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alphabravocharliedelta · 3 years

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Therefore I Am | Russell Adler x Bell!Reader II

Series: Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

Therefore I Am | Russell Adler x Bell!Reader

Chapter II

Word Count: 3400+

[Chapter I] [Chapter III]

Summary: [Y/N] “Bell” [L/N] was content with dying. Shot by the person whom they admired and left to die, the world was now left in the hands of the team they once thought as family. However, it seems that fate had other plans in mind…

Content Warning: mature content, gore, vulgar language, blood, injuries

Notes: Thank you so much for your comments on the previous chapters! I can’t respond to them but reading them is very heartwarming. This chapter’s a bit short, and if your wondering as to why I chose a certain character over the other, it’s just of preference. Besides, they need more appreciation :)

[Y/N] “Bell” [L/N]

July, 1983

North-West, Soviet Union

The weeks passed without anything new. The weeks eventually turned to a month.

It was during July 1983 that everything changed.

4th of July, actually.

Even if rations were running low, you all managed to pull through eating crackers and pulling eggs from nests. There were a few starving nights, but efforts would often be rewarded through some animal caught in one of the traps.

Today, everything started off as normal. It was usually dark out when you woke up, so you had the daily program of watching the sun rise as you did laps. You engaged in your daily routine of exercise, before spending some time alone at the makeshift practice range. Majority of the time you lay on the ground, staring at the bluish white sky above while trying to wind down from your work out. The snow has long stopped, humidity starting to move in.

Afterwards you walked around the facility until Vadim requested you to check the animal traps on the west side of the base. No strange activity like usual, and the traps were either bare or activated, but with nothing inside. The wildlife around were beginning to play it safe and smart— The bait was always missing now. You covered them with a bunch of twigs and old leaves, making sure it was obvious enough for the group to notice.

You returned to see Artyom working on his new weapon: a bow. He managed to find some old logs previously, in which he spent the next few weeks hacking at it and carving it into shape. It was nearly finished now.

"Nice craftmanship," you remark. The bow was fairly nice and sleek, a light yellowish tan with brown streaks. It was a bit shiny too, which you could only assume he polished with some oil.

"I used to help do woodwork with my wife before the war started," Artyom describes. "Making tables and furniture."

“That so?”

“Yeah. Good business. Handcrafted and original design, you won’t find it elsewhere.”

Vadim strides in mid-conversation, holding a large hare by the ears. A rifle hung over his shoulder. "Got a big one!" he exclaims proudly.

If there was one thing about the seasons changing, at least it brought some more animals around. Even if the animals were getting smarter, there would be at least one unfortunate soul that would be caught.

Vadim headed over to the kitchen area to prepare it for cooking. You watched Artyom test the strength of his bow by pulling the string back, and making any adjustments.

Having nothing else to do, went over to the computer that sat in the corner of the room. It was dingy and yellowing with age already, most likely one of the earlier models that was released. It was surprising to learn that it was still connected to the database, all info easily accessible to you with just a tap of a few keys. The password was no problem for you, as some forgetful person decided to write an obvious hint on a yellow post-it.

The terminal mainly consisted of daily updates, a few logs written by Anton himself. The logs went all the way back, more than a year ago. It was a tad boring, as it mainly talked about the same topic: mission reports, suspicious activity, intercepted communications. Reading through it only reminded you of the time you went to Ukraine with Woods, only to discover about Operation Greenlight. Then it went all downhill from there.

The recorded conversation between Black and Hudson was here as well. Hearing how easily they spoke about it, despite literally placing bombs around Europe as a defensive mechanism was astonishing. You skimmed through other calls, much of them not really catching your attention.

If there was one thing that you didn’t like about this lifestyle currently, it was the days were mundane. You couldn’t even comprehend that you lived at an abandoned base for two years. Even if you wanted to take a joy ride around, any modes of transportation were destroyed when the base was attacked, and there was no way of salvaging any parts.

0000

Night time eventually came after spending your time breezing through the database. Dinner was small, and it would probably be another day or two before any of you could eat again in order to ration. You stared at the ceiling of your white room, following the grooves with your eyes until the lights were shut off. Diverting your attention elsewhere, you started listening to the noise of water dripping from outside the hallway and counted each drop, hoping to lull yourself to sleep.

You were about to hit the two-hundred mark but a loud crash made you lose count.

Shooting up from bed, you sat in the darkness waiting for any other noise to follow up.

It’s probably nothing.

That's what you told yourself, and yet there was an unsettling feeling that you couldn't shake. Your instincts were telling you to get off your ass and investigate it. But you were out in the middle of nowhere at an old, barely operable military base with four Soviets. No one came then, so what are the chances they would come now?

For fucks sake...!

You stood up, running your hand against the wall. You felt around until you found your knife and flashlight. Flicking it on, a bright beam came from the end of it, temporarily blinding you.

Letting your eyes adjust, you decided against getting suited up and left the room. The beams of your flashlight stretched until the end of the highway, dust particles floating around. Whatever made the noise wasn't nearby. If it was an animal, and you highly doubted it, it would have left by now.

Rounding the corner there was no one, and the walk to the meeting hall was dead silent. Mikhail and them must have heard the noise as well unless they were heavy sleepers. So where were they?

You went to flick on the lights, only to remember that it was past eleven. Everything else was running fine.

"Guys?" you called out in a hushed tone.

Hearing no response, you didn't linger any longer than you needed to. Shining the light into every passing room didn't reveal anything either, and everyone else had yet to make their entrance. It was probably safe to assume that they were well asleep by now and slept through the noise. But now that you were up, you couldn't fall asleep easily without knowing what caused the noise.

The base was rather big, and would take more than three hours to go through every room. Storage, cafeteria, the main terminal…

You were about to call the quits until you crashed into someone as you turned the corner. The flashlight fell to the floor, and you dived to get it.

“Fucking bastard–”

“Vadim?”

“Quiet!”

Vadim grabs your shoulders, shuffling you back into the direction you came from. You aimed your flashlight at him, and saw that he was clutching at his side, blood seeping through his fingers. He leaned against the wall, trying to keep himself up but struggling to do so.

“Shit, what happened?!”

Unable to stand up any longer, he slipped onto the floor with his back to the wall before he could answer your question. In a rush, you set the flashlight down, ripped off the bottom part of your shirt and placed it over his wound while applying pressure. The warmth of blood quickly seeped through; it was deep. It was only then that you realized that he had way more lacerations than you initially thought: one in the shoulder, leg, and arm. How he even managed to get away, you didn’t even know.

"They came back to clean up their mess," Vadim croaks. You looked up at him and already saw his eyes were beginning to lose the life in them. He already lost too much blood. "They, they got Artyom… We tried to get to the escape route, but they cut us off... I don’t even know what Mikhail was even thinking–"

The sound of distant footsteps echoed from down the corridor.

Vadim grabs your arm. “You need to go.”

Uncertainty raced through your mind. The footsteps were getting closer. “I can’t just–”

“You need to go!” he repeats, mustering up any strength to push you away. “Don’t waste your time on me!”

You gulped, seeing the desperation on his face. He was clinging to life, using his final bated breaths to tell you this, and in the end, there was nothing else left for you to do.

“Thank you... for everything.”

Taking a final look at Vadim, you decided to follow his wishes, and left him. You could hear him cock back a pistol behind you, yelling cuss words and calling out to the intruders.

It was probably best to better arm yourself with something other than a knife, so you made your way to the armory. Though it was quite the distance, you luckily didn't encounter anyone on the way there. The sounds of gunfire would echo out occasionally, and you hoped that everyone was alright.

Before you could turn the corner of the hallway leading to the armory, something flashed just right at the edge of your peripherals. Glancing, you saw a tiny red dot dancing along the floor and walls.

Shit!

You flicked off your flashlight.

There were two of them.

To make things worse, they weren't talking. No communication between them whatsoever. It was dead quiet and you could hear your heart beating in your ears. Whoever they were, they were professionals. Or maybe they were dumb. You hoped it was the latter.

Without a weapon, you had no chance of winning. Sure, you had a knife, but against two? It was possible if they were slow to respond, though you highly doubted it. You had to separate them.

Tracing back your steps you decided to head to the control room.

It was circular in shape. The terminals inside followed the shape of the room, curving around the center floor. They were on standby, light brown next blinking repeatedly, just waiting for a password.

Keeping a low profile, you searched around for something distracting. There was a little panel on the wall, and on it was a giant red button. A glass pane covered it.

Well damn.

Biting your lip, you winded up your fist and twisted your body. You took a deep breath before letting your waist unwind itself. Your knuckles met the glass, the shards digging into your skin as the button sunk onto itself.

"Fuck!" you couldn't help but yell, pulling your hand out as red began to trail down your arm.

Sirens began to go off, lights beginning to flash. The screens around you began to blink rapidly with the words "emergency" in Russian. An irritable sound of high pitched wailing came from above as bright neon red covered the room.

While things weren't going to plan, at least their attention was drawn to you instead of Mikhail, Artyom, and Anton.

As a matter of fact, where were they?

You didn’t even have time to think as a sudden spray of bullets came, shattering the glass windows. Ducking for cover, your breath hitched as you heard the door get kicked open.

With the loud siren masking their footsteps, and only a knife to your name, you were trapped.

Taking a peep around the corner, you could see two armed large figures situating themselves deeper in the room, parting and circling around the terminals. You couldn't make out their faces very well.

At least there were two– you could handle them. Maybe take one as a body shield, threaten to cut their throat.

There was a faint sheen of red on your left, and you found a pair of boots right next to your hand. Before they could even react, you sprung up violently and threw yourself at them.

You flipped the knife in your hand, making sure it was pointed downward.

Using every ounce of your strength in the attempt to make your knife plunge into the intruder's chest, and they in turn tried their best to prevent you from doing so.

Your grip on the handle was incredibly tight, to a point you were beginning to feel light headed and your chest beginning to constrict as the scar you bear stretched out. You could tell that they were stronger than you in terms of strength, so you needed to get this over with quickly.

Just when you were about to push your weight onto the knife, you saw it.

The siren lights momentarily illuminated their face, and you felt all feeling leave your body. You forgot to breathe, and your grip lessened on the handle. This couldn’t be happening. It’s been two years.

But there was no mistaking it. Those piercing grey-bluish eyes belong to someone all too familiar.

Lazar.

Eleazar Azoulay.

“Bell?” he whispered in disbelief, and his grip on you lessened significantly. You couldn’t see his expression, but his voice was enough. It was him.

You choked up as he said your name. Your nickname almost sounded foreign. Lazar must have seen your face at the same time you saw his.

Before you could respond, something blunt and heavy hit you square on your temple, knocking you off. Alarms were ringing inside your head, telling you to run as far as possible. You could already hear that man's voice at the depths of your mind.

"Woods, wait!" you heard Lazar cry out in warning.

You didn't waste a second getting back on your feet, diving behind a control panel as a torrent of bullets rained on the spot you were at just mere seconds ago.

You couldn't stop yourself from hyperventilating, and your hands began shaking. Balling them into a fist, you punched the ground as fear began to take over you. Fuck!

Somehow, you managed to get a good grip on your knife, holding it with your fingertips before chucking it around the corner from your hiding spot. You heard it collide with something metallic, and you took the opportunity to dash towards the door.

Bullets trailed right behind you, one even grazing your shoulder just as you made it out. You ran down the hall, trying to remember where the exit was. The only advantage you had was the lack of lighting, and your knowledge of the facility's layout, and yet you failed to clear your mind.

After a few tight turns, you tackled the emergency exit door open. You didn't stop for a moment, continuing to run off into the forest that was located on top of a small hill. The snow left indents of your shoes as you rushed to get away, but there was no time to spare to cover them.

Just what were you supposed to do in a situation like this?

Hiding behind a tree, it took a bit for your body to cooperate. Your thoughts were racing at an uncontrollable rate.

You always thought the first emotion you would feel was anger if you somehow encountered your former team again. You ran the scenarios through your head, thinking of every possible outcome, but this seemed to be the most unlikely route to have taken.

Rather than anger, you were scared.

What would they do to you when they found you? You were supposed to be dead. Were you going to kill them? No, you couldn't do that…

Right?

In the end, you wanted to shut your eyes, cover your ears, and wish everything else away. You had nothing to defend yourself, and you couldn't bring yourself to surrender.

You couldn't do anything.

Your military training felt useless in this scenario, and your mind was slowly turning against you. The voices sounded like they were getting closer, but you couldn't tell if they were auditory hallucinations or the genuine voices of the people you had cared for.

Cold wind nipped at the open wound on your forehead, and you could feel the trail of blood that ran down your face drying up.

The sound of a branch breaking went off nearby.

Painfully, you held your breath, and tried to concentrate your thoughts on your surroundings. You forced your hand to stop shaking by grasping your wrist. You listened to everything that could exist, whether it be the cold breeze blowing through, or the slightest movement of a leaf.

Surely enough, you heard the sound of something heavy closing itself onto your position. It was on your right.

Taking a peek from the corner of your eye, you could see a red laser pointing at the ground near you, before it disappeared. The presence was right there.

They knew where you were.

Preparing yourself, you took a silent deep breath, and pulled your legs closer. The sound of a single bell chime went off in your head. You had to be doing something right.

Counting down their footsteps, they were just a pace away.

You bolted out from behind the tree, tackling the person closest to you. They swore in surprise as you both rolled down a short distance.

It was Adler.

A sudden rage overtook you.

The man behind everything, the one who made these voices in your head.

You couldn't see his eyes behind the fucking glasses. Why did he always wear those fucking shades?

You were frustrated. You could have helped them. You could have told them about Duga, but you told them about Solovetsky instead. Your loyalty was to the US at that point, their morals and vision of the greater good heavily instilled on you. It may have been fake, but you eventually sympathized with it. You were even part of the team that prevented the nukes, and this was the "thanks" you get?

“We’ve got a job to do.”

Something inside you snapped, your fear turning into something incomprehensible. You weren’t mad or frightened; it felt like an unearthly force had taken control of your body, and you were just watching it play out in front of your eyes.

Kill him.

Wresting the gun away from him, you tossed it away before positioning yourself on top, making sure he couldn't get up. With your left hand you grabbed his collar. As for your right fist, you didn't hesitate to bring down your fist onto him.

His aviators broke right at the bridge of his nose.

"Bell-"

You didn't give him a second to speak. Pulling back your fist, you delivered another punch. Adler had an iron grip on your left wrist, trying to pry it away, but you didn't budge.

“The red door.”

Where was it?

"The CIA reinvented you, Bell."

"Bell, stop!"

Where was the damn door?

“Why?!” you screamed, tugging Adler at the collar with both hands. Your throat felt raw and dry as emotions began to well up, your thoughts becoming incoherent the longer you stared at his bloody face. “You left me!”

Adler fully understood the words you spoke, and it tugged at his heartstrings.

Your voice cracked as you cried, and tears were running down your face. You truly did think you had a connection with him, working side by side with a man that had your back in the most dire of situations. He fully expected this kind of reunion, but he had long convinced himself that you had actually died on the cliffside. Adler couldn’t even bring himself to fight back against you, agony written all over your face as you confronted him. He took the punches, wishing that it would at least give you some solace.

You were peeled off of him by Woods, whose arms were wrapped around your neck and waist, restricting your movement. You flailed your legs around, just trying to hit something, anything. But Woods' hold on you was too strong, and moving too much would choke yourself unconscious. Instead, you watched as Adler helped himself upward, wiping the blood from his nose away.

Adler rolled his neck a couple of times, and gave up on wiping away the blood on his face. He spat out some substance onto the ground as he reached for the radio, an audible click coming from it. "Sims, get ready. We're heading to exfil."

You could sense him looking at you, but you were unable to decipher his visage amidst the darkness.

"We secured the package."

#russell adler #russell adler x reader #russell adler x bell #cod black ops cold war #black ops cold war #call of duty #bo:cw #text #bell #call of duty x reader #call of duty imagine #fanfic #abcd briefing

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imagine-organization-xiii · 3 years

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Want to go on vacation so I have to live vicariously through this blog - org xiii going on a cruise?

oh my god let’s get this chaos rolling - I’ve never actually been on a cruise before but I would absolutely love to go on one

if i had drawing skills i would totally draw some of this because it just cracks me up to no end

EDIT: i added some stuff about Xigbar because i forgot about him lmao

Xemnas: “Whoever is humming the Jaws theme song is going to get their ass kicked.“

They’re all sorely in need of a good vacation, something that they can all enjoy where they can do their own things but not be bothered by each other. Someone mentions a cruise in passing and some of the members are doubtful at being stuck on a boat with one another for a long period of time, but... Well. The boat is large and there’s an open bar and a WATER SLIDE so it doesn’t take long to get everyone on board with the plan.

They know that a lot of rooms on cruise ships don’t actually have windows, but Lexaeus, Marluxia, Vexen, and Xemnas all demand rooms with windows. Lexaeus and Marluxia can get a bit seasick if they’re in the bottom of a boat without seeing where they actually are, Vexen is high maintenance, and Xemnas isn’t having anything less than the best.

They don’t plan on paying out the ass for rooms, so they all decide to share. Roxas and Xion get their own room that’s connected to the room shared by Vexen and Lexaeus. Lexaeus, who was originally going to share with Xaldin, was forced to switch when Vexen refused to room with Xigbar. Xemnas refuses to share with anyone other than Luxord (because Luxord spends most of his time out and about and is actually rarely in the room), while Saix shares with Axel. Larxene and Marluxia cling to one another while Demyx and Zexion claim the last room with a window because Demyx wanted to see the ocean.

Vexen: Okay, kids, just remember to stick with your buddy when you’re on the ship and that if you go overboard, none of us are going after you.

Zexion: I have a question.

Vexen: Yes?

Zexion: What happens if you go overboard? Do we just not go after you?

Vexen: If I go overboard then it means I went overboard on purpose to get away from all of you.

There are so many things that you can do on a cruise ship and everyone is ready to stay far enough away from each other while they still enjoy themselves. Even if they’re attending the same event, chances are that they won’t be sitting near each other. They have ONE night where they all sit and have a nice dinner together, but otherwise it’s free roam for each and every one of them.

The younger ones spend most of their time lounging in or around the pool, playing around on the water slides and generally causing a lot of chaos. Roxas and Xion enjoy swimming and playfully splashing each other with water when the life-guard (and Saix) aren’t paying attention, and they all enjoy trying to tip Lexaeus and Xaldin over when they decide to join them at the pool. Axel and Demyx manage to literally carry and drag Zexion out to the pool sometime during the second day, and the young magician actually manages to enjoy himself even though he’ll never admit it.

Demyx: Zexion, stop being a sourpuss and come terrorize people at the pool with us.

Saix is also at the pool, only so he can keep an eye on the others. It’s a good thing he does because chances are that someone is going to get in a fight with someone else - probably Larxene, when she and Marluxia decide to do some sunbathing - because some asshole thought it would be cool to hit on Larxene when she’s relaxing and that’s just going to be hell for everyone.

Some mornings are for GETTING PUMPED. Not wanting to get lazy just because they’re on vacation, Xaldin and Lexaeus do spend a bit of time in the fitness area, lifting weights and waking themselves up before they enjoy themselves with other activities.

Near the gym is the SAUNA/steam room! You can bet your ass that Axel will NOT be working out but he’ll definitely be in the steam room a few times during the trip. Demyx will join him on occasion and they usually get a big kick out of all the old people that end up there. Overall, they just like sitting and chilling like two bros

SPA TIME. You can guarantee that Marluxia and Larxene are spending a lot of the time in the spa with giant mixed drinks - mimosas in the morning with fancy breakfast treats, mai-tais in the evening. Facials, manicures, pedicures, massages, everything they can think of until they’re limp and pliant and lazy. Xemnas joins them one day for a back massage, much to Marluxia’s chagrin, while Demyx joins them when they get facials.

Saturday night brings a casino night in the main area of the ship, a tiny competition that has Luxord all but shaking excitedly with energy. Of course, he sweeps the floor with the competition during a giant poker match, and wins a nice $2500 prize for coming in first place. They’re all shocked and extremely impressed at how good his poker face is. He spends a good amount of time in the casino area during their cruise, but takes frequent breaks to go swimming, to the spa, or to tan on one of the Adults-Only decks with Xemnas.

All of the eating areas are a big hit. The younger group tends to go for the tiny food places by the pool, where they can find burgers, curly fries, hot dogs, tator tots, and giant slushies. The older ones like the sit down restaurants. Expensive wine, lobster with a delicious garlic butter, top rated filet mignon with a specialty seasoning, and live entertainment - usually someone playing piano, occasionally accompanied by a singer. Overall, they both agree that they have wonderful dining experiences.

Holy shit, when I tell you that Vexen somehow ends up entering and WINNING a shuffleboard tournament? It takes the whole organization by surprise. Somehow he just ended up on one of the decks and was observing some of the skilled, veteran players, and one of them asks if he’d like to give it a shot. He does and DAMN, he’s like an expert immediately????

Vexen: *comes back to the room he’s sharing with Lexaeus with a giant trophy in one hand and a margarita in the other*

Lexaeus: Uh... what’s that?

Vexen: Hm? A margarita, what does it look like?

Xemnas is the one who mostly sticks to himself the whole time. He tries a little bit of everything. Swimming, the hot tub, reading on a chair and getting a deep tan, relaxing at the spa, getting a bit of a work out, etc. He’s a fancy bitch who enjoys the fancier things in life, and holy shit they paid a LOT of money for this cruise for 14 people so he’s absolutely going to get his money’s worth.

Movie night is every night on a cruise ship, so everyone will gather together and lounge either in the pool or on one of the deck chairs and relax as a movie is played on a giant screen. It’s a good way for them to do something together without bothering one another. Axel and Saix help pass out sodas, icee’s, and popcorn before moving to lounge in the hot tub before the movie begins.

Xigbar has made himself known to the waitstaff on the ship for two reasons - he has good taste in alcohol and he’s an incorrigible flirt. He doesn’t mean any harm with it and he has no intentions of acting on it any further than a few playful words, so everyone knows not to take him seriously when they spot him flirting with a cabana boy or the staff in the gym.

Xigbar also has a secret night time routine, surprisingly with Saix. One night, Xigbar just couldn’t sleep and he found himself walking around the ship at three in the morning, when it was quiet and most people were asleep and the halls were almost empty. He ended up on the bow of the ship and it was AMAZING to look out on the water and the sky and just enjoy the sea breeze. He did the same thing the next night and found that Saix had beaten him there. After some quiet glaring, they mutually agreed just to enjoy it and not bother one another.

Finally, most of the younger group barely get any sleep. They order room service like crazy for various midnight snacks and have fun in the arcade beating high scores on all of the games they can manage until they all end up dragging themselves back and passing out in a single room together.

#i am also in dire need of a vacation my friend #organization xiii headcanons #kingdom hearts headcanons #organization xiii

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gtdanganronpa · 3 years

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Sizeshifter Shuichi x Kiyo

Shuichi had seemingly grown since he's been yelling at the male. However, after he has finished his lecture it seemed that he'd gone back to his normal height. It was almost definitely interesting. Sometimes it seemed the male was shorter than before. One time he was standing next to Himiko, and seemed only a few inches taller than her. How had anyone not noticed?

Regardless, Kiyo realized that his crush, Shuichi, seemed to shift size. Most likely depending on emotions. And most likely, he couldn't control them.

So Kiyo, being the curious cat that he is, decided it wouldn't hurt to do a bit of... experimenting.

It started off plain and simple. He would personally provoke emotions inside the smaller boy, then record them. Of course, he'd do this away from others. He was not so cruel as to divulge his secret. He simply wanted to study this strange ability.

One day after class, he hung around with his friend group. Nothing too out of the ordinary. When the boy laughed, it seemed that his hat ended up falling over his head, like it was too big. Kiyo didn't personally have to do anything, and it seemed his secret was still safe. Good.

Of course there were feelings Kiyo had to rely on other things for. He couldn't think of a way to provoke sadness in him. But... he could scare him.

Shuichi was in the bathroom. Kiyo had... admittedly stalked him there. Once the door opened, Shuichi walked out and Kiyo quickly stepped right out from behind the door. Seemingly out of nowhere, causing the smaller boy to yelp. Well... he was smaller. For only a split second it seemed the male grew to almost the same height as Kiyo. Not enough for someone to think he had an ability. One would probably just think they mis-saw something. Shuichi quickly went back to normal size. Ah...

"My apologies. I did not mean to startle you." Kiyo said, giving a slight bow as a sorry before disappearing into the bathroom.

Very interesting. He wondered how the male would react to severe amounts of stress. Well... that was rather easy to figure out. He knew his reaction to it would probably divulge his secret if anyone around. That's why Kiyo distracted him his entire week he had to study for a test. That's why on the day of the test, when Shuichi rushed out of the room to the bathroom, Kiyo followed him.

The male had locked himself in the bigger stall, and Kiyo, of course, wasn't going to intrude. But, he did knock on it. Just to spike some more stress. Nice. "O-Occupied!!"

The voice definitely belonged to the detective. But it was a lot louder than he felt it should've been. There was a loud thud. "..." Kiyo simply walked out. No need to cause any damage to the actual room. The male seemed to grow a good amount when under stress.

For maybe a month these experiments continued. He was able to examine his behaviors and record them. However, one last emotion. But judging from what he'd seen, he'd also judge it wasn't too difficult to cause it.

Constantly, while Kiyo had been studying him, he found Shuichi looking at him. Sometimes Kiyo could see him staring when he thought he wasn't looking, and Shuichis hat would get bigger again. It fascinated him. Of course, after some digging he was able to get out of his more eccentric friend, Kaede, that the male did have feelings for him.

Oh, how wonderful!

It was time for the last emotion he needed to record. After extra curricular activities, he stopped outside of Shuichi's club room. Everyone exited, and that left Shuichi in there, alone. He entered.

Shuichi tilted his head and looked back to see who came in. It seemed the smaller boy was getting ready to leave. Normal size. "Oh... hey, Kiyo. Did you need something...?"

He asked, with a curious tilt to the head.

"As a matter of fact... yes. I'd like to talk to you about something. Maybe ask you a question or such." He hummed in thought, walking directly up to the boy. Probably too close for comfort.

And he got a little bit smaller. He took a few steps away. "Oh... am I... did I do something...?" He blinked a few times, seeming a little nervous.

And Kiyo continued taking steps forward. "Oh no, you needn't worry. It's nothing... wrong." He shook his head. The more steps he took, the more Shuichi took back. He seemed to be getting a little shorter. Kiyo ended up hovering over him, Shuichis back against the wall.

He leaned down so that they were eye level, putting a hand on the wall behind him and leaning forward a little bit. "..." Shuichi's eyes were wide. There was a red tint in his cheeks. It seemed he was processing what was happening. "What, exactly, are your feelings for me, dear Shuichi?" Kiyo's voice was low, and soft. His face was close to the others.

Finally, it seemed the past few events caught up with the detective. His face began a flustered color. "I-I..." oh jeez. Shuichi had no idea what he was supposed to do. He covered his face with his hands, attempting to try and calm himself down. And then he was engulfed in darkness.

Kiyo blinked a few times. He did... not expect that. He knelt down onto the ground, carefully sliding two bandages fingers under the bill of the hat, lifting it. Wow...

Shuichi Saihara had shrunk down to the size of a freakin paper clip. Kiyo's eyes were wide. He didn't know his size could fluctuate this much. How beautiful!

Shuichis hands were still over his face. Kiyo very carefully poked the boy's side with his finger, wanting to get his attention. Shuichi slowly lowered his hands as he felt the boy poke his side, though it felt more than a small poke. His eyes widened. Oh. O h. Shuichi was panicking now. He couldn't get smaller than this, so he didn't have to worry about that at least. But- he'd shrunk. Right in front of Kiyo.

“O..oh...” was all the smaller male could manage to say. Just ‘oh’.

“I was not... expecting you to become this small.” Kiyo murmured under his breath. He carefully took the top back of the boy’s shirt with two of his fingers, lifting him off the ground. Shuichi squeaked as he felt himself get plopped into the bandaged hand of the normal sized male.

“H-huh...” Shuichi couldn’t focus enough to try and calm down and turn back. He felt smaller than ever, so he was gonna stay small. Whether he liked it or not.

“...it truly is a fascinating thing, fluctuating size...” Kiyo murmured, bringing the boy close to his face to examine him. Shuichi stared at him wide eyed, trying not to get scared or flustered.

“...h-huh-... so you...”

“Knew? Yes, I’ve been knowing. Though I must admit, seeing you at such a smaller scale... you really are quite adorable.” He hummed. Shuichi seemed paralyzed, unknowing what to do. Why would he ever even be prepared for this? Why would he ever think hed be in this situation?

“...a-adorable..?”

Kiyo didn’t respond. He just held him there in his hand, staring at him. “...I suppose it would be best if I were to bring you to your home. It doesn’t seem you’ll be going many places this size, and I don’t believe you’ll grow while I’m near. But I cannot simply leave you, since we’ve no idea when you’d grow back in general.”

“...w...was that what that was?” Shuichi frowned softly.

Kiyo blinked, tilting his head. “Was that what what was?” He noticed Shuichi had gotten maybe an inch bigger.

“...p...pinning me against the wall like that. Getting close... asking that question...” another inch bigger. Shuichi still felt relatively small, so of course he’d stay that way. But, he was slightly... well, he didn’t know. But it made him grow a little bit. “J...Just so you could see the outcome...?” His voice sounded bitter.

The anthropologist blinked a few times. “...” Was that the only reason? The answer was no. Kiyo did wanna see what would happen. But also... he wanted confirmation. He needed confirmation about the boys’ feelings towards him. “No.”

“...” Shuichi looked up at him, waiting for him to tell him why else he got that close, said those things, spoke that way, etc. but Kiyo simply picked up Shuichi’s things. Everyone in their class knew everyone’s address since they had weekly hang outs, so he easily knew where he lived.

Shuichi didn’t speak at all the whole time, but remained small. Eventually shrinking back a few inches to when he first originally shrunk. Tiny one inch detective. Once Kiyo pulled up to his door, he searched Shuichi’s bag for a key and unlocked it. He placed his bags down inside and left the key on the counter. He looked at the boy in his hand one more time.

“...thanks... thank you.” Shuichi murmured. He was glad that... even though someone found out, at least it was Kiyo.

“...” The male pulled down his mask, and softly placed a kiss on the boy, though got lipstick over his clothes and such. He was tinier, so the male’s soft lips kissed the entire male. He quickly pulled up his mask after, setting the boy on the counter without explanation or saying and quickly left.

Shuichi just stared. He kissed him? Like- kissed him? Kissed him- like lips? Like lips kiss? Hsjdjfjrjgjfd. The male curled up in a flustered ball, but then felt himself seem to fall off the counter. “!!!” Ah. He was back to normal size, so no harm done as he hit the ground. He blinked. How come he was back to normal?

Ahhh. Shuichi curled up again, smiling slightly to himself.

Yay. Ok. Uhm. The end. Uhm. Yes.

#g/t #gtronpa #danganronpa #drv3 #korekiyo shinguji #g/t au #sfw g/t #shuichi saihara #sizeshiftershuichi #tiny!shuichi #shinsai #saishin #saiguuji

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potatotrash0 · 3 years

Note

Your DR magic AU, hand it over 🤲

Okay I have two other anons and I’m just gonna split the character ideas among the three asks. I don’t quite have a plot thought out, and most of these characters’ concepts have only existed in my head up until now...bare with me skdjksjfkd

Mm I talked about them briefly in Prom’s ask? But here’s a more in-depth thing of the THH fighting styles.

Makoto is a mage-type. (I used fighter, support, and mage to describe the various adventurer types it’s temporary just roll with it) Again, he can’t really hold magic for very long? He’s got a large mana reserve but it’s hard to activate and harder to control, so he’s currently working on mastering the little bullets. In the future, I imagine large barrages of bullets would sort of circle around him like they would in the barrel of a gun.

He probably got in accidentally? I’m not entirely sure about this, but I think there’s an entrance exam for Reserve Courses and he was probably forced in on Komaru’s behalf for some reason.

He was basically running the entire time until the very end when he panicked and suddenly the entire field was wiped clean from him waving his arm. HPA saw that, decided that he was worth training, and put him into the Main Course. He doesn’t feel very good about getting in that way, but HPA isn’t exactly empathetic like he is. Again this is like one of three ways I think he could’ve gotten in with the rest of the cast because I’m indecisive skdjsjf

Kyoko is another mage-type, in general the Main Gangs of each game have various themes. THH’s trio has a magic theme, they all use magic. She doesn’t use a weapon, though I’m thinking her gloves act as a limiter of sorts?

As a general rule, more mana means less control, and being half-demon gives her a lot of it. Her gloves help her regulate her mana output so that she doesn’t use too much of it when attacking and tire herself out. Later in the timeline, I imagine there might be a scene where she takes them off and fights off some enemies to buy the rest of the class time to escape something? She would get trapped in the process, but I think this would happen after she’s worked with Makoto for a while and she would trust him enough to believe he would come back for her if she didn’t return.

Oh this isn’t related to her fighting style but on the topic of her being half-demon, that’s mainly because I thought it was boring for everyone to be human and I’m a big sucker for fantasy species so yeah. She’s a cambion.

She has purple-tinted skin, horns that curl up and are fairly close to her head, a thin pointed tail, pointed ears, her pupils are slitted, she’s got carnivore-style teeth, her nails are longer and sharper by default. Whenever she uses the full extent of her magic, her scleras turn dark purple and her irises turn white. Oh yeah her scars came from an accident she had when she was young where her magic got out of control and burned her hands. Her mom’s the demon by the way, for no particular reason, I just thought that the Kirigiris would stay human in this and I don’t know anything about her mom’s side of the family.

I just realized I never said Makoto’s race skdjks he’s human!! He and Komaru just happen to be a special case and have a lot of mana. Most other humans in this AU aren’t so lucky. (cough hinata cough cough)

Byakuya, again, uses magic. He’s the only one who uses a weapon in the Trio, he uses a staff specially made by the Togami family. He also knows how to use a sword and a bow.

I haven’t put too much thought into him, but I know for a fact that his adventuring outfit would have a big sweeping cape later in the timeline. In the beginning though, he just has a stupid expensive suit. The cape comes in later as he, Kyoko, and Makoto start to group up more and more.

I’ve decided that adventurers in this AU group up just as often as they go solo, and while Byakuya would initially be solo, he would deem Makoto and Kyoko strong enough to work with whenever they’re taking on a difficult job.

Groups would change to have matching designs the longer they’re partnered up, and capes/cloaks happen to be the THH Trio’s Thing, as in all three of them would have a cape/cloak of some sort. Byakuya because he’s pretentious, Makoto because he thinks it looks cool, and Kyoko because she uses the cloak for practical reasons like storing things and keeping a low profile when needed. Oh and Byakuya’s bloodline is of royal elven descent, their business is selling spellbooks, runestones, potions, reagents, any magical item you could think of.

Sayaka is a half-siren mage! She mostly uses charm and illusionary magic, as well as healing so that she can support her allies. Later on, she might learn water magic so she can actually deal damage as well. I haven’t decided on her weapon of choice, perhaps she uses a lyre or casts spells from a book. I’m also debating having her learn hand-to-hand combat instead of water magic?

I just like the idea of someone coming up and trying to challenge her, thinking they’ll beat her easily, and barely getting a hit in before she kicks their legs out from under them and tosses them over her shoulder like they weigh nothing. She deserves to take out people twice her size and be menacing, as a treat for the amount of disrespect she gets in the fandom. And I want her to take Leon down a peg because he definitely acts a little like a cocky frat boy sometimes.

Speaking of Leon, we’ve got our first fighter-type!!! I could have him use a baseball bat but that’s boring so I’m thinking he might utilize items as well as a weapon? Bombs or grenades that look like a baseball and explode on impact, baseballs that ignite when thrown and act as fire balls. Alas, I don’t think about him much so this is all just me throwing ideas to see what sticks.

Whatever the case, the main thing I know would happen is that he frequently gets help from Kazuichi and Miu because he just cannot for the life of him stop breaking his equipment. He’s reckless and rushes into battle and now that he doesn’t have Kanon to stop him from setting stuff on fire all the time, he gets detention a lot. (And no she isn’t into him like in canon, I refuse to acknowledge that she ever was.)

Chihiro......they can’t fight djfjsjfjjf. They specialize in making tech and weapons, and in the beginning, would mainly use robots that they programmed to support their allies. Though, they do end up training with Mondo, Sakura, and Aoi to help them become better at combat, and eventually they join everyone else on the front lines as a ranged fighter/support type.

Also, the robots would kinda follow them around like pets. Cute little guys that can also shoot lasers. The robots are powered by mana crystals and each one has a different personality and magic type! Sometimes they follow around different people, the electric one took a liking to Mondo and you’ll see it floating around while he works out. They’re buds.

On the topic of Mondo, he’s another fighter-type! He’s more hand-to-hand combat. A controlled berserker, if you will. Probably started out fighting guys in his hometown and progressed to clearing out monsters when Daiya got concerned about his temper? Perhaps. Maybe. I do not think about Daiya I apologize.

Oh wait hold on. I’m looking at his character art and he’s got a hammer.........it’s decided he uses a warhammer, the biggest one they’ve got, and it’s probably a mana-based weapon. Specifically electric. He and that lil robot wipe the battlefield with their opponents >:D

Taka is probably a fighter-type? I can’t for the life of me find where I read this, but apparently he’s really good at self-defense so I imagine he does hand-to-hand combat as well as sword-fighting for the Noble Paladin Aesthetic.

Hifumi was originally a mage-type, but upon second thought, I’m making him a support-type who uses items and potions and stuff! I like the idea of him making fun little bottles and potions themed after his favorite animes and mangas..........he also definitely helped everyone design their adventurer outfits. He’s the only reason that Makoto’s outfit isn’t boring as hell.

Celeste is, of course, a mage-type. She’s Miss Lolita of course I have to make her an ethereal magic user alright also I love her and I love mages let me have this skfjdkjf. As for her weapon, my first thought was her having playing cards that she throws HxH style?

Or she could summon goons to fight for her, playing into the whole loyal servant dream she has. They would be vaguely themed after the cards, so there would be a jack, king, queen, and joker, all of different magic types depending on the suit of the card she throws. Electric for a spade, fire for a heart, ice for a diamond, something along those lines.

I’m also considering having her little...finger armor thing? I’m thinking of having that cross into her magic, where she attacks with claw-like things formed out of mana. Of course she could also just. Use the cards to cast spells directly skdjksjfkhf

Sakura is definitely a fighter-type. Again, hand-to-hand style, but I imagine she’s more controlled and strategic than Mondo. I can’t see her using a weapon, so I guess she’s like one of the only characters to fight exclusively with fists.

Mukuro’s a ranged fighter-type, but she can also do melee. She uses magic-based guns, ones that shoot mana infused bullets. They have a variety of effects depending on the type of bullet and magic. (I’m not a gun person so take this with a grain of salt.)

Bullets that break apart might be laced with electric magic so that they can shock a target from several points, or fire magic if she’s aiming to start a fire quickly. Exploding bullets are usually used with fire magic, but she might switch to ice if she wants to create a barrage of ice shards for...some reason, I don’t know. There’s more combinations I could probably make, but I’m. Not here to spend an hour researching guns. Not right now at least, who knows what I’ll want info on in the future.

Mmmmmm I’m starting to lose patience here so forgive me for the shorter explanations. I might throw in a fun fact about them for ✨ flavor ✨

Junko’s a fighter/mage-type! She uses a scythe and laces the blade with magic. She could combine it with fire magic to create a flaming scythe and go nuts with it, or she could just channel general mana and slam the blade into the ground to create a big crack in the ground.

There’s about an 80% chance she gets several weapons later in the timeline. Her scythe, a spear, possibly a gun. Monokuma probably exists, I like to think Junko ran into a smarter monster and tamed it and kept it as a slightly feral pet.

Also, yes, she’s still a big adrenaline junkie who gets off on despair. If you see her fighting things she knows are out of her league, mind your business.....actually, call someone to help before she gets herself killed. Please.

I haven’t decided what Aoi will be just yet? I’m veering towards fighter/mage-type, she could use water magic and maybe a leg-based fighting style. Possibly judo or taekwondo. I.....do not have any ideas for her. However I do know that she and Sakura would have a bunch of combo moves together dkfjkejfkdjjd

Toko is a mage-type! She probably uses a book to cast spells from. Or just uses her hands. She would fight ranged, I don’t think she’d want to be up in the action. Too much stress for her, y’know? I

As for Syo, she fight differently than Toko! She technically uses dual swords, but the swords can also connect to create a giant pair of scissors. Again, this is just sort of a fun character thing, but she gets to hate Byakuya in this AU. They have arguments and get on each other’s nerves a lot, but I think the rest of the class usually separates them before anything serious happens.

At some point after Toko befriends Komaru, I like to think that Syo gets a proper fight scene with Byakuya where she rips into him. I don’t think Toko would want to hurt anyone though, even him, so Syo would probably leave him with a few minor cuts at most.

Afterwards, I think Byakuya would quiet down with the insults with Naegi and Kyoko’s requests. (Well. Naegi asked him to try and be nicer because he was worried that they might fight again. Kyoko just bluntly told him that he needed to stop being a jerk and start considering everyone else’s feelings.)

Skfksjfkdh ah. I also like to think Komaru and Toko were initially partnered up by HPA for a job. They were assigned to deal with a couple of school kids wreaking havoc on a nearby city with some monsters they semi-tamed?

But after finishing the job, they decided to partner up permanently on their own. They probably have a few combo moves that Komaru came up with, Toko tweaked them to make them actually possible with their skill set and weapons.

Hiro is...possibly a mage/support-type? He’s probably a bit cowardly and freaks out when on the front lines, but he can use a crystal ball to attack from afar. I’m also considering giving him tarot cards so that he can toss them and attack from several points at once?

Or the ball could shatter at some point during the story and he could just roll with it and spread the shards out during battle to attack from several points at once. They could also be used to create a magic cage of sorts, like electric fence but only electricity.

Okay that’s everybody oh my god. I have plenty more stuff about this au, this isn’t even half of it trust me lmao. I’m sorry about this being so long I didn’t realize it’d be this wordy!!!!!

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7team7 · 4 years

Text

Sharp edges

Mai notices. Zutara from an outsider POV // eventual Zutara, eventual Mailee

A/N: ok hi i love sasusaku fics told from an outsider pov, there are a few really good ones from karin’s perspective so i was like ok sorry mai i will do this LOL (if you’re unfamiliar, karin had feelings for sasuke but he didn’t return them and he married and had a baby with sakura) this is not at all supposed to be The Other Woman type of thing, there’s no cheating, it’s really observations and another way to look at zutara yup!

Mai stood by Zuko because she knew he was a good man. She knew he cared about her. Her childhood crush on him wasn’t misplaced.

When she first sensed the distance growing between them, she chalked it up to Fire Lord duties demanding all of his time. But despite his good intentions and traits, he was not in love with her the way he was in love with someone else.

She first really noticed when he was running around the palace like a komodo chicken with its head cut off while preparing for visitors. Not just any visitors — his old friends from across the nations used the one year anniversary of his coronation as an excuse to get together. She had sensed his loneliness in the way he constantly gazed at the sky, lost in his own thoughts, in the way he sent off pages and pages of letters. But she assumed he yearned for friendship and not romance. She was only one person, she could only give him so much.

The palace was ablaze with activity in the days before the highly anticipated celebration. “Aren’t you excited?” he asked her, looking like a kid on the morning of his birthday.

His face drooped when he realized, no, of course she wasn’t. They weren’t really her friends, they weren’t here to see her.

She verbalized her feelings anyway, “Why would I be?”

“Oh! I forgot to tell you that Ty Lee is coming too. And my sister got cleared by her doctors to join us for a while. That’s something, right?”

She sighed. He was trying. He always tried his best and that was one of the things that was so endearing about him. “Should be an interesting mix,” she remarked. She excused herself to go lay down and left him to finish hanging the flags of the other nations in the hallway. Even with all his servants doing their best, no one could work fast enough to keep up with his boundless energy. He really was excited, wasn’t he?

Before she rounded the corner to her room, she could’ve sworn she noticed the way he seemed to hold onto the blue Water Tribe fabric just a bit longer. She shook her head. She must have been tired, imagining him run his thumb over the fabric before hanging it.

The Gaang arrived noisily as usual. The way they all arrived on time (at noon, peak Zuko energy time) was a little freaky. It seemed no amount of time would mess with their sync.

A seemingly endless round of hugs was exchanged, everyone chattering excitedly as they caught up with each other and made plenty of nostalgic jokes that you really had to be there for to understand.

Aang had arrived first, flying in and bowing with exaggerated politeness to “Sifu Hotman” that only served to send both Zuko and himself into a fit of giggles. Two of the world’s most powerful benders were really still kids.

Toph came stomping in next, wondering aloud if Zuko would change her life today. He gave her an affectionate noogie, and asked, “Haven’t I already?”

She shoved him, “Don’t go thinking you’re Iroh.” She was happy.

Sokka would’ve been next had he not been intercepted by Suki. They had their own little reunion on the docks before joining the group.

So that left Katara to skip up to the palace, leaving her brother behind. Mai could’ve sworn Katara was an airbender when she all but flew through the air when she launched herself at Zuko, arms outstretched for an embrace.

And Zuko caught her.

He captured her in a tight hug and spun her around, looking like they hopped straight out of an Ember Island Players romance.

When her feet met the ground again, the waterbender seemed to grow embarrassed as she quickly turned away from Zuko to greet her other friends. Zuko seemed to reach for her again, but dropped his hands and squeezed them into fists. The smile on his face was just a bit less dazzling than it had been a moment before, even when Sokka came barreling through the scene with a witty comment.

Mai tilted her head, surveying the situation. To Sokka, he was a fellow swordsman; to Aang, he was a firebending master; to Toph, he was the sibling she never had; he was their friend. To everyone — Suki, Ty Lee, Momo, Appa — he was a friend.

But who was he to Katara? The question grated on her nerves. It was too loud. She left to check on Azula.

Maybe she was reading into it too much. It wasn’t like Katara had no options: Aang’s feelings for her were obvious. She watched closely to determine if those feelings were reciprocated. Maybe time and distance had changed things.

Katara had suggested going into town to explore the marketplace and Aang jumped up to join her. But then Zuko started droning on and on about the economy and instead of being bored to death like any normal person, she started offering her own suggestions for improving revenue streams and diversifying product offerings. Yawn.

Aang trailed after then, looking forlorn. Katara had the Avatar hanging on her every word, yet she chose to pay attention to Zuko, her former enemy. That was really something.

And Zuko, he was listening to her more intently than he ever listened to his aging advisors.

Mai stayed back. She wasn’t interested in inserting herself. Time and distance only seemed to make Zuko more sure of his feelings, even if he didn’t realize it yet. She would need to reevaluate the situation herself.

Mai never felt left out as a nonbender. She had seen the way fire had destroyed her own nation.

But she had always wished they could spar together. It wasn’t about meeting halfway, she could have easily requested that he use his swords to level the playing field.

But his identity would always be tied to that of a firebender. He was the Fire Lord, for one thing. He could put down the swords whenever he wanted, but the fire would always be inside him, licking at his insides, smoking its way out in every exhale.

Fire and water were opposites, but they worked together surprisingly well. Balance, she thought as she lazily twirled a dagger in her hands while watching Zuko and Katara’s sparring session.

“You’ve improved,” he praised her, clearly impressed. Zuko wore his heart on his sleeve, something he apparently thought Mai should try. Her face pinched in for a split second when Katara’s shining eyes met his. For a waterbender, Katara’s eyes had so much warmth. Like the changing tide, they held a special sort of softness when she looked at Zuko.

“You have too. But what else would I expect? You’re the Fire Lord now,” she teased. Fighting alongside Zuko had always felt natural, but it was a joy to be able to practice against him now that they weren’t sworn enemies.

“A Fire Lord who will get rusty if he has to do anymore paperwork,” he grumbled, wiping the sweat from his brow.

“Well come on. I’m sure paperwork can wait for a little while longer. Can you show me that new move you did at the end?”

Mai remembered Zuko promising the other benders that they’d get a chance to spar with him too, but that seemed to slip his mind. He eagerly started showing her the forms. Katara picked it up quickly: it was clearly a fusion of water and firebending styles.

An understanding started developing at the back of her mind: there were things Zuko and Katara had that Zuko and herself could not have.

The session only ended when Azula came waltzing in, asking if anyone was up for a little fun.

Breakfast the next day was held outside to take advantage of the favorable weather. The pleasant breeze coupled with sunshine put everyone in a merry mood. Instead of Zuko sitting at the head of the table in his fancy throne-like chair like he would inside, everyone squished together on two long benches at one table. Mai sat to Zuko’s immediate left, at the edge of the table.

People like Aang, Sokka, and Toph were driven by hunger and started digging in quickly. Suki had clearly taken a moment to actually get ready because when she took her place next to Sokka, her hair was neater than almost everyone else’s.

Katara came in last, yawning and rubbing the last remnants of sleep from her eyes. Zuko brightened when he saw her, “Katara! I saved you a seat.” He scooted closer to Mai, brushing her side with his, but only so he could make room for Katara. Mai sighed. Why was he so clueless sometimes?

As soon as Katara was settled next to him, Zuko poured her a steaming cup of tea. She gave him a sweet smile in thanks. He pushed a plate towards her, “Here, this one shouldn’t have any fire flakes.” She dug in eagerly, nudging his shoulder with hers in silent happiness while she chewed. Zuko’s body jostled up against Mai’s as a result of being nudged, but he had never felt so far away.

“Anyone else want some tea?” he asked the table. Of course everyone wanted a sip of Iroh’s delicious breakfast brew, so they all said yes. But instead of serving everyone the way he had served Katara only a moment ago, Zuko just passed the teapot across the table so everyone could pour their own cup.

Clueless, truly clueless.

“Guess what my silly brother told me when I arrived yesterday? He said, ‘Be nice.’ Ha! As if I would ever imagine being anything but,” Azula cackled. He had pulled her aside when he noticed the way everyone (or really, Katara) hesitated around her. Her unpredictable energy still put everyone on edge.

“I can hardly believe little ZuZu is the great big Fire Lord now,” she continued. The original trio — Azula, Mai, Ty Lee — were strolling around the city. There wasn’t much to do at the palace until dinner time seeing as Zuko was tied up with his daily meetings. Bureaucracy didn’t stop, even for visitors.

“I know right. Things are so different now.” She knew what Azula left unsaid: Zuko was Fire Lord and she wasn’t. Mai still wasn’t sure exactly how to go about tending to Azula’s feelings. She was still her friend, but everything had changed so much, there was a much needed distance between them. No matter how bored she was, she would never follow the princess’s every whim again.

“I’ve been told to work on being happy for others. Even if they have what I want, even if I can’t get it. He’s still a dumb dumb, but you know. I’m working on it.” Azula examined her nails as if the conversation was completely casual, but her words held great significance.

Oh.

It would take time, but maybe she could work up to being happy for them.

She waited a day, mulling it over on her own. But she didn’t wait until everyone else went home to end it. Really, why bother?

“What are you talking about? Why would you leave? Does this mean we’re breaking up?”

She closed her eyes. The pain and confusion written all over his face were making this difficult. “Yes. I’m not the one for you and you’re not the one for me. There’s no reason for me to stay here anymore.” She wasn’t sure where she’d go, but it might be nice to see the world when she wasn’t on a manhunt.

He spluttered, “But if it’s not us, then who is it?!”

She waved her hand vaguely, “You’ll figure it out.” Even if he wasn’t in love with her the way he was with Katara, he was still emotionally attached. Since he had yet to confront his own feelings, she realized this break up came as quite the shock. But he’d get over it. There was someone who would help him. She was almost positive that he’d go running into her arms momentarily.

Mai was truthful when she told Azula she loved Zuko more than she feared her.

Zuko had done a lot of growing up, had gotten so much stronger; she was proud of him for it. But Mai had to come to terms with the fact that Zuko still feared Azula because of her capacity to hurt Katara. He still feared Azula because he loved Katara.

Katara was so precious to him, he would put his life on the line to save her — he already had.

That pained Mai to think about, it cut her to the core, it stung so, so badly to be the second choice. But there was nothing she could do.

How could she compete? The difficulties of a Water Tribe girl being with a Fire Nation boy obviously didn’t matter. They would make it work.

Conceding defeat to someone like Katara should not be so hard. Bowing out was the graceful thing to do. She wasn’t the type to make a dramatic scene anyway.

But when she finally walked away, she dug her fingernails deep into her own palms despite it all. Loving Zuko was not so easy to let go of.

She returned months later with a slew of Kyoshi Warriors to celebrate Zuko’s birthday and found that Katara had never left. She squeezed Ty Lee’s hand to say I told you so.

The girl in pink gazed up at her in wonder, “You’re so good at predicting!”

Mai muttered, “Not that hard when it’s right in front of you.” They were clearly not shy with the displays of affection now that they were officially a couple.

Ty Lee sighed in contentment when they walked into the palace, “The auras in here are so much happier than they were a few years ago, it feels great!” She turned to poke her girlfriend’s side, “Yours too.”

“Don’t make me blush,” she murmured.

“That’s why you like wearing the Kyoshi Warrior makeup, huh? But I know, I always know.” Her tone was light, but it was true. Out of everyone, it was Ty Lee who knew her best, who always stood by her. It was Ty Lee who dealt with her dreariness after breaking up with Zuko, and it was Ty Lee who gave her time and space when she hesitated to step into a new relationship. And Ty Lee was the one who made it worthwhile.

“How are you feeling though?” Ty Lee regarded the other girl carefully. Zuko had been part of her life for so long, it was no simple feat to move on from him.

“The usual, I’m fine.” Her emotions had always been low key and thankfully, no jealous beast reared its ugly head upon seeing Zuko and Katara together. Really, she was fine.

Ty Lee nodded in satisfaction. She tilted her head thoughtfully, “They look happy, too. I’m happy for them!” Ty Lee might’ve felt it more acutely, but Mai agreed. It was a good feeling, light and sweet and satisfactory. She hoped Azula could feel even a fraction of this relief in her own life.

It had taken a while for all of them to get to this point, but it was worth it and they were all good. If that wasn’t something to celebrate, she didn’t know what was.

She finally walked up to him. “Happy birthday, Zuko.”

“Thank you, Mai. It’s good to see you.”

She nodded at him. It really was good to see him so happy. It didn’t hurt anymore. Letting go of each other didn’t necessarily mean that they had lost.

A/N: I chose Mai over aang bc I feel like her quiet nature is just more observant and aang is babie. Also I don’t hate Maiko lol I just. Ship zutara :P I don’t really ship aang with anyone, so he’s j chillin, he has his own happy ending everything is fine

Please let me know what you think about this one >_< I have a few other zutara things in my wips, plus of course I need to keep updating my sasusaku arranged marriage story, so some of those will come out eventually. Couldn’t keep up with zutara week or ss month but its ok!

#zutara #zutara week 2020 #yeah we italicized the oh so what #mailee #atla #fan fic #my writing

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chibivesicle · 4 years

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Golden Kamuy - chapter 253 - the chaos continues!

I’m taking a chance to look at chapter 253 on its own again - what is this? Early 2019? So much happens in this chapter as Abashiri 2.0 unfolds as a giant cluster with a lot of similar characters interacting.

Team Hijikata, sans Kadokura, Kirawus and Ushiyama regroup outside the brewery.

Ariko is ironically with Toni as he picks up the rear. They confirm that our convict has fled inside. So this group will be somewhat effective as they aren’t a divided group. Hijikata was also able to confirm that our convict is a foreigner as they had suspected. Toni is able to use his awesome ears to let everyone know that he heard a military rifle. This means that the 7th is on the other side of the building. And boom the final panel shows why Hijikata is an effective leader.

He makes it clear they capture Jack, and retreat. NOT engage with the 7th. Wow. Smart, this is what a good leader does, he makes the right call.

The action turns to Ogata in the fire watchtower. He leans below the widow where Vasily fired so he’s not visible. This then reveals that Ogata’s type 38 is inoperable. And begin the replay of Ogata’s sniper battle with Vasily but even worse than before. Instead of the single shot rifle, he’s got no rifle. But he’s in luck! Usami is also terrible with rifle care and love! In his need to chase down Kadokura with his bayonet, he left his type 38 on the ground.

Ogata has an interesting monologue here were he’s asking if the rifle is where it was dropped and states if he hadn’t jumped back he’d have been shot. I am working with the english translation here and life has been far to busy to seek out the original text. Either he’s having a conversation with himself, or he’s talking to ‘Yuusaku’. Why could this be the case? The next page.

Ogata looks up at the spot where he was with a “. . . . .” speech bubble and then asks “Did you save me?” Is it Yuusaku? Is it his guilty conscience? Could it even be Vasily?

But he continues to state that there is no way that is possible and that you are not that soft-hearted right? Again, it could be Yuusaku since we know he was trying to be a good little brother. But, it could be applied to Vasily since Ogata thought he knew exactly what type of sniper he is. Being the next level strategic sniper that he is, Ogata begins to kick a hole in the side of the wall to escape out of sight since the ladder is currently being targeted by Vasily since he thinks that is the only way out.

And this makes my heart go pitter-patter for Ogata since he’s going to outwit Vasily.

The last panel has dialogue makes me think it is a bizarre mix of Yuusaku, Vasily and Ogata’s own conscience. Something is trying to get Ogata to think about feelings and he’s not happy with it. It be him annoyed Yuusaku is ‘haunting’ him. It could be the fact that Ogata is pissed that Vasily won’t let him just do his mysterious goal(s). Or he’s just upset he’s feeling things and emotions.

The action turns back to our puddle of drunken boys. Nikaido wants to kill Sugimoto, Tsukishima tries to hold him back and he rushes off (or tries to) because he has to stop Jack!

It is a giant fail all around, Nikaido’s firearm leg backfires on himself, and we get an epic Koifail, Koito tries to hit Sugimoto with a bottle, falls over drunk and doinks Tsukishima instead.

Poor Tsukishima, that’s gonna leave a mark and Koito returns to lying there making his high pitched cry of something. He really can’t handle his alcohol. As team Tsukishima is down and out for the count, Sugimoto is able to stumble upon his type 30.

He even takes the time to suck the beer out of the rifle, after he damaged it the last time it got wet in the swamp back in chapter 114. This mean the shame he felt when Ogata berated him had a lasting effect on Sugimoto. Maybe, try to take care of his rifle (sometimes).

Though Noda makes it clear the it must be thoroughly dried . . .

So Ogata still wins this ‘debate’ Sugimoto.

Back in the current chapter, Sugimoto then realises that he lost Asirpa which is a bad thing. . . I guess no one heard Kikuta yell that he caught her either. . .

The action returns to Asirpa still aiming at Kikuta, who the cool, collected and sexy man that he is, is still trying to reason with her. She points out that two of his statements have to be lies; that as someone who investigated the scene he knows more about the bodies and that they were there first is also a lie.

Kikuta smartly pauses for a moment before asking if she’s seen an Ainu gold coin. Her shocked face is enough to allow him to continue talking.

Kikuta has confirmed that through some mean she’s seen one of the coins and that Kikuta can press forward. He begins to reason that since the 27th collected a few of the coins, they’d have to be the first people on the scene since they’d be stolen. His plan is to win her over with as much logic as possible.

Kikuta said that the existence of the coins was enough for Tsurumi to tell his men that it confirmed the existence of the gold. This is a suspicious statement to me. Kikutata is saying that this is what Tsurumi said. How do we know that Tsurumi used this as a reason to get the men behind him? It could have been a lie made up by Tsurumi who just said the gold coin is proof. Unless someone else besides Tsurumi came up with this makes me want to not quite trust this.

Anyhoo, that is me just being suspicious of anything through the Tsurumi filter.

The conversation continues on with Kikuta wanting to link the coins to Wilk. He explains that the tattoos are similar to the coins and knowing that Asirpa has seen the tattoos and the coin, he’s wanting her to think of her father’s involvement. To sweeten the temptation, he says that Tsurumi knows more things and they can tell her the truth as to whether or not Wilk killed the other Ainu. There is a moment of tension as she sweats while holding her bow drawn. But the issue is resolved when she gets a full page to reply.

Asirpa shows that she is a big picture thinker. She’s been worried since the start of the manga about if her father killed the other men even though she’s had enough evidence that he likely didn’t kill them.

Instead, she realizes that the future of the Ainu is more important and she has accepted that he entrusted this task to her. Which is also confirmed by Sugimoto’s conversation with Wilk and by Kiro’s actions and Ogata’s words on the ice floe.

Her stance really puts her in the same area as where Kiro was and that by going to Karafuto she learned that she must become active in her role in everything. Good or bad or indifferent, Asirpa has made it clear that she’s got more in common with the partisans than with most of the Japanese men she’s been traveling with. I think on some level, Sugimoto realizes that, but denies it since he can’t accept the fact that Asirpa has many different challenges that he simply lacks.

This then makes sense why Kikuta tries so hard to get her to give up and abandon the gold. Everyone around her will be killed! I’m guessing Kikuta isn’t a fan of unnecessary death and destruction, but her reply is more interesting.

She’s upset that he’s stating this after she’s already witnessed death because of the whole ordeal. Her own father’s death, all the people at Abashiri, Kiro. Asirpa has committed to things and she’s already seen so many people die as a result of this. And she’s right, Kikuta’s plea is far to late.

We then get a flashback to Asirpa and Sugimoto alone as to when they first teamed up in the beginning. Is she having a nostalgic moment of when things were less complicated? That she’d like to go back to things before the quest for the gold. If she hadn’t met Sugimoto would she have missed out on the gold hunt or been older and able to handle it better?

Of course the tension of the moment needs to increase! Usami emerges from the shadows. Honestly, it is hard to tell if he wouldn’t just hurt her, but if he wants maximum Tsurumi love, he’s going to cut the bowstring.

And surprisingly, Kadokura tackles him and tells her to flee since everyone would be in trouble if she went with Tsurumi.

Asirpa escapes even as Kikuta tells her not to. Usami then tries to pin down Kadokura, but his roll to escape trips up Kikuta. I’m becoming suspicious of you Kadokura . . . are are more aware of things than you seem to be . . .of course Asirpa runs back into the building and we know that Jack is in the building. .

Kikuta tries to pursue her, but she fires an arrow at the ground near his feet and he hesitates outside calling her shrewd. I think he’s disappointed he couldn’t win her over with words. Though Ogata shouldn’t feel as bad, even someone like Kikuta couldn’t win her over to his side.

And poor Kadokura! He’s being chased by Usami again and Usami’s obsession with him is just bizarre . . .

Why does Usami have such a fixation on him? Kadokura also is hiding something and again, he’s more competent than he looks . . .

The action then returns to our sniper battle.

A figure wearing a cloak is visible around the brewery. A hand is shown reaching for the type 38. Shockingly, the man is shot in the head!

Vasily has scored another kill!

Of course, as soon as I saw this, I was like, “Oh that poor decoy.” Since I know Ogata isn’t going to run out into the open to grab his new baby.

We then see the body collapse; a man missing teeth with a few coins falling from his body. And I just thought, nice nice. Ogata paid off some [likely] drunk or desperate man to wear his cloak and reach for the rifle. Realizing that Vasily will have to discharge the used shell casing, he sprints out.

In an example of speed and dexterity, he scoops up the rifle and leaps through the window that Ushiyama already broke open. We see the next shot from Vasily hit the brick below the window.

Ogata begins to get cocky and snarky, by stating that you [Vasily] keeps missing his shots. He notes that chances like he’s had don’t happen often and we just get upset sounds from Vasily.

Face it, in this replay of our sniper battle, Ogata has owned Vasily! He’s several steps ahead and Vasily was lazy to think Ogata would use himself as the target again.

This also means that Ogata knew where Ushiyama went through the window or found the open window well in advance. He’d then have to time sending the poor decoy out so that he could rush in, grab the rifle and then leap through the window. This isn’t a fair fight between the men; in the context that Ogata will out maneuver him. Based on his cheeky attitude, Ogata knows it is Vasily and I’m even more certain that Ogata questioned him and knew there is a good chance he didn’t die due to his injuries.

Tsurumi is correct all the way back during the showdown in Barato. We know the whole link to his father is one of Tsurumi’s lies slowly shown by Ogata’s involvement in Hanazawa’s death. What still holds true is less about his parentage and more that 1.) Tsurumi knows that Ogata is ambitious - even though he doesn’t show it. 2.) Tsurumi doesn’t know his goal or objective - which we still don’t know.

Lastly, and most importantly, Ogata is an exceptional soldier and he’s not someone you want as an opponent. Vasily, is an excellent sniper, but he lacks the other skills that Ogata possesses.

Since there is so much going on the action returns to the quest to corner Jack. Toni is able to follow Jack and Ariko is able to read the blood trail. Kantarou proudly states that their group will prevent his escape. He might be right. They have the best team. Not drunk or emotional and cohesive.

Of course it has to end on a cliffhanger with Jack spotting Asirpa.

This chapter continues the chaos that is this entire fiasco! So much is happening.

Team Sugimoto-Asirpa-Shiraishi is completely broken! They got separated and currently lack any cohesion. This is resulting in Asirpa being constantly targeted and singled out - you know that thing that Sugimoto keeps telling her not to do. Shiraishi was ignored and we have no idea what he’s doing.

Koito, Tsukishima and Nikaido are down and out for the count. Perhaps, their beer mishap will help them detect issues from Tsurumi, hiding some of their reluctance to serve him blindly. Plus, Nikaido is far to unpredictable of a factor - why did they bring him and what to they hope to achieve. Kikuta’s distrust of Koito and Tsukishima is obvious, he grabbed Asirpa and left them behind and he’s been trying to not work with Usami as well. Kikuta is almost showing his hand by not showing his hand. . . .

I hate to admit it, but team Hijikata is doing alright. But Hijikata is a leader.

Boutarou is MIA. We know he ran off some where or is doing something. Is he hiding? Does he have a hidden alliance with some of the group? Kirawus? Or is his loyalty to Shiraishi, one of the new cast members he seems to trust and like. He also questions Shiraishi’s motives so he’s not playing dumb either.

And Ogata - Ogata is having likely an existential crisis about ‘emotions’ while in the middle of a sniper battle with Vasily. As I continue to chew on his dialogue, I really think he has more than one listener for his one sided conversation. Vasily is linked to Yuusaku. It was the fact that Ogata did not kill Vasily and then he had his fever dream where Asirpa became Yuusaku. Since then Asirpa, Yuusaku and Vasily have been linked to Ogata.

I’m beginning to wonder if the reason why Ogata all of this started when Ogata began to think about the possibility of guilt. His fever is linked to something bad taking hold of him. . .

But what if this is the fact that Ogata is now recognizing his guilt and humanity through Yuusaku’s death? He ended up in a situation where this finally bubbled to the surface. Was the fever really a bad thing or did Ogata realize something during his fever dreams making a breakthrough. Of course being the total suck at dealing with emotions, he’s just kept fighting them since, but Ogata can’t deny that something changed him after that event.

Well that’s all I have for now. My brain is a bit of a mush from over 4 hours of Zoom meetings today.

It is clear chapter 254 will be as chaotic and high energy as the last few.

#golden kamuy #golden kamuy meta #sugimoto saichi #asirpa #ogata hyakunosuke #hijikata toshizo #nagakura shinpachi #kantarou #Toni Anji #koito otonoshin #tsukishima hajime #nikaido #vasily #tsurumi tokushirou #wilk #kiroranke #warrant officer kikuta #kadokura #Usami Tokishige

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animation-recaps-by-sean · 4 years

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She Ra and the Princesses of Power Season Five Recap

In the finale season, Catra is forced to reevaluate her life, without the sword Adora discovers new things about She Ra, and Horde Prime makes his move. We’re in the endgame folks. Spoilers below.

I loved this season. I love it to pieces. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a season finale that was as great as this. This was a packed season, but they did a great job of having everything flow together.

The season begins with Adora throwing herself into battle. She doesn’t really know what to do without She-Ra. The rebellion is left in shatter, with Horde Prime forces running amok. I do wonder what happened with Hordak’s horde. Lonnie, Kyle, and the Lizard guy get a cameo in the last episode but the other ground troops just aren't mentioned. Not important but curious to what became of them.

Entrapta was big this season. Maybe the writers were making up for her being absent most of last season. It starts with the other princesses pissed at the tech girl as they think she only works for the science. I mean they're not wrong. But Entraptra does care for people she just doesn’t know how to show it. She’s also bad at reading people, as she didn’t realize all the princesses were mad at her until knee deep in a mission.

Meanwhile Adora realizes that thinking about her friends she contacts the power of She Ra without the sword. This could have used just a bit more information on how it works, but I’ve seen a lot of anime, I’m used to this sort of thing. Bow, Adora, and Entraptra blast off into space to find Glimmer.

Speaking of Glimmer, she and Catra find themselves trapped on Horde Prime’s ship. I was worried that Horde Prime would be underdeveloped compared to Hordak or Catra, but he is fantastic. He is absolutely in control of every scene he’s in. I’m in awe with how charming and fighting they make him. That dinner scene was amazing. I am amazed with how quickly they set him up. He’s almost like White Diamond, genocidal lunatic with a light motif, like to hijack bodies, but with actual time to develop. Can you believe I didn’t like Keston John when I first heard him back in season one? He’s so great! He plays each Horde clone with the same voice but his acting makes them distinct from each other. It’s like listening to H. Jon Benjamin in Bob’s Burgers than Archer.

Catra realizes that her game of thronesing doesn’t work in an army made up of drones and clones with a hive mind. Realizing she has nothing left, Catra is focused to be introspective and spend time with Glimmer. Thinking she’s about to die Catra teleports Glimmer back to Adora.

When Adora realizes Ctara did something for someone else, she instantly goes into hero mode. She flies into Horde Prime’s base. They split up; Adora confronts Horde Prime, Bow and Entraptra try to hack his system for info, while Glimmer looks for Catra in the holding cells.

Entraptra sees a clone in a pod who she thinks is Hordak, so she gets him out but the clones freaks out being separated from the hive mind. Hoder Prime shows Adora a mind controlled Catra with shaved hair. He has Adora fight Catra, the chip on the back of her neck gets damaged, giving Catra just enough control to jump off the edge. Adora leaps off to get her but it’s only a few feet to the bottom so the both survive; drama queens. Seeing Catra hit sends Adora all Ultra Instinct.

Adora and everyone escapes, even Wrong Hordak (the name they give the freed clone). Catra acts like, while Catra, and tries pushes everyone away. But she realizes that Horde prime can trace her through the chip. While Entraptra works on the chip, Catra apologizes and the two have a moment. I was worried they would drag Catra’s redemption arc and the series would end on a fight between her and Adora like Saskue and Naruto. I am so glad that is not the case. I love Bow and Glimmer teasing Catra about her sneezes. Or Catra bonding with Glimmer and Bow over bonding teasing Adora. And they changed the opening, when Catra and Adora cross weapons, they’re smiling at each and Catra is in the hero group shot and it’s wonderful. Also Catra rocks that pixie cut.

With Wrong Hordak’s help, they find a planet that Horde Prime gave up trying to conquer. This sends Wrong Hordak into an extensional crisis. I love Catra realizing what idiots the best friend squad actually are. Like, she lost to these guys? They realize that Horde Prime is afraid of magic as he can’t understand or control it. Catra then meets a shapeshifting cat creature called Melog, who is a combination of a one shot shapeshifting mud monster, Catra’s own shapeshifting powers from the original series and her pet lion Clawdeen who looked exactly like Lion from Steven Universe.

Meanwhile back on Etheria, Mermista leads a James Bond heist with Sea Hawk, Perfumia, and Scorpia. They’re looking for a clairvoyant in a nightclub, but it ends up as just Double Trouble. This is properly one of the strongest episodes in the show. Horde Prime has started assimilating everyone; including Mermista, Spinnerella, and Scorpia are all chipped.

It is strange that at the eleventh hour Spinnerella and Netossa are given so much attention, but it works. They actually became characters after four seasons of them being joke characters. The show really sells the heartbreak Netossa feels at Spinnerella’s mind control. Netossa has spent the last four seasons cataloging every princesses weakness, a surprising amount is fire. Catra’s is of course a spray bottle.

This is the environment that The best friend squad find themselves in when they arrive back on Etheria. They get around with the help of Wrong Hordak, it’s hilarious. Perfurma is ecstatic that she doesn’t have to be in charge anymore.

While searching the Fright Zone, Adora and the gang run into the controlled princesses. And now that she is connected to the garnet crystal, so now she has op electric powers. Catra all like why could she do this when we were on the same side. And of course Catra also has to fight the water princess.

Horde prime realizes that he can access the heart of etheria without She Ra, and sets out to do just that. Entraptra runs into the real Hordak this time and tries to awaken him, he doesn’t capture her but he doesn’t go with her either.

Bow’s dads discover that there is a fail safe attached to the heart and destroy it. Shadow Weaver pops up and reveals that she knows where the fail safe is, Mystacor. So the rebellion goes on, and Shadow Weaver gonna Shadow Weaver and starts to be little Catra and needling Adora about getting stronger. She even flat says that Catra is holding Adora back. But when they reach the failsafe, Catra realizes that Shadow Weaver was tricking them. She's been here before and went back for them.

Shadow Weaver realized that the failsafe sucks all the magic out of the heart and sends it to the person, incinerating the user in magic. Only She ra has a chance of surviving. Adora being Adora, jumps at a chance to literally kill herself to save the world.

Catra can’t watch Adora do this so she leaves the group. You can see the heartbreak when she says that Adora will never like her the way that she likes Adora. Shadow Weaver goes to congratulate Adora on Finally getting rid of Catra, but Adora is having none of it. She tells the sorceress off and departs on her own. She even leaves Glimmer and Bow trapped in a hologram so they won’t try to save her.

While sulking, Catra sees Horde prime loudly announcing his plans to hijack Etheria. Fortunately for sour heroes, his control is visible as green light. Catra rushes to warn Adora but runs into a properly drunk Shadow Weaver. They rush off to save Adora. They bump into Glimmer and Bow and warn them of what’s happening on the surface. Glimmer and Bow go off to help the princesses, not both Glimmer and Catra have a really nice moment.

Meanwhile Adora sees Mara. Adora is so weirdly excited to sacrifice herself so everyone will be happy. But Mara sadly points that it didn’t work for her. Adora is attacked by a monster the first ones left to protect the heart. Catra and Shadow Weaver catch up and Catra gets Adora out of there. Shadow Weaver does one decent thing in her life and sacrifices herself to save the children she hurt so much. I’m not thrilled about her face heel turn but at least she died. I think there is something about the inherent narcissism of self sacrifice and how Adora shouldn’t do that but it is a small thing.

Entraptra sneaks into Horde Prime’s headquarters so she can unassimilate everyone. She is joined by Bow while Glimmer helps her remaining friends fight her father. Bow fights Scorpia when Entrapia is captured by Horde Prime himself. Hordak is with them. Entrapia encourages him to remember how he is. Hordak gets control of himself again and throws Horde prime over the edge; declaring himself his own man. But Horde prime just mind hopes right into Hordak’s body.

Back at the heart, Adora has a vision; her, Catra, Glimmer, and Bow old, safe, and having fun on the way to Scorpia’s ball. The real Catra appears; holding her hand out while the real Catra cradles Adora’s unconscious body. She confesses that she loves Adora. Adora awakes and says that she loves Catra too. And they kiss and the moment is perfect and earned and I’m so glad they got this to work. I wasn’t sure if the exces would let them do this and I’m so glad they got this moment. Your shipping getting canon is not always necceriassy but it is a fantastic feeling.

Bow and Glimmer had a moment too where Glimmer said she loved Bow and he kissed her forehead. It’s much more ambiguous than Catradora, but in an interview, Noelle realized that yes it was romantic but it was a last minute call, made literally in the recording booth.

Powered by lesbian love, Adora truns into She-Ra activates the failsafe and survives. But Horde primes figures if he can’t use the heart, he’ll kill everyone including himself, purged in the white light of fire. She Ra confronts him and banishes him from Hordak’s mind; leaving him to die without a body. Hordak remembers finding dear Adora as a baby.

Glimmer meets her dad and Catra reconciles with Scorpia. Razz nods in approval as the magic restores the planet. Adora declares that she’ll travel space spreading magic with her friends and her girlfriend.

The ending is too abrupt. I don’t need a five year later epilogue but just spending a bit of more time with these characters to say goodbye. Catra and Scorpia and Glimmer and her dad get no time which is a big shame. Razz, a huge character last season, being reduced to a one line cameo is sad.

It was also weird that no one made a move to save Angella, when the show said she was trapped between dimensions not dead, so I thought they were sitting up a save her plot line. Maybe it was a censorship thing and trapped between dimensions meant she was dead.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I would love to see this version of She-Ra meet up with He-Man. I love crossovers and the two characters are literally siblings. Seeing this creative team tackling such ironic characters would be great. However, I don’t know if they could do this with the rights issues or if they would even want to do this. I know the popularity of this show has caused Netflix to greenlight two new He-Man shows; He-Man Revelation, a sequel to the original show helmed by Kevin Smith and a complete reboot. I’m sure both will be fine, but it won’t be the same.

This season and series is a triumph. The series started good but it wasn’t great, I remember thinking Bow and Glimmer in particular were very twee. Bow was basically diet Sokka in season one. But the characters grew and took on a life of their own. I’m glad I watched this show; I’m glad it was in my life.

4/4

#she ra #she ra spoilers #she ra spop #she ra catra #catradora #netflix #animation recaps by sean

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anotherkpopvictim · 4 years

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Seven Is Our Lucky Number - OT7 Story Chapter 6

Chapter 6: When Taehyung met Jimin

A/N: Ooh, another new pairing I haven’t written yet.

The first part is mostly crack so I’m sorry in advance lol. It was inspired by BTS reading ‘The Wizard of Oz’ on Suga’s radio festa thing which was absolutely hilarious to listen to and even better to watch because we got to see them struggling to hold in their laughter.

Relationship: BTS X BTS (Taehyung X Jimin focused)

Rating: T (Underage Drinking)

Words: 4359

WARNING: As stated, there is underage drinking in this story, so if that makes you uncomfortable then do not read.

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Today, the seven members of Bangtan were in a rented theater space to film the newest episode of Run BTS!. This time, the staff had decided to bring back the fan-favorite; skits.

Seokjin and Taehyung immediately boasted about being the best actors out of the group, to which Jungkook teasingly turned his nose up at them and replied, “I think I’ll beat you both easily, even without the experience.”

It was a surprise to absolutely no one that they were up to their usual chaotic shenanigans not even a minute into filming.

They were split up into two groups of two and one group of three; Seokjin, Namjoon and Jungkook, Hoseok and Yoongi, and Taehyung and Jimin. The staff sent them off with previously prepared scripts that appeared to all be excerpts from random plays and gave them half an hour to memorize it as best as they could.

The seven of them found out that all the scenes they were doing were romance scenes, surprisingly. Bang PD hardly ever allowed them to do any activities that could reveal their relationship to the public. The scripts also each had their own challenging aspects.

Jimin turned to Taehyung and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Well, none of us will have to worry about whether we have chemistry within our teams or not,” he commented under his breath so the mics wouldn’t pick up on it.

Taehyung snorted on a laugh.

The half-hour seemed to go by so fast and the ninety-five liners probably spent too much of it teasing each other and giggling.

The seven of them gathered together once more, prepared to put on a good performance for the fans, but also prepared to potentially cry-laugh at each other.

Namjoon, Seokjin, and Jungkook ended up performing first, after a quick game of rock paper scissors to decide the order.

The trio took the stage and explained that their challenge with their script was that it included more personal interpretation. They were given a general situation script for a scene in which a prince comes to save a princess from a menacing dragon, and the three of them definitely made it their own. One of the most obvious changes was that instead of a prince saving a princess, he was saving another prince instead.

Taehyung lost his fight with laughter as soon as Namjoon whipped out his foam sword and pointed it courageously in Seokjin’s direction. “Leave Prince Jungkook alone you filthy dragon!”

“Filthy?!” Seokjin, the dragon, exclaimed. “The only word you should ever associate with me is handsome.” He flicked his hair with a hand, nearly knocking the weird dragon head hat off of his head.

“Careful, Prince Namjoon!” Jungkook said from his spot behind Seokjin, hands and ankles tied with some silky ties. “The dragon could hurt you.”

It was all so cliche and dramatic that everyone else was in tears and holding their bellies with laughter, even some of the staff watching from behind the camera. They could tell already that this episode was going to be a hit with ARMYs.

“Don’t worry about me, my love,” Namjoon recited seriously. “I will get you away from this monster.”

“Wow, you are calling me such mean things today,” Seokjin said with a fake pout. Then he squared his shoulders and prepared himself for battle. “But it doesn’t matter, because I will just roast you with my fire and eat you for dinner! Mwahahaha!”

The ensuing battle between Namjoon and Seokjin was nothing short of a hot mess. Seokjin managed to take Namjoon’s sword within two seconds and tossed it carelessly away. They threw fake punches each other’s way that were terribly executed but only added to the laughter from their small audience in the theater.

Namjoon managed to fight his way to the sword, avoiding the dragon’s fiery breath (which was just Seokjin breathing heavily and going “blahh!”). The prince picked it up with poise and spent no time slicing it across the dragon’s throat.

Seokjin’s eyes went hilariously wide, hands going to his (unmarked) throat and holding it. “Curse you, you stupid prince!” He exclaimed in a raspy voice. He fell to the floor with as much dramatic flair as he could manage (which was a lot) and made a big show of dying.

Namjoon then turned to Jungkook, who was watching on with awe and relief. He untied his hands and ankles and as soon as they were free, Jungkook tossed his arms around the older.

“Oh, thank you, Prince Namjoon! You saved me from the evil dragon,” he praised.

Namjoon hoisted Jungkook up into his arms bridal style and smirked at the other’s genuine yelp of surprise. “No worries, my sweet prince,” he replied. “I would go to the ends of the earth to save you.”

Seokjin sat up from the side suddenly and said, “And scene!”

The rest of the members burst into generous applause. Seokjin, Namjoon, and Jungkook bowed before heading off of the stage.

“Thank you, thank you!” Jungkook sang with mock arrogance.

Hoseok and Yoongi took the stage next. “Prepare for the best acting you’ve ever seen in your life,” Yoongi warned.

“Our challenge with this was portraying the characters as close to the original as we could,” Hoseok explained as he laid himself on top of a table. Yoongi leaned on the edge of the table and grabbed the other’s hand tightly.

The scene began with a shout from the staff.

“I love you, Jack,” Hoseok started shakily.

Yoongi looked up at him with determination. “No...don’t say your goodbyes, Rose. Don’t you give up, don’t do it.”

Taehyung was a sucker for love stories like Titanic, so he was almost immediately immersed in the plot. Now he understood that the table was acting as a raft for the famous scene.

“I’m so cold,” Hoseok - Rose - mumbled weakly. “You’re going to get out of this,” Yoongi - Jack - continued. “You’re going to go on and you’re going to make babies and watch them grow and you’re going to die an old lady, warm in your bed. Not here...Not this night. Do you understand me?” “I can’t feel my body.”

“Rose, listen to me. Winning that ticket was the best thing that ever happened to me. It brought me to you. And I’m thankful, Rose. I’m thankful,” Yoongi’s words were frantic now. “You must do me this honor...promise me you will survive....that you will never give up...not matter what happens...no matter how hopeless...promise me now, and never let go of that promise.” Hoseok looked deep into the other’s eyes with sadness and longing. “I promise.” Yoongi clutched their hands together even more tightly and said with conviction, "Never let go.” “I promise,” Hoseok replied. “I will never let go, Jack. I’ll never let go.”

It was one of the staff that called “cut!” and brought everyone back to reality. They all had tears in their eyes from the surprisingly good performance.

Yoongi and Hoseok’s passionate acting was rewarded with the rest of the members and the staff giving them a standing ovation. The two of them gave dramatic bows, their cheeks pink, before letting the final team go up.

Everyone watched with anticipation as Jimin and Taehyung took their turn and headed up to the stage.

“Our performance actually doesn’t have any words to it, which was our challenge,” Jimin explained while Taehyung went off to the side to get their props.

The others were surprised when the staff handed him a giant plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

“Wait, what?” Jungkook whined loudly, “I want to eat, too!” Jin rolled his eyes from next to him and whacked the youngest in the back of the head fondly.

Jimin and Taehyung took their seats next to each other and waited until the staff called out, “And begin!”

The others watched curiously and a little disgustedly as the two of them seemed to forgo any eating utensils and instead just dug into the food with their faces.

Taehyung glanced over at Jimin with pure adoration in his eyes before diverting his attention away when the other caught his gaze. Jimin smiled shyly and continued eating.

Then, Taehyung bit his lip in thought before nosing a meatball from his side of the plate and towards Jimin’s. The older looked joyfully surprised and accepted the food, giving the other a thankful smile.

They slurped at their food for a minute while stealing glances at each other before it happened. Taehyung and Jimin both took the end of a noodle into their mouths and sucked it up like they normally would, only it quickly became obvious to the audience that the noodle was connected.

The audience watched with anticipation as the noodle got shorter and shorter, though both of them did not seem to notice it in the slightest. Then, Taehyung and Jimin’s lips were pressed together and their eyes went comically wide.

There was a sort of amazed silence within the room as their kiss turned into a long, fond peck. Slowly, reluctantly, they pulled away and grinned at each other. Jimin leaned in to nuzzle at the side of the other’s face, making everyone laugh again as tomato sauce was spread even more over both of their faces.

“And scene!” one of the staff called.

Their performance of the famous scene from Lady and the Tramp received a standing ovation from every single person in the room - staff and camera crew included. A few wolf-whistles could be heard, too (cough, cough - Yoongi and Namjoon).

Jimin and Taehyung thanked everyone humbly before everyone gathered together to finish up the episode.

Once the cameras were shut off and the group was getting ready to leave for the night, Namjoon cornered the Run BTS! director. “Do you really think Bang PD will allow that episode to be aired? Wasn’t it a little...”

“Revealing?” the director, Dawon, finished with a knowing grin. “Yes, that was kind of the point.”

The seven of them looked around at each other with looks of barely hidden hope.

“You don’t mean...” Hoseok trailed off, not finding the right words.

Dawon nodded, “Bang PD has approved of us beginning to hint at your relationship.”

Taehyung’s heart soared with happiness in his chest and he turned to share a grin with Jungkook, who was next to him.

They had always wanted to tell the world about their relationship, but they also understood that it was rather...different, for lack of a better term, and that many, many people would not take it well. Despite that, they wanted to be free to be themselves and practice the words of self-love and honesty that they preach to the world. They were ready to tell the world, but the company wasn’t (or they hadn’t been until now) and they had a very understandable reason not to be.

“It’s not all going to be as it was today,” Dawon warned, “We could get away with you guys doing more because it was technically acting, but future episodes won’t be so obvious. We’re starting little, but I hope it can make you guys happy. I know how much you want this.”

Seokjin, Hoseok, and Jimin wasted no time in pulling the director into a group hug. “Thank you, thank you, hyung! Thank you!” Jimin shouted, muffled by the man’s jacket.

Dawon had worked for BigHit for years and had known the seven of them since before their debut. When he was given the position of Run BTS! director, he became even closer to them. He always remained professional, but it wasn’t hard to see the genuine care he had for them in his gentle smiles.

Yoongi, Namjoon, Jungkook, and Taehyung joined in on the group hug happily.

Dawon chuckled and pushed them all away from him fondly, muttering something about how they were all supposed to be social distancing.

Later that night, the seven boyfriends gathered together in their apartment living room, cuddling up with each other on the couches while they enjoyed Chinese takeout and soju. A new movie Jimin and Seokjin were interested in was playing on the television, acting more as background noise than entertainment as they chatted amongst themselves.

“I can’t believe we did that today,” Seokjin said with a chuckle. “I can’t believe we were allowed to act like that today.”

“Band PD’s finally coming around,” Hoseok remarked with a joyous smile.

Jimin chuckled and asked, only half-joking, “Do you think this was somehow because of the number seven, too?”

“At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Yoongi replied.

Namjoon hummed in agreement, “Me neither.”

Things quieted down for a moment, the muffled chatting from the movie like white noise. Jungkook was staring at Taehyung again, as he had been doing a lot since their night together the other day - more than he usually does, which was saying something.

Taehyung was looking anywhere but at the others, a telltale sign that Jungkook had learned over the years meant that he was lying.

“Hyung,” Jungkook elbowed him gently in the side to get his attention and leaned closer so they could speak without the others hearing them. “What are you keeping from us?”

Taehyung’s expression became filled with guilt, “Kookie...I...”

“What are you two whispering about over there?” Hoseok questioned teasingly from across the room, bringing everyone’s attention to the two of them.

Taehyung sighed and sat up, preparing himself. “Jungkook knows that I’ve been...keeping something from you guys.”

“You’ve been lying to us?” Seokjin asked cautiously as he too straightened up in his seat.

“Not lying lying,” Taehyung defended weakly. “I...It’s just something I never told you guys about.”

The others were looking around at each other with confused glances while Jungkook wrapped his arms around Taehyung. “Hyung’s been acting strangely whenever we talk about this ‘seven’ thing. Like he knows something that we don’t. I just don’t know what that could be,” he explained.

“Well, do you know anything about that?” Namjoon asked.

Taehyung bit his lip before nodding. He took a deep breath, “This ‘seven’ thing... it’s real. Like really...real. I know it is...because I was told so.”

Jimin got up from where he had been snuggling with Yoongi and Namjoon and walked over to cuddle into Taehyung’s lap. “Start from the beginning,” he prompted softly.

Taehyung nodded once more, licking his lips. “Well, it happened the day we met Jimin...”

--------

August 18, 2012

During another long day of practice at the company, Bang Sihyuk, the CEO, paid them a visit at the dance studio.

Taehyung and the others hastily bowed respectfully, but the older man waved them off. “I’ve got some good news, boys!” he announced, an excited smile on his face. “I’ve found your final member!”

Jungkook and Taehyung exchanged excited looks while the hyungs reigned in their own. “Really?” Taehyung couldn’t help but ask with barely concealed hope.

The CEO nodded, “If you guys can work together well, I think debut shouldn’t be too far away.”

Those were words that they’d all waited so long to hear. They’d worked tirelessly (some of them for years) and to finally be told that their dream was within reach was unbelievable.

Later that night, the six boys met their final member at their dorm. Namjoon took it upon himself to answer the door after the ring of the doorbell echoed through the unusually quiet house.

“Hello, I’m Kim Namjoon. Welcome to our dorm!” Namjoon introduced himself to whoever was in the doorway.

The others were trying unsuccessfully to catch a glance of what the person looked like by cranking their heads from their spots in the living room.

“Hi, thank you,” came a soft, slightly high-pitched voice.

Namjoon ushered the boy in with a wave of his hand and stepped to the side to allow him to enter.

Taehyung, along with the others, watched in anticipation as the newbie came into view.

The boy was on the shorter side and had soft baby cheeks that just begged to be squished. He appeared anxious but excited as he greeted everyone in the room. “I’m Park Jimin.”

The others began introducing themselves while Taehyung found himself caught up in a trance. He couldn’t stop staring at the new boy - Jimin. And as Jimin turned to Taehyung for the first time, it seemed he couldn’t keep his eyes away either.

“I’m Kim Taehyung,” he managed out. “Born in 1995.”

Jimin’s eyes widened, “Really? Me, too!”

And it was at that moment that Taehyung and Jimin’s infamous soulmate connection was created. Years later, when they spoke about it with their boyfriends, they could only explain their sudden and strange bond was indescribable. Something beyond any of their comprehension.

The others watched on, perplexed, as Taehyung and Jimin fell into a deep conversation about anything and everything, laughing and teasing each other every once in a while as though they’d known each other longer than just a few minutes. It felt like that, really, it felt like Taehyung had known Jimin his entire life. The younger had always secretly hoped that the concept of soulmates was more than just a myth, and on that day, he was given all the proof he needed.

Through dinner and a movie, the two were in their own little world, barely even noticing when the others bid their goodnights and headed off to bed.

When they were alone in just the lamplight of the living room, Taehyung turned to Jimin with a mischievous smirk on his face, “Wanna do something fun?”

Two hours later found the pair of new best friends half-stumbling through the nearby park, one distinctly more inebriated than the other.

Taehyung only half regretted telling Jimin about the three bottles of soju he’d stolen from Seokjin’s not-so-secret stash. He’d felt high on the feeling of a new friend and made a split-second decision that led to their current situation. They also had been given the next few days off for “time to get to know each other” and Taehyung really wanted to unwind a bit.

Jimin was tripping over his own feet on the grass, giggling every time he fell to the soft ground. Taehyung kept pulling him back to his feet, much more stable than his companion. The younger had only had one bottle, while the older (by only a few months) had two.

“I need fooooood!” Jimin complained with a cute pout as he looked up at his new friend from the ground.

Taehyung rolled his eyes fondly as he pulled him up for probably the ninth time that night, “Alright, let’s find somewhere to eat that’s still open.”

As it turned out, that was harder than Taehyung had thought. They spent half an hour wandering the nearby streets looking for a single open sign. Not even the closest convenience stores were awake at midnight.

Finally, ten minutes after Jimin had given up on walking entirely and was clinging to Taehyung’s back instead, Taehyung spotted the heavenly sight of a fluorescent open sign. “Oh, thank goodness. You’re getting heavy, Jiminie.”

Jimin only groaned in response.

A little bell dinged above the door when Taehyung entered, and he realized that it was a small cafe they’d walked into. He took in the few tables and chairs set up in the rather small space and the goodies that were on display up at the front. It looked like an average little shop.

“Good evening, boys,” came the gentle voice from behind the counter.

Taehyung and Jimin both looked up to see an older woman standing there, a lavender-colored apron with the cafe’s logo on it tied around her waist. She was short and had her salt and pepper hair pulled back into a neat bun. She had gentle wrinkles on her face that betrayed her age, yet a youthful, knowing smile on her face as she took in their obviously unstable state.

Taehyung smiled back sheepishly and hurriedly dumped Jimin into the nearest chair, ignoring the ‘oof!’ he let out at the sudden movement. “Hello, ma’am.”

“What can I get for you, tonight?” she continued kindly.

Taehyung appreciated that she didn’t comment on their drunken state. He glanced up at the menu board, “Um...two orange juices and a ham sandwich, please.”

The old woman punched in the order on her screen, “Can I interest you in some fresh rice cakes? I just pulled them out of the oven.”

Taehyung hesitated, fingers ghosting over the twenty-thousand won in his pocket. “I-I would love some, but I’m afraid I don’t have enough money for it tonight.”

“On the house,” she replied, “My treat.”

Well, Taehyung couldn’t say no to that. “Okay, thank you, ma’am.”

“Oh, and take two fortunes as well. They come with the rice cakes,” she gestured to a jar on the right side of the counter filled with little slips of paper.

Without much thought to it, Taehyung picked out two folded pieces of paper from the indicated jar and tucked them into his pocket so he could grab the drinks from the woman.

It didn’t take long for Jimin and Taehyung to devour the sandwich and most of their juice. Taehyung definitely felt more sober once he’d finished, but it appeared as though Jimin was still significantly drunk if the glazed over look in his eyes was anything to go by.

The kind old woman brought over their rice cakes just as they finished the food. “Enjoy,” she said before disappearing behind the counter once more.

Taehyung and Jimin both took a bite and instantly moaned out loud at the way the rice cake nearly melted in their mouths.

“These might be better than my mom’s rice cakes,” Jimin said through stuffed cheeks. “Don’t tell my mom I said that, though. She would be very sad.”

Taehyung chuckled, “Don’t worry, I won’t.” Then he remembered the papers in his pocket. “Oh, we’ve got fortunes to read, too.”

He handed one over to Jimin who took it and opened it without much fanfare. “’You are going to achieve much success in the near future’.” he read out loud, words slightly slurred, before scoffing. “I have to admit it’s not very original, but it’s nice, I guess.”

Taehyung hummed in agreement before unfolding his own. He was surprised when he saw a much longer fortune written for him. “’Things will not always be easy, but you must persevere. When in doubt, remember that the number seven is woven into your fate in many ways’.”

“Hmm,” Jimin mumbled, eyes half-closed with tiredness. “I wonder what that means.”

“I’m not sure,” Taehyung shrugged it off and took a look at the time on his phone. “We should head back now before the others realize we’re gone. We’ve pushed our luck enough already.”

When he looked back up, he saw Jimin passed out on the table, resting on his head on his arm awkwardly. Little snores made their way out of his mouth cutely.

Taehyung shook his head fondly.

“Maybe don’t let him drink so much next time,” the old woman said, appearing out of nowhere.

Taehyung blushed sheepishly. “Yeah, I’ll make sure to remember that.”

“I was young like you once,” she sighed nostalgically. “I remember sneaking out of my parents’ house to meet boys and such. Just be careful, young man. The world isn’t always so forgiving.”

“I will, ma’am,” Taehyung promised. “And thank you for the rice cakes, they were really delicious!”

She grinned, “You’re welcome! Oh, and did you read your fortunes?”

“Yes,” Taehyung replied. “Jimin’s said that he will be successful in the near future.”

The woman nodded, eyeing Jimin’s unconscious form. “He will. I see much happiness coming soon.”

Taehyung furrowed his eyebrows a little at her wording but ignored it. “I - uh - I got this one,” He held up the fortune for her to see, and she walked over to get a closer look at it.

“Ah!” she exclaimed once she’d read over it. A playful smirk came to her lips. “The number seven is certainly intertwined deeply in your fate, as well as your band members’.”

Taehyung blinked in surprise, “I’m sorry?”

He never told the woman that he or Jimin were trainees, so how did she know that about them?

“The seven of you will go on to do more than you can dream of right now,” she continued, unfazed by Taehyung’s visible shock. “Remember this, young man,” the woman took Taehyung’s hand in her own. Hers looked so small and frail next to his large one. She looked him straight in the eyes and Taehyung couldn’t find it in himself to look away. “You must always remain humble and grateful and honest, no matter how far you go. Never take anything for granted and remember those who have helped you along the way.”

Taehyung swallowed against his shock and nodded, “I promise, ma’am. I’ll remember your words.”

The woman grinned and let go of his hand to reach up and pat his cheek. “Good boy. Now you must be on your way. I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble with your hyungs.”

After bowing respectfully, Taehyung lifted Jimin onto his back once more and left the little shop. The whole way back to the dorm was a daze, Taehyung’s thoughts preoccupied with the old woman’s words.

Even after successfully sneaking back into the dorm and putting Jimin to bed with a glass of water, Taehyung couldn’t stop thinking.

How did she know all of that about him? Was she gifted somehow or was it just a good guess? Did he believe her?

How could he not believe her when she’d looked at him so seriously, like she was telling him something important. Perhaps he didn’t know her at all, but he got the feeling that she wasn’t lying.

He fell asleep in the early hours of dawn, thoughts running wild with possibilities.

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A/N: I apologize for taking so long with this chapter, but I refuse to post something that I’m not happy with.

Please let me know what you think of the story and what specific pairings you would like to see in the last smutty chapter ;)

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sidecharacter965 · 4 years

Text

~Ruby Chandelle~

~The basics~

“I like capes!”

Name: Ruby Chandelle Kanji: ルービーションデル Age: 17 Birthday: 20th June (Gemini) Year: 2nd Year at Night Raven College Dorm: Pomfiore Species: Human Gender: Female Sexuality: Questioning, she kinda stays away from romantic relationships anyway

~Appearance~ “Hey hey! Look, I can do this spell!”

Height: 162cm, 5’3 Hair colour: Chocolate brown, worn in a low side bunch tied together with a red or purple ribbon Eye colour: Purple Skin Tone: Pale Piercings or tattoos: None Uniform: The Pomfiorre female uniform, blazer unbuttoned, a loose bow tie, knee length black socks and ankle length school boots.

~Personality~ “Why does everyone care so much about who you like? I have no idea who I am, let alone who I like!”

Positive Traits: Quick learner, free spirited, adaptable, energetic Negative Traits: Annoying, mischievous, sneaky, impulsive, attention-seeking

Ruby is one of the troublemakers of the school along with the ranks of Kalim, Ace and Lilia. She possesses the natural inclination to potions that most Pomfiore students possess, but prefers hexing over everything else. As a result, every Pomfiore student now has to check their products twice to make sure they haven’t been swapped or hexed. If Ruby respects the student, the hexing will only go so far. She doesn't want anyone she likes to think she’s a complete gremlin. Unfortunately for everyone else, there’s no telling how far she’ll go if she can get a good reaction out of them.

Backstory and relationships under the cut!

~Background~

“Hey! I’m not all bad! It was one hex after all!”

As a child, Ruby was raised by her helicopter noble parents. They made all of the decisions for her, and raised her to be “A well-rounded member of society”. Ruby didn’t like this at all, and would often find sneaky ways to defy her parents and their strict rules. Don’t like the dress? Don’t wear it until mother makes you, and then spill something on it! Ruby’s ability to defy rules and work her way around them became an integral part of her personality, something she could do with little effort or thinking.

Because Ruby was raised to be a “lady”, she had to sit inside and practice “feminene crafts” and “Proper manners”. Her stitches were huge and wonky, she always dropped her knitting needles. And not to mention she always put her elbows on the table. One day, Ruby’s tutor brought in a book about magic history in the hopes that she would take to it in one last ditch effort to actually teach her something. Absolutely loving it, she asked for more magic lessons. Unfortunately for Ruby, that meant “Bye bye Miss Tutor” whom she had just started warming up to. Her parents made rigorous plans to help get her into Night Raven College, the prestigious magic school. Ruby was very suspicious when her parents started helping her to get into the school, because they had always raised her with the intention that she would marry into a powerful family, minimal spells required. When she asked them about it, they would always reply with: “Never mind that, dear. Just focus on the spell.”

Ruby was sorted into the Pomfiore dorm, along with Rook Hunt, a boy in her year who would become one of her favourite victims for hexes. As expected from a Pomfiore student, she had a natural skill for potions. Her best subject however, was magic history. (It was the first thing taught to her by her magic tutor) Ruby couldn’t care less about physical activity or riding on a broom. (But the idea of flying still seemed pretty cool to her... But I didn’t say that!) So her worst grades aren't even things she’s bad at. They’re just things she doesn't put in the effort for because she doesn’t care.

Her fellow students see her as a mischievous student that you shouldn’t mess with. She does have a sort of moral code which sees her lightening the mood for anyone in any stressful situation. Ruby’s peak prank times are during exam time because of this. She has a wide knowledge of magic and her fellow students know this. Sometimes, they wonder if there's much more to her than she's letting on.

~Relationships~

~Family~

Mother: Ruby isn’t on the best terms with her mother but is thankful yet suspicious for her support in pursuing a career in magic. Ruby finds her compliance with her father annoying and wishes her mother would state her own opinions more often.

Father: Hate is too strong a word for how she feels about her father, but it’s not far from it. Ruby Is suspicious about his intentions for why he supports her “decision” to enroll in NRC.

~Dorm mates~

Vil: Ruby’s an annoyance to Vil. I mean, how can she not resist swapping out a few potions here and there? Her favourite ones to swap out are the hair products. Especially the hair dye. Poor Vil was sporting green locks for a good three days before he found a counterspell. He didn’t even attend school during that time.

Rook: Her most tormented victim. However, it never goes further than making his arrows miss the target or cursing him with a frizzy bedhead. They both have a kind of respect for each other. Besides, Ruby knows that Rook could never get angry at her “Pretty face”.

Epel: Ruby finds Epel a bit boring to play pranks on. He doesn’t outwardly react a lot of the time so she just stopped pranking him. She respects him for being calm and composed, unlike her impulsive self. There may be a little jealousy because of that.

~Friends~

Kalim: Ruby easily gets along with this happy-go-lucky student. They both like to have fun and Kalim causes chaos no matter if he means to or not. Also the rich parents- If it involves Ruby, it’s definitely intentional. She wonders how Kalim is able to create chaos no matter what he does.

Lilia: They’re both powerful in their own right and don’t really bother using their magic seriously. Lilia’s clever sense of humor and wit appeals to her. Prank buddies. And short people club

Ace: Kalim, Lilia and Ruby kind of brought him into the group. They always invite him to help prank students and are more than happy to help him plot more pranks against Riddle and Vil study. They “Recruited” him into the squad when he was bold enough to laugh after they put a hex on Riddle’s tarts. (They sprouted little legs and ran away)

Rook: Again, one of her most tormented victims. The two are more like frenemies, but they really respect each other deep down. Ruby just really needs to control her impulse to hex the arrows. Just one more time… It’ll be the last one. Honest.

Floyd: Same year, laidback individuals just looking for some fun. They met when the Leech brothers appeared to her in the hopes that they could rope her into a contract with Azul. Ruby refused and they left her. Later that day, they had a potions class together and got to pick their partners. Floyd made a beeline for her- asking if she still didn’t want to sign the contract- as a joke. One thing led to another and they became joke buddies. They don’t hang out as much due to their different schedules, but they always crack some kind of inside joke when they pass each other in the halls.

~Enemies~

Riddle: It was one hex. One hex for crying out loud. Now, Ruby’s permanently uninvited from any and all tea parties in Heartslabyul. What did she do? She hexed Riddles (Famous) tarts so they would sprout tiny legs and run away from the tea party. Ruby still owes Trey BIG TIME for getting her out of that mess.

Vil: Well it’s no surprise that Ruby gets on the perfectionist’s nerves. She’s lazy, and impulsive and she had the AUDACITY to replace his hair dye!!!

Jack: The dude just doesn’t have time for her antics and has threatened her on many accounts. She tends to stay away from Savannaclaw anyway because everyone there actually intimidates her. Apart from Ruggie, and that’s only because he’s a fellow member of the short people club.

Sebek: As a joke with the help of Lilia, Ruby organised a party for the whole school and “accidentally” didn't invite Malleus. Lilia took the brunt of his anger and Ruby just suffered a telling off from Sebek and Silver. She retaliated with smart alec replies. Long story short, Sebek low-key hates her now.

Jamil: He does not like the effect she is having on Kalim. There are frequent arguments between the two, but there's an unspoken rule that they never fight when Kalim is around. Gotta protec the cinnamon roll

~Trivia~

- Upon her acceptance into NRC, Ruby’s parents sent her off immediately in a carriage with a trunk full of clothes they had chosen for her. The trunk lies in her dorm cupboard, undisturbed since day one.

- Ruby never speaks of her parents unless specifically asked about them. Even then she disregards them. “They just helped me get here. I don’t really like ‘em.”

- Her favourite person to hex is Rook, and that is the only reason those arrows keep missing the targets in archery practice.

- Ruby’s favourite dessert is raspberry panna cotta, she has a real sweet tooth.

- Chandelle means “Candle” in french.

- She originally had two hair bunches instead of one, but I decided only having one would look sassier and add more interest to her design.

- Because of her helicopter parents, Ruby needs to feel in control of situations. It stems from the frustration and insecurities of never having any choices in her life. Hexing and pranking is one of the ways she does this.

- She experienced a lot of emotional neglect from her parents, so Ruby finds it hard to express herself emotionally. This is the reason she is impulsive and rather vocal.

- Secretly really insecure please give this child a hug she will appreciate it.

- She likes capes. Like, a lot. Also, long hair. Literally anything long and swishy. There is much dramatic cape action with this child.

Oof sorry for kind of being all over the place and really long-

I’m going to bed now...

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland oc #Ruby Chandelle #seriously tho she loves capes #sorry I don't have much art of her yet #what do you think?

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vios-rockland-corner · 4 years

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Rockland: The balance of good and evil

The date of this post is 3/27/20. Please note that information revealed at this time via Patreon or any of the creator’s blogs may be subject to change after this date

I’ve been debating lately on how dangerous the Rockland universe is. Lately it seems like there’s been more focus on the horror, so things start to look bleaker by the minute. I was wondering if Rockland is primarily ruled by more evil forces and characters, but there may actually be some shred of light in this world.

I feel it’s best if I try to tackle this by looking at a few of the major groups I’m aware exist in this universe.

Let’s try examining alignments and see where we go from there with just a few (not all) of the main groups that exist in Rockland.

The Misfits

Alignment: Evil

Just based on the Misfits: First Blood demo and everything else we’ve seen and heard, I think it’s safe to say that the Misfits should generally be considered one of the more sinister elements of Rockland. Now we haven’t seen all the characters yet, so characters here may indeed range between how evil one character is versus another. Even the Misfits you meet in the demo game mention they do normal stuff from time to time. They just have a propensity for murder. Murder is a “no no” though, so I’m still classifying them as bad guys. We’ve yet to see how big the group is, so how much of a hold they have over the town/city they live in is an unknown factor. This group could either an occasional problem for society, or a much more serious danger.

The Professionals

Alignment: Evil

We have some names and faces now, but we definitely lack far more information on the Professionals than we do the Misfits. Still, considering these characters have some confirmed blood ties with the Misfits, and even dialogue in the demo confirming that murder basically runs in the family, it’s probably safe to assume this group is just as dangerous as the Misfits. In fact, they are possibly even more dangerous. I went through some ideas in a previous post on the dangers the group could hold in society and how these familial connections mean you better watch out who you make an enemy of in Rockland. I also touch on how this group may end up being the reason why so many of the human characters get away with murder. Especially if it’s through the generations. Same with the Misfits though, not sure how many characters make up the Professionals. Numbers and positions in society would determine the overall threat they pose.

Fallen Angels

Alignment: Neutral?

After we get some games out on the Misfits, we’re probably going to head back into the focus on Zeitgeist (Cain’s remake game). It sounds like we’ll get a lot of lore in said game and better learn about the Fallen Angels themselves. Now, I’m not 100% sure on the alignment here, but I’m taking a stab to consider that the Fallen Angels are part of the natural order. They have specific jobs to do relating to the mortal world, so that’s their main focus. I wouldn’t be surprised if the reason they’re likely not going to swoop in and save people from characters they’d likely punish in the afterlife (like the Misfits or Professionals) is because they simply aren’t allowed to, or aren’t that invested in every single small infraction made by mortals. I mean, if you live for thousands of years, you may not be that interested in solving every single little problem that occurs.

Now...specific angels may fall into different alignment categories. Sam Volkov my current guess is that he’d be something like Lawful Neutral. I think he’s still a reaper in this universe, and when it comes to death everyone is pretty much equal (good, bad, young, old, you get the idea). He can be a friendly character though from what we’ve seen in the Zeitgeist demo. Another fallen angel I’m aware of that we haven’t seen yet (he WAS referred to though in the Zeitgeist demo) is Michael Volkov. Now I have no confirmation on what his current role is, but in the past he was basically the fallen angel of war and chaos. He wasn’t necessarily a character you wanted to run into either. Now if he still has that role...he can TECHNICALLY still be neutral. If it’s based on the natural order, sometimes you need entropy and conflict in the universe. If it’s his job and he happens to enjoy it, *shrugs* we may just consider him chaotic neutral in this case. Cain Zeitgeist is....well we have so many spoilers but this fellow makes me keep changing my mind as to what he’s about. For now my guess is he’ll either be true neutral or chaotic neutral. He still keeps me on my toes, but he may not be as bad as his previous incarnation.

Then we have someone like Damien Morningstar. In previous lore, he was both against Cain and honestly his father’s work in general. Cain may be changing but I think....Damien in the Rockland universe is not only still going to be a priest, but also still hates his dad Luke (aka Lucifer). So he may not stand for the same beliefs as all the other angels. If he resembles some of his older incarnation, he could be one of the few angels who actively works in the mortal world to assist humans as much as he can. Still not a lot of information yet, so I can’t be sure if he’s still neutral or if he jumps up into a good alignment.

Mark of Belial Main Cast

Alignment: Good

Much longer down the road, the creators want to work on a set of detective games known as the Mark of Belial (or at least that’s what the first game would be called). In those games, you actually will be working to find a killer. So naturally, you’re working with a specific police precinct to catch the perpetrator. I think that blatantly tells us we’ll be working with the good guys for once. Only way I could see the main cast here as a bad alignment is if we get the rug pulled out from under us and find out ALL the characters and division are corrupt, haha. Not an impossibility, but I don’t think that’s the plan. The original concept I believe was an all human cast, so I’m going to keep up with that assumption here. So unlike the Fallen Angels who (mostly) probably keep their nose out of most mortal affairs unless it’s job related, this would be a group of human characters actively working towards the safety of the citizens. So yay, finally some hope in all this! This tells me not all the characters in Rockland will place their tail between their legs and bow to characters like the Misfits or the Professionals. There may be SOME cowardly or corrupt members of the police/detective division you work with, but I believe the games WILL be geared towards trying to catch the culprit. You do stand a fighting chance.

The Hand of God

Alignment: Good?

Another group without a lot of information, but the name gets thrown around here and there. Now if the characters of the Mark of Belial Cast are all human, they will most likely end up dealing with (and being more competent with) human affairs. The Hand of God we’ve gotten hints that they are more aware of some of the more supernatural elements of Rockland, including the Fallen Angels. That means they KNOW stuff, which is a big help to keeping citizens safe. The creators have said they are aware of the dangers some of these supernatural entities or characters pose. I’m making the assumption for now that this group is actually made up of good guys trying to quietly keep the peace from behind the scenes. While normal citizens are busy fearing disappearances or murders that are committed by human characters like the Misfits and the Professionals, the Hand of God is likely being kept busy by “bigger fish to fry.” Not to say that humans can’t be extremely dangerous (either via a violent nature or a dangerous intellect), but between a human serial killer and a supernatural one, I’m placing my bets that the supernatural killer is much more of a threat. Also, the reveal of certain supernatural elements to the public might cause a mass panic. So I think the Hand of God group will be working for the greater good, but it’s very possible that they’ll have only so much time and resources to spend on dealing with the more dangerous elements or Rockland. The police and detectives will just have to be left in charge of taking care of the more sinister human characters in Rockland.

I have to say...I feel a little better. Yes, the more evil characters and elements of Rockland are likely still going to be EXTREMELY problematic. They probably have ways not only to survive and avoid judgement, but to continue their heinous deeds as they please. I wouldn’t have it any other way because it’s more fun and interesting when you have villains capable enough of committing evil deeds and getting away with it. They won’t be a joke. BUT, it does seem like not every character we meet in the Rockland games is going to be against us. Sure, we may not know right away which characters we can trust or not, but it looks like there will be some who mean you no harm or even want to keep you safe. It’s just a matter of which opponents the good guys are up against, and if they are in the right place at the right time to save the day.

You know what’ll be fun to see though? I’m sure several of these groups are going to end up intermingling with each other at one point or another. What each party is aware of about the other when they meet is also interesting. For example, if you’re doing police/detective work in the Mark of Belial games, you might have to go check a dead body or two for clues. Said dead bodies may be currently kept in a funeral home they’ve recently arrived at. That means we literally have some strong potential of getting at least cameos of the Willow family (which consists of Misfits and Professionals characters) in the MOB games. Now wouldn’t that be fun? You have to talk obliviously to literal murderers while you’re hunting for a murderer. I wonder how characters like Quill and Alchemy would view the case. I always imagined with the MOB games though that they’ll make a brand new character to be the main killer for those. Who knows though? Maybe you find out the killer IS a pre-existing character. Maybe even one who’s usually “immune” when they commit crime. Could end up being quite a pickle.

Also I have a weird feeling Quill will just go out of way to be super creepy to the detectives when they visit. Just a feeling, haha.

Will be fun to clashing sides, though it may be quite a while before we get to that kind of content.

#rockland #Rockland Games #runawayoutlaw #rottenbonethief #sugarhazard #Cain Zeitgeist #the misfits #the professionals #hand of god #mark of belial #horror

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nova9 · 4 years

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Aimi Otsukas Taiyuu Enterance exam!

@taiyuu-high-oct

A/n sorry it wouldn’t let me add a read more page break on my iPad 😩

Word count : 3k

Ps just realized I switched into x reader format and I didn’t even see it while I was spell checking or anything it just shows how tired I am rn sorry about that.

To say Aimis nerves were a little shot was an understatement. Not that the high-end bullet train with unnecessarily good bento didn't help a little but still, anyone would be nervous on their first day at a new school.

She was lucky to have been given the chance to be admitted at all considering her application was so late. In her defense, neither she or her parents actually knew about the school existing. It was Toma who’d suggested it.

Aimi wants to imagine that her loving boyfriend just wanted her to go to the latest and greatest hero school to open but she knew better. She knew that the big softy wanted her as close to home as possible and a two-hour train ride was better than the five hour one she’d have to take to get home for the weekends at the school she’d originally planned on attending.

She was just glad that the principal had agreed to her enrollment at all, considering her quirk she’d been denied by three other schools and she hadn't been hopeful when she submitted an application for review anyway.

But here she was. Standing in front of what was probably the fanciest facility she’d ever seen in her life. Growing up in a small farming community did absolutely nothing to help prepare her for anything that she’d experienced just this morning and she hadn't even done anything other than ride a super fancy train.

She was fishing around in her side bag to see if there had been any more instructions but as far as she could remember, the invitation letter said she’d be met at the train station.

Looking over the slightly smashed piece of paper she confirmed that her memory was right but… there was no one on-site. On both sides of the station, she was the only living thing that she could see.

Then she heard a rapid tapping noise, that she couldn't tell the direction of.

Was the exam starting already? Why wouldn’t it? I mean this is a hero school isn’t it, heroes have to be ready for anything at a moment's notice.

When she felt a cold nose on the back of her calf she almost jumped out of her skin though jumping up and effectively ruining her favorite sweater by activating her quirk on accident.

Thank god she’d jumped though because when she turned around to see her attacker she saw what had to be the cutest little dog she’d ever seen in her life.

All of a sudden she wasn't so mad about her selves being shredded and she was more worried about petting the cute puppy.

The sound of someone clearing their throat behind her caught her attention and had her turning on the spot, a little embarrassed at getting caught gushing over a puppy and even more so about her now scrappy looking clothes.

“Ms. Otsuka I presume?” The man who looked much more deer than anyone else she’d ever seen asked as he bowed politely. She nodded and returned the gesture.

“Sorry I was late, the other students were excited about hearing they’d be getting another classmate. Some wanted to meet you directly at the gate but it's best they didn't.” He said in some kind explanation, Aimi didn't really understand what harm it would have been to have met her classmates sooner rather than later.

Then she realized that they’d all taken the test already and having people give her hints about anything wasn't exactly fair to them, was it? She wanted to go in blind just like everyone else and prove that she had the same rights that they had to be here.

“Your written tests were quite impressive.” The man who’d at that point introduced himself as the vice-principal of the school and preferred that he just be called by his hero name, Buckskin.

It was kinda cool and nerve-racking at the same time, Aimi had never met a hero in real life before. She wanted to seem cool and collected when she internally was freaking out with nerves that quickly sat back in as Buckskin seemed to be leading her to where she’d be taking her exam.

“I’ve been studying for the test since my first year of middle school,” Aimi said trying and failing to sound confident.

“So you’ll have no problem passing the entrance exam, it's not particularly difficult. We’ve personalized it to you and your quirk given that we had the extra time. It will give both us and your future classmates an idea of what we're working with.” He said smiling as if what he’d said was supposed to somehow help you. Others had been able to help one another, you were going in alone with spectators.

If you were to fail everyone would see it. Not that it would really matter to them… You’d just be no one other than some kid with a bad quirk who failed a test that they passed.

To you, you’d have to explain to your parents who’d almost lost their business with all the money they’d paid down for quirk therapy and control lessons for you, all of the extra tutoring you’d needed to get your test scores to where they needed to be to get what you wanted, why you’d failed.

You’d have to explain to Toma, who’d lost more than a few nights of sleep to help you study and make sure that you were mentally ready for something like this. You didn't know if you’d be able to face him if you walked away empty-handed. He wouldn’t care he’d just be happy to have you home but you wouldn’t.

You were lead to a locker room and given a chance to change from your casual clothes into the clothes you’d brought to take the test with. It never occurred to you that others would be actually watching you take the test so the tank top and gym shorts felt a little revealing but you didn’t have the option to change your mind.

When you exited the locker room you met Buckskin and another woman who was introduced to you as the principal of the school, Ms. Chikyu, you’d never known her real name, you had however recognized her hero name Laccadasiy. Suddenly your lack of confidence plummeted to the point of seemingly no return.

Someone so cool and strong was the actual principal of the school?! How in the hell were you EVER gonna get in? Why should she let you? There isn’t anything you could ever hope to offer.

“Hey enough of the long face!” She said patting your back a little harder than you think she’d meant to but it helped pull your head out of your ass. “We just wanna see what you can do! It’s not gonna be easy but it will sure as hell be fun!” She said earning a sharp look from Buckskin. “Hell isn't even a cuss word Bambie calm down.” She scoffed rolling her eyes and joking around with the other teacher.

“Anyway wait for that light right there to turn green and your good to step up to the door. It’s automatic so it’ll let you in.” She said pointing at a now red number one that hung above a seemingly normal set of metal doors.

“Good luck!” She chimed before both of them disappeared threw a door a little further down the hall.

Being alone gave you the chance to think and at the current point in time, it wasn't exactly a good thing. Why in the hell did you think that this was a good idea in the first place? There were so many other hero’s out there and you? You couldn't even come close even if you tried. It was pathetic that you’d even had hopes and it was downright wrong that you’d dragged your family and friends down in this? What right did you have to drain them of their time and resources? Playing with their emotions was just cruel.

Greenlight.

Your body moved on its own, that malicious voice in your head lowering in volume but not disappearing.

“Your first task is simple.” Laccadasys’ voice rang out over an inter calm system as the wall in the relatively small room started to raise up, revealing an impossibly larger room beyond it. A large stone sphere and a ridiculously steep decline.

“At the bottom of the hill, is a pressure plate, get the stone ball onto it and it’ll unlock the door.” She said and you took a few steps forward checking and seeing that there was, in fact, a place for the ball at the bottom but if it went too far or jumped the short lip at the bottom you were skewed and the door wasn't going to open at all. You were going to have to come up with an idea to get it to stop, if you could get it to move at all.

“GO AIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIII!” You heard a voice screaming from somewhere along with a few other cheers.

Swinging around you were met with a glass wall that separated you from a large group of others that had to be at least close to your age. Most of them looked excited, others looked like they had better things to do and one was even asleep.

There was someone though with blue hair and a sucker in her mouth who was making a few others hold up a handwritten banner that had ‘Welcome Aimi!’ Plastered on it. It honestly looked like it was several pieces of printer paper taped together and it was probably written in crayon but it was the thought that counted.

You had support here too.

Support was all you needed.

You had everything else covered.

You didn't have much time to do anything other than wave before the buzzer sounded and you walked over to the ball that had to weigh at least 2 tons. A tap let you know that it was solid rock.

Looking at the bottom of it revealed it sat on a lip too and you’d have to get it up and over that before you could even worry about the bottom of the hill.

“Now might be a good time to inform you that you have three minutes to get into the next room.” Buckskin said as a large LCD clock appeared on the ball counting down the seconds and minutes.

Cursing under your breath you tried pushing it like an idiot and of course, that did nothing.

Think fast

You manifested a blade on your forearm, curved and blunt, the last thing you needed was to chip the damn ball and stick it where it was forever. You moved to jam your blade in between the stone and the floor it sat on and pushed. It moved but it didn’t move enough.

You switched from your arm to your foot, knowing you’d always had more strength in your legs.

And THAT WORKED!

Too well, it was now rolling away down the incline at increasing speeds and away from you.

You’d never expected to use your blade skates like this but here you were. Gliding down the smooth concrete incline on blades that curved over the bottom of your feet and knees. As close to the floor as you could possibly get to go as fast as you could. You got there before the ball did, nearly overshooting it over the edge of the floor but you were able to hook yourself before that happened.

You didn't have time to think, just stop the ball. So with blades from your thighs at the ready to stop it and standing in the most grounded and immovable stance, you could muster you braced yourself.

“You really need to have more faith in that quirk of yours Otsuka!” Laccadasey called over the intercom. You opened your eyes to see the ball stopped in front of you with the numbers now flashing green revealing you almost had a full minute and a half of time left and the door behind you opened before you’d even pulled the blades back under your skin.

You moved as fast as you could not even taking time to think about how in the hell you didn't even feel that incredibly heavy ball hit your blades. It had to have stopped automatically on the plate it as designed to land on. That made a lot more sense than you being that strong.

You stood in front of an impossibly bigger room on a platform that was at least five stories above a moat of dark water. What it was surround however was what had all the attention. Large raised platforms that looked like giant books standing up on end with the spines up wards, if books were made out of solid looking stone anyway. Thin, and varying in both height and space between each of them with another platform at the end of the room that looked small in the distance. There had to be at least 30 raised platforms you were guessing that you had to get across.

You waited looking around for some kind of directions, a set of rules, a time limit but the intercom speaker you saw hanging on the wall was silent. Turning to look for anything else like a platform on the side you could run up, that wasn't there but there was another glass wall revealing that everyone was moving to watch this task too. The girl and her friends smiling happy and cheering on the other side of the glass, the encouragement might have helped if you could hear it.

You just decided to cut your losses and go for it.

Jumping from platform to platform gripping on with blades and climbing up before jumping to the next one. The task was pretty straightforward and simple but very exhausting. You hadn’t brought any iron gummies with you and you were getting winded from both overusing your quirk and just the physical work that you had to do climbing up the walls.

You stood at the end of the room in front of the now open door that had been so small minutes ago, doubled over with your hands on your knees and grasping trying to catch your breath. Couldn't this have just been a normal obstacle course with normal things? Has this place never heard of a freaking road climb?!

Apparently not.

You wanted to give up out of pure exhaustion and frustration as you stumbled into the next room to be face to face with a battle bot that was at least three times your size.

You wanted to tell the damn thing to shut up as it started announcing that its systems were operational and informing you that the test would only conclude with you or it being unable to battle.

Not only were you pushing it with your quirk already but you absolutely hated using your quirk to fight, you knew that becoming a hero would mean you had to get over that distaste but you weren’t even enrolled yet and here you were.

You waited for the thing to make its first move, but it didn't. It just stood there as if it was guarding the doors raised up on eight legs like some kind of spider tank love child with a purpose.

You were tired and wanted things to be over with so you just went for it, which was a very bad idea. You soon found yourself slammed down on the ground so hard that it cracked the concrete under you and you were surprised that it didn't crack your skull too. Turns out that spider-tanks legs were all made of some kind of magnetic material so your body literally moved towards them on its own accord. Which was totally cheating in you opinion.

You moved dodging another strike that fractured the ground again and you were lucky you got away despite the fact that the thing was literally magnetically pulling your body towards it.

You had to literally dig blades into the floor for leverage to keep from being pulled under its crushing body.

How in the absolute fuck are you supposed to beat this?!

You were just attempting to not die to be honest and you weren’t doing a very good job of that either.

You were cornered with nowhere to go but over, or under it and with how tired you were there was no way you’d be making a jump like that. You did all you could do and dove under neath it and as you did you saw what would probably be your key to beating the thing.

A latch with a danger electrocution risk sticker plastered on it. If that was the things control or the way that it was creating the magnetic pull it would help either way.

You had to pace yourself, getting another chance to get under it wasn't exactly easy like that thing knew what you saw and was trying to protect it at the same time as it was trying to take you out.

It kept charging and keeping low to the ground.

But it did have a pattern you noticed, it would rear up when it was going to strike it had every single blow that it attempted to hit you with. So all you had to do was time it right.

Once you had your opening though you took it.

You weren’t exactly able to destroy it but a blade about two feet deep as you slid under it seemed to do the trick. As you stood up it didnt move from the spot it had been in standing up ready to break your bones into dust.

A soft buzzing and a beep let you know that the last door was open.

And that you’d passed the test.

#bnha imagines #bnha oc #bnha #mha ocs #my hero oc #my hro #bnha reader insert #boku no hero oc #taiyuu #taiyuu high #taiyuu oct

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takerfoxx · 5 years

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She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Season 4, Episode 11, First Impressions!

This is all going to end in tears. Again.

So! Here’s everything I saw coming:

King Micah being on Beast Island

Entrapta not being in danger but actually thriving

Glimmer joining forces with Light Hope to gain control of the core energy

Scorpia and her runestone being the key

Here’s what I didn’t see coming:

Beast Island itself

So hey, with Beast Island being hyped for a couple seasons now, I was expecting it to be kind of like the jungle equivalent of the Crimson Waste. You know, all cartoonified prehistoricy with random bones, volcanoes and geysers everywhere, dinosaurs probably, and semi-feral tribes made up of those imprisoned there.

Instead, what we got was so much scarier. It kind of reminded me a little of Nightmareland from Little Nemo in Slumberland (anyone else remember that?), a horrific place corrupted by the First Ones’ dumped tech, where a never-ending signal slowly drains your will to keep going until you succumb and become part of the island itself.

Yikes.

Fortunately, King Micah is alive after all! I mean, the AU where he suddenly seemed to regain his memories right before disappearing did sort of confirm it, and Beast Island is pretty much the only place he could have been. Though I wonder how much the Horde knows about him being there. Shadow Weaver seemed to think he was dead. Was she lying or was Hordak keeping her in the dark as well? Hell, maybe not even he knows that Micah is there.

Regardless, Micah’s done pretty okay for himself. Sure, he’s a little weird and addled due to having to survive all by himself on literally the worst place on the planet, separated from his family and no one else to talk to while a droning signal constantly tells him to give up. So yeah, it’s actually kind of surprising he can still hold intelligent conversations! Good going, dude.

Also, Etheria seems to have a ton of giant bugs all over the place. Are big bugs the dominant predators like big mammals are over here?

I’m curious about that signal. Is it a weapon that is malfunctioning and got dumped? A Horde addition to keep anyone from escaping? Another AI, perhaps even Mara’s Light Hope? Something totally different?

Anyway, of course Entrapta would be just fine. I mean, they dropped her into what’s essentially a First Ones’ junkyard. That’s like trying to exile a cat into a catnip field! If she had a little longer, she would have probably turned the whole place into its own self-functioning robot city! Anyway, I am so very glad she’s back.

Also, this was the pookas from the original show.

Kind of a far cry from the demon cats we saw, huh?

On Glimmer’s end, she’s pretty much about to pull her equivalent of Catra activating the portal, and it will not go well. Also, Scorpia’s the key to the core energy! Remember how the Black Garnet responded to her presence in her solo episode. Well, I’m betting that Glimmer teleports her into the Fright Zone and makes her reestablish her connection to her family’s runestone. When that (or whatever they end up doing) happens, here’s what I see occurring:

Etheria going back online and is pulled out of Despondos, right into Horde Prime’s hands.

Shadow Weaver backstabs Glimmer and takes the power for herself, and either goes rogue or hands Glimmer over to Hordak or Horde Prime.

Glimmer attempts to use the core energy to destroy the Fright Zone, but it creates this season’s cataclysm.

Regardless, she’s getting captured. Yeah, I saw that picture of her and Catra locked up together, having a heart to heart. So now I’m mainly curious over who’s jail cell that is, who pulled the coup on Catra, and exactly who is in charge of the Horde when all is said and done. And oh yeah, I thirst for that scene.

That having been said, there’s been something bothering me about this season, something that’s made me like it marginally less than the previous two arcs, especially the second arc that comprised season two and three, which was pure poetry. And I couldn’t really figure for a while, but now I think I realize what my issue is.

And it’s I just miss the way things used to be.

I miss the Best Friends Squad. I miss how Adora, Bow, and Glimmer would joke, banter, bicker, fight, freak out, support each other, and watch each other’s backs. I don’t like the rift between Adora and Glimmer. I want them all to be together again.

I miss the Super Pals Trio. I miss Scorpia well-intentionally being super awkward while crushing on Catra. I miss Entrapta’s antics perplexing everyone until they end up doing something amazing. I miss Catra being the tsundere of the group.

I miss the Lab Partners. I miss Hordak trying to pull his “BWAH! I AM SUPERIOR AND YOU MUST FEAR ME!” and getting all perplexed and intrigued when it has no effect at all. I miss them working on projects together and Hordak slowly going from condescending and snotty to genuinely admiring her. I miss Entrapta being delightfully helpful in her quirky way. Yeah, I know Hordak’s evil and needs to pay for everything he’s done, but I really did get something special out of their relationship.

But most of all, I miss Angella. I started rewatching the series to pass the time at work, and just seeing Angella again really drove a stake into my heart. I didn’t realize how much I appreciated her until she was gone, and now I just want her back. Yes, I know it’s iffy over whether or not she’s really gone and might come back, and to be honest I’m not sure I want her to come back after how beautiful her send-off was, but I still really miss her.

Hell, I even miss the old Shadow Weaver! Or rather, I miss having something utterly despicable on which to focus all my hate. I know she’s up to something and will probably be back to her own tricks, but she’s been kind of neutral this whole season.

And yes, I do love DT and really like Micah, but DT isn’t around that much anymore and doesn’t really interact with people other than Catra, and Micah only just showed up.

And understand, this isn’t a criticism, it’s just an observation! Taking all those things that we loved from the previous seasons was very much a deliberate creative decision, and a good one at that! I love Catra’s mental deterioration arc, I love Glimmer’s fall into Dark Glimmer, I love all the little plots and how they’re coming together, it’s great writing!

But that doesn’t mean I still don’t miss the things that made me happy.

I will say this though: I unironically liked Swift Wind in this episode.

#she ra and the princesses of power #she ra #spop #adora #bow #swift wind #king micah #entrapta #micah #glimmer #light hope #beast island #best friends squad #super pals trio #lab partners #reaction

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solitaria-fantasma · 4 years

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((Session #7 shenanigans, GO!))

We’re skipping the filler stuff this week and jumping straight into the Plot bc our DM has figured out how to connect us to her main campaign and really wants to get to the good parts.

It’s been a while so we had to do a little discussing to remember where we’d left off: Destroying a dog-fighting ring, making friends with the dogs, and kidnapping the pit boss.

We dragged the pit boss halfway back to town bc we’d left our horses at the inn, and then dragged him into the woods to interrogate.

I woke him up with a slammin’ lute chord (and I was absolutely thinking “SECRET TUNNEEEEELLLLL!” in my head as I did).

Udaji rolled another ‘4’ on her Perception check and someone else in the voice chat said “yeah that’s on-brand for her”.

ZONE OF TRUTH! ZONE OF TRUTH! ZONE OF TRUTH!

(the pit boss calls the dogs ‘stupid animals’) “Someone needs to hold Udaji back, please.”

“Lord Hassan? Yeah, he’s the boss-.....I shouldn’t have said that.”

This poor man didn’t have a high enough intelligence to recognize the spell ‘Zone of Truth’ and is confused af right now.

The second piece of the map to the Crescent Gang’s Hideout was rolled up in a little bottle on a string around the pit boss’ neck - now we have two!

We asked where the third piece was, but the pit boss didn’t know - he gave us a few towns that he thought it might be in, though (such as Caister, in Everton).

Apparently, you need to layer all three map pieces over top of each other to see the full picture - like animation cells!

We asked about the marriage-murder scam, too, but the pit boss didn’t know anything important.

“If these bitches were cute enough then maybe-” *angry Dragonborn noises*

“Maybe we could feed him to the dogs?” “No way! Burnt Toast and Matthias Jr. need a well-balanced diet, not junk food.”

The only thing holding Udaji back from killing this man rn is Claus’ hand on her shin.

We leave the pit boss tied up in the wilderness, and he’s probably going to die. It’s a good thing none of us are Lawful Neutral.

The fastest way to Caister is by boat, which will take about one week, rather than two weeks if by land.

We have to pay to board the horses on the boat, but as long as the sailors were allowed to pet our new dogs, we didn’t have to pay for their boarding.

“What would you like to do on your two week boat ride?”/”I would like to train Matthias Jr. to play dead when shot with a pretend bow and arrow.”

Level Four! Yay!

We had barely landed in Everton when we heard an NPC shouting about a thief.

Mountain was too distracted trying to keep Señor Guapo from eating poison ivy to notice the commotion.

I have only just now realized that I did not include in my last session’s notes that the other two dogs are named “Señor Guapo” and “Joel”.

“Because Claus is a good boy and he is the conscience of this party.”

“We could also surround her. We number quite many.”

*insert Benny Hill theme here as the party & our dogs attempt to surround the suspected thief while our horses graze serenely a few meters away from the chaos*

The thief is a hungry young woman I don’t care what her role in the story is I have already mentally adopted her.

Mountain paid the farmer the five copper the carrots were worth, and the man stormed off, threatening to call the guard if we let her near his farm again.

“You offer her your rations, and she looks at you like you are God.”

The child is absolutely bewildered by the size of Ganondorf the Horse, but then she looked back at me (the Dragonborn) and whispered “Oooh, that makes sense…”

Soothing lute music is good for panic attacks and that’s about all Udaji’s good for right now.

Her name is Colette De Mir, and she claims to have fallen on hard times after receiving a letter pROPOSING MARRIAGE TO A LORD IN EVERTON OH NO-

She survived an attack on her traveling group, and was the only survivor. Lord Hassan tried to kill her, and threw her off of a bridge into a ravine, where she once again managed to cheat death. No-one else in her party survived, and everything in their carriage that could be stolen was.

Burnt Toast and Joel are therapy dogs: Confirmed.

Colette was horrified when we told her that she was not the only one who had been targeted by this scam, and demanded to know what we knew.

Matthias doesn’t trust her, for some reason, but the high Insight roll checks out.

“Yeeting princesses is not a very Lordly activity.”

Colette says she woke up underwater after the fall, and found herself breathing rather normally. What a way to find out you’re a sorcerer.

I lent her one of the costumes from my Entertainer’s pack, to replace her dirty and mismatched clothing as we go into town, and it’s WAY too big for her, considering it was sized for a Dragonborn.

Once we get to town, Astrid and I take Colette on a spa/shopping trip so that she can get cleaned up, and have some proper clothes.

At the inn, Colette tells us that she didn’t know that this town was Caister - she had been told that it was Kenkilly by the ship that had carried her and her entourage.

She was lied to about which town was which, basically, and - being from a completely different country - she had no idea.

Our money from Swadlin is still good in Everton, but almost all of the shopkeepers and merchants could pin us as tourists from our foreign currency.

Colette asks us to take her to Kenkilly, where Lord Hassan is supposedly supposed to be. Safety and strength in numbers, right?

Udaji - having been raised by an overprotective party of retired adventurers in a quiet, but populous, town - has no survival skills of her own.

For all intents and purposes, Colette is a Waterbender.

Colette has a blue cloak that she tried to hide from the party, and took great care to dry and keep when changing clothes. It was a gift from her mother, meant to protect her.

When we set out the next morning, Colette rode with Astrid and got the tea (whether she wanted it or not) on the rest of the party.

“She has all the embarrassing stories on you, like what you do when you sleep.”/”Oh, no! She’s seen me cuddle my lute??”

Kenkilly is actually a small, rural village on the coast, rather than the larger city it had been made out to be in the letter to her family.

We track down some shady locals to try and get information, and we….are not subtle about it.

Between the Dragonborn, the Tiefling, two half-elves, a princess, and four dogs, we stand out quite a bit.

Matthias joined the shady people for a game of chance with dice, and won a bit of money, but no information.

Mountain joined in the betting, and Astrid is shit-talking both of them while Colette, Claus, and Udaji stand off to the side and watch.

Claus lasts about five minutes before he gives up trying to pretend we aren’t doing some shady BS and goes back to the inn to drink.

Mountain asks about the Crescent gang, but one guy asks for a bribe for his answer. Mountain tries to intimidate him, and fails miserably

Matthias also tried (and failed) to intimidate, but with Astrid’s help, the criminal was successfully intimidated.

Lord Hassan does indeed live in this town (or at least the castle nearby it), and he does not seem to be entirely well-liked by the people.

None of the complaints are super-bad, though….”trash day changes too much”, “the cost of living is too high”, “there’s too many damned foreigners-” Okay. Okay. We get the point.

“Udaji’s gonna look herself up and down from her boots to her flower crown and ask: “Do I look like a cop??’.”

“If we’re gonna ‘case this castle’, may I recommend not sending the Tiefling or the Dragonborn?”

Matthias goes out to scout, and finds out that Lord Hassan has ‘appointment times’ where he is available to the public - the next time being 2pm the next day.

He signs up the party for the 2pm meeting and comes back to the inn where the rest of us are waiting.

“I have been giving you guys tons and tons and TONS of money! You know you can spend it, right??”

The local armorer can upgrade our weapons with silver, but it would take two days, and we don’t expect to be in town that long...bummer.

I bought some new Studded Leather Armor for Udaji, sold her original Leather Armor, AND got it refined - my bby now has an AC of 16 now!

“Why do you still have all these rotten apples in your inventory?!”/”She’s fermenting them!”

Matthias’ player had him eat twenty rotten apples in one sitting just to spite the DM (their sister).

He then had to go throw up in the harbor.

So earlier, Matthias horribly embarrassed Astrid back in the alley, and now she’s refusing to talk to him.

Colette is confirmed for 19 and Udaji is still the baby of the party at 17.

The rest of the party is hanging out in the tavern, completely unawares, as Astrid yeets herself out a second story window to avoid talking to her father.

The innkeeper gave Udaji some alcohol, and Mountain casually stole it, drank it, and said “Underaged drinking is bad.”

Everyone goes around placing dinner orders at the inn and Udaji orders an entire chicken.

Astrid came back after brooding out in the wilderness for a few hours and we settled down to sleep.

Astrid steals a crown that Matthias had ‘found’ in an earlier session for Colette, arguing that “she’s actual royalty, and we’re going to talk to a Lord tomorrow, so we need to make the best impression”.

We also get a ‘glow-up’ montage as Astrid uses Matthias’ disguise kit to alter Colette’s appearance (bc if Lord Hassan really DID try to murder her, then walking straight back into his castle with no disguise would be a death sentence).

Still refusing to talk to her father, Astrid paid a very confused and slightly offended Colette to bring her breakfast in her room, just so she didn’t have to look at Matthias’ smug elven face.

Astrid also does not join us at the castle.

The Lord that we meet in the castle…..is NOT the same Lord that tried to kill Colette.

“It is kind of rude to show up for your scheduled appointment and just stand at the door, not saying anything.”

Colette storms past the party to demand an explanation of Lord Hassan, who is very unimpressed with this strange woman’s attitude.

“She’s a little upsetti spaghetti.”

Udaji’s soothing lute music saves the day again.

We tell the Lord that we are from the land of Swadlin, and were sent to investigate a series of deaths.

This Lord Hassan is a widower who is deeply faithful to his late wife and has no intentions of marrying again, and is VERY confused to hear that someone is using his name.

An advisor steps forward to take over the situation, and Matthias’ successful Insight roll gives him TERRIBLE vibes.

“He’s the kind of person whose teeth are too straight; too white.”

This advisor offered to pay us to investigate who was impersonating his Lord, and despite the bad vibes, Matthias agrees.

“Maybe DON’T intimidate the advisor while surrounded by guards.”

“He’s essentially offering you $7,000 EACH.”

We got sent off to investigate this impersonation of a Lord, and went back to the inn to try and shake off the Bad Vibes and calm Colette down.

Colette draws us a (rough) sketch of a frowning man with a pointed hairline and stiff moustache as the man who threw her off the bridge.

*two minutes of the DM (lovingly) insulting her cat in the background*

Colette says he was incredibly handsome, but Udaji just doesn’t see it.

We decide to try following the river upstream until we find a bridge that matches the one Colette was thrown off of.

Colette uses some of Matthias’ paper to write a letter to her parents, and asks Udaji to come with her to find a sailor to deliver it to her parents (for a modest fee).

The DM brought up the map and showed us the island of Mir, where Colette was from. It is a tiny dot out in the ocean, down in the far right bottom corner of the map. No wonder she needed to sail for two months!

“Matthias drinks one drink and then is blackout drunk.”/”Why do you think I have a kid?”

When we leveled up I took “Suggestion” as my next 2nd level spell, and I absolutely cannot wait to use it.

I CAN TAKE THE “DRAGON WINGS” RACIAL FEATURE AND GIVE UDAJI A 20FT WINGSPAN! Oooooooh boy the sTORYTELLING I can do with this!!!

#OOC #Quarantine D&D

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x0401x · 5 years

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Okay already.

Y’all are really damn eager for it, so here you have it: the infamous List of Erased Gay, AKA a glimpse of how we could be having it all if KyoAni weren’t doing us so dirty this year, Tsurune edition. The Violet Evergarden edition seems to have left a big impression, so maybe this listing will become a thing.

Then again, along with the canon gay that we lost, we gained a lot of anime-only shippy service that is not only weirdly fixated on Minato alone but also ruins the nature of many characters. KyoAni has been outright baffling this year in how little it understands the novels that it has been adapting, and even more in how proficient it has become in destroying the main relationships of each title. All in all, the personalities and purposes of the main characters have been severely altered, and there has been a disturbing trend (not only in Tsurune, but also in Violet Evergarden and Liz to Aoi Tori) of making the protagonists obsess with someone who apparently does only the minimum for them and being lukewarm with the people that seemingly care more for their wellbeing.

That’s not what any of these novels are about.

But since this post is centered on Tsurune, I’ll only talk about how the aforementioned major flaws apply to it. That boils down to KyoAni erasing most of what Masaki did for Minato and about 85% of the scenes they had together, replacing it with additional scenes without much purpose involving other characters. For whatever incomprehensible reason, KyoAni is hellbent on enhancing Minato’s relationship with everyone except the person he has the strongest bond with in the books, and a lot of you guys seemed to notice this. So, in order to address the cringeworthy disaster that the Tsurune anime has become, I’m naming this one as the List of Erased and Misplaced Gay.

Had to put it under a cut because of how long it got. While we’re at it, please consider reading the novel translations.

I gotta apologize to the Anons for stalling so much with this post. It took me a while to write it down since I had to skim the novel to take notes. By the way, to the people who haven’t finished the anime or don’t plan to read the novel: none of what’s cited here are things that will happen; they’re things that already happened in the canon timeline and didn’t make it into the screen. I’ve put them under a cut because it’s too much stuff. It feels like I just wrote a fanfiction but this is actually how canon goes.

I’m going to sort out the list by character relationship, from the mildest to the most blatant (y’all know which one it is).

Noa and Rika

Noa’s anime counterpart seems pretty meager, but her canon self is far more active, and if her saying “there’s no one in this world greater than Seo” isn’t an indication that she ain’t as straight as her arrows, then maybe her shouting at Nanao to “shut up and go burn in the fires of hell” after his advances might be an indication of it. Telling him that he “should be quiet because Seo’s feelings matter” when he flirts with her might also be one. Or not. Sadly, there’s not enough material in this aspect for the girls in the first volume.

Ryouhei and Nanao

These two are the straightest characters out of the group, but their interactions are always full of implications regarding the other club members. The two of them are often used as a means to translate the exchanges between the boys in a way that sounds suggestive as hell, and Nanao is oddly smug about it, which really doesn’t help.

Here’s a compilation of these dialogues, for convenience’s sake:

Nanao: Seiya doesn’t seem like himself today. Ryouhei: Minato probably turned him down. I already got rejected too. Nanao: I understand he wants everyone to join the the tournament, but aren’t those two too stubborn? That Minato guy is such a calamity, being popular with both boys and girls. I’m only popular with girls on that point.

(Try to convince me that Minato isn’t bi after this one. You shall not succeed.)

Kaito: You guys, don’t just stand there and chat; practice! Nanao: Geez, Kacchan, don’t take your anger out on us just because Seiya left. Kaito: Hah? What’re you saying? Nanao: Don’t you watch Seiya a lot? Kaito: Of course. Archery is about practicing while watching each other’s shooting forms.

Nanao: Kacchan, you really suck at endgames. Kaito: Shut up. I got what I needed, so it’s fine.

Kaito: I don’t wanna do team competitions with half-hearted feelings. Didn’t it seem like that guy had been practicing secretly? And I can’t understand the fact that he knows Masa-san. Since when have they known each other? Nanao: Aren’t you Masa-san’s favorite among his acquaintances? Minato’s a genuine bow geek, so I think he’ll unexpectedly be on the same wavelength as you, Kacchan. Kaito: We’re definitely not the same! And anyways, I don’t like that guy. There’s nothing decent about guys with nice faces, including you.

Seiya and Masaki

This one is in the misplaced gay list. In this case, implying Seiya’s non-existent co-dependency towards Minato. In the novel, Seiya isn’t jealous of Masaki and Minato’s relationship. He’s polite with Masaki all the way and starts calling him “Masa-san” from day one. Seiya also never says that he hates Masaki. Because he doesn’t.

Kaito and Masaki

Another example of misplaced gay. Kaito is very obedient around Masaki and obviously stans him as a good example of successful archer, but not in the exaggerated way that the anime tries to sell. In fact, it feels like the anime tries to get him to Minato’s level of fanboying, but although the two of them are equal when it comes to fawning over archery, they have a different vibe when it comes to Masaki. That’s probably because Minato is much closer to Masaki than Kaito is, and Kaito canonically sees Masaki as the brother he never had, while it’s unclear what exactly Minato sees Masaki as in his life.

For starters, Kaito never tried to keep Masaki for himself. He is jealous of Minato for also knowing Masaki and apparently monopolizing him, and he’s mad as hell that Masaki decided to start teaching archery because of Minato, but he never tried to keep Masaki’s existence itself a secret. The only one who did that was Minato. Kaito never refrained from talking to Nanao about Masaki at all. He also talked to Masaki about Nanao, enough for Masaki to be able to recognize Nanao at first sight.

Masaki jokes around Kaito like he does with everyone else, but Kaito responds to it right away with threats that he doesn’t really mean. Whenever Masaki dares him to actually do it, he meekly recoils. They’re found family through and through.

Daigo and Hiroki

The anime has been doing a piss-poor job at showcasing this ridiculously married duo. There isn’t much about them in the first volume, to be fair, but the little we had was enough to deliver that they’re old friends who complete each other. Hiroki is also the only person who listens to Daigo nerding out embarrassedly about idols without judging him, and the two of them are considered “special goods” of Kirisaki for being so inseparable and well-balanced.

Shuu, Sen and Man

These three aren’t nearly as close in the anime as in the original work. The twins absolutely love Shuu and admit to worshipping him. They’re clearly very jealous of Minato for holding Shuu’s attention, and physically attempt to drag Shuu away from him when they’re talking to each other. They’re also openly aggressive with Minato more than to any other team member of Kazemai.

In Kirisaki, their interactions are also different. The twins normally follow Shuu around and monopolize him, which he doesn’t seem to mind. The author describes Shuu sandwiched on both sides by the twins as “charming in some aspects”.

Shuu gives advice to them when asked, which the twins do often, not only because his shooting is their ideal, but also because they find his explanations easier than the teacher’s. He also defends the twins from the more hot-headed senpais when they’re called out for their rudeness.

Also, the twins’ admiration for Shuu isn’t equal. Senichi is way more serious about it than Manji is. The way this trio is depicted, it feels like Senichi is Shuu’s arranged fiancé who happens to be madly in love with him and has to deal with Shuu being in love with someone else.

Delicious.

Kaito and Minato

The anime keeps trying hella hard to maintain that Kaito and Minato have some sort of hero crush on Masaki and that this is the main connection between the two of them, but the novel begs to differ. It also keeps trying to pretend that Minato is the kind of spineless idiot who would act like Kaito is right in trying not to let him into the club because of his target panic, and who would attempt to gain Kaito’s friendship by catering to his unfair treatment. The novel also begs to differ.

Minato is a serious and assertive character. He acknowledges that he’s in bad condition and tries his best to prove his resolve, but only within realistic standards. He tells Kaito right to his face that entering the club is his own decision and warns that Kaito should back off from speaking on Seiya’s behalf, arguing that Seiya would be displeased with it. He also lectures Kaito on being a little shit to everyone, especially to Nanao, simply because he’s insecure.

After Minato joins, Kaito immediately bares his fangs at him. Albeit not putting up with his shit, Minato asks what he could do to be acknowledged as a comrade because you sort of need camaraderie in a team, and Kaito spits out that such a day would never come.

Kaito is outright displeased having to work together with Minato as kaizoe. Minato also isn’t in high spirits. The two of them comically have the same reaction when finding out they’d have to do it.

Minato decides to strike a conversation after the yawatashi, when he and Kaito are getting changed, mainly because he had noticed that Seiya and Kaito’s relationship wasn’t going well because of him. Kaito barks at Minato that there’s no honor in working with him, and Minato reasons that they should reach a mutual understanding, since they’d be in a team competition. Kaito retorts that he didn’t even want to be in them, but he had to after Minato joined. It only becomes clearer that Minato is ruining Kaito’s prospects one by one.

Despite all the clashing, Minato notices that Kaito’s passion for archery is genuine. Still, there’s a lot of misplaced gay in the anime during the training camp. Minato doesn’t desperately try to win Kaito’s favor, isn’t saved by Kaito from falling into the river, and doesn’t ogle at Kaito’s back when he shoots as the oomae for the first time.

Kaito finally shows a slight sign of warming up to Minato by thanking him for saving Nanao’s hat, which had been a present from him and his sisters. This is destroyed by him finding out that Minato and Seiya had attended Kirisaki for middle school.

After the whole accident with Masaki, Kaito assures Minato that it wasn’t his fault, and then he emphasizes it the next day, saying that Minato wasn’t worth being saved by Masaki if he was still twitching with guilt.

When Minato gets a ganglion on his hand, he tries to hide it from everyone, but Kaito notices something wrong. He forces Minato to have it examined by Tomio. And after Seiya performs first-aid on Minato, the following dialogue goes on:

“Shit, you’re seriously so…” “Sorry that this happened right before an important competition… It was because I was careless that I got hurt.” “Aah, you’re so freaking annoying. It doesn’t look like you get why I’m pissed off.” “You’re angry because I messed up?” “Wrong! This is why I said I wanted to focus on only the individual competitions. You tried to hide that injury from us earlier. You think you can compete in a team like that? In the end, you just don’t acknowledge us. All you do is keep secrets!” “I just didn’t want to worry everyone! What, don’t you have a secret too, Onogi!? You said you want to focus on the individual competitions, even though you actually couldn’t help but want to be in team competitions!” “Wha--no way that’d be true!” “I heard it from Nanao!”

Kaito almost gets back at Nanao for opening his mouth, but Minato put himself nose-to-nose in front of Kaito. This is one more example of closure that the anime doesn’t show.

“Onogi, didn’t you say that I was using target panic as an excuse to run away from archery? But aren’t you running away too? You run, run, and you’re still running away even now.” “What do you say that I’m running away from?” “From your ‘comrades’.” “What the hell are you talking about…” “You’re scared of making comrades. You’re scared that your thoughts and desires won’t be followed by other people. Even though you really longed for it, you didn’t want to disappoint others or yourself, so you decided to seal away that wish and not look at it. You’re the weakest kind of archer with that cowardice of yours.” “What did you saaaaaaaay——?!!”

This is how we get to the fight right before their face-off against Kirisaki, which was showed in the anime, but in a wholly different way. The fight itself is different as well. Kaito grabs Minato by the lapels of his gi, but Minato steps forward without any hesitation, unlike in the anime, where he seemed pretty terrified and just stood in place like a rock.

“Kaito.” “Don’t call me Kaito!” “Then, Kacchan.” “That’s even worse!” “Kaito, call me by my name. Call me Minato. Then we’ll be comrades.” “Haaa!?” “Besides, in the Kazemai High School Archery Club’s male division, everyone is calling each other by their first names, but we’re the only ones calling each other by our last names. It’s embarrassing to feel special, right?” “There’s no special feeling——! It’s normal, average. You’re such an airhead.” “When I learned that you wanted to be in a team competition, Kaito, I was really happy. I felt the same way.” “So what?” “Tommy-sensei didn’t make me the ochi for the evetuality of my target panic starting up. It was to make me feel like I had four comrades in front of my eyes. So, Kaito, you must feel the four of us at your back, right? You aren’t alone. I’ll protect the end of the line so that everyone can follow behind you. I’ll go with you to the very top.” “You were just babbling on. I’m gonna trample you.” “Why would you trample me? We’re going together.”

Yes, they didn’t get to this point by Kaito being hysterical about following Masaki’s teachings or by Minato telling everyone to forget them, because that’s just fucking dumb. If teachings weren’t necessary, there would be no need for taking classes in the first place.

It’s only here that Tomio hands them the headbands. They all put them on and Minato doesn’t need a pep talk from Seiya in order to tie his own. Kaito then finally calls Minato (and only Minato, as he’d already been on a first-name basis with Seiya since the beginning) by his first name for the first time.

Kaito and Seiya

To quote myself from an earlier post:

One of the things I noticed is that not just their relationship but their personalities are different in the anime, and this in turn affects the rest. What I find so good about them is the irony that Seiya is a dog person who acts cat-like and Kaito is a cat person who acts dog-like and you can feel this shit in their exchanges.

There are many details to this relationship that could be considered gems. When Kaito meets Seiya and Minato at Kazemai, he recognizes Seiya right away from their tournament in middle school, but not Minato. As I said before, the two of them refer to themselves by their first names off the bat and Kaito is quick to try to get Seiya into individual competitions with him. He insists that the two of them can “aim for the top together”, and gets extremely frustrated when Seiya refuses. He’s also pretty offended when Seiya claims that Minato is above him when it comes to natural ability.

The day after Seiya and Minato fight in the rain, Seiya catches a cold and is overall very distracted, enough to mistake Kaito’s bow for his own and use it instead. Kaito asks him how he managed the feat because one would normally be able to tell the difference, to which Seiya responds that he “did think it felt sort of tougher”.

I will not turn this into innuendo. I shan’t.

Kaito then notices Seiya looks red and places a hand on his forehead, confirming that he has a fever, like any good shoujo protagonist would do with the heroine. And this is where the author begins to hint that Kaito treats Seiya differently from the other club members. Kaito is overall gentler with him for no given motive. Even though he’s the type to care for everyone, he normally scolds those he looks after and makes clear that they should be able to look after themselves, but he doesn’t do this with Seiya at all. And the best of it is that Seiya responds to his awkward kindness.

When he realizes that Seiya is sick, the first thing he does is tell him that he should take a break because he’s busy with other matters aside from club activities and Seiya brushes him off, but then closes his eyes and says that Kaito’s cold hand feels good against his hot face and goddamn. What a low sweep. Goddamn.

Basically, all Kaito can do is frown and he doesn’t manage to come up with much of a response. By the time Seiya leaves, Kaito is still staring at him, and he gets visibly annoyed when Seiya isn’t there anymore. Again, for no given reason.

Kaito confronts Minato two days later about joining the club, acting as Seiya’s spokesperson on his own accord and telling Minato that he shouldn’t upset Seiya or raise his hopes fruitlessly. He gets angry when Minato argues that Seiya wouldn’t forgive him for butting into their affairs, and maintains that Seiya would be going to the individual competitions with him, not to the team competitions.

Right before the training camp, when Kaito and Seiya are cleaning up the targets together, Kaito finally confronts Seiya about his stance regarding Minato. He calls Seiya out for being like an overprotective father around Minato, and makes observations that even Seiya himself admits to be right:

“About your good point of nicely taking care of everyone, it seems that it’s because you’re following the rules. Like, you go forward at the green light and stop at the red light ‘cause you were taught to do so. Still, you’re different around Narumiya. You do with him what you really wanna do. But I’m not saying that you’re black-hearted. Your good quality is fairness ‘cause you have enough brains and ability to take action to properly make use of what you’ve learned. Many people are relying on you. Your guiding principles were misled ‘cause you, the club president, got too engrossed with one person. I mean, you shouldn’t have forced everyone to go for team competitions this time.”

Seiya is predictably displeased that Kaito hit bull’s-eye, and tells him that he should be focusing more into practice if he has time to be observing him. And sure, I get that he would want to tell Kaito to hop off his shit because this little fucker has a lot of secrets............ but he certainly didn’t have to hold Kaito’s hand while doing it. And he most certainly didn’t have to hold it so tight that the arrow on Kaito’s hand creaked a little.

Kaito says to Seiya’s face that a lot of what he spouts sounds fishy, and Seiya changes the subject by claiming that all he wants is for Minato to draw the bow like he used to once again. Kaito can tell that there’s more to his motives than this, but as Seiya leaves as fast as he can, he’s unable to ask. The arrow that remained on his hand was Seiya’s, and the emphasis on the fact that it was a wornout one probably stems from the long-standing burdens that Seiya has been carrying.

Yeah, this debunkes the anime’s stupid excuse that Seiya is in the archery club because of Minato. He’s depicted in the novel as being his own person and having his own will, so he does have a mind outside of Minato. Even if Minato had never joined the club, Seiya would have stayed in it.

Anyway, fast forward to the day before the training camp, Kaito confronts Seiya about not signing up for the individuals. Seiya ignores him, which pisses him off.

Once Kaito finds out that Seiya and Minato went to Kirisaki in middle school, he bitches to Seiya about keeping it a secret. Seiya argues that he hadn’t told anyone because he didn’t want everybody digging up on them and retorts that Kaito could have simply looked them up if he’d really wanted to know, but after Kaio leaves, Seiya admits that he should have properly talked about it when Kaito had asked. He resigns to the fact that finding out about it way after people of other clubs probably made Kaito feel awful and says he has no right to be the club president. Yet he’s cheered up by Ryouhei and decides to discuss the subject properly with Kaito when he gets a chance.

Kaito is so thrown-off by the fresh frustrations that he loses the improvement he had acquired during the training camp on the spot (no, he didn’t fail because of a stupid obsession with making his bow turn, KyoAni). He actually made it through the first round, but fell short in the second, together with Nanao (yes, he participated), Yuuna and Noa (yes, the girls didn’t fuck up right from the get-go and none of them had zero hits).

Kaito continues acting off during club activities and gets into an argument with the girls and Minato, but he’s immediately shut down by Seiya because this bitch weak.

Later on, in order to help the boys enhance their teamwork and to distract them from the stress of having to face Kirisaki, Tomio bought them sports fishing passes and sent them to a fishing spot. Since fishing alone was forbidden, the five boys split into two groups. Ryouhei and Nanao went with Minato, leaving Kaito to work together with Seiya, who had brought Kuma along. The two of them caught river bugs to serve as bait together and sat at opposite sides of the shore.

I think it’s worth mentioning that Kaito was being his usual sharp self with the others, but with Seiya, he acted completely tame. There wasn’t any trace of his frustration in his attitude.

Seiya went back to Kaito after having caught one salmon, and found that Kaito’s fishing line had become entangled on a tree. After Seiya sent a picture of what he had gotten to Minato and the others, he and Kaito sat down...... really close together under a shaded area. Seiya took a tomato curry bread out of his backpack and shared half of it with Kaito, and after they were done, they chatted idly, with Seiya commenting that Kuma seemed to be showing respect for Kaito. Kaito then stroked him and Kuma sat down next to Kaito as if to nestle close to him.

Once Kaito gets the Kuma Seal of Approval, he and Seiya have the following conversation:

“About the whole deal with Kirisaki’s Shuu, it was wrong of me to keep it all a secret; I’m sorry. I’ll discuss things properly from now on.” “Ah, no, you don’t have to talk about it. There’s nothing you have to apologize for. You had something you didn’t want anyone else to know about, and it was wrong of me to get curious over it. Even if I knew, it doesn’t really mean I could be of help to you guys, either.” “That’s not true. I’m counting on you, Kacchan.” “You…even though I was talking seriously… Can I punch you?” “Well, the competition is over, after all. I think Tommy-sensei gave us this mission not to acquire stamina and patience through fishing, but to make us step away from the bow once in a while and relax. Minato seems to be conscious of Shuu and getting flustered by him too.” “Rather than him, I’m a little worried about you.” “Me? Why?” “Aren’t you fretting over Narumiya’s target panic more than he is? Other than that, how can I put it? Uh… Anyways, you’re also a disappointment.” “I don’t quite get it, but well, I’m thankful that you’re worried about me.” “You’re nice to everyone, and yet you act sassy with me.”

Kaito had actually wanted to ask Seiya if he felt some sort of guilt regarding Minato, but the question was too insensitive even for him. He also acknowledged that he might not be able to find the right words to reply with if Seiya said yes, and didn’t want to seem like he was criticizing Seiya for it. So, instead, he goes with this:

“Seiya, when I first saw you at the information session, I thought that you were a guy who was well-composed and really good at archery. I’d been watching you for a while, and I thought maybe you were similar to me in some way. You have passion, some kind of conviction, don’t you? I want to respect it. I respect you for working hard to earn a calm and collected self.” “You praising me feels unpleasant. Should I say that you should go practice if you have the time to observe me?” “I want to win the prefectural tournament - with all five of us.” “Yeah… that’s right.”

The author then describes the maple trees overhead, and just to put it out there, maple stands for reserve, which might be an allusion to Kaito holding back from digging further into the matter (even though he was right, like he always is about Seiya). They also mean strength and endurance, and that matches Kaito’s comments on Seiya.

A few days later, during a softball tournament of their school, Minato and Seiya’s class was playing against Kaito’s. Seiya teases Kaito when they spot each other about how the soccer field is somewhere else, since Kaito was being recurrently summoned to be part of the soccer team by the school’s soccer club at the beginning of the semester, to which Kaito responds with, “Seiyaaa, not you too”.

When the game begins, Kaito is the first batter and Seiya is the baseman. Kaito gets a hit in the second try, and gives Seiya a “how’s that” look when passing him by.

On the first day of club activities after Masaki was hospitalized, Kaito was the one to announce that everyone should continue practice like normal in order not to waste what they’d been taught. Before doing so, he gazes at Seiya for a brief moment as if to ask for permission to speak on his behalf.

After Kazemai’s tiebreaking match with Kubo high school, while everyone was having lunch, Seiya and Kaito were checking the competition’s program and discussing the formalities for the exiting of the next round, which would be slightly different from the others.

At the tournament, when Seiya diagnoses and treats Minato’s ganglion, Kaito is visibly impressed by the fact he carries first-aid items around with him, and Seiya merely responds that he shouldn’t underestimate a son of orthopedic surgeons who used to play with medical tape instead of building blocks.

Keep on roasting him with care, you four-eyed witch.

In other words, Seiya and Kaito interact a lot. Onogi “hands off my man” Kaito is often on the role of looking out for Seiya, who in turn looks out for everyone. Just like Masaki with Minato, Kaito is always spot-on about Seiya and gets really damn close to finding out his heaviest secret, and prods into Seiya’s business enough to shake even a careful planner like him. Meanwhile, Seiya is sharp as a knife with him, but recognizes he shouldn’t be, and resorts to sassing Kaito when he gets too sappy. He also acts somewhat tsun when Kaito is too gentle, and not-so-subtly starts hanging around Kaito most of the time after he starts acting like a normal best friend to Minato once again.

Seiya and Minato

It all obviously starts right on the first part of the first chapter, because Ayano Kotoko wastes no time. When Minato and Seiya meet during the morning of their high school entrance ceremony, Minato hinted that he might have been getting sick, and Seiya teases him about it. Then he says that if this did end up happening, he would offer to “faithfully nurse” Minato in the special hospital room of his parents’ clinic, to which Minato retorts that he would turn Seiya down because “who knows what you’d do”. Seiya claims he wouldn’t do anything, but the feigned innocence is so evident here that you don’t even have to guess what kind of face he’s making.

When Minato, Seiya and Ryouhei are approached by Tomio, Seiya bluffs that he knows Minato is “carrying his treasure around” and smirks when he falls for it. After Minato fails magnificently at the demonstration shooting and scurries to leave, Seiya says he’d be waiting for him to join the club, holding Minato’s place in the boys’ team for as long as it was necessary.

When Minato comes back home late in his third night visiting Yata no Mori, he finds Seiya waiting for him in front of his house. Seiya already knew that Minato had sneaked out somewhere the previous night, and as he questions Minato about it, he finds one of Fuu’s feathers on his hair. Minato does nothing but give roundabout answers, and then straight-up lies that he was just wandering around on his bike, which Seiya is far from believing but lets slide. This whole moment sort of feels like a father questioning his teenage daughter about sneaking out of home to see her boyfriend.

Seiya then confronts Minato about joining the club, competitions and target panic. He reveals that he doesn’t feel their loss in middle school was only Minato’s fault, since he got caught up with the whole situation and lost control of himself as well. Minato happens to hate this whole talk, and ends up saying he doesn’t want to do archery with Seiya, which isn’t true. He simply doesn’t want to keep causing trouble, but doesn’t know how to convey it. Although Seiya does understand what Minato means, he’s still hurt by his words because Minato being able to rely on him is his anchor. He then responds in the way he always does when he’s upset.

By being a stone-cold bitch.

The anime is trying to paint Seiya as meek and passive, but he’s an icy little fucker when his mood swings for the worse. He stares at Minato as if looking down on him, and this is when he throws the “Actually, would you be able to endure it if I did blame you? Or not? It’s easy to make you cry.” bomb on Minato’s lap. And instead of leaving it as that like he did in the anime, Minato grabs Seiya by the collar and pushes him to the ground, then Seiya pushes him onto a tree.

The following day at school, Minato found himself looking for Seiya during his absence, even though he had been avoiding him before they fought. A day later, Minato leaves a box of Pucky in Seiya’s mailbox as a sign of apology. No, he doesn’t write that he would be waiting for Seiya. He didn’t have to, since novel!Seiya never once doubted his love for archery. What he did was draw a dog on the box, which is something that Seiya used to do to display an intent of reconciliation. Seiya also leaves a box of (premium) Pucky for him as reply.

The next morning, Minato contacts Seiya, who welcomes him to the archery club, and he almost tears up at it.

Misplaced gay ensues in a non-canon scene of the five boys bathing together at the training camp. Nanao’s comment about Seiya’s “love” for Minato never happened in the novel. Seiya also wasn’t around when Minato retrieved Nanao’s hat from the river, so he wasn’t even there to help, although he was worried when he saw Minato coming back all soaked.

During the softball game, Seiya yet again shows exaggerated worry as the pitcher aims at Minato’s left flank. He attempts to get someone else to be the batter even though Minato had dodged the ball and was unharmed.

Even as the game ends, Seiya asks if Minato hadn’t been grazed even a little, and despite being reassured that he hadn’t, Seiya asks if Minato had been going to his yearly check-ups. When Minato answers that he hadn’t, as already four years had passed since the accident, Seiya yells that he shouldn’t neglet his check-ups because his wound still throbs from time to time, loud enough for Minato to flinch. Seiya then comes up with suggestions to motivate Minato to go, like asking his parents to drive Minato there (no, he doesn’t do check-ups with Seiya’s father) or offering to tag along in case Minato feels bored while waiting. Minato feels extremely uncomfortable and declines it all, asking Seiya why he worries so much. Seiya responds that he has the “responsibility to worry for Minato’s health”, and Minato jokes that he sounds like he feels guilty for something. Seiya says nothing back, and when Minato prods for an answer, he replies that it’s part of his responsibility as club president. That isn’t the whole truth and Minato can tell as much. In fact, he had only joked because he had been hoping to hear Seiya ask back “what are you even talking about”.

Minato had felt for a while that Seiya seemed to wish for his improvement at archery even more than his own, as if he were trying to compensate for something. He recognizes that some aspects of Seiya’s worry are unnatural and can’t be explained with the word “meddling”. As Seiya’s sense of guilt became gradually clearer, Minato grew scared.

At this point, in the anime, all of this was replaced with flashbacks from Minato and Seiya’s childhood that never happened in the novel, like the day Minato’s family went to greet Seiya’s, their multiple discussions about entering the archery club when they become middle scholars, Minato saying that he asked Saionji to include Seiya in their class but was denied (yes, he kept it a secret even from Seiya in canon), Minato introducing Seiya to Shuu, Minato saying he didn’t want to do archery anymore after he got hit, and Seiya convincing him to do it.

The next day, when Minato and Seiya come home from school, Minato asks to talk and the two of them go under a nearby tree. He starts off reporting that he booked a check-up, and announces that what he has to discuss is serious talk and that he was bracing himself for it and that he wanted Seiya to answer without teasing him. Seiya asks if he has to talk about it right away, and Minato says that things might end up just like the last tournament of middle school if he doesn’t. Basically, his built-up anxiety over their unresolved matter might cause his target panic to act up again. It’s finally then that Minato asks Seiya why he didn’t go to Kirisaki even though his parents could pay for it and why he kept trying so hard to get Minato back into archery.

This entire conversation was replaced in the anime with the scene of them on the street, and although some things are similar, most of it is wholly different:

“I swore that I would protect you on behalf of your mother. Creating an environment where you can draw a bow is my duty.” “Could it be that you spoke with Mom at the hospital she was transported to? Did you make that promise there?” “No. It was my fault that your mother died. That you suffered a wound that won’t disappear for the rest of your life.” “What are you talking about? That was an accident. An accident where a runaway vehicle ran over people walking on the sidewalk. The police took this conclusion too, and there were lots of witnesses so there was no doubt about it. Why are you saying something like that? Didn’t you just happen to be at the scene by chance?” “Don’t you remember? On that day, you were walking with your mother. I stopped you two to talk on that road. I said goodbye and left, heading in the opposite direction. And then, an awfully fast car passed by me… If I had turned around, if I had turned around… ‘If’…It’s all suppositions now. If, at that time, I hadn’t stopped you, the two of you would have passed that place sooner, and then you wouldn’t have been involved in the accident. I was the one who injured you and snatched your mother away from you. So I swore that I’d fully atone for the sin of hurting you. I will protect you…”

It’s kind of impossible to tell that Seiya sounds exactly like a mom at this point, just like in everything he does for Minato. Minato resents not realizing that Seiya had burdened himself with something so heavy and had been in pain ever since the accident which I think says a lot about the fact that Kaito noticed something was wrong with Seiya in the way he acted around Minato and in the things he would say from the very beginning. Minato feels like the problems resolving around his target panic are dust next to what Seiya was dealing with and that he wants to accept Seiya’s troubles. Seiya had always been protecting him, and now he thinks he wants to protect Seiya in return.

Yeah, he never really said that he had managed to get back into archery because Seiya waited for him, or that it was his turn to wait for Seiya. That’s misplaced gay, and unsurprisingly, it’s watered-down. Their exchange in the novel is actually pretty calm in spite of all the tension that had built up until then:

“I’ve always thought that you were smart, Seiya, but you’re actually surprisingly dumb.” “Huh?” “Am I wrong? It was you who kept me on the earth. Because you stopped us at that time, I only got injured. I’m here thanks to you. Thank you, Seiya. I think I really am a lucky guy.” “Minato… I’m a sneaky person. Maybe I said all that because I knew that you would forgive me, y’know?” “Uh-huh, that’s fine. Even if you become a vicious criminal who shakes up the world, or even if you get a contagious disease without cure that leads to death, I don’t plan on ever stopping to be your friend. Even if it’s at a prison at the farthest ends of the north, even if it’s at an isolation ward, I’ll go see you.” “What’s with all that…? Were you planning on putting up a cool façade by saying all that?” “Of course.”

Seiya then smiles and places his head on Minato’s shoulder without any lame excuses, while Minato thinks about how Seiya can lean on him sometimes, for he won’t collapse. About how he wanted to stand firm on the ground, not too stiffly or too limply, but flexibly. And then Seiya throws in the golden line that the anime shouldn’t have cut out, because doing so ruined his character and painted his obsession as something positive and justified:

“Minato, I just want you to believe this. I love archery too. I’m not drawing the bow for someone else’s sake, but because I love it.”

Catch me stanning this eternal friendship until I die. Yeah, that’s as far as the “gay” goes for them. Of course, they’re still shown together in as many scenes as possible, but the ambiguousness is no longer present as soon as Seiya stops treating Minato like his own child and actually gives him the space any normal friend would. Literally everything that happened in the anime between them beyond this point (and I do mean everything, even just their conversations) is KyoAni’s original content.

Long live these unapologetically healthy best friends. Fuck KyoAni’s fanservicey ass.

Shuu and Minato

The way Shuu is being depicted in the anime is underwhelming at best. He might be quiet and calm on the outside, but on the inside, he’s extremely passionate about archery and about Minato, though not in this clichéd and overused way that the anime is portraying.

Even though Seiya also used to be on their team, Shuu considers Minato his only rival and bow friend. The two of them know each other well and are actually pretty close, since they literally attended the same middle school.

None of this actually shows in the anime at all. One may argue that it’s easy to notice he’s interested in Minato more than anyone else, and it really is, but their rivalry isn’t nearly as fiery and there seems to be no trace of their friendship. Shuu simply keeps spouting been-there-done-that catchphrases that any rival of any sports animanga has said to the protagonist, and that’s it.

In the novel, Shuu is rather obsessed with Minato in different ways. He doesn’t only crave for Minato in competitions, he also craves for him outside of the dojo. He misses him since they’re attending different schools, but ever since they were little, he had always wanted to spend way more time with Minato than he actually had in his hands. He hates having to part ways with Minato when business is over and is unforgiving of anyone who might “steal” Minato from him. KyoAni for some reason has made Seiya hostile towards Masaki, but Shuu is the one who resents Masaki for becoming Minato’s goal rather than himself.

The flashbacks also aren’t helping. When they were kids, they acted... well, like kids, and not like mini versions of how they are now. They were loud, openly competitive, and would fight for Saionji’s side because he had bad hearing, so they had to talk close to his ears. They were also like older brothers to Saionji’s grandson, which the anime didn’t show.

Their first meeting was different. Minato usually came around the dojo to peek at practice, and Saionji took him as pupil along with Shuu because he believed that teaching the two of them was his fate.

Minato had always annoyed Shuu and was always the only one capable of instigating fiery emotions in him, starting with the fact that he made Shuu realize that someone else his age was as talented as himself. Shuu was extremely irritated when Minato suddenly stopped coming to their practice, having no idea that the motive had been the car accident. He was irritated yet again when they met by chance in middle school, and all the while, he keeps thinking, “who do you think you are to irritate me”.

When Hiroki comments that Shuu must be so elegant and skilled with his shooting because he was taught by a former imperial guard, Shuu responds that he’s actually like that because there’s someone whose heart he wants to shoot through. He credits Minato for his own prowess because his desire to be better than Minato is what got him so far. The twins ask if there was someone who managed to charm him that much and if the saying “the greatest hate springs from the greatest love” has anything to do with it. Shuu responds with nothing but a daring smile and an “I wonder”.

Other interactions between them that the anime watered down are their greetings during the beginning of the tournament and Shuu’s words before he left. In the novel, Minato froze at the sight of him and held his breath when he got close. Shuu reminisces to memories of when they were kids, which is why he goes to Minato’s side and whispers into his ear. Then he puts a hand over Minato’s scar and asks if it still hurts, and Minato answers that it doesn’t.

Just a heads-up: everyone is watching this unfold. Kazemai and the twins are staring at this bullshit but everyone feels they can’t get close because the gay atmosphere around them is too intense.

Minato says that he knows Shuu turned his back on him for getting target panic while he got a full score during the individual competitions at the middle school championship (because of the “cold look” that Shuu had given him in after their loss), and claims that he can’t face Shuu at all. Shuu responds that he hadn’t turned his back on Minato even once, and that he had only not comforted or admonished Minato at that time because he didn’t think there were words for Minato’s situation.

He reveals that he had no idea Minato had suddenly stopped coming to their secret practice because of a serious injury, and that he had realized just how eagerly he had been waiting for Minato when they met again in middle school. He had believed that Minato would definitely come back in high school as well, and asked Minato to “show his archery again”. Minato seems a little touched by it, and Shuu comments that Saionji actually never taught anyone personally, and that Saionji apparently believed Shuu and Minato to be the last duty entrusted to him. Shuu believes that their meeting was a “gift from the God of the bow”, and after saying so, he leaves.

Many things didn’t happen, though. Like the two of them meeting after the tournament and at the shrine. Shuu never asks Minato to take responsibility for changing his life, never acts like a total dick with Seiya and never tells Minato that one can’t do archery for someone else’s sake.

The day before the first team competitions, Minato had barely slept because of his meeting with Shuu. He was glad that Shuu hadn’t given up on him and felt strongly that he didn’t want to lose face in front of him. He was extremely impatient after seeing Shuu’s shooting, and their difference in skill was ever so present even in the next days, as he wanted to become the kind of archer who could be a match for Shuu as fast as possible.

During the second phase of the tournament, Minato and Shuu meet again, and the dialogue they have is way different from the anime:

“Minato, it’s been a while. How are you feeling today?” “Not bad at all, Shuu. A lot of cheering squads came for us today, so I’m fired-up.” “I’m surprised to hear you say such a thing. You said before that you weren’t drawing for the sake of other people watching you. You thought spectators were annoying.” “I’m honestly happy to be supported now. Besides, I’ve just always loved doing archery, be it before or now. So why is someone like you drawing a bow, Shuu? Aren’t you doing it for the same reasons as me?”

Instead of replying, Shuu just smiled brightly, and this ticked off the twins, who started attacking Minato and had to be stopped by Shuu. He apologized on their behalf, which yet again spiked jealousy, and left with them.

Right before the tiebreaking match, Minato wondered if Shuu was watching from somewhere. Minato had never participated in one of them before, and it was all thanks to Shuu. Having someone as skilled as him to be the ochi was reassuring, and Minato entrusted him and Seiya with his back in their middle school days. However, unlike how the anime goes, the novel explicitly states that Minato’s state of mind being at ease during competitions was Shuu’s merit, specifically. He knew that Shuu would always hit, and so he could remain calm, knowing that someone could cover up for him if he made any mistakes.

Similar to this scene, right before the final match between Kazemai and Kirisaki, Shuu yet again comes to talk to Minato as he was being bothered by the twins:

“I’m deeply moved to face you in competition again, Minato. Did you hurt your wrist?” “No, it’s already fine. I can’t help but feel happy to take on the strongest member.” “I’m looking forward to it.”

During the duo’s last shot, the clouds opened up, and the grains of dust illuminated by the sunlight formed the shape of wings on their backs. As Shuu misses his last shot, he mouths the word, “congratulations” to Minato while the Kazemai boys are hugging him.

In short, Shuu and Minato’s relationship is originally complex and tridimensional, and the anime is reducing it to something dry, commonplace and boring.

Masaki and Minato

Here comes the bible that you asked for, you heathens.

First off, this duo is ridiculous. Their relationship literally has absolutely no business being as good as it is. You just know that it’s the most important one of the story from the fact that it begins when chapter one ends and appears on the very first illustration (other than the one in the cover).

I’m gonna start from the start: the character relationship chart from the official site. It says that what Minato borders for Masaki is “reverence”. That’s pretty heavy for a high school student.

A number of things ensue right before Masaki and Minato’s first meeting, which the anime didn’t show:

When Minato hears Masaki’s tsurune for the first time, his heart starts racing.

While he’s approaching the dojo, he’s praying in his head for Masaki not to disappear until he gets there. He was already thinking that maybe Masaki might be a ghost that haunted the shrine, but he didn’t care if this was the case.

Minato watched Masaki’s shooting for waaay longer in the novel. He stood hidden behind a fence as Masaki fired six shots and then did the finishing formalities.

While Masaki was collecting the arrows, Minato was sighing heavily, rubbing his sweaty palms against his uniform and wondering if he should go talk to him. But it’s totally not a crush. Totally not.

I hate these two so much.

Just to put it out there, it feels like Yamamura Takuya (the anime’s director) is fanboying over Masaki. Or more like over an ideal version of him. In canon, Masaki is an absolute dork and not nearly as composed and mature as the anime tries to sell him. He’s usually clumsy and vulgar, and jokes around a lot.

That being said, he gets friendly with Minato overly quickly. Although he’s confused as to why a random kid would be in the woods watching him, their first conversation is about anything but that, and suddenly Fuu is the topic. It escalates from Masaki offering to nurse the scratch on Minato’s hand to Minato volunteering to replace the lamps of the shrine’s waiting room, and then to the two of them drinking canned coffee together at the shajo. In-between this, we have Masaki joking about Minato being suspicious of him and that he wouldn’t charge for the medicine, knocking over a drawer and sending the contents flying, throwing unnoticed sarcasm at Minato while he changes the lamps and Minato mistaking the can of coffee for alcohol. Masaki then resumes shooting the rest of the arrows after that and Minato stays as audience. Once he’s done, Minato questions him about his shooting routine, and Masaki answers every question even though they literally just met.

All of this in just one night.

To add up, the novel has a veil of supernatural in it, and Minato and Masaki’s encounters in the shrine are portrayed with an atmosphere of mystery. They feel somewhat fantasious since there’s a lot of symbolism and ellusive language involved, like the shrine is a separate world that belongs just to the two of them, where both Minato and Masaki find not only each other but also themselves, renewing their love for the bow. And this is where I myself started becoming inspired while reading this novel. I, too, felt like praticing archery for once, so that I could point the bow at my head and shoot an arrow right into my face because I can’t take this bullshit.

But I digress.

Minato goes home without asking Masaki’s name, then proceeds to search for information regarding him on the internet like some stalkerish middle school girl. He finds nothing and berates himself for not asking, but also wouldn’t know what to do if he had really asked. 100% not a high school chick flick.

The next evening, Minato visits the shrine again. It’s raining, and when he finds Masaki shooting just like in the previous night, he notices that it feels like Masaki is performing a prayer when he does so. Minato watches hidden behind the fence yet again and wonders what Masaki could be wishing for in a night where the stars aren’t visible, because apparently Masaki’s presence increases Minato’s poetic tendencies by a hundred.

When Masaki spots him, he gives a peace sign and beckons him, but Minato’s brain has bluescreened at that point, so being the little shit he is, Masaki crouches and gestures to Minato as if he’s calling over a dog or a cat. This predictably has Minato flustered, and Masaki jokes that seeing him under the rain in a dark spot is scary. Minato comes to the shajo dripping wet and Masaki lends him a beginner’s uniform, telling him that he doesn’t have to be so formal.

By the time Minato returns, the floor that he had dirtied is completely clean, even though Masaki had asked Minato to mop it once he finished changing. The two of them have canned coffee together again, this time with oyaki. Fuu hadn’t showed up because of the rain, and that’s when Masaki jokes that Minato’s shoulder is the perfect perch for him. While arguing that he isn’t an ornament, Minato asks about the hours of activity in the dojo, and finds out that it was supposed to be used until 9pm but is currently only used during daytime, so the only one who is there at night is Masaki, except for couples that sneak inside occasionally. Minato is taken aback at the fact that couple come to a sacred place to make out and whatnot, and for some godforsaken reason, the author seemed to think it was a good idea for Masaki to retort with, “You don’t seem to have much experience in that area. Shall I teach you the basics?”

*high-pitched screaming*

One might argue that this isn’t as suggestive as it seems, but Minato responds with, “You perverted old man” and Masaki just... freaking grins. And then this bitch hits jackpot when he tries to get Minato to fire an arrow because he can tell that Minato has experience with archery and that he wants to shoot. Minato is exasperated and wants to run away from it, but Masaki coaxes him into opening up, assuring him that not even telephone lines pass through the dojo, so whatever Minato would say would be heard by no one but him. This is when he throws the infamous “I’m not someone who exists in your reality” line, and Minato ends up squeezing out everything that had been burdening him. It’s then that they finally introduce themselves to each other and Minato finds out that Masaki used to have target panic.

The next day, Minato doesn’t attend club activities despite Seiya and Ryouhei’s insistence to get him to join, and goes to visit the shrine again. He finds Masaki dressed in formal hakama instead of kyuudougi for the first time and stops on his tracks unintentionally at the sight of Masaki’s muscles glowing in the evening lights.

This is not homoerotic fanfiction. This is not homoerotic fanfiction. This is n

You kind of can’t ignore at this point that Masaki grins every time he sees Minato. Meanwhile, Minato shudders at the sound of Masaki’s arrows piercing the air, which is unlike any he had heard before, and thinks about how he never gets tired of seeing Masaki shoot. There is joy in the fact that such ideal shots are being executed right in front of him, and cheesy as it may be, this makes him happy to have been born. And since Minato already knows about Masaki’s goal of scoring ten thousand shots, this thirsty motherfucker is already wondering if he’ll ever see him shooting again after he accomplishes it.

Minato is, in fact, just as much of a sports nerd as any sports animanga protagonist. It just so happens that he’s less showy about it, and basically the only one who gets it out of him is Masaki.

Masaki carried out proper practice with Minato, unlike in the anime, where Minato only shoots once. They start with practice at close range, and it’s then that Masaki starts using his ridiculously improper tips, like “push your hips forwards more, like you’re peeing standing up” and “look at my armpit hair”. For better or worse, his advice is easy to grasp and Minato makes the most out of it.

By that point, he’s also already grasped Masaki’s personality. When they’re done, Masaki calls Fuu over while they’re having coffee. He also shares with Minato all the material he had about archery, which ranged from students’ books to exclusive publications to old magazines, and the two of them have a priceless dialogue that the anime cut out:

“It’s amazing that you collected all of these books so thoroughly.” “I didn’t; they were a gift.” “I knew it.” “What do you mean by ‘I knew it’?” “It’s because that kind of detailed work doesn’t suit you, Masa-san.” “Don’t you feel like treating your seniors with even a bit of respect?” “Not at all.” “Good grief, does that mean I have to teach you by praising you?”

Masaki then hands him a rubber mascot and recommends him the muscle training that he learned from his grandfather. The two of them speculate on the reasons why Minato might have gotten target panic and discuss methods to cure it. Then Minato finds out about Masaki’s powder container and the bikini pattern on it, and they have yet another beautiful exchange that KyoAni has ruined:

“What kind of drawing is that?” “Oh, Minato is a healthy young man too, eh?” “No way, this is…” “Yep, it’s a bikini.” “You have some rare items here, old man.” “I’m honored to receive a compliment from you.” “It wasn’t a compliment—!”

Harold, they’re bi.

The following evening, Minato goes to the shrine not realizing that his back had been injured when he and Seiya fought, but Masaki notices it and insists on treating it. This results in Minato taking off his shirt so that Masaki could stick a bandage to it, and honestly, Minato could have been thinking about anything at that moment and I would have been okay with it. He could have thought about Seiya, about the club, about what to have for dinner that night even. Any crap would have sufficed. But nah.

Nah.

He’s thinking about the cold touch of Masaki’s hands on his skin and shivering at it. Because. You know. That’s what straight boys do.

Minato’s shooting is horrible that night and he’s sullen because of the lack of the smell of coffee, since Masaki had brought tea instead. He asks to see Fuu, but Masaki reveals that Fuu had only been with him because he was feeding it and healing its wound, and after it got better, it left his hands. This leads to an exchange that somewhat feels like foreshadowing:

“So it dumped you after you healed it?” “Any problem with that?” “Noooope.”

And it causes Masaki to notice that Minato is feeling anxious, so he tries to confort him, and Minato confides to him about the whole issue with the club and Seiya. Masaki tells him that he’s probably conveying to Seiya he has lingering attachments, and suggests that he takes upon Seiya’s offer. Minato counter-argues that he has no confidence for it, and Masaki asks if he’d be just drawing a bow all alone from that point onward. Minato questions what he means by “all alone”, and it’s only then that Masaki says, “Don’t think that I’ll be here forever. You shouldn’t keep coming to this place.” Minato is confused by his words but doesn’t ask for clarification because they sound like Masaki had grown tired of him. He compares it to something like what a child would say to a stray animal that they’d picked out of pity but then grew bored of.

Masaki is completely unaware of the effect this had on Minato and casually asks him to put away his powder container, tossing it to him. And my God, my sweet lordly goodness gracious, there’s a really odd emphasis on the bikini pattern when Minato catches it. THE DOUBLE ENTENDREE IS TOO STRONG, KIDS. Minato is clearly scared of being dumped by him like he was dumped by Fuu, but it's almost like the author tries to hint that Masaki being into women has something to do with Minato’s insecurity. Y’all may think Minato was actually not that affected by it, but after he left the dojo, he did everything robotically and had a restless night, with the mascot that Masaki gave him appearing in his dreams all the while.

The next afternoon, Minato goes to the shrine to return Masaki’s powder container, which he had accidentally brought home with him, and then the whole misunderstanding about Masaki being dead happens. When Minato returns in the evening, Masaki’s tsurune sounds like a funeral march to him. He finds Masaki in nousha clothing and two shots short of achieving ten thousand, and thinks that the scene as a whole looks just like a skillful stage production. He’s also oddly fixated on Masaki’s “exposed skin” and “fascinating profile”.

It’s here that Minato shows the first signs of selfishness towards Masaki. One would think that being excessively cared for by Seiya would mean that he’d be more of a free-spirited person, and his discomfort at Seiya’s meddling might seem like a sign of that. And indeed, Minato is like that with everyone else, except Masaki.

With Masaki, he’s the greediest little bitch.

He starts begging that the night would never end. He literally wishes that time would stop so that he could be there with Masaki forever. Like, screw his dad, screw Seiya, screw the entire rest of his life; he just wants Masaki to remain there.

Masaki was, of course, oblivious to this. He decides to recreate a scene from Zen in the Art of Archery that he had once mentioned to Minato with his last two shots. He lights up sage and positions it at the target bank, and after he shoots, he thanks Minato and says he has no more regrets. This makes Minato feel like he might disappear at any moment, and that’s when we get the iconic “don’t pass on” scene.

I must point out that one of the things I find really interesting in character dynamics is when a character has set rules of conduct and ideals for themselves but they break all of them willingly for the sake of only one other character, and that’s exactly what happens between these two. This trope is used by the author in a very obviously intentional way, which is even better.

Before Minato runs to Masaki and begs him not to leave, there’s a series of ironies to consider:

Minato dislikes being clingy with people on default.

He doesn’t do things like wishing upon stars, but if he were to, he’d wish for Masaki to stay with him.

The night before, Masaki had told him: “In the future, if you find someone that you like very much and you have to part ways with that person, will you give up without doing anything when that time comes just because you have no confidence? There are things people can’t beat no matter how much they wish to be strong. But if you do meet something that you truly don’t want to lose, it should be able to make you cling to it and shout.” Of course, Masaki had absolutely no idea that this “person” could be himself. Since he was talking about the future, he probably meant a lover.

Minato’s response is that he’d never so something so embarrassing in his life.

Yeah, boi played himself.

When Minato holds onto Masaki and shouts at him not to go anywhere, a lot is different from the anime version. For starters, since Masaki had his sleeve down, Minato basically shoved himself onto his bare chest. He also grabbed Masaki roughly with both hands, only, it’s not said where he grabbed. I............ kinda hope he didn’t grab the same spot as he did in the anime. ‘Cause. Well. Titty out.

Anyway. Minato was half-crying back there, and his words to Masaki during this moment are an absolute treasure and I have no idea why KyoAni would cut so much of it out, so here go his original lines:

“Are you a ghost? No, wait, a zombie? You’re so cold… But I’m never letting you go! You’re still my master, after all. Until the master passes on all his skills to the disciple, he has the responsibility to watch over him. No, wait, you don’t have to be my master. I just want you to stay here, Masa-san. If you’re a ghost, you can possess me; if you’re a vampire, I’ll give you my blood; and if you’re a zombie, huum, well… I’ll try to not mind even if you stink a little!”

Read this again. Digest it. Or at least try, because there’s just too much going on. Sure it’s all really damn funny, but Minato’s possessiveness is peaking here. He’s basically declaring that, supposing Masaki were actually a ghost, Minato wouldn’t let him rest and wouldn’t hand him over to even death itself. At first, Minato tries to argue that there should be still something chaining Masaki to the world of the living, since he hasn’t fulfilled his role as mentor yet. But then he thinks it over and decides that he wouldn’t want Masaki to leave him even after having taught him everything he knows. And the solutions that he comes up with are not only over-the-top but also risky.

“If you’re a ghost, you can possess me.” What the fuck, kid? “If you’re a vampire, I’ll give you my blood.” What the actual everloving fuck, kid?

So, yeah, he’s known Masaki for less than a week and is already willing to give his flesh and blood and overall control of his life for the sake of keeping him at a reachable distance. Bonus for actually picturing Masaki taking possession of his physical form and biting his neck to suck the life out of him.

How very straight.

The fact that Masaki’s jaw drops and he lets his bow fall to the floor is an icing on the cake. After he laughs his ass off once the misunderstanding is solved, he comments how “it’s really true that the sillier the kid is, the cuter” and then teases by asking if Minato was relieved that he wasn’t a ghost. This chapter section is just glorious.

Masaki then asks if Minato hadn’t been showing up because he thought he was a ghost, and Minato answers that he was merely doing as told after Masaki said that he shouldn’t come to the place. As if him being a ghost would stop this relentless little fucker. Masaki reveals that since Fuu had returned to the forest, he believed Minato should return to where he belonged as well. However, Minato had immediately come back to him, and he couldn’t do anything about that.

The two of them then went to collect the arrows and sat next to each other for their usual coffee time. Masaki explains that the powder container was a present from his grandfather, who was also his former master, and tells him the meaning behind his ten thousand shots. Yes, the one he opens up to about his grandfather being a good archer but a shitty teacher is Minato, not Tommy-sensei.

The thing is: his grandfather never asked if he liked archery. He simply thought that Masaki was fooling around because his form was messed up, so Masaki was cast away by him as someone who should be ignored due to apparently not taking archery seriously enough. The truth was that Masaki was actually trying his best, which is why he was so deeply hurt by his grandfather’s attitude that he quit archery and didn’t join the archery club in college. However, he undoubtedly loved it, and had always been thinking of ways of reconciling with his grandfather, but to no avail.

His grandfather was still estranged from him when he passed away, so Masaki came up with the idea of shooting ten thousand arrows in order to communicate with him from the other side. After he overcame target panic and fixed his form, he was able to become the exemplary archer that his grandfather wished he would be, so he set the task upon himself to get rid of his burdens and send his grandfather’s soul to rest.

No, KyoAni, it wasn’t for petty revenge against a dead person, omg.

It’s also clear by this point that Masaki and Minato are parallels of each other. Masaki, too, ended up returning to the forest, to his family’s shrine and to its dojo, and troublesome as it could be, he found himself unable to stop drawing the bow. While he talks about this to Minato, there’s a quick emphasis on the azaleas blooming nearby, and their flower language surely has something to do with the scene. Amongst other things, they mean “remembering your home with fondness or wishing to return to it”, “caring for yourself and your family”, “temperance and emotional evenness”, and “delicate passion”. All of this emphasizes how awesome a character Masaki is, and the way the anime ignores every single one of his best points is just appalling.

When Masaki finishes speaking, Minato decides to shoot at the targets instead of the close-range practice he had been doing until that point. Masaki lets him, and he goes as far as getting dressed up in the uniform in order to do it. He hits for the first time ever since his target panic started acting up, at the edge of the target. Overcome with nostalgia and feeling so happy that he could die, Minato shoots again and manages to hit the center. Minato then realizes how hungry he had been for the bow and realizes that there’s actually still hope for him as an archer. Masaki asks if he had also recovered, and he declares he’ll join the archery club.

After he joins and Masaki comes in as the coach, Seiya sees his reaction and asks Masaki if he owned a pet bird. Masaki is confused and answers no, because he really doesn’t. Minato, on the other hand, wants to run the fuck away because shit, Dad found out who he’d been with all those nights.

Training camp starts shortly after this, and it’s wildly different from the anime. Starting from the fact that the whole servant thing never happened. Masaki never made the boys serve the girls, never tried to coax them into doing his priest work, never wakes them up at 4am, never barges in on them taking a bath and never keeps them from practicing. I’m trying to figure out why KyoAni made him do all of this, not just because it wasn’t in the books, but also because literally none of that made any sense and served no purpose other than for painting Masaki as an irresponsible asshole.

In the novel’s training camp, the boys and the girls share the load. They all do the chores and are made to help around the shrine alongside practicing because they were staying there. They would cook their own meals, and Masaki and Tommy-sensei did them the favor of taking them to hot springs at some point. There was training aside from practice, and the kids would gather in the boys’ room right before sleep time simply to hang out.

Masaki had also done thorough research on the tournament results and tried to get the kids to reach them with a cautious and slow start. All the way up to this point, through the training camp and until the tournament, Masaki coaches the kids properly, giving really helpful tips, fixing their quirks and being overall a good observation example, never casting pressure on them and never poking his nose where he shouldn’t.

This is all very important to everyone, but above them, it is to Minato. He’s by far the one who benefits the most off the training, and Masaki’s careful supervision is everything he needs while his target panic isn’t cured.

There is some misplaced gay in the anime for the two of them in the training camp, though, as the scene of Masaki helping Minato get dressed doesn’t happen. But in the novel, the clothes Minato wore were Masaki’s, not his grandfather’s. And after the yawatashi, Minato comments on how it was an honor to serve as Masaki’s kaizoe.

Ren was introduced differently in the novel as well. In it, he went straight for Minato at first sight, played a prank on him, and then asked if he was “Minato-kun”. Meaning that Masaki gushed so much about Minato to his brother that he already knew exactly who Minato was and what he looked like. Minato almost doesn’t believe that Ren and Masaki are related because Ren seemed like he was mischievous in his younger years.

After Minato falls in the river getting back Nanao’s hat, Masaki lends him his jacket and takes him back to the shrine for a bath. Not because he was “stinking of river”, but because he wanted Minato to warm himself up as fast as possible. Minato argues that Seiya might worry if he doesn’t return soon, and Masaki tells him not to fret about it as he should prioritize his own health.

Once Minato is done, he meets with Masaki in the dining room and Masaki pours him hot coffee. Since he usually only ever saw Masaki in a hakama, Minato thinks it’s refreshing to have a glimpse on his everyday life.

Not just the warm drink but being there with Masaki makes Minato feel relieved and relaxed, and he opens up about maybe being a bother to everyone. Masaki brushes it off, and so, he ends up also venting about Seiya and how he acts like a meddlesome family member. He reveals that Seiya unintentionally pressures him into meeting his expectations, but what Minato thinks wouldn’t worry him often has the opposite effect. Masaki asks when he’d started acting that way, and Minato tells him about his car accident and that Seiya had witnessed it. Masaki suggests that Seiya might have earned his protectiveness from the event, but Minato feels like Seiya harbors some sort of guilt towards him. When he says he feels like repenting for it, and this leads to the two of them being little shits like they usually are around each other:

“‘Repenting’? I’m a Shinto priest, not Christian. I can perform exorcism rites and blessings, though.” “Eeeh, you don’t seem very holy, Masa-san.” “What did you say? Well, then do you want to ask Ren? Unlike me, he has some kind of ability to sense the supernatural, and he has a priest certificate anyway. But there may be surprises, so people with weak hearts should take caution.”

And then these two bastards just look at each other and start laughing.

Minato takes the opportunity to ask about what Masaki had been teaching Kaito and Masaki explains it.......... sort of differently than how he had done with Kaito:

Masa-san held Minato’s arm so lightly that he almost wasn’t touching him at all. His faintly transmitted body temperature was warm. And then, he let go of his arm just as gently as when he touched it. Minato desperately chased after the feeling left on his skin so he wouldn’t forget it.

The last sentence fucks me up immensely, fam. The rest goes on unlike in the anime too:

“Why do you think you’re the ochi for this time’s shooting order?” “To watch over my teammates’ backs?” “You’re on the right track; that’s half-correct. You have to protect Seiya’s back in particular.” “Me, protect Seiya?” “It’s a role that only you can take. I’m also happy to pass on the teachings that my master left to me. I can’t express the feeling of his palm with things like words and pictures. Thank you, Minato.”

This renders Minato speechless, and makes him think that he also can’t help but long for the day to come when he would pass the warmth of Masaki’s hand on to people who will share their wishes and ambitions with him.

After the sports tournament in which Seiya’s protective dad vibes started getting more serious, Minato went to the shrine to pray, wishing to be able to laugh the whole thing off but having no idea who to talk to about the topic. Masaki shows up as if on cue, just in time to also warn him not to lean too much to look into the shrine’s pond, or else he might fall down.

Turns out that Masaki had been taking lessons to improve his knowledge so that he’d be able to coach the kids better, and as he came back from it, he decided to review what he had learned in order not to forget it, and allowed Minato to stay and watch. Some of the material had to do with target panic, and he let Minato in on it as he shot.

Once he’s done, they have their usual canned coffee, since Masaki always has enough for himself and Minato for some reason. While drinking, Minato stares at Masaki’s hand because he’s just as straight as his arrows. He analyzes Masaki’s shooting as something like a forest in a tree, combining strength and generosity, and becomes disheartened at his own lack of skill.

Masaki offers to call Fuu upon hearing Minato sigh, and Minato dismisses it since he had been able to hear Fuu’s cry, and then comments to Masaki that he had seen a karp with an injured eye at the pond. Before Masaki had arrived, Minato had met Ren there and Ren had told him about a creepy legend involving the fish. Minato had heard from Masaki that Ren had more disposition than him to feel the supernatural, so he’s successfully freaked out, but Masaki reveals that the legend is Ren’s own invention as Ren is a writer of children’s literature in addition to being a photographer and illustrator.

Masaki laughs his ass off at the fact Minato actually believed in a scary story made up for little kids, and although Minato is utterly embarrassed, he’s also happy, since it feels like Masaki is laughing his worries away. After Masaki unknowingly serves as emotional support for Minato as always, Minato earns some determination and decides to properly question Seiya on the matter.

Even when he’s facing Seiya and his issues finally come to light, Minato is thinking about Masaki. When Minato opened up to Masaki for the first time, Masaki had commented on how painful it must have been for him. They weren’t words of pity or consolation, but they resonated with Minato because they were truthful which means Shuu has to step up his game and get on that level. To Minato, truthful things were good, and good things were beautiful, just like the tsurune that had captivated him in the forest. Therefore, Minato wanted to convey honest feelings with his own words to Seiya as well.

So, yeah, Masaki grows to be an ideal for Minato even outside of archery.

Along the course of all this, there’s a fair amount of hints of latent bisexuality other things about Minato that the anime hasn’t displayed, which come mostly in the form of narration, thoughts and silent actions. And unsurprisingly, they’re always related to Masaki:

Minato thinks Masaki’s eyes are bewitching.

He’s weak to Masaki’s smile.

He has mixed feelings when Masaki treats him like a child and when he sees Kaito acting familiar with Masaki.

He hates not being able to see Masaki. Above that, he really hates not having alone time with Masaki, specifically.

He often stares at Masaki and observes details in him, like how long his fingers are and how well-built his body is. The moment he started thinking that “those fingers had the ability to produce a beautiful tsurune”, I cry-laughed because this is just too much bullshit.

He actually, non-ironically sees sensuality in older men when they look suspicious of something, and he notices this in Ren. But the first thing he does is compare him to Masaki in that aspect and conclude that Masaki still has some childishness in him and that he’s gentler than Ren.

God help this boy. Ayano Kotoko is merciless.

I don’t even care if he’s never confirmed as bi, but I refuse to believe that Minato is heterosexual. But of course KyoAni isn’t making any of this clear. Of course.

Anyway, moving on. Episode 11 was a disgrace. Literally none of it happens in the novel.

What goes on after Minato settles things up with Seiya is that Masaki takes the boys to an equipment store to buy stuff for the club. There, Masaki and Minato have a talk about Masaki’s grandfather, and Minato finds out that he was actually a famous archer. Minato then becomes convinced of why Masaki was so into archery, as anyone would want to draw a bow having a master that great so near them, but Masaki retorts that he’d been holding a bow before even knowing anything very well (which brings us back to the fact he started archery when he was a toddler). As a matter of course, Masaki asks why Minato started archery, and Minato answers it was because he once watched a competition ten years before with his mother and never forgot it. He also comments that the tsurune of the archer that won and Masaki’s were exactly alike. And that’s where we get the second obvious hint that fate is one of this duo’s main elements.

After they’re done, Seiya and Masaki stay behind at a café to do accounting work and the other four left first. Minato remained outside while the others decided to go into a bookstore, and after a creepy encounter with an injured cat that reminded him of the injured fish, Minato was almost killed in a truck accident. A truck driver lost control of the wheel and the timbers that the truck was carrying flew out. Minato was almost fatally hit but Masaki saved him at the cost of a head injury that sent him straight to the hospital.

Minato and Seiya went with Masaki in the ambulance and waited outside the surgery room for him. Seiya was used to it after having gone through the same thing during Minato’s accident, so he remained calm, but Minato was a ball of nerves. His sense of reality was impaired, and he was asking himself what would happen if Masaki never woke up.

When Ren arrives, Minato apologizes for being the reason why Masaki was in such condition, but Ren dismisses him and tells the boys that they’re free to go home. Minato insists he'd stay, and the boys end up staying as well. Masaki regains consciousness not much after that, and asks about Minato immediately after finding out where he is.

Ren leaves to call a nurse, Seiya leaves to contact Tomio and Minato stays by Masaki’s bedside. Minato doesn’t know what to say; neither how to apologize nor how to thank Masaki. He had gotten nine stitches and seeing the bandage on his head caused Minato to feel pained.

Read this one more time, and then read the in-betweens. Masaki has earned himself a scar. Minato wasn’t taken away by the gods, but now the two of them are “separated from everyone else”.

While Minato is hanging his head in guilt and gripping the bedsheets, this dialogue ensues:

“What’s wrong, Minato? You’re making such an ugly face. I’m perfectly alive.” “Masa-san, if you had died, I’d have followed after you.” “Hey, hey, don’t say such disturbing things.” “I really mean it.” “Good grief.”

And what I love about this is that Minato says the literal most drastic shit that he’s thinking, out of fucking nowhere, for no goddamn reason. Neither thanking nor apologizing was quite right; he just had to declare that not even death can do them part, again.

Because fuck you, that’s why.

Masaki then stretched out his hand (which had an IV in it because why not add more pain to this clusterfuck) and ruffled Minato’s hair. Minato started crying, unable to stop even if he willed it, thinking to himself that he knew the weight of Masaki’s hand, and that it was still warm. He wanted to thank everyone who had helped Masaki survive, but could only keep crying until Ren and Seiya came back.

Next day at school, Minato was approached by a classmate who had heard rumors about the accident. When the boy mentions that Masaki would be publicly acknowledged for his deed and that he became a local hero, Minato glares daggers at him because he hates the idea of Masaki being treated as a martyr at the cost of almost throwing his life away to protect him.

Minato and Seiya were consoled by Tomio when he saw them, and Minato once again felt like crying his eyes out. He knew that Masaki would have laughed at him if he were there, but the tears were welling up in his eyes all the same.

When they all go visit Masaki after school, Masaki wastes no time to give the boys advice. He finishes by giving Minato a pep talk: “Enjoy the state of the draw. If you keep stretching to open left and right from the center line of your body, your arrow will naturally be let go of along with the triggering of your spirit. That’s what the ‘release’ is about. Drive target panic and delayed hold away.”

After that, Masaki told them that they didn’t have to visit him anymore, but Minato refused it and went to visit him every single day.

The day before the tournament, Minato went to the shrine. He saw the surrounding cherry trees without any flowers and thought about how different they were in comparison to when he and Masaki had first met. He then prayed for everyone in the club to to their best at the tournament and for Masaki to get better as fast as possible.

After lunch, Minato went to the lobby of the building by himself, still plagued by his anxiety over not knowing when his target panic could start up again. He then sees coffee in a vending machine and walks towards it “as if drawn to it”. He buys a can, drinks the contents, and when he’s throwng it away, he notices someone standing under the shadow of the pillar behind the vending machine. The person was drinking the same brand of coffee as Minato had drunk, and he got a deja-vu from the sight, so he peeked into the man’s face.

Really feeling the Red String of Fate vibes in this Chili’s once more, and it was, of course, all on purpose. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg in this chapter. As Minato’s eyes met with Masaki’s, they have their usual comedy routine:

“Masa-san!?” “S’up, Minato.” “Don’t you ‘s’up’ me!? Why are you here? Today’s not the day you’ll be discharged from the hospital, right?” “I escaped from the hospital. It’d be a bother if Tommy-sensei and the others hear about this, so keep quiet.” “‘Keep quiet’, you say…” “Yeah, yeah, you hide too, Minato.”

Masaki pulls Minato into the shadow of the pillar and explains that Ren helped him flee from the hospital by pretending to be him. On top of that, he was wearing a cap to hide the bandage around his head.

When Masaki expresses his wish to watch his students, Minato argues that they were recording the matches for him, but Masaki shoots back that he can’t see the details on camera and comments that Minato had forgotten to tighten his left pinky during the draw. He clarifies that the rubber dormouse was meant to train his muscles of the hand and help him control them, and asks if Minato had been worrying over something. As always, he hits jackpot, and also as always, Minato doesn’t hide it from him. Masaki then assures him that he’d shot well either way, that it was fine to be nervous and that it was okay not to hit. His attitude is too easygoing for Minato, who asks himself how Masaki can afford to be drinking coffee so carefreely at such a timing. It all makes his worries seem foolish, and he soon starts feeling better. Masaki informs him that he’d leave as soon as the last round ended and leaves Minato to fight back a smile before he goes back to the venue.

This scene is probably the one that makes most obvious how Masaki is always there for Minato, almost like it’s a rule. He’s conveniently placed at a distance where Minato can find him, is able to realize that Minato is distressed, and easily makes him feel better. It’s undebatably intentional from the author’s part.

Fast forward to right before the final round, Tomio gives the boys their headbands. They’re yellowish green, which is Minato’s assigned color, and that’s obviously intentional as well. Tomio calls them “treasure items” and reveals that they’d been “blessed by a certain priest”.

While the boys take on Kirisaki, Masaki is in the audience, wondering if Minato realizes how much he attracts those around him. He reminisces to his 10,000 shots, and how he had decided on that absurd number because he intended to let go of the bow permanently after he was done with them. He found extreme joy in archery, but he was tired of pursuing abstract goals with it, so he had decided to give it up. But on the night he completed the 10,000 shots, Minato had extended his hands to him, and his eyes had told Masaki that he could still draw his bow. Minato is described as the one who sent his smouldering soul into the wind, his “fire-starter”.

This is also valid for Minato, who is, at the very same moment, reflecting on how he wouldn’t have arrived at that place if he hadn’t heard Masaki’s tsurune on that night. He then has a long monologue about life and meetings, both between people and between humans and gods, all related to archery one way or another.

Right upon finishing the formalities, Minato looked at the audience, and found Masaki standing in the wind. As always, his eyes are drawn to him, and also as always, Masaki grins at him when spotted.

Later on, while Kazemai prepared for the regional tournament, Masaki was discharged from the hospital, and the first thing he and Minato do after meeting again is check on each other’s codition. Then, Minato reveals to Masaki that he and the boys had contacted an acquaintace of his grandfather’s and learned the words he had expressed about Masaki before dying. Masaki is confused, and Minato says that his grandfather had regretted becoming estranged from him. When Masaki argues that his grandfather would never say something so admirable, Minato tells him the words directly: “I look forward to Masaki becoming a fine archer”. Masaki almost cried right then, and so, the boys’ practice started. Masaki joined them, and I think it’s very obvious that he was going to shoot the target next to Minato’s.

There were also these sentences in the narration as Masaki holds back tears: “‘Fortune’ might have been a word that referred to all meetings. A gift named coincidence, as though someone had devised it.”

Of course someone fucking deviced it, Ayano. It was fucking fate. We fucking get it, Ayano. Fucking thank you. Unironically.

#tsurune #narumiya minato #takigawa masaki #takehaya seiya #fujiwara shuu #tsurune kazemai koukou kyuudoubu #onogi kaito #kisaragi nanao #yamanouchi ryouhei #seo rika #hanazawa yuuna #shiragiku noa #sugawara senichi #sugawara manji #motomura hiroki #sase daigo #kyoani #kyoto animation #ayano kotoko

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