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redstringsofhate · 5 years ago

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broken brooms. [1]

orig. posted on ao3

The Mahoutokoro School of Magic is known for its formidable Quidditch players, and 6th year student Kobayashi Arisu wants her playing time.

[ oikawa tooru x f. oc ]

[akaashi keiji x f. oc ]

Kobayashi Arisu hates Transfiguration.

"You look like shit." Nishinoya Yuu wasn't helping.

"Thanks." Arisu rips out another page from the notebook, her pens flying astray.

The Toppou common room's fire crackles next to the two students. Aside from a few second year boys playing Wizard's Chess (who even has time for that?) in the corner, Arisu and Nishinoya were probably the only ones awake.

"This is due tomorrow and I have a good," Arisu silently reads her work, "five sentences."

Nishinoya slouches down the couch, messing his hair even further. Ever since meeting him - and actually talking - last year, Arisu has always questioned the boy's (seemingly random) blond streak. In the dim lighting, it's like a sun against his otherwise darker feautures.

"You shouldn't've waited until the night before."

"You haven't even started writing yours," Arisu looks back up from her essay. She takes off her glasses to rub her eyes. Nishinoya's moved down another foot. The coffee table covers his entire face, save for the blond streak and his annoyingly clear forehead. "At least have some manners for Ono-sensei."

Nishinoya moves back up to scowl at her. "I told you, I had much better things to do! Quidditch tryouts are in two days!"

"Don't remind me." Arisu groans, enough to catch the attention of a second year.

"Stop it," Nishinoya says, "You can do it this year, Ari, you've improved so much over the summer and I bet Tanaka's flat ass you'll make it as a starting Chaser."

Arisu almost grins at the comment. "I'd be lucky if they chose me as a bench warmer."

"Oikawa-san's a dick," Nishinoya agrees, "but he knows good players."

Arisu vaguely remembers the name. "Oikawa Hayate?"

Nishinoya looks at her as if she scored a hundred on her Transfiguration essay. "No, Ari, who the fuck is Oikawa Hayate? Damn, I knew you were bad at names, but not this bad."

"He's in my Potions class," Arisu says. She drops her pen on the table, massaging her hand. "Is there another one? Are they related? Twins?"

"Doubt it," Nishinoya says, "It's Oikawa Tooru. The guy's probably had sex with at least half of the seventh year girls. Crazy good at Quidditch."

"You probably wish you were him." Arisu lets out a yawn. "I never saw him last year, though, I thought Iwaizumi was the captain?"

"You must've tried out the second day, after he sprained his knee," Nishinoya says, "I heard he still has it. Must've gotten it from badgering all of the members or showing off. Iwaizumi's vice captain."

Arisu scrunches her face as she writes the next sentence. "I hope Iwaizumi's not there - he had that you're a fucking idiot face the entire time I was trying out."

"That's better than Oikawa," Nishinoya says, "Trust me."

Arisu finishes her essay just as Minaha Ono walks into the classroom. Their professor must have gotten a haircut over the weekend.

"Good morning, class," Ono-sensei greets them cheerily, "Today we will be going over the basics of the Hardening Charm."

A spell of laughter erupts from the back of class. Arisu looks behind to see Nishinoya sharing grins with Ryuunosuke Tanaka, a sixth year Beater in Shunrai. Arisu has never talked to him, but she's frequently seen Nishinoya sneaking out of Toppou's dorms during ungodly hours to meet up with with his friend. Ono-sensei pretends not to hear their snickers, and flicks her wand to write the kanji characters on the board.

Arisu always sits in the middle row of the room, not too close to be affiliated with the best students, but she sure as hell wasn't going to Nishinoya's level. She hands in her Transfiguration essay to Ono-sensei before splitting up with her classmates to practice the spell.

Terushima Yuji places himself right next to Arisu, smiling from eye to eye. Arisu catches a brief whiff of cigarette smoke off of him. It was a surprise he managed to get more - Arisu clearly remembers the boy complaining last Saturday about his last pack of Marlboro and how he ran out of pocket money.

"Arisu-chan," Terushima announces, "I have an idea."

"You're so loud, Terushima," Ito Hikari hisses. She was another student in Toppou. Pretty. Arisu didn't talk to her often. They never got to after Arisu forgot to work on their project together fourth year - turns out Ito likes to hold grudges.

Terushima shoots a grin at Ito before speaking anyways. "Listen, I heard Atsumu got something new the other night - "

"I don't want to talk to him," Arisu cuts him off. A quick fling during the spring of fifth year, recent mentions Atsumu Miya made her want to punch someone and hide beneath her covers simultaneously.

"Oh." Terushima fiddles with his parchment paper. He almost looks sheepish. "Sorry."

Ito ignores the two and continues transfiguring all of their objects into stone. By the end of class, Arisu and Terushima had a collective three rocks while Ito proudly holds out her ten for Ono-sensei.

"Marvelous work, Ito-chan," Ono-sensei remarks. "Ten points to Toppou."

Although it was her house, Arisu had to hold herself from hexing her. Ito passes by her with an almost forgetful glance, as if they didn't share the same Transfiguration class for three years in a row.

"C'mon." Terushima drags Arisu along. "I'm starving and they have udon today."

The Dining Hall bustles with students coming from morning classes. A problem that came with having a school on a fucking mountain : there were no nearby towns to visit for food.

But the udon was delicious. The only time she's fine with her glasses fogging up is while eating udon.

Terushima had finished his third bowl by the time Saito Fumi comes along. Fumi has her brown hair in a haphazard braid, her green Toppou uniform barely covers the Beatles t-shirt she always wore proudly. Arisu met her in second year, after both girls realized first year friends were shitty and unpredictable. Fumi had been a day student before boarding, but all of her friends remained commuters, and Arisu found Fumi lying in a pile of ripped paper and a broken left hand just before fall semester ended.

Terushima joining in third year was equally sudden, in his I'm a new boarder and I'm better than you aura (a rare reaction from a day student), but Arisu was split between being too unmotivated to find a better group and actually enjoying their company.

"Terushima," Fumi was looking at his empty bowls in disgust. "What the fuck. You're an actual pig."

"You've had five bowls at once," Terushima defends himself. He points his chopsticks at her with raised eyebrows. "While stoned."

Arisu chokes on her water.

"Asshole, you were the one that got me like that." When Fumi sits down, a few fifth years turn to their direction. Fumi always got the attention of people, in the attractive sense and how her general presence had a way of garnering eyes.

"It's not my fault!" Terushima almost gets up. "You were the one that threatened to hex me if I didn't let you have a try of - how did you say it? - Kuroo-senpai's weed."

"That's so nasty, Fumi." Arisu drops her chopsticks.

Fumi hides behind her bangs. "He is our senpai!"

"Yeah, and he acts like an idiot half of the time," Arisu comments, "Even Terushima doesn't do half of the shit he does with Bokuto."

"Terushima is too much of a loser to hang out with them." Fumi shifts back into her previous demeanor. She takes a slurp of the udon noodles, pouring in more hot oil. "He's in Shunrai, but he can't even sit with Bokuto-senpai."

"Maybe it's because I want to hang out with you guys!" Terushima points out. He finishes the third bowl. "I'm just a good friend."

Arisu smiles wickedly at him. Seeing Terushima flustered always brought her entertainment. "You know, Yuji, Fumi thought you had a thing for her since you never left."

"Fuck off!"

"Oh, how you wish, Yuji-kun." Fumi cackles into her bowl.

Arisu wants to be back in her dorm room. Mahoutokoro usually has bad weather, but it was freezing outside.

Nishinoya had promised to meet her for pre-tryout practice, but a last minute note with the words Kiyoko-senpai~ meant that he wasn't going to come anytime soon. Arisu pulls on her gloves and examines her broom, an old-fashioned Cleansweep Seven. With or without that girl-obsessed boy, it was better to get some practice than none.

After taking a brief look around her, Arisu kicks off into the windy air. Only a few other players were in the air with her, allowing Arisu decent room to practice her speed and coordination. Especially speed.

Her teeth stop chattering after a few rounds around the field. Arisu's black hair maintains itself, with only a couple strands sticking out. The students around her turn into gray and blue bobs.

Arisu finds the balancing part simple - it was like riding a bike during her blissfully ignorant muggle days. Although she was slower at picking it up, almost embarrassingly so, Arisu found too much entertainment in riding her bike outside her mother's bakery. The learning process for the broom was significantly longer, but Arisu's insistence on riding over breaks did help her in the past years.

Arisu tightens her grip on the broom, attempting a backwards turn in the air. She closes her eyes for a second, blocking out the gusts of wind attacking her face.

God, she wants to be a Chaser.

The back of her broom almost responds, and Arisu has two seconds to register a crack in her broom's precious wood. A web-like pattern grows around and beneath her gloves. Arisu hears a ringing.

She has no time to scream before her body plummets towards the field below, the breeze rushing up to her again, enveloping her body in its depths. Blood shoots through her arms, numbing her fingertips, and Arisu wants to vomit.

"Shit! Shit!" a voice from above yells. Without her glasses Arisu makes out the blurry face of a boy, though she doubts she could've seen better with them on. He reaches out his hand for her, getting nearer, but Arisu instinctively moves her arm away, attempting to ease the impact.

A dumb move.

Arisu didn't have the energy to strangle whoever threw a Quaffle at her broom as the medics levitate her towards the Hospital Wing.

"A broken radius and ulna, kiddo," Fuse Himari clicks her tongue. She recently joined the health department at the school, fresh out of Mahoukotoro only a few years prior. Arisu recognizes her signature blue nails tapping against the bed frame. "At least it's not your dominant one."

Arisu hasn't been back in the Hospital Wing (as a patient, at least) in ages. The last time was from a flu half the school had contracted. The white walls were peeling in every direction possible, and the light above flickers at least twenty times before Arisu attempts to move in her bed.

"I wouldn't move if I were you." Fuse eyes Arisu's arm. "Even with magic, it'll take a few days to heal completely."

"I don't have a few days," Arisu says, fishing around for her glasses which were, luckily, repaired. "Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow, Himari-san."

"That can wait," Fuse says, almost anticipating the response. "But your arm needs time to heal, or else you won't be able to play any sport again."

Arisu knows Fuse doesn't ever take a negative response. As a student, Fuse would always drag out the Toppou lowerclassmen to dinners, refusing to compensate for their anxious, eleven year-old, worries. "You know I've been wanting to do this since fourth year."

Fuse responds by gently patting her head. "I know you do, girlie, that's why you have to trust me on this."

"What do you - "

The creaking door hurts her ears. Arisu makes out curly hair poking out from behind the door, and she watches Fuse as she leaves her spot to let the person in.

"He's been out there for a while," Fuse says over her shoulder. "I'll let you two talk."

A tall boy replaces Fuse's seat, holding a bouquet of flowers. He must be the guy who broke her arm, so why the fuck was he smiling so much?

"Kobayashi-san, I'm truly sorry for what happened." The boy places the bouquet next to her. He has a nice voice, but Arisu's sudden urge to scream at him for ruining her chances of making the Quidditch team ruins any attraction. "I, uh, was practicing with my team, and the Quaffle seemed to have a mind of its own."

"That's nice," was her response. The sooner he leaves, the less likely Arisu will ruin any of their future interactions with each other. "Thanks for the flowers. They look nice."

The boy's smile widens even further. He has really pretty teeth. "That's good to hear! I was picking some out from the Herbology gardens. I thought they would brighten your room a bit while you were staying here and all."

Silence. Arisu doesn't bother with continuing the small talk. The ringing starts again.

"I hope we see each other again," he beams. "I'm Oikawa, by the way, Oikawa Tooru."

Arisu takes a minute to register the sentence before remembering her conversation with Nishinoya.

"I was going to try out for Toppou's team." The words come out before Arisu has a chance to rethink her decisions.

Oikawa pales, and Arisu almost feels sorry for him. Too bad the anger got to her sooner. "Yeah, looks like my chances are doomed now, huh?"

Oikawa's gaze dashes around, barely, but it was enough for Arisu to notice his tactic. His back immediately straightens and he lets out a slight chuckle. He must have too much experience with these situations. "I'm sure there's another chance for you later," he says. In any other moment, Arisu would have found his words comforting, but it just sounds so condescending. "It was difficult for us to tell if there were other people practicing, I had assumed everyone else was just playing for fun, which I apologize - "

"Excuse me?"

Oikawa maintains his annoying smile the entire time, his eyes crinkling up at the edges. "No, no." He chuckles for what seems like the fiftieth time. "That's nothing against your flying abilities, I assure you, it was just the way the broom went - "

"Look." Arisu feels her ears burn. "I've been working my ass off for the longest time just to get my bones broken by the Toppou team captain, and now he's here criticizing me on my flying abilities when he can't even handle a Quaffle properly."

Oikawa shifts in the wooden chair. "I really am sorry, Kobayashi-san." He sounds genuine this time. Arisu pushes up her glasses to see him watching her. His eyes were too brown against his pale skin.

"I can help pay for a new broomstick," he offers.

"Thanks," Arisu says, "but it's fine." She brushes her left arm absentmindedly.

The door opens again to reveal a Fuse with potion bottles, walking past them in a hurry.

Oikawa coughs. "Just let me know if you need anything, Kobayashi-san. I'll come by later this afternoon - I heard the Dining Hall's going to serve this delicious crepe cake."

"It's fine, really." Arisu rubs her eye. There was no point in yelling at him when he was being this nice to her; sure, it was a shallow and fake nice meant to calm her down, but nice nonetheless. "And, uh, sorry for my outburst."

"That's totally understandable!" Oikawa tries for another smile before getting up. "It's great seeing your enthusiasm for Quidditch!" Of course it is.

His brown curls cover most of his forehead now, and Arisu notices the slight stubble around his chin. "I'll see you later, Kobayashi-san."

He bows to her, and Arisu could smell the Quidditch field.

When the door clicks shut, Arisu was certain that Fuse didn't have a shift tomorrow.

#haikyuu!!#oikawa torū #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu fanfic #nishinoya yuu #yūji terushima #oikawa tooru

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redstringsofhate · 6 years ago

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[post-re:125 touken hc] where she doesn’t ask again about it, but he apologizes anyway.

“i’m…sorry.” it’s the first thing he says, after….after. it comes out hoarsely. kaneki clears his throat, but the next words aren’t much better. “sorry for…crying.”

“did it hurt?” touka asks, and kaneki grimaces.

i should be asking that.

Keep reading

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redstringsofhate · 7 years ago

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i love how im only writing about tg after it has ended

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redstringsofhate · 7 years ago

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[touken] two teaspoons of sugar will do

it was a rainy afternoon, and anteiku seemed quieter than usual.

a short fic on one out of the many times touka had to teach the basics of good coffee making to kaneki.

he spilled the very first cup. all of its contents, including the time-consuming rabbit latte art, was gone in the blink of an eye. kaneki looked around - scared to see a reaction but also very eager to muster up an apology.

but touka wasn’t there. his visible eye widened, pondering on where she could’ve been. she was right by his side not too long ago, her stark attitude a needed presence. kaneki wouldn’t say that he had started to become accustomed to the girl’s sharp comments, but the adjective came out before he could stop his wondering mind: endearing.

she was strangely endearing.

“touka-chan,” he called out in the silent room. the costumers from rush hour were all gone, leaving with their coffee to take the commute to work. the silence that answered confused him.

where was she?

he ended up wiping off the coffee, still hot from the machine. kaneki watched, almost in a trance, as the liquid spread across the towel.

the door creaked, and he heard the jingling of bells not long after. he didn’t need to ask who it was - there was only one person it could’ve be. touka appeared with a bag of sugar.

she glanced at him briefly, and then her eyes met the towel. if she was irritated, she didn’t show it. just as kaneki was about to utter an apology, touka began speaking.

“we’re going to do a lesson today.”

he watched as she walked over, opening the bag of sugar.

“get those measuring cups over there.”

when kaneki handed the utensil over, his fingers brushed hers, and he could feel just how cold they were. of course, she didn’t go outside with a jacket. did she want to get sick?

he looked at her worriedly as she dipped the spoon into the package, wiping off the excess sugar with her fingers. kaneki watched her carefully as she let the sugar mix into another fresh cup of coffee.

“don’t put too much sugar in,” touka said. “costumers want it sweet, but there’s a certain level of sweetness the typical person likes.”

her words were calming, and he bathed in them while the storm outside progressed.

“i’ll teach you how to make better latte art tomorrow.”

she finished mixing the sugar, allowing the delicious aroma to settle around them. kaneki wanted to say something to fill up the silence, but he enjoyed listening to the the careful movements touka performed as she made another cup. he enjoyed watching touka move a tiny part of her hair out of the way as she poured in more water, as she grabbed more teaspoons of sugar, as she brushed against his shoulder to get more cups.

“hey,” touka said. “what are you doing?”

she had turned around to look at him.

kaneki, beet red and stuttering, managed to say the only thing that crossed his mind at that instant.

“y-you...have something on your face.”

“what?”

he stood still, frantic, cursing at himself.

why did he say that?

“i - there’s a l-little piece of dirt on your nose.”

“oh.”

she wiped her nose a few times. “is it gone?”

kaneki was hoping his face didn’t look like how it felt. he was burning, almost as much as his fingers when the coffee spilled earlier.

“y-yeah.” he gave her a weak smile.

touka looked at him with a raised eyebrow and chuckled slightly.

“maybe you should give brewing another try.”

#there werent many romantic moments in the original #touken #kaneki ken #kirishima touka #but i can still dream something like this happened #my writing #prob some bad characterization on my part #but im pretty sure kuroneki must have had some romantic feelings

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redstringsofhate · 7 years ago

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Ishida Sui’s tweets

Please take translations with a grain of salt.

The last chapter has been published on Young Jump which is now for sale.

I would like to thank the readers, Young Jump’s editorial department, people from the printing offices, people who were involved in this work, and all the staff from the bottom of my heart.

Including the preparatory period, I have been drawing from June 2011 up to June 2018, for 7 years, with barely any breaks.

Despite it being such a crude work made by an unskilled hand, I’m quite proud of myself for being able to draw until the very end.

For the past six months, I’ve been drawing while mentally preparing myself that it was going to end. However, once the end was right around the corner, I was suddenly overcome with the feeling of being omitted/removed/collapsing.

Until the very end, I’ve placed such a huge burden on the editorial department, as well as the printing office. But I’m very thankful for the fact that they have accepted my absurd requests/absurdity.

Being able to accomplish many challenges, this has been my sustenance.

I am deeply grateful to my editor. He worked like… a cushion…? between me and the outside.

It’s his fault that I’ve become like this, but it’s also thanks to him that I’ve become like this. I believe that the person responsible for creating Ishida Sui is my editor.

10 years? 11 years? Thank you for all this time. And I’m sorry for a lot of things.

I’ve received a lot of encouragement from other authors who are serialized in the same magazine. Thank you very much.

Especially Hara-sensei, a master who created Kingdom, who was such a big existence to me.

I will be going ahead. Everyone who’s being serialized, I’ll be cheering for all of you.

I’m also grateful to the staff who worked along with my crazy schedule as well as hung out with me during fun times. Everyone’s so nice so I want all of you to live long.

I’ve caused problems for all of you but I’ll give you money, so please forgive me. Still calculating for the final month’s pay so please wait for a while. Also, please bring your receipts.

It also makes me glad to hear thoughts from the readers. I’ve happily read all the letters I’ve received.

Characters’ birthdays… even on days where nothing’s happening, a mountain of gifts were received which made it fun all-year round.

It’s highly appreciated even you just stood and read*. To me, it counts as support. I’m very, very thankful.

*stand and read = go to the bookstore/convenience store just to read without buying

When I absentmindedly did some drawing while I was bored yesterday, I ended up filling up 31 pages of a B4 Croquis sketchbook in one day. (Even though I still had a few stuff to do…)

How do mangakas spend their time after their work ends…?

For now, I’ll spend time relaxing by drawing.

Once again, I’m deeply grateful to everyone who have been involved. Thank you, thank you very much. Let’s meet again somewhere.

Thanks*. Have a nice day.

* can also mean bye

#tg will always be held very close to my heart i cannot thank ishida-sensei enough for the journey

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