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faulty-writes · 4 years

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Can I get a story for Iida where y/n is really insecure about being so small, she’s never seen as a threat or strong and physically she’s just so small that in top of it all she never felt womanly because of her stature. Very fluffy and comforting.

[No words can describe how much I love my boy Tenya Iida, I just love him so so so so much <3 I hope you enjoy!]

Sometimes you wondered if someone had been laughing or playing a cruel joke when you came into existence. You were by far the smallest in your class, next to Mineta and you often got made fun of because of it. But Iida would always defend your name, along with Midoriya and Tsuyu. “Now, it’s my personal belief that being a hero is not so much about the stature of your physical being but the strength you carry in your heart. So kindly refrain from words of slander towards y/n. Thank you.” he’d push his glasses up and turn to you with a kind smile, damn you loved that smile.

But one would only do so much to defend your name, it wasn’t that their words necessarily hurt you. It was more so your own sense of self-confidence and the self-image you had of yourself. You were so damn small, lacked muscle, you looked like a trinket toy and no one really saw you as a threat. Even at your angriest, people would just laugh and comment about how cute you were. Though their compliments would make you blush, you still hated it. You were beginning to worry that no one would see you for the Pro Hero you hoped to be one day.

On top of that, you had never felt quite feminine given your stature. Perhaps womanly was the better word, your height and physical appearance made you feel more like a child than a woman and you were often mistaken for being a Middle Schooler rather than the High Schooler you were and that made it worse. You tried your hardest to push past your own doubts, especially during training where comments would be muttered about your performance. No one thought you were a threat and while your quirk wasn’t impressive and you needed to work on your combat skills. You would hear the words “Cute”, “Short”, and “Baby Doll.” thrown around.

You always felt like crying after training and this training session was particularly the worst. You had lost focus when you heard one of their comments and ended up slipping. You fell a good five feet and tumbled on the ground, covered in dirt and bleeding cuts. Iida was the first one to rush to your side. “Are you alright, y/n? Please do not move,” he instructed as Aizawa ran over. “What happened?” he demanded in a flat tone and Iida looked to his teacher after he had bowed in respect.

“I believe y/n simply miscalculated their foot placement, please may I be permitted to help them to Recovery Girl?” he asked and Aizawa nodded, “Just come back when you are done,” he said and Iida nodded before helping you to your feet. He was gentle as he wrapped one arm around your waist and patiently walked you back inside. Once at the nurse’s office, Recovery Girl sighed at the state you were in, and with one kiss, she healed you. She had insisted you change back into your school uniform, which you did with little resistance.

But you sighed as you sat on the bed, feeling embarrassed. Everyone in the class saw you tumble and fall, you probably looked pathetic but that wasn’t the biggest thing that was bothering you. Iida seemed to notice your saddened expression and reached up to tap his chin. “Is everything alright? I know you are rather coordinated when it comes to your combat skills, did something distract you?” he questioned as he looked to you, but your eyes were still looking at the floor. You took a breath, trying to wipe away the tears that threatened to come.

Iida frowned and took a step closer, “May I sit next to you, y/n?” he asked, being as polite as ever. You sniffed and nodded, feeling the mattress dip as he took his seat. Your shoulders brushed together and you could feel his stare on you. You sighed and turned to look at him, he was wearing a concerned expression and it almost killed you to see that. A moment of silence passed before you looked away from him. “The ...things they say when ...when I’m trying to ...train I ...I hate it!” you exclaimed and Iida frowned.

“I see,” he said as he reached up to hold his chin, his eyes looking towards the ceiling. “I was not aware that harassment continued outside the classroom, I’m afraid I must apologize. If I knew, I would have put a stop to it,” he said and you latched onto your lip as your eyes watered and a few single tears rolled down your cheeks. Iida was quick to grab your face. You looked surprised, he carefully turned your face to look at him and his thumbs brushed away the tears.

“It pains me to know that I have not performed my duties as the class president, as a hero, and more important as your dearest friend. Y/n, forgive me,” he said before bowing and though more tears came, you were shocked that Iida felt so guilty over it. “Iida …” you said as you reached up to take his hands and lower them onto your lap. “It’s not ...your fault. I ...I’ve been feeling ...bad about myself lately …” you confessed and Iida’s jaw dropped. “Why?” he questioned, “You have no reason to limit yourself to your own self-expectations! You are a wonderful hero! Your quirk is quite useful and I-” you interrupted him.

“That’s not true …” you said and once more looked away from him. Your hands curled into fists, “I hate ...those comments. Saying I’m so short, s-so small and that I-I’m not a proper threat. It m-makes me w-want to give up being a hero! I-If I can’t be threatening, if I c-can’t appear strong then w-what’s the point of being a hero?!” you cried, turning to look at Iida who looked surprised as if he didn’t know how to take your words or what to say as a response. “Hm …” he glanced down, his hands were still respectfully on your lap.

“I’ve n-never felt feminine because of ...w-well I look like a kid and-” your words came to a stop when you felt Iida grab your hands, giving them a squeeze. “Your stature and appearance should not play an important role in the factor of being a hero. Countless heroes have proved such before and I do not care what the others say, I will debate them if I have to.” Iida said in a stern tone. “Y/n, your height, your stature, your weight. All the physical aspects you doubt about yourself have nothing to do with being a hero,” he said before bringing your hands up to his lips.

You gasped as his soft lips pressed against each one, causing you to blush. “You are wonderful ...I adore you.” Iida said softly, but you still frowned. “I still ...don’t feel feminine …” you said, looking down and Iida scooted closer to you. He placed your hands back onto your lap before pulling you against him, his arms securely around you. Your heart raced, you were so close to Iida that you could smell his aroma which was similar to books and cider. You swallowed and looked up at him, but his stare was directed forward.

“I have always found you to be beautiful, even so, feminine and masculine are merely aspects of one’s personality. You may be one or the other, you may identify as neither. But the most important thing to me is that you are yourself. Even if you do not feel feminine or as if you aren’t a true woman. I’m afraid I must disagree, dear y/n. I find you very attractive and rather ...dare I say ...adorable. I know you do not like being called that, but the only thing I wish to do, is never let you go.” he explained and his hand came up to run through your hair.

His chin came down to rest on your shoulder and you were frozen in shock. Your heart was pounding and your face was still glowing red. “Please do not think such negative things about yourself, you are wonderful and you will make a true hero someday and I shall be by your side as I always wish to be. I will not abandon a friend, I will not abandon someone I wish to be more than just a friend with someday.” you jumped at his words, more than just a friend with? You weren’t sure what he meant and you didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

But still, you replayed his words in your head and found yourself smiling. Bringing your arms up, you finally returned his hug and nuzzled against his shoulder. “Thank you, Iida,” you replied and he smiled. “I am quite happy to help, now …” he pulled back and looked down at you. “Shall we return?” he questioned and you looked to the side, shaking your head.

“I want to hug you a little more, is that okay?” you didn’t wait for an answer as you leaned against him once more, he trembled in response and his cheeks turned red. “Oh uh …” he cleared his throat, “O-Of course,” he replied before taking a deep breath, though he looked calm and collected. His own heart was racing and a certain kind of happiness that only you provided came to him. Yes, he’d protect you and he’d have a talk with the ones that dared comment about you. No one would make you sad as long as he was around.

#tenya x reader #iida x reader #bnha fanfiction #bnha x reader #bnha requests #Anonymous

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fonzura · 6 years

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Voice Actress Carnelian - Aika Kobayashi Interview

The moment we finish shooting, Aika Kobayashi beams at the staff and exclaims “that was so much fun!” She continues, “of course I’m glad to be on the cover of this magazine, but what made me even happier was that I got to try on so many outfits” - it’s clear that she’s a fashion-lover through and through.

I knew I had to wear that red off-shoulder outfit. The colour is just beautiful and the black and white dotted dress has this retro feel about it. I love it! But what I want people to notice the most is the shoes. They piqued my interest during the fitting session and I wanted them so badly that I bought them (laughs). Getting to wear cute shoes all the time is enough to get me hyped! The hat from the second outfit is so adorable too. There are eyes on my forehead! (laughs) There’s also this netting on the hat, which I think gives it an autumn-y feel. I have to say that the third outfit was very dressy. I hardly get a chance to wear clothes like those either for work or in my personal time, so it was a fresh experience for me. It has a girly vibe to it, but if you look closely, it has this playful American comic pattern on it. The gap between those aspects makes it so fascinating.

“Once I get started talking about fashion, I can’t stop”, she giggles. But it’s all too clear that there’s no falsehood in her words. As she picks out outfits for the shoot with her stylist, Kobayashi is asked what her trick is for choosing clothes. She answers simply: “intuition!”

Previously, I was really concerned about the price of clothes, so I stuck to the method of buying cheap and cute clothes at places like outlet malls. Nowadays, though, I don’t have much time to shop so I’ll buy the pieces I find that happen to speak to me: only the ones that I fall in love with at first sight. If I hesitate even slightly, I won’t buy it…. Or so I say, but end up telling myself that this is fate and just buy it anyway. (laughs dryly) Of course, some of them end up being misses, but depending on how I coordinate them with other clothes and accessories, I can try for a new look, or there are cases where my tastes change over time, so I don’t think that any of my purchases go to waste.

Fashion plays an integral part in Kobayashi’s life. Tracing her passion for fashion back in time, she reveals “I’ve been fascinated by it for as long as I can remember.”

I was the sort of kid who would mess around painting her nails. Sometimes I would sneakily put on my mother’s lipstick when she wasn’t looking. After that, I’d show it off to her shouting “Look at me! Look at me!” so it ended up not being sneaky at all (laughs). In elementary school, I loved inviting a bunch of friends to my house and putting on a fashion show: we would have so much fun dressing each other up. It was around that time I started to be so picky about fashion that I would pick my own clothes when I went shopping with my family. I would throw a bit of a tantrum every time I was forced to try on clothes my mother had bought that I didn’t fancy.

Naturally, her dream as a child was to be a designer or model… or perhaps something more?

Of course I did have those aspirations. But I also loved to sing and dance, so I also dreamed of being a singer. I enjoyed taking care of little children too, and was always the one looking after the younger kids around me ever since my kindergarten days. I hoped that one of those dreams would come true.

Kobayashi’s philosophy is to “have as many dreams as you can”. This has allowed her to always have multiple aspirations and come to terms with each of them.

I wanted to learn more about children, so I went to a technical college and earned my qualification as a kindergarten teacher. Even now, I hope to work with children sometime in some form or another. In terms of fashion, I’ve been given chances like this to wear so many different outfits, so I’m just overjoyed that I was able to make that dream come true.

As for song and dance, one needs look no further than her current work. This raises the question: what made her interested in song and dance in the first place?

I love Namie Amuro, who was one of my biggest influences as a child. I’d imitate her singing and choreography. Seeing me do that prompted my mother to put me through voice training and dance school. I learned dance for the first time at five years old: I still remember how to do the dance we performed at our recital and the basic techniques. Later, I started learning hip-hop dance when I was in third grade. I would have a blast singing and dancing with the friends I met there. I continued to attend dance classes in middle school. Looking back on it, that was when I danced the most. And seeing my friends get better than me ignited this burning rivalry inside me, which spurred me on to give my all. It was a place where people who shared the same dream could gather and encourage each other to improve. That’s why I didn’t give up half way through. I really count myself as blessed.

When asked about her personality as a child, she smiles wryly and answers “I couldn’t stand losing…” That hasn’t changed to this very day. But, her dislike of losing is what has enabled her to realise her dreams.

Definitely. I wanted to have my cake and eat it too, if I could! (laughs) To phrase it in the negative, there was never a time when I’d shrink back and think “this is impossible.” In elementary school, there were times in class where we’d write about our dreams for the future. I used to dream so big that I’d be embarrassed of what I wrote down. My friends would all write something down to earth, so I felt like I was the only one with my head in the clouds (laughs). Sure, becoming a singer or dancer was a realistic dream to me, but there was one time I wrote down something different. That was the one time I took my eyes off reality. At all other times, I’ve had a strong belief that I should never give up on my dreams.

Her ambition bore fruit and Kobayashi fulfilled her dream, debuting as a singer during her high school years. It was thanks to her meeting with the CEO of her current agency.

He approached me at a competition that I entered during middle school. That led to me making my debut as an artist. I was over the moon. My family was so happy for me too. I couldn’t stop thinking about how one of my dreams had come true. During my first recording, I felt more enjoyment than pressure. I’ve never felt very nervous when it comes to singing, and that time, I was completely fearless. (laughs) I think the recording staff tried to be considerate of me and let me do my own thing, but that day I just emptied my mind and sang. Now, having experienced so much as an adult means that the experience is a good deal more frightening than it used to be. It’s kind of unfair to the people around you when you’re the only one who knows nothing! (laughs)

There was another source of joy for Kobayashi upon making her debut as an artist: being able to receive feedback directly from her fans.

The 2011 Touhoku earthquake and tsunami happened not long after I made my debut. That was when I received tweets from people saying that listening to my song gave them courage. I felt like having someone say that to me was the reason I’d gone through all that effort. Of course, there was also the joy that I felt from experiencing my first recording and seeing my CD on store shelves and thinking “I’ve really made it.” Those things are all well and good, but I never had the opportunity to hear what people thought of my singing: it was just a one way street. So reading those tweets was the first time I realised that my singing was able to encourage someone. The happiness of knowing that left a lasting impression on me, so even now, I take care to read the letters I receive from my fans.

While continuing her work as a singer, Kobayashi encountered another unexpected turning point: that was beginning her journey as a voice actress.

The CEO of my agency recommended that I give it a try, but I was reluctant at first. I did watch a lot of anime but I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about it. I also didn’t have any acting experience and wasn’t confident in my voice. That was why I turned down the opportunity a number of times at first. But one day, I experienced a shift in my mindset that made me think that I should give it a try. Although I was still singing, I hadn’t made any major breakthroughs, which caused me to go through a lot of anxiety at the time. At the root of it was this hunger for an opportunity to change myself. In the midst of that, I took the audition which ended up giving me the role of Yoshiko Tsushima. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that I’d scored a role in Love Live! Sunshine!!, a franchise that I loved so much.

It so happened that her time as a voice actress would be full of surprises.

Firstly, it felt odd to me to be in the world of anime. I’d been involved with anime in other ways, like singing an ending theme for a series, but I didn’t think the day would come when I would be playing a role in an anime. (laughs) There was a moment when I felt all of the possibilities in my life open up before me and I thought to myself “I didn’t know I could be involved with an anime like this.” (laughs) In that sense, I do hope that my experiences will be a source of courage for people out there who are thinking of pursuing something new. And, well, since I’ve started to receive letters from my fans, I’ve found that many of them are requests for advice along the lines of “I’m not sure if it’s OK to follow my dreams now that I’ve started my career.” My personal opinion is that it’s definitely never too late to start something new. I mean, I am where I am now because I had the unexpected opportunity to pursue voice acting. What’s most important is not time or experience, but how badly you want to follow your dreams. That’s the message that I want to send.

Of course, not everything went smoothly for her.

Acting and singing are the same in the sense that you use both to express something. But, when you consider the technical aspects and all, acting really is a completely different beast. Tweaking the tiniest nuance can change the personality of the character you play. For example, there are times where you might try to add some individuality to your character by giving her an accent, but you overthink things so that everything she says ends up sounding the same. You learn something new every time. Watching anime or dubbed movies, I’ve never felt that the voice acting was unnatural, but I suppose that’s testament to how naturally professional voice actors and actresses can perform. When it came time for me to be the one doing the acting, I found out what a difficult and amazing feat it is.

Kobayashi says that “now, I prioritise feeling more than technique in my acting.”

When you try to get into your character’s head and empathise with their feelings, there are things you can learn about the way they think.

We learn that she has always had an active imagination.

I have a habit of letting my imagination go wild. (laughs) I like to imagine how particular characters would sound like when they laugh, or how they would express themselves if they were angry. I started to notice that if I can imagine that, my voice will change naturally. At first, I only paid attention to the vocal aspect of voice acting work: I would record myself acting and listen to the recording, reflecting on what I did well and what I did poorly. But nowadays, once I get a script I'll read it and let my imagination go wild. I'll make a bunch of notes in the script about the characters' emotions, or write comments like "my character is sweating bullets in this scene". (laughs) I'll tend to do that even when I read the manga or novel. The characters will keep on acting out their lines inside my head - and all in my voice. (laughs) As I read, I'll ponder on the meaning of the illustration pages in novels or the individual panels of manga, so it takes me ages to get through it. (laughs)

Kobayashi never imagined that she would be a voice actress, but she says that it's now among the most enjoyable work she's done. She exudes that enthusiasm through every sentence she speaks, explaining the joy of acting.

All of my roles are very stimulating for me. I mean, it's fantastic that I get to become someone or something other than myself just by using my voice. I could change my appearance or age, my gender, or I could even become something other than a human being. Every time I act I get to step into someone else's shoes for a while and because of that, I've learned to see things from a variety of perspectives. My own life has been pretty packed with experiences up until this point, and to think that I could get to experience even more makes me excited at the prospect of what the future holds. (laughs) Also, it's not like I'm in the business of making anime by myself: it's a collaborative work with my fellow cast members and staff. That makes it so much fun. Before, I used to feel pressured not to be a burden on the people around me, but one day a sound director gave me this advice: "voice acting is something that you neither learn nor study: you just have to experience it." Since then, I've made it a point to absorb all sorts of things from the people around me. Even so, I've still only just begun. For me right now, the words that make me the happiest are when the sound director says "alright, that's a wrap!" (laughs) I'll do my best to get the director's approval in as few takes as possible.

This year marks three years since Aika Kobayashi debuted as a voice actress. It is still only September, but we took an early look back on what kind of year 2018 was for her.

Every month, week and day felt so long, yet it's all gone by so quickly. It's weird. I have no idea what happened. (laughs) I've never felt like this before. But, what I can say for sure is that it's been fulfilling. I think the most fitting word to describe the way time went by is "youth". When I'm with my friends and workmates, I laugh so loudly that it makes me wonder if the people around me think I'm a nuisance. But at the same time, I also feel like that’s what being young is all about. (laughs) I think in essence, it’s about having a lot to learn, a lot of things to absorb and experience for the first time and taking on the challenge with everything you’ve got. Lately, I have a lot of fun even just sleeping! (laughs)

Amusing… but what does that mean?

For example, five years ago I used to feel a sense of impatience about so many different things when I went to bed, but now I can go to sleep with a sense of confidence. Every day is so jam packed and fulfilling and sleep is there for me to recover from the tiredness built up from that day. That makes me so happy.

It’s been a busy 2018 for Kobayashi indeed. But among the busyness, one of her long held dreams came true: working in fashion.

I produced my own parka and was able to get it manufactured. I was of course happy that they made it the way I wanted, but I know there were also a lot of people who were looking forward to wearing it, and I’m sure that it brings joy to a lot of people when they wear it now. It allowed me to experience the emotions that creators feel in a new way. The ways that I approach singing, dancing, acting and designing clothes are all different, but you can see a certain Aika Kobayashi-ness in all of them. It made me happy that I was able to give that to people.

It’s still some ways off, but we ask her about her resolutions for 2019…

I’ll be 25! Wow. Just, wow. The way I used to imagine life at 25 is so different to how my life looks now – I’m at a loss for words. (laughs) I mean I thought I would have settled down, gotten married and maybe even had a child. I never thought I’d be laughing so loudly with friends and thinking to myself “this is what youth is like!” (laughs dryly) When I said “wow” earlier, I didn’t mean it in a negative way: I don’t think that this kind of life as a 25 year old is bad at all. When people get older, I feel like they start to step on the brakes a little: they’ll give up on things and taking a new step forward becomes that much harder. But I want to keep taking on new challenges no matter how old I get. In that sense, I suppose I am still a little bit childish.

When asked about her ambitions outside of voice acting, Kobayashi answers that she’d like to start a fashion brand.

I want to start a brand that caters to a variety of fashion styles: not just parkas. I’m studying design bit by bit in order to achieve that. I’ll do things like researching how to use colour, or taking down notes immediately when I find something cute. I think that I might even want to try making clothes myself, not just designing them. But I’m not too handy so I think I might actually pass on that. (laughs dryly) Before I made a puppet to be the mascot for my Nico Nico Douga livestream (Aika Kobayashi’s Open Rehearsal) – I’m good at making little things like that. But clothes tend to come out a little bit rough around the edges, so I leave that to someone who’s an expert in sewing. (laughs)

Kobayashi is making her dreams come true, while still setting new goals and progressing towards them as well. This resonates with her words from the beginning of this interview: “have as many dreams as you can.”

I have a lot of small dreams. As I fulfil those bit by bit, the bigger dreams change. So I think it’s a never-ending process. But making even the small dreams come true is a confidence booster. I feel that always having that confidence will lead to a positive life.

We can’t help but be interested in the life she’ll be living after she turns 25.

I don’t think I’ll be any different! (laughs) I’ll probably find some new dreams and take them on as well. It’d be awesome if I could say to myself “I’ve never felt younger in my life!”

Thanks to Picup (@eiyuupicup) for proof reading this translation.

The scans in this article are my own. Please do not repost or reproduce without permission.

#aikyan #kobayashi aika #voice actress #seiyuu #love live #interview

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