#whirl is also very traumatized

[ishouldbedoinghw]

You Can't Erase Me

One Piece fanfic, part 3

Previous parts are in my pinned masterlist.

A woman enslaved by the celestial dragons is found by a man with red hair. Angst ensues.

A/N: This story will follow the canon loosely; some events will stay the same, others will be edited for the plot. The timing of events will also be slightly edited from canon so that certain characters are included. The main character is an OC of mine and in her mid-20s. Yes this is important. Character design will likely come soon.

TW: slavery, human trafficking, vomit, mentions of attempted sexual abuse, traumatic flashbacks, discussion of trauma, general angst

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The first thing I remember next is vomit. There's acid pouring out of my mouth and sweat covering my body, and I'm emptying my stomach again and again and again until I don't think I even have bones anymore.

I'm hunched over, gripping the sides of a bucket so hard my knuckles turn white and my fingertips bleed. My clothing sticks to my body, and my mouth is writhing with the taste of vomit and bitter salt. My right hand reaches under me, trying to find some stability and trace the seven grooves in the floor. I can't feel them. The floor beneath me isn't the smooth wood I'm accustomed to, but a bumpy, moist texture that makes me want to vomit again.

Where am I what am I doing why am I sick what's happened-

A hand gingerly touches my back, and a white-hot pain tears through my body, making me scream. The hand quickly withdraws, taking the pain with it. At first, I think it might be the honey-man, then nausea rolls through me again as I picture the not-boy's hands touching me again, and I'm gagging over the bucket.

"It- it's alright, I won't touch you again," says a voice behind me, and I want to whirl around and put space between me and whoever is calling out to me, but the most my body will do is heave itself around slowly. My limbs feel heavy, and my head is pounding with the movement, and I catch a glimpse of dark blonde hair before I let out a choked sob that I don't quite understand. I spent my life serving the not-boy, why do I now want to scream at the thought of him being here?

Despite my mind's screaming protests, the blonde hair moves closer to me, and the blurred figure becomes a face. I relax slightly - it isn't him.

But I can't convince myself that I'm okay. I can't remember ever seeing anyone that looked like this man, he was never someone that came into the not-boy's room. He wasn't the honey-man, and I'd never heard his voice even murmuring in the hallways or through the walls.

"My name is Hongo," he speaks again, gesturing toward himself. "I'm a doctor, I'm here to make sure you're okay, and I'm not going to hurt you."

A doctor?

I stay silent, and he speaks again.

"What's your name?"

My mouth is sticky and unyielding as I try to open it. He looks at me, not speaking.

Is he just waiting for me to say something?

He's sitting cross-legged across from me, and I feel very... studied under his gaze. There's a scar creeping from his hairline, and most of his dirty blonde hair is pulled into a ponytail near the top of his head, the rest shaved from the top of his ear down. He's clearly older, but he moves with the energy of a much younger man, still full of life.

My tongue loosens, and I finally say, "They call me Cheeper."

He smiles at me then, all teeth that splits his face in two. He's missing a couple of teeth on one side, and I find myself staring at the gaps.

"But is that your name?" he presses further.

I really didn't think it was, the longer I thought about it. I think at one point I'd been something else, but I'd been Cheeper for so long that it was really the only name I associated myself with.

"No," I said finally, shifting my gaze from him to the floor.

"Do you have a name?"

Why does he care so much?

"I don't know," I shrug and start picking at the floor, somewhat missing the familiar one, two, three, four, five, six, seven grooves again. My body was still uncomfortably sticky, and my fingers left little semi-transparent smears as I traced shapes in the floor. The more I move my hands, the more I notice them shaking.

Hongo's hand starts reaching toward me again, and I find myself shuffling away before my back hits the wall behind me, and that burning pain shoots through me again. I let out a choked sob at the sensation, and he snatches his hand back, looking a bit sheepish.

"Is it okay if I touch you? Sorry I didn't ask before, I'm used to- well, different kinds of patients."

I wasn't sure what he meant by that, and I didn't ask. I just force myself to nod, closing my eyes and bracing myself for the pain from earlier.

Hongo's POV

"It would be better if you opened your eyes for this, might help you keep calm if you can see what I'm doin'," I say, reaching for a pair of thin gloves from on top of the table to my right.

She warily opens her eyes again, but doesn't relax an ounce, even at the sight of the gloves. She almost reminds me of a deer, with the way her spindly limbs tremble and how she looks at me with wide, terrified eyes.

"How about you just watch what I'm doing, you can tell me to stop anytime," I say as gently as I can, showing her my hands.

Her pale lips twitch, and her eyes are watery at she looks away, clearly fighting with herself. I wait, moving my hands to now fold them in my lap.

"I-" she finally says, her voice barely audible. "I don't want it to hurt again."

I shift closer to where she's cowered in the corner as subtly as I can, holding my arm out.

"Look," I say softly, "Touch my arm."

She doesn't move, so I continue:

"I think you have some injury on your back that's causing that pain. I won't touch you there if you don't want, but I need to see what other injuries you have if you don't wanna get more sick."

She looks at me again, tears spilling down her face as she says, "Okay."

I grab her wrist as gingerly as I can, and she visibly flinches as I press her fingertips to my arm.

"See?" I say, giving her what I hope is a comforting smile. She doesn't shy away as I release her wrist, so I take that as permission to continue.

She watches me with wide eyes as I check over her exposed skin. She's ghastly pale, and extremely dehydrated - to be expected from someone who was just fished out of the ocean and promptly puked everywhere. Her skin is raw and bruising around her neck, but nothing too serious as far as I can tell.

Lean back away from her, I start chewing on the inside of my cheek as I figure out what to say next. I don't want to push her, especially considering I'm a man she doesn't know, but I'm worried about the pain in her back.

I let out a sigh, and say "Listen, I know you're scared, and you don't want me to touch your back, but I need to see what's wrong so I can help."

"Do you promise you're going to help?" Her voice is barely a whisper, but I can't help but be thrilled that she's cooperated thus far. I stand, holding my hand out to her. She stares at it for a moment before putting both of her hands in mine, gripping both sides of my palm as I help lift her to her feet. She doesn't let go, and her legs tremble beneath her as her grip on my hand tightens.

Can she even stand on her own?

I start chewing the inside of my cheek again as I take just how truly tiny she really is. I can't even tell how old she is, she's all bones and pale skin, and my stomach clenches as I take in how malnourished she seems to be. I let her lean on me as I lead her to the bed on the other side of the room. As I gently guide her to sit down, her arm shoots down to stabilize herself on the stiff mattress. I almost turn back around to grab the puke bucket again as I watch her head hang and her breath quicken, but she looks up at me again after a minute, waiting for me to start.

"I promise that I'm here to help, but I can't promise this is going to be painless."

Her throat bobs, and for a moment I'm afraid she'll refuse my help, but she nods her head. I let out a sigh of relief, and start checking her vitals, saving the inspection of her back for last. I start mumbling what I'm doing once I touch her, hoping to offer some form of comfort.

Finally, I let out a puff of air and stand to full height, my knees cracking a bit as I did so.

"Alright, girlie, I need to lift your shirt up to see what's going on there, okay? I'm just gonna push it up over your shoulders, and it'll stay covering your front."

She just nodded once, and hunched over a bit more. The corner of my mouth twitches at her attempt to help. I had no idea where the poor girl came from, or how she'd ended up with some mermaid, especially so far from Fishman Island. Hell, even she didn't know. As I sat down next to her and gingerly started lifting the hem of her ratty shirt, I tried wracking my brain to figure out how a person couldn't even remember their own damn name.

A sour smell hit me as I slowly pushed her shirt up to her shoulders, and I could see raw, festering skin underneath. Bile rose into my throat, and my breathing grew unsteady as I saw the full state of her back. There, settling an infection deep into this girl's back, was the brand of the Celestial Dragons.

And it all made sense. The raw skin and bruising around her throat, the lack of any nourishment, right down to her lack of spirit-

My hand started shaking as my gaze traveled down to the exposed skin of her hips, littered in bruises. My breathing grew labored, and I had to clench my fist to keep myself from pulling her into my chest and telling her it would be alright, she was safe, and that she was far away from whatever sick bastards had done this to her.

But I couldn't scare her. I'm not even sure she was aware of anything that had really happened to her, and I sure as hell didn't know how to tell her.

I knelt in front of her so that I was at her eye level, and steadied my breathing.

"Well, girlie, you've got a nasty burn that looks infected. It's gonna hurt like a bitch, but I've gotta clean it and treat it or it'll get a lot worse."

To be honest, I wasn't sure how that infection hadn't killed her already. If she couldn't even remember where she came from, and she didn't even know what was on her own body, I can't even imagine how long she'd been under their control.

"Girlie," I started softly, "Do you know where you got all this?"

She looks at me, and shifts on the bed to run a trembling hand through her hair. It looks like a deep maroon or magenta, and seems to have been buzzed fairly recently.

"I don't know. I-"

She was cut off with a sharp knock on the door. I wanted to groan, knowing exactly who it was interrupting me. The door swings open, and there he stands - my captain, Red-Hair Shanks.

#one piece #red haired shanks #straw hat pirates #mihawk #mihawk x reader #tw r4p3 #tw sex trafficking

[notallthoseinheadspace]

Little hurt/comfort speculative post-canon TBB piece since I suspect canon is going to be all hurt.

Echo and Tech talk out their time under enemy control. PG, Gen.

CWs: PTSD, panic attacks, grief, mentions of injury

STRONGER

“It doesn’t get better if you don’t talk about it, you know.”

Snarling, Tech whirled around, unaccustomed anger biting under his skin. “You don’t - ah.” Wincing, he ducked his head and leaned back against the wall, ignoring the lights flickering to life across the island as he pushed his repaired goggles up to rub at the scars that spiderwebbed across his face. “Apologies, Echo. I did not realize it was you speaking. And, if you will forgive the insensitivity of the statement, it is… easy to forget that you were once The Algorithm.”

“Really,” Echo answered drily, gesturing to himself with his scomp link. Tech shrugged, slipping his goggles off entirely and letting them dangle from his wrist as he rubbed at his scars further.

“To me, you are as I have always known you, simply in better health than when we… initially met.”

“When you unplugged me from a cryo-tube I was wired into being forced to calculate plans to kill as many of my brothers as possible, you mean.”

“Well… yes.” Wincing, Tech slid down to sit against the sun-warmed paving stones, propping his back against the wall. After a moment, Echo settled beside him, close enough to very gently knock their shoulders together.

“I am aware that discussion of traumatic events can help reduce their psychological impact,” Tech began hesitantly, staring down at the goggles he was restlessly twisting in his hands rather than looking at Echo. “However, that would first require me to have a greater understanding of both my own prior psychological state and recall the conditioning I was subjected to on Tantiss, which I do not, and also comprehend why Crosshair was immune to such conditioning when I was not, and-”

The frantic, ever-hastening tumble of words was halted by Echo’s hand gripping his shoulder, giving him the lightest of shakes - everyone was treating him as though he was fragile, now, as though his scars had not healed.

“Tech, breathe.”

Tech sucked in a deep breath, then winced and coughed weakly, one hand rising to rub at the starburst scar high on his left pectoral, the bacta patch on it not entirely removing the pain. Perhaps everyone’s current treatment of him was not unwarranted.

Echo kept the hand on his shoulder, the gentle grip grounding, until Tech’s breathing had regained a more normal rhythm, and for several minutes they sat in silence, watching the moon-yos scampering about in the trees.

“I don’t imagine Crosshair’s going to use his rifle again,” Echo said softly, apropos of apparently nothing, and Tech exhaled sharply with another wince.

“I am certainly fortunate to have survived. A direct hit from a Firepuncher rifle bolt, particularly one modified as Crosshair’s has been, would typically result in death regardless of the quality of one’s armor.”

“I don’t think he’s ever been grateful to have missed a target,” Echo remarked, “even if you did pop up and declare ‘Crosshair, you missed,’ you little shit.”

“It was an accurate observation! I have not known Crosshair to miss a target without injury being involved, and I was unaware of his tremor at the time, so I had no basis for comprehending such a phenomenon! Also, I did not ‘pop up’ - ”

“No, you stayed down long enough to give all of us heart attacks, because your damn helmet fell off - ”

“I do not understand what the - truly inadequate, I might add - state of the Empire’s armor has to do with inducing myocardial infarctions in the squad - ”

“ - and we saw your face on the assassin Crosshair had just shot - ”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“….he would not be the first of us to kill a clone,” Tech said softly, leaning a little more heavily against Echo’s shoulder. “I would not, in fact, even be the first clone he had killed, and I was willing to give my life to ensure the survival of the squad previously. His actions were objectively correct, even if he had been aware of my identity at the time.”

“If he’d been aware of your identity, he never would have taken the shot,” Echo countered, shifting enough for his head to rest ever-so-gently against Tech’s.

“Not taking the shot would have been illogical. I was a threat to the lives of the squad at the time.”

“Feelings aren’t logical or objective, Tech.”

“I am aware, which is why they are often difficult for me to process. I am struggling to even categorize the emotions my experience as a CX-trooper have left me with, although I have identified guilt, inadequacy, anger, resentment, and what I believe to be grief. I was unable to resist the programming as Crosshair was, despite having been deliberately engineered for my intellect, for the strength of my mind, while Crosshair, who was created to - to shoot accurately - was able to resist the entirety of the reconditioning, and to escape Tantiss with Omega’s help, while I was so fully under the command of our enemy that I not only destroyed our home, I returned our sister to them!”

His voice had been steadily rising throughout, and it shattered into sharp gasps on the last words, prompting Echo to turn and gently pull Tech against his chest, wrapping him gently in an embrace and rocking them gently from side to side, stroking Tech’s hair as the other clone trembled against his chest.

The moon had fully risen by the time Tech’s breathing slowed again and he drew back slightly from Echo’s embrace, turning so that he was resting with his shoulder against Echo’s chest and his head tucked under his chin.

“I should have been stronger.”

“You were plenty strong, Tech.”

“Echo, I am aware you have not been present for significant portions of my - ”

“Tech. I can read a damned report whether I was present for something or not. And I’m not focused on what you did, I’m focused on what you didn’t do.”

“…please elaborate.”

“You landed the charges on the Marauder while Wrecker and Gonky were outside of it and gave them time to get clear, rather than blowing it up with them inside. You didn’t shoot Hunter, you shot down the pilot of the ship he was trying to hijack and let him swim away. You scared the civilians here, but you didn’t hurt any of them.”

“I killed numerous members of Rex’s team on Teth.”

“Do you want me to tell you how many deaths I’m responsible for? Because I’ve calculated that, you know. Should I have been stronger?”

“Echo, our situations were completely different and comparing them would be pointless. Furthermore, you were not deliberately mutated specifically to have a significantly increased intellect which should have offered immunity to - ”

“Have you considered that it wasn’t intellect that protected Crosshair?”

“Clearly it was not a matter of his intellect, as mine did not… ah.”

“He didn’t outsmart it, he out-stubborned it.”

“That hypothesis seems entirely reasonable, yes. However, I shall not endeavor to test it.” Wincing, Tech sat up slowly, bracing himself on one of Echo’s knees to rise to his feet, then offering a hand down, which was calmly accepted.

When they were both standing, Echo jostled their shoulders together gently. “So, feeling better?”

Tech blinked. “…somewhat, yes, thank you.”

“Anytime, brother.”

FIN

Short and kinda bad but I just needed them talking it out and Echo being his good ori’vod self. Tech is Not Coping Well and needed a hug.

The initial idea of this had less talking and Cody was there at the end telling them they both now understood how regs felt after Order 66, but that version failed to materialize when I got to my keyboard.

#the bad batch #TBB #tbb season 3 #tbb speculation #tbb echo #tbb tech #tbb fanfiction #sw tbb #fanfic

[henrysglock]

Does Brenner really asks Henry "what changed your mind? Is there someone else"? Are you serious? Is that actual dialogue?? I'm just shocked, how is no one talking about how weird Brenner is with Henry? does it just flies over most peoples heads?? What the hell

That is straight out of the plays I saw. Both of them. Verbatim.

Henry decides to leave HNL because Patty asked him to come back to do the school play. He tells Brenner he wants to leave, and the scene more or less goes like this:

"I'm leaving." "I'm sorry to hear that. Can I ask why?" "I've decided I don't want to do this (read: make contact with the Shadow) anymore." "What changed your mind? Is there someone else?" "...No." "What, you think you can be normal? Go to prom with some stupid girl?" (Taking pages out of byler's playbook, I see)

And if I recall correctly, that's when Henry starts trying the theater doors to get out. Brenner goes on to tell Henry that he's all Henry will every have, etc. Brenner also, at one point, refers to Henry as "my boy", to which Henry whirls around and storms back towards the stage while growl-yelling "I'M NOT YOUR BOY". (And god it's so fucking good in person.)

Brenner very much treats Henry like a misbehaving/unfaithful wife. It had me gasping even the second time I saw the show and knew it was coming. I expected their dynamic to be clear, but I didn't expect it to be this blatant.

(Right down to love triangle blocking and shared color palettes! Slay. I hate it.)

More "fun" freak facts: Brenner kisses Henry on the head twice during his first stay in the lab:

When he's trying to trauma-bond Henry to himself by forcing him to lose control and kill a rat, only to present himself as a sole possible source of comfort for Henry. After Brenner cups Henry's face in his hands to take readings of his pupil sizes (1.9 and 5.9 respective to left and right eyes...1959...), Henry turns to sob into Brenner's shoulder about it, and Brenner hugs him/kisses his hair and tells him that what he did was "very good". (All of this while Henry's displaying, and I quote, "traumatic mydriasis", which is consistent with strokes and major head injuries. No medical treatment for Henry, just kisses and petting from Brenner.)

When Henry's having his grand mal seizure after displaying images of Dimension X. Brenner doesn't give him proper seizure care, he just cradles him, pets him, and kisses the top of his head. While Henry's half-aware post-seizure, Brenner asks him if he'd like to make contact with the Shadow. Henry agrees, but then as soon as he's slightly more aware he looks to a doctor behind him and literally asks for help. He looks back and says "Help..." Brenner also massages Henry's shoulders while he's ball-gagged in the '70s, and tells him he's been "such a good boy these past few years", which means he's fit to meet the children, which are referred to both as his and Brenner's children, but also as his siblings.

This means he kisses/caresses Henry more than Patty does. Period. Point blank.

Brenner also has some choice lines about Henry and killing. Henry's being forced into killing this whole time, but Brenner turns it around on him and says, verbatim, "You liked it more than you thought you would". It's 10000% giving "You actually wanted it/You were asking for it" irt being, uh, forced into doing something that you didn't want to do. (Especially irt the Shadow and all of its rape coding...Yikes!)

Brenner also massages Henry's shoulders while Henry's ball-gagged and belted to a chair in the '70s, all while telling Henry he's "been such a good boy these past years", which means Brenner has deemed him fit to meet the children...the children which are referred to both as Henry/Brenner's children, but also as Henry's siblings.

Yeah. They're considered Brenner and Henry's children ("You're as much a father to these children as I am"), but they're also Henry's "brothers and sisters". You do the math on that one.

Lots of freak vibes all around.

#it's genuinely so uncomfortable to watch #equally as uncomfortable as the Virginia stuff #my ass was shocked stiff about it. like get Away from him. what the fuck dude. #tw rape #tw csa #just in case #st: tfs #asks #tfs spoilers

[sygneth]

Okay it's time for more of jeanalysis, haven't posted any for a week and that can't be

I have been thinking a bit more about how Jean we see in the playthrough is not a good representation of himself, and a few more things came to my mind.

RCM is a source of ongoing trauma. Let's put aside the job itself, the bodies, the crime scenes, and the terror of that all. Most of the officers we hear about are either brutal, toxic masculinity embodiments (often both), or not high in the ranks enough to be able to make change. Jean's partner is, for months now, always drunk, high, or both, and he (Jean) is the one who has to bear the consequences of Harry's behavior. And the citizens they are technically supposed to serve, hate the police (and rightly so). And let's add it's not a 9-5 job but a duty. For an averagely sensitive person, this is a whole lot to fuck with their head. Not to say for a more sensitive one*.

So yeah, having to deal with that all, he had to develop some sort of coping mechanisms and with fucking Revacholian/Elysian mentality and awareness of mental health, they couldn’t be very healthy right? Yeah. Especially if you take that toxic masculinity (that shows not only in the RCM but most likely the whole uneducated on the matter society of poorer districts of Revachol. Hell, wealthier districts too, it’s a general problem always and everywhere in patriarchal societies, just look at us here on Earth 2023, Poland for that matter is a great example) into consideration. No wonder he channels all his emotions into anger, because. Anger is “masculine”. Anger is acceptable. It’s fine to be angry and it’s fine to get aggressive when you are. They won’t judge for that, what is more, they’ll likely clap if you snap at someone or go and break something.

Being grumpy and sarcastic all the time? Welp. Considering that he got to spend most of his time in a surrounding that constantly traumatizes him, one gets to get bitter. (Let me get somewhat personal for a moment and just say that I have been suffering from high-functioning depression for years now, no meds seem to work here, and I have no means of doing anything more than I already did, with the shitty medical services that we have here and no money for private docs. And whenever I have to deal with people who trigger my traumas I get all spikey. And trust me, I try not to, but I can’t always control it. So yeah, here is also that. And that’s me, living in 2023 on Earth.) And just look! The more triggering factors, the more spikey he gets! How come?

(At the precinct he is grumpy alright, but he’s not really that aggressive until Harry calls. Same in the Whirling or during the trial. When he talks to Judit, Kim, or Cuno, he’s much better than when he talks to Harry. The fact that they had a great fallout just a few days ago that he probably hasn’t yet recovered emotionally from only adds here, as he is actively angry with Harry. And here look what I said before about channeling emotions.)

I feel like there could be a nice conclusion here but there is nothing more to add here, I suppose. Just that there are chances he is actually a nicer guy than we get to see and that I think there is hope for him, even in his reality.

*(Well we could of course argue whether he is or is not a sensitive person, but I’ll just say that you don’t catch the depression or addiction from thin air, these are in the majority of the cases results of someone being sensitive and not knowing healthy ways to deal with their emotions, so here’s that. Also, he apparently writes poetry (?), come on. (source: Jean&Harry’s desk promo, for those who missed that one (if you did then go and read this thread this is fucking mine of gold)))

#mmhmmmm yeah another essay is in #jeanalysis #jean vicquemare #disco elysium #jean heron vicquemare #jeanposting #will i ever start making funny posts instead of deep ones

[intheticklecloset]

Akutagawa's Offer (Bungo Stray Dogs)

Primary Universe

Summary: Dazai sends Atsushi out on a solo mission, but little does the young detective know that he's also sent Akutagawa to meet him there...

A/N: MY FIRST SHIN SOUKOKU FIC LET'S GOOOO!! I'm so excited to share this with you!! I love these boys and their enemies-to-lovers energy so much! Enjoy!! ^^

Word Count: 3,281

~~~

Akutagawa stared at his phone. The name on the screen had to be wrong. There had to be some mistake. This just…this just didn’t happen.

He let it ring so long it went to voicemail.

Dazai did not just call him. Not on a regular basis, not once in a blue moon, not at all. Never. Not even once since leaving the Port Mafia. So why now? What was happening here?

His phone buzzed, letting him know he had a new voice message. Akutagawa pressed a few buttons, glanced around to make sure his colleagues weren’t nearby, and raised the phone to his ear.

“Heeeey, Akutagawa! I know this is unusual, but I promise I’m calling you for a very good reason. I want to talk to you about Atsushi; I think I’ve figured out a way for you to take him down, if that’s still something you’re interested in. Give me a call back, m’kay? Byeee!”

This. Just. Didn’t. Happen.

Dazai didn’t call him, and certainly not to help him with something as personal as this. The man knew Akutagawa was determined to take Atsushi down on his own terms, right? So why was he interfering? Why did he care? What was this?

He pressed another few buttons. The phone rang a couple of times before Dazai picked up. “Oh, hey, Akutagawa! I just tried to call you—”

“I got your message,” Akutagawa interrupted, getting right to the point. “Tell me what I need to do.”

~

Kunikida sighed as Dazai hung up the phone, but he couldn’t say he was surprised. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to encourage this kind of interaction between the two of them? Atsushi is still new to a lot of things; I don’t think this would be a good first—”

“Relaaaax, Kunikida,” Dazai replied, turning to him cheerfully, pocketing his phone. “I know what I’m doing. Trust me, this will be good for the both of them. You’ll see.”

“I still don’t think Akutagawa was the best choice…”

“Atsushi will be fine. I’d never purposely traumatize him any further.” Dazai’s gaze softened as he looked at his friend. “You believe me, don’t you?”

Kunikida sighed again, but he nodded. “Yes. I believe you. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

~

Atsushi glanced at the crumpled-up paper in his hands, scanning the address and then scanning the buildings around him. He frowned in confusion. This couldn’t be right. There was no number 1775. It hopped from 1774 to 1776. He glanced over his shoulder at the opposite side of the road. 1773, 1777, 1779…where was 1775? It was missing!

“Oh,” he said aloud, glancing between 1773 and 1777, noticing an alley splitting the buildings apart. “It must be back there. Ugh, Dazai, why do you have to send me to do these kinds of things…?”

Still, he had an important informant to meet, so with a deep breath, Atsushi walked forward, slipping into the alley and out of sight of the main road.

It was dark back here, but thanks to his ability, he was able to see in the dark better than most. He got to the L where the alley curved and ran along the backside of the buildings out front, confused to see that it continued on for a bit and then opened up again further down, presumably between another set of numbers like this entrance was.

He glanced at the paper. 1775. He looked at the walls around him.

No numbers.

Atsushi sighed, pocketing the paper and pulling out his phone in one movement, turning to go back out the way he came.

Suddenly, he realized he wasn’t alone back here.

“Rashomon!”

Atsushi tossed himself to the side just as a dark tendril of power shot past the place he’d been standing. He whirled around, shocked to see Akutagawa melt out of the shadows, coming straight for him. Where had he been hiding?!

“What the – Akutagawa?!” Atsushi cried, scrambling to his feet, putting his guard up. “What are you doing here?”

“Dazai said this would be the place,” Akutagawa replied, coughing into his hand a little before continuing. “Though I wasn’t entirely sure he was telling me the truth.”

“You’re…you’re the informant?” He knew it was wrong the moment he asked.

Akutagawa scoffed. “I’m afraid you’re mistaken. Dazai was the informant; it appears he played you right into my hands after all. How surprising.”

Atsushi didn’t have time to process or contemplate that answer. Rashomon charged him again, and he was forced to spring into action, dodging every stab thrown his way, ducking under every swipe that tried to take his head off.

“Hey! I thought you said you weren’t going to kill me for six months! What’s the deal?!” Atsushi demanded, getting his feet under him and shifting his calves into his tiger’s powerful legs, lunging forward for a counterattack.

With no effort whatsoever, Rashomon caught him in midair and threw him against the back wall of the alley, pinning him there a few feet above the ground.

Akutagawa approached him lazily. “I said I wouldn’t kill, but I never said I wouldn’t fight. You had to know this was inevitable.”

Okay, the man had a point there. Atsushi struggled, kicking the air. “Well, what are you planning on doing if not killing me? Just showing off because you can? Seems kind of petty.”

Rashomon pulled him away and then slammed him back into the wall. Atsushi coughed from the force of it, blinking rapidly. Then he was being slid down until he was only inches from the alley floor, tendrils around his arms keeping them above his head, Akutagawa glaring right into his face.

“I hate you,” the dark-haired man growled. “I want to squeeze the life right out of you, you pathetic coward. But we made a deal, and I for one will not go back on my word first.”

Atsushi was nervous. This was not a good position to be in when facing down the Port Mafia’s Hellhound. “Y-You said…Dazai was the informant? What did you mean by that?”

“I’m sorry to say he sold you out.”

“W-What?”

“He gave me information that would aid in my quest to take you down even though I can’t kill you yet. And though it’s not exactly to my taste, if it will make you beg me for mercy, I’ll gladly put it to the test.”

Atsushi shivered. He didn’t like where this was going. “What…information?”

Akutagawa paused. For the first time today, he seemed hesitant about something. He slowly retracted his hands from his coat pockets, Rashomon still keeping Atsushi pinned in place. “Dazai tells me you are quite…” More hesitation. “…sensitive, weretiger.”

Sensitive?

“What…what do you mean…sensitive?” Atsushi asked, watching Akutagawa’s hands as they went from resting at his sides to raised in front of him, then cracking knuckles, then back to his sides. The Port Mafia member finally made eye contact after a long moment, watching him carefully.

Suddenly Atsushi understood with startling, terrifying clarity.

“Wait…you don’t mean…?” He shivered again, visibly this time. Akutagawa’s brow quirked ever so slightly, clearly intrigued, if not a tad amused. “B-But I’ve…I’ve never been…how would he know…?”

“Never been?” Akutagawa interrupted, looking suddenly alarmed. “What do you mean you’ve never been – everyone has been…”

Atsushi grew up in an orphanage that was basically a prison to him. He’d been belittled and tortured and eventually exiled. No one had shown him any kindness, no one told him he had more to offer than being a burden, no one had ever…

Akutagawa clenched his fists. Dazai, you absolute son of a… Why would he tell him this was the answer if Atsushi had never been subjected to it for anyone to know? What was the point? What game was that suicidal freak playing now?

“He…he said he wanted to fix that, but only when I was ready, and…” Atsushi was rambling, feeling very vulnerable in more ways than one. He averted his gaze when Akutagawa looked back at him. “I didn’t think he meant you.”

Akutagawa was going to kill both of them when this was all over, when he was allowed to kill again. But right here, right now, he had bigger problems.

“Are you?” he asked finally, his voice quiet.

Atsushi blinked. “Am I…am I what?”

“Ready to fix it?”

There was a long, long silence.

“Are you…offering?”

Akutagawa rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe he was doing this either. “Yes. But I can’t promise I’ll be merciful if it does indeed make you desperate enough to beg me for mercy. So answer me, weretiger. Are you ready?”

Dazai had done this. Dazai had given Atsushi the paper, sent him on his way, told him not to worry, that he could handle it all on his own. All while having arranged for Akutagawa to be here too, in this moment, for this purpose. Was Atsushi afraid? Of course – he was scared out of his mind. But he trusted Dazai, and in some weird way, he knew Akutagawa trusted him, too. Why else would he offer? What would he have to gain other than the knowledge that Dazai trusted his former protégé enough to do this?

“Yeah,” Atsushi finally replied, voice just above a nervous whisper. “I’m ready.”

“Very well, then.” Akutagawa hesitated another moment, then seemed to steel himself and took another step forward, officially arm’s length away from Atsushi. He lifted his hands, paused, then let out a sigh of resignation and gently grasped the detective around his torso.

Atsushi flinched at the contact, wishing for all the world he could bring his arms down. Akutagawa looked at him. “S-Sorry,” the weretiger stammered, cheeks turning pink. This was so embarrassing.

“Don’t apologize for reacting.” The raven-haired man pressed his thumbs into his ribs. “It’s only natural.”

This time Atsushi gasped and a giggle slipped out of him completely beyond his control. His eyes widened. “W-What the—”

“I wonder if Dazai had your super detective look into this matter. It does in fact appear that you are quite sensitive, despite his having no reason to know if that were true.”

“I-I don’t knohohow,” Atsushi replied, another giggle escaping him as Akutagawa’s thumbs continued their kneading pattern into his ribs.

Akutagawa hummed, sliding his hands down slightly, digging his thumbnails into his rival’s sides instead. That got a bigger reaction, as Atsushi squirmed against the wall and giggled freely, an odd mix of excitement and panic on his features.

“You look startled, weretiger.”

“W-Wahahait, wait!” Atsushi pleaded, surprised when Akutagawa complied. “Is it supposed to feel…?”

“What?”

“I don’t know…weird? Funny? I can’t stop myself from laughing no matter how hard I try.”

“You think you were laughing?” Akutagawa challenged, a new look in his eye that made Atsushi nervous all over again, reminded of who exactly he was at the mercy of here. “You’ll know when you’re laughing, weretiger. Mark my words.”

“Ah! Gahahaha, wait, Akutagahahahawa!” Atsushi squealed, his giggles coming out harder and faster as Akutagawa let his fingers wander, scribbling from his sides to his belly, which drew out a snort that surprised them both.

Akutagawa smirked. “Good spot, I see. I’ll remember that for later.” He ran his fingers up the sides of Atsushi’s torso, settling in his exposed underarms, tickling through the thin material of his shirt.

“Ehehehehehehe!” Atsushi tossed his head back against the wall and kicked the air by his rival’s side. This was so strange – not to mention awkward, considering the circumstances – but at the same time, it felt almost…pleasant? Fun, even.

Akutagawa silently continued his exploration, fingers tracing Atsushi’s neck for the briefest of moments before he yanked his hands away as though he’d been burned. Effective or not, he was not going there with the weretiger. It was too intimate for his liking. His hands traveled back down, skittering across Atsushi’s belly again, drawing out yet another squeal and harder giggles and squirming. He hummed, taking mental note of the hot spot.

“Hah! Wahahahait!” Atsushi cried suddenly, feeling a jolt of terror go through him when Akutagawa didn’t stop this time.

“Wait for what, exactly?” the man asked, thumbs kneading into his waistline near his hips. “Haven’t you waited long enough?”

Atsushi dissolved into unstoppable giggles, kicking the air, nearly catching his rival on the shin a couple of times. Akutagawa wanted to restrain his legs as well but thought that might be a bit overkill for a first time.

Not that there would be any other times, of course.

Skipping over his thighs – again, too intimate – he bent down to squeeze his knees, pleasantly surprised to hear Atsushi let out a shriek that became almost a wail of distress when he reached around to scribble at the soft backsides.

“Nahahahahaha! Akutagawa!” the detective whined, trying to squirm away from his grip.

“Hold still, weretiger. You’re wiggling like a worm.” Akutagawa glanced at the younger man’s bare feet, considered a moment, then used Rashomon to lift one leg up for ease of access and scratched at the proffered sole.

Another visible shudder ran through Atsushi followed by more helpless giggling, though he didn’t seem particularly bothered by this spot like he had with his knees and belly.

Right. That was enough information to work with. Akutagawa released his leg and gave him a moment to breathe, waiting until Atsushi timidly looked up at him before speaking again. “This is your last chance if you want to change your mind, weretiger. Otherwise the only way you’re getting out of this is by begging me until I’m satisfied. Understand? What will it be?”

Akutagawa was offering him an out? That was…strangely merciful of him, though Atsushi knew if he chose to keep going it would be the only mercy he’d get until he was screaming his lungs out, for sure. He considered the times he’d seen tickling between others growing up – how the one being tickled usually pleaded for it to end pretty quickly. But then he thought of Dazai, and how the man had enjoyed being subjected to the playful torture for a little while at least, and Atsushi hadn’t felt any immediate desire to get away yet, so…

“Well?”

Atsushi swallowed, then nodded. “F-Fine. Make me beg, then.”

Akutagawa’s eyes flashed with something akin to eagerness. “Oh, I will. You can bet your life on it, weretiger.”

~

Within just a few minutes, Atsushi was regretting everything. His head was tossed back with hysterical laughter – Akutagawa had been right; he wasn’t laughing before, but he certainly was now – and he was thrashing against the wall, legs kicking frantically as his rival dug all ten fingers into his belly and simply would not let up.

“PLEHEHEHEHEHEASE, STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!!” He cried, feeling slightly embarrassed to be begging so quickly, but this was his first time ever being tickled! He hadn’t had a chance to build up any kind of resistance to it in his entire life! “GAHAHAHAHAHA NO NOT THEHEHEHEHERE AGAIN – AKUTAGAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!”

Akutagawa couldn’t help but feel a rush of satisfaction hearing Atsushi completely fail to even get his name out for how hard he was laughing and pleading now, even if it was only a few minutes in. He’d half expected the weretiger to last longer than this, but he supposed it couldn’t be helped. Still, he wasn’t satisfied with the amount of begging he’d heard thus far. He wanted more. Lots more.

He kept drilling one finger into the detective’s belly button while another hand dug into his side. “You can do better than that. Tell me how bad you want me to stop. Perhaps then I’ll consider sparing you.”

“PLEASE, I CAHAHAHAHAHAN’T TAHAHAHAHAHAKE IT!! IT’S TOO MUHUHUHUCH!! AIEEEHAHAHAHAHAHA STAHAHAHAHAHAP!!”

Akutagawa had switched to digging into his underarms.

Atsushi shrieked with laughter, shaking his head, arms trembling as he fought against Rashomon to try and pull them down and protect himself, fight back, anything. He bucked his hips when his rival shot back down to his ribs, legs flailing but somehow missing Akutagawa every time. He cursed, growing desperate. “PLEHEHEHEASE, NO MOHOHOHOHOHORE!! THIS IS TOO MUCH!! TOO FAHAHAHAHAHAHAST!! PLEASE, AKUTAGAHAHAHAHAWA, SPARE MEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!”

After another few torturous moments, Akutagawa finally stopped tickling. Atsushi collapsed against the wall, gasping for breath, surprised to find laughter-induced tears threatening to leak from his eyes. He dared a glance up at his rival, blushing under the man’s intense gaze.

“T-Thank you…” Atsushi managed, voice a little raspy.

Akutagawa hummed. “I suppose Dazai was correct after all. This is a good way to take you down without killing you. Until six months from now.”

“Please…l-let me go…”

Rashomon disappeared so quickly it completely took Atsushi by surprise. He crumpled to the ground, too relieved to notice that he was on his knees before his rival now.

Akutagawa took some small pleasure in realizing it for the both of them.

“You will tell no one of this,” the mafia member said at last.

Atsushi looked up at him. He smirked a little. “Don’t want everyone knowing you’re secretly a tickle monster, huh? Wahh!” Rashomon started to drag him to his feet again. “Okay, okay, I won’t tell!”

“And,” Akutagawa growled, getting right in his face, making him stumble back into the wall of his own accord this time, “you will tell Dazai not to waste my time with something like this again.”

“S-Sure.” Atsushi shriveled a little, shifting his gaze to a spot over the darker man’s shoulder. “But…”

“But what?”

“Ah…never mind. I’ll talk to Dazai.”

Akutagawa grabbed him by the throat – not choking, just startling him into sudden focus. “Your origins are depressing enough without something like this being another source of misery for you. Do not let your old master laud this over you as well.”

Atsushi’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Even I, in my youth, was able to experience what you could not. I am sorry for you. But I will not have you feeling sorry for yourself. Go out and experience the things you were deprived of, weretiger. Including this.”

“Akutagawa?”

The Port Mafia member retracted his hand and Rashomon, settling back into his usual unbothered stance. “I am telling you to live, idiot. While you still can.”

Atsushi stared at him for a long moment, astonished. He couldn’t help but smile just a little. “Wow…thank you.”

“Because the next time we meet,” his rival said, shooting him a glare, “I will not be so kind.”

Then he turned and used his ability to vault onto the rooftops, disappearing before Atsushi could reply.

~

“Dazai! What were you thinking?!” Atsushi demanded as he burst back into the detective agency later that day, startling everyone but Kunikida and the man in question.

“Oh, Atsushi! Good, you’re back.” Dazai leaned back in his seat and grinned at him. “So, how’d it go?”

“He could have killed me!”

“But he didn’t.”

“He told me to tell you not to waste his time with something like that again.”

“I’m sure he did. But the bigger question is, how did it go?”

Atsushi hesitated, suddenly feeling embarrassed all over again. He hugged himself, feeling a little warm in the cheeks. “Fine.”

Dazai beamed. “That’s all that matters.”

“Hold on a second!” Atsushi cried, following his mentor as he got up, stretched, and sauntered toward the office door, ignoring the several curious faces around them. “Why did you do that? It was so awkward!”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I was planning to pay you back as an apology.”

“Wait…how?”

Dazai led him out into the hall and glanced over his shoulder with a wink. “By sharing a little information about Akutagawa, of course~”

#fanfiction #tickle fic #bungo stray dogs #bsd #akutagawa ryuunosuke #atsushi nakajima #osamu dazai #shin soukoku #sskk #akuatsu #rivals #enemies to lovers #first time ticklee #tickling #ticklish #tickle

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #48 — Froid and His Awful Boyfriend Come For a Visit

So you know how last issue Getaway manipulated Tailgate into going on a suicide mission, by telling him they’d get space-married if he did? And then Whirl got shot? And then Cyclonus had to stab a former warlord and brain him with a flatscreen to go save his crush? And then Cyclonus got shot? And then Tailgate exploded all gay-like?

Yeah, we’re not focusing on that right now. It’s time for Rung to do his goddamned job for once.

Our issue opens up in Rung’s office, where he’s having Skids talk through his memories. I should have known he’d bother doing his job for one of the hottest guys on the ship.

Skids, shortly after the nightmare hellscape that was the Simanzi Massacre, was employed as a bomb negotiator. Now, you may say, that doesn’t sound like quite the right pairing of words to use, but you have to understand that Cybertronians are robots, and also never had a Geneva Convention to work out what was and wasn’t a war crime, so they sort of just did whatever back in the day.

I bet whoever figured this shit out got a huge pay bump, and then was shot in the street for being an absolute monster.

The anti-personal mines were a head and other vital robo-organs locked in the galaxy’s worst pressure cooker, set to blow if the still-living robot got too stressed out. Skids’s job was talking these guys down so he could turn their brains off and disarm everything. Because Skids, as we know, is very good at talking people down.

Just an absolute ace at deescalation, this guy. Certainly doesn’t suffer from snark poisoning.

The flashback takes place during Skids’s religious phase, which also doesn’t help matters; he goes and drags the mercy of Primus into it, and when you’re a head in an IED, you’re not exactly feeling like god loves you all that much.

Our dear bomb boy explodes, sending Skids soaring straight into the custody of a Decepticon Hygiene Team, who drag him and a few other Autobots away in chains to the unhappiest place in the galaxy (that doesn’t contain Overlord).

Skids in the present takes a moment to collect himself, as these memories are related to the ones that Chromedome had refused to uncover for him with mnemosurgery way back in issue #8.  When we get back into it, we see a friend that we haven’t visited in quite a while.

Maybe Mr. Flywheels Scavengers deserved to get super-blendered after all.

Flywheels is in charge of gluing inhibitor spikes to the roofs of all the prisoners’ mouths. If someone with one of these spikes attempts to transform, the spike deploys, turning their brain module into a donut.

“But what if someone doesn’t have a mouth?”, asks James Roberts’s canonized self-insert character Rev-Tone. Well, not to worry, you fucking moron, because you’re at Grindcore, the home of pain and suffering!

That’s a series wrap on Rev-Tone, folks! Let’s give him a hand!

Skids is assigned to room with another prisoner, though his name won’t be found out til it’s more devastating for the readers, as present-day Skids is starting to run out of steam with remembering the worst days of his life.

We cut back to modern day, where Skids and Rung have finished building one of Rung’s model ships— likely a tactile distraction while Skids was recounting what he could remember. Skids laments not being able to pull the ripcord on all this and just have it needled out, but Rung reminds him that Chromedome didn’t want to re-traumatize him with just slapping everything on the brain-table.

We then learn a little bit about Rung, as it’s revealed that he only purchases models of ships he’s been assigned to, and that he was scheduled to be on the fateful Ark-1 trip, before the Senate yanked him back planet side. He’s also a bit of a loser, his own theories on psychology being overshadowed by Froid’s. Must really hurt, being outshone by the guy with the ballgag mouth.

Rung asks Skids how he wants the thumb-recording of today’s session sent to him, and Skids says he wants it emailed directly into his brain, because you can do that shit when you’re a robot. They schedule their next appointment, Rung is revealed to have his entire ass out, and Riptide lets him know that he’s got a guest.

I’m sure that dramatic shadow over his face isn’t anything to worry about.

There’s a stunned silence, an awkward introduction, Froid confirms that he has not, in fact, been dead this entire time, and then he gives Rung the most horrifying hug in the universe with his terrible gibbon arms. Skids takes this as his cue to dip, remarking on Froid’s “primal beads”, some sort of religious paraphernalia on-par with the matrix tattoo he had on his cheek all those years ago.

Over in the medibay, we come to find that Cyclonus isn’t actually dead, because he was protected by the power of love, and also being the toughest motherfucker to ever exist in an undead capacity. Nobody’s super sure what the hell happened to Tailgate, but he’s still out cold.

The ship co-captains show up, Megatron being very, very defensive about how much he totally wouldn’t have hurt Tailgate, despite having been fully ready to crush his little head like an egg just a few hours ago. Cyclonus says that he should be the one to apologize, though his stance makes it look like he’s one misplaced glance away from throwing another television into Megatron’s teeth.

Thankfully, it looks like everyone’s up to speed on what a shitlord Getaway is, as Rodimus had Chromedome poke Tailgate in the brain while he was unconscious to figure out what the fuck happened.

Rodimus, shit like this is why 89 members of your crew voted “no confidence”.

Cyclonus, ever a romantic, is taken with the idea of someone setting up a fireworks show just for him surviving a hail of gunfire. Velocity bursts his bubble, however, as the light show is actually for Thunderclash, who was re-awoken by whatever that weird rainbow explosion was.

Back over in Rung’s office, Rung is waiting for an explanation as to why Froid has the audacity to be alive right now. Froid hasn’t been seen since the “Tetrahex Ripper” was caught, when he joined the prison ship taking him— Sunder— and his brother Septre to Garrus 6 for their crimes.

No word on if it’s any better than Garrus 9.

Froid became obsessed with Sunder, which worked out about as well as anyone could expect, when he was taken hostage by the brothers after they escaped their cells. There were some causalities, including Septre, but Froid managed to escape to the mechanical planet of Scarvix, where he continued his work as a psychiatrist. Rung has been cleaning his glasses this whole time, probably so he doesn’t have to look at Froid’s awful, awful body.

Froid starts fiddling around with Rung’s models, and Rung finally asks why the fuck Froid is here, considering Rung was under the impression he was dead until about five minutes ago. Froid drops the buddy-buddy act, asking for Rung’s patient notes. Rung refuses. He asks again, stating the importance of having them, though he doesn’t clarify why. Rung refuses again. Froid alludes to letting a very big secret of Rung’s slip if he doesn’t get what he’s oh so politely asking for, grabbing Rung’s arm to make his point extra clear.

Over in the oil reservoir of contemplation, Skids is having a think, trying to remember more of his worst memories. Like how he used to room with Quark.

Quark, as thanks for having removed the death spike from his throat, gives Skids a piece of advice to help him survive Grindcore: don’t do anything to stand out. Of course, this is Skids we’re talking about, who is both supremely talented and in-canon hot, so that might be a bit of an ask. Quark then comments on the lack of a soundtrack these days, which gives someone outside the cell a perfect entry into the conversation. This is someone Skids recognizes in the past, but present-day Skids just can’t get any further with the memory.

Back at the Psych Rumble Power Hour, Rung is holding firm to his morals, once again refusing Froid’s request. Froid folds, saying that he’ll just take his sorry ass back home then. Rung goes to see him off, and finds that Froid’s ship is being guarded. Rung questions why Magnus would have folks stationed at the shuttle bay, since they typically don’t do that. Other than the fact that Tailgate and Cyclonus violently assaulted a superior officer and then bolted, it would appear that Froid is also being a naughty little bastard.

Rung put some goddamned pants on, you’re ruining the dramatic reveal!

It turns out that Froid and Sunder have been living together since their escape, and Froid’s taken quite the liking to Sunder, completely hand-waving his obsession with Cybertron’s god of death, and the concept of sin, and his history of being a serial killer. Rung is horrified by this, stating that Froid’s become codependent and is way too close to Sunder to be doing his job correctly.

Of course, Froid throws that right back in his face, because, as we’re all quite familiar with by this point, Rung is super buddy-buddy with everyone on the ship, especially the hot guy who’s one of his most involved patients. That’s when we get the real kicker— Rung’s secret, that Froid’s been helping keep all these years? Rung’s been delicensed since well before the end of the war.

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: nobody on the Lost Light can do their goddamned job.

That begs the question of how Rung could have gotten away with such a thing, given that half the ship’s crew is cops, with Ultra Magnus having once held the title of King Big Dick of Policeland. It turns out that the ship Rung was serving on at the time, the Fateful Archetype, had been shot down shortly after his hearing, with him being the only survivor, and all the paperwork burning up in the crash. Awfully convenient, that. Considering how scary Rung has proven to be in the past, I’m not completely sure he didn’t set some shit up, but anyway! It’s time to meet Sunder.

Well, hello to you too, sunshine!

Sunder’s lack of eyeballs does serve a purpose beyond shock value; in order to have a modicum of control over his buff as hell serial killer boyfriend, Froid’s convinced Sunder that he needs to be able to see his victims in order to remotely mnemosurgery them. Because that’s a thing he can do. He also says that traumatic memories are delicious. Because that’s a thing he does, eating memories. With his remote mnemosurgery skills.

James, what the fuck.

Anyway, this is why Froid wanted Rung’s patient files; he was gonna find the guys who were repressing memories and feed them to Sunder.

Then Skids shows up and shoots Froid with a grappling hook.

Rung tells Skids to run, but it’s too late, because Froid just broke his primal beads and is bowling them at Sunder as he yells for his fucked up boytoy to hit the deck. And boy howdy, does he get a strike. Let’s see what Sunder’s all about.

Okay Mr. Tumblr Poetry, let’s calm down now.

Sunder, now knowing that Rung’s the guy in charge of the ship’s mental health, give him the evil eye and riffles through his brain like a phonebook, picking out all the tastiest treats, which makes Rung’s glasses explode for dramatic effect.

Then why the FUCK did you take him to the Lost Light, you malpracticing buffoon? This ship’s basically a twinkie with a trauma cream filling!

Sunder, of course, notices that Skids and his delicious brain are right there, so he goes for that first, dragging us back to where we left off in the flashback, where a level 5 theatre kid moment is happening.

Jesus, he’s even got a cape. What a dweeb.

#transformers #MTMTE #issue 48 #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #comic script writing

[writeyouin]

Hi, I feel this is kinda weird, but how would the LL crew members of your choice maybe react to a male liaison that likes BTS and kinda dances really well to some songs? 👀 You can ignore this if you don't like it

Transformers MTMTE/LL Reader Insert - Dancing

A/N – Hey, this is really just a drabble, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Warnings – None.

Rating – T

It started as most things on the Lost Light did; with a near-death experience. After a traumatic event wherein everyone’s lives had been put in danger, especially yours as the only human on board the ship, everyone needed to blow off some steam and celebrate the fact that they were alive, and mostly unscathed.

As such, a huge party was thrown in “Visages.”

Initially, although you knew how to dance and were fairly good at it, you were a little too shy to do so. Yet, one at a time bots got up to dance. Rodimus, Swerve, and Tailgate were among the first, showing off their talents with fast moves and loud cheers. Then, some of the slightly more reluctant bots got up to dance. Chromedome and Rewind were slow-dancing with one another; Nautica and Nightbeat soon joined them.

Whirl also joined the soiree, though it wasn’t clear whether he was dancing or trying to start a brawl.

Then, some of the shyer bots joined the festivities. Rung allowed himself to join the fray, and even Ultra Magnus was convinced to give it a go, though Ultra Magnus kept strictly to code on how he acted; until then you hadn’t known there was a rulebook to what kind of dances were appropriate, but at least Ultra Magnus didn’t enforce that on anyone else.

It was very much noticed when you didn’t join the celebration.

Rodimus made his way over to drag you to the dance floor. Your protestations were ignored as he lifted you over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. You were taken to the DJ’s booth where you were allowed to request a song. Under pressure, you asked for Dynamite, a song you knew well from BTS, which you didn’t think would be too embarrassing.

When the song started, you were glad that everyone seemed more invested in themselves or their partners as you started to dance. Every step of the dance was familiar as you had practiced it almost daily as a form of exercise. It wasn’t the only song you knew the choreography for, but it was among your favourites.

Soon enough, you were dancing with confidence and the bots cleared the way for you as you performed some of the more dramatic steps. After a short while, a small crowd started cheering for you, and that number only increased as Mirage used his outlier ability on you, giving you several copies of yourself to dance with, each mirroring your moves exactly.

You never planned on being the star attraction of a party, and yet it felt good to just let loose and have fun.

As you danced, Rewind filmed everything, making sure that anyone who missed the event would be able to see it later on the ship’s log. Tailgate was watching you closely, trying to copy some moves and hoping that you might teach him how to perform them properly if he asked nicely; maybe you could even start a class. Rodimus was already preparing the next party, ready to see what you could do with a customized playlist, and Whirl… was definitely stealing high-grade energon from behind the bar while nobody was watching.

All in all; it was a night to be remembered.

#fanfiction #fanfic #reader insert #reader #transformers #maccadam #tf #rung #whirl #rewind #tailgate #rodimus #rodimus prime #mtmte #more than meets the eye #ll #the lost light #lost light #dancing #mirage #nautica #nightbeat

[courfeyracs-swordcane]

teddy, king, beloved, sunbright,

what the fuck are the ballad brothers

Therse guys in my head. I don’t know very much about them but maybe making a masterpost will help? Literally I cannot emphasize enough how much I was just listening to music while I was driving and. now there’s guys in there. With a lot of implied sci-fantasy worldbuilding I don’t understand yet. Anyway!

Kyrie Aleidis Ballad

29, she/her, former sword-for-hire, current fugitive. The older Ballad Brother. Priorities include vibing and keeping things good for her baby brother (before) and trying to fix the world after it broke (metaphorically) while she was gone (after). Diagnosed big fuckoff “microchip sword like that guy from Transistor”

The Horatio to FG!C. The Gojo to Haibara. The Mordred to Gawain (HNOC). Also Guinevere (HNOC). Laertes (Hamlet). If Roddy was a little more serious and had less responsibility. Little bit of Cyclonus aswell but in a Whirl way. Dyker robobs if he was marginally less traumatized.

Alonzo ‘Toro’ Ballad

(Except only Kyrie is allowed to call him that)(Ari tried it once to be obnoxious and he punched them)

25, he/him, former Little Guy, current sword-for-hire. The younger Ballad Brother. Priorities include: being just like his sister when he grows up (before) and do you think he fuckin knows he’s just trying to get from day to day over here (after). Terminal funny bitch (emphasis on the bitch). He’s even asexual.

If Feldspar DM grew up to be FG!C/Underhill Jay Sleepaway. The Haibara to Gojo. Gawain HNOC. Tien Stormlight. Cyrus Planegays. They’re both kind of Zoro also actually. If Miki RGU grew up to be John-or-Benny OSCU. If you combined the entire Ricosquad robobs into one guy.

Ari Basil Finch (Seneca)

25, any pronouns, several jobs best summed up as Mad Scientist. (Weapons tech guy. Intern. Part time front desk in the financial department. Necromancer. Not the order they would put those in.) Priorities include: bringing their [somebody] back from the dead, causing problems on purpose. (No I don’t know who they’re trying to bring back I just know they can’t do it.)(why? good question.) Nepo baby extraordinaire. There’s something wrong with them in the brain <3

Other Things I Know:

there’s an organization

Kyrie fucked off to work there as a sword for hire when Alonzo was like 14 without saying anything (first time they had ever been meaningfully separated)

These bitches don’t have parents (possibly sci-fi shenanigans)

Alonzo found out that’s where she was a couple years later and joined up as soon as he could

Shortly before that she quit and/or got fired very very dramatically and became the organization’s Public Enemy Number One

Alonzo was kind of underground during that and he still doesn’t really know what’s going on. He’s not gonna get her ass tho.

At some point they have a confrontation swordfight on a roof. I don’t know what the deal with that is.

Alonzo and Ari have a weird fucked up gay thing going on best described as Part Time Boyfriends. Kind of dating. Also Ari is 100% milking the sugar daddy angle of Running Front Desk In The Financial Department. And also they’re kind of just coworkers (derogatory). (TLDR. POV you have to wrangle with the financial department at work to get your expenses account in order for your next assassination but you got a little too close to the guy running the front desk over there and now they think it’s funny to fuck with you)

Alonzo doesn’t have any faith in the necromancy. Heehoo!

That’s about it??? Rotations to follow.

#ballad brothers #THANK YOU MOONSHINE THIS WAS VERY HELPFUL TO ORGANIZING MY THOUGHTS HERE #I am not. a worldbuilding guy. except when it comes to bullshit side characters and insane small town drama. this is a time.

[aceredshirt13]

1917: A Movie Review

(I created a Letterboxd account specifically to review WWI movies so you can find the review there if you want, but I had no idea reviews got buried so fast so I figured I'd put it here for safekeeping, too.)

Hot tip: if you, while making a movie about the futility of war, ever had to stop and think to yourself, “Okay, but are Germans, like, actually people, though?” then I can only both recommend you kindly consider not making a war movie, and pray for your speedy recovery in the hospital after I have beaned you with a chair.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The rest, which contains spoilers, is under the cut.

I should preface this by saying that I am not an expert on cinematography by any means, and I also watched this movie on an airplane, which means that I wouldn’t have good opinions on the cinematography even if I were an expert on it. I also had not seen any other World War I movies before this one - the only experience I’d had with WWI prior was in the form of books, half the fourth season of Blackadder, an episode of The Twilight Zone, and the occasional spectacularly dark Jeeves and Wooster fanfic. But I had grown interested in learning about the horrors of the war, and had heard much about 1917 and its portrayals of them - so after finishing Barbie on the same international flight, I decided to do a Great War spin on the Barbenheimer formula and give 1917 a whirl.

In terms of horrors, the movie certainly delivers. I will probably never forget Schofield accidentally plunging his hand in the chest cavity of a rotting corpse, or having to crawl to a riverbank over a row of bloated cadavers. Being forced to relive the memory of these scenes actually made me sick to my stomach just now. It is not as much of a visceral waking nightmare as the 2022 version of All Quiet on the Western Front, but it is, without question, awful to see. Gory imagery, however, does not a good war movie make - for that is the burden that the writing must bear.

It’s a pretty simple story. Two very young British privates are given an insanely dangerous mission to travel over enemy lines and deliver a message to call off an attack that will end in disaster, and because one of them has a brother in danger of dying if they don’t succeed, travel they do. Blake (the one with the brother) is chatty, good-humored, and naive about the realities of war, while Schofield (not the one with the brother) is reserved and cynical, traumatized to the point of amnesia from his service at the Somme. Their friendship is endearing, and is unquestionably the best part of the movie. We then follow them through many quiet, almost video game-like journey sequences across No Man’s Land, occasionally interspersed with conversation, mishaps, and near-death situations they help each other out of. Then, not even halfway into the movie, tragedy strikes, and Schofield must make the rest of the journey alone - through more quiet, video game-like journey sequences that sometimes suffer from pacing problems due to the lack of either interpersonal interaction or enough things going on save for walking to keep the viewer engaged. (I actually began to find myself wishing the latter part of the movie was a video game, so I could at least take the exploration into my own hands.) At the end of it all, he reaches his target a bit tardily, but is ultimately able to convince the captain that the push should come to an end, and Blake’s brother is, for now, spared an untimely death. The film ends with our surviving hero leaning back against a tree, gazing at a letter his mother gave him that reads “Come back to me.” before the screen cuts to black.

Now, I’ve been watching WWI films with a friend of mine who is more well-versed in war media than myself, and they let me know after watching this movie on their own that the “pushing past people in the trenches so that you can give a message to call off an attack” segment is the plot of the final scene of Gallipoli. I do not plan to watch Gallipoli, mainly due to the immense degree of historical inaccuracies fabricated to paint British colonial attitudes in a horrible light (which is something that could have very easily been done without erasing the massive losses of an entire section of the British Army that was supporting the Australians), so if you do, you might want to skip ahead to the next paragraph. But if you don’t, well, my friend also let me know that unlike in 1917, where Schofield is too late to completely stop the attack but not too late to spare the elder Blake’s life, in Gallipoli the attempt fails, and the main character’s friend is killed. So not only does 1917 come off as a touch derivative, but it is actually softer than the predecessor it derives from. The captain’s speech about the futility of Schofield’s efforts in the face of future attack orders rings true, but in the end Schofield fulfilled his promise to his dead friend, completed his mission, and lived to tell the tale. Perhaps it was so audiences wouldn’t be disappointed or dissatisfied, and feel the efforts weren’t all for nothing (the Dawn Patrol movies, though more successful at their message than 1917, are a bit guilty of this), but isn’t the entire point of anti-war cinema that it is always, always all for nothing? Shouldn’t you feel miserable, and angry, and dissatisfied?

Well, I did actually feel miserable, and angry, and dissatisfied at the end of this movie, but not for the right reasons. I would be willing to forgive pacing issues and a slightly-too-bright ending, because there was a lot in the movie to like, particularly in regard to the frightening imagery and the relationship between Schofield and Blake. The most compelling scenes in the movie, in fact, surround the aforementioned tragedy that results in two becoming one - but ay, there’s the rub. 

Because remember how I said that their friendship was the best part of the movie? Yeah, well, the way that friendship ends is the worst.

So Blake and Schofield are walking along, and they find a barn. They happen to find some milk, and are enthusiastically drinking it while a dogfight takes place overhead - and suddenly a German plane comes careening into the barn in flames. The pilot survives, but is on fire and in terrible pain, so the pair pull him free and pat the fire out. Schofield suggests they put the man out of his misery, but Blake protests because the pilot is begging for water, and asks Schofield to get some for him from the pump. And as he does, the injured German pilot - a man who has just been saved from an extremely painful death by two of his enemies who could have killed him on sight or abandoned him to burn - stabs Blake in the stomach.

I could go on about how shocked and devastated I was at Blake’s subsequent slow and painful death from blood loss, and how Schofield is at his side taking care of him until the very end. About how Blake asks him to take the picture of his family out of his pocket, and show it to him, so he can look at them as he dies - about how after he’s dead, Schofield tries to take his body to a field of blossoming trees, because Blake had spoken earlier about how much he loved them, and how his mother taught him how to identify the flowers, but is picked up by another detachment and forced to abandon his friend’s body where it is. That last bit was, to me, the most affecting and sad part of the movie. But beneath it all, I had one thought, and that thought was “this movie had better have some good German representation to make up for that”.

So I waited, patiently, for the movie to let me know that that was just one man - that that did not represent the entire German army. It’s certainly unlikely for the person you save from death to immediately betray you, but not unheard of - perhaps the pilot was particularly nasty, or prideful, or patriotic, motivated by a hatred of the enemy so powerful that he would rather die than be taken prisoner. Certainly a fair share of real-life RFC pilots were possessed of a complete lack of empathy for and a murderous loathing of their German enemies, so it’s just as certain that the inverse was true. All the movie had to do in turn was show that a German soldier could be just as capable of kindness as poor Blake, or show that a British soldier could be just as heartless as the pilot. And when Schofield later runs into a German soldier - one so babyfaced he looks even younger than himself - and spares his life in exchange for keeping his presence a secret, the opportunity to humanize a German soldier by showing him frightened, and grateful, and letting him go, seems like a total given. Easy and inevitable for an anti-war film, right?

Wrong. The guy betrays him and rats him out immediately. And is killed by Schofield for his trouble. Because German soldiers, God forbid, can’t act like the terrified children they were, crying or vomiting or hesitating or begging for their lives like in 2022’s All Quiet - no, the only emotion burning in their breasts is passion for the Fatherland. (I haven’t seen German characterization this bad in my current WWI catalog outside of the Biggles movie. Do you seriously want the bar to be the Biggles movie?) Never mind that Schofield, an already-bitter character who just watched his friend die by sparing a German soldier, is somewhat unlikely to have even done this in the first place. We can’t show the hero doing something cruel - just like we can’t show him being racist toward the Sikh soldier in the van, or ragging on the Germans like the other white soldiers in the same. No, Schofield, the traumatized, cynical soldier surrounded by death - he must stay kind, and faultless, and pure in the face of that nasty Boche horde. Christ alive. I am mad at this movie.

Like, the war’s over, dude. It’s been over for a hundred years. Do you really still think that all Germans are evil? Is that propaganda poster of the gorilla with the Pickelhaube framed above your bed? Sure, yeah, there’s a brief scene where the leads traverse an old German bunker and find a photo of a soldier’s kids, but that’s not exactly enough of a balance to pat yourself on the back for giving your movie some Big Boy Nuance. That gorilla with the Pickelhaube probably had kids, too. Pickelhaube gorilla kids. I’m drifting from the point.

The point here is that showing Germans have kids they love is not enough, because you have shown that while our British heroes are capable of compassion for the other side of the war, the Germans are in possession of no such thing. Not only are they never shown being empathetic to the enemy, but every bit of empathy they receive from the enemy is repaid with violence, betrayal, and hatred. The British? They love everyone! The Germans? They loathe everyone save for their own! Sounds a bit like the creators mixed up their world wars in terms of ideology, eh? Not that that would have even been true of the average foot soldier in Nazi Germany, because of the apparently radical notion that Germans are human, but the application of this to a war that didn’t even have one Nazi in it only makes it even more infuriating and absurd.

On the subject of Nazis, not even the twist of the traitorous spared German is original to this movie. The same exact bullshit happens in Saving Private Ryan, where (spoiler alert) a German soldier in WWII spared from a cruel and unethical death by the compassion of a kindhearted poet “repays” his kindness by murdering his Jewish comrade later in the movie. And what do both of these movies convey as a result? Certainly not an anti-war message, for an anti-war message proves that war is needless and futile. How can your movie show war is needless, when Germans are depicted as ontologically evil - when kindness toward them is depicted as a flaw and a weakness? No amount of gore and sadness will fix that leak, because all you’ve told us now is that war is terrible, but completely necessary. That it’s just the awful burden our Good Righteous HeroesTM must bear to fight off the forces of evil. You know, Kantorek-from-All-Quiet shit. Do you really want to be spouting Kantorek-from-All-Quiet shit? Of course you don’t.

But do you not want to because of his ideology? Or do you just not want to because he’s German?

I wonder.

(P. S. This isn’t directly related to the movie, but it’s mentioned in the reception section on Wikipedia that this movie is historically inaccurate because it features some black British soldiers mixed in with all the rest - a demographic claimed to have been “negligible”. Now, I’m not a historian, but given that there was more than one black officer in the British military during the war (including a known former cricketer and an RFC pilot, among others), I think it’s probable that the section was full of shit. No documentation in the British Army existed on whether or not any given enlisted soldier was black, so there are no exact numbers to prove anything one way or another, but the existing handful of officers suggests the portion of black enlisted men was likely much higher than that. There may not have been a lot of black British soldiers in WWI, but there’s absolutely no way there were none at all. So like, good on 1917 for having black soldiers, at least. Wish they were in a less frustrating film.) (P. P. S. If you want to see a piece of Allied media do in a paragraph what this movie couldn’t do vis-a-vis Germans in a two-hour-plus runtime, I recommend playing the game Over the Top on the Canadian War Museum website. Yes, really. Check it out. It’s free, it’s not that long, and it’s worth it. The Dawn Patrol movies do a good job of humanizing Germans, too, and go out of their way to do so when they didn’t need to to serve the plot - and those were only made two decades or less after the actual war. If they could do it, why couldn’t 1917? Embarrassing.)

Edit: Having now watched Grand Illusion, I am even more mad at 1917. Grand Illusion, aside from the many other ways it humanizes both sides excellently (and doesn't shy away from flaws, either), has a section involving two French escaped prisoners being given shelter by a German war widow and her young daughter, and they spend a brief amount of time getting to be a sort of makeshift family despite it all. It brings to mind the only major plot detail of 1917 that I didn't mention in this review - Schofield encountering a frightened young woman and a baby while traveling through the burned-out shell of what he thought was an abandoned village. Upon seeing her, I remember thinking "Oh, thank God. A hiding German woman. This movie finally remembered Germans are in possession of souls. Perhaps, together, they can share some scrap of kindness, even as the war rages around them."

Nah. She's French. The baby isn't hers, either - she just found the baby and is looking after it. Because you know how the Jerries are - razing villages and endangering innocent women and children! It's just what they do! Never mind that Grand Illusion - which, like the aforementioned Dawn Patrol movies, also came out around twenty years after the First World War and right on the cusp of the Second - could acknowledge mutual humanity. That's just what the Germans want you to think.

#red randomness #red reviews #wwi #i don't want to tag 1917 because it's not really fair to the people who *did* like the movie to go and be mean on their fan tag #but i did want to post it on my account nevertheless #because this movie makes me want to punch a wall #will red reviews be a new series? maybe not lmao. we'll see.

[thewiglesswonder]

much like how bumblebee and wasp shared the same protoform mold, there's secret unseen siblings of a few other characters. Main one I think of is a secret Whirl, not spoken of by Shockwave (whom he shares a mold with) because Whirl became an autobot.

Not that Whirl liked it, he still ended up losing the watch shop he had before he gave in. Either way that's a headcanon I secretly adore, esp. if by this point Whirl had been put into the Elite Guard (or if he was just some guy on the lost light) he found shockwave at some point and it's the spiderman meme.

Also, them as weirdo little kids. Shockwave unlocking his ability to frame shift early and trying to eat whirl's antlers. Whirl screamed about it constantly. Just... siblings :)

I will be honest, I don’t know a whole lot about Whirl, but I do know he’s chaotic, blue, and very traumatized. Not sure how I feel about the “shared protoform mold automatically makes you siblings” thing, because I feel in TFA, found family is seen to be more of a player in the bonds department. But anyway, pitting Shockwave, one of the more composed, uptight Decepticons, against someone like Whirl would be very interesting.

#asks #tf #tfa

[saintsenara]

a very happy birthday to the weasley twins!

here's a one-shot i wrote about sound, colour, and one of you being dead.

there i will stay with you, whirling angelina johnson/george weasley teen | 7.5k words

fred was acid-green and electric-blue and fuchsia-pink. fred was scarlet and gold, in the sunlight after practice when we’d sneak down to the kitchens to eat our body weight in crumpets. he was purple and mustard and chartreuse and teal, when we were testing new products and they’d explode in his face, and i could never work out if he made the prototypes dodgy on purpose to make me laugh. he was opal-white and silver when we cast our patronuses together, with you-know-who’s voice echoing around us. he was emerald green when he died, covered with pale pink and apricot roses when he was buried, and under the orange flame of a dogwood now he’s in the earth. 

george claws his way desperately through the beige world of the first year without fred, and finds a shining, blinding flash of colour in angelina, where he least expected it to be.

authors notes under the cut

how george and angelina get together is a question which preoccupies me a surprising amount, in particular because - when the facts are put down on paper - it doesn't sound like a particularly healthy relationship... [which is, in fact, something jkr has said about it herself.]

but love takes all sorts, after all. i wanted to give george and ang the chance to be a good couple, and to meaningfully build a life together which wouldn't just be a half-life because fred's not in it.

i also wanted to think about grief and healing. i adore fic which focuses on how grief is big and paralysing and traumatic - but i also like something which looks at how grief is usually quite boring, which is what's hard about it.

and so sometimes the most healing thing you can do is sit and eat oven chips with your brother's ex, and realise slowly that you can still feel something other than that boredom.

#asenora fics #george weasley x angelina johnson #fred weasley #george weasley #angelina johnson #there i will stay with you whirling

[ryumikaidan]

Ryumi and the Magic Jewel (full script)

Blue Bird Productions presents…

(Open on a blue paper lantern in a dark room.)

Narrator: Imagine, if you will, a world separate from yours, inhabited by the strangest of beings. These creatures are the very things that go bump in the night, haunting Japan for as long as anyone can remember. Some are human-like, some are animal-like, while others are inanimate objects, come alive after years of neglect. Some are helpful, while many seek to cause mischief… but others are very dangerous. Whenever you turn out the light, they are there. They are always there. Welcome to my world.

(The lantern glows brighter, and a blue female figure with long horns -the narrator- emerges from the light.)

Narrator: Listen well, for tonight, I’ve got a story to be told. Be warned: what you will hear is not for the faint of heart.

(As she speaks, the shadow of a girl materializes behind her.)

Narrator: This is the tale of…

(Suddenly, the shadow speaks, startling the narrator.)

Shadow: Uh, Aoki? Are you trying to traumatize these people? ‘Cause it sure looks like it.

Aoki: Kagetsu, I’m just trying to help them beat the summer heat. And giving them chills is a good method, tried and true.

Kagetsu: Well, sure, if you don’t mind the nightmares. How about something for the kids? Something with true friendship, adventure, something that even adults will enjoy. Plus, it’s gotta have a happy ending!

Aoki: A happy…?! Are you saying my stories are too depressing?

Kagetsu: No, I’m just saying they’re too grim. Remember the one about the cow’s head? (shudders) Talk about knocking them dead…

Aoki: Look, my stories are probably even better than whatever weird fairy tale you’re thinking of. Besides, did you know that some fairy tales end badly? Urashima Taro, the Crane Wife…

Kagetsu: Well, those stories don’t count! At least, not to me. Come on, Aoki. I want a happy ending, they (indicates the audience) want a happy ending, even the girl who judges you from the gap between the shelves and the wall wants a happy ending.

(Aoki briefly whirls around to look at the aforementioned gap, sweating nervously. She thinks for a moment, then addresses the audience.)

Aoki: Do… Do you really want a story with a happy ending?

(The camera nods.)

Kagetsu: That’s a yes!

Aoki: Okay, Kagetsu, what do you have in mind?

Kagetsu: How about the one with the girl magician and the magic jewel? That one’s epic. Plus, it’s got the spooky wonders you were talking about. Y’know, folks like us.

Aoki: …Alright, but you’re helping me tell the story. This is a long one.

Kagetsu: YES!

Aoki: Ladies and gentlemen, we present a tale of a girl and her unusual friends on an adventure which will greatly change their lives forever…

(Kagetsu manipulates the shadows and light to form the title of the story…)

Ryumi: The Magic Jewel

Aoki: Our story begins in the village of Shintonoyama. It is here where our heroine lives with her mother, her only living parent, her father having passed away years previous. Name of Ryumi.

(Scene: A house in Shintonoyama, at sunset. Inside, a girl slips on her sandals in preparation to go out. This is Ryumi. A woman, Ryumi’s mother, approaches.)

Ryumi’s Mother: That time again, Ryumi?

Ryumi: Yup! Gotta earn our living, you know.

Ryumi’s Mother: Wait. (adjusts Ryumi’s bow) There. Perfect.

Ryumi: Mom, don’t worry about how I look. That’s my job.

Ryumi’s Mother: I know. Sorry.

(Ryumi leaves, waving her mother goodbye as she goes.)

Ryumi: Later, Mom!

Ryumi’s Mother: Good luck!

(As Ryumi hurries through town, she meets up with two village boys.)

Ryumi: Hey, guys!

Kagetsu: Also living in Shintonoyama are Ryumi’s two friends. They are Shigeto and Hisaaki, and tonight, they are her helpers.

Shigeto: So, what are we pulling off this time?

Ryumi: Eh, the usual.

Hisaaki: Nothing new, huh? Oh well. Guess people prefer the classics.

Shigeto: Hey, you think we can throw in the long necked girl thing again?

(The other two look at him.)

Shigeto: What? It’s funny. It needs comedy to balance the whole thing out. They’re gonna be throwing money at us.

Hisaaki: Either that, or they’ll throw something at us.

Ryumi: We’ll see.

(Cut to the interior of a theater, packed full of astonished villagers. Onstage, Ryumi is performing Mizugei, or water magic. The audience clap their hands. Next, she takes a small box, shows the audience that it’s empty, then drops a silk flower inside. She then reaches in and scatters dozens of silk flowers over the audience, who ooh and aah. Ryumi steps offstage, allowing Shigeto and Hisaaki to come onstage.)

Shigeto: Everybody having a good time, tonight?

(The audience cheer.)

Hisaaki: There’s your answer.

Shigeto: Well, how many of you here have heard of the witch with the extendable neck?

Male Theatergoers: ME!/Oh my god, YES!/I gotta see this!/Would this witch be incredibly beautiful?

Shigeto: Alrighty then, people! For your entertainment, she is here to demonstrate her amazing gift. Just sit tight.

(With that, the two exit the stage. The lights dim, and after a few suspenseful moments, a lantern is lit, illuminating Ryumi in a kneeling position, wearing a kimono and a geisha wig. As the audience watch, her neck seems to elongate. Her head floats above her body, while the bendable neck stretches and flexes. The crowd goes ballistic. One guy even pukes a bit in his mouth. Shigeto and Hisaaki watch from backstage.)

Shigeto: That never gets old.

Kagetsu: Y’know, I never got how all those tricks were pulled off. I mean, how does she do that?

Aoki: Well, for the long necked trick, I think they use a-

Kagetsu: WHOA, NO! Don’t spoil it! Think of the children’s hopes and dreams!

Aoki: (looks at the camera) …Okay.

(The show finished, the three take a bow during a round of applause. Cut to the exterior of the theater, where everybody, including Ryumi and her friends, are heading home.)

Shigeto: WHOO! What a show! We sure blew their minds tonight, didn’t we?

Ryumi: Yeah. Still, that was nothing compared to what my dad could do.

Hisaaki: Here we go again.

Shigeto: What could your dad do, again? Bring paper dolls to life, or something?

Ryumi: Well, yeah, but he also knew the Lord Taizan ceremony. That puts him right up there with Abe no Seimei. He’s probably even met a bunch of spirits in his lifetime. Yokai, too.

Shigeto: Okay, we get it. You wanna rise to his level and become a true magician. We’ve all heard that story before.

Hisaaki: If he has met yokai, wouldn’t there be one living in the forest who probably knew him?

Shigeto: Maybe, but then again, there are lots of ‘em in the forest! Take your pick!

Ryumi: I would like to meet a being who knew Dad. I never did get to learn all his secrets growing up.

Shigeto: Well, why don’t we try to find one? I know this great shortcut back to town. There’s no doubt we’ll meet a yokai along the way.

Hisaaki: Uh, Shigeto, are you sure about this? It could be dangerous. I mean-

Shigeto: Hey, no worries. Think of it as a test of courage. (to Ryumi) Whaddaya say, Ryumi? Are you in?

(After a moment of consideration, Ryumi gives her answer.)

Ryumi: Well… If it means possibly meeting someone or something that knew my dad, then… Let’s do it!

Shigeto: Okay, Ryumi! Lead the way!

(With Ryumi leading, they start on the path through the forest.)

Kagetsu: (sarcastically) Oh, wow. I don’t see how this could go horribly wrong at all.

(In the forest, the trio make their way along the path, with only their lantern to guide them.)

Hisaaki: You sure this leads back to town?

Shigeto: Sure, I’ve used it a dozen times during the day.

Hisaaki: (sarcastically) Well, that’s helpful.

(From a nearby tree, a branch seems to move, unnoticed by the three. It’s no branch, but the leg of some gigantic creature. Ryumi suddenly stops.)

Hisaaki: What’s wrong?

Ryumi: Don’t you think it’s too quiet here?

Shigeto: (looks around) Hey, yeah! No night birds, no animals, no crickets… These things just don’t happen! No noise in the woods?

(He stops, noticing how Ryumi and Hisaaki have gone quiet as well.)

Shigeto: See, even you guys. What are you looking at, any…

(Following their shocked gaze, he trails off, jaw dropped. For above, a mass of spiderwebbing stretches from branch to branch, with gnawed-on bones embedded within.)

Shigeto: …Oh.

(Suddenly, there is a gust of wind, and the lantern goes out. Almost immediately, something huge lands behind them. They turn around to see a gigantic, mad-eyed spider - a tsuchigumo.)

Ryumi: …Run?

(The trio proceed to do so, screaming all the way, with the tsuchigumo in pursuit. They tear out of the forest, running for their lives all the way back to Shintonoyama, shouting at the top of their lungs.)

Youths: HELP!/Somebody help!/Look out!/Run for your lives!/Death spider! DEATH SPIDER!

(As they tear through town, the people still awake at the time look at them, confused. Some come out of their houses to see what’s the matter. And then it is too late. The tsuchigumo breaks off from the chase, and rapidly crawls into the gathering crowd. The night air is filled with terrified screams as havoc ensues. Meanwhile, in Ryumi’s house, her mother’s eyes snap open.)

Ryumi’s Mother: Ryumi…?!

(Back amidst the chaos, the three frantically push and shove their way through the panicked masses, trying to reach Ryumi’s home. Ryumi stumbles and falls, and before the other two can pull her back onto her feet, the tsuchigumo singles them out. As the people flee, the tsuchigumo slowly approaches them. It prepares to pounce… but then a figure leaps between it and the trio.)

Ryumi: Mom?

(Ryumi’s mother stands there, unafraid. Then, she begins to glow with a great power, and nine fox tails appear from behind her. The three can only watch, stunned. The tsuchigumo lunges, but Ryumi’s mother levitates the youths and herself away from the attack. As they land safely on a nearby roof, Ryumi is the first to speak up.)

Ryumi: Mom, what the heck is going on?!

Ryumi’s Mother: No time to explain.

(Below, the tsuchigumo spots them. Ryumi’s mother holds out her hand, and a portal leading to a field outside Shintonoyama appears.)

Shigeto: WHOA! Okay!

Ryumi’s Mother: Ryumi, you must find your grandfather, Nakaari, my father.

Ryumi: Find my… But where?!

Ryumi’s Mother: He lives in the spirit realm. Go to him. Protect the magic jewel he has.

Ryumi: Magic jewel…? But Mom…

Ryumi’s Mother: More than our lives are at stake here. Hurry!

(Without another word, Ryumi jumps through the portal.)

Shigeto: C’mon, Hisaaki!

Hisaaki: Wait, can we talk about th- (Shigeto grabs him and jumps through the portal) AAAAHHHHHH!

(Once all three youths are on the other side of the portal, Ryumi looks back at her mother.)

Ryumi: Mo-

(Suddenly, the tsuchigumo tackles Ryumi’s mother, and the portal closes.)

Ryumi: NO!

(The portal doesn’t reopen. There is only them, and the night.)

Ryumi: Mom…

Kagetsu: Well, that was a downer. Also, there are so many questions that need to be answered.

Aoki: Don’t worry, we’ll get around to that.

Kagetsu: For example, RYUMI’S MOM WAS A NINE-TAILED FOX THE WHOLE TIME?! WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?! IS SHE STILL ALIVE?!

Aoki: I SAID WE’LL GET AROUND TO THAT!!!

(Scene: The field, daybreak. The trio awaken from their slumber, yawning and stretching. Ryumi is deep in thought.)

Shigeto: Man, what a night. You okay, Ryumi?

Ryumi: I can’t believe this.

Shigeto: Huh?

Ryumi: Mom was a fox all along. A nine-tailed fox. Why didn’t she tell me?

Shigeto: Aw, c’mon, it’s not that bad. Abe no Seimei‘s mom was a fox, too. Where else do you think he got his magic from? If your mom’s got magical powers, then you’ve got magical powers.

Hisaaki: Yeah, and besides, she saved us. That means she’s one of the good foxes.

Ryumi: Still… what did she mean when she said that more than our lives were at stake? And this jewel she mentioned… You don’t think…

(They all look at each other, uncertain.)

Shigeto: Yeah, mother definitely knows best on this one.

(There is a pause.)

Ryumi: Well, guess there’s nothing left except… We need to find the spirit realm.

(They start walking.)

Hisaaki: Uh, Ryumi? We don’t even know where to find a portal.

Ryumi: Then, we’ll find someone who does know.

(Cut to a sign written (of course!) in Japanese, with paper talismans plastered all over it. The three approach it.)

Shigeto: (reading the sign) “Now entering Yugatono. Demons and supernatural offspring stay out and far away.” (grins) But they don’t have to know you’re one of those offspring.

Hisaaki: You sure we should be heading through this crazy place?

Ryumi: There has to be somebody who knows how to get to the realm.

(They head off in the direction of Yugatono. Cut to the town, and a stereotypical angry mob.)

Mob: Kill it!/Avenge the poor woman!/Death to the demon!

(The trio enter the scene, taking notice.)

Shigeto: What’s got into them?

(The other two shrug. They push through the crowd, to see an obviously important man making an announcement, while a priestess stands nearby.)

Important Guy: Citizens! Just this morning, a horrific scene was discovered in the home of one Tsujiko Kinoshita, who, despite our previous warnings, chose to keep the unholy abomination which she had brought into the world alive! The woman was dead, the obvious victim of the demon seed found beside her body. Today, we are gathered here to bring justice upon the monster.

(Shigeto makes a “can you believe this guy?” gesture.)

Important Guy: Behold, the horror!

(The man steps aside, revealing a red bloblike creature with black hair, tied in a bag hanging from a post. The villagers let out a collective gasp.)

Important Guy: This vile thing must not be left alone to its own devices, not after what it has done to a pitiful and beloved member of our community!

(He beckons the priestess over. She complies, and steps up to the bound creature.)

Priestess: Begone, demon!

(She throws salt over the blob, who flinches.)

Blob: GAH! Right in the face!

Priestess: Wh- That always works!

Important Guy: And this freak of nature has the audacity to speak in a human voice!

(The people murmur.)

Ryumi: We’ve gotta do something.

Hisaaki: Wait, you mean saving that thing? Are you nuts?

Important Guy: Well, since the salts had no effect on the creature, THEN IT MUST BURN!

(At this, the villagers cheer.)

Ryumi: No, but they are.

Blob: Hey, waitaminnit! W-What are you saying? You’re gonna cook me alive?! What about thinking of the children?! I’m a kid, too!

Important Guy: Silence, foul monstrosity!

(His assistant pours oil around the post, while he lights a match.)

Important Guy: Your loathsome life ends now-

Hisaaki: Uh, question! Over here.

Important Guy: Oh, what now?! Speak up, boy! We don’t have all day.

Hisaaki: How do you know she was killed by this thing? I mean, there are a lot of other ways she could have died…

Important Guy: Her soul was devoured by the monster! The evidence is clear!

Hisaaki: You sure about that? ‘Cause from what I heard about these kinds of yokai…

Important Guy: OH, ENOUGH OF THIS! Burn, you-

(He turns to the post to find that the blob is no longer there. He turns to the crowd with a blank expression. The mob is just as confused as he is. Shigeto sneaks away with the blob, his hand over her mouth. She makes a muffled sound.)

Shigeto: Shh! You gotta keep quiet, or-

(Too late: The important guy hears Shigeto and looks in his direction.)

Important Guy: (gasps, then points dramatically at Shigeto) AHA!

(All eyes are on Shigeto.)

Shigeto: …Aw, man.

(He breaks into a run, the angry mob on his heels. Hisaaki joins him as he flees with the blob.)

Hisaaki: So, now what?

Shigeto: Don’t ask me! Ryumi’s the one who came up with this whole crazy ploy! Hold this, will ya?

(He tosses the blob to Hisaaki before running away. Now the mob is after Hisaaki, who takes one look at the blob in his hands.)

Hisaaki: RYUMI!

(He throws the blob as hard as he can. The blob lands in the arms of Ryumi, who ducks into a nearby alleyway. The mob, seeing this, converge into the alley, only to find nothing there. Or so it seems.)

Villagers: What the-/She’s not here?!/Where’d she go?

Shigeto: Uh, (disguises his voice) I think I saw them headed towards the river!

(The mob, completely fooled, all leave. As they do so, Ryumi peeks out from inside a large basket. Breathing a sigh of relief, she climbs out, clutching the blob, as Shigeto and Hisaaki rejoin her.

Ryumi: Nice one, Shigeto.

Shigeto: Eh, these guys are pretty easy to fool. Just tell them their landlord is a badger. They’ll believe anything!

(Ryumi sets the blob down, untying her.)

Ryumi: There you go. You’re safe now. Sorry for all that…

Blob: Are you kidding? That was actually fun! I kinda wanna do it again. Except, y’know, without the… running from death part.

Shigeto: Oh, trust me, the fun’s just getting started. See, we’re on a quest to find this girl’s grandpa, only he lives in the spirit realm. Know any ways to get there?

Blob: Uh… no. I’ve never really left town before. Come to think of it, I never left my house before until those guys showed up. My mama didn’t want me scaring anybody.

Shigeto: You sure did that, back there.

Hisaaki: What really happened to your mom? Did you…?

(The blob is silent for a moment.)

Blob: She… (A tear rolls down her face.) She didn’t want me to die, either…

(Flashback to last night, in the home of Tsujiko Kinoshita. She lies prone on the floor, her yokai daughter by her side.)

Blob: (tearfully trying to rouse Tsujiko) Mama, please! You can’t leave me! You can’t! I don’t need to eat anymore! Please wake up, Mama, please! MAMA!

(She breaks down crying as the flashback ends. In the present, the blob cries softly.)

Ryumi: So… she let herself die?

Shigeto: Wow… That’s awful.

Hisaaki: I… I’m sorry I asked.

(Ryumi holds the blob in her arms reassuringly.)

Ryumi: There, there. It’s okay.

(The blob sniffles, then looks up at her.)

Blob: Are you- Are you gonna adopt me?

Ryumi: Ah- W-Well…

Blob: Oh, please! I have no parents, now, and I’m an only child! Please be my sister! PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!

Shigeto: But… we just met you.

Blob: Oh! My name’s Akako! Mama named me that because how red I am!

Shigeto: I dunno, she should have named you “Chi”-

(Hisaaki claps his hand over Shigeto’s mouth.)

Hisaaki: WHOA, Shigeto!

Shigeto: (muffled) Sorry.

Ryumi: If we take you along, will you help us find somebody who knows how to get to the spirit realm?

Akako: Oh yeah! My mama once told me about this witch living in this old part of town.

Shigeto: Your mom knew a witch?

Akako: Well, she never met her in person, only heard rumors about her. But what this witch can do is stretch her neck! That’s… That’s literally all she can do.

Shigeto: Hey, what a coincidence. We have a stretchy neck routine in this show of ours.

Ryumi: Does she know where a portal is?

Akako: Yeah! At least, that’s what the rumors say.

Ryumi: C’mon, guys, let’s go find her.

(As they turn to leave, Akako leaps into Hisaaki’s shirt.)

Hisaaki: D’AH! What the-

Akako: Can’t have anyone seeing me!

Shigeto: Hey, yeah. Stay in there until we find her.

Hisaaki: Don’t I get a say in this?

Shigeto: Nope!

Hisaaki: Okay.

(They head out of the alley.)

Kagetsu: Geez, what a wild first meeting. But seriously, though, what do these villagers have against a poor, innocent blob? They should have given her to some childless couple to raise, not set her ablaze! What the heck is wrong with these people?!

Aoki: You forget, they thought she killed her own mother.

Kagetsu: Well, then they should have let her explain that!

Aoki: (ignoring her) On with the tale…

(Cut to the aforementioned derelict part of Yugatono, where a group of men are gathered outside of a certain house. Their leader knocks on the door.)

Boss: C’mon, Matsukura! This bathhouse ain’t gonna build itself! We got a permit to tear down this dump!

Woman’s voice from within: Get off my doorstep!

Boss: …HEY, SANJOU! GET OVER HERE AND TALK SOME SENSE INTO THIS WOMAN!

Sanjou: Okay, fine. (under his breath) Jerk…

(Sanjou walks over to the door and knocks loudly.)

Sanjou: Maka, come out of there!

Woman: Go away!

Sanjou: Sure thing. (turns to the boss) …Didn’t work, boss.

Boss: That’s it. (steps up to the door) Last chance, Matsukura! Either you come out, or we’ll drag you out!

(Inside, the woman, Maka, pauses.)

Maka: …Fine! I’m coming out!

(Upon hearing that, the boss grins smugly to his men. After a few moments, the door opens.)

Boss: I knew you’d see it our way-

(Suddenly, Maka’s head shoots out on the end of a long, prehensile neck, headbutting the boss in the abdomen. He collapses on the ground, clutching his gut, and looks up to see Maka’s head rising up above him, with the same smug grin he had.)

Maka: Alright, who’s next?

(The men scream and run away.)

Maka: Yeah, you’d better run! Heh. What a buncha-

(She is interrupted when Sanjou, who hadn’t fled, pulls a sack over her head.)

Sanjou: Got her, boss!

(As the boss staggers to his feet, Maka’s neck begins to shorten, pulling her body out of the house. She blindly takes a swing at him, but he just grabs her by the wrist and throws her over his shoulder.)

Boss: Let’s move!

(They quickly leave with the struggling, protesting Maka.)

Maka: (muffled) Let go of me, ya creeps!

(Meanwhile, the youths notice a group of people gathering.)

Shigeto: Now what?

Random Passerby: They caught a yokai! They’re gonna throw her out of town!

(The four look at each other, then follow the crowd. Cut to the edge of town, where Maka, neck now fully retracted, is thrown on the ground. She pulls the sack off her head, and glares at the gathered people. The priestess from before runs up.)

Priestess: I heard you were banishing a yokai?!

(The boss points to Maka.)

Priestess: Alrighty, then! (Starts throwing salt at Maka) BEGONE, DEMON!

Maka: (jumps to her feet) I’m not a- (gets salt to the face) GAH!

(The priestess begins to chase Maka, but is held back by a few villagers. The quartet can only look on.)

Boss: (to his men) Now, let’s get busy!

(His men cheer as they head back for Maka’s doomed house. The four watch them leave.)

Shigeto: How’d you like that? They kicked her out, and now they’re gonna demolish her home! Talk about harsh.

Akako: She seems like a tough woman. She’ll probably handle it like a champ.

(Cut to nearby, where Maka is maniacally attacking a tree with fallen branches and big rocks in rage. After this, we cut to her crying and sobbing hysterically, leaning against a larger rock. The quartet watch from behind a tree.)

Ryumi: Any ideas?

Shigeto: Yeah, I got one.

(He steps out from behind the tree and walks over to Maka.)

Shigeto: (putting her hand on Maka’s shoulder) Hey, c’mon, I wouldn’t cry like that if I were-

(Startled, Maka stretches her neck, twisting it around to face him.)

Maka: (ferociously) RHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

Shigeto: GAH! OKAY!

(He runs back to the others while she retracts her neck and resumes weeping.)

Hisaaki: (sarcastically) …Well, that worked out just fine.

Shigeto: (pushing him forwards) Okay, wise guy, you take a crack at it.

(Hisaaki hesitantly walks towards Maka. He looks back at the others for support, but they just give him a thumbs-up. Hisaaki, resigned, turns back to Maka.)

Hisaaki: Uh…

(Maka looks up at him, her face streaked with tears.)

Hisaaki: Hey, there. I know you’re sad about your house and everything, but it’s just a house. Maybe you can live with relatives-

Maka: Don’t have relatives.

Hisaaki: Oh. Okay. (looks back at the others, then back at her) In that case, you think you could-

Maka: I’M TRYING TO HAVE A MOMENT, HERE! LEAVE ME ALONE, KID!

(Hisaaki jumps and heads back to the others.)

Hisaaki: It’s no use.

Ryumi: Now what do we do?

(Akako then leaps out of Ryumi’s arms.)

Ryumi: Akako…!

(Akako hops over to Maka, who, fresh out of tears, has resorted to lying still on the ground next to the rock.)

Akako: Hi there.

(Maka doesn’t respond.)

Akako: Listen, we’re on a quest to find this girl’s grampa, and we need your help.

(Still no response.)

Akako: Hello?

(She tugs on the back of Maka’s kimono, and hops out of the way as the woman rolls onto her back. Akako hops onto Maka’s chest and looks down at her face as the latter’s eyes flutter open.)

Akako: Do you know a way to the-

(Upon seeing a red blob on her, Maka screams and sits bolt upright, throwing Akako off of her. Akako lands at Ryumi’s feet.)

Ryumi: Akako!

Akako: I’m okay!

Maka: SWEET MOTHER OF MERCY, WHAT IS THAT THING?!

Shigeto: This coming from the lady who can stretch her neck.

Maka: Aw, put a cork in it!

Ryumi: Look, we’re sorry for your loss, but we need your help. We have to find a way to get into the spirit realm-

Maka: The spirit- (gets to her feet) Who told you I know how to get there?!

Akako: Well, the rumors about you said that-

Maka: WHAT?! Didn’t anybody tell you not to trust a stupid rumor?!

(The youths look at each other. Maka sighs.)

Maka: Look, I do know where to find a portal. But I’m not taking you there, okay?

Youths: HUUHHH?!

Shigeto: AW, COME ON! We came all this way just for this?!

Maka: I JUST LOST MY HOUSE, KID! I’m not gonna embark on some life-threatening misadventure to someplace I’ve never actually been.

Hisaaki: You’ve never been to the spirit realm before?

Akako: The rumors didn’t mention this.

Shigeto: There’s a first time for everything, right?

Maka: I said no, and that’s final!

(She turns to leave.)

Ryumi: You can live in our town when this is over.

(Upon hearing this, Maka stops.)

Hisaaki: Ryumi?

Ryumi: Where we come from, people don’t fear weird stuff at all. In fact, you’d be welcome as any other normal person. Don’t you want a life like that?

(Silence.)

Maka: …You drive a hard bargain. Fine. I’ll take you to the nearest portal.

Shigeto, Hisaaki and Akako: YES!

Shigeto: Lead the way, lady!

Maka: MY NAME IS MAKA!

Aoki: And so, our band of adventurers set out for the portal to the spirit realm.

Kagetsu: Yeah, but… did Ryumi’s mom make it out okay?

Aoki: …Really? That’s your biggest concern?

Kagetsu: No… Yes.

Aoki: Well, luckily, we’re just about to reveal that…

(Scene: The interior of a derelict castle. The tsuchigumo enters the throne room, dragging Ryumi’s mother in its mouth by her kimono. It drops her and scurries back. Before the fox woman, a lady in a junihitoe rises from her seat.

Ryumi’s mother: You…!

Junihitoe Lady: Hello, Sana.

Kagetsu: Of course, she has a name!

Aoki: She’s your favorite, isn’t she?

Kagetsu: …Maybe.

(The lady in junihitoe steps forward to address Sana.)

Junihitoe Lady: What a surprise. All along, you’ve been hiding in the exact same spot your husband died in? How is it that I couldn’t find you until now? Come to think of it… the spiders I sent to find you never did return. Was that your doing?

Sana: Does it really matter, Shina?

Shina: That’s Lady Shina to you. But enough talk. (holds up Sana’s head by her chin) Where is it?

Sana: It’s in a safe place. That’s all you need to know.

Shina: Actually, I do need to know more.

(She produces a hand mirror with a hairy hand as its handle.)

Sana: Is that… a satori’s hand?

Shina: What a clever girl you are! Now hold still.

(Before Sana can react, Shina jams the hand, palm down, on her head. Images of a round, blue crystal and an elderly fox man appear in the mirror.

Shina: There you are… So, it’s with Nakaari. Thank you, Sana.

(Then, the mirror also reflects Sana’s memories of sending Ryumi, Shigeto and Hisaaki on their quest. Shina’s eyes widen.)

Shina: (flatly) Sana… Who are these?

Sana: The ones who will stop you.

(Shina frowns angrily.)

Shina: MONKEYS!

(A group of large, clothed monkey people -the sarugami- scramble into the room, tumbling over each other in the process. Finally, they manage to get themselves as close to organized as they can get.)

Sarugami Leader: You called?

Shina: I’ve got a job for you. Find these children, and make absolutely sure they never enter the spirit realm! Do I make myself clear?

Sarugami Leader: Actually, you’re opaque.

Shina: GO!

(The sarugami jump, and quickly exit the room. Shina rubs her temples. Cut to the forest, where the five, led by Maka, make their way forward.)

Shigeto: So, it’s supposed to be this way?

Maka: Of course it’s this way! 

Akako: How long has it been since you were here last?

Maka: Kid, don’t pressure me!

(Finally, they reach an old well.)

Maka: Here it is.

Shigeto: What, this well?

Hisaaki: So, all we have to do is jump in?

Maka: Pretty much.

Hisaaki: Okay, then.

(They look down the well, uncertain.)

Hisaaki: …Ladies first?

Maka: NO.

Hisaaki: …Can’t we just climb down there?

Maka: Do you even know where in the spirit realm this leads to?

Hisaaki: No.

Maka: Well, I don’t, either. JUST JUMP ALREADY.

Shigeto: What about you? Aren’t you coming?

Maka: Are you crazy? Of course not! I’m staying right here until you get back.

Hisaaki: You mean, if we get back.

Shigeto: (sarcastically) Wow, Hisaaki, thanks for that uplifting advice. I feel better about this already.

Ryumi: Alright, we’ll jump in together, okay?

(The trio join hands. Akako holds on to Ryumi.)

Ryumi: Okay, on three. One…

(Unbeknownst to them, the sarugami are sneaking up on them from behind.)

Ryumi: Two…

(The sarugami suddenly burst out from their hiding places to ambush the quintet. Akako sees them first.)

Akako: AAAHHH!!! THREE! 

(She jumps down the well. The others look down, stunned, until the sarugami grab them.)

Sarugami Leader: THROW ‘EM IN!

(The other monkeys comply, throwing the youths in one by one.)

Shigeto: You dang, dirty apes- (gets thrown into the well) AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

(The sarugami then grab Maka.)

Maka: Wait, no no no, DON’T-

(She is thrown down the well, screaming. The sarugami let out a collective bronx cheer.)

Sarugami: Hey, where does this lead, anyway?

Sarugami Leader: Underground, ya dummy! Where else?

(There is a pause as they wait for thuds from below. There is none.)

Sarugami: Uh, boss, you don’t think…

Sarugami Leader: C’mon, they’ve gotta hit the bottom eventually!

(Still no thuds. The sarugami leader begins to sweat nervously, as do the others.)

Sarugami: …This might be our biggest setback since Shippeitaro-

Sarugami Leader: AW, SHADDUP!

(Kagetsu bursts out laughing.)

Aoki: What’s so funny?

Kagetsu: Those monkeys are so dumb! They dropped them right into where they wanted to go!

Aoki: …Well, of course! Heh. (whispers) Our apologies to monkeys and other such primates everywhere for this portrayal.

(Scene: A swamp in the spirit realm. One by one, the group fall, screaming, into the bog with a splash. Ryumi is the first to recover, managing to regain her footing. She looks around for her friends.)

Ryumi: Shigeto? Hisaaki?

Shigeto: Ryumi!

Ryumi: Everybody okay?

Hisaaki: We didn’t die!

(Akako breaks the surface of the water, grabbing onto a floating log-like shape for support.)

Akako: Phew! We’re… We’re here!

Shigeto: Yeah. Good to know we all made it in one piece.

(Suddenly, the “log” Akako’s holding onto moves, rising out of the water. It’s not a log at all, but Maka’s extended neck. She raises her head out of the water.)

Maka: (groans) I’m in three pieces.

Shigeto: Hey, look who decided to come along after all!

Maka: I DIDN’T HAVE A CHOICE, ALRIGHT?!

Akako: So, where do we go from here?

Ryumi: Uh… (looks around) Good question.

Hisaaki: Yeah, how do we get out of here?

(As they talk, they don’t notice bubbles forming in the bog. A green-haired head pops out of the water, looking at them in curiosity.)

Shigeto: Don’t worry, guys. All we have to do is go in one direction, and we’ll be out eventually.

Maka: Do you always think from the seat of your pants?

Shigeto: I do my best, okay?

Maka: I wonder what your worst is like.

Akako: Maybe you could use your neck to mark the path! That way, we’ll know if we’re going in circles.

Maka: My eyes are in my head, you know! I can’t always see what my body’s doing. How am I gonna make it out of here whole?

Akako: Don’t worry. Once we’re out, we can go back in while your head stays, follow your neck to your body and lead it back to your head.

Maka: …It’s still out of the question.

Ryumi: Well, there’s gotta be something we can do.

(Maka attempts to sit down on a rock - only, the “rock” is actually the green-haired being’s head.)

Green Being: D’AH!

Maka: AAAHHHHHH!!! 

(As Maka jumps back up, the being in the water rises up to its full height, revealing itself as a girl in a green kimono. She is soaking wet from being in the bog, and cattails, lily pads and various other water weeds adorn her green hair.)

Swamp Girl: Hi.

(The group can only stare.)

Ryumi: …Were you there the whole time?

Swamp Girl: Long enough to hear that you’re lost. Can I help?

Hisaaki: You, help us?

Akako: Sure!

Swamp Girl: Then, follow me! My friend’s house is just over yonder. He might help you reach civilization! 

Maka: Wait just a minute. How do we know you’re not trying pull a fast one on us?

Swamp Girl: Any human friend of yokai is a friend of mine. C’mon! Step where I step, I know this place like the back of my hand! (looks at the back of her hand) …That’s new.

(The five follow the swamp girl through the marsh.)

Swamp Girl: …Anyway, my friend is a pretty smart guy! I mean, he graduated from the School for Talented Tanuki and everything. He’s also very… well-endowed. Then again, all tanuki are.

Shigeto: So, he’s a tanuki? Not some hideous ogre who lures human victims to his lair to munch on?

Swamp Girl: Oh no, even if he was an ogre or something like that, he would never hurt anyone, human or yokai! He’s a nice fella.

Shigeto: If you say so.

(They arrive at an old house.)

Swamp Girl: And here we are! It’s not much, but a home’s a home!

Ryumi: He lives here by himself?

Swamp Girl: Nah, he’s got plenty of housemates. (calls out) Hey guys! I got some newcomers here! C’mon out!

(Almost immediately, a bevvy of living objects -tsukumogami- come out from the various nooks and crannies of the house to greet the group, who, except for the swamp girl, are taken by surprise. From the front door, a short tanuki man emerges.)

Tanuki: Ah, Zurui. Good to see you again. Who have you brought here?

Zurui: I… have no idea. But they just came into the spirit realm, and now they need to get out of the swamp. Which is kinda a pity, ‘cause this is a really nice place.

Tanuki: (to the others) Well, welcome to the spirit realm. It would be a pleasure to help you out anytime.

Ryumi: Thanks!

Tanuki: Won’t you come in? My housemates love having guests.

Ryumi: Sure! (to the other four) C’mon, guys.

(The others comply, Maka doing so hesitantly.)

Kagetsu: What a nice guy.

(Aoki nods. Cut to the interior of the tanuki’s house. Everyone is seated at a chabudai table.)

Tanuki: It’s been a while since we’ve had guests from the other realm.

Ryumi: Thank you for your hospitality, Mr…

Tanuki: Mochiie.

Ryumi: Mochiie. Anyway, we’re looking for my grandfather. He’s a fox. Do you know where foxes live around here?

(Maka is clearly becoming increasingly uncomfortable at the staring eyes of a nearby mokumokuren.)

Mochiie: Unlike us tanukis, foxes prefer to live in or near the civilized areas in the spirit realm. Kaii Town, especially.

Shigeto: Kaii Town?

(Fed up, Maka gets up from her spot.)

Maka: I need a drink…

Mochiie: The capital city of the yokai.

(Maka walks through the house, looking for a drink. Along the way, she passes by varying tsukumogami, who are playing with each other, pulling pranks on one another, and generally messing around. None of them faze her one bit. She passes by a butsudan, and a nuribotoke pops out.)

Nuribotoke: OOGAH BOOGAH!

(Maka doesn’t even flinch. She simply closes the butsudan on him and continues searching.)

Maka: …Gotta be one around here somewhere…

(A ghostly white hand hands her a bottle.)

Maka: Oh, thanks.

(She takes a swig… but then spits it back out, as it’s full of water. She looks at the bottle, actually a kameosa.)

Kameosa: Hydration is important!

(Maka stares for a moment, then glares at the being who gave her the kameosa, a kosode no te. Back with the others…)

Shigeto: So, which way is this Kaii Town, anyway?

Mochiie: Just keep heading northeast, and follow the sparrows. You’re guaranteed to reach it, then.

Ryumi: Thanks for the advice.

Shigeto: Yeah, we’ll remember that. Northeast.

Hisaaki: …What was that about sparrows?

(Cut to Shina’s castle. Inside…)

Shina: YOU INCOMPETENT FRUIT-EATERS! You dropped them into the realm?!

(The sarugami cower behind their leader, who is also stiff with fear.)

Shina: Obviously, I shouldn’t rely on a bunch of monkeys. Now, where is she?

(Behind her, an ogress crashes in through a closed window with the sound of shattering glass. Shina whirls around at the noise.)

Shina: Kan…?

(The ogress, Kan, rises to her feet.)

Kan: Hey.

(Shina’s eye twitches.)

Kan: Sorry about the-

Shina: FORGET THAT! You’re late, as usual.

Kan: I prefer the term “fashionably late”. It makes me sound good. So, I take it your latest scheme to wipe out humanity with a rock isn’t going well?

Shina: What do you think?! (takes a moment to calm herself) Thanks to the stupidity of the last yokai I hired, (glares at the sarugami) Sana’s daughter and her friends have entered the realm. I want you to reach Nakaari first before they do.

Kan: Pfft. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of them and get the jewel for you. But it’s gonna cost ya.

(Shina sighs heavily. Cut to her opening a door to a room filled with piles and piles of gold, gemstones and priceless artifacts which have been taken from humans over the years.)

Kan: Now, that’s what I’m talking about.

Kagetsu: (whispers) Spoiler alert: She only gets one percent of that treasure.

Aoki: Kagetsu! (tries to silence Kagetsu, to no avail, since she’s a shadow)

Kagetsu: (still whispering) One… lousy… percent!

(Scene change to the quintet, making their way northeast.)

Shigeto: So, as long as we keep going in this direction, we’ll reach Kaii Town.

Hisaaki: Yeah, but “follow the sparrows”? What did he mean by that?

Maka: Living with a bunch of talking tools for who knows how long probably scrambled his brains.

Ryumi: Don’t insult him, Maka. I’m sure he knew what he was talking about when he said that.

Akako: Yeah! …What she said.

(From the nearby bushes, Kan watches, hidden.)

Shigeto: Y’know, Maka, you really should show a little respect for others.

Maka: Hey, I got respect!

Hisaaki: For whom?

Maka: What’s it to ya?!

Shigeto: We just wanna know if you really do have some respect in you.

Maka: It’s nothing to do with you, kid!

Akako: It’s a romantic thing, right?

Maka: WHAT?!

Akako: (hides behind the bow on Ryumi’s head) Uh-oh.

(Maka stretches her neck towards Akako, who backs away.)

Maka: Don’t ever assume that I’m in some kinda sappy relationship, Kinoshita!

Akako: What’s wrong with that? You could find a guy who accepts you and your neck-

Maka: NO! ALL MEN ARE IDIOTS!

(Akako falls off of Ryumi’s head at Maka’s outburst.)

Shigeto: Uh, Maka? We’re standing right here.

(As Akako recovers from her fall, she notices a single strand of hair suspended horizontally across the path. From her hiding spot within the bushes, Kan watches intently.)

Kan: C’mon, red thing. Touch the hair…

(That is not what Akako does. Instead…)

Akako: Hey guys, is this natural?

(The others look.)

Maka: It’s the spirit realm. When is anything ever natural?

Akako: No, look! (indicates the hair)

(Ryumi crouches down to inspect the hair.)

Ryumi: It… It looks like hair.

Akako: Huh.

(She reaches out to touch it. In the bushes…)

Kan: Yes. Yes!

(Just as Akako is about to touch the hair, Ryumi stops her.)

Ryumi: Akako, don’t! Something’s not right, here.

(Kan facepalms.)

Shigeto: Let’s just step over it and move on.

Hisaaki: But what if that’s what whoever put this here wants?

Shigeto: In that case, you go first.

Hisaaki: Wh-

(Shigeto pushes him forward. Resigned, Hisaaki takes one cautious step over the hair, then another. To his surprise and relief, nothing happens.)

Shigeto: Well, it’s safe.

Ryumi: C’mon, guys.

(One by one, they step (or, in Akako’s case, hop) over the hair. When Shigeto is in the middle of stepping over, Kan suddenly jumps out of the bushes.)

Kan: YAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

Group: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

(The group immediately begin running, Shigeto breaking the hair in the process. This triggers a bamboo cage with spikes lining the insides to fall. Because Kan is standing where the group was, it falls on her.)

Hisaaki: What was that?! Who was that?!

Maka: Who cares?!

(Kan manages to break out of the cage, albeit with injuries from the spikes.)

Kan: That was the only plan I had! Shina’s not gonna like this… (thinks for a moment) …unless she doesn’t find out.

(Suddenly, Shina’s voice rings out.)

Shina: Too late!

Kan: AUGH! S-Shina?! Where are you?

Shina: Check your right horn. I felt the need to monitor your progress.

(Kan does so, finding a spider with a crystal eye attached to its abdomen. It is through this “spyeder” that Shina is able to communicate from her castle.)

Kan: Oh, great. This trick again.

Shina: Just for you failure, you will only get one percent of what I offered you!

Kan: AW, C’MON!

(The crystal explodes, and the spider skitters away, unharmed.)

Kagetsu: Called it.

(In Shina’s castle, she storms through her corridors.)

Shina: That does it. I know who to send next, and this time, I’m going to personally provide assistance!

Kagetsu: Oooh boy. Is she mad.

Aoki: Yup.

(Cut to the five, catching their breath.)

Shigeto: Okay… So, obviously… we just escaped certain death.

Hisaaki: Yeah. Imagine if Akako did touch that hair.

Akako: Well, now I’m glad I didn’t.

(Ryumi, laying flat on her back on the ground, hears a chirping noise and looks up. She slowly gets back on her feet, still staring upwards.)

Ryumi: Guys?

(The others are drawn to attention. Following her gaze, they see a flock of birds overhead.)

Shigeto: Birds?

Maka: Not just birds. Those are sparrows!

Hisaaki: Didn’t Mochiie say something about sparrows?

Ryumi: Of course! “Follow the sparrows”! We’re almost there! C’mon!

(She takes off running in the direction the sparrows are flying. The others follow suit.)

Shigeto: Right behind you!

Maka: Hey, wait!

(After a few minutes, they come to the top of a hill, finding themselves staring down at a beautiful city.)

Ryumi: Kaii Town.

(The group take a moment to view the city before them.)

Akako: What are we waiting for? Let’s go!

Hisaaki: Wait a minute, we can’t just go in and expect them to ignore us!

Maka: The kid’s got a point. How’d you think everybody there’s gonna react to three living human kids waltzing around?

Ryumi: Oh. I never thought about that.

Shigeto: I got it! Why don’t we disguise ourselves as yokai? That way, nobody will suspect a thing!

Maka: …You know what, actually? That’s the smartest thing you’ve said yet.

Hisaaki: Okay, so, what’ll we use?

Shigeto: Eh, whatever we find there.

(Cue the awkward pause.)

Shigeto: …Oh.

Maka: I take it back, you’re hopeless.

Shigeto: Ryumi, can’t you use your fox powers to make us invisible, or something?

Ryumi: I don’t even know if I have any actual powers.

Hisaaki: Oh, great.

(Cut to Kaii Town. Various yokai and spirits are going about their business. Maka, with Akako perched on her shoulder, makes her way through the streets. Sneaking through the alleyways unseen, Ryumi, Shigeto and Hisaaki follow close behind. Finally, Maka, fed up with this, walks towards the alley where the three humans are hiding.)

Maka: This is pathetic! We can’t keep doing the stalker act forever!

Hisaaki: She’s right. We gotta find some way to blend in.

(Akako notices something and hops off Maka’s shoulder, to a pile of trash left to become tsukumogami.)

Akako: I think I just found our disguises.

(Cut to the citizens of Kaii Town, as something grabs their attention. The group walk through the streets, the humans having disguised themselves with the bits of trash: Ryumi wears a sedge hood, Shigeto wears an ogre mask and a straw raincoat, and Hisaaki wears a samurai helmet and a cloak. A one-eyed boy, or hitotsume kozo, stares at them. Maka takes notice of this.)

Maka: …The heck you lookin’ at, kid?

Hitotsume Kozo: Sorry. (looks away)

(The group continue.)

Shigeto: So far, so good. So, how are we gonna find foxy grampa?

Maka: We can start by not saying those last two words again.

Shigeto: What, “foxy grampa”?

Maka: (through clenched teeth) YES.

Ryumi: We’ll ask around, I guess.

(They go up to an iyaya.)

Shigeto: ‘Scuse us, ma'am…

(The iyaya turns around, showing them his/her manly face.)

Iyaya: Yeah, waddup?

Shigeto: WHOA! Okay… What should I call you, a man or a woman?

Iyaya: Yes.

Shigeto: Okay… you…

Ryumi: Do you know where we can find a fox named-

(She is interrupted when an okaburo -a yokai crossdressing as an apprentice oiran- shows up.)

Okaburo: Hey! Whaddya doin’ with my lover?

Shigeto: Sorry, we didn’t know you two were together.

Okaburo: That’s okay, just… think about how we feel next time, maybe.

Ryumi: Look, we’re just looking for a fox named Nakaari. Do you know him?

(A new voice chimes in.)

???: What do you want to see him for?

(They turn to see a trio of yokai: an ubume, a karasu tengu and the leader, a hari onago.)

Ryumi: Uh, w-well, we were just wondering if he could…

(She trails off as the hari onago looks down at her.)

Ryumi: …Uh…

Shigeto: We need his help with a thing!

(Maka double-facepalms.)

Hari Onago: Oh, I see.

(The yokai trio share a laugh.)

Hari Onago: What kind of thing?

(Another awkward pause.)

Shigeto: …Just. A thing.

Hari Onago: (nods) …You want to rob him, don’t you?

Ryumi: No!

Shigeto and Hisaaki: NO!

Ryumi: It’s actually a… personal thing.

Hari Onago: Ah. Keeping secrets, huh?

(Her long hair begins to move.)

Hari Onago: If there’s one thing that I can’t stand…

(She shows off the pointy barbs at the end of each strand of hair.)

Hari Onago: …it’s people who keep secrets from me.

(The three humans nervously back away, but the karasu tengu and ubume are behind them.)

Shigeto: Okay, Ryumi, try getting us outta this one.

Maka: Hey, back off! They’re just kids!

(All attention is drawn to Maka and Akako.)

Akako: Aw, Maka, you do care!

Maka: Shut it.

Akako: Okay.

Hari Onago: Why do you care? Are you their nanny, or something?

Maka: No. Beat it.

Hari Onago: Or else what? You’ll give us a scolding we’ll never forget?

(She and the other two yokai share a haughty laugh.)

Maka: That does it!

(Her head shoots forward at the end of her neck, nailing the hari onago in the gut, to the shock of the ubume and karasu tengu. The hari onago collapses, clutching her gut.)

Hari Onago: Y-You witch…

(Her hair rears up and lunges at Maka’s exposed neck. Thankfully, she manages to dodge at the last second, but the hair keeps coming. Akako cowers at the base of Maka’s neck.)

Shigeto: Okay, we should go now.

Ryumi: No. Not without Maka and Akako.

(Hisaaki notices something, and gets an idea. He leaves the other two.)

Shigeto: Where’re you going?

Hisaaki: I think I got an idea! Trust me on this one!

(He runs over to a nearby kamikiri.)

Hisaaki: Excuse me… Sir? Ma’am? We kinda need your help…

(Meanwhile, Maka is still dodging the flurry of barbed hair. Backing up, she doesn’t notice a cat-sized hamster-like creature -a sunekosuri- sleeping behind her, but Akako does.)

Akako: Maka, behind y-

(Too late: Maka trips on the sunekosuri, who, startled awake, scurries away. She falls backwards onto the ground, taking Akako with her. Both find themselves at the mercy of the hari onago. Just as she’s about to finish Maka off…)

???: Uh, hey! Over here.

(The hari onago turns to see the kamikiri.)

Kamikiri: Ya wanna haircut? (snips their scissor hands)

(The prospect of losing her hair terrifies the hari onago, who screams and runs, the kamikiri giving chase.)

Kamikiri: Hey, lady, c’mon! It’s what I do!

Ubume: Should we help her?

Karasu Tengu: I didn’t really like her that much, but…

(The two yokai take off after them, while the three humans, along with a few yokai, rush over to the fallen Maka and Akako.)

Ryumi: You okay?

Maka: I was doing just fine, y’know!

Akako: That was amazing! 

Shigeto: Yeah, nice one, Hisaaki.

Hisaaki: Just using my head.

(As they help Maka up, a blind man with eyes on his hands -a tenome- sniffs the air, then Shigeto.)

Shigeto: Hey, hey! What’re you doing?

Tenome: Young man… why do you smell like a living human?

(The group freeze. Several other yokai take notice, sniffing at the trio.)

Bakeneko: Yeah, they do smell like live humans. Why…

(The bakeneko reaches for Shigeto’s mask. He jerks away, accidentally bumping into Ryumi. She falls over, and her hood falls off. The yokai gasp. There is yet another awkward silence before…)

Shigeto: RUN!!!

(Ryumi scrambles to her feet, joining the other four as they make a break for it, but the yokai pursue. As they race through the streets, the citizens, seeing them, join in the chase, until seemingly everyone in Kaii Town is after them.)

Shigeto: Guys, ever had that feeling like you’ve done this before?

Maka: SHUT UP AND RUN!

(Meanwhile, an old fox man hears the commotion and looks, seeing the incoming chase. When he sees Ryumi, he also sees a familiar aura around her.)

Fox: (thinking) *That aura… Could it be…?*

(He steps into the street, waving to them.)

Fox: This way! Follow me!

Shigeto: Oh, thank you!

Hisaaki: Wait, how do we know he’s not gonna-

Maka: (grabs the back of Hisaaki’s clothing) MOVE, KID!

(The five follow the fox into an old, abandoned house. The mob closes in.)

Yokai: In there!/We’ve got ‘em cornered!

(A suppon no yurei flings the door open… but all they see is the fox sipping tea.)

Fox: …I think the ones you’re looking for left town.

(The yokai all look at each other, then leave. The fox smiles.)

Fox: You can come out, now. They’re gone.

From a cabinet, the five tumble out, collapsing in a heap on the floor. They untangle themselves from each other and get up.)

Ryumi: Thanks… Thanks, Grandpa.

(The others all stare at Ryumi, then at the fox.)

Nakaari: You know me?

Ryumi: Yeah, we’ve been looking for you. My mom sent us.

Nakaari: Is she alright?

Ryumi: I… I don’t know.

(There is a moment of silence.)

Shigeto: …Well, that aside, it’s nice to meet you, foxy gra-

(Maka glares at Shigeto ferociously.)

Shigeto: Uh, I mean, Grandpa Nakaari.

Nakaari: The pleasure’s mine.

Akako: So, you’re Ryumi’s grampa? I’m Akako, her adopted sister. That makes me your granddaughter, too! Anyway, we- Uh… (to the others) W-Why were we looking for him again?

Maka: Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask that, too.

Ryumi: Well, uh… Mom mentioned something about a magic jewel you have, that we need to protect…?

Nakaari: The jewel.

Shigeto: So, you do have a…?

Nakaari: Of course. But, uh…

(He looks around, then beckons the five to come closer, which they do.)

Nakaari: (whispering) This is a private matter. We can discuss this at my home. You never know who might be listening in.

Ryumi: (also whispering) Okay then. (straightens, then speaks at normal volume) We’d be happy to come over to your place, Grandpa. (bows)

Maka: Oh, boy.

Akako: Lead the way, foxy grampa!

Maka: KINOSHITA!!!

Aoki: And so, they traveled to Nakaari’s house, where the magic jewel was kept.

Kagetsu: Everybody excited to finally see the jewel?

(Cue the stock cheers from the audience.)

Kagetsu: Y’know, the powerful thing that Shina is after? Wanna learn more about that?

(More stock cheers.)

Kagetsu: Alright! (to the annoyed Aoki) Continue.

Aoki: …Okay, then.

(Scene: Ryumi, Nakaari and the others stand before a large house, awestruck.)

Ryumi: Wow…

Shigeto: This isn’t a house, it’s a mansion!

Hisaaki: You live here alone, or…?

Nakaari: No, I do have family. You’ll meet them soon.

(Cut to the interior of the house, where…)

Fox Boy: HEYA, NAKAARI!

(Everybody except Nakaari jumps.)

Nakaari: Hello, Bunto.

Bunto: You won’t believe what happened while you were out! This lady with a face on her belly came and… (notices the others, gasps) OH, WOW! Three humans! Well, two humans. I’m not sure about the girl. Anyway, glad to meet’cha! My name’s Bunto! Ya wanna hang out together? It’ll be fun!

Akako: Yeah! Heh-heh. (to Nakaari) Who is this guy?

Nakaari: My grandnephew. (to Bunto) Bunto, this girl is Ryumi, your cousin.

Bunto: (gasps) You’re kidding! I have a half-fox cousin?! C’MERE, COUSIN! (hugs Ryumi) OOOHHH, THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!

Ryumi: Okay, uh… Nice to meet you too… You can let go, now.

Bunto: Oh, sorry, sorry! Am I… (notices Maka) How about you? You wanna hug?

Maka: No, no, don’t-AAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!

(Bunto chases Maka around, trying to hug her.)

Maka: SOMEBODY GET THIS CRAZY FOX AWAY FROM ME!

Akako: I’m Ryumi’s adopted sister! HUG ME INSTEAD!

(Bunto, upon seeing Akako, immediately runs over and grabs her, embracing her in a hug.)

Bunto: OH MY GOSH, AREN’T YOU THE CUTEST LITTLE THING!

Akako: ACK! TOO MUCH HUG, TOO MUCH HUG!

(Akako is saved by Ryumi, who pulls her out of Bunto’s grip.)

Ryumi: I think that’s enough hugging for today. (to Akako) You okay, Akako?

Akako: Yeah. A little bit more, and I would be “Aoko”.

Kagetsu: Hey, that’s kinda like your name, Aoki!

Aoki: Yeah, I’m aware of that-

Kagetsu: If you had a twin, she’d be named that. Or maybe “Aomi”…

Aoki: Can we just get back to the story?

Kagetsu: Oh, sure.

Shigeto: Any more foxes here? ‘Cause I can’t imagine only two of ‘em living in a big house as this.

Nakaari: I’m glad you asked.

(He opens a door onto six fox people. All look up from whatever they were doing, seeing the newcomers.)

Nakaari: Everyone, this is Ryumi, Sana’s daughter.

Ryumi: Nice to meet you all.

(The foxes whisper amongst themselves.)

Fox Twin#1: She married a human?

Fox Twin#2: C’mon, don’t act like it hasn’t happened before.

Fox Lady: Oh my, what a pretty girl she raised. 

Fox Gent: Don’t get too jealous, now.

Fox Sister: (staring at Shigeto and Hisaaki) Are those two actual full-blooded humans?

Fox Brother: If you’re considering doing what Sana did… (to Shigeto and Hisaaki) Please excuse my… special sister.

Fox Sister: You think I’m special, brother?

Fox Brother: In the other sense of the word, yes.

Nakaari: Now, I hope you all treat Ryumi and her friends well. She is part of our family, after all.

Akako: Ryumi adopted me! Do I count as a family member?

Fox Brother: If you do, then that would make us an unusual family.

Nakaari: Fumito. (to the group) Please don’t mind his insults. Fumito may seem cold, but he has a good heart deep down.

Akako: That was supposed to be an insult?

Shigeto: Makes ya wonder what his complements are like.

(Fumito shoots them look of “Wh-?!”.)

Nakaari: Well, what say we take the time to get more acquainted with our guests? (to the twins) Yoshiro, Yoshiko, bring out the kotatsu.

Twins: ‘Kay! (They both leave to do so)

Akako: Wait, you got a kotatsu?!

(Scene change to the group gathered at a large kotatsu. Akako has her head poking out from under its blanket, in bliss, while the others talk.)

Ryumi: So, that’s why we’re here.

Fox Gent: You say a giant spider attacked your village? And that monkeys and an ogress attacked you?

Ryumi: Yeah. Why do you ask?

Fox Lady: Oh dear. (to her fellow foxes) You don’t think that…

Twins: Oh no…

Hisaaki: What? What’s wrong?

Fumito: You do realize that what has happened to you means that there is someone after the jewel, right?

(There is a silence, before Shigeto slaps his forehead.)

Shigeto: D’OH, IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!

Ryumi: But who would want to steal the jewel?

Fox Sister: Who else but the same person who sent that giant spider that killed your father?

Fumito: TOMOKO!

(Ryumi’s eyes widen.)

Ryumi: W-What…?

(Fumito’s sister, Tomoko, realizing that she should not have said that, cups her hand over her mouth.)

Kagetsu: WHAM LINE!

(There is another pause. Akako awkwardly recedes further under the blanket. Ryumi looks to Nakaari.)

Ryumi: I-I thought… he…

Nakaari: Lost his life in an accident. Obviously your mother didn’t want to frighten you.

Shigeto: Sana, what else didn’t you tell your kid?!

Nakaari: Well, now that you know what really happened to your father, I think it’s time you learned everything.

(Scene change to Nakaari opening a cabinet as the others watch. He reaches in and opens a secret drawer.)

Aoki: And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment of truth. Behold…

(Inside the drawer is…)

Aoki: …The magic jewel.

(The group fall silent at the sight of the round, sky-blue crystal before them.)

Nakaari: Doesn’t seem like much, does it? But the truth is that this jewel is much more powerful than it seems.

Hisaaki: How so?

Nakaari: It’s called the “Jewel of Miracles” because it can create exactly what its name suggests.

Shigeto: Wait, so it can do stuff like make Hisaaki’s hair grow? Amazing!

(Hisaaki shoots Shigeto a flustered glare. Akako looks at the jewel in wonder, her image reflected on its surface.)

Nakaari: Ever since it was entrusted to me by the Emperor of the Seven Seas, the unscrupulous yokai who know of its existence have been wanting to get their hands on it. Shina is no exception.

Ryumi: Shina?

Nakaari: The mistress of that giant spider. She will stop at nothing to acquire the jewel in order to abuse its magic. Now you know why it must be protected at all costs.

Shigeto: Not to sound suspicious or anything, but this Shina lady wanting to abuse this thing’s power actually sounds like something I would do.

Maka: In that case, touch it and you’re dead.

Shigeto: I wouldn’t go that far, thankfully.

Akako: Can it bring my mama back?

(The others look at Akako incredulously.)

Akako: What?

Nakaari: Unfortunately, it can only bring back someone from the brink of death, not resurrect them. That’s the limit of its power.

Akako: (crestfallen) Oh…

(Ryumi gathers Akako in her arms.)

Bunto: Ya know, if you do wanna see your mom again, you could try using hangonkō! That stuff’s the number one way to see dead people!

Hisaaki: What’s that?

Nakaari: A special incense. It’s made from the sap of hangonjū trees.

Bunto: Yeah, We use it to talk to our ancestors all the time! See, you just light it up and have a nice chit-chat with whoever ya wanna meet who’s dead!

Ryumi: Could we use it to talk to my dad?

Akako: My mama, too?

Nakaari: Of course. The spirits of the dead summoned by hangonkō can only appear to their friends and relatives if called. Unfortunately, we’ve just run out of it.

Ryumi: Oh. Well…

(Ryumi looks at her friends, then back to Nakaari.)

Ryumi: Where’s the nearest hangonjū grove?

Kagetsu: Hey, isn’t the hangonjū the one that laughs at you through its fruit?

Aoki: Kagetsu, that’s the jinmenju.

Kagetsu: Oh.

(Scene change to the group at a grove of hangonjū trees, armed with knives, baskets strapped to their backs. Said baskets contain some hangonjū tree roots.)

Shigeto: So, here’s my question: If this incense is made from magic tree sap, why are we getting the roots?

Ryumi: Grandpa said that the sap has to come from the roots and nowhere else. Otherwise, it just makes ordinary incense.

Shigeto: Oh, okay. (spots a large root) That one looks like it holds a lot of sap. Hisaaki, help me cut it off!

(The two boys start cutting at the root with their knives, but only do so much as put a small cut on it.) 

Ryumi: Uh, guys? I don’t think we need that big a root.

Shigeto: Oh. (stops stabbing the root)

Hisaaki: (to the tree) Sorry about that.

Shigeto: You do know you just talked to a tree, right?

Hisaaki: Well, how do I know it won’t curse us for stabbing at a part of it that we don’t need? It is a magic tree.

Shigeto: That’s true.

(Akako swings her knife like an ax, chopping at a root until it comes free. She tosses it in the basket on her back, then moves on to another root. While chopping at that. While doing so, something catches her eye. She looks up.)

Maka: So, how many do we need?

Ryumi: Uh… Well, Grandpa didn’t specify exactly. Apparently, we only need enough to make a full pack of incense.

Maka: (voice dripping with sarcasm) Well, that helps a lot.

Akako: Hey guys! Over here!

(The others look up to see her hopping up and down.)

Akako: There’s somebody here! I think she’s hurt!

Ryumi: What?!

Shigeto: Lead the way!

(Akako hops off, and the others follow her. Finally, they come to the root she was working on. Lying prone on the ground near that is a girl spirit, disheveled, with bandages on her arms. Some light orange blood trickles from a wound on her back)

Hisaaki: Oh…

Akako: C’mon, you guys! We gotta help her!

(Ryumi nods. Cut to the outside of Nakaari’s house, where he, Bunto and the other foxes stare, stunned. The group stand before them, the girl in Maka’s basket. There are no questions to be asked.)

Nakaari: (to the other foxes) Prepare a futon.

Maka: Better make it fast before my back gives out!

(The foxes comply, heading back inside as Nakaari moves to help the group. Scene change to the girl, her injury now bandaged up, in a futon, Akako napping beside her. The girl opens her eyes, and sits up. Akako, feeling movement, awakens and looks up at the girl, who notices her. Both are surprised to see each other. Akako scrambles off the futon.)

Akako: Gotta tell the others…!

(The girl watches Akako as she enters the next room, where the others are gathered.)

Akako: Hey, she’s awake!

(Everyone stops whatever they were doing. Ryumi gets up and follows Akako back to the room where the girl is, followed by Shigeto and Hisaaki. They enter to greet the girl.)

Ryumi: Hi. You okay?

Girl: Yeah… How did…?

Hisaaki: We brought you here as soon as Akako found you.

Akako: Yeah! You had a pretty nasty boo-boo, there.

Shigeto: Lucky we found you in time, I mean, I’m no doctor, but you were bleeding really bad, and even I know that if somebody loses a lot of blood-

Maka: (stretching her neck in through the doorway) HEY! Stop making her uncomfortable, will ya? 

Shigeto: Sorry.

Ryumi: So, what happened?

Girl: I accidentally walked into a giant spider’s territory. It got me in the back before I was able to get out.

Ryumi: A giant spider?

Shigeto: So did we. At least we didn’t get hurt and got sent off on an epic quest. That dang monster spider…!

Akako: Yeah! When I see him, I’m’ma kick his big fat-

Maka: Do you even know how big they can get?

Akako: Big as me, right?

(Maka gives Akako a look that says “Are you serious right now?”)

Girl: Well, thanks for your help. If you hadn’t shown up… Who are you guys, anyway?

Ryumi: My name’s Ryumi Kawakami. These are my friends, Shigeto and Hisaaki.

Akako: I’m Akako! The lady with the long neck is Maka.

Girl: I’m Mego.

Akako: (shakes Mego’s hand) Oh, well, nice to meet ‘cha, Mego!

Mego: So, do you actually live here?

Ryumi: Not really. This is my grandpa’s house.

Hisaaki: Where do you live?

Mego: Well, I’m kind of, uh… I don’t exactly…

(Suddenly, Ryumi understands.)

Ryumi: Are you… homeless?

Mego: Yeah. But, I don’t mind. It’s just now, if I go out there again… Hey, I’ll survive.

Ryumi: You can’t go back out there, not while you’re hurt.

Mego: Well, if you say so.

Shigeto: That settles it. She’s staying!

Maka: NOW, HOLD ON A SECOND! We can’t just let stray spirits in here! And how do we know she’s not a vagrant or a thief?

(At this, Mego seems uneasy.)

Shigeto: Oh, now who’s making her uncomfortable?

Maka: Wh- (blushes)

Ryumi: Don’t mind them. You can stay as long as you like, Mego.

Mego: Thanks.

Maka: (muttering) I swear, if I ever live to be 80, I’ll never understand these kids…

Aoki: Thus, the group found a new friend. Little did they know, however…

(As the group talk, a spyeder watches from the window, unseen.)

Aoki: …that she hid a dark secret.

(Scene: The fox lady is making hangonkō while Mego watches.)

Mego: So, you call on human spirits with this? Who are you gonna summon?

Fox Lady: Ryumi’s father. The little one’s mother, too.

Mego: Akako, right?

Fox Lady: Yes, of course.

(Mego looks to where the others are waiting and talking before leaving the room. She walks through the hall and comes across the foxes’s garden. After taking in its beauty, she enters the garden, making her way to a tree, under which she sits down and rests. She breathes in the fresh air. From behind the tree, the spyeder skitters closer to her, until it’s right next to her.)

Shina: (speaking through the spyeder’s crystal) Mego? Mego!

(Mego startles, turning towards the source of the voice.)

Mego: Shina?! …You scared me.

Shina: Well, Mego? You’ve been here for a day and a half and you still haven’t procured the jewel.

Mego: I’m sorry, Shina. I’ve been healing up here. Your spider hit me too hard and injured me for real this time.

Shina: That doesn’t matter! Where is the old fox hiding the jewel?

Mego: I’m still working on finding that out. I’ll get it for you, I promise.

Shina: You’d better. Or else you’re out on the streets again.

(The crystal explodes, and the uninjured spider creeps away just as before, leaving Mego alone in the garden. She looks at the bandages on her arms.)

Kagetsu: WHAT A PLOT TWIST! But trust us, there’s more to her than that.

(Scene change to Nakaari’s house at night. Everyone is gathered around the kotatsu, on which the hangonkō is placed.)

Nakaari: Well, this is it. You ready?

Ryumi: Y-Yeah.

(Nakaari lights a match, and holds it to the incense. For a moment, nothing happens. Then, the incense begins to emit smoke as Nakaari extinguishes the match. At first, there is only a typical small stream of smoke. However, more and more smoke pours forth, to the point where it almost fills the entire room.)

Maka: (coughing) That’s enough! ENOUGH OF THE SMOKE, ALREADY! (covers her face with her sleeve)

Ryumi: No, wait!

(The smoke begins to form a curtain of some sort.)

Ryumi: …Dad? Are you there?

(A shadow appears behind the curtain, which is drawn back, revealing a man in priestly garb.)

Priestly Man: Ryumi.

Ryumi: Dad!

Ryumi‘s Father: You’ve grown.

(Ryumi gets up, and comes closer to her father, until they’re face-to-face. After a moment, they embrace.)

Akako: What about Mama? Is she here, too?

???: Akako?

(Akako turns in the direction of the voice to see a woman dressed in a corpse’s traditional robes and headdress. It’s Tsujiko, who smiles at her daughter.)

Akako: Mama… (leaps towards Tsujiko) MAMA!

(Tsujiko embraces Akako in her arms.)

Tsujiko: I’m sorry I left you.

(As Akako cries into Tsujiko’s chest, Ryumi breaks the hug with her father to address him.)

Ryumi: Dad, did you… Did you know that Mom was a…?

(Ryumi‘s father nods in the affirmative. Over the following exchange, the smoke around them forms an image of Ryumi’s father facing a nine-tailed fox, Sana in her true form. She assumes human form, and the two figures embrace.)

Ryumi: You could have told me before.

Ryumi‘s Father: You were so young back then. We wanted to wait until you became responsible enough.

Ryumi: Huh?

Ryumi‘s Father: Your mother passed down most of her magic to you. All it takes to use them is your will alone.

Ryumi: My will?

Ryumi‘s Father: You still have much to learn. The most important thing to remember, though, is to do the right thing.

(The others look on, misty-eyed. The smoke begins to fade. Akako holds on desperately to Tsujiko.)

Akako: MAMA!

Tsujiko: It’s okay. I promise I’ll still watch over you.

Akako: R-Really?

Ryumi‘s Father: I’ll be watching over you too, Ryumi. It’s all I can do now.

Ryumi: Dad…

Ryumi‘s Father: (fading away) You’ve only taken your first steps into a new, bigger world. Whenever you need me, I’ll guide you along the right path.

(The two spirits fade away completely. The hangonkō has all but burned out. Akako wipes the tears from her eyes as Ryumi picks her up and holds her close.)

Ryumi: See you, Dad…

(After a few moments, Shinto hugs Ryumi and Akako. He is followed by Hisaaki, then Bunto. Maka wipes her teary eyes with her sleeve.)

Maka: Darn smoke… 

Kagetsu: Yeah, right.

(Behind the unaware group, from outside the closed window, a spyeder observes. Timeskip to later that night. Everyone is asleep. However, Mego is awoken by something creeping on her. She looks to see the spyeder on her chest.)

Shina: (speaking through the spyeder’s crystal) Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?

Mego: (sits up) W-What are you talking about?

Shina: I mean you, and your friends! Never care about the victim. One you do, you become a victim yourself.

Mego: (defensively) What do you know about friendship? You never had a friend. Just people who were afraid of you

Shina: That’s right. Friendship comes and goes. Fear is permanent and profitable. I’ll prove it to you: get me that jewel, or else they’re all spider feed.

Mego: You-! (grabs the spyeder)

Shina: You see? Fear. The only friend I need. Don’t disappoint me.

(The crystal explodes in Mego’s hand. The spider wriggles out of her grip, and skitters through the open window from whence it came. Scene change to Maka, asleep. The sound of footsteps awaken her. Mego tiptoes through the hall, searching for the jewel. By chance, she comes across the room with the cabinet. Maka, listening to her footsteps, realizes that this is a potential thief.)

Maka: Oh no…

(She get out of her futon and lights a lantern. She then grabs a sword, only to see that it’s wooden.)

Maka: Eh, it’ll do.

(Careful to not make a sound, wanting a surprise attack on the assumed burglar, Maka follows shuffling noises - the sound of drawers opening - to the room where the jewel is kept. Sure enough, to her shock, the cabinet is open, drawers strewn about. Only one drawer is untouched: the jewel’s drawer. Maka, shaking and sweating nervously, fearing the worst, opens it to make sure that the jewel is still there. Seeing that it is, she breaths a heavy sigh of relief.)

Maka: Well, that just put a few grey hairs on my skull.

(Suddenly, a hand clamps down over her mouth. Akako is awoken by the ensuing commotion.)

Akako: Wha…?

(She hops out of her futon and follows the noise. Maka is now bound and gagged with her own neck, muffling unintelligible protests and threats at Mego, who takes the jewel.)

Mego: I’m sorry…

(Akako then hops into the doorway.)

Akako: Guys, I can’t sleep with all the…

(She sees what’s happening, and her jaw drops. Mego jumps out the window with the jewel. Akako rushes over to the restrained Maka.)

Akako: You okay, Maka?

Maka: Mmm-hmm.

Akako: Oh, that’s a relief. Good to know you’re-

Maka: MMPPHMM!!!

Akako: YES, MA’AM!

(As Akako unties Maka, the others, alerted to the noise, enter.)

Shigeto: What’s all the ruckus about?

Hisaaki: What happened here?!

(By now, Maka is free to speak.)

Maka: I knew taking that girl in was a bad idea!

Shigeto: Huh?

Ryumi: Mego?

Maka: That thieving little brat just hogtied me and stole the jewel!

Akako: It’s true! I saw her!

Bunto: We gotta get the jewel back, and fast!

Shigeto: Yeah, c’mon!

(They all head out. Cut to outside Nakaari’s house, where the group follow Bunto, in his fox form, as he sniffs the ground like a bloodhound while Akako rides on his back.)

Bunto: She went this way!

Shigeto: Everybody follow the fox!

(They do so, with Maka still ready to bean Mego over the head with the wooden sword. At last, they come to a clearing in a bamboo forest, where they are met with a shocking sight: Mego is there, but so is Shina and the tsuchigumo.)

Shina: Too late.

Ryumi: W-Who are…?

Shina: I believe your family already know the answer.

(Bunto trembles in fear.)

Ryumi: You’re… Shina?

Shina: Lady Shina, if you please.

Ryumi: Where’s my mom?

Shina: She’ll be joining her husband soon.

Maka: You dirty-!

(She throws the wooden sword at Shina, but the tsuchigumo blocks the attack with one of its legs. In another moment, all that’s left of the sword is mere splinters.)

Shina: Pathetic.

(She snaps her fingers, and the tsuchigumo fires webbing at Maka.

Akako: HEY!

(Akako jumps in the way of the projectile, and is immediately bound in webbing.)

Akako: Mmph!

Ryumi: Akako!

(The others are at her side in an instant, pulling the spiderwebs off of her.)

Maka: Kid, what were you thinking?!

Akako: I didn’t want you getting hurt.

Shigeto: Mego, how could you work for this crazy witch?!

Shina: Quite simple, really. She does anything I tell her to do, brings me whatever I want. This, for example.

(She holds up the jewel. Mego hangs her head. Shina grabs her arm, holding the girl up while pulling at the bandages on her arms.)

Shina: In fact, look at the wonders it has done her… and her body.

(Shina pulls off the bandages, revealing that Mego’s arm is spotted with many falcon’s eyes, blinking in the moonlight. The group are stunned.)

Shina: Is that betrayal I see on your faces? Don’t worry. She has tricked those smarter than you. Or did you believe that you were friends with her?

Ryumi: Mego…

Mego: I didn’t lie about that. You are my friends.

(Ryumi’s eyes widen.)

Shina: Enough of this. To the capital!

(With that, she pulls Mego onto the tsuchgumo, who immediately skitters away faster than a horse. Ryumi takes off after them.)

Ryumi: Mego! MEGO!

(She is unable to catch up, and the spider is gone, and its passengers with it.)

Kagetsu: Don’t worry folks. Remember, this story has a happy ending, so stick with us, here.

(Scene change to sometime later. The youths are sitting around, unsure of what to do. Akako sits on Ryumi’s head. Maka is pacing furiously.)

Maka: Those jerks! They played us like a cheap lute!

Ryumi: No, Shina was the one who tricked us. Mego really was our friend.

Hisaaki: We know.

Shigeto: So, let’s go save her and your mom and kick that spider lady’s butt! What’s the plan?

Ryumi: What plan?

Akako: Don’t you always have a plan?

Ryumi: Not this time. Don’t you guys get it? We failed. It’s over. Shina’s won.

(The others look worried. Except for one.)

Maka: Are you kidding me?!

(Maka has stretched her neck over to Ryumi.)

Maka: Of course she hasn’t won! We know she’s headed for town. We just have to go after her!

Ryumi: And then what?

Maka: WHADDYA MEAN “AND THEN WHAT”?! You have your ma and pop’s magic, USE ‘EM ON THAT SPIDER WITCH!

Hisaaki: Maka’s right, Ryumi. Besides, your dad did want you to do the right thing, didn’t he?

Shigeto: Yeah! You wanna do something special? Then DO SOMETHING SPECIAL.

Akako: (leaning down from Ryumi’s head) You can do it, Ryumi! We’re all with you!

Bunto: YEAH! We believe in ya!

(Ryumi looks at her friends and family, and smiles.)

Ryumi: I’ll try my best.

(She stands up, taking Akako in her arms.)

Ryumi: Of course, I can’t do this alone. Who’s with me on this?

Shigeto: I’m in!

Hisaaki: Me too!

Akako: Me three!

Maka: What the heck. If we’re gonna die, we’ll at least go out fighting.

Bunto: I’ll go get the others! (runs back to the house)

Ryumi: Something tells me we’ll need a lot more help than that.

Shigeto: I think we got that covered.

Kagetsu: AW, YEAH! Onward to the final battle!

Aoki: Indeed.

(Scene: Kaii Town. The five, the fox family, Mochiie and the tsukumogami head through the streets.)

Mochiie: Well, I must say, not once in my life did I expect to assist in saving the realm.

Nakaari: It’s not just the spirit realm that’s at stake. Shina obviously plans to use the jewel to do whatever she pleases to humanity.

Shigeto: Yikes. Good thing she didn’t count on us.

Hisaaki: So, the yokai in charge lives at the center of town?

Bunto: Yup! Ya can’t miss it! He’s got a big palace and everything!

(As they near the palace, there is a commotion: some yokai are trying to break in using a nurikabe as a battering ram, while others watch, concerned and alarmed. Maka goes up to an abura sumashi.)

Maka: What’s going on here?

Abura Sumashi: Lord Nurarihyon‘s been taken hostage. We’re trying to get inside to rescue him, but the entrances are sealed.

(A taka onna peeks into one of the higher windows.)

Taka Onna: Some spider lady and a giant spider’s got him! There’re monkeys helping them, too!

Shigeto: Oh no…

Hisaaki: We’re too late!

Ryumi: Not yet.

(She steps forward, and holds out her hand.)

Ryumi: If Mom can do it, then…

(After a few moments, a portal opens in midair, stunning everybody present. This portal leads to the lower levels of the palace. A hone onna’s jaw literally drops.)

Ippondatara: Sweet child of Yamauba…!

Maka: She actually did it…!

Ryumi: C’mon guys.

(The others follow her through. In one of the higher floors of the palace, Nurarihyon is brought before Shina by two of the sarugami, who are dressed as samurai. She steps out of the shadows, brandishing a scepter onto which she has attached the jewel.)

Shina: (to the sarugami) Good. Guard the door. And this time, do. Not. Fail me.

(The sarugami oblige, leaving the room with the tsuchigumo.)

Nurarihyon: Of course, you do know that you’ll never get away with this.

Shina: (chuckles darkly) I already have. Now bow.

(Meanwhile, Sana and Mego are suspended in a cage made of webbing. Mego is downtrodden, and Sana takes notice. She puts a reassuring hand on the younger girl’s shoulder.)

Sana: You shouldn’t blame yourself for all this.

Mego: Why shouldn’t I? I listened to Shina. I gave her what she wanted, just for something I’ll probably never get.

Sana: You couldn’t have known.

Mego: Well, I should have known…

Sana: It’s okay. We’ll get through this.

Mego How do you know?

Sana: Because there’s one thing Shina didn’t count on.

(As if on cue, the door opens, and…)

Ryumi: Mego! Mom!

Sana: You see?

(The five enter the room.)

Shigeto: We came to rescue you two and squash some spiders!

(But as they approach the cage…)

Mego: Be careful! That big spider may come back any-

(There is an awful chittering noise from above: the tsuchigumo is now on the ceiling, and it’s furious.)

Ryumi: …Oh-

(The tsuchigumo pounces, forcing the group to scatter.)

Sana: Ryumi!

Ryumi: It’s okay, Mom!

(As the tsuchigumo thrusts its barbed leg towards Ryumi to impale her, she concentrates, and quickly levitates out of the way of the attack, landing on a rafter. Sana is stunned and impressed. As Ryumi looks around, she spots a large decorative gong displayed on a platform. An idea forms in her mind.)

Ryumi: Shigeto! Hisaaki!

(They, too, see the gong, and get the hint. As Ryumi, Akako and Maka keep the tsuchigumo occupied, the two boys climb onto the platform. Hisaaki pulls out a tantō blade and cuts the gong loose, while Ryumi leads the monster beneath him and Shigeto. Just as the spider is about to bite her in half, the gong falls. The two sarugami guarding the door hear the sickening CRUNCH, and go to investigate. The youths are cheering, as Maka uses her neck to help Sana and Mego climb down from the cage.)

Youths: Yeah!/Alright!/We did it!/We killed the monster!/Nice one!

(The sarugami enter to see Shigeto triumphantly kicking a leg sticking out from underneath the fallen gong.)

Shigeto: How’s it feel being so dumb?!

(He kicks a little too hard, and the leg breaks off.)

Shigeto: WHOA!

(The sarugami proceed to freak out and bolt. They run into their leader along the way.)

Sarugami Leader: Hey, where are you goin’?!

Sarugami#1: (terrified) Those guys killed the big spider!

Sarugami#2: We can’t fight them! No way!

Sarugami Leader: That’s preposter-

(Just then, the group show up, Shigeto brandishing the tsuchigumo’s leg as a weapon.)

Shigeto: (noticing the sarugami) Oh, hey.

(The sarugami leader takes one look and runs, his cohorts following after.)

Shigeto: What’s their problem?

(No sooner do the screaming sarugami literally launch themselves out of the palace in a panic then they find themselves confronted by the other yokai, the tsukumogami and the fox family included.)

Sarugami: Uh oh…/Oh, no…

Kagetsu: Y’know, it’s a shame that we don’t get to see the monkey beatdown. 

Aoki: That’s not important, now.

(Meanwhile, the group run up the stairs to the room where Shina and Nurarihyon are.)

Shina: Don’t be so arrogant, old fool. Either you kneel, or I take this realm by force. Make your choice.

(Nurarihyon, however, fixes her with a firm, unwavering look.)

Nurarihyon: Do with me as you will, but you will never take this land.

Shina: So be it.

(Her scepter charges up with energy…)

Ryumi: He’s right, Shina! It’s over.

(As Nurarihyon calmly moves aside, Shina turns to see the group… and recognizes the leg in Shigeto’s clutches.)

Shina: (seething in rage) You… murdered… my baby…?! Ryumi Kawakami… You… and your friends…

(Before the group, the irate Shina rises up, revealing the legs of a golden orb-weaver spider.)

Shina: …ARE ALREADY DEAD!!!

(She lunges at the group, who scatter, as Maka elongates her neck to defend the youths.)

Maka: DON’T YOU DARE HURT THEM!

(She coils her neck around Shina, trying to restrain her as the jorōgumo furiously attempts to blast her in the face with the scepter. Finally, Maka pins the arm holding the scepter to Shina’s side, but the spider lady whips out a kaiken dagger with her free hand and begins slashing at her adversary’s long neck. Akako, seeing her chance, quickly hops onto the scepter and begins tugging on the jewel, until she finally yanks it free.)

Akako: I GOT IT! I got the jewel, Ryumi!

Shina: NO!

(Before Shina can stop her, Akako throws the jewel to Ryumi, who catches it. With a scream of rage, Shina breaks free from Maka’s neck and lunges at Akako. There is no time for her to dodge the attack. The dagger strikes Akako, and, as the others look on, she falls to the floor, where she lies prone.)

Ryumi: AKAKO!

(The good guys gather around Akako.)

Ryumi: Akako, speak to me! Say something, please!

(Akako is still alive, but barely breathing. Shina rises up behind them.)

Shina: GIVE ME THAT JEWEL!

(The group scatter a third time, Maka clutching Akako close to her chest, as Ryumi runs out of the room with the jewel, pursued by the enraged Shina. The girl shimmies up a pillar, only for the jorōgumo to pull out a wakizashi sword and cut it down, sending it and Ryumi through the wall. Ryumi jumps up and grabs onto the roof and pulls herself up.)

Yokai Citizens: On the roof!/Look!

(Ryumi climbs onto the roof and looks around. Behind her, Shina crashes through the roof and shoves the girl down with one of her legs. The jorōgumo smiles maniacally as she raises her sword. Ryumi squeezes her eyes shut. Shina brings the sword down… CRACK.)

Shina: Wh-

(Ryumi has teleported away, leaving only the jewel… which now has Shina’s sword thrust into it. As cracks begin to form, it begins to glow, dimly, then brightly. Immediately, a vast surge of magic bursts forth as the jewel completely shatters. Shina lets out a bloodcurdling scream as magical wave after magical wave strikes her. She dissolves like a lump of sugar in tea, still screaming in agony all the while, until there is nothing left of her. The night sky is illuminated with colorful energy, as Ryumi, having found herself back on the palace steps, watches. The others look on as well, until their attention is drawn by Akako glowing and rising out of Maka’s arms: the magical energy has reached her.)

Maka: What the-?!

(The group watch until the glow surrounding Akako slowly subsides, and she floats back down to the floor. She stirs, then opens her eyes. The others are stunned, but relieved.)

Akako: What happened? Did we win?

Kagetsu: THE TEAM CUTIE LIVES! (hugs Aoki)

(As the yokai cheer, Ryumi spots the others exiting the palace.)

Ryumi: Guys!

Shigeto: Ryumi!

Hisaaki: Thank goodness!

(Akako hops over to Ryumi.)

Akako: Ryumi, look! I got better!

(She leaps into Ryumi’s arms, and gets a big hug in response. Sana hugs Ryumi next.)

Sana: You’ve grown.

(Ryumi hugs her back.)

Bunto: Let’s hear it for Ryumi!

(The fox family let out a cheer.)

Mego: Ryumi? I just want you to know that I’m really sorry for-

Ryumi: It’s okay, Mego. It’s all over, now.

(She gives the dodomeki a hug, which the latter accepts. Nearby, Nurarihyon and Nakaari talk. After their conversation, they head over to the group.)

Shigeto: So, how’d you kill Shina?

Ryumi: Uh…

Maka: Oh, boy.

(Ryumi notices Nurarihyon and Nakaari nearby. She hands Akako to Maka and steps forward sheepishly.)

Ryumi: Grandpa, I can explain-

Nakaari: It’s alright. I understand.

(To Ryumi’s surprise, he pulls her into a hug.)

Nakaari: You’re alive, and that’s all that matters.

Ryumi: …Even though the jewel…? (returns the hug)

Nurarihyon: True, its shards were scattered across the realm, and lost forever, but you did what had to be done to save the two realms. 

(He bows to her, and row by row, everyone in Kaii Town bows to her.)

Nakaari: And besides…

(He reveals what he and Nurarihyon found: a single shard of the jewel.)

Nakaari: This piece still has enough power for one more miracle.

Akako: Y-You mean… I can be a…

(She jumps out of Maka’s arms and hops towards Nakaari, who holds out the shard to her. Immediately after she touches it, she starts glowing again, this time even brighter than before, and her form changes. When the light fades, Akako is now a human girl with baby-blue eyes, wearing a red bib with the kanji for ‘girl’ emblazoned on it and puffy pink shorts. She looks down at herself, and smiles.)

Akako: Wow! Ryumi, look! I’m normal!

(She and Ryumi embrace, and the heroes engage in a group hug. Scene change to sometime later, outside Kaii Town. The seven are saying their fond farewells to Nakaari and his family before the townsfolk. A human faced oxcart -an oboroguruma- is parked nearby. Waving goodbye, the group board the oboroguruma, who takes off into the sky, their destination being the human realm. Dissolve to Shintonoyama, having been repaired and cleaned up after the tsuchigumo’s attack. The townspeople are gathered to meet the newcomers: Akako, Maka and Mego. Akako is telling a group of kids her age of their adventure. Maka stretches her neck to demonstrate her powers, and that one guy who almost threw up at Ryumi’s magic show faints. More villagers gaze in wonder at Mego’s extra eyes. Another scene change to a few nights later, on the night of the Obon festival. A long procession of villagers heads down the path leading to the river. They hold glowing paper lanterns as they move along solemnly. When they reach the river, farewells are said and lit lanterns set adrift. Unseen by many, their departed loved ones materialize. Ryumi’s father and Tsujiko are among them. Ryumi and her friends and family meet them.)

Sana: Haruuji.

(She embraces her husband.)

Haruuji: I’ve missed you, too.

Akako: Mama, look! I’m human, just like you!

Tsujiko: I know. We said we’d watch over you two.

Haruuji: And we couldn’t be any more proud of you.

Ryumi: Thanks, Dad.

(Together, they all watch the lanterns float down the river, heading out to sea, until they are out of sight.)

Aoki: The end.

Kagetsu: What a wild ride that was! See, Aoki, wasn’t it fun? Way better than horror.

Aoki: Okay, you’ve proved your point.

Kagetsu: I knew you’d see it my way! (to the audience) Thanks for watching and listening to our epic tale! We hope you enjoyed it and-

Aoki: Kagetsu, isn’t it almost bedtime?

Kagetsu: Oh my gosh, you’re right! Well, goodnight all!

(She disappears into the shadows, leaving Aoki alone. The aoandon smiles, then blows out the lantern, plunging the room into darkness.)

Aoki: Goodnight.

The End

[mountains-moving-91]

Nobody Wants to Hear It

How many of us go through the day thinking - gotta be strong... nobody wants to hear about it, anyways? Twist it - how many of you ask how somebody’s day is, with every hope that they don’t repay that kind gesture by laying all of their baggage on you within that very moment? And how many of us think that, so we wouldn’t dare_2_do that? The better question in a VS REALITY type world - are we all overly consumed with ourselves OR are we are overly tired trying to keep up with Disney World? My meaning - We have humans trying to keep up with  machines just to try and stretch the wallet to the kitchen (speaking from experience with 2 growing littles), while also trying to keep up in the fast_lane_lifestyle that we all live in.  We have to keep up, just to keep up. We are building a world that is "so quick” (think light-savers vs Ice Age) and it is breaking man-kind. Why are we pushing our communities so hard to the point they resemble what a machine can do? 

My point here…is we all act like we care. And to be fair, I like to assume that we do all care, at least a little. But we are all so busy trying to keep up with life that we are forgetting to notice what is going on around us. We are living in a society of technology advancements and pushing people to keep up, without noticing what’s going on at home - or on the inside - because society says that shit gets left at the door. What I mean is that, we all have our own baggage. And WE all walk around with the intentions of leaving our personal life at home.  

Twister this, Dorthy style - with me, because I’m still healing. So much happens when we are little, in our tiny brains, at home. And babes go through all of these little traumatic disasters that adults don’t see; simply - because - kids - can’t - explain - it, which means it sticks around. And then we have all these little tiny trauma monsters that start growing UP within our kiddos who start growing up and forget to use the parts of the their brain that technically doesn’t exist yet. Years following all of the trouble, we have young adults making decisions they shouldn’t be qualified to make, for people that don’t even know who they are yet. Even more years later, we have adults being pushed to machine-like levels, still having no idea who they are. And they are parenting kids who are experiencing things the parent couldn’t understand even if they wanted too.

Uh Oh…storms building up. Ima keep taking it back. To what was my first traumatic experience - as a young kid - around 15ish…right when all dem pretty boys & bad choices start showing up…- My soccer coach, a very decent looking man himself, was my half/time rock gone dad from another family, for a very long time. I was the “Team Captian” for ourteam. Right around fifteen, my mental health started fucking with me. Or it was just puberty and I didn’t know how to deal or talk about it. So I didn’t. Anyways, my safe place was soccer, with my team, and my coach. And the win/vs/loss ratio didn’t matter, technically. It was my happy place where I could be free - and - me, with no need to talk about the messy suffering happening within my own head_or_space. See, I had two seperate, but equally good, groups of friends. I had my soccer girls - where solid good (mostly) decisions were made, unless it was summer and we were at camp…and I had my school friends, who I mostly hung out with when I wasn’t with my soccer team. It was more of a sisterhood though, really, just ran/coached by a man. But I made a mistake one night, and got drunk for a jr,high basketball game, and my life kinda started whirl winding - and I’ve tried not to look back ever since. 

See, I have always been one that has dealt with her emotions alone - literally and totally by herself. Yes, I mentioned I was an introvert but I also feel like I am a super socially awkward person. And most people piss me off. But that’s because I have my own shit going on. Back up a little…we are still talking trauma/mental_illness. I started going to alcohol with my school friends first. And One night I got REALLY drunk. And I got caught. At school. And the principal had to call my rents to come pick me up. And girls, let me tell you. I got in TROUBLE that night…even though I had my boys out there trying to stash my ass in the car. Anyways, I called my coach that night over and over again. Because I was hurting and I needed my other dad/brother. I regretted it immediately the next morning. We never talked about it…nothing was ever said. But I did get cut from the team the following year, which was shortly after this incident. Oh and he didn’t tell me that he was cutting me from the team. He just let the next in line call me for round 2 back ups. And we never talked again, at least in a form I have wanted too for a very long time. 

That was the first time my heart had truly been crushed in a million little pieces. And I dealt with it alone, because I didn’t know how to have such strong feelings out in a public-kind-of-way. And eventually, enough time had passed where I was able to stuff those feelings away so fucking far that I forgot to actually deal with them. Within that one moment, I lost my safest place. I lost my happyest place. I lost my team. I lost my coach. And I lost all the memories that we made together every single year. I missed fighting and playing (in all the ways we did) as a team. Instead, I went on to making my own decisions, for a self I no longer loved-or-cared about the way I used too, and have since ended up as a lone-survivor type of girl. But that’s why I am here, sharing what I went through. In my eyes, I looked up to a man that left me as quickly as I needed him and I spent so much of the following time looking for a love that didn’t exist, But I don’t know what he was going through, or the point that he was hoping to prove by making that decision. And today, 16-ish years later (my old soccer number) I am able to put it on paper, through a different life crisis. 

And that’s my other point. Nobody wants to talk about it. And nobody else has fucking time too. But we should, because it matters. We should, because the world is on fire. Our youth are at risk. My coach left me when I needed him. He left me in a time that my mental health was breaking. And I no longer had a safe place to be me, so I went out to find substances that made me not feel what I was going through. And then I started making bad fucking choices with equally sketchy people. 

That’s the breaking point today. Because the bigger point is that too many people spend too much time fighting for the wrong things and end up leaving the wrong people for the wrong reasons.

More people need to stick around…just to see what happens. You never know who you will end up playing ball with… 

#SelfLove #speakupspeakout #standbyTHEkind #mental illness #Mental Health #DontQuit #GivingUpIsntAnOption #GOhard #AndSTRONG

[cornfarm]

waves against the rocks

saiki kusuo x reader

word count: 2.0k

synopsis: you show saiki your powers. he’s unbearibly jealous, yet for the first time, he feels seen and understood by another person.

cws: mention of the reader having a bad family

genre: melancholic fluff

reader is gender neutral!

===================================================

notes:

greetings... i promise i’m working on cease and desist part 2 but i keep starting one shots;; I ALSO DECIDED TO CHANGE MY TEXT FORMAT... i yoinked all the capital letters away... it feels a bit more liberating

whenever i make my crazy op self insert oc, i always think about how i can make them a foil/double to the characters i like. for example my gintama s/i is also a traumatized war veteran. i thought like... wouldn’t it be fun to write the reader character as a direct foil AND double to saiki? they have everything he doesn’t, but he has a lot that they dont and it’s like,., mutual jealousy.

i also wanted to write saiki properly empathizing with someone. aiura and toritsuka are so fun because they both have different moral compasses with their powers and how they’d like to use them. however despite the fact theyre all psychics, saiki can’t really empathize with either of them.

i wanted to have saiki be excited about something, and feel truly seen. empathy is a very powerful thing.

i hope the “ability” i chose isn’t too cringe;;;

i can’t help but feel like i write saiki ooc so feedback would be super appreciated!

===================================================

perception. the way people are seen by others, the mental images and sour thoughts rooted in nothing but misconception. the falsafied persona of greatness, beauty, and kindness. perception.

you kept saiki afterschool. tugging at his sleeve, you quietly asked “i need to show you something, stay here for a few extra minutes?”. he refused you at first, but you stayed firm, “i need you to stay.” fierce. he decided to stay.

but you stood before saiki, right? were you there? he suddenly felt a bit weary, head pounding at the thought of you. your name, voice, scent, failing to find matches in his library of records. when he thought of you, his brain flickered through the faces and names of everyone else he knew.

you were a gap, a void, a sudden unconjurable memory. it was horrifying. but he quickly accepted it. the body circling behind of him was none of his concern, because there was nobody there. he supposes he should go home now. why was he standing alone in the classroom anyways?

firm hands land on his shoulders, warm, present. he remembers why he’s here.

“it’s not that i’m invisible, it’s just that your brain can’t recognize me, and refuses to acknolwedge me as a thing that exists.”

like a wave crashing against a rocky shore, the void is filled. your voice, your scent, your name, all slotted back into place in his mental library. he recognizes the hands on your shoulders as yours. 

a hand snakes around and pushes up his glasses, covering his eyes.

“it’s not about visibility, it’s perception. you are unable to percieve me as a living thing, or of anything of importance. that’s why you can’t read my thoughts, and that’s why you’re so quick to give up trying to recall me.”

he’s practically trembling- you have one power. it was simple, but it managed to find a loophole around practically all of his.

“that’s terrifying.”

“right?”

you take your hands away and step in front of him. he adjusts his glasses properly.

“were you born with it?”

you nod, “it caused me trouble when i was a kid. i almost got left at an airport,” you chuckle.

“does anyone else know?”

“i’ve tried to tell my parents but they don’t believe me. they called me a liar and delusional, so i decided to stop trying with them. nobody else knows, i’ve never told any of my past friends either. when i found out about your powers, i thought maybe someone would finally understand. that’s the only reason i wanted to tell you.”

your lip quivers, “you believe me, right?”

truth be told, saiki’s stunned. he wasn’t expecting someone like you to have such an abrasive ability. despite how reclusive and fittingly unnoticeable it is, it was certainly powerful.

he’s jealous. you were able to freely aquire something he wanted- privacy, but he does believe you, afterall he just watched you waltz around him, outside of his keen field of view. 

“yeah, i do.”

you smile, bright and wide- you’re nearly trembling. was being believed that big of a deal to you?

you take a step forward and embrace him, wrapping your arms around his torso as your head presses against his chest. he goes a bit stiff, and glances at the door. “hey, someone might walk in-”

“it’s fine.” you look up at him, meeting his eyes, and oh. your eyes are glimmering, shining greater than he’s ever seen them, “they won’t.”

burying your face back into him, he tenataively wraps his arms around your back. you continue, voice muffled, “’m sorry, you’re the first person who’s accepted me. i’m happy.”

the emotional explanation for your actions ease him a bit, “it’s fine.” he states back.

you finally pull away, and for a brief moment as you lose connection, you flicker out of his view, but you come back in again, placing your hand on his.

“actually, i can touch you while using my power without you being affected by them, but i’m manually using it on you right now.”

“if you touch someone while making sure they still can’t see you, what does that make them experience?” his voice is clear, a bit fierce in tone. you always had trouble reading saiki, but you could tell that this was interest. perhaps he was threatened, but he was certainly intrigued.

“they might whirl around and look who’s touching them and account it to a person around them, but if not, they might think they’re having sensory hallucinations. i can also talk to people, but because my voice doesn’t have any weight to it, it’s almost like a hypnotic suggestion.”

“so you can brainwash people?”

“not necessarily,” you let go of his hand, you must have released your power, your eyes are dark, “if i suggest something to someone and it’s something mild, they’re more likely to do it because it already falls into their line of thinking. if i suggest something bold, they might do it thinking it’s an impulsive thought.”

“most people won’t do extreme things, they’ll read those as intrusive thoughts. but sometimes people think my voice is the voice of god, or a passed on relative, and will do intense things regardless of their judgement. others have poor impulse control, and some are just batshit crazy.”

you sheepishly scratch your head, “but i don’t really like having that much control over people. i don’t want to use my powers to hurt anyone.”

“do you want to use them to help people?”

you pause. it seems you’ve thought about this quite a bit.

“well my powers can’t help people. they give me the ability to help people, but they can’t help people directly. i think it’s a matter of it i’m strong enough to help people.”

“are you?”

“would you hate me if i said no? of course i lend a hand to my friends when they need it, but i don’t think i’m strong enough to really make a difference. i want to live peacefully.”

you look down at your hands, “i wish i wasn’t born with it.”

saiki felt unnervingly softhearted. he struggled empathizing with his peers, but his heart pounded in solemn familiarity. “i don’t hate you for that, i’m the same. having the powers i do means i have the responsibility of keeping the world in peace. people would be jealous of me for the self-fulfilling purposes i could use my powers for, but i don’t want to use my powers to hurt people. i don’t want to help anyone either. i just want to be left alone.”

guilt. guilt was a disease, just like jealousy is. it eats at you from the inside, and creeps up at times least expected. it left both of you hollow and empty.

“i wish i didn’t have powers,” he continues, “i don’t think i’ve ever properly experienced life in the way i’m supposed to, like everyone else has. i’m envious of you, you’ve had a bit more normalcy than me.”

“i suppose we’re equally unhappy, then,” you smile at him. he had been staring out the window, but he turns to looks at you. you’re leaning on the door of the classroom, tilting your head, you ask him a silent “walk home with me?”. 

“i mean,” you begin, “i’ve missed out on a lot. i’ve always had trouble making friends- my powers made it difficult for people to remain interested in me. i’ve gotten pretty good at controlling them, pk academy has been really good to me, but it doesn’t heal the damage it’s caused me.”

your teeth gnaw at your lower lip, “your family is so supportive of you, they love you so much, it makes me angry. i wish i could say the same about mine.”

it wasn’t too empty in the school, but your footsteps were loud and clear, both you and saiki walking in sync. saiki didn’t really know what to say, so he stayed silent. 

sighing, you continue, “i don’t want to be alone, but it’s too easy to be reclusive when that’s where you’ve always been. if you live a life of isolation, making friends is scary and draining,” a grim smile forms on your face, as if you’re trying to comfort yourself.

but saiki does have to admit that the two of you have much more in common than he initially thought. he quietly thinks to himself, perhaps he could use your abilities.

“y/n,” he begins, eyes meeting yours, “will you do me a favor?”

“yeah, what is it?”

he doesn’t like being indebted to people, but he wants to test your limits. you don’t give him the chance to ask, “you want me to use my powers while we walk out together, don’t you.”

his mouth falls a bit open, lips parting, “how did you know?”.

you laugh, “you’re not the only one who can read minds,” and reach out to wrap a hand around his forearm. he raises a brow at you, seemingly amused by your comment. he expected you to take his hand again, but your firm grip on his arm was admitedly unexpected.

he felt his heart skip a beat.

“well? are you doing it?”

“yup, you won’t feel any different though.”

walking down the steps together, people passed the two of you, strangers, familiar faces, teachers. nobody noticed.

the two of you passed toritsuka at the steps, but he paid no mind. “you know,” saiki started, “when i use my invisibility power, that guy can still see me.” 

“can he?” you murmur, your voice a bit low. 

“if it’s easier, you can just think what you’d like to say to me, we can talk that way.”

you squint your eyes in concentration, “like this?” you think to yourself. 

“yeah.”

you smile. you continue to hold onto his arm as he changes his shoes. 

“that must be frustrating, that he can still see you.”

he nods. he supposes if toritsuka can’t see you, then aiura probably can’t track you- and him, down either. 

“hold onto my arm while i change mine.”

without breaking contact, he gently wraps his fingers around your wrist. you hastily change your shoes, and slide your hand a bit up, taking his in yours.

“is it neccesary to hold hands?” he asks. his expression was nearly deadpanned, but the slight crease in his brows communicated just enough. he felt sheepish, a bit lost.

“no, but it’s nice.” 

teruhashi stands idly at the exit, waiting, doing her best to gently shake off the boys that surrounded her.

“she’s looking for me.”

“is she? do you want to talk to her?”

“no.”

you pause. 

“is she the reason you asked me to do this for you?”

he nods.

you turn and head towards the gate, but not before waving a hand in front of her face. you take a deep breath, before exclaiming a loud “teruhashi!”. she whirls around, trying to find the source of the voice, looking rather bewildered.

letting out a hearty laugh, you grin up at him. a slight huff of air escapes his upturned lips.

the two of you slip past the front gate.

“but you owe me something in return, i don’t give out my labor for free!”

he sighs, “what would you like?”

“wait, really? i was joking, you don’t have to do anything for me!” you double down on your demands.

“you say that, but i know you’re secretly hoping i’ll treat you.”

“shit, i forgot you can read my mind. that’s so invasive.” you pout, “not fair!”

“it’s fine, i don’t like being indebted to people, and you did do me a favor like i asked, so i’ll take you somewhere.”

you look a bit nervous, “really? you’re sure?”

“just accept the offer before i revoke it.”

you twirl in a circle, letting go of his hand and hopping a few steps ahead of him. “you’re buying me a nice coffee then!” 

he lunges out to take it again.

“sure.”

and once more in sync, both of your hearts skip a beat.

#im sorry for writing so much friends to lovers in the pining stage i can't help it /j #the disaster of psi kusuo saiki #the disasterous life of saiki k #saiki k #saiki kusuo #saiki kusuo x reader #saiki k imagines #saiki k headcanons #saiki x reader