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heyiwrotesomethings · 11 months

Note

Oh!!! It's a good thing I was staying up late or else I might've missed this!! (Oh god this got a lil long, I'm so sorry ajdgskahd)

Using she/her, how about a kakegurui one where R(eader) is a relative of Yumeko's, maybe her sister (or cousin could work too), and it's like. Yumeko's the fun loving one, her canon sister I imagine is the calm one, and R is like the angry takes no shit from anyone type, and she's there to watch over Yumeko's trouble attracting ass to keep her inline, so to focus on that, she doesn't gamble (Yumeko does enough of that for both of them) but now that's making trouble turn to R instead in the form of an infuriating Kirari, R like back talks to her and would probably bite a hand that gets too close if she has to, and when Kirari in one (underhanded) way or another manages to corner R into a gambling match with some poor soul so Kirari can observe her, R shows that she's just as good and insane as her relatives (though calms down faster?) , aaaahh I don't know what else to add on or how to end this, can't think much this late so here you go!! I hope you have fun!!

The Jabami Blood Flows

Jabami Sister Reader, Yumeko Jabami and Kirari Momobami (Platonic)

A/N: Here it is! Sorry I didn’t really get into the gamble. I couldn’t make myself research exactly how craps works and I’m not smart enough to calculate any math or cheats. The canon gambling timeline might be a little messed up too because it’s been awhile… But I think I captured the spirit of what you were asking for. Thanks for reading! Word Count: 2,523

(Y/n) couldn’t remember what life was like when her parents were alive, nor could she really remember what her oldest sister Souko was like before Yumeko had to send her away to live in that special hospital. All she knew was that life as a Bami was eat or be eaten, take or be taken from, and she hated it.

When Yumeko told (Y/n) of her plans to transfer to Hyakkaou, she was dead set against her going. That was where she went to school, Momobami Kirari. The one who had a hand in their older sister’s decline in mental health along with their own aunt. However, nothing that she said to Yumeko could get her to change her mind. So (Y/n) did what any good and responsible sister would do and filled out her own transfer papers so she could tag along.

It was difficult keeping track of Yumeko when they were two years apart, especially when the middle school was in a separate wing of the sprawling building.

But after she had heard about Yumeko becoming a house pet within the first week, (Y/n) had nearly blown a gasket. In retaliation, she quickly sized up the casino disguised as a school and realized the students could do basically whatever they wanted. (Y/n) was disciplined, a diligent worker and good student, so she got all of her schoolwork ahead of time and did it at home so she could keep an eye on Yumeko throughout the day.

She allowed Yumeko to take part in the Debt Swapping Game to undo the damage she had done to herself and her “new friend” Saotome, but after that (Y/n) was all over her… not that her nagging was very affective, unfortunately.

“You’re so cute when you pout!” Yumeko gushed, squeezing (Y/n)’s cheeks.

(Y/n) grabbed her sister’s wrists and groaned, “Neesan, I’m serious! No more gambling! We have the money, pay off the debt so you can stop wearing that ridiculous tag!”

“Sweet little sister, always looking out for me. You don’t worry so much, okay? I want to keep this tag just for awhile longer.”

“Why? It makes no sense, people treat you worse than an animal!” (Y/n) only got more upset the longer this conversation dragged on, “Get rid of it!”

“I’m not going to do that,” Yumeko smiled, somehow so carefree, “it makes for some really interesting gambles!”

“You’re so stupid!” (Y/n) suddenly yelled, finally shocking the smile off of Yumeko’s face, replaced by mild surprise, “It’s like you want to end up like Oneesan, you want to leave me all alone!”

“(Y/n)—“ Yumeko reached out her hand to (Y/n) but she ran passed her and kept running until she found an empty classroom to cry in.

She couldn’t cry forever though, and soon fell into a quiet, simmering anger that began to boil the more she thought about how their lives had come to this.

“Momobami Kirari.” She hissed hatefully. She ruined Souko and was in the process of taking Yumeko away from her too. Well, (Y/n) wasn’t going to standby quietly.

She wiped her eyes and and stood up, tromping through the halls, she followed the signs until she came to the Student Council room and without bothering to knock, she pushed the door open with a loud thump, making the pair that resided within look up.

“You can’t just charge in here like that!” Sayaka was quick to reprimand.

But Kirari put up a hand, “Don’t be troubled, Sayaka. It’s just one of my dear little cousins paying me a visit. I’d recognize a Jabami anywhere. Care for tea, (Y/n)? I haven’t seen you since you were quite small, you’ve grown a lot.”

“Jabami…” Sayaka’s mood soured a bit more. One Jabami was already one snake too many.

“And you look very cute in the middle school uniform.” Kirari continued on, tilting her head towards Sayaka, “I remember your middle school days Sayaka, you looked very cute in that uniform too, although this one is nice as well.” She tugged on the hem of Sayaka’s jacket for emphasis.

“Thah- thank you, President.” And like that, Sayaka was subdued, but still a little wary of their impromptu guest.

“I don’t want your stupid tea, or small talk!” (Y/n) yelled. “I want you to get rid of the house pet system!”

“You can’t just storm in here and demand such a thing!” Sayaka bristled.

“Ah, is Yumeko refusing to pay off her debt?” Kirari sat back in her chair slightly, “Unfortunately for you, I’m not inclined to accept your request. Your sister is just too fun to watch.”

“I hate you!” (Y/n) seethed, Kirari’s eyes widened, but it was clear amusement rather than surprise at the outburst, “I hate what the Bami clan is under your rule! If it was someone else— if things could have been different— My parents would be alive, Souko wouldn’t be in the hospital and you wouldn’t be trying to take Yumeko from me right now! I hate gambling! I hate that when people gamble, they are risking the happiness of people they are supposed to care about too! I hate you for pitting everyone against each other all the time! You have the power to stop all this before we all destroy each other for good, but you don’t use it, and I despise you for it!”

“Oh my,” Kirari cupped her between her thumb and index fingers, “so much resentment for a girl so young. Are you sure you aren’t Saotome’s little sister?” She chuckled.

“This isn’t funny!”

“Is it not? I find it a bit amusing at least. For someone with Jabami blood flowing through her veins, you are very adamantly going against your nature. It’s interesting. You might be one to watch as well.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“I think Yumemi has plans for your sister today. You might want to start making your way to the auditorium to cheer her on.” Kirari said instead, steepling her fingers in front of her coral blue lips.

A look of realization and then dread fell over (Y/n)’s face. She gave Kirari one more glare, then bolted from the student council room.

“What a rude girl!” Sayaka huffed. “Has she no respect for upperclassmen at all?”

“Easy Sayaka,” Kirari soothed with a teasing lilt, “I think my week just became a little more interesting.”

***

In the days after Yumeko’s admittedly unique gamble against Yumemi, (Y/n) had taken to giving her dear older sister the cold shoulder. It made Yumeko sad and pouty of course, but until she could promise (Y/n) that she was done gambling for good, (Y/n) refused to talk to her. She started going back to her classes like normal instead of following her sister around and did her best not to think about all the bad situations Yumeko could be putting herself through.

But she couldn’t ignore her sister for long, not when an unfamiliar upperclassman came to her classroom to summon her for a gamble. Apparently, Yumeko had got herself in a lot more trouble than (Y/n) had dared thought possible, or so the house pet had claimed.

“Where is she? Yumeko!” (Y/n) ran into the room, only turning around when she heard the door lock behind her. “Hey! What are you doing? Open the door!”

“That was a lot easier than I thought it would be.”

(Y/n) whipped her head to the back of the room to see a tired looking upperclassman, another house pet, sitting at a fancy craps table in front of a large mirror that almost took up the whole wall.

“I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this to get back at Jabami for what she and Saotome did to me at that damn debt swapping game. You’re her little sister, right? What am I saying, of course you are.”

“What do you want? Who are you?” (Y/n) asked defensively.

“Kiwatari Jun.” The upperclassman answered with a smirk, “And I’m gonna turn you into a house pet.”

“Like hell you are. You can’t force someone into a gamble unless they are part of the council. Unlock the door.” (Y/n) commanded, but Jun chuckled darkly.

“You’re right, I can’t make you do anything, but the door is locked from the outside, and I don’t have the key.”

“Then I guess we’re just stuck here forever until we die.” (Y/n) hotly retorted.

“Not the case,” he knocked on the mirror behind him. “See this, it’s a one way window. People can see us, but we can’t see them. Once we gamble, someone will come and let us out.”

“I’m not going to gamble you.”

“You will. Word is your sister is going on a gambling tear without you yapping in her ear. She’s got a real big gamble coming up today with that crazy Beautification Committee officer. You know, the one who likes swinging a gun around.”

“Yumeko already gambled her and was disappointed. She wants nothing to do with Ikishima now.” (Y/n) had really hated that gamble. It was exceedingly frightening. She was glad Yumeko had been put off by Midari’s recklessness in some shape.

“She came up with a new gamble that really has your sister going. Safe to say she’s giving her another chance. I don’t expect you to believe me, but is it really a risk your willing to take? If you aren’t there… you might not see her again.”

(Y/n)’s blood froze. She didn’t want to believe this guy, in fact, she was sure he was lying, but her fear of losing Yumeko was stronger than reason. Saving Yumeko was the only thing she could think of that was truly worth gambling for…

“What is the game?” She finally asked through gritted teeth.

“Craps,” he swept his arm over the table, “A simple dice game, what do you say?”

“I want to test the dice.”

Jun exhaled though his nose, “Not a gambler, huh? You sure seem to know what to look for.”

“When you grow up in the world that I have, you can’t help but pick up a thing or two.” (Y/n) sat down at the opposite side of the table, she could feel her heartbeat picking up like it would at the starting line of a race, or before reading a speech in class. She hated the feeling. She hated how her body loved the feeling. The excitement of doing something that felt totally crazy.

Despite not remembering her mother very well, she was definitely her daughter. That blood flowed through her veins as it did with Yumeko and Souko. A red glow briefly reflected off of her eyes.

“Are we doing this, or not?”

All of Jun’s little tricks were exposed round after round, but even if (Y/n) had let them slide, she was rolling perfectly every time, a skill she had picked up by merely watching Souko practice as a toddler, just a baby even. If she wasn’t so dead set against gambling, she could probably be making millions of yen a week. Her playing style reminded Jun more of Mary, but every once in awhile, she’d make an absolutely insane call that could only be something a Jabami would ever think to do.

It didn’t take long before all of the money the student council had leant him was on the other side of the table and with it, his dreams of freeing himself from his house pet chains. Now he was another four million yen in the hole.

“No… you’re just a snot-nosed middle schooler!” He hissed, pounding his fists against the table, making the dice and chips clink together. “I was supposed to win.”

“Idiot.” (Y/n) smirked, the red gleam appeared in her eyes once more, “Don’t you know nothing is guaranteed in gambling, nothing but disappointment for someone anyway.” She got up from her chair, not even caring to take her winnings with her. “A pity a had to lose my no gambling streak because of you. You weren’t even a challenge.”

She walked over to the door, pleased to see it was already opening in anticipation of her approach. She was a little surprised to see it was Sayaka who opened the door, however. She was even more surprised when Sayaka pulled her forward and a zapping noise met her ears, followed by a heavy object hitting the ground. She turned to see Jun curled up on the floor and saw the taser in Sayaka’s hand. He must have been coming up to attack her for humiliating him so badly.

“You never learn, do you, Kiwatari?” Sayaka tisked, “Lose with dignity for once.”

“Thank you for the show, Jabami (Y/n).” Kirari rounded the corner seconds later. She must have been watching from the other side of the glass. Suddenly this impromptu gamble was making a lot more sense. Jun didn’t seem smart enough to come up with a scheme like this himself.

“I should have paired you up with someone interesting, but I wanted to see what I was working with first. You did not disappoint. We will have to do something like this again soon.”

“No way,” (Y/n) could already feel herself coming down from the brief high of gambling a upperclassman into submission, “I’m not going to let you catch me in a position like this again. No way in hell! Yumeko isn’t even in trouble, is she?”

Kirari smiled, “No, she’s not. However, I’m sure I could make an offer or two you simply would not be able to refuse. Whether it’s to forbid your sister from gambling in this school again, ending the house pet system, dethroning me as student council president, or even as the head of the Bami clan, I’m sure we could work something out. I think it would be really exciting for us to gamble one day.”

(Y/n) hated the shiver of excitement that ran up her spine. There were a couple of options in that short list she wouldn’t mind seeing to fruition, yet she shook her head and bumped into Kirari as she passed her.

“Just stay away from me!”

“I’ll be seeing you around, (Y/n). Have a good rest of your day.” Kirari waved, watching (Y/n) stomp away with amusement.

***

“Oh, (Y/n)?” Yumeko was surprised that after days of the cold shoulder, (Y/n) had sought her out for a hug, but she was very happy for the suprise affection to say the least and instantly returned the embrace. “You’re being so sweet to me! What brought this on, I wonder?”

“Don’t gamble with Ikishima ever again, got it?” (Y/n) ordered, “And always make sure you have your phone on you so I can ask you what you’re up to, okay?”

“Okay, okay!” Yumeko giggled, “You don’t have to worry. That person you just mentioned is dead to me anyway.”

A strangled moan of Yumeko’s name could be heard in the distance, but no one acknowledged it.

“Hey,” Yumeko’s eyes lit up, “let’s go do something fun this weekend. Just you and me, anything you want, okay?”

A small smile worked its way onto (Y/n)’s lips and she nodded, hugging her sister tighter.

“Yeah!”

#kakegurui x reader #kakegurui oneshots #kkg x reader #kkg oneshots #requests #anonymous

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singular-yike · 4 months

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So what's the deal with everybody's favorite spoopy mirror Mitsumo?

It's been a while since my last post, hasn't it? I'm glad to be back doing another one

I've been busy with my Len'en Tweet Collection project recently, a thorough translation of all tweets related to JynX and Len'en! Check it out if you'd like, but it is mainly just for archival purposes, any info will be logged on the Len'en wiki eventually.

Now! Back to our topic of the day. One might think that there won't be much going for this stage 1 boss, especially since they don't even contribute to the world-building much, unlike Souko.

I thought that would be the case as well, but as I did my research, I found that there's actually still quite a bit to go through with them. So, let us take a dive into this silly-looking mirror and their tagalong!

Visualized Mental Scars — Mitsumo (and Terumi!)

Name: Mitsumo

The name Mitsumo (照雲) is a simple one, comprised of two kanji meaning "illuminate" (照) and "cloud" (雲) respectively.

These are likely taken from the first kanji in shouyoukou (照妖鏡) and ungaikyou (雲外鏡) respectively, the type of object Mitsumo is/inhabits, and the youkai Mitsumo is based on. More on them later.

Name: Terumi

Terumi (輝美), Mitsumo's little tagalong, also has a simple name, the two kanji meaning "shine" (輝) and "beauty" (美) respectively. This name is also a pun on the Japanese word for "mirror", kagami (鏡), as the two kanji can be read as kaga and mi respectively.

Background: Evil-illuminating Mirror

The only concrete piece of information we have about Mitsumo, is that they are a "evil-illuminating mirror" youkai.

An "evil-illuminating mirror" (照妖鏡 CN: zhàoyāojìng JP: shoumakyou) refers to enchanted mirrors originating from Chinese legends that are able to reveal a youkai's true form or magic.

In Japanese tales, they're more often known as "demon-illuminating mirrors" (照魔鏡 shoumakyou) or "youkai-felling mirrors" (降妖鏡 gouyoukyou).

And that's all we know about Mitsumo. Notably, it's not even clear whether they are the mirror itself or a spirit inhabiting the mirror.

Abilities

Project Trauma

Mitsumo is known to have two major abilities, chief amongst them is their ability to "project trauma".

The verb used in the original Japanese is utsusu (映す), which refers to the action of a mirror capturing a reflection and showing its image upon its surface. But also to project something, like onto a TV screen or onto a wall.

So we can surmise that Mitsumo is able to show whoever looks into them their greatest trauma, destroying their minds and taking them over as a vessel.

When this happens, that headband with the tiny mirror apparently manifests on their victims head, and Mitsumo gains total control over them. This is needed because, being a mirror, Mitsumo cannot move by themself much, and thus requires assistance.

Producing Clouds

As we can see in BPoHC though, Mitsumo and Terumi ride on a tower of clouds to fly about and fight the protagonists.

This is revealed in a Kanae stream to be an ability they employ when they're getting ready to fight, as it allows them quick escape should their vessel get struck down in battle.

However, this apparently consumes much youkai energy, so Mitsumo prefers to avoid using it if they can.

Mythological Basis: Ungaikyou

Mitsumo is likely based on the ungaikyou (雲外鏡 mirror beyond the clouds), a youkai first seen in the 18th century artist Toriyama Sekien's Illustrated Bag of One Hundred Housewares (百器徒然袋).

Above: Toriyama Sekien's illustration of the ungaikyou

Not much is known about the original ungaikyou, not even what it can do, simply that it exists, at least according to Toriyama.

However, as you can see from the illustration, the mirror rests on a tower of clouds (or mirror stand that is designed to look like clouds), and has a rather silly face in the mirror.

This design is quite heavily reflected in Mitsumo, with the clouds they produce and the many eyes on the mirror.

Origins

The accompanying text for this entry reads:

In my dreams, I thought to myself, "The so called 'evil-illuminating mirror' is able to capture upon its surface the forms of various bizarre things, so when I think about what happens when its shadow is captured, what came to me was this youkai."

It is frankly unclear what Toriyama means by this, though what is agreed on is that this likely suggests:

This youkai is likely invented by Toriyama, if inspired by a dream.

This youkai is likely based on the evil-illuminating mirror.

Not much can be gleaned from this, so we could try turning to its name instead. Ungaikyou, the "mirror beyond the clouds".

It's been suggested that perhaps the name is a reference to the Classic of Mountains and Seas (山海經), read sengaikyou in Japanese. It's a classical Chinese text that notably features a great number of descriptions of Chinese youkai, over 350 of them.

Additionally, it's been suggested that the "beyond the clouds" bit of its name refers to the "clear skies", which is further a metaphor for how the evil-illuminating mirror is able to reveal the true form of things, unobstructed by illusions.

Abilities

While Toriyama does not give any description to what the ungaikyou actually does, later writers have expanded upon the youkai and gave it a variety of somewhat similar abilities.

In the 1997 Dictionary of the Monster (幻想動物事典) by Takumi Kusano (草野巧), he gives the ungaikyou the ability to "show humans the image of a youkai they could become".

In the Illustrated Compendium of Youkai (図説　妖怪辞典) by "Youkai dot com" (妖怪ドットコム), the ungaikyou is given the ability to "control other youkai whose form has been reflected in the mirror".

These two abilities can be seen to combine into Mitsumo's ability, showing whoever peers into them a horrifying sight and then taking over their body.

Nature

As mentioned, there's not much we can tell from Toriyama's original depiction, but many later interpretations group it, and in fact every youkai in this book, into a group of youkai known as tsukumogami.

The word tsukumogami (付喪神 gods/spirits that posses [things that are] ruin[ed]) has been applied to applied to many different things, so what it specifically refers to isn't exactly 100% clear-cut.

In general though, the modern understanding is that they are objects that have existed for 100 years and thus become alive, gaining a spirit of its own.

For the most part, modern interpretation of the ungaikyou considers it a tsukumogami, often of an evil-illuminating mirror.

While there are 2 major examples that differ from this, they clearly do not relate to Mitsumo, so I've elected to omit them.

As far as I can tell, there's nothing that directly indicates that Mitsumo is actually an ungaikyou, let alone a tsukumogami, so there's nowhere we can really go with this, unfortunately.

Mini Theory: What is Mitsumo?

I have a small, not very substantiated theory about Mitsumo that I thought I might as well share anyways.

This theory is based on 2 major facts:

Mitsumo seemingly has a torii shrine gate with them, though warped in a malicious direction, judging by the horns.

Mirrors have long been objects of worship in Japan, popular as shintai, an object in which the gods' spirits dwell, at Shinto shrines.

My little theory goes, that Mitsumo was once worshiped as some sort of god, likely thanks to them being an evil-illuminating mirror, helpful in combating youkai and dispelling evil.

Mitsumo could have been a god that dwelled in the mirror, or they could simply be the mirror's own consciousness once it got old enough and gained a spirit.

Nevertheless, when worship of Mitsumo eventually faded away, they felt betrayed by his followers. These negative feelings eventually boiled over, corrupting them and transforming them into a youkai.

It is, after all, often said that youkai and gods are two sides of the same coin, the difference being only in whether they're worshipped by humans or not. Sometimes, one being can even be both at the same time.

That's all this theory is, that Mitsumo was a god whose worship faded, their resentment towards this transforming them into the malicious youkai that we know today.

Ending

And that's all I've got on Mitsumo, not a lot, but not little either.

They're a rather straight-forward character, all things considered, and yet they still have an air of mystery about them, it's the wonderful charm of Len'en, really. Let's hope that we'll get to learn more about them in the future~!

As usual, I hope you enjoyed~! :)

#len'en #len'en project #len'en lore #mitsumo #I had a lot of fun researching for this!#it's been a long while so perhaps I simply miss it #here's hoping my next break isn't this long #but if is then ah well

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011-thinger · 11 days

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Souko yayyyy just realized I forgot the charms but oh whatever

#len'en #puppet dance performance #len'en art

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sevenboarproductions · 1 year

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[IDOLiSH7] [Part 6] Chapter 4: Like a candle

6.4.1. - Bonds | Freedom

Nikaidou Yamato: Regarding MEZZO’’’s new song… what did you mean by wanting to do it like me?

Ousaka Sougo: …I don’t know how to put it well. But in the past, when the topic of the entertainment industry or your parents came up…

Ousaka Sougo: …It… put you in a very bad mood, didn't it?

Nikaidou Yamato: I really held such a grudge, huh….

Ousaka Souko: Ah, no, that’s not…

Nikaidou Yamato: I’m sorry for causing that trouble…

Ousaka Sougo: No, no! That’s not what I was going for.

Ousaka Sougo: But now you're actively starring in movies, and even doing your best in “Mikazuki Ookami”…

Ousaka Sougo: I realized you’re separating these things from your past… I want to have that sort of mindset, too.

Nikaidou Yamato: Separating… You’re right, I'm kind of separating them.

Nikaidou Yamato: It’s not like I resolved it cleanly, but for now, I won’t let these things catch up to me.

Ousaka Sougo: That’s the feeling I got… You’ve always been a nice person, Yamato-san, but now, it’s an especially natural sort of kindness.

Nikaidou Yamato: Stop flattering me. I was just apologizing for all the trouble I caused.

Ousaka Sougo: I’m not flattering you…

Nikaidou Yamato: But, that… I get it. To put something between you and the Ousaka household, you want to complete this song about bonds?

Ousaka Sougo: …Yes….

Nikaidou Yamato: Isn’t trying to challenge yourself a good thing? But… Sou, you’re the type to overthink things easily, so don’t get worked up about it too hard.

Nikaidou Yamato: There’s a lot of families, and each one progresses differently. I think it’s fine if you do it at your own pace, Sou.

Ousaka Sougo: Thank you… but….

Nikaidou Yamato: What is it?

Ousaka Sougo: I always wanted to be free from my parents.

Nikaidou Yamato: ……

Ousaka Sougo: I wanted to live freely without being controlled. I wanted to freely sing the songs I liked and be in touch with my beloved music.

Ousaka Sougo: But when I got that… I realized that being hated and avoided is a kind of shackle, too.

Ousaka Sougo: I don’t want to care about my parents anymore.

Ousaka Sougo: I'm not wishing for them to love me, and I'm not doubting my decision, either. But I don’t want to feel like this now, after all this time.

Ousaka Sougo: I want to be carefree, unbound by anything. That’s why I want to turn that story of bonds that’s beloved by so many people into a song with my own hands.

Ousaka Sougo: But to be honest, I would be happy if I could accept my relationship with my parents honestly like you did, Yamato-san…

Nikaidou Yamato: ….Haha…. I didn’t accept it, either.

Nikaidou Yamato: I still think my father is the worst. Maybe it's just because I got fed up and gave up…. But I decided that it's fine like this.

Ousaka Sougo: Why did you think so…?

Nikaidou Yamato: Why…? Hm… I wonder. Maybe because I became an adult?

Ousaka Sougo: An adult…

Nikaidou Yamato: No, maybe not… I still feel like a kid. Wasn’t I more mature and cool last year?

Ousaka Sougo: …..

Ousaka Sougo: I could confirm it using a picture from last year?

Nikaidou Yamato: No, no, I just said that because it fit the atmosphere. Don’t take it that seriously.

Ousaka Sougo: I’m not so sure about you being a child but… right now, Yamato-san, you look carefree and unburdened. Calm and collected like an adult.

Nikaidou Yamato: Ooh, not bad, is it?

Ousaka Sougo: …I think I want to become like you, Yamato-san.

Nikaidou Yamato: ….

Ousaka Sougo: It's probably selfish of me to say that without knowing your worries, Yamato-san, but…

Nikaidou Yamato: Haha… No, that makes me happy. Thank you.

Nikaidou Yamato: Hey, Sou. It’s interesting that although you want to be free, the song you’re making is about bonds.

Ousaka Sougo: Interesting…?

Nikaidou Yamato: Bonds tie you to something. Like a rope you use to tie cattle to a tree.

Nikaidou Yamato: Having your freedom taken away and restraining yourself, that's what bonds are. Freedom and bonds, they are polar opposites.

Ousaka Sougo: …That’s true, isn’t it.

Nikaidou Yamato: Even though we all love both bonds and our freedom, they’re the opposite. And yet we want them both. Living like that is hard. But that's modern society.

Nikaidou Yamato: I’ve already forged bonds with our manager, our members and the fans. I can't leave this place behind.

Nikaidou Yamato: I don’t know what to think about my pathetic father, but I can't leave behind my mother, either.

Nikaidou Yamato: I’m sure that compared to before, I’ve lost some of my freedom. And when you’re bad at accepting bonds, you end up being immobilized.

Nikaidou Yamato: But I wouldn’t say I’m unhappy right now. Sure, it can be painful, but sometimes that sort of restraint isn’t that bad.

Nikaidou Yamato: At least that’s how I think now.

Ousaka Sougo: Yamato-san…

Nikaidou Yamato: I hope you can forge bonds that let you enjoy even the restraint that comes with them.

Ousaka Sougo: …Thank you very much. I’ll seriously think about it… about the meaning of bonds.

Nikaidou Yamato: Ah, right. Speak properly with Tama about it, too. You’ll sing that song together, after all.

Nikaidou Yamato: How have things with Tama been lately?

Ousaka Sougo: We haven’t had any trouble at all. Our problems in the past almost seem like a lie now.

Ousaka Sougo: Lately, I was busy composing, so we couldn’t talk much, but… Tamaki-kun is always considerate.

Nikaidou Yamato: Tamaki, being considerate… he’s really grown up.

Ousaka Sougo: He’s always been kind.

Nikaidou Yamato: That’s true… It was just that he was a free spirit who wasn’t used to having bonds.

Nikaidou Yamato: It’s because Tama started treasuring his bonds, that he felt like he had to do something and started changing both for you, Sou, and for IDOLiSH7.

Nikaidou Yamato: Meanwhile, you’re looking for freedom. You’re opposites in that regard. It’s interesting and kind of typical for MEZZO’’.

Ousaka Sougo: ….That’s right, isn’t it….

Nikaidou Yamato: Sou?

Ousaka Sougo: Ah… No, I’m fine. I will try to talk to Tamaki-kun about it.

Nikaidou Yamato: Yeah, you should do that.

Ousaka Sougo: …Right now, Tamaki-kun treasures his bonds more than his freedom…

Ousaka Sougo: I’m happy Tamaki-kun is considerate. It’s comfortable, and I let myself rely on him, but…

Ousaka Sougo: He might have ended up holding himself back. For me, and for IDOLiSH7.

Ousaka Sougo: I was so obsessed with composing “Kizuna”, but really, I have to properly talk with Tamaki-kun.

~ to be continued ~

6.4.2. Don’t wake me up until morning

Takanashi Tsumugi: Tamaki-san going on hiatus…

Takanashi Tsumugi: What could have caused that…? Is he unhappy with his work right now…?

Oogami Banri: Rather than unhappy, he looked impatient to me. Like he was wondering whether it’s okay for him to stay as he is right now.

Oogami Banri: His partner Sougo-kun started composing, his peer Iori-kun started producing. Everyone has a clear vision of what they want to do.

Oogami Banri: In the middle of that, it’s like Tamaki-kun lost sight of what he wants to do.

Takanashi Tsumugi: ……

Oogami Banri: He said something like, “even though everyone is working hard, I’m the only one who’s being so carefree, that it makes me feel out of place”.

Oogami Banri: But it’s not like he is moping around. He wants to do something about it. Like “Is it alright to go on hiatus for the time being?”.

Takanashi Tsumugi: Is that how it was…

Oogami Banri: Until the Re:vale’s debut, I also thought about going overseas to study dancing.

Takanashi Tsumugi: Re:vale-san…

Oogami Banri: I thought they might have told him something, but that doesn’t seem to be the case…

Oogami Banri: He also said he had no complaints about his work as an idol, the agency, his friends or his fans, either.

Oogami Banri: It really seems to just be his worries about whether it’s alright to stay like this.

Takanashi Tsumugi: Has he told the others about this?

Oogami Banri: It seems like he hasn’t. He hasn’t spoken to Sougo-kun either… Though, he did say he talked to Iori-kun about it a bit.

Oogami Banri: At the start, during the interview with the president, he asked if he could go on hiatus immediately.

Oogami Banri: But as we talked, he ended up saying that he would think about it some more. That’s why we postponed the interview, too.

Oogami Banri: He didn’t like the idea of telling the president something in the heat of the moment, then getting stubborn and being unable to take it back…

Oogami Banri: He didn’t have the feeling that this would be the case, but just in case…

Takanashi Tsumugi: …Thank you very much… Then, right now, Tamaki-san has put that idea on hold…?

Oogami Banri: Right now, at least.

Takanashi Tsumugi: So that’s how it is………

Takanashi Tsumugi: ….I can’t believe I didn’t notice that Tamaki-san was worrying about this sort of thing….

Oogami Banri: I agree… I had thought that Tamaki-kun is the type of person whose true feelings are easily noticeable.

Oogami Banri: Hiding his feelings and smiling when he cares about someone like that. Isn’t there someone that reminds you of?

Takanashi Tsumugi: Do you mean Sougo-san…?

Oogami Banri: Correct.

Oogami Banri: I don’t know whether Tamaki-kun unconsciously became more like Sougo-kun, or whether they were always similar to begin with…

Oogami Banri: I thought the same about Sougo-kun’s song. There were a lot of shouts in the first song Sougo-kun composed, right?

Oogami Banri: But now it felt like Sougo-kun was very conscious of Tamaki-kun’s presence.

Oogami Banri: While trying to change themselves, they subconsciously took on each other’s traits. It’s probably because they respect each other.

Takanashi Tsumugi: …..

Takanashi Tsumugi: …..I feel like if Tamaki-san hasn’t told the other members about it, it’s probably hard to talk about for him, too.

Takanashi Tsumugi: Please be the person Tamaki-san can turn to for advice, so he doesn’t have to worry on his own.

Oogami Banri: Yes. That’s what I intend to do.

Takanashi Tsumugi: Thank you very much…

Takanashi Tsumugi: ……

Oogami Banri: I’m sorry, it’s not the type of talk you should be having on the way home. I didn’t want to exaggerate.

Takanashi Tsumugi: No, it’s fine…

Takanashi Tsumugi: It surprised me too, but I also feel like he would’ve consulted me first if I had just been more reliable…

Takanashi Tsumugi: Now you have more work, because I couldn’t do it… I am so sorry for inconveniencing you…

Oogami Banri: It’s not your fault, Tsumugi-san. It’s because I am MEZZO’’’s manager.

Oogami Banri: Tamaki-kun probably doesn’t want to see your and Sougo-kun’s sad faces, so that’s why he told me first.

Oogami Banri: I’m sure this isn’t about trust or whether you are reliable.

Takanashi Tsumugi: …Thank you very much…

Oogami Banri: Leave this matter to me for the time being. If anything happens, I’ll inform you.

Takanashi Tsumugi: …I understand. Please do.

Yotsuba Tamaki: ………

Ousaka Sougo: Aah… Welcome back, Tamaki-kun.

Yotsuba Tamaki: Oh. I’m back.

Ousaka Sougo: Did you go shopping? If you go to buy something after work it must’ve been something you really wanted.

Ousaka Sougo: Is it new King Pudding?

Yotsuba Tamaki: No. A book.

Ousaka Sougo: A book?

Yotsuba Tamaki: Yes.

Ousaka Sougo: What book?

Yotsuba Tamaki: Why are you asking?

Ousaka Sougo: ……Good question…

Yotsuba Tamaki: Ahaha! What’s up with you, Sou-chan? You’re acting like a stalker.

Ousaka Sougo: I’m sorry! I just thought it’s rare for you to buy a book, Tamaki-kun…

Yotsuba Tamaki: I totally get that! How’s it going with the song?

Ousaka Sougo: ….Not yet…

Yotsuba Tamaki: Well, I’m looking forward to it! Good luck!

Ousaka Sougo: Thank you…

Yotsuba Tamaki: Alright, bye.

Ousaka Sougo: Wait! Tamaki-kun!

Yotsuba Tamaki: …….

Ousaka Sougo: Bonds mean… not being free.

Yotsuba Tamaki: Ehh…

Ousaka Sougo: Tamaki-kun, you like to be free, right? But bonds are the exact opposite of that. So… what do you think about that?

Yotsuba Tamaki: Haha, what a weird question. Are you looking for songwriting ideas?

Ousaka Sougo: ….Yes….

Yotsuba Tamaki: So that’s it… I think one of these is better than the other.

Ousaka Sougo: Bonds?

Yotsuba Tamaki: Yeah. Even if I was free, I’d just be like a kite with a broken thread.

Yotsuba Tamaki: Getting caught by the wind and being blown away somewhere.

Yotsuba Tamaki: Looking at the other kites being flown by children and going, “Ah, wouldn’t that be nice”.

Ousaka Sougo: …..

Yotsuba Tamaki: Not having freedom is a luxury. Because you have a place to come back to.

Ousaka Sougo: Then I… I don’t have freedom anymore, either. My place is right here.

Yotsuba Tamaki: Hm?

Ousaka Sougo: It… It’s the truth.

Yotsuba Tamaki: I’m not doubting you. So? Did that help you with songwriting?

Ousaka Sougo: ……I don’t know….

Yotsuba Tamaki: …….uh huh…

Ousaka Sougo: I, I’m sorry…. But I will treasure your advice, Tamaki-kun. Thank you so much.

Yotsuba Tamaki: Alright. Well then, good luck.

Ousaka Sougo: ….Tamaki-kun.

Yotsuba Tamaki: What?

Ousaka Sougo: Do you think we have a bond?

Yotsuba Tamaki: ………..

Yotsuba Tamaki: …Don’t ask me that after all this time.

Yotsuba Tamaki: You decide! You’re the adult here!

Ousaka Sougo: Ta… Tamaki-kun…

Yotsuba Tamaki: …Ah… Damn it… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I suddenly got sleepy so I’ll go to bed now.

Ousaka Sougo: Eh? Ah… okay. Sorry, I also…

Yotsuba Tamaki: It’s fine, I’m sorry. Good night.

Yotsuba Tamaki: Don’t wake me up until morning.

Ousaka Sougo: ………

~ to be continued~

6.4.3. - Scenery

Yotsuba Tamaki: This sucks. I couldn’t help myself and snapped at Sou-chan…

Yotsuba Tamaki: …Aah, I have to find something soon. Just like Sou-chan found composing. Or like Aya found Kujou.

Yotsuba Tamaki: My “something” … There has to be “something” for me, too…

Yotsuba Tamaki: Why am I like this…? Just like my old man, I get frustrated and start to suddenly yell at people…

Yotsuba Tamaki: …Don’t forget me. Do you know how hard I tried up until now?

Yotsuba Tamaki: For you guys…

(ring ring)

Yotsuba Tamaki: …Phone…

Yotsuba Tamaki: It’s Tenten…

Passerby A: Hey, hey, did you watch “Backyard MAGIC” yesterday?

Passerby B: I did, I did! Seeing an idol documentary sure is interesting!

Passerby A: It’s super funny! My parents weren’t interested in idols up until now, but they became fans after they watched the show!

Passerby B: Mine too, mine too! My father even said he wants to go to a live with me!

Passerby A: It’s interesting when you realize there’s a gap between their true selves and their persona! Especially with TRIGGER!

Passerby B: I totally get that! Aren’t they surprisingly funny!?

Passerby C: Right~! I thought they’d be more serious!

Passerby B: There’s also ŹOOḼ! They really aren’t as scary as I thought!

Passerby A: They seem the most grown up! But I can sympathize with their shyness.

Passerby B: I heard Re:vale were secretly on bad terms, but don’t they get along super well?

Passerby A: No, that was definitely fake… They weren’t on a TV show or anything, but they still got along so well. They’re really going at it.

Passerby C: I think so, too. They were even doing each other’s nails, that’s way too much. They’ve got an eye on each other.

Passerby B: Do you think so…?

Passerby B: IDOLiSH7 was just like I imagined!

Passerby A: They really were as expected! Ah, but Mitsuki-kun was cooler than I thought he’d be!

Passerby C: Yeah, he was really cool! He was like a working adult in the middle of a meeting!

Passerby B: Right~! Yamato-san and Nagi-kun were surprisingly spoiled and cute!

Passerby A: And MEZZO’’ were being flirty as usual!

Passerby C: Right~! MEZZO’’ debuted first, after all, so they get along the best.

Passerby A: Iori-kun is being harsh with Riku-kun, isn’t he?

Passerby C: He really is. I want to see them get along well~. I did get hooked on their drama…

Passerby B: We’ll see more soon! I’m looking forward to next week‘s episode, too!

Show director: Good work today.

Isumi Haruka: Ah… A “BackMAGIC'' staff member. Good work today.

Show director: You were really cool during the shooting. You put a lot of heart into it.

Isumi Haruka: (munching) You think so? Thanks.

Show director: That looks delicious.

Isumi Haruka: Ahaha… A staff member gave it to me. Well, I took it. Chocolate daifuku*…

Show director: If it’s okay, can you answer questions while you’re eating?

Isumi Haruka: Questions? Sure. Ah, wait, let me swallow this… Or actually, I’ll eat up first.

Show director: You can take your time.

Isumi Haruka: Okay. (munching)

Show director: Isumi-san, in your perspective, what is an idol?

Isumi Haruka: Eh!? Isn’t… Isn’t that a heavy question to ask me while I’m eating daifuku…?

Show director: Ahaha. I’ll wait for you to finish eating, so take your time to think about it.

Isumi Haruka: Eeh….

Show director: Do you want me to ask again later?

Isumi Haruka: Eeeh…. wait a minute… Hmmm….

Show director: ……

Isumi Haruka: (munching)

Show director: …….

Isumi Haruka: I’m thinking about it properly after all. Can you come ask me about it later?

Show director: Sure, I will do that.

Isumi Haruka: Are you asking this to everyone?

Show director: Yes. That’s the plan.

Isumi Haruka: Huh. Looking forward to it.

Show director: We’re looking forward to it, too. Isumi-san, since we’re here already, do you have a word to say to the studio?

Isumi Haruka: A word!? To Mr. Shimooka-san and Izumi Mitsuki-san!?

Show director: As promotion for the drama…

Isumi Haruka: Okay, got it…

Isumi Haruka: Mr. Shimooka-san! Mitsuki-san! The final episode is almost here! Please watch the drama!!

Mr. Shimooka: He said we should watch the drama! How cute~!

Izumi Mitsuki: Right~! Even though he was so cool in the drama! Like when he was covered in bright red blood!

Mr. Shimooka: Mitsuki-kun, are you watching the dramas your group mates and the other groups star in?

Izumi Mitsuki: As long as I have time, I watch them! I used to record dramas and shows my group members were in, and then I’d watch them during the day.

Mr. Shimooka: Did you pull all-nighters?

Izumi Mitsuki: Yeah. I figured they’d want to hear my thoughts, since I wanted to hear theirs, too.

Izumi Mitsuki: We live in a dorm, right? So I often watch TV with the other members and when I turn my head, it’s like, “wow, it’s the real deal!”.

Mr. Shimooka: That’s the kind of experience you only get in a dorm, isn’t it?

Izumi Mitsuki: Exactly, exactly!

Izumi Mitsuki: Even though our leader is acting so realistically on TV, when I turn around at home, I can see him sitting there eating ramen with his glasses all fogged up.

Mr. Shimooka: Ahaha! That’s nice! Even though you’re idols, you lead normal lives!

Izumi Mitsuki: It was so much fun… Whenever one of us said they’d be on TV, we made a big deal out of it.

Izumi Mitsuki: When I watched TRIGGER’s and Re:vale’s commercials, my heart was pounding, like, “I’ve met these people in real life”….

Mr. Shimooka: When did it start to sink in?

Izumi Mitsuki: Eeh, that’s a difficult question… I still sometimes wonder if this is a dream.

Mr. Shimooka: From when would it be a dream? From the time of your debut already?

Izumi Mitsuki: That’s a good question… Maybe from the point where you gave me your position as the moderator of Black or White, Mr. Shimooka…

Mr. Shimooka: I didn’t do that though!

Izumi Mitsuki: Ahaha! It ended up being an actual dream! Well then, time for a commercial!

Staff: Okay! Move the set!

Mr. Shimooka: Phew… Good work. Mitsuki-san, how about going for a drink tonight?

Izumi Mitsuki: I’m sorry! I gotta get up early tomorrow…

Mr. Shimooka: Ah, you’re busy. You may be young, but you shouldn’t push yourself. Make sure to take care of your body.

Izumi Mitsuki: Thank you.

Mr. Shimooka: By the way, did you hear about the new plan for the show?

Izumi Mitsuki: A new plan…?

Mr. Shimooka: Yeah. I was told it is supposed to be a large scale, long term project.

Mr. Shimooka: They said the president of your agency is involved, too.

Izumi Mitsuki: Our president is…?

~ to be continued ~

6.4.4. Someone’s story

Takanashi Tsumugi: ……

Takanashi Tsumugi: Tamaki-san… I should probably observe this quietly for now. But…

(door opens)

Takanashi Otoharu: I’m back.

Takanashi Tsumugi: President…

Takanashi Tsumugi: President, are you working on something big right now?

Takanashi Tsumugi: Utsugi-san talked to me about it. Revamping Black or White…

Takanashi Otoharu: That’s true. I will be able to talk about it soon.

Takanashi Otoharu: Tsumugi-kun. If this project becomes reality, I might be able to finally make Musubi’s dream come true.

Takanashi Tsumugi: Musubi… my mother’s?

Takanashi Otoharu: Yes.

Takanashi Tsumugi: What kind of dream did mother have…?

Takanashi Otoharu: It’s the same as yours. It’s an interesting thing that you ended up having the same one. I guess it’s in the genes.

Takanashi Tsumugi: ….

Takanashi Otoharu: The greatest live.

Takanashi Otoharu: Creating the greatest live was Musubi’s lifelong dream.

Takanashi Tsumugi: My mother’s dream was to create the greatest live…

Takanashi Otoharu: Yes. I wanted to make it come true together with her, but we both didn’t know…

Takanashi Otoharu: What is the greatest live?

Takanashi Otoharu: It should be a performance where both idols and audience are happy, but what does everyone being happy really mean?

Takanashi Otoharu: You were involved in a lot of lives, too. Since you’ve seen it with your own eyes, I’m sure you know that lives are mysterious, almost like a living thing.

Takanashi Otoharu: The best stars, the best staff, a well-mannered audience who are used to going to lives. A clean and large venue with a good reputation.

Takanashi Otoharu: Even if everyone gathers peacefully, there might still be troublesome lives, or even boring ones.

Takanashi Otoharu: On the other hand, you have artists who just debuted and audiences who aren’t used to lives; a small number of people in an even smaller space…

Takanashi Otoharu: Sometimes, there are lives so dramatic that they make you unable to stop crying, too.

Takanashi Tsumugi: …I understand that… In every IDOLiSH7 performance, the atmosphere and feeling was different.

Takanashi Tsumugi: It’s still IDOLiSH7 doing the live every time, but sometimes I feel relaxed and able to enjoy it, sometimes I feel excited…

Takanashi Tsumugi: It’s like the summary stays the same even though you’re looking at different stories.

Takanashi Otoharu: Right. That’s the interesting part, isn’t it? As they meet more and more people and the zeitgeist changes, they show different sides of themselves.

Takanashi Otoharu: Idols and customers take the time out of their day to come to the same space to create a live…

Takanashi Otoharu: Of course, everyone would aim to create the greatest live.

Takanashi Otoharu: “I want my heart to be moved.”, “I want to see how someone’s heart is moved.”.

Takanashi Otoharu: When the feelings of many become one, when the mood at the venue reaches its climax, that’s when miracles happen on stage.

Takanashi Otoharu: You described it as a story, and that’s exactly it.

Takanashi Otoharu: Together with many other people, we are creating a story.

Takanashi Otoharu: If even one piece is missing, you’ll end up heading towards a different ending, before the story reaches its climax.

Takanashi Otoharu: By chaining many invisible miracles to each other, we can create a story that has never existed before.

Takanashi Otoharu: If the greatest live is like that, it’s more like a monster than a thing…

Takanashi Otoharu: How could a mere human, not a god, create something like that?

Takanashi Tsumugi: …Does that mean you ended up finding an answer, dad?

Takanashi Otoharu: No, not yet. But by working on this project, I feel like I am getting closer to the answer…

Takanashi Tsumugi: …What could this possibly be…?

Takanashi Otoharu: Right, I guess…

Takanashi Otoharu: …It’s like a festival of monsters?

Passerby A: Hey, hey! Isn’t that IDOLiSH7’s Yotsuba Tamaki over there!?

Passerby B: That’s definitely him!! He’s so tall! Hot…

Passerby A: Shh… Don’t cause a fuss! Eeeh, I’m so happy… But I wonder what he’s doing in a place like this?

Passerby B: Maybe he’s meeting someone? Like Sougo-san?

Passerby A: Eeh~! That’d be so cool! Wait, someone is approaching Tamaki-kun’s table…

Passerby B: That’s someone famous, that’s totally someone famous, isn’t it! ….Oh, I’m sorry!

Ousaka Sougo: No, it was my fault.

Passerby A: Eh….

Passerby B: Mhm….

Ousaka Sougo: …….

Passerby A: That person next to you… isn’t that Ousaka Sougo?

Passerby B: Stop addressing him so casually. What if it’s really him?

Passerby A: Just take a look at his face!

Passerby B: I can’t see it from this distance… Wait, why would Sougo-san be watching Tamaki-kun?

Passerby A: I don’t know… What if we asked him?

Passerby B: No way, we can’t just ask that…

Ousaka Sougo: Ah….

Passerby B: …..!

Yotsuba Tamaki: You’re late, Tenten.

Kujou Tenn: Sorry for keeping you waiting.

Passerby B: Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god… I know this voice. Oh my god.

Passerby B: And he called him Tenten, so if it’s that person, he said his name twice…

Ousaka Sougo: Kujou-san…

Passerby A: Look, Sougo-san said so, too…

Passerby B: So it is TRIGGER’s Kujou Tennl….

Kujou Tenn: We can’t talk here safely. Let’s move somewhere else.

Yotsuba Tamaki: Where to?

Kujou Tenn: Ryuu’s apartment. The other two are out right now.

Yotsuba Tamaki: Did they ditch you?

Kujou Tenn: They didn’t. Come on, let’s go.

Yotsuba Tamaki: Okay.

Passerby A: Ah… They left…

Passerby B: We got to see some amazing people! Sougo-san is…

Passerby A: Ah, Sougo-san also suddenly disappeared…

Ousaka Sougo: ….Tamaki-kun is angry about something…

Ousaka Sougo: But I don’t know the reason…

Ousaka Sougo: Why is it always like this…? This is exactly why he gets angry…

Ousaka Sougo: What could it be…? I thought I was doing well… What made him angry?

Ousaka Sougo: I’ll try looking back on the fights we had up until now. By looking at past situations, I should be able to figure out what is going on right now.

Ousaka Sougo: What happened until now… I gave Tamaki-kun’s pudding to Re:vale-san without permission. I didn’t tell him I met Aya-chan…

Ousaka Sougo: I got drunk and caused him trouble. I threatened Tamaki-kun with a knife because he wasn’t serious enough about making curry…

Ousaka Sougo: ……

Ousaka Sougo: What a bad partner I am…

Passerby C: Hey, hey, isn’t that Ousaka Sougo?

Passerby D: Sougo-kun wouldn’t stand around in a place like this just staring at his hands, would he?

Ousaka Sougo: Yesterday’s question was really rude of me, too. Asking him if we have a bond… Of course Tamaki-kun would get mad…

Ousaka Sougo: MEZZO’’’s…

Ousaka Sougo: ….bond…

Ousaka Sougo …exists!

Ousaka Sougo: It exists, right, Tamaki-kun?

Passerby E: Hey, hey, isn’t that person Ousaka Sougo?

Passerby F: Sougo-kun wouldn’t stand around in a place like this doing a prayer pose, would he?

Ousaka Sougo: I wish I had said that yesterday! I’ll apologize via Rabicha right now and tell him what I meant…

(ring ring)

Ousaka Sougo: Yes, Ousaka speaking here. I’m sorry, I am not done yet…

Ousaka Sougo: If it seems like the delay will get too much, you’ll choose from the existing MEZZO’’ songs…? …Yes… I understand.

Ousaka Sougo: Please just give me a little more time… Even if it’s just one night… Yes. …I am truly sorry for the trouble.

(hanging up)

Ousaka Sougo: ….What should I do, I’m out of time…

Ousaka Sougo: Even though I really want to make a song about the current MEZZO’’’s bonds…

~ to be continued ~

TL notes:

Phew! Mod Riku here. We made it through another chapter!

4.3.: Haruka-kun wants you to know that you need to listen to the eating noises in the game. He didn't want me to let you know he said that, though!

daifuku - small round mochi stuffed with sweet filling

#we've been getting a lot of kind messages and we wanted to say thanks for that!#i7 translation #idolish7 translations #idolish7 spoilers #idolish7 part 6 #idolish7 #mezzo #[main]

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dogcircle-scans · 1 year

Note

Which chapters are you most looking forward to being animated when we hopefully get a new season? For me its the miniature garden shrine and the beautiful dreamer and the cookie trail chapters. I just know their going to be so colourful and beautiful and I can't wait!!

The Souko two-parter and Natsume of the Moonlit Nights chapter. I'm a sucker for Reiko stories in general but this one hit like a ton of bricks. Then the latter is because I'm really obsessed with Nishimura's friendship with Natsume. I could probably ramble about it all day.

I also really want to see the second teen exorcist story because I need to see Matoba eating cake under a table in animated form.

–🦙

#ask dcs #anonymous #natsume yuujinchou #natsume's book of friends #thank you anon for the question #and good news!#after months of feeling like a corpse i feel a bit more alive #i'm going to start recruiting people relatively soon #so if you guys want to help out and make faster releases possible to get to those recent juicy juicy chapters #keep an eye out

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connan-l · 4 months

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Colorful

Fandom: Natsume's Book of Friends Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship: Morinaga Souko/Natsume Reiko Summary: So many colors suited the forest girl that Souko couldn't assign a single one to her. Words: 7,123 Link: AO3 | Fanfiction.net

Notes: Believe it or not, I actually started writing this in 2018, and for some reason was never able to complete it lol. But I got so excited with the announcement of season 7 that I decided it was a good time to finish this, before we get to see those chapters get adapted.

Find out Reiko and Souko’s story still makes me cry even 5 years later, and I can’t wait to bawl about them once they’re animated!

* * *

People were always surprised when Souko told them she didn’t like the color blue.

It wasn’t like she hated it, but she just wasn’t very fond of it.

She liked green, yellow, purple, red — vivacious pigments that felt alive, cheery; hues that a child would love to use to paint one of his drawings.

Blue was just sad.

The watery tint of the deep sea, the cold tint of winter.

Souko loved assigning colors to people. She saw her father as a vibrant red, and her mother — from the little she remembered of her — as a soft purple. Her uncle was golden, her aunt orange, her grandmother green.

So although she didn’t hate it, a part of her always felt disappointed ‘blue’ was the color people associated with her the most — simply because it was what she’d been named after.

Sometimes, Souko thought it was a funny twist of fate, for her to bear the name of a color she only connected to sadness; a warped prediction of what her life would look like after she fell ill.

No one who met her after she got sick would believe it, but she actually used to be a very energetic child. Back then, she could spend the entire day running around and climbing to trees and playing all sorts of games outside with other kids, giving her father a hundred of panic attacks.

All of that crumbled away when her heart started to malfunction two years ago, and suddenly her whole body began to fall apart without her control.

It had been gradual. Slow and excruciating.

She barely noticed the first signs; the shaking in her hands, her frequent headaches, her legs incapable of walking or running for very long. One day on her way to school, she passed out — and just like that, she spent the following year practically unable to get out of bed.

Her life then withered away.

She couldn’t do any of the things she liked anymore, couldn’t go to school anymore, couldn’t see anyone but her family.

She stopped running and playing outside, and she stopped gardening, and she stopped cooking.

She didn’t really had any friends, as the shy girl she’d always been, but she’d still managed to have some decent relationships with some kids at school, at least.

Now she didn’t even had that anymore.

She withered, drowning away in a bottomless cerulean sea, and for a long, long time, nothing seemed to really matter anymore.

During those endless days, there was only two things she could do: read, which she took the habit of doing since then, and stare at her window. Her bedroom was in front of their garden, so she had a direct sight on the many colorful flowers her mother had planted there long ago, and that Souko had continued to take care of since then. But most of the times, it wasn’t the rainbow of flowers she would stare at, but the blue of the sky — getting lost in its infinity, her heart heavy with anguish and anger at her own life.

Dad had told her, once, that the reason why they named her ‘Souko’ was because she’d been born during a day with a completely clear blue sky. No clouds, no shade of gray, no sun; only blue and blue and blue, as far as the eye could see.

But as Souko kept staring at that same sky, the only thing she could think about was how profoundly empty that blue looked.

* * *

With the help of medications and reeducation, she slowly started to get better — but the doctors were unequivocal on the fact that she would never be able to move like she used to.

She had to limit her gestures, her outings, her breathing; she couldn’t run anymore, or barely so. She was getting better, but she still felt like she was imprisoned within her own body; a bird unable to get out of a cage of its own making.

But the worst wasn’t really any of this. It all weighted heavily on her, of course; but she could bear that. She didn’t really have a choice. The burden her illness had taken on her family, however, was another thing entirely.

The Morinaga household was constituted of only Souko and her father since her mother’s death when she was little, but her uncle and aunt lived nearby and were practically part of their home since as long as she could remember. Dad was very close to his brother, and so her uncle was almost like a third parent to Souko, always having been deeply involved in her life.

Thus her illness had repercussions not only on her father, but on her uncle, her aunt and the whole family. Everyone was always so tense whenever they came to see her, obvious tight smiles and stiff shoulders as they looked at her; and through the months she’d heard hundreds of arguments between her father and grandmother, between the two brothers, between most of her relatives, all about the same topics. What to do with her condition, with her treatment’s cost, with everything else.

Even Dad stopped looking at her like he used to, and instead a pained expression spread across his face every time his eyes met hers. She felt more like a poor little wounded animal he pitied than like his daughter.

That was the hardest part. The idea that not only her body was getting torn apart, but her family did as well — and that it was all her fault.

She couldn’t stand it. It made her want to run away.

Find a place far away; cut from all of her problems, where she wouldn’t have to worry about anything, and where she wouldn’t worry anyone.

A place to be all alone.

And then one night after dinner, Dad approached her with an awkward smile and addressed her in a gentle, careful voice:

"The other day the doctor made me an offer... I thought about it and it could be a good opportunity. He said that… to help with your convalescence, we could move to the countryside.”

At first, Souko wasn’t sure what to think of it.

Truthfully, she didn’t want to move.

She knew nothing at all about the small town where her dad wanted to go, and going there would mean losing all of the landmarks she’d known her whole life. It meant leaving their house where she grew up. Uncle and Auntie. Mom’s grave from a few meters away in the cemetery. Her school.

Souko might not have had any friends here, she still didn’t want to lose the relationships she had with the people of her hometown — and she didn’t want to have to make the effort to form new bonds with strangers.

The very idea made her stomach twist with anxiety. But she couldn’t turn Dad down; not when she knew he also probably didn’t want to move either, and that he only proposed that for her sake.

So against all of her better instincts, Souko agreed.

* * *

She couldn’t manage to assign any color to the forest girl.

No matter how hard she tried to, none of the choices — none of the different tints and shades and hues — seemed to fit her.

Or, rather, all of them fitted her.

The girl — her match companion, the teenager she’d met hidden within the deepest parts of the woods, like a rare, delicate diamond — was the most beautiful and fascinating person Souko had ever seen; ephemeral like a ghost, flippant like a cat and fluttering like a butterfly.

Her long silver hair seemed to change color with the sunlight; turning white or golden or purple contingent on the sky’s whims.

Souko blurted that out, once, without thinking much about it beforehand; and then regretted it right away, because of how childish it sounded.

The girl just laughed.

“Purple?” She repeated, and Souko felt herself blush. “Really?”

“B-Because, look… Your hair is so light, so it take on the dusk’s color. And when dusk turns orange, or pink, then your hair also…”

“Is that so.”

The girl looked over at the horizon, which was indeed starting to take on a mauve tint. For a moment, her companion seemed contemplative; then finally, she turned towards her again and grinned.

“Well, what do you think? Is purple my color?”

Souko felt the scarlet of her cheeks deepens even more, but she was able to muster the courage to actually reply truthfully: “I think every color is your color. You look pretty in everything.”

And that was true, too.

Souko could imagine her in red, pink, purple, orange, black and white — and that girl, her mysterious nameless acquaintance of the forest, would be just as wonderful and breathtaking as ever.

She would look beautiful and full of life even in blue.

Souko had never seen a person like that before, so radiant and mesmerizing that her eyes couldn’t stop staring at her, that her mind couldn’t help but think of her almost all the time.

For a very brief moment, the girl looked slightly taken aback; but she quickly seemed to get over it and simply smiled back at her.

The girl was always smiling.

It was a little disconcerting, sometimes — and it wasn’t that Souko didn’t like seeing her smile, but she just wished that smile looked actually genuine.

Once I’ll win, she swore to herself.

Once I’ll win, I’ll make her give me her name. I’ll make her become my friend — and then I’ll be able to make her smile for real.

* * *

“Oh, the candy’s blue.”

“Isn’t it pretty?”

“Yeah. Like the blue of Souko.”

Her voice resounded in her mind even long after the two of them parted way.

She couldn’t stop thinking about the manner she’d said her name. Softly, fleetingly, lost in the wind, like no one but the girl herself had been supposed to hear it.

The blue of Souko.

Souko had never been fond of her name. She’d never really liked the color blue.

And now, after all she’d been through, the only thing it managed to evoke to her was the emptiness of the sky as she looked through her room’s window stuck in her bed.

That was all the blue of Souko was to her.

But when the girl spoke it… When she said her name so softly, so longingly, Souko couldn’t help but love it.

The girl was a little like a fairy, Souko thought; an otherworldly being who seemed to be able to transform every bad aspects of her life into something magical.

Her name sounded beautiful when she said it. That town in the countryside seemed so fun now that she started spending time with her. Her new home, her tense family, her unfamiliar school and classmates — everything seemed bearable now that she had that girl by her side.

Even the color blue would surely feel warm and vivacious, if her secret companion started wearing some of it.

Before meeting the forest girl, Souko had simply not been able to feel at home anywhere in that town.

It wasn’t like people here weren’t welcoming — at the contrary, everyone was quite nice to her, but Souko still hadn’t been able to shake off the feeling that she simply didn’t belong. She’d always been a timid girl, but suddenly moving here while cutting all ties to her old life, added to the months she’d spent completely isolated from the world because of her illness, made her feel like she’d lost all of her social skills. She could barely handle normal conversations with the other kids, or with the townsfolk — always feeling like people were staring at her, judging her, monitoring her every moves. And even when she was alone, she couldn’t stand to be at her house either, in that unfamiliar place.

That was why coming in the middle of that forest, away from any form of life, away from her family and other people, was the only time that had finally made her feel a little comfortable — and that despite the fact this place had a strange ominous aura and sometimes gave her headaches.

And then she met the girl. The time she spent by her side, chatting idly and having silly matches and laughing together about nothing made her the happiest and most free she’d felt in months. Not since she fell ill.

The girl wasn’t always nice; she could be quite prickly and cold, and it wasn’t like Souko didn’t think that girl was... strange. Truthfully, she could be a little unsettling, or even scary sometimes. Occasionnally, she would just say weird things out of nowhere, or stared past Souko’s shoulder as if she was seeing someone behind her, or dragged her away from a place as if she was trying to run from something.

Something Souko couldn’t see.

(And, sometimes, Souko almost had the impression there really was something else with them, and that it wasn’t just the two of them in the middle of these woods.)

But even so, despite all of this, Souko still didn’t think she could, or wanted to, stop seeing the girl.

At least, she treated Souko like a normal person. She never walked on eggshells around her, even after she’d learned she was sick. And even with all her prickliness, Souko could tell that she had a kind heart, buried behind her sharp gaze and barbed comments. She wouldn’t have let Souko stay by her side otherwise.

The girl and those meetings were so odd, so detached from everything in her life — that sometimes Souko almost felt like she was hallucinating them. Like she was doing some forbidden rituals with a witch, and not just playing childish games.

There was only ever the two of them in that forest, after all — no one else here to confirm the real from the surreal.

Her rendez-vous with the forest girl was the most exciting part of her day, and she spent the whole time thinking about what new games they would play next.

Wishing that today would finally be the day she win — would be the day she finally earn her name.

Earn the right to be her friend.

“Are you going out again?”

Her father stopped her just as she was about to leave the house, and Souko startled. “Ah, yes…”

A worried look crossed his face. “Souko… I’m glad you seem to be so happy, lately — really, but… You need to be more careful. Your body is still…”

“I know,” Souko said, maybe a little more forcefully than she intended. Of course she knew her body was still frail. It was her body, after all — she understood the consequences of its weakened state better than anyone. “I’m careful, Dad, I promise. You don’t need to worry.”

But of course, that was probably a meaningless thing to say. Her father would always worry regardless of what she said.

“…Is that a friend that you see like that every day?” He asked. “I know you said you’ve been getting along better with your classmates lately…”

Souko opened her mouth, then hesitated a little.

She still hadn’t said anything to her father about the forest girl. She hadn’t said anything about her to anyone, period.

She wasn’t really sure why.

She’d told Dad about the classmates she’d started to talk to — they weren’t really friends yet, but they were nice, and Souko would like to become closer.

That, too, was thanks to the forest girl, in a way. It wasn’t like she had encouraged to talk to others or anything, but being able to have normal conversations with someone her age after having been isolated for so long had managed to cheer Souko up and make her feel braver.

The girl always looked so strong and confident, after all; solid as a rock, standing tall among the trees. Souko always felt like nothing could ever hurt or reach her.

So she’d thought that if she wanted to be worthy of befriending the forest girl, then she should try to befriend the more approachable kids at her school first.

But her classmates were different from the girl, and so Souko felt that she couldn’t simply tell Dad about her like she would with a normal classmate. Maybe she wanted to become friends with her for real before telling him — or maybe… maybe she just wanted to keep her as a secret. For now.

Something only Souko knew about.

Her father had still noticed the changes, though, and he looked simultaneously happy and worried about them. He’d already been very concerned from the start, when Souko went back to school, and then about the fact he could tell his daughter had clearly struggled to fit in at their new place. And now he clearly wasn’t happy about her escapades after school; didn’t like her going outside to play around in the forest. Souko sympathized with his feelings, knew that he was only worried for her; but it had been the best she’d felt in such a long time, and she wasn’t about to let that go.

Dad said nothing for a moment, then narrowed his eyes at Souko — and only when she noticed his suspicious look did she realizes that she was blushing.

“…Is that person you’re seeing a boy?”

“Wha— N-No! I-It’s not like that… we’re just…”

Her father laughed a little, and waved his hand. “Sorry, that’s none of my business. But you don’t need to be embarrassed about it, you know. It’s normal, at your age.”

“I-It’s really not like that…”

And it’s not a boy.

But Dad didn’t seem he would believe her no matter what she could say, so Souko felt it would be pointless to argue further. Instead, she went to her rendez-vous spot with the forest girl, and as usual they played together, Souko lost, and then they talked for a while. At some point, the girl took her hand and dragged her somewhere else. Her hand was rugged, and her skin sturdy — but it felt warm.

Souko wished she could keep holding her hand forever.

Maybe Dad isn’t entirely wrong, she thought then, looking at the girl’s pretty long hair flowing in the wind, her heart skipping a beat at the sight.

If she were a boy, maybe I would fall in love with her.

It would be so easy to fall for her. She was so beautiful and strong and fun. Souko was certain most boys at her school must be crushing on her.

(She’d inadvertently said this, one day, and to her utter surprise the girl bursts out laughing ; so hard she had to hold her stomach, and Souko had never seen her laugh so loudly and for so long before.

“No way!” She’d exclaimed after calming down. “Boys don’t like me, at all.”

“H-Huh?” Souko let out. She didn’t think she would lie about this, but she heavily doubted that was true. Maybe no one ever confessed to her, but there was just no way not a single person had at least some feelings for someone as charming as her.

The girl grinned, her green eyes boring straight into Souko’s. “I scare them. Well, to be honest, I don’t really like boys either.”

Souko didn’t know why, but at these words her cheeks flushed and she felt a small warmth of hope bloom in her chest.)

Late in the evening, when Souko came home, the first thing she did was going out in the garden, just as twilight was starting to set.

The place was still barren. Back at their old home, they used to have a garden with a lot of colorful flowers — hibiscus, daisies, orchids, tulips, marigolds… Her mother’s flowers, that Souko loved to take care of; the first thing she would see upon waking up, a rainbow of delicate, shiny petals. In their new house, a lot of things were different, but Dad had made a point to get her a bedroom where she could see the garden too, just because he knew how much Souko had liked it before.

She finally wanted to start feeling at home here, too. So maybe she could start by planting some flowers. Dad would probably like that as well — he’d loved their flowers too.

One day — after she’ll finally be able to learn the forest girl’s name and become her friend, Souko will invite her to her home and introduce her father to her.

Show her her flower garden.

But in the meantime, the forest girl would stay her little secret — something that was hers and hers only.

* * *

One of Souko’s new favorite things was when she was able to surprise the girl.

She always thought a lot about the types of games she could propose to her — even asked her uncle and dad to give her some new ideas. And every day, it felt like the girl was surprised to still find her here in the forest with a new challenge. Almost like she expected her to suddenly stop coming any time now.

How silly, Souko thought. There’s no way I’ll ever stop coming to see you, even if I wanted to.

But even so, she’d never seen the girl as shocked as when she decided to show up one day with lunch boxes in her hands.

“What’s this?” She asked in a bewildered tone, her pale green eyes pinned on Souko like a cat’s.

“Lunch.”

“I can see that,” the girl snapped back sharply, but by now Souko was used to her curtness. She could be a little mean sometimes in her way of speaking, but Souko had come to learn it wasn’t necessarily because she was annoyed. “I was asking why you brought this here— and why you brought two of these.”

Souko flushed a little, but still didn’t let go of the girl’s eyes.

“Well, I… I was just thinking, that you often seems hungry when we meet, and also, how you’re very thin, and so— I just thought that maybe you should just eat a little more. There’s meat in there, and…”

The girl narrowed her eyes at her. “Who do you think you are? My mom?”

Souko blushed even further, and looked away. That did seems a little silly and pretentious to bring that girl a lunch out of the blue, when she put it into words like that. But she couldn’t help it, and— truthfully, Souko had started to get quite worried about her.

It was often that the girl’s belly would suddenly start gurgling in the middle of one their matches, and Souko had noticed how she seemed much lighter than a girl her age should be (absolutely not because Souko was staring her at a little too much, of course; that had nothing to do with this). She’d once asked her if she was eating enough — and then the girl had snorted, rolling her eyes. But she hadn’t replied. So Souko thought, that she could…

But maybe it had been rude of her to do. Just as she was about to apologize though, the girl suddenly grabbed her lunch box and chopsticks, and Souko barely had the time to turns her head towards her that she saw her open the box and starts digging in.

“What?” The girl shot back, catching her staring. “You did say it was for me, right?”

Souko smiled, and nodded enthusiastically. “Y-Yes, of course!”

And so she quietly watched her eat away the whole meal with a smile she couldn’t quite manage to hide. She didn’t even left a single crumb — which on the one hand, Souko was happy about, but on the other it definitely had her more concerned, because that seemed to confirm the fact she truly didn’t get enough to eat at her house.

Souko could never brings herself to ask, but she has the distinct feeling that things were… not great at home, for the girl.

To start with, it was strange for a teenager to hang out in a forest so far away like this. The girl always seemed to be all alone, too; and she was spending so much time here… it didn’t seem like she had any other friends. Much like Souko. But much more worrisome was the fact that she was often hurt. Souko frequently caught glimpse of scratches, bandages, and bruises covering her body. Some of them might be because of her playing around in the woods — and Souko had absolutely seen her doing a lot of reckless things that would get her injured — but…

Others must have been made by someone, Souko was pretty sure.

She tried to ask her a couple of times about her family, but the girl always brushed her asides and changed the topic when she did. Even Souko talked to her sometimes about her father and her uncle and her family, but the girl would never say anything back about herself. She clearly didn’t want to talk about her life at home. So Souko respected that — even if she didn’t like it.

She didn’t want to jump to conclusion about things she couldn’t possibly know either, but… she still worried.

“H-How was it?” Souko decided to ask, trying to stop thinking about such morose things.

“Hm? Oh, good. It was really good.”

Souko beamed. “Really?”

“Why would I lie about that?”

“Hehe, that’s true. Thank you! I’m so glad you like it.”

The girl actually stared at her and lifted an eyebrow at her words. “‘Thank you”?”

“Ah… I’m the one who made that.”

She had woken up earlier this morning specifically to prepare it, following her mother’s old recipe. Dad had been so surprised to see her in the kitchen — it had been the first time she cooked anything since she got sick. Until now, he’d been the one taking care of most of the cooking — or sometimes it was her aunt, when she was home.

Souko had forgotten how much fun cooking actually was.

She used to do it quite frequently back then, but then stopped after she got sick, just like most of her hobbies — and even now that she was recovering, she hadn't gone back to them. Even though now she could easily try them again without endangering her health. Gardening was the same, too. She wondered if she’d have as much fun gardening, if she did it again now.

It’d be nice if I could do those things with her, too, she had thought this morning while cutting off vegetables. The only things she did with the girl was playing games and talking, but she was sure they’d have fun doing other type of activities together as well. I wonder if she loves cooking and gardening…

The idea made her so happy that she had decided to creates the prettiest lunch box for the girl — as colorful as her old flower garden used to be — putting shades of red and green and pink all over, carving orange carrots in little flowers, putting the yellow egg yolk in the form of a sunflower.

Each color so vivid and lovely, each of them suiting the forest girl.

The memories of this morning made Souko smile, and she was only brought back to the present moment thanks to a strong wind blowing through her short dark hair. She turned her head towards the girl, about to apologize for her absentmindedness, but then stopped.

To her surprise, the girl actually seemed really taken aback, eyes wide and mouth agape. Was she truly that shocked by the fact Souko could cook?

(Or was it because she’d cooked for her, specifically?)

“O-Oh,” the girl stuttered — and for a bewildering, fascinating moment, Souko saw her cheeks reddens slightly.

Is she… blushing?

The moment disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and Souko almost thought she’d made it up, a conjured illusion of her mind. But the scarlet on her otherwise white cheeks, and her embarrassed expression, was engraved inside Souko's heart, and she couldn’t help the wide grin that then spreads on her lips.

Of course, scarlet was just as pretty as any other colors on the girl’s face.

She looked just like a flower herself, in all her silver and green and white and red.

Souko wished she was brave enough to kiss her just then.

Instead, she quietly promised to do everything in her power to see that expression on her face once again.

* * *

She couldn’t even remember how she managed to get home, that evening.

Her head wouldn’t stop pounding, so much that she was unable to think. Her body was so heavy that every step felt like torture. Her heart seemed like a dead weight inside her chest; a burden pulling her down and down.

She felt just like that day she’d collapsed for the first time, two years ago; the day that marked the start of the end of her normal life. The only lucid thing she could register was her voice, echoing inside her skull again and again and again.

“Reiko. My name is Reiko Natsume.”

“Go away.”

“You look pale. It’s starting to rain, so you should go home.”

“You should go home.”

Souko knew she should never have gone home the moment she turned around. She knew she should have stayed; that she should have kept talking to her — her forest girl, her ghost of an acquaintance; the lovely, strange, colorful person she fell in love with.

But her voice had been so cold, when she told her to go away.

Her eyes were blank and sharp at the same time, so different from the way she usually looked at her, and Souko couldn’t stand to see that.

And she just hadn’t… she had never even expected that she could be…

It made sense, if she really thought about it; what other teenage girl would spend all her time alone in the forest, but the rumored weird delinquent from the neighboring town?

But Souko had never thought of her like that until now; both seemed so unrelated in her mind, and she felt so shocked she hadn’t been able to properly process it.

And now her duel partner had already vanished, like a mirage of the woods, like she’d never existed at all.

Souko had taken her name, and then nothing of the girl was left.

Now she was all alone in the rain, and the blue of the sky had faded away, replaced with nothing but a foggy, looming gray.

Souko’s steps vacillated, and her head still hammering, she fell on the ground.

She’d finally won, after training for so long — she finally knew her name — and yet she still wasn’t… still couldn’t be her friend.

She needed to go back, she needed to apologize, she needed to talk to her—

But the sound of the rain and the coldness of Reiko Natsume’s voice were the only thing she could hear before her consciousness slipped away.

* * *

The following days were spent in a blur.

Souko barely even registered her father’s voice or her uncle’s hands or the doctor’s visits. She felt like she was in another dimension, far away from this house, this town, this country.

She felt like she was still stuck in that forest, alone with Reiko, the rest of the world non-existent.

In her dreams, Reiko was here, by her side; pretty in all colors of the rainbow, and she smiled, and laughed, and talked. They played games together, they cooked, they gardened.

In her dreams, Souko apologized. She told her she hadn’t meant to leave, she told her she didn’t care about the rumors about her. She told her that to Souko, she wasn’t a violent scary girl, but a fun, and beautiful, and kind person.

She told her she loved her.

In her dreams, Souko was brave enough to finally kiss her.

But then she opened her eyes, and she was all alone in her bed, and there was only the blue of the sky from her bedroom’s window.

One night, she had a different dream, though.

She felt like she heard someone crying, and then Reiko was there, blue petals falling over her hair and uniform.

As she woke up, Souko couldn’t remember what the dream had been about.

* * *

It took her three whole days before she was able to stand again.

Dad and Uncle were relieved, but Souko couldn’t share any of their enthusiasm. She still felt sick, but insisted nevertheless to go back to school. She couldn’t really bring herself to talk to anyone there though, even as her classmates fussed about her health; her mind focused on only one single person — and as soon as the day ended, she ran towards the forest, towards their usual rendez-vous spot.

(She knew she shouldn’t run, she was still coughing, she still felt so weak — but she couldn’t help it.

She had to see Reiko again, as quickly as possible.)

“Reiko?” She exclaimed upon arriving, but there was no one else.

There's no one yet, Souko reminded herself, trying to stay positive. I’m still early. She could come later.

“Reiko!”

She repeated her name for a while — and couldn’t help but think that if only the circumstances were different, she would feel so proud over it.

To have finally been able to learn her name, to be able to call it out like that.

But that didn’t matter much if no one was there to respond to it. To call Souko back.

I don’t even know how it’s written, she thought.

She tried to think of all the combinations of characters to write ‘Reiko’ that could fit her the most, but just like with colors, she couldn’t decide upon a single one. All of them could suit her.

She would have to ask her about it, next time she saw her.

At least she felt pretty certain on how to spell ‘Natsume.’

All-seeing eyes of the summer, the season of ghosts and spirits.

Souko sat at their usual place.

She waited.

She kept staring left and right, attentive to every sound; trying to catch the slightest glimpse of a silver thread.

But by the time dusk came, there was still no one.

She was still all alone.

* * *

Souko stopped talking to her classmates.

A few days after her last encounter with Reiko, she’d asked the girl from her class who’d first told her about the violent high schooler from next town if she knew anything else — but she’d ended up getting into an argument with her. Her classmates had always been very nice up until now, but as soon as she started asking about Reiko Natsume, they completely changed tune and started spewing all those terrible things about her — that she was a violent delinquent, that she was crazy, that she hurt people.

Souko couldn’t help but defend her. Her classmates had never even met Reiko — what did they know about her? But everyone refused to listen to her. They almost all had a specific creepy or terrible anecdote about Reiko Natsume; she hit my cousin, she talked to trees, she burned down a shop — I tell you, that Natsume girl is bad news! C’mon, Morinaga, why do you even want to associate with someone like that? — and so Souko stopped talking to them.

She didn’t mind. She had no intention to keep hanging around such judgmental people who spoke badly of someone purely because of some rumors they’d heard.

She herself felt so ashamed, to have simply believed those hearsay and repeated them thoughtlessly. She had believed she was doing the right thing by warning Reiko about a potentially dangerous person, because she cared about her and didn’t want anything to happen to her — but she couldn’t even imagine how Reiko must have felt hearing this. How badly Souko must have hurt her. And then, when she’d learned her name, Souko had just run away…

She wouldn’t be surprised if Reiko never wanted to see her again.

But even so, she couldn’t just leave things like that. She had to apologize, at least — she had to tell her that she… she didn’t think any of that, about her.

So she tried to ask around about Reiko, tried to find out if anyone knew where she could live, what school she went to — but whenever she did, she only received vague, uncertain answers. Reiko Natsume was a weird orphan who kept being passed around among families like an unwanted stray, so it was hard to keep track of where she was.

Nobody wanted her, and nobody tried to know anything about her.

She's just a poor crazy girl, was the kindest thing one could hear on her behalf.

The more Souko learned about Reiko Natsume, the less it made sense.

This weird, insane, violent girl was nothing at all like the girl she’d gotten to know. Her Reiko could be a little cold, and a little too blunt, but she was nice, and fun, and amazing. It was like two entirely different people sharing the same name. Souko couldn’t even begin to comprehend how anyone would say such awful things about her.

In the end, she wasn’t able to find anything more about her, and so she had no other choice but to go back to the forest, and wait. Which she did, day after day, even against her family’s protests, even when it rained, even when her health kept deteriorating.

She continued waiting alone.

But sometimes, just sometimes, she felt like she could feel another presence.

Like a ghost sitting by her side, waiting with her, sharing in her lost love and her sadness.

Souko thought back to the legends she’d heard about the forest from her classmates; the strange things Reiko would do sometimes — the stares behind her shoulder, dragging her away forcefully just because a branch had snapped, the way she’d gotten startled during their last match, as if she had been distracted by something…

Maybe Souko wasn’t so alone, after all.

Maybe there truly was someone else by her side, someone she couldn’t see.

Maybe if Reiko had seemed so radiant and vibrant, that was because she actually was able to see another world: a world full of new colors, invisible to others.

Souko found comfort at the idea; that she truly had a companion to share her feelings — her pain — with, even if only a little.

* * *

It was during a day with a completely clear blue sky when she had that dream again.

Souko had stopped being able to go to school a while ago, and thus at the same time she stopped being able to go to the forest as well — the first one she didn’t care about anymore, but the second was more troubling.

She didn’t really think Reiko would come back by now — but she still kept coming there, just in case, like a last prayer.

She wondered if her companion she couldn’t see would feel lonely now that she wouldn’t be there anymore. She wondered if they would miss her.

Where could Reiko be now? Was she still sleeping in a forest, talking to creatures only she could sees?

Was she still all alone?

Souko wished wherever she was, it was far, far away from all those people who spoke and treated her so badly. She wished she was able to find a friend, someone who would love her for the person she truly was and would stand by her side no matter what — even if that person couldn’t be Souko.

Her father was in the living room now, sleeping. He had spent the whole night crying, no matter how much Souko had tried to comfort him.

She wished she could find the right words for him — tell him that she was fine, that her life had still been full of wonders and happiness despite all the suffering, that he’d been a wonderful father — but they both knew there was nothing she could do that would soothe his pain. She wished she could apologize to him, for leaving him all alone just like Mom did, but she didn’t even have the energy to do so anymore. The rest of the family — her uncle and aunt and grandmother — should arrive tonight, and Souko hoped they’ll be able to do a better job than her at comforting him.

She looked up from her bed, at the window in front of her.

The large sky spread wide before her, and it was so deep and blue, and Souko wondered if this was how it looked the day she was born — the day her parents decided to name her after the saddest of all colors.

Although Souko had stopped finding blue as sad as she used to. Now when she thought of blue, she thought of the way Reiko used to say her name so gently, of the blue candy in her palm, of the blue flowers she saw in a dream that she couldn’t remember.

The blue of Souko.

From here, she could also see the barren garden — in the end, she hadn’t been able to plant anything there. She closed her eyes, slowly, and tried to picture the colorful flowers she would’ve liked to put there, the ones she wished she could’ve shown to Reiko.

As her mind drifted away, she heard someone crying.

A gentle voice, from a gentle presence.

Souko smiled, because she knew that presence; it was the same person — the same creature — that had kept her company all this time, while she was waiting for a girl she loved that would never come.

Like with her father, she wished she could comfort them, but nothing came to her mind.

However, as she kept straying farther and farther away from reality, a sight suddenly opened up to her eyes.

She’s in a meadow.

A flower field with blue, blue, blue petals everywhere — fluttering, dancing, as far as the eye can see.

And here, in the middle of the blue flowers, all alone, is her forest girl.

Tears wells up in Souko’s eyes, but she smiles, big and wide — and do the one thing she wishes she could’ve done months ago: she calls out her name.

“Reiko.”

The girl she loves turns around, and as her green eyes melt upon recognition, she has the most beautiful and genuine smile Souko has ever seen.

All the colors of the sky, of the forest and of the meadow gets reflected in her long silver hair, and blue has never looked so joyful.

* * *

Note: The first time I read those chapters, I didn’t even realize that Soranome implied Souko died at the end until someone pointed it out, and I can’t stop thinking about how terribly sad it is. I suppose one could argue maybe Souko just moved at the end and that’s why she stopped coming, but it doesn’t seem likely with the way Soranome phrased it. At least with Reiko, there’s a chance she was loved and happy for a while with the grandfather and then with her daughter afterwards, even if she still ended up losing them at the end. But Souko never got that chance. I only take comfort with the idea she had a loving family who took care of her. (And yes, if anyone’s wondering, I decided she was raised by a single father as a parallel to Tanuma.) But it’s also terrible there seems to be some implications that if Reiko had stayed then Souko wouldn’t have died, given it seemed to be the youkai of the forest that amplified her illness (much like how Tanuma has gotten healthier since meeting Natsume).

I went back and forth about the idea of Souko cutting ties with her classmates in the aftermath of her losing Reiko, because that also felt a little mean to her, but I honestly think she wouldn’t have tolerated anyone speaking badly of Reiko and would feel guilty for listening to the rumors.

I want to try writing something else less sad about them, but truthfully I really love the tragedy of their story haha. Still, maybe I’ll give them a silly little happy ending one day.

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