Hello! 🫣
I had this idea: thenamesh academic rivals?
Gil is a top student, mostly getting a mark of 100. but whenever Thena asks her rival what he got he always says a lower point (for example he says 97 and she got a 98) , hiding his exam behind his back 🫣
Thena glared at the chair next to hers as it was taken.
"Uh," Gilgamesh attempted - yet again - to strike up a casual conversation, "hey."
Thena tapped her papers on her desk, waiting for the professor to come in, as well as tell them how they would be conducting the labs with their students for the day. "I trust you've already looked up what your score for the mid-term was."
"What was yours?"
Thena clenched her teeth in her jaw. It didn't matter what she got, he would get just the same, if not better. She had worked her whole life to become a historical scholar, as was expected of her. And this guy always managed to stand shoulder to shoulder with her, seemingly without so much as blinking. "I achieved 98. I believe the two point demerit was due to my oversight in the essay section."
Gilgamesh merely nodded, offering a nervous kind of smile. "Ah, well, the essay parts are always the toughest."
She slid her eyes over to him. She didn't truly wish to know, but she also couldn't resist knowing. "And you?"
"Ninety..." he trailed off, as he always did when they were discussing their academic performance. She glared at him to finish, "seven?"
Thena smiled, although she did her best not to appear smug and unbecoming. "An admirable mark."
"Thanks," he laughed off, like it was nothing. Professor Stoss was a famously tough professor despite his young age, and getting any good mark from him was already a feat.
Thena did somewhat believe that the affability Gilgamesh possessed made people go easier on him. And even then, she had to concede that he was intelligent and competent in their field of study. It infuriated her.
She had the weight of the world on her in the expectation to perform. She was even a teaching assistant entirely to advance her studies and career. Otherwise, the interaction with other students was far too much for her own preference.
But Gilgamesh said he was good in historical studies merely because his mother had possessed a fondness for them. Thena devoted hours to studying and research and Gilgamesh worked part time at a diner close to the university. And yet he used to consistently beat her in every assignment and quiz and test.
Only in recent months did he seem to be coming just a single point under her, and even that was not enough. Thena had already heard from her own family how outstanding this no-name student was and how those in their field of work were asking about him.
"Did you...do anything this weekend?"
Thena looked over, somewhat astonished that he was still trying to make conversation with her.
He shrugged, tapping his fingers anxiously on the cover of his textbook. "I heard there was a fancy party for the TAs, I mean. I assumed you went."
Thena frowned. There was indeed an event for the faculty and their chosen assistants--those who showed promise enough to earn extra credits in teaching. She hadn't attended because she felt no need (nor did Phastos, in her defense). "I assumed you had gone."
"Oh, no," Gilgamesh smiled down at the desk. "I take the late shifts on weekends. They're long, but we don't get many people, so I can get studying or work done, y'know?"
Thena swallowed her words. She had all this envy for his natural skill, but his work was just as legitimate as hers. And he worked to pay his rent, living off campus, while she lived in a dorm for female academic leaders. Gilgamesh stole his time studying as opposed to building his entire life around it.
"You deserve to enjoy yourself a little."
She looked at him again, still frowning. "I beg your pardon?"
"S-Sorry." He went back to staring down at the tattered edges of his textbook. But she kept looking at him, waiting for him to elaborate. The silence worked, dragging his words out of him. "I just mean...you work really hard, right? You're always top of the class. You should be allowed to have some fun, sometimes."
She did work hard. She devoted every waking moment of her life to her studies, and the one person who continuously thwarted her attempts at perfection was the one to point it out?
It would be easier to be angry with him if he were dislikeable in any way. As it stood now, all she had to go on was that he always beat her in academic achievement, and so effortlessly at that. But even with that, she had to concede that he worked just as hard, if not harder than her for it! And it was infuriating!
"Sorry," he repeated, looking away from her glowering at him.
She sighed. "No, I'm sorry. It was an innocent question."
He looked at her, completely astonished. She would like to snap at him for thinking she couldn't even just apologise for being overly adversarial with him. But that would defeat the point. "Well, I know you don't really like small talk."
It was that she wasn't good at it. She angled herself in her chair, destroying her perfect posture to face him somewhat more properly. "Should you not have also...enjoyed yourself? When do you have time to socialise if you are either studying or working?"
"Well, I have friends I can see in my other classes," he shrugged.
Oh. Yes, of course. Thena felt her hackles raise again at the idea that she was so unfamiliar with the idea of having friends in any of their classes. But she was trying to be nicer to him.
"But," he offered another sheepish smile, bending closer to whisper like children trading a secret in grade school. "This class is my favourite."
Thena just stared at him. She supposed that made sense. He always said he had the same like of history and classics that his mother had. But the idea that she was included in the categorisation of his favourite anything; a warm feeling spread in her chest.
"The lovebirds are here already."
Students began filtering into the small lecture hall, facing them seated at the front of the room. The one who made the comment plunked down close to the door. Another one looked in their direction, "don't you two ever sleep in?"
They got jokes and insinuations that they were together all the time. Apparently, everyone could see some kind of brewing, invisible tension between the two of them. Thena always found it ridiculous.
"We don't-!"
The student startled, as did the rest of the room slowly taking their seats. The declaration was sharp, and loud--far louder than was needed for a room this size.
Thena felt warmth rush to her cheeks, first for the outburst, then the realisation that it seemed overeager to deny something that wasn't even said. She cleared her throat, turning towards the board (since she had shot to her feet in her denial). "Sit down and start copying."
The student body present groaned but obeyed. Gil was the far preferred teaching assistant because he didn't scare anyone, and even if they under-performed, he had kind encouragements as opposed to scathing condemnations.
"Guys, come on, you heard her."
Thena barely glanced over her shoulder. There was nothing new about their students complaining about her teaching methods. But Gil usually didn't take quite so stern a tone with them. Even in her defense.
He peeked at her with a smile, perhaps hoping to show that he was indeed her ally and not her enemy.
Thena whipped her head forward again. So long as they were pitted against each other in any setting, he was no friend of hers. No matter how winsome his smile was.
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potential authors that may appear in bsd
Arthur Conan Doyle- wrote sherlock holmes, definitely getting into the DETECTIVE manga (maybe apart of the clocktower?, he was also famously gullible in contrast to his work, was friends with harry houdini and genuinely believed he was a wizard even though houdini repeatedly showed how his tricks worked, was also tricked by the first case of photo-editing by two little girls, prime joke material), THEORY TIME: he's going to have the actual 'super deduction' ability and will make ranpo face once and for that he's a normal person but ranpo will be able to out deduce him thus disproving that normal people can't defeat ability users
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu- carmilla (the lesbian vampire story that predated bram stoker's dracula by 26 YEARS CARMILLA SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRST, he could show up with a possible cure to the vampire curse in the current arc?, maybe he or carmilla was even the one to bite and turn stoker)
Lewis Carrol- wrote alice's adventures in wonderland
jrr tolkien- wrote the hobbit and lord of the rings
Hans Christian Andersen- wrote the little mermaid and the snow queen
The Grimm brothers- wrote most famous fairytales
Johnston McCulley- wrote zorro (may appear as part of a phantom theives guild in a more lighthearted arc after this one before jumping back into the main story?)
Marice Leblanc- wrote arsene lupine (had a crossover with edogawa ranpo's kogoro akechi lmao ty p5 knowledge AND sherlock holmes, a near guaranteed shoe-in, also part of that phantom theives guild with a potential past involving both doyle and ranpo)
Prosper Mérimée (?)- in the same vein of p5 references, the thief woman in prison may have actually been carmen from the opera carmen by prosper mérimée (soon to be thieves guild member?)
Robert Louis Stevenson- wrote the strange case of dr jerkyll and mr hyde and treasure island (thieves guild member, possible split personality a la jerkyll/hyde, blackbeard and william kid references incoming)
Alexandre Dumas- the three musketeers, the count of monte cristo (also thieves guild member)
Gaston Leroux- phantom of the opera (possible thieves guild member off work only)
toni morrison- we are in DESPARATE NEED of black writers, although maybe not since she only recently passed, wrote beloved and the bluest eye
zora neale hurston- their eyes were watching god
hughs langston- famous poet
richard wright- black boy, native son
Harriet Beecher Stowe- uncle tom's cabin
harper lee- to kill a mockingbird
robert frost- famous poet, wrote the road not taken
emiliy dickinson- famous poet
ernest hemmingway- famous poet (if his ability is for whom the bell tolls we're fucked)
jane austen- pride and prejudice (would probably get along with margaret and Nathaniel)
the brontë sisters- jane eyre, wuthering heights (would get along with jane, margaret, and Nathaniel)
george orwell- 1984 and animal farm
william golding- the lord of the flies
Joseph hellar- catch-22 (his power would be hell, a literal catch-22)
ralph ellison- the invisible man (ability is obvious, thieves guild member, maybe a conflict with tanizaki considering the similar abilities?)
oscar wilde- the picture of dorian gray (this man was a great big bisexual SLUT in life i want him to be the same in bsd)
virginia woolf- to the lighthouse (maybe will reference who's afraid of virginia woolf?)
c. s. lewis- the chronicles of narnia (personally knew jrr tolkien, famously at odds over Christmas, prime joke material)
charles dickens- a Christmas carol, oliver twist, a tale of two cities, and great expectations
arthur miller- the crucible (maybe his ability makes people distrust others?)
Johnathan swift- Gulliver's travels (teleporting ability definitely, new fast travel plot device although maybe not as it could conflict with Gogol's ability)
Vladimir Nabokov- lolita, pale fire (on second thought i don't want him in here i can only IMAGINE how that would turn out, if he shows up he and mori would either get along or HATE each other)
Leo Tolstoy- war and peace (we already know fyodor is surviving this we still don't know what crime and punishment does CAN YOU IMAGINE HIM AND FYODOR TOGETHER HELLWORLDHELLWORLDHELLWORLD) THEORY TIME AGAIN: his power is one that specifically targets only ability users and makes them slowly start acting in either anger or complete affability until everyone is at war or peace, he would be the perfect compliment to fyodor if crime and punishment kills people who believe they're guilty literally the perfect storm of abilities, the absolute worst case scenario powers we're looking at a dark soukoku here
franz kafka- metamorphosis (he's gonna turn into a bug, isn't he)
Harlan Ellison- i have no mouth and i must scream (the horror related ability to replace lovecraft without being horrifically broken)
authors that i desparately want to show up but probably won't bc they didn't write in the 1800-1900s range that asagiri likes, are still alive, or are not globally recognizable enough
homer- the illiad and oddessy (i hope he starts his ability by making an invocation to the muses)
sappho (LESBIANS RISE UP)
virgil- the aeniad
dante- the divine comedy (virgil is a character in divine comedy like how bsd includes authors of other works, prime joke material)
john milton- paradise lost
Gilgamesh or Enkidu- we don't know who wrote the epic of Gilgamesh so the characters themselves could appear
margret atwood- oryx and crake, cat's eye (potentially another animal shapeshifting power, atsushi's gonna have a little cat colony gang at this rate)
neil gaiman- american gods, the sandman ('american gods sounds like a broken ability)
ursula k. guin- earthsea series
stan lee- i know he wrote comics not long form literature but i think the father of american comics and the superhero genre deserves to be recognized in the superhero/mafia/detective noir manga; plus japanese manga was heavily influenced by american comics after wwii, we would literally not be reading bsd in the same state today without stan lee
stephen king- no explanation needed, PLEASE LET HIM MEET LOVECRAFT KING IS A GIANT FAN OF LOVECRAFT I THINK HE SHOULD GET TO MEET HIS IDOL
r. l. stein- goosebumps, if literally NONE of these authors make it in PLEASE AT LEAST LET RL STEIN GET IN AND LET HIM MEET LOVECRAFT PLEASE GOOSEBUMPS DESERVES SO MUCH LOVE AND PLEASE GOD LET HIS POWER BE THAT FUCKING PUPPET I WANT TO SLAPPY TO BE ABSOLUTELY USELESS AND JUST EXIST TO TORMENT STEIN
chuck tingle- pounded in the butt series guy, he should be the god of the bsd universe this is not a joke
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criminal minds/call of duty crossover where a serial killer is targeting sets of brothers. the bau think it’s ghost after finding out he’s on leave and looking into him and finding out about his abusive childhood. they think being military, getting held by the cartel and his family’s murder made him snap and he’s trying to recreate a perfect childhood with perfect brothers but they’re never perfect enough
he’s arrested when he can’t provide an alibi for the nights of the murders. the interrogation is rough, even with his resistance training. he can’t fight back, he can’t wait out the clock until price rescues him bc it’s not ghost being interrogated, it’s simon. getting his family and childhood thrown in his face, being questioned about his time with the cartel, forced to remember everything he went through and the entire time he can’t hide behind his mask bc they took it the second they brought him in
he’s being moved from interrogation to a cell when soap bursts in, screaming and swearing at them, how dare they think ghost would ever hurt those boys, after everything he’s survived, all the people he’s saved, do they really think he would ever do something like that, what the fuck is wrong with them!!
he sees how rough ghost looks, sees they took his mask and is two seconds from throwing hands with morgan. ghost’s just been quietly saying his name as he rants, trying to get through to him before he gets himself arrested too until he finally barks, “sergeant mactavish!” and soap instinctively freezes and falls to attention. he tries to make him leave but soap tells the team that ghost was with him on the nights the boys were killed and he had security footage of him coming and leaving his apartment, as well as pictures from throughout the night
the team don’t believe him, asking why ghost would lie to them, he could be charged with murder if it went far enough, why hide his alibi? he stays quiet until soap finally says, “he was protecting me. it doesn’t look to good to be gay in the military. or to seduce your superior officer.”
“you didn’t seduce shit, johnny,” ghost argues back and the team realises they were trying to dodge a dishonourable discharge not hide a murder habit and releases him. they end up stealth helping them solve the case bc even if he didn’t do it, seeing all of these boys, these brothers getting killed was getting to ghost in a bad way
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