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comicgeekscomicgeek · 3 years

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Their Hero Academia -- Chapter 79: Drop the Bomb

Presenting the next installment of my on-going, nextgen, MHA fic! Earlier chapters can be found here

A snout pressed to the ground along the side of the road, where the highway gave way to more densely wooded country. Yes, that was the scent they were after, no mistaking it. Less than another day’s travel ahead. Lips curled back past sharp teeth, releasing a low growl of satisfaction. They had missed the departure of the students, all nestled into their transport and none the wiser that something was just behind them. It wasn’t a short journey from the school to their destination, but traveling cross country, a nearly straight line whenever they didn’t have to stop to find the scent again, made up considerable time. They did not tire. This terrain was what they were bred to cross. They moved back into the cover of the trees as they followed the smaller road, claws digging into the dirt as they pushed forward.

They’d be at the camp soon.

***

“Ooooh, that had to hurt,” Isamu winced.

“I’ve told him he relies on his Quirk too much,” Midoriya replied, gazing at the scene before them through his fingers. “Tell me he’s still breathing?”

“He’s groaning, Toshi,” Tokoyami said. “He’ll be fine.” She chirped a few times. “I think.”

“She really hit him hard!” Frog-Shadow said, adding her own opinion from Tokoyami’s shoulder.

“Poor Shota,” Izumi said. “Still, he lasted longer than I expected him to.”

“Well… that was definitely something,” Boost-Rush said. “Where’d you learn a move like that, Kaniyashiki?”

Kaniyashiki was busy helping Shinso back to his feet, but she looked over in the Rookie’s direction. “My Aunt Monika’s a police officer, sir,” she said, tossing off a salute with her free hand, before turning it into a crab-claw V. “She taught me a lot of self-defense stuff.”

“Well, tell her she did a good job,” Boost-Rush said. He looked to the larger group of U.A. and Shiketsu students. “And I think that’s our best example so far of why being able to fight without your Quirk is important. Shinso here has one of the most powerful Quirks in either class, and Kaniyashiki laid him out in two moves.”

The morning’s instruction had largely been focused on Quirkless exercises, directed by Boost-Rush. The powerfully-built Rookie was an extremely good hand-to-hand combatant, though he’d admitted that Doc Clock was even better than he was, something which had gotten Aizawa beaming with pride for all of about three seconds before his natural resting grump face had taken back over. Boost-Rush had put them through a number of exercises, before he’d set them up sparring. Eventually, they’d break off into pairs, but for now, they were also getting a bit of a show out of it, as he called different combinations to spar against each other and demonstrate what they’d learned so far.

A few students, mostly those with heavy mutation-type Quirks like Shoji and Bondo, had largely been exempted, and would get some other specialized instruction, since their Quirks were more innate Mutant types. Ground Zero, Aizawa, and a couple of the other Rookies were with them. Some of the others had also been peeled off for other types of training with some of the other Rookies.

He had to admit, though, it had been especially exciting when Boost-Rush had opened it with Kana against Kimiko Ojiro. As the two best martial arts in any of the classes, it had made sense. It hadn’t been one hundred percent Quirkless, since Ojiro couldn’t turn off her invisibility, but she’d wrapped her arms and legs, donned gloves, and wore the visor from her costume so that Kana would have a decent idea of where her limbs and face were.

It had been, in a word, spectacular. And not in a “two attractive girls fighting” sort of way (Though he’d be lying if he completely denied that part. His girlfriend was very hot. And also very scary when she went full out like that. He was starting to realize the comparisons to Kirishima-Bakugo weren’t entirely inaccurate.), but also in a “two incredibly skilled people giving it their all” sort of way. Kana’s style was more aggressive than Ojiro’s, focusing on powerful strikes and kicks, while Ojiro focused on speed and repeated strikes to confuse and disorient. Both of them were absolutely on the top of their game and on a completely different level than just about anyone else. Shiro Monoma had watched the whole thing with rapt attention.

“That,” Shinso said, “was so cool! She just grabbed my wrist, and the next thing you know, bam! I’m on the ground!” He stared at the 1-B girl with wide eyes. “You’ve got to teach me how to do that!”

That got a groan from Isamu, Midoriya, and Tokoyami. That would be Shinso all over. The kid was trying really hard lately, had been ever since the end of their Internships, but at that end of the day, he was still a ray of sunshine fanboy. Somethings just never changed.

Kaniyashiki threw back her head and let out a laugh. “Sure thing, shorty.”

“Hey!” Shinso said, crossing his arms as a grumpy look spread across his face. “I’m not that short!” Of course, he was the shortest one in the class, but he was also several months younger than most of them too…

“Anyway,” Boost-Rush went on, “next up, we’ve got… Haimawari against Awase!”

“Oh boy…”

***

Since he was dating their Class Representative, Isamu had gotten to know several of the members of Class 1-B reasonable well, and several more of them in passing. Bondo, Kaniyashiki, and Fukidashi were some of Kana’s best friends. The first two were a terrible twosome, usually cracking jokes and up to some small measure of no good, and both of them really loved antagonizing Monoma. And he had yet to determine whether or not Fukidashi was legitimately crazy or just extremely differently wired. He’d been surprised, though, to learn her mother was the support equipment designer, Bibimi Kenranzaki. Though honestly, that may have explained some of her more extreme tendencies.

He’d had several pleasant and lengthy conversations with the bat-like Koumori about music. Koumori’s musical choices tended themselves more to rock than pop, but they’d found some common ground in that both of them had an appreciate for the horse-headed American rock duo, Wild Stallions. And the giant Fukui seemed to be able to get along well with anyone. He’d even managed to make sure there were no hard feelings with the force field generating Kido, even after he’d bested him at the Sports Festival.

Hell, he’d even managed to have a couple civil conversations with Monoma. Even if the blond also did a lot of “I’m watching you” gestures at him when he thought no one else was looking.

Awase, on the other hand, he didn’t really know. The Vice Class Representative was studious and not particularly talkative. He’d probably said hello to him in passing, but beyond that, he didn’t know him. Awase was dark-haired and athletically built and, if Isamu remembered right, his Quirk had something to do with being able to fuse his molecules with other substances, taking on their properties. Not that that would matter much in a Quirkless spar.

He stepped into the circle that had been set up for sparring, watching Awase as he did the same.

“You can do it!” he heard Shinso call out, bringing a smile to his face.

“Show them what 1-B’s made of, Awase!” And that would be Monoma, as expected.

“You’ve got this, Isamu!” He heard Kana call out. Followed by, “What? He’s my boyfriend. I’ve got to support him.” Which was probably her defending herself against Monoma.

Awase dropped into a fighting stance, hands up, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet. Isamu on the other hand, dropped lower, legs spread wide, arms flared out to his sides. Even without his Quirk, his style was never going to be about all out brawling. Keep it fast and loose. He didn’t have the raw strength to do otherwise.

“Are you both ready?” Boost-Rush asked.

“Yes, Sensei,” Awase said simply.

“I’m ready,” he agreed.

“Then begin!”

Awase didn’t make any sounds as he charged forward, but he was telegraphing his right hook pretty badly. Isamu dropped all the way to the ground, like he would when using his Quirk and pivoted, swinging his leg out. It connected solidly with Awase’s leg, tripping him up and knocking him down.

But Awase was just as quick to spring back up, and Isamu got back to his feet, back-peddling away from a flurry of punches. “Oooffff!” All the air got knocked out of him as one of Awase’s punches connected with his stomach. Guy definitely had a lot of power behind him, even without his Quirk.

Isamu wasn’t completely helpless though, and he managed to get his hands up and ward off the next punch, just like Midoriya had taught him before the Sports Festival. He managed to fire off a few rapid fire punches of his own, putting Awase back on the defensive. Isamu had a few inches on the other boy and his arms and legs were longer too. It gave him a reach advantage that he pressed, throwing a couple more strikes to unbalance him.

Unfortunately, Awase was quicker on the recovery than he expected, delivering a punch that set his head spinning back around. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his blurring vision as Awase came in for another round of strikes.

This time, Isamu was able to dodge, bobbing this way and that, leaning and ducking out of reach of Awase’s blows. When he was fighting with his Quirk, he relied on movement, keeping out of the way, and staying just long enough to get a couple of hits in. There was no reason not to apply the same principle to Quirkless fighting.

“Stand still, dang it!” Awase shouted, after he’d missed with yet another blow.

“Ah,” Isamu said, “how about no?” He dodged again, ducking under another blow. His picked up his speed a little, so that he continued to circle Awase, letting him wear himself out trying to keep up and throwing blows. The other boy should have been aiming for where he was going to be, but instead kept trying to catch him, which resulted in most of his blows being too slow to hit anything or only scoring a glancing hit.

So he kept it up, dodging several more blows that way. Awase was definitely slowing down, starting to tire. So when he launched his next blow, Isamu moved as though to duck and dodge to the left, but instead came up with an uppercut, knocking Awase down once more (And ow, ow, ow, boy did that leave his hand smarting!).

“He did it! He did it!” Isamu heard Shinso shout, before hearing Tokoyami try to quiet him.

Awase let out a groan, before slowly getting back up to his feet. “Dang,” he grunted. “You’re fast as heck even without your Quirk.” Isamu could already see a bruise forming where he’d punched him. For a moment, things seemed like they were going to get tense, but Awase nodded decisively. “Good job. Easy to see why you won the Sports Festival.”

He offered a hand, and Isamu took and shook it, trying very hard to take the praise. He still had a lot of trouble believing his own win, even months out. But he was getting that self-confidence up. “Thanks,” he said.

The sound of applause broke the moment. “Good job, both of you,” Boost-Rush said. “Go see Bioshock if you feel like you need it.”

The Hero looked down at his clipboard. “Okay, next… Let’s have Kirishima-Bakugo and Tatsuma.”

***

Katsumi may not have had Papa’s shark-teeth, but she’d been told that her grin was very frightening indeed. Right now, her grin seemed to be so scary that several of her classmates and 1-B students were actively backing away from her. Sero had, in fact, let out a rather high-pitched shriek and leaped into Tensei Iida’s arms. At least Izzy had stayed by her side.

“You’re being deliberately frightening again,” Izzy said. There was a disapproving tone in her voice and Katsumi did feel a little bad about that. Disappointing Izzy was not something she liked doing. Maybe she could live with it for this the chance to teach the Shiketsu girl a lesson.

The giant girl was giving her a look that seemed to match her own. She stepped into the ring and for the smallest of moments, Katsumi wondered if she wasn’t biting off more than she could chew. Tatsuma’s overall build was comparable to her own. Both of them were muscular, especially for women, though Katsumi’s build was the result of rigorous training and hard work. She couldn’t tell it that was the case for Tatsuma or if it was related to her Quirk, not that she knew what that was. But Tatsuma had considerable height, reach, and weight on her. Katsumi was the second shortest person in the class, only barely taller than the Loud Kid. But it wouldn’t be Womanly to step away from a fight, no matter how big the other person was.

She didn’t know what Tatsuma’s deal was, why she thought she was so much better than U.A. students. Izzy had said something about Tatsuma having a good reason, but she also didn’t especially care. You disrespect her, you disrespect her friends, her school, she’d kick your ass, plain and simple.

“I look forward to educating you,” Tatsuma said. She cracked her knuckles. It was noisy. Definitely a show of intimidation. Katsumi approved of the strategy. If she was anyone else, it might have worked. But she was too damn tough to be scared by some wannabe from some pretentious school like Shiketsu.

“You can try,” Katsumi shot back. She rolled her neck casually, tensing the muscles in her arms. No backing down. Never let them think they can intimidate you. And give back as good as you got. She shot back with a glare of her own. It’d be a lot more satisfying to unleash some explosive hell on her, but punching would do pretty nicely.

“Oh hell no, this isn’t happening.”

Katsumi spun around, realizing it was Vanish Veil who had spoken. What the hell? This was like the time Toshi had tried to tell her that picking her battles didn’t mean she could pick all of them. Why were people so opposed to her using violence on the deserving?

“You two’ll kill each other and nobody’ll learn anything,” Vanish Veil said, crossing her arms. She sounded more annoyed than anything, but there was a little of what sounded like concern in her voice too.

“Don’t think I can take her, Old Lady?” Katsumi snapped.

“I told your dad I wouldn’t let you cause a scene, Brat,” Vanish Veil snapped back. Katsumi’s usually ability to wind Mahoro up was failing her here, it seemed. Damn it.

“You have a problem with my teaching choices?” Boost-Rush asked, approaching Vanish Veil. Katsumi could nearly hear the sneer in his voice. If she didn’t already know he was a Monoma, that would have confirmed it.

“Only when you don’t get the memo,” Vanish Veil told him flatly. She walked over and poked him hard in the chest with a finger. Her twintails swayed with the motion. “Pick somebody else, you sanctimonious ass.”

Boost-Rush just laughed at that. He was wearing his helmet, but Katsumi could hear the smugness in his voice. “Oh, if you insist,” he said, sounding as though he was the one doing Vanish Veil a favor. “Still… how about Park?”

Vanish Veil seemed to be weighing her options there, her mouth set in a frown. “Yeah, okay… that’ll probably be all right…”

***

Well, at least she’d get to show up one of those Shiketsu kids, Katsumi thought. Windbag was all right in extremely small doses, but the rest of them could go hang. Definitely time someone knocked one of them down a peg and she was very good at knocking. Didn’t really matter which. Could have just as easily been the pretty boy cat guy. He’d have probably been real satisfying to punch.

Park… Hmm. Katsumi considered herself pretty decent at reading people. Tatsuma was simmering fury, waiting to erupt, buried just barely below the surface. A lot like herself, really. Not that she’d admit that to anyone. She went from zero to one hundred in no time, even when the situation didn’t really call for it. It was pretty much a family trait. She had it, Dad had it, the Hag had it.

Park, though, Park was a quieter kind of angry. A cold one. As Katsumi began sizing her up, she wondered, possibly for the first time in her life, if she hadn’t bitten off more than she could chew.

“And begin!” Boost-Rush called out.

Katsumi got her hands up and she and Park circled each other cautiously, both looking for an opening. She’d taken some different martial arts classes as a kid and she had had plenty of instruction from Dad and Papa, Uncle Deku, and even Ojiro’s dad. But overall, her style mostly focused on single, powerful moves, putting someone down with just a punch or two. It was best to take them out before they had a chance to be a threat.

“DIE!” she bellowed, throwing the first punch, a powerful left handed strike that had a lot of her weight behind it.

Park sidestepped her blow and came in close. Her hand snapped out and grabbed into the shirt of Katsumi’s gym uniform. Before she could even react, Park’s leg shot up, slamming into her side several times in rapid succession. Katsumi let out a growl and managed to shove her away, buying herself a little space.

“Okay,” she snarled. Her side was protesting furiously as she kept moving. “You got one in. Congratulations. But that’s all you’re going to get.”

Park’s expression didn’t change much, but one eyebrow raised slightly, as if to say I disagree. She calmly took a couple side steps, her eyes maintaining that cold indifference. “Angry already? If being struck upsets you, then you’re aspiring to the wrong profession.”

Katsumi knew the other girl was trying to get in her head. But knowing that didn’t make her any less angry about it. “I don’t know about you,” she growled, “but I was born to fight.” She shouldn’t have been talking either, she knew. Wasted breath. Maybe it worked for some people, like Horse Girl. Katsumi would, under duress, admit that Mineta had made provocation a weapon she could use. But that wasn’t her.

She charged, throwing a right hook at Park’s head. Park’s head shot to the left, her hand coming up and grabbing Katsumi’s wrist. In a single fluid motion, she bent and twisted it. Pain shot up her arm light a bolt of lightning, overriding her rage, overriding everything except for the white-hot sensation of pain. It felt like her wrist was one small increment of pressure away from snapping like a twig.

“I’m aware this would likely not work if you could use your Quirk, but since our esteemed instructors insist on this human cockfighting, I might as well emphasize their point. Though I suppose with your Sports Festival, you’re used to bread and circuses.” She twisted it more. “Perhaps if they bothered with a more extensive self-defense course this wouldn’t be necessary.”

Pain shot up Katsumi’s arm so intensely that she had to grind her teeth hard to keep from crying out. No way she’d give Park the satisfaction of hearing her scream. What the hell kind of fighting style was this? Aunt Ochaco had done a lot of the grab and flip stuff, but…

At least she still had her other hand free. With Park’s attention on her other arm, Katsumi brought her left hand in low for a body blow.

Park saw the blow coming and released the hold, but she wasn’t not fast enough to dodge all of it. She let out a small growl as Katsumi’s strike connected, though it was more of a solid graze than a full hit. She moved with the dodge, twisting and sending a kick up at Katsumi’s head.

Even if she wasn’t using a Quirk, Katsumi had to admit that Park was fast. Deceptively powerful too. She might have been impressed, if she wasn’t so damned angry. She saw the blow coming, fortunately, moving out of the way. Her right arm still hurt from the wrist grab, meaning her options were limited, but she knew how to play through the pain. She faked left, throwing a couple blows to try and get Park moving the way she wanted, then followed up with a roundhouse kick from the right.

Park had obviously been expecting punches, and hadn’t expected Katsumi to throw a proper kick. As she made to defend against the punches, the kick sent her down. She gathered herself quickly and rolled so that she came to be resting on the soles of her feet.

“That had to have been learned outside class.” Her look was harsh, judgmental somehow. “Makes sense with the amount of enemies the child of a pro hero has.”

Park got up, her eyes narrowing. “But how will that do against someone who’s had enemies the moment they were born?” She darted toward Katsumi, looking to launch a kick, but instead threw a straight-forward punch like something out of a street fight.

Okay, what the hell was that supposed to mean?! And sure, they’d all had some basic self-defense lessons, some of them more than others. You heard horror stories about the kids of Pro-Heroes being threatened or kidnapped. A few of them had even come damn close to it.

The punch hurt, leaving Katsumi seeing stars, her vision swimming. “You haven’t rung my bell yet,” she growled in the direction of what she hoped was the actual Park. The world was spinning and it felt like a struggle to stay upright, but she forced herself to keep fighting.

She moved quickly this time, throwing one punch after another. Not too much style, but plenty of power. Park was good and, as much as it pained her to admit it, more technically proficient than she was. But she had more raw power than the other girl. She just needed one really good punch to make an end of it.

Park dodged the punches, attempting to once more grab and twist Katsumi’s arms. This time, she was ready for that crap and kept herself moving too quickly to be caught. Katsumi’s style may have been straightforward, but the speed was forcing Park to stay on the defensive.

***

‘This is stupid. Beating each other for the sake of some trite lesson that could easily be fixed with a proper martial training program. Look at them: So self-important while others are thrown aside.’ Park’s thoughts raged through her mind. She cast a glimpse once more at Boost-Rush. ‘Alright you son of a bitch. You put a child in this situation. Don’t whine at me when the expected happens.’

***

Park darted as if dodging again, but grabbed the waistband of Katsumi’s pants, using the leverage to throw her down. It was a hard, bone rattling impact that knocked her senseless for a moment. Katsumi’s first instinct, drilled into her, is to protect her head, but Park snarled and instead threw a kick at her back.

The kick hurts, Katsumi’s damn sure that was one of her kidneys. The pain kept her down even as she tried to get herself back up. There wasno way she’s going to let herself be beaten like this. She’s one of the toughest damn U.A. students there is. Daughter of two Top Ten Heroes. Practitioner of the Art of Womanly Living. And when it comes to a fight, she doesn’t quit. Ever.

“You’re going down!” she screams, forcing herself back to her feet, swinging wildly.

“That’s my line.” Park dodged to the side again. Her arm shot out like a stone from a sling and grabbed Katsumi’s arm, wrapping her fingers around it in an iron grip. She twisted it, and used the momentum to drive Katsumi into the ground. Park hung onto her arm this time, pulling it back and locking in her grip behind Katsumi’s back.

***

A little more torque and she could easily break it. For a moment she felt herself wanting to. To share even a small ounce of the suffering. She looked into the crowd, and saw the kind rock girl who shared her faith. Akaya. She looked concerned and scared for her classmate.

“I’m not as good a Christian as I’d like to be.” She had told Akaya that. She turned away from her, looked at Katsumi’s struggling face, then looked back at the U.A. students and Rookies. She let go of Katsumi.

***

“This is stupid. Find another pawn.” Park then got up and walked toward her classmates, then past them entirely. Tatsuma tried to stop her, but she brushed her off.

Katsumi forced herself to her feet, her limbs absolutely aching. “Get… get back here,” she started to growl, eyes locked on Park’s retreating form. “I… I can do this… all day…”

She couldn’t lose to some pretentious Shiketsu brat. And she definitely wasn’t losing to someone who wouldn’t even stick around to assure their victory. Who just gave up in the middle of a fight like that? Especially one they were winning? None of it added up.

Wasn’t she worthy of fighting? Or finishing off?

What the hell was wrong with Park?!

Someone helped her to her feet. It was the Old Lady. Of course. “I’m fine,” she grunted. A lie. She was not fine. She didn’t think anything was broken, but she could practically feel the bruises growing in all kinds of uncomfortable places. There was still pain radiating from where she’d been kicked and she was still seeing double.

“You’re not fine,” Vanish-Veil said, sounding guilty. “C’mon. We’ll get you to my brother. Hopefully before your dad finds out about this…”

***

“She… she lost,” Toshi said, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them. The fight had been incredibly short, but incredibly brutal. It’d been deeply uncomfortable, even unsettling to watch. He’d wanted to intervene, no matter how much Katsumi would have yelled at him for it, but the sheer brutality had left him paralyzed where he stood. He was sure if it hadn’t been so quick, the Rookies surely would have intervened…/

It was only then that he realized that his arm was hurting and had been for some time. “Izumi…?”

“What? Oh! Oh my…!” Izumi quickly released her death grip on his arm and he could feel the circulation returning to it. Izumi was willowy and often looked like she’d blow over in a strong breeze, but she apparently had ferocious grip strength. “I’m so sorry, Toshi…”

He shook his head. “It’s okay. I think we were all a little shellshocked.”

“I don’t believe it,” Haimawari said. He was shivering, Toshi realized, and then realized he was too. Izumi must have been drawing in heat as she’d grown more and more frightened for Katsumi. “I saw it, but I still don’t believe it.”

Toshi never would have thought it possible either. He’d seen Katsumi lose, of course. The two of them were about evenly matched when they’d sparred in the past and he’d won about as many as he lost. And, of course, Katsumi had lost against Izumi during the Sports Festival. But those had been friendly competitions, between people who had known each other for years. This had been different. This had been a beating.

Both Katsumi and Park had been looking to prove something, even if he wasn’t entirely sure what it was for Park. He knew already, that Tatsuma didn’t think especially high of them. But it didn’t look like Park did either. He’d spent of a lot of time thinking over Tatsuma’s reasons for disliking the Hero System and what this class represented, and was still grappling with those. But he didn’t know what drove Park, not yet.

Katsumi, he knew, just wanted to prove she was better than the Shiketsu students. They’d gone after her pride and she really wasn’t the best decision maker where that was concerned.

He was also fairly certain this wasn’t something he could fix, wasn’t something he could make right. That was a hard admission for him to make. Dad had always said you couldn’t save everyone but that you still had to try. He’d thought maybe he could still try here, but after this…

Katsumi was his friend. And she was confident and powerful. She was one of the best fighters in the class, with a strong Quirk and an iron will. Even in friendly sparring with him, she just took every loss as a way to get stronger still. To see her humbled like that…

“Is it over?” Shota asked. Toshi looked over and jerked with surprise as he saw that Shota had his eyes scrunched up tight, with his hands over his ears.

Asuka put a reassuring arm around his shoulders. “It’s all right,” she told Shota, gently removing his hand from over his right ear with her other hand. “You can look now.”

“She didn’t win, did she?”

“I am afraid not,” Asuka replied.

“This will not be good,” Izumi said, worry filling her soft voice. “Even though her injuries can be treated, Katsumi will treat this as a grievous wound to her pride and a personal insult besides. She won’t let that go any time soon. And I fear what she may try in retaliation.”

“She’s right,” Asuka said. She chirped softly and worriedly. “Izumi, Toshi, you know her the best. What do we do?”

Toshi frowned. Tatsuma and Katsumi had been ready to tear each other apart, before Aunt Mahoro had intervened. She hadn’t objected to Park, but…

If they didn’t do something to try and buy a little peace with the Shiketsu students, then someone was just going to get hurt worse.

Looking around, he could see, not just the concern, but the anger, on so many of his classmates’ faces. Even many of the 1-B students looked disturbed by it, especially Monoma and Kana.

Of the Shiketsu students, only Tatsuma and Yoarashi were there. Park had walked off somewhere, and Tsuchikawa and the spider-girl were with one of the other training groups. Tatsuma was looking vaguely smug and satisfied, though Toshi couldn’t help but notice that she was also looking off in the direction Park had left. Yoarashi had gone pale and oddly quiet. Toshi didn’t know him as well as some of his friends, but he’d still known him for years. Yoarashi didn’t do quiet.

If they didn’t do something to try and make peace with the Shiketsu students, someone was going to get hurt.

Get hurt worse, he realized, as Aunt Mahoro led Katsumi away.

“Oookay,” Boost-Rush said, much of his earliest bravado gone. “That’s… that’s enough direct sparring for today. Why don’t we break into small groups to work on what’ve learned so far.”

A stupid, desperate plan dropped into his mind. He couldn’t exactly slip away, but… “I hate to ask you to lie,” Toshi whispered to Izumi, “but…”

Izumi nodded. She grasped his plan without him having to even say it. They’d been friends a long time. He wasn’t as close to her as Katsumi was, he wasn’t sure anyone could be as close as the two of them were, but Izumi was still one of his best friends. Hell, after a hopeless childhood crush on Nejire Togata, he’d had a crush on Izumi for a little while too, though he’d never worked up the courage to ask her out or anything. If nothing else, Katsumi’s looming presence in both their lives had made it clear if anyone really loved Izumi, it was her.

“I do believe I’m feeling a bit of a flare up,” she said, stretching exaggeratedly. I should probably go get checked out.”

***

Izumi arrived at the first aid station that Bioshock had set up. The Metabolic Hero was laying hands on Katsumi as she approached and she could see her friend’s bruises start to fade already and a bit of her color return. Bioshock’s Quirk was not quite the cure-all that Doctor Izumi’s was, but it was still very effective. She knew now, from what she had read, that he had run himself ragged during Plague’s assault on Japan, pushing himself nearly to death’s door until Uncle Izuku and his sister had literally had to drag him away from the hospital wards.

“Okay,” Bioshock told Katsumi, “I think that should be good. Nothing broken, thank goodness.” His features darkened. “What the hell was Boost-Rush thinking? Dammit…”

He shook his head, his eyes going wide as he realized he’d spoken out loud. “My apologies. That was unprofessional.”

Katsumi waved him off. “Eh, you said what you said, Doc. Own it.” Her red eyes had locked with Izumi’s. For all the fierceness and bravado Katsumi put on for the rest of the world, Izumi could easily tell when she was faking it. Such as now.

“Oh, hey, Todoroki,” Bioshock said when he noticed her. “Everything all right?”

“I’m feeling a bit fatigued,” Izumi told him. She spoke each word carefully, trying to project some measure of exhaustion into her voice. She was tired, but not that tired. “I fear this new schedule is playing havoc with my body.”

Bioshock looked between her and Katsumi for a moment, then his expression changed ever so slightly. “Oh, sure,” he said. “Let me go check the coolers, see if we’ve got anything with some electrolytes for you. Why don’t you keep Kirishima-Bakugo company while I’m gone?” He gave them a little wave as he walked off.

Katsumi just gave her a look as she took a seat next to her, in one of the small folding chairs. It wasn’t especially comfortable, but that was of little importance. “You are the worst liar I have ever met, Iz.”

“What?” Izumi asked. “But Bioshock…”

“He was humoring you, Iz.”

Oh. Well. She supposed that was all right. She was still able to achieve her goal of getting to talk to Katsumi. Though perhaps she could work on the lying? Heroes did need to sometimes, well, not exactly lie, but certainly project more hope and certainty than they might have been otherwise feeling.

“Are you all right?” she asked instead. “Not physically,” she added quickly. “That much I could see.”

Katsumi looked down at the dirt. “That wasn’t a fight, Iz.” The words were said so quietly that Izumi could barely hear her.

“That level of brutality was well outside the bounds of a friendly spar,” she agreed. “Though you too were quite ready to rise to violence.”

Katsumi’s head snapped up, a snarl starting to pull at her lips. “Damn right I was. Did you see the way that giant was looking down her nose at us? She disrespected me and she disrespected the school. I had to teach one of them a lesson.”

“Did you?” Izumi asked, when she was certain Katsumi’s rant had finished. “Or were you just seeking conflict?”

“So I like a good fight,” Katsumi replied, looking rather annoyed still. “Is that a crime?”

“How badly would you have hurt one of them?” Izumi asked instead. Answering Katsumi’s question would do no good to anyone, and likely lead to a very circular conversation. Sometimes you had to point Katsumi in the direction you wanted her to go. Even if you usually had to make her think it was her idea.

“Broken nose, maybe,” Katsumi said, shrugging. “I just really wanted to punch one of them.”

She sighed. “But that wasn’t a fight, Iz. That was a damned beatdown. She was toying with me. Whatever damn style she was practicing, it’s damn good at causing a lot of pain. And… she’s better than me.”

Katsumi trailed off. She’d said something, but so softly that Izumi couldn’t hear it. “I’m sorry,” she said, “what?”

“I said she’s better than me!” Katsumi snapped. “She could have kicked my ass from here back to U.A., up and down both sides of the street, easy. But she wanted to make it hurt and she wanted to make sure everybody saw it.” Her fists were clenched hard, her knuckles going white. “This wasn’t even about putting me in my place. She was making a damned statement. Hell if I know what it was though…”

Katsumi bolted up out of her chair suddenly, grabbing it and spinning around sharply, letting it go flying through the air. It landed several feet away, bouncing a few times before it finally stopped. Izumi would give her friend credit: she’d expected it to explode.

Katsumi was visibly shaking and Izumi rose to embrace her. Katsumi’s strong arms soon found their way around her and Katsumi’s head came to rest against her. As Izumi held her, Katsumi’s shaking began to subside.

“I’m supposed to be the toughest woman around here, Iz,” Katsumi said quietly, but there was a growing fire to her words. “This isn’t over.”

Katsumi was right. For more reasons than she thought. If they didn’t do something soon, to try and bridge the gap between the two schools, things could very likely explode, in more ways than one.

#my hero academia #their hero academia #toshi midoriya #katsumi kirishima-bakugo #izumi todoroki #isamu haimawari #fan fiction #fan fic #my writing

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missmyloko · 5 years

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What’s In a Book? Part 29

While going through my collection I managed to find a few books that have yet to be featured on here yet. I decided to go with this one as, upon further review, I noticed that it actually contained a wealth of information that I had previously ignored ^^;

Image of book’s cover courtesy of myself. Hana Akari: Showa Meigiren (はなあかり: 昭和名妓連) - Brilliant Flowers: The Showa Period’s Finest Geisha by Kobunshi Katsura (桂小文枝) (ISBN Unknown). Date of Publication: 1988 Language: Japanese and English (Some Essays and Names Only) Format: Hardcover Availability: Can be found up for auction on a fairly regular basis Price: Anywhere from $30 - $80 Errors: 0 This book is interesting, and that’s putting it mildly. Basically, it provides us with some of the best raw data for its time: The names of the most prominent geisha in each district of each city across all of Japan. It is a literal who’s who guide to the karyukai across the country in the late 1980s and is illuminating both in small essays that can be found at the front and back of the book explaining various schools and styles, but especially because it provides us with images, most in full color, of these amazing women. The book overall is divided into regions which are then broken down further from there. The regions, cities, and districts of each named geisha are: Part 1: Hokkaido (北海道) Set 1: Asahikawa (旭川) - Kofune (小舟) Set 2: Sapporo (札幌) - Onobu (お信), Itoko (い登子), Izumi (いづみ), and Charako (茶良子) Set 3: Otaru (小樽) - Komomo (小桃), Mametarō (豆太郎), Kiku (㐂久), and Gorō (吾朗) Set 4: Muroran (室蘭) - Chonko (﹅子) Set 5: Hakodate (函館) - Nantoki (喃登希) and Kohide (小ひで) Part 2: Tohoku (東北) Set 1: Morioka (盛岡) - Tsutamaru (都多丸) Set 2: Hanamaki (花巻) - Kimiko (君子) and Keiko (桂子) Set 3: Aomori (青森) - Chame (茶目) Set 4: Yamagata (山形) - Kochō (小蝶) and Kinta (金太) Set 5: Akita (秋田) - Chiyogiku (千代菊) Set 6: Obara (小原) - Ikkyū (一休), Aki (秋), and Kogiku (小菊) Set 7: Fukushima (福島) - Sakura (さくら) and Hidemi (秀美) Part 3: Kanto (関東) Set 1: Takasaki (高崎) - Kiyoko (清子) Set 2: Kusatsu (草津) - Sankoma (三駒) and Harumi (春美) Set 3: Sarugakyo (猿ヶ京) - Kikutaro (菊太郎), Koshizu (小静) Set 4: Minakami (水上) - Yutaka (ゆたか) Set 5: Oyama (大山) - Kunika (くに香) Set 6: Tokyo (東京) - Fumie (冨美江) and Wakaryū (若龍) Set 7: Yugawara (湯河原) - Okame (お加目), Matsue (松栄), and Taeko (多恵子) Part 4: Chubu (中部) Set 1: Niigata (新潟) - Chiyogiku (千代菊) Set 2: Takada (高田) - Kazuko (加津子) Set 3: Shibata (新発田) - Renko (れん子) Set 4: Kamidayamadatogura (上山田戸倉) - Senryū (泉竜), Suzuyakko (鈴奴), Saizō (才三), and Utamaru (歌丸) Set 5: Kamisuwa (上諏訪) - Chiyomaru (千代丸) Set 6: Isawa (石和) - Miki (美樹) and Koyakko (小奴) Set 7: Kōfu (甲府) - Misako (美佐子), Kimika (君香), and Hisayo (久代) Set 8: Inuyama (犬山) - Misako (みさ子) Set 9: Hamamatsu (浜松) - Gonza (権三), Ichitarō (市太郎), Otomi (乙美), Koman (小萬), Eiko (栄子), Hatsutarō (初太郎), Tsuruchiyo (鶴千代), Yasuyo (泰世), Sakura (佐久良), Sachiko (幸子), Toshie (利枝), Komomo (小百々), Momoko (百々子), Fumiya (二三弥), Mitsugiku (光菊), Azuma (吾妻), Akiko (明子), and Ichiha (市羽) Set 10: Kanazawa Higashi/East (金沢東) - Koman (小まん) Set 11: Kanazawa Kazuemachi (金沢主計町) - Hitoha (一葉) and Kyōko (京子) Set 12: Kanazawa Nishi/West (金沢西) - Mineko (峯子), Sachiyo (幸代), and Marichiyo (まり千代) Set 13: Fukui (福井) - Makiko (真㐂子) and Yurako (由良子) Set 14: Yuzawa (湯沢) - Katsumaru (勝丸) and Hiromi (弘美) Set 15: Nagoya (名古屋) - Fukuchiyo (福千代), Takako (敬子), Tsuruko (つる子), Mitsuyo (光代), Kiku (喜久), Emiya (英美弥), Sanchō (三長), Satoyo (里代), Mitsu (未津), Ayako (あや子), Kinmaru (金丸), Naoe (直枝), Fukuwaka (福若), Hisae (比三枝), Mako (間子), Yasuko (康子), Toshino (とし乃), Koie (鯉恵), Mariko (まり子), Katsuko (かつ子), Maiko (舞子), Kingyo (金漁), Hideka (秀佳), Chiyoe (千代江), and Motoko (素子) Part 5: Kinki (近畿) Set 1: Osaka (大阪) Part A: Osaka Minami (大阪南) - Yukiharu (雪春), Kikutsuru (菊つる), Kikue (菊恵), Rikimaru (力丸), Kinko (きん子), Yukiji (ゆき路), Kōjirō (廣二郎), Yoshiko (よし子), Terugiku (照菊), Midori (美登利), Hankō (はん幸), Kazumi (かず美), Yukie (ゆき恵), Yūka (勇花), Suzuka (鈴佳), Masako (まさ子), Fukuemi (福笑), Masachiyo (政千代), Kikufumi (菊二三), and Yūko (祐子). Part B: Osaka Horie (大阪堀江) - Temari (てまり) Part C: Osaka Shinmachi (大阪新町) - Hatsuko (はつ子) and Tamao (玉緒) Part D: Osaka Kitashinchi (大阪北新地) - Komaka (駒香), Umesada (梅さだ), Umetomi (梅十三), Suzume (寿々女), and Umemitsu (梅充). Set 2: Kyoto (京都) Part A: Gion Kobu (祇園甲部) - Komame (小まめ), Hisae (久栄), Katsuyū (かつ勇), Haruyū (春勇), Miyokazu (美代一), Fukusono (フク園), Satoharu (里春), Yoshigiku (義㐂久), Kōsono (晃園), Teruha (照葉), Mamekō (まめ晃), Fukuyū (福勇), Kanoko (かの子), Machiko (真知子), Kumiko (玖見子), Kohana (子花), Takayū (孝友), Teruchiyo (照千代), Takeha (竹葉), Nakako (奈加子), Mameyū (まめ勇), Sonoko (その子), Tomichiyo (斗美千代), Yoshimame (芳豆), Kofumi (小富美), Kanoju (かの寿), Mamechiyo (豆千代), Katsufuku (かつ福), Mameji (豆爾), Toyochiyo (豊千代), Katsuji (佳つ二), Ichigiku (市季久), Mamezuru (まめ鶴), Koman (小萬), Michiko (道子), Miyokichi (美与吉), Aika (愛香), Teruyo (照代), Fumichiyo (富美千代), Kikuharu (菊春), Masuko (ます子), Momoko (桃子), Kosode (小袖), Chōji (長治), Tomigiku (冨菊), Komasu (小ます), Emiji (恵美二), Dan-e (だん栄), Koyū (小ゆう), Yukiryō (幸良), Hanachiyo (花千代), Miyuki (美ゆき), Masaru (勝), Kanoji (かの次), Hiromi (廣美), Kotomi (小とみ), and Ainosuke (愛之介). Part B: Pontocho (先斗町) - Miyofuku (美代福), Hisakō (久幸), Raiha (来葉), Momiha (もみ葉), Ichiko (市子), Shinatomi (シナ富), Mameharu (豆治), Hisafumi (久富美), Ichisen (市扇), Mameyuki (豆幸), Umeyū (梅佑), Ichitoyo (市豊), Mameshizu (豆志津), Ichisono (市園), Mamechiyo (豆千代), Hisaroku (久ろく), Ichimitsu (市光), Momizuru (もみ鶴), Hide-e (英江), Tomizuru (富鶴), Emiju (笑寿), Fudeya (フデ哉), Miyosaku (ミヨ作), Ichihiro (市宏), and Shinateru (シナ照). Part C: Gion Higashi (祇園東) - Toyoji (豊治), Fumie (章栄), Chika (ちか), Tsurukazu (つる和), Tsunekazu (つね和), Tsunehisa (つね久), Masuko (ます子), Toyohisa (豊寿), and Masako (満佐子). Part D: Miyagawa Cho (宮川町) - Wakaharu (若晴). Kanae (叶恵), Fumichō (富美蝶), Mikiryū (三木竜), Wakachika (若千加), Fukukazu (ふく和), Toshiyū (敏祐), Suzuchiyo (鈴千代), Hinachō (雛蝶), Chikayoshi (千賀俊), Mieko (美恵子), Fukusome (冨久染), Tane-e (種栄), and Tanekazu (たね和). Part E: Kamishichiken (上七軒) - Tei (てい), Emi (恵美), Katsukiyo (勝㐂代), Tamafuku (玉福), Fukuzuru (福鶴), Hisazuru (久鶴), Tsuruzō (鶴三), Hisawaka (久若), Tamaryō (玉龍), Shimeyo (〆代), Katsumaru (勝丸), Naoko (尚子), Kokimi (小㐂美), and Kohan (小はん). Set 3: Nara (奈良) - Suzumi (須寿美) Set 4: Genrō (彦桹) - Kikuyū (菊勇) and Masaya (政弥). Set 5: Otsu (大津) - Omasa (おまさ) Set 6: Kinosaki (城崎) - Tomiyū (富勇) and Kanoko (佳乃子) Set 7: Wakayama (和歌山) - Kikuchiyo (菊千代) Set 8: Shirahama (白浜) - Tsutagiku (蔦菊) Set 9: Osaka Imasato (大阪今里) - Koito (小糸) and Kichihide (吉秀) Set 10: Imasato (今里) - Kichitama (吉玉) Set 11: Kyoto Shimabara (京都島原) - Hana Ōgi Tayū (花扇太夫) Part 6: Chūgoku (中国) and Shikoku (四国) Set 1: Tamatsukuri (玉造) - Naoko (尚子), Yae (八重), and Kishi (貴志). Set 2: Okayama (岡山) - Yakko (奴) and Chizu (知寿) Set 3: Takamatsu (高松) - Hamachiyo (浜千代) Set 4: Matsuyama (松山) - Ippei (一平) Set 5: Tokushima (徳島) - Fukuyo (福代) and Akiyo (明代) Set 6: Kochi (高知) - Kimiryū (君龍) and Sadamaru (貞丸) Part 7: Kyushu (九州) Set 1: Hakata (博多) - Mieko (美恵子) Set 2: Kurume (久留米) - Okiyo (お清) Set 3: Ureshino (嬉野) - Hisamatsu (久松), Komatsu (小松), Koshin (小新), Hisaryū (久竜), and Marikō (まり幸). Set 4: Isao (武雄) - Fumiya (文弥) Set 5: Beppu (別府) - Mitsugiku (光菊), Fujikatsu (ふじ勝), Umesono (梅園), and Tomiko (富子) Set 6: Kumamoto (熊本) - Ayako (あや子) Set 7: Kagoshima (鹿児島) - Aimaru (愛丸) The only areas that I noted are missing are some of the hot springs towns. I’m not too sure why they were skipped over, but it’s possible that the author did not have any connections to them. The most informative part that I admit I skipped initially is the small print under each geisha’s name: their natori specialty, natori teachers, and natori names. This means that we can trace back what schools were the main specialty of each region going back decades. Since this is invaluable for anyone studying geisha over time, I’ll write in what schools were followed, but I will keep names a secret. Districts are as follows: Part 1: Hokkaido (北海道) Set 1 Asahikawa (旭川) - Kineya (杵屋) Set 2: Sapporo (札幌) - Wakayagi (若柳) for dance and Tadeko (蓼胡) for song Set 3: Otaru (小樽) - Fujima (藤間) for dance and Tadeko (蓼胡), Kineya (杵屋), Kiyomoto (清元), Shunnichi (春日), and Tokiwazu (常磐津) for song. Set 4: Muroran (室蘭) - None Given Set 5: Hakodate (函館) - Tanaka (田中) for dance and Matsunaga (松永) for song. Part 2: Tohoku (東北) Set 1: Morioka (盛岡) - Tokiwazu (常磐津) for song. Set 2: Hanamaki (花巻) - Wakayagi (若柳) for dance and Kineya (杵屋) for song. Set 3: Aomori (青森) - None Given. Set 4: Yamagata (山形) - Fujima (藤間) for dance. Set 5: Akita (秋田) - None Given. Set 6: Obara (小原) - None Given Set 7: Fukushima (福島) - None Given. Part 3: Kanto (関東) Set 1: Takasaki (高崎) - Hanayagi (花柳) for dance and Okayasu (岡安) for song. Set 2: Kusatsu (草津) - Hanayagi (花柳) for dance. Set 3: Sarugakyo (猿ヶ京) - Kineya (杵屋) for song. Set 4: Minakami (水上) - Kineya (杵屋) for song. Set 5: Oyama (大山) - Kineya (杵屋) Set 6: Tokyo (東京) - Taguchiko (田口湖) for dance and Kineya (杵屋) for song. Set 7: Yugawara (湯河原) - Tanaka (田中) and Fujima (藤間) for dance and Tokiwazu (常磐津), Kineya (杵屋), and Tadeai (蓼相) for song. Part 4: Chubu (中部) Set 1: Niigata (新潟) - None Given. Set 2: Takada (高田) - None Given. Set 3: Shibata (新発田) - Okayasu (岡安) for song. Set 4: Kamidayamadatogura (上山田戸倉) - Bandō (坂東) for dance and Tōsha (藤舎), Shunnichi (春日), Kineya (杵屋), and Kiyomoto (清元) for song. Set 5: Kamisuwa (上諏訪) - Kineya (杵屋) for song. Set 6: Isawa (石和) - Hanayagi (花柳) for dance and Mochizuki (望月) for song. Set 7: Kōfu (甲府) - Hanayagi (花柳) for dance and Kiyomoto (清元), Okayasu (岡安), and Nagami (長巳) for song. Set 8: Inuyama (犬山) - Nishikawa (西川) for dance and Kineya (杵屋) for song. Set 9: Hamamatsu (浜松) - Fujima (藤間) and Fukuwara (福原) for dance and Kiyomoto (清元), Yoshimura (芳村), Shunnichi (春日), Nishikiharu (錦春), and Tokiwazu (常磐津) for song. Set 10: Kanazawa East (金沢東) - Kamizaki (神崎) for dance. Set 11: Kanazawa Kazuemachi (金沢主計町) - Fujima (藤間) for dance and Kineya (杵屋) and Mochizuki (望月) for song. Set 12: Kanazawa Nishi/West (金沢西) - Nishikawa (西川) for dance and Tōsha (藤舎), Okayasu (岡安), and Kashida (堅田) for song. Set 13: Fukui (福井) - Fujima (藤間) for dance and Utazawa (哥沢) for song. Set 14: Yuzawa (湯沢) - None Given. Set 15: Nagoya (名古屋) - Nishikawa (西川) for dance and Kiyomoto (清元), Tokiwazu (常磐津), Sumida (住田), Kineya (杵屋), Kishizawa (岸沢), Shunnichi (春日), and Fujimatsu (ふじ松) for song. Part 5: Kinki (近畿) Set 1: Osaka (大阪) Part A: Osaka Minami (大阪南) - Onoe (尾上), Fujima (藤間), Bandō (坂東), and Hanayagi (花柳) for dance and Kiyomoto (清元), Kondo (今藤), Mochizuki (望月) and Tokiwazu (常磐津) for song. Part B: Osaka Horie (大阪堀江) - Nishikawa (西川) for dance. Part C: Osaka Shinmachi (大阪新町) - Nishikawa (西川) for dance and Kineya (杵屋), Shunnichi (春日), and Ogie (荻江) for song. Part D: Osaka Kitashinchi (大阪北新地) - Nishikawa (西川) and Hanayagi (花柳) for dance and Kineya (杵屋), Tamura (田村), Uji (宇治), Tokiwazu (常磐津), Tagawa (田川), Kiyomoto (清元), and Yoshimura (吉村) for song. Set 2: Kyoto (京都) Part A: Gion Kobu (祇園甲部) - Inoue (井上) for dance. Part B: Pontocho (先斗町) - Onoe (尾上), Nishikawa (西川), and Wakayagi (若柳) for dance and Tōsha (藤舎), Kondo (今藤), Nakamura (中村), Ogie (荻江), Bungo (豊後), Kineya (杵屋), and Tokiwazu (常磐津) for song. Part C: Gion Higashi (祇園東) - Fujima (藤間) for dance and Tokiwazu (常磐津), Yanagi (柳), Nakamura (中村), Kineya (杵屋), and Tōsha (藤舎) for song. Part D: Miyagawa Cho (宮川町) - Umemoto (楳茂都), Wakayagi (若柳), and Rokugō (六鄕) for dance and Kondo (今藤), Bungo (豊後), Kiyomoto (清元), Yanagi (柳), Yamakishi (山岸), Utazawa (哥沢), Tadeko (蓼胡), and Umeya (梅屋) for song. Part E: Kamishichiken (上七軒) - Hanayagi (花柳) for dance and Tokiwazu (常磐津), Shunnichi (春日), Toyomoto (豊本), Kiyomoto (清元), Tōsha (藤舎), and Kiyoyuki (清之) for song. Set 3: Nara (奈良) - Kineya (杵屋) for song. Set 4: Hikone (彦桹) - None Given. Set 5: Otsu (大津) - Yanagi (柳) for song. Set 6: Kinosaki (城崎) - Wakayagi (若柳) and Onoe (尾上) for dance. Set 7: Wakayama (和歌山) - Onoe (尾上) for dance. Set 8: Shirahama (白浜) - Okayasu (岡安) for song. Set 9: Osaka Imasato (大阪今里) - Kineya (杵屋), Shunnichi (春日), and Kiyomoto (清元) for song. Set 10: Imasato (今里) - None Given. Set 11: Kyoto Shimabara (京都島原) - None Given. Part 6: Chūgoku (中国) and Shikoku (四国) Set 1: Tamatsukuri (玉造) - Fujima (藤間) for dance and Kineya (杵屋) for song. Set 2: Okayama (岡山) - Onishi (小西) for dance. Set 3: Takamatsu (高松) - Kiyomoto (清元) for song. Set 4: Matsuyama (松山) - Kiyomoto (清元) and Tamura (田村) for song. Set 5: Tokushima (徳島) - Yoshitō (芳膛) for dance and Kiyomoto (清元) and Tamura (田村) for song. Set 6: Kochi (高知) - Kiyomoto (清元) and Tamura (田村) for song. Part 7: Kyushu (九州) Set 1: Hakata (博多) - Kondo (今藤), Shunnichi (春日), and Kashida (堅田) for song. Set 2: Kurume (久留米) - Tokiwazu and Shunnichi (春日) for song. Set 3: Ureshino (嬉野) - Hanayagi (花柳) and Fujima (藤間) for dance and Matsunaga (松永) and Tagoto (田毎) for song. Set 4: Isao (武雄) - Fujima (藤間) for dance. Set 5: Beppu (別府) - Tokiwazu (常磐津), Kiyomoto (清元), and Hisago (瓢) for song. Set 6: Kumamoto (熊本) - Hanayagi (花柳) for dance and Kondo (今藤) for song. Set 7: Kagoshima (鹿児島) - Kineya (杵屋) and Tagoto (田毎) for song. The reason why this book has no ISBN is because it was self published. The original cover price was ¥30,000, which is almost $300 USD. This price was likely set due to the vast amount of research done, including acquiring the many photographs, and printing costs. This price was also likely due to it being targeted at serious karyukai connoisseurs as that price in the 1980s would have been much higher now due to inflation. Nowadays you don’t have to pay as much for this book as most Japanese sellers see it as outdated and it can be found quite regularly on Japanese retail sites, such as Yahoo Japan Auctions or Rakuten. The only “errors: that I could find were some spelling issues, but that’s because they’re using the Japanese way of writing Romaji and not the Hepburn System. So, I’m not counting them as errors, but rather just making note of them to anyone who purchases this book. Rating: ✪✪✪✪ (out of 5)

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