and i also have exams soon...ʕ ㅇ ᴥ ㅇʔ moving on from that, i hope you all enjoys today’s episode!

BEFORE READING, I NEED YOU TO BE AWARE OF THIS:

1. the whole story belongs to Gege Akutami and the credits go to them and them only.

2. the spell curses used belong to Tite Kubo due to them being the ‘Kidos’ being used on the manga and anime ‘Bleach’ - but none is mentioned in this chapter.

2.5 for the ‘cursed spells’/kidos (bleach) i will link this video here and tell you the time stamp to check out what i am intending to show - remember i add a few twist here and there by adding the katana to link with Y/N’s cursed technique

no cursed spells used this episode...

but the little flick that Y/N does is inspired from this video here

3. if you are confused on anything, please don’t hesitate to message me since i know this whole thing is so confusing.

“You really need to stop with your assaults Gojo,” Fushiguro stated, as he pressed his index and middle finger on the middle of his forehead, as he remembered the pain that came along with your flick as well as complaining about the side head slap he had gained from you.

“Nah, you just got to stop asking stupid questions Fushiguro,” you commented back before asking Kugisaki want she was planning to get.

‘So make sure you’re not alone in this world like I am Y/N, I want you to be happy even when we’re both stuck with this burden!’

‘I’m trying mother,’ you thought, as you tightly gripped your phone that was still in your pocket.

ꕥ

“I never really thought you were the type that would go to the beach,” you commented, as you leisurely walked towards the calm ocean with a pair of arms wrapped around yours (that was holding your shoes) since your mother wanted to walk side by side with you to enjoy this tranquil moment together.

“I never thought that about myself either, but it’s better to be surprised then going back to the city again, is it not?” your mother asked with a let out a gentle laugh before instantly halting the moment you both felt the warm water covering your bare feet.

“I guess so,” you stated before using your other arm to partly cover your face due to the sunlight brightly blinding your eyes. However, it seemed like where your mother was standing wasn’t causing her too much irritation - maybe it wasn't as bright from where she was.

Currently, it was sunset at Tatadohama beach - to which surprised you that there weren’t as many people as you thought - where your mother had taken you since she thought you both deserved a bit of a break before you could go back to school since it was the summer break and to be honest, you needed it since you and your mother just came back from a job of exorcising a grade-one curse while trying to escape the scene before any other jujutsu sorcerers came.

“You look beautiful though, your mother has good taste doesn’t she?” your mother teasingly asked in a rhetorical manner, as she took her time to observe you rather than the sunset that was in front of her. Right now, you were some simple jean shorts that were somewhat quite large letting the gentle breeze cool you down leading you to fasten a black belt with a silver buckle which tucked in a simple short-sleeved oversized white button-up shirt that was loose, so you wouldn’t feel tight around your upper body as well as dressing for the warm weather that was approaching.

“It is quite plain, but it’s simple and cute,” you commented, as you peered down at your mother’s clothing choices before looking back up to view the beautiful setting in front of you, as your mother smiled gently before placing her head on your shoulder.

“Promise me that you’ll be okay,” your mother suddenly uttered quietly, leading you to give off a confused look before turning your head down slightly only to discover a small smile on her face with softened eyes as if she was relishing the moment with you.

“You’re acting like you're going to die tomorrow,” you comedically commented, leading your mother to laugh at your statement which caused you to giggle slightly since your mother’s laugh was always contagious when you were with her. Taking a deep breath in to calm down, your mother slowly calmed down before lifting her head up as she sighed.

“Well, anything can happen and I want your word that you will do anything to be safe,” your mother expanded on her previous statement, causing you to turn to her to look at her in the eye, trying to see and understand what your mother really wanted you to know before you nodded at her with a small smile.

“I promise mother”

ꕥ

“Oi Y/N, wake up”

Slowly opening your eyes, you slowly blinks a few times as you try to get a clearer view from what you were looking at before steadily realising that you were at the track field where you were training with the rest of the students.

Shifting your eyes to look up slightly, only to discover all the upperclassmen looking down at you with the tree leaves covering you from the sunlight that was beaming down right now.

‘Oh...that’s right, I’m at Jujutsu Tech’

“Sorry for making you fight with all of us, I bet you were exhausted, but we need you to check up on Megumi and Nobara since they went to do some errands,” Panda expressed with hands pressed together as a sign of forgiveness.

“Kelp,” Inumaki commented as if affirming Panda’s statement leading you to sit up slowly before stretching your arms to get read of the stiffness that was consuming them before taking in Zenin’s outstretched arm to help you up - something you both been doing for quite some time during the week - before picking up the black track top of brought out for today’s training that you were laying on top of.

“Sorry for sleeping, where are they?” you asked, as you covered your mouth to yawn since you didn’t want to seem rude to your second-year seniors.

“They should be getting a few drinks for themselves and us from the vending machines, they didn’t want to wake you up, but we knew they probably need some help remembering what we want,” Zenin answered, as she used her thumb to point behind her the direction you needed to take.

“Sorry, I’ll get going then,” you commented before tying the track top around your waist before picking up your black katana since you didn’t want to leave it alone before waving at them when you were beginning to head off.

“I’ll see you guys later,” you mentioned before Inuamki shouted ‘Salmon’ back at you before you swiftly made your way up the stone steps to find both your classmates Fushiguro and Kugisaki to get the drinks that the other wanted since you knew that they’ll probably both forget or take too long for your senior’s liking.

“I’m surprised she can still run after all those practice matches,” Panda stated, as he continued to stare at the direction that you headed out in.

“She’s strong, there is no surprise Gojo has taken her into his family and out of training to take some missions,” Zenin commented before continuing with, “she comes back really quickly to resume training with us,”.

“Mustard leaf,” Inumaki mentioned, as he nodded at his classmate’s remark about you before all of the second years went off for their walk, as they gave you time to run your errands before coming back to the field to train for the Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill Event.

ꕥ

Looking at her drinks in front of her, Kugisaki was disappointed at the lack of variety that the machines had as she groaned in annoyance before pressing her choice of the cold drink she wanted before checking to make sure there was orange juice in the vending machine since she knew you would want some when she got back to you.

“Couldn’t they put in a few more vending machines?” Kugisaki asked in an irritated tone, as she bent down to collect her drink from the takeout port before turning around to look at her classmate, who was standing behind her.

“They can’t. There are only so many workers who can come in here,” Fushiguro answered, as he turned to look at her only for the female to turn back around to place more money into the coin slot. “What else are you buying?” Fushiguro asked since he knew that Kugisaki as well as himself didn’t know what the upperclassmen wanted - that was usually your job.

“Gojo really likes orange juice, so I wanted to buy her some since she did train with all of us, I bet she’s still sleeping,” Kugisaki commented before contemplating if you wanted to bottle or carton version of the citrus juice since she didn’t know if you always bought the carton one on purpose.

However, before she could come to the conclusion on what you probably wanted, she noticed from the corner of her eye that there were two people standing at the other side of the outdoor hallway they were at. From what she can observe, it seemed like those two people were from Jujutsu Tech due to their uniforms as the male had what seemed to be an angry expression while the other student - who looked similar to Zenin Maki - had a sly smile on her face.

“What are you doing here, Zenin-senpai?” Fushiguro asked in confusion since he wasn’t expecting anyone from Kyoto Metropolitan Curse Technical College to come to their side.

“Oh, she’s one, too?” Kugisaki queried while turning her head to look at Fushiguro before continuing with, “They do seem similar, are they sisters?” as she turned back to look at the female student to get a closer look at her.

“They’re twins,” Fushiguro answered quickly.

“Don’t call me that, Fushiguro-kun. You make me sound the same as Maki, call me Mai,” Mai stated, as she gave the two Tokyo students a wink.

“So there are the pinch hitters for Okkotsu and the third-years?” the male student stated with a hostile tone while glaring at them with a look of pure disappointment.

“We came here with the principal because we were worried about you. Your classmate died, right? Was that rough? Or did you think nothing of it?” Mai asked with the smirk still painted on her face, leading Fushiguro and Kugisaki to tense at her sudden but somewhat offensive questions.

“What are you trying to say?” Fushiguro asked tensely, as he suddenly felt a slight bit of annoyance building up in his stomach.

“It’s okay, some things are hard to say out loud, so I’ll say it for you,” Mai amusingly stated before proceeding, “‘Vessel’ makes it sound nice, but it means he was a half-curse monster. Having such a tainted, inhuman being beside you brazenly calling himself a jujutsu sorcerer must have been revolting right? Aren’t you feeling better now that he’s dead?”. However, her questions only lead to extremely vexed expressions appearing on both of the Tyoko student’s faces.

“Mai, don’t bring up such pointless topics, I’m only here to see if these guys are fit to take Okkotsu’s place, that’s all I want to know,” the large male declared as he took a few steps forwards before throwing his school jacket to the side, leading to the shikigami sorcerer to tense up once again as he began to worry what was about to happen.

“Fushiguro, was it?” the large male asked before shouting in a proud manner…

“What kind of woman is your type?”

Suddenly perplexed, Fushiguro as well as Kugisaki, shifted their heads to the side simultaneously to convey their unexpected confusion to the two Tokyo students especially to the male that had just asked the weird as well as absurd question.

“Depending on your answer, I’ll beat you half to death right here and drag Okkotsu, or at least the third-years, out to the exchange event,” the large Kyoto student threatened as he processed to unexpectedly and violently ripped his purple shirt into shreds, showcasing his large muscular upper body before positioning himself in his usual fighting stance as he then suddenly announced, “by the way, my type is a tall woman with a big ass!”.

“Why do I have to talk about my taste in women with a guy I just met?” Fushiguro annoyingly asked as he began to express an irritated expression on his face at the Kyoto student that suddenly declared a fight out of nowhere.

“He’s right. That’s a tall hurdle for an antisocial guy,” Kugisaki unintentionally comedically commented, as she pointed at her stoic classmate, leading Fushiguro to express a more vexed expression.

“You be quiet. This is confusing enough already. You’ll just make it more complicated,” Fushiguro mentioned as an irked mark became more visible on his right cheek, displaying his displeasure on what was happening right now.

“Kyoto, third-year, Todo Aoi,” the Kyoto Tech sorcerer introduced himself. “Introduction over,” Todo announced as he then continued by saying, “now we’re friends. Hurry up and answer, if you prefer men, that’s fine too,”.

“A person’s fetishes reflect everything about them,” Todo explained, indicating the reason why he was asking his laughable question in the first place. “People with boring taste in women are boring people themselves,” Todo passionately proclaimed, as if he was presenting a speech to the whole of Japan at this moment in time before he exclaimed, “I hate boring men.”

“And I hate drags like you”

Turning his head slightly to view what was going on behind him, Todo managed to get a glimpse of a person that was right behind his school mate. A female standing with her hands in her pockets with what seemed to be a katana hanging horizontally unlike Okkotsu, who had his vertically, with a nonchalant expression painted on her face.

“Also your drag ass friend, she has quite a big mouth for a Grade three sorcerer from what I can sense, is this what I’m really fighting against Fushiguro?” you asked before you started to walk past the other sorcerer as you made your way to the vending machine to grab the drinks that the second-years usually requested when they made you run errands during a break from training.

“Gojo! You’re awake?” Kugisaki asked as she smiled at you before quickly mentioning there was money already in the machine since she was planning to get you your drink.

“You heard everything?” Fushiguro questioned as he turned his view to you, only to discover you pressing on the button that correlated to the carton of orange juice as you mentioned to Kugisaki that you were going to pay her back before turning your head to look at your other classmate.

“Yeah, I heard everything. You guys are loud and to be honest, both of them need to shut up, they’re such drags,” you muttered disrespectfully since you could tell they were at least a year or two years above you in the academic year.

However, it seemed like your insult didn’t stop Todo from explaining his passion for people’s preferences in a partner as he continued to declare his speech with pride, much to your complete dismay.

“As I was saying, the exchange event is where my soul can be free as blood boils and flesh clashes, who knows what I might do if my last exchange event ends up boring me?” Todo rhetorically questioned as he maintained his fighting stance as if he was ready to pounce within a second with a confident smile on his face.

‘Shut up...I have to meet with Gojo-sensei later and I don’t want a massive headache to come in before it becomes worse when I see him’

“Hey, aren’t the Jujutsu Tech schools four-year schools?” Kugisaki asked in an unsure manner as she turned to look at Fushiguro since she was trying to take note from you on what drinks to buy in case you weren’t able to for the seniors. However, she was confused about why Todo mentioned that this was going to be his last exchange event when he was a thrid-year.

“Only third-years and under can join the exchange event,” Fushiguro quickly answered Kugisaki’s question as she then let out an understandable ‘Hmm’ to inform her classmate that she acknowledged what he had just told her before swiftly turning back to notice that you had brought a cold water bottle for what seemed to be for Zenin (Maki) since you and her were looking at your phone to see a note displayed on the screen.

“As a show of kindness, I’ll let you off only half-dead right now,” Todo threatened again before repeating the weird question that instinctively started this whole situation, “answer me, Fushiguro. What kind of woman is your type?”

“Is this some kind of comedy routine?” the shikigami user angrily asked, as he increasingly got annoyed at what was happening right now and was confused on why he was picked in the first place.

“Don’t get into a fight, I seriously can’t be bothered to use any reverse cursed technique to heal your wounds if you do and we need to get back to training soon,” you stated before pressing on the last button for the last drink that was needed to be given for Inumaki when you get back.

However, it seemed as if both of your classmates didn’t listen to you since Kugisaki was now observing the other student behind Todo due to her uniform. “Is that your summer uniform?” Kugisaki asked in a light tone, as she admired the outfit before continuing with “ticks me off, but it’s nice”.

“Are you both even listening?” you muttered in annoyance before grabbing the small bag - that you kept from the time you went to your mother’s grave - in the pocket of your nylon cargo pants to place the drinks after you had got them from the dispenser since you didn't want to struggle to carry them.

Looking to his side, Fushiguro looked at his classmate as he began to analyse the situation that was currently going on. From what he could gather, Kugisaki was unarmed and didn’t have her usual hammer with her like she normally did meaning he was wanting to avoid any confrontation that could happen at this moment in time, while you were armed with your usual katana, yet he didn’t want to risk you revealing your true identity to the Kyoto students - not like he really had to worry about that.

‘Not forgiving people isn’t a bad thing. That’s just part of your kindness, isn’t it?’

That’s what his sister said to him once.

“I don’t have a particular preference, as long as she has unshakeable character, I won’t ask for more,” Fushiguro answered, to which you were surprised since you predicted that he wasn’t the type to reveal that sort of information. On the other hand, it seemed like Mai was pleased with the answer as she smiled sweetly at the boy causing you to shudder.

‘Ain’t...they like….family…?’

“Not a bad answer, if you had said something like ‘big boobs,’ I’d have killed you,” Kugisaki mentioned with a please expression on her face since she was relieved at the fact Fushiguro wasn’t suggestive like the Kyoto student in front of you three right now.

“Shut up,” Fushiguro muttered in an irritated tone.

However, it seemed like not everyone was pleased with his answer, as a tear was shed on a cheek.

“I knew it...You’re boring, Fushiguro,” Todo stated in a depressed manner before swiftly pushing himself to swing Fushiguro violently outside the hallway you were standing.

“DIDN’T I SAY NOT TO GET INTO FIGHTS, YOU DRAG?!” you screamed, as you turned your head to the direction where Fushiguro was struck away.

“FUSHIGURO!” Kugisaki panicked as she began to rush to his aid before a pair of arms was wrapped around her to halt her movement.

“Poor Fushiguro-kun, even a talented second-grade jujutsu sorcerer is nothing more than a first-year against the top-grade Todo-senpai, I’ll have to comfort him later,” Mai expressed with a sickly-sweet tone. However, you already had something to say.

“That may be true, but your Todo-senpai is nothing against a special-grade,” you mentioned with a smirk on your face, causing the female sorcerer to look towards you with widened eyes before suddenly remembering what Kugisaki called you by.

“Gojo…” Mai stuttered.

“Gojo, I’m okay! Just make sure Fushiguro is,” Kugisaki said to you with a proud smile on her face, causing you to drop the bag that you had in hand before quickly untying the red charm that was at the end of your katana.

‘I don’t need to unsheathe my katana, but I can’t use any of my curse spells to restrain him, so the chain will have to do’

“Hold this for me!” you shouted as you swiftly tossed the charm in her direction to which she caught easily since her arms still had movement before you rushed towards the scene where Fushiguro and Todo was.

‘This is such a drag right now…’ you thought, as you made it outside to find Fushiguro kneeling on the ground with a few new scratches on his face as well as his now stained blue track. However, it seemed as if Todo wasn’t done with his first attack since he was talking towards the Tokyo student like he was his prey.

On the other hand, you didn’t seem to care as you looked at him with an annoyed expression - even though you knew it wasn’t his fault. “Didn’t I say not to get into any fights? I can’t be bothered to use any reversed cursed techniques right now and I don’t want to bother Shoko-san since I need to train with her to know how to use it properly!” you raged, yet once again, it seemed like both of the male sorcerer’s weren’t listening to you.

“I knew at first glance that you were a boring guy, but you shouldn’t judge a person by their looks, right?” Todo questioned rhetorically again, causing the flames of rage to increase inside your soul since this situation was getting a little too similar to the one back at the detention centre.

“So I went out of my way to ask you, but you just trampled on my kindness,” Todo whined with a pout on his face while wiping the dripping tears that continued to fall.

“Is your brain as pineapple as your head?” Fushiguro insulted, as he gave the senior a weirded-out look.

“You’re the one to talk, hedgehog!” you screamed in annoyance since you were getting frustrated at the fact that no one was listening to you.

“I heard you don’t use cursed techniques.” Fushiguro randomly mentioned as he got up on his feet causing you to look at him with a death glare as well as suddenly being curious about what he meant by ‘don’t use cursed techniques’.

“Huh? Oh, that’s rumour’s false, I used them against the special-grade,” Todo plainly stated like it was an everyday face before raising his arm to wave his hand side to side as if to ‘slap’ away the rumours that were going on about him before continuing with, “but I heard rumours going around about a girl that went toe-to-toe with Sukuna, she was fighting with you right? Where is she?”

‘MAYBE THE GIRL THAT IS BEHIND YOU, SHOUTING AT YOU DRAGS!’

“That’s a relief to hear!” Fushiguro declared as if he was confident, causing you to look at him enraged with fury.

“THAT IS NOT A RELIEF TO HEAR, YOU DRAG!” you screamed, as you were now handing on an extremely thin piece of thread that was going to snap any second, leading you to attack both of them if this got out of hand.

However, once again, Fushiguro and Todo didn’t listen to you for one second as the shikigami sorcerer began to signal his shikigami to appear with the familiar hand-sign of ‘Nue’ back with you fought with him against Sukuna and ‘Gama’ from when you were training with him - yet, you were completely perplexed on what he had combined when both together.

Suddenly, a familiar shadow began to swiftly emerge from the ground before it suddenly took form into something you didn’t really expect from the Ten-Shadow Technique sorcerer.

“Frogs with wings?” you muttered, as you stared at the sight in complete surprise since you didn’t expect to see a few frogs with wings appearing in front of you - you never thought you see something like this in your life, to be honest.

“Bottomless Well!” Fushiguro chanted before a few of the frogs croaked in response causing you to stare that the creature in a now unreadable expression.

‘They will be weaker than their counterpart shikigami but they do have many benefits....didn’t Gojo-sensei mention something about the Kamo’s family?’

On the other hand, it seemed like your future opponent in the exchange event didn’t seem so nervous about the technique. Of course, from what you remembered from training as well as some knowledge that you had gained just from seeing one movement from Todo, you had come to the conclusion that he was a close-range fighter, probably had some experience with weapons since it would be foolish if a fighter didn’t have any sense it was a risk of them just having knowledge with their hands.

However, before you could even continue to gain more knowledge just by looking at the back of the well muscular sorcerer, there was a quick shift in the air causing you to snap out of your trance only to find Todo behind suddenly behind Fushiguro as he processed to wrap his arms around your classmate’s waist.

“Flimsy and shallow...Both your body and your taste in women!” Todo shouted before lifting Fushiguro upwards like he weighed nothing before aggressively smashing his headfirst into the ground behind him, causing you to discover how flexible the Kyoto student was before he suddenly jumped up into the air to give his opponent a punch, only for Fushiguro to dodge just in time, yet that didn’t seem to last since the second he moved away to gain some distance, he was violently smacked with a fist.

“Fushiguro!” you shouted, before quickly forcing the soles of your sheet to push your body forward to an extreme length, just in time to get in between both of the male sorcerers that were fully ignoring you since the moment you entered into the conversation to grab the drinks.

“Gojo!” Fushiguro yelled out in a panic since he was extremely worried that you were now taking a hit for him.

However, it seemed like Todo was now suddenly the one that was worried since his incoming punch seemed to hit something really small since it didn’t cover all his knuckles, yet it didn’t break like he thought it would, causing him to let the debris slowly clear away as his eyes began to notice the sight of a sleek black wooden scabbard standing vertically from the ground halting his extremely large fist, while you were kneeling down behind it, holding the handle with an extremely displeased look on your face with Fushiguro behind you as your other hand had a grip on the collar of his blue track jacket.

“You know Fushiguro, you are full of surprises but a complete drag when it comes to not listening to me,” you muttered, before slowly letting go of his collar as your turned your now free hand to face Kyoto Student in front of you, who was looking down at you with a shocked expression on his face.

“Todo Aoi right? You see, Gojo-sensei asked me to meet up with him and I don’t want a headache since I know he’s gonna give me one later, so I’ll see you later okay?” you sinisterly stated, before opening your palm to him as you slowly bend your middle finger towards you while placing your thumb on top of it, right on the nail.

“That looks like a nice construction sight,” you nonchalantly mentioned as you looked up at the wooden structure behind you before speedily flicking out your middle finger, causing Todo’s body to suddenly be pushed back with an extremely large force of cursed energy leading to the wooden panels to instantly break once his body made contact before you assumed his body landed on the wooden flooring that was above since you couldn’t see him anymore.

“Gojo…” Fushiguro muttered in shock as he didn’t expect something like that to happen before he noticed the same hand that flicked his opponent away was coming towards him with the same gesture.

Flicking his forehead gently, you turned to look at him with a straight face before you used the same palm to let your cursed energy become slowly positive with some concentration to heal his wound that was on his head.

“It’s not much since I haven’t perfected it yet, but it will deal with the blood loss before you go to Shoko-san, you drag” you commented before sighing.

‘There was no need for me to remove the charm after all, but that’s enough for me to gain information for the event’

“Megumi! Y/N!” someone shouted, causing you both to look up only to find your second-year seniors Inumaki and Panda looking down below you to where you remembered flicking Todo towards, leading you to assume that they went to where there was the most ruckus was happening. However, next to Panda was Todo, who smirked down at the sight of both of you below.

“Fushiguro, let’s train our hardest okay?” you muttered, so only your classmate could hear, leading him to look at your with confused eyes before you turned to him with a smile, “you’re really strong, but I know you and Kugisaki can get stronger, so just follow me when I need you to okay?” you asked, before standing up on your feet once you managed to stop the blood loss from Fushiguro’s head.

“Panda-senpai! Inumaki-senpai! Can you take Fushiguro to Shoko-san, Gojo-sensei said he needs me for a discussion, I assume Maki-san is with Kugisaki!” you yell out.

“Salmon!” Inuamki shouted back before all of the three sorcerers were out of your sights, causing you to turn back to Fushiguro before giving your hand to him to help himself up.

‘Grade-one Todo Aoi and grade-three Zenin Mai ha?’

ꕥ

“Ah Y/N, my daughter there you are!” Gojo cheered in delight once he saw you on the other side of the sliding door before you decided to step in since it was left open, to who you assumed was your adoptive dad that opened it earlier for his own reason.

“Excuse me,” you muttered before taking a quick glance around the room before noticing that there were only two more people with you and Gojo right now. From a side glance, you noticed a girl, probably the same age as you or maybe a year older at the latest, with long blue hair with a slightly slanted fridge wearing a suit that seemed to suit her really well even if her youthful and adorable face.

‘A semi grade two? No..maybe three like Mai…’

However, as your eyes shifted to the sight on the opposite side where Gojo was seated, there was an old man seated while holding onto a wooden cane, who seemed to be somewhere in his late 80s but you wouldn’t tell since he seemed too hollow for you liking, yet something about him gave you an off-putting feeling.

“I wanted to tell you about the two special-grade curses that attacked me the other day,” Gojo happily mentioned with a smile on his face, causing you to look at him with a confused expression since he seemed too happy for someone that got attacked.

“Why do you look so happy? That should be the opposite reaction Gojo-sensei,” you remarked, as you made your way towards him only for his response to be a little pout.

“How many times do I have to tell you? You can call me your dad,” Gojo childishly whined.

“Never,” you shut down his offer as quickly as you could before uttering him to tell you about the special curses he wanted to inform you about, only for him to suddenly pull out a piece of paper with two childish drawings on them, causing you to look at the art in a fed-up manner before snatching it off his hand to get a closer look at the curses that he masterfully drew.

“As I said before, the two cursed spirits were capable of communication and they probably have allies who are just as strong,” Gojo declared in a serious manner, causing you to shiver at the 180-degree personality turn that he had done right in front of you.

“It’s not just our enemies, either. Hakari, Okkotsu, your Todo and now my daughter Gojo. The level of our students has risen drastically in recent years, as well,” Gojo stated as he stared at the old man before he processed with, “then there was last year’s incident with Geto Suguru and now, the appearance of Sukuna’s vessel,”.

“What are you trying to say?” the old man asked, as he looked at your adoptive father with an expressionless look on his face (not that you could ever tell if there was any expression in the first place).

“Hehe, you don’t know? The wave of power you guys have been trying to hold back with your pointless status and traditions has grown bigger than you can handle and is now descending upon us. You won’t be able to measure the coming age with the classification of ‘special grade’ if you think I’m the only one who’ll be fighting back, you’re going to get hurt, old man,” Gojo declared with a smirk on his face as he felt the presence of the realisation that was coming to you now.

‘That man...was the reason why…..Itadori….’

“I think you are getting a bit out of line,” the old man lightly threatened in a lower tone as he glared at the sorcerer in front of him.

“I think it’s you that’s getting out of line,” you muttered in vexation as you glared down hostility at the man sitting on the opposite side of the table as the paper that you were holding began to crumble in your grasp. “If you get to kill someone by using me as a tool, let me return the favour next time with your head,” you threatened in a spiteful manner causing the old man to look at you with the same hollow eyes as he did with Gojo.

“Oh! Scary! Well, that's all I wanted to say, I’ll be going now with my daughter,” Gojo mentioned, as he got up from his seat before placing his hands on each of your upper arms to push you towards the direction of the door, before guiding himself through that gap that was left open.

“Oh, Principal Yaga will be coming in about two hours. Later!” Gojo departed cheekily, before closing the door as he then guided you away from the room the higher-up was in since he knew you were in a state of shock at the discovery you had made about your deceased classmate: Itadori Yuji.

‘Those higher-ups are so useless, all they do is command other sorcerers to do their dirty work while acting if they are superior dear. If I could, I would kill all of them’

‘Mother….’

926 notes · View notes

asturlavi · 3 years

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oh boy, do i have wonderful beast oda/odazai info for you all since this may just be my favorite chapter in all of beast. it clarified a lot about oda's state in this au, and how sad it truly is, especially with all that dazai has done to ensure that oda's safety is certain

before i start, this was initially intended to be a quirky little twitter thread that’s supposed to be kicked off with a badly drawn doodle of something meme. the thread was supposed to be about how wonderfully dumb odasaku can be and how annoyingly frustrating dazai is in the latest beast chapter... and then it slowly devolved into a crudely written essay about small discoveries i’ve made that most likely haven’t been pointed out before, so i recommend that anyone interested in either oda or odazai to check this out

so i finally got around to reading the new beast chapter and seeing how odasaku constantly devalues himself and finds that he's lesser than the average person is… sad. its been said that him and ranpo are the stars of the ada, every mission trivial with their cooperation, and yet he doesn't see any of that. thinks he struck luck when it came to his entrance exam, which he specifies that it wasn't as a result of his own skills. his inferiority complex is embedded so deep that despite his achievements, he doesn't at all believe he has any worth as a human.

i'm just a tired, ordinary man like you could find anywhere. a third-rate detective, as unexceptional as a fallen cigarette butt on the road.

and his entrance exam was just like dazai's: the azure messenger case, which we all know wasn't at all a walk in the park. one mistake, and it would spell disaster for the city that the ada was trying to protect. no--not just the city, it would also mean the end of the ada as we know it. despite it all, he resolved it much to his own surprise, and it was all thanks to an "unexpected" gift. and that gift? who would it be other than from dazai himself?

beast light novel ch. 3

(also, this is a shaky claim at best but I feel as if oda fully holds the capabilities to solve the case alone, but dazai knew that with odasaku's persistent feelings of self-doubt, along with his lack of some of the vivacity that dazai held to weasel his way through to information, the outcome of success wouldn’t be guaranteed. and so, dazai lent him something to ensure his success)

and yet, oda is blind to see truly how much intellect and skill he possesses. he doesn't realize how integral he was to the quest of the azure messenger, doesn't acknowledge that without him these orphans would have either slipped into a life of crime, gone to a downtrodden orphanage, or simply passed away, and he doesn't know that despite it all, he's one of the purest characters in the story, even with the darkness that will forever cling to him, a reminder of the violence that marred his past.

not to mention that oda, in one way or another, effectively analyzed the current situation that they're stuck in. he noted that if things currently go the way they're going, no matter what akutagawa achieves, him and his sister are doomed. so, oda brilliantly decided to go after the port mafia itself to prepare for this possibility, and it's nothing short of genius. and dazai plays along with this… because it is oda, after all.

and everything dazai did, everything he sacrificed, it was all for oda.

now to the underlying tragedy of this chapter. take a look at this panel:

ever since then, i've been making a living by solving requests that come to the detective agency.

i provide for the orphans

i drink coffee.

i gamble a bit on days off.

at night, i write a novel in the kitchen.

that's my life.

nothing unusual, right? you'd think that odasaku was satisfied with life, since he has everything he had ever wished for. but in all actuality, he still lacks one important thing.

and that's friendship.

his words sounded so… empty. achieving ones dreams is but one aspect of life that brings one gratification, but doesn't necessarily mean it would guarantee lasting happiness. (think of famous actors or celebrities that spiral into depression even after they've achieved their dreams).

in that panel, he says he cares for the orphans, gambles, and writes alone in his spare time, but not a word of spending time with friends… something he had in the root universe, something that was lost to him in this one.

and he says this all with his face blacked out, as if he's somewhat implicitly dissatisfied (while the kid's faces are present, not at all concealed).

with dazai, he found peace in a place where peace is rare to find. They both completely put their guard down with each other around, and dazai can relax his overly speculative mind with oda. and they understood each other, a level of understanding rare to come by. dazai with his dark jokes easily flies past oda's ears because that's what they are, harmless jokes. and oda with his blunt honesty, which dazai cherishes and never prods him for it.

dazai also saw things in oda that oda was blind to. dazai saw a world of beauty in oda, the ray of light beneath a cloudy sky. he saw both intelligence and wisdom, kindness and generosity. and most of all, he trusted oda, despite dazai’s natural inclination to distrust.

and what oda saw in dazai was vulnerability. despite the front that dazai puts, he can be kind, even empathetic, when the situation calls for it. dazai once gave akutagawa a decision to turn his back against dazai’s offer to join the port mafia, when logic points to the fact that he didn't have to, but wanted to.

dazai also consistently gives atsushi words of advice and shows understanding when dazai was under no obligation to, such as atsushi facing the loss of his previous caretaker. dazai gave atsushi genuine advice, not laced with any malice or ill intent. dazai had even left atsushi to grieve alone, fully understanding that atsushi needed to pour his emotions out in private. there’s more than enough instances of dazai showing this side of himself in both the light novels and manga, but it seems to sometimes be brushed aside. even though the main cast of characters always dismissed this side of dazai, oda has always known that this side of dazai was his truest self.

oda and dazai also talked endlessly about trivial things, calling each other daily for two hours for no reason other than that they each enjoy one another's company. it's pure, wholesome love. they had a mutual trust and understanding between one another, which ango, another friend of theirs, severely lacked in his friendship with them.

oda's dream was to write, gone unfulfilled in the root universe, but he died happily knowing that the one he cares for is living in the path of light. dazai's was to find a reason to live, which he found in oda, and continues to use this as motivation long after oda passed.

in beast, dazai's dream was cut short, ultimately leading to his demise at the end. after all, his one reason to live is now robbed from him. however, oda's dreams have become a reality, but can one really say he achieved happiness? he has the orphans, his children, but they will never understand him like dazai had. he has peace, but is it the form of peace he wanted? spending time alone, on things like gambling, while endlessly mulling how he has no one to spend this time with?

and writing, his one true wish that dazai made absolutely sure to make a reality. but was it worth it, at the cost of a friend who brought happiness and reprieve when everyone else failed to?

i thought of this tale as a matter of equivalent exchange, you lose one life in exchange for another. the scales do remain somewhat balanced, but not over a matter of lives. it's over a matter of personal sacrifices, ones only known to us readers.

and i say "somewhat" because in the root universe, dazai remembered oda when he was alive, so well that dazai can recall memories to near perfection. but oda had completely forgotten dazai in beast, chasing after absent memories and deluding himself into thinking his life is perfect, while numbing himself from the aching hole of loneliness that consumes him inside.

also, oda is surely happy spending time with the children, but what about his lonesome hours? who is he going to spend that time with, in a world without dazai, the only person who understood him and his oddities?

ah, and remember this moment in the root universe?

now, take a look at this again. no, look closer

odasaku wasn’t merely gambling for the sake of it, he was gambling on a horse race. and before dazai was arrested in the root universe, he was seen doing just that.

now, why would odasaku do this? he surely doesn’t seem the type to gamble away his money on something as silly as horse races, because what does someone gain while they pour their money into something so senseless?

and the only reason i could arrive to is that dazai must have dragged him along to one. dazai is a port mafia executive, with more money than he knows what to do with and a boatload of depression. money probably disinterests him as much as life does, and he used gambling to kill two birds with one stone: ridding of money he doesn’t need, and distracting him from his boredom (and depression).

and it doesn’t end there. remember when dazai in dead apple had visited bar lupin to pay his regards to odasaku, while reliving a pleasant memory dazai had with him? and he did this because he was preparing for a quest that may result in with the loss of his life, psyching himself up for what’s to come. this is probably bordering on speculation, but i believe that that’s precisely what he did once again in the horse races. dazai paid a visit to a place that oda and him had frequented, to prepare for another dangerous quest.

also, note that immediately after exiting bar lupin in dead apple, dazai was confronted by ango, which kicked off the start of dazai’s plans. a similar thing happens in the manga, dazai spending time in a place that he and oda had gone to, this time the horse races, and his plan whirls into motion as jono arrests him. i think these similarities are deliberate, in order to establish their significance to dazai and oda.

this long winded explanation’s purpose was only for me to go back to this panel once again, and say that everything oda spoke about doing, from spending time with his kids, to brewing coffee, to betting on horse races, and to writing in the kitchen, were all moments he had with dazai.

and see that he has an extra chair that sits unused in the kitchen? at first, i thought it was there for the sake of being there. then, it slowly dawned on me that odasaku and dazai had noted in the dark era light novel that they made a habit of visiting each other, so it wouldn’t be illogical to conclude that it was a chair meant for dazai. a place where he can spend some private moments together with oda underneath the dimly lit kitchen, drinking in the scent of odasaku’s coffee and talking about things that distracts them from their troubles while odasaku whittles away at his manuscript.

and one last thing before i end this out of sheer laziness, take a look at this photograph of oda from the final moments of the beast light novel.

as oda stated in the manga and light novel, he worked on his manuscript alone in the kitchen... but in the photograph, he wasn’t alone. he’s posing for a picture. relaxed, poised, as if entertaining the one taking the photo. and besides, wasn’t it dazai who insisted on taking photographs in bar lupin with ango and oda in dark era? he must have done the same in that very moment in the beast universe, but this time in anticipation of oda forgetting him.

in the end, it seems oda and dazai left each other in similar ways, foolishly believing they've sacrificed their lives for each other to better the other's life, but all they did was create worlds where the feeling of happiness will be lost to both respective parties, while also resigning each other to a life of loneliness.

they've forgotten about their one happiness that stems from just being around one another, listening to the soothing tune of jazz playing softly as they talk into the night, the world lost to them as they're absorbed in one another's presence.

it seems like their story is a tragedy of what happens when you love someone too much, to the point that you delude yourself into thinking you're but a tool for their happiness, and with you gone, nothing will change.

but things did change, didn't they?

#odazai #bsd #bungo stray dogs #oda sakunosuke #osamu dazai #bsd beast #i'm never doing this again

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seeingteacupsindragons · 3 years

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(Answering publicly as an ask with permission)

For screenreaders, the text reads:

Hello! Sorry to bother you again... You've mentioned quite a lot of times that you're learning japanese and I see you're even able to read manga in the original text(kudos to you for that!) I'm an aspiring japanese learner myself-I've recently mastered all the hiragana and katakana, but I'm kind of clueless how to continue from there, since I'm studying on my own. Do you maybe have any tips on what I could tackle next? Sorry that I couldn't send this as an ask. Unfortunately tumblr isn't really cooperating with me today. Thanks a lot in advance!

This is going to be a long story, because: this is actually the third time I’ve tried learning Japanese.

The first time, my parents bought me a (I’m told very expensive) program for Christmas when I was twelve to learn Japanese at home--it came with a bunch of CDs and books and things. It was a lot like all of the materials for a foreign language course, at home.

But I was twelve and didn’t know what I was doing, and had no support or encouragement from anyone else, just a desire to learn, so it didn’t end up really working out. I remember some of the info from the books, but honestly, it just didn’t work for me. I didn’t really even know how to use any of the stuff.

In college, I made it through three semesters of Japanese. I learned a lot there, but it, again, didn’t quite work. I had my classmates and a couple friends, a teacher, but I have never been motivated by grades, and there just wasn’t much of a reason to keep on.

Anyway, years later, JR happened, and I desperately wanted to read them, but I was nowhere near close to being able to tackle that. At all. So I picked up Duolingo and found that my Japanese from college was coming back to me, and that was pretty cool, but it’s not like I was getting anywhere. JR is much too high a level for me to really take a crack at.

And then I ran out of YuuMori scans.

This was back in...November? The end of October? When only up to chapter 27 had been translated, and a new chapter was getting uploaded in English every month or two. And I was dying, because I’d been reading like a volume a night and other people were definitely going to accidentally spoil things for me and I hate spoilers.

But a couple of my friends who are fluent in Japanese were reading it that way, and after I saw a couple screenshots, I noticed that everything had furigana in it, and after some puzzling with a dictionary, I could figure out some of the speech bubbles, because I still remembered my kana from college! Cool! I asked one if they thought I could manage is, and she was encouraging, so after a week of debating, I went and bought volume seven so I could keep reading.

This has been going much better, and I’ve been learning far more Japanese than I have before.

Why this time?

I have a really good reason to keep reading (YuuMori, yay! Fan comics! Random stuff from Japanese people on twitter!) that I can actually hope to mostly manage because it’s not too high a level for me to make it through (although...the politics in YuuMori is...rough.)

I have friends who are fluent in Japanese this time (did not have that before--I could ask the Japanese TAs in college, but we weren’t friends, so it always felt awkward). I can ask them for help, they correct me when I get things wrong, and sometimes I pop into their DMs like “Hey, I keep finding this weird grammar bit that I don’t understand and isn’t in the dictionary, what does it mean?” And since I’m livetweeting, if they see I got something very off, they’ll comment and go, “Hey, actually....” or will help if I’m totally confused.

One of them is a Japanese to English translator, so she gave me the recommendation for the Japanese to English dictionary I’m using (which is super useful, omg), and a browser extension, which is also really helpful.

Plus, having multilingual friends is really nice when I’m like “Hey, this part of learning a language is like...normal, right? It’s a good sign, not a sign I’m a total disaster?” and they can reassure me because I’m anxious.

Another friend also recommended this book called All About Particles, which has been useful for that part of Japanese that I reference a lot. Another recommended I pick up Learning the Kanji but I haven’t gotten around to that just yet.

I have a couple friends who are also not quite fluent who I DM back and forth in Japanese from time to time, which helps up both practice, too. Having a reason to really use the language is incredibly necessary for me. After all, language is a communication tool, right?

There’s also this cool website I found a few weeks ago that I haven’t had a chance to use yet called https://learnnatively.com/. It ranks Japanese books and manga on their difficulty, so you can buy and try to read them (after all, that’s how little kids in Japan learn Japanese--isn’t it?).

Another thing I was doing all fall and winter, but have mostly stopped now, was taking out a notebook (my old Japanese notebook, lol), and diagramming out the sentences. Okay, sure, I could look up words in the dictionary, but I needed to figure out how they fit together. So I would write them out in order with the particles, look up the conjugations and particles on google, and then note that, and then piece together how all the words fit together.

I don’t need to do that so much anymore (although it would probably be helpful, lol). But then, I’m very gifted with grammar and always have been. A couple of my friends who are fluent have commented they’re very impressed by how fast I’ve picked up the Japanese grammar, and even my mother was like, “Yeah, you’ve always been good at that since you were little...” And discussing some linguistic things with my friend who has a Master’s in translation led to her asking me if I’d studied it because I said things that she’d heard there, which..well, no, it just made sense to me.

So. I have that going for me, too.

There’s also tons of podcasts and YouTube series and things like that designed to help learning Japanese...that’s not really how I learn, so I haven’t been using them and can’t give any recs. But they’re certainly out there!

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing, and it’s been going pretty well, all things considered.

I hope this helped, and if not, was at least sort of interesting to read.

#Japanese #langblr #language #language learning

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some-cookie-crumbz · 3 years

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Hello 👋🏼, sorry if I’m bothering u but ever since the recent chapters of BNHA I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the Todoroki family. Not many of my friends are into this anime and I just couldn’t stop myself from sharing this with you because I need to let this out.

[SPOILER ALERT 🚨!!! IF U DONT READ THE MANGA THEN U CAN JUST IGNORE THIS]

First of all:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!

(I’m still screaming as I write because the backstories RUINED me.)

Poor Touya having this horrible obsession over heroics and having his father acknowledge him but ever since his quirk started reacting against his body the whole family got negatively affected by it.

Rei and Enji wanted to stop at two kids but with Touya’s sudden disadvantage and the latter’s craving for power, Natsuo and later on Shouto was born (the youngest getting titled as the perfect heir from the moment he was born). I got torn seeing Touya’s eyes succumb to absolute madness at the birth of his younger brothers.

What scared me the most was how when it was just Touya and Fuyumi, the two hardly interacted despite being only a year apart in age. Touya claimed that ‘girls just don’t get it’ this small foreshadowing was later brought to light in the most recent chapter where he once again rejects Fuyumi’s company in favour of ranting to only Natsuo and where he disregards his own mother— another ‘girl’ that doesn’t understand his obsession passion for surpassing All Might and someone who plays along to the acts of those stronger than them. Touya saw his mother as a weak person who had no choice but to marry for the sake of her family and have custom children. Little Touya firmly believed his very existence depended on getting acknowledged my his father and defeating All Might but it sadly didn’t come true😭😭

Also..... LOOK AT THE BABIES!!!! They’re all so CUTE!!!

Chubby Fuyumi!!!

Natsuo with a running nose

And Baby Shouto with a meme like face since the day he was born🤣🤣🤣🤣

So ADORABLE!

And another thing. FUYUMI WAS EVEN YOUNGER THAN I THOUGHT TO HAVE STARTED ACTING LIKE A SECOND MOTHER TO HER BROTHERS!! Look at the way she defended Natsuo when Touya went on a rampage and tried to attack Touya! And during moments when Enji and Rei fought the two most notable heroes were Shouto and Fuyumi; the former fighting on the frontlines to face his father while the latter stood behind to once again care for her remaining family that though weren’t involved in the fight, they still needed emotional support to get through it.😭

I AM SO SORRY TO BE GETTING TO THIS SO LATE ANON BUT I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY!!!

TW: Spoilers, Brief Mention of Child Abuse (Physical, Emotional and Mental), General Fandom Wank

So, like, SO MUCH HAPPENED in those chapters and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ALMOST ALL OF IT! There’s obviously all the things you mentioned above that were just amazing to see and learn! I know that a majority of the fandom has been absolutely livid about the reveals involving Touya being drastically different than what fandom thought they were all this time, but I think it honestly highlights how smart Horikoshi’s writing really is.

In Shoto, we see the effects of physical and mental abuse on a child, and how easily he could have ended up going down a troubling road much like Touya. Shoto’s saving grace is facing off against Deku in the Sports Festival, giving him an outside perspective and makes him realize that he can choose to be better, but that doesn’t just magically fix all of Shoto’s problems. Shoto still struggles with his feelings towards his Father and how he is perceived by simply being Endeavor’s son. We see that in the Provisional License Arc, where Shoto is so thoroughly rattled by Inasa. It’s even further pushed through how Shoto struggles with his feelings about Endeavor trying to better and whether or not he should forgive him. I feel like Shoto’s arc is incredibly strong and that his struggles are very realistic, which is why people love him so much. This whole concept is another thing I could rant about but I’m going to leave it here.

Meanwhile, with Touya, we see the effects of mental and emotional abuse on a child and how it can completely destroy them. I think people that act like Horokoshi “down played” and “ret-conned” Endeavor as a character to make him more sympathetic/ redeemable or that he’s simply writing Touya as “always being a bad seed” are missing the mark. This is, admittedly, something you see a lot when it comes to victims of abuse in the real world as well; the idea that if you weren’t physically or sexually abused on top of emotional or mental abuse, your abuse is somehow less “valid.” Now I’ve seen more voices speaking out against this mentality - which is relieving and positive - but it’s still a problem. The way Touya was abused is no less valid or scarring to himself as a person as what Shoto has been through was. Touya and Enji clearly had a deep bond as father and son. Hell, the fact that Enji is sobbing and saying he “can’t fight his own son” in regards to Touya, but clearly had less issue training Shoto until he got ill or passed out says a lot.

Touya was put on an incredibly high pedestal by Enji’s constant praise and attention. He was the apple of his father’s eye until the limitations of his Quirk were discovered. Enji had filled his head with promises and goals for what his future would be, essentially selling him what turned out to be a lie. We see Rei herself tell Enji that Touya “knows you expect something out of the kids.” Touya’s whole life up until that point was being told of all the great he would someday accomplish, and equating that to being deserving of his Father’s love, attention and affection.

And then he couldn’t live up to that expectation. And then his parents had two more kids following that revelation. The idea that Touya doesn’t realize that Natsuo and Shoto were meant to be his replacements - unbroken models that “deserved” Enji’s love - is clearly not missed by him. It’s evident in the way he looks at Natsuo after he’s born. He sees this as a sign that he is no longer deserving - no longer worthy - of love or support from the parent he absolutely adores.

We see this mostly from Enji and Rei’s perspectives, so we know the reasons they did it, but it’s clear they didn’t stop to think about the way this would be interpreted by Touya himself. This whole matter is only worsened by the fact that Enji refuses to make sacrifices for the sake of his oldest son. He pushes Touya to live a life outside of Pro Heroics while Enji himself refuses to do the same, thus setting a positive example and showing solidarity with his son. He instead pushes him away and distances himself, loses himself in focusing on Natuso and, once his Quirk turns out to not be what he wants, Shoto. Touya continues to push himself despite his limits in a desperate bid for Enji to look at him the way he used to; with pride and love.

What caused the fire that “killed” Touya? His anguish over being neglected and abandoned - left unloved - by his father yet again. It’s clear that Touya’s mental health is in need of some real focus that he has never gotten - due to both his parents negligence as well as the fact that mental health is highly stigmatized in Japanese society - and pairing that with the emotional and mental abuse he suffered at Enji’s hands broke him.

So many people are claiming Horikoshi is trying to make Enji “more redeemable”, but how do you get that? Enji abused Rei, his own wife, physically and emotionally and mentally until she had a psychotic breakdown, hurt their youngest child, and then robbed her the right to mother her children further by having her locked up in a psych ward for the next decade or so; built their oldest son, Touya, up only to then emotionally and mentally abuse him to the point he damn near killed himself in a frantic bid to garner Enji’s support only to return years later completely unhinged and looking to murder his entire family out of spite; neglected Fuyumi and Natsuo to the care of each other and hired help; alienated Shoto, his youngest son, from his siblings for his entire formative years, physically and mentally and emotionally abused him, groomed him to accomplish a task he never wanted, put him through such extensive physical training that Shoto would get sick or pass out.

Enji was a shitty father. He has a long ass road to continue walking if he ever wants redemption. The fact he didn't physically hit Touya doesn’t mean that Enji didn’t abuse his son and it doesn’t make Touya any less of a victim.

* End TodoFam Rant*

On a slightly lighter note, I also like all the information with Hawks’ past and all the parallels we’re seeing develop!

I’ve rambled briefly about this in other places the Huwumi discord but I want to expound upon this a bit more here.

I feel like Touya/ Dabi and Keigo/ Hawks are meant to be parallels to one another.

Back to back, we had proper name claims by these two characters. We had Dabi reveal his true identity as Todoroki Touya and then we have Hawks choosing to abandon his hero name to instead step up to fight as Takami Keigo.

I feel like “Dabi” was always a mask, of sorts. Dabi is typically pretty calm, cool, composed with the occasional bites of snark and cruelty. Meanwhile, we see Touya emoting and moving in a manner more akin to himself as a child, dancing about in manic delight over revealing his true identity and intentions. The pair of them are two drastically different people when you stop and look at it. “Dabi” was the mask he wore to gain ground to enact his revenge, and now that he is there? Now Touya can burn everything tethered to it down to ground.

Meanwhile, we have "Hawks” as he was forced to become as per the Hero Public Safety Commission. We had it revealed quite a while back that Hawks was a man of many faces, jumping from laid-back and chill to serious and focused quite frequently. “Hawks” is the presentation for the public and the Commission, groomed to be the perfect little canary in the mine that was Pro Heroics. The reveal of his true heritage, however, is not the killing blow Touya wanted it to be. Instead, it allows Keigo, the one who wanted to be a Hero to help people, the chance to truly dedicate himself to that. In being freed from the cage of “Hawks”, he is given the change to really soar as Keigo.

Now, I feel that “Dabi” and “Hawks” are most certainly parts of Touya and Keigo as well, respectively. Even though those titles were masks, they were masks made from parts of the men who wear them. I think what we’ll see going forward is the true elements of those masks bleeding back into the whole, and seeing the truest forms of each character.

For better or for worse.

#crumbles grumbles #half baked headcanons #Wow I haven't busted that tag out in fuckin forever #Might have to do more headcanon posts about BNHA #If any of yall wanna read me ramble about that stuff?#BNHA Spoilers

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recentanimenews · 4 years

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INTERVIEW: Witch Hat Atelier's Creator on The Legend of Zelda, The Lord of the Rings' Influence

Kamome Shirahama's Witch Hat Atelier has spellbound readers ever since the series started in 2016. With exceptionally detailed art and storytelling, Shirahama has brought an incredible world to life to tell the story of Coco, a young girl who wants to be a witch. The series also earned enough acclaim to recently win the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia in July. Crunchyroll Germany's Social Media and PR Manager had a chance to speak with Shirahama to talk about just how long it takes to write and draw a chapter, watching a lot of Game of Thrones, their dreams for an anime adaptation and more!

Note: The following is translated from the original German.    Your drawings invite the reader to dream. You take them on a journey through fascinating landscapes and show them, beautiful creatures. Where does all your creativity come from?

I love to travel and the places I visit and the people I meet inspire me. When drawing I like to combine elements of different places I saw with my own eyes. Each place has its own expression – like where plants grow, how the shadow falls, how the wind blows, how big the sky seems, and so on. It doesn’t matter where on earth I am; everything is interesting and a source of inspiration.    

You have mentioned before that the world of Harry Potter has influenced you. Are there any other fantasy works that have played a role in your creative process?  

Of course, there are many works that influenced me. I practically devoured The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Never Ending Story, and watched the corresponding movies as well. During my studies, I also learned about the works of the French comic artist Moebius that knocked me off my feet. And recently I’m downright addicted to Game of Thrones and watch it all the time while working.

As a child, I read many works of Japanese fantasy, like Record of Lodoss War or The Knights of Alfheim. I’ve never been much of a gamer, but worlds like the ones in Tactics Ogre or The Legend of Zelda did put me under their spell.  

Image via Kodansha Comics

We found that in Volumes 4 and 5 of Witch Hat Atelier your series gradually becomes a little darker. Can we expect more storylines with a darker tone in future chapters?  

I’ve been writing Witch Hat Atelier as a serious story from the very beginning, but since Coco has to face more challenges it probably seems like it gets darker now. Even though Coco and her friends now have to go through many trials and serious things are developing — there is more to it. I also want to draw the entertaining cultural aspects of the world and the positive evolving relationships between the characters and hope that the readers enjoy them as much as I do.     Can you tell us about your workflow? How much time do you spend on research, how much on drawing, how much on plotting?

  I draw one chapter each month. After a briefing with my editor, I need about a week for the scribbles and for the complete manga chapter about ten days to two weeks.  

Would you like Witch Hat to be adapted into an anime? Have there been any approaches by anime studios already?  

I’ve been dreaming of having my own anime since I was a child, so of course, I would be overjoyed. I would love to see Coco and company in movement.

【NEWS!!】"Witch Hat Atelier" won the Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia at #EisnerAward. This is the same award as "Cat in the Louvre" by Taiyo Matsumoto. This is thanks to everyone who loved and supported my work. Thank you! #WitchHatAtelier #Δ帽子 #ComiConAtHome https://t.co/XtHjuWCVI6

— とんがり帽子のアトリエ7巻発売中????白浜鴎 (@shirahamakamome) July 25, 2020

For which parts of your work process do you prefer to work in a team? And which things do you prefer doing on your own?

  After the briefing with my editor, I work on the plot and the scribbles alone. For the final artwork, I have assistants for backgrounds, speed lines, and screentone that support me.  

What qualifies an idea to be incorporated into your story? Does it need to excite you or make you think? How do you select the ideas that end up being Witch Hat Atilier?

 It’s important to me not to support stereotypes. Coco may be a young girl, but I make sure not to dismiss something just because she is a girl or a child. It still happens far too often subconsciously, and I hope to learn from it every day so that I notice these things sooner.

 Image via Kodansha Comics

All of your characters grow through their own effort but also because they discuss and share their challenges with others around them. Is this mode of development something you take from your own experience?  

I studied at a design college where we had to do many group tasks. These experiences left an impact on me: To tackle difficult tasks with a group of people that all have different strengths. If you combine ideas, you can find solutions you never would have figured out on your own. From my own experience, I would say that you achieve better results when you work with others and share ideas than if you fight each other and the only thing that matters is who gets first to the top.   You are very active on social media, notably Twitter and Instagram, where you post your sketches of both Atelier and Comics that you love and also travel photos. What does this way of communication mean to you?  

I like it myself to see the work progress and posts of my favorite artists. Therefore, I post things myself and hope that my readers enjoy it as much as I do. Not to mention give me the messages and comments under my post much energy for work. I’m also always overjoyed to see when someone posts fan art or photos of my manga.  

#Δ帽子 pic.twitter.com/qWXn2jLOu3

— とんがり帽子のアトリエ7巻発売中????白浜鴎 (@shirahamakamome) August 2, 2020

Do you already have an ending for your story in mind? Or do you prefer to let your stories and characters grow like flowers in a garden instead of planning them out like an architect?  

I have a rough outline in my head, but I cannot tell yet if the story will actually develop like that. Even if you worked out your setting with all its rules, your characters sometimes act in unexpected ways and you have to adjust your story accordingly. I hope my readers are looking forward to upcoming developments.     Do you have a message you would like to send to our readers?  

With the story of Witch Hat Atelier, I want to show that there is magic in everyone, the power to change the world. I hope that all my readers across the globe – even if they maybe haven’t noticed themselves yet that they are wizards – discover that they have this kind of energy inside them. Thank you very much for your support. I hope that you will continue to enjoy the story.

 We would like the German manga publisher Egmont for their cooperation in organizing this interview.

René Kayser works as a Social Media and PR Manager for Crunchyroll Germany. He tweets under @kayserlein where he likes to annoy people to read the visual novel of Umineko When They Cry.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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violettelueur · 3 years

Text

— JUJUTSU KAISEN EPISODE TWENTY || NONSTANDARD

↳ featuring : basically everyone at this point from jujutsu kaisen

↳ warnings : mention of blood + mention of violence + slight mention of suicide + EXTREME grammar issues

↳ form : story

↳ published : 15 april

↳ pronouns : she/her

↳ word count : 3.1k

↳ previous episode : black flash

↳ next episode : jujutsu koshien

↳ barista’s notes : let me admit, this episode took so long to plan and so long to type out because i did at least 4 drafts and this was the best out of all of them...sorry for the lack of activity today but enjoy this episode and good luck ╲ʕ·ᴥ·　╲ʔ

BEFORE READING, I NEED YOU TO BE AWARE OF THIS:

1. the whole story belongs to Gege Akutami and the credits go to them and them only.

2. the spell curses used belong to Tite Kubo due to them being the ‘Kidos’ being used on the manga and anime ‘Bleach’ - but none is mentioned in this chapter.

2.5. for the ‘cursed spells’/kidos (bleach) i will link this video here and tell you the time stamp to check out what i am intending to show - remember i add a few twist here and there by adding the katana to link with Y/N’s cursed technique : hopefully this video is slightly better...

Destructive Curse Spell Number Thirty-Three : Sokatsui (6:00-6:07)

Destructive Curse Spell Number Eighty-Eight : Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho (6:55-7:12)

Domain Expansion : Hanging Evergarden (BLACKPINK DDU-DU-DDU-DU : 2:30-2:42)

3. if you are confused on anything, please don’t hesitate to message me since i know this whole thing is so confusing.

“Mother?” you whispered, as your arms began to gradually become limp causing your polearm to be lowered while you still stared at the woman in front of you with extreme shock residing in your eyes as you both stood at each side of the river.

“Hi there,” your mother replied back with a soft smile on her face while waving her hand to you as if she was just a longtime friend that you haven’t seen in a while when in reality it had been six years since you saw the face that you dearly missed. Yet, for some reason, there was something creepy about the woman standing in front of you right now.

“Is that...really you?” you asked in a stutter trying to make your mind comprehend that the person in front of you was really the person that was announced dead six years ago leading tears to begin welling up in the corner of your eyes which caused your sight to waver slightly.

“Yeah, alive and well in the flesh...I can see that you are also doing well, that’s a nice uniform you’re wearing there,” your mother commented, as her eyes started to travel up and down your body coming to the realisation that you were now wearing a Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College uniform.

“Why?” you then question, ignoring the fact that she was giving an offended look at the clothing you were wearing right now while a plethora of questions began floating around in your mind, trying to understand and process everything that's happening at this current moment in time.

Right now, there was an attack happening right now at your sorcerer school with a veil constructed over the Exchange Event’s location (probably due to the mole telling the intruders where it was going to happen) while currently there was a special-grade curse located at least two kilometres in front of you with Itadori and Todo fighting it with a least three other intruders lurking around due to the faint cursed energies you could sense. However, there was also a minimum of four people being injured, who were Inumaki, Kamo, Fushiguro and Maki with you having no clue about the others due to the tournament that had commenced before the ambush happened and now you were here with the woman, who you thought was dead.

“Recall situations huh? That is the Y/N I know,” your mother mentioned leading you to snap out of your concentrated thoughts to focus back on the other intruder that was now standing with pride written all over her face.

“You didn’t answer the question,” you replied back with a lowered threatening tone, as your arms began to gain back their strength leading you to grip tightly onto the gift the Gojo had given you as if it was something that could give you the comfort you needed right now.

“Which one do you want me to answer dear? Why am I alive? Why did I fake my death? Or why am I attacking Jujutsu Tech right now?” she answered with a smile on her face as if she was mocking you for not already having the answers for yourself.

“ALL OF IT!” you screamed, as the tears began to decline down your face, dripping down on to the earth below you with your shoulders trembling. “Why are you here? Why are you doing this? Why are you on the curses and curse user’s side? WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME FOR SIX YEARS?” you yelled out in agony as if you were now releasing all the pain and suffering that you had bottled up with more tears continuously streaming down your faces as if they were waterfalls at this point.

“Why wouldn’t I leave you?” your mother then queried leading your eyes to widen further in shock after what she had just announced.

‘What…’

“What did you say?” you replied back in a whisper-like tone, as confusion and betrayal began to cloud your thoughts, questioning if you were hearing right on what she had just asked you.

“Why wouldn’t I leave you? You’ve grown stronger without me, I think it was the perfect decision to leave you, in my opinion,” your mother commented with the smile on her face becoming a smug smirk until it suddenly turned upside down into a frown as if something just came up in her mind, “well, that was until you got caught and found by none other than Gojo Satoru,”.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT? WASN’T IT SUPPOSED TO BE A MOTHER’S JOB TO PROTECT THEIR CHILDREN? WASN’T YOU THE ONE THAT TOLD ME THAT?” you cried out in extreme agony leading your voice to become strained. “What happened? What made you come like this mother?” you whimper as the torment of your mother’s word became evident with the expression you were presenting. An expression you never wished to show anyone.

“I WOULD HAVE PROTECTED YOU IF YOU WERE MY REAL DAUGHTER!” your mother yelled back before freezing once her words began to process in her mind, while you were now just standing in front of her with nothing but complete astonishment written on your face leading your once tightened grip to now completely loosen causing the polearm to fall down with a clung once it hit the ground before rolling off to the side, more than an arm’s reach away due to the small gust of wind blowing against you.

“Huh?” you gasp out as the sudden announcement that was violently thrown at you to as more tears descended, which caused the woman in front of you to start laughing once she had now fully finalised what she just exclaimed at you leading her to cover her face with one hand as she threw her head back with her laughter echoing the whole forest - something that the others could hear if they were still in the forest.

“Ah~ I messed up, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that now~” the woman giggled before facing you again with a smug smirk landing on her face once she witnessed your disheartened face that was painted in both betrayal and confusion.

“Ah, damn it~ this is what I get for breaking the seal of the baby that Lady L/N left for the L/N clan to figure out,” the woman began to mutter under her breath. Although, it was somehow still loud enough for you to hear with the fact that your heartbeat seems to cloud all your senses right now.

With your staggered breathing, you began to aggressively wipe the tears off your face while trying to construct the newfound information that the intruder in front of you just declared before placing your hand on the tree trunk behind trying to balance yourself as you didn’t want your legs to give out.

“What’s the point in hiding it anymore, I’m not your mother Y/N,” the intruder announced as if you needed another reminder leading your breathing to stagger once again, as you struggled to get into a regular breathing pattern.

“Might as well tell you now huh? You are not my daughter...but rather the daughter of the last sorcerer of your inherited curse technique a thousand years ago...the same sorcerer that sealed you away for some reason, leading the L/N clan to flee once Sukuna was sealed away by the same woman,” the woman explained before letting out another fit of laughter as if it was stuck in her throat for a long time and it now needed to be coughed out.

“I am too from the L/N clan, we both are...it’s just...we are not related as you thought we were...but I do wonder how powerful the sealing was? After all...you didn’t age one bit within that sealing crystal,” the woman questioned causing you to turn your head towards her with both distrust and rage within your eyes.

Your body was in pain, mind clouded with uncertainty and heart filled with betrayal. As much as you didn’t want to believe the woman in front of you - you still didn’t, but rather you were indecisive of what to believe - she seemed quite certain to be telling you everything that was nothing but the truth.

Yet, for some reason, you now just felt extremely empty.

“I don’t care,” you muttered under your breath causing your opponent to turn to you with a surprised expression on her face.

“Pardon?” she then asked, in a perplexed tone.

“I..don’t...care anymore...how many of you are there? Four? Five?....Actually, that doesn’t really matter right now huh?” you muttered before taking your hand away from the tree trunk as you processed to turn your body to make it face directly towards the stranger, who now seemed to be worried about what was going to occur.

‘This is going to be quick enough to wipe them out...ah...what a drag...I don’t want to use this…’

Lifting both your arms together, you gently placed your pinky and thumbs together before spreading your other finger, representing what seemed to be like petals on a flower, leading the woman to be more confused about what you were planning to do.

“Domain Expansion,” you announced, causing the intruder in front of you to widen her eyes in shock before lifting her metal tonfas in a complete panic as if they were going to shield her from whatever was going to come towards her.

Just below the ceiling of the veil that was overcasting everyone, there was a sudden construction of a stone square ceiling with pink flowering hanging with their petals downwards leaving a white squared light to shine down towards you, who was now standing on a stone pedestal with empty eyes casting down on the woman in front of you.

“Hanging Evergarden”

You could tell that everyone within the battle right now was confused about what was going on since there was a sudden darkening within the veiled area due to the stone ceiling that you had constructed with your cursed energy. However, they could not have been as more perplexed than the woman was who standing below you, looking fearful of what you had just cast.

“Since you want to play with my heart and the lives of everyone here, I might as well gamble with your life as well as your little friends in the area,” you commented in a deadpan tone, while a few on the pink petals from the flowers above became to fall down gracefully giving the people below an eternally beautiful atmosphere away from the stale yellow coloured view they were in right now.

“By the way, I think you should somehow tell your friends that they shouldn’t let the flower petals touch them in any way…” you announced desolately, as you noticed one of the petals slyly beginning to gently land itself upon your opponent’s shoulder.

“Destructive Curse Spell number thirty-three: Sokatsui,” you chanted, leading to the same flower petal to explode with a torrent of blue cursed energy to which caused you to notice how there were other explosions around the area, noting that the other curses and curse users were also inflicted with the same curse spell.

“Sorry, did I give you the warning too late?” you mockingly asked before looking up to see one of the flowers beginning to slowly fall leading to a small smile appear on your lips. However, it wasn’t one with happiness.

“My domain expansion is barrier less and uses as much space as it can to fill the void that I want it to fill, the flowers are just cursed energy manifested into that shape allowing me to use them at will with any curse spell I cast without suffering the consequences of losing more cursed energy or permanent ones...from what I could remember...there are at least 10,000 flowers with 100 petals each...that means...I can cast up to a million curse spells if I use each petal individually,” you explained as the smoke in front of you began to subside leading to an appearance of a woman with a large gash going from her shoulder to the middle of her stomach with slight burns concealing her whole left arm.

‘Maybe that petal didn’t have as much cursed energy as I thought it did’ you mention internally, as you looked at your opponent in front of you before lifting your arm to lightly grasp on the flower that finally descended within arms reach above you.

“Or...I could use a whole flower with 100 petals to cast a stronger curse spell,” you muttered as you lifted the flower to your face while your fingertips held on to the stem as delicately as possible.

“Pretty right?” you rhetorically asked, as you tilted your head to the side as you began to inspect the flower that you were holding onto right now.

Even with its vast amount of petals, the flower was quite light as the petals were quite small, leading them to be somewhat difficult to detect by your opponent once they had landed on the ground or somewhere upon their body. However, even with the explanation, you had given to your opponent, who was injured to somewhat critical lengths, that wasn’t all you could do with your domain expansion - yet, you weren’t going to hand over that information so easily.

Unexpectedly, there was a sudden change in the colour of lighting causing you to look up to find that the veil was beginning to rapidly deconstruct as the sides began to subside causing your stone ceiling to be the only thing sheiling the entire area, as well as the person who was on top of your stone construction right now.

‘Gojo?’

Steadily, your stone ceiling began to also subside due to you deactivating the structure leading the stone that was starting to gradually crumble from the side to convert themselves into the same petals from the flowers that began to fall down as well leading to a rainfall of the pink flower petals to pour down upon everyone.

Standing above the floral blanket was Gojo, who was floating in the air without his blindfold on, leading you to widen your eyes in surprise since it was one of the first times you had seen them exposed due to the fact you were used to them being covered by his black-tinted glasses.

Suddenly, your white-haired teacher disappeared from your sights leading you to sense his cursed energy from the other side of the area in front of you to which caused you to concentrate on the woman in front of you, who was holding her wound with one hand, which was a futile attempt to halt the bleeding that was dripping down from her large wound.

“I’m retreating! There is no way I am facing both you and Gojo at the same time,” your opponent suddenly announced, causing you to look at her with a deadpan expression painted on your face, as you slowly stepped down from your stone pedestal - which the stone began to crumble while turning into pink petals like your stone ceiling did - with nothing filled within your eyes.

Lifting up the surviving flower in front of the woman (who you used to call your mother), you stare directly into her eyes as a wooden structure begins to enclose around her causing you to come to the conclusion that it was the special-grade curse that was helping her escape.

“Destructive Curse Spell number eighty-eight: Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho,” you chanted in a whisper, causing the flower to suddenly fire a gigantic beam of blue electrical and cursed energy leading to anything in front of you to create an impact as flames began to engulf the tree on the other side.

However, your eyes unexpectedly notice an immense purple beam rapidly coming towards you leading you to widen your eyes in shock before your body began to relax even in the current situation you were in.

‘Could I block it? Nah, it’s a technique that convergences and divergences...it probably cancels everything like a black hole...that’s quite nonstandard for him...I don’t care anymore...I guess I can go to sleep again....’

On the other hand, before you could even feel the agonising impact of what was coming towards you, there was a sudden feeling of impact pushing you away from the purple hallow, causing you and whatever had pushed you to just marginally avoid the attack leading you to look over the person’s shoulder with broadened eyes as you didn’t expect someone to save you from the blast that you were willingly going to take.

“What were you thinking?!” Someone shouted at you before painfully grabbing your shoulders to make you look at him, only for you to discover that Gojo was right in front of you with a rare terrified look on his face - but all you could give him was an empty look with wide eyes.

“Why?” you whispered, causing Gojo to now look at you with shock as he didn’t understand why you were asking such a type of question.

“WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?” you then screamed painfully as multiple tears began to burst from your eyes as you violently shock your adoptive father, only to finally let your body lose all its strength it somehow maintained as you instantly dropped onto your knee (which the fall was pillowed by the immense amount of petals covering the ground) causing Gojo to come down with you, as he became even more surprised on the sudden tears that were spilling down your face.

“WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY?” you cried with agony coating your voice leading Gojo to peer at you with compassion as he then gently pulled you into a hug, letting your painful scream ring into his ear as he allowed you to let whatever you were holding in escape.

Gojo didn’t know the reason why you were crying, nor did he know how he could comfort you at this very moment in time. As much as he told you to call him your father, he never really had that much of an experience of being one, let alone how to even act like one. All he knew was that you were now suffering and he didn’t know why at all.

“I’m sorry,” Gojo muttered before pulling you back to make you face him leading the sorcerer to find you with bloodshot eyes as well as the known wet stains of the tears that were still flowing down as redness covered your whole face.

Pressing his two fingers in the middle of your forehead, you began to subtle notice how your vision was getting hazier causing your mind to be plagued by confusions before your consciousness was suddenly lost leading your head to land upon Gojo’s shoulder before he proceeded to pick you bridal style before gradually making his way back to Jujutsu Tech.

“It’s going to be okay, just rest now”

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rigelmejo · 3 years

Text

January Goals Update and Notes

Chapters I studied with Listening-Reading Method: Notes lol:

i do not control wtf motivates me. perhaps it literally just is i have to get really attached to a book.

anyway, february is here. i am thinking i may just start listen-reading to Guardian this month. I know I’ve been debating whether to finish Tian Ya Ke first before I started guardian, or do both at the same time. I am leaning toward starting Guardian, sooner rather than later. Even though it’s still me ‘not finishing one thing before starting the next.’

In the end, any studying is better than no studying. And I haven’t been motivated to read chinese lately. However, I have been motivated to read english - and listening-reading will be 1/3 english reading which may help push me to keep progressing. And the 1/3 chinese reading portion is more passive, since I follow along with the audio, so I can have a break from the dictionary for a while. Also... why did I initially start learning Chinese? To read Guardian. To read it in chinese, and english translation. If I’m thinking about my most prioritized goals, this task is more directly in line with what I want to accomplish than finishing reading Tian Ya Ke. Although, both ARE related.

Also, I think anything I learn from listening-reading to Guardian, will improve my reading/listening skills when moving onto any other priest novel. So it won’t be a detriment, it will only make going back to Tian Ya Ke easier afterward - since I will know more words, and recognize them in listening better (and ideally, pick up some words visually in reading better). So I think... if I do get motivated to start listening-reading to Guardian this month, then I’m just going to start doing it.

A note about Tian Ya Ke and difficulty: I am still noticing improvement. I am getting to the point where 1 page has a handful of unknown words at most, usually only 1-3 getting in the way of me easily following the plot. I am noticing I’m getting better at guessing what an unknown word is supposed to mean, guessing what the idioms that seem vaguely familiar mean (and remembering at least some of the words in them). Reading Tian Ya Ke has gotten much closer to reading Han She in terms of ease. I think I’m running into a similar number of unknown words now. I haven’t measured yet if the chapters are taking me under 30 minutes to read yet. Mainly because lately I can’t get myself to read more than 5-10 pages in short bursts at a time. So I’m not sure if reading speed has improved. But I can say that my reading recognition for Tian Ya Ke is currently better than my listening comprehension. I’ve been scanning the pages I read lately pretty fast as I read, guessing most words fine, and then just double checking their pronunciation/definition by clicking them for audio afterwards. Its currently the checking for precise sound/meaning that’s slowing down my reading of Tian Ya Ke. If I were reading it extensively, only looking up words for crucial meaning clarification, I would probably be reading it decently faster.

On a general goals note: I am still for some reason managing to focus easily on reading english books, which is not that usual for me (usually I can read 20-40 pages in a book, then can’t read more than 10 pages an hour or slower and eventually drop the book). So I’m going to keep taking advantage of this ability to focus while I’ve got the chance. It’s been really nice to finally start getting through more of my books. Right now about half are mental health related books (which I’ve been meaning to read for ages), and fiction (mostly historical romances as I’m trying to find an author that Clicks well with me lol). I’ve read 5 so far, with 2 non-fiction books in progress and 1 fiction in progress. That is a LOT in one month for me, each book being 200-500 pages. Lets say 350 pages average, I’ve read over 1750 pages so far this year in January. Yes, that might only be the same as 2 ‘big’ books... but in my defense, non-fiction is soooo much harder to focus on (like i said, i get about 10-20 pages read in an hour of non-fiction even now that i’m focusing -o- ), and I just have not managed to read anything considerable in a while. So... while I still have long term language goals, I’m not going to be upset if they end up getting sidelined again this month. Reading more is something I’m enjoying getting back into, and I truly have so many books to finally read... so I’m glad I’m doing it now.

Things accomplished in January:

Chinese novel chapters read in January: 8 (I’m on Tian Ya Ke chapter 27, page 10. I’m around 33% through the novel. I read around half as many chapters this past month compared to December... and honestly like 4 of these chapters I remember reading one Saturday that I managed to focus. I just wasn’t in the mood to intensively read very much in December).

Chapters I studied with Listening-Reading Method: 2 (Wow that’s not much... both were Tian Ya Ke chapters. Doing both intensive reading AND listening-reading to a single chapter really burns me out. Again, I just wasn’t in a reading mood, so I mostly skipped l-r to speed up how long chapters took to read).

Japanese Audio listened to: 14 (I was listening through Quicksleur - which is pimsleur but with the silences cut out, there are 3 sections, 30 audio files in each section. I completed 14 audio files in section 1. I’ve been listening to Quicksleur to try and refresh the japanese I used to know. Is it working? Yeah, I’m remembering a fair bit of what I used to know. I definitely think re-reading Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide or Japanese in 30 Hours would help reaffirm the grammar I used to know - but I haven’t been motivated to read grammar books. I was listening to quicksleur while playing video games, and that worked well as a low effort way to include listening. I will probably just keep listening to quicksleur, then change my audio to japanese and see what vocab I can refresh. Then maybe in a few months, once quicksleur is completed, I may move into using Japanese Audio Lessons and my actual grammar books. At the moment, realistically, I have 0 time for my grammar books. And I want to focus on audio primarily anyway for now - I do NOT want my kanji/spelling knowledge of japanese to affect my chinese reading skills right now. And I know, having tried, that for me they definitely do affect each other - I’ll see kanji and the pinyin pronunciation will jump in my head, or I’ll know a word in japanese and see it in a chinese novel and have to remind myself its a new word there. This mix up happened a lot when I first started studying Chinese - as I’d just come off of studying Japanese for 2.5 years. Which was very weird, it made learning chinese words harder, but the more chinese i learned the easier manga got to Read for a while. Anyway now that I’m refreshing my japanese, even Without seeing kanji on purpose - when I see them in my chinese reading i’m re-remembering the japanese pronunciation and word that hanzi also goes to. Which is already a bit awkward. So I don’t really want to add kanji included study on purpose for a while. I’ll just keep trying this audio focus for now... with the added benefit its easy to include, and doesn’t have to compete for my energy level I have to make myself read. I am well aware I’ll need to go to my long term, more well rounded, japanese study plan later on. But for now this is fine).

Chinese Spoonfed Audio: 0

Manhua chapters read: 0

Chinese shows watched: 1 (Watched anti fraud league ep 1 in chinese, and again I think some small videos and partial eps of other shows. I haven’t watched many shows period this past month though, so I’m not surprised this is low.

Personal goals met:

Personal books read: 5 (3 non-fiction , 2 fiction novels, 2 non-fiction in progress, 1 fiction in progress. This is really where my energy has been happy to focus on this past January. The non-fiction I’m particularly happy with as its a lot of mental health books I’ve been meaning to read for ages, and some of them I really think have helped me to cope with my panic attacks better. Lately my panic attacks have been less overwhelming, to a degree I think because my inner thoughts during them are having an easier time getting back to self-soothing patterns so I can calm down, and I’m more willing to openly express I’m feeling so bad which I think is helping me process the emotions faster, which helps them end sooner. I read a few as mentioned, although I literally cannot recommend complex ptsd by pete walker if the subject material is relevant to you. That book definitely helped the most, and the books he recommended within it are what I’m reading through now. The book was compassionate, informative, very supportive and encouraging of the recovery journey and its steps, and had a ton of very helpful exercises that can be put to practical use).

Continued to get my stomach to not hurt, also got it to work better without medicine. Avoiding very processed carbs - mainly white breads like biscuits, pizza, pie crust, cinamon rolls that come in those cans - has kept my bloating down and the pain down. Eating apples again every day with coffee/tea is helping, both with not needing my medicine, and with foods not hurting me/not bloating me so much. So I guess I have to keep eating apples every single day -o-. I ate pizza several times this past month (with my lactose medicine) and I only bloated a little, it did not hurt, which was GREAT. Eating biscuits from a can still hurt though - happily the bloating only happened a little, but the pain sucks, and definitely is caused by those kinds of carbs specifically. Other then minimizing dairy and that specific carb type, my stomach’s been tolerating other carbs pretty well. I’ve kept my daily bloating low even with some foods that ‘could hurt’ per day, to 1-2 lbs. Which is great. The worst I’ve bloated this month was by 4 lbs (biscuits), which hurt a bit but thankfully subsided after a day, and that is a big improvement over the 7-10 lb bloating I’d get in a single day from one ‘less tolerated’ food choice. I’m very happy I haven’t had to take my medicine daily, hopefully I’m on the way to getting my stomach as happy as it was this summer.

Goals for February:

Listen-Read Method Guardian, until I’ve gotten through the entire novel. I will probably start this in February, not sure yet if it will be postponed. This, and goal 2, are the main priorities for chinese and I don’t mind which one happens as long as I do some of either of these goals.

Continue reading Tian Ya Ke. Work on reading through my first complete novel in chinese. This goal has not changed, though I predict it may be postponed as I’m not sure how much time I will dedicate to it in February.

Optional. Audios. Keep listening to Japanese Quicksleur when there’s down time (like playing games), and Chinese Spoonfed audio if I feel like it.

Personal. Keep reading while I’ve got the motivation to. I am really enjoying getting through all these books I’ve wanted to read for so long.

So same chinese goals as last month - and I imagine these goals will remain the same into the spring and possibly as summer starts. For japanese, just continuing to progress to refresh my memory is all I am planning at the moment.

And a note to myself: it is shocking how motivating making a little line item in my notes saying “Personal books read:” managed to be. I added that to my to-do list in the middle of January, and since then have read a TON. So just as it motivates me to read chinese chapters, it looks like that particular motivator can work for more things.

#january goals #January progress #february goals #study plan #february study plan

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askshinachiku · 4 years

Text

What Was Lost

Note: I have not and do not read Naruto or whatever it is called now. I haven’t since the chapter right before the final chapter. We created Shina and our ideas days, weeks, and months after the ending before the new series or latest movies started or were released.

I’m not as active as I used to be. And it’s not because of lack of interest, I am working on a big project I hope to release soon. Maybe 2020 will finally be the year? I really hope so because I think you guys will love it.

I’m here to discuss something really sad about Naruto, something that I haven’t read for myself, but a problem I see in the remaining fandom who continue to comment on our works and art.

“Useless”. Do you know how much that word is still used?

This story that started off as a story about a misunderstood underdog turned into “If you don’t have a doujutsu, you’re useless.”

Even if a doujutsu user has less ability, feats, and skills than someone without it, to this fandom, that doujutsu user is still better. They aren’t “useless” because they have a doujutsu. A pedigree.

A doujutsu automatically means you’re OP and strong. And to the remaining Naruto fandom, that’s a good thing. You’re only strong if you were born with special abilities. You aren’t allowed to start from ground zero, you gotta be strong from the getgo or you’re weak.

That wasn’t what Naruto was about. That’s not why I enjoyed it. Technically, Naruto started at nothing. He was a -1. Even though he technically had a pedigree being an Uzumaki, he didn’t know about it so it didn’t benefit him. In fact, isn’t it sad that by the end of the Naruto manga, we know the least about the Uzumaki’s, the clan Naruto hailed from? All this fanwanking about special abilities and crap and we don’t even know much about Naruto himself other than random crap they added in later.

But, I’m getting off on a tangent. Naruto started at nothing. The point was to see this boy grow and become strong. Overcome all obstacles. Not because he was particularly smart or born with a doujutsu or whatever. But because he worked hard. Even with the shortcuts he got sometimes, he worked hard trying to be somebody.

At what point did that change? Why is the story so focused on bloodlines, doujutsus, etc etc? In the original series, ever clan we saw was cast in a bad light. Their abilities, while cool, were tragic. It lead to death, destruction, and sadness. Now, having those same abilities is viewed as a good thing. You get a gold star of approval from the fandom for having one.

So this brings me to Shinachiku.

In the minds of most NaruSaku fans after the ending, we had one major question. What kind of child would Naruto and Sakura have? This child would be 1/4th Uzumaki (same as Tsunade). Their parents would be Naruto who while powerful, doesn’t have a lot of discipline and probably wouldn’t be a good teacher, and Sakura, a medical nin who isn’t exactly the most disciplined person either, but probably would make a good mentor. They’re both certainly famous after the war and well respected. Sakura is on the path to succeed Tsunade with her medical talents and Naruto is destined to become Hokage at some point. So if they were to raise a child together, what would they be like?

They would be respectful. We’ve seen countless times that Sakura makes an effort to imbue Naruto with social skills and respect. There’s no way her child would act out as Naruto did as a child. Not to the same extent.

They would be somewhat successful in school. Honestly, Naruto probably only did poorly in school because of how he was treated. But Naruto and Sakura’s child would not receive that treatment and Sakura would probably care a lot about her child’s education.

Possibly a inferiority complex. Naruto and Sakura are legendary ninja. No doubt, they will go down in history for their achievements and feats. They excelled in their fields to face the dangers of their world at the time. But in the future where there is peace, what need is there for children to grow so exponentially? Why push children beyond their limits during peace? There is no reason. So, how would a child of theirs feel if someone where to say, “Well, when your dad was 12, he single handedly defeated an enemy jinchurikki.” In addition to this, once again, someone like Sakura would squash haughty behavior from her child as well.

Can be talented and above average, but not ridiculously so. As mentioned before, their child would be 1/4th Uzumaki. Certainly, they have the potential to be great. Just look at Tsunade, she’s amazing.

The final point above is what I want to focus on.

Not having a doujutsu does not make a child of theirs “useless” or weak. Is Tsunade weak? Is Tsunade useless? She’s not! A former Hokage, the most renown medic nin in the world, probably only second to Sakura now.

I can’t tell you how many comments I’ve seen on Shinachiku art from Naruto fans still following the series stating he must be weak because he doesn’t have the byakugan or sharingan.

“Nice design, but he’d be weak because Sakura’s his mom.”

“Eh, but -insert other kid- has the byakugan so he’d lose. lolol”

Over and over and over again. What is this, a sperm and egg contest? Surely it can’t just be us who still enjoys an underdog story? Next generation NaruSaku kid most definitely not born with anything extraordinary become a great and awesome ninja despite the trails and tribulations?

What fun is there in watching someone who already has everything? It’s not fun to write. It’s not fun to read. It’s a chore, especially when developing fan content.

There’s so much in Shinachiku’s story worth telling, why does the modern fandom of Naruto (who is still looking at everything we do) so focused on bloodline doujutsu stuff. Is the writing of the series that uninspired these days? Is it all just a series of fights where they one up each other based on who their parents are?

That’s boring.

It’s disappointing and sad, but unsurprising how much things have changed in the canon series. How much the original story has been lost because of flashy techniques and birthrights.

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matchacreamlatte · 4 years

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Since the Dabi reveal is happening, I decided to make a post with all the relevant chapters needed to catch up on Dabi is a Todoroki situation.

Dabi’s introduction:

Chapter 55-56: Dabi introduces himself to Shigaraki, not giving his real name and saying that he will know when it’s needed. Dabi’s dedication to following Stain’s will is revealed.

Forest Training Camp arc:

Chapter 82: The iconic ‘How sad, Shoto Todoroki’ line. Fire quirk of Dabi revealed.

Hideout Raid arc:

Chapter 87-88: All league members real names are revealed expect for Dabi, Shigaraki or Kurogiri.

League of villains vs overhaul:

Chapter 160: Dabi is shown to get car sick easily. Dabi is excited to be on the news, he wants to be known as a villain. Snatch asks Dabi if he ever wondered what the families of his victims feel.

Pro-hero arc:

Chapter 187: Has a bit of Todoroki family talk. Shows Natsuo isn’t going to forgive Endeavor soon.

Chapter 190-191: Dabi appears before a heavily injured Endeavor and Hawks. Says Endeavors full name aloud. Dabi thinks back to Snatch’s words about families.

Chapter 192: Todoroki family dinner. It’s revealed that the eldest brother’s name Touya and that something bad happened to him that Natsuo doesn’t forgive Endeavor for.

Class 1-A vs Class 1-B:

Chapter 202: Todoroki’s flashback to Endeavor teaching him, who mentions that Touya was ‘almost perfect’ and ‘possessed a firepower greater than him’ but that he had ‘rei’s weak constitution’.

My villian academia:

Chapter 220-222: Ujiko, ofa’s doctor, shows an interest in Dabi.

Chapter 227-228: Dabi fights Geten, who has an ice quirk. Geten mentions that Dabi didn’t shoot his fire right away and asks if there’s something wrong with his quirk.

Chapter 230: Continuation of Geten vs Dabi. Geten has views towards quirks that is similar to Endeavor. Geten mentions that Dabi ‘reeks of burnt flesh’ and questions if dabi’s body cant handle his flames.

Chapter 231: Dabi asks hawks to take someone other than the number one (Endeavor) out.

Endeavor agency arc:

Chapter 245: Dabi mentions “it looks like they haven’t gotten stronger” in regards to Midoriya, Bakugou and Todoroki trying to fight Starservant with Endeavor.

Chapter 249: Todoroki Family dinner + Midoriya and Bakugou. Natsuo is still shown to have resentment towards Endeavor. Touya Todoroki bastudan is shown; the Todorokis have presumed Touya dead.

Chapter 250: Fuyumi mentions Touya, stating that the accident happened right after Todoroski scar accident. Natsuo still believes that Endeavor is the one who killed Touya.

Chapter 251-252: Natsuo is captured by Ending. Natsuo reveals that ‘Touya told him everything’ and still won’t forgive Endeavor. Endeavor reveals that he ‘might well have killed Touya’.

Paranormal Liberation War arc:

Chapter 266-267: Dabi vs Hawks. Dabi knows Hawks full name. Hawks looked into the League’s backgrounds and couldn’t find Dabi’s nor Shigarakis. Hawks was saved by Endeavor when he was younger and idolizes him. Hawks asks who Dabi is he responds (which is blacked out for the readers) which Hawks reacts to with shock.

Chapter 271: Tokoyami saves Hawks from Dabi. Hawks makes a note on how Dabi cannot use his quirk continuously. Dabi uses his fires from his legs to propel himself like Endeavor. Dabi asks if they should get started earlier, hinting towards his plan.

Chapter 278: Dabi is excited that Endeavor is fighting Shigaraki (where Gigantomachia is headed) and tells Skeptic to start the plan.

Chapter 290: Dabi is Touya Reveal!!!!

If there’s any chapters I missed feel free to add !!

I read the manga here.

#bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha 289 #bnha 290 #touya reveal #touya todoroki #todoroki #bnha dabi #mha dabi #manga spoilers #bnha spoilers #dabi is a todoroki #dabi is touya #bnha touya #endeavor #shoto todoroki

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2ki8h1 · 5 years

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What if Ishimaru and Mondo had both survived the killing game?

So, at the beginning of this year (2019), I decided to embark in a different project: to write a full fanfiction surrounding a certain idea: “What if both of them had survived the killing game?”. The goal of this was to include Ishimaru, as well as Mondo, in the canon plot described by the games and anime (I still haven’t read the novels or the mangas) by creating an adventure surrounding them but also focused in points I wished I saw in Danganronpa. In other words, write about their character development, their relationship (yes, it was supposed to be mainly focused on Ishimondo as a couple, slowly blossoming their romance) but it was also an opportunity to write about tragedy and despair (I enjoy writing horror and angst). I won’t reveal any major spoilers (about my fanfiction) because I haven’t decided if I will continue to work on this. I have other tasks at hand that I need to prioritise. It was supposed to be a big project which I estimated to be longer than 100.000 words. [so far, I have only written over 13k with the 1st chapter still at the beggining, while the second one is already at the middle with over 10k words.]

The point of this post: since I don’t know if I continue this or not, I would love to share the best moments I have wrote so far (both humorous and romantic and I have decided to not share any gory/sad parts). I will give context for every part I share without giving too much details.

NOTE 1: The narrator tries to put themselves in the feet of the character they are focusing on. So, they also try to adopt their way of speech and attempt to convey their feelings facing the various occasions (for example: the narrator is more crude and sad when the character in focus is Mondo)

NOTE 2: English is not my first language. So I apologise for any mistakes found.

WARNING: HEAVY SPOILERS FOR DR1 AND SDR2.

1. “Hopes and Dreams”

Chapter: 1

Context: epilogue of DR1, looking at the metal gate that locked them inside the school, after defeating Junko.

The prospects of a new start were high amongst everyone. Makoto was experiencing a restraint holding his body, in other words, he felt tensed. Suddenly, the feel of warm leather touched his right palm. Kyoko had approached him and gently held his hand. She didn’t made eye contact however he appreciated her kind gesture. “You will not fight this battle alone.” Her speech motivated him and invoked a determined willpower from within which led him to furrow his eyebrows and squeeze her hand slightly harder. Amused by his mood changes, Kyoko tried but failed to conceal a shy, joyful smile.

Mondo walked closer to his brother and hurriedly hurled his long coat to fall over the other man’s shoulder and placed his right arm around Ishimaru’s neck to enfold him in a friendly embrace. That action startled Taka, who barely succeeded to sustain both feet on the ground after the abrupt (and clumsy) headlock. Along with an open, radiant grin, Mondo spoke: “Finally, we’re leaving this place!” Taka with his left hand reached and grabbed Mondo’s right wrist and looked back at him to return his kind words with a soft, resolved smile.

(...)

Byakuya continued to show suppression of his emotions to let his cruel image rule whatever perceptions he wishes others to have of him. Toko was next to him, fidgeting her fingers in embarrassment, peeking briefly at her “beloved” every two seconds with an odd, lustful desire on her face. Hiro, in the other hand, was screaming and crying in ecstasy, praying down in all fours, blessing the floor underneath and showing gratitude to whatever god (or alien) was looking after him.

2. “Lost happy memories”

Chapter: 1

Context: shortly after opening the door, the survivors stand inside the school grounds but outside the building, thinking what they should do next.

Even if any of the lost memories had still not returned, Mondo remembered fondly of the small time he spent with Chihiro during the game, it had been enough for him to develop feelings of admiration towards the geek. He reached out for a specific content that was sitting inside of his long coat’s left pocket (the same coat that continued to shelter Ishimaru’s shoulders) to purposely find the set of stolen photos that served as evidence in the former trial. He glanced upon one in particular. It starred him hugging fiercely both of the baseball star and the computer nerd – he was happy. No, he was extremely happy. Look at his wide, stupid grin; it was a smile that he didn’t recall to see a long time ago. He browsed through the rest and his suspicions were confirmed. He had good times at Hope Peak’s academy. However, the collection was limited. Did he get along with the rest of the class? Were he and Ishimaru as close as they currently are or were they fierce enemies fighting about dumb things? There were a few of him smiling towards Taka. More than anything, he wanted to believe in the happiest statements. He glanced through the same photographs once again but he ended up with the same doubts. He wished to rewind time and relive through those moments one last time where he could adopt the same idiotic, relaxed posture he seemed to use back then. At least, he wished the set included a photo of him with his kyoudai. Did they also resolve their differences with a competition in the sauna? He laughed at the thought.

Ishimaru sighed while pointing at one of them. “I will miss them as well.” At the end of his index finger was a photograph captured by Makoto: They were all posing for the picture, in their school uniforms, inside their classroom (well, almost everyone - of course, Leon insisted in wearing his version of a “uniform”). Mondo turned his head to encounter red eyes glazed, stained with tears that fought to break free. Wow, he really was kind. “We were lucky… I wonder if I truly deserve to be one of the s-”

Maybe too kind for his own good. “Shut it...” He caught Taka surprised with the response. “What would I do without my brother next to me?” Mondo added, wrapping an arm around the other’s neck in a friendly way.

“Maybe it’s true. I still have a lot to lecture you about the true value of effort!”

That was not what Mondo wanted to hear “Oi-“

“And, as selfish as this may sound, I am truly relieved you weren’t the one who passed away.”

Sadness and guilt. Mondo looked at Kiyotaka and remembered how those two words felt. Those were feelings Kiyotaka was over familiar with… hell, even he knew the despair hidden behind those terms.

Mondo had quickly learned to detect those moods. In fact, he was pretty good at it! And he was unnecessarily proud of that achievement... The diagnosis? Symptoms of a low self-esteem. He still hadn’t figure it out how to improve his condition however, he had to think about it later; right now, he wanted to focus in leaving this creepy-ass school.

“Movin’ on… What th’ hell is this creepy smile?” In a sloppy attempt to change the subject, he shoved the mentioned picture in Taka’s face.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Look at your face! You look like those creepy clowns but without the makeup. So stiff and robotic and why are you behaving like a soldier?”

“Ghk- Are you saying I am ugly?”

“Wha-! Ah- Shit! no!” just like mentioned before… embarassingly sloppy “That’s not what I meant! I just wanted to tell ya’ that ya’ need to smile naturally and not force yourself just ta’ try to look good in th’ pictures because it has the opposite result you intended!” Mondo pulled off a different photograph. In this one, they were with their gym clothes, enjoying a P.E. class and Ishi was smiling brightly while cheering for their class “For example, in this ya’ look natural ‘cause ya’ got caught off guard!”

“Oh- I see.” Disappointment was felt in his voice.

“Well- See? It doesn’t mean yar ugly or nothi’, actually I think ya’ are very good lookin’. Ya’ just look funny in photographs. Not everyone is photogenic! ... (especially you…)” he babbles.

“Thank you.” Taka released a soft smile. The type of smile someone would like to record it with a photograph “You are a very kind man, kyoudai!”

And Mondo gets easily flustered with sweet (and cheesy) praises “Oh! Stop it! Don’t worry that pretty head of yours thinking that yer’ ugly or some bullshit like that…”

“I don’t usually concern myself over those issues. But I can’t stop myself from wondering if the lack of a more relaxed posture or behavior is the result of my failures at adopting socials skills.”

Mondo couldn’t deny it. He had the same opinion. He gave it a shrug in an attempt to give the conversation a closure.

“And if I may say so myself. I think you are a very attractive man yourself, Mondo.”

Mondo blushed even harder at the sudden compliment. And again, that cute smile… if only he could make him smile like that in photos…

“I know!! What if I force you to smile spontaneously?”

A small silence broke between the two “Force me to smile spontaneously?” Mondo cringed at the obvious mistake “Did you think that through?”

“Eh- shit! Atleast I am tryin’. I don’t see ya’ spittin’ any ideas!”

Taka chuckled. Mondo never considered to see Ishimaru laugh as he did right now. It created an ambience of comfort. It’s a new side that Mondo wished to see his brother with it in more occasions. “I will try to think of something too, then.”

Observing those two talking was Kirigiri; detective mode activated: the right index finger intertwined and resting on her chin as she would normally do whenever she found herself immersed deep in her thoughts. “Those two seem to be in a good mood. It’s good to have someone to rely on.”

“Well, I consider myself lucky too. After all, I am the ultimate lucky student if I have you backing me up.”

That was… unexpected. Was he trying to be smooth, flirty or just kind? One look at his facial expression: huge smile, eyebrows tense, shoulders determined. He was definately not trying to be flirty but that comment was very effective. She turned around, flushed.

3. “Makoto, the servant”

Chapter: 2

Context: daily life of Makoto in the Future Foundation.

Makoto had woken up with a tedious mood. He checked his alarm clock and groaned… 4 a.m., “Great!” He said before slamming the snooze button and slumping back into the flat, old pillow. He blamed Togami for that. The man continued to impose him waking up at ridiculous hours to perform the most preposterous tasks. To be honest, he sometimes felt to be Togami’s pet or worse… a servant. He cringed at the idea and quickly dismissed such unwelcomed thoughts to not further the cranky mood he was in.

“Peasant, I will need my coffee at exactly 65ºC (150ºF) with just a sniff of cinnamon or I’ll have you thrown into the dungeon. Naegi, you tell them the answer!” He adjusted his imaginary glasses, pointing forcefully to a random nearby object while attempting to copy Togami’s presumptuous act with an over exaggerated high-pitched voice. “Makoto, that was not what I wanted y-you to t-tell… t-them.“ …but he merely ended in chuckles in the middle of the last one, ridiculing his own failed attempts.

He pushed the sheets to one side and hopped off out of bed. Imitating Togami would always lighten his mood. He grabbed his phone to see what horrifying tasks awaited him that day…

4. “Reunion”

Chapter: 2

Context: Mondo was part of the 2nd division (army) while Ishimaru belonged to the 14th division. Mondo was a soldier, facing wars in different points of the world; while Ishimaru worked in Future Foundation’s headquarters, safe from any danger. This was not their first reunion but it was the one where they spent the most time apart. The location of the reunion was in a cafeteria inside FF.

At the end of the corridor, he rested his hands over the knees to normalize his respiratory rate. One mental reminder to himself was to put his exercise in order! Those sleepless nights and postponing his exercise regime were clearly affecting his stamina. Though, he would have to worry about that later. Still panting, he recomposed to an upright stance to meet the single entrance of the beautiful building where Mondo awaited him. The smell of freshly baked buns was causing his stomach to start rumbling. He touched the glass door but didn’t push it to open. Instead he looked through the stained glass and tried to spot him. Shaky breaths were quickly turned into condensation whenever these brushed over the surface of the glass, defocusing the once clear image and forcing Kiyotaka to clean the droplets with his right sleeve. It had been wise to look for him behind the entrance door. It avoided a clumsy search inside the cafeteria for anyone to watch and whisper. He sensed something was beating fast inside of him. He confirmed that his heart was racing when he placed a hand close to his chest. Why did he feel so nervous?

The cafeteria was still pretty empty at this time of the day but a few people were starting to fill the empty chairs and placing their trays on top of the metallic round tables to start enjoying their meals. Loud laughter and loud chatter slowly scattered across the space, too much to his annoyance. He looked at his right, straight to his usual table. It was almost hidden by a load-bearing wall, away from the restless crowd and at the same time, closer to the landscape he so enjoyed. That blooming tree filled his morning with color and energy and made him believe that he could endure another harsh, boring day. Darn, someone was already occupying that… spot. Wait… sun-kissed muscles, different uniform (if not mistaken, he recognized it to be from the 2nd division), bleached long hair… That was Mondo right?

“Mondo.” he whispered only letting himself to hear before opening the door. The smile vanished in a brief second after he noticed bruises, scars and some bandages covering his best friend. Mondo turned his head around almost unconsciously to the scraping sound that the front door’s metallic base did over the tile floor, a common sound that repeated every time someone moved it to open.

Not five seconds passed when a very trembling Ishimaru had his arms around him. Mondo felt a stream of warm tears running loose in his cheeks, damping the collar of his t-shirt. Taka was crying, of course. Gently, Mondo folded his arms around the other’s midsection, pulling him to his lap to allow his forehead to drown in Taka’s neck, surrendering to the embrace.

The comments mocking the odd pair suddenly reverberated through the room, filling the air of not-so-sneaky murmurs. Without separating himself from the warmth radiated from Taka’s right shoulder, Mondo rotated his head, locking eyes with the few smug fuckers. A narrow purple iris shined in contempt out of a squinted corner of his left eye. Some deviated his looks, frighten by the former delinquent’s cold stare, while the boldest ones maintained the glare beside a derisive smile, maliciously enjoying the scene.

Yet, Taka was only focused in who held him; giving minimal concern to his surroundings. “Without hearing from you, I thought you were gone for good!” Hell, he didn’t even seem to notice the bastards around them! He only knew how his arms trembled and how his eyes hurt, overdriven with emotions.

Taka shifted to close the embrace even tighter, to reduce any amount of space that still remained between the two. The strong dedication put in those words chocked whatever sickening feeling Mondo was struggling with. Kiyotaka cherishing him was the remedy he needed to immediately light his mood and now, it was his turn to return the favor. Mondo moved one hand to ruffle Taka’s soft hair, while the left rubbed his back, working in tandem. Whatever it was, the affection was soothing the other’s tears. Mondo gave him time to compensate the time they had been away from each other so this position lasted for a few minutes.

Suddenly, Taka raised his head to look directly into the other’s eyes, who replaced kind eyes for a big smile. Mondo had a wide variety of smiles but this one, this stupid wide, teeth-clenched one meant ‘everything is alright’ where as Taka just continued to feel as hurt and tired. He inspected the scars meticulously, especially the ones across his face before unwrapping his arms around Mondo’s neck. Mondo didn’t budge but his palms slid to rest in other’s hips. Taka detected a tiny cut just under the left eye. He glared at it for a bit before rubbing it gently with his thumb to depreciate the change of texture that usually escorted injuries.

Red eyes were glazed deep in thought to which Mondo frowned and sighed. “Who are you?”

Taka was taken aback with the question. “What? Do you not recognize me?”

The exaggerated dismay on Ishimaru’s expression lines was what caused the loud, boisterous laugh that followed. It started off as a snort but it quickly developed to guffaws. That laugh only belonged to Mondo and to Mondo only. Taka simply gawked at him in absolute oblivion until the other stopped to explain. “I-I am just playin’ ya.” He managed to say between chortles “Ya’ almost fooled me with that long hair of yours, but your face continues the same. Oh gosh! How long has it been? 5 months? Hmph- it looks good on ya!”

This had not been the first time apart but it had been the longest they have been away from each other.

“This is hardly the time for games!”

“Sorry! Pout as much as you want. That cute angry face does not work on me! It was fuckin’ hilarious to see your reaction!”

Mondo conceded. He did look older, more mature, like a proper business man. He smirked turning Taka alert to his movements. He proceeded to remove his gloves and threw them carelessly on top of the table. He cupped Ishimaru’s pale but warm face against his cold hands. He flinched with the abrupt change of temperature but melted into it nevertheless. He pushed Taka’s bangs back revealing the angry wrinkled forehead and some kinky strands of hair that fought free from the grip. He noticed the obvious dark rims under the eyes, knowing full well he was the cause of that predicament. Regardless, he chose to leave the subject untouched. In any case he still had the same face and the same soft raven hair.

(…)

Although not evident, Kirigiri did worry about Ishimaru’s well being. He had a gorgeous smile when he truly felt happy and he was the only who could perform such a confidence boost in Taka.

“Hello, Mondo. It is nice to see you’re back safe.”

He looked at his right to see the former ultimate detective staring at him with a formal smile. “Hello Kirigiri. How are you?”

“Good. What about you?”

“Meh- could’a be worse!” he answered, looking fondly at Taka.

The conversation quickly died and Inadvertently, Kirigiri’s eyes fell over Mondo’s lap, where Taka was still sitting.

For once, Taka was able to read the surprise in Kirigiri’s face and immediately jumped out to his upright position leaving Mondo stunned.

“I didn’t realize I was still in y-your lap. I am so sorry kyoudai!”

He could have been quieter in saying that… Kyoko attempted to cover a snicker behind her usual thinking expression which became apparent that it would be a hard task when holding an apple in each hand.

5. “???”

Chapter: 2

Context: after the “reunion” moment. Taka went to grab breakfast for himself and Mondo, while the other waited for him in the lounge.

Taka rushed to the kitchen without running. Old habits die hard I guess. Mondo chuckled at that. A tall man with ridiculous hair was now approaching Mondo.

“Mondo! So nice to see you again, man!”

“Same, Hagakure. How are you doing?”

“Fine. (gasps) those are some ugly, nasty scars.” Hagakure pointed it out “Are you ok?”

“No, dude. Can’t you see I’m dead?”

“AHHHHHHH- a ghost!”

Mondo is now the one stunned by Hiro’s overreaction.

“Bro… Chill… I am just teasing you… Did you seriously think I was dead? How high are you?”

“Are you sure you didn’t come to haunt me??” Hiro continued, half-hunched, covering half of his face with his forearms, squinting towards an even more stupefied Mondo,

“You have serious problems. I was bein’ sarcastic, ya’ big idiot!”

“Oh- haha! I am glad to hear it!” Hagakure quickly to his usual chirp self and laughed it off “It would be bad news if I had been haunted by a ghost.”

“Whatever man…”

Thank you so much for reading!! And apologies for my terrible sense of humour!

#my writing #danganronpa #Future Foundation AU #ishimondo #Kiyotaka Ishimaru #Mondo Owada Oowada #naegiri #Makoto Naegi #Kyouko Kyoko Kirigiri #Touko Toko Fukawa #Byakuya Togami #Yasuhiro Hiro Hagakure #togafuka #naegami

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3dnygma · 4 years

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tagged by: @stvlti - thank you Eugenia!

rules: answer the questions and tag 9 people you’d like to get to know better

top 3 ships:

Nygmobblepot - Edward Nygma and Oswald Cobblepot from Gotham. I don’t recall ever adoring a ship as much as these two, so they’re def my #1 ship. There’s just something about that “us against the rest of the world” vibe from many villain/villain ships that can be extremely compelling. Also given the both dark and goofy nature of Gotham, there’s just a lot that you can do with these characters. I also quite enjoy Riddlebird (aka Penguin/Riddler outside of Gotham), although I do know less about their dynamic in other Batman adaptations/universes.

Mantis and Nebula from GOTG/the MCU. Mhm honestly I’m not as much into these two as I used to be but thinking about them makes my seratonin levels RISE! There’s so much they could learn from eachother and I think their dynamic in general would make for some hilarious, domestic situations.

Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (haven’t seen 2003 FMA yet, or read the manga). Probably my favourite straight ship hahha. I quite enjoy both of them as individual characters and, as a result, how their personalities work together. Especially the trust that these two have is admirable! I also quite enjoy the role that their relationship fulfills in FMAB. It’s not a slow-burn but instead pre-established with a long-running history. They don’t exude those vibes of a young romantic couple but instead have a very solid and stable relationship. They don’t display pda but you can tell by each of their interactions how fond they are for eachother.....I just think they’re neat :)

(To be honest there are quite a few ships I enjoy to the same extent as Mantis/Nebula and Riza/Roy.....I like them but Nygmobblepot is still by far my fave ship. With pretty much all of my other ships, I just tend to read fanfic abt them occasionally and would probably not create original content for them myself.

Also I tend to multiship most of my favourite characters? Scorpia from She-ra, Matsuda from Death Note (Sayu not as much), and Edward Nygma...Seems like I ship my faves with a bunch of people or nobody else at all.)

last movie:

Crazy Rich Asians! They added it on Netflix a while ago so one of my friends and I decided to watch it via Netflix Party (which is a Chrome extension I can heavily recommend if you have Netflix and miss Rabb.it like I do). In my country we’re actually allowed to meet up with people again but sadly she’s abroad rn, so we’ve been watching quite a few movies via Netflix Party. Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, and now Crazy Rich Asians.

Anyways, I loved the movie! I was actually pleasantly surprised by the emotional beats and character growth this movie had because back when it was released, I only really perceived it as a great comedy. It’s still pretty funny, but I definetely enjoyed the family and class conflict it was depicting. Also Singapore looks so amazing wtf!!

reading:

I sadly started too many books at the same time and haven’t finished any of them yet lol. I tend to read small portions at a time these days and hardly ever finish books in one setting.

A friend gifted me Shadows of the Dark Crystal by J.M. Lee - it’s set in the Dark Crystal universe (taking place parallel to the Netflix prequel show). Said friend remembered me casually mentioning how much I love said prequel show and so she got it for me as a Secret Santa gift. It’s prob one of the most considerate gifts I’ve gotten in a while! The story is very conscise (honestly you really could compare it to a great fanfic) and it definitely made me more interested in the fantasy genre as a whole. I’m reading one or two chapters every now and then but I’m waiting to finish it until I’ve got the second entry of the book series.

Another book I started was The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Have neither seen the movie or read the book yet but it’s on our English BA’s reading list. Finished about the first quarter I believe? But I haven’t continued it ever since. However, it’s definitely been a good read thus far! Downloaded it on our tablet because it’s under Creative Commons and thus free!

The third text I’ve started reading (abt a week ago) is As You Like It by William Shakespeare. Never actually read a Shakespeare play in English thus far so I felt like it was about time (my previous literature courses at Uni: Am I a joke to you?). Can’t really say much about it yet because I’m still at the 2nd Act but I’m glad to have bought the bilingual version (English original on the left page, German translation on the right page) because Shakespearean English is still very new to me.

what food are you craving right now?

Got some sushi and wakame salad at the grocery store today and I’m excited to try it for dinner !

tagging: sorry I know this is against the rules but if you see this and feel like doing it you can just say that I tagged you :)

#long post #about me #tagged

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rosaline-kei · 5 years

Note

I saw your post asking for ideas to write and I would love to read more canonverse SNK fanfics that take place during the timeskip. They were all growing up together into adulthood and there weren't any titans/rumbling to worry about. Chapter 108 was the closest thing we got of the 104th squad being together. Any Eremika interactions during that period will be great to read, specifically because they weren't working back then, just acting like normal people do.

Disclaimer:I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin / Attack on Titan nor its characters.

Title: Early Morning Conversation (EreMika)

Synopsis/Prompt: (Above; Based on Anon’s request) Mikasa struggles to fall asleep, and decided to leave her room to get some fresh air. Unexpectedly, Eren found her and they have a little talk. (Contains Manga Spoilers)

Rated: K+

Author’s Notes: I hope this was okay Anon! I tried haha, if it wasn’t what you wanted/were expecting, i apologise! I’m willing to do another prompt if so. Once again, ask box is open for requests! Or you can message me if you want a very specific scenario haha >

•┈⛧┈•

It was around four in the morning. The sun had barely risen, and here was Mikasa—awake and outside seated on a bench, staring idly at the cloudless sky. She had found trouble sleeping. And surprisingly it wasn’t insomnia that was at fault. Instead, it had been a nightmare that forced her awake and made her restless.

Just yesterday, Eren had sheepishly confessed that he didn’t want anyone to inherit his titan abilities because he cared and treasured them way too much. Of course, Mikasa was touched and happy to hear this—that Eren cared about them deeply. After all, it wasn’t every day that you hear Eren be so open about his feelings… well, at least his positive feelings.

And yet, despite yesterday’s positive events, the nightmares still came and haunted Mikasa. She had thought she had shoved those fears of hers aside, so that she could be more optimistic about things… but it seemed like that that wasn’t the case. Those fears of hers, had soon morphed into those ghostly nightmares that planned to drag her down into exhaustion.

“What are you doing up so early?” A familiar voice called, and Mikasa recognized it in an instant.

The raven snapped out of her day-dreaming, before turning towards the direction of masculine voice, to only meet Eren’s emerald orbs. “Eren…? What are you doing out here?” The raven queried back instead of replying him.

“I was woken up by Connie’s snoring, and just as I was about to go back to sleep, I glanced out the window to see you out here alone even before the sun had risen. You do know we don’t have to be up early today, right? Commander Hanji gave us an off day since we did a good job with the train tracks the other day. And even if we did, work doesn’t start at four in the morning.” Eren raised a brow before he continued, “And you still haven’t answered my question, why are you here?”

There was this particular sternness in his tone, as if he were mad at her for not getting proper rest. But Mikasa knew that underneath that was concern. How could he not be concerned, after finding her awake at such an odd time?

Mikasa sighed softly, “I just… couldn’t sleep, and decided to go outside for some fresh air.” What she said wasn’t necessarily a lie, but it wasn’t the complete truth. She didn’t feel like telling him about the nightmare she had just experienced… after all, it involved him. Though, Mikasa was sure that Eren could tell that something was off. At times like this, he could read her like an open book.

“Then do you want to go out for a walk?” Eren asked, “It’ll release stress.” He had said this as if he had read Mikasa’s mind, as if he knew that there was something heavy weighing on her shoulders and her mind.

“…Sure.” Mikasa agreed, before she stood up and went to walk alongside the brunette.

Their walk was at first, full of silence. Regardless, Mikasa didn’t seem bothered. She didn’t feel any form of awkwardness either. With Eren by her side, her heart was always at ease. And in this silence, she found some form of comforting peace—solace, perhaps? It wasn’t as if this silence was full of tension, anyway.

It had been a while since she had strolled around with Eren. A few years back, they had always been training non-stop to combat the titans and Eren had always been busy with other things regarding his titan-shifter abilities. They barely had any free time like this. Sure, titans were still an issue to them now. However, in this period of time, Mikasa couldn’t help but find some normalcy in it, especially in this moment.

It would be nice, Mikasa thought, if we could fully live normally, in complete peace.

But she knew very well, that the war wasn’t over yet.

“Is the Hizuru thing bothering you?” Eren queried as his eyes glimpsed towards her, “You know, with Azumabito, their intentions and whatnot?”

It had also been a while since Eren showed this amount of concern for her. And she wondered why. Normally, it’d be the other way around. Granted, she had always known Eren cared for her… he just never showed it so openly, not to mention he had been too fixated, distracted and obsessed over titan-killing back then.

“No…it isn’t that.” Mikasa mumbled before adjusting her red scarf a little upon feeling a cold gust of wind blowing by.

Again, there was this silence. But now, it didn’t seem so serene anymore, especially when she could feel Eren’s irritation since the raven wasn’t telling him what was wrong.

A few moments went by until Eren spoke again, “…Listen, Mikasa… I know something’s bothering you… tell me.”

It sounded more like a demand, even if he had said it in a soft way. He wanted an answer, a truthful one.

It had been quite some time that Mikasa had ever expressed her emotions to Eren, or rather, had conversations that weren’t about titan-killing and their responsibilities as soldiers. For the most part, she had always been lecturing him about his recklessness, nagging at him, telling him to be more careful and the list goes on.

The last time she had fully expressed her emotions and thoughts to him was when she had thought that they were going to be killed, or more specifically, eaten by a titan. It was that day, where she had thanked him for everything.

She wondered if he remembered that day. It wasn’t too long ago, but with everything going on regarding Paradis’s future, it wouldn’t be too surprising if Eren had forgotten what she had said. Though, she’ll be a little sad if he did, even if she claimed to herself that she didn’t mind.

Without the need of anymore persistence for the brunette’s part, Mikasa resigned. “I just had a nightmare.” She murmured and then continued, figuring that he wanted to know its contents. “About losing you… losing Armin… both of you don’t have much time left after all… especially you.”

Mikasa was undoubtedly heavy-hearted as she said this. As much as she didn’t want to show it, she couldn’t. She didn’t want to think about it when that time comes. She wished she could have a normal and joyful conversation with Eren, and not chat about heavy topics like this.

But he asked, so she answered. There wasn’t a point in hiding things from him, really.

It took Mikasa a while, but she noticed that Eren had stopped in his tracks. She turned towards him with a little worrisome look, beginning to regret informing him about her nightmares. Maybe it was a bad idea, she thought, to bring up…about his own death.

“I’m sorry.” She instantly apologised as she felt guilt pouring in. “I—”

“Don’t worry about that, Mikasa.” Eren suddenly said, with a little scold in his voice. He didn’t seem angry or irritated at all as what Mikasa had initially anticipated. He then took a few steps closer to her. “You shouldn’t worry about things like that… it’ll all work out in the end, trust me.” He reassured.

But Mikasa didn’t feel reassured, she couldn’t. She wanted to trust in his words, but she was hesitant and even afraid. How could Eren be so sure?

Eren sighed, he had already predicted that his words wouldn’t be enough to calm the raven down. He understood the limited time he had left, but now wasn’t the time to be worried about that or rather, be so fixated on that fact.

Eren still had goals to achieve, and he was more focused on that for now.

On another note, Eren had also realised how things were a little more normal now. They weren’t going on titan-killing expeditions or sending Eren out to be an experimental toy. Just yesterday, everything felt… tranquil, or at least, a little less chaotic to say the least.

And seeing Mikasa like this, made him want to help her enjoy this tranquillity while it lasted. He didn’t want her to worry about him anymore. But this time rather than yelling that to her, he went with a softer approach.

He wanted to give her as much normalcy as he could, before things would become tensed again.

“Since when did your hair get so long?” He asked, changing the topic—which had caught the raven a little off guard, but she went with it anyway. It wasn’t as if she wanted to talk about gloomy things anyway.

“…I don’t know,” She responded plainly, “I tied it up in a small ponytail anyway, so it won’t get in the way… and it’s not like we’re going to use the 3DMG gear anytime soon probably... speaking of which…” Mikasa trailed off, before taking a glance at Eren’s dark brown hair to which had grown too. Except unlike Mikasa, he didn’t bother tying it up as of now.

Subconsciously, Mikasa’s hand reached out to brush his hair a little. “You told me to cut my hair so it wouldn’t bother me… it’s ironic that you grew it out…” Eren gave a nervous chuckle in response, a little taken aback when she had touched his hair and maybe a little embarrassed. But he decided not to say anything of it.

Though before he could reply, Mikasa had continued, “Not to mention… it’s quite messy and tangled…Eren, I know you have never kept long hair before… do you not know how to maintain it—”

“Hey!” He huffed slightly before gently moving her hand away from his hair before it could’ve tangled itself. His cheeks reddened, highlighting both his embarrassment and how flustered he was over Mikasa’s little lecture. He knew his hair could be messy at times, but he didn’t think someone would’ve pointed it out. Plus he had just woken up, what did she expect? Hell, he wondered why her hair wasn’t in its usual bed-hair messy state. Did she switched shampoo or something? Who knows?

Mikasa began to chuckle and Eren noticed how the mood seemed to have lightened. “H-Hey! What are you laughing about?”

Mikasa only continued to laugh, she hadn’t seen Eren this bashful in years. It was nice to know, that even this man who shouldered the burden of the future of humanity, could still have this childish, cute little side of him. It was nice to know that he hadn’t lost himself completely in this madness… at least, not yet.

“Nothing.” Mikasa smiled, and though Eren didn’t say it out loud, he was glad that she seemed to have forgotten about her nightmare. Though, he wished she wouldn’t tease him like that… then again, seeing her smile was worth it. He never liked hurting her.

Eren gave a small roll of his eyes, before he clicked his tongue a little as he began to walk again at a quicker pace. “… I’ll have you know my hair is fine.” He grumbled slightly, still a little embarrassed.

Mikasa cackled before chasing after him, “I was only jok—”

“Hey Mikasa,” He suddenly cut her off, and it seemed like his reddened cheeks began to lighten as his tone grew a little more solemn… a little more protective, “… next time if you have any trouble… just come to me… alright? I’ll always be by your side… okay?”

Now, it was Mikasa’s turn to flush. When Eren didn’t hear a response, he turned to see the tomato coloured cheek raven. “Why are your cheeks reddening?” He asked, clueless.

It really astounded Mikasa sometimes, how he could see through her and read her like an open book when it came to her troubles. But when it came to that particular emotion to which she was feeling, he was clueless.

“It’s the sun.” She excused, though the sun had barely came out yet. Now, it was her who began to quicken her pace while she hid herself in her scarf. “Let’s… head back.” She murmured.

Eren only scoffed, not thinking too much of it. “Yeah, yeah…” He smiled, before catching up to her as they walked back to base, where a new day began.

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