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#alto plays p5s
inkofamethyst · 2 months
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March 3, 2024
It's so weird to already know what instrument I'm going to learn next (and also to have purposefully selected a time to learn it). Like, I didn't know I was going to want to teach myself the saxophone in high school, it just kind of happened (though these days I do lowkey wish I had gone for alto rather than tenor (will not make the same mistake with the bass, will prob go for a short scale)). Same with the uke--I was just bored one summer. But knowing that the bass is coming up (but that I'll be waiting over a year for it still (not a bad thing, as I'll be able to use this summer to learn more about my community at large)) makes me a bit antsy to just start playing. I'll be listening to music and will have to make a mental note of a cool baseline I'd like to learn (the "Life Will Change" bridge !!!!!!!!! (though I'll prob have to learn something like "Mask" from P5 before that if I want to play while singing (supposedly notoriously difficult on bass which is lovely)--slower, more repetitive)) but like, that's over a year away. I mean the wait gives me time to save and plan, sure, but I also just want to play something sometimes.
Speaking of planning, when I get to that fateful day next May of picking a bass (not sure if I want to go the cheap route and grab something used online or the Main Character route and have some hot guy in a guitar shop help me pick one out based on his expertise and then offer to give me lessons and then we fall in love (can you tell that Hadestown has pushed the dial right back over to R??) (though the guitar shop plan makes more sense for my first one (of one? of many? who knows) since I don't know any bassists and I don't know what I'm doing (yet))), I'm also going to have to decide whether I want to go for lessons. Honestly? I'm considering it. I know my whole deal is like "hur hur hur im a self taught multi-instrumentalist" (!!!! I'm a multi-instrumentalist !!!!!) but also if I can't find good videos on/am unsure about technique, might as well talk to a professional.
God I'm so excited to learn that instrument. Can you tell?
Speaking of saving, one thing about my savings goals notion page is that I wish it was more.. dynamic. In that, sometimes I save extra towards a goal one month, and it'd be nice if the suggested monthly savings amount went down to reflect the new minimum needed to reach that goal by the desired date. Or alternatively, change the end date based on the amount saved if the minimum payment stayed the same. I don't know how to code either of those, but they'd be a nice touch.
Though, kind of on a similar note, saving so aggressively in January and February has meant that, after typical spending habits, I've been left with basically nothing at the end of the month lol. Everything else taken into account, I've got ~$200 for random discretionary purchases monthly. That's been perfectly fine (aka just enough) but it also feels a little tight? Idk. I suppose I can rationalize it by the fact that it will keep me from overspending and will allow me to reach other goals quicker but it still feels like I'm livin paycheck to paycheck hehe. But this will only last as long as my ultra-aggressive saving strats do, so for about another year, then I start letting up (if all goes to plan).
Also, went ahead and did the per-day calculations because I've always heard that it's cheaper to make your own food than to buy it, and I am actually saving so much by making my own meals every day*. Like, so much. Now, at my uni, getting breakfast or lunch a la carte isn't terribly expensive, but it certainly can and likely would add up.
*Granted, I do benefit from the occasional free lunch or dinner.
Can you tell I'm rationalizing anxiety with over-strategizing? I truly do not make enough money to be so focused (rationalization: start good habits early). The moneydiaries subreddit has fried my brain I think.
Thinking about putting on some fake tattoos at the end of spring break. Partly because they make me immensely, unreasonably happy, partly because I'm curious if anyone would ask about them hehe. The last time I did a full sleeve and met up with some friends (years ago) they were a lil shook.
Today I'm thankful for.. a lazy weekend. And nighttime rain storms.
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cupomzeiros · 1 year
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Microfones Black Friday: TOP 5 Ofertas no Mercado!
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Seja para cantar em casa no karaokê ou profissionalmente, ter um bom microfone é imprescindível para garantir uma boa transmissão de voz. Mas, afinal, como escolher o melhor microfone na Black Friday? TOP 5 Melhores Microfones Black Friday Escolher o melhor microfone pode não ser tão fácil, além de demandar algumas informações técnicas. Pensando nisso, nós, aqui do Cupomzeiros, preparamos uma lista dos 5 Melhores Microfones na Black Friday para te ajudar a fazer uma compra assertiva. Confira: Foto: Microfone Condensador USB Blue Yeti Veja avaliações do produto: VER NA AMAZON Microfone Condensador USB Blue Yeti Considerado por muitos profissionais como o microfone USB número 1 no mundo todo, o microfone Blue Yeti promete um som nítido, potente e de muita qualidade. O modelo é bastante usado para transmissão de podcast, produções do Youtube, streaming de jogos, música, Skype, entre outros. Com três cápsulas condensadoras, o microfone oferece alta nitidez sonora. Além disso, o microfone Blue Yeti suporta até quatro padrões de captação e pode ser utilizado em gravações individuais e coletivas. O Blue Yeti possui as configurações omnidirecional, cardioide, bidirecional e estéreo. Sua conexão é feita através do cabo USB, com tecnologia plug and play. O microfone possui um botão modo mudo e um botão para ajuste de volume do microfone de retorno. Foto: Microfone HyperX Solocast Veja avaliações do produto: VER NA AMAZON Microfone HyperX Solocast O microfone HyperX Solocast é ideal para streams, gamers e editores de vídeo que buscam um microfone com alta qualidade. Com gravação de plug and play, possui sensor de toque que indica quando o microfone está no modo mudo. Além disso, o microfone possui pedestal ajustável e flexível e possuem compatibilidade com diversos dispositivos e programas. O microfone possui tecnologia de conexão USB e é um excelente produto para quem busca qualidade nas transmissões de áudio. Foto: Microfone Dinâmico Shure SM58 LC Veja avaliações do produto: VER NA AMAZON Microfone Dinâmico Shure SM58 LC O Microfone Shure SM58 é dinâmico e profissional. O modelo é bastante usado em shows e gravações em estúdio. O microfone é um referencial no mercado por sua qualidade. O SM58 possui filtro anti-pop eficiente que anula ruídos de vento e respiração. Foto: Microfone Dinâmico Profissional AKG P5 S Veja avaliações do produto: VER NA AMAZON Microfone Dinâmico Profissional AKG P5 S O Microfone Dinâmico Profissional AKG P5 S promete um som poderoso e voz de alto desempenho. Possui padrão polar supercardioide que garante maior desempenho, omitindo ruídos. Com estrutura com liga de zinco, o microfone AKG P5 S é resistente. Contudo, esse é um modelo de microfone mais simples. Foto: Trust Primo Desk 21674 Veja avaliações do produto: VER NA AMAZON Trust Primo Desk 21674 Com valor bastante acessível, o Trust Primo Desk 21674 é um microfone de mesa simples. O modelo possui ângulo ajustável e cabo de 1.8 metros. Mesmo que o modelo não anule ruídos, ele é capaz de reproduzir áudios nitidamente. O Microfone Desk 21674 é recomendado para aqueles que precisam de um microfone de mesa para jogar ou participar de reuniões, nada profissional. Por fim, o aparelho pode ser conectado ao computador via cabo USB. As pessoas também perguntam O que é um microfone dinâmico?Conhecidos por sua resistência, os microfones dinâmicos não precisam de baterias ou fontes de alimentação externas. O modelo suporta altas pressões sonoras e é bastante utilizado em performances, podcasts e shows. Além disso, o microfone dinâmico é formado por uma bobina magnética móvel. Por fim, um dos principais benefícios desse tipo de microfone é sua durabilidade e vida útil, visto que eles precisam de pouca ou nenhuma manutenção. O que é um microfone condensador?Os microfones condensadores são conhecidos por sua captação bem definida e precisa. Utilizados principalmente por produtores, tanto para a gravação de som dos instrumentos quanto para vocais. A principal diferença entre o microfone condensador e o dinâmico são as cápsulas, visto que o primeiro utiliza um condensador para converter as ondas sonoras em áudio. Além disso, o microfone condensador necessita de alimentação externa de 48 volts. Padrões polares de captaçãoO padrão de captação é a forma de sensibilidade de um microfone. O microfone omnidirecional aceita sons de todas as direções, já o microfone unidirecional capta sons de apenas uma direção, ignorando os demais sons. Os principais microfones de captação unidirecional são cardioide, supercardioide e hipercardioide. O que é microfone de lapela?O microfone de lapela é normalmente utilizado em entrevistas, palestras ou programas que o apresentador precisa deixar a mão livre, são os famosos microfones de blusa. O microfone de lapela é ótimo para captação externa, visto que ele anula os áudios e ruídos externos. Com ótimo custo-benefício, o microfone é ideal para quem quer ter um aparelho de qualidade, mas não quer gastar muito.ShotgunEsse modelo de microfone é utilizado em gravações de séries e filmes, e podem ser acoplados às câmeras. O microfone é totalmente direcionado e capta o som apenas do que está a sua frente.Como funciona o microfone sem fio?Também chamado de microfone de rádio, o microfone sem fio, é uma miniestação de rádio. Podendo ser de uma ou duas peças. Esse tipo de microfone converte as ondas de som em um sinal elétrico. O sinal é enviado para um transmissor com baixa potência que o envia à um receptor que é responsável por converter o sinal de radiofrequência em áudio. A saída do receptor é conectada na entrada de um gravador com o uso de cabos.Os microfones sem fio VHF são aqueles que possuem frequência fixa, ou seja, que não pode mudar de frequência com interferências. Dependendo dos regulamentos nacionais, os microfones sem fio operam entre 470 MHz e 865 MHz. Estas frequências são transmitidas para outros canais de televisão. Uma das principais vantagens do microfone sem fio é a liberdade que o usuário tem ao se movimentar. Visto que os microfones sem fios não são ligados a cabos e não há limitação por conta de comprimento de cabo, etc. Os microfones sem fios enviam os sinais através de rádio frequência e não utilizam cabos. O microfone sem fio é ligado a um transmissor e os sinais são recebidos pelo receptor que fica ligado ao aparelho de gravação ou mesa de som. Os principais tipos de microfone sem fio são os de lapela, aqueles que podem ser utilizados na gola da blusa e os microfones dinâmicos de mão. Considerações Finais Agora que você já sabe tudinho sobre os microfones e seus tipos, além de saber quais são os TOP 5 Melhores Microfones na Black Friday, tenho certeza de que você vai fazer uma compra assertiva seguindo todas as nossas dicas. Ah, não se esqueça de conferir nossos cupons de desconto disponíveis nas melhores lojas online para você economizar ainda mais na Black Friday. Read the full article
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yusuke-of-valla · 3 years
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philliamwrites · 3 years
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One Fool's Heart [Rank 6]
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Fandom: Persona 5
Pairing: Akira / Reader, later: Akira / Akechi (one-sided)
Warnings: age difference, consensual underage romance, implied/referenced self-harm, implied/referenced child abuse, references to depression, unreliable narrator, angst, hurt & comfort, p3 cameos, p4 cameos, no persona 5 royal spoilers
Summary: All you wanted was a nice part time job to scrape by. But if you had known how much of a smug sass-master Akira Kurusu would turn out to be, you’d have thought twice about agreeing to tutor him.
Notes: Rank 5 | Rank 7 Masterlist
[Rank 6]
    “Pickpockets and cat burglars get charged with larceny, but what about these next two cases?” asks the game show host, pulling up cards to the viewers. “A: Take money from a lost wallet, or B: Joyride, but return the car?”
    You’re nibbling on your cup’s rim, squinting at the TV screen. “It’s gotta be A, right?”
    Narukami doesn’t even look up as he struggles to pull a pizza slice on his plate. “It’s B.”
    “The correct answer is B! Saying you planned on returning it just won’t fly in court!”
    You don’t have to see to know Narukami is giving you a smug smile, and for that you try and push him off the couch. He remains unfazed as if he’s Siddhartha Gautama himself sitting below the sacred fig tree. “That’s cheating,” you say.
    “You consume gas and wear down the tires. Driving someone’s car without permission is larceny,” Narukami explains with a casual voice like he’s talking to a grade schooler. “Taking something that someone lost or dropped is theft by finding, a much lighter crime.”
    “Stop showing off.”
    Narukami gives you an indulgent smile. For someone claiming he hasn’t slept in 29 hours, he’s surprisingly attentive and ready to pounce on every sort of bullshit you think you might get away with. Only the grayish shadows under his eyes betray how exhausted he must be. And still he accepted your invitation to hang out. He’s either a fool for giving up so much of himself for you, or a saint. Sometimes the line between those is paper thin.
    Suddenly, Narukami leans over and sniffs at your shoulder, which is rude much? You startle back to the other side of the couch, eyes wide.
    “Oh, wow! Dude, wow! Ever heard of, eh, personal space? Is that still a thing that we do?” you say like you never huddle too close to him whenever you’re cold and rob him of excessive warmth.
    “Coffee,” he says, ignoring you. “You smell like coffee lately.”
    “Yeah? You do know it’s the only thing keeping me alive, right?” It’s a strange observation because you probably owe him a car’s worth considering how often he pays for coffee when you two meet up or you shut yourself in during exam periods and he comes over to check if you’re still alive.
    “No.” Narukami shakes his head. “This is like … quality stuff. Not the cheap poison you drink.”
    “Well, excuse you,” you mutter. Heat settles in your cheeks. He must pick on Leblanc’s trademark scent which is unsurprising. You’ve spent the past days lounging in Leblanc, helping Akira catch up with his studies during summer break. Those sessions only confirmed what you’ve learnt the last couple of weeks: Akira really doesn’t need tutoring. He’s smart and picks up on things very quickly. The way he adapts to problems with lightning speed is something you should learn from himin fact. So that opens up the bigger question: Why are you two still doing this? You’re sure he’s got better stuff to do than meet twice a week for barely needed tutor sessions. Even so he demands you two meet up, and still insists to pay even though you told him tutoring became more like a favour than an actual job.
    “I don’t mind,” he’d said when you settled in his room, watching him play a game on his dinosaur of a console. “It’s the condition of our deal, isn’t it?”
    “If you want us only to be all business, sure,” you’d told him, scribbling notes on a chart paper. “I just thought you’d have better use of 7,000yen than wasting it on me.”
    “I don’t think I’m wasting it.” Akira had looked away from his TV at you, his grey eyes the colour of a storm cloud. “Especially not on you.”
    “Sweet talker.” You’d nudged his knee with your toes, and Akira caught your ankle to place your foot on his thigh like it’s a daily ritual for you two.
    It’s still such a mystery why he’s single.
    Speaking of single, only one slice of pizza is left. While you were thinking about Akira, Narukami has vacuumed almost everything. He notices as much and stares from the now nearly empty carton to your plate.
    “How are you still not finished?” he asks, considering your barely nibbled slice that’s gone cold.
    “Huh?” You follow his eyes to your untouched plate. When you think back to your last decent meal, your mind becomes blank.
    “Uh, I’ve already eaten. Brunch,” you lie. “Just two hours ago.”
    “And you still decided to order pizza?” Narukami shakes his head. “Talk about waste of money.”
    “Sorry, dad.”
    “I didn’t raise you to be like this.”
    “You didn’t raise me at all,” you mumble, tugging your toes under his naked thighs. Narukami looks at you like you’ve lost your mind, which might be true because it’s 86F outside, not uncommon for mid-August, and you still manage to have cold feet. He tries to shuffle away, but there’s only so far he can get on your small couch until he reaches the end. With a defeated sigh, Narukami succumbs to be your heater, as if he ever got a chance for a different outcome, that fool.
    You lean back and slurp your ice tea, when your phone starts buzzing with an incoming call. The screen tells you it’s Cat Boy calling, and before you can stop it, a smile has already found its way on your face. Narukami raises an eyebrow at the name which reminds you that you have to tell him the story how Akira jumped into Ryuji’s arms and demanded to be carried because he refused to walk on wet ground. It’s a whole new level of extra that didn’t surprise you about him.
    “What’s up?” you greed him, wiggling your toes under Narukami. He mouths “Stop it” at you.
    “What do you know about cognitive psience?” Akira asks, his voice a little muffled.
    You tug your phone between ear and shoulder, grabbing a note pad and pen from your table. “Cognitive science?”
    “No, psience. With psi.”
    “I, well. I’m not sure. It might have been mentioned sometime during a lecture as a new research field, but I don’t think I have much about it.”
    “Could you look into it for me?”
    “Uhh, what’s it for?”
    Wood creaks in the background, and you hear a conversation in hushed whispers. “It’s part of our deal, isn’t it? ” Akira says, trying to sound carefree but you don’t miss the little edge to his voice. Or maybe it’s just bad reception. “You teach me about all the things I don’t know.”
    “Okay. Fine. I mean, yeah, sure. Just give me some time.”
    “You’re the best, teach,” Akira says, and before you can reply, he’s already ended the call. You blink at your phone, a little surprised. Narukami watches you with mild interest, chewing the last pizza slice slowly.
    “Kids these days,” you say with a shake of your head.
    “You tell me.” Narukami sighs and sinks deeper into the cushions. “Nanako stopped calling me big bro. She thinks it’s embarrassing for her age.”
    “You poor man.”
    Narukami pinches the thin skin on your ankle. “I’m serious. I can’t believe she’ll be 15 this year.”
    “I bet she’ll be a real heart breaker.”
    He looks at you in utter shock, like the very thought that Nanako might soon engage in romantic relationships didn’t occur to him at all. His protective instinct towards her warms your heart like the early sunshine winking in your room each morning.
    “And now, please welcome the young Charismatic Detective, Goro Akechi!”
    Your head snaps to the TV just as Akechi appears on screen. A bolt strikes through you as the image of your first meeting in Leblanc settles in your mind, him leaning over Akira. You scramble to your feet and jump over the narrow table, ignoring Narukami calling your name in warning as your toes barely miss a bottle of water. He probably worries for your sanity, but nothing can stop you. You kneel in front of your TV, holding your weight with both hands pressed against the screen and stare at Akechi’s face, waiting for a close up. When it finally comes, whatever he’s saying to the host and audience is lost on you. You stick your tongue out and drag it over Screen-Akechi’s cheek.
    There’s silence. Then, Narukami, because he’s your bestest friend, very gently, says, “What the fuck are you doing.”
    “My fortune reader told me that’s how I can get insight about my rival,” you explain, smacking your lips. It tastes like plastic. Which means Akechi must be fake. You’re a genius.
    Narukami whispers your name softly. He sounds like you hurt him on a spiritual level.
    “What?” you say, frowning. “Shut up, I’m an intellectual.”
    “God, please help me with this idiot,” Narukami mumbles looking up at the ceiling. “Get back here and explain. How do you even know him. And please don’t believe everything your fortune teller says.”
    You listen for now and retreat back to your seat, tugging your toes back where they belong under Narukami’s legs. He gives a disgusted groan, but you don’t know if it’s because of your feet or what you just did. Could be both.
    “Let’s just say I became a fan of the Phantom Thieves and I don’t like what he’s saying about them,” you explain because it’s easier than the truth: that he’s your rival in love and you’re trying to conquer the heart of your underage student.
    “Since when do you support the Phantom Thieves?” Narukami asks, looking more than doubtful. You haven’t really told him about the fallout with your dad and it causing your opinion on them doing a complete turnaround, but it’s constantly waiting on the tip of your tongue. You only need the right time to confide in him.
    “Well, since … you know. Since they dealth with Kaneshiro.”
    Narukami hums thoughtfully and nods, but the way he’s looking at you screams he knows you’re hiding something from him. Still, he lets it drop for now and looks back at the screen, considering Akechi. “I heard he’s the Second Advent of the Detective Prince. I knew the first one.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “I didn’t tell you?” he says, turning back to you. “Naoto Shirogane was my underclassman in high school.”
    “What is she doing now? Can we get her so she can hand him his ass?”
    “You really don’t like him, huh?” Narukami observes impartially, watching the boy answer a few questions from the audience.
    “Yeah, well, what can I say. He seems like a fake bitch,” you mutter, sharing your revelation with him. Narukami grunts a barely restrained laugh.
    “He’s what? 18? Be the adult one, will you?”
    You mumble where he can put being the adult one under your breath. Narukami pinches your ankle again.
    “Well, he sure seems nice, doesn’t he?” he says. “And apparently everyone shares his opinion about the Phantom Thieves and Medjed.”
    “Because that’s what he wants you to believe,” you groan, waving your hands in wild gesticulation and only missing the pinboard showcasing your conspiracy theory behind you. “What if he’s a serial killer. Detective at day, serial killer at night. Wasn’t there some case like that in a rural city a couple of years ago?”
    Narukami tenses beside you for a moment, his fingers disappearing from your skin. “You’re paranoid,” he says with a strange edge to his voice. “And I don’t know. Never heard of a case like that.”
    You hum thoughtfully, feeling like there’s something he doesn’t tell you. For all the things he demands you to tell him, there’s shockingly little you know about Narukami and it hasn’t bothered you much. But now that you’ve known the benefits of trusting someone thanks to Akira, maybe it’s time to work on your friendship.
    So you lean forward and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing.
    “It’s okay, Yuu,” you say, feeling confident. “I may be a paranoid idiot, but I am your paranoid idiot. And I’ll be it as long as we’re together.”
    Narukami raises an eyebrow. “Why does this feel like a marriage proposal.”
    “It can be anything you want, sweetie.”
    He grunts, now unable to fight the smile on his face. “If you say so.” Narukami taps a rhythm on your leg, eyes fixed on the screen that’s showing a pole about the public’ votes of who might become the next prime minister. He narrows his eyes as he goes through the list. “I heard your dad might become a member of congress? They introduced him as a potential candidate,” he starts carefully, treading into dangerous waters. He eyes you sideways, probably waiting for a rejection that will stop him like an iceberg and sink his ship.
    “He didn’t tell me anything,” you say, and you can see how Narukami visibly exhales as he’s allowed to transit. “And we haven’t seen each other since he blessed me with an unannounced visit. But politics is exactly the thing he needs to stoke his ego.”
    Narukami throws you little glances as if he’s still estimating when you’ll close the door on him. ”He’ll be entirely focused on his work, even more than now, won’t he?”
    “Nothing unusual about that,” you say, looking where he’s playing an uneven rhythm on your ankle. “I don’t even know the last time he went to see my brother.”
    His fingers stop. “You have a brother?”
    “Yeah.” You take in a shaky breath, focusing on breathing instead of thinking about all the ways to abandon the topic from its course. “And he’s what the kids call ‘troubled.’”
    Narukami shifts, all amusement drained from his face as he gives you his undivided attention. Talking about Kinoe feels a lot less like fumbling on a thorn stuck in your flesh. It’s the soothing balm after a burn, the warming bath after spending nights in the freezing cold. Narukami listens to you as if he’s always waited all his life for this moment, knowing it’s the last piece to finish a puzzle that will give him a clear picture of you. When you’re done, he’s resting both hands intertwined on your foot as if in prayer, frowning deeply.
    “Your brother deserves better,” he says quietly, his gaze solely fixed on you. You feel strangely vulnerable, but it’s the first time it isn’t connected to a bad feeling and instead you feel like you’re finally bearing your innermost fears. “And what your father does is unacceptable. Kinoe isn’t a minor anymore, and therefore should decide to leave the facility whenever he wants.”
    “If only it were that easy,” you sigh. “At this point I don’t know if he knows … or wants.”
    “But was his referral justified?” Narukami asks, straight to the case. It’s still hard to decide if you like or hate that about him.
    “Yes, he needs medical treatment, if you mean that.” Meeting his eyes becomes harder, so instead you focus on a blank spot on a shelf where for some time after your moving in, you’d kept a picture of you and Kinoe that’s mysteriously disappeared after a visit from your mother. “I remember when he started feeling unwell. And when everything got worse.”
    Not that this is something you might easily forget. Saying your earliest memories of him start in the womb sounds like something from a movie and you don’t believe in superstitious stuff like that. But then again, rather than a memory, it’s more like a feeling. The feeling that the only right way to be born is together, side by side with another person instead of alone. Some very clear memories of you together are how you two were four years and fighting for a pink doll’s plastic car. When you won, Kinoe was so upset with you he punched your nose bloody. Or when you mocked him for getting into anime and he didn’t talk to you for a whole week. The only way to make up then was to watch a whole season of his current favourite show, and yeah, you had to admit anime wasn’t so bad.
    But once he became a teenager, everything turned worse. Instead of talking each other’s ears off, you spend hours silently in your separate rooms, a locked door to his room and heart not allowing to remain. The first time your mother found out he’d hurt himself willingly ended in a full night of her screaming at him to stop because she was afraid of what her neighbours and friends might think.
    Kinoe turned from a bright boy charming everyone with his jokes and spectacular acting abilities to a withdrawn, quiet hermit not leaving his room with his eyes glued to the ground; moments of clear and bright moods more often and quickly followed by nervous breakdowns and uncontrollable crying. You imagine now he must have been like walking around with his head on fire and no one could see the flames.
    You always thought you were the one helpless; unable to support him or help, unable to change the way he sees the world. But how much worse was it for Kinoe, imprisoned in a mind that didn’t allow him to; couldn’t see the good, the worthwhile, the little promises of overcoming hardships. It was something you learnt only once he was gone, locked up by your dad and never mentioned again like a dirty secret that might cease to exist once forgotten.
    The word missing can’t even encompass what you feel right now. Everyone says twins have a special connection, that they are so much more emotionally linked to each other, but you doubt it’s different from normal siblings. Right now, you just want to see him, and hold him, and maybe hold him so tight you can crawl into his skin and stay there so nothing separates you again. Maybe that’s the only thing differentiating you from siblings. The physical proximity that calls for its original; being born from the very same egg, the very same protein structure.
    “I wish I had a sibling,” Narukami says after you finish talking, and you’re very thankful he doesn’t comment on you red, tear-dimmed eyes. Something wistful lies in his expression, making him look a lot younger.
    “Nanako left that much of an impression on you, huh?” you say, surprised by how steady you sound even though your chest feels like it’s crushed by grief.
    “Nanako, uncle Dojima. Pretty much everyone in Inaba.”
    “But you don’t really talk much about your time there,” you start slowly, unsure where this conversation is heading. “I always got the feeling it wasn’t so good after all.”
    “There were good and bad things, as are everywhere,” Narukami states, his expression wistful. “I only managed because I met a bunch of great people who helped me and made me the person I am today.”
    “Why did you go in the first place?”
    Narukami hesitates for a brief second, bracing himself for God knows what. “I didn’t have much of a choice. My parents send me there because they were working overseas.”
    “Were your parents also a little too focused on their work?” you ask, feeling like Narukami opens the biography to your own life when he nods.
    “Work is like a religion to them. You either give everything up for it or you’re doing it wrong.” He pauses and looks at the TV screen. Ironically, a commercial about parents going on vacation with their children is showing, mocking you both. “So of course they wanted me to be their honour student, their perfect son. They were never satisfied.”
    “How can you be so … nonchalant about it?”
    He shrugs, returning your gaze. “I never hated them for focusing on their work or being away all the time. I knew pretty early nothing I did would change that. I didn’t give them a reason to be disappointed, but I never strove to outdo their expectations. I wanted to live. Be a normal kid and do dumb stuff kids do.”
    And you feel the last one; know exactly what he means. It’s the same with your parents, even more so with your mother, and you understand why you still cling to the pride of youth, the glory of rebellion teenagers thrive on—the need to be different from them is so strong, it’s basically a own life force propelling you forward.
    “You’ve become a suspiciously decent person despite having parents like that,” you say, not ready in the slightest to go on with such heavy, depressing topics.
    Narukami manages a sound between groan and grunt. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
    “I mean it,” you say, scrambling to your knees. “I’m glad you’re around. And I’m glad you are the person you are right now.” Struck with a flash of affection towards him, you lean forward and loop your arms around his shoulders, holding him tightly. He tenses for a brief second, then relaxes immediately.
    “I’m sorry our parents suck,” you mumble against his shirt, feeling tears burn behind your eyes again.
    Narukami’s body rumbles with a deep chuckle. His hands settle on your arm, patting gently. “I’m not. It allowed me to meet a different kind of family. One that doesn’t start in blood.”
    You exhale a shaky breath, your heart squeezed to the size of a walnut. “I can’t believe you’re quoting Supernaturalfor me, Yu.”
    This time, he explodes into a real, throaty laugh. “I hate this show so much. But that is something they did right.”
    “Yeah,” you say, listening to the beating heart of another warm, familiar body. “And so did we.”
———————
    When news about the Phantom Thieves’ victory over Medjed spread, you consider sending Akechi a gift basket with flowers and a card saying Fuck you. Narukami chides you for your immaturity and he’s right, so you settle on stealing your friends’ phones and open their social media to unfollow Akechi. Not that it’s a major blow. His reputation dropped faster than your grades after the disastrous essay you wrote before Kenji took you to Crossroads. The backfire sort of tingles your sense of pity whenever comments border on downright inhumane, but whenever there’s talk about him on TV, you quickly switch channels or stop listening.
    Nonetheless, it’s 1:0 for the Phantom Thieves and messages about their little deeds on the forum spread with each day. More and more often you catch yourself writing the first lines of a potential request, only to close the document and dump it into a multiple path of folders where you’ll hopefully forget about it because they’re just too many folders to open. How unfortunate something like quick access exists.
    Your happy mood only lasts so long until Akira informs you about his class planning a school trip to Hawaii so there won’t be lessons for a full week. Which isn’t bad at all. No. You can totally go without seeing him for seven days; been there, done that. Especially since during his summer break he seemed to be busy with tons of other obligations and part-time jobs and something about needing to bring more water and sunscreen for the desert. Whatever that meant.
    So when you finally, finally see him again around mid September, nerves tensed with joy and anticipation, the sight of a certain boy sitting at Leblanc’s bar with a steaming cup in slender fingers destroys every bit of excitement. When Akechi looks up, it takes him only a few seconds to recognise who you are.
    “Ah, the tutor,” he greets you with a pleasant smile, lowering the cup from his lips. “I was hoping to see you again to clarify the misunderstanding from last time.”
    “I don’t know,” you say, taking a seat at the bar as well but leaving two stools between you and the detective. He eyes you sideways, but doesn’t comment on it. “Does Akira know you’re walking around and deny everything?”
    Akechi blinks. Sojiro coughs behind his newspaper, probably trying to cover up a laugh.
    “Where is he anyway?” you ask, turning to Leblanc’s owner.
    “Went to the public bath,” Sojiro grunts, flipping a page. “He should be back in a bit. You want a drink? Curry?”
    “No curry,” you immediately reply, maybe a little too hasty. You hope you don’t grow pale. Sojiro raises an eyebrow but only shrugs. “Coffee it is then.”
    While he goes to work, your eyes catch movement. Akechi turns his upper body towards you, opening the conversation without handing you an invitation. Unsure what to expect, you only turn your head a little, observing him with caution.
    “Kurusu is very secretive about what you two do,” he starts, and you don’t know if he’s deliberately making it sound as if you two are holding conversations about starting an anarchy. Or fuck. Oh God, you hope Akechi doesn’t think you two fuck instead of study. “So I’ve been wondering about your studies.”
    “You’re the detective,” you say dryly. “You tell me.”
    Akechi laughs, but you fail to see the joke in what you said. “That is true. Which also means I can’t just guess and be correct. That would make me a psychic, which I’m not.” He leans forward, eyes focused on your face. You shudder. “Or am I?”
    You don’t like the way he’s staring at you, like you’re the exotic exhibit in a museum. The sigh of relief escaping you when he finally leans back quickly dissipates when he says, “It’s psychology, right?”
    What the, you think, and then “What the?” you say.
    Akechi smiles, pleased with himself. “Excuse me, I couldn’t resist. After our very first meeting, I saw you once more inside a book store, purchasing a magazine about neuropsychoanalysis. I doubt you’d buy it if it was just a mere hobby since it belongs to the more expensive books on infantile amnesia targeting a specific audience. I deduced that it is something you really have to invest in and understand on top of it, hence psychology. So, not the work of a psychic, but it’s always a pleasure to see people react like you did.”
    Yeah, not the work of a psychic, but a stalker, you don’t say, because fuck Goro Akechi, right?
    “Okay, haha,” you say. It sounds like wheezing. “Got me there.”
    “Does Kurusu plan to pursue the same field of study?”
    “I don’t know,” you say, though you clearly remember Akira telling you that going to college isn’t something he can decide at the moment. Now that you know about his criminal record, it doesn’t seem so far fetched that only a handful of colleges might accept Akira. Which uncoils another knot of hot fury when you remember the unfairness of his case.
    “Strange. I thought it’s something you talk about,” says Akechi and successfully forces himself back into the centre of your attention. This time you don’t miss how he deliberately makes it sound like such topics should be priority between tutors and students, and while it isn’t something you two explicitly talk about (no really, what do you two talk about, you wonder, and quickly remember you don’t talk much besides studying and occasionally exchanging sad cat memes), you’re aware of his situation and the difficulties coming with it. So of course you don’t bring it up, lest talking about it ends up rubbing salt into the wound, and Akira probably doesn’t want that either. Unless he’s a masochist. Now that might be an interesting conversation topic.
    Thinking of the devil, Akira finally makes his appearance and strolls inside Leblanc, whistling an off-key tune. He notices Akechi first, and it’s strange to see how obvious he is, the smile reaching his eyes even before the corners of his mouth can catch up. If he thinks his glasses are obstacle enough to hide behind, you have very bad news for him. When he finally sees you as well, the smile is stuck between grimace and surprise. His eyes grow a little wider, and for a split second you imagine how they follow the curve of your exposed neck. Since the temperatures don’t get any more endurable in the evening hours, you put your hair into a loose bun, stray stands falling into your face and curling around the nape of your neck. Maybe he thinks you look more like a homeless than usual and saves his comment for when you’re alone.
    Morgana is the first to set the picture back into motion. He jumps on the bar stool beside you and greets you with a loud meow.
    “Why, hello to you too, handsome,” you say, scratching him behind his ears. He answers with another enthusiastic meow, licking at your thumb. Akira stops behind your stool, one hand drying his unruly hair with the towel hanging around his shoulders.
    “Why don’t you greet me like that,” he mumbles but does a poor job saying the words quietly. You’d really like to jokingly ask if he means you or Morgana, but Akechi beats you to it and says, “You certainly look refreshed after your bath. Maybe I should try it as well some day.”
    “You mean cleaning yourself? Yeah, that might help,” you say at the same time as Akira says, “Yeah, let’s go together next time.”
    Only Sojiro’s pen scratching on paper and the quiet mumbling of the TV fills the silence around you. Morgana looks like he’d like to be anywhere but here and you agree. Akechi only smiles pleasantly, and you want to kick him under the bar where no one sees it.
    “Well kids, that’s my cue to go,” Sojiro announces and folds his newspaper. You’re slightly amazed by the trust he places in Akira, leaving his shop to him, a bunch of fishy kids and a cat. He takes his leave, and you aren’t sure how to get through this evening without him. Begging him to stay seems a little too much for your current level of acquaintance, so you remain in your seat and stare at the shelf filled with coffee beans in front of you, trying to guess the prices for each sort and failing spectacularly. Luckily, life returns back into Akira. He pulls the towel off his shoulders and walks past the bar. “Wait here, I need to change again,” he says. “This heat is horrible.”
    He disappears upstairs, and you can’t for the love of God and all that is Holy bear to sit any second longer beside Akechi, so you slide off your stool and quickly follow Akira upstairs, apparently deaf to what he just said. Akechi pretends to be interested in the evening news, but you feel his eyes heavy on you just before you disappear around the corner.
    “Akira, can we talk about your taste in friends?” you start once you reach the top, “I mean, no offence, but—”
    Your thoughts hit a brick wall, exploding into thousands bits you don’t know which to start picking up first. Right in front of you is the glory that is Akira’s naked upper body, white skin stretching over taut back muscles.
    His damp hair is in soft, humid curls, and you feel a slow flip inside you, like your stomach running over. It seems unusually black, probably because his skin is so pale. Even the sun in Hawaii wasn’t able to leave any trace, and you wonder what would remain on his body. Does he bruise easily? How would teeth mark look on his skin? He looks so delicate—you have to glance away from the shape of his shoulder blades, the fragility of his spine, but there’s only so long you can avert your eyes while knowing that he is in front of you. When you return your sight on him, Akira looks up in just that moment. Your eyes meet, and there is something vulnerable in his eyes. Only now you notice he isn’t wearing his glasses, and it knocks the breath out of you realising how much younger he looks without them. That vulnerability disappears so quick behind a cocky smile, you wonder if maybe his glasses work as a sort of mask he usually hides behind. “Wanna take a picture?” he asks.
    “What?”
    “I said, I’ll be down in a second,” he says, grinning when you glare at him.
    “Yeah, just hurry up.” When you turn away, Akira exhales audibly, making you stop. Before you can turn around and ask if everything is alright, Akira has already closed the distance and reaches a hand up to your hair.
    “Don’t wear it like that.” His low voice is hot breath on your skin. You don’t dare to turn around, afraid of the look on his face. His fingers unclasp the clip from your hair, his thumb a ghost touch on the nape of your neck. Soft curls fall over your shoulders like a waterfall, obscuring your pounding pulse.
    Akira takes a step back, allowing you to breathe again. Unsure how to react, you hold your hand out to him. “You wanna give that back?”
    “No.”
    “Okay.” It comes out more as an exhale and stays hanging in the air. Making your way back downstairs, you think about a different way Akira could have shown his dislike about you wearing your hair like that, but whatever. Now it happened and you’re glad about a few more seconds away from him so you can sort out your feelings about what you just saw and he just did.
    Back down, you notice Akechi is gone. Good. Maybe Morgana ate him. Said cat lies curled up on a bar stool, purring, and you let him rest. Meanwhile, you spread out the tasks for Akira, and when he returns downstairs, wearing a dark red shirt to your dismay, and notices Akechi has left, the disappointment about that is so clear on his face, you have to look away and pretend you’re engrossed in the news coverage of a car accident that’s occurred a couple of days ago.
    “Oh,” you say when they show the victim’s picture and occupation, forgetting all about Akechi. “Oh God. Your school’s principle is dead?”
    Akira follows your gaze, and his expression darkens. “Yeah,” he says, his voice sounding distant like it doesn’t really concern him. “Some say he’s been targeted by the Phantom Thieves.”
    “Why? I thought they only changed the hearts of criminals?”
    “Remember their first target, Kamoshida? Apparently our principal new everything and covered him.” Akira sits down and opens a note book, scribbling a barely recognisable logo of the Phantom Thieves in a corner.
    “Still, killing?” You take the seat opposite from him, starting a game of tic-tac-toe in the opposite corner. “The Phantom Thieves don’t do that.”
    “Hmm,” Akira hums thoughtfully, and accepts your challenge.
    Needless to say, you don’t get much studying done that day, and when you leave a few hours later, Akira still holds onto you hair clip.
———————————
    The high temperatures are quickly followed by heavy showers and intense thunder you wish would hit you because no one likes finals and every lecturer thinks their seminars are the most important. Case studies pile up on your desk, charts wait to be analysed, and you dread the last week of next month in which every day holds an exam and no time in between to study properly. And student council wonders why the higher ups complain about dropping grades.
    Unable to do anything but bow to the system, you stock up on additional literature and tons of coffee to fortify yourself in your apartment, deliberately leaving out ingredients or even oven-ready food. Just thinking about eating makes your stomach flip, and you’re not hungry anyway. Or at least that’s what you tell yourself.
    Leaving the last shop for today, another bookstore selling additional scripts, you step out into the pouring rain. People hurry to catch their trains or get under a roof, and you entertain the idea to retreat to the Diner that added a new item to the menu: the Pururun Fresh Tea that somehow never fails to make you feel a little more charming after finishing one cup. But nothing beats the safe comfort of your own walls, and who knows, maybe you’ll pass out and when Narukami comes over to check on you, he’ll see how hard you worked and pity you enough to invite you to some drinks.
    So towards home you go, hiding under your transparent umbrella, and clutching the book bag close to your side before water damage destroys the thousands of yen you just spent. Five feet towards Shibuya Central Station later you hear footsteps explode like gunshots somewhere behind you. Hoping the runners won’t hit you with puddle water, you step out of the way, but it doesn’t matter because you’re the target and just like that, Akira and goddamn freaking Akechi huddle with you under the safe, dry space, both flushed and breathing heavily like they just ran a marathon. Or made out in a dark alleyway. You bite your lower lip and force your mind to think about kitties and puppies and not how good a bruise would look on Akechi’s face.
    “What is it with guys and not knowing about personal space?” you say, trying to avoid pressing your arm against Akechi’s. “Is chivalry dead or what?”
    “We didn’t want to wait for the rain to pass,” Akira explains, and shakes his head like a wet cat, getting water all over the place. Akechi and you exchange the briefest look an outsider might interpret as you two planning to strangle Akira.
    “So you just mug the first person you see?”
    “No, but it’s you, and you live near Leblanc.”
    “Still not convinced.”
    “Please, it would be bad if any of us got sick in this rain,” Akechi joins, and tentatively places his hand on yours so he’s holding onto your umbrella as well, and leans it more to his side, getting you two others wet. Akira and you exchange the briefest look an outsider might interpret as you two planning to drown Akechi.
    “Let’s just go to the subway,” you say when his eyes shift to where Akechi and you are basically holding hands. You want to tell him that you also hate it and that you’d love changing positions and those two could hands for all that you care. This evening can’t go worse, right?
    As you make your way agonisingly slow to the subway, because it’s harder than expected with limbs everywhere and bodies touching all the time, you say, “So, are you guys on a date?”
    Akira winks. “Maybe.”
    Akechi opens his mouth and chokes on saliva, but you aren’t entirely sure that’s the only reason he flushes furiously. “Certainly not.”
    “Hey, I won’t judge,” you say a little too sullen, wondering why Akira doesn’t take you out on a date.
    “We went to the cinema,” Akira fails to clarify. He’s cleaning his glasses with the hem of his shirt, and you’re not sure how effective that is, but Akira seems pleased, even though there’s still the smudge of a finger left on a lower corner. You swallow the urge to play mother hen, currently preoccupied with untangling your elbow out from between Akechi’s side and arm.
    “The movie was certainly entertaining,” Akechi says, not moving his arm whatsoever. Probably because he doesn’t want his shirt to get wetter, that jerk. “Though I’m not a big fan of open endings. What do you think, did the top stop spinning?”
    “It did,” Akira says.
    “It didn’t,” Akechi replies.
    “You watched Inception?” you ask.
    “We still got some popcorn left, if you want,” Akira offers to you, and to Akechi he says with the very same breath, “It totally did.”
    “It certainly didn’t.”
    “Does it even matter?” you throw in, returning your umbrella back to its case once you reach the station. It’s filled with people looking for shelter from the rain; the air humid and stuffy with the smell of sweat and wet clothes. “It doesn’t really tell us if it’s a dream, because consider how totems work in that world and you figure out it might stop because he expects it to stop because he thinks he’s back, but he also might still be dreaming.”
    Akira and Akechi pull a face at you for spoiling their game. When you’re the first walking through the control terminal, you’re pretty sure you can still hear them argue quietly, completely ignoring your thoroughly-explained analysis.
    The train compartment is surprisingly full at this kind of hour. Most seats are filled with teenagers and young adults either on their way home or heading for one of the city bars. You three huddle to the opposite end, where one only one seat is open.
    “Take it,” Akira says to you, slowly pushing you down like you’re an old grandma.
    “I don’t need it,” you say, but Akira insists, pushing harder until you’re sitting down with a clear sight of two pairs of slim hips. Immediately, your eyes go down to where the bag rests on your lap, pretending to check the contents. From down here, it’s harder to join their conversation. They’re talking about a show or a game, and Akira has his phone out and shows something to Akechi, and because it’s a situation like that, Akechi leans forward to get a better look and their cheeks almost touch. You watch them with with narrowed eyes, staring daggers at Akechi, which he notices because this is just your kind of lucky day. Your eyes lock for a second, but it’s hard to read anything in his. Also, what is this colour he has, you wonder for the first time, only noticing now how unnatural the brown is. Maybe it’s just the harsh neon light above you turning them into a strange, harsh hue that’s borderline aggressive. You blink, and it’s gone.
    The train jolts.
    Akira looses his footing, threatening to fall backwards and during the split second that you’re wondering if there’s anything you can do, Akechi’s hand shoots out and grabs Akira’s wrist, holding onto him like a vice.
    The driver’s apology rattles unintelligibly through the cabins as Akira and Akechi stare at each other with wide eyes.
    “Better hold on to something,” Akechi says with a brilliant smile that makes you want to vomit. Akira’s reaction is quite different as red blotches explode on his face, disappearing under his shirt where it covers his neck and you can’t believe this. Akira. Blushing. Embarrassed. Now you really feel sick.
    “You should have taken the seat instead,” you say, nudging Akira’s foot with yours. He runs a hand through his hair, breathing a soft laugh.
    “No, it’s fine,” he says, glancing sideways to Akechi who’s currently focused on an advertisement above your head. It sounds like he’s dismissing a peasant. “I think I’ll manage.”
    You don’t doubt that for a second.
    In Yongen-Jaya you finally snap back to their attention as the only one carrying an umbrella, and it feels more uncomfortable than before walking between them. By now Akira has noticed something is bothering you, and he keeps talking about Morgana’s strange morning habits. It barely manages to lift your mood, but his effort alone soothes your raw nerves and uncurls tight knots inside you.
    Leblanc is dark when you reach it. Akira looks through the glass anyway, but it only confirms that Sojiro is long gone.
    “You wanna come in too?” Akira asks, patting his jeans for the keys. Usually, you wouldn’t say no to a free cup of exquisite coffee, but right now your brain refuses to stay attentive for more than five seconds. Plus you feel like cockblocking them any longer isn’t good for any of you, so what happens should happen. Not that it concerns you. You can totally live with that. Without him in that certain way.
    “I can hear my bed screaming for me,” you tell them, already waving goodbye. You wonder if they can see how desperate you are to get away. “Enjoy your quote-not-date-unquote.”
    “Uuuhm.” Akira stops patting his pockets and finally turns around, dips his head, and looks up at you and Akechi with big, doe like eyes from behind thick, black lashes. “I may or may not have forgotten my keys inside.”
    You want to ask him if he’s stupid, but then you remember all the times you had to couch surf at Iori’s before asking the janitor to open your door. Now you pat his back and head in condolences, cooing “There, there,” and Akira nods like he’s been kicked and deserves at least a million yen of injury award, leaning like a cat into your touch. You wonder how you could have thought just seconds ago you’d be totally fine without him.
    Akechi clears his throat, looking like he thinks you both are imbeciles. “It would be a terrible inconvenience, but why don’t you give Boss a call. I am sure he’ll come at once to let us in.”
    “Or accuse me of losing them on purpose,” Akira mutters, but his hand dips into his pocket and holds onto his phone, contemplating for a moment. His eyes land on you, and even while he’s chirping your name, you already say, “No.”
    Akira’s shoulders drop. “I haven’t said anything yet.”
    “And you don’t need to. Listen to the smart detective and call Sojiro.”
    You don’t understand why Akira hesitates, and it’s something you’ll probably never know. The only lead you’re holding onto is that even though he lives in the attic above the cafe, he doesn’t fully trust Sojiro with whatever is going on in his mind. Which is fine, because everyone carries their secrets, and even you know how hard it is to try and allow someone to help carry the weight. That’s the only reason you end up asking, “What do you want?”
    Akira looks at you with an expression that’s clearly indicating he has a bad idea and he knows it. “We could go to your place,” he offers.
    You think about that for two seconds. “How about we don’t.”
    “You’d rather leave us here in the cold rain?” Akira pushes his bottom lip forward, bribing you with big puppy eyes. Behind you, Akechi starts a coughing fit that sounds as fake as his rehearsed TV interview responses. Akira joins, but he doesn’t even make an effort to sound authentic.
    “You’re the worst,” you mumble, but no one is surprised when you gesture them to follow you. Moving past Akechi, you swear you can hear a quiet high five behind you. Or maybe that was only rain. Akechi doesn’t strike you as someone giving high fives.
    So it’s back under your umbrella, and as you make your way to the student’s dorms, you realise it’ll be Akira’s first time seeing your place and finally your obsession from the last couple of weeks with keeping the place clean pays out. Not that you have anything to hide. Were it not for Akechi accompanying you, this moment could easily be stretched into a metaphorical meaning about you two deepening your friendship. Alas, with the detective prince closely trailing behind as well it feels more like the prelude to a comedy with a script you haven’t learnt fully but the curtains have been raised already. Of course improvising was never one of your strengths.
    The student dorm looms like a prison into the dark sky, looking more like a haunted building than one which holds residents. The lift inside luckily works, sparing you from climbing stairs to the 8th floor. In front of your entrance, you fumble with your keys, feeling wet locks glued against your skin from the humidity.
    “Just don’t expect anything fancy,” you say, glancing at Akechi and failing gloriously to hide your nervousness. But how can you not feel like the roof is going to fall on you when someone close to a celebrity is going to enter your little shabby apartment. Insecurity forgot to knock on your door this morning to announce you’d have to deal with it today, so of course you’re sort of overwhelmed.
    But Akechi gives you a sweet, pleasant smile in return. “Please don’t concern yourself with my opinion. I am truthfully thankful for you to give us shelter.”
    If he thinks he’s calming your nerves with his humble reply, he’s wrong because even the way he talks exudes superiority that’s frustrating on so many levels.
    The door is stuck and only opens after you bump into it for the third time with your shoulder. Both boys are polite enough to keep their comments to themselves. When you enter, Akechi mumbles, “Pardon the intrusion,” at least sounding somewhat sincere about it unlike Akira, who enters the apartment like he’s a man on a mission. His eyes wander over every nook and cranny as he takes in how you live, what books you’ve arranged on your shelves, and what litters your desk. He moves like a cat in a new environment, curious and you’re just waiting for him to push stuff off tables and act like he couldn’t even begin to imagine how it landed on the floor.
    Akechi is a lot subtler. He’s barely inside and excuses himself to the bathroom, leaving you and Akira alone for the moment. You manoeuvrer around him, acting like he’s a big house plant that’s missing out a month worth of water sessions. He seems to think the same, and mopes like a wilted flower. You retreat to the kitchen and rummage through the cabinets.
    “You want coffee?” you ask, arranging three cups on the counter.
    “Sure, but don’t let Sojiro know you drink this heretic stuff,” Akira says, and shakes the small container, surprising you by how naturally he just manages around you. You snatch the instant coffee away from him and push Akira out of the way to work. Looming above you and filling in the empty space is something he is unnervingly good at.
    “Fascinating,” Akechi says somewhere behind you once you’ve prepared everything. “There are no mirrors in this apartment.”
    A bolt strikes through your body. Your hand knocks a mug over, spilling hot coffee all over the worktop. Akira easily dodges the mess while your body immediately clicks into clean it, clean it, clean it before they see, so you don’t even hear him ask if you’re alright. Movement out of the corner of your eyes makes you flinch, but it’s only Akechi joining you, putting another paper towel on the puddle.
    “Apologies,” he offers with a quiet voice, eyes cast down. He bends his head, like a knight acknowledging a lady in an old painting. “I didn’t mean to startle you. It was merely an observation, but it seems I should have kept my curiosity to myself.”
    Something dark inside you really wants to stuff the wet towel in Akechi’s mouth to make him stop talking like that.
    “No, I just thought I saw a House Centipede, that’s all,” you mumble, cleaning the rest. Akira is still standing a couple feet away, watching you two with an unreadable expression.
    “I saw it too,” he says, shifting his weight from left to right. “Horrible thing.”
    “Hmm.” Akechi doesn’t look convinced, but leaves it at that. Akira helps you prepare a new cup and carries it to the narrow table in front of your couch.
    The realisation that you reallyshouldn’t have brought Akechi of all people to your place hits you when Akira excuses himself for a moment, stepping outside the room to get a call. Immediately, Akechi turns his body in your direction, focusing his eyes on you. It’s at Leblanc’s all over again.
    “I was wondering what you were trying to clean up, using something strong as the Acid Wash 100,” he says in a light tone, and you decide he’s the worst at small talk.
    “I wasn’t—” You stop, giving him every reason to be suspicious. “You know, usually people ask where I got that picture over there with Domo-kun. Or how much rent I pay.”
    “I’m sure those are fascinating topics as well,” he says, and instantly dismisses them with a flick of his wrist. “I was just wondering, really. It isn’t something you’d find in a common household.”
    “And I’m wondering why you think that’s any of your concern,” you snap, feeling defencive walls hulk up inside you, this time adorned with a barbed wire fence just for the detective, and you really can’t wait for him to bloody his hands in trying to climb over them.
    Nothing could make you tell him the truth: the truth about the furious scrubbing of toilet and bathtub, the intense obsession with cleaning everything spotless until the intense caustic stench irritates your lungs so much you vomit and the vicious cleaning cycle starts again. The habit started when you cleaned the food you threw around the room after your dad had left. Who could have known it would turn into an obsession to cope with the hurt he left inside you. You created a prison that kept you docile in fear of your father’s wrath, its walls coated in poison.
    Suddenly, the image of Akechi’s bony wrists and ironed shirt strikes you like a sudden, painful flash of bright light. The fact that he knows about a brand your friend studying chemistry vowed is hardly known outside except for people boarding on mysophobia, makes your mind leap to crazy ideas. It’s your turn to stare Akechi down, though you can’t possibly think of a way to ask without sounding like you’re crazy. He’s a detective. Of course he knows everything. And still, something about this doesn’t sit right with you, like a picture that’s put into the wrong frame.
    Luckily, you’re spared of a reply when Akira returns and flops back down between you, either not noticing or ignoring the tense air.
    “It’s still pouring cats and dogs outside,” he says, sinking into the cushions. “If this goes on, we might have to stay the night.”
    “Or I’ll just kick you out once you finish up drinking.”
    “I heard they predicted a severe storm for tonight,” Akechi chimes in, returning to his tooth-rotting pleasant TV persona and not like someone who invades other people’s privacy. “People shouldn’t leave their houses. But of course we wouldn’t want to overstay our welcome.”
    “Technically you both got in here uninvited,” you say, ignoring the guilt-tripping.
    “It doesn’t count as burglary,” Akira objects. He sprawls his legs over your lap and leans his upper body heavily on Akechi’s side, like a cat trying to claim as much space as possible.
    “I could still call the cops.”
    Akira jerks his thumb towards Akechi. “He’s on my side.”
    Akechi smiles like a saint, his back straight like a sword. “I’m on the side of justice.”
    “And I hate you both,” you conclude. “Shut up and let me watch the news.”
    At least they listen to you now and keep silent as you turn on the TV and switch to a news channel. Akechi was right, there’s apparently only one short timeframe left before the storm picks up, buildings swaying and all. You really start to wonder if you should keep them overnight before they get hit by a traffic sign or something like that.
    Your phone vibrates in one long call and shortly followed quick messages—Iori’s signature move when he’s in desperate need of help. You hope his hand isn’t stuck behind the refrigerator again.
    “I’ll be back in a bit, just going to my neighbour,” you say and tap Akira’s legs so he releases you. “Try anything nasty in here and I’ll beat you up.”
    Both boys nod absently, their attention solely focused on the screen and a report about the Phantom Thieves’ targets.
    Just one knock, and Iori opens the door, breathing heavily. “Thank God,” he wheezes. “There’s a House Centipede in my bathroom and I think it’s eating the mice living inside the walls.”
    If this isn’t karma, you don’t know what it is.
    Iori’s apartment is like a trash dump, and it never fails to amaze you how he moves in it like he’s swimming in clear water. They do say only a genius dominates the chaos and Iori seems to live up to it. After convincing him that an improvised flame thrower made out of deodorant and lighter is a really bad idea, you manage to catch the little monster of a centipede under a glass, making Iori promise to bring it outside later. He nods vigorously but from the way he’s eyeing the centipede you can immediately tell he’s fallen in love and will prepare a terrarium for it. Stranger hobbies do exist.
    Back in your apartment, you notice the rain doesn’t fall as hard as before against the windows. Either Akira and Akechi leave now or you have to think about food you could serve your guests. A choice is pretty much nonexistent since you’ve kept your fridge empty for almost a week now, only managing with chocolate bars and a few apples from time to time. Plus where would they even stay considering Akira refuses to ask Sojiro to come and open Leblanc.
    The sight in front of your TV stops you dead. Akira has his eyes closed, sleeping peacefully. He leans on Akechi’s shoulder, curls into his side, while Akechi keeps his gaze on the screen, looking a little like a statue with how hard he tries not to move. It hits you with the force of a train. Jealousy: white-hot, boiling, venomous. It ripples through your body, making it shudder with the force of this feeling. Emotion tears at you; hot waves of jealousy mixed with desperate longing. This ought to be you Akira leans against; Akira trusts enough to rest against.
    Akechi looks up when you approach, and slightly angles his head to the right. “Is everything alright?”
    “Yes,” you hiss, retreating to the far end of the couch. “Why wouldn’t it be.”
    “Well, we pretty much forced you to take us in,” he elaborates unnecessarily. “But luckily, we won’t be a bother to you for much longer.”
    That brings a stop to the furious pounding of your heart, the angry bee swarm buzzing in your ears. “What are you talking about?”
    Instead of a simple answer, Akechi shows Akira’s phone. On the screen is a message to Sojiro asking to open up Leblanc because he forgot his keys, and you stare a long moment at the letters and the sentence, trying to understand what sounds so off about them. An answer plops into the thread just as you realise, “You wrote that.”
    The corners of Akechi’s mouth twitch. He deletes both messages, closes the app and puts it back beside Akira’s bag. “Like I said, we won’t bother you.”
    “That isn’t nice,” you shoot back. “Don’t just take other people’s phones and impersonate them.”
    “What makes you think I just took it?” he replies. “Maybe Akira asked me to write to Sojiro?”
    With how he reacted back in front of Leblanc, you seriously doubt that, but before you can say anything, Akechi blinks thoughtfully up to your ceiling, and adds as an afterthought, “And anyway, doesn’t the end justify the means?”
    You scowl. “Don’t talk philosophical to me at this kind of hour, kid.”
    Something in your expression makes Akechi back down. He simpl shrugs, the motion stirring Akira awake. He grunts unpleasant and nuzzles into Akechi’s shoulder.
    “What time’s it,” he mumbles, running both hands through his messy hair.
    “Time for you to go to bed,” you provide, humour void in your voice.
    Akira shoots up, wide awake now. “You sound exactly like Morgana,” he groans miserably.
    “What?”
    “I mean, you sound exactly how I would imagine Morgana to sound like if he could speak. I imagine he’d always tell me when to go to bed,” he blurts, his expression turning sour. “And it would be the worst.”
    “You seem very tired, Kurusu,” Akechi unhelpfully contributes. Akira considers him for a short moment, then yawns. “Yeah. Yeah, seems like it.”
    “Well, then it’s good Sojiro will come and open Leblanc,” you say, unable to hide the bitter edge to your voice. “Better go now, before you make him wait, right?”
    Akira blinks in confusion, but Akechi already rises, brushing off his spotless shirt. “That’s right. We don’t want him waiting in the rain at this late hour.” He marches to your entrance area, not looking if Akira follows him. But he does, and you’re so focused on the fact that Akira trails behind him like a little puppy that you don’t notice the way he looks at Akechi: the keen eyes narrowed sharply in question and careful contemplation.
    At the door, you consider just closing it on Akechi’s face and keeping Akira inside. But he also slips into his shoes, not showing any hint of wanting to stay. You want to tell yourself the feeling of disappointment is linked to Akechi’s rude behaviour but your talent of bullshitting yourself is fairly non-existent at this moment.
    “Thank you again,” Akechi says, his smile razor sharp. “It was an interesting experience and good for future reference to see how a student lives.”
    “Don’t mention it. And no,” you say. He blinks in confusion. “The end doesn’t justify the means. Unless you want immoral or violent means to corrupt the end.”
    “Ah,” Akechi breathes softly and smiles like he’s pleased that you did engage with him in philosophical talk in the end. “Fair point,” he says. “Oh, but isn’t it the same as All’s fair in love and war? Don’t you think so as well?”
    He smiles like a beautiful angel seconds away from throwing heavenly fire at mortals. That is the moment you realise. You realise that Akechi knows what you feel towards Akira. It’s in the way he looks at you, the things he just said. He’s a detective, for Christ’s sake, and reading people belongs as much to his repertory of skills making him so successful in his profession as to your studies of the mind and brain. Caught off guard, you can’t help but stare at him and for the first time you feel like Akechi is deliberately showing his superiority. You lost a game he knew from the very beginning he’d come out as victorious.
    “When did you two bond over consequentialism?” Akira says, breaking the staring contest between you and Akechi. He sounds a little sulky, and God you hope he isn’t reading too much into it.
    “We’ll be taking our leave now,” Akechi says, and says goodbye with a curt nod.
    “Yeah, do that.” And don’t come back, you throw at the back of Akechi’s neck, hoping he feels it burning on his skin like the Cain’s mark expelling him from this place.
    Akira remains a little longer. He bows his head in your direction. “Thanks again, teach.”
    “Don’t sweat it.” You stare at the top of his head, feeling the urge to pat him. And you do. Akira hums approvingly, and you allow yourself to breathe again now that Akechi’s out of sight. “Just be careful on your way back.”
    “Scared someone might snatch me away?”
    More than you think, you don’t want to admit. “Knowing you, you might go out there and punch a police man. We don’t need that.”
    “Only if he wears Prada.” Akira winks and grins when you try to kick him off your doormat. Without him, your apartment already feels a few degrees colder.
——————
    A couple days later, the first thing you notice when entering Leblanc is that Morgana doesn’t greet you like usual. Now that maybe wouldn’t be that big of a deal were it not for Akira sulking in a booth, flipping his pen so vigorously around it looks like he wants it to take off and fly towards the ceiling.
    “Easy there, cowboy,” you say. The skin under his eyes is a few shades darker again, and his slumping form speaks louder of sleepless nights than a yawn. “You might hurt someone with that thing.”
    Akira looks from you to the pen and throws it carelessly on the table. “Sorry.”
    “Don’t worry. I just don’t want you to stab yourself. Or me.”
    Seeing how that sneaks a little smile on his face, you relax a little. “Where’s Morgana?”
    Akira tenses slightly. “Outside. He is a cat after all.”
    “Yeah, but…” Somehow this answer doesn’t satisfy you. At the same time, you don’t really feel confident enough to say that you always thought he and Morgana were inseparable; that if Akira was a cat, he’d be like Morgana, and if Morgana turned into a human, he’d be like Akira. But maybe you’re just overthinking it and Morgana will stroll inside the shop in a couple of minutes to place a dead mouse in your lap.
    “So, you wanted to talk?” Akira changes the subject, playing again with his pen. He must be either really nervous about something or just needs his fingers occupied in general, which is a whole new revelation you want to hide inside your chest and unfold later to wonder about.
    “Yes. Remember when you asked me to look into cognitive psience? I found something.”
    Akira’s expression falls, then gets solid with a frown. “Don’t.”
    “What?”
    “I changed my mind. I don’t want to know about it,” he says. “Throw away everything that you’ve found about it.”
    “You’re joking.”
    “I’m not. Not about that.”
    You narrow your eyes, trying to see if he’s really playing with you. But this might easily be another one of those rare times you see him serious. He’s agitated and keeps peeking at this phone that’s blinking repeatedly with fast incoming messages. Whatever happened in this short time that has changed his mind, apparently it’s still holding him in its claws and tightens its hold around him. Akira looks like a prisoner hold at gunpoint, preventing him from sayingt the wrong thing.
    “You won’t answer if I ask what’s wrong, will you?”
    Akira looks from you to his phone. “No.”
    “But you do know that I’ll look into it myself. Why cognitive psience specifically. You’re not someone who loses interest in whatever is on your mind. Telling me to throw my research away means there’s danger included, and you don’t want danger and your friends inside the same room.”
    He pales slightly, and swallows. “Stop it. I’m not your patient, and I didn’t ask for you to look into my head.”
    “I’m not looking anywhere,” you say, slightly growing irritated. “I’m only taking what you’re giving me.”
    “Then stop taking.”
    You consider each other from the distance of the table between you. After bracing yourself for a fight you might lose, you get up and take the seat beside Akira, turning to him.
    “You know I won’t keep pestering you if you continue to refuse to answer. But please tell me if you’re in danger or something like that. I want to help.”
    He exhales audibly. “I know. Thanks. But it’s nothing. I just thought cognitive psience isn’t as interesting as I expected.”
    “Okay,” you say, and leave out that you found suspiciously little on the matter because apparently the government keeps it secret. Which could also be just typical government conspiracies, but you feel like dropping the subject is a better course of action.
    A guest enters Leblanc even though you’re sure Akira has flipped the sign to Closed. Your mood drops when Akechi moves to your table like he owns the place.
    “Apologies,” he says in way of a greeting. At least he understands he just walked in on something, because he hesitates and pulls his eyebrows together. “I’m only here to return the clothes you lent me.” He puts a paper bag on the table, successfully putting a wall between you and Akira.
    “Your clothes,” you repeat like a parrot, looking from the bag to Akira and back. “Why would you—” Immediately you can think of one reason, and oh boy, is it hot in here or is it just you? Akira seems to follow your train of thought and immediately turns red. Akechi looks between you two like he’s trying to solve a mystery.
    “I want to thank you again for letting me stay on the night of the storm,” Akechi explains, and to you he says, “You might have noticed the storm resuming once we left. Kurusu was nice enough to offer me shelter.”
    “Yeah, well. He’s a nice guy like that,” you admit, trying to smother the desperate desire inside you to throw yourself on Akira and obscure him from the detective’s eyes. “Unlike someone I know,” you’re unable to hold back, staring at the detective.
    Akira pinches your thigh. “Be nice,” he mumbles, pushing the paper bag to the opposite end of the table.
    “Don’t worry about it.” Akechi shakes his head, his easy-going smile saved for his fans and the public turning into a sad little curve that changes his whole face into a picture painted in tragedy. “I am quite used to people calling me unkind. I assume you too are a fan of the Phantom Thieves? Apologies if anything I said about them upset you.”
    You want to tell him this has nothing to do with them and that you didn’t like him before it became cool with the kids, but under the table, Akira squeezes your thigh in warning, and up until now you haven’t even noticed how his hand has remained there. You nearly choke on your saliva and manage a high-pitched, “No need to apologise. I’m the one who stepped out of line.”
    Akechi smiles heart-breakingly wistful as if he knows Akira’s the reason for your sudden change of heart. “No, please don’t. I should go now. Have a nice evening you two.” He leaves Leblanc, his usually straight spine slightly bowed and for the first time you can see past all the jealousy and petty hate where a boy condemned by the public leaves a warm shelter.
    You swallow past the bitter taste, feeling your thigh getting cold and Akira’s hand nowhere near it. Instead he surprises you by bowing his head until his cheek rests against your shoulder, his glasses pushing uncomfortably against your skin. You look at the door’s reflection in the black TV screen; slim shoulders hidden underneath a white shirt on your mind.
    “Do you like him?” you ask, shuddering when the tips of his fingers ghost over your knuckles.
    Akira’s warm breath brushes against the crook of your neck as he settles in more comfortably, puts more weight onto you. “Yeah.”
    His whisper is like silk, hiding the dagger that pierces into your heart. But you are prepared for this. It’s a moment you’ve dreaded coming but also braced yourself for a long time.
    “Then why are you doing this?” you say, and turn your hand around, the open palm facing upwards. Just like you expected, Akira wedges his fingers through yours. A trembling breath leaves his mouth, ghosting over your skin when you feel his lips brush the nape of your neck. Nothing can stop the shudder rippling through your body, earning a deep, low chuckle from him.
    “Because I know that he’ll never feel the same.”
    Ah, you think, and wonder how many people are out tonight who can’t be with the one they love so they settle for a substitution.
    You squeeze Akira’s hand in return. A shadow settles over his eyes when he searches for yours, a question waiting on the tip of his tongue you answer when you dip your head once he raises his and your lips meet in a silent vow.
    Kissing is new to him. It’s evident in how he tries to do so much at the same time, kissing, licking, whispering your name against your mouth. He tastes like coffee and you regret you drank it earlier because you want to know how Akira truly tastes. When his grip on your hand tightens, you flinch, your joints hurting because he’s holding on too tight, too hard, even though he should know by the way you willingly open your mouth that you won’t just abandon him.
    As an apology, he drags his tongue over your lower lip but it feels half-heartedly when the thumb of his free hand digs into your jaw to prevent you from moving away. Fine, two can play this game. Sneaking your free hand to the back of his neck, Akira grunts in pleasure when your nails scratch his scalp. His smile pushes against your lips and smugness curls in your stomach when you yank his head back, black curls caught in your fingers. They really are as soft as you’ve imagined.
    Greedily, your mouth latches onto a spot just under his jaw, the skin so soft and warm you want to rip it apart with your teeth. A pleasant sound leaves his lips when you straddle his lap, and you hastily stretch up to catch it with your mouth but it escapes, and hangs between you in the dark cafe; the only source of light is the dim, orange light from the lantern outside the shop that catches Akira’s ethereal, beautiful expression—a face artists want to paint so history remembers him. His thumb dugs into the inside of your thigh, his nail scratching against the fabric of your jeans.
    Oxygen is unfortunately something you both need to survive. You reluctantly break away, interlacing your fingers behind Akira’s neck and lower your forehead against his collarbones, trying to piece your mind back together to form words to say how bad of an idea this is.
    But then he kisses the top of your head and loops both arms around your neck and your plan flies out the window as you relish in his warmth, his unexpected softness.
    Seconds tick away. In this short moment you feel like there’s only you two in this world, a population of two, uninhibited by anything and anyone.
    “Do you want another cup?” he asks quietly, affectionately tugging your hair.
    You nod, but none of you move immediately, and you think, Just five more seconds until five become ten, then twenty. He’s the first to move, placing both hands on your thighs and drawing lazy circles with his thumbs until you lean back and finally find enough courage to look at him.
    Akira smiles, his grey eyes filled with a glint that can’t be from a reflection somewhere around you. It’s the kind of inner light shining to the outside that can only be explained by pure happiness, and it uncurls something deep inside you, loosening a knot that finally disappears after so long. Reluctantly, you climb off his lap and allow him to get up. He moves across the room and switches the lights on above the bar. The first shock of sudden brightness to your eyes doesn’t make you react as strong as the sight of dishevelled Akira, his hair sticking to all sides, his lips red and bruised with a dark spot just under his jaw where the hickey is already blooming. He moves behind the bar and you take a stool, desperate to close the distance between you, and when he has his back to you, you wonder if you’re the only one so deeply rattled to the bone just from a little kissing.
    “I’m sure Sojiro won’t mind if we treat ourself to some of his better beans,” Akira says. “Or rather I treat you to some better beans.”
    You’re already a great bean, you want to say but maybe cheesiness is better saved for another day. Or not used at all. “Ok,” you say instead. “Thanks.”
    He gives a little smile, then proceeds to open the cap. And struggles. And almost drops the can with Jamaica Blue Mountain beans, successfully giving you both a heart attack because that shit is more valuable than you two together. What usually is a smooth procedure of Akira making coffee turns into a spectacle of bumping, him almost dropping half the dishes and nearly burning his hand on the glass syphon.
    “Christ, are you okay?” you ask, finally awarded with hot coffee. Akira looks at you from behind the counter, eyes big, and suddenly, he just falls into himself, both elbows leaning on the counter as he puts his face in his hands and you notice for the first time that his fingers are shaking.
    “How can I be after that,” he mumbles into his hands, peeking at you between his fingers, and oh—maybe he isn’t so unaffected from kissing you as you thought. Struck with a forceful flash of affection and endearment towards the boy, you’re pretty sure you’re a lost cause.
    Crushing on Akira was a laughable joke, a fling that would disappear and remembered fondly like summer—only missed when it’s gone. But falling for him was never meant to happen, never a plan, and the implication of that and what might follow is like a pinprick of ice driving into your heart. The sorrow mixed with excitement is so bittersweet, you don’t know if the tears pricking behind your eyes are of joy or fear. But the worst and best part is seeing the hope in Akira’s eyes, the affection towards you in his gaze as he whispers your name again and leans over to steal another kiss.
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2021 Top Games of the Week: Week 4
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Conference play begins in earnest for every league. There’s a fun mix of conference and non-conference games, but unfortunately very few high profile matchups.
The Top Ten Games of the Week
10. Nebraska 2-2 (0-1) at #20 Michigan State 3-0 (1-0)
Nebraska appears to be leveling out. The Cornhuskers gave it their damndest but couldn’t quite overcome rival Oklahoma. However, NU does look poised to reenter the conversation in the West race. Meanwhile, Michigan State is looking very solid after a dominating performance over Miami. With Ohio State looking weak maybe even the Spartans can enter the East race.
9. #24 UCLA 2-1 (0-0) vs Stanford 2-1 (1-0)
The PAC-12 is back to being a stinking crater, but that doesn’t mean the division races won’t be interesting. UCLA is reeling after a last second loss to Fresno State. The Bruins still have a clean slate in the South race, they can regain some confidence with a road win in Palo Alto.
8. Kentucky 3-0 (1-0) at South Carolina 2-1 (0-1)
Yeah it’s a low-tier SEC matchup. Week 4 isn’t full of bangers top to bottom.
7. Wake Forest 3-0 (1-0) at Virginia 2-1 (0-1)
With Clemson looking shaky it’s time for the mid-level ACC teams to revolt and finally put a contender who can really challenge the Tigers. Could it be Wake or Virginia? Both have performed above expectations in the past few years. The Demon Deacons in particular are looking solid.
6. Rutgers 3-0 (0-0) at #19 Michigan 3-0 (0-0)
Maybe in other years we could laugh off Rutgers and Michigan in the weekly top ten, but the Wolverines are playing like they have the best offense in the conference and the Scarlet Knights aren’t a total embarrassment anymore.
5. Texas Tech 3-0 (0-0) at Texas 2-1 (0-0)
I like to highlight rivalry games whenever they have a hint of standings importance, so I’m doing that here. Texas has already been exposed, now they get the chance to expose one of their rivals.
4. #25 Kansas State 3-0 (0-0) at Oklahoma State 3-0 (0-0)
Hey if Kansas State can stabilize at QB this could be a very good team. Oklahoma State is somehow still unbeaten, the Cowboys now have to face their stiffest test so far in this young season.
3. #9 Clemson 2-1 (1-0) at NC State 2-1 (0-0)
Look, Clemson doesn’t look like they can keep up with a team that can score 24 points. The only question is if NC State can muster those points against the Tiger D.
2. #12 Notre Dame 3-0 vs #18 Wisconsin 1-1 (0-0) (Chicago, IL)
I’m glad part of this series was preserved despite the first leg’s cancellation due to covid in 2020. Notre Dame is looking very mortal, can Wisconsin knock the Irish around?
1. #7 Texas A&M 3-0 (0-0) vs #16 Arkansas 3-0 (0-0) (Arlington, TX)
If you asked me at the start of the season if I thought this would be close I’d have said no. Now I’m very curious to see what happens when Texas A&M meets Arkansas in Jerry World. The Aggies were barely able to beat a Colorado team that has no offense two weeks ago. A&M is having some troubles. Meanwhile, the Razorbacks upset Texas and are looking like stiff competition.
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5 G5 Games of the Week
5. San Jose State 2-1 (1-0) at Western Michigan 2-1 (0-0)
It’s an above average non-conference game.
4. Liberty 3-0 at Syracuse 2-1 (0-0)
Technically not G5 but Liberty can get an easy P5 win against a weak Syracuse squad.
3. Marshall 2-1 (0-0) at Appalachian State 2-1 (0-0)
This one would’ve been more exciting if Marshall had beaten ECU last week. Two solid G5 powers face off in a cool regional matchup.
2. UTSA 3-0 (1-0) at Memphis 3-0 (0-0)
UTSA is off to a hot start. The Roadrunners head to Memphis to face off against a Tigers squad who just sent Mississippi State packing.
1. SMU 3-0 (0-0) at TCU 2-0 (0-0)
Oh yeah the Skillet game has to be #1. Both of these DFW rivals are undefeated and they have some regional scores to settle. SMU finally broke through with a win in 2019 after seven years of futility. The game was suspended in 2020 due to COVID, but now TCU gets to respond at Amon Carter Stadium.
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FCS Games of the Week
5. #21 New Hampshire 3-0 (2-0) at Pittsburgh 2-1 (0-0)
Pitt just lost at home to Western Michigan so you can officially start talking yourselves into this upset.
4. #2 South Dakota State 2-0 (0-0) at Indiana State 2-1 (0-0)
South Dakota State travels to Terre Haute to face off against a Sycamore squad without an FCS loss.
3. #15 East Tennessee State 3-0 (0-0) at Samford 1-1 (0-0)
A similar situation as South Dakota State at Indiana state.
2. #12 UC Davis 3-0 (0-0) at #14 Weber State 1-2 (0-0)
The Big Sky openers for both teams. UC Davis and Weber State are both gunning for Playoff berths, but the Wildcats are running out of wiggle room.
1. #1 Sam Houston State at #25 Central Arkansas
The #1 team is travelling to face a ranked opponent. That usually gets you the #1 spot.
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androidmaniaco · 4 years
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Top Ofertas Prime Day 2020
Top Ofertas Prime Day 2020
Casi sin darnos cuenta ya estamos de nuevo en el día por excelencia de la mayor tienda de ventas online del lado occidental del planeta, y es que un año más ya estamos de pleno en el Prime Day  2020 de Amazon.
Un Prime Day 2020 que más bien se tendría que llamar en plural ya que durante el día de hoy y el día de mañana te podrás encontrar las mejores ofertas y descuentos exclusivos para los clientes de Amazon Prime.
A continuación, a parte de adjuntarte las mejores ofertas a cerca del Prime Day 2020, también te vamos a decir como hacerte de Amazon Prime mediante el mes de prueba completamente gratuito, (Esto para clientes que nunca se hayan beneficiado de la promoción en alguna otra ocasión). Si ya has disfrutado de esta oferta gratis para probar el servicio de Amazon Prime, o bien te registras con otro mail diferente o bien optas por el pago de un mes de servicio por tan solo 3.99 Euros/mes. En ambos casos puedes contratar el servicio haciendo click aquí.
Además os recuerdo que el hecho de pertenecer al club de Amazon Prime, también os da pleno derecho para acceder a sus plataformas de Amazon Prime Vídeo, Amazon Music y Amazon Prime Reading de manera totalmente gratuita.
Televisores Android TV con importantes descuentos
Rebajas
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TCL 65EP680 Televisor 165...
Calidad de la imagen 4K HDR PRO - amplía la gama de contraste, detalles y color significativamente, produce imágenes...
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Smart TV el televisor presenta Android TV con Google Assistant, Google Play Store, Chromecast integrado, compatible con...
Dolby Audio ofrece un sonido enriquecido, nítido y potente en el televisor
633,95 €
Ver oferta
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Sony KD-49XH8196PBAEP -...
Televisor 4k hdr con 4k x-reality pro, pantalla triluminos y android tv
Compatible con google assistant, alexa, airplay, apple homekit
Gran sonido e imagen gracias a dolby atmos y dolby vision
Busca opciones de entretenimiento con la voz gracias a android tv
745,00 €
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Televisor Philips...
Este TV de 70 pulgadas con Ambilight de tres lados agranda ópticamente la imagen de la pantalla gracias a ledes...
La televisión de 70 pulgadas permite disfrutar de la mejor calidad de imagen y sonido Dolby dando más realismo a los...
Las tecnologías HDR 10+ y die P5 Perfect Picture Engine de este televisor de 70 pulgadas garantizan una imagen de...
Este Smart TV 70 pulgadas lleva el sistema Android para que puedas acceder cómodamente a Google Play Store, disfrutar...
1.170,04 €
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Top Ofertas Prime Day 2020 Selección de Android TV/ TV Box
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Android TV Box 9.0, 2019...
【ANDROID 9.0 OS】 Viene con el sistema operativo Android 9.0 actualizado, que es más rápido y más eficiente. La...
【4GB RAM + 32GB ROM】El almacenamiento más alto en el mercado en la actualidad garantiza la velocidad y la...
【6K+3D FUNCIÓN】La caja de TV soporta 6k y función 3D. La resolución 6K nos da una definición mucho mejor que la...
【CONSIGA SU PROPIO TEATRO】Google Play Store es compatible con muchas aplicaciones de Android. Simplemente conéctelo...
39,99 €
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Android TV Box 10, 4GB...
【Android 10.0】 Esta caja de Android TV está cargada con el sistema operativo Android 10.0. Tiene 4 GB de DDR y 32...
【4K / 3D】 Esta caja de TV inteligente es capaz de transmitir en 4K HDR, lo que le permite experimentar una calidad...
【Gran conectividad】 Cuenta con wifi de doble banda (2.4G / 5G 802.11 a / b / g / n), Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0, puerto...
【Sistema abierto con OTA】 La caja de TV enraizada, que puede encender o apagar en la configuración, brinda...
39,90 €
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Última Versión Android...
【Android 10.0 sistema】 Android TV box está equipado con el último sistema operativo Android 10.0 del mercado y el...
【4G RAM + 64G ROM]】Este Android TV Box viene con 4GB DDR3 + 64GB eMMC, que puede proporcionar más memoria e iniciar...
【4K + 3D】Smart TV Box es compatible con las funciones 4K y 3D. La resolución 4K nos hace más claros. La función...
【WiFi dual + 100M Ethernet】Está equipada con Wi-Fi dual 2.4G / 5G y es compatible con LAN Ethernet 10 / 100M....
65,99 €
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Android 9.0 TV Box 【4GB...
【Android 9.0 OS + Super H6 Chip】 El Android TV Box equipado con el último sistema operativo Android 9.0 en el...
【Dual WiFi + Bluetooth】Nuestra caja de TV Android es compatible con WiFi de banda dual 2.4G / 5G y antena dual...
【4G RAM+32G ROM】 El X6 PRO android box almacenamiento de gran capacidad de 4G RAM garantiza la velocidad y la...
【4K+ 3D】Compatible con 4k TV y funciones 3D. La decodificación de hardware H.265 puede ahorrar el 50% de los...
49,99 €
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X88 Pro Android 9.0 TV...
La caja de Android X88 PRO tiene 32 GB de memoria eMMC que le permite descargar o copiar muchas películas, fotos,...
Esta caja de TV con 4GB de RAM y el conjunto de chips Quad Core RK3318 de 64 núcleos Cortex-A53, más rápido que...
La última versión del sistema operativo Android 9.0 es compatible con múltiples funciones, pero también tiene muchas...
Es compatible con el efecto 4K ultra HD y 3D de alta resolución, además de la GPU Penta-Core Mali-450, que cuenta con...
36,99 €
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Android 9.0 TV Box, Q...
Q PLUS TV Box powered by Allwinner H6 Quad-Core 64bit ARM Corter-A53 CPU, smarter, faster and more powerful that ever...
Built in 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM, excellent performance with your favorite applications and games, say goodbye to...
Android 9.0 operating system version can be perfectly compatible with majority of software, games and application...
Based on Mali T720 GPU, Q PLUS android tv box supports H.265 decoding, 4K and 6K resolution, the 6K resolution gives us...
29,99 €
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Sidiwen Android 10.0 TV...
【El nuevo sistema operativo Android 10.0】 El Sidiwen T95 Smart TV Box viene con la actualización del sistema...
【Alta velocidad de reacción】 2 GB de RAM es más grande que la memoria de ejecución de la mayoría de las cajas de...
【Fiestas visuales extremas】 Nuevo Allwinner H616 de cuatro núcleos apoyos la decodificación de video 6K y el...
【2.4G / 5.0G Dual Band WiFi y Bluetooth 5.0】 Android TV box es compatible con 2.4G / 5.0G Dual Band WiFi, si desea...
35,99 €
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TV Box, HK1 MAX RK3318...
★ 【El último sistema operativo Android 9.0】 HK1 MAX Android TV box viene con el sistema operativo Android 9.0, la...
★ 【4GB RAM + 32GB ROM】 El almacenamiento más alto del mercado en la actualidad, el almacenamiento grande 4G RAM...
★【WIFI/Ethernet & BT 4.0】HK1 MAX Android TV Box viene con Wi-Fi 2.4G/5.0G incorporado y admite LAN Ethernet RJ-45...
★【4K + 3D 】HK1 MAX Android TV Box admite la decodificación y reproducción de casi todos los formatos populares...
43,99 €
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Android TV Box, T95 S1 TV...
【Amlogic S905W & Android 7.1】El T95 S1 Android TV BOX utiliza el sistema profesional Amlogic S905W Quad Core...
【Ethernet & 2GB RAM/16GB ROM】T95 S1 TV BOX con Ethernet 10/100M, 2GB DDR3, 16GB EMMC Flash. También puede ampliar...
【2.4G WIFI】El T95 S1 Android TV BOX es compatible con Wifi 2.4G. Si te gusta usar Wifi, se ajusta exactamente a tus...
【Mini teclado inalámbrico】 3 en 1 Mini teclado inalámbrico de 2,4 Ghz, Teclado inalámbrico + Ratón + Touchpad....
37,99 €
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Android 10.0 TV Box 4GB...
Android 10.0 TV BOX y Wi-Fi Router function:El más nuevo Android 10.0 OS TV Box con Wi-Fi Router de Banda Doble de...
4GB RAM +32GB ROM:La TV Box viene con una Memoria Flash de Alta Velocidad de 4GB/32GB. Su capacidad extendida le permite...
3D+4K & H.265& USB 3.0 & BT 4.1:Admite 4K x 2K hasta 60 fps.La alta configuración de la Máquina ofrece a los usuarios...
Operación más Conveniente: La TV Box Android 10.0 OS se conecta a través de un Cable HDMI. Dos puertos USB, debe...
62,99 €
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Top Ofertas Prime Day 2020 Selección Smartphones al mejor precio
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UMIDIGI S5 Pro Smartphone...
Apariencia: teléfono inteligente UMIDIGI S5 Pro con AMOLED pantalla FHD 6.39" , cámara selfie emergente, parte...
Lente de la cámara: la cámara selfie emergente de 16MP con modo de retrato AI con ajuste de desenfoque de fondo....
Batería de 4680 mAh y 18W carga rápida: batería de alta capacidad de 4680 mAh, admite carga rápida por cable de 18...
6GB + 256GB: UMIDIGI S5 Pro con el MTK Helio G90T procesador, más potente y ahorrador de energía, con 6 GB de RAM y...
269,99 €
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Smartphone, DOOGEE N20...
【Pantalla Full 6.3 ”FHD + Waterdrop y cuerpo De Vidrio de Doble Capa】 El DOOGEE N20 Pro teléfono movile está...
【6 GB RAM+128 GB ROM y Rendimiento Rápido y Estable y Android 10】 El DOOGEE N20 pro móviles libre equipado con un...
【Cámara Trasera Cuádruple de 16MP】 DOOGEE N20 Pro smartphone está equipado con cámaras traseras cuádruples de...
【Batería 4400 mAh e Identificación de Huellas Dactilares y Bluetooth 5.0】 El 4g Smartphone Libre con la batería...
169,99 €
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Huawei P30 Lite -...
Procesador Kirin 710 Octacore 2.2 GHz
Memoria RAM de 4 GB
Memoria interna de 128 GB
Cámara de 48+2+8 MP y de 24 MP para selfie
219,00 €
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Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G -...
Mi 10T Lite incluye una cámara cuádruple y puede tomar fotos de paisajes con su gran angular, también incorpora modo...
Mi 10T Lite incluye un procesador de alto rendimiento 5G Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G, y una CPU Octa-Core.
Mi 10T Lite cuenta con una pantalla DotDisplay FHD+ de 6,67" y con una pantalla AdaptiveSync de 120 Hz para un...
Mi 10T Lite incluye una batería grande de 4820 mAh, para un uso más prolongado del teléfono sin tener que recargarlo.
279,00 €
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Samsung Galaxy A30s -...
Cámara principal de 25 MP, cámara ultra gran angular de 8 MP y cámara de profundidad de 5 MP
Pantalla del móvil, super AMOLED infinity-V, con 6.4 pulgadas con HD+
Consigue aún más espacio, memoria ampliable a 512 GB con tarjeta Micro SD
Batería del Smartphone de 4.000 mAh con carga rápida de 15 kW
193,90 €
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Moviles Libres, Blackview...
📱6.49” 19:9 HD+ Pantalla y cuerpo delgado de 8.8 mm📱Como un moviles libres económico que todos pueden usar, la...
🚀Procesador Helio P25 y 4 GB de RAM 64 GB de ROM y Android 9 Pie🚀MediaTek Helio P25, 4 GB de RAM + 64 GB de ROM...
🔋4680mAh Batería grande y 5V/2A Carga rápida & OTG🔋Con la ayuda de un procesador de ahorro de energía y...
📷Quad Cámara 16MP + 8MP + 0.3MP + 0.3MP📷A80 Pro telefonos moviles libres se adapta a cuatro cámaras separadas en...
119,99 €
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Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 -...
Snapdragon 665 Octa Core
Pantalla de 6.3", 2340 x 1080p FHD+
Cámara trasera cuádruple 48 MP + 8 MP + 2 MP + 2 MP, cámara frontal de 13 MP
Batería de 4000 mAh, 18 W, de carga rápida, USB tipo C
134,85 €
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Rebajas
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Huawei Y5 2019,...
Rendimiento inteligente: el procesador de mediatek mt6761 con 2 gb ram + 16 gb rom
Selfies perfectas: la cámara frontal de 5 mp cuenta con un sistema de retoque automático para que tus fotos sean...
Desbloquea tu teléfono con sólo una mirada: el desbloqueo facial puede desbloquear tu smartphone desde múltiples...
Almacenamiento interno 16 gb: soporta tarjetas micosd de hasta 512 gb (no incluida) para que puedas almacenar toda a...
85,35 €
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Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T -...
Procesador qualcomm snapdragon 665 de ocho núcleos frecuencia: hasta 2.0ghz
Procesador gráfico adreno 610
Qualcomm de tercera generación y motor con ia
Cámara principal de 48 mp con ultra alta resolución
201,89 €
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Samsung Galaxy M30s -...
Triple cámara trasera de 48 mp+ 8 mp ultra gran angular + 5mp; cámara frontal 16 mp
Pantalla 6.4 pulgadas infinity-v y super amoled
Batería 6000 mah de 15v de cargar rápida
Modo noche; captura las fotos más vívidas en condiciones de luz baja / ultra gran angular; captura los momentos de la...
200,57 €
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Moviles Libres, DOOGEE...
◆Pantalla Completa 6.52" 19.5:9 & Pantalla Completa Gotas Agua◆ La pantalla IPS de 6.52 pulgadas del teléfono...
◆Batería de Polímero de 4350mAh & Carga Rápida de 5V/2A◆ Con la ayuda de un procesador de ahorro de energía y...
◆Cámaras Traseras Triples 13.0MP+2.0MP+2.0MP & Cámara Frontal 5.0MP◆ Equipado con cámara trasera triple...
◆El Sistema Android 10.0 más Reciente & Red 4G LTE & Facial ID◆ El teléfono inteligente DOOGEE X95 ofrece más...
79,99 €
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Samsung Galaxy M51...
Cámara: cámara principal de 64 MP, cámara de profundidad de 5 MP, cámara ultra gran angular de 8 MP y cámara...
Pantalla: Pantalla Super AMOLED infinity U, con FHD + de 6,7 pulgadas, resolución de 2340 x 1080 píxeles, densidad de...
Hasta 512 GB de tarjeta Micro SD, memoria expandible para fotos, música y más.
Batería: batería de litio de 7.000 mAh¹, de alto rendimiento con función de carga móvil rápida de 25 vatios
386,66 €
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Samsung Galaxy M21 -...
Su configuración de 4 GB de RAM y 64 GB de almacenamiento interno, ampliable con una tarjeta microSD hasta 512 GB,...
Triple cámara: cámara principal de 48 MP, cámara de profundidad de 5MP , cámara Ultra Gran Angular de 8MP y cámara...
El Galaxy M21 cuenta con una batería de iones de litio de 6000 mAh de alto rendimiento, con función de carga rápida...
Smartphone con sistema operativo Android V10
229,00 €
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Poco X3 NFC - Smartphone...
El POCO X3 NFC incluye una cámara cuádruple AI con un sensor primario de 64MP y puede tomar fotos de gran angular para...
El POCO X3 NFC incluye el último procesador Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G y una CPU de ocho núcleos.
El POCO X3 NFC cuenta con una pantalla de 6.67 " con una pantalla de 120hz para un desplazamiento y navegación más...
El POCO X3 NFC incluye una batería grande de 5160mAh, para un uso más prolongado del teléfono sin tener que...
254,82 €
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Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite -...
Mi Note 10 Lite es el teléfono perfecto para tu día a día trabajar y jugar
Cámara cuádruple de 64MP con vídeo 4K y cámara frontal selfie de 16MP
Pantalla AMOLED Full HD+ de 6.47", diseño elegante con cubierta 3D curvada en la parte delantera y trasera; con una...
Procesador Snapdragon 730G; ofrece un rendimiento rápido, perfecto para una experiencia ininterrumpida; frecuencia de...
329,00 €
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HUAWEI P40 Lite E -...
Triple cámara IA de 48MP HUAWEI P40 lite E es tu estudio fotográfico personal con 3 inteligentes cámaras traseras La...
Pantalla FullView Con una pantalla FullView de 6 39" HUAWEI P40 lite E ofrece una vista más amplia con un ratio de...
Batería de gran capacidad Con su potente batería de 4200 mAh pasarás el día con una sola carga
Rendimiento sobresaliente Equipado con el chip Kirin 810 que trae su propio arsenal tecnológico formidable HUAWEI P40...
162,91 €
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Honor 20S Smartphones,...
✔【CAPTURE WONDER con pantalla de rocío y diseño elegante】 Oferta, atrevida y hermosa, la pantalla FHD + de 6.15...
✔【Cámara triple ultra ancha de 48MP AI】 Cámara principal de 48MP de HONOR 20 S. Utilizando la capacidad...
✔[Cámara frontal de 24MP] Brindando selfies más brillantes y detallados con embellecimiento avanzado de IA,...
✔【CAPTURE WONDER con rendimiento extremo】 HONOR 20S ofrece conjuntos de chips Kirin 710 de ocho núcleos a muy...
185,99 €
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Xiaomi Redmi 9 Smartphone...
【Pantalla FHD + Dot Drop de 6.53 ”】La resolución 2340x1080 Full HD + garantiza una experiencia visual inmersiva y...
【5020 mAh (típico) Gran capacidad + 18 W Cable de carga rápida】Con una batería del tamaño de un banco de...
【Processeur Helio G80】Procesador Helio G80, 2 grandes núcleos A75 de 2.0GHz, 6 núcleos A55 a 2.0GHz, CPU de ocho...
【Cámara cuádruple de 13MP + Cámara autofoto de 8MP】Cámara gran angular de 13MP, AF - Cámara ultra gran angular...
149,00 €
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Hasta aquí las mejores ofertas de este primer día del Prime Day 2020 en cuanto a tecnología Android se refiere. No dejes de visitarnos mañana para encontrar nuevas ofertas añadidas.
Androidsis https://ift.tt/2SRdJuW
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yusuke-of-valla · 3 years
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Well they do say the way to man’s heart is through his stomach...
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yusuke-of-valla · 3 years
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Atlus said Shukita rights
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yusuke-of-valla · 3 years
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Not to be mean to Ryuji but I was really hoping I’d be able to ride the Ferris Wheel with just Yusuke
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yusuke-of-valla · 3 years
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I thought they were gonna make a joke about Yusuke being resistant to ice but instead Yusuke just seems to have a personal beef with heaters
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yusuke-of-valla · 3 years
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Misc funny lines I screenshotted I strikers, part 2
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yusuke-of-valla · 3 years
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Just thinking about how Yusuke constantly apologizes for losing his composure over things that he has every right to be pissed at or upset by (which LBR is probably a result of being raised by Madarame abd trying not to cause a scene) and his friends validate his feelings and also openly express their own contempt and frustration and also check in on him and yeah
Anyway this game is good and this team dynamic is good and I love all of the
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yusuke-of-valla · 3 years
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My take on the Monarchs so far:
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yusuke-of-valla · 3 years
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Local Fox Nephew and Wolf Uncle compliment each other whilst Stabbing Everything
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yusuke-of-valla · 3 years
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Morgana, I cannot be any more obvious that I want to go on a romantic date WITH YUSUKE
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yusuke-of-valla · 3 years
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OK NOW ON TO THE SAD ART BOI CONTENT
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Oh my gosh OH MY FUCKING GOSH DO YOU REALIZE. THE FUCKING CONTEXT ASGGDJFKSKDHDHSJDN
Yusuke Kitagawa saying “creating work is often a lonely endeavor” hits so hard because like, the thing about Yusuke is he’s lonely. He’s really lonely ok? In Royal they added a quest about an old man causing trouble because he was alone and ignored by his family and it hits Yusuke hard. And I pointed this out while playing Royal, but Yusuke’s talk skill gets revamped so he’s better at helping you with shadows who are alone
In PQ2 he compares being with everyone to being with the other students in the shack and Akihiko compares it to being family.
But all the other students left a long time ago, so it’s just been Yusuke and Madarame and his art. And it’s not like Yusuke could’ve talked to anyone about his situation, so he expressed himself and his discontentment through his art. Art was his only outlet for years and yet he finds it profoundly stifling. Art is the reason he has a roof over his head.
But then there’s also the fact that (at least early on) Yusuke equates being able to do art with being able to help his friends so like it’s both something that’s isolating and the method through which Yusuke helps his friends.
So he’s in this place where the thing he loves to do is also the thing that makes him feel disconnected from his friends and on some level he’s right because he can’t really talk about Art with them. Like they support him and that’s great but it’s not the same as having someone he can vibe with in terms of his craft because the other students at Kosei don’t talk to him.
Look what I’m trying to say is this one line put validated A LOT of what I’ve been yelling about since I’ve played Royal for the first time and also makes a lot of Yusuke’s character much more depressing and also the fact that he has all his friends supporting him through all this so much sweeter.
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