#i can never get the kanji for his name I always have to copy paste it from his wiki | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jungwooisms · 3 years

Text

gekokujō | k.dy | official teaser

pairing: kim doyoung x female reader members: suh youngho (johnny), lee minhyung (mark), nakamoto yuta, lee jeno, kim jungwoo, jeong jaehyun genre: historical au (early 1900’s)/historical fiction, angst, fluff warnings: smoking, language, alcohol word count: 13k/? summary: kim doyoung left his home in search of himself; yet when a collection of both familiar and unfamiliar faces surface, he finds that he may just be a a part of something much larger than he anticipated.

| this will be a part of @puppywritings’ historical collab |

[1909.04.01. Boston, MA] ‘John,

I feel enough time has adequately passed to allow me to write to you. Although, there is not much news from home to tell you of.

The snow is fast disappearing now. I came across an article in the paper the other day about Boston and it said that 14 or 15 years ago bears used to roam around the northern end of the city, but there seems to be nothing around now except the wild fowl, and an uncountable number of deer.

How are your hands now? I know that the winter air dries yours as it does mine. Mine are very cut, so scattered with paper trails that I fear I should bleed ink from all the books that you left me. Have you been able to acquire any more on your travels? I find that the supply you gave me is running rather low now.

You left for Munich inquiring after Daniel Lim if I recall the name correctly, I hope you found him in good health on your arrival. I also hope he does not overwork you, you said as much happened the last you worked under him in London.

I am very pleased to say I am keeping very well, and I trust you are the same. If anything happens, know that I will gladly storm my way across the sea and give your wrongdoers what for.

I miss you, John. And I hope you return soon, you know I love to hear about your travels.’

A short chuckle to yourself as you pull the pen away from the paper after signing your name, ink stains settling into the grooves of your fingers as you aren’t cautious enough with the writing implement. Short blows over the thin paper as you try to dry the ink as quickly as possible, although this isn’t the sweltering heat of the summer you’re unsurprised the ink hasn't run but so much. Carefully standing from your seat you begin your search around the room for an envelope, fingers brushing over various stacks of papers and novellas lying around your workspace. Eventually you find a weathered, but perfectly usable one underneath a dog-eared copy of Jane Eyre. You address the letter to his newest residence, some boarding house in Germany, but you aren't sure if he was even staying there anymore. If that doesn't work out and one of your letters was stamped “Return to Sender” once more, you’d just have to wait for him to send you something first. It seemed like you were always waiting after John. Not that you mind much, you had been as thick as thieves as teenagers and that had hardly ever changed, even after he’d decided to go abroad and study, then go onto some teaching stints wherever the wind blew him.

As you return to your seat you hear a gentle meowing outside, head peering over your desk and out of the glass panes into the garden below you spot a small black and white tabby looking up at you. A sigh escaping your lips as you move to grab your pen once more, beginning to write a post scriptum,

‘p.s. Your lovely feral cat has now decided that I take ownership of her in your absence. Is there a name you prefer I call her?’

You hope he can understand your tone, it’s an issue of yours that the words you write sometimes don't hit their mark. Regardless, you’d send the letter and hear his thoughts on it whenever he has the gaul to write back. You straighten your back from your hunched position and move through the house, your fingers tracing along the smooth walls until you reach the door leading into the garden, it lay nestled in the corner of the kitchen. There’s a faint scratching as you approach, only opening it to find the same tabby waiting for you, it barrels inside once it sees an opportunity.

“You wretch,” tsking as she begins brushing up against your leg. “What am I going to do with you?”

[1909.04.30. 今出川, 京都] The ground crunches underfoot as Doyoung walks; the pavement, covered with a thin layer of grit from a small windstorm that had picked up an hour or so prior, feeling as if it’s shifting as his leather soled shoes move over it. Storm having left its mark and not going to disappear until a rain shower decides to wash it away, he breathes in the particles still floating through the balmy weather. A small frown as he fans his jacket, allowing some air to circulate under the thick fabric. Had it not been impolite, he would have shed the garment as soon as he stepped out of the train station only minutes ago. His hand still wrapped around his bag he looks to the signs adorning the tops of businesses along the road. Doyoung was never great at learning hanja, so when it came time for him to begin learning the already different kanji and further hiragana and katakana that would come along with his trip abroad, he thought he might set out to find a tutor during his time here. Hand moving to rummage around the inside of his jacket, he procures a worn letter from its depths. ‘今出川居酒屋,’ it is the only thing foreign to him within the contents of the scripture, the sender had asked to meet him there for lunch on the second day of Doyoung’s arrival to Kyoto.

Doyoung finds the bar after walking a few more blocks, north from the station and hidden away behind a bookstore in a back alley. Before he enters, he pauses. His grip on the letter tightening, the parchment creasing from the increased pressure as the slight tingly pervasiveness of guilt begins to wrack him from the inside out. A look to his left, and then to his right, a ghost of a figure in his peripheral, deterring him from running from the drinkery. It drives him closer, away from an inevitable future and towards the uncertain present.

A haze of smoke blankets the air as he enters, that of tobacco intermingling with the small fire stoking in the back of the bar. It invades his nose rather viciously, itching the back of his throat and causing tears to form in the corners of his eyes as he greets the hostess with a small ‘Hello’ and ‘A table, please.’ She guides him and he settles down at a chabudai towards the front of the building, almost with enough of a view so that he can peer past the two small curtains at the entrance and into the street.

The letter now resting atop the table and his bag by its side, he reaches into his jacket yet again to procure an almost empty pack of cigarettes and a newly bought lighter. He had run out of fluid during his journey across the sea and he thought that buying a new one would be a novel idea to commemorate his trip. Doyoung’s eyes wander around the enclosed space as he scans the faces of the patrons. Most were men but there was the occasional woman mingling among the crowd as well. Cigarette placed on his lips, lighter spewing to life and igniting the end as he takes a deep breath in. Doyoung hates smoking, hates the way it pierces his lungs with its inky black vapors. It leaves his breath smelling awful, but it is just something people do to pass the time. Fingers finding the cigarette, he removes it for a moment, tapping it against a small silver dish atop the table, the ashes pooling at the bottom as he continues to look for someone he hasn’t met yet.

“Did you want to order anything else?” A voice to his right calls out, he jumps slightly before turning, only to find the kimono clad waitress at his side. She sets down a tray of dishes, some foods he recognizes, and some he thinks to be the local cuisine.

“Oh, no thank you.” As his eyes look over the food he moves to rest his cigarette in the ashtray to come back for later.

The woman gives a short smile and brief nod before speaking again, “Please let me know if you need anything.” Even after she had walked away, Doyoung could feel her eyes lingering on him like a child seeing some sort of marvel for the first time. This is not to say that he thinks that highly of himself, just that he knows that he is an outsider in a foreign place, his accent could tell anyone as much.

“I think she likes you.” A voice speaking up when Doyoung goes to take a bite out of the onigiri on his tray.

Mouth half full and brow furrowed in confusion, Doyoung turns to face wherever the voice had come from, “What did you say?” Chewing his food and swallowing rather harshly, he almost chokes as he thinks he’s going insane after hearing what sounded like Korean. This time it was a man who spoke, he was sitting at another table across from him, a shifty grin on his face. Something about him seemed different from everyone else in the bar, but the man couldn’t quite put a finger on it in this dimly lit room.

“She’s still staring at you.” The other man answers, now standing up and proceeding to walk over to him. “But it’s not like she’s hearing me say that anyway,” He laughs, brushing his hands against the lapels of his jacket.

Now in a better light, the man can get a better view of this stranger. “Are you Korean too?” He asks in his native tongue, feeling much more relieved that the burden of speaking a different language is momentarily sated.

“No,” Another laugh as the man settles down in the seat adjacent. “Just familiar with the language, is all.” He pauses for a moment, his eyes staring into Doyoung’s as if he’s trying to memorize his facial features. “You wouldn’t happen to be Kim Dongyoung, would you?”

“Doyoung, actually.” He clears his throat. “I am,” Eyes glancing at the letter still atop the table, Doyoung comes to a realization, “Are you Nakamoto Yuta?”

“I am,” A smile as he extends his hand. Less practiced with western formality Doyoung looks at the greeting for a moment before raising his own to formally address him, “It’s nice to meet you.” After a moment they drop their hands away from each other, Yuta’s gaze shifting to watch the hostess move his food from his old table to the one he now shares with Doyoung. “With an accent like that you must be from the south, Daegu, maybe?”

“Guri, actually.” He returns to his food for a moment, Yuta taking this time to also take a few bites from his own bento. “Where did you learn Korean?”

“Did Youngho not tell you?” Youngho is their mutual friend, he’d given Doyoung Yuta’s contact information to inquire if he had any availability to tutor him. “I studied with him when we were in college, I moved back here a year after we graduated, my mother fell ill and wanted to come back from living in Hanseong.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Doyoung frowns, shifting as he sets his chopsticks down. The two must have met after Doyoung had left his schooling to return to his family, per their wishes.

A smile, “She made a perfect recovery, but now that she’s home she never wants to leave again.” Yuta reaches for the porcelain flask of sake the hostess had brought over, pouring himself a small glass then offering one to Doyoung. The younger politely refuses, still not accustomed to the savoriness of the drink, as Yuta nods and knocks back his own cup before speaking again. “When can you start classes? We typically meet for an hour or two every day if we can.”

“We?” Doyoung’s caught up on the word, he thought these would be private lessons, not an actual class. He leans forward, somewhat anxious at the thought of his abysmal language skills to be put on show for more than one audience member.

“Just a handful of other students from all over the place,” Shoulders shrugging Yuta leans backwards, hands placed atop his knees as he stretches his back. “We have a few Korean and Chinese kids, even a Canadian student as well. Not everyone’s at the same level so you shouldn’t worry too much about it.” He smiles, toothy and carefree as if there wasn’t an unhappy thought that had ever crossed him, Doyoung somewhat resents the uncertain assumption he made. “The schoolhouse isn’t too far away from here actually; did you want to stop by?” Hand motioning towards the doorway, Yuta’s head tilts inquisitively.

“I actually have to check in at the hotel I’m staying in, my parents told me to write whenever I got here and I’ve been putting that off for a while,” A sigh escaping him. Doyoung had been thinking about what to pen for the past day and a half but couldn’t muster the strength to go through with it. He’d left on rocky terms and was expecting to be hounded whenever they responded. “I’ll stop by tomorrow when you have class if that’s alright?”

“Fine by me,” He’s now searching his own pockets, finding a pen and reaching out for the letter near Doyoung. Yuta scribbles down something, a few kanji that Doyoung can’t decipher, and hands him the paper back, “Classes start at ten, when you’re in the area just ask someone if they know where this is and they’ll point you in the right direction.”

“Thanks,” Doyoung looks down to the paper, seeing in his periphery that Yuta was already on his feet, straightening his jacket as he begins to head over to the waitress.

Doyoung sees him say something but can’t make out what, it’s only when Yuta turns to him and speaks that he can ascertain the meaning, “Don’t worry about paying this time, you’ll have to treat me to lunch some other day.” And with that Doyoung finds himself alone once more in the tavern.

[1909.04.30. Boston, MA] The letter had arrived early in the morning, but you had been out in town with your mother attending some group function that you didn't want to be a part of in the first place. So, when you walk into your own little study and see it lying atop your things you race over and tear open the seal adorning it.

‘When I arrived in Munich, my work left me so urgent that I could not write in time before I left again. I thus deferred it to a point where I once again found myself with solid footing. It rains heavily in Seoul today, my travels have taken me here instead of crossing the Atlantic.

Currently I am holding a tutoring position for the American consulate’s son. I expect to hold this position for some time before I return home to Boston.

Tell my mother not to fuss over me too much, if anything I implore her to look after you. Of all people, other than your own family, she knows of the antics you pursue.

I was able to sneak out a few books from Munich, upon my return I swear to you that you will have the greatest library in all America- no, the world, even.

If I were a better artist, or wealthy enough to photograph, I would show you how beautiful my journey across the world has been. Although, so much has changed in Seoul since I held my studies here. I cannot help but have the inklings of melancholy eat away as I recall the memories and compare them to what I see now. This will come to pass, I hope.

I hear the boy calling for me now— My writing will have to cease here, I fear. Send my affection to your family, I know they miss me as much as you do.

With all the love I can muster,

x John

p.s. I think I have decided to call her Minnie, please refer to her as that accordingly.’

While scattered with his familiarities and humor, the letter seems all too short, all too hurried. Your lips purse as you read over it, brow furrowing as a small knot in your stomach begins to form. Thumb rubbing over the x marking his name the worry only grows ever more prevalent, you pull your eyes away from the words and begin to rummage around for your own writing implements and paper, wanting to respond to him as quickly as possible.

‘John,

Your letter left much to be desired. Seoul? Your mother anxiously awaits your return any day now, before you left you said you would only be gone until early May at most. I hope that nothing unsavory has happened, God knows you find yourself in trouble more than any other man I know.

Please let her know that you are safe, I fear that she may follow after you should you be gone any longer. A son should never burden his mother with his absence for an extended period, I can only keep her company for so long before her weariness sets in and she longs to see you.

She also knitted you a pair of gloves, seeing as you left your moth-eaten ones behind. I know the air is growing warmer, but it is somewhat endearing to see how doting she is over you. Please, ease her mind by writing.’

[1909.04.30.-1909.04.31. 今出川ホテル, 京都] Doyoung eventually finds himself standing at the small entrance of a hotel, the name written in cursive English on a wooden sign above the doorway. Youngho had recommended the inn, saying that it would be one of the more accepting places to stay at as a foreigner. It has a somewhat Victorian looking façade, contrasting the traditional Japanese styled buildings around it, he wonders why that is as he ascends the handful of steps to the door, struggling ever so slightly while lugging his bag behind him. As the door swings open, he’s greeted by an elderly woman with a rather round face, “Good evening,” she smiles and ushers him inside. “Did you need a room for the night? Or do you have a reservation?”

Mind fogging as he struggles to keep up, “Apologies, my Japanese isn’t—” The stone floor clicking underfoot as he follows her to the main desk.

“Ah, Korean?” It’s accented, but he appreciates it nonetheless. “Do you have a reservation?” Her hands dance along a worn leather book atop the desk, flipping it open as she looks down a list of names, some of those which are crossed out and some of which are not.

“I do,” He nods his head with a short smile, “It should be under Kim.”

Humming as she runs her finger down the list, as her head turns upward it causes Doyoung to return his attention to her, “Kim Heesung or Kim Doyoung?”

“Doyoung,” he says, shifting his weight from foot to foot, mentally hitting himself as he should’ve been more specific. Eyes scanning the list, Doyoung takes a short look around the interior of the inn.The space is smaller than he imagined, but rather cozy. A glowing fire going to warm the chill of the night, large armchairs beside it and the largest bookshelf he’s ever seen built around the hearth.

“Wonderful,” She smiles, turning her back to him to find his room key from a small drawer behind the desk. Before she faces him again fully, she shifts through a small stack of papers atop the desk, “This also came for you,” The woman reaches to pull out a thin card from the stack, it has both hangul and kanji printed on it so it was easy to assume it’d come from his homeland.

“Thank you,” He smiles back before taking the telegram and tucking it into his jacket pocket. She hands him the key and he’s off to find his hotel room. It lays up the staircase and down a winding corridor, as he passes by some of the rooms, he can hear the muffled voices of a few of the other patrons, speaking languages he can mildly understand and others that sound alien. Once he finds his room, he’s all too giddy to throw himself onto the bed. Door locked, shoes and suitcase strewn aside he falls onto the plush bed, his eyes watching the ceiling as the weight of sleep begins to take over his vision.

Broken sunlight filters into the room, the shades drawn enough only to allow sharp slants of light to come through. The city outside is bustling whereas the hotel room seems almost vacant of any form of noise, save for the sound of soft breathing as the occupant sleeps. Kim Doyoung continues to snore softly, dreaming of something sweet enough to add a slight curvature to his lips. He rolls in his slumber, the telegram received in the night folding under his weight, unbeknownst to him.

Three swift knocks awake him from the depths of slumber. He bolts up, raising a hand to run through his hair as a frown of confusing forms on his lips, wiping away whatever essence of his dream remained. “Are you awake?” A voice rings out seconds after the rapping. It’s the woman from the night before, Doyoung was too tired to connect the dots quite yet.

“Yes,” He responds groggily, moving to allocate his footing onto the floor. He hears soft footsteps leading away from his door, he supposes his wakeup call is completed. Rummaging around his wrinkled jacket-pocket he pulls out his timepiece, the clock reveals that it is seven forty-five in the morning, he has two hours before his lessons begin. Letting out a soft groan, he places the watch away and pushes himself onto his feet. His knees creaking and cracking as he rises and stretches out his arms, signaling that his sleep must’ve been docile. Once again, his hand moves to his jacket as he recalls the telegram, now crumpled in the crevasses of his pocket. Doyoung pulls out the letter, walking to draw open the shades to allow more reading light in.

“Kim Dongyoung,” He mumbles out, reading over the first, short line as the sleep is rubbed from his eyes. ‘Mom and Dad are going to kill you if you continue to ignore them. For my sake, please write. - Donyun’

An audible scoff after he’s finished reading, he can almost hear his brother’s tone. Doyoung does care about his family, but his brother is as much on his parents’ side as he is against it, it is a giant rift in their already teetering relationship.

The telegram tossed onto the bed as Doyoung takes off his jacket, he’d been avoiding his familial issues for a while now and it seems as if they’re coming back to bite him in the ass. It wasn’t entirely his fault for doing so, his father was never a good listener and Doyoung’s ideas were always pushed asunder.

A few moments later he finds himself in a fresh set of clothes, ready to face the day. In truth, he is dreading his lessons but at least it will provide some relief from thinking about the drama happening back in Guri. His shoes drag along the wooden floor as he steps out of his room, locking it with the small gilded key behind him. Once in the hallway, his posture straightens as he begins to make his way towards the staircase that would lead him into the main lobby. The crushed emerald green velvet railing runs under his fingers as he descends, swiftly moving into his pockets once his feet land on the granite tiles splaying out an ocean of deep gray below him.

A thin beam of light shines in through the slit in the door of the entranceway, the windows attached to the door are covered in the same crushed velvet encasing the staircase via curtain. It feels like he is in a black hole with how dimly lit the interior of the building is. Eventually he makes his way through the lobby, past the plumes of smoke belonging to the lackadaisical men resting in overly decadent armchairs smoking out of their kiserus.

Doyoung shuffles his way to the front desk, a younger woman manning it instead of the elderly woman from the night prior. “Can I help you?” Voice sullen sounding, or maybe tired, Doyoung still isn’t awake enough yet to dissect it fully.

Reaching into his pocket, pulling out the letter from Yuta with the name of the school, “I’m looking for this?”

The girl leans over the desk, it’s easy to tell the yukata she wears is inhibiting her from her full range of motion. Eyes reading the characters carefully, “Whoever wrote this has awful handwriting,” She mutters under her breath and Doyoung can’t understand it entirely. “It’s about a fifteen-minute walk that way,” Hand raising to motion southward, “When you see the sweets shop you should turn right, and it will be a few buildings down on your right.”

A nod of his head as he thinks he caught most of her instruction. He takes the paper back and tucks it away, thanking her as he makes for the door. The heat greets him with a gentle breeze, an inkling of warmth as to what’s in store for later in the day. Doyoung looks to the sky, to see where the sun is positioned so he is able to gauge the direction he was supposed to go. He sets off, pace not brisk or lax, merely at a stride to absorb what’s around him. It’s still early in the morning, plenty of time before the school day begins to wander the streets for a bit.

The street’s crowded, thinning in places where it seems more residential than not, it reminds him of home. Different feel, different language but it has a strange nostalgic aura about it. A sweetness hitting his nose as he approaches a small wooden building, he can’t read what it is but by the smells emanating from it he supposes that it’s the sweet shop the girl at the hotel had told him to turn at. Head tilting to peer down the street, it looks like nothing of note. As he stands there, presumably looking more confused than the average local, he feels a finger gently tap on his shoulder, “Are you lost?”

The voice comes as a surprise, turning Doyoung on his heels to come face to face with a stranger. Eyes wide as he looks the boy over, “A little bit... I’m looking for,” reaching into his pockets as the other stops him.

“Are you Kim Doyoung?” It seems as if everyone here knew of him before he could introduce himself. Before he can speak, a nod of affirmation rattles through him and the other smiles, “Yuta said that we’d be getting a new student in today.” Hand outstretching, Doyoung’s a little more practiced with the greeting now, “My name’s Lee Minhyung, I can show you the way to the school if you want?”

“It’s nice to meet you,” He gives a brief smile before another nod of his head, “I’d really appreciate it.”

[1909.05.05. San Francisco, CA] If anything were to be your downfall, it would be that of your impatience. You’d been sitting down with John’s mother, a woman you likened to your own family when the one back home was too involved in her own business, when the news broke. She was kind, offered you tea and as always had the little tin of biscuits you loved when you were a child sitting atop the tea tray, and then graciously divulged to you that her son was currently under police custody in Tokyo when the last you’d heard he’d been in Seoul. It would explain the absence of letters, or inability to write. Upon questioning her further you realize that maybe he was in far greater a circumstance than he left you off thinking.

It isn’t a matter of asking your parents to ship you off to a foreign land, it’s a matter of when and how soon you can leave. The money sitting in the dank vault of your late grandmother’s account had laid in wait for some sort of use, and she had wanted you to use it to fulfill some sort of errant dream of yours after her passing. You couldn’t find it within yourself to touch it, seeing it as too prized and too treasured a thing to take away from for some frivolous means. But your grandmother had liked John, the late one on your father’s side and not the vile one from your mother’s. She had treated him kindly whenever he had stopped by, sometimes even saying that she had wished him her grandson more than the monsters that were your cousins. You think that is reason enough to pull from your funds and splurge on a rescue mission to Japan. There were several people you’d known that had been there before, detailing it as a curious place but had neglected to tell you why; you don’t think of the language or cultural barriers separating you until you’re standing on a pier in San Francisco, waiting for your ship to dock.

The brine of the sea had never settled well in your stomach, salty on your lips and your cheeks as the coastal winds torrent towards you. Your ship doesn’t leave for a while yet but the queasiness felt on the decks of other ships returns to the pit of your stomach with a ghostlike vengeance. Perhaps it is anxiousness that riddles you instead of the fear of the sea.

“Im-a-de-ga-wa Gai-ko-ku-jin Ni-hon-go Ga-kko” words falling from your lips in strange and oblong vowels and consonants that were almost completely incorrect. John had mentioned it in the letter to his mother, detailing that should she not hear from him for another month to contact the school and ask for the aid of a Mr. Yuta Nakamoto, a friend that he’d talked about in passing a few times. Apparently, he is a persuasive sort that would most definitely help him out should the occasion arise. Or so John had put it, you aren't really sure what to think of him.

John’s mother had insisted that it had been a mix up at customs but a bitter taste in your mouth and gut wrenching feeling in your stomach told you otherwise. He was a rebellious spirit and had probably said a few choice words that had gotten him in trouble, he had said his Japanese wasn’t great but he had learned a handful of colorful phrases from the aforementioned friend in University that could definitely be taken the wrong way by unknowing ears.

If the seas were steady and your luck good, maybe you can reach him within a month. If not, a week or so longer but you’re not sure if the anticipation of it all would let you, you might jump ship and hope to swim there faster should such a situation arise. Again, impatience being your downfall you can barely stand just watching the large metal steamship land at port and empty its passengers before you were to board.

The air is salty, the gentle spray of foam from the shore landing on your cheeks carefully as you look towards the ship that is to be your dwelling for the next portion of your life. Maybe you shouldn’t have come alone, taken a chaperone or a friend with you, but you were worried, too crunched for time to even entertain the thought as you packed your bags and told your mother you were taking the first train out of town. Your face still stings with the remembrance of the slap she’d given you in her frenzy, calling you something along the lines of a girl too thoughtless to know her role. By no means a heartfelt way to leave her, but your father had said to go, knowing a little more than your mother how much John means to you.

Your bags, brown leather and worn from the days when your father was still youthful enough to travel, lay at your feet as the thin paper ticket folds under your grasp. The chatter from the crowds around you mixing in with shouts of vendors and merchants lining the docks over the squalls of seagulls overhead. It’s all too much when your mind is racing with concern, not too much though to deter you from a gentle tapping on your shoulder.

“I think you dropped this?” Deep voice causing you to turn on your heels and face the perpetrator. When you do, you’re greeted with your passport being held out to you and a dimpled smile to go along with a rather dashing face.

“Oh,” Eyebrows raised as you reach out to gingerly take your own booklet from the other, you hadn’t realized its absence since you had thought it stowed away in the depths of your handbag. “Thank you—?” A pause as you wait for an introduction.

“Jaehyun, or Jeffery, whichever is easiest for you,” he nods and then you offer your name before he speaks again. “It was really no problem,” he continues with a smile as he looks down to the bags at your feet, “Did you just get back or are you going somewhere?”

The innate curiosity of the stranger mildly perplexing, “I’m off to Tokyo.”

“Tokyo,” his tone faltering as his hand drops down to his side after you begin stowing the passport back away in the small purse slung over your shoulder. “What business is taking you there?”

You pause as you think, it isn’t exactly family troubles or business matters that are taking you across the Pacific, stubbornness, and inability to take your friend for everything he said, more like it. “A friend settled there a little while ago,” a nod after a moment of silence, “it seems that he has gotten himself into a little trouble so I am going to make sure everything is alright.” Absentmindedly patting the bag as you can see the other mull it over in his head, “What about you? Are you heading in or out?”

“Out,” The answer is almost immediate, a shift on his feet as he straightens his posture. “I’m heading to Korea; I haven’t seen my family in almost seven years.”

“Seven years?” The most John had been gone was the three years he spent studying abroad; you can’t imagine someone gone from your life for that amount of time. “What were you here for?”

“I was staying with a group of missionaries as I went through college,” Hands in his pockets as he turns to the blue horizon overlooking the ocean you were both meant to traverse, “Now that I’ve graduated there’s nothing keeping me here.”

“What will you do when you’re-” you begin to speak when a loud whistle blares from the port your ship had saddled up to. Growing quiet as you begin to hear the general buzz of the people around you grow as they begin to shuffle towards the bridge that linked the port to the steamship. “I guess it’s time,” Reaching to pick up your bags, the leather against your palm somewhat soothing your nerves, “are you boarding too?”

A shake of his head, “My ship doesn’t leave until the afternoon.”

“Ah,” the sound leaving your lips as the thought of, perhaps, having someone to accompany you on your journey was swiftly diminished. “Well,” A small smile gracing your lips, “It was nice to meet you, Jaehyun.”

“It was nice to meet you too,” smile returning, “Safe travels.”

“And to you,” You nod as you begin to walk towards the front port, looking down to your hand to make sure that your ticket is still in hand.

[1909.05.16. 今出川外国人日本語学校、京都] “It’s not kūremashita it’s agemashita.” writing on a chalkboard, the dust from the small white stick clinging to the ends of Yuta’s jacket as he scrawls out the hiragana. “Unless you’re thankful that Doyoung’s parents give him money?” A smattering of laughter echoing the room as he tries to teach the handful of students how to show appreciativeness and the reporting of it to others. “Try one more time.” Doyoung sits back in his chair and looks at a pink-cheeked Jungwoo who leans over his notes in an attempt to reconcile his verbal mistake.

There’s another try from the dark-haired man, it sounds good enough to Doyoung but apparently, the structure of the sentence needs more tweaking, as seen by Yuta giving out a small sigh before walking to Jungwoo’s side. Doyoung takes this time to look around the small, confined classroom. It was in no means shabby, but one could tell this building wasn’t meant to be a school, Doyoung thinks Yuta told him that it had been some sort of distillery prior to the deed falling into his hands.

From eleven in the morning, when the sun slants in through the two glass windows of the classroom just enough to see the dust flying through the air, to noon is when Yuta teaches the native Korean speakers basic Japanese grammar and vocabulary. It’s only a handful of students; Minhyung, whom Doyoung had met on his first day, Jungwoo, who is somewhat timid but roaringly confident at times, Jeno, a kid on some sort of exchange trip who hopes to build up his language skills before his university classes start in the fall, and of course, Doyoung himself. It is an intimate learning experience, perhaps that’s why Doyoung now feels miles more confident in his speaking ability now than he did a month prior. Hell, he could now converse freely, albeit somewhat confined in his topics, to the front desk woman at the hotel he still resided at.

There’s a knock at the classroom door, pulling the attention from the room’s occupants away from their work and now to the dark wooden door that leads out into the small foyer where the next group of students is presumably waiting for their lecture. “The next class doesn’t start until noon,” Yuta looks to the clock placed atop his desk, “You’ve got five minutes.”

The door opens with a small creak, shadows from the entranceway spilling in as Doyoung catches a familiar face standing there to greet the class. “I was actually hoping to sit in?” A voice Doyoung hadn’t heard since his university days accompanied the creak of floorboards underfoot as Youngho strides into the room. “I think my Japanese is a little rusty.”

A small laugh from Yuta as he recognizes his friend, “There’s the jailrat.” Yuta returns to the front of the room to stand in front of the taller, no doubt feeling the confused gazes of the students behind him staring past him and to the stranger. “I’m surprised they let you out that early.”

“You know I’m persuasive,” Smile lingering on his lips as his head turns and he catches sight of Doyoung looking at him quizzically. He is still caught up on the word jailrat and the connotation behind it, when had Youngho been incarcerated?

“Well,” Yuta turns on his heels to address the class, “Why don’t we end early today?”

Minhyung’s already leaned over his desk to get Jeno’s attention, Doyoung thinks he hears him say something about grabbing lunch at the nearby market, but his interest is far too deterred to be paying full attention to the younger men. The class packs their bags, Doyoung taking the longest time of all as he tucks away his books into his makeshift bag. In all earnest it was a bag he’d borrowed from the reception at the hotel, he’d neglected to bring or buy a suitable bag for school when he left home and arrived in Japan. The worn canvas of the thing almost wearing through at the bottom, he slings it over his shoulder and makes his way towards Youngho and Yuta, who look to be in deep conversation.

Youngho spots Doyoung approaching in his periphery, turning to greet him with a jovial smile. “I see you made it here in one piece?” His eyes looked tired, his face gaunter than the last time he’d seen his elder, but he wasn’t going to question, it was neither the time nor the place.

“Mostly,” Doyoung replies, “Yuta’s been a great teacher.”

“Thanks for the ego boost,” Yuta’s fingers dance on the lapels of his jacket in mock vanity, only then moving into his jacket pocket for a lighter and his infamous pack of Chūyū cigarettes. He offers one to Youngho and then to Doyoung, to which they accept, pulling their own lighters out of their pockets and lighting the butts of the sticks.

“God, these are shit,” a grit through Youngho’s teeth after he pulls in a drag. “They confiscated my Lucky Strike back in Tokyo.” Doyoung’s brow furrows as the other begins to speak again, “Let me know when you’ve got a free night. I’d love to grab dinner and catch up; it’s been a while.”

“I should have time this Saturday?” Doyoung thinks of his schedule, it’s not that he had massive time commitments here, but he was making a point to travel around the city in his free time. “If that works for you, of course.”

“It sounds doable,” A nod as Youngho moves his hand to tap his cigarette against an ashtray atop Yuta’s desk, the wood around the tray stained with the ashes of past smoking ventures. “Are you still staying at that hotel I told you about?”

Doyoung shifts on his feet, “I am, are you staying there too?”

“Yuta has offered me residence in his home until he is sick of me,” Youngho nods to the aforementioned, “I can meet you in the lobby around five then?”

“Sounds good,” Doyoung agrees, looking at the clock hanging on the wall, “I think Jungwoo wanted to go over the homework together so I should go and help him out.” It’s something of an excuse but Doyoung could feel as if there was some sort of pregnant secret looming over the heads of the other two.

“Would you mind sending Sicheng and the others in?” Yuta asks as Doyoung snubs out his cigarette in the ashtray and makes his way to the door.

Metal knob in hand, Doyoung turns and gives him a brief nod, “Of course.”

There’s something that doesn't sit right with Doyoung. Youngho had noted that he’d planned on staying in Hanseong for a while in the letter he’d sent to Doyoung a few weeks ago. It’s not as if plans can’t change or anything of the sort, yet he’d seemed vehement about it, detailing something about a someone he was going to visit before heading home to America. He isn’t one to question where questions aren’t due, if his friend was to stay in Kyoto for the time being, he’d be nothing more than appreciative of having a familiar face around.

[1909.05.18. 今出川ホテル、京都] When Doyoung ascends the staircase, hands tucked in his jacket pockets, he can immediately tell that Youngho sits in one of the large armchairs by the hotel’s unused fireplace in the lobby. Although his face is obscured by the wings, with the way his hand taps in rhythm with the song wafting through the air, the excitedness of the movements are a telling sign that it is his friend.

A glance to the victrola that lies in the corner of the room, the audio scratchy and soft as it emits a tune that Doyoung does not know. He strides over to the plush chair, glancing down to its occupant before speaking.

“Good afternoon,” the words escape him and Youngho turns to him with a jump and widened eyes before he realizes who it is.

“Dongyoung!” Youngho smiles from the armchair, rising to his feet to greet the other with a quick embrace, “Long time no see.”

“Actually I go by Doyoung now,” he nods awkwardly as Youngho steps back from him, his hand rising to scratch the back of his head, “helps me forget myself for a bit.”

“Still having family issues?” Youngho’s brow furrows as they break their embrace, “I thought you wrote that you had sorted that mess out?”

“More or less,” another awkward smile, “But enough about me— I thought you were supposed to be in Hanseong?”

“Change of plans, there was someone I was meant to meet in Tokyo, but they left during the time while I was imprisoned.”

“Yuta mentioned something like that when you first came in, what happened?” Youngho’s holds out his hand, motioning to the door, as Doyoung questions. The latter begins to walk forward, towards the entrance of the hotel as his friend trails behind him, “Were you really taken into custody?”

“They thought I had ties with Homer Hulbert,” A laugh as the two make their way out the front door, trapezing down the steps and onto the sidewalk, “Which is correct, but they had no grounds to imprison me on the idea that I know him alone or had one of his books in my possession.”

“Hulbert— is he the one that—?”

“The very same,” he nods, “But that is more than contrived at this point, let me know how you are. It sounds like things are the same with your family the last I saw you.”

“If things were okay then I would have stayed home,” A huff of heated breath leaving him in something of a passive laugh. “My father is still trying to set me up with that girl, the past runs deep, I suppose.”

“I cannot agree with you more,” Youngho agrees with a nod, “Have you even met her yet?”

“The last time I saw Seungwon was when I was thirteen, even if I saw her I cannot say I could point her out in a crowd if you asked me to.” Doyoung's hands find purchase in his pocket, hidden away from the sunlight that falls onto his head and burns the back of his neck as Youngho and he walk further down the street, through the masses of people.

The older nods solemnly, almost as if he understands the situation, "I have a friend who's nearly in a similar situation as you. Although her parents haven't found her a match or approved of anyone she's liked, I'd say her feelings mirror your own."

"Is that right?" Doyoung questions rhetorically as Youngho digs through his jacket pocket for a pack of cigarettes, "Is that the girl who you spoke so much about during our classes together?"

Youngho sputters, his hands failing to ignite his lighter at Doyoung's words, a cigarette dangling from his lips, "Did I really talk about her that much?"

"So much so I feel like I know her," Doyoung smiles and shakes his head, a familiar pang hitting his stomach once he looks back to the street before them. "Do you want to grab something to eat? I don't think I've eaten since lunchtime yesterday."

"Too busy studying?"

"Something like that..." In actuality, he'd received yet another telegram, this time from his mother, scolding him for staying away again.

"You always were more studious than me," the other nods and looks to a small restaurant they begin to pass on their left before stopping in his tracks, "What about this place?"

"Soba?" The intensity of the sun once again baring down above him as he looks to the sign on the door, he nods quickly, "Sounds great."

The pair make their way inside, settling down at a small table in the back corner of the shop as they wait for their food to arrive. Doyoung moves his hand to unbutton a few fastens from the front of his jacket to allow some of the shop's cooler air to hit him. His hands then move to rest atop the table, his long and slender fingers tapping as Youngho smokes the last of his cigarette, snubbing it out on the ashtray settled at the end of the table.

"How's your family doing? Is your father's business going well? I saw a few copies when I was in Hanseong.” Lackadaisical in question, Doyoung can hear something edging behind his friend’s tone that tinges upon suspicion.

“It’s going well,” a silent nod as a server comes to their table, the two order quickly, leaving little room for questions before Doyoung asks, “What about your family?”

“Willfully ignorant as ever,” Youngho frowns, shifting in his seat. It looks as if bitter words reside on his tongue but he swallows them down with a redemption of a smile.

“About what?” Doyoung pauses as he reaches for the pot of tea the server had brought on her arrival, his hand hovering over the handle.

“Everything.” Youngho’s shoulders shrug as Doyoung eventually pours himself and his friend a cup of tea. “Korean politics, American politics, hell- even the politics of their own inner circle. I refuse to believe they aren’t intelligent, they refuse to accept anything that isn’t affecting them personally.”

“I see…” He winds off his acknowledgement with the abating of his words, woefully aware that his parents are of the same mindset. His own father being the worst of all of them, claiming that any interaction or deals with unsavory business men were for the benefit of the family, not to the detriment.

“My father’s own brother died in ‘07 and he seemed unfazed by it at all,” Youngho huffs out, “At the hands of the Imperial Army, and yet, still, he said nothing.”

Doyoung’s eyes widen and he raises a finger to his lips as if to tell the older to lower his voice, unknowing if anyone within the shop understands Korean. “Even if he did, there would be nothing your father could have done about it. Not only is he in America, he holds no authority in Joseon.”

“No one wanting to do a damn holds any authority in Joseon anymore, you know better than me what the yangban have gone through, what everyone’s gone through.” Youngho leans in closer to Doyoung, ceding as he lowers his tone, “It may be easier said than done but I believe we have the ability to change that.”

“How would-” Doyoung begins but is interrupted when the server comes back with their food, carefully setting each dish atop the table before retreating back into the depths of the kitchen. “How could ‘we’ possibly do that?”

“There are ways, I know there are. I just need time to think of a proper solution,” Youngho nods as he reaches for his chopsticks, eager to sate his own hunger that had risen during their conversation. “If you’re interested I’ll tell you more when I have an idea.”

[1909.05.27. 今出川外国人日本語学校、京都] Doyoung’s mind doesn't return to that conversation with Youngho until a Wednesday afternoon about a week later. The sun begins to sink down in the sky as Youngho, Minhyung and himself were cleaning off some blackboard tablets in the main room of the school. Yuta was busy teaching a class and Doyoung’s fingers were pruned from what felt like endless scrubbing with a rag and vinegar ridden water.

“You know,” Youngho speaks up after what feels like an eternity of silence, brushing his hands on his pants after setting down a board onto the floor below. “I think we can really change something here.” His shoes quickly tapping on the floor in some sort of anxious apprehension, “Yuta and I have been talking and the resistance effort in Korea seems to be strengthening again.”

“What are you implying?” Doyoung asks, confused at the sudden statement. His brow wet with perspiration, even having the windows cracked open doesn't allow for much wind to travel throughout the building.

“I am saying that we can try and do something to change the… trouble happening back home,” Youngho shows no anger but a passion resides in his voice that remains hard to mask. “Do something before something more is done to us.”

“That is…” Minhyung begins, looking up to Youngho from his task of drying off the boards.

“Idealistic?” Doyoung interjects, biting his lower lip before continuing, “Youngho you do realize if someone hears you talking about that you’ll get thrown in prison again?”

Eyes trailing around the space as if he hadn’t already known they were alone, “Every one of us are sitting ducks. You know that,” a point to Minhyung and then a point to Doyoung, “and you know that. Is fighting back against that such a bad thing?”

“How do you propose we do that? Drop everything now, hop on a ship back to Korea and just roam the countryside looking for this supposed group?” Blood rushing to his ears as it sounds like waves crashing on a beach’s shore.

“Not at all,” A shake of his head. “There are ways of resisting that do not rely on fighting, think peaceful, diplomatic.”

A nervous laugh escapes Doyoung, it’s involuntary but he can’t help it. “Suh Youngho I knew you were insane, but this is another level.”

“I— uh— I’m going to get some chalk refills from the storage room,” Minhyung excuses himself from the conversation, a glance at him as he walks away tells Doyoung that he doesn’t know how to interact with the situation and was looking for an easy escape.

“Doyoung if you would just listen to me and get that stupid doubt out of your head you might just be able to make some sense of it all.” A sigh from Youngho as he stands, reaching into his jacket to rummage around for a pack of cigarettes. “Can I bum one off of you?”

Cheek bitten as he grabs his pack out of his pocket and tosses it to the other, “Do you have any idea what they would do to my family if they knew we were having this conversation? Your family and Minhyung’s are across the world and have no worries about what they say or do. The other student’s and mine are not privileged with that.” Cigarette carton tossed back, the sound of a lighter igniting and the smell of smoke pervading through the air as he tucks the pack away into his pocket.

Youngho thinks, an exhalation of smoke through troubled lungs as his outward breath intermingles with the dust thick in the air. It dissipates without a sound, quietly invading the space as Doyoung is overcome with a sense of trepidation from the other, he picks his words meticulously, trying to string them together as carefully as possible, “This is not just about you or me or my family or yours. It is the fate of a nation on the line, is that so hard to understand?”

It causes the younger pause for a moment, his hand falling to his pocket, hovering there before he pulls on the fabric as if he’d meant to straighten the coat all along. His throat clears, thinking of his parents and brother he’d left behind in Guri, what any actions that Youngho’s ideals cause may entail for them. Even if he was trying to get away from his obligations back home, he’d never want to intentionally put them in any sort of danger.

Doyoung opens his mouth to speak, before catching a bright glimpse of color passing by one of the front windows, followed by the school door opening with a large slam against the wall. Silhouette standing in the setting sun for a moment, not looking at all familiar to Doyoung. An equally confusing circumstance when the words, “John Suh,” spill from your lips. It’s a confounded expression that crosses your face, standing in the front door of the school as the taller leans leisurely back against one of the walls.

Cigarette in hand, Youngho turns at the call of his name, nearly falling over in surprise to see you standing there. No, not surprise- bewilderment, shock or some form of abject horror as you take a few long strides to stand in front of him. It’s as if a child’s been caught by his mother and Doyoung is playing witness to it all.

Doyoung watches the scene in a state likened to childlike curiosity, he understands not one word that falls from either of your or Youngho’s lips, but he can tell you’re angry and him beyond apologetic. Hand movements gesticulating, he catches the words ‘Seoul’ and ‘Tokyo’ at some point as you huff something out under your breath. Voices raising, Doyoung’s surprised Yuta hasn’t come out to tell them to be quiet, but if he were in Yuta’s shoes he wouldn’t as you sounded royally pissed. When you turn on your heels Doyoung looks to Youngho for some sort of explanation, but his gaze is solely locked on you leaving.

“Shouldn’t you chase after her?” Minhyung asks, the two others not realizing he had returned, box of chalk in hand as the three men watch you storm out into the crowded streets.

“She needs to calm down before I talk to her again or she might really kill me.” Youngho sighs, bringing the cigarette to his lips before taking in a long drag. A hand runs through his hair as it looks as if all of the blood had drained from his face upon your arrival.

“Is that the friend you mentioned a while ago? You showed us a picture I think.” Doyoung questions, somewhat relieved at your intrusion into their previous conversation.

“It is,” the answer not coming from Youngho, but from Minhyung. “And by the sound of it she’s ready to pack you into her suitcase and take you on the next boat home.” Head nodding as he looks to the space you once occupied, “You really didn’t tell her you were coming here?”

“You understood that?” Smoke leaving him he turns to the younger, “You didn’t tell me you speak English.”

“It never really came up.” Shoulders shrugging as he sets the box of chalk he’d been fiddling with down onto a nearby chair. “And I am from Canada, after all.”

“Son of a bitch, Yuta told me you were from Hanseong.” Youngho muses, tossing the cigarette from his hand and smothering it with his shoe. “But yeah, that’s her. I may have neglected to mention that but I was a little held up,” he looks confused as he pushes himself off the wall and makes his way to the door, peering out in the street. “I just don’t know how in the hell she found me.”

“She probably used the wrath of God to do it,” Minhyung suggests, “That’s how my mom says she knows everything I’ve ever done wrong.”

“Wouldn’t put it past her,” A shake of his head as Youngho turns to Doyoung. “She said she’s staying at the hotel you’re in. Would you mind meeting up with me tomorrow morning in the lobby to talk some sense into her and get her to go back home?”

“I don’t even know her though?” Hands dried on a nearby towel, Doyoung stands and reaches for the bucket of now dirty water. He walks past Youngho and into the street to dump its contents out, “I don’t even speak that much English.”

“It’s more of moral support than anything,” Youngho steps aside to let Doyoung back in, “I wasn’t joking: she might actually kill me if she gets the chance.”

“Fine,” Doyoung sighs, walking to pick up his bag from the corner of the room. His hands smell of vinegar and he rubs his still pruned fingertips together as he thinks of what the next morning would hold. “You owe me, though.”

“You’re a lifesaver,” Youngho breathes a sigh of relief as Doyoung makes his way to the front door once again, this time with the intent of leaving. “Nine work for you?”

“Nine works for me.” A nod as he walks down the two steps and onto the dirt road below, the indentations from your shoes leading off down the almost empty road. He glances back to Youngho with a, “See you tomorrow,” and then to Minhyung with a question of “Do we have a quiz on Friday?” before waving it off and beginning his trek back home.

The night descends on Kyoto quietly and without noise, the stores closing long after the sun has fallen behind the western mountains in Arashiyama, lanterns aligning the street as Doyoung shuffles his way to the hotel. It’s quiet, the city typically is at this time of night, he’s learned over the course of his stay in the ancient former capital.

Before he goes inside, he stands outside of the entrance, hands tucked into the pockets of his coat as he stares up at the night sky blooming with stars. His bag lays at his feet, more worn now than it had been on the first day of class. Crumpled in his fists, buried away into the depths of his coat lies a letter, the ink that had adorned it far too smudged and water damaged to read now. Doyoung hadn’t meant to ‘accidentally’ drop it into a puddle when it had arrived that morning, so the contents lie unknown. However, on the corner of the envelope, a blurred name, ‘Seungwon’ stays virtually untouched as if to remind him of former obligations.

It’s as if there’s a clock ticking in his chest, counting down to a day, a time, when he’s meant to take up the holstered responsibility of his family and place it onto his own shoulders. A burden not yet ready to bear, he sighs out into the balmy night and makes his way inside of the hotel.

[1909.05.27. 今出川、京都] Doyoung wakes to the knocking on his door, his head burrowing into the tangled blankets and pillows from a restless night’s sleep. It takes a moment for him to find himself, writhing around the sheets before pulling himself out of his own stupor. Feet hitting the floor with a dull thud, he drags his lethargic body to the small bathroom, running his hands under the cool water of the faucet before splashing some onto his face to wake himself further. He meets his own gaze in the reflection, tired eyes and the slightest shadow of stubble beginning to darken on his jaw and upper lip. He’d have to visit the barber at some point in the coming days before he becomes totally unkempt.

He dresses himself in casual attire, a white linen button up, the most breathable thing he’d wear today, before he dons the dark blue of his three piece suit, a light gray and black one still residing in his wardrobe. He notices the threadings are nearly worn as he buttons the bottom half of his jacket, the things threatening to fall off should he exert too much force. The soles of his shoes too lie in disarray, wearing thin from endless wandering the streets of Kyoto after his classes have finished. It’s not that he’s searching for anything in particular, maybe a solution to his current situation. But he can’t find that at a merchant’s stall.

The route to the dining hall located on the first floor is a path easily tread, remembered in his first few days of arriving in Kyoto. The carpeted floors giving way to a wooden expanse the further he delves into the hotel, the scents of varying breakfast foods calling out to his aching stomach.

His hands keep busy with the morning paper, perhaps yesterday’s or the day prior to that one. It takes a while for the Korean post to arrive in Kyoto, the postage system seems to take years for important things to arrive, yet the letters from home seem to be weekly. A sigh as he sets down the news, reaching out for the carafe of coffee situated some ways away from where he’s seated. He begins to pour himself a cup of coffee, only pausing when he catches something out the corner of his eye.

A few darkened drips from the coffee pot settle into the white linen of the dining room tablecloth as he spots you stalking towards him. His eyes go wide and his breath hitches when your gaze narrows on him, almost causing him to choke on coffee he’d just brought to his lips.

The way you saunter over to his table reminds him of his mother when she’d be out to scold either him or his brother. Doyoung doesn’t know you but can easily tell that you’re not a force to be reckoned with.

“Where’s John?” You ask, standing before him, arms crossing over your chest as you look down at him expectantly. “You were one of the men with him yesterday, right?”

“What?” Doyoung asks, trying to make some sense of what you were saying. When he was a young boy, his parents had allowed him to take English lessons with a handful of the Christian missionaries that had drifted through Guri, but seeing as he understands nothing of what you just said, it’s obvious he hadn’t retained much, if any, of his vocabulary. “What are you looking for?” He sees no glimmer of understanding in your eyes as your brow furrows, probably trying to decipher what he’d just said. “Youngho? Are you looking for Youngho?” It’s the common connection the two of you seem to have, it’s his best bet on trying to figure out what you want.

You nod at the name, recalling that his mother shouts that at him whenever he’s angry. “Where is he?” If you’d taken up John on any of his invitational Korean lessons, you may have had much better luck in this situation. But you’d gone off to learn French because you were enamored with one of your classmates at the time, you could almost hit yourself seeing where it’s gotten you.

“Whe-” Doyoung pauses, lips pursing together as he thinks of the word. Youngho was meant to be in the lobby when she came downstairs, but it’s now clear he’s nowhere to be found.

“School.” It’s one of the words he can pull from memory. “He’s probably at the school,” he says again and gestures in the general direction of Yuta’s academy.

“The school- Imadegawa Gaikokujin Nihongo Gakko?” You’ve said the name of the institute hundreds of times to yourself that you think it’s the only Japanese you know. Not that you fully understand what it means, just knowing that it’s the name of the place.

Doyoung nods, somewhat surprised that you know the name.

“Can you take me?” The question falls out quickly and you see he’s confused, so you repeat it again slowly in hopes that he comprehends it. It seems that he does, reaching for his coffee and finishing the cup before rising to his feet, motioning for you to follow him as he heads towards the exit.

The walk to the school is painfully awkward, drenched in a silence that neither of you want to address. Both of you are not confident enough in the other’s mother tongue to make small talk as the two of you begin to walk the streets.

“Hey!” Doyoung hears Minhyung call out as the schoolhouse nears, “Took you long enough, you’re almost late.” When the younger sees that you’re accompanying him he gives you a small wave, “You’re Youngho’s friend, right?”

“I am,” You say after a moment, not having expected to hear English today. But with the company that John keeps, you can’t be too surprised at anything now. “Do you know where he is?”

“No, he’s not here yet,” he shakes his head and turns to Doyoung, “Didn’t Youngho say that you’d meet him at the hotel?”

“He did,” Doyoung’s lips curve into a frown as the three of you make your way into the school. “She’s been interrogating me about him, I think. Although I can barely understand what she’s saying.”

Minhyung laughs at the older and then turns back to you, “My name’s Minhyung, but you can call me Mark if that’s easier for you.” His demeanor has a lightness to it that descends onto you as something of a godsend. It’s an ease that you’d probably find with John if he were here and you aren't still angry at him.

“It’s nice to meet you Minhyung,” you offer him a smile before your eyes go wide and you turn to your partner, “I uhm, I never asked him what his name is.”

“Doyoung,” Minhyung answers, another chortle leaving him and the elder looks confused as to why his name’s just been called out. “What’s your name?”

You respond quickly, glancing over your shoulder to see if John is on his way in, to your misfortune, he isn’t. Minhyung quickly introduces you to Doyoung, probably so he has a gist of who you are. It’s hard to tell if John’s said anything about you to these men, but it doesn’t look as if he’s said much.

“We’ve got class soon,” Minhyung’s voice pulls you from your search and you turn back to him, “I’m sure Yuta would let you sit in on the class if you wanted to, although I’m not too sure that you’ll understand much, I don’t even get all of it.”

“It’s alright,” you shake your head at him, “I’ll just wait out here for Joh- Youngho.”

The man in question strolls into the school around thirty minutes later, the local paper tucked under his arm as his brow raises in surprise to see you, “I thought I said I’d meet you at the hotel.”

“I got impatient,” a frown as your gaze flickers over to him. “Jail John? Jail?” You fume, storming over to the taller, “Do you have any idea how worried I was, how worried your mother was? God- If you don’t write to her today and tell her that you’re okay, I'm stuffing you in my suitcase and taking you back with me.”

He laughs heartily, despite you glaring him down, “I wrote to her as soon as I got out. I wrote to you, too, but it doesn’t seem like you got the message.” A few more chuckles escape him as he holds his arms out, “I missed you.”

You sigh, falling into his embrace, “I missed you too.” After a moment you pull away, stepping back from him, “I’m glad to see that you’re okay, but if you ever do something like this again-”

“I’ve missed your hollow threats,” John smiles and glances around the school’s empty halls, “Do you want to get out of here for a while? I know a good cafe nearby.”

“Don’t you have class?” You question with a tilt of your head, the gentle murmurs from the classroom some ways away drifting out into the hall. “Minhyung said that Doyoung was already late, I wouldn’t want to stop you from your lesson.”

“I’m not a student,” John shakes his head, “I’m just… in town for a while and Yuta’s putting up with me for a bit.” He flashes you a grin before you have a chance to ask him exactly what he means by that, “Now come on before they run out.”

The two of you walk out into the dense heat of August, passing by a group of students as you do so. John recognizes some of them whereas you don’t, him saying something to them that elicits a laugh or two before you’re both back on your way to the city center.

“Why were you arrested?” You can’t stop yourself from asking the question as you turn onto the main road from the alley in which the school is situated. There are only a handful of people perusing the streets, but none look interested in what you’d just said. “It wasn’t serious, right?”

“Of course not,” he reassures you and looks to a few buildings ahead, “We’re almost there.” John walks in silence for a moment, his fingers rubbing against his palm as he looks back to you, “I lost my passport, can you believe it?” You recall when you were leaving San Francisco and you had lost your own passport, if it hadn’t been for the man that found it for you, you’re not sure where you’d be.

“Well, actually, I didn’t lose it, it fell between the pages of one of the books that I bought, which reminds me- I have a few for you, I wrote you about them, just remember to tell me to give them to you,” John says quickly as you approach the building he’d been eyeing earlier, walking into the opened door confidently and heading to the nearest open table.

You can tell he’s lying. You’ve only known him since you were children and he’s the closest person to you, you know almost every little quirk about him. And one of the first things you’d learned was that he talks quickly when he’s not being truthful. Yet, you don’t question him on it, seeing as you’d just calmed the tension between you, you don’t want to ignite it for the second time today. So, you just nod and follow him inside.

More oft than not, you hide your feelings behind a veneer of snark, of a bite that seems to sting but never lasts. It’s a sham way to hold yourself together, for if you let the dread of reality seep into your veins any longer than you allow it, you may just become the person you’re trying to hide. A vulnerable being who longs for the company of others but finds errant ways to keep them close instead of just outright saying it.

John offers out a seat to you and you sit, hands folding neatly atop the tabletop as you look to the menu scrawled onto a chalkboard near the cafe’s counter. You’re not sure why you do, the mix of Japanese alphabets is still foreign to you.

“I’ll go grab something, just wait here,” he says, noticing your confusion, still standing before he turns on his heels and strides over to the counter. You turn away before he begins to speak to the barista, looking out of the glass window at the front of the shop,

“How long were you planning on staying in Japan?” John’s voice stirs you some time later, the gentle sound of two cups being placed on the table making you turn in his direction as he sits down across from you.

“As long as it took me to find you.” You smile at him, reaching out for the small cup, “I guess that means I can pack my bags and leave now.” The smile placated on your lips is joking, but you hold a sincerity in your gaze as if to ask him if that’s what you should do next. He was the entire reason you were here, to find him, to make sure that he was okay and to bring him home if you could.

John’s finger traces the rim of his own coffee cup, gently lifting after a moment to tap along the surface of the tabletop. He hums, low and obstinate, as if to ponder the significance of you being here.

“I guess you could,” a slow nod of his head, “You know, you were never obligated to chase me half-way across the world to try and get me back home. I’ve been detained before-”

“You have?” eyes widening as you look from your coffee to meet his eyes, “You’ve never mentioned that.”

“I’ve been detained before but,” he continues, gaze hardening at you as you interrupt him, “I really thought I had lost my papers so I sent my mom a letter saying I may need my official documents back home to get me out of the mess I found myself in. This was a little more serious than the others.”

“What happened the other times?”

“Well, in London they stopped me for taking too much tea out of the country, I guess they thought I’d run them dry of it,” a teasing smile twinges on the corners of his lips, “and in Cairo, I tried to sneak off with a few things from Cleopatra’s tomb.”

“You know,” you lean back in your chair, a snide frown on your lips, “lying less might help you out in the future.”

John laughs, reaching into his jacket pocket to procure his pack of smokes, it isn’t until he’s got a lit cigarette dangling from his lips that he speaks again, “Where’s the fun in that?”

He suddenly gasps, the smoke he’d been inhaling filtering into his lungs and causing him to sputter for a moment. You reach for and hand him his cup of coffee so he doesn’t choke on himself. After a moment of hitting his chest and extinguishing his cigarette into the ashtray on the corner of the table, he speaks up, “You didn’t use your grandmother’s money to get you here, did you?”

“Well, technically it isn’t hers anymore,” a guilty exhalation of a chuckle, “but yes, I did.”

“Oh,” He’s crestfallen in the most faux of ways, “You said you’d take me to Italy with that.” It’s a joke, but you can see his concern wavering behind the sincerity of his words.

Your hand falls to run over the textured brocades of your dress, a wavering smile delicately tugging at the corners of your lips, “I was just worried about you.”

“And I appreciate that, I really do,” brow softening as he reaches for his coffee, voice still a bit hoarse from his earlier choking. “But you don’t need to throw everything you have away for me, I know the trip probably wasn’t cheap.”

John’s not wrong. It had taken quite a large portion from your deceased grandmother’s account to get you here, and the subsequent stay in the country.

“I had to make sure you were okay,” you shrug your shoulders with a coy smile, reaching out to pick up your teacup and bring it to your lips. It’s then you realize something, setting the cup back down and looking around the shop, eyes wide.

“What is it?” John questions, noticing your shift in demeanor.

“I haven’t ever been abroad before, I thought maybe I’d travel to Paris or London, Milan, even… Never…” A small hum as you turn to look back at him, “Never to Kyoto.”

“I’d have loved for you to see Seoul,” John smiles softly, his fingers tapping along the sides of the cup, “It’s beautiful this time of year.”

“You make it sound as if it’s impossible to go,” a tilt of your head. John had told you stories from his time studying abroad, of the antics he and his friends would get up to and of the history he’d learned.

“It would be a little difficult to go back right now,” the smile lingering on his lips looks sad now, almost wistful in a way, “I’m sure we could go in the future if you want to.”

“I’d love to,” you nod, glancing out of the window once more to watch the passersby walk up and down the crowded street.

#neowritingsnet #cznnet #doyoung fluff #doyoung angst #nct fluff #nct angst #13k for a teaser if that's any indication on how absolutely massive this'll be

41 notes · View notes

the-calicos-missteps · 3 years

Text

Blind Haruka Nanami - Episode 2

How the opening, Orpheus Heart, would be changed for blind!Haruka.

The beginning with the boys would still be the same.

In the original, Haruka throws a pen and walks to the window. In this version, she would be sitting at a desk, turning off a voice recorder and tossing it onto the desk with a depressed face.

Hayate would place his head in her lap and she would pet it instead of getting up. Kuppuru would be laying on the desk.

Kuppuru would press a button on the recorder, and HAYATO's face would pop up, as kanji would scroll across the bottom - 'Now playing - Nanairo no Compass.'

Haruka would lean back into her chair, head falling back over the chair as she closed her eyes, Hayato appearing in her mind's eye and she would 'fall' into that pink water like world from the opening.

I like to think this is her ‘inner world’ from her minds eye - since she is legally blind and she sees mostly fuzzy outlines, this blend of color world is her inner world.

In the original, Kuppuru sends some papers flying and Haruka sees the boys faces on them. For obvious reasons, that would not be helpful here. Instead, inside her inner world, Haruka sees what she images her friends (those who support her-) to look like- including STARISH, Tomo, and her grandmother.

All of a sudden, she sees a boy in green that she’s never seen before - and he reaches out to her, physically taking her hand. Quickly leaving her inner world, she’s suddenly pulled past the piano to the open window and is suddenly flying.

Hayate followed her, and Cecil lets him fly with her as well.

It takes her merely a second to feel the wind in her hair and the feathers brushing past her skin, and she’s immediately smiling.

Hayate has his tounge out with a big doggy grin on his face.

She is being carried by the wind to the boys, and while the boys are doing their thing in the opening, they are all calling out her name as she passes them so she knows exactly who she’s passing.

Otoya and Tokiya tell her to reach out her hands - which she does, and they both push her high into the air. Hayate is pushed along by the wind.

And finally, as she turns back around, the notes for the song she previously could not find appear before her.

Here’s episode two!

When Tomo comes back with the drinks, she sees Hayate play with the mysterious cat. She asks in confusion where exactly the cat come from.

When Haruka tells her that it just appeared in the room and that she really wants to keep it, Tomo sighs and agrees reluctantly, but they MUST keep the cat hidden.

They then come up with the name Kuppuru together. Tomo tells her she’ll go with her to the local pet shop to get supplies for Kuppuru after class tomorrow. ‘You need a lot of things to care for a cat, Haru-Chan!’

Before they go to sleep for the night, Tomo helps Haruka write a letter for her grandmother. Haruka told her what she wanted to write, and Tomo wrote it for her.

Haruka believes the rule about no romance to be excessive and not needed, but is not bothered by it. After all, who would want to love a blind girl like her?

Hayate, sensing her distress, puts his head on her foot to provide comfort.

Haruka was bullied as a child due to her blindness. She has low self confidence, but it caused to become opinionated, but she is still inherently kind. Even if those opinions are kept to herself.

She also notes that they specifically say ‘love between the two sexes is outlawed.’ So what about love between the same gender? Is that not apart of the rule? Haruka thinks it’s a little stupid.

Ringo-Sensei ends up reading his lot drawings out loud, accounting for Haruka.

When Ringo-Sensei goes to pick a person to play piano, he glosses over Haruka, saying he would have picked her, but she wouldn’t be able to play it. ‘You understand, don’t you Nanami-Chan? It would be a little bit difficult for you, see?’

Haruka gets very frustrated and upset at his comment, but doesn’t disagree. She clenches her hands in her lap, and her friends look at her worriedly.

The class starts making rude comments, about how a girl like her should have never been allowed in the school. ‘What was the headmaster thinking?’ ‘She definitely cheated her way in.’ ‘No way, someone paid for her to get in.’ ‘I bet she can’t even play any instruments.’

Otoya and Tomo step in and tell them off, while Haruka says nothing. Ringo quiets the class and picks another student to play the piece.

Lunch comes, and it’s raining. Haruka leaves the class immediately, and doesn’t wait for her friends. She’s lost her appetite, and orders Hayate to take her outside near the lake.

The rain does well to drown out her tears of frustration. Hayate is whining and trying to get her to pet him.

Kuppuru finds them first. He jumps onto Haruka’s lap with a sad meow and she starts petting them both. She smiles self-deprecatingly at them, saying that maybe she really shouldn’t be at this school.

That’s when Otoya finds her, placing his jacket over head and saying ‘that’s not true at all!’

After leading them to the gazebo (Kuppuru hangs out on Haruka’s shoulders) Haruka says wasn’t he embarrassed to have a useless composer.

Otoya keeps denying the cruel things she keeps saying about herself, things like she’s a failure and she doesn’t belong here, saying that it was all wrong and encouraging her.

During her tirade, Kuppuru kept licking her face and Hayate her hand.

Haruka finally breaks and tells him her grievances - beside her grandmother, no one has ever stayed or cared to listen.

She’s frustrated with Ringo-Sensei and wishes he would just treat her like a normal student. She may be blind but she doesn’t need special treatment! She’s just as competent as any other student!

She explains that she does know how to play- she just learns music differently from all of them. She’s angry with the class for their insensitive comments.

She’s also frustrated with herself for being so weak. She’s used to this kind of treatment, she should be used to it by now. But that doesn’t make it easier.

Otoya does the best he can to comfort her, but is also stupefied because he doesn’t know how to respond to some of this. Haruka appreciates it.

He then has a grand idea - they can make a pitch to Ringo-Sensei about his treatment of her. If they work together surely their teacher will listen! He was incredibly enthusiastic about it.

It was Haruka’s turn to be stupefied. But then she smiled and agreed. They spend the rest of lunch together in the gazebo writing the pitch.

The end of the day comes. Tomo asks Haruka if she’s ready to go. Haruka asks her wait outside for just a little bit. Tomo is confused, but waits outside the door.

Otoya and Haruka confront Ringo. Ringo is confused why they stayed late. Otoya starts, so Haruka could gather her courage.

Haruka tells that she’s frustated with Ringo’s treatment of her. She may be blind, but she is just like any other student. She does not like being treated differently by Ringo. She tells Ringo that yes, she can play, she just learns it a different way. She is upset with him for calling her our like he has. It makes her feel like she doesn’t belong in this school.

Ringo is a little gobsmacked by their hot takes. He blinks a few times, before he laughs deeply. Haruka and Otoya are shocked by his reaction, but before they can assume anything, he calls out to them. He wasn’t laughing because he thought their proposal was stupid. He’s laughing because they are the first students ever willing to tell him off. Most are too scared to because he’s a professional and could even stop them from ever debuting. He’s laughing from shock, and that he never expected such a hot take to come from them in particular.

He apologizes for his treatment of Haruka. He admits he may been laying it on too thick; he also admits to thinking that she would be inherently weaker than the rest, and that reflected in his treatment of her. He promises to do better, and if she feels he isn’t doing good enough, to tell him. After all, as a pro he’s always striving to be better. Plus, he didn’t want to hurt his adorable students!

Haruka decides she can like him in the future.

Haruka asks if he could give her two copies of the sheet music. He replies sure, but is confused why. She says she’ll prove to the class by the end of the week that she can perform. He smiles and pats her back in encouragement - and immediately pulls back when Hayate growls and lunges forward just a bit. ‘I’ll just keep my encouragement over here then... haha...’ Haruka reprimands Hayate.

However, he reminds them that she also needs to write a song, so maybe she could- Haruka cuts him off, saying she will get it done all this week.

When they leave the room, it turns out Tomo had been listening in the whole time, and she jumps on Haruka when she gets out and congratulates her on standing up to their teacher.

When she starts to lead Haruka away for the pet stop, Otoya asks if he can tag along. Tomo sticks her tongue out at him and says its a girl only event. A jealous Tomo just pushes them quickly out the school while a Otoya goes to try and write some lyrics.

She takes Haruka, Kurrupu, and Hayate to the pet shop. They get things like a fancy litter box, bowls and food, toys and treats.

Haruka makes an additional stop to get one copy of the sheet music transcribed into braille.

Tomo asks if she was going to do that anyway, why get two copies? Haruka explains that it would take too long for the music to be transcribed to learn it in one week, so Tomo would be helping her learn until it was ready! Tomo laughed fakely, realizing that she wasn’t being given a choice in the matter. The cat even has the gal to seemingly laugh at her!

Tomochika spends the rest of that day helping Haruka learn the song verse by verse by either telling her the note pattern or singing it for her, but soon she needs to sleep.

So late at night Haruka begins working on the composition for Otoya. He said he would have some lyrics by the next day, so she needs something too! But... she’s never written music, not really. She’s improvised on the piano, but simply letting music flow when playing is not the same as intentionally writing it out.

Her voice recorder sits at her desk seemingly staring straight at her, with scrapped melodies filling it’s memory. Haruka... just can’t seem to write a song.

Tears blur her vision even more than it already is. She just can’t do anything right, can she? She can’t learn a song and she can’t compose one either. Her useless pride got the better of her.

She falls asleep like this, the exhaustion having got to her.

When she wakes up from the dream about her grandmother, she walks over their open balcony, recorder in hand. She looks to the moon, hits record, and she sings her heart out into a brand new melody.

Otoki, who had been walking around to find inspiration, heard the melody and wandered over to the source - only to come across Nanami. It becomes a Romeo and Juliet moment, just with lots of blushing and without the confession and death.

When Otoya sings, Haruka doesn’t stop starring at him. Otoya asks if something is wrong. She replies no, its just that his singing is beautiful. Otoya thanks her, but is then confused when she says that when he sings, it’s like she can see him clearly, the warmth of soft flames accompanying his music. It’s like the world is bathed in a patchwork of red jewels that refract the light into beautiful rainbows.

Working together, they manage to get their song, BRAND NEW MELODY, done by the end of the week. With both Tomochika’s and Otoya’s help and the braille music sheet retrieved in the middle of the week, Haruka even managed to learn the piano piece, just in the nick of time.

She plays it for the class, eyes closed the entire time for the flex on her class. At the end, the class sits in stunned silence, and Ringo-Sensei is the first to clap for her. And quickly, the rest of the class joins, Tomo and Otoya being the loudest.

Insert Maji LOVE 1000% here! That’s the end of episode 2! I know it seems like episode 2 and 3 were combined, but I’ve plans... big plans!

#uta no prince sama #uta no prince sama au #blind!haruka #haruka nanami #otoya ittoki #kuppuru #shibuya tomochika #au #uta no prince sama fanfic #blind MC #ringo tsukimiya

11 notes · View notes

danishmiilk · 3 years

Text

PART ONE. --- SICHENG

next || masterlist

summary || a collection of crack stories from y/n and nct working together in taeyong’s pizza shop - ncity pizza. written from povs of different characters.

genre || crack

pairings || none.

warnings || swearing. a lot. probably. idk.

word count || 1.8k

taglist || @teasysan @hannie-dul-set // send a dm or an ask to be added to the taglist! though why you’d want to be added, i have no idea why

The cashier grinned at Sicheng as he walked into the pizza shop after his psychology lecture with Professor Kim. It was nice to be welcomed with a smile after a long day, so Sicheng smiled back at him at approached the cashier.

“Hey, you must be the new part-timer, right? Well, you go into the back over there, and Y/n’ll pass you the uniform.”

Sicheng felt the smile slowly slip off his face. What? He hadn’t signed up for this. “Uh,” Sicheng let his eyes wander to the nametag on the cashier’s uniform, squinting at the small writing. “Uh,” he repeated again intelligently. Channeling two years of Japanese lessons which he had mostly forgotten, he tried reading the nametag again. Screw it, he couldn’t remember how to read Kanji - reading it the Chinese way would have to do. “What, think my pecs are impressive? Why do you keep staring at my chest?” Sicheng felt himself flush, heat rushing up to his cheeks. He glared at the cashier silently, too taken aback to say anything else.

“You’ve got it wrong, I’m not a part-timer, uh, Yōu tài-san?” The cashier’s grin grew impossibly wide. “Yuta,” he corrected gently, “Anyway, are you younger than me? Your application says you’re born in 1997- you can call me hyung, then!” Sicheng opened his mouth to protest again, but before he could say anything, Yuta was already calling out for someone. “Y/n! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE, THE NEW PART-TIMER IS HERE!”

“COMING! My god, what’s gotten your knickers in a twist today, Yuta?” A girl popped her head of faded purple hair out of the back room. She was a traditional beauty, very pretty with smooth skin, a small face and delicate features. Sicheng felt his breath catch for a moment, momentarily forgetting that he should be correcting the cashier who was so adamant on him being the new part-timer even though Sicheng was not. He felt hot breath on his ear, “Ah, ah, part-timer. It won’t do to ogle now, would it? Don’t worry, we were all like that once. But she’s the devil’s spawn.” Sicheng felt heat rush to his cheeks again, though it had never really left.

The girl looked him up and down, then stretched out a small hand. “You must be the new part-timer! I’m Y/n, one of the workers here at this godforsaken pizza shop.” Sicheng reached out his hand mindlessly to shake hers, “Sicheng. But I’m not the part-timer?” At the same time, Yuta said, “Don’t let Taeyong hear you call his shop godforsaken.”

Y/n looked at Sicheng quizzically, “You’re a funny one, you. And Yuta? I’m the favourite child, you know. The only daughter will never get into trouble.”

“What did you do now, Y/n?” A voice floated into the front from the distance, presumably Taeyong. Y/n gulped, “AH! UH, NOTHING! What are you waiting for, Sicheng? Come on.” Seeing as Sicheng would continue insisting that they’d gotten the wrong person, Yuta pushed him into the back room and slammed the door. “HEY!” Sicheng turned to bang on the now-closed door, but decided against it. He could use some money and he’d been planning on looking for a part-time job anyway.

“Yeah, see? No point arguing with Yuta if he’s made up his mind,” Y/n grinned at him, “And by the way, Donghyuck just stole your wallet.” Huh? Sicheng whirled around, only to be met with a boy with rainbow hair holding up his wallet. The expression of shock on his face must’ve been extremely hilarious, because both workers around him burst into laughter. “Don’t worry, I’m not actually a thief,” Donghyuck smiled at him, “But do consider buying me a meal sometime, I’m broke and hungry.” Dazed, Sicheng nodded slowly along to his words, having zoned out a while ago. Then the realisation hit him that Y/n’s previous words hinting at her knowing about the misunderstanding.

“Wait, you know I’m not the real part-timer?”

“Ooh, an impostor? What are we doing, playing real-life among us?” Donghyuck stuck his head in front of Sicheng’s face, smiling a cheeky grin. “Fuck off,” Sicheng blurted out before he could stop himself. “Ha, I like you already. Anyway, Chenle’s stealing food from the walk-in freezer, do you want me to get you some, Y/n?” Y/n gave a squeal and threw her arms around Donghyuck, nodding her agreement. Looking at another boy who just walked past gnawing on a frozen mozzarella stick, Sicheng decided not to tell them that if the food was in the freezer, it was either frozen or raw, and they couldn’t very well eat it.

Having shooed Donghyuck away, Y/n turned back to him, “Well. Of course you aren’t the real part-timer, I saw his application form thingy, his name is Jung Jaehyun. You’re Chinese, aren’t you, Sicheng?”

“Yes! Oh, it’s great to meet another Chinese speaker, I-” Y/n cut him off in Korean, smiling apologetically, “Sorry, I don’t speak Chinese.” Someone yelled, “Don’t believe her! She just wants to eavesdrop when you speak Chinese, she’s perfectly fluent!”

Y/n’s face darkened, and she lunged after the culprit, “Yangyang, you fucking piece of shit, I was going to have some fun with him!” Grabbing a rolling pin off the nearest counter and out of the hands of the chef, she whacked the wall with it by accident, then threw it at Yangyang, running after him while laughing.

At this point, Sicheng wasn’t even sure if this pizza shop had rules of its own, seeing as theft, violence and eating frozen things belonging to the shop were - apparently - allowed. Someone hit Sicheng’s head with a greasy pizza box by way of greeting, and he turned around, realising that it was Ten, his seatmate in one of his classes. Which made the pizza box greeting not that out of the norm, really.

“Ten-hyung…”

“Sound more awake, motherfucker!” Ten yelled at him, dropping another pizza box into the arms of a passing worker, who only saved it because he kicked it up like he was playing soccer. “Yo, Sungchan! Stop playing soccer with that shit and pass this whole stack over to Mark over there, kay? He’s the driver, he’ll know what to do.”

Sungchan grinned and lobbed all ten pizza boxes one by one across the whole kitchen to Mark, standing by the door, who somehow managed to catch them all, though not without getting cheese and tomato sauce all over his “carefully styled” - his words, not Sicheng’s - hair.

“Shit, why’d you do that?” Mark whined, shaking out his hair, “Now it’s ruined!”

Sungchan rolled his eyes, “Nothing’s ruined, you shit. It looks way better this way, your hair was fugly.”

“Ah, yes! Let’s go,” Ten dusted his hands off on his apron, dragging Sicheng to a rack of clothes sitting in the corner. Sicheng eyed the dust on the uniforms dubiously. Pulling the rack out forcefully, Ten elicited a yelp from the circle of people on their phones behind it. Ten glared at them, “Slacking off during work hours?”

One of them looked up and shot a string of angry German at Ten. Ten, scandalized, gave a mock gasp of shock and put his hand to his chest, “Yangyang taught me how to swear in German! And you did not just call me a-”

“Did too.”

“Oh, you’re the new employee? What was it, Sicheng? Y/n told me about that little misunderstanding, but you look alright, hey! Welcome to Ncity Pizza. That’s Jaemin, Jeno, Donghyuck,” at this, said rainbow-haired boy waved at Sicheng, not taking his eyes off his phone, “Renjun, the one who just swore at Ten is Chenle, and I’m Jisung.” Sicheng offered up a smile, then found a nice corner with fitting clothes that weren’t three sizes too small or five sizes too large (both of which had been proposed by the boys a few minutes prior; they were apparently horrible judges of size).

By the time he’d returned, Ten had been dragged into whatever game they were playing that Sicheng couldn’t recognise. Ah… among us.

“GUYS, I SWEAR IT’S RED. RED’S THE IMPOSTOR.”

“I’M RED!”

“NEVER SAID YOU WEREN’T THE IMPOSTOR, HYUCK!”

“IT’S NOT HYUCK, HE DID ASTEROIDS IN WEAPONS.”

“DID YOU SEE THE GUNS SHOOT OUT STUFF?”

“WHAT GUNS.”

“YOU SEE, IT’S HYUCK!”

“WHAT PROOF DO YOU HAVE?”

“YOU WOULDN’T LET ME COPY YOUR HOMEWORK YESTERDAY.”

“WHY IS IT GETTING PERSONAL?”

“BECAUSE I HADN’T DONE IT EITHER YOU LITTLE SHIT?”

“Oh. WELL, I DON’T CARE! RED’S ALWAYS SUS.”

“YEAH OKAY VOTE RED VOTE RED.”

“Red was not An Impostor, 2 Impostors remain- YOU SEE? IT WASN’T ME!”

“SHUT UP, YOU’RE DEAD.”

“I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU. ALL OF YOU! THEN NONE OF US WILL BE ALIVE!”

“Ooh, scary.”

Chenle - or was it Jisung?- waved at Sicheng, “Care to play?” Sicheng shook his head hurriedly, deciding not to partake in this tomfoolery. The boy shrugged and returned to his game, calling for an emergency meeting and starting up another round of discussion.

“IT’S JENO GUYS, I HADN’T SEEN HIM THE WHOLE GAME.”

“WELL, MAYBE BECAUSE SOMEONE SET THE VISION TO BE 0.25x? AND THE SPEED IS LIKE 0.5x I WILL CRY PLEASE.”

“WHERE WERE YOU JENO?”

“OH WAIT GUYS I JUST PASSED BY ORANGE’S DEAD BODY THAT’D BE CHENLE.”

“YEAH I DIED.”

“THEN WHY ARE YOU GOING AROUND ACCUSING PEOPLE?”

“I WAS IN NAVI GUYS.”

Weird. Sicheng could’ve sworn he’d seen the dude standing around admin, at least two metres (or the in-game equivalent) from any task. Then again, Sicheng was looking over his shoulder, and Jeno was An Impostor.

“Jaemin sus y’all,” Ten fiddled around with his phone, “It’s so definitely him.”

The younger boys stared at him for a while, before Renjun asked, “Are you even playing?” “Yes! I’m playing, okay? Jisung asked me!” Ten replied indignantly. Renjun stared at Jisung accusingly, “Stop inviting all the lame people to our games! Now that I think about it, Ten’s sus too.”

Of course, neither Jaemin nor Ten were The Impostors. Chaos followed, with everyone dogpiling on- the real Impostors? Of course not! Jaemin and Donghyuck and Ten! (“Why’d you act so sus if you’re not An Impostor?”)- including the actual Impostors, which somehow nobody bothered to check at the end of the game. Sicheng would go so far as to say that Jeno and Y/n did a good job, but really all they had to do was keep their mouth shut at the side and add fuel to the brainless “discussion” (what discussion?) going on in the background.

“Y/n,” a man in a white shirt strolled toward the group of people, “Can you go to the front and help out with the register?” Y/n groaned and ran her hand through her hair, putting her phone down, “But Doyoung, Yuta’s being the cashier and Taeyong’s handling the calls and online orders!”

Doyoung arched an eyebrow at her, “You can go on damage control.”

Grumbling and groaning, Y/n made her way back to the front. “And the rest of you! Go and work! What does Taeyong pay you for?” Honestly, Sicheng didn’t know either, noting the fact that he hadn’t seen a single person work in all the time he’d been at the pizza shop.

©danishmiilk, 2020.

#neowritingsnet #kdiner #kpopscape #dreamwritersnet #neo-the-stars-net #nct-writers #nctcreations #starryktown #look id like to know what this is #if yall know #kindly tell me #thanks

35 notes · View notes

jigokusaito · 4 years

Text

きさらぎ駅

KISARAGI STATION

One of my favorite stories on the net, the story of Kisaragi Station is a chilling tale from 2chan of things that shouldn’t be. Now, I’m just copying and pasting this one from here, as the story itself is pretty straightforward. That being said, let’s begin:

Hasumi It might just be my imagination, but do you mind if I talk about something?

2chan Sure, go ahead. What happened?

Hasumi I just got on the train, but something’s off.

2chan Okay.

Hasumi It’s the train I always take to and from work, but it hasn’t stopped at any stations for about 20 minutes now. It always stops every five minutes, or at most every seven or eight, but it hasn’t stopped at all. There are currently five other people on board, but they’re all asleep.

2chan You haven’t gotten off the train yet, have you? You didn’t get on the express by mistake?

Hasumi Yeah, like you said, it’s possible I got on the wrong train. I’ll wait it out just a little longer. If anything else weird happens, I’ll come back again.

2chan First of all, why don’t you go to the front carriage and see the conductor? If he had an epileptic fit or something that would be terrible. Go and check on him!

Hasumi It still doesn’t look like we’re going to stop anywhere, so I’ll go and have a look.

The blinds or something are covering the window, so I can’t see the driver. I’m on a private railway in Shizuoka Prefecture.

2chan Did you knock on the window?

Hasumi I did, but there was no answer.

2chan Can you see outside? Can you see the names of passing stations or anything?

Hasumi After leaving the tunnel the train has started to slow down a little. We don’t usually pass through a tunnel though. It’s the train from Shin-Hamamatsu Station.

It looks like we’re about to stop.

2chan You’re not gonna get off, are you?

Hasumi We’re stopped at Kisaragi Station, but I wonder if I should get off? I’ve never seen or heard of this station before.

2chan You should get off.

No, you should stay on until the last stop.

I mean, the train should’ve started moving again by now, shouldn’t it?

Hasumi, what time did you get on the train?

Hasumi I got off. The station is empty. I got on the train around 11.40 pm, I think.

2chan I did a search for Kisaragi Station, but nothing came up… And hang on, your train’s been running for an hour now? Alright, I’m off to take a bath.

I looked for Kisaragi Station as well, but there’s nothing here.

Hasumi I think I should go back. I’ve been looking for a timetable but I can’t find anything. The train is still stopped so I wonder if it would be safer to just get back on? Well, while I was writing that I already got back on board.

2chan Are there any buildings nearby that look like they might have people? It’s cold out there, so be careful.

Hasumi I’m gonna leave the station and see if I can find a taxi. Thanks.

2chan That’s a good idea. Be careful.

I’m doubtful that you’ll easily be able to find a taxi at an empty station after the last trains have already run.

And it looks like Hasumi’s become a resident of the 2D world.

Hasumi There’s nothing here, let alone a taxi. What should I do?

2chan Go see the station attendant or a nearby police box!

Shouldn’t you call 110 for now?

Why don’t you call the taxi company?

All you can do at this point is go to the nearest convenience store.

If there’s a public phone nearby, you should look up the number of the taxi company and give them a call.

Hasumi I call my parents to come and pick me up but they don’t know where Kisaragi Station is. They said they’d look it up on the map and then come to get me, but I’m kinda scared.

2chan What happened to the others on the train? Were you the only one who got off?

Hasumi, I also tried to find Kisaragi Station on the internet, but there’s nothing here. You said you were near the Shin-Hamamatsu area, right? I’ll see if I can find anything on Yahoo.

Hasumi I went to look for a public phone but there aren’t any. The other passengers didn’t get off, so I’m alone right now. The station name is most definitely Kisaragi Station.

2chan There’s a chance you’ll find a public phone off the station grounds.

Why don’t you try leaving the station?

I just did a bit of investigating right now, and the kanji for ‘oni’ (demon) can also be read as ‘kisaragi,’ right…?

So you mean ‘Demon Station’…? That’s terrifying.

Are you a video game nerd? When I googled it, I found a video game.

Write down the previous and next stations from Kisaragi Station. Don’t say there’s nothing written there.

Hasumi What game are you talking about? There are no previous or next stations written here.

2chan Try walking back home along the tracks.

If you start running now, you can probably catch up with the train!

It’s a station, so there has to be people living around there.

Hasumi Yeah, that’s right. I was panicking, so I didn’t even notice. I’ll follow the tracks back and wait for my parents to call. I tried looking before in the Town Information part of I Mode in my phone, but it came up with some kind of error. I just wanna go home.

2chan Whether it’s a joke or not, I’m gonna work towards solving this seriously.

Hasumi There really is nothing around here. All I can see are grasslands and mountains. But if I follow the railway tracks, I think I can get home, so I’ll do my best. Thank you. You might think it’s all just one big joke, but can I come back if I run into any other problems?

2chan Of course. At any rate, take care.

Of course. Just be careful your phone doesn’t die. It’s your lifeline right now.

Don’t start walking in the wrong direction. And be careful inside the tunnel.

Can a phone even get reception in an area with nothing around? I think it would be better if you don’t move from the station…

All alone at an unmanned station on a cold night. The lights will probably turn off soon and it’ll be dark.

The railway tracks are an even darker trap. There’s a tunnel after that too, right?

And yet, it would probably be safer to spend the night at the station…

This is terribly risky.

Hasumi My father called. He had a lot of questions, but in the end we have no idea where I am, so he told me to call 110. I don’t really want to, but I’m going to give the police a call and see if they can help me…

2chan I think it would be easier for you to move around once it gets brighter…

Could you really wait there all alone at night? In some strange, unfamiliar place…

Could you pass through the tunnel all alone at night? On some strange, unfamiliar railway track…

So could you keep walking through some unfamiliar street at night in the cold?

Hasumi I tried explaining my situation the best I could to the police, but they thought it was a joke and got angry at me. I was so scared that I ended up apologising to them…

2chan Why did you apologise? You should call it a night. Go wait at the station for the first train.

What’s it like around the station? Is there anything there?

Hasumi I can hear what sounds like the beating of drums coming from far away, mixed with the sound of a ringing bell. Honestly, I don’t know what I should do anymore.

2chan Hasumi, you need to get back to the station. It’s best to return to where you were in the first place when you get lost.

It’s about to start…

Drums and bells…?

It’s probably just a festival.

Hasumi You might think I’m lying, but I’m so scared, I can’t look back. I wanna go back to the station, but I can’t turn back.

2chan Run. Whatever you do, don’t look back.

You can’t look back at the station! You’ll be taken away. Just run towards the tunnel, right now! It should be closer than you think.

Hasumi Someone just yelled out from behind me. “Hey, you can’t walk along the railway track, it’s dangerous!” I thought it might be the station attendant, so I turned around, and about 10 metres away there was the old guy with one leg standing there. Then he disappeared. I’m so scared, I can’t move.

2chan I said don’t look back. Just run.

Calm down and listen to what I have to say. Try going towards the sound of the drums. There should be people there.

Just where are you trying to send Hasumi?

That’s not it at all, Hasumi is about to be taken away. That’s why I’m saying, if she can, she should go back.

How come you could you tell it was an old guy with just one leg?

…because it’s an old guy with just one leg?

It’s probably some guy that was hit by a train and lost his leg and then died.

Hasumi I can’t walk anymore, but I also can’t run. The sound of the drums is getting closer.

2chan Just wait for morning. Once it gets brighter, it won’t be so scary.

You should have gotten back on the train.

Hasumi I’m still alive. I fell over and I’m bleeding, but I’m still holding onto the heel I broke. I don’t want to die yet.

2chan Well, it’s not like things were going to get better if you stayed in the one spot, anyway.

I think you’ll be fine if you can get through the tunnel, anyhow. When you pass through, let us know and get some help.

Hasumi I called home. My dad said he’d call the police for me, but the sound is getting closer and closer.

2chan Well, let’s just pray that sound isn’t the sound of an approaching train. Having said that, it’s probably too late for that now.

Hasumi I did my best and I’m somehow in front of the tunnel now. The name says Isanuki. The sound is getting closer, so I’m gonna gather up all my courage and try to get through. I’ll post again once I get through safely.

2chan Good luck.

This is the end. The train and the station are gone. You can’t go back. There’s no-one to follow. The sound you hear is a phantom of your own past. Run towards the tunnel. If you stop, you’ll just be stuck between worlds.

Hasumi I’ve exited the tunnel. Someone’s standing just ahead of me. Looks like doing what you guys suggested was the right answer. Thank you. I’m probably gonna be mistaken for a monster, my face is a mess of tears.

2chan Hasumi, wait! Don’t move!

Stop! It’s dangerous!

Who would be standing there at such a time? It’s too suspicious…

Hasumi Sorry for making you all worry. The person was very kind and said they would take me to the closest station. Apparently there’s a business hotel or something there. Everyone, thank you so much.

2chan Hasumi. There’s something I want to ask you, so please answer. Where are you? Can you ask that kind person the place name?

Are they really kind? They could be scarier than what’s going on here, you know.

Yeah, maybe. Anywhere, where the hell are you?!

That person is dangerous!! Why is someone on the railway tracks at this time of night? They must have run into you while disposing of a dead body or something! Run!!

Hasumi I asked where we are, but he just said ‘Hina.’ There’s no way that could be true though.

2chan Hasumi, get out of the car!

I’m sorry, Kasumi. Where is Hina?

What a strange story. So at this particular time some suspicious old guy just happened to be there to pick up a girl walking along the railway tracks…? What was he doing?

Hasumi We’ve started getting closer to the mountains now. I don’t think there’s anywhere for the car to stop, and he’s stopped talking to me entirely.

2chan There’s no reason for even a strange old dude to be up at this time.

Maybe he’s not talking to you anymore because you’re always on your phone?

Hasumi, you’re in danger. Did you tell your parents to come and get you from the tunnel?

Hasumi. Call 110. This might be the last time you ever write anything.

Hasumi My battery’s about to die. Things are looking strange, so I’m gonna try to run the first chance I get. He’s been muttering about something I can’t understand for a while now. Just so I’m ready when needs be, I’m going to make this my last post for now.

※ After this post, Hasumi was never heard from again.

And that wraps it up! As I mentioned before, this one is one of my absolute favorite stories from around the net, but maybe that’s because I’m a sucker for the whole “other world” sort of thing. Personally, I’d love to take a trip there myself and see some things that shouldn’t be. What do you think happened to Hasumi? As always, remember to stay safe and stay true to your beliefs.

#kisaragi station #urban legends #folder

25 notes · View notes

tsukuyomi-e · 4 years

Photo

My OC Kouji Shimizu created for a contest in 2016 ^^' He's a quite cliché yandere guy, so each drawing showcases one part of his personality.

I’ll copy paste here what I had written on my Deviantart 4 years ago (yeah, now I find it really cringy, same for the second drawing (though regarding drawing skills, both are bad...) But I still quite like it I don’t know why so I post it, maybe some other yandere fans may like it xD) :

“Kouji Shimizu

His last name is written with the kanji 死 (death) and 水 (water). It is a common name, but it’s not the usual way to write it. I thought of the saying “Still waters run deep”, in French it’s “Be wary of sleeping water” (sleeping/dead can be kinda related), and I think it means the same in English : someone who looks calm can be different than what we thought. Aaaaaand, what better defines a yandere ? xD

Temper/Story :

He loves his childhood friend, who doesn’t know his feelings. He doesn’t tell her because he knows she sees him only as a friend. But he thinks he deserves her love, and hopes she eventually realizes that he is the only one who can make her happy.

Usually, he is kind of distant and emotionless towards people, even though he has some friends. But his childhood friend is the only person whom he really cares about and that can make him smile sincerely.

He makes sure to always know if she has a new relationship, if she met someone new, and he always asks her for news, how was her day, etc. He acts as if she was his girlfriend, and often takes her to cinema or other usual places for dates, but she thinks he is just acting like a big brother.

But he is really, really jealous. He can’t stand that someone takes what he considers “his place”. He is also very selfish : he can’t be happy for his childhood friend if she’s happy with anyone other than him.

None of his friends or family knows that he is a sociopath. He doesn’t cares about morals and ethics, and knows neither compassion nor pity, but knows what is accepted in society and what is not. So, he wouldn’t mind killing or torturing someone, but he would make sure that no one finds out that he’s guilty, because he knows his friend would hate him if she saw him as a murderer (and if he was arrested, she would obviously date someone else). He also loves blood, organs and death. He has a lot of fun when killing someone. But he doesn’t kill impulsively and he can spare some rivals if he manages to get them away.

He has a lot of self-control. If a rival gets him angry (by kissing the girl in front of his eyes, for example), he will glare at him and just wait for his revenge. And then he can be really violent and sadistic. He never warns his rivals to get away from the girl, but shows that he doesn’t like them since the moment he sees them talking to her.

He kills only if he can have a good alibi, he always makes sure he doesn’t leave any clue that can get the police to him, and if they interrogate him as somebody who knew the victim, he can be very self-confident when answering their questions, that makes him a good liar. He also didn’t tell anyone about his one sided love (even if some people noticed it) because he wouldn’t like anyone to tell the police he would have a reason to kill someone interested in his childhood friend.

The only case where he could kill someone without thinking is if someone threatened his loved one. He would lose his composure and beat him to death.

He is the kind of people who thinks that if something gets on his way, he has to get rid of it. He doesn’t care about who is his rival : it can be a member of his family or a friend, it will have to disappear.

There is one thing he fears : if one day he finally confess his feelings to her and if she rejects him, or if she hates and fears him after she surprised him killing someone, of if he is going to be arrested after all, or if he can’t stand anymore not being with her, he knows he will go mad and kill her then kill himself. He thought about kidnapping her, but he’s afraid she would hate him, so it’s the only ending possible if there is no way she would accept dating him.

Why is he so obsessional :

He has loved her for years, and never told anyone. He can’t endure it anymore and now he becomes mentally unstable, and can’t tolerate anyone being close to her. Adding this to the fact that he has always been a sociopath, and thus that he has no compassion for people and no moral sense…

Favorite weapons/How does he kill :

He prefers cold weapons than guns. He would love to use a katana or a chain saw, but it’s not discreet. He likes using knives, he can stab someone multiple times with it, but common weapons like cutters or scissors are cool too. He can use a saw if he wants to dismember a corpse. He happens to rip some organs out of the corpses. Whatever that can harm is fine : a scalpel, a razor, a screwdriver… If he doesn’t have any weapon, he is okay with pushing someone off a cliff, on a road, of a bridge… It’s better to make it look like an accident. When fighting someone with his bare hands, he likes beating them to death, strangulate them, or try to puncture or gouge out the eyes. When torturing people, he likes taking a knife and opening multiples cuts into the flesh.

Hobbies, vocation, likes, dislikes, musical tastes/musical theme… :

He plays the violin, since his friend told him she liked the sound of this instrument. He wants to become a surgeon. He likes any type of food if it’s in a bento his childhood friend made for him. He likes the iron taste of blood. His favorite color is red. Of course, he dislikes anyone who could be more important than him for his friend.

The song he is playing is The Devil’s Trill Sonata. The 28 Days Later main theme would fit him perfectly when he goes mad. The song those lyrics fit him the best would be True Love Restraint (at first I didn’t want to choose any song from an anime or from Vocaloid, but I didn’t find better ^^ But if you know a better song after what I described…)”

I hope my English isn’t that bad :’)

#oc #original character #yandere #male oc #mixed media #gore #blood

10 notes · View notes

acefrogmonarch · 4 years

Text

Headcanons pt.4

Middle school and early high school

I know American class but also Japanese class schedules. I don’t know if I want either or a hybrid.

Based off this post (If i can find it)

Naruto-band

Shikamaru has a knack for playing the drums, but he's never serious about it. He plays the drums because the systematic rhythm helps him think of strategies for shoji.

Has been asked multiple times to join the jazz band in Spring. He refuses everytime because it cuts his time in shoji, but once he gets his own cubie in the band hall he sets up his shoji board and plays it when he has free time.

Hinata has played the violin but hates the way her fingers hurt after being forced to play for long hours.

So she seeks asylum in the band hall, and has secretly taken lessons how to play the saxophone. It's her favorite of all the wind instruments.

She has been asked to join the spring jazz band, despite not being an actual member. She easily took the first chair when they were evaluating their skills.

Choji has been following a senior that's been teaching him the guitar, he's in the brass section playing the tuba. Has been asked to replace the senior when he gets older and wants to.

Naruto is in the brass section with Kiba but only Kiba is the trumpet player. Naruto is a trombone player and tells dad jokes. He didn’t fit the mold of a trumpet player but he still loves it regardless.

But his energy is definitely on par, if not greater than the rest. He will always cheer up everyone around him and is a part of the cheerleading squad.

Hates that there aren't anyone other guys. He just wants to flip off someone's shoulders. Damnit!

He's flipped off Sasuke's and Shikamaru's shoulders before. In Sasuke's case, it was during elementary/primary. They were on the playground and this was Naruto’s second ever attempt to land a backflip. They couldn’t do it because the teacher caught them when a group started forming and they started betting their snacks from lunch to see if Naruto failed or not.

They continued their promise after school and Naruto broke his arm, but he did do it right after. He ate like a King the next day. It was great for him.

The first time Naruto did it was completely by accident and because he was so excited that he got a trampoline.

He’s never taken gymnasium classes before and has not seen a backflip before. But he somehow did it. It still shocks his parent’s to this day. Sasuke and him are neighbors and he came over to see what Naruto was so happy about.

Sasuke came just in time to see him do it. It was the greatest moment of his life because then Naruto tried to do it again and fell flat on his face.

In shikamaru’s case it was during middle school and they were next to the pool. They were at Sasuke’s house for the day because he had a cool deck and pool.

Naruto wanted to jump off his shoulders into the pool. Shikamaru agreed because he didn’t think Naruto could actually do it. He realized his mistake when Naruto beamed in total confidence and Sasuke moved away from the pair.

Naruto didn’t do his back flip because Shikamaru moved the second Naruto decided to jump, without warning.

Needless to say, Shikamaru didn’t support his legs enough and Naruto accidently kicked him in the chin. Naruto ended up on the pool, back first, and Shikamaru fell on his ass.

Naruto swims up to the edge of the pool and looks at Sasuke, trying so hard not to laugh.

Naruto: Did I do it?!

Sasuke, trying to reclaim his composer: No, not at all.

Shikamaru, on the ground rubbing his chin: How did you even hit me!?

Naruto: Again!

Shikamaru: No!

Sasuke, running inside to get a camera or phone to record it: Yes!

Naruto is sometimes very confused as to why he is going to a house, when he has an apartment and his milk is about to expire! Also, his stash of untouched ramen!

Kushina: Naruto, sweetie. Where are you going?

Naruto: My apartment!

Minato: Naruto, we have a house.

Naruto: What’s that? Is it edible?

Kushina: Sometimes. During winter.

Naruto: Why winter?

Kushina: There are houses made of cookies.

Naruto: Really?!

Kushina, nodding along: Yup!

Anyway after High school they sometimes played together. Naruto had to buy a new entire trumpet because he rented from the school. Hinata bought her saxophone and has kept it under maintenance.

Shikamaru’s parents bought him his drum set and he learned how to play on his own. Choji does keep up with his guitar lessons but he did save up alot to get his electric guitar and a bass.

Card games

Hinata, Sasuke, and Shikamaru cannot play competitive and strategic card/board games. Scrabble, poker, 21, War, Bullshit is off the list. A Lot of decks, mostly up to 3 at a time and they are very distinguished between all of them.

Sakura refuses to play but does rude commentary to any group she is overseeing. Usually magic, because of Sasuke.

Choji doesn’t play anything but he does place bets on who would win with his snacks.

Magic the gathering.

Sasuke, Itachi played. Black Commander Deck

Sai, again his older brother. Green and Black Commander Deck.

Tenten; She found it and didn’t want something that Lee and Neji enjoy. Standard White and Blue Deck.

Yu-gi-oh.

Hinata; only because Neji played. Silent Magician Deck

Neji; because Lee played. He didn’t want to seem stupid. Hero elemental deck

Lee, he just likes the anime. But does have Yusei’s deck

Ino, she likes the pictures on Toon town and they let her do whatever but to some extent.

Both.

Kiba; Rarely, Magic first. Green and Red Commander. Gear deck

Naruto; Rarely, yugioh first Odd-eyes deck and Black and White Standard Deck.

Kiba, dissing on Yugioh.

Naruto: Shut up, your mother buys you mega blocks instead of legos.

Hinata and Sasuke are both petty about each other’s card games. They each have respective sleeves and taunt each other, constantly.

Neji and Lee look at Tenten on the magic side and hate that she betrayed them. She’s just glad that they don't harp on her in her card game.

Pokemon.

Shikamaru, because no one knows how to fucking play.

Shino only collects the cards.

Shino showing Shikamaru his deck.

Hinata: Oh, are you playing?

Shino: You can play it?

Shikamaru has tried to teach Shino. Shino doesn’t sleeve his cards and when they take damage, he puts some non wet, non greasy food on his card.

Once the pokemon dies, Shino eats the snack. There are crumbs everywhere and Shikamaru’s pet peeve is being messy. Shikamaru appreciates Hinata’s and Sasuke’s sleeves.

Shows

Ino loves Reality TV and other things. But hates the Kardasians. Loves Rupaul drag race.

Sai is often encouraged by Ino to watch anime around her and he also finds anime that she thinks he hasn’t seen.

Sai has brought up Keeping up with the Kardasians and it was a mistake, he thought she would like it.

Ino: The Kardaisians are garbage and Kyle Jenner is a fake as hoe!

Sakura, from another room, hearing Ino rant: Did someone bring up the Kardasians?

Sai: Yeah.

Ino: Never do that again dear.

Sai: Got it sweetheart.

Ino has never actually called any other of her partners by a pet name but she does with Sai and they act like a married couple sometimes. They never talked about it. I mean they have shared stuff about each other that no one else knows. Coming out to each other, learning together because they both feel safe and comfortable with each other. Trust each other a lot.

Elementary bus crew.

Morning

Konoha 12 except Hinata

Naruto was so used to being independent that he has left his house on his own for school. It has freaked his parents more than once but they just watch over him as he goes to school.

Naruto always spots a red haired kid on the opposite of his bus stop with two older people that he holds their hands. Naruto always waves at him and waits until the day he waves back.

Gaara is very affected by his past life, like he was carving the kanji for love when his mom walked in because Temari tried to stop it but couldn’t take the blade away from him. She got slashed on her arm as a result.

Karura walks in and gasps softly.

Karura: Gaara sweetie.

Gaara: Mama, you're alive?

Karura: Of course. Please put the knife down.

Gaara: Knife?

Gaara completes carving in perfect kanji and stops once he completes it. Then the pain registrator for him

Choji is allergic to mustard, he found out in elementary and by accident. Shikamaru went to the teacher and Hinata stayed with Choji because he was rubbing his face and making his hives worse.

Afternoon

Rest of the Konoha 12 except (Hinata Neji and Shikamaru) No Sai yet.

Middle school. Bus Crew

Morning

Konoha 12 except Hinata, Ino, and Sakura

Afternoon

Konoha 12 Except Hinata, Tenten, Neji and Sasuke

High school bus crew.

Morning

Hinata was too scared to do it on her own in elementary, she tried in middle school and failed, but she succeeded in high school. She has to wake up an extra hour and walk to her stop but she doesn’t after freshman year. She got used to it

Afternoon

Everyone unless they have clubs, even then there is an after after school bus.

Hinata and Neji are on the richer side of town and everyone in middle school often joked about how they are on the west side while everyone else is on the east side.

They all meet on sports day. The other schools were pitted against each other east versus west.

Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto were in a group together and were mocking Neji from a distance.

Naruto: Ew, is that a West sider?!

Sakura: Is that a boy or girl?

Naruto: It doesn’t matter! It’s a west sider!

Hinata from behind them, joins in.

Hinata: Ew a west sider.

Naruto, turning around: You got that r-

Hinata a carbon copy of the guy they were mocking.

Naruto: AH!!! They got us from behind!

Hinata blushes: Naruto-kun

Naruto: Oh, it’s just you Hinata.

They don’t know each other at this point, Sasuke and Sakura look bamboozled at their interaction.

Hinata is going to therapy for this because her parents are worried and she just wants a break from the whole past life stuff.

Hinata sighs to herself: Not again

Hinata walks off towards where Neji is and leaves Naruto in her wake.

Naruto’s motto: We are here to cause some ruckus, then DIP!!!

20 notes · View notes

sns-tropes · 5 years

Text

heart in your hands: ch12

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6,

Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11

chapter summary: All's well that ends well.

pairing: sasuke/naruto (ninja!verse) post-698

rating: Mature

warnings: angst, hurt/comfort

A/N: this is the last chapter!!! If youd like to read the completed fic chapter by chapter you can read it here on ao3

also i’ll be writing an epilogue one-shot to be paired with this fic!

- jeni

Shikamaru always likes rainy days. He thought up some of his best thoughts while walking around in the rain. Not that he ever did anything with said thoughts. He takes a walk with no umbrella and goes as slow as he pleases. No one’s really out. A few children play in the puddles, and a few shopkeepers come out to cover some of their wares. He smirks at their haste. He thinks more people should enjoy the rain.

He finds himself in an odd part of town. No one comes here anymore. The Uchiha compound is not the best place to be. Its history makes people uneasy and they avoid it at all costs. Some even say that it’s haunted. Honestly, he doesn’t think that’s too farfetched. But it doesn’t bother him at all.

So that’s why he is surprised to see someone lingering in the front of the compound’s courtyard, tape broken and boards tossed to the side long ago. There’s a blond head of hair looking sad and drooping from the downpour, the expression on his face is utterly dejected.

Why Naruto is here, he can only think of a few reasons. A fight with Sasuke seems likely. He approaches without any caution. He doesn’t need caution. If he’s a true friend he’s not worried about things like that.

Naruto stands in the rain, not paying him any mind.

“What’s eating you, huh?”

Naruto flinches and looks over to the side to see him with his hands in his pockets. He doesn’t answer. He doesn’t have any answers.

“You guys fight?”

“No.”

“Someone die?”

“ No.”

“Then what?”

“Sasuke asked me to go with him on a two-year field study.” The words pour out with little thought. He doesn’t know what he’s hoping for. Shikamaru seems to always be lingering around when something like this happens.

Shikamaru’s brows lift, he’s surprised. The idiot took his advice.

“What did you say when he asked you?”

“I didn’t... I didn’t say anything.”

Ah, so two idiots then. Shikamaru puts the open-ended advice together in his head fairly quickly.

“Naruto.” He says sharply, almost scolding him. “What do you want to do?”

“What?” Naruto asks loudly.

“What do you want? Not what Sakura, or Kakashi, or Sasuke, or what anyone else wants. What do you want?”

Naruto blinks, trying to collect his mess of thoughts over the roar of the heavy rainfall. He looks past Shikamaru at the broken tape of the compound. He stares at the worn kanji of the long-abandoned dojo, then flickering over to the broken boards of the eerily barren engawa of Sasuke’s childhood home.

A memory flickers back to him of when he held onto Sasuke on the bloodstained floorboards and hoisted him up on shaky legs to bring him home. He remembers when things weren’t so clean cut. He remembers when they all wanted to be rid of Sasuke; to capture and assassinate him. He remembers the clench of his heart and shortness of his breath when he found out such a thing. He couldn’t tell what those feelings were back then. He couldn’t place the need or desperation he was feeling as he would collapse under the weight of his own anxiety.

They didn’t know love. They didn’t know what is was or when it was happening. Sasuke knew pain and hate and loss. Naruto knew fear and death and longing.

He left without a word. He left Sasuke alone and confused with no answer.

“Naruto.” Shikamaru snaps him out it. He gives him his full attention. “Now is your chance.”

“What?” He croaks out thickly, still reeling from his thoughts.

Shikamaru juts his head past Naruto in the opposite direction, prompting Naruto to swiftly turn his head to look.

Sasuke is there. Not even ten feet away staring ahead in shock. Naruto assumes he came here to think. Perhaps he didn’t expect the same of Naruto. Shikamaru is walking away now, clearly knowing his presence isn't needed any longer.

Sasuke approaches tentatively, looking hurt and confused. Naruto wants to erase it. He wishes he could go back and make it right. Because he’s not sure if what he says now even matters. He could take Sasuke hurting him. He’s taken it time after time. But the one thing he’ll never be able to live with, is if he ever hurt Sasuke. He can’t bear that.

It was too sudden of a question. And he hasn’t been stable enough as of late to weigh his options rationally. But seeing Sasuke’s expression like this, it makes him wonder why he hesitated.

He supposes it was fear. Fear of disappointing those around him. Which is why Shikamaru’s words seemed to weigh so heavy. Because it shouldn’t be about what anyone else expects of him anymore. Just like he told Sasuke before. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone. Neither of them have to prove anything.

“N-Naruto. I’m sorry.” Sasuke says shakily, standing a few steps back as if he were afraid to draw any closer.

He’s sorry? Why is he sorry? Naruto doesn’t understand. His brow furrows in confusion as Sasuke’s head hangs low, hair falling over his eyes.

“That wasn’t fair” Sasuke’s fists are clenched at his sides. “I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry, it wasn’t fair of me.” It sounds like he’s crying.

“Sasuke- no it’s-”

“I understand.” He chokes out. Naruto’s heart hurts. He doesn’t want to see him like this. “Sakura told me it was too rash , and I asked her to stay so I could ask you. She was right, it’s not fair of me.” He practically sobs through his shouting. “I’m such a fucking idiot.”

Naruto is suddenly very angry at this. Shikamaru’s words come into perspective much more than before. Seeing Sasuke like this, so very unlike himself, he can’t stand it. He doesn’t need anyone interfering on this level. Not about things that are just between the two of them.

“I don’t care what Sakura says.” Naruto says with finality, taking a step forward.

“But you-”

“Sakura can’t make decisions for me.”

“I understand if you don’t-”

Naruto reaches forward for Sasuke’s arm and yanks him close, effectively cutting off whatever he was about to say.

“I’m going.” He says with his face craned into Sasuke’s neck.

“W-What?”

“I’m going with you.”

Sasuke backs away, staring at him in slight confusion. It’s almost like he was trying to figure out if we were being truthful or not. Naruto would never lie about something like this.

“I’m going with you. I want to.” And before Sasuke can make up some awful doubt in his head, Naruto is kissing him fully and openly, not giving him a moment to even argue.

It seems Sasuke can’t help but return it, despite his recent doubts. He Pushes forward, falling into Naruto, effectively pushing them both down onto the cobble stone into a puddle.

Sasuke has landed right on top of him, and he’s thankful that no one is around because he can’t be bothered to get up at the moment. He can’t be bothered to do anything but kiss him again.

“You’ll go? You really want to?” Sasuke asks again, biting his lip. A very unfamiliar expression for him. “You ran.”

“Yes. I really want to.” Naruto says softly. The rain slows from a heavy downpour to a light sprinkle and he smiles at Sasuke, pulling him back to his chest. “I ran because I was afraid. Afraid because I would always say yes to you, and I'm always worried about who I would disappoint.”

“What changed?”

“I only care about not disappointing you.”

He feels Sasuke’s shoulder shake a little bit and he wonders if he really is going to cry.

“Things aren’t going back to how they were. It’s too late now,” Naruto laughs softly. “I go where you go.”

Sasuke thinks this is the only time he’s ever been so elated to hear something like that. He bets he looks really stupid right about now.

“Don’t cry.” Naruto mentions.

“I’m not.” Sasuke says with a slight tremor.

“It looks like you are.”

“I’ll kill you.”

“I’ve heard that before.” Naruto smiles slightly and plants another soft kiss on his lips, more at ease every time he does it.

He wants to go with him. For the first time in a very long while, he feels like all he has is time. And he can’t think of anyone else he would want to spend it with. If that time is spent studying some use less thing for two years, as long as he gets to be with Sasuke, it doesn’t matter.

The rain has stopped and Naruto holds Sasuke’s jaw in his hand softly, staring into his eyes that are slightly bloodshot. Naruto doesn’t think he’s ever seen him look so small. He’ll fix it. He’ll fix everything.

God, he wants to tell him. He wants to tell him so badly. But that’s not what he says.

“Let’s go home.”

Sasuke nods in agreement.

___________________________________________________

Surprisingly Sakura is still there, sitting at the table looking beyond stressed out. They come back through the door soaking wet and a lot calmer than when they left.

She eyes them curiously and stands up from her chair at the kitchen table.

“Sakura,” Naruto says, “Can you get another copy of all that paperwork for me?”

Sakura looks from side to side and then at the paperwork on the table. She looks weary, even stressed.

“Naruto... Are you sure about this?” And she side-eyes Sasuke for a moment as if he did something to trick him into this.

“I've never been more sure about anything in my entire life.”

“It didn’t look that way.”

Sasuke flinches visibly. Naruto can tell that she’s continuing to instill some kind of doubt or fear in him.

“Sakura.” He says her name sternly. She stops talking for a moment. “I’ll write to you. But I'm going. You can’t stop me.”

She’s quiet as she gathers the papers on the table. He feels slight guilt. She doesn’t want to lose her teammates again. But she’s tough. And it’s not forever.

“It’s not forever, Sakura.” Naruto tacks on for the sake of being comforting.

“I know that.” She sighs tiredly. “Don’t kill each other up in those mountains.”

She leaves after reminding Sasuke when to drop by her office for the rest of the paperwork.

______________________________________________________

They get cleared after only one week. The paperwork is all done and they’ve both packed a bag. Sasuke pulls on a flak jacket that Kakashi had given him, and he easily slides it on due to the fact that he’s actually wearing his prosthetic.

Naruto dresses just as quickly and catches Sasuke staring at him from across the room.

“Are you sure about this, Naruto?” Sasuke asks him attentively.

“Of course I am.” Naruto says with a bright smile. He means it.

Sasuke smirks in return.

Naruto turns around to look at his apartment - their apartment one last time. He knows that it will just collect dust for the next two years. The thought is almost more comforting than it is troublesome.

He shuts the light, locks the door, and they make for the gates.

______________________________________________________

Kakashi, and Sakura see them off. Naruto kind of wishes that Shikamaru were here as well. He didn’t get to properly say goodbye. And judging by Sasuke’s wandering eyes, it seems he was expecting him too.

It’s pleasant’ Sakura’s mood seems to be better, her attitude about the whole thing changed drastically. Maybe Kakashi talked some sense into her.

“There’s a minka up in the mountains where you’ll be staying. It's not too far from the village. It’s the only one with a red shoji. You can’t miss it.”

They both nod, making a mental note.

Kakashi holds out two journals in each hand, the pages blank. They must have a few hundred pages each. “Naruto,” Kakashi warns as they take the journals. “Please mind your handwriting.”

“Huh?” He says dumbly.

Sasuke looks at him with slight humor. “Your handwriting sucks Naruto, make sure he can read your notes.”

“It does not.”

“It does.” Sakura agrees.

He sighs in defeat, promising to practice his handwriting. After all, he’s got time.

Just as they’re about to leave, Sasuke grabs Naruto arm to halt him. Naruto turns around and sure enough, There is Shikamaru running up briskly.

He walks right up to Sasuke and smiles with a breathy laugh He hold out apack of cigarettes.

Sasuke laughs with him and takes in gently from his hand.

“Thanks.” He says quietly.

“I wanted to tell you guys. Uh- Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do while your out there.”

“That’s fantastic advice Shikamaru,” Naruto says sarcastically.

Shikamaru laughs openly again.

“Come back in one piece, yeah?”

“No promises.” Sasuke says casually

“You pessimistic fucker.”

“It’s part of his charm.” Naruto says lightheartedly.

After a beat of silence, Naruto waves goodbye to Kakashi and Sakura one last time. Shikamaru smiles at the both of them one last time.

They won’t be back for two years. They’re out of earshot now.

“Ready?” Naruto asks Sasuke, just because.

“Ready.” He says back.

They take their first step past the gates.

#hiyh #mhhinyh #sns #sasunaru #narusasu #fanfic #fanfiction #naruto #jeni #ch12 #heart in your hands #fic

71 notes · View notes

broken-clover · 5 years

Text

ACC Day 5- Freebie (Family)

I messed up!! I went and messed up!! Five days in and I already got off track. I’m really very sorry, my schedule was messy and I was up past two finishing this and then I managed to fall asleep before posting. Hopefully this makes up for it by virtue of 3,000+ words, which is somehow a thing that happened. I don’t get me either.

Well, finally getting into some Blazblue, today with Bang plus some Kagura and Tenjo! Sort of a follow-up to another fic, Lesson Number One, but I don’t think you’d need to read it to understand unless you wanted to.

Just for the sake of being safe, content warnings for ableist slurs and implied emotional abuse.

“Okay, let’s try this again. ‘Mutsuki.’”

“Moot-soo-ki.”

Kagura sat back in his chair, rubbing at his temples. “No. Like ‘Moot-ski.’ Two syllables.”

“Moot-soo-ki.”

“‘Moot-ski.’” His gaze hardened slightly.

“Moot-soo-ki!” Bang giggled, not even glancing up from the shuriken that he was spinning on his finger. “It has su-ki, so moot-soo-ki!”

He sighed, already tired of arguing. “Just...forget it, okay? You can just call me Captain Kagura.”

“Ka-gu-ra-nii!”

“No, Bang…” Kagura covered his eyes. He sorely regretted agreeing to play babysitter for Tenjo. He knew her meetings were very important and she needed to attend, but would it have been difficult to hire an actual babysitter? Or just let the kid wander around the castle on his own? He was a big kid, he could handle himself.

Bang was already distracted with something else, dropping the weapon and rolling over onto the hundred pounds of fluff named Kagemaru.

“Ka-ge-ma-ru, wanna play?”

The akita made a little ‘harrumph,’ stretching a little and licking the boy’s face before immediately curling up and going back to sleep.

“Still tired from the last game?” He scowled, crossing his arms before turning back to Kagura. “Ka-gu-ra-nii, he’s sleepy and doesn’t wanna play. Can we play together instead?”

The man immediately remembered the massive bruise he’d gotten across his abdomen the last time he’d agreed to one of Bang’s games. “Didn’t Tenjo say you needed to practice your suburi more?”

“Ohhh…” Without another word, he hopped to his feet and hurried over to the little rack bolted to the wall of his makeshift room. There was only one sword on it, a wooden practice blade, mounted low enough that Bang could grab it easily. “Help me practice?”

That, at least, seemed like an easy enough request. Kagura stood up and cracked his joints, swiping his massive blade off of where it had been resting against the wall. “Sure, kid. Gonna take your scarf off, first?”

He was expecting a simple (if emphatic) ‘yes’ or ‘okay,’ but all he got in reply was a quiet ‘nope.’

“No?” Kagura paused in place. “It’s gonna get knotted up. You’re gonna get tangled in your own scarf in the middle of a fight.”

“M’not taking it off.” Just for emphasis, Bang shoved his face into the fabric. “You tie your hand to your sword.”

“It’s to keep the grip from slipping off!” He opted not to think about the time he had tried dropping his sword after practice and proceeded to accidentally sprain his wrist when he left the tether on. “Besides, I keep it under control. What happens if someone tries to grab you by the scarf and choke you with it?”

“Toss it at ‘em?”

“Kid…”

A knock came at the door, thankfully sparing Kagura from any more conversation. “Kagura? Bang?”

“Tenjo-sama!” Bang immediately dropped his sword and bounded over as Tenjo let herself in. “Ten-jo-sa-ma!”

A hand reached down to ruffle his hair. “It’s good to see you. I hope you didn’t give Kagura too much trouble?”

“Nothing’s broken, which I count as a success.” The man quipped in reply. “Meeting go over well?”

“No declarations of war, which I count as a success.” Tenjo offered a rare bit of banter back.

“It’s lunch time now.” Already bored with the adults talking, Bang hopped back and forth on either foot, rubbing his hands against his scarf.

“Yes, that’s correct.” Tenjo laughed softly, holding the door open for him and Kagura to leave. “I did promise lunch after I finished.”

Wadatsumi Castle was remarkably quiet, despite the meeting that had gone on. The building was rather large, with Tenjo’s bedroom and one of the guest rooms that Bang had been staying in being the only real sources of noise in that wing of the castle. Still, after meetings, diplomats and department heads seemed eager to head on back to where they had come from, presumably to discuss information and decide courses of action (or, as Kagura would quip, ‘gossip like housewives and complain for the sake of complaining.’)

The dining hall was designed to seat a long line of dignified guests, but it was rare that more than a few would sit down at once. Tenjo reached down to nudge Bang towards one of the doors at the other end of the room.

“I’ve got something I need to discuss with Kagura briefly. Why don’t you go tell the cook what you want for lunch? I promise I’ll be finished very soon.”

“O-K!” The reply came with a sharp nod. “Beef stir-fry?”

“That sounds wonderful.”

“Stir-fry, stir-fry, stir-fry~”

As soon as he was out of earshot, Tenjo turned to Kagura. “You seem irritated with something, Kagura, what’s wrong?”

“Just a little worn down after that. He gives off so much energy, I just don’t get it.” He offered a shrug that wasn’t as convincing as he would have liked.

“Children are remarkably energetic. One of the world’s mysteries, but I suppose I find it rather endearing.” Tenjo’s smile thinned into an unreadable line. “I can tell that isn’t what’s bothering you. Is Bang giving you trouble?”

Kagura was still stubborn. “I though the kid would be a better strategist. I don’t think he’s actually looked at a strategy book in his life. He’s still convinced nails are a viable combat weapon.”

That got another little laugh out of her. “He’s nine, Kagura. You weren’t exactly Sun Tzu at his age, either.”

“I guess.” He continued to talk, without really thinking. “Dunno if he’s got any skills for combat in general.”

“Why is that?”

Kagura flinched. He didn’t hear that tone often, but it had just enough coldness to make even him be afraid. “I-I don’t really mean-”

“Just tell me, Kagura.” Tenjo’s voice softened just slightly. “If you’re having issues, I’d like to know.”

“I just can’t get him to act like a proper fighter, no matter what I do.” He pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead. “I dunno how you even got him to try the sword. He doesn’t focus. He keeps getting distracted by everything. Won’t take off the damn scarf ever.” His voice sharpened, growing more irritated. “Half the time I swear he’s never heard a real person talk in his life. He never wants to talk about anything other than heroes or weapons. From what I’ve seen, he’s got no more fighting capability than practically anyone you could pluck off a random street-corner. Absolutely nothing special. He’s a pain, Tenjo, how much longer are you gonna keep this up?”

“He’s my protege, Kagura, just as you are. I’m not sure why you seem so insistent in your dislike of him. He likes you very much.”

“Trust me, I know.” He crossed his arms. “Started calling me ‘Kagura-nii.’”

“Not everyone takes on skills in the same way.”

“I know.”

“You say that, but yet you seem so impatient. You can’t expect him to be a carbon-copy of you. I know it’s going to be a bit difficult working with someone who behaves differently than you, and I’m well aware that Bang is a bit peculiar-”

“‘Peculiar?’ Guy wants to fight people with nails.”

“-But it’s just a matter of adapting.” Continued Tenjo, with just a hint of venom to her tone. “And I truly do appreciate your help with training, Kagura. Even if it is difficult.”

He felt a bit of heat rise in his face. Tenjo always knew just how to make him feel guilty. “I’ll figure something out…”

“You’re so obsessed with trying to make him think like you. Have you tried seeing what happens if you think like him?”

Kagura snorted. “Hey, spare me the philosophy. Was this really what you wanted to talk about?”

Her expression fell, almost imperceptibly so, but he was just as attuned to her emotions as she was for his. “Tenjo?

“You know how Bang never mentions his parents?”

“Yeah? Wasn’t sure if he was an orphan or what. What about ‘em?”

“I think I managed to find them.”

Of all things, he hadn’t been expecting that. “You what? Really?”

“I pruned through the technology reports from a couple of years ago. I thought I recognized a Shishigami from one of them. I managed to find names and a location with some assistance from the registrar. Hana and Kanji Shishigami. They live over in block 3. I’ve summoned them to come visit the castle.”

“So he’s going back with his parents?” Kagura replied, trying not to sound eager at the prospect.

“It appears so.” Tenjo was far more downbeat. “I’m looking forward to meeting with them.”

The swordsman turned to her. “You don’t sound it. Something wrong?”

She was quiet for a moment, as though choosing her words carefully. “They seem...very detached from his life.”

“Huh?”

“It’s been over a month. I’ve never seen any signs of his parents looking for him. It was difficult just to find them. How could they not have noticed he left?”

“Tenjo-sama!” A shout accompanied by the slam of a door interrupted the conversation. Bang reappeared from the kitchen, followed by one of the castle servants. “Lunchtime! I got to help!”

They chose to pause there, finding places to sit at the table and eat. Tenjo was able to find a different discussion, a simple and meaningless chat about finance distribution that only served to occupy space.

Bang merely sat at the table and kicked his legs while everyone else talked. He could be a very talkative child, but unless the conversation was about weaponry, heroics, or fighting styles, he didn’t have much interest in joining it. Instead, he prodded at his lunch, meticulously scraping out the chunks of bell pepper that were mixed in with the rest of it.

Before any of them knew it, another servant entered the dining hall, bowed politely, and spoke.

“Milord, Mr. and Mrs. Shishigami have arrived, and are waiting in the foyer. I had another servant gather the young man’s belongings, and find a leash for the dog. They are all waiting by the front entrance.”

Kagura turned to Bang with a smile. “Isn’t that great? You get to go home to your family again!”

The boy merely pushed his plate away, expression suddenly dull. He dutifully hopped out of his chair, standing stone-still as the two adults got to their feet.

“Our time together has been wonderful, Bang.” Tenjo kept her calm, dignified expression. “I will do my best to see if your lessons can be continued in some way. If your parents allow it, I would be happy to keep you as my protege.”

He offered a noncommittal noise. No eagerly flapping arms or hopping steps. Just quiet, quieter than Kagura had ever seen him before. There weren’t any traces of his overactive cheer. Just a sort of empty nothing where he stood.

When the hallways dumped back out into the front of the building, a small pile of boxes were waiting, just as the servant had said, with Kagemaru leashed to a pole. Alongside them, a pair of unfamiliar figures were waiting.

“My lord!” The woman offered a polite bow. “It’s an honor, Imperator.”

“The pleasure is all mine.” Tenjo reached out a hand. “You are the Shishigamis? It’s wonderful to finally meet with you.”

The man seemed far shier than his partner, but gave his own polite greeting. “You are too kind, Imperator. I’m Kanji, and this is my wife Hana.” Kagura could see the resemblance easily. Especially with the hair, though his mother’s was neat and restrained while his was shaggy and wild.

The woman’s eyes flicked over him, before settling on Bang. She smiled, though it seemed sharper than necessary.

“Hello, Bang! Wonderful to see you again. Have you been good?”

As soon as she started speaking, Kagura felt little fists grip onto his leg.

Mr. Shishigami was already occupied with a conversation with Tenjo. “I can’t begin to say what a relief it is to know that our boy is safe and sound. I do hope he didn’t cause much trouble for you, your eminence.”

“Oh, not at all. Bang has been quite the breath of fresh air here in the castle.”

“Ahh, that’s wonderful!”

In terms of mannerisms, Kagura was puzzled on how they possibly could have been related. Both were polite and soft-spoken, while all that came to mind when he thought of Bang was raucous and half-coherent chatter.

“I do hope you’ll forgive me for this,” the woman continued, “but Bang seemed very interested in swords and combat during his stay with me. I introduced him to some basic techniques, and he’s been making remarkable progress.”

“Swords? With all due respect, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Hana butted in. “I don’t trust him with butter knives! I wouldn’t think giving him a sword would be at all safe.”

With a little bit of pulling, Kagura tried to dislodge the hands grabbing onto him. He hissed under his breath. “Go on! Why don’t you go see your parents?”

Tenjo gave another warm, polite smile to placate them. “Rest assured, I’ve been very careful with what I teach him. My elder protege, Kagura Mutsuki, has also been very helpful.” She gestured to the swordsman. “And as I said, Bang has been making remarkable progress. His tenacity is inspiring, and he has a very strong drive to problem-solve. He’s taken to this with a remarkable amount of enthusiasm, it’s impressive to witness.”

Despite that, Hana seemed firmly unconvinced. “Oh, I doubt he can solve any problems on his own. You’ve probably noticed, but he’s very unintelligent. Trusting him with anything sharp never ends well.”

While Kagura would agree that she had some point, but there was something unnerving about how casually she spoke, especially considering that Bang stood only a few feet away from her. She didn’t even look at him again after saying hello. Like he wasn’t even there with them.

“I beg to differ.” Kagura recognized that smile, just a smidge forced and usually reserved when she was making a point and wanted it to stick. “Little Bang is almost a natural at my lessons. And he’s very well-behaved. I’ve encountered older students that don’t listen as well. He’s shown quite a lot of potential.”

Kanji had long gone quiet, glancing in between Tenjo and his wife. Hana continued to talk, giving him no time to speak if he even wanted to. “Ah. Well, it’s nice to know that there’s some way to finally get him to listen. I know he can be quite the handful. Trust me, I know from experience. No matter how hard I try to teach him, he’s still such a troublemaker.”

Tenjo was not a woman who was quick to anger. Kagura didn’t see anger in her eyes, but he could make out something forceful. “He has been an excellent student. I was going to ask to see if you would be willing to consider allowing him to continue his studies with me- at no charge to you, of course. Given his aptitude, I think he will make a fine warrior if he is allowed to hone his skills with practice and instruction.”

Very few people would say no to the Imperator. Especially when the tone of her words gave off just enough of an impression that her words were an order, rather than a polite suggestion.

Hana Shishigami looked her right in the eyes as she replied. “I appreciate it, but I’m afraid I’m going to decline. Knowing him, he’s probably forgotten everything you’ve taught him already. He never really learns anything. He’s retarded. He doesn’t know how to remember things.”

Kagura felt Bang flinch against him.

“I see. That’s a shame.” Tenjo replied, expression never changing. “I suppose that’s all the questions I had. Unless you have any of your own, we’ll let you take you leave and return home.”

“...Like hell we are.”

“Yes, Kagura?” The Imperator sounded genuinely confused. “Was there something you wanted to say?”

“Yeah. Like hell I’m letting him anywhere near you.” He wasn’t entirely sure why he felt so much hatred at these people all of a sudden, but it was hard not to lash out. “Where have you two been for the last month that was so important?”

“W-we’re researchers.” Kanji replied. “Lots of experiments to attend to-”

“And for an entire month, you didn’t notice your nine-year-old kid was missing?” Kagura’s eyes were shining with anger. “Or were you happy he was gone?”

“How...how dare you! It may not have been the most responsible moment, but you’ve seen him! He’s quiet, he’s easy to lose track of-”

“Bullshit.” He directed his glare at Hana. “Do you not even know your own kid? He loves to talk. You start him on something he’s interested in, and he can go on for hours. Did you just not pay attention? Or did you tell him to shut up every time?” His stare was so sharp, it could practically cut glass. "Did you ever listen to him at all? Was he just another project, instead of a person?"

The woman looked at Tenjo desperately. “Your eminence, can’t you please deal with him?”

“Kagura is his own person. I don’t own him.” She said. “And I’m not particularly inclined to silence him when I agree with what he says.”

“Y-you-...”

He had been expecting shouting, outrage, anything. Instead, she merely leveled a cold glare at the both of them.

“Fine. Keep the little retard if you want him so badly. Just don’t expect him to amount to anything. He’s barely smart enough to breathe.”

Hana stormed out of the castle foyer without another word. Kanji offered another polite, meek bow before hurrying off after her.

“You okay, Bang?” Kagura looked down to see him still clinging onto his leg, sniffling quietly with tears brimming in his eyes.

“It’s alright. They’re gone now.” Tenjo gave him a gentle pat on the head. “If they’re as smart as they claim to be, then they won’t come back.”

Despite the assurance, Bang seemed no more consoled. “P-please don’t be mad.”

“What? Why would we be mad?”

He looked up at Kagura. “Mommy gets mad when I mis-be-have.”

“You haven’t done anything wrong. There’s no reason to be mad at you about anything.”

“‘m sorry…”

“Don’t be.” Tenjo looked up at the boxes by the door. “Let’s put your belongings back in your room.”

It didn’t take long to move things. Kagura carried most of the light boxes in one trip, with Bang carrying the rest while Kagemaru padded behind. Tenjo lead them back to the room, and they set the boxes down on the bare table.

“Need help putting your things away?”

“Nuh-uh.” He shook his head. “I can do it.”

“Alright then. I’ve got some paperwork to handle, will you be alright on your own?” Tenjo asked.

“Okay.”

As soon as Tenjo and Kagura left, Bang wrapped himself up in his scarf, curled up with Kagemaru, and stayed there for the rest of the night.

#autistic creative challenge #writing #Blazblue #Bang Shishigami #kagura mutsuki #tw ableism

3 notes · View notes

nichebim · 5 years

Text

Sanders Sides/ Boku no Hero Academia Quirk AU

Yes, you heard me.

Maybe this warrants some context.

So, I was looking for bizarre crossover fanfiction, as you do, and I came across one Sanders Sides and BNHA fic called “What Makes Up Midoriya” by kalopsic on ao3. I read it and, it’s a bit rough but damn did the idea stick in the best ways.

Anyways, I can’t seem to write a fic fast enough to post it . I’m already working on trying to adapt it into a comic or something but I’d honestly rather just read it. I already posted this on my ao3 account, though I don’t have any fics written there but I’m gonna copy and paste the google doc here. There will be criticism of the original fic and if you end up reading it, kalopsic, just know that I love your fanfiction and will be waiting for your next update if you’re still working on it.

Basic plot: My Hero Academia--Canon Divergence

The divergence being that Izuku basically had physical manifestations of the Sanders sides

Sides:

Rin/ Anxiety: didn’t start out with dark bags like real Thomas’ Anxiety, he developed them over time for reasons I’ll say later

Yoshi/ Morality: the child of the group, as opposed to Thomas’ being the dad

Akio/ Hero/ Princey: basically Roman but Izuku just wanting to be a hero

Satoshi/ Logic: basically Logan

Original fic dislikes:

each side had a quirk and I felt that, that it easily made Izuku very OP (overpowered), even they acknowledged it, but I just felt like it was too much, no matter how convenient it was (Prince character had the power to double Izuku’s quirk power, Anxiety had the power to cause illusions, Morality had the power to heal, Logic could strategize)

everyone just dismissing his quirk just because that's how everyone treated him in MHA; SERIOUSLY EVERY SEPARATE PERSONALITY HAD ITS OWN QUIRK! HOW IS THAT NOT HERO MATERIAL?! It just didn’t make any sense to me and made me feel disillusioned.

Even if the sides didn't have quirks, they would still be useful; it just seemed like the author was looking for excuses to keep Izuku on track for receiving One For All

Likes:

story had a lot of potential to explore Izuku’s character and emotions, especially if I keep it the same track of it being undiscovered for the majority of his life

It’s just an interesting idea to see these characters placed in such a situation that would for sure require teamwork on the field and each of their reaction and reception to certain events and responsibilities

each facet of his personality may hold more radical opinions or measures to complete certain tasks that Izuku may not want to believe he’d be capable of or like (kinda exploring his character, like I said before); maybe Rin is willing to kill or sacrifice people for “the greater good” kinda thing

if I keep it in the same track of him not discovering it until he’s fourteen or fifteen, it could keep his “growing up quirkless” complex he retains in the show and I think watching work it out between all of the facets of his personality would be nice and comforting; they help him move through the whole treating people with “heroic” quirks like they’re on a pedestal and his inferiority complex

I like the whole emotional aspect of the sides, it’s kinda what entices me about this concept

Things that stay the same:

they first manifest at his thought of “I don’t want to be alone”

they’re basically all the same as Logic, Morality, Anxiety and Hero

he still meets All Might

Sludge villain still happens

he could summon each one individually if he wants

Rin does cares about everyone and the constant danger they’re in causes him so much stress/anxiety (minor change in that he develops the bags overtime)

Changes:

no, each side will not have a quirk

I don’t know if I’ll have them be able to directly talk to him like they do inside his head; small handicap that I feel would help the story would be that he could only talk to them in their physical form but I don’t think I’ll adhere to that for the sake of convenience

he will not get One For All, or at least if he does, it will not be like the canon version, maybe All Might will go with his original plan of bestowing it on one of the students in UA and he saw Izuku has potential

I’ll focus on the growing bond of the personalities because they manifested too late and honestly too close to high school that they need to learn teamwork and cooperation between each other and how to master their quirk

the sides are not omniscient; they don’t come into existence immediately knowing what they are and how they work; they’re all kinda blown away when they appear out of nowhere

he doesn’t need a phrase or punchline to summon them

they choose to have their own names: Satoshi with kanji meaning clear-thinking and quick-witted for Logic, Yoshi with kanji meaning joyful for Morality, Akio with kanji for hero and manly, and Rin with kanji for dignified, severe and cold

Satoshi will develop his need for glasses since he’s always reading and, unwisely, often does it in dark lighting; the only one who needs glasses

Maybe just to have fun, I’ll have each side actually be the other characteristic at their core, like how Yoshi/Morality is actually Izuku’s Hero and not Akio; possibility is Satoshi is actually Anxiety/ Izuku’s fear because at his core, he doesn’t want Izuku to become a hero because it’s reckless and dangerous even though he has all the statistics showing him that it’s, for the most part, a safe enough job with experience and training, and Rin could be Izuku’s strategic heart because he could sense the weakness in any tactic and theirs but he also knows all the possibilities that the plan could go wrong and that’s what makes him so stressed and anxious (I don’t know, this one kinda feels weak); what could Akio be, if he’s not the Hero? Eh, I don’t think I should do this, it’s kinda powerful on its own with just the revelation of Yoshi being Izuku’s true heroic heart

Overview of the “Sides” quirk:

-four full-bodied duplicates of Izuku can be manifested at Izuku’s will; each duplicate houses different aspects of Izuku’s personality

-when a Side is injured, time spent in Izuku’s mind will heal them; time it takes depends on the severity of the injurys

-if a Side’s body is destroyed or “killed” they will regenerate within Izuku’s mind and he can summon them again

-the Sides aren’t hivemind clones but aren’t completely independently people; can feel and think for themselves but regain energy in the time Izuku keeps them stored in himself and have Izuku’s safety as their number one priority instinctually; irrationally ready to die for Izuku (Rin is more subtle about it)

-by default are summoned in the Sanders Sides order of a circle with Izuku standing at the head and Satoshi to his right and Rin at Satoshi’s right, Akio to Rin’s right and Yoshi to Akio’s right, by Izuku’s left; standing in a circle

-farthest Izuku can summon them is twenty feet away from him

-can summon them at light speed after enough practice

-can summon them off the ground (places above him and the like) after a bit of practice

-if he gets One for All, the power Izuku uses for One for All (like 5%) gets distributed evenly between them (they end up with 1% each); it takes them a while to figure this out when they went one hundred percent but all of them were only at twenty-something

-the Sides gain whatever memories Izuku has, even when they’re separated from him but it doesn’t work the other way around until the mind meld; for instance, if Izuku found out an important piece of information while the Sides weren’t there and then Izuku took them back in, they would automatically know what the information is but if a Side found out, then they would have to intentionally tell or “send” the memory/info to Izuku when they’re in the mind

Little Character Quirks (Not the superpower kind):

-Rin hogs Izuku’s phone because (since he’s Izuku’s fear, doubt and pessimism amplified into one single person) he can recognize everything that is potentially dangerous and fatal around him and uses the phone to distract himself; if he’s sitting on the couch by himself, he can recognize about fifteen different fire hazards and weak points in the living room and the danger gives him potentially crippling anxiety even though he knows that the majority of the danger is highly unlikely to happen; he distracts himself by reading articles of all the good things that have happened in the passing year and good deeds that people have done because his mind tends to take a turn for the worst in terms of his faith in humanity

-Satoshi is more believing in the fact that heroes are pretentious assholes, but in much fancier, intellectual words; people like Mt. Lady and Endeavor disgust him, whereas Izuku simply doesn’t care for them; don’t know where he stands on All Might; he, like Logan, wants Izuku to have a career in the scientific field and reminds him of it every other hour

-Akio is very quick to start a fight; has little inhibition and is very confident in his abilities, since he is Izuku’s brave, “heroic” side so he’s quick to act on whatever impulse he has even if he knows it won't end well.

-Yoshi is the ultimate All Might otaku--Izuku’s fanaticism but amplified about ten times--becomes incapacitated every time they talk to All Might. TH3 PHANBOI.

-They each have a different favorite food; Izuku with his pork cutlet bowl, Satoshi with his grilled salmon (he’s a simple man), Akio and his beef teriyaki bowl, Yoshi with his onigiri and bento box-lunch (he’s partial to the cute bento box, the kind that has panda onigiri and octopus sausage), and Rin with his ramen (doesn’t like eating it as much because he’s scared of choking--he has to have a really shitty day to eat it)

-Rin and Akio are suckers for Yoshi (though they’ll never admit to it), since he’s like the child of the group

-Rin can (and actually likes to) cook; learned how to by spending most of his time with his mom and Yoshi; has a little handkerchief that he wraps around his head to cover his hair when he cooks; he keeps it tucked into his front pocket, flowing out in classic emo fashion; makes Yoshi’s cute bento boxes for lunch, though he’ll take that secret to his grave and made Yoshi swear to do so as well; eventually tells the rest and they find it hilarious because he can make the bento boxes super cute; the first one to find out, aside from Yoshi, is Akio and he will help him out with cooking the octopus dogs since he gets really anxious around the jumping grease and Yoshi can’t cook for shit (friendship?); eventually, when everyone finds out, he begins to regularly cook for them since it relieves his stress after a while in the dorms

-ironically, Satoshi is the best fighter of all of them because he has the technique down to a fucking art but Akio is the physically strongest; Satoshi can still beat Akio any time any day

-In terms of fighting, Akio and Satoshi are the more aggressive fighters, but for different reasons; Akio is just the gung-ho, trigger happy type that dives in head first and Satoshi recognizes the circumstances where being on offense is the greater tactical action he could take; Yoshi and Rin are more evasive, Yoshi because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone and Rin because he’s skittish and always scared of being hurt, despite seeing holes in any enemy he faces; Yoshi is more likely to go on offense than Rin when he knows that the enemy is a villian but he can never bring himself to fight seriously with all his power against his classmates or friends, especially Kacchan; it’s not rare to see Rin go on offense, it’s just that he prefers to run because that’s who he is

-Akio is SUPER into fashion; cares a lot about his outward appearance and is the most muscular out of all of them because of it; his money never lasts when he goes out shopping; has ear piercings because why the hell not?

Actual Fic Outline

Act 1

-Izuku is a child, talks to “imaginary friends” that would be triggered by certain events or emotions; he would talk to “Hero” or whatever when he would watch All Might and when he sees animals or kids that need help or when he's sad (maybe Inko’s POV)

-Inko thinks Izuku’s short conversations with himself are kinda odd but she thinks its just something related to his quirk

-when they go to the doctor, the doctor tells them about his toe and that he won’t have a quirk at all

-Inko asks if his conversations with himself and imaginary friends were a sign of a quirk manifestation but doctor dismisses it as child’s imagination; their logic is that if Izuku did manifest a quirk it would either be hers or her husband’s and the chance of Izuku manifesting something so radically different while having the vestigial toe joint are infinitesimal, practically impossible

-Inko takes his word for it but still thinks about Izuku talking to his “hero side” in front of the computer when she sees her son so heartbroken for being quirkless; she hears him say “we can do it” (all broken and dramatic)

-the sides begin as passing thoughts and sometimes make comments but since it is in Izuku’s head, it feels like he’s talking to himself but just a bit different but he can’t really tell the difference

-goes through childhood “quirkless”

-recall key events but with the “sides” included to show how natural it seems to Izuku and how easily it could be confused for the average thought process; helps an old man with his groceries when he’s like eight (Yoshi); snide comments of him being quirkless (include Akio and Rin); chasing to find the next hero fight and analyzing it (Satoshi) and Kacchan finds him and gets pissed off because he’s interested in becoming a hero (Rin and Akio); stuff like that

-Manifest physically in the beginning of the third year of middle school after Midoriya finally accepts that Kacchan is no longer his friend and thinks “I don’t want to be alone” and passes out for a moment because, seriously, he’s conjuring up at least four physical human beings with a quirk he’s never used before; on a Friday so he doesn’t have to worry about school for at least two days (or whatever day is the start of the weekend in Japan)

-They manifest, all of them have no idea what exactly happened but each have varying reactions

-all of them go home because they don’t know what to do and Inko has a mild freak out

-Have some trouble knowing which Izuku is the real one, even Izuku, but Logic immediately knows that he’s not Izuku and deduces which one of them is the real one by rationalizing that this is his quirk manifesting

-immediate first impressions are Logic is smart and rational, Hero is charismatic and exaggerated; won’t stop droning about how he wants to be a hero, Morality is sweet and kind, and Anxiety is dark and pessimistic

-Inko and Izuku have a teary moment and they all group hug and go to bed, all the Izuku’s are given camitas and stuff

-Next morning they’re all gone and Izuku freaks out just a bit and tries to summon them, with difficulty; starts crying because it doesn’t work until Inko helps him

-Inko and him work on discovering his abilities and stuff, along with Logic; discover that they have all of Izuku’s memories, even the ones when they’re outside of Izuku’s mind, but they only receive it when they are summoned back inside Izuku; they could see and feel what Izuku does but they have their own feelings and awareness; he could summon a specific side if he wants; they get hungry if they are physically manifested but they have no clue why?; if Izuku falls asleep with them still physical, he subconsciously calls them back

-Whenever Inko calls for Izuku, they all turn around

-Inko gives them all, except Anxiety, names to not get them confused ( Satoshi with characters meaning “wise and clever” for Logic, Yoshi with kanji meaning “joyful” for Morality, Akio with the kanji “manly” for Hero); Anxiety gives himself the name Rin

-Goes to school and accidentally summons Satoshi when he was having trouble figuring out a math problem in class; Kacchan sees this shit and flips out the first time he sees Satoshi and Izuku being nervous and scared summoned Rin subconsciously

-Kacchan gets mad and starts being an ass and Izuku summons Akio subconsciously and Akio immediately fights with Kacchan; Rin suggests they leave Akio behind because it’s his decision to start fighting Kacchan while knowing what the guy is capable of but Izuku tells him that they aren’t leaving him; Rin or Izuku give Akio advice that helps Akio drop Kacchan, shocking everyone including Kacchan; leave while the Bakugou is stunned

-Izuku starts to doubt Rin’s reliability and trustworthiness because he suggested to leave Akio behind

-Izuku activates his quirk sometimes in class and gets made fun of, mostly summoning Rin when he gets really nervous or Satoshi when he’s having trouble with a math problem or something (“He’s like a preschooler!”)

-Appointment with a doctor to confirm his quirk and have it registered in the system; doctor flips out at the astronomical odds that Izuku faced to have his quirk

-Izuku starts noticing that Rin is developing bags under his eyes

-Inko takes them to get clothes after their doctor’s appointment because I want cute shit like that with name tags to help her out

-Meet Kacchan there and, while the moms catch up and stuff, Kacchan and Izuku and the sides have a confrontation; Akio immediately almost starts a fight, Yoshi tries to calm them down but Kacchan hurts his feelings and he cries, Rin just backs off, sulking and Satoshi gets them out of there, closer to the parents within hearing range; all are given nicknames by Kacchan ( “Useless” for Hero, “Smartass” for Logic, “Crybaby” for Morality and “Villian” for Anxiety)

-leave all nice and color coded but kinda bummed; Inko has no clue what just went down but Izuku and Yoshi won’t let Satoshi or Rin tell her what happened

-back at school, classmates suddenly interested in Izuku now that he’s not “quirkless” and Izuku gains more control over his quirk accidents

-Izuku pals up with some dude Tomoe-kun that has metal fists and becomes friends after a few weeks.

-Tomoe has met all his sides and they’re all chill with him except for Rin because he doesn’t think he’s a real friend since he never talked to them before he knew he had a quirk and Tomue-kun never stood up to Kacchan before

-indicator of the tension between Rin and the rest of the sides as well as Izuku

-Some point when the rest are hanging out with Tomue, Inko brings Rin into the kitchen when she saw him fidgeting without Izuku’s phone and has him help with the dinner, having him cut the vegetables; takes him a while of deliberation while standing over the cutting board with a knife over vegetables, thinking of the hundred of ways the knife could kill him or chop his or his mom’s fingers off when she tells him to just do it and focus on what’s in front of him; once he gets going, he realizes how therapeutic cutting vegetables is; Inko tells him he’s great help; Rin wonders why he isn’t panicking while being surrounded by knives, fire and scalding water

-Izuku and Tomue work to find out more about Izuku’s quirk; if he can summon the sides to wherever he wants and if he can, how far or close can they be? (Maybe their default is in the same position as the Sanders sides? Definitely can only be summoned as far as six feet away) Hypothetical questions of if they can only summoned on the ground, how quick can Izuku summon them, etc.; when they combine back into Izuku’s body again, they gain Izuku’s memories but Izuku doesn’t gain theirs

-Some point during the testing, they figure out they’re facets of Izuku’s personality; maybe at a doctor’s visit by scanning his brain; when they aren’t physical, Izuku’s brain has parts buzzing with activity and they are inactive when Izuku has them all summoned; conclusion, the strange, active parts of the brain are the sides; they all just figure out which aspect each one of them is, which is easy at this point

-Yoshi and Rin have a heart to heart after Rin has a panic attack without Izuku’s phone while Inko was at work or something; finds out how butthurt Rin is that the others treat him the way they do; not directly said but it’s implied that Rin is afraid to get attached to them for reasons unknown right now ( “It’s fine. It makes this easier.”--Rin, 2k18)

-Yoshi begins to hang out more with Rin and his mom when Izuku, Akio and Satoshi hang out with Tomue; Yoshi gets Rin a Tamagotchi to use instead of Izuku’s phone for when he goes out

-All hanging out in the mall sometime after a testing session and Yoshi sees an ultra-cute lunch box with panda onigiri and octopus sausages and he loses it; discovery of Yoshi’s favorite food (not that important, just a wholesome little moment for later)

-when tension between Tomue and Rin during a practice session makes Izuku uncomfortable enough to force Rin to disappear during one of their tests

-Inko and Rin have a heart to heart after a tense, awkward dinner but nothing is resolved; conversation ends with Rin telling Inko that he knows that all the sides and Izuku don't like him, maybe not even she does and she just hugs him and tells him that she loves him but nothing else; she knows that what he said about Izuku is mostly true but she doesn't know how to help him

-(time skip?) months pass and Izuku and Tomue are still pals and Rin is still a pessimistic outcast in the group; Rin spends time with Inko mostly and Yoshi, isolating himself from Izuku and the others; Akio doesn’t understand why Yoshi likes Rin so much

-end of the year thing with burned notebook happens and the scrutiny of his ability to become a hero because his quirk isn’t flashy or powerful; “You might as well be quirkless” “Your uselessness just multiplied itself four times.”

-Satoshi shares the same sentiment and tells Izuku that they would help save more lives by being a scientist or engineer and they would be more financially stable because heroes with flashier quirks tend to make more and their quirk isn’t particularly flashy

-sludge villain happens, Tomue runs to get help, Izuku summons all the Sides subconsciously and Rin calls All Might when he sees him looking for the slime villain

-Izuku asks All Might if he could become a hero even though he’s not particularly powerful or experienced with his quirk; All Might says yes but with much training and education; All Might recognizes that Izuku is a one man team and tells him to build on all their teamwork; Izuku asks him of he could train him or something but All Might rushes off because he was about to return to his normal form

-Izuku starts looking for Tomue to tell him the news but Rin says “screw him, he left us” because All Might was literally wandering around in the direction that Tomue went and he still didn’t focus on getting help instead of running away but everyone is against Rin for ruining the good vibes they all had

-Rin stalks off and Yoshi goes after him; Izuku and the rest find Tomue in the clutches of the sludge villain, save him when Rin and Yoshi come back (they had a “gut feeling”) and All Might talks to Izuku again, scolding him for being reckless but agreeing to draw him up a fitness regimen to help him strengthen up, inspired by the Sides teamwork and strategy; he tells them to get enrolled in cheerleading (For lols but it actually helps establish trust and build agility) and Izuku and Akio are mortified about it but won’t reject any advice from their idol

-begin training with Tomue, but he tends to flake; during the months they discover that they all will continuously match Izuku’s image and body because Rin doesn't do the training but he’s still growing the muscles like Izuku and the rest but he doesn't have the hand to hand combat skills they're building

-Izuku tells Tomue about cheerleading and Tomue tells him there’s not a chance he’s joining with him

-Izuku joins the community cheerleading group with adults who already graduated high school and they help him out; makes friends with them and they all love Yoshi; meets small time retired hero who attends to keep in shape and stay active (grew up in a circus in a family of trapeze artists); helps him with combat moves and techniques as well as acrobatics since he’s a total noob; combat lessons for free!

-Izuku and Akio are the most enthusiastic fighters and spar in their spare time; Satoshi is the best fighter out of all of them and this pisses off Akio to no end

-Yoshi is trying to integrate Rin with the rest of the group (begs him to go with them to the cheer practice and combat sessions with the veteran hero and Rin actually gets along with the veteran hero), telling the others that they’re being unfair but they don’t particularly care or make an effort to connect with Rin because Rin isn’t trying either

-Small scene at home where Yoshi used some leftover rice from dinner to try to make onigiri and Rin watches painfully from the sidelines; everyone else is busy getting ready for bed or studying so Rin decides to cut in before anything gets worse and asks what the hell Yoshi is trying to do; Yoshi tells him he wants to make the cute “Kawaii” panda onigiri he had in that one bento box they got at the mall that one time because it was “amazing” and “adorable” but he’s failing miserably; Rin looks at the messed up seaweed and rice balls and sighs, quickly cutting little designs and magically making one, blowing Yoshi’s mind into another dimension (“Like this?” Yoshi looks at the little panda and his jaw drops, eyes sparkling in adoration and disbelief as they look at him in wonder.); soon, Yoshi starts mysteriously ending up with cute bento box lunches; Rin makes him swear to take this information to his grave

-During a cheerleading session, the retired hero tells Izuku that he has to bond with his Sides more and grow the trust they have in each other because they don’t have enough to become an effective team (regarding Rin and the frequently bickering Sides); tells him trust is a two way street and that trust is not something that is given freely (Rin’s perceived lack of trust in Izuku and Izuku in him); tells them they have to connect on a deeper level *wink, wink* foreshadowing *wink, wink*

-Tomue and Izuku plan on taking the UA test together and do but Tomue ditches Izuku to get points and Izuku only managed to get one five pointer and one ten pointer because Satoshi and Rin are arguing over the chances of winning with Satoshi’s strategy (some ways he defeats them is having them chase two of the Sides and have the run toward each other and make them disappear before they crash, making the robots crash; Satoshi recognizes a mechanism in one of the hinge joints of the robots and Rin helps him discover a weakness to exploit and render it useless; stupid stuff like that)

-the zero pointer comes; Izuku and Yoshi immediately run to help Uraraka and Satoshi pulls them back to make a plan where he and Rin distract the zero pointer and Akio, Yoshi and Izuku free Uraraka and once they get them to a safe distance, Izuku summons them back and he, Yoshi, Akio and Uraraka go hide and the timer runs out

-Izuku is devastated because he “knows” he failed; Akio tries to cheer him up by telling him that they could just take the general studies course and participate in the sports festival or go to another school and study in their hero department and Satoshi tells him that now he could focus on science rather than heroism and Izuku shuts them out for a while

-Tomue tries to comfort him and tells him he’ll tell him all about the school because he’s confident he at least passed

-Izuko gets his acceptance and tells his mom, summons his Sides (apologizes for shutting them out for days) and they all go to tell Tomue, except for Rin who’s still salty

-Izuku and the rest get to Tomue’s house and turns out Tomue didn’t get in and he’s a wreck; says “let’s grieve together”, assuming that Izuku didn’t get in either but Izuku tells him that he got in

-Tomue gets mad that Izuku did even though he scored way more kill points than he did and his quirk is way better and more “heroic”; Izuku asks him if that’s what he’s always thought and Tomue says yes but that he’d planned to make Izuku and his Sides his sidekicks so that they could be an entire combat squad of only two people; Izuku is hurt and so is Yoshi and Akio but Akio gets mad rather than showing his hurt so openly; Satoshi gets them all to leave before all hell breaks loose between Akio and Tomue; Yoshi is crying

-Izuku comes to the realization that they’ve ignored Rin more than this once regarding his opinion about things when he was right; Tomue isn’t a friend

-return home and Izuku apologizes to Rin, telling him he was right about Tomue and that he will make an effort to make Rin know that he is heard; Rin tries to be all nonchalant but from this point, their attitudes towards him is different, more respected but still tense

-celebrate his acceptance that night and they all get along and feel connected for once

-When Izuku and the rest are registering their quirk, they agree that they are sides of Izuku, so they call their quirk “Sides”

Act 2

-high school starts and the canon events happened except that he got help with the long jump and grip strength so he didn't get last place in every one, only got last place in about five or six (don’t focus so much on it; kinda just skim over it)

-Lunch time with his sides; Izuku is not a star student or particularly outstanding at first like in the manga or anime but he still trains hard and strategizes with Satoshi even though Satoshi tries to convince him to become a scientist instead every other minute; Ochako is introduced to all the sides at this time and he explains his quirk to her; wish each other luck with their hero careers; Akio has obvious crush on her and is, unfortunately, confident enough to flirt with her, but they go way over her head

-Emphasize the struggle to keep up in the quirk exercises; Kacchan is relentless with his teasing because of his non-flashy quirk; Ochako backs Izuku up when Akio gets ready to square up; Kacchan almost loses it when Yoshi tells Akio not to fight with “friends” and Kacchan tells him he’s not his friend; Aizawa breaks up whatever would’ve happened, making the sides disappear and erasing Kacchan’s quirk

-gets recognized for his strategy skills (mostly Satoshi and Rin) and combat skills (mostly Akio and Izuku) in the hero vs. villain weapon test

-teamwork between Rin and Akio is incredibly sloppy but they get the job done of distracting Kacchan with Izuku while Yoshi, Satoshi and Uraraka get the weapon

-Izuku has all the sides out and teams up with Rin and Akio to distract Kacchan while Ochako, Yoshi and Satoshi go after the weapon with Iida

-Rin and Akio begin to fight over how to handle Kacchan since Rin wants to keep his distance with him and be evasive while Akio wants to take him on hand to hand; Akio is less forgiving of Kacchan and would like some physical revenge

-Satoshi has a plan with Yoshi and Satoshi both engaging Iida in combat while Ochako stealths her way to the weapon but Iida makes sure to stay close

-Yoshi pulls his punches with Iida and Satoshi reprimands him for being too forgiving (“If this was a real battle, you would be risking your life and everyone else’s!”); Yoshi blocks a quick kick that would’ve hit Satoshi cause he was distracted

-Get Iida just far away enough for Ochako to get to the weapon

-test revealed the obvious tension between Akio and Rin and the hypothetical liability of having Yoshi on the field because he didn't want to hurt anyone and would pull his punches with Iida

-Izuku notices that Rin could dodge and would warn them of punches and attacks that Kacchan hadn’t thrown yet before even Izuku could process them and protected any weak spots in their stances that he could, warning them of their open spots and reminding them of the basic defensive stances; first signs of Rin’s keen ability to sense and find weakness in the group and in an enemy that is hyper focused when he is not in Izuku’s mind

-All Might gives Midoriya a pep talk; Izuku shares the progress he made with his quirk and the technique he's working on

-All Might compliments his hero suit; it is, unfortunately, still the same as the anime (not a big fan of the bunny ears, sorry)

-after this Akio decided that instead of wearing normal clothes, he will be wearing his hero suit at all times because “you never know when a villian attack could happen”

-Izuku is working on a technique where he summons them at different heights and certain distances so they could grab hands and propel him further towards where he wants; kinda weird to explain: it would be very quick and they would need to manifest nanoseconds at a time for it

-Can never get it quite right because they’re still off and not in harmony; end up bickering by the end of it

-Izuku tries to get Rin and Akio to hang out together alone and get on friendlier terms but they just end up fighting and insulting each other and stop when Yoshi just begs for them to get along (they’re both kinda suckers for Yoshi but Rin will never admit it); it usually starts with Akio saying something insensitive or Rin joking in a way that insults Akio and he takes it personally

-Izuku and the sides are hanging out in the dorm living room with Ochako and Iida; Akio pesters Satoshi while he’s studying and asks him how he’s on such good terms with Rin and how to get along with him; Satoshi simply tells him that he and Rin are amiable and have common interests in terms of strategy, though Rin usually focuses on the potential failure rate of each strategy; Akio tries to see if he and Rin have common interests

-Akio notices Satoshi is squinting his eyes and they realize that Satoshi needs glasses now, since he’s strained his eyes by reading articles on the computers and read books late at night, in bad lighting for close to a year and a half; Momo makes him some glasses in class during break when Yoshi reprimands Satoshi for straining his eyes while reading an article without glasses and asks for the prescription that they took at the last doctor’s visit; Satoshi just tells her because he memorized all the words in the prescription paper he was given

-Izuku is elected class rep because of Satoshi’s analytical mind and Akio’s charisma but Izuku thinks about how he could barely get all his sides to get along and doubts his ability to be class rep even though Akio and Yoshi are all for it at lunch with Ochako and Iida

-Ochako asks Yoshi where he got his super cute bento lunch and Rin gives Yoshi a death glare, making him stutter and change the subject

-Akio tries desperately to find common ground with Rin about food but Rin finds it weird and uncomfortable; unintentionally insults the bento box that Yoshi has that Akio doesn’t know Rin made

-media incident starts and in the panic, Yoshi and Satoshi are separated from Izuku, Rin and Akio; Akio suggests a reckless idea to Izuku to try to get everyone’s attention and then Rin tells him it’s stupid and dangerous, whatever it was; Akio tells him that this is why they don’t get along and they start to fight and yell at each other while Izuku tries to calm them down

-Iida intervenes and Izuku hands off the class representative to him, knowing that he can’t lead if he can’t even get his sides to get along

-Izuku realizes that, for the most part, he has no idea how to work with his sides and doubts his abilities to lead them

-has heart to heart with his sides that brings all the issues between them to light; Satoshi tries to deter him from being a hero and Akio and Yoshi strongly disagree; Rin still feels like an outsider and doesn’t think it will change anytime soon (doesn’t think he wants it to change); Izuku tries to tell him he accepts him and cares about him but Rin won't let himself feel; kinda bittersweet while they go to bed

-USJ incident occurs and he, Asui and Mineta escape by having Satoshi hot wire the boat (discover that Satoshi is basically the library of all of Izuku’s knowledge even if he himself forgot it or just glossed over it) and have Akio spin it around with Mineta’s sticky balls in the water, getting some villains stuck on the boat, to each other or their hands together, unable to use their quirk while Asui got them out with her tongue and Izuku summons the sides back to fight off just a few escaped villains

-Yoshi jumps in the way of Tomura’s hand when he reaches for Asui, gets disintegrated: brief moment before contact where Izuku was instinctively gonna call back Yoshi but he hears Yoshi tell him not to in his head; Izuku and Akio have a mild meltdown and, despite Satoshi and Rin’s warnings, attempts to punch Tomura but Nomu gets in the way, breaks Akio’s arm and almost kills Izuku before pros show up

-Akio is taken to Recovery Girl and Izuku, Rin and Satoshi are with Principal Nedzu, talking about their loss and a grace period for grieving and their ability to go home

-meet Akio outside nurse’s office and see through his nonchalant, victorious act

-are outside the school late at sunset and they see All Might; he tells him not to give up, that they need heroes like him and Yoshi, true heroes and then he walks away (foreshadow All Might’s decision to choose Izuku as next One For All?)

-Akio breaks down on his knees and Rin tries to calm him but all of them are shedding varying degrees of tears; Rin breaks down, too

-Rin reveals that he’s made effort to prevent himself being attached to them because they want to be heroes and people fucking die doing this shit (dun dun dun! Big emotional reveal! Wow!); (“Dammit, why does it still hurt?!”); guilty because Yoshi probably died not knowing how important he really was to Rin

-Izuku has a flashback of the first time he ever saved something; a bird that fell out of its nest; birth of Yoshi, his “morality”; goes over every interaction he had with Yoshi in his life in a split second and he discovers that Yoshi was Hero from when he was little, not Akio, like they all thought

-they hear Yoshi in their head; Izuku tries to summon Yoshi and it works; happy reunion, tears everywhere: Yoshi legit thought he was dead (comic relief, sorta)

-discovery that Yoshi is the true hero in Izuku, the one that wants to save lives and make the world better, as opposed to Aiko who likes the thrill, action and glory; He’s just the brave one with the dream

-Akio has an interesting reaction to the news that Yoshi is the Hero in Izuku and not him; he doesn’t know how to react to that

-a new thing about his quirk has been discovered; you can't kill a side without killing Izuku (total cop-out but I hope it’s still emotional and doesn’t ruin the story)

-they go home, something in their relationship different than before; discovery of Rin’s ability to care and his confession of being afraid to care; Yoshi's connection with everyone; they all admit they care about each other, even Akio to Rin but there's still issues to sort out there

-Izuku discover the next morning that he could hear Yoshi in his head when he's not physically manifested

-the psychic manifestation of their quirk is developing; questions about why he can't talk to the others in his head arise

Act 3

-They’re leaving Recovery Girl’s office the day of Sports Festival Announcement, Izuku, Akio and Yoshi get hella pumped now that Akio can fight again while Satoshi struggles to understand why they’re so excited for the event; says so during lunch (fun fact: they each have a different favorite food)

-Ochako asks Yoshi where he got his adorable as hell bento box again; Rin gives him the death glare; Izuku and Akio notice that it’s the second time he does this but brush it off

-Izuku and Akio mention how they hope to get first place and that they’ll need to practice their movesets to get better and stand a chance; Satoshi makes it clear that he doesn’t think they’ll get in the one on one rounds

-Izuku and Satoshi get in an argument at lunch; Izuku just wants support from Satoshi for once and wants to make his chances of being a good hero higher; winning first in the sports festival will get him recognized

-Izuku knows that he isn’t anyone special or significant like he is in the show and he’s hoping this will change that

-Satoshi tells him that he doesn’t understand why he wants to become a hero in the first place; “You can save just as much, even more lives, by becoming an engineer or doctor than becoming something as presumptuous as those self-proclaimed heroes you idolize so much.”

-Izuku and Satoshi are no longer on speaking terms in the two weeks of training for the festival

-Izuku decides that he will win the sports festival with or without him

-Day of festival comes and Izuku wins the race in first like the anime and fares maybe a bit better in the cavalry battle; only Akio and Rin helping out, but they butt heads a lot

-Satoshi is watching within the depths of Izuku’s consciousness; watches him struggle throughout the cavalry battle and race but doesn’t help out of spite; slowly and slowly becoming more aware and more self-thinking within Izuku as he watches him struggle through Hitoshi’s battle; snaps when he sees Izuku barely able to dodge some of Todoroki’s first shots when he tried to end the battle with the massive ice blast; Satoshi is awakened and suddenly aware of himself in Izuku’s mind

-(Flashback to Satoshi’s birth) first inkling of Logic was born during the creation of the first hero notebook, finally fully realized in the first notebook where Izuku actually began breaking down certain tactics instead of just writing them down and going through alternative strategies and criticisms; the infamous “muttering”

-Satoshi begins speaking to Izuku in his mind and gives him a strategy to have Todoroki exhaust his ice power by dodging the blasts with some help from precisely-timed appearances from the other Sides to propel him in certain directions at a certain timing but the Side that propels him has to be hit by the blast, since they haven’t mastered the half-second, quick version of it; at a certain point, Satoshi stops directly talking to Izuku because, since they’re psychically connected now, Satoshi just thinks it and Izuku and the rest just know what he’s trying to tell him; they bring him to close quarters in hand to hand with Todoroki but Todoroki gets desperate and uses his flames to blast him away, which Satoshi warned Izuku was a possibility and that they should be prepared to lose if that happened; this completes the link between Satoshi and the rest; Izuku gets gets the place that he got in the anime

-Todoroki hates Izuku for making him desperate enough to use his fire; Izuku never got to Todoroki about it being his power, not his father’s

-after matches, Satoshi tells Izuku to speak to him physically; Satoshi tells him that he doesn’t understand him and his recklessness, his need to become a hero; he tells him that he doesn’t understand but that he will help him become the greatest hero he can be

-Brushes off the emotions as best as he could

-Few weeks, Izuku’s recognized as the one in the second to last round and being so resourceful with a non flashy quirk; Akio is relishing it

-small note about the Sides healing along with Izuku because they got pretty fucked up by Todoroki

-Some domestic scenes of training and teamwork; more smooth with Satoshi and Yoshi because of the completed link; can do the split second propelling technique they’ve been developing with those two; Rin and Akio are still on the outside

-Yoshi gets scraped pretty bad when Akio and Rin fail to catch Yoshi during training because of their incompatibility and Akio feels guilty; finds Rin in the kitchen that night while Izuku is studying with Satoshi; finds out Rin is the one that makes Yoshi’s bento boxes and Rin has him swear that he won’t tell any of the others he does this; Akio asks him why he’s doing it tonight since he doesn’t always do it and Rin admits that he feels bad for letting Yoshi fall earlier; Akio says he’ll keep his secret, but offers to help with the stove work because Rin looks uncomfortable around the stove while he is frying the octopus sausages; Rin decorates extra cute since he feels bad for Yoshi getting hurt

-small bonding moment where Akio realizes he knows how to cook because, while the others were partying it up with Tomue, Rin was hanging out with his mom, helping make lunch and dinner (thinks about one time when Akio complimented his mom on a bowl of beef teriyaki that he loved and his mom was gonna tell him something that sounded like she was saying that she didn’t make it but Rin cut her off, eyes pleading her to not say anything; no one notices the small blush when Akio goes on and on about how good the teriyaki bowl is); begs Rin to make him some more beef teriyaki and Rin shoves him away, saying that the bonding moment is over but after this point, they’re on more friendly terms

-Day of internship picking starts and Izuku chooses to apply for a clone hero but is surprised when All Might chooses him as an intern

-Akio, Yoshi and Izuku fanboy the fuck out and Rin and Satoshi are all like “this has to be a mistake” but for different reasons; Rin thinks All Might would never intentionally choose them because nobody would want to choose them as an intern; Satoshi just thinks it was a mistake with paperwork

-find out it isn’t a joke when All Might goes to them during lunch and talks to them personally about his life and why he wants to be a hero

-Izuku tells him his answer and how Yoshi is kinda Izuku’s heroic soul personified; Akio’s still butthurt by this but doesn’t deny it because he knows it’s true

-Lunch ends and Ochako and Iida pester him about the meeting; Izuku tells them what they talked about

-Day of internships begin and All Might takes them out on a three hour patrol before going out to eat with them; tells them he just wants to get to know them and no villain attacks happened so he doesn’t need to waste much energy

-All Might brings them to his apartment after dinner; Izuku and Yoshi are taking in his apartment as avid fans would and Akio is still gushing over him while Rin and Satoshi just chill out; Rin’s using the Tamagotchi

-All Might orders out and they have dinner; Rin criticizes the rice balls they got and Satoshi makes the smart remark of “I’d like to see you attempt to make some.”; Akio sends Rin a knowing smirk and Rin glares at him

-All Might calls the night off short because he could feel himself losing the energy to keep his form; sort of startles Izuku, but they accept it and go to bed

-Next day they wake up early and find that All Might is still in his room, but his door is locked; Rin finds it suspicious, Satoshi just mildly so, but ultimately sides with Izuku, Yoshi and Akio when they say he just likes his privacy and he’s a hero so there might be some attempts on his life

-Out of money and out of options, Akio settles for volunteering to make omelettes, since he’s seen Rin make some and thought “why the hell not?” and fails horribly; Rin decides to let the group know that he likes to cook and he can cook well when he sees Akio try to make omelettes the second time and cuts in before things can get too bad; ties his hair back with a black handkerchief that he keeps in his pocket for “fashionable purposes”

-All Might gets out of the room around eleven and sees them all eating breakfast, talking pretty easily in his dining room; tells them he expected them to be asleep still, but this will be revealed later to be a lie since he heard them up and changed into his All Might form; compliments Rin on his cooking and Rin blushes cause he deep, deep, deeep down inside, he’s still an All Might fan and All Might just complimented his cooking; Izuku and Akio see this and get weirded out (“I didn’t know Rin was capable of being flustered.”)

-All Might tells them the plan for the day: visit some kids at a children’s hospital and then go on patrol around a certain, defined section of the city then have lunch, then patrol the second part of the city; tells Izuku he might have to take frequent bathroom breaks because he hasn’t been feeling well these past few days; end of the day, he’s going to be cleaning the beach that he cleans in the anime and tells him his goal is to clear the horizon before the week of the internship ends

-Akio asks him why they’re spending time with kids and cleaning up a beach after only spending two or three hours patrolling; All Might tells him that to be a hero, you don’t need to fight villains, you need to do what’s right and good for the world

-Satoshi asks for some clarity on the symptoms he’s experiencing and lists off several illnesses it can be but All Might brushes it off shakily

-This system, somehow, succeeds for the first few days; All Might assessed Izuku’s behavior with the children, even Rin’s, who’s been cordial; saw him help out with a few elderly looking for help with carrying things; watches the boys working together during the beach clean up and notices that Rin and Akio seem to get along better, still bicker though; takes a lot of bathroom breaks

-End of the day, All Might calls it a night at the beach and head to the apartment but then the Hosu attack happens

-All Might goes and tells Izuku to stay put but Izuku decides to head on there anyway on a bike, since the city they’re in is close to Hosu; calls all the Sides to himself

-While on his way to the fight, Izuku passes the alley with Iida and Stain; interferes immediately when he sees Iida pinned and sends location to Todoroki like in the anime; Todoroki shows up but he doesn’t consider Izuku a friend in this world

-Yoshi and Satoshi take Native and Iida out of the scene while Todoroki, Akio, Izuku and Rin stay and Satoshi feeds Izuku possible strategies in their heads; Midoriya gets paralyzed and Satoshi is left to work with Rin and Akio

-Todoroki gets paralyzed and Rin and Akio are left; Hero Killer deems Akio a fake hero because he just wants the title, making Akio have a small crisis ( “Even you’re more of a hero than I am” Akio to Rin) have to settle differences and work together during the Rin/Akio teamwork, it becomes something close to yin and yang; defense and offense; Rin defends, Akio attacks

-Remembers birth of “Hero” and “Anxiety”; remembers that they were born at the same time; Akio was born the time that Izuku stood up to Kacchan; Rin manifested that same moment, which is the first time he was really afraid of Kacchan; all his doubt and fear and inferiority almost made him not stand up to Kacchan but Hero hyped him up and made him brave enough to stand up to him; was scared to stand up to him but he did; Akio and Rin were wrestling for dominance in that instance when he was crying and shaking but still standing strong

-they link with Midoriya at the same time when he’s able to move again; bond between all of them is complete and they all sense it

-Rin, Akio and Izuku work in perfect harmony (do the split second summoning technique with Izuku and each other), knowing what each of them are thinking; Yoshi and Satoshi can see what’s going on and help in their place protecting Iida and Native far away; Yoshi helps Iida with his crisis, gets him moving; Satoshi tells the rest he’s messaged All Might about the situation and he should be there soon if he sees it, though he could be busy with whatever disaster is happening further away (keep in mind here, Izuku didn’t see the Nomus)

-All Might comes in later while Akio is incapacitated and Rin, Izuku, and Todoroki are keeping him at bay; cuts the fight short when Stain tries to jump him

-Restrain Stain with the rope and All Might reprimands the students for doing something so reckless and dangerous; other heroes show up; All Might is staring at Izuku the whole time and he can feel his gaze

-Tell them about the fabricated story and to not tell others about that night; goes back to the apartment with All Might and it’s all quiet since Izuku brought the Sides back to himself

-All Might starts to steam up and Izuku starts freaking out but Toshinori tells him to ignore it and explains his quirk and why it’s so powerful and reveals his true form by the time he’s done with his explanation; has Izuku sit down with him and he tells him that Izuku is a true hero and that he’s what the world needs; he won’t be there for very long and One for All needs to be passed on to a worthy predecessor; tells Izuku he wants to pass his power onto him

-Izuku short-circuits and passes out

End of this story because I’m a sucker for cliffhangers. Figures that my first post would be the longest thing ever.

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #sanders sides #midoriya izuku #deku #midoriya izuku has a quirk #story outline

5 notes · View notes