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thekingwhereitallends · 11 months

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Lost in Darkness

Summary : Mitsuki returns back to Konoha after failing to kill Boruto,who ran away with Sasuke to another dimension.

Pairing : Mitsuki x Sarada Uchiha

---

"What happened?" Ada says,as Mitsuki lands next to her,looking at the child prodigy as he deactivates his dragon sage mode.

"Why weren't you watching me?" Mitsuki answers, not turning his face to left,avoiding eye contact with Ada. "Besides you can see what happened there with your senrigan." Mitsuki finishes the line.

"They ran away..." Ada says,takes a sigh. Mitsuki could tell she's relieved,but why is that? He does not bother to figure it out at the moment. The omnipotent girl's feet detach themselves from earth,as she aims to fly back toward her newfound house. Daemon yawns,sleepy as ever.

"Ada." Mitsuki says,Ada can tell he is tired but it's not coming from the toll that using his hidden power put on him. "Can you give me a lift as well,please?"

As awkward as it sounded,Daemon was disgusted at this request. "Yo,pretty boy! I bet you can move that flat ass around yourself,that's the least i expect from you stupid ninjas!"

"It's okay,little brother. He asked me politely. It's the very first time Mitsuki asks me for a favor,how can i say no to a gentleman like him?" Ada says, smiling. She closes in toward silent boy and wraps her left arm around Mitsuki's tender and yet toned frame. "I appreciate that you trust me,Mitsuki."

"Sorry for troubling you,Ada. It's the first and last time i'll be a burden for you." Mitsuki says it in a way that makes it seem like he's ashamed of himself. Ada can't help but adore the precious young boy,she caresses him on cheeks and holds him tighter.

"Don't say these words. It's nothing,really. Yes i don't like physical contest but lifting 40 kilograms of meat,bones and cuteness doesn't take much strength even for a spoiled teenager like me. I have otsutsuki shibai's genes,remember that." Ada says,laughing.

"Sis." Daemon says,annoyed.

"Uh-hm?"

"Cut it off already for god's sake."

---

"Drop me here." Mitsuki says as he spots Sarada with Sumire.

"Alright." Ada lands on ground next to her girl-friends. Sarada wraps her arms around herself while Sumire is confused the way Mitsuki was brought here. "You two..are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Sarada locks gazes with Mitsuki for a few seconds,feeling as if her heart has stopped,she drops her head and stares at the grass.

"Just give us some time...some of us have a hard time proccessing what's happened...boruto's betrayal and all..." Sumire says,putting her right hand on Sarada's shoulder.

"I'll wait for you in the room,if you are in the mood. If not,then we can call it a day." Ada says,as she heads toward the house.

"Thanks,Ada." Says mitsuki.

"You too,mitsuki. I'd like to have a chitchat with you. You are a cool guy,i can tell that from this brief meeting." Ada says,softly.

"You think so?"

"Absolutely."

"You're flattering me."

"Get well soon;mitsuki and sarada. It saddens me when i see you in this unpleasant state."

Ada is no more around.

There is nothing but silence till Mitsuki hears Sarada's heart pumping outta the world. He reaches for her hand,but then realizes that Sarada might not want to open up to him infront of Sumire.

Sumire pats Mitsuki on his right arm and nods with her worried look. Mitsuki knows class rep is also sad but doesn't show it. At this moment,he wanted not just to learn the truth behind all this but also give the pair a hug. Yes,mitsuki is not an ideal cuddler,he's never been the type to comfort his beloved through physical contact. But now,it's different.

'Kawaki and Ada gonna watch us and suspect something's wrong. I hate it like this. Damn..!'

"Let's go back to what we are supposed to be doing. Finishing this mission." Says mitsuki.

"Right." Sumire nods in agreement.

"Cha..." Sarada's shoulders drop and they get back to Ada.

---

It's past middle of the night.

Everyone's fallen asleep except for few people.

Mitsuki has only forced himself to sleep so he could come to understand what it means to be truly a human,to see if he can see dreams or not. It's been over six months but nothing has happened.

Waiting for Sumire to come out of katasuke's laboratory,Mitsuki's always been the type who is mostly curious about himself but also a selfless person. Aside from Sarada and Boruto,no one else knows what kinda person Mitsuki truly is.

Sumire comes out of the building,and spots Mitsuki who is sitting on stairs and reading the crescent moon.

'Why is he...it's about Sarada-chan.' Sumire and Mitsuki have barely interacted in academy,and it's been a very long time since they graduated from academy. Yes,they have fought twice but despite the fact that Sumire was willing to destroy and kill everyone to avenge her parents' deaths and all suffering she endured throughout years,Mitsuki was cold and apathetic back then. He didn't have ill thought toward Sumire,and only wanted to terminate her in order to protect konoha. Both Sumire and Mitsuki have changed,but the dark sides still have not vanished. At least Mitsuki has a darkness in his heart,deeper than any shadow.

"Mitsuki-kun..." Sumire says,Mitsuki looks back and smiles with a sad expression on his face,then stands up on his feet. "Sorry for taking so long."

"There's no need to apologize to me. I'm glad to see you are trusted by both Amado and Katasuke. You are gonna be a highly skilled and respected scientist soon. You have a bright future..." Mitsuki bites his lips. "Bright...so foolish. I am so stupid."

Sumire approaches Mitsuki,hesitating to touch him or say anything. She's never seen him like this...being conflicted and pissed off. It does terrify her,but she is worried about him more than she's afraid. No one in the village hates Mitsuki, for some reason,be it a charm or that the reason is he's simply just so chill,no one has a beef with Mitsuki in konoha. It's the same about Sumire. She was forgiven and accepted by all even after summoning an avatar of chaos and threatening safety of the village for her personal reasons.

Two kids who were once one with the shadows. Sumire's hand shake but she clears her mind and relaxes. She reaches for Mitsuki's right hand,and caresses his hand. With her left hand pats Mitsuki on his back. 'He's cold...like a snake...'

"Sakura-san?" Mitsuki senses chakra of his best friend's beautiful mother approaching them. She is nervous,and worried.

"Mitsuki...Sumire...You too..." Sakura stops just a feet away from the kids,with her left hand close to her chest. She wants to turn away and leave but Mitsuki grabs her wrist.

"I know what's up. I'll come with you." Mitsuki says, firm and determined.

"I just...Sarada doesn't talk to me. She is locked herself in the room,and i can feel it she's far from being okay." Sakura says,in a sad tune. "I could only think of you. Sasuke is gone...i dunno just what the hell he was thinking when he left with that traitor." Sakura is heartbroken,she knows she might never see her husband ever again.

Code is plotting to kill him to avenge Momoshiki's death which is what she remembers after her memories have been altered,and the entire world will set bounties for both Boruto's and Sasuke's heads. It's bare minimum one hundred billion ryo for Sasuke.

"I've told you before that whenever you needed help,you can count on me. Let's go..." Says Mitsuki.

"Can i come too?" Sumire says.

"Of course,dear." Sakura says,caressing sumire on her cheek.

Right behind the door to Sarada's room,Mitsuki's standing. He takes a deep breath. "Sarada,it's me..." He holds his temple for sounding so exhausted and depressed,angry at himself. "Mikki." Now,he wants to look like someone who can actually comfort his friend. "Can i come in? It's just that i feel like it's gonna be a long night for us,after such a disastrous day. You wanted to talk to me but i was too busy thinking about ripping that damn traitor's heart out of his chest. It was disgusting,but i'm here now. Would you forgive me,Sarada?" Mitsuki waits for an answer.

'Sarada is smart...one of smartest i know. She knew i come so she's unlocked the door for me. I hope so...at least...' Mitsuki reaches for door knob. Twists it slowly,and the door's opened just as he expected. He turns back and nods,Sakura is surprised at what she just witnessed.

"So she knew that i will ask for mitsuki to come pay her a visit and unlocked the door? And she wouldn't let anyone in her room except for him? But why?" Sakura wondering,then whispers in Sumire's ear. "Is she...you know...does sarada have a crush on mitsuki or something?"

It takes a few seconds for Sumire to proccess all the information she has on two intimate teammates,then a slight blush appears on sumire's face. "For real?!?" She then covers her face awkwardly. 'How could i not see it sooner? Maybe it's for that since Kawaki came,people just forget about Mitsuki and were attracted to him. In the past i thought maybe Sarada too had a thing for Boruto and then maybe Kawaki but aaah... Why would she choose those morons over the angelic,cool and wise mitsuki? He has like every single trait Sarada would want in one man.' She started turned away from legenday medical ninja which made the adult woman pout,and left her dumbfounded.

'I bet it runs in blood. Sarada and Sumire are no different from what we used to be like back then twenty years ago.' Sakura sighs,and scratches back of her head.

"Mitsuki...can you imagine him as your future son in law?" Sumire says,her index fingers tapping each other repeatedly as she's blushing.

"Um...that would be hella awsom-" Sakura realizes what she just heard and imagined Orochimaru in same wedding picture,also in chrismas ever and holding Sakura's grandchildren with his long tongue sticking out while he's menacingly smiling and creeping out both her and Sasuke. "WHAT THE...WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!?

Mitsuki locks the door as he hears Sakura's scream then just looks at the bed. Sarada's sitting,hugging her knees,not moving nor sobbing. She's not changed clothes at all.

Mitsuki approaches the right side of her bed,looks at their three picture frames on top of the white and pink drawer. He spots Boruto in middle of those,which gives him mixed feelings. Rage, Sadness,Hatred,Guilt...and it confuses him.

He turns to Sarada and sits on the bed cross-legged,right infront of her. "If you feel like you have to let out all the pain from your chest but don't want to,i understand you. If you believe this is not like you and you don't want to bawl like a baby,i get it. But hear me out,it's only natural for us to be overwhelmed by emotions in our lives. Even for someone who aims to become hokage, it's not forbidden to behave like a normal kid. You wanna break things,just do it. Wanna yell at someone,just do it. If you want to beat someone into a pulp,you can have my as your punching bag but for god's sake,stop." Not flinching yet. "Yes i know you've never seen me shed a single tear, nobody's ever seen me cry either. But i can't just see you like this,your heart broken to pieces. It hurts...kills me when i see you so sad...look at me,Sarada" Mitsuki says.

Slowly,Sarada lifts her head and shows her three tomoe sharingan to Mitsuki.

It's now bright day. The very first time Mitsuki came to Academy. 'Her memories.' How he came and sit right beside a yellow haired kid. "Impossible."

Then genin exams,when they made it to finals but Momoshiki and Kinshiki invades earth. He saw Boruto going with Sasuke to fight Momoshiki and save Seventh Hokage,with Gokage's help. "No way..."

Sarada shows him everything,but once Kawaki appears,lying on the ground as original team 7 along with Katasuke find him,Mitsuki's jaw drops.

Then it's like that till she shows him what she saw today. Kawaki charging toward Sarada,with the intent to kill him but she was saved Boruto,who lost his right eye to protect her from a cold-blooded kawaki. "Kawaki...would never...do that...you are his oldest friend...how could he...how..." Mitsuki clenches his teeth,then he comes back to real world.

Mitsuki is beyond confused at the moment but more than anything,he's pissed off. He's not regained his love and loyalty for Boruto,but he certainly does despise one man he's supposed to cherish the most.

Kawaki.

It all makes sense to him now. Why would Orochimaru and Log let him follow footsteps of such a conflicted boy,and consider him Sun to Mitsuki's Moon while almost all Kawaki can see in him now is dark?

Mitsuki doesn't say a word,just looks at Sarada. Sarada knew Kawaki might spy on them so she decided to show her memories to Mitsuki but she's gotten so proficient at using her sharingan that he wasted absolute minimum chakra to enter his mind,it's like a little more than the amount of chakra spent for breathing. Kawaki won't suspect her.

Mitsuki then takes off Sarada's headband,and wipes the crimson tears with tip of his thumbs. Sarada slowly wraps her arms Mitsuki's neck and starts crying silently. Her body shaking,Mitsuki bits his bottom lip with his "vampire" fang,hard enough to cut it open. He pulls Sarada's legs closer to his body and puts her hips on his left tigh and legs over his right tigh,wraps his left arm around her waist and with the right hand caressing Sarada's cheek.

"Promise me that you will always be My Mikki." Sarada whispers in Mitsuki's ear. "Don't change, Mitsuki." Sarada tightens the hug. "I can't make it out without you." Pressing her forehead to side of Mitsuki's head.

"I'll never let you down." Says Mitsuki. "I need you too." Mitsuki rests his head on Sarada's chest.

Mitsuki's cold body doesn't bother Sarada the slightest bit. His touch is cold,but gentle. Sarada's touch is warm but fierce. She is only easygoing when it comes to Mitsuki,who is overprotective of her. She can now tell that she knows why Mitsuki treats her differently from other friends.

It's so surreal how easy it's for her to reveal her true self only just to him. Perhaps it's for the fact that he's always there for her,and if not then he makes sure to return back to her. Mitsuki is with her always, deep down she knows that. They might part ways for a while but the heart is where love resides. Love keeps memories alive,and physical distance loses it's meaning. Through moon-reading in the dark night,Sarada will always remember Mitsuki. Watching the sun rise in the morning,Mitsuki shall be reminded of the one who dearly misses him.

Sarada runs her fingers through Mitsuki's silky soft hair. Mitsuki caresses her on her arm. "So precious...I want to protect you at all costs."

"With all due respect,Captain,That's my line." Mitsuki chuckles.

"Don't captain me there,kid." Sarada taps on top of Mitsuki's nose and bursts to laughter. "Woah!" Mitsuki suddenly lays on bed with his left arm still under Sarada's neck.

"It's about time for you to go to sleep." Mitsuki says to Sarada,while taking off her glasses and puts them on the drawer as he stretches his arm.

"You know,it's inappropriate like this." Sarada says with a slight blush on her face.

"I don't think so. We are just kids. There's nothing weird going on here." Mitsuki insists.

"You're the only weird thing in this room." Sarada claims,as she taps on Mitsuki's chest repeatedly.

"Perhaps i'm the only exception." Mitsuki says. He locks gazes with Sarada once again,with his warm amber eyes.

"What about you?" Sarada asks Mitsuki.

"Just staying here,looking at you while you fall asleep." Mitsuki says,grinning.

"You don't need to sleep,right?" Sarada asks Mitsuki.

"I don't."

"Gosh! I dunno what to say to you. Do as you want. I don't care anymore."

"Good girl."

"Hey."

"My bad,uchiha-san."

"Dammit,Mitsuki!"

"Okay,okay. Glad to hear it."

"That's better?"

"I guess."

Mitsuki starts yawning,in cutest way possible and when Sarada didn't expect it to the point she sits up. "No way in hell! You did what?!?"

"Hey,i too am surprised." Mitsuki says,as he bursts to laughter.

"That was like cutest you have ever looked-"

"You think i'm cute?"

"Yeah-I mean no-"

"Be honest with me."

"It can't be helped. Who am i trying to lie to? Of course you are cute."

"Tell me more about what you think of me." Mitsuki lifts his head and rests it on his palm.

"You are prettiest and smartest boy i know. very handsome,and a little too silly but adorable. You know the rest." Sarada crosses her arms. Mitsuki pulls her once again and puts his arm under her neck below the pillow. "Can you stop doing that?"

"I'll try."

"Mikki."

"Uh-hm?"

"What about me?"

"I'm gonna stay awake all the night just staring and admiring the godgiven beauty of uchiha."

"Hm..."

"Somethings run in blood. Your beauty is breath-taking,Sarada. I love everything about you."

"Such a smoothie. You have a way with words."

"I know. I've been working on it for a year."

"Impressive. You got my respect."

"I feel honoured."

"Shhh." Sarada shuts her eyes,having decided to sleep already. "Therapy class is over. Mission Accompolished. You won."

"Sweet dreams." Mitsuki says to Sarada.

"You too."

"My god! I didn't know they were this close. I thought she loved Boruto in a romantic sense but i was dead wrong." Ada says,blushing as she's seen what happened with Mitsuki and Sarads.

"How pathetic. So they did nothing there but fooling around making love?" Kawaki asks,Ada raises an eye brow.

"You fool,there was nothing sexual. You guys be dirty-minded." Ada facepalms herself.

"I wanna sleep,Sis." Daemon says,sleepy and tired.

"Why can't we just be like them?" Ada approaches Kawaki and puts her hands on her shoulders.

"Oi,cut it off!" Kawaki shrugs off her hands, disgusted at the mere thought of being hugged by Ada.

"You hopeless coward." Ada pouts,and returns to her younger sister. "Let's go,Daemon."

"WHO YOU CALL A COWARD!" Kawaki slaps one feet on ground and yells.

"SHUT UP,BRO!" Daemon yells at Kawaki.

"Is she alright now?" Sakura asks Mitsuki who just came out of the room.

"She's much better. She's sleeping. Come take a look." Mitsuki says. "Oh,but don't say anything when you see what you see there. Don't even make a noise."

"Uh-oh?" Sakura says,dumbfounded again,looks at Sumire who is nervous.

Mitsuki slowly opens the door,Sakura looks at inside the room above his head and Sumire below. They see Mitsuki and Sarada peacefully sleeping till Mitsuki raises his hand and shows a thumb up but Sarada grabs his hand and lowers it. The door is being closee Sakura and Sumire realize the Mitsuki that is with them is a clone. Sakura grabs Mitsuki and Sumire by their arms and run down the stairs.

She bends over and kisses Mitsuki's clone on his cheek. "You are awesome." Sumire is surprises to see it then she also gets a kiss on her cheek. "And You are a sweetheart." Now,both Mitsuki's clone and Sumire look at each other and take a sigh.

Having accompanied Sumire till she got to her home,Mitsuki starts waving for her but she seems she wants to say something. She looks down at the ground,clasping her hands behind her hips and taps on toes on ground. "Mitsuki-kun...you know...may i...will you..."

Mitsuki understands the assignment and stretches out his arms. "Come here." Sumire wraps her arms gently around Mitsuki's waist,blushing. She's shy,which Mitsuki deems natural. But he can tell that Sumire too is sad. He pats her on her back.

"Class-rep..."

"Sumire-chan. Or simply Sumire. We are not in academy anymore."

"Sumire...how about having a dinner together with Sarada,and Ada too?" Mitsuki says.

"That will be great. But how came you're so interested in her?" Sumire unwraps her arms from around Mitsuki's waist.

"Ada reminds me of myself. No,Ada is like me and i think she's not really a bad person. If we treat her like she's our friend,and i don't mean acting but actually starting to hang out with her and daemon and show them how much we cherish them,i believe we can change them. Like how you and i changed after meeting with Sarada and...Kawaki." Mitsuki was about to frown but forces himself to smile. "Everyone deserves a second chance. Let's see what happens if we do that."

"You're absolutely right,Mitsuki-kun." Sumire takes out the medical spray and puts a little puff on Mitsuki's wounded lip to heal it. "Oh,i forgot this is a shadow clone." Sumire starts to chuckle.

"My feelings..." Mitsuki's clone pouts and crosses his arms,frowning.

"Sorry." Sumire says. "Have we ever talked like this,ever before? No. It's great to have someone who listens to you and understands you well."

"True. As of now,after Sarada,i trust you the most. I tend to make only a few friends. I'd like you to be part of that short list. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sumire." Mitsuki reaches for Sumire's hand,who reaches back for his hands and they shake hands with shiny eyes.

"Indeed,the feeling are mutual." Sumire says.

"Good night." Mitsuki says.

"Good night." Sumire says and watches Mitsuki's clone disappear and leave some smoke behind.

"So tell me Kawaki...do you have any regrets?" A sixteen years old Mitsuki asks eighteen years old Kawaki. Mitsuki has now extra long hair that reach his hips,he wears a sky blue open-chest sleeveless shirt and detached long finger loop sleeves,ninja pants and sandals. He wears Orochimaru's earring and has polished his nails purple. He looks way more intimidating than he's ever been. He's bulked up and has body of gods,standing at 6'2 inches tall and weighs 188 pounds,taller and bigger than the senior Kawaki,who is 6'0 tall and weighs 170 pounds.

"You are all bunch of fools. I'm doing all of this so the world could be safe from those alien bastards." Says Kawaki.

"Oh yeah? You're practically doing what a tyrant does,expect from the fact that you are just a suicidal and delusional scumbag who is obsessed with his father figure. You are not gonna save anything and anyone other than Seventh Hokage."

"You son of a-" Mitsuki cuts Kawaki off by grabbing his face,flies toward sky and pummels Kawaki to ground,causing 10 kilometer radius crater.

"I dare you to disrespect my family,and beloved ones." Mitsuki says,then Kawaki shrinks himself and runs away from him.

"You were the only guy whom i didn't want to kill. But now things have changed. How did you end up defying omnipotence?"

"Guess what?"

"Four eyes."

"Usually,i'd kill my enemies with one swift and smooth strike,not caring about the consequences nor feeling a damn thing about their lives. But this is another story. I'm gonna enjoy every single moment of your torture,seeing you suffer as i rip your limbs off your body puts a smile on my face. For you tried to kill Sarada!" Mitsuki activates his sage mode. "This is Endgame! One of us is gonna make it alive,luckily for me,I have planned far ahead of you. Your chances to succeed at killing me is close to zero!"

"Prepare to get fucked up,pretty boy!" Kawaki shots dozens of black rods from behind but Mitsuki disappears from his sight and teleports behind him with a lance made of lightning.

"Sage Art:Lightning Style:Spear of Destiny!" Mitsuki throws the spear at shrunken Kawaki,who summons Black Cubes to protect himself from the attack before it's shot but the spear penetrates it and follows Kawaki as he is running away. The instant he wanted to shrink it,the spear grows thousands of times bigger and scatters into trillions of pieces.

'Shit,i can't shrink all of them if i can't keep track of them!' Kawaki opens a portal and jumps inside of it but then,he gets hit in the face with a kick and shot back at konoha. He forms a giant red sphere similar to bijuu bomb but 10 times bigger than them. 'Game over!' And it explodes.

Mitsuki opens his eyes to see Sarada with worried look on her face.

"Nightmare?" Sarada asks her companion,who is panting.

"I hope so." Mitsuki covers his face with his right hand,lies flat on his back.

"What do you mean from that?" Sarada sits up and just eyes Mitsuki.

"It felt so real. As if it's a vision from future." Mitsuki claims.

"And it's not the first time,right?"

"Yeah."

"Damn."

"Tch."

Sarada rests her head on Mitsuki's chest,right where his heart is located. "Calm down,Mikki. Let's hope for the best and throw away all the bad thoughts away. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day. Let us find some peace of mind."

"Uh-hm..." Mitsuki turns to his side again and wraps his arm around Sarada's waist and kisses her on forehead,pulls her close to himself. 'I won't let them take you away from me.'

"Such a drama queen you are." Sarada says,as she closes her eyes. 'I will always be there for you.'

"Code,i ask you only one thing in exchange."

"Spit it out."

"Make sure Sarada will be alright."

"But you-"

"I will have to stand against Kawaki one day. I might die. There's a chance i won't be able to revive myself,maybe no one else could do it at all. So for the love of god,save her from Kawaki and anyone who threatens her well being. Okay?"

"Hm...You know...This unconditional love...is it really a blessing...or a curse? You,Me,Ada,Sarada, Sumire,even that Son of a Bitch Kawaki...all of us suffer for that. Is love neccessity for us?"

"Without this love,i'll be lost in darkness. There's many times i am afraid i'll become what i hate the most. But my love...for her...it's what keeps me from losing remains of my conscience and sanity. It's what makes me feel not like a monster. You understand what i mean,right?"

"I guess you have a point...I'm still trying to figure out if i truly love Ada or not. Am i just a mere puppet of her love charm or my feelings arr genuine and real? That's the only reason why i want to become otsutsuki. To see if i'd still love her or not when i get rid of this so called weak humanity of mine..."

"She'll realize her mistake and regret her decision. Ada will be able to see right through your heart soon...and through Kawaki's soul."

"What's so special about you? We've barely just met and i told you everything about myself. Do you have a godlike shinjutsu like omnipotence too?"

"It's power of serenity and sympathy. There's still some wise men out there,I happen to be one of them."

"Cocky brat."

"Hahahahaha."

"Dude,you are so cool. I like you."

"It's Nice to meet you too,Code."

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daiseukiis · 1 year

Text

╰ ⋆ 𝐇𝐘𝐏𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐘 ଓ.° ╮

𓄹 ⌗ 008. ⠀⠀⠀⠀violence isn’t cute comin’ from you

CONTENT. suggestive & profanity

007 | MASTERLIST | 009

⠀⠀⠀⠀“i’m glad you could make it.” the female that stands with a bouquet of flowers smiles widely at mae as a greeting. suwa sumire’s dark violet strands are in a half up-down style, her hair adorning the frame of her face as her blue hues clash with the dancer’s arctic eyes. mae walks towards her and fujimura autumn that was wearing a swimsuit with sumire as she waves at her.

“thanks for inviting me.” mae approaches the two upperclassman with a grin to reciprocate their excitement towards her. even though the party had just started moments ago, all the lights and cheers were everywhere. mae reaches out a rather long bag and hands it to sumire, “this is for you.”

“vintage wine? you didn’t have to.” both sumire and autumn peek into the bag, seeing a reputable brand being gifted to her. sumire lets a scoff of disbelief, still thankful for her gesture. mae waves it off with a shrug, “just a custom of mine.”

“i figured.” the swimmer sighs, autumn nudging her friend with a mischievous smirk. “that’s why kaiser gave you flowers.” mae watches as the two shake their head, thinking back to the blonde boy who had came right at the nick of eleven— yet their actions only makes mae bubble up in curiosity. “who?”

“michael kaiser. that boy you rejected at the stadium.” sumire says briefly, though it makes mae stop and pause for a moment. her brain goes to rethink what had happened in the stadium and what she meant, until it finally hit her. “wait, how did you know that?”

“i told her. you’re quite notorious for it actually.” autumn laughs at mae’s cute reaction, showing her the phone and multiple tweets about what happened a couple hours ago. to say the least mae was not ecstatic about the comments about her and the football player. the tall silver haired female notices the defeated look on mae’s face, her finger scrolling through all the sudden jokes and memes about the event that ensued a while back. though, mae wasn’t too sure about the comments about the possible troupe and ships people were making them out to be.

“he’s a nice when he wants to be.” sumire’s words pop mae out of her trance, humming in response as she directs at the huge bouquet of flowers she had received from said male. autumn goes and pats the dancer’s head before the two of them turn to head into the mansion, “make yourself at home and enjoy the party.”

mae giggles at herself as she’s excited to party till the sun rose, to dance till her body went sore and even go swimming in the gigantic pool that sumire has. stuffing her phone back into her pocket she tries to manoeuvre her way towards the pool area to where her friends were. the place had a strong stench of alcohol, music that was blaring through the roofs and lights that could blind someone if you were probably high enough to look them dead in the eye.

though what one she didn't expect was that glimpse of sakura pink hair that moves through the crowd, the back of a familiar person's head that is running around through all the drunk college students. mae's heart beat drops, stomach falling ten feet down as she sees the glance of her best friend.

“anne?” she could be hallucinating right? maybe the lights were playing tricks in her eyes, she wished it was but when mae sees how that mysterious figure continues to dodge people she knew it wasn't a dream. mae's body moves before she could even think, trying to go after her. for fuck's sake, otawara tsukumi is supposed to be in france!

“hey.” mae is familiar with his voice knowing exactly who it was. she dreads being even in the same vicinity as him. the boy follows mae a little longer through the crowd, calling out to her as she tries to lose him. he sighs knowing that she was trying to avoid him, though in a quick move he grabs on to mae’s wrist just as they were able to enter the pool area. “don’t ignore me.”

“shut up, i might just swing.” mae stops and turns around to face aiku oliver, forcefully retrieving her arm away from him before crossing them over the other, a sour and annoyed facial expression on her face. the two coloured eyed boy raises his hands up in the air as a sign of surrender while taking a step back to give her space; from the few encounters they had he was sure she’d really do it if he tested her patience too much. “violence isn’t cute comin’ from you.”

“you having the audacity to speak to me isn’t either.” mae rolls her eyes, out of everyone at the party to strike up a conversation it had to be him— it made her sick in the stomach that oliver was even a human being. even if oliver could see how mae is irritated at him, he sighs and continues what he came to say to her, “hey, just wanted to say congrats to you, mae. you did great during your performance, and i’m not surprised you’re captain.”

“we’re not on the terms where we can casually call each other by first names, aiku.” her words are stern, eyes narrowing and if a look could kill someone those arctic hues of mae’s would have probably cut through oliver at first glance. a nervous chuckle comes out of his lips, scratching the back of his neck as even cold sweat was running down his forehead. “jeez, you’re so cold to me after breaking up with anne.”

“put a sock in it you unhinged lustmolch. you’re the one that cheated on anne in the first place.” she has no words to say to him, especially how he broke her best friend’s heart less than four months ago. it was the truth, but why did mae see that quick moment of regret on his face by the mention of it? mae wants answers, especially how in that quick second she swore she saw a second of weakness within oliver.

“there you are,” mae’s lips close by the sound of her vice-captain, eyes darting to the side to see shohei making his way to her. “been lookin’ for ya, cap.” easily the boy engulfs her in a side hug, his arm slung over his captain’s shoulders with a grin on his face. when he starts to notice oliver’s presence who shows how he was actually uncomfortable, shohei’s eyes darken as he looks at him. “anything wrong?”

“nothing, we were just finishing our conversation.” with that shohei had nodded his head acknowledging oliver before practically dragging her to walk away from him. the football player looks at mae and shohei's figure away to the pool, though his stare ceases when oliver opens his phone.

“i thought you and oliver weren’t cool?” shohei leans down to whisper at mae, raising a brow and questioning what the hell that was back there. the girl in say groans, already starting the party in a horrible reminder with the personification of aiku oliver. “we aren’t. he didn’t want to stop pestering me… but i had something to ask him.”

“ugh. i hate talking to that guy.”

“then fuckin’ don’t?”

“aoki mae!” a voice shouts atop many others, catching mae's and even a good portion of the party. the two dancers turn around to see a face neither of them expected, nor wanted to see in the first place as their expressions goes to that of a exasperated look.

“you don’t deserve to be captain. being all high and mighty, transferring, taking the team and cutting off someone like me from the team?” fujimoto tsukina yells out so loud everyone is looking at them, from the dj booth and even the pool. clearly, mae couldn't catch a break anytime soon.

“if you got a problem, talk to me.” shohei takes a step forwards and makes sure he's in front of mae. a slight vein pops by the top of his forehead as he goes and stares fujimoto down. he wasn't gonna take shit from some snobby rich kid that got in with daddy's money. “don’t disrespect mae.”

“fujimoto, your moves are sloppy and you can’t hit the beats. i’m surprised you gaslit yourself this much to think you’re that good.” shohei eases down when mae places a hand on his shoulder, looking him in the eyes to calm down as she shakes her head. shohei forces out an annoyed sigh, ignoring fujimoto's and her friends' bickering. “i— what did you just say?!”

“i’ll seriously gonna repeat it if you didn’t hear.” mae deapans in a flat tone not wanting to put up with any sort of stupidity fujimoto was on. the girl glares at her, “i’m challenging you for the position of captain.”

‘she’s delusional.’ shohei rolls her eyes, knowing no way in hell did she have a chance against mae. though the said girl just shrugs at her. “sure.” he sighs, just going along with whatever antics his captain wishes. ‘and she’s insane.’

⠀⠀⠀⠀with the crowd chanting for mae's name it was clear who had won the random dance battle. everyone that forms a circle had their phones out and screaming at one of japan's most talented dancers who stood there shrugging just as fujimoto and her minions storms out of the circle. many people congratulate mae for her victory, quickly dispersing of the circle as the dj continues to play music for the rest of the party.

mae tries to take a step back, moving away from the crowd to catch a break and maybe even a sip of water for her heart to stop pounding against her chest to make that oxygen move. her back ends up bumping into a muscular figure, body turning around to look at a familiar face.

“your dancing is really a sight to see.” kaiser compliments mae, her look of momentary shock amusing him to the point he lets out a chuckle. she looks at him with a perplexed look, a breath coming out from her mouth at the sight of kaiser. “it’s you again.”

“my name is michael kaiser, it’s nice to meet you, liebe.” kaiser stretches his hand out to her, mae thinking it was for a handshake starts to melt as to when he grabs it to kiss the backside of her palm. maybe sumire was right, though heeding to autumn's warnings about the football team, kaiser is nice when he wants to be. she can't help but smile at his actions, “i'm emilia mae aoki, likewise. but you’re free to refer to me as mae.”

“what a beautiful name.” mae had to admit it, maybe autumn's warnings should've been taken with more caution; kaiser had a way with his words and mae was not going to let it slide. flirtatious words and actions weren't new to her, especially if she's played a game like this multiple times before.

just as the girl was to thank kaiser for his compliment, the arm which a bottle of beer that he had been holding is suddenly pushed towards mae. the contents of the liquid spills on to her black crop while a large gasp and grunt is heard.

“mae!” fujima aiyumi quickly runs around the footballer and to the girl's side, checking to see how bad the damage was. kaiser fixes his posture after being bumped, looking to see if anything else had happened to mae. “are you okay?”

“sorry ‘bout that.” a deep voice apologizes and looks at both kaiser and mae. the girl sighs, assuring the group that she was alright, her hands out trying to calm down how worried they were. “i’m okay guys.”

“maybe watch where you’re going?” kaiser glares at yamazaki sosuke who had just disrupted his and mae's pleasant conversation. the swimmer just lazily points his thumb behind him, indicating at the group of people that were surrounding shohei and multiple other dancers. “there’s literally a dance circle behind me.”

“ah jeez, now you’re all wet.” aiyumi speaks out in an obnoxious tone, clearly showing she meant those in a dirty way and mae was just kinda too done with everything to deal with it. sosuke saw the look of defeat on mae's face, with an annoyed kaiser and teasing aiyumi he felt bad. “come with me, i’ll give you one of sumire’s shirts to borrow.”

as mae was going to politely decline, aiyumi was already making her move along with sosuke. she was a bit disappointed, but it couldn't be help since she knew she would regret not changing. mae quickly waves and smiles at kaiser as she tries to keep up with aiyumi's pace. “i’ll just see you around.”

again. kaiser has never failed this many times trying to have a conversation with a girl. maybe it was the universe saying something to him to cut it out, but he knew he couldn't do that. something was attracting kaiser like a fly to mae.

“you’ve been taking the hard l lately, huh?” izumi coos in a smug manner, just finding ways to bother the football player. he turns to look at her with a scowl, not wanting to hear more of her obnoxious teasing.

“shut up, izumi.” with those words a splash of water immediately soaks kaiser, the girl laughing to see what had happened to him after realizing one of his teammates were thrown into the pool. in the middle of izumi's laughing fit kaiser had pushed her into the water as retaliation.

𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐘 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐖 !

⠀⠀⠀⠀￫ chapters 1-8 all happened in one day

⠀⠀⠀⠀￫ when izumi got thrown into the pool she accidentally bumped karasu tabito.

⠀⠀⠀⠀￫ oliver is actually scared for when mae decides to punch him in the face again.

SPONSERS ( OPEN ) ,,, @okkotsuus @hyomagiri @yuyan @ryuverse @renjiishot @aoshei @heartyouwon @roe-sinning @vvasant @eishtar

REBLOGS ARE APPRECIATED !

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akechi-stole-my-heart · 8 months

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Akechi for the character ask thing. If already done Sumire pls

this ask is from *checks date* july 6 2022 and I never did this for either character but honestly i love goro so much that the format barely even works for him and everyone already knows how i feel abt him so i'm just gonna do sumire 1 year late

What I like about them

Her conflict with her sister is sooo compelling and just fucks as a character concept it's so good. The way she erases herself from existence because she wants to be her sister so bad...the way she doesn't want her sister back, she just wants to become her...it's so tasty and angsty and hrghh. And as a foil to Akechi she works soooo well it makes me a 100k+ word fic kind of mentally ill.

What I dislike about them

Her idolization of Akira is never called out by the narrative and it really bothers me because it is literally the exact same problem she had with overly identifying herself with Kasumi but we're supposed to find it cute because it's romantic. There is a version of their relationship that is healthy, and the game wants you to think that's what they have, but that's a little hard to believe when her Metaverse outfit is literally identical to his. I like shusumi and I do think it's cute...but only in theory. Sumire needs to be his equal, and as it stands she just isn't.

Favorite moment

When she goes absolutely apeshit berserk on Akira and Akechi and nearly succeeds in killing them because she wants so desperately to become her sister.

Least favorite moment

Her true awakening to Cendrillion has never and will never sit with me quite right. I don't like that Kasumi is still her Persona. Symbolically, Kasumi is still her mask, and that just doesn't work when her arc is all about finding her own identity? And eventually Sumire realizes that she can be herself while also honoring her sister, but she's just not there in her arc yet. Sumire needs a Persona that is herself before she can have a Persona that is symbolic of the memory of Kasumi living on inside her. I really wish Sumire had gotten her own Persona that wasn't symbolically her sister. She deserves to represent herself and have an identity all her own.

A situation with this character that I want to see explored more

Just...everything with Sumire and Akechi, honestly. God. There is so much potential in the way the two of them contrast each other that goes completely unexplored and it's such a shame. They could be besties (or more) in another life. And...I do get why we don't get sumigoro friendship in canon, because Akechi is barely in a place to talk to Akira during third sem, let alone this girl who reminds him of all his own worst problems, but god. Imagine it. They could be so good.

An interesting AU for this character

I have an AU concept that involves Kasumi more than it does Sumire, but it lives rent free in my mind and I've been looking for a chance to post about it, so. here.

Kasumi fails to save Sumire. She blames herself for her sister's death--it's her job as the eldest to protect her little sister; she ran into that road because of how Kasumi made her feel. She has a mental breakdown over it, becoming suicidal. Kasumi is sent to therapy under Maruki and admits that she's always envied her younger sister. Kasumi loves gymnastics, but lately it's become nothing but pressure and stress, and she can't even enjoy it anymore. Kasumi may be the champion, but that also put so much pressure on her that she never knew quite how to handle. If she doesn't win every meet she doesn't think she'd be able to live with the shame. All she is are the trophies--no one truly values her for herself, and they shouldn't, since she's a failure and a fraud. But unlike Kasumi, as the younger sister, Sumire never had that same pressure to be the very best. Sumire doesn't have the pressure of being the perfect older sister who has it all together.

Kasumi put up a strong front as a defense mechanism, but inwardly struggled to connect and understand Sumire like she should have. And now her sister is dead, because of her. Because she was too stupid to realize how she was hurting her.

She wishes she could be Sumire. Maybe then she could relax and be happy. Maybe then people wouldn't put so much pressure on her to always succeed. Maybe then her sister's death wouldn't be her fault.

And so Maruki actualizes Kasumi to become Sumire.

A crossover

I don't really have a crossover involving Sumire, honestly. I don't do crossovers very often anyhow, I'm more of an AU type person.

OTP (or OT3+ etc…. just… favorite ship)

I adore akeshusumi so much you guys. One year ago I wouldn't have shipped them but writing a Royal Trio fic changed me in unalterable ways. They are so good. They are so beautiful. I am obsessed with them. I cannot wait for Repaint Your Heart.

Other ships?

Sumitaba is a very close second to Royal Trio, they're such lesbians. And gamer x athlete is extremely cute.

BROTP

Sumire and Ryuji! Actually, Sumire and literally any of the Phantom Thieves, honestly! There's so much untapped friendship potential between her and all of the Thieves I'm so sad she didn't get to spend more time with them during third semester.

NOTP

I don't really have one. At one point this would have been shusumi but I've changed my mind on that ship. Its execution in game is meh but the concept itself could be so great.

An assortment of headcanons!

I'm bad at thinking of headcanons off the top of my head so Imma be an asshole and link you to my Royal Trio fic code violet instead. It has a ton of Sumire headcanons in it. It's an AU where Sumire saves Akechi's life in the engine room that continues through the whole third semester. I'm getting pretty close to finishing it!

#sumire yoshizawa #p5 #sera answers #anon

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vashtijoy · 1 year

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this question isn't akechi-focused, but you're the person i know who knows japanese and persona 5, so i thought i'd ask anyway jic you were interested in answering. during sumire's true awakening she refers to a "you" that i have always read as her addressing joker, but i suppose could alternatively be her addressing cendrillon? where she says something along the lines of "you" being the one who has always been true to yourself. and i was curious if the japanese through pronouns or whathaveyou made it clear who she was addressing in that moment. thanks :)

Hello, anon! Questions about the Japanese script come firmly under the special interest no matter who they're about. Thank you so much for sending this one to me. <3

The long and short of it is that Sumire is unquestionably addressing Cendrillon here. She addresses her as anata:

Sumire 貴方だけは最初から偽物じゃなかった! anata dake wa saisho kara nisemono ja nakatta! You were the one... the only one who stayed true to yourself! [lit. all along, you were the only one who wasn't a fraud!]

That's to say: Cendrillon is the part of Sumire that always knew who she was, the part she's reuniting with and welcoming home.

Sumire has only four uses of anata in the third semester. Three are in this awakening scene, to Cendrillon; one is to a shadow in Mementos. She has one other usage as Kasumi on 1/2; that's to a shadow, when she's demanding to know how the palace ruler thinks they know about her. Note that that isn't just in the third semester; it's in the whole game. Yoshizawa is excessively polite, and does not refer to people as anata.

So how does she refer to people? She uses their name. This is why she can come across as overusing them in translation—Joker-senpai, Crow-senpai. She simply does not use second-person pronouns, to a degree that maybe (I'm speculating here) makes her sound a little quaint and old-fashioned. Yoshizawa, of course, is very proper and ladylike and "delicate".

Here's an example, from the 7/11 Royal Trio crepe party. You can see {lastname}-senpai has been translated as "you". And very often, "you" will be the completely 100% correct translation of someone's name:

Kasumi 前に{lastname}先輩に話した、夏の大会⋯ mae ni {lastname}-senpai ni hanashita, natsu no taikai... About that summer competition I mentioned to you before?

This isn't something only Yoshizawa does, of course. Here's Akechi a few lines down, doing the same thing. Joker is always 君 kimi ("you"), but when Akechi needs to refer to Yoshizawa (other than a 君は kimi wa... ("and you are..?") at the start of the scene), she is Yoshizawa-san:

Akechi 芳澤さんが通ってるクラブチームって、かなりの名門だったよね。 yoshizawa-san ga tootteru kurabu chiimu tte, kanari no meimon datta yo ne Isn't your club's team considered to be quite prestigious?

Joker has his own problems, of course: he doesn't have a name for the voice acting. He's always kimi, or anata, or omae, etc. But in the third semester, even in the palace, Yoshizawa is still always Yoshizawa-san to Akechi. Maruki, by contrast, often speaks in a much more informal way with a lot more second-person pronouns; he uses kimi to her, like he uses kare ("he") and kanojo ("she") a lot.

What about the other girls on the team? How do they speak? Well, Ann uses kimi a lot to Joker. Makoto uses anata consistently, to just about everyone. Haru mostly uses {firstname}-kun, but she has some anatas in there. As for Futaba—her style of speech is idiosyncratic as hell, very bolshie; even if you date her, her second-person pronoun of choice is the boyish, rude omae, and she never uses honorifics to anyone.

So Yoshizawa's deliberate formality, her avoidance of second-person pronouns, is definitely a character quirk. She never even uses -kun honorifics, for instance—Akechi is always Akechi-san to her, when (for instance) he's Akechi-kun to Ann, Makoto and Haru from the start.

#asks #persona 5 #japanese language #sumire yoshizawa #goro akechi #takuto maruki #the squad #have i mentioned that i love yoshizawa btw?#fuckin love yoshizawa #my girl

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promisinininining · 6 months

Text

post project rambling

blood spills over is finished!

The whole thing has been planned from the beginning, but the exact scope of it kept creeping and creeping until it went form something I thought I could finish in around 5k words, to 10k, to 20k, at which point I gave up trying to estimate the length it would end up at. The last part (five of pentacles, reversed) ended up being longer than the previous parts added together, sitting at 26 out of 47k. Oops! That's longer than the previous longest fic I'd written on its own! It was only supposed to be a little thing to tide us over until the final part but ,,. uh, well, I got carried away a little. I had only written parts 1 and 2 before I started posting, and at that point I thought I was mostly done, so I thought it was safe to do so. (As an addendum, I did start posting because of my cute little stalker digging up my old accounts and sending abuse to those inboxes, where I hadn't closed anon off yet, so it was a bit of a spite fuelled adventure at the beginning.) I don't normally like to post things before they're finished because quite frankly I didn't trust myself to actually finish it, but I guess because I had a clear ending in mind, I was able to get there eventually.

I am not used to being in such a big fandom, so the support has been a completely new experience, and it's honestly been a little overwhelming (in the best way possible). I have been on the struggle bus these past few monoths with moving to a new house and a ton of unexpected bills on top of it, and I don't think I would have been able to get to this point without my friends and reviewers. I've met so many wonderful people, and it's been fun being in a fandom that isn't just me and my best buds.

About the story itself, there were a few deleted scenes that I wished I could put in, but ultimately decided against. Goro was initially going to physically meet Rumi, for one, but it didn't quite fit, and it felt like it was distracting from the main story too much, which was ultimately Goro finding something to live for. There was definitely not enough time for him to learn to love himself in just the short space of time where the third semester took place, but he has the rest of his life to learn how to, surrounded by people who are willing to show him by loving him back.

Sumire's relationship with Goro is also one that I really wanted to play with, especially as two extremely cynical people who don't really interact in canon. I feel like it's easy to just see Sumi as someone who's peppy and a little airheaded, but she's also extremely depressed, and put her entire existence on fulfilling her sister's wish, much like Goro's existence is based on killing Shido. I think they would understand each other intrinsically on a level that is very fun to explore, beyond "well we both love pego". Also, Atlus what the heck did you do with her. Give her to me. Let me sort it. I didn't think it helped her character any by being kidnapped for a week then beaten up and suddenly being like "wow you're right I can live as myself now". She needed to find that inner strength herself, with a little nudge from Goro who recognises the same pain. Of course, Goro's solution was "kill the person responsible" and Sumire can't reaaally do that with a hit and run, but she has a better support system than Goro and can learn to channel that more productively. If it's gymnastics, or something else entirely, I don't know.

I don't want to go too deep into the details with futaba and haru because this is already getting QUITE LONG, and I'm certain that there are only going to be a few people who have read this far, and those people already know how I feel about their relationship. I mean I was pretty clear in the fic itself, it's one of the less subtle things, I think; Futaba is the youngest, and she's extremely traumatised, and people have been enabling her bad behaviour by indulging it. It's 'helpful' rather than invasive, and okay, it saved Akira's life... but I do think there was definitely a better way to do it than bugging his phone. (Actually, another thing I didn't get to touch on is how the Thieves blatantly used Goro for their own plan regarding the interrogation room rather than attempting to understand him or his motives, perfectly fine with manipulating him back to thinking he's manipulating them, and how much that would fuck up someone who already has a complex about being used... but that's for another day and another fic, I think).

Finally, Maruki: this man is fucked up. I know it's easy to see him as sympathetic when he has the best intentions, and wants to 'help' people, but intentions don't matter when it comes to hurt and abuse. You can intend to be a perfectly kind person and still abuse your power over them. Don't get me wrong, I love him dearly, he's such a fucked up little skrungley boy, but he's definitely not the wet cat that he looks like at first glance. He's a researcher, forward in his field of cognitive pscience to the point where he awakened his own powers by himself, and has been shamelessly abusing his position as a therapist to get more information for his own gain (which, I emphasise, is to control the lives of everyone ever so that nobody suffers again) from the main cast.

Anyway, before I sign off, I will put out there that I have been thinking about Strikers, But With Baby Rei On Board. It's been spinning in my head since I finished. it's not going to happen (I refuse to do an entire game rewrite--just the third semester was an entire Thing, and I hate rehashing canon scenes), but hopefully you can glean some fun and entertaining thoughts about it. If you do, let me know! or don't.

A'ight, that's it from me. Thank you for reading. It's been... well, not long, but I feel like my writing is a little dense and requires some re-reads to fully experience it, so it FEELS longer than it is. Either way, I am kissing gently every single one of you who have made it this far down my massive ramble. Thank you, truly.

MIS

#the content creator is gurgling again #mis-types #comments welcome

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madara-fate · 4 months

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https://www.tumblr.com/madara-fate/739246648339922944/httpswwwtumblrcommadara-fate7386161854506434?source=share I think you are getting a little confused.

This ask isn't malicious but rather to clarify a little what this comes to. I'm not doing it to make you angry or anything.

That Sakura isn't a main character doesn't mean that she's not needed or that she can't appear. Shikamaru or Sai aren't either main characters and are much more involved in the story, despite Sai being an anbu without an anbu scene (because he's more like a freelance policeman than an anbu). The focus is on the new Team 7 but Mitsuki has a fandom behind him that complains about the poor treatment he gets in favor with others, and you can't deny that he is the one who's ignored the most.

Back to topic.

In Naruto, when a doctor or a medical pov was needed, Tsunade, who wasn't a main character, was used; until Sakura took over from her, but Tsunade always appeared like in the Pain arc doing autopsies, even Shizune, etc. Get the point.

Now we only have pov of Katasuke and Sumire with Amado. There's Boruto being wounded in the chest and no doctors, there's Boro's virus and no doctors (Sakura a master of medicine crafting and poison, the virus was never studied for plot), there are pills for Boruto's Jogan and no doctors, just Naruto trusting the guy that put a bomb on Shikadai's neck. I don't know if you understand what I am talking about.

Sakura is not only a simple doctor, because the only thing she does is to heal, with over simplified medical ninjutsu, two or three characters, preferably those that are nerfed and never a relevant character. Even worse.

She is an emotional support for Naruto, his best friend, a person with a mind and an ability to make decisions. We forgot that Sakura was for Naruto at all times, why is she treated as an unimportant doctor? She is supposed to be close to Boruto and the rest. Isn't it weird she's not involved as a friend and doctor and what happens to Boruto with Karma? Which is precisely the same as the Byakugou? Even haters are asking what is wrong with the writer that she's been sidelined in favor for other characters. Haters! Japanese people on twitter are asking the same thing.

With Kakashi, it's not like Hiruzen didn't have a figure like Shikamaru. Jiraiya and Tsunade could have been elected Hokage just like they did when Hiruzen died. Or did Hiruzen not have an advisor?

Regarding Ino, she has been sidelined and rightfully so. First of all, there is no Yamanaka clan. Inoichi's assistants in the Analysis Team and in the war weren't from his family, they were random shinobi, therefore the clan is 4 people and all dead already. Just her, Sai and the kid, like the Uchiha and Uzumaki.

And all this comes because the Barrier Team was never traditionally led by any Yamanaka, in the Pain arc it was a priest named Kakoi who was the leader, and his team. Kodachi made it all up because he made so many things up in the manga.

Let's see, the team is said in the manga and anime to have been redesigned to automatically detect any chakra signal. It's a machine. So what is Ino for? Every time she detects something so has the team at the very same time. So? Neither she nor the team detects things with one foot outside the village, since Delta and Kashin Koji were on a tree branch at the gates, so she's connected to the sensor barrier and detects what it detects? And what's the point of that?

Because when asked to detect something beyond the barrier, she said she can't, Boruto said that at least he could be detected when pursuing Kawaki but she couldn't either. It had to be Naruto. So if there's a team with random shinobi to blame, what's Ino for?

Because the team have special chakra helmets been used in the War by Inoichi and Ino in the movie for distant communication for great distances. So her telepathy is for what?

This is why she's been impeached. There's nothing to downplay. She was never meant to be there. Her abilities can be performed by a machine so why do we have to blame her on her awful performance when we can blame an npc? Because so far into the story and cohabitation mission, she's pretty replaceable.

Neither she nor her father have sensing feats in Naruto. They're sensor-type because they use their senses to invade another's senses and control them, mind-reading and telepathy. The sensing abilities are superficial, if she saya Sasuke's chakra is different or Kakuzu has dark chakra. I remember Sakura did the same thing in the Iron Bridge with Sasuke. And she's not sensor type. Orochimaru and Suigetsu did it. Kakashi did it. Basic sensory abilities are known to be had by every shinobi (minus Tenten and Rock Lee). So what feats are you talking about?

The fact that he has to use a bird to search for the Akatsuki who weren't far away (ch.332) confirms this, not just the databook. She doesn't have sensory abilities to search for Akatsuki's dark chakra but suddenly she has the ability to search a village symbiotically connected to a machine?

In the war, the Inoshikacho formation that makes her use a sensory relay, the enemies are right under their noses. You can see them in the manga, it's the clones in front of them. Do you understand what I am saying? There was never a single sensory feat.

In the Last? That helmet she wears, which is the same as the one her father wore in the war, is to increase the range of telepathy to wider areas. That helmet is worn by anyone and does the same thing. The reason she wears it is because Inoichi and his family share their chakra in one direction to talk to people, whereas in the war Ino transmitted her chakra continuously to the same one area. In fact, it didn't reach the other Kage until they got close. Inoichi was talking to many groups scattered in many areas around the map located by the sensory division. In the Last? Transmit the chakra in the direction of Kumogakure while Kakashi was having facetime meeting with the Kage, so her role is dubious and rather useless if Kakashi can get a Kage summit looking at the tv screen.

Writers finally read fans comments and removed her, but they also have been removing Sakura from many scenes where she IS needed. And now? Husband and bestfriend isolated but her pov is interesting to see and they don't want to? Suspicious.

Honestly, I don't really care enough about this topic to give a long response to all of that, so if you want to believe that the author hates Sakura and that Ino has no sensing feats in the manga, by all means. It's something you seem quite adamant or passionate about, so I doubt I'd be able to convince you anyway.

What I will say though, is that no Hiruzen had no Shikamaru figure. Jiraiya and Tsunade weren't residents of the village, at least not during his second reign, so they weren't available for selection since their whereabouts were unknown. Hiruzen had the Council, but they didn't serve as his right hand like Shikamaru did to Naruto. Once Minato died, there was no one new who could have easily taken over within the village, like Shikamaru was able to do for Naruto.

#Naruto

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ngmn2002 · 1 year

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@rapidfur In response to this post X

Well, I kinda get the feeling that I may be the only person who sees Sakura this way in the last arc among the whole fandom and I'm totally happy with it. I'm talking about how I feel about her in my own space and I'm letting my frustration out with it. It's totally cool if you see nothing is wrong with her actions lately.

As for me, this is how I see things... In answer to your comments: Starting with: Why I don't see her act with (6/Sumire) 'that' merciful:

She was merciful with 6/Sumire? Let her continue her act. Let me see how of a nice person she is. Let me see her showing sympathy after what happened. That means: I don't want to see her making a show, telling jokes and trying to be funny, playing around and making poses while smiling, looking with an empty emotionless look at Sumire's blood, stepping on it and making more poses while standing on it, setting on the memories of 6/Sumire and playing then breaking one of them. For me to see her act merciful, she should carry out with it from the very start to the very end in a proper, nice and merciful way, what she did, doesn't fit. If I will see she did something nice to them, it would be that she let them meet again and end things between them as they want, only that. And it wasn't only for their sake, but also hers. If them meeting wasn't necessary for her wish to come true... would she have done that merciful act or cared to make the 2 meet after 100 years... I wonder. ******

Is she supposed to be better than Tsukasa or even Amane when it came to destroying Sumire or even the other 6 yorishiros? We can't say Sakura is any better than Tsukasa or even Amane. The 3 want the 7 yorishiros destroyed and are using the one who can do the job (Nene). And we can see, even Amane agreed for Nene to be sent to No.6's boundary to do her job. He could have got her out any time he wants, but he did right after things were done. He also didn't have a problem with making Nene destroy her the first time they were with Sumire before the severance. While the twins are doing that for something, that I think will not benefit them directly as Amane or as Tsukasa, Sakura is doing all that for herself and her own sake, not caring for anyone or anything beside herself. And, it's not like she did the (6/Sumire thing) to save Nene from destroying Sumire, it's just another method to get things done she has and she used it. She didn't have a problem forcing Nene destroy the other yorishiros alongside Tsukasa before and she is ready to keep forcing her toward doing it even if she said she doesn't want to. (while saying she wants to be friends with her. This is the way to treat a friend) Though, she is the one who said she is happy with anyone getting hurt for her wish, so...

Why? Be merciful with Nene and let her decide what she wants. Especially when that has her life on the line. She is ready to tell her she MUST destroy Tsukasa (who is just like Sumire, saves her from doing something to Sumire and asks her to destroy Tsukasa in the same chapter.) Well... to put an end to that... Can we say the 3 are on the same place in here? ******** Sakura was nice with Nene and didn't let her go throguh the trauma or guilt of destroying Sumire?

As for Nene, she felt guilty and went through a trauma with what Sakura did as well, didn't she? Either way, she will feel guilty. It's not like Sakura saved her from that awful feeling. Still.. she didn't even care to comfort her after what happened. All she did was to lecture her as if she was a teacher without caring for Nene's feelings, only getting Nene ready for her her future plans.

And, oh… speaking of Sakura caring for Nene's feelings… Sakura is the one who said this:

she clearly doesn't care for Nene or even her life. So, it's perfectly clear what she did with 6 and Sumire was only to make things move forward (as you suggested) for her wish's sake with a little bit of feeling bity for 6 and Sumire. As for Nene, she is only a tool to her.

And, really… Sakura was merciful with Nene to release her from destroying Sumire… yet she said:

You MUST destroy Tsukasa. Sakura who said Nnene can't kill a fake Amane.. doesn't want Nene to destroy Sumire because it will be painful for her… tells her she MUST destroy Tsukasa. Then, why not let her destroy Sumire, too? Let her feel the same pain twice? After all, you don't care for her or her life or feelings. She is just a tool to you? destroying Sumire will leave her with trauma and guilt, yet destroying Tsukasa won't?

Also, she was good with 6 and Sumire to make them choose how they end things between them?

Then, why not allow the twins to do what they want? Just as she allowed yorishiro Sumire to be destroyed as she wants, let yorishiro Tsukasa be destroyed as he wants. let him have the ending he (decided) and wants to have. Why go ask Nene to destroy him? It's not like he needs someone to tell him what to do? Let Tsukasa choose, as Sumire did. Let no.7 and his yorisiro choose how they want to end things between them. Why put your nose int their business? Why bring Nene into the picture? What difference would that make? Amane and Tsukasa are free to choose however they want things to end up between them, so… it's pointless for her to give Nene the choice. It's not hers or Nene's. Nene can hear about it without the need to see it with her own eyes. Then.. she will either destroy Tsu.. or Amane can do it. According to No.7 and his yorishiro choice.

This is really hypocrite to me. After all, No.6/ Sumire reflect No.7/Tsukasa. Treat the 2 cases the same way.

Let Nene do what she wants, let Amane do what he wants, let Tsukasa do what he wants. Don't put your nose in other people's business.

So, really… my explanation to why Sakura did all the No.6/Sumire thing… was for her own sake 90%, 10% for 6/Sumire. As for Nene, nothing was for her sake or feelings. It was for Sakura's own sake. Just in case if something went wrong with Tsukasa and Amane, Nene will be ready to do it. She is just.. making her ready from now. I see this is why she wanted Nene there and told her all that info. To make her ready just in case to destroy Tsukasa.

****

As for the' cool pose', according to my knowledge, she made her come back in ch 92? She had many cool stuff going in there, at the end of ch 94 she did too, was that needed in ch 95 too? Tsukasa who was gone for almost the same amount of time as her, posed in ch 91 in a way that made sense, the other one with them, too. While she, while knowing a girl has been eaten for her wish to come true did a pose while smiling? Why? Aren't ch 92 and 94 enough (even in ch 93 she got a gorgeous shot while Sumire and 6 were talking about her)? Even while standing on her blood she did a pose, while looking at her blood she did one, enough.

Tsukasa and the other one didn't make any unnecessary poses on an unnecessary time, even though the 3 were gone for so long. So, I see I have the right to see her cruel. If she cared, she won't do that. You know what happened. How can you smile and play with your hair like that, or even better make jokes.

Let's imagine Nene did destroy Sumire herself then Tsukasa went to see her instead of Sakura and did the same as Sakura did in ch 95. I won't say he is cool, I won't say he has just came back and let him get away with it. That's just a lame excuse to me. He will lose so much of my respect. A character can go for long then come back and kill someone then smile... should I say how cool? I'm following the plot of the story, not for how long someone has been gone and whether I sould take all his poses seriously or not. I will say: He is cruel and bad. I don't mind someone being gone for long in a story to shine and look cool, but let it make sense. Let them do something awesome and then pose all they want, I will like it. Imagine me watching this in the anime version while I never read the manga. Sakura wasn't gone for so long.. it will be like… 3/4 or even 5 episodes? What will I see her doing? Some 'not so nice stuff' to look cool. Why? Last time I saw her in the story was 5 episodes ago… why is she acting like this? *******

It's not her and Tsukasa's goal, I assume. It's her goal. I think ch 95 made that clear. She has a goal, Tsukasa has a different one, though.. the 2 share the same path. A path she is willing to take even if it meant forcing Nene to do something she doesn't want to do then die. How caring of her.

She is doing things according to her needs, wants and her plans.

*****

Still, It's not like it was a 'hate' post on Sakura… it was kinda me voicing my seemingly 'unpopular' opinion, on a thing she did that pissed me off. That's my own humble opinion and view on her and her actions for now. If the thing was turned and Sakura and Sumire switched places, I don't think I will see Sumire acting the way Sakura did.

*********

That was long, sorry if my tone seems to be angry or hateful or anything, I'm just too pissed off at that girl at the moment. Still, it's not like I'm not giving her a chance. If she became better and I saw she is actually good and I've been wrong about her, I'm ok with it. She used to be one of the characters I liked, I don't mind having her back if she 'proved' to me she 'deserves' it.

Have a nice day!

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2n2n · 11 months

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The more I think about it, the more I feel like Hanako is not really bound to the school. Tsuchigomori is able to go out even though he’s scared by cars, and recently Mitsuba went to Minamoto’s house. Maybe the Wonders are weaker far from school or smthg, or is it another way for Hanako to punish himself, staying at school all the time?

You're right that the other wonders are not necessarily bound to the school in the same way as Hanako. The school is more like a sanctuary for kaii who would otherwise be exploded by the Minamoto for leaving. The Mokke can also leave the school if they wish (as Tiara's slave Fairy might have), and Teru can move a Mokke to and from the school. It's true that Tsuchigomori can just leave at will, he mentions hating driving on the highway and doing some at-home lessons… And yeah, Mitsuba is seen leaving.

It's still generally a GOOD IDEA to stay at Kamome for most of them, in the way that, if the lion escaped the zoo, it would be shot dead seen in the streets.

The murder itself probably didn't even happen in the school, given the boys are not wearing shoes, and the fact they seemed to die suspiciously along with their parents enough for it to be termed an ikka-shinjuu, so probably they all died at the Red House at the same time… so, it's not as if Hanako likely died in the school, and his spirit is somehow stuck there ever since.

I think Hanako is bound to the school, personally… but I don't know that he was ALWAYS bound to the school… we really do Not know what happened with him, grandma Minamoto, when she "used all of her strength to seal" Hanako-san. Does that seal, or whatever she did, have to do with him being bound? Or does that only restrict his physical power (scary, to imagine a Hanako much more capable than ours)?

Does being distinctly 'leader' of the mysteries entail something...?

I'd say Hanako expresses very real things related to his status, like his shock to cross the threshold in Picture Perfect (which literally works AGAINST the narrative he is trying to paint for Nene-chan),

his epiphany regarding Nene-chan's lifespan as he watches her leave the school past where he can't touch her (spurring him to 'touch' her life permanently in another way)

or even his desperation to keep her near, for Confession Tree.

I'm not sure if he would really simulate the real panic we see him have … but it could be psychological in nature, and his own sense of commitment. He's crossed like 100 personal boundaries so far, like, moral-breaking stricture-breaking…

it could be a self-enforced belief/rule, which could have to do with his attachment to Tsukasa, but one with such psychological severity that he absolutely would never, ever break it. If it had a symbolic meaning for his devotion, or a promise he made, I would believe Hanako would obey it like a steel wall. It wouldn't have to be literal or built by someone else. It could be just as absolute, being only in his head(/heart).

We DOOO know Sakura IS bound to the school, and cannot leave it. We know Tsukasa, at the beginning of this series, could barely make it to the roof without help, and could only move around even within the school as a paper crane, seemingly. That raises some questions about Tsukasa's abilities which would be unique to him, as we know Sumire can simply immediately leave her boundary, and walk around the school's halls just fine. ... but could Sumire leave the school? Don't know that.

If a yorishiro itself could not leave the school (suchas Tsukasa), it could be that Hanako keeps himself equally bound in solidarity with Tsukasa, in the same way that the murder-suicide is a way of 'following' one another into oblivion. Twins, mirror, same. In oblivion with you, forever with you, always with you.

.... but it's just as likely that Hanako entered some sort of very real agreement, to become the 'leader', and be adorned in his own seal. Suppose we won't know 'til we see him forced to challenge the boundary. I believe Nene-chan could peel his seal, so... if that plays a role, I'm sure we'll see eventually.

#avvy's JSHK

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everythingsinred · 1 year

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Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: Mikan (pt. 5)

Hey guys. I know I'm late in posting but that's because I was reading my fav NatsuMikan fanfic and then talking for hours with @thesightofworms on the phone about Gakuen Alice so I lost track of time. I'll probably post tomorrow's essay earlier in the day but today was good anyway. It might have taken a while but it still arrived, after all.

Today we'll be discussing Mikan's POV during the Reo Arc. I think it's very easy to focus on Natsume's feelings during these chapters, particularly later in the arc when he regains consciousness, because this is the arc where It happens, but Mikan's perspective is important here too.

If any of my thoughts here seem incoherent, that's probably because they are. I'm sorry--I tend to be a mess when it comes to these two. This essay is my attempt to make sense of my very deep feelings about them, a pursuit that is occasionally difficult.

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Chapter Thirteen

Reo is coming to Alice Academy to perform on the third day. He’ll be stopping by today to get checked up before the concert. It’s supposed to be a secret, but it’s nothing a kid with the super hearing alice can’t figure out. Mikan is very excited until she finds out who Reo is--then she gets even more excited. Mikan is sometimes just happy to get carried away with the crowd.

They’re all excited until they notice Ruka is crestfallen. He’s worried because Natsume is in the hospital from exhaustion. He’s been exhausted since the dodgeball game, apparently, and Mikan instantly thinks of when Natsume warned her that they were both being singled out. She’s so intuitive in many ways, getting the idea that Natsume’s exhaustion might be related to the school “watching” him. He’s sick and most of the class is naturally concerned.

Mikan gradually comes to care about Natsume. She goes from being mildly surprised and disturbed by his injured body when they first get partnered up to being genuinely concerned here. Of course, the feeling is a little fleeting, but her concern for him will become harder and harder for her to brush aside as she cares for him more. Don't worry, though, I'm doing my very best to track the progress for us :)

Until Sumire announces that she and Ruka will be visiting him at the hospital since they’re such close friends of Natsume’s and everyone gets peeved that they can’t come too--because that’s where Reo is!

They really are all ten years old--that is fucking messed up.

Mikan is jealous, like everyone else, that Sumire is going instead of her, but not because she wants to visit Natsume--just because she wants to catch a glimpse of Reo, whose work she’s still unfamiliar with.

Hotaru is their saving grace, of course. She has invented very handy spy gear to help them infiltrate the hospital and catch some photos of Reo. They make it pretty far until Mikan and Hotaru choose to split up.

Mikan realizes that she’s in the east wing, the same part of the hospital that Natsume is staying in. She decides that she’s going to check in on him real quick. She assures herself that she’s not worried, but it is unusual for him to be sick (no, it’s not). The thing is that, despite herself, she is worried. He may be a jerk, but she’s seen signs of a hidden depth to him. She doesn’t want him to be sick or unwell (this sentiment naturally gets stronger as the story moves along). I’m not sure what she was planning on saying to him when she saw him, but she has every intention of dropping by just to see how he’s doing.

It could just be guilt because the dodgeball game was her idea. But she doesn't seem guilty here, just concerned. She comes up with excuses for going to see him, even just to herself, which makes me think this is out of genuine care. She always distances herself from feelings about him, like here, which I will go into more detail on later, mostly in the Z Arc. Her feelings for him--in whatever capacity--are confusing and weird, so she'd rather disregard them. For all of her curiosity about others, she sure doesn't like to examine herself too closely.

Until she runs into Sumire, who’s armed with an autograph book and a camera. Mikan puts two and two together and deduces that she didn’t only stop by to see Natsume.

The mood flips when Permy sees Reo enter Natsume’s room, leaving it guarded.

They’re concerned, because that’s not normal, so they decide to look in through the outside window, just to see Reo knocking Natsume out and then having him teleported to the trunk of his car.

Yet another trauma to add to the list: watching a classmate get chloroformed and kidnapped.

Mikan is stunned, staring into the room and confused about what she just witnessed. But Sumire doesn’t hesitate: she darts off. She doesn’t get it either, but she knows that what they just witnessed was a crime, and they have to stop Reo. At first, it’s Sumire who’s being proactive, instantly approaching a teacher to explain what happened. Nobody ever takes kids seriously, especially the teachers at this wack school, so Sumire is threatened with punishment.

Mikan can see that Reo is about to get away, so she takes advantage of another skill she has: brawn. She hits the teacher with her backpack and is able to make a run for it with Sumire. They’re able to follow Reo’s car outside in the knick of time.

I like this beginning moment because it demonstrates their personalities and approaches to danger quite well, where Sumire acts first after witnessing the kidnapping, but by immediately going to a teacher. Meanwhile, Mikan (who is usually impulsive and quick to act) bizarrely hesitates before making a move, but ultimately can see that the teachers are of no help and that they need to put matters into their own hands. This will come up in the Z Arc as well.

This is the start of a very important arc. Mikan will learn a lot about both Sumire and Natsume, two classmates of hers that she doesn’t like at all. By the end of the arc, she won’t dislike either of them, but will instead count them as friends.

Chapter Fourteen

Mikan and Sumire immediately start bickering. Their working together is what helped them escape in the first place, but now that they’re successfully out, they’re at each other’s throats again. And this distraction is what gets them caught. They’re saved by Ruka, but there’s still the question of finding Reo’s car and catching up to it. This spurs Sumire into using her alice for the first time in the manga. It’s incredibly useful, and combined with Hotaru’s muscle patches, it helps them get pretty far in tracking Reo.

Mikan would much prefer this pursuit be by car, though, because they’re both tired and catching up on foot is difficult. But Sumire snaps at her that involving other people in this would be dangerous. They’re special, as Alices, which means they have different responsibilities, including keeping innocent people safe and not involving them with dangerous kidnappers.

What I like about Sumire is that all of her personality traits are double-sided. Her feeling of Alice supremacy is simultaneously rooted in elitism and concern for non-Alices. The "new side" we see in this arc is not the appearance of new traits, just new perspectives. Sumire's strengths are her weaknesses, bla bla bla, so on and so forth.

It’s this exchange that helps Mikan see a new side to Sumire too. She may be elitist about her alice status, but she also has concern for others’ safety that not even Mikan had considered. She is surprised, but this changes her views on her classmate. Sumire was the first between them to run after Reo and take action, even when Mikan was frozen with shock, and she’s the one speaking up about being responsible now. There’s good to her.

But they both get kidnapped too. Add one more trauma to the list.

Mikan wakes up to some peculiar scents and to the feeling of someone’s breathing. When she opens her eyes, she sees that she’s mere inches from Natsume’s face. She jumps away in shock. She and Sumire have both been kidnapped and tied up, just like Natsume. They wanted to save him, but now they’re in just as much trouble as he is. They can only gather so much about their new surroundings before Reo comes by and they pretend to sleep.

What exactly am I supposed to take away from this panel? Like, obviously I know that they're only this close incidentally but still! There had to be a reason to include this nonsense. They didn't have to be this close.

Reo is not an easy villain. The manga did not dabble with some cartoonish evil. This guy is willing to chloroform and kidnap kids. He’s engaging in child trafficking, with commandeering a child soldier for his organization. This is what we might call a “terrorist group,” and Reo is so focused on killing the evil academy that he can’t see how much bad he’s doing that is on a similar level.

Irrelevant.

Mikan and her classmates are in serious danger and it’s hard not to be terrified when the situation seems so bleak.

This being said, Mikan’s POV is nowhere near as dismal as Natsume’s. Mikan, even in a situation as dangerous as this one, can’t fathom that they won’t somehow be able to escape. It’ll be hard and scary, but Mikan doesn’t worry that she could die or actually be sold. Whereas Natsume wakes up into this situation resigned to the fact that he’ll probably die tonight, Mikan still has hope even when it seems they don’t have a shot.

All they can do is listen for now as Reo talks to his subordinates, who inform him that the boss is not happy with his brash actions.

In the anime, Reo is sent by Z to kidnap Natsume. Everything he does, from the very beginning, is with that aim in mind. He expresses dissatisfaction with the higher ups in his own organization. But in the manga, Reo decides to kidnap Natsume on a whim. He saw him by chance and then things spiraled until he had managed to kidnap three different kids. Reo is desperate for his boss’s approval, acting above and beyond what is expected so that he can get… praise, maybe? He likes his boss, and getting his disapproval now only further encourages him to prove that this was not a bad idea.

He affirms that he’ll get Natsume to join their group and that the girls will be sold overseas as soon as their alices are figured out.

Reo approaches, kicking at Natsume with his shoe, musing about the Black Cat.

What's interesting is that because we rarely get details on his missions, we have no way of knowing if Natsume does murder people. I would guess yes, because the DA class has in the past forced children to murder (Persona killing Izumi--intentional on the ESP's part even if it was an accident) and is implied to have forced children into sexual situations (namely Luna who was groomed and Narumi who was made to use his alice on grown adults) so it wouldn't be uncharacteristic. Even Yuka killed people by taking "their souls" in their old age via stealing their alices. A little tangent. The DA class is a human rights violation.

Mikan and Sumire are unfamiliar with Natsume’s black ops identity, with his secret life of child soldiering. But Reo isn’t. Natsume is the bane of their organization, he explains, a boy so strong he can regularly overpower the alice-limiting cat mask he wears on missions (and in fact never takes the mask off during missions). But even more than that: when he was eight years old, he set his entire hometown ablaze. According to Reo, Natsume was sent to the academy instead of prison, where he was given the chance to be “rehabilitated,” only to act as a spy and antagonize all the school’s enemies.

That’s what the DA class is, after all: a spy-training organization.

Mikan and Sumire are shocked at what they’ve just heard.

Mikan thinks back on all the rumors she’s heard about him, that he’s a murderer, that he hates the academy. He has a power he doesn’t want. It all seems to click into place, more puzzle pieces aligning themselves to make a clearer picture of Natsume.

Until Sumire snaps that Natsume is not that kind of person. She’s sure that Reo is lying, and Mikan is then reminded of Ruka’s words, when he told her not to say bad things about Natsume.

Natsume has apologists and haters, and then he has Mikan, who cannot help but see good and bad and is endlessly confused by the paradox of his being.

Natsume is a jerk, for sure, and certainly not her favorite person.

But he also plays with animals and babysits his younger classmate. He can smile sometimes.

Whether or not it’s true is unimportant: even if he is a spy, he’s still her classmate, her partner.

So they have to escape, all together, because they came all this way to save Natsume, and there’s no reason why they would back out now. (Again demonstrating how powerful her optimism is--she cannot imagine that this mission of theirs will fail. They came here for a reason, therefore it will all turn out okay.)

Chapter Fifteen

Their escape plan isn’t really going anywhere until Natsume wakes up. They’re relieved to see that he’s up and okay, but despite the dire situation, the scene manages to stay silly, with Mikan trying to gnaw Sumire’s ropes off. It’s Natsume, who just woke up, who brings attention to Mikan’s earmuffs, which she suddenly remembers are for communication.

I’ll get into this more during the Z Arc, but Mikan gets little glimpses here that Natsume is different, especially since Reo just shared his DA activities. The idea that his life is miles away from anything she could imagine is fresh in her mind. Mikan and Sumire are innocent kids who got nobly but still naively involved in a very dangerous situation that they still don’t fully appreciate; Natsume is so used to being in this kind of situation that he can focus on what’s relevant.

They’re able to get into contact with Narumi, who urges them to keep pretending to sleep and to have Natsume burn off their binds. He keeps on talking, giving them advice on how to maneuver their dangerous situation as Natsume does as he’s told, burning his own binds and then moving to untie Mikan’s. She’s preoccupied with him, since he looks so obviously unwell. He looks even sicker after having used his alice, and she’s concerned about him. It’s intriguing that even though they’re all in a dangerous situation, it’s specifically Natsume’s visible illness that concerns her. It is so important, in fact, that worrying about Natsume takes precedence over really listening to what Narumi is saying. It’s important that Mikan specifically is worried about Natsume, that it’s her who shows concern and gets distracted.

Mikan sees that Natsume uses his alice (able to overpower an alice barrier, thus demonstrating his seemingly limitless power) and then gets sicker. Classic symptoms of the fourth alice shape. Only thing is that she doesn't actually know what that is yet. All in due time.

She’s distracted enough that she gets caught. Reo swoops in and swipes the earmuffs. He mouths off to Narumi and then tosses the earmuffs aside. He has bigger fish to fry, like finally figuring out what the girls’ alices are. He uses his own alice to get Sumire to confess that she’s a somatic ability type. Mikan has the nullification alice, which is effective against pheromones, so she tries to snap Sumire out of it. To distract from that, Natsume throws something to move their attention.

Mikan always prioritizes her friends over herself. She and Natsume have this in common, even just in this scene, where Natsume the martyr chooses the girls’ well-being over his own because he knows he probably won’t survive this anyway. The difference between them, though, is that at the moment, Mikan is so concerned about Sumire and later Natsume, that she can’t think about her own well-being. Her concern for others overrides her ability to even consider herself. She doesn’t view her actions here as sacrificing her own safety; it’s simply the right thing to do, which makes it the only thing she can do. She doesn’t even consider staying quiet because it never occurs to her that she can or should.

Natsume is apparently weak. He was hospitalized for a reason and their current predicament doesn’t change the fact that he’s still exhausted and unwell. But he’s still taking Reo's attention on purpose to protect the girls. Mikan watches as Reo taunts him with the promise of working for his organization instead of the school that he hates so much. Natsume smacks him off but before Reo can retaliate, Mikan throws herself between them, pushing Reo away.

She protects first, thinks of consequences later.

Why should Natsume have to listen to all of this? He’s sick! Mikan can see that he was trying to protect them, even in his weak state. She sees that someone who is suffering is being mistreated and overpowered and once again, it’s simply not an option to sit still. Mikan is impulsive so she often does the first thing that pops into her mind, and the first thing that pops into her mind here is to protect Natsume. She doesn’t wait long enough to consider the consequences of her actions, both because of her impulsivity, and because acting on this feels right. She just wants to stick up for her partner, to keep him from being mistreated by Reo. But she gets caught as a nullification alice in the process. Reo confuses her with his instant fascination, claiming that she even looks like “that woman” from ten years ago, and thus he commands his subordinates to research what they can about “that woman.”

Mikan only ever gets glimpses into information about herself. Nobody’s about to share what they know with her here, even though it clearly concerns her. Again, Mikan is often left in the dark in this way, both maintaining a sense of mystery for the reader while also making Mikan uninformed about herself. The thing is--and this will become more clear later--that Mikan isn’t so stupid that she can’t hear. All she has to go off of in regards to her potential parentage are little dropped hints like this, little suggestions of a dark history with no solid basis for her to go off of. Mikan acts happy-go-lucky, but an emotionally intuitive girl like her can tell that this information is important, even if it is limited. We’ll see more evidence later that Mikan isn’t simply being talked at; she is intaking the information. She just doesn’t have time to focus on it right now when other stuff is going on.

After all, Mikan can only afford to be confused for a moment. They’re finally left alone, and this is their chance to act. Sumire learns that they’re by the ocean, that there’s a warehouse with dynamite a little ways away, and that there’s nobody else around to save them.

So Natsume tells them to run for it. He can take care of himself, after all, and they’re just burdens on him.

Yet another example of Natsume being good--proving Ruka right. He is more than just a cold, heartless jerk. Ahh he only becomes more complicated!

They do run at his command, until he calls attention to himself, distracting Reo and his colleagues. He threatens to blow up the dynamite nearby if they move an inch and makes it clear that he’s not bluffing. He summons a fire in his hand to prove that. He’s so powerful he could overpower his mask, Misaki-sensei warned her when she first met him. And now Reo said that he regularly does on missions, to the point that his enemies only know him by his black cat mask. And now he demonstrates that he can summon a sizable flame while running on nothing but fumes. She saw him just a moment ago, when he burned the ropes, that he was exhausted by even the smallest use of alice. She can tell that this cannot be easy for him, even if he looks calm and collected.

But then he shouts at them again to run and they have no choice but to obey.

The girls are escaping, and Sumire is proactive again, thinking about what they’ll do next and how to find the academy. She stays on the mission Natsume gave them and is intent on listening, convinced that they can find someone who will help them and rescue Natsume. She trusts that Natsume knows what he’s doing, that he’ll be okay.

That’s the problem: Sumire can’t fathom that Natsume is involved with black ops because he’s a good person, and she chooses to trust him for a similar reason. He wouldn’t do something he didn’t want to do. He is good and smart and that means that he will be okay, that he’ll get out of this safely.

But Mikan has no such delusions. She knows that Natsume is a complicated person--he confuses her on a near-daily basis. He could be involved in some shady underground spy activity. He could be an arsonist or a murderer. That still wouldn’t make him black or white. For as cruel as some of his actions have been, she’s also seen sides of good to him.

But she also watched him just now too.

He was very sick, and she’s been worried about him all this time. She doubts he’d be able to escape on his own the way he promised. He threatened to blow himself up with the rest of them, and even showed off that he could do it, that he could use his alice even with a barrier, even with his illness.

Mikan saves his life through a cocktail of Natsume skepticism and intuition. There's really no evidence that he should be trusted here.

Mikan’s most spectacular trait, her intuition, kicks in again.

She doesn’t trust Natsume.

She doesn’t think he’ll be able to make it out alive.

She has a bad feeling and she trusts it, pulling her into turning back around and toward the warehouse that she just left.

She could be home free, back to the academy. She doesn’t even like Natsume that much anyway. Who really cares? Why would she go back to the scary place she just escaped instead of heading further towards the promise of safety?

Because she trusts the feeling in her gut that tells her that if she doesn’t go back for Natsume, she’ll never see him again.

And he’s her partner, damn it!

This is a huge difference between the manga and the anime, I believe. The manga here portrays Sumire’s trust in Natsume’s character as sweet and noble but ultimately misled. Meanwhile, the anime seems to put stock in her statement. Natsume is far too good a person to do such things, she says--and it must be true. The anime makes it a point to have Natsume state that he never does missions he disagrees with or that he’s morally against. Natsume is too good a person!

But the manga stresses that it doesn’t matter how good a person Natsume is, he doesn’t have a fucking choice in the matter. He wouldn’t do it if he had the choice not to--not any of it. But he doesn’t have a choice. Thus Natsume, who is a good person at heart, has actually done terrible things for the school. He has bloodied his hands on their orders and blackened his own heart in the process, leading him to become cold and miserable.This is why Mikan goes back and not Sumire. Sumire looks at Natsume and sees a cute classmate she has a crush on, who is intelligent and talented and good. She looks at him and sees stars. But Mikan sees more. She knows he’s capable of good as well as bad. She can see--even if she doesn’t fully articulate this thought--that Natsume might be the product of his situation in some ways. It’s clear he’s involved in some messed up stuff, so she doesn’t trust him. She doesn’t see stars when she looks at Natsume; she sees a person.

Chapter Sixteen

Mikan is not Sumire. She doesn’t trust that Natsume will be okay. She’s got the feeling that he’s gonna try to blow himself up to let the two of them escape, and that’s not an acceptable option for her. She’s heading back, because Natsume’s gonna kill himself to save them, and she can’t allow that to happen.

She catches him at the last possible second. She was right not to trust him!

He’s about to do it: kill himself.

She tackles him and nullifies the flame waiting in his hand and whatever flames were bound to follow.

"Did you seriously want to kill yourself?!" Read my Natsume essay for the answer (spoiler: it's yes).

Mikan instantly berates him, now that they’re on the ground and no warehouses have exploded. He was really gonna kill himself. Does he want to die? Mikan can’t understand that, because if he could see why Sumire and Mikan deserved to escape, then he should want that for himself too! How can someone see value in others, and not in himself?? (Hmm, Mikan, I wonder.)

Reo takes advantage of Natsume’s current state to scream at him to submit. Mikan catches him in her arms, holding him up. Then Reo taunts Mikan that she ruined Natsume’s plan. Now that she’s back, it’s all for nothing.

Natsume asks why she came back, but all Mikan can answer is that she was worried. She had to come back because he is her partner. She didn’t think about it; it was an impulsive choice but it wasn’t a choice at all. Again, she becomes so concerned for her friends at times that self-preservation does not even occur to her. What matter is saving Natsume, so she will act to do that, without considering that she could be hurt. And she says it so matter-of-factly: “I had to come back. You’re my partner.” Like it’s stupid he would even ask. What else was she supposed to do?

Not "I won't leave you behind," but "I can't leave you behind." This wasn't optional.

You can plan a million AUs for this manga, with hundreds of different decisions divulging into a million different outcomes. But there will never be a universe where Mikan doesn’t come back for Natsume. It would never occur to her to leave him behind. (Perhaps, it's in this way that they are fated.)

It’s too late to think back on that now anyway. She had to come back, because he’s her partner. That word might not mean anything to him, but he’s her idle puzzle, a little mystery she’s been trying to figure out after getting occasional tidbits of insight into what makes him tick. She still doesn’t fully get him: the black ops thing just blurs things even more, but she knows that he doesn’t deserve to die alone in a warehouse just to make sure she and Sumire get out okay. He deserves to live too.

Reo is sick of their “flirting,” so he commands his subordinates to capture them, but he had accidentally affected them with his alice earlier too, so they’re out of commission for the moment.

Mikan is resourceful. She’s the one to take advantage of the confusion this time, throwing dry cement into Reo’s face and dragging Natsume out of the warehouse with her.

Mikan does this all on instinct, because she can’t fathom not doing it. But the fact of the matter is that she just saved a person’s life with her alice. Moreover, she’s still protecting him, acting as the only barrier between life and death for him. If she hadn’t come back, he’d be dead. Like he was the first real example of what her alice can do, he’s also the most glaring example of how valuable her alice is, how much of a medicine it can be. Mikan doesn’t really think of any of this right away and she’ll continue to feel down on herself for all the things her alice can’t do instead of focusing on all the good it can do (but Natsume will know better).

Hotaru used her alice to help them earlier, with the earmuffs and spy gear. Ruka helped too, distracting the teachers so Sumire and Mikan can get away. Sumire helped, using her own alice, even if she is insecure about it, to find Natsume. Natsume used his alice to get them free. And Mikan finished it, using her own alice to save his life.

But it’s even more than just her alice--her personality, her optimism, loyalty, empathy, intuition, curiosity--all of it is what kept him from dying. If Mikan wasn’t Mikan, Natsume would have died. She’s the only one who would have gone back, even with such little information. She’s the only one who would have thought to.

This is what I think the story means by them being fated. The timing, sure, the way others pair them off, yeah, but also this. They are “meant to be together” insofar as Natsume is destined to fall in love with the person who saves him and Mikan is the one who saves him because she is herself; just like she falls in love with him because of who he is. (This makes sense in my head but is so difficult to put into words, but I’m trying my best.) Miriam-Webster defines a soulmate as “a person who is perfectly suited to another in temperament.” Though there’s a lot of definitions and concepts like love or soulmates can be difficult to define because they encompass such abstract topics, I’ll use this one, even if it’s not precisely what I want to convey here. They are suited for each other perfectly because Natsume needs someone who is curious and doesn’t take him at face value; she gets conflicting information so she looks harder until she can see things he’d rather keep a secret. Because she’s unique in this way, she’s the only one who would have come back for him in these circumstances. If fate is an agent here, it is simply setting pieces on the board--nobody is compelled to act or feel beyond what they choose. If this is incomprehensible, I’m sorry. I honestly don’t know how to better articulate this idea.

She lugs him along, but he’s weak and slow and they’re not getting very far. He’s heavy too, causing her to eventually slip and fall down some stairs. Natsume suggests she get out of here and leave him behind, but Mikan refuses. They bicker for a moment until she shouts that she won’t do that. Even if she could, she wouldn’t. She came back for Natsume. This whole day has been about saving Natsume. Everyone has been working hard to bring him back safely. She won’t give up, no matter what, especially since they’ve come so far. As I’ve said a hundred times, Mikan can’t imagine giving up!

Thinking really hard about how little she thought about any of this.

Mikan doesn't fully comprehend why Natsume would be willing to do what he almost did. Mikan has never given up in her life, and she’s not gonna start now, not even on him. And she doesn’t understand why he’d be willing to give up, not just on his own life, but on all their friends’ work to bring him back home.

There’s a panel of Natsume, playing with the dog, then the word, “spy.” Natsume remains an incongruity, a mystery, a mess of mixed messaging. She sees good amongst the bad, even if Reo wasn’t lying. But that also means that he should, that his future might have just enough good in it to make it worth it. She doesn’t fully get him, but she doesn’t have to. She knows enough to know he matters enough to save.

They’re about to be caught, so Mikan doubles down. She picks up a pipe and prepares for a fight. She’s a little girl with a pipe but she’s gonna protect him. She’s not gonna give up. There’s a future waiting for both of them. “Let’s go back to the academy together.” Because once she got it in her mind that she was going to save Natsume, there was no way she’d go back without having done so.

Natsume sees the situation is hopeless so he gives up and nearly kills himself; Mikan sees the situation is tricky so she grabs a pipe. Nothing is ever hopeless, even if it looks that way. This situation is no safer now than ever, but she's gonna fight 'til the end. After all, her optimism often pans out, time and time again.

They get found and Mikan attacks the guy. But she’s sadly overpowered quickly and thrown against the wall. It hurts, but she’ll live. But before she can start moving again, Natsume is screaming and suddenly setting off an explosion.

Little bit of an overreaction?

She comes to in a rush, demanding to know where Natsume is. When she’s finally calmed down, she finds out that everything is fine. Ruka thanks her for saving Natsume and on top of that she’s finally awarded her first star, promoting her to single star status!

She’s finally proven herself. She is a capable Alice, not just a stupid troublemaker, and she helped rescue somebody. She protected him and now she’s being rewarded for it. She’s just been through a traumatic ordeal, but in the end it all worked out. Things are looking up. It’s interesting how Mikan was just kidnapped but she can still look on the bright side. It takes a lot more than that to break her (but don’t worry, it will, eventually). Honestly I think this is in part due to the fact that Natsume and Mikan’s experiences just now were not the same; she did not view this event in the same dark way as he did. She never lost hope, while he instantly succumbed to the idea of dying. Additionally, everything did work out. It was scary, but all three kids were able to get out alive and with minimal damage. This was just a scary situation that the three of them were able to overcome.

We are officially past the expository stage of GA, now that Mikan is a real, bona fide Alice student.

On top of that, she was able to follow Narumi’s advice and the festival hasn’t even started yet: she did make more friends, and spent time with people she usually didn’t. She understands both Sumire and Natsume much better now. She was able to see how noble Sumire can be, how responsible and thoughtful she is, and how quick she can think on her feet, even in a tough spot. And she learned a lot about Natsume too, how he was willing to die to let the two of them get out safely, how much he struggles through his illness, but how strong he can be anyway. She also got some insight into the secret life he’s living, though she still doesn’t even know the half of it.

Though she considered these two both to be her worst enemies, they’re now people she’ll think of as friends, more or less, going forward.

So of course, the first thing she does when she gets her star is run to Natsume’s room to show him. Mikan slowly started to understand him and now he’s a friend. Just last week, she might have never even considered showing him her star. But things are different now; they’ve gone through shared trauma together, have helped rescue each other. She can’t imagine that they won’t be friends from now on. In her mind, everything--especially in regards to Natsume--is different now.

I think this arc cements the closing of the introductory part of the manga. We will still slowly be introduced to more concepts and lore, but this arc finishes up all the exposition, which is neatly symbolized by Mikan becoming a “real” Alice student and proving herself as valuable, getting her first star. It also does a good job of suggesting, and what I mean by that is:

Natsume and Ruka both have feelings for her now, which will be consistent for the rest of the manga, even if it isn’t explicitly said.

Both Natsume’s and Mikan’s complexes and insecurities have been fully introduced and will continue to be explored throughout the manga especially when it comes to their relationship (particularly their relationship with their alices and how important the other is in that regard).

It establishes that this manga is not actually a comedy and that terrible, dark things will happen. The Reo Arc is actually terrifying. Nothing that happens in this arc is normal or to be disregarded. Natsume almost killed himself. Reo wanted to sell Sumire and Mikan into the human trafficking trade. Natsume does black ops missions. This arc demonstrates not only that the manga can get dark, but that it is bound to get much darker. They can’t always get away unscathed after all.

AAJSKHJKFHJKAHDSJKSA. Ugh! No words.

Conclusion

This arc is really important for the both of them, both individually and for their relationship. I understand that Natsume falling in love with her in this arc might overshadow Mikan's own role here, but her own thoughts and feelings are just as central. After all, Natsume falls in love with her for a reason.

I had a lot of thoughts about this arc and their soulmate-ness that is demonstrated here, but thoughts like these are hard to put into words so I struggled a little with this analysis. Natsume is so much easier to write about sometimes. Mikan can be an enigma.

Tomorrow, we'll discuss the aftermath of this arc and particularly the fact that Mikan now views Natsume as a friend instead of an enemy, or at the very least someone she wants to befriend.

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primnroses · 1 year

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your top 10 konoha kunoichi?

I don't know if you mean in Naruto or in Boruto so I'm gonna go with the former because there's more to choose from. Got me thinking about who to add from 6 to 10.

10. Moegi Kazamatsuri: I really didn't know who to add so I chose her because I don't know if Karui is still a kunoichi or if she retired too. Moegi is an okay character, she doesn't do anything great but she became a jōnin instructor so she might be good.

9. Sumire Kakei: There's nothing specific that attracts me about Sumire but she can fight and she has a cute summon. I happened to watch her arc because it was the first ones back in 2017 and I didn't particularly dislike it. She's kinda cute too and her pastel colors remind me of Sakura.

8. Ino Yamanaka: There's nothing outstanding but she's friends with Sakura and also Temari now so she gets the point. Her portrayal in Naruto was good; she's not the most powerful ninja but she's a great support with sensing and Mind Transfer, and her teamwork with Shikamaru and Chōji is really cool. But then came Boruto and her writing is one of the most disrespectful and random among female characters. She's either just there to be there or there to collect L's from the bad management of a unit she's supposed to lead. And the worst is that it's humiliated very often.

7. Mirai Sarutobi: I can't say much about her but I really love her story in Konoha Shinden in her bodyguard mission. I also like that she took after her mother in genjutsu even if it's just shown in fillers because for me it's one of the most interesting fighting styles. I wish there was more of her and her bond with Shikamaru too.

6. Sarada Uchiha: I've said before than I'm not the biggest Sarada fan but she's decent. She's the daughter of the strongest couple of Konoha so she's a brilliant student with a lot of potential. I only like how Kishimoto writes her, I have mixed feelings about her in Boruto because sometimes she says really weird stuff that really doesn't make sense. Also, she could be used much more better currently than she is.

5. Chōchō Akimichi: I don't need to say anything because this girl is amazing and it helps a lot that she looks just like her mother. An icon. She needs to learn kenjutsu

4. Tenten: Truly sad that she's the same background character as ever but I've always liked Tenten. For me, the real ninja of the show who became powerful because of her own hard work. Not enough credit for her when she's Konoha's master of bukijutsu (among hundreds of ninja that use bukijutsu too), and she's the best of them. This girl is the top of something despite being sidelined, yes! She even started her own business from zero and is a proctor for the Chūnin Exams so Tenten is one of the most accomplished kunoichis.

3. Hanabi Hyūga: I know seeing Hanabi in the top 3 is very random but she has become one of my favorites since Boruto started and I watched it from time to time. First of all, she really surpassed her sister despite being from the branch family (although she never got the curse) at just 5 years old. Starting with the fact that she was a determined Gentle Fist machine, as genin she had the Byakugan perception of an adult and she became the new heiress for the title of head. Those qualities made her a jōnin with her own genin team and she's now in charge of passing down all the jutsu of the clan. It's also described in novels that she still trains to succeed her father as the Head of the Hyūga Clan, one of the noble families with the Akimichi, Uchiha and Aburame; she's a promising character. If they don't show and write this great woman it's because they don't want to.

2. Temari Nara: She's my favorite Naruto girl but this time she gets the second spot because she's not very present in Boruto, although it's not important for me, and because compared to my top 1 she's a little bit behind. Shes's still fierce, powerful and beautiful; and one of my most favorite things is that she's close with Sakura and she makes a cute trio with her and Ino too. One of the best things for me was that she was the Kazekage's main pillar, but for obvious reasons she had to leave Sunagakure. Nonetheless, she's still their Ambassador and a jōnin of Konoha too, which is more powerful than the majority of girls in this list so she's an icon. I'm pretty sad that her involvement in the series is through fillers because she's one of the most useful female characters in my opinion, and with a lot of experience.

1. Sakura Haruno/Uchiha: She's my favorite character ever so of course she's my number one kunoichi. From zero to hero, she's the same as Tenten in terms of becoming powerful through hard work and dedication, but this girl only had intelligence and perfect chakra control that couldn't flourish by herself, so Tsunade helped and raised her to become the strongest kunoichi and best medic-ninja in the world. She rose to the top, was promoted to jōnin (the only kunoichi of her class to achieve this) and still completes difficult long-term missions, is a pioneer in mental health and opened new facilities dedicated to medicine like the Children's Therapy Center in her village and the others too, became the Head of Konoha's Medical Department, directs the main hospital, teaches medical ninjutsu and is considered the only female pillar of Konoha too (and is the Hokage's bodyguard too). My girl can multitask! All the while she raised the most brilliant new gen kid practically by herself. That's an accomplished female character. She might not be in Boruto these days, but to me she still remains the most useful and promising kunoichi that is sidelined because the writing is terrible. Being the face of medicine of Konoha and a scientist expert in many fields like poison, she's not written the way she should. She's in charge of the most important sub-division of the village, one that maintains the shinobi of the Konoha and the citizens in top condition to continue their job and takes care of the main cast after every fight. But despite the bad writing, Sakura grew to be an amazing woman.

#sakura haruno #temari nara #temari #sakura uchiha #sarada uchiha #tenten #hanabi hyuga #hanabi hyuuga #chocho akimichi #chouchou akimichi #moegi kazamatsuri #ino yamanaka #mirai sarutobi #sumire kakei #inbox #boruto

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kaibutsushidousha · 1 year

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Memory in Children: Mechanical Choices (Sagrada Reset 3) - Prologue

[INDEX]

He couldn't hear a thing.

The river, so broad this close to its estuary, was flowing too serenely and the sea was too distant for him to hear the waves. The street behind him was deserted as the evening sun changed the color of the sky. It was a moment he expected to at least hear the cries of the cicadas, but strangely enough, even if he actively searched for the sound, he couldn't hear any.

Asai Kei and Haruki Misora sat next to each other on the silent tetrapods.

August's 30th sunset, warm like a weak fever, dulled his mind.

Kei closed his eyes. Within the 1-eyelid thick darkness, he recalled the image of one girl.

Souma Sumire. A fearless, lonely, and whimsical girl with the smile of a stray cat. The girl who died when he least expected it.

He was on the tetrapod where he first met her.

It happened two years ago, at 6 PM sharp on April 8th. The two met watching this sunset on the tetrapods.

(Back then, I wanted to be alone.)

He wanted to watch the setting sun without seeing anyone's face or exchanging words. He had decided that if anyone appeared, he wouldn't give them the time of his day. That didn't go as planned.

ー"Are you crying?", Souma asked.

That simple question was what it took to trigger an instinctual reaction in Kei. "What makes you think so?", he made the mistake of asking back. Asai Kei's will not to see anyone was defeated by Souma Sumire forcing their meeting.

He opened his eyes.

The setting sun had the same madder color it had back then. The color was deeper than it was when he closed his eyes. Watching this delicate color that could be irreparably mixed with the darkness of the night at any moment, Kei asked a barely audible question.

"Do you remember Guess the Android?"

He could tell Haruki was lightly moving her head next to him. Not an affirmative nod nor a negative shake. Her only move was an inquisitive tilt.

"Souma Sumire's question?"

Kei nodded.

It happened two years ago, on April 28th. Kei, Haruki, and Souma were still 14 and were on their school's rooftop after class. The rooftop of the southernmost building in the middle school campus.

Kei repeated Souma's exact words from back then.

"Suppose one of us is an android."

Asai Kei, Haruki Misora, and Souma Sumire. The three of them hadn't been together for all that long. Less than half a year. Just one summer from the end of April two years ago to August of the same year.

Since then, Kei never stopped thinking about the questions she asked that summer.

ーSuppose one of us is an android.

An android. Something not human but created identical to a human being.

ーWho is the android?

"It was from around when we first met."

Kei and Haruki's relationship started that day. The day Souma Sumire asked which of them was an android.

Kei slowly unfolded that memory. With great expectations, he examined the inside of a box he already knew the full contents of. With subdued force, he retraced that unforgettable summer from two years before.

#sagrada reset #memory in children #mechanical choices #asai kei #souma sumire #haruki misora

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nebulaleaf · 1 year

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omg so sorry to bring kasumi up but i HAD to get this off of my chest.

she’s—. i dont even know how to put it . actually i know exactly how

i remember seeing royal and being like omg wow !!!!! something to further my hyperfixation on persona 5!!!!!!!!! and seeing kasumi? like who is this. she has a cute design and all.. ( i guess ) but i honestly hated the matching color schemes with akira…………. ?????? she was definitely put in there just to be a forced love interest for akira but why do we need that when we have ryuji lmao. so i put royal on hold for a little. so when i finally play royal and see her ingame for the first time during the casino scene?????? i had a heart attack. because honestly what was even her purpose for that scene. “ oh, joker!!! i must protect my senpai at all costs because hes just so importanté to me!!! “ when he could’ve did that …..by himself…….??????? there was really zero point to it besides introducing a plain character whos very obviously supposed to be the love interest. AND OHH MY GOSH IT PISSED ME OFF SO BADDD. everytime she kept reappearing over and over at completely random times in the game i honestly felt like turning it off. because theres no DEPTH to her character and she’s just there to be the token girlfriend. ik i said that the casino scene really pissed me off but what REALLY PISSED ME OFF was the park scene. because.. what????????????………. okay so girl gets ditched, cool that is super unfortunate. then surprise surprise she finds senpai and asks to eat with him and this becomes like a weekly routine. sick of it 😔😔

AYO YOU FINALLY GOT UNSHADOW BANNED. ive had this sitting in my inbox for weeks ive refused to clear it out because i just HAD to know what it said. anyway yeah her inclusion in the opening scene is rather wedged in. a friend of mine said it feels like they put her in that scene for trailers and then wrote part of her story Around it and .... yeah. there's no reason she should join so late !!! goodness... I don't think she feels like the token love interest but that could be me vehemently rejecting it lmao. i will say akira's dialogue towards her is WAY more flirty and he has unique animations for their rank 9 romance scene?? its... hhrrrm. obvi kasumi's character doesn't revolve around being a token gf character, but so much of it DOES revolve around joker to the point that it's a bit irritating. though she revolves around someone else way more in an annoying fashion. I WANT to get to know sumire. i wanna learn about her but it's so hard to when she's constantly being shadowed by kasumi; even after the reveal. her thief outfit is jokers, her 2nd tier persona is similar to arsene, her showtime is about kasumi, even after her reveal and acceptance she returns to having her hair tied up. the reason they give (shhowing how much she's grown- that she can balance honouring kasumi while still being herself) is cool and all but um. can she have something unique about her. please. they mention sumire is good at cooking and more graceful than kasumi but................ shruhgs. waht the fuck ever give me something with MEAT.

#nebroyale #asks #p5ram

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hanako-san · 2 years

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SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE CINNAMONROLLS WHO HAVEN'T READ THE CHAPTER ! Now I wonder who is "God". Sakura ? Natsuhiko ? Maybe God doesn't even exist and everything was a lie. Does Hanako know Sakura is trapped in the school and that she assigned Hakubo as No.6 ? It's counterproductive for someone who wants to be free from this school. I hope the next chapters will answer my questions and that we will know more about Natsuhiko :)

I believe there is a god. There is no certainty that the god Amane talked about is Sakura, if so that's okay with me.I have 4 versions

The problem was that Sakura could be lying. 1) She was lying 2) She Actually is that god that would explain why Yorshiros trapped her in school 3) she works for the said god 4) Was she human in the past, consecrated or assigned to a sentence, then merged with this god?

When it comes to Sakura, I'm really not sure about these theories, AidaIro might as well catch us in a trap this way. Because we have a lot of conflicting information about Sakura She lied now whether at party tea to Nene that they were similar and that she was a human … all this is strange in her case and it is confusing to me, but even if it is 100% confirmed that she is a god, I will not be surprised . From the beginning, I suspected that we did not see Sakura's true potential and that it could turn out to be really dangerous. As for my thoughts, I take them with distance. I will wait for what AidaIro shows us. At this moment, it is difficult to say anything. Natsuhiko … I'm not saying that he can't be a god, and it seems to me the least likely because he got the necklace from Sakura. I can believe that Tsukasa has/maybe? a god within him. He is the only one of all who has been able to kill the third mystery in his territory, and it should be impossible! I also believe that each of the mysteries has powers from god.

There are so many gods in this series that it's hard to tell. I really want to know what's going on, but I know we'll have to wait.

Does Amane know … I suppose so … he has to know something, but history so far shows that they don't know each other, but Amane doesn't speak much either, it's hard to get anything out of him. We don't know his thoughts, so I suppose he might know Sakura and it wasn't revealed to us. Only what I know now is in Chapter 92, Amane is really unaware of what is about to happen,on the other hand, Sakura said she doesn't know what will really happen to Natsuhiko, and in the next chapter, Sumire says that Sakura wants to return everything as it once was, and mysteries are unnecessary. It's hard for me to say anything, since we got such strange denials and it does not make sense at the moment and what is the truth, I think that the next chapters will show us. We just have to wait

Honestly, Anon, I'd like to know more about the twins' past. What happened? Who was beating Amane and why he killed Tsukasa and wants to know more about Sakura too. If we knew Natsuhiko's future, maybe we would also know Sakura's past? Who knows? I doubt your questions will be answered in chapter 94 :). But once we get to know the questions for our answers, we just have to wait, wait patiently.

I know I couldn't help you to clear up your doubts, and my answers are chaotic. It's hard to tell me anything now. After all, the chaos I gave you here you understood me and The only thing I pointed out from chapter 93 is that we have to be patient and wait for what the next chapters will show(I know that I am repeating myself, but this is to sum up my thoughts)

#jibaku shounen hanako kun #jibaku shonen hanako kun #toilet bound hanako kun #jshk spoilers #my answers #anonymous

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scarletwritesshit · 1 year

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〆Goro Akechi x Sumire Yoshizawa 〆Who am I, if Not a Shell of my Former Self?

"I don’t remember who I am."

"You are Sumire, if I am not mistaken."

"Yes, but beyond my real name, I have no concept of myself. All I know is that I am the inferior Yoshizawa sibling."

"I have no conclusive solution for you there, as I hardly even see myself as anything other than my father’s plaything.”

Sumire and Akechi hoped that they still remained anchored in the true reality. No delusional therapists to turn Japan into a dystopia of perfection, no recorded existence of the Metaverse, just a detective recovering from years of abuse and an aspiring gymnast once again seeing the world through her own eyes. It felt real. They felt physically there. Then again, so did the last two realities they had experienced.

"It’s an awful feeling, isn’t it Akechi-senpai?" Sumire asked.

"No need to refer to me with such formalities. It matters not to me in a conversation with a friend. That aside, might I ask, what precisely are you referring to?"

"S-sorry…Goro. I keep forgetting that you’re not as uptight as you used to be. Uhm, anyways, what I meant was having to fake your entire self just to appeal to those who hold high expectations in you. You never really get to be yourself, and if you were someone before, all sense of that identity is lost."

"I am not sure if I can exactly relate in your case, seeing as how I was never someone to begin with," Akechi said, no longer bothering to hide his dejected attitude from her.

"Well, now that you’re free, you can act on your own terms to finally learn what the real Goro Akechi is like.”

"So, you’re saying that I should kill of my own free will..."

"N-no!" Sumire panicked. "Don’t you want to move on from being a killing machine?"

"I suppose that sounds appealing, but killing is the only thing that I know how to do skillfully.”

Sumire thought for a moment. How was she supposed to coax a former killer into becoming at least a semi functional human being? She didn’t even know where to begin with herself, let alone another scarred individual like Akechi. All of the activities that came to her mind was Kasumi this, Kasumi that. Nothing really screamed "Sumire, no, I would enjoy this."

Perhaps this was the perfect opportunity for them to rediscover themselves, together?

"The only thing that I know how to be is Kasumi. But there still has to be me in there somewhere, right? I-I apologize if I am speaking utter nonsense to you."

"You are making absolutely no sense" Akechi said, without hesitation. "What could you possibly mean by…having yourself inside of you somewhere?"

"Well, that’s what we are trying to find out, are we not? I gotta stop trying to be like Kasumi altogether, and you gotta find out who you truly are."

Akechi still could not seem to grasp this concept. It was all too unfamiliar to him, as he had known nothing but abuse for the entirety of his life. He was clearly confused, squinting his eyes at Sumire and skeptical of whether or not she actually knew what she was talking about.

How could she know what she speaks of? Sumire had absolutely no idea who Sumire was. She only knew Kasumi. What made her think that she had the ability to dictate who Akechi was? Shido had done that to him enough growing up, and he wasn’t about to allow yet another person define who he was.

Yet, he was at a loss of where to begin discovering his true self. He can't start with what he knew, as his goal was to break free of his reputation of being a killer. That was unfortunately all that he was capable of. Sumire must see something completely different in him. An actual human being beneath the wrongdoings he committed against his will. Akechi couldn’t understand why she viewed him in such a positive manner, or why her kindness was somehow getting to him.

"How should I expect you to know where to begin, when you don’t even know who you are yourself?" Akechi asked, clearly becoming frustrated with his inner turmoil.

"Well, I know that I am Sumire, and not my sister. That's enough of a start to separate reality from delusion, is it not?"

Akechi did not respond to Sumire’s question.

"And you know that you are no longer a pawn of Shido’s. You're a free man. At the core of this all, we're in the same situation. Practically blank slates."

"And how do you suppose we fill in the blanks of who we are?"

"Maybe we just...need to try a little bit of everything. No more being intimidated by life's potential; we just need to jump in and have at it!"

"You’re acting awfully enthusiastic for someone who was just freed from...possibly two layers of false realities?"

"I told you, I'm putting my life as Kasumi behind me. You aren’t going to get anywhere with a negative attitude like that!"

"I suppose I cannot allow myself to be weighed down by the chains that I have been freed from months ago."

"Exactly! You've made this much progress in rehab, so you cannot be stopped in your tracks now!"

Akechi quietly thought to himself for a moment. He had been undergoing extensive rehabilitation for a few months now, and he had a better grip on himself than when he was working under Shido. He felt more, down to earth, as one may say, but he could alas, not depend on others to hold his hand through life.

It was his chance to carve a path for himself. All he needed to do was take the first strike. Yet as much as he may try to deny it, he could not resist the feeling of wanting to step into a new life with someone that he felt legitimately cared for him for the first time in his life.

After a moment of hesitation, Akechi nodded his head in agreement.

"And I refuse to stop."

Sumire seemed relieved to have finally gotten through to Akechi. He was a fairly reasonable man once he calmed himself down and collected his thoughts. For a brief moment, she was worried that he may snap and lose his temper like he was previously infamous for doing.

Akechi did not allow himself to lose his cool out of frustration. In fact, Sumire was fairly sure that was the calmest he had ever been during a disagreement of their views.

"That's good news!" she said, enthusiastically. "But I guess you are right about being at a loss of where to start."

"Well then, why don't we start together?" Akechi suggested.

"T-together? That's a rather surprising statement coming from you, Akechi! N-no offense intended, of course!"

"I mean it. We've been through this much for this long, so why not face what lies ahead as one? We may learn a thing or two about ourselves from each other."

Sumire felt like she was beginning to burn up. Face the rest of her life, with a boy who had already helped her through a rough couple of months? She did initially plan on working with him to figure out a sense of self-identity, but Sumire was thrown off guard by Akechi suggesting the idea himself.

The way he phrased it made Sumire think he had…slightly different intentions. Or maybe it could be her awkwardness influencing her perception of Akechi’s feelings. Though, who wouldn’t become flustered when their adorable, loyal friend suddenly says that they want to face the world with you together? Surely, he just means as friends, right? There's no way that he could have enough understanding to think that-

"Huuuh? Like, as in a rest of our lives kind of thing?" she asked, words practically falling out of her mouth.

Sumire must've caught Akechi off guard as well, or maybe he wasn’t aware of the extent of the words he was saying.

"I wouldn’t object. After all, we know each other better than ourselves."

"Senpai, d-do you know what you could possibly be implying here?"

"Sumire, if it’s one thing that we have learned from being dumped off here, it’s that we should listen to our heart, and not let the pressure of others define who we are. I can tell you, though it is not something that I fully understand myself, I find the strangest sense of comfort in talking with you."

Sumire was left completely speechless.

“It is merely a suggestion, but perhaps we can start by teaching each other what it’s like to be genuinely loved. No one else has tended to our emotional needs in such a way, correct? A great understanding seems to be present between us, something that I have learned is important in any form of relationship.”

"Ah...S-senpai?"

He pointed towards the calendar on the wall behind them. The date was February 14th, not even two weeks after Maruki falsely assumed that Akechi was being put to rest permanently. By this time, he had undergone months of rehabilitation in the true reality, and even though it was still sinking in after all that he had experienced in the Metaverse, Akechi trusted himself and his intellect enough to have a sneaking suspicion of what he was feeling for Sumire.

"It is Valentine’s Day, after all" he noted. "Even if it is just for today, I’d like to take the first steps to rediscovering our true selves, together."

Sumire had given up completely on words at this point. Her perception of those around her had clearly been warped, yet what good would she be if she continued to believe everything to be a lie? Akechi was speaking genuine words, and she would be in no right to show any disbelief, especially if it was from his heart.

Tears now building up in her eyes, she flung herself into his arms and held onto him tightly.

The unlikeliest of allies had found themselves to be more alike than they thought, so who was she to deny a sincere bond from someone who absolutely refused to leave her despite the rocky road that recovery has been?

“Akechi…” Sumire managed to say through her tears, “does this mean that you l-like me?”

“I wouldn’t say that like is the precise word that I would use here, but I think you got the idea,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.

If they wanted to heal from a lifetime trauma and emptiness, they would first have to learn to see themselves in a positive light.

And what better way to learn how to love than with someone close to you who felt exactly the same?

#persona 5 royal spoilers #persona 5 spoilers #goro akechi #sumire yoshizawa #sumigoro #fanfic #fanfiction #valentines day

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