#i know she’s only into specifically Tomori

[fishing-lesbian-catgirl]

Desperately in love with an autistic girl voice:

[hanamukes]

To feel saved by your words (Taki and Uika)

While I believe you could compile endless comparisons between any two members of MyGO and Ave Mujica, something that's been on my mind a lot recently are the similarities found between Taki and Uika. Tomori and Sakiko are the ones who pull the story along, but I think Taki and Uika both hold a similar position within the contexts of their relationships with them that warrants a closer look.

This isn't a "complete" and cohesive analysis, so much as a collection of observations I've made as I've been combing through Uika's scenes again lately.

Small disclaimer, but given that Uika as we know her exists in approximately 10 minutes of It's MyGO footage, a lot of this will be my own interpretation of her few existing scenes. Your mileage may vary! I analyze Uika a bit more than Taki here, but this is simply because I honestly feel as if Taki's writing is more blunt and explicit―to "analyze" her almost feels more like a summary of the events and dialogue, whereas with Uika, all we can do is piece together the small crumbs that we have.

To start, I want to talk a little bit about their positions in their respective bands. In ways, they feel similar, but in many more ways, they feel completely different.

Uika is not the "leader" of Ave Mujica in any sense of the word. Sakiko is―Uika is figuratively and literally a puppet Sakiko is playing with. However, she is the "protagonist" of Ave Mujica's stage plays. This is an important distinction to make because while Uika is not the one pulling the strings as we've seen proven in the anime, it's not entirely unfounded for anyone to claim that she may have a special position within the context of the band (even ignoring the fact that vocalists tend to be the "face" of the band which many misconstrue to mean they are the leader).

Taki is an interesting case because she's not the front and center of her band, nor does she have "protagonist" traits, nor does she have something that draws people to her―but nonetheless, through her hard work alone, she has become the primary force that keeps MyGO held together (even if it, at times, feels like duct tape).

I like this distinction between them. Uika gets her special little place just by being popular and having had past connections with Sakiko, while Taki affirms hers by working harder than any one person would have to in order to keep a band together. One of them gets what they want with sheer luck alone, while the other must cling to this band as if it's the last thing she'll ever get the grace of doing.

Though, just what do Tomori and Sakiko mean to Taki and Uika?

Tomori's words save Taki and let her breathe, while if we're to interpret the Ave Mujica doll lore shown in their concerts as applying to their actresses, Doloris repeatedly talks about having a special somebody who accepts her for who she really is deep down, and how she wants to stay alone with them for an eternity―perhaps this is a hint as to how Uika views Sakiko (which has some support in the anime, as I think Sakiko's message to Uika has more to it than meets the eye).

I think there's something to be said about how Taki and Uika seem unhappy with their circumstances (Taki lives her life compared to her sister, while one of Uika's only solo scenes being her dropping the happy idol facade is telling to me), but it's Tomori and Sakiko's words that save them. For Taki, this is Tomori's songs (specifically Haruhikage), for Uika, this takes form in rereading Sakiko's consoling message from her idol debut over and over.

Notably with Taki, this is the happiest we ever see her! Tomori and Sakiko's words save them, and it's absolutely written all over their faces. It's not subtle at all.

Also, how we're (formally) introduced to both characters is in the context of their respective separation with Tomori and Sakiko: Taki is yelling at Anon for scaring Tomori away (after she finally found her again) while this text message scene is Uika's.

Now, separation is of course a huge theme with these bands in general, so what makes their examples special?

Where I think they differ from the others is in the way they approach these separations. Here's the thing: in a way, Taki feels as if her life purpose hinges on being around Tomori, but despite this, she never tracked her down in her absence. Uika always pulls out Sakiko's comforting message to her, so much to the point that she can recite it word for word on the fly, and yet despite having her phone number, she never messaged her. We can see the last message sent between Uika and Sakiko was that conversation from a year ago, and this has to be deliberate.

She probably wants nothing more than to see Sakiko again (when Sakiko calls her in episode 7, she literally blushes and shifts her hair in excitement about it, and I will also mention the director implied the reason she goes to the planetarium is because it reminds her of the stargazing she did on the island with Sakiko), and yet she respects Sakiko to be the one to take that step in contacting her first.

This is also something prevalent with Taki: Soyo exists as proof that if she really wanted to, she could have stalked or harassed Tomori into getting her back in her life, but instead she was patient. She valued Tomori needing space. She put Tomori's feelings above and before her own.

There's just this level of yearning behind their words and actions―of wanting someone in your life so badly, of thinking about them every single day, of looking back at all of your memories together and hoping and praying for the day they will reach out to you once more but not taking that first step yourself out of modesty for your own feelings―that I think separates them from the others. (Ironically, the closest that comes to this is actually Tomori herself but in regards to Sakiko.)

Another big theme they share is that they're rather open with their affection for Tomori/Sakiko, but the way they convey those feelings isn't always interpreted the way they intended for it to be.

(One could perhaps interpret Sakiko's reaction here as embarrassment, and I do think this is a part of it, but given this is the one interaction she's had this series that isn't someone trying to dox her or begging her to be with them, I think she'd be well within her rights to be confused at why Uika's also so obsessively fixated on her.)

Taki falls more under the "awkward" umbrella than Uika (so I'm not about to insinuate I think this will be as common with Uika and Sakiko going forward as it has been for Taki and Tomori), but they both share this trait of "I want to express how much you mean to me" and it being met with confusion.

The way they respond to said rejection is similar as well.

(This anime is very good at expression via a character's eyes alone, and I think this is conveyed really well with both Taki and Uika.)

And of course, because their intent was never to hurt and rather was the opposite (to cherish), they're not afraid to apologize, no matter how "insignificant" their offense may have been.

(The framing on these shots fascinates me, as if the camera needs to zoom out to capture the recipient of the apology in the frame in order for it to land.)

Everything is with Tomori/Sakiko's best interest in mind, but sometimes, just your thoughts and feelings isn't enough. You need to convey those feelings appropriately to the person you're saying them to, and Tomori/Sakiko are of course not the world's easiest people to get through to.

I think on the surface, Uika is presented to us as a character who Taki could aspire to be like. She's calm, collected, and she's able to get through to Tomori as a fellow vocalist. What was that planetarium scene for if not to point out that Uika could present herself as a threat to Taki? But on the other hand, we've seen Sakiko shut Uika down twice already; it's not like her one moment with Tomori makes her better than Taki at communicating with the one she cherishes most, even if she seems more sociable. Tomori is even a bit weirded out that Uika called her by name despite her never telling it to her. When you get down to it and look past their exteriors, they have the same struggles at hand.

Speaking of Sakiko's rejection of Uika, this brings me to what I believe is the most striking parallel between their scenes.

The last episode is fascinating because one of the two examples of Sakiko shutting down Uika is when Uika asks if she can go home with her on the train. We know this is something Taki does with Tomori as well, but that's not what I want to point out here (though that's also noteworthy in its own way):

Earlier in that same episode, Taki was also rejected when she wanted to walk Tomori home! The reasons of course differ (Soyo wanted to talk with Tomori so it's not as if Tomori herself rejected Taki, while I get the impression that at this point Uika still doesn't know of Sakiko's home situation which seems to be the real reason Sakiko said no fun side note though: a Sumimi commercial is very much on screen in the following frame of Sakiko on the train), but the framing of both scenes is very similar, and I honestly find this hard to ignore. The Taki one of course makes sense as it's a well-established thing between her and Tomori to ride the train home together, but Uika had no reason to ask to go home with Sakiko on the train. She got to the venue in a cab just fine! It feels very deliberate to me to have both of these happen in the same episode and to also put narrative weight on both moments as well. When I saw the Taki scene, I thought "Huh, so we're just not getting Taki closure?" and while the Uika scene was too late in the episode for me to really expect an actual scene even had Sakiko said yes, they're similar in that both of these scenes work to set up future developments in the sequel. We're still owed the closure Soyo pulling Tomori away from Taki robbed us from, and we're owed seeing Uika learn about Sakiko's home life.

Something else that I think about often is how Taki and Uika are involved in the songwriting process for their respective bands:

Taki and Sakiko are composers while Tomori and Uika are lyricists

Sakiko and Uika both read Tomori's poetry/ventings in her notebook and attribute it to being lyrical. (Taki does as well but this isn't a discovery she makes through having a one-to-one with Tomori)

Sakiko and Taki both feel inspired by Tomori's writing and do whatever they can to make compositions fitting for her words

While we don't know much about the Ave Mujica songwriting process as of yet, one of the interviews confirms that Uika does the lyrics for Ave Mujica songs. This leaves a lot to be considered regarding 1. why Sakiko wanted her for her band 2. what Sakiko would see in her writing and if it's comparable to how she feels reading Tomori's writing (as a note here: Tomori's writing makes her human, while Uika's writing turns her into a monster), and 3. Uika writes to other people's ideas, but she still feels as though singing is something that conveys her heart to others

Those are some general observations I have regarding this. To both Taki and Uika, they want to see out Tomori/Sakiko's musical ambitions, and they pour their heart into what they do. Of course all the band members are doing this (by playing their respective instruments, and Raana does contribute to MyGO songs in her own ways), but these two go above and beyond in their motivations.

As a much more subtle thing, I want to point out something interesting It's MyGO did: the various Sumimi shills throughout the series that happen during major scenes where characters are trying to communicate how they want to reconcile moving forward. Honestly this is a topic so fascinating I'd love to make its own post dedicated to it, but I want to talk about it here briefly as well because it does relate to Taki. Notably, I want to talk about the example of this in episode 5, because the framing of it felt the most deliberate there.

To set the scene, Tomori just expressed that she doesn't want to hold a concert because that'll end their band, which leaves Taki and Soyo hanging as they're unsure how to move forward from there if Tomori doesn't want to. The scene changes to Taki and Soyo, with Taki overlooking Sumimi's music video.

(The way the shots are composed makes it seem like Taki is staring at the music video, complete with the light of the scenes reflecting on her face, but when we get this zoomed out shot with Soyo in frame, it looks more like she's looking off to the side.)

As Soyo's talking about how unsure Tomori feels and how she's still thinking about CRYCHIC, Here the World is playing in the background. We can hear it pretty clearly; even more clearly than we heard it in the literal karaoke scene! The song continues until it fades out at this line:

The sudden silence almost feels deafening. Taki starts talking about how Tomori's words saved her, and how they made her feel seen. The MV is still playing in the background, we just can't see or hear it. But it comes back on screen to be a backdrop to these lines:

(Interesting how they chose this specific angle that captures the Sumimi MV in the backdrop, when they could have done a different one or turned the video off entirely since the song isn't even playing anymore. Also for the last line, Uika and Mana's silhouettes are no longer on the screen.)

What is the purpose of this? Is it to foreshadow that Sakiko would invite Uika to her band a few episodes later? Do Taki's words apply to Uika as well?

Soyo then continues on and says in order to avoid having things go south again, they need to communicate with one another. Then she says Taki needs to tell Tomori how she feels.

I think the most compelling shot in this scene is this one though.

Because 2 episodes later, this exact shot in the MV is what Sakiko scrunches her face at post-Haruhikage.

(Well, even if Taki's feelings didn't get through to Tomori, Uika did finally get through to Sakiko given she calls her immediately after this. Interesting.)

Taki is trying to express how much Tomori means to her and Sakiko is trying to get over MyGO playing Haruhikage, and there's Uika; happy, smiling, sparkling, and getting everything handed to her. It almost feels as if the MV is there to mock these characters, who are struggling so much to even keep a band together. She's an outsider who doesn't even know that Crychic has disbanded.

It's just one of those things that feels so meaningless, and yet at the same time, the Sumimi MV would not be playing during these scenes unless the writers wanted it to, for whatever reason that may be.

To wrap this post up, I want to mention that I find it very amusing how the director mentioned that Uika was actually not originally intended to be shown in a school setting (like Nyamu is), but when they were thinking about what school to put her in, they put her in the same classroom as Taki because of potential interactions between them. I am very eager to see those interactions in future content, and how Taki will react once she realizes that Uika (and Umiri) are in a band with Sakiko. It'll be interesting to see whether or not these two become proper foils to each other, as I see a lot of potential here given both of their respective relationships with our protagonists. Going back to what I said about Uika being presented to us as something Taki could aspire to be like, I actually hope it turns out to be the opposite: I hope that Taki sees Uika's relationship with Sakiko and learns what not to do with Tomori. This may just me being hopeful though (as in the Ave Mujica concerts, Oblivionis takes advantage of Doloris' dedication to her and turns her into a monster―I want to see something akin to this happen with Sakiko and Uika). We'll truly just have to see!

[summerrobyn]

Two Uika Theory

This all started because I saw a post that pointed out that child Uika is right handed and that the present Uika is left handed.

So I decided to go through every single scene she was in and double check if she really had changed hands from when she was a child. What I found instead was something way more interesting.

Uika uses both her left and right hand in different scenes as an adult.

With that in mind, I went through all the scenes again to categorise which she used her left hand in and which she used her right. Going forward, I'll be referring to them as Luika (Left Uika) and Ruika (Right Uika.)

Which Uika is which?

MYGO!!!!!

Starting with Uika's appearance in Episode 7, as the one in Episode 4 doesn't have any shots the show a clear dominant hand, we clearly see Uika closing the door with her right hand.

She then picks up her phone with her right hand so we can safely assume that this is Ruika.

Moving onto Episode 8, the Uika exiting out the planetarium uses her right hand to removed her sunglasses.

We then see her repeatedly move her right hand to her face during the conversation so therefore we can assume this is Ruika once more.

Considering this Uika also has a flashback to the scene where she read Sakiko's texts with the same scene as Episode 4, means that we can assume that Uika was also Ruika.

This is also the scene where we see the flashback to when they were children. One notable thing about the whole flashback sequence is that the yellow shirt Uika is right handed, matching the right handed Ruika who is talking to Sakiko. However when we get the flash to the dark shirt Uika, the scene focuses on Sakiko's eyes right before.

There's a scene of both of Ruika and Sakiko laughing and then it focuses on just this before the flashback to the stargazing scene:

Meanwhile this is the scene right before the first flashback with the yellow shirt Uika.

Also Sakiko is broken out of the memory by her phone ringing too and Ruika isn't in frame when she comes out of it which feels like very intentional framing. It isn't concrete proof of anything but it feels like something.

What's notable about the difference in the stargazing scene setup is that we never see that Uika move her hands, she could be either right handed or left handed.

Moving onto her next appearance in Episode 10, we hit our first instance of a left handed Uika.

Our very first shot of Uika in this episode is this.

Her face is not in frame and in fact, the camera focuses entirely on her hands. As you can see clearly above, she's using her left hand to try and recline the chair, while her right is held up by her face with a bent elbow.

We know for a fact that Uika, at least Ruika, has been at the planetarium before. The models for these chairs are the same even if she is sitting in the centre as opposed to her usual spot on the aisle.

The first Uika we see here in Episode 8 is the right handed one, who we know can recline the chairs in the planetarium. This is the left handed one who might have never been here before. Of course it might be a hassle for them to remodel the chairs, which is why they're identical despite being different in universe. I have never been to a planetarium like this before so I can't say for certain if the chair's are different or not, but it's still an interesting detail.

Aside from this very obvious instance, there are several shots of the Uika meeting with Tomori specifically reaching over with her left hand to grab/use things when her right hand is closer, so this is at least Luika for sure.

There are at least three which make her hand obvious. The first scene with the chair, as show above.

The second when she picks up Tomori's lyrics from the floor and then she waves goodbye with her left hand too (which I won't show here because I can't get a clean screenshot but it's obvious in the episode itself).

The only time she reaches out with her right hand is to grab Tomori as she's falling but she's got a bag with her and her right hand is closer, which would make sense then for her to use her non dominant hand, but other than that everything else is with her left that we can see in the episode, making this one 100% Luika.

Moving onto Episode 13.

This Uika is reclined in her same chair again, which in this better lighting I can confirm is identical to the other chairs. That does beg the question of why she strayed from her usual position, the aisle, to sit next to Tomori. Either this is an Uika that hasn't been to the planetarium before and so grabbed any old spot, or perhaps this Uika saw Tomori was there and chose to sit next to her. It was already dark in the room at the time though, which makes the latter feel a little more unlikely.

This Uika grabs out to Tomori and also takes her glasses off with her right hand.

She also easily types one handedly with her right hand and then waves goodbye with her right as well. She hails the taxi and then also holds her phone with her right hand during the call.

Overall in this scene, it's safe to say that this Uika is right handed, so this is Ruika.

I specify this scene because we then follow to Ave Mujica's first performance and Uika switches to her left hand.

While warming up her vocals, she puts her left hand on her chest when usually (and I say this as someone who has done warm up vocal practices) your instinct is to put your dominant hand at your chest.

She also waves to Sakiko with her left hand in this instance.

During the performance Doloris does most of her gestures with her left hand. For example, she reaches upwards with her left hand here.

Side Note: It's difficult to tell what hand someone is when they play guitar. As someone who used to play guitar, generally speaking you can use it either way. Many left handed players will choose to play right handed for various reasons but that's why I'm choosing to not look at the guitar playing for concrete proof of left or right handedness.

Overall, I think it's clear that in this scene, we're currently with a left handed Uika, so this is Luika.

In conclusion for MyGo!!!!!:

End Credits (Episodes 4 & 7) = Ruika

Speaking with Sakiko (Episode 8) = Ruika

Other Flashbacks = Ruika (yellow shirt)

Stargazing Flashbacks = Either* (darker clothes, longer hair)

Meeting Tomori (Episode 10) = Luika

With Tomori and Anon (Episode 13) = Ruika

Ave Mujica performance (Episode 13) = Luika

* = For reasons I'll discuss in a different post, I personally like to believe this is Luika, but there's nothing that shows that concretely in terms of hand movements.

Ave Mujica

This close up of Doloris' hand in the beginning is her left one. It doesn't necessarily mean this is the left handed Uika but I think the focus on her hand in general is interesting. It shows up a lot.

Again I won't say anything about hand gestures in this performance since it's much easier to remove the hand strumming when playing the guitar and put it back then having to find the right position by removing her other hand. That's just common sense, so I'll be ignoring it.

Uika doesn't have many clear shots of her hand in this episode, considering she's also holding a guitar case with her right hand for a decent chunk of it. Most of the time it seems to be obscured or just out of frame, though we see her making this gesture with her right hand.

However, this Uika is in frame when we get the flashback to her agreeing to joining Ave Mujica and it appears to be the same rooftop that she met with Sakiko before. While it's not clear if this is the same exact meeting, considering Sakiko's last line of that scene in episode 8 was wanting to discuss something with her, it's safe to assume it's the same moment.

That would make this Ruika.

However when we switch to the performance at the Budokan, which is on a different day than the previous scene, we switch to Luika.

This is the main example of her left handedness as show at the very beginning of the post.

There's something of note here in Luika's choice to remove her mask but that would be touching on the character differences between the two, which are mostly rooted in dialogue. I haven't gone through all of their dialogue yet so I'll save that for another post.

Moving onto Episode 2.

Once more Uika doesn't show many hand movements in this episode. When we see her, both of her hands are holding something or raised or clasped together.

There is this one scene where she raises her left hand clearly, although since her right is hidden I can't quite tell if it's both or just that one.

I'll say that personally I think it's Luika but that's mainly for dialogue reasons. Though this only works if the following Uika scene takes place on a different day, which I think it does based on the mention of interviews (it's a bit unreasonable to have Uika do interviews as Doloris and then also work as Uika from sumimi on the same day, especially considering what Mana says about there being a lot, she is still in high school).

Uika then later grabs the donut half with her right hand in the scene with Mana.

Following this, we see her leaving and then finding Sakiko. The framing doesn't show her hands clearly but based on the during and after shots of her opening the door, her left arm didn't seem to be crossing over her body to grab the handle.

To me that makes it clear that this is Ruika.

I establish that now because when we go to the next scene, where Uika tells Sakiko to wait in the entrance hall for ten seconds, Uika quickly opens the door again and tells her not yet, when it had only been three seconds.

Here I gathered some evidence (as in I went around asking my family to open doors and then asking them which hand they used to open it) in order to make sure I wasn't falling into confirmation bias.

Typically, when someone opens a door they use their dominant hand, right?

The Uika that comes out at three seconds uses her left hand to open the door. This is Luika.

Immediately afterwards we cut back and it's Ruika again. She's holding the cup with her right hand when she heads up the stairs to Sakiko. For the rest of the scene, it's Ruika.

Now I could throw out some hypothesis about why they switched, generally I'm leaning towards the idea that they live together and those "ten seconds" were dedicated to hiding Luika away but that's just me theorising and this post is for showing more concrete evidence than just conjecture.

There's also no clear sign of which Uika is around during Mutsumi's dissociation on stage.

With that, I can only move onto Episode 3.

While we do get a shot of Uika's hands once more she is mainly holding onto something with both of them. While I believe this is Luika for dialogue reasons, there is nothing concrete to suggest that.

Uika is barely in this episode but we do get this one scene that shows her bowing. Looking at Nyamu and Umiri as models here for right handed bowing, we can see that Nyamu would be the full complete right hand bow. Due to the position of the guitar, Umiri can't outstretch her hand as she needs to hold it. Uika is in the same position but her outstretched hand is her left one, which to me signifies that this is a left hand person bowing while one hand has to hold onto the guitar. This is Luika here.

That also means the Uika at the train station fight is also Luika.

And here we have another focus shot of her left hand! Again, this doesn't mean anything but no one else has quite this much attention placed on their hands. It's almost like they're telling us to pay attention to them.

Theory Interlude

Now, we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to throw in a theory.

Sakiko asks Uika to leave so that she can talk with Misumi alone. Uika says sure and walks away. (I need to break down this whole scene by itself one day I have so much to say about it in terms of Uika).

We then later see her eavesdropping on this conversation at a distance.

Considering Sakiko is sprinting back home, I'm surprised that Uika, who lingers for a moment, manages to get back before her. Now that could just be for the sake of drama and perhaps they had an offscreen moment, or maybe Uika just runs real fast but I have another idea.

Earlier I mentioned how I think that Luika and Ruika live together. For the sake of maintaining the whole one life, two bodies thing, they would probably only have one Uika outside at a time. Both for practical and safety reasons. Much easier to pretend to be one person when only one person can be spotted outside at a time.

Maybe Luika really did go straight back as requested and the one listening in on the conversation is Ruika.

It would be such a subtle way of showing there's really two of them. Sakiko returns to see Luika waiting and doesn't think anythings wrong, meanwhile Ruika is outside - heading to the planetarium maybe? I don't know if she has any hobbies outside Sakiko and stars.

Alternatively, Ruika could have been waiting at home and realising that Luika, who is outside eavesdropping, isn't home yet fills in for her while Sakiko is clearly distraught.

Either way, it's certainly a possibility if there's two Uika's around for stuff like this.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Nothing about the performance where Mortis appears tells us one way or another what hand Uika prefers here but since this moment is live broadcasted, the events of it is something that whatever Uika isn't present could see.

Moving onto Episode 4.

The very beginning interview has Uika using her right hand to hold the microphone.

The following scene in their meeting room (?) doesn't show her using any specific hands. They're clasped together or hidden out of sight or off frame for most of the scene.

She does use her phone with her right hand afterwards in the car and this same Uika speaks with Sakiko, copying the same hand gesture that Mortis used. While I think it's believable for the two Uika's to tell each other what they have done that day, I think it's a bit of a stretch for them to show each other all the gestures they saw. So this is probably Ruika.

The group photo that appears later in the episode on a different day has her placing her left hand on Umiri's shoulder. Both of her hands are on her cheeks in the next scene, so that's as far as I can discern from that.

Now here's where it gets a little difficult.

Uika runs towards Sakiko with an umbrella in hand and also holding an umbrella. She holds the open umbrella with her right hand and the closed one in her left. General research tells me that you hand things to people with your dominant hand, so maybe this Uika is left handed but then we go straight into the next scene.

Uika places down the coffee with her right hand. It is the main focus of the frame aside from the black coffee. But then she opens the door with her left.

I'll admit, at this point I felt delirious but this could be explained logically.

She then grabs her right arm with her left hand and then proceeds to gesture mainly with her left hand for the rest of the scene. She uses her left hand mainly in multiple times in multiple shots. The coffee cup was throwing me off but since people also carry hot drinks in my off dominant hand it's possible.

There was also a scene where Ruika moves the mug from her right hand to her left and then passes it to Sakiko, which has nothing to do the cup handle. Why? Fuck knows but it sets a precedent that when it comes to coffee Ruika seems to be fine holding it with both, so why not Luika?

The rest of the scene shows nothing but left handed movements so that's the logic we're going with.

And finally, Episode 5!

The Uika with Sakiko in her apartment is right handed, she very clearly turns off the phone with her right hand.

The one with Mana at their sumimi activities seems to be the same as the one in the very next scene, who very clearly unlocks the front door with her right hand.

The Uika in the elevator is holding her left arm with her right hand, which is the same orientation as the Uika during the discussion in the hotel room. While I think it's Luika, for reasons that all expand upon in a moment, it's hard to say.

The Uika at the school could be either of them. The only time she ever shows a clear hand movement at school is during Episode 8 where she holds her phone with her right hand. So whichever this one is is left up in the air.

When Uika returns home later in the episode she opens the door with her right hand. She then makes herself coffee while holding her right arm with her left hand.

This is clearly Ruika since her right hand is used predominantly so that's why I think the Uika in the elevator is Luika, since the arms are reversed.

Alternatively, since this is in her apartment, Ruika is the one in the elevator, she holds her left arm with her right and this instance is Luika making coffee for her and Ruika, hence the two cups of coffee. However, that throws the hotel room scene out of wack, even if it fixes the coffee conundrum so I prefer the former as an explanation.

Whichever way around it is, we see Uika clutching Sakiko's pillow while holding her phone with her right hand. Ruika is clearly waiting with two cups of coffee for Sakiko to return.

If you're wondering why I'm not doing the rest of the episodes, its because Uika barely appears in them, in fact she doesn't appear in 6, only a glimpse in 7 and like 10 seconds in 8. In every instance she's clearly holding her phone, mostly with her right hand though some shots are hard to confirm. Where is Luika? No clue, maybe she's been locked up inside of Ruika's closet or dead.

The Elephant in the Room

Now I'm sure many people's first thought and the hand switching was that she was just ambidextrous. That is a fair assumption but as someone who is ambidextrous, I'd like to point out why I don't believe that to be a satisfying explanation.

Case in point, her hand movements are only specific during each scene in terms of which hand she favours.

Ambidextrous people will typically just use whatever hand whenever its reasonable but there are scenes where Uika will specifically only use left or right for everything and also specifically scenes where she favours her left hand even in situations where using her right makes more sense.

I point to the scene in Episode 10 when she's trying to recline the chair in the planetarium. Think about it. Why would you actively choose to reach over with your left hand to press a button when your right hand is close enough if that just wasn't the hand you did everything with.

Even if she was switching hands at every new scene it still doesn't make sense. You could argue she trained herself to use her other hand or simply switched when she grew up but not only does she have scenes where she's predominantly or only right hand but she's show specifically to be right handed as a child.

Who in their right mind goes from being right handed as a kid to left handed? You can't use the argument of teaching herself to do so because there's no way someone thinks that's a good idea in a world built for right handed people.

I can accept her occasionally writing or doing things that are convenient with her left hand, her non-dominant hand based on the flashbacks, that's mostly why I became ambidextrous but to become so used to her left hand that she favours it over her right seemingly at random?

No way.

Conclusion

Do I sound insane? Probably.

But there is enough proof that something weird is going on with her hands at least. Is it enough to say that there's two of them? No but we can at least agree the girl has something going on.

It's not the craziest theory that this fandom has come up with.

[lampiche]

More thoughts on episode three of the Ave Mujica anime - Crychic and Ave Mujica parallels

Hello again everyone!! I must have been pretty tired yesterday, because when writing my thoughts on episode 3, I completely forgot to mention one of the most important scenes in the episode. So I'm doing that right now!

We all pretty much know since the beginning of the anime that Ave Mujica is a 'weak' band. As in, it's filled with unstable people, some of them having only or at least mostly their own interests at heart (Nyamu, Sakiko, and maybe even to some extent Uika), one of them sacrificing themself for someone else (Mutsumi), and one of them who seems to only be here for business (Umiri). As the characters' interests collide, they never back down on their positions, and its bound to make the whole band fall apart eventually. The argument in the station was inevitable.

Mutsumi's view of the situation is really interesting. First, she immediately associates this dispute with Crychic's disbandment, which shows us once again that the aforementioned disbandment shook her to her core. She's been doing everything she can to avoid it happening again, and yet, the net is closing around Ave Mujica despite her efforts. Her behaviour (heavy breathing, seeing images flash before her eyes, turning unresponsive and 'empty' as a result) almost makes it seem like Crychic's disbandment traumatised her.

Then, the associations she makes between people are worth looking into. At first, I thought the Crychic roles were given based on instruments. Nyamu and Taki are both drummers, Sakiko is obviously herself, and Uika... Uika is Soyo. So we can rule out the instruments theory. Then, how did Mutsumi connect Crychic and Ave Mujica? Most likely through personalities and behaviours.

First, just about the scene itself, Nyamu, Sakiko, Uika, and Mutsumi are standing, with Nyamu looking the most tense and angry. It makes sense, but it's mostly important regarding Umiri's position. Umiri is seated, completely out of the conversation and action, and even though she does speak to defend Nyamu, it's easily forgotten and doesn't spark any notable reaction. This disconnection from the band and it's troubles are important, because Umiri is also the only member from Ave Mujica not associated with someone from Crychic. It's like Umiri exists in another room from the rest of Ave Mujica, and is fundamentally different from them to the point she's almost a background character, someone not worth focusing onto. This makes sense, considering she's neither someone famous (in opposition with everyone else), nor is she ever a first-choice bassist in other bands : she's here to provide support, but she doesn't belong anywhere, almost like a shadow going from place to place with no specific goal in mind. It's sad to note that despite her 'position' in the band, Umiri is also the one who handles schedules, and who makes sure everyone has a good enough divison of labour. She does care about the members of her band, even though she's secondary to everyone.

Then, we see the first Crychic-Ave Mujica connection : Mutsumi hears Taki in Nyamu's words. Now, why would that be? Now, my thoughts are these : Nyamu is a very self-centered individual, as we all know. She joined Ave Mujica to reach her goal, and her argument with Sakiko is partially fueled by the fact that her decisions are hindering her goal. During Crychic's disbandment, Taki does not bring up her own feelings about Sakiko's behaviour, but rather how they affected Tomori. During both of these arguments, both Taki and Nyamu are fighting against Sakiko with someone/something else in mind, something that goes beyond just the band stability. Also, both Taki and Nyamu belittle someone (Sakiko in Taki's case, and Uika in Nyamu's case), for not coming to band practice, most likely implying that they have both put great effort into being a part of this band, and feel as they should not receive lessons from someone who does not put in the same amount of effort as them. Overall, both Taki and Nyamu are characters who do not like to get walked all over and will always defend the interests of those that matter to them (even if it's just the public's opinion in Nyamu's case.).

Then, Sakiko is linked to herself, which makes sense. One interesting thing about the reflection of Sakiko's words in Mutsumi's gaze though, is that the point of view shown is not at all from Mutsumi. We know from the various episodes showing the Crychic disbandment scene that Mutsumi was facing a window at that time, yet the image she sees oddly resembles the point of view Tomori must have had of the scene. Even though Sakiko's words were directed at Tomori, we could have had Mutsumi's point of view on that scene, but intead, we see it through Tomori's eyes. Of course, it's also because it's easier to show the scene properly, but I feel like it can have an emotional meaning too. Maybe Mutsumi felt just as shaken by the Crychic argument as Tomori? Or maybe, in the current Ave Mujica situation, Mutsumi feels like Tomori did before, completely helpless to do anything and watching everything crumble in front of her eyes.

Finally, the last Crychic-Ave Mujica connection : Soyo and Uika. Here, the link seems pretty obvious : Uika is kind with everyone, just like Soyo is (was? tries to be?), and most impportantly, Uika is standing at Sakiko's side. We know that Sakiko is incredibly important for Soyo, to the point she begged her to come back, and Uika's positioning and words seem to reflect that same idea. She is kind and gentle, but most importantly she wants to defuse the situation primarly for Sakiko. Additionally, we have hints of Uika's 'other side' through that scene that reminds us of Soyo's real personality reveal. With Uika's hand twitch during the argument, and her overall obsession with Sakiko, it's very likely that the personality she puts on is a facade, similarly to how Soyo behaved prior to MyGO!!!!! playing Haruhikage.

To properly finish this, I wanna say that Mutsumi's behaviour after that argument mirrors how she behaved after Crychic's disbandment. Following Sakiko, yet never managing to reach her. This time, even, Sakiko pushes her away, and it must have been what really broke Mutsumi. More than Crychic or Ave Mujica, what she cares about is Sakiko, and how to make amends and protect her, but once again she has completely failed to do so, and that's why Mortis took over. To save Mutsumi from more suffering.

I'll try to watch episode 4 tonight, but no promises :)

[teruyaotoriscarf]

Do an au just any au I love seeing different dra aus Expecially

okay I was listening to an aikatsu song (happy diamond) while reading this request... and my brain immediately just went IDOL/MUSIC AU. also cuz I've never seen anything like that and now my brain is interested.... I don't exactly know what to do for it so I'm just gonna do a short thing of basically the dra prologue... BUT WITH AN IDOL/MUSIC AU EHEHEHEHEHEHE

(BTW to quickly sum it up not all of them are gonna be idols I'm just gonna make all their talents musically related... also Yuki pov cuz yuuhh... so there are a bit of spoilers)

Also omg I made this thing rlly long for a tumblr post- maybe once I can finally log into ao3 I'll make a full thing for this... and probably post it on wattpad too.

Also before this starts I'm just gonna do the new ultimate talents I gave everyone

Yuki Maeda: ultimate lucky idol

Satsuki Iranami: ultimate clown (She didn't even need to change cuz she's so perfect)

Haruhiko Kobashikawa: ultimate stage performer (Why is him and Satsuki giving Tsukasa and Emu wtf)

Rei Mekaru: ultimate music educator

Teruya Otori: ultimate music retailer

Tsurugi Kinjo: ultimate musicologist

Akane Taira: ultimate music editor

Mitsuhiro Higa: ultimate jazz musician (I didn't gaf about making it similar to his talent I just know he would play jazz instruments)

Ayame Hatano: ultimate busker

Kinji Uehara: ultimate cantor

Mikako Kurokawa: ultimate lyricist

Kizuna Tomori: ultimate dancer

Kakeru Yamaguchi: ultimate pianist

Inori Kanata: ultimate guitarist (kanade doesn't exist anymore. Also fun fact Inori was originally meant be like Kanade... so can you see where I got her talent idea from? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

Kiyoka Maki: ultimate vocalist (She said in her freetime events she loves singing I needed to make her a vocalist. hibiki doesn't exist anymore)

Yamato Kisaragi: ultimate composer

...

...

*Insert more suspenseful "..."*

...

Hopes peak academy... A school with a long tradition of fostering musically talented ones from all fields of society's music. This government-approved, privileged school aims to gather and educate hundreds of world-class high school students. Specifically in the music industry. Graduating the school is even considered a guaranteed success for the rest of one's life. Knowing it's purpose of raising hope with music and reaching people's feelings, you might say it deserves to be called "The School of Hope". There are two requirements to be able to enroll in this school.

One must be currently enrolled in high-school

One must excel in a musically related field of expertise.

There are no freshman recruits, and only those who are scouted by the academy are allowed to enter.

And the one standing in front of it's honorable gate...

Is me.

...

...

First off, how should I start this off? If I had to explain the person monologuing right now... my name is Yuki Maeda. Although I suppose there aren't many people wondering about that. Its pretty obvious that I'm not handsome, tall, or have a strange aura around myself. I'm just one of the ordinary students that you can see in the streets at any morning. My skills are average. My grades are... actually pretty good, but on the national scale, also average. My music... not popular. I usually just compose some music online and post it, although it never really gets popular. I can compose music and have a great amount of curiosity that drives me to crave knowledge... but it's nothing big. As an ordinary student and unpopular composer, I've always been curious about hopes peak. Because of it... I know a bit more about the school than others- I think. Hopes peak academy has always had a special place in my mind, and I'm standing in that exact place right before it's gate.

"I've seen this gate several times on the media... but actually passing through it makes me nervous. Can a normal and unpopular composer like me really fit into a school like this?"

Now, why am I so worried about this? I'm an ordinary person with nothing more than unpopular music and a thirst for knowledge. So why all the fuss?

Find it out in my admission.

"This year, hopes peak academy held a lottery to select one ordinary student to attend our school and possibly get a music career. You have been selected, and we invite you to join us as the ultimate lucky idol."

Thats right. Ultimate luck. Chance. Fluke. Good fortune. That was all. I was the one who was picked among millions of high-school students and unpopular composers across the country.

There's only about a dozen ultimate students in the whole country. Being able to be their classmates and possibly make music with them was enough to get me excited...

But now I'm facing this massive building right infront of me, can you see why I was a little intimidated?

"It's 7:50 right now. All freshmen were meant to make it to the entrance hall before 8:00, so I guess I'm on time."

Since it's too late to go back, let's be positive. I should go in the building. I can't stand here forever after all.

"Yeah, right. Let's do this!"

I walked into the building with hope in my heart. The interior was really nice. There wasn't much information on the internet about the facilities, so it's my first time seeing this...

"Anyway, let's head inside of the entrance hall. The other ultimate students... could they all be here already?... no need to be nervous. The academy recognized my luck as a talent, so I can be proud of it... I think. Let's be confident, I'm sure my classmates are good people."

I calmed myself and made up my mind. I was already inside hopes peak academy anyways. This one step I'll make will be full of hope.

And into the entrance hall I went... the entrance hall... from what I heard, all freshmen were told to gather here. And when I stepped inside, what I saw was...

Them.

???: "Huh? Another person came?"

???: "I heard that there are 15 students this time, so all of us are here."

???: "Hello~! I heard you're a freshman too, right?"

???: "What are ya doin there? Heh heh, cmere!"

They're the ones selected to enter hopes peak academy this year like me. They are the people who reach peoples feelings and fill them with hope using music.

"O-okay.... Hey, are you this years freshmen?"

???: "Yup! You're the last to come. Though I shouldn't make fun of you since I was the fourteenth!"

"Whoa... you all came early... I thought I could take my time coming here since the meeting time is at 8:00..."

???: "Hm? Not really. It hasn't been that long since we all gathered here. It was like a group of late students rushing in all at once."

"Then did you all just arrive here?"

???: "I suppose so. Now that you came, everyone is finally here."

They're the ultimate students that excel in different fields of music... I noticed some of them who seem way above my level in composing music, but most of them seem nice and friendly.

"U-uhm... nice to meet you all. So We're all going to be classmates this year."

???: "Mhm. I'm already looking forward to this new school life in hopes peak academy."

???: "I thought of a bunch of weirdos when I heard about this whole ultimate thing, but you all seem pretty normal compared to what I thought~"

???: "So I wasn't the only one? I was half excited and half worried about what my classmates would be like."

That sort of surprised me... I was worried about meeting everyone else because of being chosen for luck... not really any talent. But those with real talent were worried too?

???: "Hey, everyone. Why not introduce ourselves to eachother since we're all here?"

???: "You mean... a self introduction?"

???: "It may take a while for the teachers to get here, and we don't even know eachothers names yet. If we're going to be classmates in hopes peak academy, shouldn't we get to know eachother?"

???: "I-icebreakers... I'm already feelin a bit all overish."

???: "That sounds like a good idea. There's nothing else here to do anyway. Besides, we should atleast know what eachothers names are."

???: "Then we have it settled."

Introduction time... my first chance to learn about the others. It's getting me more curious, and the want to talk with my classmates for as long as possible to know more about them. Considering we just met, let's get familiar with them little by little by simply talking. It's a bit unexpected... but it's how I can make friends with them, right? Plus a chance that I could collab with one of them... that'd be a dream come true.

Lets start with these 5.

...

...

...

???: "Hi, my name is Haruhiko Kobashikawa. Nice to meet you! Let's get along. Haha!"

"Kobashikawa...? The one who became a hot topic with stage performances using aircraft?"

Haruhiko: "Huh, you know me? Wow... this is kinda embarrassing! Right. I'm the Kobashikawa you're talking about."

Haruhiko Kobashikawa... oh, right! I think I heard of him from the HPA New Students thread on the internet yesterday. He's the ultimate stage performer who flew an aircraft at the age of five for a play... along with the fact his acting in the play was extraordinary.

Haruhiko: "A few days ago, I was asked to put on a special play with the main performance arts for it to be flying a plane with real passengers to celebrate my admission to hopes peak academy as the ultimate stage performer. What I used to do was either secret test flights or acrobatics. But carrying people with a real airliner for a performance was fun too."

"Piloting an aircraft... while acting... doesn't that require lots of skills?"

Haruhiko: "Well that's true... most of the time. I just drive with my passion for acting, gut feeling, and senses! I've been doing acrobatics with planes since I was young. I never got any specialized education on it."

Using senses... When a single mistake can lead to fatal event? Not just to him... but what about the crowd watching his performances?... is that what genius are like?

Haruhiko: "by the way, what's your name?"

"Oh, sorry. My name is Yuki Maeda. I hope we can be good friends, Haruhiko."

Haruhiko: "Yeah! Just call me Haru. Let's get along!"

He looks like a cheerful and sociable person. Kind of a relief he isn't the mad genius type...

(I am a lazy shit so I'm just gonna end it there- but full things gonna be on my ao3 ehehe)

[ladyloveandjustice]

Big ouch. Tomori literally thinking she's fundamentally missing something as a human being, thinking she did something wrong, because it always goes wrong for her when she tries to fit in, but she can't figure out what because social interaction is so difficult for her, so maybe she should just go away... is such a big ouch, especially knowing that people commonly read Tomori as autistic.

I'm not, apparently, so I don't feel I have a right to that reading, but I do have ADHD, and I do experience that feeling of missing some component, feeling like you're doing something wrong socially but not knowing what, because people don't like you and you don't know why. I experienced that feeling at my job (which I'm finally leaving for a new one) recently, I'd stupidly assumed I was fitting in and people liked me, that things were different than when I was a kid, only to realize after I heard them talking behind my back that a lot of people at work had not really liked me all along, that I was being left out of things and hadn't been able to get close to the others like everyone else had. I don't know exactly what I did that made it hard to get close to me-- blurted out something weird probably, or just zoned out and got preoccupied with my own work too much, was socially awkward without realizing it--but I do often have a thought that I can't make myself likeable,that I can't understand others, and I am missing some fundamental thing as a human since it seems like everyone else can connect when I can't.

And it sucks. I really relate to how Tomori feels right now, and though I obviously don't know for sure, but I think whoever's writing this has probably really experienced the same thing, the dialogue is so painful and specific. It really is resonant.

[another-dra-anew]

Oh fuck everyone was mentioned but Uehara

Fuck

This makes a lot of sense now

…That draft wasn’t supposed to go up…

…

…HEHEHE. Jk!!! April Fools!!! Hehehehe!!!! I can’t believe that worked I’m so proud of myself. Bit sneaky to do it so late in the day, but I wanted people’s guard to be down… of course it was just a regular day of posting, we all know I’ve never seriously done anything for April Fool’s!… hehe.

The outline that went up was a fake, I do have some notes and stuff in my drafts, but only really things for Chapter 1/2 rewrites. I wanted this to be accurate to how I would actually do an outline (this looks pretty similar to my Chapter 2 Deadly Rewrite outline), but the only information there that’s really accurate is when I comment “Oh, x detail is also important, but I don’t need to note that down, I know I won’t forget it, it’s too important.” That’s how I am with most of Chapter 4; no need for an outline like that!

Uehara isn’t mentioned, but! Three other students also don’t appear! Taira isn’t mentioned, and while Tsurugi and Tomori are referenced, it’s only references to past actions; the ongoing Tsuzuna wake-up call, and Tsurugi talking with Maeda at the start of Chapter 3, when he brought Maeda to the infirmary. These four all got omitted because I wanted it to be realistic in having Someone from the cast missing, but, I don’t want to play any reverse psychology out-smarting games! So, if I only had Tomori missing- does that mean she isn’t the blackened, and I’m trying to trick you? Or do I want you to think that because she is the blackened? That gets stressful, and I didn’t want to accidentally implicate anything! The post isn’t meant to foreshadow anything/be used as evidence, so tsuzunahara + taitai all got axed.

Tsurugi and Uehara were the prime suspects when the trial started (funnily enough, Uehara specifically was being suspected- and now he’s back to being zeroed in on in this ask!), and Taira and Tomori are the two people getting suspected currently. So, none of them get to appear in fake Chapter 4.

Thank you all for letting me prank you! Hehehe. This is almost as good as last year, when I tooootally tricked the Discord server into thinking I had transferred ownership of BTBB to my cat, then fired her for being lazy and sleeping on the job. I got everyone that time mhm mhm! Anyways, hope this was a fun prank! Back to regularly scheduled, ONLY serious posts from here on out. No laughter!

[gaslightgatekeepgirlbosscombat]

Group B, Round 1, Poll 1:

Propaganda under the cut

Mercymorn

Girlbossing for the last ten thousand years. She says stuff like “ough” and “pfaugh” like actually saying the word. She (with the help of a colleague) seduced god to steal his jizz. She has memorised the entirety of human biology so that she can appropriately fuck with people using her wizard powers. She doesn’t know the difference between an 18 year old and an infant. She fantasises about putting god in a jail and filling the jail up with acid for every time he made a frivolous remark or ate peanuts in a meeting or said “what would I know I’m only god” and leave him in there for a thousand years. She often thinks about this.

Soyo Nagasaki

Ok to start with this is largely a joke submission, since I saw a whole post talking about how she was totally a gaslighter and the worst person ever when she is just a 15 year old girl who lied for a while (it was an actual list of her "crimes". If you're curious the list, in order, is (using exact phrasing) gaslighting, lying, manipulative, playing the victim, messing peoples psychology, severe coping and apathy), plus several viewers I saw actually wanting her dead for that. Anyways so Soyo sure is a character. She was part of the band CRYCHIC, and was truly happy for the first time in ages because of it, except one day it disbanded and she kind of had no clue what to do about that, especially since she entirely lost touch with most of the band, with the exception of Mutsumi, their guitarist. Then she met Anon, reunited with her old band's vocalist and drummer, Tomori and Taki respectively and ended up forming a band with them. Except she didn't really want this new band.

Her master plan was just to let it run for a while, then convince Mutsumi and their keyboardist, Sakiko, to rejoin, hope that Anon and later Raana (the band's second guitarist) would leave and then have CRYCHIC back together. Ignoring that Mutsumi had said she hated every single second of being in CRYCHIC when they disbanded and Sakiko had been actively avoiding Soyo for a while. I'm going to say maybe this is gatekeeping because generally she just did not want anybody but the original members in this ideal scenario of hers and was choosing a band full of people who didn't want to be in it over a band where everybody was pretty happy except her. Anyways, so after some foreshadowing, both in just the ways this series loves using lighting tricks for specifically her and also her just generally noting that she was happy to be in a band with Taki and Tomori a little too often when never bringing up the members, plus a scene which might come up later where everybody promises Tomori that the band will remain after their first live despite the fact that Soyo did not want that at all, they had their first live, and both Sakiko and Mutsumi were watching from the crowd. Then they began an impromptu performance of Haruhikage/Spring Sunlight, a song originally belonging to CRYCHIC and one of the first major steps they had taken as a band due to it being their first song and what made Tomori their lyricist. Sakiko was very upset by this and left, Soyo noticed that she left and spent the rest of the performance having a category 5 girl moment and, after things were done, she began yelling at everybody over them playing that song despite it not being on their setlist, because reclaiming something which once made you happy and also upsetting Sakiko are both forbidden concepts as far as Soyo is concerned. Anyways, she stopped seeing them all, and, after spending some time away from school, began telling Mutsumi how ungodly selfish she is and how she's too prone to speaking her mind over not wanting to stick with something which made her very unhappy and also, in that moment, not telling her Sakiko's address the millisecond she asked. Then she talked to Sakiko after mentioning that yeah she kind of forced Mutsumi to bring her to her and Sakiko pointed out that Soyo was kind of only thinking about herself there. And overall her chances of CRYCHIC getting back together weren't super existent afterwards.

She ended up telling Taki all about how she lied to all of them once Taki managed to track her down (since she'd been avoiding and ignoring everybody from the band), which Taki obviously was not super happy about. The fact that Anon and Raana were kind of meant to be lost as CRYCHIC reformed also got back to Anon, which broke apart what remained of the band for a bit. Anyways all of this next stuff is this week's episode (as of writing it, because there's still a few more to go) and I'm happy I waited because I think it's funny that there's a while scene where, after chasing after Soyo up to her home and then being invited inside, Anon points out that Soyo sure does tell a not of lies, and says that she has a malicious side to her, and Soyo immediately asked if she was trying to start a fight, though this did ultimately turn to Anon trying to bring her back to the band. Soyo does try to point out how much of Anon wanting to be in a band was just her trying to look good as a jab but Anon did not take it. Soyo ends up going to the band with the sole intention of ending it with her own two hands, because technically Anon and her were the reason it started, but then she was immediately told to quit her quitting plan and rejoin their band, and it does kind of seem like she'll start recovering from her everything soon, since she ultimately took up her bass for a performance and had a nice little cry about it. So she's getting better from the gaslight gatekeep things but she still has problems

AND I'M SO SORRY THAT GOT LONGER THAN I EXPECTED. Anyways, for an overview, the gaslight component is why I submitted this largely as a joke but she is pretty manipulative in general, gatekeep I guess could work for her perspective on CRYCHIC and the idea of reforming it without the additional members they'd gained along the way with their new, to-be-MyGO!! band and girlboss.... yeah, I'm not sure actually, because while I'm sure somebody could argue she has girlboss moments, she is flopping so hard and taking so many Ls that I'm not sure.

[joyce-stick]

Here's my review of Bang Dream! It'sMyGO!!!!! on Letterboxd which incidentally is the only review of it on Letterboxd at this moment and I feel unreasonably braggadocios about having been the first one to leave a review for this particular show on that particular website

Okay so you should read that now but also I kinda want to mention a few specific things that really fucking got me in the show.

Scroll away if you don't want to spoil yourself or whatever.

First of all-ly. The live performances were really good. They surprised me a lot in that they actually very convincingly sold these girls as inexperienced amateurs who don't know how to work together.

When watching it, I was expecting the girls' first live performance to go like, y'know, big perfect hyper-well coreographed CGI anime girl song performance, like is normal in this genre generally.

Instead, THIS happens:

At this, I literally laugh-cried so hard so much. Like, god damn, the major anime music girls franchise let its girls just suck at the music, like actually seriously for real, just suck. And then they bounce back and do perform properly of course and get into a groove with each other, and it's really cool and energetic and stuff but

ALSO IT SOUNDS WRONG.

Like, the sound mixing is done wrong, on purpose. The instruments overtake Tomori's voice just a bit too much to still get across that they have still prepared really badly for this and are kind of still doing this sort of badly and that makes it cool when they give a good performance anyway.

Anyway. Then there's the whole arc with Soyo and her being emotionally manipulative to try and get her and Tomori's old band back together. And she's genuinely toxic and acts like an angry ex-wife who can't accept that her ex-wife has divorced her

(I need them to hatefuck about it. I need a hatefuck doujin of them now.)

And I kind of love-hated Soyo this whole time for being so emotionally manipulative and seeming almost hell-bent on burning all the bridges she has left but well anyway the thing that got me later is after Tomori gets everyone back together with her song poem and they all cry it out

And she's like "why??? I was so terrible and I used you" but even still Tomori expresses that it doesn't matter and she still wants them all together and just

AND IT'S SOO AAAAHHHHH

And that got me just because. Just. Forgiveness is just a really powerful thing and it takes a lot to do it and it's hard but sometimes you need to forgive your friends when they hurt you for things to move forward better than before and more often than not that's a losing gamble but it's so worth it when it pans out and aaahhhhhhhh

Oh, yeah, and then there's the ending reveal that Sakiko has an abusive father.

We'll have to wait to see how that plays into the Ave Mujica anime but that also really got me. That was something

And also um

I liked the gay aquarium penguins

Okay so anyway um

I have nothing more of significance to say at this time.

There. There's media talk rant ramble for that.

So here's our links etc if you want to leave a tip for this one

patreon | ko-fi

[another-dr-another]

well. i’m not sure if i want maeda specifically to be the witness. but we gotta agree -iris

Maeda, narrating - …Okay. Yeah.

Maeda - Maki is busy investigating, Kobashikawa and Ōtori are both… unavailable… Tomori’s bad with blood, and Uehara doesn’t seem up to much of anything.

Maeda - Taira’s whereabouts are still unknown, and… genuinely, there’s no idea worse than asking Hatano to come do this… I think.

Maeda - Maybe it’d be healing-

Maeda - But! I can stomach it, I can do this… and I’m the only real option we have right now. 

Maeda - …I’ve got this. I can do it- for all of us, and for Iranami.

~*~

Maeda - …Got it.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - You’re good?

//Maeda nods.

Maeda - I just need to watch? Or is there anything else you need?

Tsurugi - …I’ll probably explain what I’m doing. Just so you understand-

Tsurugi - If it makes you uncomfortable- or the opposite, if you have any questions… just let me know, okay?

Maeda - …Okay.

Tsurugi - Great.

//Tsurugi sets about preparations.

Maeda - …

Maeda - What is all of this?

Tsurugi - Oh-

Tsurugi - A lot of this isn’t stuff we’ll be using- even if I thought it might be important, we don’t have time, or resources.

Tsurugi - Uh…

Tsurugi - The thing that kinda looks like pliers, those are rib shears- for cutting through the ribs.

Tsurugi - The scissors, but the blades are wide, and flat? That’s an enterotome, it’s for the intestines- kinda like the bread knife, but one cuts them open, other cuts pieces off.

Tsurugi - A lot of the stuff there is for the bones- lots for the skull specifically…

Tsurugi - You’ll notice most of the equipment is for getting to the brain, or for getting to the organs in the chest cavity.

Tsurugi - But… I’m not gonna try to get into either of those right now. I don’t know how pressed for time we are, and… I’d really prefer to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Tsurugi - I’m only going to try and get inside her mouth, if I can- maybe her throat, but we’ll see.

Tsurugi - So, I’ll use a scalpel, and the needle, to sew her up- that’s most of what there is to it.

Tsurugi - It sucks a lot that I don’t have the table and lights I’d typically have… but, this is also some nice equipment. And even if I won’t be using it, it’s still interesting to see.

Tsurugi - …A tray to catch blood, and a fixed light would be really nice, though.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Hey- you keep hair ties on you, right?

Maeda - A-Ah-

//Maeda was distracted, thinking about what he was seeing.

Maeda - …What was that?

Tsurugi - Do you have any hairties on you?

Maeda - Oh- yeah! How many do you want?

Tsurugi - …Two, I think. 

Maeda - Okay.

//Maeda takes two hair ties from his wrist- leaving him with… easily five left. He watches as Tsurugi uses the first to pull his hair from his eyes, then slides the second onto his wrist.

Tsurugi - I’m going to try and move Iranami so she’s lying on the table, so I don’t have to be angled over her.

Maeda - O-Okay… do you need help, or…?

Tsurugi - No- just telling you what I’m doing.

//Maeda takes a few steps back as Tsurugi… does what he said.

Maeda - …Oh…

//Tsurugi moves his right arm around her torso, putting his left under his knees- as best as he can reach- and pulls her body towards him, off her chair, before lifting her to the table. He moves his right hand to support her head… and when he sets her down, it’s gentle enough, it’s as though he were trying to keep her asleep. But when his arms pull away, Iranami’s body doesn’t move right. She’s too stiff to keep the illusion of life ongoing.

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …

//He slides over the table.

Maeda - Dude.

//Maeda watches as he gently lifts her head, then shifts her back- it takes a moment before he realizes that Tsurugi is collecting her hair.

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - …

Maeda - He’s… really taking a second.

//It’s easier to look at Tsurugi than it is to look at Iranami- or the space she’s left in the puddle of blood on the table.

Maeda - …Oh.

//Tsurugi is taking the time to plait Iranami’s hair.

Tsurugi - …Could I have another hairtie?

//Silently, Maeda offers one to him. Two braids, it seems. He tries to ignore the blood matted by her ear.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - There. Now, it should be kept out of the way.

//He moves back across the table.

Tsurugi - …I really don’t want to try and mess with her body too much. After you die, your muscles stiffen, then relax again- they should be going stiff now.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - If…

Tsurugi - On the off chance anyone’s body is being preserved… I want to keep from damaging any muscles or bones now, while they don’t want to move. 

Maeda - …For a funeral…

Tsurugi - So, as long as I’m just getting into her mouth, it should be fine to keep her on her side like this-

Tsurugi - Blood runs places no matter what, just going to happen. Can’t stop gravity from getting things in my way.

//Tsurugi moves the equipment he’s laid out, bringing them by Iranami’s head- they were by the blood puddle, which is now by her feet. 

Tsurugi - Be right back- I want to grab some more cloths from the kitchen.

Maeda - …

Maeda - I really am confident that it wasn't the cloth which caused my burn-

Maeda - But this would be a painfully ironic time to find out that’s wrong.

//Tsurugi comes back, with a handful of rags from the kitchen… and more popsicle sticks.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Really- is there anything I could do to help?

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Well…

Maeda - Regret. No. Nope- I regret asking.

Tsurugi - You have to get close anyways… think you could hold the flashlight for me?

Maeda - …That’s not that bad.

Maeda - Yeah- I can do that.

Tsurugi - Cool, great.

//Awkwardly, Maeda takes the seat next to Tsurugi- further away from Iranami. He watches as Tsurugi picks up the scalpel, a tongue depressor… and sets to work.

Tsurugi - Need the light now.

//Maeda grabs the flashlight, and tries to hold it where he thinks Tsurugi needs.

Tsurugi - …Closer to me.

//In order to do that, Maeda needs to get closer to Tsurugi... and to Iranami.

Maeda - …I need to be able to see-

Maeda - And I said I’d do it!

//Maeda adjusts the flashlight, leaning over Tsurugi’s shoulder to get the right angle. He’s close enough now that he can see Iranami’s features clearly.

Maeda - When I was investigating, I was about this close… but it’s different-

//Tsurugi shifts, and slides the scalpel into her mouth, joining the tongue depressor.

Tsurugi - I’m going to make the first incision, along the sagittal plane, on her right cheek. 

Maeda - …It’s different knowing what we’re doing.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Mmmmmm……

Maeda - …

Maeda, quietly - …Okay?

Tsurugi - …

//He sits up, retracting the scalpel- it’s covered in blood. He hesitates for a moment, unsure, before wiping the scalpel against one of the towels, trying to clean off the blood.

Tsurugi - …Everything’s fine. I’m just thinking.

//Tsurugi returns to the autopsy. Maeda’s eyes follow the scalpel.

Maeda - …Oh, god…

//Blood is flowing freely from the incision Tsurugi made. It’s not at the point of falling from her mouth… but the teeth near the cut are stained pink.

Tsurugi - …Maeda, I mentioned earlier what muscle is one of the first to go stiff when rigor mortis sets in.

Tsurugi - Do you remember which one I was talking about?

Tsurugi - Also, I’m going to make an incision along the roof of her mouth, running along the coronal plane.

Maeda - …

Maeda - …You were talking about the jaw, right?

Tsurugi - Mhm.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Is it hard to work on her right now?

Tsurugi - …That’s the thing-

Tsurugi - It really isn’t. It’s easier to keep her mouth open than it was to move her around; she was somewhat stiff then, but her jaw is just…

Tsurugi - …To be completely honest, it’s a bit panic-inducing. I kinda feel light-headed, because she feels like she’s alive.

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …She’s not, though. It’s just this part of her body that hasn’t got death-like qualities. And I know that, so it’s fine.

Maeda - …

Maeda - I wonder if he was joking, about it bothering him. I can’t really see Tsurugi freaking out… 

Maeda - …

Maeda - Tsurugi?

Tsurugi - Gonna make another incision on the roof of her mouth, posterior in relation to the prior incision.

Tsurugi - What’s up?

Maeda - …

Maeda - Is it, like…

Maeda - Just in a day’s work, to perform an autopsy on someone?

Maeda - Like, are new officers doing stuff like this? I didn’t think that was part of the job, but I really don’t know…

//Tsurugi hums.

Tsurugi - No, you’re right.

Tsurugi - This definitely isn’t the sort of thing you’d see someone learning on their first day; in fact, it really isn’t something the police department handles. 

Tsurugi - Like most professions, it’s done by someone who studied how, has licenese’s, preferably, a degree…

Tsurugi - Making an incision along the back of her throat.

Tsurugi - I’ve done this work for police cases before, but that wasn’t because I was an officer, it was because I was an officer with experience in autopsies-

Tsurugi - Though, I really wasn’t equipped to be doing them then, either; legally speaking, I shouldn’t be doing this, but refusing to would be like saying “none of us killed the victim, that’s illegal!”

Tsurugi - It’s dependent on the situation. You’d have to be insane to think you could argue I was in the wrong for this, and only a kangaroo court would convict me.

Tsurugi - …Maybe Yamaguchi could’ve made a good argument, though.

//Tsurugi hums.

Maeda - …Did he just confess to malpractice? Or- to performing unlicensed autopsies?

Maeda - …You said you’ve studied this stuff-

Tsurugi - Flashlight closer to me, please.

Maeda - Sorry.

//He adjusts.

Maeda - Uh…

Tsurugi - You were asking about me studying how t-

Maeda - Right! Uhm- what is it that you did, exactly?

Maeda - I think you’ve mentioned studying different stuff- search and rescue, medical, uh…

Maeda - But, what were you up to as an officer? I mean- no offense, I’m sure what you’ve done was impressive, I’m not saying you don’t deserve your talent…

Maeda - But what exactly do you do? Autopsies in a pinch, and…? 

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Don’t want to talk about it.

Maeda - …

//Tsurugi continues to work, as Maeda continues to hold the flashlight.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Making my final incision along her left cheek.

Maeda - …Okay.

Maeda - …Wait, should I have responded to him earlier?

Maeda - God- apologized, or told him I understood…

Maeda - Damn… it’s not like he seems upset, though. Just focused.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - I’m going to need the flashlight from you in a moment.

Maeda - O-oh…

//Maeda clicks the flashlight off, and leans back out of Tsurugi’s space as they both sit up. Tsurugi wipes the scalpel off on the rag he’s been using, then sets it down on the clean part. Maeda toys with the flashlight as Tsurugi grabs a second rag.

Tsurugi - …I want to make incisions in a few other places, so you’ll have to keep watch during that.

Tsurugi - But before that, I want to demonstrate something for you, so you can know what I know about this.

Tsurugi - Watch, okay?

Maeda - ?

//Tsurugi takes the rag, crumpling it up- then… pushing it inside Iranami’s mouth.

Maeda - …What?

//It’s clear he’s trying to refrain from using too much force- one hand holds her jaw, the other tries to gently work the rag in further. Maeda just… watches, completely lost, until Tsurugi removes the rag-

Maeda - …Shit!

//Dripping blood onto the table in the process- the rag is soaked with blood.

Tsurugi - …I’ll explain that later, if you don’t get how that happened.

Tsurugi - I’m saying that because I expect to have to explain it- don’t stress if you don’t understand things.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Is that from the incisions?

Tsurugi - Mhm. Every cut I made, she started to bleed.

Tsurugi - Which- you and Maki talked a bit about gravity, right? And how it effects blood?

Maeda - Yeah… isn’t it weird there was blood there?

Tsurugi - …What matters right now is the quantity- this much blood would be… bizarre, even coming from a living person.

Tsurugi - Though, I do want to clarify; for the cuts I made along her left cheek, against the table, it… only bled slightly- it was only a non-negligible amount when I applied pressure.

Tsurugi - What’s weird here is the amount, not necessarily that there was still blood in her head; with how she’s positioned…

Tsurugi - …I mean, there should’ve been some blood… but not half of what we’re seeing.

Maeda - Huh…

Maeda - …What does that mean?

//Tsurugi hums.

Tsurugi - Not… really sure enough to say.

Tsurugi - Uh- again, I fully expect to explain this in the trial. I’ve got theories- you have to have a theory when you get new evidence, you can’t just ignore it-

Tsurugi - But… I’m not confident enough that I want to try and explain.

Tsurugi - That’s why I want to make more incisions; all of what I’m doing is just checking blood flow.

Maeda - …

Maeda - I think I understand what’s happening- not… what happened to Iranami, but what Tsurugi’s saying. 

Maeda - …That’s an accomplishment, most of the time.

Maeda - Essentially, because of Iranami’s bleeding, he wanted to check and see if she had bled at all in her mouth.

Maeda - He made an incision, to check and see if she’d bleed from it- and she did.

Maeda - The amount of blood was weird, because you shouldn’t even have that much bleeding if you were alive.

Maeda - But, he’s not telling me how he thinks this happened- or what he believes was her cause of death.

Tsurugi - I’m going to make two contralateral incisions, along the coronal plane, on her throat.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Just- so you know- I don’t understand the words you’re using. 

Maeda - I went to an alright school, but I could’ve missed something… if that’s like, common knowledge.

Tsurugi - Oh, where’d you go?

Tsurugi - Uh- but no, these are medical terms.

Tsurugi - Contralateral means opposite, the incisions are on different sides of the coronal plane.

Tsurugi - The coronal plane is an imaginary line that splits you into two halves, front and back. If you imagine that line, I’m cutting about where that is, on either side.

Maeda - Oh…

Tsurugi - Sorry, it’s easier to understand with a diagram, or if I’d like… show you on myself, as a reference, but… hands are a bit busy.

Maeda - It’s alright… I get the idea.

//Tsurugi has already made one incision while they spoke- it runs vertically up Iranami’s throat, on the right side, the side that isn’t against the table. There’s no blood-

Tsurugi - Maeda, watch this.

//Until, Tsurugi presses gently on either side of it. When he pushes, a few drops of blood bead along the cut… but not enough to run down.

Maeda - Huh…

Tsurugi - …Gonna make the other incision now.

Maeda - …How’s that going to work?

Tsurugi - ?

Maeda - You said Iranami’s been hard to move- are you going to try and turn her?

Tsurugi - Oh- I’m not, but not because she’s difficult to move.

Tsurugi - I mean- it is hard to move her, because she’s a bit stiff, but I could definitely do it, it’s just awkward more than anything.

Tsurugi - But, I want to try and keep her in place. 

Tsurugi - When I moved her onto the table, I tried to keep her head level, so the blood wouldn’t be inclined to pool differently than how it was naturally.

Tsurugi - That’s what we’re looking at, is where the blood pooled- if I start moving her, the evidence gets compromised.

Maeda - Oh… okay, makes sense.

//Maeda watches as Tsurugi moves- a bit awkwardly, trying to slip the scalpel in the space between Iranami’s neck and the table…

Tsurugi - …Could I see the flashlight again?

Maeda - Oh!

//He fumbles, trying to find it.

Maeda - Do you want me to try and work it for you?

Tsurugi - Yeah, sure…

//Maeda tries to illuminate the area Tsurugi’s working on- a bit difficult, due to Tsurugi himself being in the way.

Maeda - …

//Tsurugi turns the scalpel once more, making a quick drag across Iranami’s skin- and when he pulls it away, once again, it’s covered in blood.

Tsurugi - …Hm.

//He grabs a new cloth, wipes the blood off the scalpel, then wipes at the incision he’s made.

Tsurugi - Maeda, can you see that?

Maeda - …The cloth?

Tsurugi - No- the incision, on her neck.

Maeda - Uh… kinda- not really.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - You ever been like… sliced, before? I guess most injuries that bleed would count- any that’s only skin deep.

Tsurugi - You know how you can wipe away the blood, and then it just slowly pops back up again?

Tsurugi - Like, for a second, it’s clear- then you just see the little line of pink where the cut is?

Maeda - …I think I know what you’re getting at, yeah.

//Tsurugi nods.

Tsurugi - It’s like that. Like- exactly like that.

Tsurugi - I wipe away the blood, there’s nothing there, then it bleeds again. 

Tsurugi - On the other side, I needed to apply pressure, because without her heart beating, there was nothing pushing the blood.

Maeda - …Her heart isn’t beating.

Tsurugi - The only force that was acting on it was gravity.

Maeda - …Is that the only difference between someone that’s dead, and someone that’s alive? Whether their heart’s going?

Maeda - I don’t know when people get declared dead…

Maeda - …Anyways, this all makes sense. I just don’t like thinking about it. Iranami used to have a heart in her chest that was sending blood throughout her body, but now it isn’t doing that anymore. So, she’s dead.

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …Ya understanding everything?

Maeda - Oh! Yeah, I’m following.

Tsurugi - Cool.

Tsurugi - There’s three “planes” we talk about- I explained the coronal, and mentioned the sagittal- which splits you in half, left and right sides- and there’s also the transversal, which cuts you at the waist, top and bottom.

Tsurugi - Front and back, left and right, top and bottom.

Tsurugi - I’m going to make incisions along Iranami’s left side, because we’ve shown that’s the side with the blood; when we cut there, blood’s more likely to flow. 

Tsurugi - The exception to this being in her mouth; there, we were cutting along gravity. Gravity goes down, so the blood went down her mouth, even though we were cutting on the right side.

Tsurugi - I want to see if she bleeds more, or less, if I cut near her eye, and near her ear. So I’ll make my incisions along there. 

Tsurugi - I really want to be… non-intrusive here, but it’s more important we understand what happened here.

Maeda - I’m still not really understanding how this explains what killed Iranami.

Maeda - But, I am glad I have more information.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - So- what type of school did you go to?

Maeda - Oh!

Maeda - I forgot he asked…

Maeda - Uh- I went to a private school.

Tsurugi - …Really?

Tsurugi - Not so many of those for junior high.

Maeda - …No, there’s not.

Maeda - But, it was a good school- the type of good school that comes with good funding. 

Maeda - I took the entrance exam on a whim, because I didn’t want to go to the public school with the kids I knew from elementary.

Maeda - When they told me I got in, they said they’d give me a stipend to attend, because I was far enough away. 

Maeda - Between that, the programs I was already enrolled in to handle school costs, and cutting down transportation expenses, I made it work.

Tsurugi - Ohh, I see…

Maeda - Mhm…

//Tsurugi makes an incision by Iranami’s cheek bone, on the side he said; it bleeds a bit, joining the blood tracks that already stain her face, from her eyes.

Maeda - …

Maeda - When I was in the upper levels, I got higher levels of support, because I kept my grades up. Uh… top ten for my year, but it was a small group, so…

//Tsurugi hums.

Maeda - …

Maeda - …And, I stole money from one of my siblings. Just for that first year. He stole it from someone else, but he didn’t need to do it, he just did it because he could.

Maeda - So, I took it.

//Tsurugi is trying to determine where to make his incision near Iranami’s ear.

Maeda - I don’t… know if that was right, or not.

Maeda - I put it to good use, and if I hadn’t gotten the money, I wouldn’t have been able to keep attending the school.

Maeda - Plus- I said he stole it from someone else, but I knew he took money from a lot of people. It wasn’t like I could return it to everyone, not accurately… I didn’t know who he’d stolen what amounts from.

Maeda - But, he was mad that it happened, and I know people got scared when he was running around yelling.

Maeda - I could’ve said something, but then he’d have whacked me, and he’d take my money for school when I got it next year, if he’d been able.

Maeda - Or, I could’ve just left the money alone; but that just circles back to the initial problem. 

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - I don’t want to get more blood in her hair, but that’s… so fucking impossible, it’s unreal.

Tsurugi - Which, real quick, you shouldn’t worry about that now. You said your sibling took the money even though he didn’t need it.

Tsurugi - You needed to take care of yourself, so you screwed with someone who was fucking over other people for fun. You chose the right person.

Tsurugi - Anyways, she’s really bleeding a good bit here. More than on her throat- that goes for both the incision near her eye, and the one near her ear.

Maeda - …It’s so… simple and definitive when he explains it.

Maeda - Ah- but, the investigation.

Maeda - So, it’s the injuries by her head? That makes sense then, right? There was less blood around her throat because of gravity…

Tsurugi - Mmm.. but it’s inconsistent across her head injuries. She bled wayyy more from her mouth than either of these incisions.

Tsurugi - These are steady, but slow.

Tsurugi - If you look at Iranami’s mouth, it looks like it’s around the same pace; but I tried to move her jaw shut.

Tsurugi - All that we’re seeing is the blood that’s managing to make it out of her mouth- so, it’s the same flow as the other two incisions, but ignoring any other blood that’s still inside the oral cavity.

Tsurugi - …She so needs stitches. That’s going to suck to stitch up.

Tsurugi - Even if I had actual tools or assistance, this would suck. Oh my god.

Maeda - …I can help.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Maeda, that is so sweet, and I do not want to discredit what you’ve been doing.

Tsurugi - I think the best support you can give me right now is just body doubling.

Maeda - Alright.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Wait, are you done with the autopsy?

Tsurugi - Mhm, I think so.

Maeda - B-But isn’t there more to look at?

Tsurugi - …Like?

Maeda - …

Maeda - I don’t know…

Maeda - But all we did was cut her up a bit!

Maeda - …I just… don’t get what I was supposed to learn from this.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Well- what have we talked about?

Maeda - …

Maeda - We talked about where the blood is in Iranami’s body; you said the quantity was weird, but the placement of the blood seems pretty consistent with gravity.

Maeda - There’s more blood at the lower parts of her body, and more blood the closer to her head.

Tsurugi - Mhm. In anatomical terms, the bleeding increases as superiority does.

Maeda - Genuinely, do you say that to fuck with me?

Tsurugi - …That last one, yeah. 

Maeda - Okay.

//Tsurugi smiles. Maeda remembers to take stock of what he’s doing- the scalpel is resting on one of the less-bloody towels used earlier, and Tsurugi is placing a clean towel by Iranami’s head, assumedly to catch the blood from the newest incisions. 

Tsurugi - What else?

Maeda - …What else?

Maeda - Uh…

Maeda - Other than the moral dilemma…

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …Remember- the muscles of the jaw are some of the first to lock up- genuinely, it’s things proximal to distal.

Tsurugi - What’s closer to the trunk- the center of the body- goes first, then it ends with the appendages, like the fingers and toes.

Tsurugi - But Iranami was different; her jaw was still pliable, and the same is true of her eyelids, and other such muscles.

Maeda - Okay…

Maeda - So- where does that get us?

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - You have new evidence; find a way to explain what happened last night, that’ll incorporate what we’ve found.

Tsurugi - Your main theory is poison; does this prove that theory, or disprove it, or is this entirely irrelevant to that?

Maeda - But… I don’t know enough about poison to say…

Tsurugi - Then, either try to learn, try to think of someone you could ask, or try to come up with something new that explains it.

Maeda - But- you’re the person I’d ask.

Tsurugi - Mhm, and I’ll talk about it if we need to- but try and think of who else you could go to.

Maeda - …Who’d you recommend asking for an autopsy?

Tsurugi - Inori.

Tsurugi - But, it’s good I’m here as backup- if we were dependent on Inori, we’d be fucked.

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …Why are you upset?

Maeda - I’m not upset!

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Okay.

//Maeda can feel that his face is warm-

Maeda - But I’m not mad!

Maeda - …It’s just frustrating. I’m tired of Tsurugi being so cagey.

Maeda - I don’t get why he won’t be straight with us.

//Tsurugi stands, and goes over to his bag.

Maeda - …You feel so defeatist sometimes.

Maeda - You won’t help, because you’re worried we’ll be dependent on you. 

Maeda - It gets tiring to deal with…

Tsurugi, teasing - …Won’t kill you to try and debate stuff out instead of asking me for answers.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Would’ve killed us to listen to you earlier.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …

//Tsurugi sits back down; bringing a needle, thread, and some gauze with him.

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …

//Tsurugi is very ignoring Maeda right now- from Maeda’s perspective at least. To be more neutral, he’s focusing on getting his tools ready.

Maeda - …

//He waits until Tsurugi is starting to work on Iranami.

Maeda - What are you doing?

//Tsurugi startles.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi, quietly - …Gonna put gauze in Iranami’s mouth to try and dry up the area, and see how that works while I stitch up the other incisions.

//Maeda hums. 

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …

//It’s silent as Tsurugi works.

Maeda - …

Maeda - I feel bad when Tsurugi’s upset- but he should cooperate with the group more…

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - …

Maeda - Lot’s of experience with needles?

Tsurugi - Mhm. 

Maeda - …

Maeda - …Do those skills translate over to like… embroidery?

Tsurugi - Wouldn’t know.

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …Sorry. Not trying to ignore you, I’m just concentrating.

Maeda - Ah…

Maeda - That’s comforting to hear…

Maeda - …Not that much experience, then?

Tsurugi - No. Moreso with stitching up my clothes.

Maeda - Oh.

Maeda - Could’ve said that when I was asking about embroidery… it’s the same sort of subject.

Maeda - …

Maeda - …I don’t really know what to do right now.

Maeda - …Hey, did you know there’s coffee in the kitchen?

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Are you talking about the coffee pot? I thought that got emptied.

Maeda - No- there’s cold brew, in the fridge!

Maeda - It’s better than nothing.

Tsurugi - Oh… good find!

Tsurugi - I wonder if Monokuma would let us bring snacks into the trial room.

Maeda - If there isn’t a rule against it, it should be fine, yeah?

Tsurugi - True!

Maeda - …

//He idly glances at Tsurugi- and sees that he’s finished suturing the incisions on her face, and is working on one of the incisions on her throat.

Maeda - Wow! You really work fast.

//Tsurugi hums.

Tsurugi - …

//…Then pauses.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Hey, Mae… do you ever feel that time goes a bit weird?

Tsurugi - Like, when you’re full of adrenaline, so it feels like every second takes five times as long to pass?

Maeda - …I guess I’ve felt like that before- once or twice.

Tsurugi - Ah- I didn’t actually ask my question.

Tsurugi - Do you ever feel like that here?

Maeda - Oh.

Maeda - Uhm… maybe? Like, when we find a body, I guess…

//Tsurugi hums.

Tsurugi - The trials have felt fast.

Maeda - I thought he was talking about something going on now- but I guess it’s just a general question.

Maeda - ...Do you think it’ll be the same now, when we have to deal with two murders?

Tsurugi - We’ll have to see when the trial happens, I guess.

Tsurugi - If Monokuma wanted, it could really do anything here. Maybe it’ll go for mass extinction, and split us into two groups, one solving either murder-

Tsurugi - Whichever solves their death faster, wins… but only if they manage to get it right.

Tsurugi - Wipe out half the class that’s left like that.

Maeda - …Huh?

Tsurugi - I mean, it won’t. We don’t have an even number, so…

Tsurugi - …I should be fine to move Iranami, right?

Tsurugi - Yeah… we’re done investigating, so it’s okay for me to move her, even though it’ll disrupt the blood…

Maeda - …Why?

Tsurugi - …Why am I moving her? It’s so I can stitch up the incision on the other side of her neck- I don’t want to be imprecise. 

Maeda - Oh… yeah, makes sense.

Tsurugi - …

//Tsurugi sets about moving Iranami- Maeda isn’t really paying attention.

Maeda - …

Maeda - … “Mae” is pretty informal, you know.

Tsurugi - …

//Tsurugi is trying to suture the second incision on Iranami’s neck.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - …Sorry.

Maeda - No! It’s not a problem. Just surprised me.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Okay.

Maeda - …

//Maeda is replaying what they’ve discussed.

Maeda - …

Maeda - What’d you do for school?

Tsurugi - Oh, uh…

Maeda - I bet he’s the type who had to switch schools a lot.

Tsurugi - Homeschool for elementary, online school for junior high.

Maeda - Oh.

Maeda - …Oh.

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …I really hope the gauze helped.

Maeda - …Does it really matter, stitching up inside of Iranami? Not like anyone will be looking inside her mouth.

Tsurugi - It’s to stop the bleeding. 

Maeda - Oh…

Tsurugi - Mhm. Not nice if her blood gets all over the place.

Maeda - …

//Tsurugi turns Iranami back the way she was facing, and starts to work inside her mouth.

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - …

Maeda - …I don’t know if time is passing weird right now.

Maeda - Do you think it is?

Tsurugi - …Hm…

Tsurugi - It feels like it’s been hours, but I don’t think it’s been that long. 

Maeda - Ah… since we came in here, or since the bodies were found?

Tsurugi - Since we came here; I know it’s been a while since we found the bodies.

Maeda - Right.

Tsurugi - What do you think?

Maeda - Oh- I agree!

Tsurugi - Cool…

//Tsurugi continues working.

Maeda - …

Maeda - What are we going to do after this…

Maeda - …I can’t think of anything-

Maeda - Oh! Tsurugi hasn’t looked in the kitchen at all…

Maeda - I’ll remind him of everything that happened there- the coffee, and my burn.

Maeda - …Tsurugi?

Tsurugi - Yes?

Maeda - Are you almost done?

Tsurugi - Just about, yeah.

Maeda - Okay.

Maeda - …

Maeda - …What are you going to investigate next?

Tsurugi - I was planning on looking in the kitchen. Then, if I have the time after that, I could try to find Taira, I guess…

Maeda - ! Taira… He’s right- that’s a good thing to investigate.

Tsurugi - Unless you want me to stay here?

Maeda - ?!

Maeda - What do you mean?

Tsurugi - Mmm… I guess it doesn’t really matter- I just sort’ve figured it might be good if we had someone with each body, even if we didn’t keep two people at this point.

Tsurugi - So, that’s what I was thinking about. But you know- I can stay here instead, or if you think, I won’t argue against us both leaving…

//Tsurugi clips the thread to finish a suture- continuing with his work as they talk.

Maeda - Ah- I hadn’t thought about staying with the body…

Maeda - No, I understand- I don’t have anything else to investigate, so I’ll stay. I just didn’t understand what you were referencing.

//Tsurugi hums, and… starts to clean.

Maeda - …Are you done?

Tsurugi - With the sutures? Yes.

Maeda - …Logically speaking, that has to have been fast.

//Maeda stands, stretching as he rises.

Tsurugi - Mmmm… I’ll want to get changed at some point, too…

//Maeda watches as Tsurugi tidies up. One towel gets covered in discarded gauze, and snippings of thread. A different towel is used to collect the bloodied towels, and Tsurugi wraps up the tools he used before walking towards his bag.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Do you think, if I left these out, Monokuma would just clean them up for me, and leave them here, when it cleans the crime scene?

//Maeda’s wandered over to the other side of the table, standing opposite of Tsurugi.

Maeda - …I don’t know- has anyone really left their personal belongings out at a crime scene?

Tsurugi - No one that was alive to claim them.

Maeda - …

//Tsurugi looks at the bag a bit more, clearly debating what he should do. Maeda watches him- sees his head turn away for a second, before turning back- then darting to the door again. Before he’s even looked back though, his eyes lit up, and once he has turned, the smile on his face stays blatant.

Tsurugi - Kinji!!!

//Maeda turns-

Uehara - Hey.

//Sure enough, there’s Uehara.

Maeda - Hi.

//Uehara waves, and enters the room.

Tsurugi - Did Maki kick you out?

Uehara - Mhm… she said I could come see you here.

Tsurugi - Yaaaaay~

Uehara - Is investigating going well?

Tsurugi - Yeah! We were just wrapping up- at least, the looking at Iranami part.

Uehara - Find anything good?

Tsurugi - …Yeah, I did. I’m really optimistic…

Maeda - …But not confident about your suspect?

Tsurugi - I want juice…

Maeda, ignored - …

Uehara - …

Uehara - Did something happen?

Tsurugi - …Huh?

Uehara - …

//…Again- Uehara is looking at Maeda.

Maeda - …With me and Tsurugi?

Uehara - …

//He’s silent… just stares.

Maeda - …Everything’s fine.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Did you look at anything when you were in here earlier?

Uehara - Not really…

//Tsurugi hums, and closes his bag- he set his things in there sometime ago. The trash and dirty towels are still sitting out.

Uehara - …Those are yours, yeah?

Tsurugi - Mhm! I was just wondering if Monokuma would put them back in my room for me when it cleans, or if it’ll do god-knows what else…

Uehara - Huh… are those yours?

Uehara - I don’t remember seeing them in your room…

Tsurugi - …

//Something shifts in Tsurugi’s voice.

Tsurugi, softly - …No, I’ve had these…

Tsurugi - …

//Another shift- back to something more familiar.

Tsurugi - My room’s got lots of stuff though! I probably only set out this bag a bit ago, so you didn’t really notice it. 

Uehara - …

Uehara - Yeah… I think I’m thinking about something earlier.

Tsurugi - …

//A bit of motion catches Maeda’s eye- Tsurugi is harshly tugging on the sleeve of his jacket. He pulls a few times, before starting to worry the fabric between his fingers.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - …Okay.

Tsurugi - Maeda, did you eat your oatmeal earlier?

Maeda - Huh?

//Tsurugi has turned towards Maeda, waiting for an answer.

Maeda - Uh… I did, yeah.

Tsurugi - Okay. That’s good. I’m glad!

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Is everything going well with Maki, and her investigation?

Uehara - Uhhh…

Uehara - I think it was. I wasn’t paying too much attention, so she mostly talked with Tomori…

Tsurugi - …Well, that’s good. Probably helped her feel comfortable with asking you to leave.

Uehara - Mhm…

Tsurugi - …

Uehara - …

Maeda - …

//No one says anything.

Tsurugi - …I’m going to try and burn off some energy real quick.

//Tsurugi turns, and walks to a more open part of the dining hall.

Maeda - What happened to investigating the kitchen…

//Maeda watches Tsurugi as he flips and bounces around, idly trying to process what’s going on- before a low whistle distracts him from Tsurugi.

Maeda - ?

Uehara - Wow…

//Uehara has approached the table where Iranami’s laying, and is looking at her.

Uehara - I didn’t really look at her when I was in here earlier…

Uehara - Whoever killed her really did a number on her, huh?

Maeda - Ah- yeah…

Maeda - When Maki and I were investigating, it was really hard… we didn’t realize how much blood there was until we were up close…

Maeda - At one point, we were trying to see how much she bled, so we tried to move her hair to look at her ear, and we realized that like… a huge piece of her hair was matted together because of the blood.

Uehara - Damn… I really don’t understand the science behind it… I mean…

Uehara - Getting that much blood up in someone’s head, to the point it starts coming out their nose and ears and shit?

Uehara - …

Uehara - The cuts are just sadistic, though.

Maeda - …

//Maeda glances at Uehara.

Uehara - That’s where the reasoning gets weird… I can understand the blood thing, to kill her…

Uehara - But aren’t the cuts just overkill?

Maeda - …

Uehara - Like, talk about torture… unless there’s some other reason for it I’m not getting.

Tsurugi - -!...

//Maeda turns, looking at Tsurugi; it’s hard not to, with the pained way he tries to clear his throat.

Uehara - …

//Uehara also looks at Tsurugi. Tsurugi looks back.

Tsurugi - …

//Uehara goes back to looking at Iranami. Maeda watches Tsurugi’s face seize.

Uehara - Sorry, I’m really not smart…

//Tsurugi seems ill.

Uehara - What’s your theory for her death again? Poison?

//Maeda looks at Uehara, who’s back to looking at Iranami.

Uehara - I guess I could see that… but really, it’s just those weird-ass cuts…

//Maeda looks at Tsurugi. Tsurugi looks so distressed that Maeda immediately turns away, afraid of making eye contact with him right now.

Uehara - Well, not like I really need to worry about that. I’m really not afraid about our ability to beat this trial- we’ve gotten all the others, this one’ll be fine.

//Uehara turns towards Tsurugi.

Uehara - I mean, especially since-

Uehara - …

//Maeda looks at Tsurugi. Tsurugi looks like he’s about to cry. Maeda looks at Uehara. Uehara blinks a few times.

Uehara - Since… uh…

//Uehara looks at the sutures.

Uehara - …

//Uehara looks at the fresh blood.

Uehara - …You’ve…

//Uehara looks at Tsurugi. Tsurugi looks at him back.

Uehara - …

//Uehara looks back at cloths- which he knows came from Tsurugi.

Uehara - …

//Uehara looks at the sutures again.

Maeda - …

//Maeda looks at Uehara.

Uehara - …

//Uehara looks at Tsurugi.

Uehara, faintly - …Lucky, since you have a theory-

//Maeda cringes as soon as Tsurugi goes to speak- because he doesn’t say a word. Instead, a pitched whine arises as Tsurugi slowly sinks to the floor.

Uehara - Tsu-

Tsurugi - Uaaaaaaaaaaa-

//Uehara moves quickly, and immediately joins him on the floor- not that Maeda really catches it, as he’s hidden his head in his hands.

Uehara - Hey, hey, do we want to be on the floor right n-

Tsurugi - I didn’t want to….

Uehara - Okay. We’re staying on the floor, that’s okay-

//It almost sounds like Tsurugi wants to cry, but instead of sobbing, his breathing is hitched- rapid and uneven as he panics.

Tsurugi - There wasn’t a single clue, there was no evidence,

Uehara - Mhm, mhm…

//Tsurugi continues to shake through his words, but most of it is too quiet, or too stuttered for Maeda to understand. It’s only that last bit that he really hears, pulling him back to reality.

Maeda - …Tsurugi didn’t know what happened?

Maeda - I guess that aligns with what he’s been saying… he did tell me he needed to work out what had happened to her via the autopsy…

Maeda - …Yeah, everything tracks- I really don’t know why I’m surprised by that.

//Maeda finally looks over at Tsurugi and Uehara. Uehara seems to really have acclimated to being on the floor- he’s lying down on his back, watching Tsurugi, occasionally reaching out and tugging him to gently refocus him. His help seems to be vital, as Tsurugi doesn’t seem to be too controlled right now. He keeps trying to jerk away, before pausing, and twitching in a different direction again, driven to go somewhere, do something- but too panicked to stop and think. And still, his breathing is rapid, and he keeps dipping down, falling into Uehara; when Uehara pulls at him, he keeps pulling Tsurugi onto him. Tsurugi only ever makes it to his knees, shifting his weight back on his heels, before Uehara manages to tug, tug, tug, and bring him back towards his chest. It almost seems like it’d be worse, the constant redirection- but everytime it happens, Tsurugi’s eyes stop darting around the room, and instead, spend at least a few seconds focused on Uehara.

Uehara - Want to try to breathe?

Tsurugi - No-

Tsurugi - Please- I-

Uehara - ————.

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - …?

Tsurugi - …——...

Maeda - I can’t make out what they’re saying…

//Maeda’s been using context to work things out, more than hearing them, so it takes some time before he’s heard enough to realize.

Uehara - ——————,———...

Maeda - …Is that Korean?

//Sure enough- the reason Maeda isn’t understanding anymore is because they’ve switched to a different language- and Maeda’s fairly certain it’s Korean.

Maeda - …

//Tsurugi’s breathing seems more regulated- but he’s still upset, choosing to grip Uehara’s shirt about it.

Maeda - …

//…After a moment, Tsurugi’s face crumples, and he goes down, completely collapsing onto Uehara. But still, no tears, just…

Tsurugi - …I want my dog…

Uehara - She’d prolly be helpful here, huh?

Maeda - …

Maeda - …Should I leave?

Uehara - Nah, you’re fine.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Tsurugi isn’t saying anything…

Maeda - …Right! That’s why it threw me off… I was surprised that he’d tell Uehara he didn’t know what happened…

Maeda - …

Maeda - Okay- because this is all just weird right? This isn’t…

Maeda - No judgement, but I don’t think this is an interaction either of them would have with anyone else…

Maeda - …Well, Tsurugi and Tomori seem close… and Uehara has said we could come to him for help, and he has to have gotten in here somehow…

Maeda - Maybe it’s just me…

//Maeda looks at Tsurugi and Uehara- Tsurugi’s lifted his head now, but his chest is still flush with Uehara’s.

Maeda - No, I take it back. Something here is off…

Tsurugi - …Uehara?

//It’s like Maeda isn’t in the room.

Uehara - Mm?

Tsurugi - It’ll be okay, yeah?

Uehara - …Yeah. Everything’s gonna be fine, Sunshine.

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - …I mean. 

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Nothing���s going to happen. You’ll stick with me, right? 

Uehara - Yeah- whatever happens, it’s whatever you say.

Tsurugi - …

//Really- they’re talking like they’ve forgotten Maeda’s there.

Maeda - …

//Maeda was definitely listening, though.

Maeda - …Okay.

Maeda - …New information, let’s figure out how it works.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Honestly? I feel like it’s important that Uehara got Tsurugi so stressed out.

Maeda - …

//He pales.

Maeda - Could that have been behind what Tsurugi said earlier?

Maeda - …

Maeda - I don’t know… but it really does feel like I might’ve been too quick to judge Tsurugi- he’s been messed up, yeah…

Maeda - But Uehara seemed so upset with me earlier…

Maeda - …Maybe I need to be a bit more sympathetic towards Tsurugi- I think there’s something I’ve been missing there.

//…While Maeda was distracted, he missed more of Tsurugi and Uehara’s conversation- a shame! He turns back in time to see them both standing up- and still together, Tsurugi’s left side flush with Uehara’s right. Their voices are low as they murmur a few more words.

Maeda - …

Uehara - …

Tsurugi - …Okay.

Tsurugi - I still need to investigate in the kitchen, then I’ll go to my room and set my stuff away…

Tsurugi - …

//He sighs.

Tsurugi - Okay.

Uehara - …After that, do you think you’ll be done?

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Yeah, I think so.

Maeda - Huh? What happened to finding Taira?

Tsurugi - Honestly, I wasn’t confident about if I wanted to try that…

Tsurugi - I imagine that’s what Hatano’s been up to- and even if she didn’t manage to find her, I’m not sure I need to see what Taira’s up to to understand what happened.

Maeda - …But what about gathering all the evidence we could get?!

//Tsurugi shrugs.

Maeda - …

Maeda - Pretty nonchalant for someone who had to dissect their classmate because they didn’t find any evidence.

Tsurugi - …

Uehara - …

//Maeda won’t look at Tsurugi, so he glances at Uehara- who just looks back at him, surprised.

Uehara - …I…

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - Holy shit, you were actually listening this time???

Tsurugi - …That doesn’t make sense- there’s no way you heard everything we said.

Maeda - …

Maeda - “This time”?

Tsurugi - Well, you weren’t listening to anything we said after the second trial.

Maeda - …What do you mean?

Tsurugi - When Uehara brought you to my room?

Maeda - ….I was totally listening to you then.

Tsurugi - Yeah, but it was like you had to tune in to the conversation.

Tsurugi - Do you remember what we talked about before we went into my room?

Maeda - …

Maeda - …

Maeda - What…?

Tsurugi - …

Tsurugi - Higa had just tried to beat the shit out of me, so Uehara and I were talking about that. I didn’t come out of my room, I came out of Higa’s.

Tsurugi - You didn’t say a word.

Maeda - …

Tsurugi - …Sorry, I guess that was impulsive of me. I wasn’t planning to bring it up- at least, not now, or like this…

Tsurugi - It’s not like it bothers me- the only reason I’d point it out is…

Tsurugi - …Well, we shouldn’t continue along with this right now.

Tsurugi - I should really go get a coffee… 

Tsurugi - Oh! While I’m in the kitchen, I can wash the blood off my tools…

Maeda - …

//Maeda’s face flushes- and to his embarrassment, he feels like he’s going to cry.

Maeda - What the hell…

Maeda - I…

Maeda - …If Tsurugi’s upset with me about something, he should just say it.

Maeda - …

//Maeda glares at Tsurugi.

Maeda - …

Maeda - But, I don’t like feeling like this…

Maeda - …Honestly, I feel sick. It feels wrong to be upset… I guess it isn’t his fault.

Maeda - I mean, I’m the one who’s self-serving.

Maeda - I did ignore him and Uehara, then. He’s not wrong, that did happen. 

Maeda - …

Maeda - Just, he’s lying. He’s lying to me about not being bothered by it, and he should tell me. I’d fix it.

Maeda - …

Maeda - I don’t understand why he’s lying…

//Uehara walks past Maeda, going to join Tsurugi- seeing if he needs help.

Maeda - …

Maeda - …People talk a lot about following your intuition, right?

//Uehara and Tsurugi are talking about investigating the kitchen- Maeda’s eyes focus on the door.

Maeda - …

Maeda - ………

Maeda - ………………………………

//The pressure is everywhere. It’s in the walls, coming down from the ceiling. It hangs heavy behind Maeda’s nose, and radiates out inside his ribcage. 

Maeda - …Maybe I need to think more about my priorities… what do I need to work on?

//Maeda glances towards Tsurugi and Uehara- or at least, to where he last saw them. Uehara has taken the garbage into the kitchen, to throw it out, while Tsurugi tries to organize the remaining supplies he has out.

Maeda - …

//Tsurugi brings some more items towards his bag, as Uehara comes back into the dining hall.

Uehara - Remember when we investigated Kurokawa’s death?

Tsurugi - In the kitchen? I do! 

Tsurugi - You pointed out that she was likely caught by surprise, and didn’t get the chance to fight back, I remember…

Uehara - …Really? I thought that was you.

Tsurugi - …It wasn’t. 

Uehara - Well, you know…

Tsurugi - …

Maeda - …Why do I feel like I’m waiting for something?

Tsurugi - …Oh!

//Tsurugi turns, prompting Uehara to do the same.

Hatano - …Everyone cleared out.

Tsurugi - Hatano! Hi!

//They’re looking at Hatano, who’s just entered the dining hall.

Hatano - …Hey, Tsurugi.

Hatano - Oh- Maeda, you’re still here.

Maeda - …Hi, Hatano.

//The pressure alleviates- Maeda feels light in a way he hasn’t…

Maeda - …

//…Well- now he thinks about it, this feeling’s become familiar over the past few days.

Uehara - Haven’t seen you yet today, Hatano. How’s it going?

Tsurugi - Speaking of people we haven’t seen! Did you find Taira?

Hatano - I did, yeah.

Maeda - Really!?

Maeda - Is everything okay? What’s she doing?

Hatano - Uh, she didn’t really say.

Maeda - …Huh.

Maeda - Th… Then what did you two do?

Hatano - …

Hatano - We talked about Iranami.

Maeda - …Oh.

Hatano - She did this for me.

//Hatano turns, back to Maeda-

Maeda - …

//Revealing Iranami’s ribbon, neatly tying up some of Hatano’s curls, holding them in a half-up ponytail.

Hatano - …

Tsurugi - …

Uehara - …It looks cute, Hatano.

//She turns back around.

Hatano - …Thanks.

Uehara - …Sorry, was that weird?

Hatano - …No. I appreciate it.

Uehara - …

Uehara - It’s weird, when you lose someone, and no one will talk with you about it.

Hatano - …

//She wipes away a few tears. At some point, Uehara moved to stand next to Tsurugi, and now leans over to rest on him, putting his hands on Tsurugi’s head, then his head on top of his hands. No one says anything as Hatano collects herself.

Maeda - What brings you back here?

Hatano - Didn’t know where else to go. Didn’t want to go back to my room, don’t have a reason to go look at Higa…

Hatano - And next thing I knew, I was here.

Maeda - …I’ll probably be staying here until the trial starts. Just… so you know.

Maeda, quietly - I can go, if you want, though.

Tsurugi - Oh, yeah! Uehara and I need to look around in the kitchen, but then we’ll be going.

//Hatano shrugs.

Uehara - …Tsu, let’s go.

//He gets off of Tsurugi, and takes a few steps back as Tsurugi goes to organize his stuff. It’s only when Hatano starts to approach Iranami that Maeda gets a terrible feeling in his gut.

Maeda - …

Hatano - …

//Hatano stills.

Tsurugi - …

//He looks up, then glances at Hatano- Maeda sees his face shift, horror evident.

Maeda - …

//Maeda looks at him, eyes wide. When Tsurugi looks at him, he fails to offer Maeda any reassurance- they’re on the same page here. “Oh, shit.”

Hatano - …

//Quickly, she gets closer to Iranami- then stops again, just inches away.

Hatano - …

//And for a moment…

Maeda - …

//All she does…

Tsurugi - …

//Is stare.

Hatano - …

Maeda - …

Hatano - …What happened?

Maeda - Fuck.

~*~

Maeda, narrating - Fuck, fuck, fuck. Ohhh, fuck.

Maeda - We messed up. Oh my god. We didn’t think about what to say to Hatano-

Maeda - Hopefully, Tsurugi did…

Maeda - …Oh for Christ’s sake, it’s obvious he didn’t. We have no plan. Oh my god.

Maeda - We dissected her best friend.

Maeda - …It’s not that bad though, right? It- it could’ve been so much worse…

Maeda - God, Hatano’s not going to care about that- fuck!

[Look at Hatano]

{Look at Tsurugi}

[duskstars]

for the avemygo revue starlight au, what weapons would the rest of avemujica and mygo have?? I'm Obsessed with the concept

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH ANON and I’m sorry for the late response I was sick right after the holidays and then I’ve been busy busy BUT . It gave me time to think abt this and develop the AU a bit further in my head even if things aren’t concrete exactly yet. I was able to come up with the rest of ave’s weapons, mygo I’m not TOO SURE yet but I do have weapon name lore for them .

For ave, Sakiko’s got her falchion (single blade), and for the others, Uika has dual blades (one blade for each band: ave and sumimi, and having something similar to Sakiko but still a bit more implying she has a lot more going on and could be pulling a lot of strings) & Nyamu’s got like. Brass knuckle kitty claws, she’d love trying to go head first into a fight but probably end up swatting her hands all over the place (like a cat fight). Mutsumi has a scythe for the obvious death themes, but also bc scythes can be used for gardening (tysm for my gf for that idea!!). Umiri would probably have a simple blade or dagger (like an anelace maybe?) or maybe something like koharu’s weapon? (Umiri’s is the most subject to change atm) All of their weapons would be named similar to their stage names: Sakiko’s is oblivisci (to forget), Uika’s is multis doloribus (many sorrows), Nyamu’s is laminae amoris (blades of love), Mutsumi’s would be flos mortis (flower of death), and Umiri’s would be timere (to be afraid)!! I also drew some more doodles for you bc this AU lives in my mind rent free

MORE STUFF UNDER THE CUT IF YOU’RE CURIOUS

AS FOR THE WEAPON NAME AND (one specific version of the) AU’s LORE . While I don’t have mygo’s weapons solidified yet, I do know that I want the bands/groups to be a thing in this AU, and crychic was a thing and participated in a few revues before disbanding. Sakiko, Tomori, and Soyo participated in them, and Mutsumi and Taki would’ve too if it went on for longer. Sakiko and Tomori’s weapons change names after moving to Ave Mujica and Mygo, even though Tomori would hesitate to change her weapons name for a bit. Soyo wouldn’t change her weapons name at all: she’d keep it the same and as a reminder of crychic.

Sakiko, Tomori, Soyo, Taki, Mutsumi, and Uika would be the only ones with revue knowledge: Anon, Raana, Umiri, and Nyamu would be participating in them for the first time. Even though Mutsumi and Taki didn’t participate in the crychic revues, they did know about them, especially Mutsumi. Uika would have WAY too much knowledge abt all this stuff for her to have not participated before but no one really knows for sure . Cue all the battles between Mygo and Ave Mujica members for Top Star (imagine soyo vs the entirety of mygo, uika vs sakiko, etc etc). I see this version of this AU as a weird combo between avemygo and revstar, as I wanna keep the respective groups and their closeness / drama but also keep the revue system and top star system and all the drama that comes with that too HDJFJSJDJ though if this was a by the books revstar AU I gotta think abt what school everyone would go to bc that’s a lot of symbolism and ideas in on itself JDNFNSK MAYBE I CAN SOON .

[irlnikeiyomiuri]

🍓🍄🔪 for the ask meme -iris

share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

TOUGH QUESTION bc what's something i haven't discussed before.... these are all gonna be for beta sorry canon sdra </3. some ships some platonic duos all non despair verse

-tsuzuna LOVE shopping. favorite thing in the world is to go out <3 and buy things <3 even tho they're both kinda broke <3 ..... hpa student discount needs to come in clutch for them :( they're on friendly terms w like.. every food court employee that exists.

-kobashikawa tends to find pebbles around his things (on his desk, in his bag) bc maeda just Likes the pebbles and will absentmindedly grab a few to toy with as he wanders abt. but he tends to wander by koba and they just... magically join his things. he's got a small, growing pile of them in his room. sometimes tho, when he finds them, he throws them at otori

-uehara and otori have a weird frenemies thing going on. they both legitimately have a positive view of each other but for some reason they get into fights abt it. i think they even know they both look at each other positively. why are they fighting. what is it even over. huh.

-taira never brushes her hair and this did something negative to tomoris brain when she found out. wdym you only finger comb it in the shower. when was the last time you held a brush. she wants to have a sleepover w taira and do some self care stuff but taira is so not interested

-beta hpa is in kyoto which iirc has a looot of forested areas? so hpa is set... not Far from any towns, maybe a half hours walk, but its directly surrounded by woods for REASONS THIS ISNT THE POINT. maetai like to go for walks together that's what matters. most interaction they typically have is that they may share earbuds. maeda only has corded ones tho and tai doesn't usually trust him w her wireless ones so it's an interesting experience

-uehara loooves to watch tsu play games, and tsu loooves to sink seven hours into a game, so this works out well. uehara has an odd skill for handheld rhythm games (dont let him try ddr it'll kill him) so tsu only ever tries rhythm games if uehara is there to bail him out if he can't get it

-that was more than one pair :(...

what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project? god... Tough question, like actually? first thought is immediately gonna be smthn for one of the beta deaths? but tbh i don't think any of that's all toooo weird/out there. beta is sci-fi with a bit of a heaver dosage of the fi aspect??? so like... 30% of the time if there's information i can't find w ease, i can just use the background sci fi elements (how do i say this in a non spoilery way... even if the kids cant come up w explanations for everything- if it happened, then i know how it happened, even if the kids can't explain it rn)... ykw, i'll say i got really deep/niche into japanese geography. half saying this bc i never really utilized it? so it's weird i got Soo particular seeing as stuff just got scrapped. i don't think i even retained anything so what was the point.

more random things ive researched (in a way this too is beta lore. i guess.) -odds of having twins -apraxia of speech -punk culture of the 60s (specifically in england) -every street in harajuku -cloud formations -so many different aspects of chemical bonds -made to fade tattoos -christianity (how odd)

[aneenasevla]

Red Velvet - Chapter 2 (part 1)

MasterList / Akane’s profile / Last chapter here Art by @aneenasevla

Chapter 2 - Shake It! (part 1)

"Hey, babe, I found a good place!," Okubo says, while  Tomori gets into the car.

"Great! What's the name?," she asks as she sits next to him, in the passenger seat, and puts on the seat belt. "So I can send her the address."

"Put it on Google: Brazuca’s Bar, in Romaji because you won’t find it in kanji. I've already sent the address to Iron Fingers, privately," he starts the car, heading down the main road. "It's a Brazilian bar that Himuro recommended to me, he said the music is great and so is the food. There's a lot of other stuff there too. I'm kinda curious, I've never listened to Brazilian music much. It's gonna be something new for me, and I think it'll be new for you too."

"Brazilian, huh?," Tomori smiles at this. "Good choice! She has loved these places since high school. She'll feel at home there," She searches for the address on Google. "And it will be fun for us too! Brazilian establishments are very cozy."

"So you've been to one?," he asks, curious. "What is it like? Do you have a song reference so I don't feel lost? Put one on the stereo for us to hear."

"Only once, when I was eighteen and Kane was nineteen. Teenage girls, recently graduated from high school and with more hormones than common sense, you know the drill," She blushes a little, playing with a strand of hair, giggling. "But that wasn't the place you chose, so I'm very curious! Anyway, the music that plays most in these places are very famous genres in Brazil. Pagode and funk. And no, it's not American funk. It's another type," She looks for a song to use as an example.

"Pagode? Isn't it Samba?," he raises an eyebrow. Then he listens to the song when it starts playing. "Hmmm… the rhythm is quite romantic, isn't ir…? Which one is this?"

"Pagode. Music to dance close to, skin to skin," She giggles. "Everything is very physical in these places. I think it's the perfect place for Rihito, and for Akane too. But only if he knows how to behave. But we can both dance too, I'm available for you, hehe."

"I'm a terrible dancer," he blushes a little. "But for you, I can twerk like I'm the master of gigolos, so you can laugh in my face."

She laughs loudly right there, her shoulders shaking. "Laughter is what keeps a relationship alive and well, love! I laugh now, but I'll give you all the treats later to make up for it."

"Anything you want to give me," he smiles, and then laughs softly. "Wow, the music is really putting me in the mood! Show me some Funk, so I know what to wait for."

Tomori's smile is now a little more embarrassed. "Okay... but don't judge...," She chooses a specific one, putting the music on. And the rhythmic and intense beat startles him a little.

"Wow," he blinks. "Okay, I kinda like the beat, ahahahhaha... holy crap...," He starts laughing like an idiot. "I don't even know what this girl is singing but it seems very vulgar..."

"And it is! Akane loves these things, seriously," She laughs again, scratching the back of her head. "It's really fun to dance to, but if you read the translation of the lyrics, you'll blush like a virgin girl, hahaha!"

"Sorry, but now I'm curious to see this friend of yours in flesh and blood, and I think I hit the nail on the head, again. I'm getting scared with my luck..."

"I told you that day, Naoh. Rihito has no idea what he's gotten himself into," She gives a sharp, dangerous smile again. "But seriously, this could work out really well. She has the ideal energy to be on the same wavelength as him. Someone who won't be intimidated."

"I still have doubts, that dumbass only gets along with nut jobs and sex workers, 'cause they're paid to put up with him. So I dunno...," he then looks at her. "Are you in the mood for a bet?"

"A bet? What kind?," She arches an eyebrow, interested.

"What do you want from me?," he waggles his eyebrows.

"An autograph from Kaolan Wongsawat!," She says immediately, her eyes shining with excitement. "I only need his for the trinity of my biggest idols to be complete!"

He makes a face, as if he had sucked on a lemon. Of all the famous fighters he knew, it has to be the Thai God of War… "Okaaaaaay… if I win I want to take you on a tour on Osaka for a month. Give your boss a heads up because you're going with me after Christmas and you won't be back until the middle of February. Got it? Oh... one more thing," he looks at her, in an intimidating but lascivious tone. "You won't be able to walk for a while after that."

"Oh my God, you...!," She blushes a lot, giving a nasal laugh followed by a snore. "You're terrible, Okubo Naoya...!," She holds her face in her hands with an adorable smile. "Now I feel like losing on purpose, ahaha... even though taking a month off from the bakery would make Kanny's life difficult. But okay, I'm in! I'll see what I can do..."

"Alright! And it's gonna be good timming 'cause if he doesn't get this girl he'll cry in my fucking ear for weeks, and I want to be far away when that happens."

"Tell me about it…," She sighs. And then she looks up at him, her expression serious. "And I saw that face you made, y'know? I already told you that you don't need to be jealous of Kaolan Wongsawat, silly. I wouldn't trade my human mountain for anyone..."

"I know, it's just that you're too pretty and he's too…," he stops himself. "Well! I want my girl to only care about me, and to look at me, and only me, with star in her eyes," he looks at her with a smiles. "Just like you're doing now."

She pats his shoulder, and then snuggles her head there, closing her eyes. "I won't call you cocky only because I've caught you looking at me the same way manny times. ‘We’re even."

He laughs a little, before changing gears in the car.

…

Panther: 

honey, I’m already here!

wya?

Wolfie:

we're almost there! 

just one more block away

we'll be in a blue suv

are you at the entrance?

Panther: 

yep

and I'm enjoying the music already

a brazilian bar, eh

you know me so well

hey, I'm gonna get a table for four

it'll be easy to spot me

but just to be sure, I'm wearing my favorite coat, you know which one

Wolfie:

I'd recognize that coat from a mile away lol

ok we'll park and then meet you inside

brings back some memories, right?

both of us, sneaking into that pub to get shitfaced lmao

Panther: 

it sure does lol 

we'll talk more at the bar, it's cold as hell outside

And her icon went offline.

Akane goes inside the bar, looking for a table big enough for four people. She found one on a good spot, sitting down and taking off her coat, letting it fall to her waist. She was never ashamed of showing her tattoos off, but she still adjusted her cleavage to keep her breasts in place. This caught the attention of a waiter, and she ordered a juice. If that Rihito guy was like Tomori told her, she wanted to be sober to face whatever he threw at her.

The atmosphere was already buzzing, despite it still being relatively early. She could only imagine what it would be like later, at nightfall, when the music was at its peak and the alcohol had risen in the blood of all those people. The buzz of random conversations gradually increased in volume, making it difficult to hear her own thoughts, which might be a good thing, all things considered.

It doesn't take long for her to see the waiter further ahead, bringing the juice she ordered, walking a little slowly so as not to bump into the customers.

"There you go, miss..."

"Send the menu, sweetheart," she smiles. "I’ll look at it for now. I don’t even know how much the juice costs, I ended up ordering it on impulse…"

"Of course. And no need to worry about that, miss," The waiter places the menu on to the table and the tray under his arm. "Your juice has already been paid for."

"Huh? Really? By who?," She raises an eyebrow. Was there some busybody who wanted to ruin her date? She gets worried, pushing the juice away lightly so as not to give this annoying stranger any ideas.

"That gentleman over there," The waiter indicates with a discreet nod of the head the long counter facing the bar, where some people were sitting. "He said you know him..."

And she sees him there, sitting on one of the stools with his back to the bar, his arms resting on the counter. He wore a dark green shirt that molded to his muscles in such a way that it could only have been planned. He lifts his head a little and smiles, his expressive green eyes looking at her with obvious, warm interest, a few strands of unruly bleached hair falling over them.

Oh yes, she knew him. From photos, but there was no way to get confused. And apparently he wasn't confused either. She felt relieved that it wasn't some other cocky man and then smiled, taking the glass.

"Thanks, darling," she nods to the waiter and drinks some of the juice, looking directly at him. She knew her look was spot on, so she put it to good use.

No sooner said than done. The interest on his face was so obvious it was funny, a second before he managed to compose himself. He himself was already drinking, picking up a glass and slowly turning it into his mouth without taking his eyes off hers. He almost seemed to be waiting for something...

"Akane!"

The excited scream steals her attention, and as she turns around, she comes across her friend, Tomori, coming towards her with a huge smile, and right behind her, the almost seven-foot gorilla she recognized as her new boyfriend.

"Girl, I missed you! Still the biggest clotheshorse in the whole town, eh!"

"Go big or go home, isn't that what they say, Peahen?," she gets up and hugs her friend, laughing. Then she look at Okubo. "Holy smokes, did they build a freakin' wall in front of me and I didn't see it 'till now? Is that your pet gorilla, Tomori?"

Tomori returns the hug with a loud laugh, before turning around and saying, "In the flesh, honey! Kane, this is Okubo Naoya. Champion of Ultimate Fight and of my heart," She coos playfully. She had always been an helpless romantic, even in her days as a crazy delinquent, and she knew how hilarious her friend found it. "Naoh, this is Agata Akane, the crazy girl I told you about."

"Hey, nice to meet ya," he bows a little, hugging Tomori by the shoulder. "Tomori talks about you a lot. She really likes you, y’know."

"And who doesn’t?," she jokes, laughing afterwards. "Nice to meet you too, Mr. Okubo. So… that blonde bull over there is your friend, right? Is he shy? Why don't you introduce him to me?," she points with one of her well-painted claw-shaped nails.

"Big bull- jeez, has Rihito arrived yet?," Tomori looks where Akane was pointing. And sure enough, there was Lihito, sitting with his back to the bar. He widens his eyes a little before looking away, mumbling to himself for a second before seeming to make up his mind and standing up from the bench. "Yes, it's him! Wasn't he going to arrive just half an hour later?"

"He must've tried to lose us," Okubo murmurs to his girlfriend. "Welp, sucks for him, but we arrived...," he says out loud, pulling a chair for Tomori to sit down, then taking his place, while the other man comes closer. "This is my friend, Rihito…"

Rihito approaches, looking momentarily embarrassed. Apparently, the cute couple ended messing up his plans of wooing her with his mysterious charm... well, at least paying for her juice had worked. And the look of embarrassed annoyance, even though it only lasted a second before being suppressed with a confident smile, had been strangely cute.

"Hey. Is this the lady I've heard so much about, Tomori?"

"Yep! Rihito, this is Agata Akane. Akane, this is Nakata Ichiro, but he prefers to be called by his nom de guerre. It's something you have in common," Tomori smiles, and Rihito a little to the side, his eyes narrowing a little as he smiles crookedly.

"Seems like it. Noms de guerre and the fascination with big cats...," He deliberately lets his eyes roam over her shoulders, focusing for a second longer on her set of tattoos "Nice to meet you, Miss Agata."

"Likewise, Rihito," she smiles sharply, extending a hand to him, as if waiting for a kiss. "I saw you from afar, but up close... it's more interesting this way."

"Yeah, same to you," He takes her hand, and Okubo and Tomori are secretly relieved to see that he had managed to contain himself, not pulling her towards him with that wild excitement that they knew well. He just brought her delicate hand to his lips and kissed it, his eyes fixed on hers. "You were already beautiful in the photos, in person… 'Panther' couldn’t be a more appropriate definition hahaha…"

"My spirit animal, my dear," she winks and then looks at the other two at the table. "So, shall we start with an appetizer to warm up? I started with a glass of juice because I didn't want to get hammered before you guys got here, so I'll stick with that for now. Here's the menu," she sits back down and hands it to them.

"Thanks", Okubo takes the menu. "Oh, nice, this one looks tasty," he points to some cheese cubs. Akane looks at him as she sits down, crossing her legs elegantly. Rihito immediately looks at her. She was wearing a short dress with a side slit… that was open almost all the way down to her hips. No sign of panties there. Or a bra; that red dress and those stockings were the only thing that prevented him from seeing everything. And that thing covering her entire thigh... was that the same tattoo she had on her shoulder?!

He swallows discreetly. Holy shit, how the fuck was he supposed to hold back? None of those two saps prepared him for that! He knew from her Instagram profile that she was the confident, "likes to leave nothing to the imagination" type; he didn't mind at all, he even liked that type of woman, because they were the most likely to accept his advances. But that? Walking around in such a revealing dress and without any sign of underwear, with all the confidence in that hot, tattooed body that she was displaying? She was basically asking him to fuck her right there in the pub's bathroom! He couldn't believe how lucky he was!

He forces himself to keep his thoughts in order and his blood away from the lower half of his body. He had made a promise, and he was a man of his word. He was going to take things calmly, test the waters and tame that wild cat until she was all soft and eager to get busy with him. The juice scheme had only been partially successful thanks to the interference of those two, but that was okay. They still had all night.

"Hehe, of course," He nods, making a point of sitting right next to her, hands together on the table to contain the urge to take a good grip on her exposed thigh. "You can order more of them, if you want. There may be more where that came from, after all...," He arches an eyebrow.

"How generous," she laughs softly. The invisible clothing tactic never failed, he had his eyes on her and only her. It was exactly what she wanted. "But for now the juice is enough... help yourself, an empty bag won't stand, and if you fall, you'll take one or two poor bastards with you," she laughs softly, drinking some more.

Rihito was so taken with her that he even began to notice details in her face: the vibrant red lipstick on her full lips didn't stain the glass, it was so well applied. Even her makeup looked flawless; he had no idea how much she'd applied on her face, but her blue eyes seemed to want to hide shyly, beneath her thick, dark lashes. Her vibrant blonde hair had some well-hidden colored streaks. He had to concentrate on responding to her appropriately and not look down to look at her cleavage, which happened to be very evident in his point of view.

"Haha, lady, I can knock down a lot more bastards than that," He manages to say, forcing himself to keep his eyes fixed on hers; he discovered it wasn't that difficult, because those blue irises were quite impressive. Contact lenses? Or was it natural? It was hard to say, and if it was the second option, he wondered if that meant she was mixed race, like Kanami. "But no need to worry. I can be quite gentle when I get the right encouragement, hehe..."

"A stuffed gorilla, as I said," Tomori jokes with a smirk.

"Oh, c'mon! A gorilla?," He turns to her, his bravado lessening a little, giving way to a slight embarrassed indignation. "You'll make your friend think I'm a Neanderthal or something!"

Tomori laughs a little, shaking her head. "Considering how long it took you to make an Instagram profile, that definition is appropriate."

He snorts, rolling his eyes. And then he smiled, looking sideways at Akane. "I had a nice incentive."

"Hahahahaha…," she laughs softly. "In that case I'm happy I helped you with leaving your cave. It strokes my ego, you know?," She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, showing the colored lower part; how many colors were there he didn't know, but he counted at least three. "But it'd be good to eat, you'll need energy for what's to come. I heard that the dance floor gets really busy at eleven. What do you think?," She looks at the other two too.

“Lady, I want to stroke much more than just your ego!” He hums in thought.

"In that case, I'll fill the whole tank. We don't want to lose steam for the night... but anyway!," He leans a little towards her, and Tomori and Okubo enter into a brief alert, which passes when he just rests an arm on the table next to hers. "Tomori told me a little about you. You've been friends since high school, right?"

"Yeah! Did she ever told you guys about how we met? It was very intense," she smiles at her friend, leaning a little on the table. Okubo gets a little embarrassed and discreetly looks at the menu, and then turns to call the waiter. Akane laughed a little and turned her body towards Rihito, out of respect for her friend, looking at her with a naughty little smile. "How can I describe it... once upon a time there was a peahen who liked a lion... except that the peahen was a wolf underneath all the feathers. She challenged a panther, who also liked this lion, and they fought. Then they saw that the lion was an asshole, so they got together and put the sucker in his place. They shook hands and have been friends ever since. The end," She waves the fingers of one hand theatrically. "But of course, the wolf went to college and now she makes delicious cakes with her Butch friend..."

Tomori laughs loudly, her shoulders shaking a little. "And on top of that, the butch friend  managed to get herself a 'stone' in the last few months!"

Rihito blinks, confusion written in every line of his face. And there was the stupid face she had seen in the photos Tomori had sent her. "Stone? Like... in 'stoner'? Tokita isn't a pothead, even if he looks like one... Hey, what's so funny?," He blushes a little when the girl laughs even louder, placing a hand over her mouth.. "Okubo, your girlfriend is parroting those bizarre slang words again!"

"Relax, 'stone' is what you call a lesbian's very masculine girlfriend. Or in that case, a bi chick's boyfriend," Akane looks at Tomori. "But, like, for real? I saw a hunk near her in the pics you sent me. It wasn't him? She's dating a girl?"

"No, it’s a real guy. Black hair, kinda stuck up...," Okubo says, now more relieved, as there is no cleavage in his field of vision.

"Oooh... oh honey, that's no 'stone', c'mon now," she makes a face, and then she looks at Okubo. "So you're all friends?"

"Sometimes he is, when Kanny decides to act like the 'man' in the relationship...," Tomori laughs again, while Rihito, still a little confused, responds, "Yes, we are! Okubo and I have known each other for almost five years and have been hanging out together ever since. It was actually thanks to me that these two met, hehe."

"Oh, you?"

"Yep! I was the one who invited him to stop by the bakery the day he met her. He kept bitching, but I convinced him. You're both welcome," He smiles smugly. "And like you girls, we kind of met because of fighting, right, man? We're both fighters. We were lucky to come across two hot-blooded fighters too. There's no better way to form a solid friendship, right?," He laughs at Akane.

"Actually there is, but some take longer," she laughs too. "In our case we had a common enemy, that's what brought us together and we saw that it wasn't worth fighting over him. So, are you a fighter too? Wow, now I'm interested in seeing you in action later, in a controlled environment, of course...," she smiles suggestively.

"Maybe one day...," He arches an eyebrow at her, also smiling suggestively. "Then you'll see that I also have a lot in common with panthers and leopards... I can even give you a quick demonstration, if you want."

"Oh yeah? Let me see," She gets excited and slowly holds his chin in her fingers. "C'mon, gimme a smile, I swear I saw little fangs in there..."

Okubo laughs at the Rihito's surprised face.

Tomori gives an absurdly devilish smile when she sees Rihito shuddering, becoming completely disconcerted for a second, his eyes widening.

“I warned you, you casanova wannabe. Now deal with it.”

Rihito, on the other hand, was trying to remember how to move his tongue to form cohesive sentences. He had been warned to behave more courteously and was trying to follow that to the letter, so the last thing he expected was for her to go the opposite way. Damn, no one had ever told him he had “fangs”… he felt the long, manicured nails brush against his chin, sending a shiver down his spine that reverberated through his muscles and bones, and he could only imagine them scratching on his shoulders and between his shoulder blades as he pounded into her. Wild as a big cat, a dangerous predator... the thought caused a brief lapse in his self-control, making him open a wide, sharp smile, his heart racing in a brief jolt of adrenaline.

"Lady, you can look as much as you want. But be careful, I don't warn you before I bite. Raaawn!," And he closes his teeth very close to her fingers.

Tomori and Okubo exchange tired looks. He had held on for about ten minutes. Must be a new record or something.

Akane, on the other hand, laughs out loud for half a second. "Hahahahhahaha, there you are…," she purs, withdrawing her hand, but smiling immensely. "And I was right, you have little fangs! So cute!"

Okubo looks at Tomori, whispering, "Okay, it wasn't his fault this time..."

"No, it wasn't. I told you she was terrible," Tomori whispers to him in response, arching an eyebrow. "Do you still doubt that they can get along, love?"

"I do, but at least now I'm hopeful," he smiles a little, and then he looks to the side. "Hey, our order's coming!"

The waiter arrives with some snacks and four colorful drinks in the Tropical style, leaving the plates on the table - curiously made of black clay - in front of the two couples - "Here it is! Please enjoy."

They saw a variety of cold cuts, French fries, salami and a small plate of what looked like dried meat accompanied by fried cabbage and a strange yellow sand-like flour. According to tthe waiter, it was called "Farofa”, cassava flour, typical of Brazil. And there were some yellow buns too, which looked warm and freshly made.

"Thanks! Finally, this looks delicious...," Tomori sighs contentedly, straightening up in the chair, while Rihito laughs too, his gaze now showing the hunger he feels more clearly. And not just because of the appetizing food that was placed on the table. He was still going to try to contain himself, he had promised, after all. But damn, it was so good to see that he seemed to have met his match in that woman. He couldn't wait until he was alone with her...

"It arrived just in time, I’m as hungry as a lion. Or a leopard," He smiles again. "And I don't have only fangs, miss. I have claws too."

"Ohhh… really?," she looks at his hands. "I don't see any... do you play the guitar or something?"

"He does, we even have a band. Nothing too serious 'cause our schedules won't allow it, but we had our moments of glory," Okubo adds happily.

"Oh my... tall, strong, green eyes, cute little fangs and now he even plays guitar? What a catch, eh...," she jokes, patting him on the shoulder as she laughs a little coquettishly. "All that's left is you being a good dancer, then I'll be a goner," she takes a salami and bites into it, still looking at him.

Tomori had to rest her forehead on her boyfriend's arm to stop herself from laughing when Rihito's chest ballooned, his face lighting up in an absolutely hilarious smug happiness. If he were a peacock, he would probably have opened his huge tail by now.

This was one of Akane's specialties. Grabbing men by their giant egos and making them dance to the beat of her tune, like trained dogs being led on leashes. Obviously that incorrigible womanizer would not be an exception to that rule.

"Then today is your lucky day, Miss Akane, 'cause I'm a hell of a dances! Hey, can I call you by your first name? It sounds too good not to be pronounced, haha..."

"Call me Sekihyo, it’s my nom de guerre. Then I call you by yours," she smiles more, her eyelashes falling slightly, only making her eyes look even more piercing. "And you are, eh? Then let's hit the floor at midnight. I want you to show me these moves."

Okubo tries not to laugh, and busies himself with the food, offering a bite to Tomori, as a cute gesture.

She accepts immediately, all happy as she bats her eyelashes at him. The next few hours would be a real show in itself, so it was good for them to enjoy it with a little cuteness while they still could.

Rihito doesn't even pay attention to the other couple, completely absorbed in his back-and-forth with Akane. It was the first time in a long time that he felt so encouraged to have a conversation with a woman, instead of rushing things so he could finally take her to the nearest bedroom. He decides he wanted to enjoy it more, seeing how far they could go before the attraction became unsustainable.

She wanted to play, didn't she? Oh, they could definitely play then.

"Haha, alright then. Sekihyo...," He lets the H click on his tongue. "Midnight then. Always that magic hour, right? Until then, I can show you other of my attributes…"

"If you want, I'll show you mine too. I have some," she continues eating the food, taking a sip of the juice; now it was in another glass, more alcoholic, but still not much. "You're being so generous with yours, I think it's only fair I show you too."

"All in good time. Anyway, I was the one who asked to meet you first, right? I think it's fair that I first show you that I'm not wasting your time," He puts a salami in his mouth too, chewing slowly, insinuatingly... and then widens his eyes and says, amazed, "Wow, it's so salty! But it's actually good, you know? I-I mean...," He swallows quickly, a little red, and Tomori once again hides her laughter in Okubo's arm.

“Who knows, maybe she’ll go easier on him after she sees that, deep down, he’s just an idiot with the personality of a golden retriever?”

Akane, however, smiled even more; Tomori felt that she was enjoying this more and more with each minute. Oh boy, he was teasing the monster too much...

"It really is, right?," she eats another salami. "There's a spicy one here too, if you want," she takes a toothpick and offers it to him. "Be careful, Brazilian food tends to be very deceiving. This is one of them."

He swallows again, looking at the snack she offers him. Oh, damn, had they already reached that stage? He was really enjoying how she wasn't making a fuss, exactly as Tomori had described. He smiles sideways.

"And how can I say no to such an offer? And I don't mind. I like a little spice...," He closes his mouth on the snack, his lips close to her fingers, and he had to restrain the perverted impulse to stick his tongue out and lick them. He had already taken enough risks with that playful bite.

And the intense burning came straight to his tongue, after a few bites. She looks straight at him, a mischievous smile on her lips while she herself eats the same snack as if it were nothing.

"So? You like it?," she says as if she wants to laugh, looking at him seductively. Something about it reminded him a lot of a certain twink from a certain bakery, and that gave him goosebumps as much as the spiciness.

The snack went tearing down his throat; he had to hold back to keep from coughing and panting like a thirsty dog. Holy crap, that shit burned! He hadn't imagined it would burn so much! Did- Did she know that? Was that why she were smiling like that?

What a she-devil. Satan's spawn, like the scary twink from the bakery. But that only served to stir him up even more. Oh, he was going to give her a well-deserved retribuition later...

"It's- It's very spicy," ​​He nods, quickly pouring himself some water, trying to ignore how Okubo and Tomori seemed about to burst into laughter. "Strong flavor. Apparently you're quite used to this type of food... do you like a little heat?," He asks, the provocative tone becoming implied.

"I was baptized in Fire, honey," she raises her eyebrows. "I'm not perfect but I'm training to go to Hell, since there's no way I'm going to Heaven anymore," she throws her hair back, revealing the color underneath. He saw blue, purple, pink and red amidst the yellow, falling like silk ribbons on her shoulders, and now the leopard skin tattoo was completely visible.

"... Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go wherever they want," He was surprised how he managed to say that sentence clearly, considering that his tongue was a bit numb. It was probably that rainbow she had for a hair that made him regain his focus. Or the tattoo on her shoulder, which he was already fantasizing about kissing and biting later. "And they can drag someone with them. Not that said someone would complain."

"I'm almost asking for us to change tables, Naoh. Things are going faster than we expected," Tomori confides quietly to Okubo, with an air of laughter.

"Not yet, babe, this is getting funny as hell. I'm getting all the details for the guys, they'll want to know," He laughs softly and speaks in the same tone. "but, hey... we can hit the floor as a excuse to make ourselves more comfortable, what do you think? And honestly? These songs are putting me in the mood to rock with you, and I'm not even good at that..."

"I think it’s perfect. I want to let Akane do her magic," She laughs softly, placing her hand over his on the table "And don't worry about that. The important thing is to have fun, not to put on a show. We'll make our own show later, at your place or mine..."

"My place, please. My bed can handle it better," He jokes, laughing softly.

Akane noticed them, feeling  if she teased any more it would look awkward.

"Ohh, what time is it now?," she pretends to be surprised and raises her head, looking around, her hand on top of Rihito's, even running her nails a little over his skin. "Guess it's time for us to shake it up a little, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Rihito looks at the clock on his phone. "It’s almost midnight. Time flew, damn..."

"Get ready, because this place is going to get heated pretty soon," Tomori assures, smiling excitedly. "If you're still not sure, boys, just follow Akane and me, and we'll know what to do. Right? War veterans and such..."

"Hey, I don't need guidance. I know my way around a dance floor like that. And I've always been the type who likes to coordinate...," Rihito smiles insinuatingly, straightening his shoulders and looking even broader and more imposing.

"Oh, so you like twerking too?!," she opens her eyes, pretending to be absurdly excited. "Nice! I wanna see!"

He didn't even have time to justify himself, when the lights suddenly went out and a bunch of neon lights and colored spotlights invaded the room along with the sound of a characteristic siren. A bunch of people suddenly cheered, clapping and howling at the sound, alerting the two fighters. An extremely seductive male announcer's voice speaks with a strong accent:

"Laaaaadies and gentlemen, from now on the most awaited moment of all begins, the Dance Floor is officially opeeeeen..."

Akane howled a little along with the chorus that followed. Several people gathered in the middle of the dance floor, leaving the tables.

"Woohoo! Right in time!," she smiles a lot, getting up and leaving her coat on the table. "Tomori, how about we go first? So we can warm up a little, like we used to do?"

"Girl, that’s exactly what I was thinking!," Tomori throws her arms up with an excited exclamation, exchanging a high-five with Akane afterwards. "We'll be right back, Naoh, Lihito!"

"Wha- you two will go first?," Rihito blinks, surprised, immediately turning to his friend when they leave the table. "Are you cool with this, man?"

"Oh c'mon, don’t you wanna watch it first?," Okubo smiles, suggestively. When the girls were far alway enough, he adds, "Are you gonna waste your chance to look at her the way you've been wanting to since you saw her pics on Instagram? Now you can, and no one's gonna judge you…"

That made Rihito pause. Okay, when he put things like that, the perspective became very interesting…

"Damn, what’s worse is that you're right," He smiles, excited. "But in my case, I’m just in this to have fun. Aren't you worried that someone’s gonna grind against your girl in the middle of the dance floor or something?"

"Nah, not this time. Tomori said the girls always go first, and then the guys join. Hey, look," he pointed with his head, and there were only women in the dance floor. "Man, that's a really nice sight," he said, but he was looking directly at his girlfriend.

Okubo was grateful that Tomori told him beforehand that first only the girls will go for the first song, then the couples would mix.

Rihito immediately follows the direction of his gaze, and finds himself compelled to agree. Damn, apparently they had been incredibly lucky, because there were only hot girls on that dance floor! The thought of seeing them dancing close to each other left him almost on edge... and one of them already had his special attention, her incredibly tanned skin and multicolored hair making her stand out in that ocean of curves, legs and tempting breasts. Without the coat, he could clearly see all her curves, shamelessly displayed in that tight little dress.

"Hell yeah… it’s practically the best buffet in all of Tokyo… and I’m going to try the most exotic dish," He smiles hungrily.

"Heh, there’s an exclusive dish there, don't you fucking forget," Okubo warns, half seriously, half jokingly. "But they are giving us a hell of a gift, so enjoy it. Damn, Tomori," he practically groans, seeing his girlfriend swaying to the rhythm of the music along with her friend. "Fuck, she's such a tease…”

Rihito laughs out loud. "Looks like I'm not the only one getting lucky today, huh! Feast with gusto, pal... because I'm going to do the same..."

He watches the two girls dancing together, his eyes fixed on that scene that seemed like something out of one of his most erotic teenage fantasies. But Okubo could rest assured that he wasn't interested in Tomori, but in her dance partner. And what a partner, may God be fucking blessed... he watched attentively every movement, every sway of those hips, how her breasts swayed lightly under her dress, the sweat already dotting her golden skin like small pearls, or drops of dew that he wanted to catch them with his tongue, following their descent until they were lost in her folds, in her navel, between those wonderful legs...

What he wouldn't give for her to be wiggling like that in a hotel room, just for him, preferably without any clothes on...

The first song ended, which was the signal for the rest of the patrons to join in. Okubo gave his friend an encouraging slap on the shoulder. "Come on, Iron Fingers, let's have a feast!," he smiled very naughty, so much so that Rihito wondered which one of them was the single guy after all.

"Right behind you, Egghead!," He quickly follows him, restraining himself from running like a dog that was called to eat by its owner. He felt completely confident now, sure that he wouldn't be rejected and that now he could go all out. That dance was very physical, insinuating, so the prohibitions imposed by the sugary couple did not apply there. He doubted his illustrious company would want it any other way.

The two girls were laughing with each other, panting and sweating a little, but they didn't look tired. Great. The two men got closer, and Rihito takes advantage of his size to make Akane feel everything when he leans against her, not enough to make her feel cornered, but enough to make his intentions clear. It was a strategy that Okubo and he used frequently, even when they were both single. He found himself really appreciating how smaller than him she was, how delicate she seemed close to his impressive frame. That did a lot of good for his male ego.

"Excuse me... are the two ladies up for a different partner for the next song?"

"Oh? I was wondering how much longer I'd have to wait," Akane smiles, leaning against him and taking his hands with hers, facing away from him. "Let's dance..."

Okubo approaches Tomori and holds her hand, turning her a little before bringing her against his chest. "Hey, did you miss me?"

"Always...," Tomori arches an eyebrow, smiling lasciviously, and damn, who would have thought that such a cute and petite girl could look sensual like that? Rihito now understood well why his friend had fallen head over heels for her. But he doesn't pay too much attention to it, because Akane's hands intertwined with his and her back pressed against his chest demanded all his attention, and he would give it with pleasure.

"Come on... I always thought of panthers as graceful animals, you know, Sekihyo? I want to see if its true," He says quietly in her ear.

"I thought you already knew, handsome," he feels a volume passing between his legs, and he notices that it was her buttocks passing right over that spot as she rolled her hips. "But it only gets better if you show me what you can do…"

She turns and faces him, starting to dance to the rhythm of the music, moving her feet and shoulders, snapping her fingers, looking him up and down, inquisitive and expectant.

... Holy. Fucking. Shit.

To hell with self-control. To hell with promises. She clearly wanted him to be direct and physical with her. The sugary couple could stay there, circling each other slowly as if this were the slowest foreplay in the history of humanity. That gourgeous woman and he weren't really interested in taking it slow. They had already played enough.

She wanted it fast and hard, didn't she? Then that was exactly what he would give her.

She feels that huge hand wrap around her waist with the speed of a snake's pounce, bringing her to him in a single pull. And she sees that Tomori hadn't exaggerated when she said that the blonde gorilla was strong. His hand was like an iron noose. He also had a lot of control over his own strength, because she didn't feel any pain or discomfort. She just found herself unable to escape those fingers.

"I'll show you... you'll see as much as you'll feel."

And he began to move his hips along with hers, rubbing himself against her without any shame. And damn, that unit of a man really know how to twerk!

Akane didn't expect that, panting lightly with his grip. Wow, that was a really nice surprise. Now things were getting really good.

"Wow, so you aren't all bark and no bite?," She smiles a lot, turning around to face him, one hand on his shoulder, placing it close to his neck, the other going on top of his butt, moving her hips along with his, following the rhythm. Her excitement was reaching the stratosphere, may Daddy Satan be blessed… "You'll make me fall harder and literally..."

"Not here on the dance flor, babe," He gasps at her, smiling that predatory smile, and once again showing off those little fangs. The way he was glued to her, leaning down so he could whisper in her ear, made her think he must have been dying to have those canines on her neck, like a male cat would do with a female when he wanted to mate. "Let's just dance for now. We can continue the show later, behind closed doors, if you want."

His hands held her tight around her hips, guiding her movements to coordinate with his. He then makes her turn around, again pressing his broad chest against her back, wanting her to feel all his muscles working in sync as they dance. Rihito was both proud and a little embarrassed of his resourcefulness. Many people considered dancing something only for women and fags... but damn, if he could stay like that with her for longer, he would continue twerking like there's no tomorrow!

And the woman in front of him seemed to fully agree with that, he was sure; even more so when she held his face while she moved, so there was no one calling him anything!

"Holy shit," Okubo commented when he took a look at his friend, seeing if they had the green light to do their thing. "Okay, love, I think we're free to go. Look...," he smiles while looking at the other couple. "From now on it's an adult film session and I want to do my own, not watch others do theirs."

Tomori laughs loudly, taking the opportunity to imitate Akane's movements, just to make the poor man behind her even more excited. "Fine be me! They can sort thing out themselves from now on. Come, I want to dance like this for you in your bed...," She takes his huge right hand, slowly biting the tip of his index finger.

"I swear, woman, you're begging me to carry you outta here," he laughs. "And I really liked it, you know? If it's going to always end like this, I want to come here often," he follows her as eagerly as she does, both of them disappearing into the crowd. "We can send Miss Agata a message saying that we left, so they won't look for us, just in case..."

"Take it from me, Naoh, there’s no need. She's quick-witted enough to figure it out on her own," Tomori guarantees with a chuckle. And then she confides in him, quietly, a little astonished, "But damn, babe, I didn't know Rihito could dance like that! Have you ever seen him make those moves?"

"Yeah, one time when we're playing Just Dance," he laughs. "Everyone ended up knowing about it later. We don't make fun of him only because Himuro ended up winning, the dude is a GoGo Boy to the fuckin' core.

She laughs loudly, pulling him by the hand with excitement. "​​There's something I want to see. But now I just want us dancing, preferably without clothes to get in the way."

"I love you so fuckin' much," He laughs in a very idiotic while leaving the bar with her, like two teenagers going to do something naughty.

Akane, all the while, had seen a glimpse of the couple disappearing. She smiled to herself; her cue was right there. She turned to him, moving a little away to look at him dancing, with the excuse of twirling to show herself, and she was loving what she was seeing too. Under the lights, with his eyes half closed and biting his lip, he became sexy... she approached him and pulled him a little, bringing his lips closer to his, and moving away, just to see if he would follow, trying to complete the distance. And she felt like she had won when he did exactly what she had predicted.

Big, dumb and hot. Exactly the way she liked it.

The current music ended, and she smiled, looking at him. They didn't really need any more games, he was wrapped around her little finger.

"So... let's get going?," She indicates the exit with her head, in case he didn't hear because of the loud music.

"Show me the way," He says in a breath, and yes, she no longer saw any bravado or presumption there. He would probably grab her right then and there if it was socially appropriate. His arm immediately circles her waist, bringing her close, almost possessively, as if he were afraid she would change her mind midway. "I'll follow you wherever you want."

"Come on, I’ll just get my coat, pay my share and we can leave…," she pulls him by the hand, languidly leaving his embrace. "Then we can talk more in private… I know a nice place."

"I can pay if you want, no problem," He says quickly as he follows her. "It’s the bare minimum. I said there could be more where that juice glass came from, didn't I?" He jokes, smiling sideways.

"Alright... just this time, handsome," She smiles sharply. "'Cause this time I really wanto to."

She grabs her coat from the back of her chair, and they prepare to pay the check and leave.

Damn, that could only be the universe recognizing how unfair it had been to him all those years and deciding to make it up to him in one fell swoop! He really wanted to kiss her again, but no, there would be a much better place for it. He could wait a little longer. He had waited all that time after all.

It's then that he receives a text message. Okubo had transferred him some money, saying, 

EggHead: sorry bro, I forgot to pay our tab 

sort this out for us LOL

He rolls his eyes with a laugh. That pervert who was almost as helpless as he was... he was so eager to get home fuck his own girl that he almost turned into a deadbeat. Not that he blamed him. He understood it perfectly. He himself was almost running with the tabs in hand, wanting to end this as quickly as possible so he could go with Akane to a place much more appropriate for what they wanted to do. If he hadn't been determined to preserve a modicum of dignity, he would already be jumping and punching the air like an idiot.

NEXT PART HERE

[bergeronprocess]

My 2023 In Anime

Ah, 2023. What a year! According to my Anime Planet custom 2023 list, I watched 20 anime this year. A couple of them I haven’t finished yet and a couple of them are DNF. As the year dwindles down to its final days, I’m gonna take a look back at what anime I watched in 2023. Beware of spoilery discussion for all of the tagged shows.

Sorted by season and then in the order they appear on my list.

Winter 2023

Nijiyon Animation: Nijigasaki is my favorite flavor of Love Live (it’s the first one I watched, I like the characters a lot, the songs are great and there’s literally a girl also named Emma in the cast) and so I will never say no to more Niji. Cute fun bite-sized episodes. There was even a touching farewell to Tomori Kusunoki as Setsuna. I just saw that they’re going to do a second season, so I’m looking forward to that.

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague: Holy crap, this show was a pretty little nothingburger. Literally NOTHING happened aside from the characters becoming friends. The two leads didn’t even kiss?!?! I wanted to see how they might handle that - the idea of people who are imbued with yokai powers is a neat one, but oof. This was unsatisfying.

UniteUp!: My dark horse favorite of the season, a bishonen idol show that dealt with some of the more realistic/uglier aspects of fame and the idol industry specifically. There were some production delays (that’s the story of 2023 across the industry, isn't it?) but I actually really enjoyed how they handled those - they showed these neat behind the scenes episodes with the voice actors. I love behind the scenes. The characters have a lot of heart, the songs were really good and the dancing looked excellent too. I think this is getting a second season too? If so, I’m thrilled to spend more time in this world.

Handyman Saitou in Another World: I actually watched an isekai! Holy shit! But it wasn’t one of those lazy paint-by-numbers isekai shows that are just a dime a dozen. I like how it showed Saitou using his skills (undervalued in our world) to get stuff done in the high fantasy world he found himself in after a Truck-kun situation. There WAS a bit too much fanservice for my liking - I’m a sports fan, so I’m used to that “oof, as a cis woman I am NOT the target demo here” feeling lol, but still - and I feel like they did a few too many “he’s dead! But not really because magic!” fake-outs. But hey! Ai Fairouz was in the cast here! I like her!

Buddy Daddies: OHHH did I enjoy this one. Great music, I love Kazuki and Rei, you could tell there was someone on the staff who is a gearhead based on how they portrayed cars, Miri is great, lol at how they overcome bureaucracy crime-style…Tumblr loved this one and with good reason. Also I definitely ship those two guys lol. The one downside is I feel like they kinda fridged Kazuki’s wife and Miri’s mom. They could’ve done a bit better by their adult female characters. I do still get the opening song stuck in my head now and again, though.

Soaring Sky/Hirogaru Sky Precure: Folks, this is the year I got Precurepilled. I tried Delicious Party last year but bounced off of it after episode 1 - it just didn’t hit for me somehow - but this one GOT ME! This is still ongoing and will be through the end of January (50 episodes y’all!), so I can’t speak with finality about it, but so far so good. The first boy Cure! The first adult Cure! She drives a Hummer for some reason lol! I think Mashiro is my favorite! It’s been so much fun to theorize about the story (I was SO wrong about Yoyo being Sora’s hero from her childhood, ha…) and watch it unfold. I do think they waited a bit too long to bring in the Kaiserin storyline, but hey, we’ll get a few more episodes to wrap everything up, right? As for Wonderful Precure, I don’t know lol the concept isn’t getting me hyped up, but I will at least watch episode 1 and go from there.

Spring 2023

Kira Kira Precure A La Mode: Still the only Precure season I’ve completed to date lol. This one was so much fun. I love sweets and baking, so I had great fun here, sometimes even shouting at the TV to try to help Ichika with her doomed bakes when she inevitably forgot baking powder or whatever. When I realized that Ciel had literally been in the opening credits since episode 1, that blew my mind lol. I DO wish they would’ve just let Julio become the first boy Cure, but hey, he walked so Cure Wing could fly. Himari is baby and Akira/Yukari is Haruka/Michiru for the 2010s. Aoi’s band made some good music. The very last scene was very sweet. Both ending songs are total earworms. Good stuff.

Skip and Loafer: This show is SO FREAKING CUTE. I just love these goofballs. I love how Nao-chan is able to just be herself and is not subjected to transphobia all the time. Mitsumi is adorable and also extremely relatable. I liked this one so much that I’ve started to read the manga, picking up where the anime left off. (2023 is also the year that Atlanta got a Kinokuniya location, which is very exciting for me, though maybe less so for my credit card lmao.) Season 2 pls? I would love to spend more time here.

Gundam The Witch from Mercury Season 2: Damn, this show needed at least one more season. Preferably two more. I was fully expecting 50 episodes like what Gundam Wing got lol. It needed more time to breathe, to show us more about the other characters (Lilique my beloved!) and to flesh out the big story. But alas, this is not a perfect world, and what we got was still pretty damn good, and also Sulemio married. That’s my interpretation. That's everyone's interpretation, isn't it?

Star Twinkle Precure: I’m still working on this one, but I FREAKING LOVE IT. The day-glo 80s aesthetic is right up my damn alley, I adore the transformation sequences, we get dark-skinned biracial representation with Cure Soleil, I enjoy reading the horoscopes at the end of each episode (my Japanese is at about a preschool level, so it’s great that everything has furigana lol), there’s space stuff AAAAAND this season has my very favorite Precure song ever. One of the only two so far to be in a minor key, folks, it’s PaPePiPu Romantic time.

I now have a new goal: sing this bad boy at karaoke someday. Pew pew! Pew pew pew!

Summer 2023

Yohane the Parhelion: I enjoyed Love Live Sunshine a lot, but phew, this didn’t do it for me. I feel like it would’ve been better as a 3 or 4 episode OVA (ONA these days I guess), but just didn’t have enough story for a full 13 episode season. My mom is fond of saying “just okay”...like, it wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t awful either. Yohane the Parhelion is just okay. Please just watch Sunshine instead if you want to be introduced to these characters. Sunshine is so much better.

Zom 100: I watched the first episode of this and then didn’t bother with the rest. DNF. Sorry to hear about the production troubles - that’s especially ironic for this show.

Fall 2023

MF Ghost: The other DNF for me. Watched 3 episodes, heard they were about to introduce a character who is obsessed with 17-year-old girls, noped the hell outta there. Wasn’t impressed with the 3 episodes either. I love Initial D - we named our cat Hachi because she’s black and white just like the Hachiroku - but MF Ghost just had no heart or soul. The Toyota 86 was lovingly rendered but I hated the ugly black motion lines they added when it was moving. The race they showed was dreadfully boring, the worldbuilding felt extremely unrealistic and oooh did I HATE that “outfit” they put our underage race queen in, if you can even call that an outfit.

Overtake: Of the two car racing shows this season, Overtake absolutely wins. It looks great, it introduces F4 racing to the audience very well (there’s some show, there’s some tell, a good blend) and the characters have more heart in their pinky fingernails than the entire cast of MF Ghost combined. There’s a very real and affecting subplot about PTSD, realistic discussion of just how much racing costs for an amateur team and plenty of men being unafraid to feel their feelings and cry it out. Overtake is definitely on the top of the podium. It hasn’t gotten anywhere near the love it deserves - ANN didn’t do weekly reviews of it and Anime Feminist was hyperfocused on the lack of female characters (valid! But not a dealbreaker to me!) - so I hope that people discover it later.

Shy: Thank goodness this is getting a season 2 because we spent literally a quarter of the season focused on the Pepesha and her mother subplot. That could’ve been tightened up a bit - ANN’s review mentions how Amarariruku’s villain speeches tend to be very circular, which is exactly how I felt seeing Lenya explain herself for what felt like the 50th time over - and I was genuinely looking at the episode count like “uhh??!?” before the season 2 news came out. So other than that part being a bit too drawn out, though, this is a very interesting show with a cool concept (Teru experiences Personal Growth! We are so proud of her!) and I’m interested in seeing where it goes from here. Will we meet the USA’s hero next season? I kinda want to see who that might be.

My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer: Ai Fairouz is in the cast of this one too, so maybe she’s just what needs to be present for me to watch an isekai/high fantasy show? I did enjoy this one, even though the action scenes were a little bit lacking, perhaps above the skill level of the animators. They did do lovely watercolor-like scenery shots, though. The characters are charming (Belgrieve, total DILF, also giving us disability representation) and the opening song is a bop. They did leave the door open for a season 2 - for example, the question of Ange’s parentage was never answered, although it is VERY heavily implied that she is also a demon. I mean, the little demon kid Belgrieve takes in at the end literally looks exactly like her, for crying out loud.

Spy x Family Season 2: Haven’t finished this one yet - I want to watch it with my husband because he also likes it and we’ve just had a lot of stuff going on! We have watched 4 episodes, which means we’ve watched a bunch of one-off side stories basically lol. He even remarked at some point that the episodes felt weird. I was like “Well, because they’re only side stories!” From what I have read, it sounds like things are about to pick up plot-wise, so we gotta just make some time to catch up soon lol. 

Power of Hope/Kibou no Chikara Otona Precure 23: I have not seen ANY of the Precure series that have characters appearing here, so I came in fresh. This was enjoyable! I was originally bummed that we didn’t get to see them transform as adults, but the age reversion to transform was done for big story reasons and made perfect sense in that context. The episode that showed how the town was devastated by firebombing in World War II was deeply affecting - war is hell, no wonder Bell was changed by it - and it was great to see Cure Black and Cure White turn up. It reminded me of all the companions coming together at the end of Doctor Who season 4. Total fan catnip, I love it. I have not seen Mahotsukai Precure either, so I’ll be going into their sequel fresh too. (Is that what was being teased at the very very end of episode 12? Yeah probably lol)

16bit Sensation Another Layer: My winner for best show of this season. As you may have gathered from my mention of Doctor Who just now, I like time travel stories, so “Listen, Konoha Akisato has come unstuck in time” appealed to me right away. This show also genuinely taught me things about computer game development. I have a deepened respect for PC-98 game art (I follow such accounts on here now lol), which would surely make Mamoru smile. Plus, I like how it has a core message of “You can be a woman who works on erotic video games and that is not weird or perverted. Follow your dreams!” Toya does, after all - I would have loved to see her team up with Konoha and it sucks that she was being manipulated by the evil company. The show did take a turn for the Matrix-y in the fourth quarter, and I do feel episode 13 was a bit rushed (Konoha opens Comic Party and then is just immediately back in 2023? She and Mamoru explain how they told everyone about being time travelers instead of us getting to see that reaction?), but dammit, I teared up at the very end anyway. What a show!

Magic User’s Club OVA: I remember renting videotapes of this from Blockbuster way back in the day, but I didn’t remember much about the show itself, so I decided to watch it again after seeing this AnimeBackWhen video about it. It’s so fun and charming! And Ikuko Itou designed the characters and Junichi Satou is the director - a bit of a Sailor Moon reunion lol. (Fun fact I learned just now is Chiaki J. Konaka did the screenplay. This is very very different from his work on Serial Experiments Lain.) I’m not done with it yet. The opening song is a big ole bop!

2024 goals:

Finish Star Twinkle Precure

Watch Gunbuster (another "I rented it from Blockbuster during the Clinton administration" story - I bought Discotek's new Blu-Ray of it, just haven't cracked it open yet lol)

Continue to enjoy seasonal anime!

[useless-bi-otch]

Cookies'n Cream - Chapter 24

Last chapter / MasterList / art by @aneenasevla

Chapter 24 - All The Colors of a Peacock

Tomori woke up the next day feeling hot. Very hot, to the point of even sweating a little. She wasn't too surprised, though. It was summer and she was covered in the plush bedding above her waist.

And of course, there was a huge, equally hot wall of muscle pressed against her, right behind her body, strong arms wrapping around her waist and refusing to let her go an inch away. She smiles, closing her eyes again and snuggling closer to him.

They had forgotten to turn on the AC last night, apparently. But she wouldn't leave the comfortable position she was in, being the little spoon for the man who had rented that luxurious love hotel room for them and given her an amazing night.

She felt blessedly tired, her legs a little wobbly, very specific parts of her anatomy a little sore. And she couldn't be happier and more satisfied, because it was exactly what she wanted. Not only for fulfilling an old fantasy, but also for now being sure that she was desired by the guy she liked.

More than desired, in fact. The way he had touched her, kissed her, devoured her with his eyes... what woman wouldn't wake up the next day feeling like the most beautiful, hottest creature on the planet? An injection of self-esteem that made her want to roll over, wake him up with a nice kiss in all the right places, and then do to town with him again...

Her stomach suddenly rumbles, unceremoniously reminding her that she wasn't a machine and that sex with him, no matter how good it was, wouldn't fill her stomach. She sighs softly, then stalls a little when she feels Okubo move behind her, making low, husky sounds in her ear.

"Hnnnn… Tomoh...," And he brings her closer, touching the curve of her neck with his nose and taking a deep breath. "G'morning…"

"G'morning. Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up so early...," She lifts her hand to caress his face, feeling the stubble prickling her fingers lightly. She shivers when he touches her neck with his lips.

"It's okay, I was going to wake up soon anyway. Damn, it's hot as hell in here...," He grumbles, curling up with her still in his arms. "But I don't feel like getting out of bed..."

"Yeah, and you also don't feel like letting go of me to see if it makes you feel less hot, apparently," She jokes, and giggles when he gives her a kiss near the ear.

"As if you want me to. You've been rubbing your back against my chest all this time, grinding that cute little ass against me... I'm suspecting it was on purpose," He jokes, and she squeals when his hand squeezes and lightly slaps her right buttock.

Yeah, she definitely got the wrong impression about him. He was far from innocent. He was a huge pervert who would give Rihito a run for his money. And holy shit, was she loving it!

"No, it wasn't!," She protests, trying to escape his bear hug and, as expected, failing to do so. "I don't know what you're talking about, I'm innocent!"

“You did things to me last night that were far from innocent, lady."

"And I don't remember hearing you complain about it!"

"And you never will! I wouldn't even let you leave here anymore, if it was up to me," He hugs her more willingly, and Tomori screams and squirms when he starts spreading smacking kisses over her face and neck, his stubble tickling her. "You'd be in this bed with me all the time, just sleeping, eating and letting me make you the happiest woman in this entire love hotel."

"Aaah! That's kidnapping! False imprisonment!"

"Only if it isn't consensual! Don't lie to me, I know you'd like that, hehe..."

"Noooo...," She whimpered between laughs, not even trying to escape his caresses anymore, which were already making her go limp again on the mattress. "It's an impossible dream, Naoya. What were you gonna do when the owner of the establishment came to kick us out?"

"I'd bribe him, obviously!"

"And he says that without any shame," She laughs harder, turning her head to the side to offer even more of her neck for him to kiss. "Okay, but what about my job? And yours?"

"I'd bribe the owner some more to let you use the kitchens and send the cookies, donuts and sandwiches to the bakery to resell. And I can still have one or two matches per year, we'll just need to turn a part of the room into a micro gym."

“And all those things would require us to get out of bed, which makes this plan flawed from the outset."

"Come on, woman, don't rain on my parade..."

"Alright, I'm sorry. What about our friends? Our families? Aren't we going to see them anymore?"

"They can come visit us, no problem at all! I'll even let Auntie use the kitchens if she wants to, the Heavy Bakery is getting a branch," He sniffs her hair. "We'd only have to sanitize the place very well first 'cause sandwiches and cookies aren't the only things being eaten around here."

She laughs out loud, both at the stupid joke and the tickle his beard against her skin caused.

"My God, you're nuts!"

"Yeah, a lot of consecutive blows to the head will do that to you," He laughs along with her, touching her face to make her look at him. "And having you like this, like I've been wanting for so long, too."

Her eyes soften, a heat unrelated to the temperature of the room radiating across her chest. She turns to face him, bringing her face closer to his, and he immediately kisses her, hugging her around the waist as she rests her arms on his shoulders.

The situation was not the most propitious. The room was uncomfortably hot, his stubble itched against her skin and none of them had brushed their teeth. And yet their will to get away from each other was zero.

"Hnnn…," She sighs after they break apart to catch their breath, still touching each other's faces. "I hope having me here in this bed for another hour or two is enough."

"It sure is. To think that I'm gonna have more of those hours throughout the month too..." He nods slowly. "I wanted this so much, Tomori…"

"I wanted it too... so much so that it was hard to hide...," She smiles shyly. "You could've told me you wanted it too, you know. You already saw yesterday that I wouldn't say no."

"Haha, yeah... but I really didn't know that, or at least I wasn't sure," He changes position on the bed, lying on his back and bringing her along, whereupon she lays her head on his chest, listening to his heart beating. "I didn't want to force myself on you, to be an inconsiderate pervert like I used to be," He confesses, looking at the bedroom ceiling. "I wanted... I dunno, I wanted you to see that I didn't want to just sleep with you. Especially after how I did wrong by you. I felt that I needed to regain your trust before anything else."

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, and the relief and happiness she felt when hearing that even made her a little emotional.

"That means a lot to me…"

"Great. And don't think I wasn't enjoying those more chaste encounters of ours. I love spending time with you in any way, okay?," He assures, stroking her hair. And then he laughs. "But I'm not gonna lie, I'm definitely going to want to do more of this, hehehe!"

"Of course you will," She laughs too. "I can see that you are the insatiable type."

"There's no way I wouldn't be, when I'm having a massive crush on a cook who's as delicious as the things she cooks."

“God, I really opened the lions' cage, didn't I?,'' She jokes, raising her head to nibble on his chest, just for the pleasure of seeing him shudder. "I'm happy to know that you're attracted to me that much, and that you were just being a gentleman. I was left feeling pretty stupid and insecure when my seduction tactics didn't work..."

There's a second of silence before Okubo looks up at her, staring at her with wide eyes.

"Seduction tactics?"

Tomori blushes a bit, again hiding her face in his chest.

"Yeah, uh… I kinda tried to show that I was in the mood on our date that ended with both of us in the emergency room. But you ended up not noticing..."

"Wha- no, wait a sec…," He gets even more perplexed. "That day? That's when you...," And then his eyes widen even more, his mouth falling open. "Oh... holy shit, so... all those things you're doing... fuck, it was- it was on purpose?!"

“Uh… oh my God, so you noticed?," She gets even redder. "And you didn't say or try anything?! Shit, I was practically subliminally begging you to fuck me!"

"I- I didn't know you were doing those things on purpose! I didn't even considered...," He holds his head in his hands, perplexed. "I thought you were doing that without realizing, being innocent... but- but when you asked me to help you with your posture, or when you were stretching, or when you laid down on the grass like that..."

“Yeah… it was on purpose,” She nods, a bit mortified. He continues to stare at her in disbelief.

"And when you seemed to get all upset..."

"That was me getting more and more frustrated that nothing was working," She nods with a frown. "And that you were being absurdly cute and getting me all hot and bothered without even trying, while I wasn't getting any reaction out of you even with all my efforts..."

“Uh…sorry about that,” he says finally, scratching the back of his neck, now looking almost as embarrassed as she does. Tomori shakes her head.

"No, Naoya, you don't need to apologize. I'm the one who should, actually. I had no right to be mad when you didn't even know what was going on, what I' was doing...," She sighs. "Sorry for making you confused and uncomfortable."

"I…," He starts to say, still extremely confused. "I was confused, yes, but not bothered… not in a bad way, at least," He settles better in bed, leaning his back on the pillows and sitting up partially, still with his hands on her hips. "That day… holy shit, how much I had to hold back to not let on that I was dying to get busy with you right then and there…"

Tomori blinks, pulling herself up on her elbows and widening her eyes as well.

"Wait, really? So- so my plan was working?

"If it was working? You were driving me insane with all your posing, brushing, stretching and rocking! Damn, I should get an acting award, if I managed to hide it so well," He comments with an astonished laugh. "I'll tell ya, pretty women are hard to deal with, but when they know they're pretty and take advantage of it, they're the devil themselves..."

She laughs, relaxing into him as the embarrassment and remorse slowly leave her, making her feel a whole lot lighter.

"Come on, you saw yesterday that I'm not as sweet and innocent as I look," She pokes playfully at his chest. "You shouldn't be surprised to learn that I can do these tricks."

"Yeah, I shouldn't. Your 'Wolfie' nickname now makes a lot more sense, hahaha."

"Yeah. And besides...," She looks up at him again. "You could've said something. You could've told me you wanted it after we'd made up. We're both adults, and adults should talk more openly about these things. We only need to not be too intrusive about it..."

He is silent for a few seconds, hands still stroking his back. And then he arches an eyebrow at her.

"I should say the same thing. Why didn't you tell me you wanted it? You've never had a problem taking the initiative since we met. I wouldn't have felt emasculated or anything..."

"Uh..." Tomori didn't expect him to turn her own question against her like that. She tries to think of how to respond truthfully without sounding like an idiot, and sighs again when she's unable to come up with anything. "It's just… that sorta thing has always been my modus operandi."

"What? To make your intentions clear with your body, instead of with your words?"

"Yeah… a woman of a lot of action and… no, if I said 'few words' I’d be lying, I'm a chatterbox," She ponders, and smiles embarrassed when he laughs. "It's just that I always found it fun to play these games, y'know? To feel the guy I'm interested in has his eyes on me, wanting me and not hiding it... it's a nice stroke on the ego. Yes, women like that too."

"Damn… I'd never imagine you using that kind of strategy if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes," He comments, very surprised. "You didn't seem like that type… hey, hey, I'm not complaining!," He assures quickly when she gets even more embarrassed, looking away. "And much less judging. It's just that I'm realizing more and more that I didn't really know you before and assumed a lot of wrong things just because of your cute ways..."

"And as I told you, cute Tomori is also me. People can have many facets, you know," She shrugs, still not able to look him in the eyes. "But... yeah, now that I think about it, playing games like that when you're a grown-ass woman is pretty ridiculous, if not pathetic. I really should've been more clear with what I wanted."

"Yeah… I guess I should've too," He nods slowly. "I felt like an idiot yesterday too."

"But in your case, you took a while to say you wanted it because you were trying to respect my pace. I just wanted to feel wanted, in control."

“Well…did I make you feel that way last night?," He asks after thinking a little, smiling in the corner. And despite the embarrassment, she does not resist and reciprocates.

"Without doubt. I still feel that way, with you looking at me like that..."

"Yeah… I'm not screwing your brains out right now only because I'm trying not to melt in this heat."

"My god, I created a monster."

"Nah, this monster has always existed. You just opened the cage and forgot where you put the key."

She laughs heartily, allowing him to hug her again, even though said heat was really dampening the mood. They lay side by side, her head snuggled against his broad chest. That was better than a lot of pillows, dammit...

"Yeah... the good thing about leaving the cage open is that I can talk to the monster better that way," She murmurs, and makes a contented sound when he kisses her on the top of her head.

"Yeah… is it that thing about communication, honesty in relationships and all that shit?," He asks, and she makes a fart-like sound.

"Pffft... Yeah. So much so that there are psychologists earning a hefty sum over couples in crisis just to point out the obvious."

"Boy, and I thought that it was just emotional bullshit..."

"What? Communication? You never sat down with your friends to talk about your problems or anything?"

"Yeah, but it'd be like asking them to make fun of me! Talking with our fists is much less work."

She laughs again, giving his chest a little push.

"I used to think so too..."

"Really?"

"Yeah. When I was sixteen."

"Are you calling me childish? You're one to talk, Mowgli, the wolf girl!," he teases, and she squeals and squirms when he nudges her in the ribs to tickle her. She retaliates by rubbing her butt against his groin, making him gasp, shudder and hold her by the hips. "H-Hey, that's a low blow!"

"And what do you expect from a 'wolf girl', eh? You deserved it," She sticks her tongue out at him, and is pleased when he gives up, relaxing on the bed and chuckling softly.

“Yeah, I guess I did… although you seem to be pretty varied in the animal department."

She frowns a little, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"You understood me, c'mon. Wolf…,” He touches her nose with his fingertip. And then his hand goes down to her left thigh. "Peacock."

She follows the glide of his hand with her eyes until it lands on her tattoo, which was large enough to take up almost the entire side of her thigh and extend down to her buttock.

Tomori blinks. Oh… of course he'd seen the entire tattoo last night. She had even been a little embarrassed by his stares, which was funny, considering that her tattoo was already something so intrinsic to her that she sometimes forgot it was there. The huge iridescent blue peacock (finding a tattoo artist capable of reproducing that shade had been an adventure, to say the least), whose tail opened in an explosion of colorful flowers was fading a little, but still looked lush. She gives an embarrassed little smile.

"Oh yeah… you saw it."

"There was no way I wouldn't. It's even bigger than I thought," He comments, sliding his hand up and down her thigh, to the hem of the stocking she was still wearing. "And the peacock took me by surprise, I won't lie."

"It always takes everyone by surprise," She concedes with a sigh. "I'm used to judgments."

“But there's no judgment on my part, Tomori. You've known that for a while," He assures her. "I'm part of a fight promotion with international reach, I've fought tattooed opponents so much that it made me lose some hair," He slides his other hand over his head, smiling when she can't resist and laughs. "Seriously, I I don't have a problem with that. I'm just curious about the story behind it. A peacock with a flowery tail awakens these feelings in people."

She laughs again, much more relaxed by his reassurance. Knowing that her tattoo didn't make him uncomfortable or make him hesitate about the directions their relationship was taking...

“My god, Tomori, what were you thinking? How are you going to find a man who wants a woman with such monstrosity on her thigh?!”

Her mother's voice, shrill with indignation, reaches her ears as if she were there in the room with them. She grimaces, looking to the side.

"I hope you'll be happy to find out there was nothing to worry about, Mom..."

"Uh… if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine too," He tries to dismiss the conversation when he sees her expression. "I just asked out of curiosity…"

"No, relax, I can talk about it," She reassures him quickly, stroking his shoulder. "I told you, it's not even one of the most outlandish life stories I have. It's actually kinda cute, in a cliché way..."

"You're in luck then. Today I'm in the mood for these things," He coos, hugging her again and kissing the back of her neck, whereupon she shivers and laughs again.

"My god, you're so corny, hahaha…," She scratches his jaw with her nails, and he practically purrs. "Just let me take these stockings off first, my legs are on fire."

"But you look so hot in them..."

“Not when my legs get blistered from friction. You don't want to subject me to that, do you? Yeah, thanks," She nods when he pouts. "And turning on the AC is a good thing too, before we pass out from dehydration."

He nods, looking around for the AC control as she takes her stockings off. And when the room was blessedly cool and they were both sprawled out on the huge bed, Tomori felt motivated enough to talk.

“So, remember when I told you about my delinquent phase?"

"I do, and it's taking that into account that makes me not feel weird about the tattoo," He comments in a playful tone. "But dammit, I don't remember many high school students who got tattooed without being kicked out from school or home, haha."

"Ooh, but I didn't get tattooed in high school! I was no longer so out of control after graduating," She guarantees with a low laugh. "It was when I was already twenty years old, going to college and working. That way my parents couldn't accuse me of using their money to do things they disapproved of..."

“Oh… yeah, that makes a lot more sense,” He nods after thinking. But he still looked confused. "But in that case, what does your delinquent phase have to do with it? If you were already more mature and responsible at the time..."

"Well… at the time, I still felt guilty for all the trouble I gave my parents," She confesses, unconsciously playing with a lock of her hair. "You saw that even today my past haunts me, and at that time it was even more difficult to escape from it. I was reminded all the time of what I used to be... and so was my family. Straightening myself out, attending college and working seemed not to be enough for me to redeem myself..."

“Which is bullshit. Past doesn't have to define people forever. We can learn from it and improve ourselves," He mumbles, serious, and Tomori looks at him affectionately.

"I know. You're a great example of that."

"Hehe…thanks," He scratches his nose, smiling like a fool, and she lies on her side so she can look him in the eyes.

"Anyway... I wanted to show my family that, contrary to what other people thought, they did matter to me. I didn't do what I did because I didn't appreciate them, but because I was going through a bad time. I wanted to prove to them that things had changed, that I was better... and I decided there was no better way than to etch it into my skin, literally," She explains, gesturing with one hand while looking up, to which Okubo widens eyes a little.

"Oh… so, is the peacock a tribute to your family?"

"Yes, and so are the flowers. Here...," She leans on one elbow, raising her torso a little to touch her left thigh. "The daisies represent my mother. They symbolize pure love, sensitivity, affection, kindness. She has all that and more, despite driving me crazy with her antics, haha."

"Like any good mother, hehe."

"Yeah… the gerberas represent my brother," She continues after laughing along with him. "They symbolize the positive energies of nature, the beauty that is seen in life, the success of someone's hard work. Tatsu is one of the most energetic and determined people I know. I used to be envious of him for that, but today it's become admiration."

"Wow... I thought you thought he was a pain in the ass, considering everything I've heard about him..."

"And he is! But we can still love and admire the qualities of a annoying person, like you do with Rihito."

"Yeah, that fucker is my best friend, but I definitely wouldn't tattoo flowers in his honor," He jokes, and Tomori laughs again.

"Good to know. But anyway... the gladioli represent my father," She slides her hand over the tattoo once more. "They symbolize strength, integrity and connection with moral values. My father is stubborn as all hell, but no one can say that he isn't strong-willed, upright and someone who values ​​his family above all else. And even though he's so stubborn, he was the one who forgave me the fastest for my mistakes...," She swallows a little when her throat closes in a lump. Okubo strokes her face gently.

"I can see that he and his wife raised a daughter who has all these qualities."

She smiles shyly, closing her eyes and kissing his fingertips.

"Thanks. I do what I can. And now, about the rest of the tattoo..."

She rests her hand on the peacock's chest, tracing the lines of the tattoo with her thumb, absently.

"The peacock symbolizes protection, compassion, prosperity, purification and wisdom. These are things my family always gave me... and things I acquired after listening to that speech of yours and deciding I needed to be better. For me and for them…," she pauses. "And… Each of the four 'feathers' of this peacock… they represent me, my parents and Tatsu… we are all part of the peacock,… and we all have a little of those flowers on ourselves."

She swallows hard, again suppressing a sudden urge to cry. She wondered now if she had sounded too corny, if she embarrassed him by getting too emotional about a story that wasn't even that emotional...

"… Damn," She finally hears him say, and when she looks up quickly, she sees him staring at her with an affectionate dazzle that makes her blush. "Marking all of this on your skin, knowing that you'd deal with judgments and restrictions because of that, but not caring because you wanted your family to understand how important they are to you... how did you think I was going to judge you for that, huh?"

She takes a deep breath, curling up against the sheets as her heart skips a beat. Holy crap...

“I… I didn't think that,” She manages to say, in a barely audible confession, “Like- Like I said, it's a corny, silly story. Nothing amazing. There are people who say it doesn't justify getting a tattoo..."

"I don’t know who these 'people' are, but whoever they are, they can go fuck themselves," He decrees, reaching out to touch her on the side of her face, sliding his thumb over her skin. "If it is something that awakens such passion in you, it certainly justifies it. Even more so if it's your family. Man...," He laughs softly. "The 'wolf' nickname really suits you, but not for the reasons you imagine."

She sighs deeply, that warmth from earlier returning in her chest with a burning force, seeming to want to come out through her eyes. She holds his hand against her face, not wanting him to stop touching her.

“That's one of the nicest things you've ever said to me."

“It's what you deserve to hear, after all."

"Thanks… but I definitely wasn't such a wolf when I gathered the courage to show this tattoo to my family," She smiles, embarrassed. "That day I was much more like a scared bunny."

"Oh, I can imagine," He makes a sympathetic face. "Your parents must not have been very happy..."

"Ya think? They freaked out, especially my mom!," She widens her eyes at him, hoping that this would emphasize what she was saying. "I think she didn't kicked me outta the house that day only because my dad stopped her."

"Holy shit, that's a bit much too...

"Eh, my mom is a very emotional and impulsive person," She shrugs. "She probably would've kicked me outta the house, and then, four or five hours later, she would've called me crying and telling me to come back. That wasn't the case because my dad stepped between us, calmed things down and demanded an explanation from me. And then, when I explained everything..."

She then starts laughing at the memory, cringing and putting a hand over her face, whereupon he pulls her closer for a hug.

"What? C'mon, I'm getting curious now!"

"Ahaha, no- it's not a big deal, really. It's just that I'm remembering their faces, when they finally understood," She shakes her head. "The mixture of happiness and anger… they didn't know whether to give me a slap or a hug, hahaha! I was eventually forgiven, but to this day they say I'm a stupid daughter, that I didn't need to mark my body to prove something they never doubted... and my mother is always moaning about how my tattoo will make it difficult for me to get a man."

The last sentence slipped out before she could process whether or not it was worth saying. She felt her face heat up, and she couldn't use the heat in the room as an excuse this time. She wets her lips slowly before looking at him hesitantly.

Okubo was also a little red. But she saw no embarrassment or discomfort in his expression as he brought his face close to hers, touching foreheads and noses, a shy smile playing on his lips.

"Well, it's good she was wrong about that, isn't it?"

She smiles too, her whole body relaxing in his arms, her cheeks actually hurting a little.

“Yeah… and that's the story of my tattoo. Nothing amazing or worthy of a biography, as I said."

“Still, it was nice to hear it. Thanks for sharing this with me. I even feel privileged, y'know," He jokes, making a low sound as he curls up on the bed, lowering until he nestles his head between her breasts. She giggles, his breath there tickling her.

"It's not that much, come on. It's just a random story of my life..."

"And that you probably only told the closest, most intimate people. Of course it's a privilege!," He hugs her more willingly, even rocking with her on the bed. "It's like when you unlock the dark past of a member of your party after gaining enough friendship points with 'em. It's even an in-game achievement!"

She laughs louder this time, scratching his scalp with her nails.

"Oh is it? And when am I going to earn enough friendship points to unlock your dark past, huh?"

She felt him tense for a second in her arms, but he distracted her with kisses on the gap between her breasts when she started to ask what was wrong.

"Keep doing that with your fingers and you'll get a shitload of them. Hnnnn..."

"I swear, you're the corniest man I've ever met, Naoh, haha."

"Naoh...," He repeats the nickname in a low, honeyed tone. "You called me that yesterday too..."

"Oh... yeah," She nods slowly, her cheeks burning again at the memory. She was the type to get her tongue loose in the middle of the deed, and sometimes, she herself couldn't believe the things she said. "You called me Tomoh, so I thought it was only fair… but if you don't like it, I'll stop."

“No…I like it,” he confesses, lifting his head to look into her eyes. His stupid smile was adorable and made her want to kiss him all over his face. "Call me that again, c'mon!

"Hahaha! Naoh...," She murmurs in a sweet tone, leaning down to kiss him on the top of his head. "Naoh...m" She repeats, now kissing his ear while she went back to scratching his head with her nails.

He makes a sound of absolute happiness, burying the side of his face in her breasts as if they were the best pillow in the world, like he didn't want to take his head off of there any time soon. And she didn't want him to, either.

This was so different from the fantasies she used to have… in them, he sat like a king on a throne, letting her lie there in his lap. Never like this, looking so vulnerable in her arms...

Holy shit, who would've thought that reality could be so much better than the fiction in her demented mind?"

“I really do love him, don't I? Damn..."

Welp... there was nothing she could do about it. She could only accept it and try to deal with whatever life threw their way. But for now, she just wanted to enjoy the moment with him, with nothing to get in the way...

... Except for her stomach, which chose that moment to embarrass her. She blushes a little as he laughs, his face still buried between her breasts.

"I think this is a good time for us to order room service, huh? An empty bag won't stand."

"I agree," She nods, still stroking his head, "I think I’ll ask for disposable hygiene products too, I want to get this taste out of my mouth…"

"My taste? Damn, that hurts..."

"I like it, but I like to be hygienic too. By the way, we also need a bath..."

"No problem, we'll take one together."

"Naoya..."

"It's to avoid wasting water! Saving the planet starts with small gestures...," He squeezes the sides of her hips and kisses her in the middle of her breasts, which she has to stop herself from going with the flow.

"The idea is very tempting, but if we go into that bathroom together, we won't be able to get out of it anytime soon. Then there won't be any water savings," She gives his head one last kiss before scaping his arms. "You go first, I'll order breakfast for us in the meantime."

"Alright," He makes a pout, but doesn't insist, getting up from the bed and stretching. "You can ask anything you want. We deserve to eat well after all the effort yesterday, hehe."

"Yeah, I agree. But I'd like to split the bill with you this time- okay, okay, I get it! No splitting today," She says quickly when he throws her a frown over his shoulder. "But don't get used to it."

“Too late, miss. I'll be right back," He smiles at her, giving her a wink, marching to the bathroom next. And okay, Tomori wasn't going to lie, she was admiring his ass until the moment he closed the bathroom door behind him. Hell, she wasn't made of stell!

She stretches out on the bed, moaning softly before sitting up, working up the courage to get up and go ask for the room service... until she hears a very characteristic ringing, accompanied by vibrations, both coming from her purse hanging on the coat rail next to the door.

She jumps to her feet, immediately concerned. Nobody used to call her this early if it wasn't an emergency, not even her parents. She goes to her purse and opens it, taking out her phone and checking the contact number before quickly answering it.

"Hiro?," She calls, worried, and immediately hears a moan on the other end of the line.

"Tomoh... I'm sorry for calling you at this time in the morning and in this situation, but I couldn't contact anyone else..."

"All right, relax. But what happened?," She asks anxiously. "Are you okay?"

"Hnn... it depends on the point of view, I guess..."

"Huh?"

“If you mean me being out in the middle of nowhere, nauseous and with my head bursting with a fucking hangover, then no, I'm not okay,” he whimpers. And then he goes on, his voice a little clearer as if pondering, "But, if you mean being in the company of three hunks, all with unshaven stuble and one of them shirtless, showing off his sweaty chest, then yes, I'm okay."

"I took my shirt off because it's hot as fuck in here! Go gawk at something else!"

"Wha- is Rihito there with you?," Tomori widens her eyes when he recognizes the second voice, which had shouted indignantly. "Wait, where are you?"

"Hnn… I'm not sure, but from the looks of the surrounding area, I think Asakusa? Yeah, probably..."

"And how did you guys end up there? And together, on top of that?," She asks agitated. "I didn't even know you guys got along..."

"Me too, darling, but surprisingly blondie and I have a lot in common. And not only him, Hot Stuff and Cute Fox are here too!"

"Can you not call me that?"

"What? Hot Stuff? You should feel flattered, I don't give that title to just anyone. Anyway, to put it shortly: we went out drinking yesterday and ended up going to freakin' town. None of us remember much, except that we partied, drinked our asses off and ended up in a little shabby hotel."

"Oh… my God, Hiro…," Tomori grunts, rubbing her hand over her face tiredly. "​​I thought something bad had happened to you, dammit! Something serious..."

"But it is serious! I wouldn't be calling you and interrupting your glorious morning with your gorilla if it wasn't! By the way...," He now spoke lower, almost whispering. "He's there with you, right? You two spent the night together, right? Girl, please say yes, for the love of God...!"

And despite her annoyance, Tomori couldn't stop herself from smiling and vibrating with excitement.

"Yes, we did! He's taking a bath now, so-" 

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Tomori had to move the phone away from her ear so as not to be deafened by the high-pitched scream on the other end of the line, which was soon followed by several others.

"Damn it, don't scream like that, you fuckin' wacko! Our heads are already almost bursting here!"

"Holy shit, I dropped the cigarette on the carpet…!"

"Another scare like that and I'll throw up again..."

"Sorry, darlings, I freaked out a little here but it's over! Ooooh, Tomoriiii...," Hiro squeaks with happiness, returning to speak in a low voice. "Shakira was right, those hips don't fuckin' lie! I'm going to release so much fireworks at this year's Obon, lord heavens above...!"

“Ahaha, yeah… I think they'll be less noisy than you,” Tomori jokes, sticking her finger in her ringing ear, to which Hiro laughs sharply.

"You haven't heard anything yet! I’ll be even more noisy if I don't have details of your night on my desk in five minutes!"

"Stop it, the most urgent matter comes from your side, not mine," She hisses, lowering her voice too. "If you only went out partying with Rihito, Himuro and Kaneda, why are you calling me like it's an emergency?"

"But it is an emergency! None of us have our wallets here, so we can't pay the hotel bill!," The cashier hisses back, distressed. "It's one of those old, shabby hotels that only accept cash!"

"Wait, did you lose your wallets?!"

"No, they're in my car."

"Huh? Then why don't you go get 'em?"

"… I don't remember where I parked it."

Tomori raised her eyes to the bedroom ceiling and closed them, taking a deep breath and mentally counting to ten.

"Holy shit, Hiro… now I understand why you called me, and not Kanny."

"Yeah… I’d never hear the end of it if I called her and I'm too hungover for that."

"Which is what you deserve, honestly! Ugh... what do you want me to do then?"

"Can you come here to help four helpless friends? Sorry, I swear I didn't mean to bother you and your man..."

“It's okay, we weren't doing anything but making out and talking."

"Wait, really? Damn, I could've sworn he'd want an encore first thing in the morning, that perverted gorilla of yours..."

"Oh, he wanted it! It was me who told him to calm down," She confesses, opening a dreamy smile. "Look, Hiro, last night was amazing, but I'm definitely going to need to exercise more. This man made me work my socks off, my legs are all wobbly..."

"Yeees, that's what I wanted to hear! I was worried he couldn't get it up, but I'm glad I was wrong!"

"Keep your voice down, his friends are there with you!"

"Nah, they're distracted, chill out. They're too busy discussing possible escape plans in case we don't find our wallets."

"Dear lord..."

"Anyway, can you come get us? I'll look up the exact address in GMaps and send it to you. And helping us look for my car would be really nice too..."

"I swear to God… you'll owe me one after that," She sighs. "Anyway, I'll let Naoya know, and then we'll come get you as soon as we've had something to eat."

"Alright, we can wait. I can even distract those beefcakes and the hotel manager for a few more hours if you still want to roll around in bed with your bald bull a little longer-"

“We'll talk more later, Hiro. See you soon," Tomori interrupts him without much ado, huffing, before ending the call and putting her phone back in her purse. Hell, she knew her friends were in a pinch and she wanted to help, but to be interrupted on a morning like this would put any girl in a bad mood!

At least last night had been very fruitful... she lays down on the bed again and hugs a pillow, allowing herself a small burst of happiness, which is interrupted when Okubo comes out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Damn, the water's great! Your turn, Tomori. If you want help scrubbing yourself just say so, I don't mind getting wet again, hehe," He jokes, smiling when he sees her sprawled on the bed. "Have you ordered our breakfast yet?"

"Uh… no not yet," She admits, hugging her pillow tighter as she cringes a little in embarrassment. "There was kind of an interruption while you were bathing…"

"Oh? What kind, exactly?," He asks while untying the towel around his waist and using it to dry the top of his head. And again, Tomori can't resist enjoying the view for a few seconds before answering.

"An emergency call…"

"Was it work?"

"No."

"Your family?"

"Nope..."

"Can it wait? I can see the way you're looking at me, so it doesn't seem like such an emergency," He comments, arching an eyebrow and smiling ingratiatingly at her, resting the towel on his shoulders. She hugs the pillow more, pouting.

"Well, Hiro said it could... and he's not alone either..."

"Let me guess... Rihito, Himuro and Kaneda are with him, right?"

"Wow, bullseye!"

"Yeah, it was easy to guess after what happened yesterday at the bakery. Those bastards abandoned me, they left me for their new friend...," He sniffs theatrically, pouting, and Tomori laughs as he leans over her and lays his head on her stomach, the towel falling to the floor.

"Ooh, poor thing… I hope my company has been a consolation."

"The best of all consolations! But I'm still kinda sensitive about their indifference. I need to be consoled more…," He lifts his head, pushing the pillow out of the way and planting a kiss on her belly. Tomori shudders and gasps as he starts to make his way to her chest.

"Naoh, you just took a bath..."

"I'll take another one with you later."

"We haven't eaten anything yet..."

"I'll give you whatever you want to eat later, I promise. What I want most right now is you...," He reaches her neck, kissing it slowly, and she goes all limp on the mattress, shivering. Hell, if it went on like this, they wouldn't be able to help their friends before early afternoon...

But the bed was very comfortable, the room was cool after the AC was turned on and he still had a condom in his pants pocket...

"Hnnn... you're lucky that I want you as much too," She murmurs in a hoarse tone, to which he kisses her willingly.

Those four could wait. Who told them to drink until they dropped anyway?

* * *

"Seriously, what took you so freakin' long?!"

"Unlike you, Rihito, we are not driven by booze. We wanted to eat something."

"Wow. If we needed a hypocrite, you wouldn't do, because you're already above that level."

"Shut up and eat your toast and drink your watermelon and strawberry smoothie. If you want, I'll ask Tomori to bring some bananas..."

"I'll tell you where you can shove those bananas!"

"Shut up, your voices aren't helping at all with the headache..." Himuro groans, threading his fingers through his hair while Okubo and Rihito snarled at each other, at one end of the biggest couch in Tomori's living room. At the far end, Kaneda and Hiro lay prostrate, pale and with their eyes closed so the ambient light wouldn't bother them too much.

"Yes. And have a minimum of decorum, we're in a lady's house..."

"Take a good look at the walls around you, Mr. Fox. You can bet that this living room has heard far worse."

"Shut up, Hiro. And there you go!," Tomori appears from the kitchens, smiling radiantly while showing them a tray full of cut fruits, snacks and fresh juice. "Lucky for you, I went grocery shopping a few days ago and I had a well-stocked fridge."

"Thanks, Miss Uta...," Rihito, Himuro and Kaneda murmur with weak voices. Okubo snorts.

"What's up with that morose tone? She welcomes you guys into her house, lets you eat her food, helps you with your hangover and this is how you say thank you? Thank her properly!"

"Don't be a pain, Okubo."

"…Hey, Tomoh, how about we turn on the karaoke machine later? I don't think we've celebrated the bakery's success and the start of your vacation enough yet-"

"Thanks a lot, Miss Uta!," The three of them quickly raise their voices, alarmed, to which Tomori laughs and Hiro groans, resting the back of his head on the back of the sofa.

"Uugh, spending one night with this she-wolf was enough for him to contract her wit by osmosis. I swear to God..."

"And spending one night with these three was enough for you to contracted their inconvenience!"

“I already had plenty of that, big guy. I'm the bad apple, not the one getting spoiled because of it."

"I’ll need to agree... are you guys seriously making me play the mom friend part and give you a hard time for getting drunk?," Okubo shakes his head, looking directly at Kaneda. "Especially you, Kaneda! Always criticizing our bad drinking habits, but you also spent the night getting shitfaced..."

"It wasn't my fault! I was beaten by the majority," Kaneda whimpers while accepting the glass of juice that Tomori was offering him. "Especially by him! You have no idea how convincing he can be...,” He points at Hiro, who gives a weak chuckle.

"Yeah, my lip service is off the charts. Take it any way you like."

"Aargh, I'm too hangover for this…," Rihito moans, while Himuro picks up pieces of fruit with chopsticks, his eyes a little narrowed.

"You can say what you want, Okubo, none of us reached your levels of cluelessnes. Nobody here went on a date while drunk..."

"Damn, how long are you going to keep throwing this in my face?! Only Tomori still has the right to scold me for that...," Okubo makes a embarrassed pout, but the expression immediately fades when Tomori affectionately squeezes his shoulders, smiling.

"Relax, Naoh, that's in the past. It's just that it can't happen again, ever."

"It won't, I promise you!," He guarantees, intertwining his fingers with hers, both smiling a little dazzled at each other.

The reaction around the tea table is immediate: Hiro makes a high-pitched noise of happiness, Kaneda nearly chokes on his juice, and Rihito and Himuro exchange very meaningful glances, their eyebrows raised very high.

"Naoh...?"

"Aww, Lord Satan below, these two are so cute, I can't stand it...!," The cashier does a light tap dance, to which the couple blushes a little.

"Hiro, aren't you hungover?," Tomori asks quickly. "You should rest instead of having those outbursts…"

"Eh, I will survive. I even think that it is already passing, considering the sugar levels that you two are bringing to the table..."

"Yeah, like we're going to believe that," She rolls her eyes. "You didn't even remember where you parked your car!"

"Yeah, we had to drive about three blocks while looking for your old wreck..."

"Ooh, a thousand apologies for not having enough money to buy a SUV! But if I had, I would worry more about a hair transplant..."

"I already told you that I shave my head 'cause I prefer it that way! This joke isn't funny!," Okubo complains, even shrieking a little, while the other four men laugh heartily. "Oh, c'mon now, Tomori, even you?," He whimpers when the hostess also can't hold back her laughter. She clears her throat.

"Sorry, Naoh… but seriously, it's not with metaphorical sugar that you'll recover, but with lots of fluids and light food that doesn't hurt those poor livers," She jokes. "Who knows, maybe you'll even recover some memories of yesterday..."

"I'd rather not recover anything...," Rihito mutters, to which Hiro pouts at him.

"Wow, Blondie, waking up hugging me in a hotel bed was that bad?"

"Shut the fuck up, dammit! Don't go spreading it from the rooftops!," Rihito shrieks, his voice barely overlapping the laughter of the others. "And I was too boozy to know what I was doing! You took advantage of me..."

"I was drunk too, did you forget? But I'm not complaining, I slept like a baby..."

"Cut it out! And anyway, Himuro and Kaneda were also wrapped around each other on the other bed..."

"That was Himuro's doing. He trashes around a lot during his sleep, he almost knocked me out of bed at dawn...," Kaneda murmurs, red in the face and pointing at Himuro, who snorts and pushes his hand away with a light slap.

"I'm used to always having someone to hug in bed! It's not my fault if, out of all of us, you're the one who looks like a woman the most..."

"Hey, hey, come on now..."

"Apparently it was a tremendous fraternization, huh!," Okubo smirks. "Hey, Mr. Hiro, did you take them to those dance clubs full of thecno music and guys with wandering hands?"

"I tried, but Blondie here almost jumped outta the car," Hiro points to Rihito, who makes a face. "We went to a sushi bar, then to a karaoke where we let our voices out some more..."

"And lastly we stopped at a pub," Kaneda makes a face, scratching his hair. "From then on the memories get hazy… what I know for sure is that there was a time when Mr. Hiro must've broken about fifteen traffic laws."

"Come on, I didn't run that fast..."

"I thought we were all going to die at some point! Then I decided that life was too short and chose to go all out along with them..."

"Hell yeah, man! We would die, but we would all die together!," Rihito raises his glass in the air, to which Himuro and Hiro toast too, laughing. Tomori laughs too, while Okubo pouts a little.

"So you decided to replace me for good? Did you find your new official driver? You're such shitty friends..."

"Ooh, are you going to be jealous now, Egghead?," Rihito slaps Okubo on the shoulder, making him rock on the couch. "I don't know what you're complaining about, since you spent the night with even better company!"

"I don't know if I'm flattered or embarrassed…," Tomori scratches her left arm, looking to the side, while Okubo shakes his head.

"I know, but that doesn't change the facts!"

"Don't worry, baldie, I promise that next time I'll let you sleep with blondie on the same bed, just the way you want..."

"That's not what I meant!," Okubo squeals to Hiro while Himuro and Kaneda burst out laughing. Rihito, on the other hand, makes a disgusted face.

"Hell no! First of all, I don't sleep with men-"

"From my own experience, I know that's not true..."

"Shut up! And second, he snores a lot too-"

"And how do you know that if you apparently don't sleep with him?"

"You always have an answer at the tip of your tongue for everything, right? We have a new candidate for the blabermouth post, it seems!," Rihito growls, very red, while Himuro and Kaneda were almost sob-laughing by then. "Anyway, stop whining, Okubo, I'm sure Miss Uta's company made up for the lack of ours."

“Grunf… yes, it sure as hell did, but that's only about her and me. So give it a rest, because you're embarrassing her," Okubo commands, pointing to his friends while holding a mortified Tomori's hand with the other. Fortunately, the other four had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Sorry..."

"It's okay. I have to thank you anyway," She murmurs, still embarrassed, but trying to smile. "What do you think of a nice lunch? Naoh and Hiro have tried my savory dishes, but the three of you haven't."

“We're up for it, if it's not too much trouble,” Himuro nods, and Kaneda scratches the back of his head.

"Yeah, we don't want to bother you more than we already did..."

"In that case, let's make a deal! I cook and you wash the dishes afterwards, how about that?"

"Fair enough," The two of them nod, but Hiro sighs and Rihito grimaces. 

"C'mon, Tomori… I already have to wash the dishes at the bakery every other day!," The cashier complains. "And besides, we're on vacation..."

"Uugh… Well, I agree with one condition!"

"Rihito, don't-"

"Your friend's number will make wrinkled hands with soap and water worth it!"

"You can't try to negotiate with the hostess after she welcomes you to her house with a hangover, you dumbass!," Himuro scolds, missing Rihito's head with a kick only because he narrowly dodged it, screaming in alarm.

"And you can't threaten the physical integrity of others in someone's house either! Miss Uta, there are people here who deserve to be kicked out!"

"Nobody here will be kicked out," Tomori sighs too. "Anyway, it's decided. I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything. Can you come help me, Hiro?"

"But there's still no dishes in the sink..."

"No, but four hands work faster when cutting vegetables than two. And I like to talk while I cook, you know...,” She arches an eyebrow, staring at him. The cashier then seems to understand something, widening his eyes and smiling.

"Oh, you're right! Damn, how could I forget?," He gets up from the sofa, hitting his hands on his pants as if to clean them. "We'll be right back, sweethearts. You've been to Tomoh's house before, baldie, so you can give your friends a tour of her hall of fame."

"Of course, if I have permission from the hostess...," Okubo smiles at Tomori over his shoulder, and makes a very happy sound when she circles his neck with her arms and rests her chin on top of his head, smiling sweetly.

"Go right ahead! If you show yourself to be a good guide, I can even enforce your contract..."

"Then I'll do my best," He holds her right hand and kisses its back, to which she laughs. She then walks away, even humming softly, to which Hiro, who followed her, throws Rihito, Himuro and Kaneda a victorious smile over his shoulder. They reciprocate before focusing their attention on Okubo, who was accompanying Tomori with a dreamy expression on his face. It took a good few seconds for him to realize the mocking looks of his friends fixed on him.

"What?"

"We should tell you what it is, but luckily we're too curious to bother too much with your sappy bullshit," Himuro comments, while Rihito leans towards Okubo, agitated.

"So, dude? Did you hit it or nah?"

"Rihito, keep your voice down! She'll hear us...!," Kaneda hisses, an index finger on his lips, to which Rihito shakes his head.

"I just want him to answer me! 'Cause if you just spent the night cuddling with her in bed while watching her favorite soap opera or something like that, I swear to God...!"

"Seriously, Rihito, the day you have the privilege of spending a night cuddling with a girl, just enjoying the moment, you'll stop seeing it as a waste of time," Okubo grumbles. And then he smiles a lot. "But that wasn't the case this time."

"Really?," Rihito widens his eyes, sitting more rigidly on the sofa, to which Okubo puffs out his chest, very full of himself as he raises two fingers in a V for Victory.

"And why do you think we took so long to pick you guys up earlier? She wanted a encore and I would be an idiot if I said no..."

There was a second of silence. And the next, there was the quietest burst of triumphant joy Okubo had ever seen. Himuro clenches his fists and hisses a “yeees!” Between his teeth, Kaneda smiles from ear to ear and imitates Okubo's V for Victory and Rihito throws his fists in the air, even lifting his legs off the carpet while silently shouting,

"Fuck yeeeeees...!"

"Rihito! Keep! It! Down!," Kaneda hisses again, and Rihito shakes his head again.

"Let me celebrate, dude! Finally, goddamn it, finally this motherfucker hit it!"

“To be fair, he's hit it before, but this time it was the good kind of hit,” Himuro jokes, and Rihito has to put a fist in his mouth to keep from laughing too loudly. Kaneda shakes his head, a little disapprovingly. But the smile refused to leave his face.

"And that explains her being so calm about having a bunch of hungover guys at her home. But tell me if it wasn't worth the wait, Okubo!"

"It was so worth it, man!," Okubo just laughed, delighted, as he watched the other three throwing their arms over each other's shoulders, humming and moving their bodies from left to right in a small dance of victory, albeit in a whispered tone.

"He did it! Hey! He did it! Hey! He did-"

"Okay, that's enough, stop!," Okubo interrupts them by hissing through his teeth, making alarmed gestures, pulling Rihito to break the human chain they had formed. "Are you sure you're not drunk anymore? You...! Get your head off my lap, damn it, she's the only one allowed to do that!," He complains when Rihito falls on his side, having a coughing fit amidst laughter.

"It was you who pulled me as if you wanted to kiss me, you fuckin' fag, hahaha!," He reaches his arm for Himuro to pull him back. "But really, can you blame us for wanting to celebrate? Finally that ship sailed, damn it!"

"Better late than never, right?," Himuro nods, smiling satisfied. "Because honestly, no one here could stand this shilly-shallying anymore. Neither us nor her friends, apparently."

"Hell, since when did our love and sex life become your problem to be solved, huh?," Okubo snorts, to which Kaneda imitates him.

"Since you made it our problem! But anyway, now you understand what I've always been saying, don't you? Taking things calmly and respectfully gets you a lot further than acting like a desperate idiot."

“… Was that a jab at me?”

"If the shoe fits, Rihito..."

"You want me to beat the shit outta you, don't you?"

"Anyway!," Kaneda shakes his head. "Ever since that Saturday afternoon, when you decided you wanted to go to the market to buy ingredients to make rice balls, I already felt that things could take that course."

"Wait, really?,"! Okubo blinks, surprised. "But I wasn't even in love with Tomori at that time. It was more of a crush and me wanting to... you know...," He lowers his voice when they hear high-pitched laughter coming from the kitchens. Kaneda smiles more.

"I know, but my intuition said it was a matter of time and circumstances. And I'm glad I was right. It's like you said, she's just the kind of woman you like."

"Yeah… that's what I thought too," Okubo ends up smiling too, more tenderly. "But now I think she's more like the kind of woman I needed."

"Holy shit, that sounded so gay…," Rihito laughs, shoulders shaking. "Did you managed to get her to go to bed with you last night with that smooth talk?"

"Me? Believe it or not, but she was the one who took the initiative," Okubo says, again puffing out his chest. "Can you believe she wanted it all this time? Holy shit, I love forward woman, specially when she's mine..."

"And you made the poor thing wait all this time... man, you're lucky that she didn't get tired and gave up on you," Himuro comments. "I mean, she's a knockout, so it musn't be hard for her to get a man..."

"Bite your tongue, Himuro!," Okubo exclaims, turning to Himuro with a frown. "You can be sure I did my best so she wouldn't feel the need to look for any other man that's not me!"

"Hell yeah, man, you said it!," Rihito raises his hand, and Okubo and he exchange a high-five. "And now I want all the details you can give! Tell me, is she the type to play coy or the type that climbs into bed and becomes a-"

“Hey, hey, careful with what you're gonna say!," Okubo growls suddenly, raising his fist in a threat. "Show her some respect!"

"Dude, I wasn't gonna say anything!," Rihito shakes his hands quickly. "I'm just curious to know if all this waiting was worth it."

"It was. It was worth every second, every yen spent, every time I held back from acting like a perverted asshole," Okubo grumbles, lowering his fist. "And that's all I'm going to say."

"Huh? That's all? No details?!"

"Giving details would imply exposing her intimacy, and I won't do that! It's something just for the two of us..."

"Man, miss me with that fag shit..."

"It's not fag shit, it's respect and consideration for the girl I like! If one day you have someone like this, you'll understand me."

"Which means, he'll never understand."

"Fuck you, Himuro! But damn, I've been looking forward to this," Rihito complains, pouting. "That way it sounds like it wasn't that great and you're making up excuses not to admit that she didn't satisfy you..."

"Man, it's the opposite! She satisfied the fuck outta me...," Okubo's expression turns dreamy, and Rihito eyes widen.

"For real? She's that good in bed?!"

"She sure is! But again, that's all I'm going to say. You know when you have something really important that you feel could be spoiled if you shared it with anyone, even your best friends? A memory that means a lot to you and that you don't want to be analyzed, chopped up or altered by outside opinions? That's the case," He explains. "Sorry guys, but I prefer it that way."

"That's okay, Okubo. We understand," Kaneda nods, while Rihito snorts and crosses his arms, a bit annoyed. "It's something special, isn't it? Something that only concerns you and your girlfriend."

"Uh… well…," Okubo scratches the back of his head, looking away. "About the girlfriend part…"

"What? You...," Himuro widens his eyes a little. "You haven't opened up to her yet? Didn't you tell her that..."

"I… no," He admits, and he flinches before the fulminating looks of the other three. "Come on, it wasn't because I didn't want to! It's just that I didn't had the chance..."

"Why not? You could've said something yesterday. Fuck, you could've said something this morning, when you guys were cuddling in bed!," Himuro gestures, a little frustrated. "I can't believe that, instead of just solving this problem, you created another one."

"I know, right! Holy shit, it's the second season of this fucking soap opera," Rihito grunts, rubbing his eyes. "Those shitty streaming services cancel the best series, but renew the most boring and tiring ones, every single time..."

"Leave me alone, goddamn it! This is in my plans, and I guarantee it won't take as long to happen as this one did," Okubo defends himself, crossing his arms too. "I've already done the hardest part, after all. I just want to make sure that she feels the same, so I don't end up looking like a sucker."

"We already told you, only an idiot wouldn't see that she feels the same," Rihito grumbles, to which Himuro rolls his eyes.

“In that case, him not seeing it makes perfect sense."

"Fuck off," Okubo mutters angrily. "I won't beat the crap outta you only because it would be disrespectful to do that inside her house. And 'cause I'm kinda indebted to you too... thanks for yesterday, guys," He ends up smiling weakly. And Rihito, Himuro and Kaneda can't resist, reciprocating in equal measure.

"Don't mention it. As I said, I've been feeling very generous lately," Himuro comments.

"Yep. Again, we want this to happen almost as much as you do," Kaneda guarantees, and Okubo scratches the back of his head.

"I know. I will make it worth your while. But you didn't need to make up that stupid story that the bassist is the most expendable member of the band-"

"Who said we made it up? The only thing we really missed was your head serving as a reflector to create  cool lightning- dude, I'm kidding!," Rihito narrowly dodges a punch from Okubo, almost falling over the arm of the sofa. "Holy shit, anyone who sees you can't imagine that you got laid yesterday and again this morning, 'cause you look like you're on menopause!"

The four of them stay there on the sofa, making fun of each other, laughing and still celebrating Okubo's feat, who despite being irritated by the nonsense his friends said, was still too happy to really get angry. At one point, Tomori returned from the kitchen, drying her hands on a dishtowel.

"Alright, the rice cooker is already on! Who wants fish tempura?"

"We do!,"  They all throw their hands up in excitement, their stomachs already rumbling. She chuckles.

"Good to know that mentions of food atre enough to cure your hangovers..."

"In my case, the smell of fish helped a lot," Hiro murmurs, also leaving the kitchens, wearing the same frilled blue apron that Tomori had lent to Okubo the first time he had visited her house. "Get ready, we're going to have a bunch of dishes to wash later."

“Again, fair enough. We need to show the hostess some gratitude," Kaneda shrugs. "I'll even help with lunch, if needed. I just need to wait for my stomach to forgive me..."

"More pairs of hands are always welcome, but for now you can rest while we wait for the rice to cook," Tomori says simply. "In the meantime, you can take the dirty plates, glasses and fruit tray to the sink, please. Then you can take a good look at the kitchen too..."

“I already know the place, I even helped Miss Uta make cookies once,” Rihito points to his chest, and Okubo snorts.

"Me too. You can no longer use this as an excuse to brag, you jerk."

"Come on, don't fight over something like that," Tomori laughs. "Everyone will have an opportunity to see my kitchen and even help with some new decorations. Naoh, you took the neon sign box out of the car, didn't you?"

"Oh, that's true! We can install it in the kitchen as soon as we finish lunch," He smiles a lot. "In the meantime, let's find the best spot to put it without it getting in your way."

"Wow, you seem more excited about this than I am, hahaha!"

“It's just that I'm hoping that with a cool incentive like that, you make better and better cookies,” He touches her chin, smiling in the corner, and she laughs, blushing a little.

"Of course you would think about how it'd benefit you too…"

"Of course, I'm no stupid! Even more so 'cause it gives me an excuse to come see you if the neon sign malfunctions and I need to take it for repairs..."

"And you're going to pay for it out of your own pocket?"

"If I have cookies, kisses and other things as compensation, why not?"

Tomori laughs harder, patting his hand playfully as they head into the kitchen together, Okubo putting an arm discreetly around her shoulders. Rihito, Himuro, Kaneda and Hiro watch them, exchanging meaningful glances afterwards.

“I want to help with the cooking, but I feel like I'm going to be the third wheel if I do so,” Kaneda comments, and Himuro rolls his eyes.

"Only you? We'll be a whole set of tires."

"And seriously... Naoh?," Rihito laughs mockingly. "Those pet names are so fucking corny..."

"Which means, it's just like them! Oh, my darlings I'm so happy...!," Hiro has a silent burst of happiness. "Our plan was an absolute success!"

"Yeah, we can't deny that," Rihito concedes, twisting his mouth a little. "Even if that son of a bitch hasn’t asked Miss Uta to be his girlfriend yet…"

"This is no longer our business. We've already done our part," The cashier shrugs, to which the other three stare at him, a little surprised.

"What? Does that mean there won't be more crazy-ass plans?"

"Why, if they finally spent a night screwing each other's brains out? I told you that day, what we would do was give that engine a very necessary push," Hiro reminds them, smiling slyly. "And we sure as hell did that. Now, where that car goes is no longer our concern, since we aren't the ones driving it. It's up to them now."

This makes Rihito, Himuro and Kaneda smile, both in agreement and in some relief.

"Yeah, that's true… good to know that my role in this romcom is finally over," Himuro comments, and Rihito snorts.

"Yeah, it's over and I still haven't seen a single digit of Miss Uta's friend's number! Maybe she'll give it to him now, if Okubo asks. If he did the job that well..."

"Give it a rest, Rihito. But in fact, driving that car is no longer our job, and thank God for that," Kaneda mutters, and then faces Hiro with annoyance. "Because if it were up to you, that car would end up crushed against a concrete wall, at the bottom of a lake or being apprehended by the police for speeding!"

Hiro laughs out loud, throwing his head back.

"Quit whining, Mr. Fox! I'm still going to take you for a quieter and more sober ride, so you'll see what an excellent driver I am."

"No, thanks! I like being alive and I want to stay that way."

"I can already see that your friends are masters in the art of convincing you otherwise, so I won't worry about it. But oooh, what a happy day!," He claps happily. "Making an alliance with you was a very good decision, darlings! I'm open to future partnerships!"

"As long as it doesn't involve us making asses of ourselves in public again…," Himuro grumbles.

"And as long as it doesn't involve us risking death in a traffic accident…," Kaneda sighs.

"And as long as I receive the payment due to me!," Rihito grunts, crossing his arms. "I just hope these two don't force us to get involved anymore. I'm a nice guy, but my niceness has a fucking limit."

"As I told you, we've already helped enough," Hiro nods, satisfied, putting his hands in his pockets. "Now we can reap the fruits of our labors..."

They watch from the kitchen entrance, Okubo and Tomori opening together the neon sign box on the marble counter, smiling at each other from time to time, as if forgetting that they had company.

And even though they were still annoyed by the fact that the soap opera Okubo got them into was still going on, Rihito, Himuro, and Kaneda couldn't help but smile.

The directions taken in that relationship no longer concerned them. But dammit, watching everything from the box like the faithful spectators they were was a privilege they wouldn't give up.

NEXT CHAPTER

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Character List (Will/Won't Write)

This was made at the very beginning of my blog and it's very difficult to scroll all the way down to the bottom to find it and edit it so I'mma just bring it to the front again.

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Will Write

Danganronpa

- Shuichi Saihara (Pregame & Ingame)

- Murkuro Ikusaba

- Makoto Naegi

- Nagito Komaeda (Remnant & normal)

- Izuru Kamakura (only for after an attachment has been made on the reader, (After he has begun a relationship with him))

- Tsumugi Shirogane (Ingame and Pregame)

- Angie Yonaga (Pregame and Ingame) (keep it wholesome for Ingame bc her scenes ingame still freak me out a little)

- Gonta Gokuhara (will attempt Ingame & Pregame)

- Kokichi Ouma/Oma (Ingame & Pregame)

- Kyoko Kirigiri

- Hajime Hinata

- Mikan Tsumiki

- Maki Harukawa 

- Ryota Mitarai (I'll try)

- Kazuichi Soda

- Chiaki Nanami

- Toko Fukawa

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DRA

- Utsuro/ “Yuuki Maeda”

- Akane Taria (Will Attempt)

- Mikako Kurokawa (Will Attempt)

- Kinji Uehara

- Kiyoka Maki (Will Attempt)

- Kanata Inori

- Tsurugi Kinjo

- Teruya Ōtori 

-  Yamato Kisaragi

- Kakeru Yamaguchi (Will Attempt)

- Haruhiko Kobashikawa (Will Attempt)

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SDRA2

- Yuki Maeda (with or without Sora's body) (Basically high school kid or traumatized adult with the power of Devine luck)

- Yuri Kagarin (Even though his Jojo form terrifies me, I would be writing him differently to change that specifically)

- Shinji Kasai

- Hibiki Otonokoji (Kanade will be referenced in everything you ask due to her constant pestering in her sister’s personal life)

- Sora (will attempt)

- Syobai/Shobai Hashimoto

- Hajime Makunouchi

- Yoruko Kabuya (will attempt) (only with female or GN! Reader though, I respect her canonically being gay)

- Utsuro

- Tsurugi Kinjo (Will attempt both with his current personality, and an alternate more calmed personality similar to his younger self)

- Teruya Otori (will attempt)

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Won't Write (Due to zero or misunderstood data/ Uncomfortable With Writing For)

(Danganronpa 1-3)

- Remnants of Despair (There are only a few characters I’d even attempt writing for this, but the despair au makes me extremely uncomfortable) (excluding Komaeda)

- Teruteru Hanamura

- Hiyoko Saionji

- Gundham Tanaka (Stopped writing for him bc I forgot how I originally wrote him)

- Celestia Lundenberg (don't know how to write for her)

- Ibuki Mioda (Stopped writing for)

- Byakyua Togami

- Yasuhiro Hakakure

- Kiyotaka Ishimaru

- Chihiro Fujisaki

- Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu (Stopped writing for him)

- Kirumi Tojo

- Sayaka Maizono (I stopped writing for her a while ago)

- Korekiyo Shinguji 

- Ryoma Hoshi (can’t figure out his character, or come up with a set of pregame headcanons that I’d be able to base off of)

- Leon Kuwata

- Himiko Yumeno

- Tenko Chabashira

- Rantaro Amami (Don't know how to write for him outside of pregame and I stopped writing pregame Rantaro a while ago)

- Kiibo/ K1-B0

- Kaito Momota

- Mahiru Koizumi (I have no idea how to write for her)

-J*nko End*sh*m* (I'd just make her too ooc, plus I hate her sm for hurting people)

- Hifumi Yamada

- Monokuma (Obvious Reasons)

- Monokids

- H*iji T*wa (Don't need to explain why)

- Shirokuma & Kurokuma

- M*u Ir*m* (trigger, please block out letters when talking about her)

- K**de Ak*m*tsu (major trigger, please block out letters when talking about her)

- Korekiyo Shinguji

- Sakura Ogami (Have no idea how to write for them)

- Mondo Owada (I just can’t like....write him without him seeming too ooc)

- Twogami/Ultimate Imposter (I don’t know enough about their character to write for them)

- Nekomaru Neidi (I don’t know how to write for this character!)

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DRA

- Rei Mekaru (She’s mean in every context of the word)

- Kizuna Tomori (mean mean mean two-faced character)

- Mitsuhiro Higa (His attitude in game disgusts me)

- Satsuki Iranami (like her, just can’t write her)

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SDRA2

- Alter Ego Mikado ( I hate him so so so so so so very much for trying to lay a hand on Utsuro, and what he had done to Yuki)

- Rei Mekaru

- Setsuka Chiebukuro (I don’t understand how to write for her)

- Monocrow (he’s a bird, and is the one sending people to their executions)

- Iroha (makes me uncomfortable)

- Kokoro Mitsume (her existence violates one of my rules)

- Kanade (Lets be honest I don’t need to explain this one)

- Nikei Yomiuri (Chapter 4, I don’t think I have to elaborate further)

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