#Maintained Nursery Schools

[insidecroydon]

Community campaigns join forces to fight for nursery schools

Two volunteer community groups have joined forces to organise public opinion against the latest proposed cuts to services by Croydon’s Conservative Mayor, Jason Perry. Mutual aid project South Norwood Community Kitchen and a newly established parents campaign group, Our Nursery Schools Matter, this morning issued a joint statement in response to the consultation, as they battle to save Crosfield…

[regressionschool]

Acceptance? In the softly lit nursery, Odette sat on the cushioned floor, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. She felt utterly helpless, like an oversized toddler trapped in a world that had systematically dismantled her adulthood. The past seemed like a distant memory, a time when she was in control of her life and choices. Her boyfriend, Mark, stood in the doorway, a smug expression playing on his lips. His voice dripped with mockery as he addressed her, relishing in her vulnerability, "What's wrong, little girl? Daddy wants to know."

Odette's sobs intensified, echoing with the frustration and humiliation that had become her constant companions. She hadn't allowed herself to cry when her rights were first taken away, when society decided that women were nothing more than overgrown children. Even when Mark disciplined her with a stern hand, she clung to her adult identity. Tears hadn't fallen during her time at the Regression School, a place that felt more like a sinister laboratory. The heavy sedation, the disorienting awakening to a voice that was now childlike and innocent, the struggle to communicate with a lisp and halting speech—it had all been endured with stoic determination. She had even resisted breaking down when her balance was disrupted, turning her into a toddler-like figure stumbling clumsily through life. The loss of fine motor control, the inability to feed herself without creating a mess—it was all deeply humiliating, yet she maintained her composure.

But the one thing Odette couldn't bear was the loss of her potty training. The Regression School had taken even that from her, leaving her permanently and completely incontinent. Helpless wettings and messings in her nappies had become her new reality, and it was a reality she couldn't accept. The sobs racked her body as she sat in a soaked and soiled nappy, her dignity stripped away. Even the most basic bodily functions were now beyond her control. Mark approached, his fingers gently tugging at the back of her nappy, his face contorting in feigned disgust. He confirmed what Odette already knew. "Uh-oh, it looks like someone has a dirty nappy. Is that why my little girl is crying? Because she wants Daddy to change her stinky bum-bum?"

Odette's response was a heart-wrenching cry, her vulnerability laid bare. She longed for the days of adulthood, for the independence and self-assuredness she once possessed. The nursery walls seemed to close in around her, a constant reminder of her diminished state. Daddy stood there, his arms crossed, a stern look on his face as Odette's cries filled the nursery. He seemed unmoved by her distress, resolved in his conviction that this was the new normal for her. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't change her, why he was subjecting her to this humiliating ordeal. Her voice, now trapped in a perpetual state of childishness, protested with all the strength she could muster. "Daddy, pwease change me! I don' like it! Diapies are for babies!" But Daddy remained resolute, shaking his head. "No, sweetheart. You need to learn that in this world, regressed girls wear diapers. It's normal, and you need to get used to it."

Odette's frustration and helplessness grew. She tugged at the soaked and soiled nappy, feeling utterly defeated. It sagged heavily between her legs, a constant reminder of her loss of control. She struggled to find the right words in her childlike speech, tears rolling down her cheeks as she continued to plead, "But Daddy, I don' wanna be a baby. I wanna be a big girl again." Daddy's expression softened just a fraction, but he remained firm. "I know it's hard, sweetie, but you need to accept your new life. This is who you are now, and there's no going back." Odette's heart ached with longing for the past, for the days when she was an independent woman with her own voice and choices. But as she looked at Daddy's unwavering gaze, she realized that those days were gone. She was now Daddy's little girl, forever trapped in a world of diapers and baby talk, and there was no escape.

[ravenrothstr]

Once Again Part III🤍

summary. jaehyun and his classmates go through the darkness of adulthood filled with bitterness, where both of them ended finding each other sparks in within

genre. high school! au, second chance love, fluff

words count. 8.0k

disclaimer. the story is fully fictional. other names mentioned are just for the story and pure imagination, with no bad intentions

--｡⋆✮ 🎧 ✮ ⋆｡--

You hold the wooden basket as you follow your mother around with Eunwoo. She wanted to pick flowers for your bouquet. It was a surprise to you that Eunwoo gladly came when your mother invited him, despite what he did to you few weeks ago.

“You have more flowers at the back of the nursery, maam”, the part timer insisted.

In no time, the part timer guided her yo the flowers. You quickly took the chance to confront Eunwoo.

“Eunwoo”, grabbing his sleeve.

“Yes, is there anything wrong, y/n?”

“Everything’s wrong”

Eunwoo didn’t say a word, he knows where this conversation is heading.

“Eunwoo, we don’t even love each other and we’ll never will”, you continue.

“That’s not true, I loved you throughout high school and university”

“You didn’t, you just care for me because you were scared you’re gonna left with nothing and I was the only one who gave you stability”, he avoided your eyes.

“Let’s talk this some other time.”

Your mother left as soon as she was done with the shopping, leaving you and Eunwoo behind. She thought she was giving some space for the lovebirds, little did she know, you planned on confronting him through lunch.

The waiter and waitress welcomes you as you entered the restaurant behind Eunwoo, giving them a bow as well. As you sit across from him, the weight of the relationship hangs heavily on you. With each bite, the tension builds, until finally, you set down your fork and lock eyes with him.

“Let’s call off the engagement,” you said in a calm tone.

“But…I can’t live without you.”

“Oh Eunwoo, you definitely can. I saw how good you are living without me”

Eunwoo's initial reaction is one of denial, but as you confronted with the truth, his defenses begin to crumble. The betrayal twisting in your chest, you maintain your composure, determined to seek closure to this chaotic relationship. You let out a sigh.

“Look, we’re never official, Eunwoo. The only thing that is official is yet the engagement announcement. It’s not your fault that you never loved me; this was all arrangements from the start.”

He stayed silent, realizes the depth of the hurt he has caused you. Deep inside, Eunwoo knew who only had feelings for Ye Won.

“We should let us go. There is nothing to hold on for between us. I don’t want to resent and force you to love me,” you continued.

“I’ll talk to our parents. I was the one who screwed up, I’ll man up to it”

You know how much Eunwoo needed this. The both of you have been following your parents' arrangements forever. You never stood up for yourself or even did something that you wanted. You got lucky that you had a passion towards architecture, but for Eunwoo, you felt way sadder for him. He never liked any decisions from the start.

A few nights later, Eunwoo finally spoke up to both of the parents during dinner. Breaking off the marriage and bravely telling them he wanted to marry Ye Won. He knows if it wasn’t Ye Won who is the one giving the stability then he should be the one.

The dinner was bizarre with both parents angry one second and then apologizing. You anticipated it all, feeling like you were only a prize to be won and Eunwoo didn’t like the prize. Through the chaotic dinner, you slowly approached Eunwoo that night after. Gently thanking him and praising his actions. He let out a soft smile to you, he knew he just had let go of one of the best things he had in life.

“I’ll always be here for you”, as he gave you one last hug.

—

Sooner or later, Jaehyun and Eunwoo continue collecting evidence at night planning out their big plans. But things got more complicated when there was a fire accident at the Tranquil Grove. Both companies needed to send proofs of their legal documents.

Panic rises when Evergreen Associates discovers the files from the Tranquil Grove went missing. Some speculated it was because of the long duration of the project causing lost of misplaced files, some speculated that the documents were never passed to Evergreen.

Jaehyun and Eunwoo knew all along this was Nexus Architects evil scheme, putting Evergreen Associates in bad shape to frame them for bribery. The court listening today was not good for Evergreen Associates once again as they failed to provide any solid evidence.

You looked at the reminder buzzing through your phone that morning, you took a look at the reminder.

SCHOOL REUNION, 6PM

Letting out a long sigh, bumping your head against the vanity mirror. You forgot the event that had been arranged; you got lost in the chaos between Nexus Architects and Evergreen Associates. But you have always promised yourself to attend reunion events as you never really contacted or socialized with any of them, so attending these events is your bare minimum effort.

A mix of nerves and anticipation courses through you. You take a moment to compose yourself, adjusting your outfit and smoothing down any stray hairs. Despite knowing that attending the event will inevitably lead to questions about the recent break off of your engagement, you understand the importance of facing the situation head-on.

With a deep breath, you step through the entrance, the familiar sights and sounds of the reunion greeting you. Gathering your courage, you approach the group of your former classmates gathered in a corner, their laughter ringing out above the rest, plastering a smile on your face as you prepare to engage in conversation and face whatever questions may come your way about your recent life events.

"Hi y/n, glad you made it", said Saerom, embracing you as you felt the hug was a little longer this time.

"Come sit, next to me", Miyeon said.

"Y/n, you're not wearing your engagement ring. What happened?", Chaeryong asked.

The awkwardness washes over the room. They had all silently agreed not to broach the topic of the engagement, fearing it might cause you discomfort. However, it seems Chaeryong was more interested in gossip than your well-being.

"Well, it's a long story. We actually called off the engagement."

"Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear that. What happened?"

"Stop asking her things, y/n's going through a lot right now," Miyeon defended as she turned to face you.

"That must have been really tough for you. But you made the right decision if it wasn't meant to be."

"Of course, it was definitely a difficult decision, but I think it's for the best in the long run."

Miyeon smiled at you, hoping it gave you a bit of comfort.

As you settle in with the girls, you can't help but notice Jaehyun and the other guys, who are seated at another table across the room. Speculations about Jaehyun's whereabouts begin to circulate among the girls, each one offering their own theories and suspicions.

"Have you been seeing anyone lately?" Miyeon inquired.

"Not really. I'm taking some time to myself after the engagement,"

"Well, if you ever need a distraction, there are plenty of eligible bachelors in our batch," Miyeon teased playfully.

"Speaking of eligible bachelors, have you seen Jaehyun lately? He's looking even hotter than before," Saerom remarked, her tone tinged with admiration.

You couldn't help but feel a twinge of annoyance at the mention of Jaehyun's name, but you tried to brush it off with a nonchalant reply.

"Hm, I hadn't really noticed," you said, attempting to mask your true feelings.

"Are you kidding? He's practically smouldering over there, sorry Miyeon," Saerom teases.

"Hey, Seokmin has his own charms", eliciting a round of laughter from the group.

Feeling overwhelmed by the chatter and the weight of socialising, you quietly slip out of the venue, craving a moment to gather your thoughts. Stepping outside into the cool night air, you take a deep breath, allowing the gentle breeze to soothe your frazzled nerves.

As you lean against the wall, your mind wanders back to the conversation inside. Lost in your thoughts, you're startled when you hear footsteps approaching. Glancing up, you see Jaehyun standing a few feet away, his expression unreadable in the dim light.

"Out for a smoke?"

"No, just taking in some fresh air"

You nodded, welcoming the comfortable silence that enveloped both of you as you absentmindedly played with the small stones at your feet. Jaehyun recalled your occasional need to recharge your social energy, understanding your quiet moments.

"Are you okay to talk now?"

"Yes", you said.

"I heard about the engagement," he says gently, careful not to overstep any boundaries.

For a moment, neither of you speaks, the silence between you heavy with unspoken emotions. Although he was there to comfort you the night you found out about Eunwoo and Ye Won, you were mostly left alone after the incident. You swallow hard, mustering up the courage to respond.

"It's been tough, but I guess it had to happen eventually, right?"

"I can only imagine," Jaehyun replies, his voice filled with empathy.

Neither of you says anything for a moment as you try to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"So, Saerom said you were looking really attractive back there," Jaehyun chuckles.

"She said that?"

"Yeah, she clearly did. 'He's practically smouldering over there'," imitating Saerom and both of you shared the laughter.

"So, do you think I was the hottest at the table?"

"You definitely were, but I've always liked your office looks"

"Office looks? You mean a suit and tie with comma hair?"

"Yes!", you confirmed with a grin.

"Well, in that case, I'll make sure to dress up like that more often," he returned your smile, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

"Looking forward to it," you said with a playful wink.

As the reunion winds down, the group gathers for final photos, capturing the moment. You smile for the camera alongside your classmates but feel exhaustion creeping in. With a nod and a wave, you bid farewell, ready to retreat home.

Near the exit, you notice a group of girls whispering excitedly, eyeing Jaehyun. Rolling your eyes at their obvious infatuation, you brush it off and head out, eager to leave the chaos behind.

The atmosphere in the courtroom was tense as the next hearing commenced. Lawyers from both Nexus Architecture and Evergreen Associates were poised for battle, armed with stacks of evidence and prepared arguments.

As the proceedings unfolded, it became clear that Nexus Architecture was determined to pin the blame for the bribery scandal on Evergreen Associates. With carefully crafted testimonies and falsified documents, they painted a damning picture of Evergreen company's alleged involvement in the illegal activities.

Despite the efforts to prove the accusations wrong and present their own evidence, the odds seemed stacked against them. The judge listened intently as both sides presented their arguments, weighing each piece of evidence carefully.

In the end, the judge announced that a verdict would be delivered at a later date, leaving both parties anxiously awaiting the final decision. As the courtroom emptied, the sense of uncertainty hung heavy in the air, with the fate of Evergreen Associates hanging in the balance.

You couldn't help but feel a surge of anger and frustration at the injustice of it all. How could Nexus Architecture get away with such blatant lies and deceit? And what would this mean for Evergreen Associates, a company built on integrity and honesty?

Regardless of the situation, you exited the court after a long day. How you wished the day would end sooner; in fact, nothing had ever given you a reason to long for a longer day or another day.

You bumped into Jaehyun unexpectedly on the bustling street, and his warm smile instantly lit up the surroundings with a charming grin.

"It's been a while, y/n",

"Hi, Jaehyun"

"Care to join me for dinner?", his eyes sparkling with anticipation.

The tensions ran high and emotions ran deep, you found yourself at a crossroads. Torn between the firm you want to protect your dignity and the desire to lean on Jaehyun for support in this harsh reality.

"I'd love to", in the moment of clarity, you chose love over pride.

--

As you continued to eat, you found yourself falling in love with Jaehyun's cooking all over again. It was your second time enjoying Jaehyun's cooking, and you couldn't get enough of it.

"Is it nice?", he anticipates your answer.

"It's delicious, you should open a restaurant"

"Really? Why's that?"

"So I can enjoy your cooking every day," giving him a playful grin.

"You don't have to wait for the restaurant, you can come over every day"

You felt your skin tingle, as you remembered he once confessed his love to you. You tried to keep yourself composed.

"You're really good at flirting, Jaehyun. Practise makes perfect?", you teased.

"Don't pretend you haven't kissed me", he countered.

"Oh my gosh, you win. Please stop"

As the evening progressed, you found yourself drawn deeper into his presence, the warmth of his smile and the comfort of his home creating an irresistible allure.

When Jaehyun casually suggested that you stay the night, you felt a surge of excitement mixed with nervous anticipation. Despite the butterflies fluttering in your stomach, you couldn't bring yourself to decline his offer.

"Are you sure?" you asked, trying to mask the eagerness in your voice. Jaehyun nodded, his expression soft and sincere.

"Absolutely. I wouldn't want you to go out there alone in the dark."

With a shy smile and a grateful nod, you accepted his invitation. As the night unfolded, you and Jaehyun found yourselves drawn to the tranquillity of his balcony. With the soft glow of the moon casting a gentle light upon you, you lie down side by side, your gazes fixed upon the vast expanse of the night sky.

"Remember when you confessed your feelings to me?" you ventured, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled between you. Jaehyun's gaze softened, his eyes reflecting a mixture of nostalgia and affection.

"Of course I do," he replied softly.

"It was one of the bravest things I've ever done."

A soft smile tugged at the corners of your lips as you reminisced about the moment.

"And that time we kissed," you added, feeling a blush rise to your cheeks at the memory. Jaehyun's expression softened even further, his eyes filled with warmth and tenderness.

"I'll never forget it," he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.

Jaehyun took a deep breath, his gaze locking with yours as he sensed the right moment.

"Y/N," he began.

"I've been thinking a lot lately, and… I don't want to hide my feelings anymore."

Your heart skipped a beat as you waited with bated breath, anticipation coursing through your veins. A rush of emotions washed over you as you listened to Jaehyun's confession, your mind racing with a whirlwind of thoughts and feelings.

"And so, I was wondering if… you'd like to officially date me?"

His words hung in the air, the weight of his confession settling between you. And in that moment, surrounded by the warmth of Jaehyun's presence and the depth of his emotions, you knew your answer.

"Yes"

You set the documents down on the coffee table in the living room and immediately began reviewing them after dinner. Ignoring the homeowner's presence, who was now tidying up the table.

“That’s not a very grateful way to thank me for dinner. I love you too much,” your boyfriend teased.

“Jaehyun, I love you, and thank you so much for cooking. Please let me go through this; it's for the hearing tomorrow,” you replied, focusing on the papers in your hands.

He grinned at you, unable to resist your adoring gaze. Coming over, he planted a kiss on your cheek, signaling his acceptance of the situation.

“What are you looking at?” he asked, peering at the papers.

“It’s the bank account numbers linked to the bribery.”

Jaehyun remained quiet for a moment, recognizing one of the account numbers as he went through the evidence a few times. It was your father’s account number. Unaware of his thoughts, you began to speculate about Jaehyun, fearing he might turn against you.

“I can trust you with this, right?” you asked cautiously.

“Yeah, of course. You can spend the whole night guarding me if you insist,” he reassured with a playful smile.

“I can’t, I have to get home and get to the court early tomorrow,” you explained.

“No, stay with me. I’ll go with you,” Jaehyun pleaded.

“Jaehyun, I’m sorry, but I really need to be with my company tomorrow,” you insisted.

“No, please. Spend the night with me,” he persisted.

“Okay,” you relented.

Jaehyun wasn’t comfortable with the emotions he felt after seeing your father's account number. He wanted to call Eunwoo and get to the bottom of the situation, but looking at you and considering how much you had worked for them, he pushed the thought aside, saving it for the upcoming hearing. That night, Jaehyun found it difficult to fall asleep, his mind filled with assumptions and scenarios.

“Y/N,” he called out in the dark, wondering if you were already asleep.

“Yes, Jaehyun?” you mumbled sleepily.

“Do you like this house?” he asked.

“I love it,” you replied, snuggling up to him.

“Let’s raise our little family here,” he suggested.

You felt a surge of joy in your heart, but sleepiness was overtaking you, so you simply cuddled closer to him.

“Y/N,” he continued.

“Do you think you’ll ever choose me over anything?” he questioned, his thoughts spilling out.

You sensed his insecurity, reminiscent of when he asked if you would wait for him. But knowing you both needed rest and not wanting him to go to bed questioning your love, you reassured him.

“I’ll always choose you, Jaehyun,” you affirmed.

You could hear Jaehyun let out a sigh of relief, his body relaxing against yours. Finally feeling at ease enough to sleep.

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he whispered.

—

Jaehyun dragged his feet into Eunwoo’s office the next morning. With most of the employees at the court, he seized the opportunity to inform Eunwoo about the bank account.

“Y/n's father's bank account is one of the ones on the bribery list,” he blurted out as soon as he closed the door behind him.

“The bank account only consists of Nexus’s employees, we checked. Remember?”, Eunwoo denied.

“No. It was clearly there in the list, y/n had it with her last night”

“So you’re saying that the list we got is wrong?”

“The list might be longer that we expect”.

Eunwoo and Jaehyun spare no time to investigate, tirelessly digging through mountains of evidence, hoping to find something that would clear Evergreen Associates' name. As they sifted through financial records and email correspondence, they stumbled upon a series of transactions that led straight to your father's accounts.

At first, they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Shocked and disheartened, Jaehyun and Eunwoo realized the magnitude of their discovery. They knew that confronting your father would not only be emotionally challenging but could also have far-reaching consequences.

The two of them decided not to execute any plans yet, as they both worried about the aftermath. It would definitely hurt you and they were not ready for that. Nevertheless, they understood the importance of uncovering the truth and holding those responsible accountable for their actions.

--

Jaehyun spent the nights later with you over dinner, just like how you both pictured when you agreed on the relationship. Only now, Jaehyun was paying attention less and less as his mind became clouded with the truth.

“Jaehyun?” you snapped him into the present.

“I’m sorry, y/n. What were you saying?”

“I was asking if you wanted to rest. You've looked tired lately.”

“No, I want to have dinner with you. Let’s eat.”

Just as Jaehyun shoveled food into his mouth, his phone buzzed. You peeked at it. The message from Eunwoo lit up the screen, and Jaehyun quickly read it.

“Y/n, I have to step out for a bit. Do you mind waiting?” Your heart dropped.

The relationship was new, but you could see Jaehyun drifting off. You looked at Jaehyun, noticing his eagerness to leave the table. He insisted it was very important. You felt bad for stopping him.

“Okay,” you said softly.

Jaehyun left a kiss on your temple, gathering his belongings before making his way out of the apartment. You hated the emotions gathering inside you. You decided to leave the table, hoping Jaehyun wouldn’t be out long so you could have dinner together with him.

--

Jaehyun braced himself for the difficult conversations ahead. With a heavy heart, Jaehyun and Eunwoo decided to confront your father as plan. Armed with the evidence they had painstakingly gathered. They braced themselves, knowing that it would change everything and set into motion a chain of events that would shape the outcome of the legal battle.

Arriving at your father's doorstep, Jaehyun's hand hovered over the doorbell, his heart pounding in his chest. Eunwoo stood beside him, a steadfast presence amidst the uncertainty. With a deep breath, Jaehyun pressed the button, the chime resonating through the quiet neighborhood, signaling the beginning of a conversation that would change everything.

Back at the apartment, you waited patiently for Jaehyun's return, unaware of the turmoil brewing behind the scenes. The minutes stretched into eternity as you sat alone at the dinner table. Questions lingered in the air, unspoken but palpable, as you wondered about Jaehyun's whereabouts.

Finally, the sound of footsteps heralded Jaehyun's return, his presence filling the room with a mixture of relief and apprehension. His expression was inscrutable as he reentered the apartment, the weight of his secret conversation hangs heavily on his shoulders.

"Is everything okay?" you ventured, searching his face for answers.

"Yeah, everything's fine, let’s finish dinner first. We can talk later."

Jaehyun forced a smile, masking the truth beneath the surface. With a nod, you acquiesced, though the sense of unease lingered, casting a shadow over the remainder of the evening.

As the court proceedings unfolded, tension thickened in the air. Each moment was fraught with anticipation as the investigation delved deeper into the bribery scandal. Jaehyun's absence became increasingly noticeable, his presence dwindling as the gravity of the situation weighed heavily on him.

The courtroom buzzed with whispered conversations and furrowed brows. The prosecution focused on the account numbers linked to the scandal, intensifying the sense of urgency. Meanwhile, Jaehyun's time was consumed by court sessions and late-night meetings.

You no longer went to Jaehyun's house for dinner, noticing a shift in his priorities and schedule. The once familiar routine of sharing meals and spending time together faded away, leaving a void in your heart where his presence used to be. The strain of the situation began to take its toll, widening the distance between you.

As the court rulings grew more intense, both you and Jaehyun found yourselves consumed by the legal battle, leaving little room for communication in your relationship. Days turned into weeks, and gradually, conversations between you became less, with each of you making less effort to maintain the connection. The distance between you grew, both physically and emotionally, as the demands of the legal battle took over your relationship.

One night, after mustering all your courage, you decided to broach the topic of your relationship with Jaehyun. With a nervousness in your voice, you asked him if he wanted to continue the relationship. His response was a brief "yes," leaving you feeling a whirlwind of emotions.

--

Amidst the tense atmosphere of the courtroom, one day Jaehyun stood up, his voice ringing out with conviction as he exposed the truth about your father's involvement in the bribery scandal. Gasps rippled through the room as it sent shockwaves through the proceedings. You sat in stunned silence, unable to comprehend the truth of what was unfolding before you. Jaehyun's words hung heavy in the air, casting a shadow over the courtroom as the truth was laid bare for all to see.

You couldn’t believe what Jaehyun had done. As the judge delivered the final verdict, shutting down both companies, the weight of his actions bore down on you like a ton of bricks. Amidst the chaos of the courtroom, he tried to approach you, to explain his actions and confront the reality between you. He knew he needed to talk to you, but the timing just didn't seem to align.

Every time he glanced in your direction, you were engrossed in conversation with someone else. Each missed opportunity weighed on him, fueling his frustration and desperation to reach out to you.

Jaehyun found himself lost in the chaos of reporters and cameras flashing around him as soon he left the courtroom to find you, Jaehyun's thoughts remained fixated on you, the one person he desperately wanted to reach. With each passing moment, the reporters' questions and praise grew more deafening, drowning him in the chaos.

You stepped out into the cool evening air, the weight of the day's events heavy on your shoulders. As you walked away from the courthouse, you couldn't shake the feeling that you had left Jaehyun behind, grappling with the aftermath of the verdict on his own. But in that moment, your own emotions were too raw, too tumultuous to face him.

Each step you took felt heavier than the last, the echoes of the courtroom ringing in your ears. You couldn't bear to face Jaehyun, not when the distance between you felt wider than ever. And so, you walked alone, the weight of your decision bearing down on you with each passing moment.

You walk through the alley like a zombie, unmotivated with no will of living. Everything you had work for goes into waste. Never, have ever you thought Nexus Architecture would put the company to bribery. The tears falling at your cheeks warms your eyes.

“Shit”, you muttered to yourself.

Continuing to wipe it off as fast as the tears falling. You hated it, you hated your life. You hated everything that brings you here. The deep thoughts clouded your minds, it’s too fuzzy now. Your legs halted their positions, as if the weight of your thoughts were too heavy for you to carry on.

You brought your palm to your face. You were surprised when that action immediately made you sob in your arms. Wondering why the world is too harsh on you. Just when you were about to continue to walk, you saw Jaehyun’s figure across you. It was no surprise to him seeing you in this state.

“Y/N”

“Please move”, you rushed to pass him.

Jaehyun quickly grabbed your waist as you passed through.

“No, please listen to me”

“No, you listen!”, you raised your voice before continuing.

“You can’t magically appear in my life like this, expecting me to just follow whatever your instincts is or whatever you have ever plan in your life. Do you know how much this means to me? Do you even know what’s left for me? Even if your plan is to make this better for me, you definitely forgot that the one that has to go through is me”, your tears welled up in your eyes.

“Are you saying you rather be the one who bribe? You know how much I had to sacrifice? My childhood home, my comfort place, my time that i should have spent with you, my friends”, Jaehyun argued.

You cried harder. Not because of the situation you were in, but because now you and Jaehyun are only selfish in the relationship. Both of your silence sacrifices that you both never told to each other is taking it’s space in the relationship that now you both are not listening to each other but screaming as your heart that craves for recognition futhers.

Jaehyun looked away from you, it hurts him to see you in pain. He never wanted the company to close down, that was the last thing he thought it would be. But now that things had happen, he too was in lost state.

“Please leave Jaehyun”, you resorted.

Rather than feeling sad hearing your words, he felt anger. His pride could not accept this, he’s too used to being competitive that he took your words too literally without consider your emotions. With everything you have said, that hurts him too, he left you. Turning away stomping his feet and he didn’t look back. You body sank in your position, just like your heart.

“I should have never met her”, Jaehyun talks in his thoughts with rage as his mind flashes memories he shared with you.

“I should have never had lunch with her”

“I should have never sacrifice my time with her”

“And I should have never left her”

He felt the weight of his thoughts as he slows down when he came to his last thoughts. Remembering it has always been you to sacrifice for him, waited for him because you are the one who choose love over pride. Unlike him.

As you sat at a bench nearby, trying your best to calm down before you heard Jaehyun’s footsteps approaching you. You looked at him as he came kneeling in front of you, he rubbed your knee gently and faced you.

“I’ve done so much things to you that I’m not proud off, but my greatest regret is leaving you so please forgive me”, Jaehyun’s eyes turn into glasses.

“I love you and i always will. I know how much you hate to controlled but I’m not leaving you”

Your eyes welled up again.

“Can we go home now? Our home”

“You mean the cheery blossom road?”, he teased. It made you chuckle.

“No, silly. Your apartment, the one you planned to raise our family together”

“Oh you mean that? Sure, let’s go”, as he pulled up your hand to stand.

“Just to let you know, your my home”

You smiled, leaning into his arms that you had wrapped on.

“Jaehyun, I’m sorry too”, he softens to your words.

“If it ever makes you feel better, I forgive you”, your lips curled up at the memory you once said that to him.

“I love you too”

Jaehyun picked you up from the office today, a routine he had faithfully followed for the past year. Despite the challenges you both faced after the bribery incident, you and Jaehyun had embarked on a journey to rebuild your lives together. While it wasn't easy, starting anew was a refreshing change for you, especially after being accustomed to life in your father’s company. Jaehyun's bravery as a whistleblower had opened new doors for him, leading him to a promising position at a prestigious firm in Seoul.

“Hey,” he greeted you with a knowing smile, sensing the exhaustion in your demeanor.

“Hey,” you replied, feeling a wave of comfort wash over you as he took your bag from your shoulder and left a tender kiss on your cheek.

“Never been more proud of my love,” he whispered, his words filling you with warmth and reassurance.

You grinned in response, feeling a hint of shyness creep over you. You were grateful to have Jaehyun by your side, supporting you through every challenge and triumph. As you walked hand in hand with him through the bustling streets, a comfortable silence enveloped you, a silent understanding passing between you.

“Jaehyun, let’s dine out. I’m already hungry,” you suggested, breaking the silence.

“Well, do you have any preference?”

“Anywhere's good,” you replied with a shrug.

Jaehyun led you to a cozy restaurant nearby, where the two of you settled in and placed your orders. As you waited for the food to arrive, you found solace in sharing your day with Jaehyun, venting about the challenges and frustrations you had faced at work. He listened attentively, his eyes lighting up with adoration as he watched you express yourself.

“So, how’s your day?” you asked, turning the conversation to him.

“Nothing much,” he replied with a sheepish smile, a hint of panic flickering in his eyes.

You frowned slightly, craving more insight into his day, but you knew he was often reserved when it came to sharing. Leaning forward, you took his hand in yours, silently urging him to open up.

“Please tell me more,” you pleaded softly.

He smiled, grateful for your understanding, and began to elaborate on his day. Thankfully, the arrival of your food spared him from further interrogation.

After dinner, you retreated to Jaehyun’s apartment, where the familiar melodies of his favorite tunes filled the air. As Jaehyun disappeared into the bathroom for a shower, you couldn't help but sing along to the music, your voice echoing through the apartment. When Jaehyun emerged, toweling off his damp hair, you greeted him with a playful grin.

“Alicia Keys again?” you teased.

He chuckled, his eyes sparkling with affection as he joined you in the living room.

“You should join me next time,” he suggested, his voice laced with invitation.

“Hey, do you want to go on a date tomorrow? Let’s do something you like,” you proposed.

“Sure, how about an Ikea date?”

“I love it already!” you exclaimed, your heart swelling with anticipation for the simple yet joyful date ahead.

—

As you and Jaehyun wandered through the aisles of IKEA, playfully testing out couches and admiring kitchenware, he suddenly stopped in front of a display of cozy living room setups.

“Come on. Pick which colour”, he asked, taking out of the candle holder.

“Well, white does matches your living room”

“Our living room”, he corrects you.

With a mischievous glint in his eyes, he turned to you, a slight smile playing on his lips. You glanced at him curiously, wondering what he was about to say.

"Y/n, I really would to wake up to you every morning”, his gaze locked.

Your heart skipped a beat as his words sank in, and you couldn't help but feel a rush of anticipation.

"Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" you asked.

Jaehyun nodded, his expression earnest yet filled with warmth.

“I’m asking if you would like to move in with me”

The words hung in the air between you, the excitement of the moment filling the space around you. Surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the IKEA showroom, it felt like the perfect setting for this important conversation. You had always dreamed of moving in with someone you loved, but you had also promised yourself that it would only happen if it was a step towards something more permanent.

"Jaehyun," you began,

"Moving in together is a big step and one that I've always imagined taking with someone I could see a future with. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Jaehyun. But I also want to make sure that we're both ready for this next chapter in our lives”, you were soft but firm.

He nodded, understanding your words. However, he couldn't lie that his heart drops a little upon your rejection.

"I understand. Just promise me you'll think about it, okay?"

The crisp autumn air carried a sense of excitement as you and Jaehyun made your way to the reunion venue, hand in hand. It had been years since you last saw your old friends, and the prospect of reuniting with them filled you with nostalgia and anticipation.

As you entered the bustling hall, you were greeted by familiar faces and warm smiles. Eunwoo, now a proud parent, stood at the entrance with his two young children clinging to his legs. His face lit up as he spotted you and Jaehyun, ushering you over with a welcoming grin.

"Y/N, Jaehyun, it's been too long!" Eunwoo exclaimed, his children looking up at you with curious eyes.

"It's great to see you, Eunwoo," Jaehyun replied, returning his friend's enthusiasm.

You were seated at the table, facing Seokmin and Miyeon. Their wedding had taken place just a few months ago, and the room was blooming with the happiness of their recent wedding. You smile as you observe the sheer joy. Miyeon couldn't resist showing off her sparkling wedding ring, and you couldn't blame her - it was gorgeous.

As you were staring at it, Jaehyun's gaze remained fixed on you. His eyes filled with adoration as he quietly reached out to hold your hand, taking you off guard before he whispered.

"We'll get there", making you smile uncontrollably.

The reunion was filled with laughter and reminiscing as you and Jaehyun caught up with old friends, sharing stories of your lives. As the conversation flowed, Miyeon, with genuine curiosity in her eyes, leaned in and asked you softly.

"So, Y/N, are you and Jaehyun living together now?"

You exchanged a knowing glance with Jaehyun before replying, a soft smile playing on your lips.

"Not yet, but it's something we've been considering."

Miyeon nodded understandingly.

"Don't worry, I know you'll make the right move at the right time", as she remembered how you handled your engagement with Eunwoo.

"I'm sure whenever you two decide to take that step, it'll be wonderful."

As the evening progressed, the event came to an end, and you and Jaehyun began to make your way back home together.

"Should I stay the night over at your house?"

You asked suddenly, catching Jaehyun off guard. Initially, the plan for the night was for each of you to return to your own homes, as Jaehyun needed to prepare for an upcoming business trip. Considering how intense the project was, you thought it might be better to give him space to focus on his work.

"Are you sure? I mean, I would love to, but I just don't want you to feel pressured into anything you're not comfortable with,"

Jaehyun responded, his concern evident in his voice. Recognizing the potential impact of your decision not to move in together on your relationship, Jaehyun took it upon himself to ensure you felt cherished and valued.

You remained silent for a moment, weighing the decision in your mind. Sensing your hesitation, Jaehyun reached out to reassure you.

"It's okay, love. Please don't feel any pressure about not moving in together. Our relationship is about what feels right for both of us and no one but us knows what that is," he said gently, his voice filled with warmth and understanding.

You let out a grateful smile as his words eased your worries, reminding you of the unwavering support and love he always offered.

"Okay, just promise me you'll always tell me if you're not happy or comfortable with something, okay?"

"I promise," Jaehyun replied, his gaze softening with affection.

"And promise to go out on another IKEA date with me before the trip?", he continued with a playful glint in his eyes.

You chuckled, your hand finding his as he squeezed it gently at your gesture.

"Absolutely. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"I'm glad to hear that," he said, feeling a sense of warmth and happiness wash over.

-- You and Jaehyun found yourselves strolling through the aisles of Ikea once again, the familiar atmosphere bringing a sense of comfort and joy as you wandered hand in hand, exploring the various furniture setups and decor options.

Jaehyun's eyes sparkled with excitement as he pointed out different items, sharing his ideas and preferences with you. You laughed together as you tested out sofas and chairs, imagining lazy Sunday afternoons spent lounging together.

As you admired a display of picture frames, Jaehyun suddenly took your hand and pulled you gently to a secluded corner of the showroom. There, surrounded by the quiet hum of the store and the soft glow of the lighting fixtures, he turned to face you, his eyes shining with emotion.

"Y/N", his voice soft yet filled with nervous energy.

You were puzzled, the both of you always had been comfortable with each other. Seeing Jaehyun like this worries you. Your heart fluttered at the sound of your name, your eyes meeting his with curiosity and affection.

"Yes, Jaehyun?"

"I'm a bit nervous actually," he admitted, his ears burning with a hint of pink.

Your heart swelled with tenderness, your love for him growing with each passing moment.

"I've known since the moment I met you that you were the one I wanted to spend forever with," Jaehyun continued, his gaze never leaving yours.

With trembling hands, Jaehyun reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box, its contents glimmering in the soft light of the showroom.

"Will you marry me, Y/N?" he asked, his eyes shining with hope and love.

You place your hands on him, feeling the warmth and reassurance of his touch. Tears welled up in your eyes as you looked at the man standing before you, overwhelmed with emotion at the depth of your love for him. In that moment, surrounded by the familiar comfort of Ikea and the overwhelming presence of love between you, you knew without a doubt what your answer would be.

"Yes, Jaehyun. I will," you replied, your voice filled with emotion.

With a smile that lit up the room, Jaehyun slipped the ring onto your finger. As you held each other close, you knew that this was just the beginning of a beautiful journey filled with love, laughter, and endless joy.

In your married life with Jaehyun, every day feels like a new adventure. You wake up to the sound of his laughter and the warmth of his embrace, grateful for the love and companionship you share. Together, supporting each other through every challenge and celebrating every triumph.

Your home is filled with laughter and love, where you can be yourselves and create cherished memories together. Whether you're cooking together in the kitchen, cuddling on the couch, or exploring new places hand in hand, every moment spent with Jaehyun is filled with joy and contentment.

Soon enough, your home is filled with love, laughter, and the sound of children's laughter echoing through the halls. Bringing an added layer of love and happiness to your marriage, strengthening the bond you share with Jaehyun as you raise them with care and devotion.

From sleepless nights to heartwarming milestones, you cherish every moment spent watching your children grow and thrive. As parents, you and Jaehyun work together as a team, supporting each other through the highs and lows of raising a family.

—

As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm golden glow over the cosy living room, the atmosphere was filled with laughter and joy. Jaehyun sat on the floor, surrounded by his two young children, a boy and a girl, who giggled uncontrollably as he tickled them playfully.

"Stop, Daddy, stop!" they squealed, their laughter filling the room.

Jaehyun grinned, his eyes sparkling with delight as he relished in the precious moments with his little ones. You smiled at the view as you watched the clock on the wall from the couch.

"Jaehyun, it's past their bedtime", you reminded.

"Alright, alright, one more tickle and then it's bedtime," he teased, pulling them into a tight hug.

A smile played on your lips as you observed the heartwarming scene before you. Seeing Jaehyun interact with your children filled you with an overwhelming sense of happiness and contentment.

As the laughter subsided, Jaehyun scooped up his children in his arms and carried them over to the couch, where you were waiting with open arms. They snuggled up against you, their eyelids growing heavy with sleep.

"Alright, bedtime, little ones," Jaehyun said softly, pressing a kiss to each of their foreheads.

You tucked them into bed, whispering sweet lullabies as they drifted off to sleep, their soft breathing filling the room with a sense of peace and tranquility.

Once the children were sound asleep, you and Jaehyun shared a quiet moment together, savoring the warmth and love that filled your home. You both indulged in a late-night snack of instant noodles, trying to hide your guilty pleasure from the kids, not wanting them to develop a taste for such unhealthy food at a young age.

"How come you never give me any cute nicknames?" he asked, slurping his noodles. You chuckled, enjoying the banter.

"Well, I love everything about you. Even your name, Jaehyun."

"Do you want me to give you one?"

"Yes, please," he replied playfully.

After a moment of thought, you suggested, "What about Jae?"

"How about 'handsome'?"

"Jae it is," you agreed with a grin.

As the laughter echoed through the room, mingling with the soft glow of the lamp and the warmth of your shared affection, you felt a deep sense of contentment wash over you.

With a glance at Jaehyun, his eyes twinkling with love and happiness, you knew that you were exactly where you were meant to be. And as you leaned in for a tender kiss, surrounded by the love of your husband and children, you felt a sense of peace settle over your heart.

In that moment, you knew that no matter what challenges lay ahead, as long as you had each other, you could weather any storm. And as you nestled into Jaehyun's embrace, surrounded by the warmth and love of your family, you knew that you were home.

--｡⋆✮ 🎧 ✮ ⋆｡--

[reikorun]

KlubOutside Q&A 501-600 [Translation]

Translated by @reikorun

Q501.

2023.08.14

How old is Riruka? (At the time of the Lost Agent of the Shinigami arc.)

A501.

She's 15 years old.

Q502.

2023.08.14

Sensei, when drawing manga, do you pretend to be the central character at that moment, before drawing? Or do you always maintain an objective perspective? 

A502.

Rather than getting into the role of the character, I draw them as if they were right in front of me. When I try to fully embody a character, I feel that the range of the character narrows because there are limits to my own perception. 

Q503.

2023.08.21

Why is it called "Karakura Town"?

A503.

The name comes from the mental image of an empty body with a missing soul (in other words, a corpse). 

Q504.

2023.08.21

Among the Shinigami, there are some who hide the abilities of their own Zanpakutō, and there are some who remain silent about the fact that they can perform Bankai, but aren't there any rules that require them to declare this information?

A504.

Of course, they have an obligation to report on these things.

Q505.

2023.08.21

With respect to BLEACH, I get the impression that there are few explanations of the situation or a character's abilities which resemble a 'voice from above'. Is there something you're particular about with regard to this aspect? 

A505.

I feel like it kills the immersion so I make an effort to avoid using it. Though, I don't particularly dislike this aspect when it comes to reading.

Q506.

2023.08.28

I love the Visored! While there may be differences in the balance of mastery or ineptitude over the Zankensoki, strictly speaking, who is the strongest among those eight when it comes to battle? If the ability of the Zanpakutō is direct attack type, I somehow feel that the user may not have an aptitude for Kidō too, so I would be glad if you could also tell me who is the most adept at Kidō, putting aside Hacchi!

A506.

If we take "adept at Kidō" to mean "a wide range of Kidō variations can be used" then after Haachi, it's Rose. As for who the strongest is, that's hard to say because it depends on the conditions.

Q507.

2023.08.28

How did the Visored previously make a living? Also, Hiyori has a part-time job, but are Love and Hacchi working too?

A507.

Hacchi collaborates with Tessai to develop Kidō goods for use in the Soul Society. Love works part-time at a second hand clothes store.

Q508.

2023.08.28

What specific tasks does Kubo-sensei do when taking on the role of "supervisor" for things like Brave Souls, movies, anime, etc.? For things like Brave Souls, do you check and make corrections to the designs that have been submitted to you?

A508.

The degree of supervision varies depending on the case, and that's the way it is for Brave Souls too.

Q509.

2023.09.04

It was explained within the story that Zaraki Kenpachi took a sword from a Shinigami, but if the Shinigami who had their sword taken were still alive and had achieved Shikai and Bankai, would they end up having a similar ability to Zaraki's Nozarashi?

A509.

That wouldn't happen. Abilities can be overwritten prior to Shikai acquisition (and depending on the person, even after its acquisition).

Q510.

2023.09.04

Rukia and Renji are a working couple, but did Ichika go to nursery school or a daycare center when she was very young, prior to entering the Shin'ō Academy?

A510.

Even though they both took childcare leave, several nannies dispatched by the Kuchiki clan were always stationed at the Abarai residence.

Q511.

2023.09.04

Is the marriage rate low for the Captains and Vice-Captains of the Gotei 13? Are there any Captain class Shinigami we don't know about who are actually married?

A511.

There is no one among the current members. I feel like there aren't many among that lot who seem capable of maintaining a married life…. 

Q512.

2023.09.11

Previously, in response to a question about the names of Hollows, you answered that "there is a person in charge of naming them", but do they name each Hollow one by one? Or are these names only given to Hollows who have murdered Shinigami, or caused a great deal of damage to the Human World 

A512.

It's the latter. Other Hollows are assigned numbers and such based on what is captured. 

Q513.

2023.09.11

About Unagiya Kaoru, he is the son of Unagiya Ikumi and who else? My personal prediction is that it's Tsukishima-san! 

A513.

What a frightening prospect.

Q514.

2023.09.11

Are all the artwork which appear in Guidelines on KlubOutside drawn by Kubo-sensei while your assistants draw the background and other elements?

A514.

That's right. Characters, drawn lettering and effects are my job, while the background, motion lines and screentones are my assistant's job. I thought that if I continued drawing the motion lines by hand, I wouldn't be able to finish the whole piece so halfway through the series I decided to hand that over to my assistants.

Q515.

2023.09.18

It is mentioned that Urahara created his healing hot springs by imitating Kirinji's baths, but do these baths still remain in Soul Society? Or did he go to the Soul King Palace and analyze them?

A515.

A few still remain in a remote area of Rukongai.

Q516.

2023.09.18

Why does Bakudō #81. "Dankū" possess the anti-Hadō capability to "completely block Hadō numbered 89 and below"? Hadō is meant to be used by fellow Shinigami,  in other words, by allies, therefore the anti-Hadō capability is presumably based on the premise of defending against attacks from allies. I speculate that in the past, Shinigami who were skilled in Hadō numbered 89 and below had turned hostile, so Dankū was created as a countermeasure to that. 

A516.

That's a good guess.

Q517.

2023.09.18

Why does Orihime call Grimmjow "Grimmjow" but Ulquiorra "Ulquiorra-kun"?

A517.

That's because the atmosphere on their first meeting was not one where she was able to address Grimmjow with the -kun honorific. Though, I also think Ulquiorra is the same in that regard.

Q518.

2023.09.18

Please tell us the gender of Nianzol Weizol. 

A518.

You'll know when you hear his voice in the anime, but he's a man.

Q519.

2023.09.25

Are the attack methods which utilize Gintō and the Medallion chant used by Ebern all techniques which are classified as "Kirchenlied"? 

A519.

"Kirchenlied" is the equivalent of a Shinigami's "Kidō", therefore that is the case for most techniques which correspond to a spell.

Q520.

2023.09.25

Does Driscoll's Overkill become stronger based on the number of people killed from the time he received his Schrift to now? Or does the buff expire at the end of the battle or some other point? 

A520.

The buff is removed by sleeping, eating, or loss of consciousness.

Q521.

2023.09.25

Are there any characters among the BLEACH cast who wear perfume, or has an image of their scent been decided upon in Kubo-sensei's mind? Recently, perfumes and fragrances that capture the image of one's favorite character or idol have been released regardless of whether they are fictional or real, so I wonder if we'll get some released out of the BLEACH universe as well.

A521.

I've been asked quite frequently to release perfume, so I'm starting to think it might be nice to do so. I don't use perfumes but sometimes I'll buy them when I want the bottle….

Q522.

2023.10.02

Nimaiya Ōetsu makes the Asauchi, but did he create them with Shikai and Bankai in mind from the very outset? Or did he realize that the shape and properties of the swords changed with each individual as they used it, and that phenomenon was then given the name Shikai and Bankai by the Monk?

A522.

That is the correct order of events.

Q523.

2023.10.02

Shishigawara-kun's Fullbring "Jackpot Knuckle" has a characteristic where the probability of hitting the jackpot ends up decreasing with continuous use, but will the probability of a jackpot be restored once it has already been decreased? If it does, I would also like to know what the conditions are.

A523.

There is a gradual recovery from misfortune (taking damage, etc.) Full recovery occurs when crossing over to the next day at midnight. 

Q524.

2023.10.02

When did Hirako Shinji get his tongue pierced? It wasn't pierced during The Past arc, was it…?

A524.

I always forget to draw it, so I may not even include it anymore.

Q525.

2023.10.09

Is the hierarchy of strength for the Bambies: Liltotto > Giselle > Meninas > Bambi > Candice? 

A525.

If they engage in battle with Blut, then that's probably the order. If it's a bare-handed fight then it's: Liltotto → Meninas → Candice → Gigi → Bambi.

Q526.

2023.10.09

Vice-Captain Madarame comes from a distinguished family, but what about 3rd seat Ayasegawa? 

A526.

Yumichika was an abandoned child from Rukongai.

Q527.

2023.10.09

When I look at Rickenbacker, I get a buddy-like vibe and at the same time a faint sense of some maternal quality, but do Dragons even have things like gender?

A527.

They do. By the way, Rickenbacker is male.

Q528.

2023.10.16

The Kōtotsu was completely destroyed by Aizen, but after that, didn't any problems arise within the Dangai? Are there multiple Kōtotsu, or perhaps it was restored through a self-purification function or something?

A528.

It will be restored within the next seven days.

Q529.

2023.10.16

Urahara-san runs a small-time candy shop in the Human World, but is there some specific reason why he chose to open up a candy shop? 

A529.

It's because Kisuke thought that candy shops were the best in that he could open and close the shop as he pleases, and even if he stocks strange items, it's harder to suspect anything is out of the ordinary.

Q530.

2023.10.16

Will there not be a BLEACH themed pachinko machine released? I'm just allowing myself to imagine that the staging effects and so on would be so fun, LOL.

A530.

There are no such plans, but the staging aspect certainly sounds entertaining. ×[1]

Q531.

2023.10.23

When Ichigo wears his sword, he carries Zangetsu on his back, but how is it held in place?

A531.

The sash on the hilt is wrapped around the chain along with the blade.

Q532.

2023.10.23

Is Yukio unmarried in the Echoing Jaws of Hell arc?

A532.

He's unmarried. It doesn't seem very likely that he'll marry….

Q533.

2023.10.23

When I was looking at the art of BLEACH, I got the impression of ballet movements, like the way in which characters use the tips of their toes and the lower half of their bodies. Sensei, do you ever watch ballet?

A533.

I sometimes watch Lausanne on TV, but I'm not very familiar with it. If anything, I suppose the sharp-tongued humor is the thing that I find interesting to watch.

Q534.

2023.10.30

Kotetsu Kiyone and Kotsubaki Sentarō share the same birthday, are they twins related by blood?

A534.

They're unrelated, but every year, they were made to sit side-by-side by Ukitake and celebrate their birthdays together.

Q535.

2023.10.30

How do Arrancar acquire a Zanpakutō? Do their broken mask pieces transform into Zanpakutō after they become Arrancar?

A535.

I'll tell you because I don't particularly feel like drawing it, but the torn part of the mask becomes the sword. So you are correct.

Q536.

2023.10.30

During the Quincy invasion, Mayuri modified his room and clothes to make them glow so that they wouldn't cast shadows, but wouldn't a shadow be created in Nemu's cleavage if left like that? This is a serious question.

A536.

Now that you mention it, that's true…. I should have placed a glow stick or something between her breasts. 

Q537.

2023.11.06

How did you feel when BLEACH was parodied in Gintama?

A537.

When we first met, I was the one who told Sorachi-san "you can do whatever you want"…. Yet, he still apologized to me.

Q538.

2023.11.06

Is Hikifune Kirio-san's Tree of Life based on a similar principle to Kidō?

A538.

It's similar, but since it can only be used by one individual, I guess it's something closer to Ganju's Seppa….

Q539.

2023.11.06

Findorr Calius adjusted his own strength by breaking his mask, but is it also possible to restore his broken mask and strength back to their original state.

A539.

It's possible. Even if it's left alone, it will gradually return to its original state. It's kind of like an injury.

Q540.

2023.11.13

My prized possession is a copy of KaraBuri+ which I bought when I was in the 6th or 5th grade. Would you consider composing something like another official spin-off that is drawn in a light-hearted and humorous manner? I even saw something similar to a Hueco Mundo version of KaraBuri once!

A540.

If other people have drawn something interesting, I'd also like to see it.

Q541.

2023.11.13

I have a question about Ayon and Orihime's abilities! After creating Ayon, if the arms of Apacci and the others were healed via Orihime's powers, could something like an 'Ayon duplication bug' occur? If the arms of the three individuals who create Ayon are restored through Orihime's abilities, would Ayon also disappear? It's just a hypothetical scenario, but I'm intrigued.

A541.

If the bodies of Apacci and co. can endure the rapid continuous regeneration process, a duplication bug is possible. 

Q542.

2023.11.13

I was curious about the differences in size between Minazuki's first appearance, published in volume 18, and the time they landed on Sōkyoku Hill, published in volume 21. Can Minazuki's size be changed at will? Or did they become smaller as a result of the lifesaving measures Unohana gave Hitsugaya and Hinamori at the Seijōtōkyorin? (*The enclave where the Central 46 reside.)

A542.

The size can vary considerably. The smallest size is around the size of a puppy.

Q543.

2023.11.20

I totally want the shoes that Rabu is wearing in the new artwork (color version) from the art exhibition. They're exceedingly stylish, are there any plans to turn them into merch in the future!!!!?

A543.

I love shoes, so I'd be happy if merchandise in the form of shoes that a character is seen wearing could be sold, but I wonder if that can happen.

Q544.

2023.11.20

Quilge Opie used Ransōtengai, but no other Quincy were seen utilizing this technique. Is this simply because Quilge Opie has both the talent and understanding, and has therefore mastered Ransōtengai?

A544.

That's right. Quilge is the combat instructor of the Sternritter, and Quilge's students can also be found among the current Wörtlich.

Q545.

2023.11.20

Gin's Bankai, Kamishini no Yari, had the ability to leave a piece of the sword within the body of his opponent, and then dissolve and break down cells with the poison inside the sword, but will the part that was lost through this process never return to its original state again just like other Bankai? Also, assuming it doesn't return, if this ability is used frequently, will the blade eventually be reduced to nothing meaning his Bankai is rendered unusable? 

A545.

The part left inside the body is made of poison, and since the poison is a secretion of the sword, it will return to its original state after a certain amount of time.

Q546.

2023.11.27

Each Division among the Gotei 13 has its own Squad Flower and a set meaning within Hanakotoba (*the Japanese language of flowers), but are there opportunities to study Hanakotoba as part of a Shinigami's cultivation at the Academy, for instance? (I was curious because there was a scene in chapter 323 where Kira talked about the 3rd Division's Squad Flower.)

A546.

They learn about the Squad Flowers, but Izuru seems to be well-acquainted with things like Hanakotoba in a general sense.

Q547.

2023.11.27

Are there any characters that you wanted to present as enemies even though they are allies, and are there any characters where the reverse is true?

A547.

There isn't any. Each character can only come to fit into their role because of the relationship they have with those around them. 

Q548.

2023.11.27

Before the establishment of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, was there no research institution in Soul Society?

A548.

At one point, there was a group who, though unofficial, were close in that regard (in the sense that they created things). That group disappeared and there was a period of time where no similar organization existed. What was formally established after that is the Shinigami Research and Development Institute. Mayuri belonged to the first group. Senjumaru was their leader.

Q549.

2023.12.04

It is explained in the manga that Lloyd R, the younger brother, can imitate physical likeness and memories, but why is he able to use Yhwach's abilities and weapons? Please tell us if he inherited his elder brother's ability, or if Yhwach granted him some of his own power, or perhaps there is some other reason? 

A549.

Each Lloyd brother can either 'perfectly' copy memories, or 'perfectly' copy powers respectively, any aspect outside of that can be copied on a scale of 70-80%. This is because being able to copy only memories or only powers is of little use. 

Q550.

2023.12.04

Do you have a PS5?

A550.

I don't have one.

Q551.

2023.12.04

What are the future plans for the floor of the 9th Division barracks which Mayuri destroyed with his eye beam in the one-shot? Will Hisagi and Kensei pay for the repairs?

A551.

They'll submit the bill to the 12th Division, and if that does work, they'll submit the bill to the 1st Division, and if that still doesn't work, then one way or another Shūhei will probably end up paying for it.

Q552.

2023.12.11

Who is the President of the Shinigami Women's Association by the time of the Echoing Jaws of Hell arc? I think the President is Lisa and the Supervising Chairwoman is Isane….

A552.

The President is Rangiku and the Chairwoman is Yoruichi. By the way, Soifon calls herself Vice-Chairwoman without asking anyone.

Q553.

2023.12.11

Is the aspect of death governed by the Espada the same for different people, as long as they have the same number, like Harribel and Nelliel, for instance? If it's different, I'd like to know what it was for Nelliel when she was an Espada!

A553.

It's the same. Nelliel is also "sacrifice".

Q554.

2023.12.11

Q: Does sensei have an ability to sense the supernatural? 

Q: When I read Bleach for the first time, I allowed myself to think “the author definitely has a sixth sense!" But do you really?

A554.

I don't. But I've been told a few times "you must have a sixth sense, for sure!" But, I don't.

Q555.

2023.12.18

Thank you for the wonderful posters at the art exhibition. I bought both the A and B collection. If the posters will be expanded on in the future, will the designs from the Shibuya poster takeover be made into merch? It was super cool and I was walking around Shibuya at the time while becoming all the more proud that BLEACH is my favorite manga. If there is even the slightest possibility, please consider it...!!

A555.

I like those posters too, so I'm hoping they'll sell well in the FC.

Q556.

2023.12.18

Does the blade grow as a Zanpakutō develops? 

A556.

The length of an Asauchi does not change, however when Shikai is used it will change in accordance with its development.

Q557.

2023.12.18

Is there some special relationship between the Komamura family and the Shihōin clan in BLEACH given that they are dogs and cats?

A557.

"Komamura" is the surname given to him when he was taken in by Genryūsai, it is not associated with his family lineage.

Q558.

2023.12.25

Were Yumichika and Yachiru's hair ornaments (or other accessories) made by Ikkaku?

A558.

Yachiru's hair ornament is handcrafted by Ikkaku. Yumichika bought his accessories himself. 

Q559.

2023.12.25

Did Mizuiro's parents pay for his high school tuition? 

A559.

It was paid for with child-support payments from his father.

Q560.

2023.12.25

Does the position of Substitute Shinigami come without compensation? Do you gain some sort of reward? Ichigo is a high school student and doesn't seem the type to accept rewards as far as his personality is concerned, but I'm curious if there has ever been any offer of reward from the Gotei! I think other Shinigami fight while receiving a salary and incentives as part of their job, so I'd like to know how the Gotei's substitute positions are handled.

A560.

In the beginning, the position was without reward. After receiving the Substitute Badge, it's now come to be that a reward will be deposited within a Seireitei account. Ichigo hasn't been informed though.

Q561.

2024.01.01

Will sensei be eating osechi* during New Year's? (*Assortment of traditional New Year foods.)

A561.

I eat it every year. Currently, I'm in the process of searching for osechi that suits my tastes. After all, you only get one chance a year. If only we had a New Year holiday like three times a year.

Q562.

2024.01.01

When Don Kanonji first appeared, he was performing an exorcism at an abandoned hospital, was it Ishida who tried to stop Kanonji's exorcism at the beginning?

A562.

Yes.

Q563.

2024.01.01

I noticed something in the Echoing Jaws of Hell arc section of BLEACH EX. the "Taka" (*hawk) which came out with Rindō Atau's Zanpakutō ability was "Washi" (*eagle) in the rough draft, right? What was the reason for the change? Is it because the hawk seems faster…?

A563.

I believe this was because eagle in sign language is the same as hawk and was derived from hawk to begin with, and also because hawks have a stronger Japanese image. 

Q564.

2024.01.08

Ayon ended up being defeated both times in the story, but let's assume he wasn't defeated, would he continue to exist forever…? If so, that would be awfully frightening. I'm curious about what he got up to when summoned in the past!

A564.

After a short while, he will self-destruct, and not long after that, the arms of Apacci and the others will grow back.

Q565.

2024.01.08

Due to the actions of PePe Waccabrada, Shūhei and Byakuya fought each other, but Byakuya behaved as if he were trying to avoid hurting Shūhei as much as possible. Personally, I think that Byakuya before he met Ichigo would have killed Shūhei. It might be presumptuous of me to talk about Byakuya like I understand him, but as I read on, I feel that Byakuya's views and personality have changed. What do you think?

A565.

I think you're right.

Q566.

2024.01.08

What time does sensei wake up every morning?

A566.

I've been quite busy lately, so ten o'clock. I can't even watch Love It! in real time anymore….

Q567.

2024.01.15

Was it because her five older brothers had passed away that Soi Fon succeeded as the head of Fon family? Or is there some kind of custom where a woman always becomes the head in the Fon family like a "queen bee".

A567.

The strongest person in that generation becomes the head of the family, regardless of gender.

Q568.

2024.01.15

I would like to know the Shikai abilities of the three seated officers of the 3rd Division who were instantly killed by Bazz-B in volume 56!

A568.

Those abilities which never got a chance to be showcased are a secret because I may use them somewhere else.

Q569.

2024.01.15

Kubo-sensei, you mentioned that you draw illustrations on the larger iPad pro, so I also want to try an iPad for the first time, but looking back do you ever feel like… there is something about it that could have been done better? Additionally, I would like to hear about the types of brushes you use in Clip Studio Paint when line drawing and when adding color, and also how you divide your drawing into layers!!!!

A569.

I hope it becomes lighter. As for pens, I often use a pen called Kasure Kashi (*machine translated as “Casper pen” in Clip Studio) and for brushes I use one called Muk01. I separate the layers depending on my mood.

Q570.

2024.01.22

I would like to know the name of the technique that was used when Kirinji Tenjirō got behind Soi Fon. Although she's supposed to have top-class speed among the Gotei 13, Soi Fon couldn't read his movements at all, thinking "what was that move just now…!" Is this because the Hohō used by Kirinji Tenjirō was not "Shunpo"?

A570.

It's the same Shunpo. Shunpo consists of a three stage process: Joritsu, Bakkyaku and Shunpo. Tenjirō is incredibly skilled at the second stage, "Bakkyaku", which allows him to achieve unbelievable speeds. ×[2]

Q571.

2024.01.22

Can't Orihime heal Izuru's body?

A571.

She may be able to heal him, but Izuru probably likes it that way….

Q572.

2024.01.22

Did sensei have any involvement in selecting the songs and characters for Burikon: Bleach Concept Covers? Also, is there one in particular that you liked among the Burikon covers?

A572.

I wasn't involved at all, but I remember liking Mayuri and Nemu's part.

Q573.

2024.01.29

What material is the Substitute Shinigami Badge made of? I want to make one myself as perfectly as I possibly can, so please tell me what it would look like in reality! 

A573.

The Substitute's Badge is made of metal. Iron would be too heavy for something of that size, so maybe aluminum would be a closer fit…?

Q574.

2024.01.29

Does Ise Nanao wear glasses because her eyesight has deteriorated by reading too many books? Or is it that the Ise clan are by nature a family with poor eyesight?

A574.

It's a family with poor eyesight.

Q575.

2024.01.29

In volume 62, Urahara-san mentioned that the Quincy are "a race that have no 'antibodies' at all to defend against Hollows." However, Ishida Uryū was at the receiving end of Fornicarás's abilities during his battle with Szayelaporro, and he had his lower arm torn off by Ulquiorra. Was this at a level that is not applicable to the "erosion" that Urahara-san talks about? Or is Uryū special?

A575.

Uryū is special.

Q576.

2024.02.05

Why does Akon have horns on his head?

A576.

They're implants (transdermal implants).

Q577.

2024.02.05

Dordoni, Cirucci, Luppi and Chuhlhourne were all revived at the hands of Mayuri-sama, but while the former three had suture marks on their faces, Chuhlhourne is the only one who had suture marks on his abdomen, is this perhaps the benevolence of Mayuri-sama? 

A577.

I too looked at and thought "who knew Mayuri could be so kind!" 

Q578.

2024.02.05

In the scene where Ichigo is taught the Final Getsuga Tenshō by Tensa Zangetsu, Ichigo is told "you feared taking on this form in which your mind is suppressed by your own destructive impulses, and as a result you've even become incapable of properly Hollowfying." However, if he were able to Hollowfy properly, would he have been able to manifest the mask with horns that covered his entire face as shown in the battle against Ulquiorra?

A578.

If he were able to "properly" Hollowfy, then he would take on that form.

Q579.

2024.02.12

While in the Dangai, what mechanism did Ulquiorra use to show Orihime the situation in the Human World as images via Garganta?

A579.

There's no lore about this at all!! What kind of system is it!? Ulquiorra!!?

Q580.

2024.02.12

Among the spirits of her Shun Shun Rikka, the ability belonging to Orihime, Tsubaki is the only one who is rebellious towards his master. Is that a reaction stemming from Orihime's dislike of conflict and hurting others given her personality? Tsubaki is her only means of attack, but Orihime does not want to use him too actively. Deep down, she hesitates (fears) to attack her opponent, that is, she unconsciously rejects her means of attack, which contradicts the reason for Tsubaki's existence, and I thought for a moment that maybe he was irritated by that fact.

A580.

That's correct. How impressive, I didn't expect someone to read so deeply into Rikka like this. 

Q581.

2024.02.12

Regarding Orihime's ability, Shun Shun Rikka: Sōten Kisshun, it is weak at recovering Reiryoku because Sōten Kisshun is based on the rejection of events and Orihime rejects the form of a wounded individual, in other words, the underlying force is her desire to restore their condition to its original state, to make it out as though it never happened, could another reason be that it's difficult for her to recognize how much intangible Reiryoku needs to be recovered? Is it that Shun Shun Rikka's abilities come from Orihime's own feelings of rejection and denial, or to put it another way, does it stem from wanting things to be a certain way? 

A581.

You are more or less correct. The things that can be restored with Sōten Kisshun are, for the most part, what is visible to the eyes and what can be touched with the hands.

Q582.

2024.02.19

Kubo-sensei, is there a character in BLEACH that you consider to be closest to you in terms of your own personality? 

A582.

There isn't. No one that I draw resembles me!

Q583.

2024.02.19

When Kūkaku sends Ichigo to the Soul King Palace in the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, she appears to be aware of the connection between Ichigo and Isshin saying "even if it means making uncle sad." Did Kūkaku somehow sense this, or was there some interaction between her and the Shiba clan or Shinigami she was acquainted with in places that are not depicted within the story, after the situation with Aizen was resolved, for instance? 

A583.

Kūkaku has been aware of this through Ichigo's Reiatsu since the beginning (volume 9). That's why she let Ganju go with him. Of course, she also received a message from Kisuke at a later time.

Q584.

2024.02.19

The masks of Loly Aivirrne and Menoly Mallia appear to have a design that forms a pair with the left and right eyes, perhaps they are Arrancar with a relationship like that of twin sisters?

A584.

Although these two are not sisters, they have taken a sisterly vow and shaved down their masks in order to resemble each other.

Q585.

2024.02.26

I believe there are works which publish illustrations drawn by readers in the tankōbon of the manga. Bleach didn't have that, but is it that you have a certain preference towards your own tankōbon, Kubo-sensei?

A585.

As a child, I was the type of kid who thought "I didn't buy this to see drawings from readers" when looking at the illustration segment of the manga I used to read, so I didn't do it with my own manga. However, I have kept all the illustrations that were sent to me during the series.

Q586.

2024.02.26

The Captains of the Zero Division are each given one of the five cities atop the Zeroban Riden (*the disc-like structures which are their estates), but if the number of Zero Division captains increased, will a new Zeroban Riden be added? Or is the capacity for Captains limited to 5 individuals in accordance with the number of Zeroban Riden?

A586.

The upper limit is 5 people.

Q587.

2024.02.26

What does the "chain" in Tensa Zangetsu (*Heavenly Chain Slaying Moon) represent? Is it the Chain of Fate? 

A587.

"Tensa" means "to lock the heavens", and it's a chain used to link and secure two things together.

Q588.

2024.03.04

What material is the black part of Riruka's clothes made of?

A588.

It's stretch cotton.

Q589.

2024.03.04

I would like to know the nationality of the Sternritter!!!

A589.

In order to avoid a fixed nationality for the group as a whole, I name them in a way which appears to contain spellings from various regions.

Q590.

2024.03.04

In what way did Yamamoto and Unohana come to meet?

A590.

I might draw it someday, so it's a secret.

Q591.

2024.03.11

In his KaraBuri profile, it is noted that the food Hisagi dislikes is sea urchin, but where did he eat it? Or perhaps he came to dislike it because he was teased about the fact that his hairstyle resembles a sea urchin?

A591.

He ruined it for himself after eating the cheap sea urchin he could afford on his salary.

Q592.

2024.03.11

When Rangiku woke up from Hakufuku, she said "this sensation… it's Hakufuku…" I don't think there were many instances of fellow Shinigami fighting each other in Soul Society before Aizen's rebellion, so it seems unlikely she'd recognize the sensation of being put under Hakufuku. Could it be that she is acquainted with the feeling because Shinigami experience it during their time at the Shin'ō Academy in Kidō classes?

A592.

They experience this in class, but Rangiku also has the experience of falling victim to it. 

Q593.

2024.03.11

In the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, I believe Captain Komamura takes on a human-like form through the Humanization Technique, however, did he suddenly turn into a wolf after the battle because the technique's time limit had expired? Or is it because Captain Komamura himself was consumed by a desire for revenge? If the reason is the latter, is it correct to assume that as long as Komamura had maintained good intentions such as "protecting Soul Society", he wouldn't have turned into a wolf?

A593.

You are pretty much correct. The "Humanization Technique" is a technique that allows him to maintain a human form while withstanding his great-grandfather's curse. The moment the purpose of Humanization becomes a selfish desire, the curse is forcibly fulfilled, and one transforms into a beast.

Q594.

2024.03.18

No matter how many times I read the manga, I still don't quite understand the relationship between Nelliel and Nnoitra. I would like you to explain it in a way that even an idiot can understand. 

A594.

Even if you don't understand, it doesn't mean you're stupid. Just enjoy it when you do understand.

Q595.

2024.03.18

If "Qualkreis" is broadly classified as a Quincy tactic, could it also be considered one of the Kirchenlied? Please let me know if there is any lore around this.

A595.

"Qualkreis" is one of the Quincy spells. "Kirchenlied" is not a classification, but a "chant" for "Sankt Zwinger".

Q596.

2024.03.18

During the Decisive Battle of Karakura Town, is it because of an illusion created by Kyōka Suigetsu that Mashiro's mask broke away without her noticing the depletion of her own Reiatsu? 

A596.

It's because Mashiro is just that kind of person who would allow a slip-up like that to happen.

Q597.

2024.03.25

Izuru was quite cheerful during his student days, so why did his personality become gloomy?

A597.

Wait, he was cheerful…? Izuru has been gloomy since the minute he was born.

Q598.

2024.03.25

Captain Unohana named herself "Yachiru", but her current name "Retsu", is that originally her real name? Or is it that, after becoming "Yachiru", she named herself once again, this time to "Retsu"?

A598.

"Retsu" is the name given to her by her father.

Q599.

2024.03.25

After absorbing Ayon, Quilge's appearance steadily returns to its original form, but could this be because his Heiligenschein was destroyed by Ichigo, causing the abilities of his Vollständig to gradually wear off?

A599.

It's because his Heiligenschein was destroyed and thus his "Piskiel" collapsed. The essence of Quilge's "Piskiel" ability lies in the fact that he has the highest capacity for the capture and enslavement of Reishi among all Quincy.

Q600.

2024.04.01

I'm debating whether or not I should have my son take lessons in English conversation. Is sensei able to speak English? 

A600.

Since being able to speak English is an advantage, please allow him to learn it. I can't speak it myself, though.

Translation Footnotes:

×1. Staging in this context means staging of the frenzied screen/sound effects of the roulette for stirring up the gambling spirit of players.

×2. These are terms which appear to be coined by Kubo: 序立(じょりつ) - "Joritsu" means "opening stance". 抜脚(ばっきゃく) - "Bakkyaku" means "to draw out one's leg", and judging by the way we use 抜 in other terms, it alludes momentum that is created suddenly and rapidly by lifting or drawing out one's leg from the starting position. For example: the word Battōjutsu (抜刀術) - “the art of drawing out one's sword”, that is, getting the sword into action as quickly as possible in response to a sudden attack or some other situation which requires the rapid drawing of one's sword. I believe Bakkyaku is a similar concept except in the context of Hohō as opposed to swords. 

[nunalastor]

Who would like a needlessly tragic backstory for our dear Sheep Girl?

No? No takers? Welp, here's one anyway.

Like every other sinner, her sheep form is a punishment for the mistakes she made in life. She grew up in an extremely strict household and while some people living under those conditions might become sneaky or rebellious, she pushed down her own needs and strove to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible to survive. She always did exactly as her parents told her, didn't go to the school of her dreams, only took jobs they approved of, married quickly to the man her parents pushed her towards.

It was a horrible marriage. While her husband maintained a picture perfect facade in front of other people, he was extremely emotionally and physically abusive in private. And still, she couldn't bring herself to speak against him out of fear of disappointing her parents, who were extremely fond of him.

Then she got pregnant. She had extremely mixed emotions about the pregnancy. She thought there would be more time before this happened, she wasn't sure she was ready, she didn't want HIS child...

At first, her husband seemed like he was thrilled to be a father. He started to treat her more kindly. Stopped hitting her. As the pregnancy progressed, however, his reign on his temper slipped, he'd get annoyed with her over little stresses related to the pregnancy, especially as she began to struggle with keeping up with the housework he still fully expected from her. One day he got especially mad and shoved her against the kitchen counter, so that the corner was pressing into her stomach, and he held her there and screamed while she just tried to remain as still and silent as possible until it was over.

She miscarried. When the doctor saw the massive bruising across her stomach, she mechanically defended her husband with a faraway look in her eyes. When she finally returned home her husband blamed her for the baby's loss. A quiet part of her thought that she should have been relieved but when she couldn't fall asleep one night, she ended up wandering into the half-finished nursery.

And she just crumbled. Fell to her knees sobbing not just for her child, but for herself as well. It felt like the world had just fallen apart around her and she was stuck living a sham of a life with a man who she hated and who hated her. Still in tears, she made her way down to the kitchen and grabbed the largest knife in the set before going back upstairs to the bedroom to wait for him to come home from a night of drinking with his buddies.

She called the police herself, once the deed was done. Sat on her bed next to her husband's cooling body with blood soaking her sweater and an empty expression and waited for them. She barely remembers the events of being taken away by the police, talking to a slew of officers and lawyers and family members. No one who mattered was on her side; not her parents, not her in-laws. She had no friends of her own thanks to the tight leash her husband kept her on. She was alone, aside from the pitying looks of strangers.

When it came to court, she fully intended to plea guilty despite her lawyer doing their absolute best on her behalf. After all, it wasn't like she had much of a life to return to. But there in the courtroom, before her sentence could be handed down, her mother-in-law pulled a small handgun out of her purse and shot sheep girl right there in front of the judge and everyone.

People swarmed her bleeding body trying to save her, but she was ready to let go. Her last thought was that she was glad that, for once, she'd done exactly what she wanted.

[foolishlovers]

Could you do a collection of found family fic recs??? 👀 or maybe a rare pair collection??

here are some good omens found family fic recs:

An Angel's Wrath (or At Least He's Trying) by Mysti_Gayle (G, 1k) Adam hated knowing that he had caused them so much stress this evening, particularly Aziraphale, whom he greatly admired for his kindness. Now, he had felt like he had taken advantage of that, and the guilt crushed him.

Four-Letter Accusations by Pink_October_Bones (G, 1k) Warlock has a suspicion that Nanny might not be as loveless as she likes to claim.

Never Have I Ever (Been Myself) by FeralTuxedo (M, 28k) Aziraphale Fell, BAFTA-winning actor of stage and screen, is bored. Bored of playing middle-aged divorcees in dull BBC dramas. Bored of answering the same questions on chat shows and breakfast television. Bored of keeping the real him hidden away. So when the opportunity presents itself to collaborate with up-and-coming rock band Witching Hour, he takes it, against his own common sense and the condescending advice of his agent. Witching Hour’s mysterious guitarist Crowley, flame-haired, moody, and a good fifteen years his junior, certainly seems worth the risk. A human actor/rock star AU.

search terms by Vagabond (M, 43k) Aziraphale expects it to be a quiet night working in the university library when a flashy red haired, foul mouthed, panicking student needs to find credible sources for his paper and can't figure out how to use the search. Little does Aziraphale know that meeting Crowley will lead him on a path to self-discovery, and give him the family he didn't realize he needed.   From a prompt on tumblr: College AU - You’re REALLY GOOD at using the right search terms for the academic databases and I’m on a deadline.

Loving You Slow by TawnyOwl95 (E, 46k) Crowley just wants to dance, but he's not prepared to sell his soul (and other things) at Mayfair's Hellfire Club to do it. Tending bar at The Bookshop in Soho is just the escape he needs, providing Crowley can convince the club’s owner he really belongs on the stage. Unfortunately Aziraphale Eastgate is not quite the generous guardian angel Crowley has been led to believe. Welcome to The Bookshop, where it always pays to look under the covers.

It never hurts to keep looking for sunshine by Dervila, elf_on_the_shelf (E, 63k) After Adam's parents die in a car crash, Aziraphale is forced to start taking care of him as more than just an uncle. Don't get him wrong, he loves the little devil, it's just that he is completely clueless and could rather use some help. In comes Crowley, Adam's new nursery school teacher with his amazing skills in dealing with kids. Could he be the answer to all of Aziraphale's prayers - Adam-related and otherwise? Well, it looks like he might be just that, judging by the weird things Aziraphale's heart seems to be doing whenever he sets eyes on the man. Now, if only the tall ginger returned his feelings…

Golden Handcuffs by seekwill (E, 70k) Far from any city, near the Scottish coast, Tadfield College has a celebrated history, an unrivaled academic reputation, and two departments at war. When the Biology and English departments are forced to share a building, Senior Lecturer and botanist Anthony Crowley finds himself drawn into the orbit of the polite but strange English professor, Dr. Aziraphale Fell. As the new term begins, two academics navigate the politics of both their offices and academia, and try to solve the puzzle of one another.

Barriers, and the Breaking Thereof by Cardinal_Daughter (M, 71k) Ezra Fell has long been comfortable in his loneliness. He’s content to simply run the Soho Public Library and otherwise keep to himself. However, when a handsome stranger bursts in one evening with a baby, frantic and in need of help, Ezra finds those carefully constructed barriers he’s long maintained begin to crack. Perhaps it’s time to let them fall. Human AU. Complete.

The Sometimes Wife by AgentStannerShipper (E, 74k) It is a truth universally acknowledged that older brothers are the worst. As the youngest of three children, Parson Aziraphale Fell has been given an ultimatum: find a wife, or lose the family's support. The only problem? Aziraphale has never looked at a woman that way in his life. His attention has instead been captured by the family gardener, a beautiful young man who holds Aziraphale's heart in his hands. But when a mysterious newcomer arrives in the village, Aziraphale finds himself falling - quite unexpectedly - for her as well. Aziraphale knows he will have to choose. After all, it's not as if he can have both…can he?

What We Make of It (Shotgun Wedding) by charlottemadison (E, 213k) The important thing, Crowley tells himself -- the most important thing -- is Adam, his brilliant, creative, empathetic nephew. Being fourteen's hard enough; the kid didn't ask to deal with the weight of the world on top of it. And if taking care of Adam means Crowley has to tough it out at a job he can’t stand, so be it. And if Crowley's job means that Adam’s charming English teacher is NOT a romantic possibility, well, that's just how things go. But the occasional drink with Aziraphale proves hard to resist. They frequent the same pub, so who can object to them saying hello? Briefly sharing a table? Perhaps a little conversation? The painful knowledge that it can’t be anything more -- not without somebody getting fired or sued or both -- well, that can't be helped. Until Crowley stumbles onto a terribly reckless idea…

i also love writing found family fics myself:

The Anon Before Christmas by foolishlovers (E, 66k) When Crowley’s friend, blogging buddy and business partner Anathema announces her annual Secret Santa Exchange on Tumblr, she is very adamant Crowley should join this year. The old-fashioned (but admittedly compassionate) man he gets assigned to send anonymous messages to every day until Christmas sounds awfully similar to the fussy bookseller that his friends adore, yet Crowley tries to avoid at all costs. But surely his friends would have mentioned if Aziraphale had taken an interest in the Bad Omens fandom as well… right? Or: An Enemies to Lovers Secret Santa Tumblr AU.

Tales of Turning Pages by foolishlovers (E, 73k) Every Tuesday, aspiring romance novelist Anthony J. Crowley pays a visit to his local library and the charming angel working there. Every Tuesday, Aziraphale Fell finds himself more and more intrigued by the curious stranger who turns his orderly life as a small-town librarian upside down.

Wild Hearts by foolishlovers (E, 56k+, WIP) In the idyllic English countryside, far from the hustle and bustle of the big city, two teachers at Willowbrook Hall set out to transform their students’ lives through the world of theatre. But for Mr. Crowley, the challenge of navigating his long hidden feelings and dear friendship with Mr. Fell may prove to be the greatest drama of all.

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

You know what, I've seen plenty of people throw their Spider origins tales into the ring so let me add my outlandish idea to the mix. For some reason in my mind I have created an elaborate au where the RDA are funded by some 1%-er back on Earth and create a test batch in order to perfect their recoms, only for the test batch they use random people's memories from throughout all of their memory research (no point in tampering with any important memories, after all) and these people eventually create their own sort of society in this cove and in order to remember parts of their human culture they put a heavy emphasis on, like, music and oral stories that range from classics like Lord of the Flies and Homer's Illiad and Odyssey to things like Peter Rabbit and the hungry hungry caterpillar and fairytales and basic nursery rhymes and other children's stories for the little kids to just fun folktales and whatnot to just everyday books we would read today (Twilight and Harry Potter, anyone?) and even poetry and comics. And the music is even more varied. Pop songs and lullabies and folk songs and hip-hop and way more, and as they get more adept at crafting they begin to try and make instruments from back on Earth (I just like to imagine the trail and error going on there) and eventually they get the hang of it.

I like to think all of these stories and songs and genres would just mesh together in the funnest ways possible (Peter Rabbit becomes Little Jack Rabbit, for example; this naughty rabbit who spends his time doing crazy shit like stealing a giant fox's golden goose and narrowly avoiding being beaten by a farmer when he's caught trying to steal his vegetables---instead of "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candle stick" it becomes "Jack is nimble, Jack is quick, Jack can dodge the Farmer's stick") and maybe even begin to evolve into their own new stories and whatnot with some Na'vi influence but that's an ask for another time because rn I want to get to the point lol. So a little before Spider is born (in this au Paz is one of these experimental driverless avatars, but unlike the others she remained stationed at Hell's Gate; and Quaritch has an avatar because I said so) Paz flees to these people and Spider is raised there and this brings me to the whole reason I've created this elaborate thing: so Jake is aware of these people and is on good terms with them after the war. They're a direct link to his past and much like him in the sense that they were once human and now walk in a 2nd body, so he often visits them when time permits it but never brings the kids along. Think of this group like Jake's one indulgence after doing his best to fully commit to the Na'vi way. He wants his kids raised in this way and knows he's already pushing it with allowing the scientists back at Hell's Gate re-opening Grace's school.

Now, all of this being said, Norm and the scientists are very interested in the society that has formed. It's not very often a scientist gets to witness the creation of a unique culture first-hand (and on an entirely different planet, no less) and they're curious to learn more about these people. The only problem is that Jake is really the only outsider they trust after all they experienced gaining their independence. Due to this Norm and Max invite some of these people's children to the school as a way to hopefully begin building a friendly relationship that will one day lead to them in turn being invited to their settlement.

This is how the Sullies meet Spider, who is the son of Paz, the lead "Priestess of Songs". Spider is next in line to carry on the entirety of all of the songs and stories both maintained and created by their people, and as such he is sort of the child who sets an example for all of the others and so him attending basically decides if any others will attend the school as well. I imagine this story to go one of two ways: nocorro or locorro, though either way I know he and Kiri will end up besties.

Will I end up writing this? Will I not? Idk tbh, inspiration is to me like a breeze is to summer. Short-lived and often weak. I just felt like telling someone and you're always super nice about this stuff. Anyways there's a lot more I feel should be said about my thoughts but I've already hit you with a lot so if you want to hear more just say the word lol, but I'll stop here.

What an interesting idea! I'm really glad you guys think I'm nice about your ideas, why wouldn't I be! They're always super cool! I love sharing ideas and working on the concepts and headcanons with you guys, shoot me whatever! I know I keep saying it, but we'll be able to go back and forth much faster in a couple weeks lol.

I am very intrigued by the idea of how fast this culture formed if Paz is one of the original test subjects. I know Grace herself has been on Pandora for like, thirty years, so it has been a while, but not long enough for them to forget songs and stories to the point they have melded yet. I'm also curious as to how they gained their independence! Also how did Paz become their leader if she joined later?

Nocorro is of course, fun in this because Neteyam and Spider are both young leaders. They can bond over that pressure and hopefully let loose a little together. It also creates an interesting tragedy, of who is going to sacrifice their place if they are going to be together forever. Damn nocorro always ends up a little tragic.

Locorro would be like, Lo'ak totally being annoyed by this perfect guy Spider coming in and being a perfect role model. Then idk, he tries to get him to crack that image by teasing him or trying to get him to laugh, annoying him until he breaks. Kiri and Neteyam are all "stop flirting with Spider" and Lo'ak is like 👀. Lol poor Spider, he's never had such a hard time being serious he wants to laugh and tease back and be equally as annoying. This is his kryptonite.

[chuuyrr]

Can I request a second time?- if I can't just ignore this.

Baby! scarlet enrolling and first day in bungou preschools. Yk how in the wan! there was a preschool. Dazai the teacher the others preschoolers.

At first, she ignored everyone in school incuding the staff and principal fukuzawa- but after she found out that the school she was in was full of gifted with abilities she had fun with her new school.

scarlet witch! baby fushiguro! reader enrolls at bungo stray dogs preschool

jujutsu kaisen x reader x bungou stray dogs

masterlist of the series

╰➤ CW(s): bsd wan w/ scarlet witch! baby fushiguro! reader content (scenario + headcanons), possible spoilers for bungou stray dogs, mentions of scarlet witch's powers, and major themes of fluff,

╰➤ PAIRING(s): platonic! bungou stray dogs x reader, dad! gojo satoru x child! reader

hi there, kie :D there isn't really a limit when it comes to requesting, so as long as requests are open, you can request as many as you like! also, thank you so much for requesting and being patient, as well as for tagging me on where i can read bsd wan!! been needing free therapy, but nevermind that, this ain't abt me :P anyway, this is will be the first time im writing for bsd wan, enjoy reading!! ♡

before you read: this is a jjk x bsd crossover, if you're new and interested about knowing more, kindly check the masterlist of the oneshot series above, as well as my pinned post to see what i write about and such!!

bsd scenario !

"everyone, gather around!"

the preschoolers instantly gathered as per instructed by their dazai-sensei, the junior caretaker of the nursery they each go to. 

"what is it, dazai-sensei?" atsushi was the first one to ask, "are we getting ice cream?"

"are we having juice for lunch?" the other preschoolers held hopeful gazes as kenji inquired next.

"oh, no, no, no." dazai shook his head, softly chuckling, causing the kids to make a sad noise, but that changed when he said, "someone new will be joining us from now on!"

the brunet took a step back and motioned to you, who had been standing behind him since earlier. as their dazai-sensei introduced you, all of the children looked at you with interest and curiosity. you, too, were dressed in the nursery uniform, but yours was scarlet, and you were wearing black shorts, knee-high socks, and school shoes.

"everyone, meet fushiguro [name]-chan!" dazai happily introduced you.

"wah! a new kid!" atsushi exclaimed excitedly along with the other children.

as you stood still, you were inundated with greetings such as friendly "hi's" and "hello's".

"nice to meet you, [name]-chan!" kenji extended his hand for you to shake, but much to his and everyone's dismay, you simply stared at him and his hand, blinking as you maintained a stoic expression; it reminded them of akutagawa as well.

"e-eh? what's wrong [name]-chan? don't you wanna shake kenji-kun's hand?" dazai looked at you with concern, scratching his chin. you simply stared back before averting your gaze, shaking your head 'no' and fiddling with the hem of your nursery uniform.

"[name]-chan seems like a shy kid." chuuya, the older kid of the group, pointed out something that all of the other kids agreed on.

"hmm, it's okay! you don't have to shake my hand if you don't want to!" kenji smiled at you either way as he drew back his hand.

"do you wanna play with us instead, [name]-chan?" atsushi offered, showing you a ball he, kunikida, ranpo, and kyouka had planned to play with before you and dazai arrived.

you simply stared before shaking your head, earning a frown from him and the rest of the kids. after their attempts to get you to talk and play with them, you left to read a storybook from the shelves by yourself in a corner.

"she's not mute, is she, dazai-sensei?" akutagawa tugged on the apron of the caretaker before pointing at you.

"she hasn't said a word since she got here." kyouka said in addition, "is she okay?"

kunikida stated before folding his arms across his chest, "she's kind of like ranpo-kun when he first came here."

"[name]-chan can speak, i assure you. she just spoke to her father a little while ago," dazai replied to the children, recalling how you and gojo said your goodbyes before he left you with him. the brunet's frown deepened as he muttered so quietly that the kids barely heard him. "but when gojo-kun said [name]-chan has trouble with kids her age, i didn't expect it to be this serious."

dazai remembered being approached by gojo satoru, a close friend of his who he likes to think is a "variant" of him due to how similar they are, before you were enrolled and brought to the bungo stray dogs nursery. according to gojo, you are a child he has had custody of for a long time. although you had no problems with gojo, your older brother, and the rest of your family-figures, you become an entirely different person around kids your age, which is quite concerning because you need to interact in order to improve your social interaction with other people and independence.

"then, why isn't she talking or playing with us?" kyouka tipped her head to the side. "does she not like us?"

"what? no! that isn't the case at all. [name]-chan just needs some time adjusting. this is her first preschool, that's all." dazai assured them all with a smile. "which is why i need all of your help. i want you all to be nice to [name]-chan and make her feel like she's just at home, okay?"

"okay, dazai-sensei!" they all chimed.

as time passed, you continued to ignore the other kids, and not just the other kids, but all of the nursery staff, including the principal fukuzawa himself, despite the fact that everyone adored him. when you had to sit with them, you simply sat in the corner or remained completely silent.

the poor kids thought they were talking to a wall around you and almost thought you were mute because you just stared and shook your head 'no' the majority of the time they initiated to do something with you. 

"how's [name]?" yosano, one of the caretakers of the nursery, approached dazai to see him frowning as he stared at you, who was simply sitting on a swing all by yourself while the others were playing in groups of twos and threes. apparently, everyone, including you, was outside in the playground.

"still no luck, yosano-sensei." dazai sighed and ran his fingers through his brown hair.

"i see. the principal is concerned. he hasn't met a kid like [name] before." yosano shook her head, "did her father tell you anything that could help us help her?"

"all gojo-kun said is that she has difficulty mingling with other kids her age; he doesn't know why, but [name] just tells him she doesn't like them," dazai explained briefly.

"there must be a reason." yosano's gaze shifted towards you afterwards before shaking her head.

you were sitting alone on a swing, enjoying the calmness of the wind and the peace of being alone, still ignoring everyone else, when a ball literally flew towards you.

"[NAME]-CHAN!! WATCH OUT!!"

just as you panickedly raised your head in the direction of the voice. when you saw how close the ball was to you, you immediately closed your eyes, deciding to accept your fate instead, but nothing happened. the impact of the ball striking you never arrived. you slowly opened your eyes, puzzled, and found yourself in shock. a white tiger cub was right in front of you, and riding on top of him was that akutagawa-kid, with black tendrils shooting out from his back, completely slicing up the ball intended to hit you.

"akutagawa and atsushi worked together to save [name]-chan?!" the kids were in awe, knowing how the two don't get along very well, and so were dazai and yosano as they ran to get you were just as surprised, but paused to see you interact with the children for the first time (cue yosano pulling dazai by the collar to prevent him for intervening).

"[name]-chan, are you okay?" atsushi, who had just transformed into a white tiger cub, inquired, turning his head to face you only to become concerned. "ahh! did you get hurt?!"

"you have powers too?" you spoke to them for the first time, blinking as tears welled up in your eyes. "you saved me with them too.."

"of course we did. all of us have abilities. dazai-sensei is worried about you, you know." akutagawa scoffed, his gaze averted, but his tone of voice wasn't as harsh. his voice was indeed soft-spoken, as evidenced by the way his next words rolled off quietly. "you shouldn't make him even more worried with you getting hurt."

"h-hey, why are you crying?" chuuya, the older kid, can't help but feel empathy when he sees you, a kid younger than him and the rest of the kids, crying.

you shook your head, frowning. "i didn't know you guys were like me too."

"you're a gifted too, [name]-chan?" kyouka asked, eyes widening.

"mhm," you nodded, a small smile on your lips, as you showed them your hands, which were covered in sanguine red vapors that trailed from your fingertips, eliciting looks of awe from them.

"i have wiggly-woos magic." you said while allowing your red psionics to carry leaves that had fallen from a nearby tree and magically swirl them around you and everyone as you made yourself levitate in mid-air, but you quickly dissipated your chaos magic as you hung your head and landed back on your feet. "kids told me i was weird because of my powers. they think i'm a monster for seeing things that aren't there too."

"what? but, you're so cool!" chuuya exclaimed, his eyes lighting up with interest. "your ability is kind of like mine too! see? see!" as a similar red glow surrounded him, the older kid used his gravity manipulation ability to make himself stick to a branch upside down.

"i agree with chuuya-kun, [name]-chan!" atsushi nodded as turned back into his human-form, "you're not a monster! you're special just like all of us!"

when everyone praised and asked your abilities, you realized you had finally found people who would not judge you, but rather accept you for who and what you truly are, and you had also found a place to belong.

"[name]-chan, show us your magic again!!"

"how do you twitch your fingers like that?"

"can you make me float too?!"

is this why gojo enrolled you to this preschool? to show you how you weren't alone? it must be fate you think as a smile—a genuine smile—had finally broke through your face.

bsd headcanons !

you had finally stepped out of your comfort zone after nearly being hit by a ball while kunikida, ranpo, and atsushi were playing and discovering that everyone has powers like you. you weren't as quiet and ignorant as before, and atsushi and everyone else, including dazai and the rest of the nursery staff, got to see a whole new side of you—the real you.

you were a sweet and bubbly child who always smiled, laughed, and talked a lot. you were a little chaotic, especially with how you liked to zoom and teleport with your chaos magic, but they adored you, your true self. you were enjoyable to be around, just as you found them fun to be with.

you became very close to chuuya, with atsushi coming in second. chuuya was amazed by how similar your and his abilities were. athough dazai and the children thought it was strange for him to be so nice, it did reassure them that the menace older kid does have a kind heart. you and chuuya enjoy demonstrating each other's abilities, and you even made the room anti-gravity once by combining both of your abilities.

atsushi was an absolute sweetheart, always chatting with you and making you feel included by constantly inviting you to join him, kyouka, ranpo, kenji, and kunikida. you and ranpo enjoy reading mystery storybooks; you and kenji love bonding over food and napping together; you and kunikida enjoy drawing; you and kyouka like making animal cut-outs and origamis; and you and atsushi enjoy bonding over odasaku man and stuffies and playing ball with the others.

you might think of naomi and junichiro as a strange sibling pair, but they're nice. naomi enjoys braiding and styling your hair, or at least tries to, but it's all good because you do the same with hers. junichiro enjoys seeing his sister get along with you because naomi is constantly clinging to him. he watches out for you two, making sure you and naomi don't trip while playing.

you found akutagawa difficult to be around, but he's nice to you. at least he's nicer to you than he is to atsushi; he was the one who saved you earlier from being hit by the ball, yanking atsushi along with him to get to you faster. he may not appear to care about you, but he does.

because motojiro is quite chaotic, you actually pair up quite well with him. he enjoys causing havoc with his lemon bombs, and you enjoy causing havoc with your wiggly-woos. you also found higuchi and tachihara fun to play with and talk with, just like you did with atsushi and his friends.

at the end of the day, you were able to make very good progress, and dazai and staff loved to see it, as well for gojo to hear it.

ending / bonus bsd scenario !

after spending hours at the preschool, it was time for you and the children to be picked up by your parents and return home, and as gojo was on his way to get you after finishing his work at jujutsu tech, he couldn't help but smile from afar as he saw you smile and wave goodbye to the other children as they were picked up by their own parent or guardian.

"kikufuku!" gojo yelled and ran up to you, to which you quickly responded by meeting him in the middle and leaving dazai's side. the limitless sorcerer picked you into his arms, twirling you in the air for a few moments before kissing your forehead. "how was your first day?"

"it was fun! i made tons of friends!" you giggled as you wrapped your tiny arms around gojo's neck.

"really? you did?!" he gasped softly.

"indeed, [name]-chan has, gojo-kun." dazai said as he sauntered towards you two, smiling. "she and the kids did a lot of playing and talking today."

"i wanna go here tomorrow again, and again, and again!" you drew away to throw your hands in the air to exaggerate your desire. "i like it here, no, i love it here already!"

gojo is extremely proud of you. you told him not long ago that you didn't want to go to bungo stray dogs preschool and that you didn't want him to leave you there. not only were you able to mingle and make friends with the kids, but seeing you happy and be genuine yourself was all gojo could ask for.

it was more than enough for him.

[himebushou]

A quick note about Giraffe Class!

In Episode 2, Miss Anna informs some mothers that Miri will be joining Giraffe Class:

Miri joins Giraffe Class on the 6th of February. As the Japanese school year begins in April, I thought that it would have made sense for Miri to be in a new class in later episodes.

However, in Episode 9, which takes place in August 2023, we see that Miri is now in the senior class:

Evidently, the senior class has:

1) Maintained the name 'Giraffe Class' and

2) As seen in Episode 10, maintained Miss Anna as its teacher:

We also see that Giraffe Class has an incredible teacher-to-child ratio; there are only 15 kids in the class (though I assume that Aozora Daycare is an establishment that people pay fees to — in Episode 5, one of the family's expenses is listed as 'Education').

For comparison, the teacher-to-child ratio in the UK, for children who are Miri's age, is one teacher to every 30 kids:

[Text: Reception classes in maintained schools and academies are subject to infant class size legislation. The School Admissions (Infant Class Size) Regulations 2012 limit the size of infant classes to 30 pupils per school teacher (subject to permitted exceptions) while an ordinary teaching session is conducted.]

Source: Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2021); Department for Education

(This excludes support staff, but still — the stuff you discover when making a Buddy Daddies post!)

So! From my experience, infant schools around here sometimes have thematic names and kids move from one class to the next when the school year ends. For instance, a school that uses a bird-based theme might start off with something like 'Canary Class' for children in Nursery (aged 3-4); the canaries then move up to the 'Robin Class' when they're 4-5 years old (in the UK, we call that Reception). Typically, the children will have a new teacher each academic year, but there are some instances where teachers will stick with their pupils as the kids grow up.

Given how detail-oriented Buddy Daddies has been so far, I'd like to think that Miri still being in Giraffe Class wasn't just an oversight on the part of the writing team and actually a deliberate decision — though, of course, it would have been pretty disruptive to the storyline to introduce a new teacher.

(@lilyginnyblackv2 — I'm going to shamelessly tag you because I think you might have some insights on this topic! 💖)

[leafbatraccoon]

monday's child legacy challenge

judging by the influx of addams on the gallery lately, by now i'm sure ~everyone~ has seen the new WEDNESDAY series.. i loved seeing all the creations, be it households, builds or cc - but what i was inspired to do was create my first game challenge; it's not particularly inspiring and i'm unsure if it's doable at all, i suspect i'm mostly putting it on proverbial paper to direct this nursery rhyme somewhere concrete, since it insists on lingering in my mind

i know in the ocean of challenges there is a days-of-the-week challenge already but i don't think their similiar, feel free to check for yourself

i considered making GEN 1:MONDAY > GEN2:MONDAY'S-CHILD/TUESDAY and so on, to extend it to one more generation, but prefered to keep it faithful to it's origins instead

s o   w i t h o u t   f u r t h e r   a d o....

⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️

RULES standart legacy rules apply; play in extreme if you'd like succession laws: gender - strict equality preferences and trait discovery: spin wheel for yes or no

NOTES this hasn't been play tested - yet ; so for now I sugest playing at the normal or long time span - change it with mccc if you'd like, the goal is to have fun, even tho it's a challenge i really have no concept of how doable it was designed to be since i usually drag out my sims lifes for pretty long

REQUIREMENTS Spa Day | Parenthood | Seasons | Island Living | Discover Uni | Snowy Escape | High School Years

SUGESTED MODS more traits in cas chingyu traits {100-traits, seasons-traits} & holiday tradition override {for said traits} kuttoe traits & PIZZA PREFERENCE :D {the pizza is just me missing favourite dishes} more odd jobs I use simrealist's SNB mod that overhauls the bill system but I've heard lot 51 also has some mods that bring more realism to services like plumbing & internet; I haven't tried them because I'm afraid they'd conflict I also love love love lumpinou's relationship and pregnancy overhaul, check it out !!

⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟⭐️

GEN 1 | MONDAY "monday's child is fair of face" self-assured + family-oriented {chingyu's pretty trait if you have this mod} aspiration: soulmate reach level 7 in any career max out cooking skill + complete 2 collections at some point be a part of coffe fanatic OR health food nut lifestyle

GEN 2 | TUESDAY "tuesday's child is full of grace" proper + loyal max out manners + conflict resolution values close nit lifestyle {adhere to and maintain} maintain a good rep {if you have Get Famous}

GEN 3 | WEDNESDAY "wednesday's child is full of woe" gloomy + loner or socially awkward aspirtation: inner peace self-employed artist

GEN 4 | THURSDAY "thurday's child has far to go" perfectionist + overachiever complete 5 aspirations {1 in childhood, 1 as a teen, 1 as YA - must relate to uni, 2 after that - one of which must be big happy family OR successful lineage}

GEN 5 | FRIDAY "friday's child is loving and giving" good + romantic voluteering {5x if playing short life span, otherwise once per season} max out empathy value / achieve compassionate trait have {at least} 2 children, maintain a positive relationship with them

GEN 6 | SATURDAY "saturday's child works hard for a living" ambitious + materialistic aspiration: fortune {pick one} workaholic lifestyle {adhere to and maintain} achieve 3+ stars in odd jobs

GEN 7 | SUNDAY "and the child born on the sabbath day is bonny and blithe, good and gay" cheerful + non-commital people person lifestyle {adhere to and maintain} max out charisma skill + achieve level 5 in 5 creative skills {3 if playing short lifespan}

[insidecroydon]

NHS staff given short notice of closure for hospital's nursery

Parents and carers working at Croydon’s Mayday Hospital face an anxious few weeks, as many are being forced to seek new day care provision for their pre-school children after it was announced that the on-site nursery school is to close on September 22. Time out: a popular nursery in Thornton Heath is to close next month In an email to clients, Co-operative Childcare group, which runs the nursery,…

[phoenix-manga]

Allison Liddel

CV: Ohashi Ayaka

Biographical Information

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Birthday: May 4

Starsign: Taurus

Height: 163 cm

Eye Color: Eastern Blue

Hair Color: Froly

Professional Status

Dorm: Futterwacken

School Year: 2nd Year

Class: 2-E | Student no. 5

Occupation: Student | Dorm Leader

Club: Theater Club

Best Subject: Magic History | Party Hosting

Fun Facts

Favorite Food: Cookies

Least Favorite Food: Mushrooms

Dislikes: Boring parties and small spaces

Hobby: Pranks

Talents: Can hang upside-down while drinking tea

Idol Stats

Performance: Loud but rhythymic vocals fit for energetic songs

Choreography: Spontaneous movements with lots of jumping and skipping

Styling Jewel Outfits: Cute | Quirky

Allison is free-spirited and tends to do things her way and her way only. She would ignore anything that dares ruin her fun by using her UM to go somewhere else. She is quite energetic and active, doesn’t care about maintaining appearances if it means she can have fun.

She would even agree to stupid ideas even if all she got from it was a broken arm. She’d laugh off the memories of her stumbling into a pit or tripping over roots.

She has the habit of snacking every minute on anything she can get her hands on. Because of this, she often has a drawer full of snacks and sweets.

She doesn’t take kindly to insults and can be quite petty and stubborn, asking for forgiveness might take a while to convince her to forgive the offender. But she would feel guilty if she was told of the circumstance and it will then be easier to forgive.

Allison tends to play pranks, though she does forget that there are people who find it annoying and might irritate the wrong person or she might go overboard. But she will apologize for the prank if the person told her about how they felt.

Though she tends to be labeled as the rebellious child, she does this because she is sick and frustrated of the adults who expect her to be proper and are constantly nagging at her. The more they tell her she’s not proper, the more she rebels. Even if it got her grounded or punished by her father. She makes it clear on who she likes or dislikes.

Though she has a tough exterior, deep down, Allison feels the pressure from expectations and the desire to live with her mother instead. Only Maddison has seen her vulnerable side.

Hometown: Kingdom of Gardenia

Family Life

Allison’s early years were tolerable because she and her twin sister, Maddison, had their mother to comfort them when their father scolds them. But when their parents got a divorce and their mother lost custody of her children due to the father having more influence and pulled strings to win the court case.

Though, Allison didn’t get why mother and father divorced, it was clear that the reason they split up is due to their father’s side of the family disliking the mother. At the age of 6, they were now left to be raised by their social climbing father.

Life afterwards was unbearable for the twins, no more bedtime stories as the books full of nursery rhymes were replaced with textbooks, boring and no pictures. Nannies were replaced with tutors who were eager to please their father and thus were quite strict in teaching. Allison getting more punishments than Maddison due to her stubborn nature.

Ever since then, at any chance she can get, Allison would terrorize her tutors and they would all end up quitting within a week. The punishments from father were worth it if it meant she didn’t have to sit through class with such tutors. That is until a certain tutor who understands her behavior, came to their house to be a tutor. That tutor was a great man until her father decided to dismiss him when he caught the girls having fun during free period.

She would argue with her father about what he thinks will befall his reputation should she continue to act this way.

Childhood Memories

Allison remembers a lot about how her mother always let her and Maddison have fun and even tell those fun bedtime stories. Their mother was their tutor and her method of teaching was a balance of fun and professional. Allison was never bored because her mother would always answer her questions.

She was taught how to bake from her mother, she first made bunny cookies and often had tea time with Maddison and their mother. She dreams about owning a cute café based on the nursery rhymes she loves so much.

After the divorce, when her father made the decision to remove most of the children’s books from the house, Allison hid one book from her father, the one about the oysters and the walrus. She hid it in her undergarment drawer because who on earth would rummage a girl’s drawer full of underwear?

Maddison got her UM first and Allison always admired it but after the divorce, Maddison doesn’t want to show it off, even to her anymore. She respects her wishes and blames her father for Maddison’s ruined UM.

The first time Allison rebelled against a tutor was when they struck Maddison so hard that she ended up crying, the jerk wouldn’t stop even if the child was in tears. Allison remembers stuffing frogs in their suitcase and putting bog water into their tea.

There was this one tutor that made her realize that not all adults were like her father and gave her a small hope of one day getting away from her father. Her resentment for her father grew when the tutor was dismissed all because he thought they could use a break.

Allison is a 2nd year Futterwacken student and is the current dorm leader.

Allison is a professional on making food art, many students recognize her magicam and were stunned to find out she was the one who is behind that username. She is able to make a huge variety of designs in a short amount of time. Which is why when she throws a party, students look forward to what kind of sweets she’ll make sculptures of. There will be time that she can make food look like objects, poor Ella has grabbed too many teacups that were actually cake.

She didn’t expect to be dorm leader and wanted to reject it at first but then when the dorm fairy, Sui informed her that being a dorm leader of Futterwacken is fun, she gave it a try. Allison loved how the dorm has so many oddities that were reminiscent of her old childhood books.

Allison managed to ease into her role as Futterwacken’s dorm leader. She looks forward to planning the tea party every Hatter-day, recalling how thrilling it was to chase down a walrus with a rubber hammer and singing with teapots and flowers. Although, despite being the planner of tea parties, Allison prefers pink lemonade over tea because she likes drinks that are cold and refreshing, though she won’t say no to milk tea.

There was one incident where she made a fake princess out of metal buckets that she called, “Tintina”. She would often use it to practice her roles and for some reason it became a cryptid. Often seen at random places in Futterwacken even if Allison wasn’t in the dorm. New students were spooked out about Tintina but overtime they learn to just treat her like the teapots in the dorm.

Allison didn’t act rebellious to her teachers at all, their lessons were all interesting and they didn’t give off the snarky vibe like her last tutors she terrorized. She has been more active in her academics, she even joined a theater club and played plenty of male lead roles. A lot of girls were gushing how she pulled off the “prince charming” look.

Allison’s grades are decently average and the ones she is interested in are higher than the average grades. If there are events that count as a part of a grade, as long as it wasn’t a boring ball, Allison would pitch in and do her best.

School Relationships

Allison gets along with Perrine and Cerule a lot, Perrine cooks a lot of delicious food and often tries the weird combinations she makes. The two can be seen scheming on what kind of mystery food they should try doing. Though the results of that are a 50/50 chance of the combination working or not.

Cerule fascinates Allison because she is a mermaid and she admits to having a mermaid phase in her childhood. Though she would scrunch up her nose whenever the naïve mermaid would suggest that microwaves count as cooking. This would result in a debate that led to nowhere every time.

Evonie is Allison’s favorite person to annoy, she was always such a stickler for staying in line and being such a girl scout. Though during play rehearsals, they can be a great duo. The students’ hearts are fluttering with how they play their roles so perfectly.

Allison and Sui’s relationship are akin to two troublemakers. Sui is very child-like in personality and therefore likes to do everything the fun way. She will also throw tantrums when upset, when this happens the dorm starts to shake as if an earthquake struck.

Sui’s form is from Allison’s memory of the story about the oysters her mother used to read to her. Sui is considered to be the baby amongst the other fairies but that doesn’t mean she has her mature moments too. She knows to apologize if she did anything wrong or went too far.

Tock

Allison has a pet hare named, Tock, he has an English Spot pattern with a bunch of card suits replacing the usual spots.

The reason why she calls him, “Tock”, is because he has this tendency to mimic clock chimes from time to time to remind her that he needed snacks. It didn’t help that his ear tips were pointed and made the clock image more vivid.

Tock is just like Allison in terms of being a prankster, though she gets irritated and chases him around when he sneaks into her snack drawer and steals a treat or two, despite the fact that he has his own jar of cookies that Allison fills up with baked goods she personally made.

Her unique magic is called, “Enchanted Doorways”, which allows her to summon a door to take her to places she visited last. The door can remain for as long as a few minutes before disappearing, she can also make it vanish instantly but she only does this when she wants to run away from her household.

She mostly uses her UM to quick travel, she can also bring along a person to go through the doors but first timers would be dizzy and maybe nauseous afterwards.

Allison is rather skilled in utilizing low spells for pranks, though this can also be quite useful in tripping over opponents in magift.

Lewis Liddel - Allison’s father who is tired of being at the bottom of social circles so he becomes strict towards his daughters to make them behave, so he can look more superior in order to climb the social ladder. He also handles a business that he boasts about and praises it more than he has ever praised his daughters.

Quincie Harriette – Allison and Maddison’s mother, Lewis’ ex-wife. She was in an arranged marriage with Lewis, and only tolerated his narcissism up to this point until he let his family badmouth her for letting her daughter be children for once. She doesn’t agree with his point of view and would always argue back. She tries to write to her children but her husband bribed for a no-contact divorce, which included her children.

Maddison Liddel - Allison’s twin sister who is more quiet and reserved but she uses her cleverness to make those who pick on her look bad. She cares about Allison and agrees that her father is a bit of a narcissist and needs to either stop chasing approval or he’s gonna ruin himself. She isn’t above doing the same verbal beat down to her dad, but only when she knows he won’t ground her.

The character’s name, “Allison” was chosen to have a similar sound to “Alice”, the name means, noble. Her last name, Liddel is derived from the last name of the Alice in Madness Returns which was, “Liddell”.

Allison hates mushrooms because of their texture and their taste. Though this dislike happened when she ate a rather colorful mushroom that gave her a terrible tummy ache. She thought it would taste like candy because it was so brightly colored.

Her twin sister, Maddison, has a unique magic that relates to an enchanted door but it functions differently.

Allison tends to leave crumbs after eating…

[ohmygodshesinsane]

MARCH (& FEB) JILY MICROFICS MASTERLIST

Hi all!

After a month (and a bit!) of creating Jily Microfics​ I’ve decided to do a bit of a round-up and create a masterlist for ease of navigation! Most fics are drabbles or double drabbles, but all are under 3k words. They’re all canon-compliant (except for the noted AUs) but aren’t necessarily canon with each other if that makes sense. So, here we goooo.

EARLY HOGWARTS JILY

James the Barbarian - Lily isn't impressed by James' costume. James isn't impressed by her lack of impression.

divining (and other attempts at connection) - James has to keep his cool when Lily agrees to help him.

spellcheck - In a gesture of goodwill, Lily offers to check James' essay, but soon notices a problem. James takes issue with part of her critique.

Ogden’s & Sympathy - James and the Marauders try to process Lily's criticisms.

HOGWARTS SIXTH YEAR JILY

Charm All Over -  Lily does her best to maintain the status quo and hate Potter, but he makes it difficult sometimes.

live a little -  James extends a definitely-friendly invitation to Lily as they teeter on a precipe.

gloom - James isn't the right person to do it, but he tries anyway.

Tossing Rocks At Your Window - Lily acts as an intermediary between James and the ex-girlfriend he wants to win back.

HOGWARTS SEVENTH YEAR JILY

A Dangerous Game - At a certain point, it's inevitable, a meteor streaking towards them. But Lily knows the consequences and so she avoids, avoids, avoids. For both their sakes.

now or never - Lily has to race against time to tell James the truth. A week earlier, James made a confession. 

at least we were electrified - Seven weeks. Seven years. What difference? Or: Lily and James' relationship escalates. It's difficult to know when it began.

the lion of gryffindor - Lily and Sirius always gang up on him.

Abbey Road - Lily quizzes James, with Sirius' input.

inter-house unity (badgers, not bees) - James and Lily are invited to a springtime party in the name of inter-house unity.

The Modesty Thing - For the first time, James can't believe his eyes. Lily isn't having it.

POST-SCHOOL JILY

In Liverpool - Lily takes James to his very first football match.

karma is my boyfriend - Lily gets what she never thought she would have.

Of Brooms and Bicycles - Lily gets James to try something muggle.

Long Live - James unloads a photograph as he helps Lily move in.

jam on toast - Lily's breakfast is sacred, and not to be interrupted by a needy would-be quidditch player.

bones -  Lily has a favourite, in typical healer fashion. James knows it.

boring - Lily and James go into a back garden at a wedding reception.

scrapbook -  James and Lily attempt to put a DIY photo album together.

Painting With Evans - Lily has a specific vision for the nursery.

wand shopping - James and Lily go to Ollivander's on a hot summer's day. They're getting in early.

FIRST WIZARDING WAR JILY

Hidden - James and Lily are infiltrating a Death Eater hideout, but their cover is nearly blown.

the art of seduction -  James and Lily test a potion under a watchful eye.

fury - James returns after a mission gone wrong and a week of being unaccounted for.

a mouse, a stag, and/or a homeless hag -  James, Lily, and the others try to come up with a plan to infiltrate the Death Eaters. They're a bit out of ideas.

what it’s become - When Lily hears that a relative of an Order member has been killed, she spirals thinking about her own loved ones.

koi fish - Lily loses herself in a pond - or tries to find herself.

the smell of smoke (hangs around this long) - A question not asked, and never entirely answered. What is trust to desperation? (Lily and James talk after a battle).

growing old (a farce by james potter) - James and Lily pick costumes for Sirius' 22nd birthday party.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

Flaming Sticks and Motley -  Though but a servant, Lily cannot respect the ridiculous Duke of Peverell. Medieval AU. 

Half A World Away -  Half a world away from home, James and Lily discuss the forsaken loves that brought them to Havana. They have more in common than they might think. Pirate AU.

Room 509 -  Lily is loathe to call for assistance when she finds herself locked out of her dorm room. James is all too happy to help. University AU.

[female-malice]

Let's talk about Utopia Community Halls!!! This wonderful building would have many different sections and rooms providing many free public amenities. It would be a large building serving about 100 people. And it would be run and maintained by the people it serves. It would have...

Library

Computer lab

Art studio

Craft workshop

Conference room

Garage

Kitchen

Clinic

Plant nursery

Day care

Arcade

Theater

Indoor basketball court

And so on. Why should all of these things be in the same place? Well? Why not?

The community hall would be a separate place from the public schools. And public schools should have most of these amenities as well. That way, public school could prepare kids to use and maintain public amenities.

[darkershining]

DarkerShining's thoughts on Pretty Cure: Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure

Hey everyone! It's time for me to share my thoughts on Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure.

The story begins on the birthday of Skyland's princess, Ellee. However, the infant princess is kidnapped by a purple pig man named Kabaton, working with the Undergu Empire. Sora, a Skylandian girl who had just arrived in the town with the intent of joining the Azure Guard, sees what is happening and rushes in to try to save Ellee. During their chase, Sora and Ellee wind up falling through a portal to Sorashido City, where they meet a girl named Mashiro. Kabaton chases after them, and as Sora explains her wish to be a hero, Ellee grants Sora the power to become Cure Sky, allowing her to fight off Kabaton.

Mashiro takes Sora and Ellee back to her place, where they soon learn that Mashiro's grandmother Yoyo used to live in Skyland, and she allows Sora and Ellee to stay with them until a way to open a portal back to Skyland is prepared. Along the way, Mashiro becomes a Pretty Cure herself, fighting alongside Cure Sky as Cure Prism. They are later joined by Tsubasa, a bird-like fairy who can take on human form, who becomes Cure Wing, and Ageha, a childhood friend of Mashiro who is working towards becoming a nursery school teacher, who becomes Cure Butterfly.

Together, they protect Ellee, discover what it truly means to be a hero and try to uncover what caused the conflict between Skyland and the Undergu Empire.

And with the basic summary out of the way, there'll be spoilers for the entire series under the "Read More".

(Previous parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)

Sora Harewataru/Cure Sky

Our lead Cure for the season. Since this season tries to mix up the usual formula a bit, we have a blue Cure instead of a pink one as the leader. In addition to this, Sora is a native of Skyland rather than Earth like most previous lead Cures. She is quickly established to be an athletic girl with ambitions of becoming a hero, rushing in to save Ellee from Kabaton. We later learn that Sora's desire to be a hero stems from an incident in her childhood, where she was rescued by Captain Shalala of the Azure Guard, inspiring her to become a hero herself someday. Sora was initially on her way to the town to apply to join the Azure Guard, but while trying to save Ellee, ended up getting sent to Sorashido City.

Sora writes down the things she learns about being a hero in a notebook, her initial notebook getting torn up by Kabaton shortly before first becoming Cure Sky, before Mashiro gets her a new one while showing Sora around the city. Since Sora didn't have a lot of friends when she was younger because she spent so much time developing her athletic skills to become a hero, Sora ends up becoming quite attached to Mashiro. Sora also has difficulty at times opening up about her feelings, keeping things to and trying to figure it out herself in attempts to not worry her teammates. When Mashiro becomes Cure Prism, Sora is initially reluctant to let her join the fight out of fear she'll get hurt, but Mashiro/Cure Prism eventually manages to get through to her that they can work off of each other and support each other in battle.

Sora also has a tendency to occasionally rush in without thinking, which a few of the villains take advantage of to lure her into traps. She's also not that good at keeping Skyland a secret from her classmates or others who don't already know about it, often requiring Mashiro's help to maintain her cover story. Over the course of the series, Sora often struggles to find the answers to what it truly means to be a hero. Over the course of the show, she gradually discovers the strength within herself, and how much she can accomplish with the support of her friends and allies.

I like Sora. She's a fun protagonist, and it's nice to see them experiment by having the lead Cure not be from Earth for once, as well as having her be one of the rare non-pink lead Cures. I really like her designs both in civilian form and her Cure form. I particularly like her Cure form's color scheme and the blue cape thing on her left shoulder and how it resembles Captain Shalala's cape. She's pretty cool, and I think her character arc is pretty good.

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Mashiro Nijigaoka/Cure Prism

Next, let's talk about Mashiro, the first person that Sora meets upon arriving in Sorashido City. Mashiro is out on an errand for her grandmother, Yoyo, when Sora and Ellee fall out of the sky. Both Mashiro and Sora initially wonder if their encounter is a dream, until Kabaton arrives. After Sora becomes Cure Sky and fights off the Ranborg that Kabaton summoned, Mashiro decides to bring Sora and Ellee back to her place since they don't really know where else to go. Yoyo has no issue with them staying over, having secretly found out about their arrival through her Mirror Pad.

Over the next few days, Mashiro learns that Yoyo originally came from Skyland, making Mashiro 1/4-Skylandian. Mashiro and Sora bond as Mashiro helps Sora out, showing her around the city and helping her pick out some new clothes to help her fit in around Sorashido. Mashiro grows to admire Sora for her courage, while Sora appreciates Mashiro's kindness. When Kabaton manages to lure Sora into a trap and prevent her from transforming, he also picks on Mashiro's insecurities, but thanks to her friend Ageha's encouragement, Mashiro is able to find her own resolve and with Ellee granting her the power, Mashiro becomes Cure Prism and is able to save Sora.

However, Sora is initially reluctant to let Mashiro join her, having nightmares about Mashiro/Cure Prism potentially getting hurt in battle. However, after Cure Prism confronts her about it and gets her to open up about how she hasn't really had any close friends until meeting Mashiro, she manages to reason with Cure Sky, pointing out they both want to protect each other and so they'll be stronger by fighting together. This also grants them the ability to use the Updraft Shining finishing move together.

As the series continues, Mashiro tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life and who she wants to be. As her friends encourage her to try new things, she discovers new sides to herself and she is eventually inspired to start writing picture books to help teach Ellee concepts such as sharing and the joy of making new friends. As she gradually becomes more confident, she also comes to realize that her kindness remains her greatest strength.

I really like Mashiro. She's such a sweet girl, and I like how they sort of made her the audience surrogate, but still manage to give her a fairly solid character arc, realizing that everyone has different strengths and coming to understand what her strengths are. Her design is really nice, and I particularly like how certain elements of Cure Prism's outfit are sort of a match with Cure Sky's outfit, having touches of pink and blue in it much like Cure Sky's has touches of white and pink. Also, it's been a while since we had a Cure with white as her theme color, so that's nice too. And as someone who likes to write myself, I also naturally got invested with Mashiro's arc involving her discovering her interest in making picture books.

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Tsubasa Yuunagi/Cure Wing

The third Cure to join the party is Tsubasa, who while not the first male Cure seen in the franchise, is the first male Cure to be part of the main team. He's actually a member of the Puni Bird tribe, a type of bird-like fairy from Skyland that long ago traded their ability to fly for the ability to shapeshift into human form. However, one day, Tsubasa's father managed to temporarily regain the ability to fly in order to save his son from falling out of the sky. Ever since that day, Tsubasa gained an interest in figuring out a way to fly himself, but the other Puni birds had no faith in him and his father couldn't figure out how he managed to fly that one time.

Eventually, during one of his failed attempts to achieve flight during a storm, Tsubasa wound up falling into an opening leading to Sorashido Town, where Yoyo found him and brought him home. Thanks to the Mirror Pad, Tsubasa was able to stay in touch with his family back home, but he chose to remain in Sorashido for the time being in order to study aerodynamics and air planes in hopes of getting closer to achieving his dream of flying. He and Yoyo also developed a close friendship during this time.

When Sora and Ellee move in, Tsubasa befriends the young princess in secret, until Sora accidentally spots him and mistakes him for an intruder. Even after Yoyo explains the situation, it takes a bit longer for Sora to warm up to having him around Ellee until the two spend a day babysitting her together, during which he opens up to her about his reasons for staying in Sorashido, leading Sora to realize they some things in common when it comes to pursuing their dreams.

When a Ranborg starts attacking the city, Sora and Mashiro leave Ellee in Tsubasa's care while they go to deal with the situation. However, Ellee decides to follow the Cures, so Tsubasa has to chase after her. By the time Tsubasa catches up to her, Kabaton has noticed Ellee's presence and is trying to capture her. Ellee refuses to leave Tsubasa behind and save herself, leading to both of them getting captured by the Ranborg. Kabaton tries to throw him off the Ranborg, but using Ellee's flying cradle to stop his fall, he manages to get back inside and has to figure out what to do next.

Waiting for the right moment, Tsubasa manages to take Ellee back from Kabaton while he's distracted asking the Empress about his reward for bringing Ellee to the Undergu Empire. Once they make it outside, Tsubasa once again tries urging Ellee to go on without him, but she refuses. Ellee's flying cradle can't fly well with both of their weights, so Tsubasa tries letting go so Ellee can get away, but she catches him with her powers. As Kabaton attempts to capture her once more, Tsubasa's wish to protect Ellee causes a new Mirage Pen to begin forming, with Kabaton rushing to catch Ellee before Tsubasa can gain the ability to transform into a Pretty Cure.

Luckily, Cure Sky and Cure Prism, having been having trouble reaching the Ranborg due to it being so high up, manage to interfere, allowing Ellee to grant Tsubasa the power to become Cure Wing. Gaining the power of flight in his new form, Cure Wing finally achieves his dream of flying, and is able to take down the Ranborg.

After becoming a Cure, Tsubasa dedicates himself to protecting Ellee and starts looking for a new goal to pursue, eventually discovering ways he can use his knowledge to aid Skyland with the help of Yoyo and the other Cures.

I really like Tsubasa. For starters, it's cool to have a male Cure who is part of the main team. I like his dorky personality, being really intelligent and kind, trying his best to look good as Ellee's knight and yet often getting easily flustered when praised for his skills. I like his various designs too, as a cute chubby little bird, as a human and as Cure Wing, him also being one of the rare orange Cures in the franchise.

----------------------------

Ageha Hijiri/Cure Butterfly

Next is Ageha, an old childhood friend of Mashiro. We first meet her when she stops by for a visit while in Sorashido City to apply to be a student teacher at a kindergarden. Over the course of the series, we get the details on Ageha's backstory, and how her parents divorced, with Ageha being split up from her sisters when her mother took custody of her while her father took custody of the sisters. When Ageha's mother then got a new job and had to move away, Ageha didn't want to be separated from Mashiro as well, and tried to run away, but Mashiro managed to make her feel better simply through being her kind self.

After meeting Sora and Ellee, Ageha soon learns about the Pretty Cure when Kabaton attacks and captures Sora, preventing her from transforming. When Kabaton makes Mashiro doubt herself, Ageha manages to snap Mashiro out of it by reminding her of how she tried to put on a brave face for Ageha when she was about to move away despite not wanting her to leave either. By helping Mashiro realize the strength of her kindness, Ageha helped Mashiro become Cure Prism so that she could help Sora.

Ageha continues making visits to the Cures, helping cheer up Sora while Mashiro is at school and giving her advice on what to say to her when she returns, leading to Sora deciding to attend school with Mashiro, and later befriending Tsubasa after he joins the team. Ageha is generally a cheerful and energetic young woman, but sometimes she also puts on a smile to hide her worries, which the other Cures start catching on to.

When Battamonda attacks the kindergarden Ageha is working at, Ageha ends up becoming Cure Butterfly when the other three Cures are trapped and unable to fight, and Cure Butterfly uses her newfound power to protect the others with her butterfly-shaped barriers. During this battle, one of the children at the kindergarden, a young boy named Takeru, ends up witnessing Ageha becoming a Cure, the two becoming closer as he agrees to keep her secret.

After becoming a Cure, Ageha ends up moving in with Mashiro and the others to make it easier for everyone involved. She continues to act as an older sister figure towards the other Cures and working towards her goal of becoming the best nursery school teacher, often putting her knowledge to good use when it comes to understanding what Ellee might be thinking.

I really like Ageha. While not the oldest Cure seen in the series, she is at the age of 18 the oldest to be part of the main team of Cures, being one year older than Yuri Tsukikage from HeartCatch Pretty Cure. (while Cure Earth from Healin' Good may be physically 20, she was basically born partway into that series.) I like her energetic personality, that she's good with kids and how well she plays into her older sister-like role among the Cures, usually having the intuition to know what she needs to do to get them to find ways to solve their problems. Her design is great, and it's cool to have a pink Cure who isn't the leader of the team for once. I also like how well her backstory explains why she is the way she is, having been inspired to become a nursery school teacher thanks to the kind teacher who looked out for her during her time in kindergarden after she had to move away from her sisters and Mashiro.

----------------------------

Ellee/Cure Majesty

And for the final member of the team, we have the adorable mascot herself, Princess Ellee. After being kidnapped by Kabaton and rescued by Sora, she is able to grant the Cures their powers, in the same way it was believed that one of the past princesses of Skyland did for the Legendary Cure. Since they can't return to Skyland right away due to Yoyo lacking the necessary ingredients to open a portal, Sora, Mashiro, Yoyo, and later Tsubasa and Ageha end up looking after Ellee. The Cures are at least able to make contact with Ellee's parents via the Mirror Pad to let them know Ellee is safe.

While Ellee is scared of the Undergu Empire's generals, she also proves to be protective of her friends, refusing to let Tsubasa sacrifice himself for her sake and using her powers to save him during Kabaton's attempt to capture her with the drone Ranborg. While Ellee is generally a friendly toddler, she can have occasional moments of selfishness and is shown to be somewhat picky when it comes to picking out new clothes for her.

After the Cures save the King and Queen after they were rendered comatose from one of Battamonda's attacks, the Cures learn from them that Ellee isn't actually their biological daughter. She was born from the Morning Star shining over Skyland, which delivered her to them while telling them of a prophecy that Ellee's power would be needed to protect Skyland from a certain threat in the future. After revealing this, the King and Queen request that the Cures continue to look after Ellee until she has fullfilled the prophecy and saved Skyland.

When Skearhead eventually makes his first move, he nearly succeeds in bringing Ellee to the Empress, dropping her off in the Undergu Realm while going to finish off the rest of the Cures to prevent them from chasing after her. However, as she watches the battle take place, her desire to save her foster family allows Ellee to escape on her own, granting herself the ability to take on an older form and become a Pretty Cure herself, Cure Majesty.

After her initial transformation, it takes Ellee a bit longer to figure out how to make it happen again. But once Ellee recalls her desire to protect her loved ones, she manages to gain her own Mirage Pen, allowing her to transform into Cure Majesty once more and join the team. Shortly after gaining the power to become Cure Majesty, the Cures are summoned to Skyland to investigate a mysterious ruin that appeared. Ellee is able to guide the others to where the Majestic Chroniclon is. However, while fighting a mind-controlled Minoton, the Cures can't activate the Majestic Chroniclon due to Cure Prism still having some reservations about letting Ellee fight alongside them. After she and Cure Majesty talk it out, they manage to unlock the Majestic Chroniclon's power and purify Minoton.

Towards the end of the series, Ellee gains the ability to take on her teenaged form even when not transformed into Cure Majesty, after Elleelain decides to pass on the remainder of her power to her as a Christmas present of sorts. This also allows her to use Cure Noble's finishing move "Magic Hour's End" as Cure Majesty along with a general power boost.

Ellee is adorable! I'd say she's probably one of the cutest baby characters we've had in the franchise so far. It took me a while to piece together that she'd be the fifth Cure, but once I put together the pieces, namely that the name of the fifth Cure was Cure Majesty, along with the theme colors of each Cure this season being based on the sky at different times of day, meaning the fifth Cure would most likely be a purple one, I realized it had to be Ellee. I like the design of her older form as well, and she looks good as Cure Majesty. I particularly like the little touch of her skirt having images of the Morning Star on it.

Ellee is also one of the youngest Cures in the franchise, being a toddler who can transform into a Pretty Cure. She's not the youngest Cure in the franchise, however, since there are a few other Cures who like her were born under mystical circumstances, and while they are physically older than Ellee, they're still technically younger than her, such as Aguri Madoka from Doki Doki Pretty Cure (physically nine, was born shortly before the events of that series) and Asumi Fuurin from Healin' Good Pretty Cure (as mentioned earlier, physically twenty, but was actually born during the events of Healin' Good).

I like how while she is mostly a sweetheart, she does have those moments of selfishness and stubborness, reminding us that while she may be quite intelligent for her age in some aspects, she's still a toddler who may act up at times due to not knowing any better.

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Princess Elleelain/Cure Noble

There's one more Cure to discuss before I move on to the next category, since I feel it makes the most sense to include her here. Namely, the Legendary Pretty Cure, Cure Noble. When the Cures initially learn of her, they are lead to believe that one of the past princesses of Skyland granted someone the power to become a Pretty Cure, much like Ellee did for them. However, when the power of the Majestic Chroniclon gives Sora, Mashiro and Ellee a look into the battle between Skyland and the Undergu Empire 300 years ago, they discover that the princess and the Legendary Cure were in fact the same person.

While in the past, Ellee ends up coming across Elleelain while briefly wandering away from Sora and Mashiro, before the two catch up to her. After meeting Elleelain and realizing what has happened, the two decide to explain the situation to her and what will happen in the future. While Elleelain finds certain aspects of their story to be difficult to believe, she chooses to trust them and lets them stay the night at her castle.

When the Undergu Empire lead by the Undergu Emperor attacks the town, Sora, Mashiro and Ellee help out evacuating the people of the town despite not being able to transform into their Pretty Cure forms while in the past. As Elleelain prays for a hero to arrive, she becomes Cure Noble. With her new powers, she is able to fight off the Ranborgs invading the town, with Sora, Mashiro and Ellee continuing to assist her.

Eventually, she meets Empress Undergu and saves her from a pair of shady birds harrassing her. After the Empress reveals her identity to her, Elleelain decides to hear her out, learning how the Empress has grown to dislike fighting. Agreeing with her that strength isn't everything, the two decide to figure out a way to resolve the conflict peacefully, with Elleelain relaying this information to Sora, Mashiro and Ellee. She makes plans to meet with the Undergu Emperor and try to talk things out.

However, during the meeting, the Emperor reveals he had no intention of backing down peacefully, as Skearhead releases a bunch of Ranborgs into town. Enraged, Elleelain transforms into Cure Noble and a fight breaks out between her and the Emperor. The fight continues, until the Empress, having been trapped in a forcefield to keep her from getting caught up in the fight, breaks free and blocks Cure Noble's attack on her father.

Cure Noble is horrified when she sees what she has done, but she manages to help the Emperor find a way to save his daughter. With this, Skyland and the Undergu Empire declare peace. However, the friendship between Elleelain and the Empress doesn't last long, as sometime after Elleelain's birthday, the Undergu Empire suddenly cut off all contact with Skyland, with Elleelain not knowing what happened.

Many years later, towards the end of her life, Elleelain decided to leave behind her power with the Majestic Chroniclon to aid the Cures in the future, likely remembering the warning from Sora, Mashiro and Ellee, and knowing they would need its power. After her death, Elleelain's spirit became the Morning Star, watching over Skyland. Eventually, she would send Ellee to the King and Queen of Skyland, sensing that her power to protect Skyland would be needed soon.

Finally, Elleelain's spirit decides to pay Ellee a visit during Christmas to grant her the remainder of her power, before finally deciding to move on and entrusting Ellee and the other Cures with finding a way to resolve the conflict. After saying her good byes, the Morning Star disappears as Elleelain's spirit moves on.

While we only really got to know her for a few episodes, I really like Elleelain. I like how while she looks similar to Ellee, who is essentially her daughter, there are some differences in their designs. I think Cure Noble's design is really cool as well, and again, I like how it's different from Cure Majesty's design.

I think the reveal of Elleelain herself being both the Legendary Pretty Cure herself and the Morning Star was well-executed. And while she does only appear in a few episodes, she's one of the most important characters in the story, considering the stable time loop caused by Sora, Mashiro and Ellee going back in time allows Elleelain to ensure that the Pretty Cures will be around to protect Skyland in the future.

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The Villains

Since Ellee is the mascot of the season, and I've already talked about her, I guess we can just move straight on to talking about the villains. This time around, our villains are from a place known as the Undergu Empire, a realm in which strength is everything.

The first villain we're introduced to is Kabaton, a vulgar and greedy purple pig-like man. He tends to employ dirty tricks when it comes to his plans and his fights, whether it's using his farts to momentarily stun/distract enemies or trying to disguise himself to get closer to his targets. He kidnaps Ellee on orders of Empress Undergu, but thanks to Sora's intervention, he's unable to bring her back to the Undergu Empire.

He continues trying to kidnap Ellee, often disguising himself (poorly) to try to get close to the Cures. Despite repeatedly being defeated by them, he still refuses to acknowledge the Cures' strength. Shortly after Cure Wing joins the team, the Empress loses her patience with Kabaton, giving him one last chance to capture Ellee. He challenges Cure Sky to a one-on-one battle, promising to give up on kidnapping Ellee if she wins. Of course, Cure Sky does win, but Kabaton goes back on his word and makes one last attempt to capture Ellee. Failing once more, the Empress prepares to have him eliminated via lightning strike, but Cure Sky intervenes, saving his life. Kabaton finally acknowledges the Cures' strength after this, and resolves to make a new life for himself in Sorashido City.

We eventually find out he moved into an apartment, and took on a few different jobs, including running a sweet potato stand and working the night shift somewhere.

Kabaton is an okay starter villain. Nothing too special, but he does come up with a couple of clever plans that mainly fail due to Cure Prism and Cure Wing gaining their powers. He also does get a few funny moments, particularly when the Cures after a few episodes of dealing with him start treating him as more of a minor annoyance than anything else.

The next villain we are introduced to is Battamonda, a more humanoid member of the Undergu Empire with a bit of a grasshopper motif. He tries to come across as calm and collected, but when things don't go according to plan, he'll quickly lose his composure. He is also quick to establish himself as more dangerous than Kabaton, creating a giant Ranborg-bomb that threatens to spread Undergu energy all over the city in Skyland, putting the King and the Queen of Skyland into a coma, and the bomb-Ranborg nearly killing Captain Shalala of the Azure Guard, who Battamonda then goes on to trap inside of another Ranborg.

Over the course of his confrontations with the Cures, his goal seems to go from kidnapping Ellee to getting back at the Cures for outsmarting him and such. When he reveals to Cure Sky what he has done to Shalala, he manages to break her spirit to the point where Sora loses the ability to transform. However, once Sora regains the will to fight, the Cures are able to put a stop to his plan and rescue Shalala.

Battamonda disappears from the plot for a few episodes after this, but we soon learn that he went into hiding in Sorashido City to avoid the wrath of the Empress, taking on a human form. We find out he's living in an apartment, in the same building as Kabaton in fact, and he's trying his best to make ends meet. While he tries putting on a pleasant persona in public, we see his inner thoughts that he secretly looks upon everyone with disdain and he still wants revenge on the Cures.

When he happens to encounter them again, he tries approaching Mashiro in his human form, pretending to be an art student named Monda. He plots to ruin her confidence in her ambition to be a picture book writer, but ends up unwittingly giving her actual useful advice, helping her realize that not everyone is going to like her stories, and that that's okay. As he interacts more with Mashiro, we gradually learn how Battamonda's life was back in the Undergu Empire, and how he was looked down on since he's not as strong as Minoton or Skearhead, which clearly took a toll on his self-esteem and made him grow bitter. Mashiro's empathy and kindness gradually starts getting to him, even if he won't admit it.

Eventually, due to Skearhead tracking him down and putting pressure on him, he reveals the truth to Mashiro and steals her Mirage Pen after tearing up a picture book she wanted his opinion on. While Mashiro is initially hurt by the revelation, she can tell that not everything Battamonda told her as Monda was a lie. When the Cures later confront Battamonda again, he informs them he doesn't have Mashiro's Mirage Pen on him due to Skearhead taking it from him. Battamonda is reluctant to use the Undergu energy that Skearhead offered him, knowing it'll turn him into a mindless beast. However, when Skearhead shows up again, he pressures Battamonda into accepting it, turning into a monster.

Mashiro refuses to back down, having had a conversation with the other Cures earlier that has strengthened her resolve and made her realize that only she can decide her own self-worth. Mashiro's words seem to get through to Battamonda, who tired of being bossed around by Skearhead, manages to regain his sanity long enough to turn on him and get Mashiro's Mirage Pen back before the Undergu energy overwhelms him once more.

During the fight, Cure Prism is able to unlock a new power, Prism Shine, which allows her to get through to Battamonda so the Cures can purify him. After the Cures rescue him, Battamonda decides to start making an effort to become a better person and apologizes to Mashiro for tearing apart the picture book she showed him earlier.

I really like what they did with Battamonda. He starts out establishing himself as a much bigger threat then Kabaton was, threatening all of Skyland, putting the king and queen into a coma and nearly killing Shalala and turning her into a Ranborg. However, once Shalala has been rescued, Battamonda goes into hiding and the next time we see him, we see how far he's fallen after losing his place in the Undergu Empire, with his next few schemes simply consisting of trying to make Mashiro lose confidence in her picture book writing and trying to ruin the Cures' reputation by dressing up as one for Halloween and going around stealing everyone's Halloween candy. And not only do his schemes fail, but in the former case, he ends up achieving the opposite of what he intended to do since he ended up actually giving Mashiro some decent advice.

I also like how they handle his redemption arc after he reaches his low point, where we can see that Mashiro's kindness is starting to get to him, but he continues to deny it, needing a lot more convincing to finally put the past behind him and work towards improving himself. And I do like his designs.

The next villain we meet is Minoton, a strong bull-like man who spends a lot of time training. It is quickly established that he's quite different from the previous villains once he gets into his first fight with the Cures, as Minoton actually has a code of honor, actually protecting Ellee from his own Ranborg, since he wants a fair fight against the Cures before he takes the princess. He's also the only one of the villains who is willing to give innocent civilians nearby time to get to safety. He does also seem to have a tendency to jump to conclusions, such as assuming the Cures went to an airport to try to escape him, when they were in fact there to wait for Mashiro's parents to arrive.

However, the Empress' patience is starting to run out, so after a few episodes, she has Minoton forcefully sent back to the Undergu Empire and sends Skearhead out to deal with the Cures. The next time we see Minoton, we discover that Skearhead had him turned into a Ranborg. Under Skearhead's control, he's no longer abiding by his code of honor. The Cures manage to purify him, only for Skearhead to drag him off and turn him back into a Ranborg later.

The second time the Cures fight Ranborg!Minoton, he keeps infusing himself with more Undergu energy, in a process that seems quite unpleasant for him. Thankfully, the Cures are able to save him for real this time using the power granted to them by the Majestic Chroniclon, and the Cures part way with Minoton on good terms, with him acknowleding their strength.

As you might know, I tend to like the villains in Pretty Cure who have their own code of honor, and Minoton is no exception. After the two villains before him, its sort of refreshing to have a villain who isn't just a jerk. Plus, with the Undergu Empire's focus on strength, I feel it makes perfect sense for there to be at least one member who is like him. I like Minoton's design too.

Now, let's talk about the Empress herself. She's the one in charge of the Undergu Empire, and towards the end of the show, we discover that she used to be quite a sweet person in the past. During the conflict between the Undergu Empire 300 years ago, she grew disillusioned from watching the battles take place, noting how the fighting only seemed to make people miserable and starting to feel like the belief of strength being everything was wrong.

After meeting Elleelain, who shares her views, the two plan to find a way to put a stop to the fighting. However, when the Emperor (likely having been talked into it by Skearhead) launches an attack on the town, a battle breaks out between him and Cure Noble, while the Empress can only watch after her father traps her in a forcefield to keep her safe. Despite not being as strong as her father, the Empress, not wanting either him or Elleelain to get hurt, manages to free herself from the forcefield and interfere in the battle, taking a hit from Cure Noble meant for her father.

Wounded, the Empress notes with relief that if she was able to pull this off despite her lack of strength, then maybe she was right about strength not being everything after all. Wanting to save her, Cure Noble manages to help the Emperor work out a way to use the Undergu energy to close his daughter's wound. Thanks to the Empress' actions, Skyland and the Undergu Empire decided to declare peace.

Unfortunately, it would not last. Sometime after Elleelain's birthday, while the Empress and the Emperor were discussing what the Undergu Empire should believe in now that they've put the idea of strength being everything behind them, Skearhead, still believing in it, snuck up behind them and fatally stabbed the Emperor with an energy lance in front the Empress. Skearhead then used a device to manipulate the traumatized Empress' memories, leading her to believe that it was Cure Noble who killed her father and thus starting up the conflict between Skyland the Undergu Empire once more.

The Empress spends most of the series in the Undergu realm, leaving most of the heavy work to her minions, which may be partially due to her old wound being at risk of opening if she were to battle herself. She is also willing to punish the others for their repeated failures, with the exception of Skearhead, her tutor. However, after the other three villains quit, she doesn't try to do anything else to them.

Eventually, the Empress does decide to confront the Cures herself, threatening to send an army of Ranborgs into Ellee's hometown. Sora, Mashiro and Ellee learn about the Empress' past from the Majestic Chroniclon up until the point where Skyland and the Undergu Empire declared peace, leaving them wondering what happened after that. The Empress isn't in the mood to tell them, however. After a fight breaks out, the Empress' old wound opens up, so Skearhead takes her back to the Undergu Empire to recover.

After Skearhead is seemingly killed in his next battle with the Cures, the furious Empress breaks out of the device Skearhead put her in to speed up her recovery and goes to confront them once more. She tells them why she's doing this, with the Cures realizing something must be wrong since her version of what happened doesn't match up with what they heard from Princess Elleelain's spirit. The Empress takes the Undergu energy into her body, giving the Cures' their most difficult challenge yet as they have to find a way to bring her back to her senses and protect the city, splitting into two groups to accomplish this.

They finally do manage to get through to her, but before they can talk, Skearhead suddenly stabs the Empress with his energy spear. As another fight breaks out between the Cures and Skearhead, the Empress manages to recall her repressed memory of what really happened to her father. Skearhead admits the truth, revealing that he never truly cared about her, and was only invested in her potential as a vessel for the Undergu energy. The Empress is nearly broken at this revelation, being left wondering if there's even anything left for her to believe in. However, the Cures refuse to give up on her.

Skearhead drags the Empress back to the Undergu Realm in order to lure in the Cures with the intent of making Cure Sky into his new vessel. As Cure Sky and Cure Prism reach her, the Empress attempts to warn them about Skearhead's plan, but he interrupts her. She watches the battle between them unfold, until Cure Prism helps Cure Sky overcome the Undergu energy and even heal the Empress' wound from Skearhead's attack in the process. As the other Cures catch up to them, Skearhead makes one last attempt to possess the Empress, but now knowing his true colors, she rejects him immediately.

I really like the Empress. She has a cool design, and her past self is adorable. The glimpses we get of her throughout the series certainly make her seem intimidating, but once we learn her story, we realize she's not the true villain. Poor girl was manipulated by Skearhead into believing someone she had befriended ended up betraying her and killing her father, basically brainwashing her into becoming a ruthless ruler all for the sake of making her into the perfect vessel.

So it's really satisfying when she rejects Skearhead's final attempt to use her as a vessel, and seeing her find something new to believe in by accepting the Cures' offer of friendship, along with the other three former villains deciding to stay by her side to reform the Undergu Empire.

And then there's Skearhead, who initially appears to be the second-in-command to the Empress. He's much more stoic compared to the previous three villains, and is quickly established to be the strongest of them all. He claims to do what he does because he cares about the Empress, and refuses to elaborate when the Cures try to get more answers about the conflict between the Undergu Empire and Skyland out of him.

The truth, however, is that Skearhead is the embodiment of the Undergu energy itself. He originally manipulated the Emperor into attacking Skyland, and also acted as a tutor to the Empress. His true motive was to find a suitable vessel for his energy, having initially planned to use the Emperor, before deciding the Empress' heroic act during the duel between the Emperor and Cure Noble would make her the best vessel. To ensure that she'd become his ideal vessel, he killed the Emperor and rewrote the Empress' memories to make her believe Cure Noble did it. He even goes as far as fake his own death in battle against the Cures towards the end of the series.

When the Cures manage to bring the Empress back to her senses, he reveals himself to still be alive by literally stabbing the Empress in the back. Declaring her a failure, he soon sets his sight on Cure Sky as his next potential vessel. Dragging the Empress back to the Undergu Empire, he explains his plan to her as he waits for the Cures to come after him to rescue the Empress.

With Cure Wing and Cure Butterfly, and later Cure Majesty splitting off from the rest of the group to deal with threats along the way, Cure Sky and Cure Prism reach the deeper parts of the Undergu Empire where Skearhead awaits them. Having fought him enough times to know his usual strategies, the two initially seem to handle the situation well, but they soon begin to grow weaker as a result of the strong concentrations of Undergu energy in the depths.

Taking this oppurtunity, Skearhead threatens to throw Cure Prism into the abyss, telling Cure Sky she might be able to save her if she accepts the Undergu energy. He temporarily succeeds in turning Cure Sky into a darker version of herself, taking control of her body. However, his plan falls apart when he tries to have her attack Cure Prism, as the bond between them is strong enough to let Cure Sky regain control of herself, allowing Cure Prism to return her to normal and force Skearhead out of her body.

As the rest of the Cures arrive, and begin to overpower him as he takes on his dark serpent-like form, he makes one last attempt to possess the Empress, only for her to reject him. In desperation, he flees to Sorashido, with the Cures soon following. The Cures tell Skearhead he won't find another vessel, and together they finally defeat him, after which he disappears to an unknown fate.

Yeah, Skearhead's the true main villain of this series, and I think he does it pretty well. I've noticed some interesting paralells between him and Butler from Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure. Both of them are seemingly working for a female villain, but are secretly manipulating them and the other villains for their own agenda. However, while Butler actually did care about the Witch of Destruction despite taking advantage of her failing memory to try to get her to fullfill her original goal that she abandoned a long time ago, Skearhead on the other hand only saw the Empress as a means to an end and only pretended to care about her.

Since he barely shows any emotion throughout his appearances, the sudden shift in his demenour when he thinks he has succeeded in securing Cure Sky as his new vessel is quite unnerving. It's unclear what happens to him after the Cures purify him in the end, but I guess with the Undergu energy gone, he's no longer a threat regardless.

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Other Characters

All right! Now that we've got the main heroes and villains out of the way, let's talk about the supporting cast. I think it makes sense to start with Yoyo Nijigaoka, Mashiro's grandmother. She quickly agrees to let Sora and Ellee stay with her and Mashiro when they are brought to her house, and it quickly becomes apparent that Yoyo knows more about the situation than she's letting on. She soon reveals that she originally came from Skyland, but ended up settling down in Sorashido fifty years ago after coming there to study Earth as a scholar. She uses the Mirror Pad to check in on what's going on in Skyland from time to time, and she offers to help make a portal so Sora and Ellee may return home.

She is also close friends with Tsubasa, taking him in after he ended up falling through a portal in Skyland during a failed attempt to fly and helping him study. Throughout the series Yoyo offers her support to the Cures, and often gives them a little nudge in the right direction when they're trying to find their way, trusting them to figure out the rest on their own.

I really like Yoyo. She reminds a bit of past Pretty Cure characters like Kaoruko from HeartCatch Pretty Cure and Otokichi from Suite Pretty Cure, who are also a grandparent to one of the Cures who is aware of their mission and helps support them in some way. Unlike Kaoruko and Otokichi, Yoyo hasn't previously fought the villains the current Cures are dealing with, but she still manages to provide good support through her knowledge and intuition. I also like how she trusts the Cures enough to know they'll be able to figure things out on their own if she just gives them a slight nudge in the right direction.

Next, let's talk about Sora's family. When Sora first brings them up, we learn that in addition to her parents, Sora also has a younger brother. We get to see glimpses of Sora's parents in the flashback of when Captain Shalala saved her, and we eventually do get to see them when Sora returns home after she loses confidence in herself after discovering what happened to Captain Shalala.

Sora's father, Shido, seems to be somewhat stoic, but clearly understands Sora quite well. Sora's mother, Remi, seems more gentle and doesn't want to pressure Sora, gently telling Tsubasa and Ageha to give her some time to herself when they come over to check on her. When Sora regains her dream after reading a letter from Mashiro, Shido and Remi see her off with a smile.

Sora's younger brother, Red (not to be confused with a certain character from Happiness Charge Pretty Cure), is an energetic young boy who clearly admires his sister and wants to be a hero like her. When she briefly gives up on her dream, he is initially upset and not knowing what had happened, accuses her of being a coward. He is happy when Sora manages to regain her powers and resolve.

Since they don't really have any major roles in other episodes, mainly showing up for smaller roles, we don't really get to know much else about them, but I do like them from what we do see. I feel we get a solid glimpse of the family dynamic.

Next up are Mashiro's parents, Akira and Mahiru Nijigaoka. Most of their appearances are made through video calls with Mashiro, as the two are working overseas. It is clear that they both really care about their daughter, and they can tell if Mashiro has something on her mind, even if Mashiro can't always share all the details about the Pretty Cure stuff and all that. One of them is also half-Skylandian, but it isn't ever revealed which of them it is. If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably Akira, since he seems to have the same eye color as Yoyo.

They eventually do come home to visit Mashiro for a weekend, but we only really get to see the visit through a montage since most of the episode takes place at the airport waiting for them to arrive, with Tsubasa befriending the young daughter of one of the pilots and the Cures later getting into a battle with Minoton that threatens to delay the flights.

I like them. It's clear that they're loving parents to Mashiro, and I sort of wish we'd gotten to see more of their visit in episode 26 and how they interact with Mashiro's friends. I still liked what we got to see, but it would've been nice to have had more of the episode dedicated to it.

Next up, Tsubasa's parents, Kakeru and Puwa. Like Tsubasa, they're from the Puni bird tribe who are capable of taking on human form. They're loving parents, although Tsubasa sometimes feel they can be a little too affectionate. Kakeru is also an artist, and proves to be quite brave when he tries to rescue a free-falling Tsubasa in the past, temporarily regaining the ability to fly in the process. However, he's unable to figure out how he did it, but the event inspired Tsubasa to find his own way to fly.

I like them too. They have some funny interactions with Tsubasa, when it comes to him being embarrassed when they get overly affectionate, or them initially mistaking Mashiro for Tsubasa's girlfriend when they first meet her. Again, might've been nice to see more of them, but what we got is still nice.

We never actually meet Ageha's parents, so let's talk about her two older sisters, Maria and Kaguya Saotome. When Ageha's parents split up, the sisters were separated as their father got custody of Maria and Kaguya, while their mother got custody of Ageha. Because of this, they have different surnames, which is why the other Cures don't initially realize they're related to Ageha when first meeting them.

When they happen to meet up, we learn that the two of them are models. We also learn that Ageha also had a brief stint as a model with them, with their manager asking if Ageha would be interested in taking it up again. With Ellee taking an interest in a dress they made for a line for children's clothes, the two ask if the Cures would be willing to let Ellee model the dress for their upcoming fashion show. When Ellee gets nervous up on stage, Ageha goes to calm her down, and since she's already up there, decides to join in on the fashion show with her sisters introducing her as a special guest.

After the show (and the Cures having to fight off the Undergu empire when they inevitibly interrupted the show), Maria and Kaguya comment that seeing how well Ageha was able to help calm down Ellee earlier, that it's clear that Ageha has made the right career choice in deciding to become a nursery school teacher.

Once again, I like what we got to see of these characters, but I wish we could've gotten a little more.

All right, next up is the King and Queen of Skyland. The Morning Star sent Ellee to them, asking them to look after her until the right time. Continuing the tradition of Pretty Cure characters letting the mascots who are babies name themselves, they name the baby Ellee based on her verbal tic. After the Cures and Yoyo manage to establish contact with them through the Mirror Pad to let them know Ellee is okay, they recognize Yoyo and trust her and the Cures to make sure Ellee makes it home safely.

When the Cures finally do open the portal to Skyland, the King and Queen are happily reunited with their daughter, and are willing to offer the Cures any reward they might want in exchange for having kept Ellee safe. However, after Battamonda unleashes a Ranborg that threatens to explode and spread Undergu energy all over the town, Battamonda eventually gets into the castle and puts the King and Queen into a coma, his attempt to kidnap Ellee in the process only being thwarted due to Cure Sky's intervention.

The Cures spend the next few episodes gathering the energy from purified Ranborgs in order to make a cure that can wake up the King and the Queen. Once they finally have enough Kira-Kira energy to make the cure after saving Captain Shalala, the Cures are able to wake up the King and Queen. Shortly after, a sudden burst of energy from Ellee leads to the King and Queen deciding to tell the Cures the truth about Ellee's origins, and asking them to look after her a bit longer.

I like these two. They may not have the biggest role in the story beyond what I've already mentioned, but they do what they do well. They have a good dynamic, with the King occasionally being sort of a goofy dad, particularly whenever waiting for Ellee to show up when the Cures travel to Skyland, and the Queen being a bit calmer, albeit occasionally showing she's not so above it all either.

Now that I've talked about the Cures' families, let's move on to Captain Shalala. She's the captain of the Azure Guard, and said to be the best swordswoman in Skyland. She once rescued a young Sora in the past, leading Sora to be inspired to become a hero herself. Sora also gave Shalala a heart-shaped Sky Jewel she had found as a thank you for saving her, which Shalala had made into a necklace and kept with her since.

When the Cures finally get the portal to Skyland working and bring Ellee home, Sora also reunites with Captain Shalala, who still remembers her. Sora is given the chance to join the Azure Guard, although one of its members, a girl named Beryberie, has some doubts about letting Sora join out of the blue. After Sora proves herself in a battle against Beryberie, Shalala explains to Sora how much Beryberie had to push herself in order to finally join the guard, even while recovering from a hand injury. While Shalala suggests giving Beryberie some time to herself, Sora insists on going to find and apologize to her.

Shalala sees great potential in Sora, and has her help out the Azure Guard both in her civilian form and as Cure Sky. When Battamonda unleashes the time bomb Ranborg on Skyland, Shalala seemingly sacrifices herself to give Cure Sky and Cure Prism enough time to purify it, going missing shortly after. However, she left Sora a letter to encourage her, along with the necklace made from the jewel Sora once gave her.

Shalala's fate is left unknown, until it is discovered that Battamonda had her turned into a Ranborg. The revelation leaves Sora quite shaken, knowing there's a chance Shalala might die from her wounds re-opening if they purify the Ranborg, or that the Undergu energy she's being exposed to while trapped in there might finish her off first. It is only after Sora temporarily loses the will to fight, and later gains it that the Cures are able to defeat and purify the Ranborg Shalala got turned into, just barely managing to save her with the healing power of the Mixing Palette.

After she recovers, Shalala urges Sora to start finding her own path as a hero instead of just following in her footsteps. Shalala has a few minor appearances after that, but has a supporting role in episode 42 when she goes to Sorashido to hear about the research Tsubasa has been doing on finding ways to help protect Skyland, making the town a safe space by creating a barrier, and making new equipment for the Azure Guard that will allow them to purify Ranborgs on their own.

With Tsubasa needing some time to finish his research materials before giving them to Shalala, the Cures decide to show her around Sorashido City to pass the time. After the tour, Shalala invites Sora to train with her, claiming she wants to try out the track suit she bought while the Cures were showing her the mall. She admits she noticed something was on Sora's mind and asks her about it, with Sora explaining what happened during the most recent battle with Skearhead. Shalala hears her out, before the other Cures step in. After receiving the research material from Tsubasa, Shalala then returns to Skyland.

During the final battle, she's seen leading the Azure Guard against the Ranborgs invading the city, instructing them on when to activate the new mode of their weapons to let them purify the Ranborgs.

I really like Shalala. She has a cool design, and I really like her role in the story, being Sora's inspiration to become a hero and all that. I guess her character also sort of feels like a contrast with Fennel from the previous season, Delicious Party Pretty Cure, in that Fennel initially seemed like an ally, but was evil all along. Shalala on the other hand, is just as heroic as she appears to be, even if there were some theories she might secretly be working for both sides.

I personally didn't think so, but when she went missing after the battle with the time-bomb Ranborg, I assumed she'd likely been captured and would eventually turn up as a brainwashed minion of the Undergu Empire at some point. And I was sort of right, except she got turned into a Ranborg instead.

Speaking of the Azure Guard, there are two other members of the guard I feel are worth mentioning. First is Ariri, the second-in-command to Shalala. He seems fairly serious, and takes charge of the group when Shalala goes missing until her return. His serious demenour occasionally slips when he gets into little arguments with Beryberie.

I don't have that much to say about him, since he doesn't really get his own episode dedicated to getting to know him or anything. But he's all right, he does his job as the second-in-command well.

Anyways, let's move on to Beryberie. When she was younger, she suffered an injury that caused her to fail the test to join the Azure Guard. It took three failed attempts and a lot of training before she finally got accepted. When Sora initially joins the guard, Beryberie is skeptical at first, questioning how big of a role someone that young really played in rescuing the princess. To prove herself, Sora accepts a duel against Beryberie.

Beryberie puts up a good fight with her electric glove, but Sora ultimately wins. Sora later learns Beryberie's backstory from Shalala and goes to apologize for a comment she made after their duel, while Beryberie trying to calm herself down has an encounter with Battamonda, who turns her glove into a Ranborg.

Cure Sky comes to Beryberie's rescue, thus earning her respect. After this, Beryberie comes to see Sora as a friend and worthy rival.

I really like Beryberie. I like her friendly rivalry with Sora, and her electric glove is pretty cool. Before I concluded that Ellee would be the fifth Cure, I briefly wondered if Beryberie might be a candidate for their identity, but I soon realized it probably wouldn't be her. Still, she's a cool supporting character.

Next up is Takeru, a young boy attending the kindergarden that Ageha ends up working at. After Cure Wing rescues him from a Ranborg, Takeru comes to admire him and the other Cures. After Ageha lets it slip that she knows the Cures, she delivers the kids' fan letters to them and then the Cures' replies to the kids. However, in trying to be like Cure Wing, Takeru ends up taking the wrong approach and being too harsh on his classmates for misbehaving. Ageha tries to reason with him, but he still doesn't get it.

When a Ranborg attacks the kindergarden, Takeru gets separated from the other kids, and witnesses the Cures getting trapped. When the Ranborg threatens him, Ageha steps in to defend him. Her wish to protect the children leads her to become a Pretty Cure herself, and from witnessing this, Takeru realizes what being a hero really is about. He also promises to keep Ageha now being a Cure a secret from the others.

Takeru plays a role in another one of Ageha's focus episodes, when it is revealed that his family will be moving away soon, leading Ageha to trying to figure out how to handle the situation and make him feel a little better. After a few failed attempts to reach out to him due to Takeru trying to avoid everyone, Ageha eventually comes across him trying to finish a tunnel in the sandbox he started making with a classmate. While helping him out, Ageha opens up about her own feelings, allowing her to get through to him.

In an interesting coincidence, Ageha later discovers that Takeru's grandmother happens to be the teacher who helped her out back when she was in kindergarden, inspiring Ageha to become one herself. When Takeru is leaving with his family, Ageha, as Cure Butterfly, goes to use her Mix Palette to put on a little light show of butterflies for him to see him off.

Takeru's a sweet kid. I really like the friendship he develops with Ageha and how they help each other grow a little.

Most of the remaining characters are one-shot characters, and while there are a few more characters that come to mind, such as the two baseball club members Sora ended up helping out in one episode, I don't think I can really think of much to say about some of these characters.

There is one more character I sort of do want to talk about, though. One episode has the Cures accidentally getting pulled into the Mirror Pad when Ellee accidentally activates a hidden function, where the Cures encounter an enthusiastic little pig-like fairy named Pinkton, who offers to train them. Each Cure pick out a training course that suits them, but Pinkton accidentally mixes up Sora and Mashiro's, as well as Tsubasa and Ageha's courses.

After some initial trouble with the mixed-up training courses, the Cures each take a moment to consider how the other Cure would solve it, gaining a better understanding of how the other thinks as they each make it through the training courses while Pinkton offers moral support. After the Cures all clear their training courses and prepare to return, they discover there are in fact multiple Pinktons, and that it wasn't just Pinkton putting on different outfits to coach each of them. Also, Pinkton accidentally turns the exit door into a monster, giving the Cures one final challenge to clear before heading back.

I guess the reason I wanted to talk about Pinkton is, well, I sort of feel like the end of the episode sets up for her to appear again, with the Cures promising to bring Ellee along next time they decide to use it to train, but we never see them do this. I guess the line was just one of the bits of foreshadowing towards Ellee becoming a Cure herself in the near future. Might've been interesting to see what kind of training she would've done.

As for my thoughts on Pinkton as a character? She's okay, I guess. Just sort of a quirky and kind of clumsy little coach who lives inside the Mirror Pad.

----------------------------

Overall Thoughts

I really enjoyed this series! I really like the animation style, and the soundtrack is great too. A lot of the recent Pretty Cure series have done little twists on the formula in their own ways, and in this one, they try to take it a step further, like having the leader Cure both be a non-pink Cure and being from another world, and having a male Cure as part of the main team. In addition to this, they also bring back certain plot elements we haven't seen in a while.

For example, in most series since Go! Princess, the Cures have in some way just stumbled upon their major group attack power-up, some common ways being gaining it through some character development, or being given it by someone significant. And it usually doesn't take long for them to figure out how to use it either.

Here, the Cures must go on a quest to find the Majestic Chroniclon and then prove that their hearts are united in order to activate it, basically testing them before they can unlock its power. It's been a while since we had them do this, and I'm glad they brought it back for this series. Also, the Cures don't get a new outfit with their power-up like they have been getting in the recent series, which I'm also fine with. In fact, for the first time since Yes! Pretty Cure 5, the Cures don't get an outfit upgrade with any of their power-ups. I have to respect them for that.

Also, it taking until episode 18 for Cure Butterfly's debut, and then Cure Majesty not making her debut until episode 31, reminded me of HeartCatch and Suite Pretty Cure, which both had one mid-season Cure join at first, and then a second one at some point after the thirty episode mark. Of course, it does it a little differently from those two series, as Ellee only then becomes a Cure, while in the former two series, Cure Moonlight and Cure Muse were already established, and had some things they needed to sort out before joining up with the other Cures.

And like you'd expect from an anniversery series, this series also has a lot of other little nods to previous Pretty Cure series. All in all, I think the mix of old and new story elements make for a pretty good series that explores its themes of heroism and what true strength really is pretty well.

Of course, it's not a flawless series. In my personal opinion, at least, I feel that the show tends to focus too much on the pairs of Sora and Mashiro, and Tsubasa and Ageha, giving less time to explore certain other character dynamics within the team. At least this show isn't the worst offender when it comes to that, and they do at least show some interaction between every possible combination of characters in the main team to give us some indication of their relationship. Plus, I do understand that the bonds of these pairs are a major plot point, particularly the one between Sora and Mashiro, but I'll get back to that a little later.

I also felt that the school that Mashiro and Sora attend in Sorashido was underutilized. We only really get two episodes focusing on Sora's school life, namely the episode where she transfers in and the episode where she ends up helping the girls' baseball team prepare for an upcoming tournament. I really wish we could've seen more of Sora and Mashiro's interactions with their classmates, and more of Sora's life at the school. It might've made the scene where Sora says her good-byes to her classmates in the final episode as she prepares to return to Skyland a little more impactful if we actually got to see her spending more time with them.

Getting a few more interactions between the villains might've also been nice, since the interactions between the various villains in the franchise often gives us some insight into their characters or some funny moments depending on how well the villains get along. While the show does get a little better about this later into its run, giving us at least some idea of how the villains see each other, with the other villains sort of finding Kabaton annoying or Battamonda developing a bit of a complex because he's not that physically strong compared to some of the other villains. It's still pretty cool seeing the reformed villains turn up during the final episodes to help defend Skyland, having apparently put their differences aside off-screen and learned to get along better.

Speaking of the last few episodes, I like how everything they've built up to plays out. With Tsubasa's research allowing them to put up a barrier around the town, the Morning Star being revealed to be Elleelain's spirit, who grants Ellee the ability to change into her teenaged form outside of being Cure Majesty, Cure Prism developing her Prism Shine move for freeing those corrupted by Undergu energy and the reveal that Skearhead was the true big bad all along.

When the Cures then take the fight to the Undergu Empire after learning Skearhead's true intentions, we get a pretty epic moment when Cure Sky is momentarily possessed by the Undergu energy in order to save Cure Prism. We have not have gotten a last minute outfit upgrade power-up, but I think Dark Cure Sky makes up for it, since I didn't expect it and her design in that form was pretty cool. And how she returns to her senses after the Undergu energy overwhelms her is pretty amazing too, with Cure Prism not needing to do anything else except simply trusting in the bond between them as Skearhead tries to force Cure Sky to attack her.

Once Cure Sky returns to her senses after refusing to attack Cure Prism, it only takes a small amount of Prism Shine energy to fully return her to normal. And she even manages to heal the Empress' wound while at it! Once the rest of the Cures arrive, we get a pretty cool sequence of the Cures fighting off Skearhead in his serpent form, and at this point, it's clear that Skearhead is starting to realize that he has lost, since he first makes one last attempt to possess the Empress, which as I mentioned earlier, she rejects right away, not letting him manipulate him anymore.

And once he heads to Sorashido, the Cures spell out to him that he won't find a vessel there either. After the battle is over, the other three redeemed villains decide to stay by the Empress' side, forgiving her for what she did due to Skearhead's manipulations, with the Undergu empire seeming much more tranquil now that Skearhead and the Undergu energy has been purified for good.

Sora, Tsubasa and Ellee have to return to Skyland, saying their good-byes to their friends in Sorashido, but at least they can visit each other whenever they want. Even knowing this, it's still a little hard for them to say their good-byes, particularly for Sora and Mashiro, but in the end, they manage to part with a (tearful) smile. Mashiro decides she'll write a picture book based on her adventure with Sora and the others.

The final scene is of Sora, Tsubasa and Ellee showing up for an unannounced visit, Tsubasa sheepishly admitting it feels a little awkward since they literally just said their good-byes yesterday, but Mashiro and Ageha are still happy to see them and invite them to join them for breakfast. The end credits also feature drawings for the picture book Mashiro is now working on based on the Cures adventure, giving sort of a nice little recap in a cute way to wrap things up.

I think I like this series better than both Happiness Charge and Hugtto Pretty Cure, which celebrated the tenth and fifteenth anniverseries of Pretty Cure. While I did enjoy those too, there were certain plot points in those two series that could occasionally be a bit too... distracting. I'm not sure how high I'd rank it when it comes to which Pretty Cure series in general are my favorites, but then again, trying to figure out how I rank each series is a tough decision in general.

At this point I think I've said everything I wanted to say, so I'll wrap this up now. Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure was really great, and I'm curious to check out Wonderful Pretty Cure. I've got a little bit of catching up to do, since I once again decided to finish up this post before I moved on to the next series. From what little I've seen about the premise, I'm guessing Wonderful Pretty Cure will have a more light-hearted tone, continuing a sort of pattern of the more serious Pretty Cure series storywise usually being followed by one with a more light-hearted tone.

But I'll find out soon enough, and share my thoughts after I watch each episode as usual. Looking forward to seeing how the Pretty Cure franchise may continue to evolve in the future!

[todomitoukei]

If you have the time, can you translate the extra about Touya's escape from the hospital? I've seen a few different ones where the overall concept was the same but the sunflower man's name changed and in some the doctor burned the facility not the sunflower man.

Sure thing!

「わかりにくい描写ですが、この時サンサン晴明と揉み合いになった燈矢は炎を出して逃走。 弱体化した炎では全焼に至らず、すぐ消火されました。悪事の発覚を恐れたドクターは「サンサン晴明の失火」という事で、園の秘密を隠蔽。 死者が出なかった事もあり、大きなニュースにもならず、残念ながら警察・ヒーローはドクターの悪事に気づく事はありませんでした。 もしもここで大事件となっていれば、今の状況にはなっていなかったかもしれない、皮肉な分岐点でした。」

= "It's a hard-to-understand description, but at this time, Touya had gotten into a struggle with Haruaki Sansan*, let out his flames, and escaped. The weakened flames didn't burn down [everything] and were immediately extinguished. The doctor, fearing the crimes to be discovered, covered up the orphanage's** secret with the so-called "Haruaki Sansan's accidental fire" incident. Unfortunately, as there were no casualties and it didn't become big news, the police and heroes didn't become aware of the doctor's crimes. An ironic junction because if this had become a major incident, we might not be in the situation we are in now."

*aka creepy sunflower person; Haruaki is written with the kanji for "to clear up" and "bright; light" and Sansan is written in katakana (writing system used for foreign words) so it's probably supposed to mean "sun sun" **as far as I know, it was never explicitly mentioned in the manga what kind of facility Touya was in. The Ultra Analysis book states that Dr. Ujiko ran "orphanages, private hospitals, etc." with the word for orphanage used being 児童養護施設. However, this time, he uses the word 園 which has several meanings such as "garden, park, kindergarten, nursery school, preschool" - I decided to use the word orphanage here because that makes the most sense, but I'm not entirely sure what it really is.

To answer your question, creepy sunflower didn't decide to burn down the building. I'm guessing Dr. Ujiko didn't do it himself in order to maintain his reputation, which is the reason he decided to have the building destroyed in the first place.

What this tells us is that not only did Touya not kill anyone back then, he also didn't burn down the building (and probably didn't even injure anyone, considering the person he was fighting with was the one that then burned down the building. Can't do that if you're heavily injured). He probably only burned down a few pieces of furniture, if anything.