#Not sure of how it turned out but I really wanted to write a Kotoko and Yuno interaction and the idea of playing chess together

[blueepink07]

Checkmate

Posting this fic here too! But you can also read here.

Summary: Yuno notices a pair of crimson eyes staring at her match of chess with Mahiru. Scared that her older friend might remember the latest event in which she was attacked by the same pair of eyes, she swiftly leads her to Shidou's cell with the excuse that Mahiru needs to take her medications. However, when Yuno comes back, the same prisoner that disrupted their game demands another match with her.

"No fair… You are too good at this, Yuno! You really have to teach me, too!!"

"And… Checkmate!"

"Sure!! Let's put the pieces back together and I will teach you some tricks!~"

"Right! But… Where was the queen placed…?"

"Mahiru…" Yuno couldn't help but laugh, noticing her friend mistaking the queen’s place for the king's.

It's been a while since they stayed like this, relaxed and cheerful, despite the circumstances… Kotoko's attacks prevented Mahiru from moving much, forcing her to spend the days in her cell, without an occupation. Although Yuno was frequently checking on her, she grew worried, noticing that with every passing minute, her mental state was deteriorating, so the requested wheelchair felt like a rescue from this monotonous routine.

Exactly, when the two friends were finishing to set up the table, Yuno spotted a pair of crimson eyes staring in their direction. The same pair started to approach them, the high school girl's heartbeat slowly increasing with each step. She wasn't scared for her… She was worried for Mahiru, who hadn't still felt the presence of the other person. How would she react seeing the prisoner who hurt her just a while ago? What's Kotoko trying to do? She can't beat up anyone during the trial, but what if…

No, Yuno, these are just assumptions! The best thing you can do is to avert Mahiru from noticing the taller prisoner and get her to leave the chess table.

"Mahiru… I think it's the time to get your medications. Let's first go to Shidou and then we will continue, ok?"

"Ah… but I had thought there was still some time left until my next medication…"

"I understand why! We had such a fun time together, so it's only natural. Here, let me help you!"

"No!"

Yuno's flinch didn't get unnoticed by Mahiru, who, with an apologetic smile continued:

"I don't want to be a bother… You spent so much time with me… With this wheelchair I can move by myself… So, really, Yuno, I will be fine…"

"It's still annoying to move with that, isn’t it? You still haven't got used to… This. Don't worry, for me it's not a bother! I have nothing better to do, so let's go!"

Yuno didn't even wait for Mahiru's response, helping her instead to move as fast as possible, directing the wheelchair at an angle from where she wouldn't be able to see Kotoko. Her heartbeat started to slow down as she was approaching Shidou's cell, knocking on the door.

"I think I will retreat for now!! Don't forget about the match!"

"Ah.. Yuno?!"

"Sorry Mahiru… I should go back to see if everything is clear now…"

Yuno felt more confident when she came back, if not she became curious of what Kotoko wanted from them. She wasn't even surprised to see her sitting in Mahiru's place, staring at the chess table.

"Kotoko… Do you want to play chess too? Although I don't think that's why you came, right?"

"Actually, that’s why I'm here. I've noticed that you are quite skilled at it, so I thought it would be good practice."

"She hadn't even hidden the fact that she watched us for a while. But I guess she had no reason to, considering that she now thinks she is Es's partner."

"I'm surprised! I wouldn’t have guessed that you would be the type to play chess for fun!"

"I play once in a while… It’s relaxing actually, it also trains my mind and helps me keep myself more… composed."

How much Yuno would want to throw the chess table to a corner and leave. Keeps her relaxed, huh? What a lie, Kotoko's hesitation tells everything. The way her voice, usually powerful, has been slightly trembling at the last word.

She is after something, that’s for sure… Yuno heard before that the strategy you use when playing chess can tell a lot about one's personality. Is this Kotoko's attempt at trying to learn more about her, while making herself vulnerable? After all, this game of accumulating information can be played by two.

"Okay~"

"I will begin first, if it's alright…"

"Sure, go on!"

Making the first move… Usually the one who begins has a slight advantage. Is Kotoko not that confident about her skills…? However, the first two moves are usually the same regardless of who you play with. As expected, Kotoko moved the pawn that guarded the king. The muscle memory worked in, and Yuno, too, placed her own pawn with two slots.

The objective, in the beginning part of the game, was to make an opening for as many pieces as possible in a short time. Kotoko seemed to know this too as she started to move more pawns to make room for the pieces that were worth more points.

Just a few moves in the game, and Yuno could already tell Kotoko's style of playing. After quickly disposing of the pawns that kept the other pieces in place, the raven haired girl started to consider every move an opportunity to attack. Aggressive, but precise, fearless, no matter the consequences. If Yuno would take into consideration the latest events, she would think that this is how Kotoko usually plays. But… Something feels off. Kotoko analyses before she acts. Her moves right now are too reckless, the difference in points being quite large, Yuno having a considerable advantage.

Has Kotoko figured it out already…? That the way Yuno plays during their match is different from her usual style? The highschool girl likes to trick her opponents at every given chance, while also putting herself in a position that might mislead the opponent, creating a false sense of stability that would cause them to advance in the danger, becoming a victim of her tactics. However, with the possibility of Kotoko wanting to learn more about her, it forced Yuno to take a different approach. Instead of using tricks, she decided to play safe, maybe too calm and boring for her liking. Not attacking much, but having a good defense, while slightly predicting the opponent's moves.

Is Kotoko trying to push Yuno to her limits? Yuno is not a fan of long matches, and considering that Kotoko plays in offense, while she plays in defense, it will take some time until one of them wins.

To succumb to boredom and let Kotoko's strategy actually work, or continue this charade…

It will be easier if she would just stand up and leave… After all, Kotoko is not someone she would like to spend time with and she should really check on Mahiru.

"Hey, Yuno. You seem deep in thought, are you actually paying attention to the game?"

"Hm~? Chess is about strategy, so it would be natural to be deep in thought. Or is this your way of acknowledging that you let me win?"

"Hmph, let you win. What nonsense. I think you are the one who treats me lightly. From what I've seen, from your other matches, you could have already won by now."

Since when did Kotoko start to spy on their games? It's scary how easily she can make herself unnoticed and claim so much information.

"How sweet! An admirer!"

Surprisingly, Kotoko didn't comment about her reply, instead her face turning into a frown.

"Your skills at chess are really impressive, my only objective was to have fun with you."

"... Really? After everything that happened, what made you think that I will forgive or forget. I don't think I have to spell it out for you, why does no one want to sit next to you though."

"Then, why did you accept my request? I know that you aren't afraid of me. Were you scared that I might have hurt Mahiru? Do not think that your action didn't go unnoticed."

Why did Yuno accept the request… To gain information about the prisoner in front of her… Who was now watching her with the same crimson eyes that a few minutes ago, caused her heartbeat to be increased. Would it be a smart move to answer honestly? No, her intentions should be hidden for now. Who knows? Maybe if she will do this more times, she could figure out better what is the deal with Kotoko. And the next time, she would make sure that no one would be injured by her anymore. To predict Kotoko's next moves. Like in chess.

"Hm… I wonder! You are the only one with whom I haven't still played with, so I suppose I was curious about your skills! Especially, since you said that chess is relaxing…"

"Ah… The small competition you had last week. You won, didn't you?"

"Haha… Yes, but I'm wondering if Shidou actually let me win. His skills are truly impressive."

Kotoko's face showed little to no emotion, but Yuno could tell that she didn't believe her lie at all.

"Still, you should have played fair with me. Anyway, I'm done here. Next time, promise me to give me a great match, okay? I want to see more of the real Kashiki Yuno."

"..."

With Kotoko's departure, Yuno was left alone with her thoughts. "Next time… huh?" Her motive is still… unclear. It's not like Kotoko likes her very much, the feeling is mutual, so what does the raven haired woman want to achieve?

"Yunoo!!~"

"Mahiru!"

"See, I've told you that I can manage on my own!"

"Did Kotoko leave, because she noticed Mahiru approaching…? Would she be really so considerate of Mahiru's feelings, or is it pure coincidence?"

"Ah… Are you okay…? You seem spaced out…"

"Oh, yes! No worries! Let's play, shall we? I can't wait to show you some cool moves!"

"And maybe I would not be the first one eliminated, next time, from the competition!"

"That’s the spirit!"

All Yuno's worries about Kotoko's motivations dispersed as soon as the new match started. With a small, soft smile, she began explaining to her friend some of the easier tactics, as Mahiru was pretty much a beginner. Yuno couldn't help, but laugh seeing the eyes that were watching her with anticipation and curiosity. It is the first time, since Mahiru was injured, when her older friend displayed genuine happiness, her beautiful eyes seeming to regain their sparkle that she adored so much.

[good-beanswrites]

haii bean !!! I wanted to bully kotoko request some funnies and sillies :) could you please write a drabble with amane and yuno (and anyone else) annoying kotoko . i feel like amane and yuno would go :3 and kotoko would go >:T… ofc feel free to ignore/dlt this :3

LOL of course! I'm sad I've become the Milgram Bully but I'm glad to give the boys a little break 😂 Thank you so much for the request, it was really fun getting back into the swing of writing with this! (also wooooo it's getting me so hyped for Deep Cover!!) Out of everyone, those two could definitely get away with :3-ing Kotoko to no end...

“Thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-sev--”

“Hey, Kotoko?”

“Thirty-se, er, thirty-eight...”

“Kotoko?”

“Thirty- uh…”

“Hey, hey, Kotoko?”

She rolled onto her back, having lost count of her pushups. “Yuno.” Her voice was even between heavy breaths. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Actually, I can see you need a break, and I’m happy to provide one!”

With a grunt, Kotoko sat up to face her. Yuno smiled down, her eyes sparkling with... something. Amane stood nearby, looking just as suspiciously sweet.

“What do you two need…?”

“We’re here to join you,” Amane said. “We wish to work out.”

“Oh? You’ve never been interested in exercise before.”

“Well, you yourself have motivated us to get stronger.”

“I’m pretty sure you just got bored…”

“Of course not! We’re committed!”

Kotoko studied them with a harsh look. They smiled innocently back. She narrowed her eyes. They widened theirs in anticipation. She leaned back. They leaned forward.

Yuno clasped her hands together. “Come ooon~ It’ll be fun having workout buddies! I’m a very hard worker, and you’ve seen how well-behaved Amane is. How bad could it be?”

Very, apparently.

She started with some stretches to get them warmed up. It was impossible to get them to focus, or hit the right positions, or stop giggling. Kotoko tried to tell them about breath control, but they seemed more excited to chatter on about everything under the sun. 

“I’ve always thought of stretching like this and being a famous dancer,” Yuno said. “Like a ballerina…” She did a little set of twirls. Kotoko tried to tell her not to do anything to crazy before they’d warmed up, but she just kept on spinning.

Amane’s eyes lit up. “I’ve always wanted to be in a marching band. They’re like dancers, a little bit!”

“Ooh, you’re right! I could never be so uniform, though, I want to do my own thing… like an idol or something!” Yuno did another set of moves. No one was following Kotoko’s perfectly timed toe touches anymore. 

“I guess we can get started…”

There was just as much dancing when they began jumping jacks, despite the fact that there were only two very clear positions to hit. Yuno wanted to do sets that traveled around the room, then ones that turned rapidly around in a circle, then ones that turned really rapidly in a circle. She and Amane made themselves dizzy with it. 

Kotoko decided a good, grounded activity would serve them better. They took turns holding each others’ feet and counting situps. Yuno got distracted easily, delving into nonstop conversation whether she should have been counting, watching, or doing the situps herself. She’d use her hands to talk, letting go of whoever she was meant to stabilize. Amane, on the other hand was practically a drill sergeant the way she tried to keep the others on pace. 

“Eight! Nine! Ten!”

“Amane, I think you’re supposed to count when I sit up, not force me to keep up with you…”

“Well don’t be so slow about it, and you’ll stay in time. Let’s go! Eleven! Twelve!”

“Ack!”

Kotoko rubbed her temples. Maybe adding some equipment could keep them busy? 

Jumping rope brought new struggles. Yuno spend ten minutes trying to recall a schoolyard rhyme to jump rope to, and teach it to Amane. They both encouraged Kotoko to join in, but she was jumping at a faster rhythm. That became impossible as their chanting filled the room. Moreover, none of them could stay in their own space. There were about five rope tangles before Kotoko decided to call a break.

(She didn’t exactly know what they needed a break from, they’d hardly done anything.) The girls seemed happy to sit down and chat, though. Kotoko reluctantly passed her protein shake over as they asked to try it. “One sip…”

She covered her mouth, deep in contemplation. Maybe these exercises were too easy. It was too easy to get distracted out here in the common area. They’d be forced to buckle down and focus on something more taxing, right?

She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. “After this we’ll head over to my cell, okay? I have a bar installed for pull-ups. It’s tricky, but you have to start somewhere.”

“Hmmmm…” Yuno tapped a finger to her chin. “I’m not sure about that. You know… I think you were right. I think we were just bored. Well!” She clapped her hands together. “I guess we’ll stop bothering you now. Bye!” 

Amane joined her for a curt bow. “Thank you for your time.” 

Kotoko blinked after them. “Er, but…!”

Just like that, they were gone.

She released a long breath. She picked up her shake. It was empty.

[hypn0sssss]

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is my @milgram-valentines-exchange gift for @thatbiblicallyaccuraterat !!

This was really fun to write! I haven't written either Amane nor Mahiru before, so I hope I did good with staying in character! Also, sorry if the formatting is weird lol! I hope you like it!! :D

TW for mention of Kotoko's attacks and Amane-typical religious themes

“Amane-chan!”

Amane had been sitting in her cell when she hears a familiar, cheery voice from outside. She turns to see Prisoner 006, Mahiru Shiina at her door. She's still in her wheelchair, like she has been since Yuzuriha's attacks. She smiles at Amane, waving at her with her non-bandaged arm.

“Are you busy? I need your help with something, if you don't mind!”

Amane doesn't know what to say. Shiina is rather pure, in a way that stands out in such a sinful world. But isn't she a sinner as well? Allowing herself to let that sinful doctor to ruin her trial like that, with no defiance whatsoever.

But… the way Shiina smiles at her, Amane can't help but want to help her. Despite the misdeeds done against her by Es and Yuzuriha, she's still smiling wide. But that doesn't fully hide the pain in her expression.

Amane relents, standing up from her bed.

“...What do you need, Mahiru Shiina?”

Shiina somehow smiles even wider. She rolls over to Amane. “I want to make a gift for everyone!”

“A gift?”

Shiina nods. “I asked the warden for some bracelet making supplies! And they got some for me, but… it's hard to make them by myself.” She gestures to her slinged arm.

Amane hesitates. She sees no use in making such childish things!

…But the way Shiina looks at her, with such determination in her eyes and such a bright smile, Amane can't help but relent.

Not because she wants to make bracelets or anything silly like that. Not at all. She pities Shiina, that's all.

“Amane-chan?”

“...Fine.”

Once again, Shiina somehow smiles wider. Any pain that was once in her expression seems to disappear, replaced with the brightness of her smile.

“Thank you, Amane-chan!”

There's a moment of slightly awkward silence between the two. Then, Shiina chuckles awkwardly.

“Ah, could you please push me to my cell?”

Amane lets out a sigh and pushes Shiina’s wheelchair back to her cell. When they get there, Shiina gets comfortable on her bed, and Amane sits on the floor. Shiina hands her the bracelet stuff, and starts to tell her what to do.

….

This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Amane was supposed to be telling Shiina about the sins she's committing by letting the sinful Kirisaki Shidou treat her. Telling Shiina that she should let her trial run naturally, and not to interfere. That's what the rules of God say.

But she's not doing that. She's sitting on the floor, doing childish crafts, letting Shiina pick out the colors that she wants for each prisoner’s bracelet.

She had finished Sakurai’s and Kashiki’s. She was now working on Kajiyama’s. Shiina had picked shades of red and orange for his.

Amane had never made bracelets before. It turns out that it is just a tedious repetition of putting colored beads in patterns.

Shiina hums rhythms that Amane does not recognize. It must be some of that sinful music that mother tells her to avoid. But Shiina seems to be enjoying it, so Amane will let it slide. Just this once.

She's almost done with Kajiyama’s bracelet when Shiina speaks up.

“You're very good at this, Amane-chan! Are you sure you haven't done this before?”

“No, I have not.”

She puts the last bead on the bracelet, tying the knot on the bracelet. Double knotted. That's what Shiina has said.

“Well, that's impressive! You're impressive Amane-chan!”

Amane looks away. She feels slightly patronized, but her voice is so sincere that Amane can't find it in herself to tell Shiina off.

Why is Amane feeling like this? Is she growing weak?

There's an awkward silence for a while. She grabs another piece of string as Shiina realizes that Amane isn't going to answer.

“Ah, anyways! For Muu-chan’s bracelet, I was thinking…”

…

The monotonous pattern of bracelet making happens again as she finishes Kusunoki’s bracelet.

“That looks great, Amane-chan!” Mahiru smiles wide once again. “For Shidou-kun’s bracelet-”

“No.” Amane interrupts. She already felt immature doing these extremely crafts, but she draws the line at making something for such a horrible sinner.

“But, Amane-chan-”

“We refuse.”

Shiina seems to notice the change in Amane's tone and word choice, because she drops the topic. “Alright. Then for Kazui-kun’s bracelet, I was thinking these nice teals over here!”

The words come out before Amane could stop them. “What about your's, Shiina?”

Shiina seems surprised for a moment before she answers. “You can call me Mahiru, Amane-chan!” When Amane doesn't answer, she continues. “These are supposed to be gifts! It's kind of silly to make a gift for yourself!”

That logic doesn't make much sense to Amane. “...I'm making the bracelets though, Shiina. Pick some colors.”

She doesn't know why she's doing this. She wants this childish activity to be over, doesn't she? Why is she prolonging this?

“Are you sure, Amane-chan?”

No, she's not. “Yes, I am.”

“Ah, then this orange… and this yellow, please!” She points to the colors. Amane gathers the colors and starts making the bracelet.

The room as silent as Amane starts the routine again. Put a bead on, put a bead of the other color on. Shiina watches in silence as Amane continues.

In what feels like no time at all, Amane finishes the bracelet. After making sure the knot was tight enough, she gets up from her spot on the floor. Her legs are slightly sore from sitting for so long.

She walks over to Shiina's bed. “Hold out your wrist.”

Shiina smiles, but there's some hesitation in her smile. Amane doesn't know why.

“Amane-chan, you didn't have to…”

“It is too late for that, Shiina. Please hold out your wrist.”

After a moment, Shiina follows Amane's instructions, holding out her uninjured wrist. Amane slips the bracelet on with care.

Shiina rotates her wrist, admiring the bracelet. She then turns to Amane, once again smiling wide. “Thank you so much, Amane-chan! This is so cute!”

“...There is no need for gratitude.”

…

After that, Amane continued making the bracelets. She finishes Mukuhara’s and Kayano’s with no problems, and was eventually convinced by Shiina to make one for Yuzuriha. Why would Shiina want to make one for Yuzuriha despite what happened? Amane can't figure it out. Shiina is too kind for her own good.

“Thank you so much for this, Amane-chan!”

Amane finishes packing up the bracelet making materials. “It was nothing.”

“Don't say that, Amane-chan!” Shiina reaches for something in her pocket. Amane didn't realize that Mahiru's uniform even had pockets. “I have something, as a thanks! Come here!”

Amane tilts her head in confusion, but stands up. She walks over to the bed, where Mahiru was.

“Now, hold out your hand!”

When Amane holds out her hand, Shiina pulls out a bracelet. It is… nice. The different shades of green seem to match her hair.

Shiina smiles wider as she puts it on Amane's wrist. “I had asked Mikoto-kun it help me make it!”

“Thank you, Shiina.”

As she said this, a chime rang through the prison. It is time for bed.

“Thank you so much for this again, Amane-chan! This meant a lot!"

“...It was no problem, Shiina.” Then Amane left the room.

Maybe making bracelets with Shiina wasn't as childish and tedious as Amane thought.

[oboetemasuka]

Hostage Game

This is unpleasant, Hurling slurs of "hostage game" You do know that it's up to me?

@good-beanswrites's dare drabble meets the Betrayal timeline >:)

Not that the context matters much. I just wanted to write a scene of Amane headbutting Shidou. I did write one before this, but no, you may not read it.

Cw: descriptions of injuries and blood, discussions of Amane's cult

-

Amane was trapped in a horrifying trance. Kotoko was attacking her all over again. Every jolt in her ribs was like a fresh strike that she couldn't defend herself from. Every attempt to pull her arms free only exacerbated the pain. She couldn't muster the strength to get up.

The creaking of the door and the light pouring into the room snapped her out of it.

"Amane."

No. Anyone but him. Even Kotoko would be better than him.

"It's okay. You're safe now."

"N-no… Stay away… Kirisaki-" She felt another jab in her lungs.

Shidou only moved closer. His face was obscured by the backlight, which meant Amane's face, free of the eyepatch and bandages, was clear to see. She wondered what he was thinking. She was caught red-handed, blatantly disobeying the doctor's orders. Not that she made any secret of it, but the way he loomed over her made her actions weigh heavier on her.

Shidou noticed Amane's apprehension and quietly took a seat by her bedside. Or rather, she told herself, he was projecting the image of a helpless child onto her and trying to act fatherly in front of her. How sickening. He wasn't fooling her.

He drew out something from his bag. Bandages? Like at the time of the attack? Was he really going to do this again? Amane didn't have the energy to scream for him to stop, and even if she did, nobody was going to take her side.

Shidou grasped one of the suspender straps of Amane's uniform. She could see a glint of scissors. Oh. He was going to free her. She was relieved, but then she chided herself for feeling that way. Why should she depend on Kirisaki Shidou? What would happen once she was free? She wouldn't be at a complete liberty to do whatever she wanted… If she was going to sneak out again and take off whatever bandages the doctor would put on her, she would have to be more careful about…

Shidou stopped moving the scissors for a second. What? But then he moved them around again, as if he noticed that Amane had gotten suspicious of him. But what was (not) done was done, and he found no point in hiding his thoughts.

"Amane. Do you promise not to interfere with your treatment?"

"I will..."

Shidou put down the scissors reached into his bag again. What now? But Amane remained undeterred.

"...make no such promise."

Shidou took out a roll of bandages and began explaining the severity of Amane's injuries and how self-destructive her behavior was. The nerve of that wretched doctor…

"...hostage..." Amane muttered.

"What? Amane..."

"You are keeping me..."

"Where is this coming from-"

"My faith... as ransom..."

"This is not about your beliefs."

"...won't let me go until you are sure I..."

"Don't be ridiculous. This is about your safety, not-"

"You are being ridiculous! You stopped helping as soon as you thought I-" Amane used up too much of her air and needed to catch her breath again.

Shidou took the opportunity to keep. talking. over. her. Now he was attacking her faith. Wholly misinterpreting it. Saying that maybe she was the one who got it wrong. Amane was too furious to hear him out. She shifted to a seated position despite how it hurt.

"…perhaps it was your destiny for me to heal-"

"Shut up!" she screamed, kicking the side of her bed to propel herself. She rammed her head into Shidou's face with enough force to knock him out of the chair. They both fell.

The impact did not agree with any of Amane's injuries. She lay motionless on the ground, willing for her bones to stop throbbing and let her breathe. Her head was pounding. Her vision was getting prickly. Was she bleeding? She felt she was being shifted. She blinked away the dots and turned her head to find Shidou searching through his bag again. What else is he going to get?

Kazui and Mahiru arrived in short order. Now this was exactly like the scene of the attack.

"It's okay, Amane-chan," Mahiru whispered as she drew her own pair of scissors and began to cut the restraints. "You're safe now."

"Please… Don't betray me again…" Amane begged.

"I won't." As Mahiru swept the first strap out of the way, she looked back to see Kazui give Shidou a handkerchief for his bleeding nose. Thankfully, she didn't comment on it.

[adipostsstuff]

How everyone would have found out about the band group:

Red dress girl (henceforth referred to as RDS in these types of posts or Mirai in writing since we don’t have any information on her and I don't want to assume) shows Haruka an advertisement for the group and convinces him to audition. She sets up everything for him behind his mother's back and helps him get to the studio on his first few days.

Yuno and a bunch of her friends decide to audition together, mostly messing about, and they are all very excited when she gets in.

Futa sees an ad for it and decides to go for it in hopes it will give him some fulfillment in his boring life.

Mu tries to get through so she can escape from the bullying in her school. She stopped going to extracurriculars so she has a lot more free time now.

It was actually Shidou's kids who first wanted to audition, but his wife managed to convince him to sign up as well. They aren't too mad he was the only one that made it.

Mahiru did everything in her power to convince her boyfriend to do it with her, but while he encouraged her to do it by herself he simply wasn't interested. She is about to give up on it entirely, but her beautician tells her if she is really passionate about it, she should go for it regardless of whether her boyfriend will do it or not. They don't have to do everything together, after all.

I'll be honest, I have no idea how to drag Kazui into this, if anyone has any ideas please send them to me. Right now I'm going with his wife wanted to get involved but with her theatre job (I saw in a fanfic once that Hinako worked in theatre after she stopped working in the police and have headcanoned it since because it makes half sadder) she didn't have enough time, so Kazui , who doesn't work, offered in her place. I'm not satisfied with this, if someone can give me a better idea that would be great.

Amane saw the ad and ended up giving in to the temptation to audition despite knowing it was sinful, not expecting to get in anyways. When she does, she tries to turn down the invitation but Es insists that she has too much talent to go to waste. She needs to lie to and trick her guardians so she can get to rehearsals. (I'm not sure how realistic or in character this is but she needs to get here somehow.)

My original idea for Mikoto was that his alter sensed he wanted to audition but was holding back because of his job and so auditioned for him, and he is very surprised when told he got through since he doesn't remember auditioning in the first place. I'm not sure if this works anymore since I'm leaning towards the theory that John split after the murder and since the murder didn't happen in this timeline he shouldn't exist. I don't want to exclude him, though. I like John. Maybe I'll bend my theories a little for this to still work.

Kotoko signs up because since dropping out of uni she has a lot of free time. Music can be a good stress reliever, and she could probably use one right now.

If anyone wants to add to these, do add!

[acacia-may]

Tackle the Monsters

Description: Masaru has always wanted to "The Hero," and though he has always tried his best to be a hero for his friends, Kotoko has long been of the opinion that the only hero she can really count on is herself. Though he might never be able to offer her a rescue, no matter how much he might want to, maybe sometimes all it takes to be a hero is being there when someone needs you…

Fandom: Danganronpa (Specifically Ultra Despair Girls. Danganronpa 2 characters also appear but are not centric)

Genre: Friendship, Hurt/Comfort and Fluff, Future Fic (nearly) 20 Years Post-Canon. Also includes: Fairy Lights, Forts, Flashback Scenes, and Fuyupeko (Kuzupeko) domestic bliss and babies because I love them.

Relationships: Masaru Daimon & Kotoko Utsugi Friendship almost 20 years in the future (A/N: I wrote this as a platonic work about their friendship, but as they're both 30 years old here, I guess you could take it in a more romantic-ish(?) way if you just really wanted to see it (maybe?). That was not my intention in writing, however, and in my mind, this is Friendship Hurt/Comfort). Warriors of Hope Friendship (Masaru Daimon & Kotoko Utsugi & Nagisa Shingetsu & Jataro Kemuri) mentioned and depicted in a flashback. Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu & Masaru Daimon friendship. Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu/Peko Pekoyama established relationship (with a child).

Characters: Masaru Daimon (POV Character) and Kotoko Utsugi. Nagisa Shingetsu and Jataro Kemuri are mentioned and physically appear in a flashback in this story. Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu and Peko Pekoyama briefly appear as well.

Rating: T for Thematic Elements and Some Language (Please see "Warnings" below for more details).

Warnings: Vaguely implied/mentioned childhood trauma and abuse. (A/N: This is hurt/comfort, but the past childhood trauma and abuse is only implied as vaguely and subtly as possible while still being treated with the sensitivity and gravity it warrants). Unhealthy coping is mentioned. Healthy coping is also mentioned and depicted. Legal/of age drinking is also implied/mentioned. Insecurities. Nightmares are mentioned but not depicted. Aftermath of nightmares is depicted. Some language. (A/N: I like to think they characters are in a better place psychologically here (nearly 20 years after Ultra Despair Girls and having begun to get the therapy they so desperately need), but they still have a ways to go and don't always cope in the best/healthiest way. Healing is a journey).

Word Count: 5588

Link to original post on AO3. Please do not repost to another site.

Note: Many thanks to @repo-net for reading through part of this story and providing very helpful notes and feedback! I hope you'll enjoy the finished story as well.

Story below the cut. Thank you for reading!

Masaru ruffled his hand through his hair as he took off his motorcycle helmet—not that it made much of a difference. It was probably still a mess as usual. Despite Nagisa’s scolding that at thirty years old he ought to know how to make himself look semi-presentable, Masaru didn’t care too much about the way he looked. In fact, he felt that his often tousled, messy “helmet hair” was part of his charm. 

With a conceding shrug of his shoulders, he pulled his shopping bag and takeout containers from the built-in storage of his bike and headed up the driveway. He had barely taken a few steps when a high-pitched voice called out, “Uncle Masaru!” 

Masaru blinked as four-year-old Natsumi Kuzuryu darted out of the garage where her parents were busy packing up their car for their trip. “Hey there, Tater Tot,” he said with a smile as she hugged him. 

“Natsumi,” sighed her father, Fuyuhiko, following in close pursuit. “I’m sure he’s not here to see you.” He turned to Masaru with apologetic eyes, but Masaru just laughed and waved his hand. 

“No problem, boss.” 

Fuyuhiko rolled his eyes. He didn’t much care for being called that—often said it made him sound like a mob boss when he was running a perfectly reputable business of independent security contractors, mostly for Togami and the Future Foundation—which seemed to be one and the same these days—and their related projects and investments, of course. Masaru often wondered what Fuyuhiko would be doing if the Kuzuryu Crime Syndicate hadn’t been destroyed in the chaos following the Tragedy, but even he knew better than to bring it up and, instead, insisted that because the former Ultimate Yakuza was, in fact, his boss now, such a nickname was warranted.

“Can I give you a hand with those suitcases?” asked Masaru, but Fuyuhiko shook his head. 

“We’ve just about got it, I think.” 

“Let him help load the rest,” said Mrs. Boss, Peko, peeking out from behind the side of the trunk. “We’re already running behind as it is.” 

Fuyuhiko sighed but conceded, “Alright. If you really want to help, but I know that you’re probably just here to see Kotoko, right?” 

Masaru shrugged. “Eh. It can wait a minute.” He sat his bags down on a work bench in the garage as he reached for some of the suitcases to load into the trunk. 

“Auntie Kotoko can’t come with us because she has to work,” said Natsumi with a frown. 

Masaru turned to Fuyuhiko whose own frown looked an awfully lot like his daughter’s. “We did invite her,” he explained shuffling his feet. “Just in case she didn’t want to stay here alone, you know?” 

Stacking two suitcases in the back of the car, Masaru nodded. He had been thinking the same thing after all. Kotoko lived in an apartment above the Kuzuryu family’s house—which may or may not have been the result of Masaru pulling a couple of strings, though he’d never tell her that. Though Kotoko never really talked about it, he knew she felt a lot safer knowing that Peko and Fuyuhiko were on the floors below her along with their state-of-the-art security system, and this would be the longest both of them would be gone with Natsumi. 

“You excited for your trip, Natsumi?” asked Masaru changing the subject. 

Her little braids bobbed up and down excitedly as she nodded. “Yeah! I’m gonna play with the Dark Devas of Destruction.” 

“Hamsters,” Peko explained dryly as she loaded the last of the bags into the car and closed the trunk. 

Masaru stifled a laugh. “Sounds fun.” 

“It is really fun! They have a wheel where they run around like this”—giggling, she made a circular motion with her finger—“And Auntie Sonia made them sweaters.” 

“Alright,” said Fuyuhiko with a light chuckle. Natsumi giggled even more when her father lifted her up onto his back. “Let’s let your Uncle Masaru get going, okay?” 

Natsumi pouted, but eventually, she sighed. “Okay, Papa.” Her face brightened, and she smiled as she turned to wave at him. “Bye, Uncle Masaru.” 

“So long, Tater Tot. Have a great trip!” 

“We’ll try,” sighed Fuyuhiko wearily. Masaru knew he cared about his former classmates, but he also knew that the fact he cared about them didn’t mean he didn’t find their unique brand of chaos a little tiring at times, especially now that he was a father and had enough domestic chaos keeping him on his toes. It was probably a little like how Fuyuhiko felt about him, now that he thought about it—an almost exasperated affection one would have towards a somewhat wayward little brother. Masaru’s mouth twitched in the corners at the thought. 

After the Kuzuryus started to get into the car and they all waved their final goodbyes, Masaru picked up his bags and made his way around the garage to the door on the side of the house. He pressed the buzzer more times than was probably necessary.

“Natsumi?” asked Kotoko’s voice from the intercom. 

“Nope. Guess again,” Masaru teased. 

“Masaru? What are you doing here?” 

Masaru shrugged before he realized she couldn’t actually see him at the moment. “I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by.” He paused, and when she didn’t respond added, “I brought food.” 

Kotoko sighed. “Alright. Come on up.” 

The door buzzed as it unlocked, and Masaru bounded up the long, narrow flight of stairs behind it. These stairs were nothing for the former Li’l Ultimate P.E., of course, but Masaru often wondered if Kotoko ever grew tired of lugging things up and down them into her apartment at the top since there wasn’t an elevator like there was in Masaru’s building. As much as he usually took the stairs back home to run off excess energy, it was still nice to have the option of taking the elevator, particularly if he was carrying something heavy like furniture.  

When he reached the top of the stairs, Masaru turned right and knocked on Kotoko’s door under the shiny, silver 2 which was affixed to it despite this being the only apartment. Masaru knew the apartment number had been a gift from Jataro back when he had taken up metal-working as a new hobby a couple of years ago. Around the same time, Jataro had made similar metal carvings of their names to mark Masaru’s, Nagisa’s, and his own rooms, respectively, in the apartment in the city center where they lived as roommates, and when he asked the building manager if he could make a number for their door, their landlord liked it so much he commissioned Jataro to make metal numbers for every other apartment in their building. 

If Masaru had to guess, this was a little too much for Jataro who decided as soon as the project was finished that he needed a long break from metal-working. He hadn’t picked it back up since, though he always had several creative, crafty hobbies to keep him busy when he wasn’t working on his prosthetic designs. The field of prosthetics was Jataro’s main career, and he was almost as passionate about it as Nagisa was passionate about his air filtration systems or whatever it was that he did with the Future Foundation. Between Nagisa’s use of complex, technical language and extremely field-specific jargon, Masaru could never really tell what it was that he did exactly, but he figured asking him to explain it to him like he was in elementary school would be a little too embarrassing. 

“Hi. Come on in,” said Kotoko ushering him through the doorway. She was dressed in sweats or possibly pajamas—Masaru wasn’t always the best at telling the difference—and her hair, dyed dark and cropped short, was wet and scraggly. Masaru fidgeted. He had probably interrupted her plans to turn in early and catch up on the sleep she had missed out of during the busy workweek. “Please excuse the mess. I wasn’t expecting company,” she continued before she tilted her head pointedly at him. “Would it have killed you to call first?” 

Masaru shrugged with a somewhat lopsided grin. “I wanted to surprise you.” 

“Mhmm…” she hummed with a frown as she walked over towards the sofa. 

Kotoko’s apartment was modestly sized, especially for only one person living there, and Masaru didn’t think it was nearly as messy as she was worried about. After all, he could only imagine what a pigsty his apartment would be if it was just him and Jataro living there without Nagisa and his “chore chart” to keep it tidy. That reminded him, it was his turn to clean the kitchen floor—he’d have to remember to do that when he got home. 

As Masaru sighed and shook his head at the thought, he caught sight of a large stack of files on a nearby desk out of the corner of his eye. His brow furrowed. 

“Did you bring your work home with you?” 

Kotoko frowned. “I always bring my work home with me.” 

Something stormy crossed Kotoko’s eyes, and Masaru wondered if she meant that in a less literal sense. She worked with the newly instated child protective services—with kids who were orphaned or displaced in their slowly rebuilding post-apocalyptic world—and maybe it was too many years of court-ordered therapy talking but he couldn’t help but wonder if, in Kotoko’s mind, when she saved those kids, she was really saving herself. After all there had been a time when she needed a hero but hadn’t had one, and while Masaru had tried to be one for her, he had been too messed up by all the things that had happened to him to be much of a hero for anybody, even himself. Besides, by that point, Kotoko had long learned that the only hero she could really rely on was herself and hadn’t wanted much “rescuing” from him, Nagisa, or Jataro.

That certainly didn’t stop them from trying to take care of her the best they could from a distance though. It was the main reason he was here after all, but he knew Kotoko well enough to know that if he told her that, she’d close the door in his face and send him home with far too much takeout for one person to eat. Masaru sighed. He also knew that it wouldn’t be long now until she started asking him why he was here. He’d have to hurry up and think up a good excuse before she… 

“Masaru,” she interrupted his thoughts, quirking an eyebrow at him. “What are you doing here?” 

There it was. He should win some sort of a prize for predicting it, Masaru thought. He twisted his mouth to one side, but his expression quickly softened as he tilted his head at her and teasingly clicked his tongue. “What? I can’t come visit you, now?” 

Kotoko frowned. “Don’t you have a date or something?” 

“Eh. There’ll be others.” Masaru’s mouth twitched into a lopsided smile. “Besides, I’d rather be—“ 

“I’m sure there will.” She cut him off before he could finish his thought, and—Masaru frowned—it was a good one too. Something nice and complimentary about how he’d much rather spend the evening with a friend than out on the town. He sighed. Kotoko would never get to hear it now, but it didn’t seem to bother her much as she crossed her arms and glowered pointedly at him.

With a slight shake of his head, Masaru ran his hand through his unruly hair. He probably should have expected this reaction—after all, it was no secret that Kotoko didn’t approve of his current preoccupation with relationships, probably more so than even Nagisa who was in the habit of referring to it as his most recent “drug of choice,” like his dates were no different than Kotoko’s liquor bottles. 

They weren’t, but that didn’t mean Masaru didn’t sometimes worry that hearing about them sent the same kind of chill down Kotoko’s spine that he had whenever he caught sight of her extensive alcohol collection. Still, he knew Kotoko wasn’t an alcoholic just like, he hoped, she knew he wasn’t a lech. For the most part, they decided it was best to just stay out of each other’s business and not to talk about it. Of course, that was easier said than done when Kotoko was glaring at him like this… 

“Look,” he sighed. “I know you’re upset that I keep getting in relationships…” 

“Don’t be stupid,” huffed Kotoko. “I don’t have a problem with you getting into relationships. Just because I don’t want one, doesn’t mean that I don’t want anyone to have one.” 

Masaru’s brow furrowed. “Then what’s the problem?” 

“You go through relationships faster than paper towels and keep getting out of them whenever you get bored.” 

Wow. She didn’t even miss a beat. He knew she could be blunt, and she wouldn’t quite be Kotoko without some sort of metaphor that didn’t make total sense but… “Bored?” 

“Masaru…” Kotoko crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “You haven’t had a relationship that lasts more than a month, and most of them only last a couple of days, if that.” 

“That’s not true,” he interjected before she could say anything else. “I’ve had a few that lasted two months.” 

Kotoko’s brow furrowed, and she blinked at him. “Right, because that’s so much longer…” 

Masaru supposed she had a point. He did have a track record of short relationships, the shortest being only 45 minutes until he finally faked food poisoning after getting asked one too many questions about his childhood. 

He sighed. Kotoko was wrong. He didn’t get out of relationships because he got bored, he got out of them because he got scared. It was a lot easier to leave early instead of waiting around for someone to realize what a screw up you were and run out on you. 

He shook his head and pushed the thought away. “Fine, never mind. Just forget it. We all have our vices, don’t we?” 

“At least mine don’t hurt anybody else.”

Masaru frowned as he caught sight of the cluster of half-empty liquor bottles on her counter. He shook his head, remembering how Nagisa had come home one night with a busted lip and black eye after getting in a fight with some thug who had been harassing Kotoko in a bar. How every so often chestnut trees would start popping up in Jataro’s artwork, and they’d know it meant he was worried about her. How when he wasn’t working through his own shit at the gym, he was thinking about her and pushing himself well past his limits until he was achy and exhausted as if he could somehow lift out, bike out, punch out, or run out his worry for her. He’d come home in the middle of the night, finding Nagisa still wide awake from worrying about everybody but himself, and though they wouldn’t ever talk about it, Masaru would know he understood—after all, he had been up scrubbing the counters until his fingers were raw for the very same reason. 

Still, he sighed and conceded, “Look. I didn’t come here to argue with you.” 

Her eyes narrowed curiously. “Why did you come?”  

“I thought it might be fun to have dinner together. Jataro went to bed early because he has a cold, and Nagisa’s working late so—” 

“You were lonely,” she interrupted with an almost-teasing roll of her eyes. She chuckled. “Alright, fine. What kind of food did you get?” 

Masaru smiled brightly as he held out the bag of takeout boxes to her. “Soba noodles.” 

After she took the bag from him, Kotoko laid the containers out on the counter, but her brow furrowed. “What’s in that bag?”

Masaru fidgeted—twisting the handles of the extra bag in his hand. “Oh. Uh…fairy lights.”

“Fairy lights? Why?”

“I thought maybe you might want to make a blanket fort.” Masaru shrugged his shoulders, and Kotoko laughed.

“A blanket fort? We’re thirty years old—don’t you think we’re a little old for that?”  

“You sound like Nagisa,” quipped Masaru with a playful roll of his eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with being in-tune with your inner child.”

“I don’t even remember the last time I built a blanket fort.”

Masaru’s face softened. Kotoko might not remember, but he did. It was probably why he even thought about the fairy lights in the first place. Though it was nearly two decades ago he could still remember it as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.

*-*-*

Masaru bolted up in bed—his heart pounding. Drenched in sweat, he struggled to catch his breath as if he had just run a marathon. The sounds of screaming rang out again, and he sprang out of bed onto shaking legs. So he hadn’t imagined it after all. He couldn’t always tell the difference between reality and his vivid nightmares. In this case, however, he was sure that the screaming noises were coming from down the hallway, rather than from the monsters in his own mind. Someone was in trouble.

Without a second thought, he sprinted into the hall and ran smack into Jataro who fumbled around with a wide-rimmed bowl in his hands.

“Woah. Sorry,” he said as he helped Jataro steady himself. “What’s with the bowl?”

“It’s water. I thought it might help.”

Masaru’s brow furrowed. He wasn’t sure how a bowl of water could help in this situation, but it probably made Jataro feel better to think he was helping in some way so Masaru decided not to question it. Instead he asked, “So you heard it too?”

Jataro nodded solemnly. “It’s coming from down there. Nagisa or Kotoko probably…”

Masaru could feel his pulse pounding in his ears as he took off down the hallway. Whatever was going on down there, they could take it right? At least he could. After all, he was the hero…

Kotoko’s door was ajar, and the closer they got to it the easier it was to hear Nagisa’s voice. Even though Masaru couldn’t quite make out the exact words he was saying, the tone of his voice was calm and even, most unlike the cloud of panic that wafted into the room as Jataro and Masaru rushed through the doorway.

“What’s going—?”

“Shh…” shushed Nagisa quietly turning towards the doorway while pressing a finger to his lips. Kotoko’s room was dark aside from the few strands of fairy lights which were strung across her shelves and dresser, but in the dim light, Masaru could see that Kotoko was sitting up cross-legged on the bed. Her eyes were wide and teary but almost mesmerized by the fairy lights as her lips barely moved, no audible sounds to be heard. Nagisa sat in a chair beside the bed, and when Kotoko shivered and let out a painful whimpering noise, he returned to what, Masaru presumed, he had been saying before, “Kotoko, you’re in your room in Towa City. It’s the third of November at 1:30 in the morning. It’s dark outside because it’s the middle of the night, but it’s supposed to be sunny and a little windy today after the sun rises.”

“Nagisa, I brought this,” whispered Jataro pushing the bowl of water into Nagisa’s hands. Masaru blinked, unsure of when exactly Jataro had managed to slip past him into the room. “Do you think it could help?”

The corners of Nagisa’s mouth twitched. “Thanks, Jataro,” he said quietly as he sat the bowl next to Kotoko. “Kotoko, Jataro is here too. He brought some water for you. Can you put your hand in the water?”

There was a long, heavy pause. Kotoko, it seemed, couldn’t pry her eyes away from the fairy lights, but she did eventually place her hand in the bowl. Masaru finally willed his legs to move and stumbled through the doorway over to Kotoko’s bedside. Her eyes were glossed over—distant and tearful as they stared intently at the strings of lights, her lips still slowly moving as if she was mouthing words. No, not words. Numbers. She was counting the lights.

Something clicked in Masaru’s brain, and he could’ve almost kicked himself for taking so long to figure it all out. He ran out into the hall as fast as he could and back into his room until he finally stopped in front of a shelf full of used and oftentimes busted bottles. Perfumes, colognes, body mists, and room sprays—anything with a pleasant scent strong enough to cut through the reek of booze and cigarette smoke that haunted his dreams and filled his room when his nightmares bled into his reality.

He had no idea which ones Kotoko might like or what might help her so he tried to grab all of them which only resulted in him fumbling around with arms filled with dropping bottles. He swerved so they wouldn’t all clatter to the floor and break and instead let them fall onto the bed. He frowned and decided to grab only his two favourites, since that’s what he could carry in his hands, figuring he could always come back and get more if neither of these worked.

When he returned to Kotoko’s room, she had stopped shaking though she was still counting the lights. Nagisa was talking about everything they had seen on a recent walk through the park, and Jataro was keeping quiet vigil and holding the bowl of water steady so it wouldn’t spill as Kotoko splashed her hand around in it.

Masaru carefully crept into the room and took his place beside Jataro, but before he could hand off the bottles to Nagisa, Kotoko blinked her eyes and said quietly, “I’m sorry. I’m okay.”

Nagisa sighed sympathetically. “You don’t have to apologize. We’re all just glad you’re okay.”

Kotoko looked around the room. Her eyes stopping on each of them. “I didn’t want you all to worry about me.”

“We’re your friends,” chimed Jataro. “It’s what friends do, right?”

Kotoko’s face fell guiltily, and she grew suddenly interested in her hands. “Thanks. But you can all go back to bed now…” Her voice trailed. “I really didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“Like hell we will.” Masaru felt all the eyes in the room suddenly turn and stare at him at this outburst. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I mean, uh…I don’t know about you guys, but I was up anyway.”

“Uh yeah…” lied Jataro. “Me too.”

Even honest-to-a-fault Nagisa nodded. “I was reading.”

“See we were all up. You have nothing to feel bad about or anything,” said Masaru with a shrug.

From the look Kotoko was giving him now, he could tell that she knew they probably weren’t telling her the whole truth, but she sighed, clearly lacking the energy or motivation to argue about it and said, “Alright. Well…what then? Are you just suggesting we all stay up all night…again? What would we even do?”

Masaru tilted his head, almost waiting for Nagisa to lecture them about how they needed their sleep or something like that, but he didn’t say anything and instead stared at the fairy lights. That gave Masaru an idea.

“What if we built a blanket fort?”

“What?” asked a cacophony of his friends’ voices.

“Yeah, we could all gather up the blankets and pillows from our rooms and build a big fort out of them. We could even have snacks and play games and stuff—it’ll be bright enough because we can use the fairy lights as the light in the fort.” He beamed. “What do you say?”

“That sounds like a fire hazard,” said Nagisa with a frown.

“Oh come on,” whined Masaru. “Don’t be such a stick in the mud. It’ll be fun.”

Nagisa twisted his mouth to one side, but it eventually twitched in the corners. He sighed, “Alright.”

“And Jataro can decorate it,” added Masaru, and Jataro practically lit up at the idea.

“What do you think, Kotoko?”

Kotoko’s brow furrowed thoughtfully, but she eventually shrugged her shoulders. “I guess that could be fun…” 

*-*-*

“Masaru?” asked Kotoko pulling him out of his thoughts. She tilted her head at him with that all too familiar ‘you’re zoning out again’ look.

Masaru chuckled and rubbed his hand across the back of his neck almost sheepishly. “Yeah…it’s been a while, but it could be fun right?”

Kotoko blinked at him but sighed with a slight shrug of her shoulders. “I guess…” She sighed again. “I still think it’s kind of silly, but if you want to eat our takeout in a blanket fort, fine.”

“You’ve been spending too much time with Nagisa.” Masaru crossed his arms with a playful pout, and Kotoko barely stifled a laugh.

“I’m pretty sure that’s the only time in Nagisa’s life he’s been called a bad influence.”

“I didn’t say bad. I meant boring, and he’s always been a boring influence.” Masaru chuckled as he sat the shopping bag filled with fairy lights on the counter. “Too bad he isn’t here to make sure our fort isn’t a fire hazard.”

“I think who we’re really missing is Jataro. Whatever we make will look like garbage without him.”

As Kotoko pulled an extra sheet out of the closet in the hallway and draped it over the backs of two chairs and the sofa, Masaru supposed she was probably right. Their fort wasn’t much to look at. Jataro probably would have been appalled if he had been there—Nagisa too for that matter though his issue would have been with the fort’s structural integrity rather than its meager aesthetic.

Masaru looked around for something heavy to hold the sheet in place, a trick he remembered Nagisa had tried out back in the day, before eventually deciding that Kotoko’s pots and pans would likely do the trick. Kotoko glared at him as he stacked her cookware on top of each other on the seats of the chair and sofa to anchor their makeshift roof, but she huffed with a look that said, “if you must…” Masaru beamed almost triumphantly as he added the finishing touches of draped fairy lights and crawled into the makeshift structure, sinking into the stack of pillows, throw blankets, and sofa cushions Kotoko had piled into their fort. For the first time in a long time, he almost felt like a kid again.  

“After you, Milady,” he teased with a playful bow, peeking his head out of the structure and motioning inside.

Kotoko rolled her eyes and tapped him teasingly on the back of the head muttering, “Goofball” before following him into the fort with the food containers.

Building a fort may have made Masaru feel like a kid again, but having to contort himself to comfortably fit inside said blanket fort given his long legs and broad shoulders reminded him that his childhood was long gone. After all, there had once been a time when not only him and Kotoko but Nagisa and Jataro as well could all easily fit in a blanket fort of this size, with space to spare, if he remembered correctly. He could still picture Jataro and Nagisa curled up next to each other sound asleep while he and Kotoko sprawled out on the floor of the fort staring up at the twinkling fairy lights. Maybe he should try that now, Masaru thought, as he decided to stretch his feet outside of the structure with a somewhat defeated huff.

Kotoko blinked at him before sprawling out on the ground next to him. The fairy lights overhead twinkled and sparkled. He hadn’t realized that he had purchased pink ones, but he supposed that was appropriate. He would probably forever associate Kotoko with the color even though she had long since dyed her hair and it had been ages since he had seen her wear anything pink. Even the pillows and blankets she had brought out for their fort were neutral tones—greys and beiges. He knew she had sworn off anything remotely “adorbs” long ago, but he still wished she hadn’t had to.

“Masaru?”

“Hm?” Humming, he shifted towards her, but she wasn’t looking at him—her gaze transfixed on the fairy lights.

“I lied.” Kotoko sighed, and Masaru’s brow furrowed. “I do remember the last time we built a blanket fort…”

Masaru blinked and scratched the back of his neck. “I wouldn’t have blamed you for forgetting…”

Kotoko turned towards him with a slight smile as her hand ruffled through the ends of his unruly strands of hair. “I’m not as fragile as you think, you know?”

“I didn’t say you were—” he began, but she cut him off with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

“But thanks.” Her smile widened, and Masaru’s own mouth curved into a beaming grin. Kotoko quickly reached for the takeout boxes with an almost playful, “Now let’s eat. I’m starving!” and that was the end of it. For the rest of the evening, they just sat together eating takeout and catching up, talking and laughing about the most mundane everyday things. But for Masaru, that was enough.

He had long ago accepted he wouldn’t be able to offer her a rescue, to tackle her monsters, no matter how much he wanted to, but he supposed sometimes all it took to be a hero was to be present, to be there for someone when they needed you. Masaru shrugged his shoulders. Kotoko was right: she wasn’t fragile. If anything, she was one of the strongest people he had ever known. And yeah…even Masaru could admit that maybe she didn’t need him, maybe she didn’t need some fairy lights or soba noodles or a blanket fort or the company of an old friend, but—he thought as a smile tugged at his lips—they couldn’t hurt.

*-*-*

“Masaru, are you still awake?”

Masaru somewhat groggily rubbed his eyes but rolled onto his side so he was facing her. “Mhmm…” he hummed, and it seemed like he was the only one who was still up as Nagisa and Jataro were leaning on each other, shoulder to shoulder and fast asleep. Masaru knew they had tried their best to stay awake all night, but they eventually tuckered out and crashed in the corner of their blanket fort. “You wanna have a contest to see who can stay up the longest? Nagisa and Jataro already lost.”

Kotoko chuckled breathily, quietly enough to avoid waking their sleeping friends. “You should get some sleep too.”

“What about you?” he asked with a frown.

Kotoko stared up at the strings of lights hanging from the canopy of blankets forming the roof of their fort almost pensively. After a long pause, she whispered, “Masaru…you were asleep earlier weren’t you? All of you were?” Masaru fidgeted but didn’t say anything—averting his eyes when Kotoko glared at him with a pointed “Masaru?”

“Yeah, but it’s no big deal. We just wanted to make sure you’re okay, okay? We all have nightmares, and we all help each other. That’s what friends do, Kotoko, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” Something panged in his chest. “If I could take all that away, if I could fight all the monsters, I would”—he curled his shaking hands into fists, his vision growing blurry—“but I can’t.” Nagisa hummed and stirred in his sleep, and Masaru realized his voice was growing louder than he had intended. He consciously tried to whisper as he repeated, “I can’t. I’m…I’m just a kid…” The next words spilled out of his mouth startling him nearly as much as they seemed to startle Kotoko. “Maybe…maybe if I’m older someday…maybe I’ll be strong enough to—”

Masaru stopped abruptly as Kotoko gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. It was only then that he really began to realize what he had said. “I…I don’t…uh…” he stumbled over his words. Though Masaru had lost track of how long it had been since they had given up on their ‘Children’s Paradise,’ he still wasn’t sure where his companions stood on the idea of growing old. He honestly wasn’t sure where he himself had stood on the subject and hadn’t really been aware that he had started to even consider the idea until those words had fallen out of his mouth just then. Still…he scrambled, “I…I didn’t mean to…I…”

“No, I… I’ve been thinking the same thing,” Kotoko confessed before adding quickly. “Don’t tell the others.”

Masaru nodded emphatically. “Hero’s honor.”

With a brisk, understanding nod, Kotoko sighed and sunk back into the stack of cushions and pillows lining the floor of their blanket fort. After another long, heavy pause, Kotoko whispered, “I think there are some monsters that will always be too big to fight...no matter how old and strong you are…”

“I’m still going to try.” Determinedly, Masaru clenched his hand into a fist. “No matter what, I’ll always be there to try to fight the monsters. Because that’s what a hero does.” His brow furrowed, and he twisted his mouth before he shrugged and  beamed at Kotoko with a bright lopsided grin. “And I guess if that doesn’t work, I can always build another blanket fort to keep them out.”

[repo-net]

hiii! i love your blog so much, it's so cool to see people just write about more obscure characters like nagisa, and your writing is rly good too! 🌹 if it's possible, could you write something with him and kotoko? they're both comfort characters of mine and i just need more content of them 😭

Ahaha, thanks for the kind words! I try my best to provide for anyone that enjoys the same characters that I do, so comments like these are always a very nice treat to see in my inbox.

That said, yeah, I think I can try and whip something up for you anon. I wasn't sure where to really start with this one and I think it's kind of sloppy, but nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it!

Growing Together

It was a quiet dusk in a park near Towa City's edges, a blue-haired boy sat near a lake, his face focused on the water's edge, in which he saw his own reflection.

He wasn't exactly getting younger. Only a year ago, he was still fixated on a paradise that he wanted to fulfill; not only because he believed it was the dream of the person he cared for the most, but because he genuinely wanted it to come to fruition, so that he didn't have to watch another child live in fear of adults.

He didn't want other kids to feel the same fear that he did. At the same time though, he felt that killing adults was unneeded and forcing them out of the city instead was the more ideal solution. And yet, he was still urged on to kill and kill and kill.

At some point, he started to wonder if he got a thrill out of it. He couldn't lie, a sadistic part of him somewhere enjoyed seeing adults go down.

His mind and his heart would remind him over and over again though that he was in the wrong. And he knew that. He knew was at fault too, but because he didn't want to admit it, and because he was scared of what he considers the only people he can trust to think of him as a traitor... he held those thoughts in and kept killing.

For their sake, he'd do anything.

Despite all those strong feelings of his though and how much of his morality and sanity he was willing to throw out just for her though, he was still betrayed and called a traitor by the person he trusted most anyways.

He really was an idiot all along.

"My, it's so tempting to just push you into the water right now..."

"Gah-?!"

The boy's heart froze as he turned around and saw a familiar pink-haired friend of his standing above him, a mischievous look in her eyes as she covered her grinned mouth with a hand.

"Don't even think of pushing me in the water, damn it! Where'd you even come from?! How'd you know I was here?!"

"Those other two dorks told me you went on another one of your 'breaks', so I followed you!"

"When I go on breaks, I don't particularly need people coming after me... seriously though, don't push me."

"Kyahaha! I was just saying that so you'd stop staring at that lake. You've been at it for almost half an hour now, y'know. There are prettier things to look at in this world. Like me!"

"I'd happen to disagree, lakes don't really try to scare you, as far as I'm aware."

"Gwah, rude!"

The actress replied with a puffed out pout, sitting down next to the boy with a slightly more concerned look on her face though.

"Seriously though, are you okay? You were pretty out of it again."

He didn't reply, just looking away from her.

"Thinking about the past again?"

He nods, a sigh escaping his mouth as he finally speaks up again.

"I couldn't nap earlier because of some thoughts, so I went here to try and clear them up. They ended up following me anyways though."

"You're having a hard time of letting go of what happened huh?"

"It's not that. I know nothing's gonna be changed now, and that's probably for the best. I just can't ever stop thinking of what could've been, and what we used to be... seriously, what was I thinking? I was genuinely under the delusion that I'd actually off myself when I turned into an adult."

"Don't beat yourself up that much about it. I was silly too. We all were. If anything, I'm... really sorry about everything."

The sage looked at the fighter with confused eyes, not understanding what she was apologetic for.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean... sorry for being so stubborn. You were always the one who'd keep us in check. Sure, you were- and still are super naggy about anything we do, but you were the only one that was really just focused on the paradise itself and not killing the adults. You were the only sane one among us..."

"Don't give me that. I'd argue I'm worse because I recognized what we did was wrong and I still didn't try to stop any of you. All because I was scared of what you would all think of me... and yet, I still got branded as a traitor anyways."

The former actress had a sympathetic gaze towards the boy, before she quickly turned it into a teasing, though genuine smile.

"You really are a massive softie underneath, huh?"

"Hey!"

She giggled and ruffled his hair, speaking more enthusiastically.

"You really need to learn to let loose a little more, y'know? You talk like you're already in your 50s, it's super not cool. Just try to enjoy life more! You're too worried about what used to be and what could be."

"Maybe so... still, it's just really hard to figure everything out. What do I want to do?"

"Hmm... maybe you and I could try being kids for once? I mean, I know I never got the chance to. And you didn't even get to go outside! Look at how pale your skin is, sheesh. In the industry, they'd-"

"Don't talk about that, seriously."

"Aha, sorry..."

She awkwardly laughed, the boy staring up at the sky that slowly grew closer to night, then at his hands.

"Could I ask you a question?"

"Hmm? Sure, sure! What wise query shall the sage ask of me? Surely it must be of great importance~!"

"What do you see yourself doing in a couple years from now?"

The girl stayed quiet for a while after that. That was the question he was going with...?

Considering the history she's had with... certain jobs, it was clear in her mind that she had no interest in returning to the acting industry again. Nobody would want someone as old as her anyways, she thinks to herself.

The thought makes her cringe.

"Maybe I'd just get into fashion and stuff... dress people up, see cute outfits, and just have a fun time, yanno? I wouldn't really want to go back to showbiz though. That life is behind me already."

"Is that so...?"

"Of course it's that so! What, did you want to be my first client, Nagisa?"

"I-I have no interest whatsoever."

She giggled at him teasingly, the boy facing away again out of slight annoyance as she spoke again.

"And maybe... I'd like to grow up together."

"Huh?"

"Y'know, with you three stooges! We couldn't really make our paradise a reality, so why don't we make the next years of our lives a paradise worth living in? Like, metaphorically. If we really are growing up after all, then if it's with you, I wouldn't mind it at all!"

"... Huh. And here I thought we'd split ways once we entered high school. The thought of that terrified me."

"Pfft, you really, really are a softie."

"Look, it's just...! Ugh, I just didn't want us four to be separated, alright? I wouldn't know who to turn to if we went our own ways. Especially considering the reputation we've built for ourselves."

"I also wanted to like, keep an eye on you and make sure you don't pass out studying and start mumbling Monaca's name in your sleep again."

"Hey! W-Wait, did I really-"

"Yep! We even have recordings of it, it's honestly kinda adorbs. You seriously need to find better taste in girls though."

"Wh- hey, seriously, you guys better delete that soon! That's... ugh...!"

The boy scratched at his hair in embarrassment, his cheeks a stark red as the girl beside him laughed in delight, a smug look on her face.

That is, until a splash of water hits her right while she's in the middle of laughing, as she opens her eyes and sees the source having come from the boy's hands.

"Oh, you wanna have a water fight, mister? Well then, fine by me! First one to get totally doused loses!"

"You're on! And if I win, you better delete those recordings of me in my sleep!"

"Pfft, as if the sage would ever take down the fighter! Once you're covered in water, I'll play those dreams of yours once we graduate!"

"Enough words, Kotoko! Get back here!"

"Kyahahaha! Catch me if you can, you slow nerd! I know for a fact the one class you failed was PE!"

"I'll crush you anyways!"

"Try me, cat ears!"

"What did you call me?!"

"Ahaha, nothing!"

The future might be a rocky and rough road up ahead for them, and no doubt, they were only going to face new problems ahead of them.

Still, at the very least, they would have each other, and they would grow together. No matter how harsh the path may be and no matter what the trials of their bond would be, a friendship built off of trust and understanding of what they've all went through was a knot that would never snap.

Just for now though, they'll stop thinking about the future and just be kids. They're still only young after all, and it was best to make use of the remaining time they had.

[i-moved-blogs-ffs]

Danganronpa request can a reader who is really kind and a sweetheart adopt the warriors of hope and helpem to forget they traumas and also can the reader beat the hell up the warriors of hope parents after everything they done to those innocents children's please

Of course, my darling! I love the WoH so much- I adopted them too, they're your adoptive siblings now so you all gotta get along ok-

These are probably gonna spiral into parenting headcanons because I cannot help myself- just let these kiddos have a happy home life man- :(

TW for mentions of abuse. It's nothing explicit, but it can be upsetting to some. Please be cautious.

Anyways, let's get started!

- 🌸🍭mod mikan🍭🌸

S/O adopting the WoH!

Now, we all know these kiddos had a bad time.

They were all abused in different ways, neglected, put down to the lowest point they could be.

Junko was like a light at the end of the tunnel for them, a savior - someone who cared, someone who they could trust, someone who loved them. But it was all lies.

She didn't care.

They couldn't trust her.

She didn't love them.

But then, you came around. At first, they thought you were like every other demon; evil, cold and uncaring.

And yet, there was this warmth radiating off of you... Almost like another light they could chase to get to true joy.

After Komaru and Toko defeated each of them, they felt lost. What were they supposed to do now that their empire has failed? Were the adults going to punish them, by abusing and taking advantage of them even further?

The group wandered the streets of Towa City, alone, hiding from every adult they could see and fending for themselves.

However, they stumbled upon you and Komaru. You two have been actively looking for them after finding out they survived.

But the reason why you were looking for them, was pretty unexpected.

You wanted to take them in as your own. They were just kids after all, no matter how much they tried to make themselves seem bigger. You wanted to help them, teach them that not everyone will hurt them, because they deserve to be loved like any other child does.

And so, they went with you. Very reluctantly mind you, but they didn't have much of a choice.

And as time went on, they opened up to you, one by one. And soon, you guys became like a happy family.

Somewhat dysfunctional, but still happy family.

Ok so, origin story's out of the way, now let's get in a bit deeper-

Parenting the Warriors is pretty hard- they each have something about themselves that you need to keep in mind.

And besides, taking care of 5 children wouldn't be easy even if they weren't traumatized-

You have to be patient, warm and kind to them, and to you that's no problem!

I would imagine Masaru would be the first to let his guard down around you, because he could tell that you weren't a bad person from the start.

He would start to admire you greatly, seeing you as the only cool adult around!!

He's always trying to impress you or get your attention because of that. And you always give him praise, telling him he's the most awesome kiddo ever!!

He always gets a bit bashful when you do, scratching his head as an "awhh, shucks!", escaping his lips.

He's very fond of you! He wants to do the things you do, like trying out your hobbies or imitating your mannerisms. He just wants to be as cool as you are.

While it is cute, you have to teach him that he's only the best when he's himself!

Kotoko was probably the second to open up. The first thing she noticed is that you never, ever used her trigger word in a sentence, not even on accident. You always used words like "soft", "tender" or "mallow", maybe even "delicate".

Not me looking up synonyms on thesaurus.com rn shHDHS

Like Masaru, her initial gut reaction always told her you were a good person, but the walls she had built up just couldn't let you in right away.

And when she does get comfortable, she becomes super clingy. She's almost as fond of you as Masaru is, honestly-

She always goes to you for any sort of help. She feels like you're the only person she can trust 100%, whether it be with her feelings or some other problem.

You're like- the only person who she's super nice to all the time. She used to be like that with Monaca, until you took them in.

Actually, speaking of that, they completely stopped literally worshipping Monaca's every move once you entered their lives.

Now, next up is Jataro. He initially thought you hated his every move, and that you only took him in because of pity.

But, you were proving him wrong every day. Going out of your way to talk to him, being so incredibly kind that it made his heart hurt.

You always help him out with his art! He loves when you sit down and paint, sculpt or draw with him, even if you're not artistic yourself. He feels like he's wanted, and all of that self-hatred almost completely washes away.

The biggest moment was when you finally convinced him to take off his mask. And when he did, you could tell he was way happier.

You two burned the mask together, leaving that part of his life behind you and turning over a new leaf.

And because of your influence, the rest of the kids are way nicer to him as well now!

Nagisa was the fourth one to take his guard down.

He saw how much Masaru, Kotoko and Jataro trusted you, and after observing you further, he began to see why.

He was always very distant from you, and you respected that. So, you were pleasantly surprised when he suddenly started going out of his way to help you, talk to you or spend time with you. However, you never questioned it, which made him relieved.

It's like you two silently agreed that you were cool with eachother.

He's very mature for his age, so he's the first one to try and help you with regular day-to-day tasks, even without you asking for said help.

Mans over here about to start doing your taxes HDHDH-

You always tell him to chill out, but he insists. He knows how much trouble he and his adoptive siblings are making for you, and it's his own way of thanking you.

Now, Monaca's a little interesting.

At first she was only pretending to care about you, like she did with the rest of the Warriors, but after a while she genuinely grew to love both you and her siblings.

She doesn't like the fact she cares one bit, but she can't help it.

She still has very manipulative tendencies, but you always see through them and her lies. You call her out on it, but never berate her.

She's very kiss ass-y, I guess?? Always complimenting you for the smallest reasons and calling you sweet nicknames.

She sometimes just wants to make you mess up to try and get herself to stop caring-

Like whenever a problem comes up, she always goes, "S/O can fix it!😌🙏 Our (affectionate parental term) dearest can do anything!🥰💞" and the rest of the kids are like "yah!!💖💕" because they love and support you while you're just there like🧍

Because no you can't rebuild the economy do you look like bob the fucking builder-

AnywaY their parents are already dead, so you guys beat up H*ji instead. :)

Ah, family bonding time. 💕

And done!! I love these little spawns of satan so much you guys don't even know- this was literally so fun to write that I think I got carried away a bit hshGhd- I hope this is ok!

Make sure to wash your hands, stay hydrated, take any meds you may need to and stay safe! You were so brave, have a lollipop! 🍭

[electric-sky-cafe]

Sweet Surprise Kiss

Have a self-indulgent Kiibouma fic I whipped up. Non-despair AU!

@kotokos-cafe I know you said you were excited to see my writing, and here it is! Plus, I just want to offer you something good.

It was almost midnight at Saishuu Academy, but Kokichi, Kiibo, Shuichi, Kaede, and Maki weren't ready to go to sleep yet. They were having a sleepover, currently playing Truth or Dare. Kaede had just dared Kokichi to try and do a handstand, and now that he had, albeit to failure, it was his turn to spin the bottle.

His pale hand touched the cap, and he took a deep breath before asking, "Okay, everyone. Ready?" The response was various shouts of "just get it over with!". Kokichi jumped a bit in surprise and muttered, "Okay, okay, geez..." under his breath. With a forceful swipe, he spun the bottle, and it landed on...

Kiibo.

"Haha, yes! This'll be fun!" Kokichi yelled with a fist-pump, to a shushing from Kirumi nearby. Kiibo put a hand on his forehead. This was just their luck, wasn't it? Let's just get this over with, he supposed, sighing as Kokichi pointed to him and said with a mischievous pep in his voice, "Alllllllright, Kiiboy! Truth or dare?"

"...Dare. I don't wish to be regarded as cowardly."

A resounding gasp echoed throughout the group. They were really expecting Kiibo to choose truth. Kokichi took a little bit of time to think about it, before smirking and saying, "Okay then, Kiiboy! I dare you to kiss your crush!"

Kiibo's cheeks dusted blue. Kokichi might have been saying this all in good fun, but here was the thing: he was actually Kiibo's crush! Trembling a bit, Kiibo crawled towards Kokichi, minding the bottle in the center of the circle. They let out a shaky sigh, fidgeting with their platinum hair, and stuttered out, "K-kokichi, are you s-sure it's okay?"

"I'm the one who dared you to do it, am I not?"

"B-but, Kokichi, y-you don't unde-"

"KIIBO! I promise you, I'll support you no matter who you like."

"...okay. Let's just get this over with."

Kiibo sighed and brought his hands up to cup Kokichi's cheeks, leaning towards him for the kiss. Their face lit up sky blue across the bridge of their nose, and they were increasingly nervous but tried not to focus too much on that.

"K-kiiboy-? What are you-!?"

Before Kokichi could finish that sentence, Kiibo's lips made contact with his, causing both to blush intensely. His stomach started to ache with butterflies as the robot leaned in closer. However, he didn't push away. He just sort of allowed the kiss to happen until he finally decided to pull away.

Both sat there, silent and still. Kiibo hid their face in their collar, hiding their blush as they waited for it to calm. Meanwhile, Kokichi was still processing what just happened. It took a few minutes to make sense of it, but when he did manage to...

"Y-YOU LIKE ME!?!"

"Sh-sh-sh, not so loud! But yeah."

"Wow...I can't believe how oblivious I've been," Kokichi muttered. "All I can say is that..." He stood up and gave Kiibo a kiss on the forehead, which only stood to make him blush even more. "You can consider your feelings reciprocated!"

"W-wait, really!?"

"Mhm! And that's no lie!"

Kiibo leapt onto Kokichi in a hug, and how could they not when they were so happy! He jumped back a little, but hugged back regardless with a small giggle. They both just loved each other so much. "So, are you going to spin, Kiibo?" Maki suddenly piped up, breaking the mood.

"Wow, wait to ruin the romantic mood, Maki Roll," Kiibo said, rolling his eyes. Despite that, and Maki's ranting about how only Kaito was allowed to call her Maki Roll, they returned to their spot in the circle, in a better mood now that they had some reassurance.

[dangankingdom]

WOH getting comforted by their adoptive parent!reader

Requested? Yes Masterlist

Rating// PG/SFW CWs// The WOH, not proofread, bullying, panic attack

WOH recognition!!  I love them sm, thank you for the ask anon! I’m leaving out Monaca again, sorry. Asks after the break!! <3 (They’re all kinda short because I didn’t really know what to write for them and I wanted to get this done, sorry!!)

Masaru Daimon

While you were sitting on the couch reading, your son Masaru came home.

You looked at him, he seemed out of it as he walked through the doors.

You welcome him home, and he looks at you and walks to his room saying nothing.

You follow him, turns out he tripped during track meet today and felt really embarrassed.

You hug him tight, telling him it’ll be okay.

He tries to shove you away and you let him do it, respecting his space.

You let him rant about it, and by the end he feels better.

You give him a kiss on the forehead and till him it’ll all be better tomorrow.

Jataro Kemuri

Normally, Jataro would be home by now, it was getting late.

You, worried, try to call him, and hear him crying on the other line.

You ask him what’s wrong.

He, through his tears, tells you he’s lost and he doesn’t know how to get home.

You tell him you’ll be right there and to stay calm.

You luckily set up find my phone, and was able to find him quickly.

Once you brought him home you made sure to give him a nice warm bath and the most comfortable pajamas out there!

You also watched Toy Story 3 together since it’s one of his favorite movies.

Kotoko Utsugi

When she came home, you instantly knew something was wrong.

She had noticeable tears in her eyes.

She was also soaked.

You rushed over to her and asked her what was wrong and what had happened.

She, through tears, told you that some jerk had turned on the hose in the school garden and soaked her as she was trying to walk home.

You hugged her, not minding that it got your clothes wet.

She hugged back tightly, trying her best to keep down her tears.

You told her you’d call the school tomorrow as she calmed down.

Nagisa Shingetsu

You came home from work, not surprised to see Nagisa already home since he’s not in any clubs.

Except, instead of doing work or reading like he normally is, he’s hunched over the table and, shaking..?

You walk over and rest your hand on his shoulder gently.

He turns to you and backs away, he looks like he was crying.

You ask him what’s wrong, and he shakes his head and backs away further.

You spot a report card on the table, showing a B in science.

You crumple it up and walk over to Nagisa, patting him on the head and saying it was okay.

He sniffled and hugged you crying into your shirt, and you hugged back.

[good-beanswrites]

🎬: About Es being a past prisoner and the secret 11th prisoner in your AU. But advance apologies if I'm overstepping into your AU!

I had this idea from a story that pretty much did the same thing. Going off there are novels/manga on Milgram and there being another Es and their own prisoners running another Milgram (but differently) I imagine this Milgram projects has been going on for a while, and our Es was from a previous project who might have gotten the worst verdict (or the most spared out of everyone), and was given this final task as a warden for the next group of prisoners. This is why they so readily agreed and had their memories wiped for this Milgram project instead of being weary on a shady project on judging an almost crime, they've already been through this.

(BTW is it bad and worrying for one of our ten fav prisoners to be the next Es if this is legit...)

Anyway, that's why Es is in Milgram in your AU, I guess? And the lore drop that Kotoko picks up on them being the 11th prisoner, I can imagine her also talking to Kazui since he's a policeman to see if she could cross out any theories on who Es is (Did they look familiar. Possible missing child. Any cases to do with an almost crime by a child other than the 10 of them here). Kazui knows Kotoko wants to investigate, but reminds her that, like in their prison while the trial is on, the facilities they're in have high security too. They do have the freedom to move about, but still limited.

If they're trying to investigate Es, maybe Fuuta, Kotoko and Mikoto can try to do the hacking on the comp Mikoto's allowed to use to Photoshop some shots for the MVs and photos (Fuuta and Kotoko seem to be able to search up info they need I think...). Yuno, Mahiru and Muu can work on charming the staff to see if they can spill more deets on Milgram. Not sure how much the group can gather, but oh boy fun times in Milgram can turn into another sort of stress in this AU...

No worries!! Like I said before, this whole au has been a fun collaborative project, so there's no overstepping :) I am sorry I won't be writing a lot on the ending until we get more info, but that's just the perfectionist in me who doesn't want to be proven wrong 😅 Still, I love tossing around and digging into ending scenarios, I really love this!

Because that would make a lot of sense why they're so willing to subject themself to the whole experiment! They remember how tough their experience was, and are confident they can care for the new set of prisoners while doing their job. I'm imagining they get the opportunity to return as guard, and get to have a nice talk with their own guard first. Once they fully understand what it's like, they're know they can handle it and sign up. It adds a bit of drama, too, since they must have been really young committing their crime in order to complete a years-long experiment prior to this one. They would have been like 10? Oof. (Now I wanna see their three trial songs 👀)

And like you said, that also brings up the question of the new warden. Though I think it's based on verdict results, I can just picture Jackalope keeping an eye on everyone during filming. He studyies their interactions and personalities, keeping his own set of notes on who would make a good successor. (I'm not going to go through every character but there are pros to any choice, it's very fun picturing them all taking the job.) Haha, on the other hand, maybe the reason Kotoko keeps bringing up her role as Es' partner/bringer of justice is because she did discover the truth. She drops as many hints as possible so she can be chosen next 😅

Ooh, I love her working with Kazui on an investigation! The fact that eh may know details on recent crimes (and almost-crimes) is super fun to work with. He's the last person who's going to spill a secret, so the group could go several trials without realizing Kazui had actually heard all about their situation this whole time.

(Getting sidetrack for a sec, I'm suddenly realizing that he and Kotoko may have heard things about the crimes in canon, too. They're a bit unclear about how much time passed between the murders and arriving to Milgram, so maybe he heard some things. I don't know how well-connected Tokyo police departments are, but Yuno, Fuuta, Muu, and Shidou are all nearby. There's definitely a chance he caught word of the vigilante nearby, and she heard about the odd policeman's suicide. Both of them could have heard about the tragic housefire, the disgraced doctor, or horrible schoolgirl murder nearby.)

Anyway, I like that idea of Kazui wracking his brain for any similar cases. Though, if he had, Milgram may have had the foresight to wipe parts of his memory, too. Maybe he does end up using his call to reach out to Hinako and have her look into it from the outside. Sadly, Kotoko seems the type to sacrifice her personal call to reach out to a connection who can help as well. I'll have to think about how closely Jackalope monitors those calls, hm.

I'm going crazy over prisoner investigation team !! Kotoko and Fuuta had the online knowledge to find some good info, and Mikoto and Kazui seem like they'd have a huge network of people they can ask for info and favors from. Haha, I'm torn whether Mahiru would have flirting down to a science or if she'd refuse to do it since it wasn't real love 😂 Still, she's very good at reading people and could definitely help the others charm and bribe their way into some restricted areas. Amane and Haruka can also charm with their innocence/cuteness (though I'm not sure Amane would). Shidou seems very organized, he'd have a plan and backup plan and backup-backup plan ready, no matter what happens. I think it's even funnier, then if Milgram had run several experiments prior. Jackalope would think this was just another runthrough, and for the first time the ten subjects decided to organize together and Cause Problems.

I think there's a beautiful irony in a story featuring ten prisoners planning a jailbreak to save the prison guard...

[clearsky]

My Top Comfort Characters/Kins and My Main HCs For Them

(Note, not all my kins/comfort characters are on here, just the ones I have more than 5 hcs for)

CW: Korekiyo Shinguji (DRV3), Himiko Yumeno (DRV3), Shinsou Hitoshi (BNHA), Kyoko Kirigiri (THH), Tsuyu Asui (BNHA), Entrapta (Spop), Ibuki Mioda (SDR2), Celestia Ludenberg (THH), Funtime Foxy (FNAF), Peril (WOF)

Korekiyo Shinguji (DRV3)

Nonbinary

He/They pronouns

Autistic

Chains and loose accessories are for stimming

Likes the feeling of silk and cotton

Can't stand the feeling of anything rough or bumpy

He likes collecting small trinkets and the bones of small mammals

Can't stand anything salty. He'll eat it but he certainly won't enjoy it

Dating Rantaro

Can flirt, but only if he doesn't try

Petnames are a hell yea

Gets sunburnt really easily

Group dates with Celesnaegiri and Ikuzono

Can't cook for s h i t

Had a scene kid phase in middle school

Went to the same middle school as Celeste and Maki

Knew them when Celeste went through her "I'm not like other girls" phase and Maki was a Band Kid™

Himiko Yumeno (DRV3)

Female

She/Her pronouns

Lesbian

Can force herself to fall asleep within seconds regardless of where she is

100% forces herself to fall asleep when she doesn't wanna listen/talk to someone

Himiko/Angie/Tenko relationship. I'm calling them the Traffic Light Trio

She likes taking naps in the forest

She prefers enclosed/tight spaces more than open ones

Has several hundred stress balls and squishies laying around

She overheats easy

Shinsou Hitoshi (BNHA)

Questioning his gender, but goes by any pronouns

Knows he's Asexual, at least

Has no clue what his romantic orientation is though

The kind of person to carry treats in his pocket just in case he runs into a cat

Will stop to pet literally every cat he comes across

Great at reading people

Doesn't talk unless it's 100% needed

Hangs with Tokoyami, Jirou, and Denki most often

Aizawa has 100% unofficially adopted him

Fosters kittens

Not a big fan of physical touch

He is 100% in the bakusquad. Anyone who says he's in the Dekusquad is a c o w a r d

He and Tsuyu vibe

Knows a bunch of random facts

Dark humour? Dark humour

*skates backwards into his therapist's room slowly sipping from an absurdly huge cup of coffee* Candice you're not gonna BELIEVE the shit I just went through

In case I forgot to mention it, he skates

Kyoko Kirigiri (THH)

Mtf

She/Her

Bi with female preference

Burns go up to her shoulders/collarbone/chest

Prefers to just listen as opposed to saying anything

Knows a ton of random trivia about everyone else in her class

She keeps a notebook she fills with all the trivia

Doesn't celebrate her birthday. She just doesn't see the point of it

Doesn't hate sugar/sweets, but if given the choice she would choose literally everything else

Cuts her own hair

A cat person

Permanent dark circles

T-Tall 😳

Like,,, 6'1 at LEAST

Only person taller than her is Yasuhiro (6'3)

Canon no longer exist

Ahahaha healthy life habits? What are those?

Can't handle horror games

She's the kind of person you'd go to if you needed to rant but didn't want any advice

Polyamourous yo

Celeste/Kyoko/Makoto

She's a dom yall are just scared to admit it

Tsuyu Asui (BNHA)

They go by They/Them

Lesbian

They and Ochaco are dating

They like to hang with Shinsou

Which mainly just means the two sitting in one of their dorms in near total silence doing whatever

Can speak English and French as well as Japanese

Learned English from cartoons

Picked up French bc they thought it'd be fun

Prefers to stay neutral in the whole Bakusquad / Dekusquad thing

They're invited to all outings/events by/for both squads

They like puns

They're a dumbass but willingly, and for fun

Like "someone says they like dark humour and they'll turn off the lights before telling a joke" kind dumbass for fun

Great at poker

Likes Disney Movies

Very touchy once you get close enough

Not in a sexual way, just likes physical contact

Especially fond of piggyback rides and cuddles

Extreme fear of needles

Entrapta (She-Ra)

She/Her or It/Its

Doesn't bother trying to figure out whether she's cis, trans, nonbinary, or what

Was AMAB though

Short as fuck (4'7)

Strong as fuck though

Cuddle game strong

Physical touch is a fuck yes

Cuddles

Piggyback rides

Hugs

Anything where she's touching someone is wonderful in her book

As long as she's the one that initiates it

Anyone else touching her without her permission makes her freak

Prefers being high up

Makes it harder for anyone to sneak up on her

An ace at video games

When it comes to sexuality she just says she's Questioning

Ibuki Mioda (SDR2)

Any pronouns + Pup/Pupself + It/Its

No idea what their gender is otherwise

Biromantic Asexual

Just likes sexual jokes

Gets distracted easily

Has severe hearing problems

She's plays her instruments as loud as possible, with the amp right next to her, without ANY ear protection

It's caused some damage

She talks so loud bc she has no idea how loud is considered acceptable

Wears hearings aids most of the time

Several piercings and tattoos

Likes hearing things jingle

She has a bracelet with a few bells hanging from it

She'll shake it whenever she's bored

LOVES hair accessories

Ribbons are a particular favourite

Occasionally she'll hang little charms from her hair "horns"

The kind of person who never takes any pills/medicine bc she keeps forgetting she has to

Frequently uses emojis

Skates everywhere but she isn't very good at it

She keeps crashing into everything

Has broken every bone in her body at least 3 times

Most of which was bc she keeps trying to kick in doors and skating down the stairs

Celestia Ludenberg (THH)

Nonbinary

Any pronouns, mainly goes by She/They

Bi, 70:30

Collects mini hand sanitizers and can tabs

Has single handedly gotten Mario Kart, Mario Party, Monopoly, Uno, and Clue banned a grand total of 17 times (and counting)

The kind of person to purposefully target someone regardless of what game was being played

Favourite victim is Byakuya (bc he gets so upset about it and she finds that hilarious)

Mains Waluigi

Celeste/Kyoko/Makoto

Has several banned Twitter accounts bc whenever she's bored she'll start discourse on purpose

Hangs with Korekiyo, Ibuki, Byakuya, Yasuhiro, and Leon most often

It's a weird friend group but everyone's sorta gotten used to it

She and Byakuya gamble together occasionally

She tries to avoid it bc he'll willingly blow his entire fortune in an attempt to beat her

Autustic

Can't stand the feeling of water

Mainly bc she can't swim for shit

Horror movies? Hates them

Gets flustered super easily

Taka is her twin brother

Kotoko, Kokichi, and Gundham are their half siblings (Same father)

Peko and Toko are their cousins

She sucks ass at go fish

Fuck canon she's 4'11 now

C h u b b y

Freckles

Once she gets comfortable enough with herself she dyes her hair in the peekaboo style

Either black and red or black and blonde

Haven't decided yet

I'll be doing Celesnaegiri hcs as a seperate post but I just feel it's important for you to know that she expresses her affection verbally and is a very touchy person

Went to middle school with Maki and Korekiyo

Has horrible eyesight

She wears contacts most of the time but she always puts off buying more

After the 5th or so time she ended up blindly stumbling around a week after her contacts ran out Kyoko convinced her to buy glasses as well

Religious accessories yo

Like chokers and dangly earrings with crosses and pentagrams and shit

Likes wearing wacky earrings

Can run and do all sorts of tricks in heels

She and Mukuro are exes yo

Keeps her hair short so it's easier to manage

Hair never gets longer than her shoulders if she can help it

She seems like the kind of person who'd keep her bangs grown past her eyes regardless of how frustrating or inconvenient it is

She's a sub yall just don't wanna admit it

Funtime Foxy (FNAF)

I'm going on the record to say this

Funtime Foxy is genderfluid and that is that

Goes by Funtime

Any pronouns, They/Them most commonly

Plays music (keyboard and guitar mainly)

They and Funtime Freddy (Freds) mainly play with the kids

Freds mainly tells stories with Bonbon while Funtime more so plays one-on-one

Has nicknames for everyone

Circus Baby - Ringleader

Ballora - Bells

Funtime Freddy - Partner

Bon Bon - Bun

Peril (WOF)

I like both Nonbinary She/They Peril and Mtf She/Her Peril

They're both such good concepts

She's a lesbian, Harold

She only had a crush on Clay bc he was pretty much everything she was supposed to like in a guy

Gimme a moment while I force all my mental disorders onto this poor child

Autistic, Anxiety (Social anxiety, mainly, but she has most types), Adhd, PTSD

I'd like to reiterate yet again that She's a lesbian

Sunny and Glory were her gay awakening

Peril in Book 1: Damn, Sunny and Glory sure are pretty. Anyone would be lucky to date them. Clay would probably go for them over me. He would be stupid if he didn't. I myself would willingly date them over someone like me. They're just so pretty :(

Peril waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of arc 2: WAIT-

Rarepair alert but Peril/Sora

Peril meeting Sora: "Hmmm She's attractive. I would love to date her. Too bad I'm straight and in love with her brother lmao :P"

Peril, a mere month later, waiting for Ruby to leave Jade Mountain, pacing in her cave, running face first into a wall: WAIT-

I remember reading this one amazing story where Sora taught Peril to read/write and Peril found out she set off the bomb and comforted her/convinced her her run so that's canon now

Btw if anyone can remember what that story was called/what platform it was on and could tell me I'd appreciate it very much

I'd even be willing to draw a character of your's or make you an icon or something

I usually don't accept requests bc I get burnt out easy but this is a special case

She runs into Sora again sometime between the beginning of TOP and the end

I like to imagine she just goes wandering around

Anyway she confesses like a mere few minutes after running into her again bc Peril is just subtle like that

The actual confession takes 15 minutes and the entire time Sora is just sitting here like "👁👄👁 sure"

Bam Peril/Sora

Peril plans to keep it a secret for a little while longer but she spends 3 seconds around Clay and pretty much blurts it out

Clay, who wasn't even aware that Peril was a lesbian, is just "👁👄👁"

I wanna say Clay doesn't know what a lesbian is but in my canon Sunny is a lesbian so Starflight has already told him

Anyway he's super supportive

From that point Peril is sorta open about her sexuality?

Like, she gives Clay permission to tell the rest of the D.O.D bc she isn't about to risk being in front of them when they hear the news

(When Sunny starts actively seeking her out as a hang out buddy and Tsunami, Glory, and Starflight appear to tolerate her presence just a bit more afterwards she pretends she isn't confused by the change)

She's pink, white, and blue bc I said so

If you look at a certain angle in the right lighting her eyes, mouth, fire, and under her scales all look purple

But her fire is normally white and blue bc I said so

Also she pale as fuck bc in my canon their fire just sorta burns their colour away

You know how you leave something outside for too long and it gets sunbleached? Where it gets all washed out?

Like that but more extreme

By the age of 10-12 firescale dragons are just white with pale eyes

That's right not even the eyes are safe

Ram horns :P

I'm also fond of Peril/Sunny

Or maybe Peril/Sora/Sunny

But Peril/Sora is the main thing

On the topic of that bringing in my hc that if one sib in a sib group is fire resistant all of them are

She,,, She can change her scale colour

But only slightly and only if her emotions are strong enough

Bc I don't give a fuck about Darkstalker's scroll we were robbed of hybrid Peril

Unfortunately all of Peril's emotions are strong

Rainwing ruff along her head and neck

It's like a hood

It's mainly smoothed to her sides but when she's startled it flares out

RAINWING PUPILS

Y'all will know what those look like as soon as I get off my ass :P

She,,, She can mimic bird cries

Hates the summer

She has more than enough body heat already and the outside is just hot enough to add on and make her feel sick

She can somewhat control her heat but most of the time it's based on her emotions

It can go from standing-in-the-middle-of-a-burning-building-cant-see-your-nose-smoke-is-so-thick heat (Strong emotion) to Hey-thats-a-nice-cozy-campfire heat (Calm/"weak" emotion/Sleeping)

I'm just gonna make a different post with all my Peril hcs cuz there isnt enough room for all of them here

[otometearoom]

I Finished Tsumugu Logic!! Overview/Rant

It took me a month, but I finished the last chapter of the game and got the true ending. I will keep playing to get all of the other bad ends, etc. 

I have so so many feels about this game, y’all. I will be highlighting a few chapters in the game, so if you haven’t finished it. Beware of spoilers!!

[MANY SPOILERS/ENDINGS BELOW]

To recount my feelings throughout the game for each character: 

1. Tsumugu is a cutie pie. I actually really related to him, because I’m also at that point in my life where I have to decide what exactly I want to do for the rest of my life. I just finished university, but I’m still unsure about my career ahahah. So, seeing Tsumugu struggle to figure his life out was refreshing. 

2. “Sosei” is so hot. I laid eyes on him and thought, uh-oh, he’s my new addiction ahahah. I would buy his merchandise if there was any. The dude loves sweets (how cute is that) and he has such a good head for mysteries (my dream man). Plus, he’s a tsundere but really cares about Tsumugu, often giving hints and advice to him. He’s a very trustworthy older brother/senpai. I could gush over how much I love Sosei for ages. His drunken habits -> those are to die for. He becomes so lewd and straightforward. I love it. 

“Koyo”, on the other hand, I didn’t like him as much as Sosei. Which is weird, cause I love ikemen. Maybe I’m just drawn more into the withdrawn, mysterious guys?? I do like the concept of twin brothers though. I have a bit of a dirty mind so when the twins said they shared everything, even their gf, I was like ohohoho, 3p? 

I absolutely enjoyed the twins together though. I love seeing them pretend to be the other. I wish they had more of an appearance lol. I could even say that Sosei and Koyo are a scale higher than Tsumugu for me. I wish the twins were the main protagonists ahahah. No offense Tsumugu. 

I’ll just summarize my first impressions for others real quick: 

3. Kotoko - I thought she was cute, but I never really liked her and couldn’t quite pinpoint exactly why. This feeling will come into play later on. So at first, I was like meh, she’s okay, I guess. But, as I learned more about her, I really didn’t like her character that much. I mean, I wouldn’t say I hated her but I didn’t find her as a good fit for Tsumugu. 

- When she told Tsumugu to be a salesman or whatever. I was like, do you even know Tsumugu? Lmao. I didn’t know if it was just me empathizing with Tsumugu cuz I’ve often been told of what I should be, but no one asks what I want to be. 

- When she didn’t want to help Mirei, I thought how odd, for someone who tries to befriend everyone, she’s not doing so well as a heroine. I mean, it was realistic, at least. But, I think the chapter where she admits that she tries really hard to fit in so others will like her was starting to draw some red flags for me. It made me wonder how much of her was ‘real’. Idk if I’m making any sense though.

- When she swung the knife at Tsumugu, I didn’t hate her as much as I did when she swung the knife at Sosei (who protected Tsumugu) and killed him. I was furious then. 

4. Sally - I admit I was really turned off by the girly lolita style. Mainly because I’m more tomboyish irl. But, she had a good sense of justice so I actually liked her. It did come as a shock to me though that she was the “gorilla” girl that was forced to kiss Nozaki. Tbh, I was kinda sad she died at the end. Like, I know she killed Hikone, but I could understand her motive better than I could understand Kotoko’s motive. Maybe cuz I have an older brother and can’t see myself being a brocon? ahahah. 

5. Toma - In terms of hotness, he comes 2nd right after Sosei. He’s a really good friend. And I absolutely adore how he scares ppl with his glare lol. i love yankees ahaha. He’s not afraid to speak his mind. He’s a very solid character.

6. Daimon - My girl crush. High key curious who she’s arranged to marry because her fiance seems boring. Who takes an hour to choose a handkerchief? Anyways, Im sad that Daimon and Sosei never got to meet because I’m low key shipping them. Idk if they’d click well romantically because they’re so similar, but I would’ve loved for some sort of interaction. They’d make for an epic couple, solving mysteries. I really wanna write a fic for them. 

7. Tsukasa Tsukasa - I didn’t like him because of the cheating and blaming on my poor Toma, but after that, he was okay. Plus, he helped write the Tsumugu’s love letter to Kotoko. Which I find is funny, because Kotoko copied Tsukasa’s writing, thinking it was Tsumugu’s. Ahahah. The lesson here, folks, is that don’t use your own handwriting in love letters, you never know if you’re crush will copy said handwriting into your own suicide letter. 

8. Mirei - that girl can sing. I kinda cried after hearing it cuz I was going through something at the time and it really encouraged me. 

9. Landlady & Hikkimori - Both names that I can’t remember off the top of my head. I think both people are fun. The landlady is super supportive. And the hikkimori refusing to talk with Sosei made for a fun dynamic. I genuinely enjoyed seeing Sosei offended. Nice way to see emotions on my fave character. 

10. Other characters (Rindo, Happy, Travel Club Members) - I genuinely did not care enough about ahahah. I think I even enjoyed seeing some of them murdered, tbh. They were really horrible people in different ways. 

The Black club members headed under Fumi. Like what? How do you control victims to be assailants and live with yourself to be a future kindergarten teacher? Like what? I couldn’t live with myself if I was her. Plus, her disproportionately large boobs were really weirding me out. I can’t believe Yu died all because Fumi wanted to f*ck him. It’s like one day you’re living your best life and someone thinks, ah, I wanna ruin this person. 

Don’t even get me started with Nozaki. That dude is a piece of trash. Human garbage. He knows how it feels to be a victim and yet thinks it’s his right to assault women. I wanted to slap that guy so hard. So many times. He was like the boy who cried wolf. He kept pretending to be dead and eventually died in the hands of Kotoko. XD I wonder what his last thoughts were. To have died in the hands of someone he trusted. 

Hikone was another nutcase. From what I understood, he just saw everyone else as characters in his book. Sure, he didn’t physically harm anyone, but doing nothing and observing is just as much of a crime as committing it. 

Shun. I never really like cutesy guys. But when he turned out to be an ex-pimp plus lover of Fumi, he fell off the likeable scale. 

Yoshimoto being an uncontrollable drunk murderer was the only thing needed to complete the psycho Travel Club members. Tbh, I thought he was the one behind the killings at first ahaha. 

Suguha. I thought she was a tough chick. It was cool to know that she had another motive to get closer to Fumi. Because I thought it was weird how she took her cellphone at the BBQ restaurant. It’s nice to know that SEEC still foreshadows like that. 

[x0401x]

So I just finished the tsurune LN and wrote damn long thing about it but forgot there is a word-limit so I'll sum this up to the two points I had. I really believe the Masamina relationship goes way beyond Teacher-Student relationship. I really believe it has place to grow into romantic relationship, however not now. Maybe once Minato graduates, because right now Masaki obviously doesn't harbor any romantic feeling towards Minato. However, it can't be downed to S/T. It is much more complex 1/?

Phew! Finally had the time to write a proper reply to all this. If you’re reading it, thank you for waiting so patiently for my response! It’s huge, so I had to leave it under a cut.

First things first, I’m very happy that you decided to come tell me about your experience reading the novel. I love knowing people’s opinions of source material. It’s cool that everyone has different yet similar experiences with them. I know this is mostly not your opinions on it but actual facts from the books, though. And OP, let me tell you this… you get it.

All that stuff about Masaki and Minato being very close, their relationship highkey feeling like maybe it could develop into a romantic one in the future (because Masaki is very obviously not interested in Minato but Minato has acted like he’s got the biggest crush from day one), the complexity of literally everything surrounding them… yeah, that’s the whole deal with MasaMina. It looks very evidently one-sided (as it should be since one is a child and the other an adult), but it doesn’t seem at all impossible later on. I think that’s because Minato clearly has more affection for Masaki than anyone else. Realistically speaking, Masaki wouldn’t find any other person in this lifetime who loves and admires him that much, or who understands him that deeply due to having life experiences eerily similar to his own. This isn’t really something that can be easily overlooked, and it could totally kick in after Minato turns into an adult and actually becomes boyfriend material.

First of all, throught the Novel there way too much emphasis on their relationship, almost every character addresses it.I'd say the most significant is Ren and his representation of the "supernatural" theme in the Novel and in their relationship making it seem like they are tied by the red thread of fate. both marked, connected by their scars. Comparing Minato to Marebito accusing him for bursting their life and destroying Masaki's resolution and eventually asking him to take care of Masaki. 2/?

Yeah, lol. One of the things I love about the novel is that everybody and their mother can tell how close Minato and Masaki are just by looking. In particular, everyone can tell how influenced Minato is by Masaki and that both are very alike.

To be honest, the whole novel seems dead-set on the Red String of Fate thing. I mean, the prologue is literally about their first meeting, and also about Akihiro’s tsurune being Minato’s reason to start archery. Speaking of Akihiro’s tsurune, the author goes great lengths to use him as a deciding element in Minato and Masaki’s reencounter. He’s the reason for Masaki’s 10,000 shots, which is what enabled him and Minato to meet again. But more importantly, Minato goes after Masaki that night because he recognizes Masaki’s tsurune as sounding “exactly the same” as Akihiro’s. That’s a major stretch! A tsurune isn’t something that can be reproduced twice even by the same archer, let alone someone else. I’m sure Ayano Kotoko knows this, but she still chose to insert this little absurdity in the story just so she could form a link between the two of them beyond the time borders.

And then there’s all those extremely convenient coincidences, like Masaki being able to secure a position as Kazemai’s coach because his master happens to be the archery club’s advisor. Like Minato being “pulled” by some sort of tangible energy towards Masaki despite not even knowing that Masaki was in the same space as him at all. Like Minato having a literal fate-powered radar that allows him to always meet eyes with Masaki when he looks at a crowd, no matter how many people are there. Destiny is a Thing for them.

And let's admit it, the events from the Light Novel, at least the ones related to the both seem straight out of shoujo manga. Masaki saves Minato's life TWICE, the car scene, the fight, Minato's cold, even their encounter and Minato thinking Masaki will disappear.

Lol, yeah. Sometimes it’s even ridiculously absurd, like the author is fumbling for an excuse to write a shippy scene, like the one with the freaking boar. Literally all of their “moments” are too much.

Why so fucking dramatic. WHY SO EXTRA. Like the Masamina is being pushed down our throats. It feels like there are actually meant to be romantic undertones. I can't remember my counting anymore. 3/

This part of the ask was a mess and I love it. Also, you know why, Anon. You know very well why.

Whta finally broke me was the Novel ending with Minato falling asleep on Masaki's shoulder. Like it is the most natural and obvious thing in the world!!!!

That had me a bit emotional too, lol. I mean, you kinda get the gist that Ayano wants the final chapters to end on a MasaMina note from volume 1, so it’s only expected that something like this would happen, but still… did she really have to come for our wigs like that? The answer is yes. And indeed, it’s the most natural and obvious thing in the world. This is just how comfortable Minato is with Masaki, enough that he doesn’t even care if all his clubmates and advisor are looking.

I didn't even had the space to insert all the quotes supporting what I've said from the novel. considering making a big ass post on it.

Oh, it’s okay. I know by heart the scenes you mentioned. And I’m totally behind you. Make the post, if you haven’t yet!

Sorry for it still being 4 asks long and so oh messy. Ugh, after finishing the novel I can't even consider the anime an adaption.Well anyway Thank you I got into the novel thanks to you ! 4/4

Again, it’s okay. I like big asks. And I feel your pain, lmao. Also, I’m happy to have been of service! Glad that you had a good time reading it.

[glassworkspiderlilies]

in for a penny, in for a pound

Kyokou Suiri (In/Spectre) | Sakuragawa Kuro, Iwanaga Kotoko | AO3 Summary: A girl approaches Kuro at the hospital with a proposition. Everything about this situation is absurd. Notes: Watched the first episode of the anime today and then just really wanted to write something for it!! More or less just the events of the first episode/chapter, with a bit more focus on Kuro and his thoughts. Most of the dialogue is transcripted from the manga. Spills a little over into chapter 2 of the manga and kind of references some things that are revealed later on, but shouldn’t be overly spoilery. [EDIT] this fic has been posted up to ao3! that version has been edited a bit more thoroughly. :) 

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It’s the first time he’s laughed since he’d broken up with Saki-san.

Kuro can’t help it—this girl is, perhaps, a bit cute, despite her oddly archaic way of speaking and her incredible forwardness. He had been teasing when he’d called her a middle-schooler, but he hadn’t expected her to blow up the way she did. It was also amusing how quickly she’d toned it back down, apologizing for her behavior.  

It was funny. So he’d laughed. And it’s refreshing, to be laughing for the first time since he’d been dumped. And it’s also a little flattering, to be asked out by a young thing like this enigmatic Iwanaga Kotoko, who has made her proposal so succinctly. All parts of this situation is absurd, and that almost makes Kuro want to say yes, for the continued absurdity.

But considering what happened with Saki-san…he knows what his answer is, and what it needs to be in general, moving forward. Even so, he doesn’t expect to be asked about the reason of his breakup. Kuro tells her, if only to test out his story on his own tongue.

He tries to leave and play it off as something of a joke—perhaps he’s just a pathetic boy who blames his breakup on a kappa, or one who lost his mind from the shock of breakup—but just as he didn’t expect to be asked about this at all, nor does he expect to be contested.

“You weren’t very clear about the subject of your sentences,” Iwanaga says, stopping him from leaving with the tone of her voice, her gaze preternaturally serious like she sees right through him. “Which one of you was the coward that ran and left Saki-san behind?”

Kuro pauses, wary, suddenly, of this girl five years younger than him.

She continues to talk, and the explanation she gives him floors him, though he keeps his face as neutral as he can. It floors him because she is absolutely correct, down to every fine detail, even the words Saki-san had uttered while looking at him with fear.

This girl looks at him without fear, even as she recounts his tale back to him.

He’s not sure if that should scare him.

“I’ve only had one interview with a kappa,” she says, as if his own story hadn’t been just that, a story that he’d expected to be brushed off, “But I am well acquainted with many of their kind.”

She seems—otherworldly, then, as she speaks of yokai, monsters, spectres, and even demons that occupy shadows and crevices and corners, watching them even now.

“Most of them are harmless, but they are everywhere,” Iwanaga continues as she walks towards him, her cane making a softer sound than expected on the flooring. “And when they see you, they whisper to me…‘that thing is different. That—that thing…is terrifying.’”

Kuro crushes the paper cup in his hand, unable to stop the gooseflesh prickling his skin.

“Who are you? How can you be so sure these things exist?” he demands, the words coming out sharper than he intends.

He’s clinging onto the presentation of a normal human being, even as she steps right over those boundaries he’s setting with the total confidence of one who will get what she wants. He’s not used to this, not at all. There are some things he’s careful with—the slip-ups with Saki-san during the course of their relationship had been inevitable, considering how long they’d dated, but hiding what he is is logical, natural. Saki-san had turned pale after every instance that showed his particular constitution and backed away, eyes questioning, accusing. She’d let those little things slide because she wanted so badly to believe, that he was perfectly normal in every other way, but she was certainly unable to forget the things she had seen.

The kappa had been too much.

It’s understandable, ultimately. Really. But Iwanaga…there is not a trace of fear in her.

She smiles at him before answering, perfectly serene.

“They kidnapped me for about two weeks when I was eleven,” she explains, with such ease as if she’s talking about something inconsequential, “They took me into the mountains and asked me, please become our god of wisdom. And my eleven year old self answered them yes, I will.”

He stares at her, unsure of how much to reveal about himself.

“Kinda hard to believe…” he sighs, continuing to play dumb, but Iwanaga merely laughs lightly.

“Indeed!” she says, “So you may look it up in the newspapers. July, six years ago. A fifth grader named Iwanaga Kotoko went missing from the city. One week later, the police went public with their investigation. Another week later, at dawn, the girl was discovered on a bench in the city park, dozing as if nothing had happened. Details were withheld for privacy, but surely in some of the local papers, you’ll find where they wrote, ‘when the girl was discovered, her left leg was severed, and her right eye had been removed.’”

She pushes her hair out of the way with the top of her cane, using her pinky finger to tap her nail against her eye, producing a light clacking sound. A glass eye. She shifts her position, and her skirt also flounces enough for him to see the strap around her thigh, keeping a prosthetic leg in place. Kuro looks at her with disbelief, and she smiles again, putting her arms behind her back in a girlish, innocent pose.

“Of course, the perpetrator was never caught. Since then, I’ve been their God of Wisdom.”

Iwanaga checks her watch and walks past him with a bounce in her step, as if she’s terribly pleased with the results of this conversation.

“It’s time,” she says, in regards to the bus that they’ve been waiting for. “We’ll continue this another day.”

It’s his ride, too, but she seems sure that he won’t follow. She’s right, because he stares after her as she inclines her head and walks away without waiting for a response, still at a loss.

Kuro sees her as the bus passes a few moments later, and she waves. He frowns, checking his phone for when the next one is supposed to come, sighing. He supposes he might as well go to the library to check her story, even though he…believes her. No, even as he knows she has told the truth. Something like this goes beyond mere belief.

He has an inkling, that if he goes to the library, the (more or less) peaceful life he’s had so far will take a turn. He can go home like he had been intending to and forget this ever happened. He can continue as he has been.

Sakuragawa Kuro goes to the library.

.

She finds him just as he’s leaving the library.

Everything she said he’d find he’d found, of course. And the picture in the newspapers is evidently her, even six years later. Even so, he tells her, it doesn’t prove that she’s become a god to monsters and yokai.

“No, it doesn’t. I may have imagined the whole thing. But if it is a delusion, then I’m just a girl who was kidnapped by some deviant, and lost her mind from the shock of his abuse.”

She uses his own words against him, her expression ever so slightly wry. He has to give it to her—she’s clever.

“You’re free to believe what you want,” she continues, “But I may be the only person in this whole world who can understand you.”

He sighs. She may be right, to an extent. There is, at least, one other person, but…well. That is its own complication.

“Have you had lunch?” he asks, caving just a little. “I’ll treat you.”

Surprisingly, she refuses, having just had an expensive kaiseki meal. Who is she, he wonders, that such a young girl can have a kaiseki lunch.

“With the way you talk, I can’t tell if you were raised in polite society or not,” he says.

“Let’s just say that if I go missing, the first thing that people think is a kidnapping—that’s the kind of mansion I grew up in,” she replies, and that’s already a lot to unpack. “If you marry me, then the land and the house come with me. I can get you a job, too.”

She connects her thumb and index finger and her gaze is intense, and he’s flustered by this offer. Why is she talking like she’s her own saleswoman?

“I don’t want to date you for profit,” he says, holding his hands up, but her gaze intensifies if possible.

“What kind of naïve romantic are you?!” she demands, as if he’s personally insulted her, and he kind of wants to laugh again, at this discrepancy between her doll-like appearance and her seemingly skewed view of the world. “Shouldn’t you get something out of this?”

“Are you sure you should be saying this?” he responds, shaking his head, and starts to walk away. Even if she doesn’t need lunch, he does, and there doesn’t seem to be anything more of proper substance to this conversation.

“Then you admit I’m your type?!” she gasps, following after him.

“No,” he says, easily. It’s true. She’s the exact opposite.

Before he can take his leave, however, a librarian rushes towards them and transforms mid-jog, and then Iwanaga is discussing something that is stalking the halls of the library with the tanuki trembling in her arms. Kuro refuses to come, trying yet again to make an escape—because even though he had come to the library knowing something would change, he’s already satisfied his curiosity quite enough, thank you—but Iwanaga guilts him into coming.

It’s kind of amazing how she succeeds, really. He’s starting to realize he should not, perhaps, underestimate her.

.

Kuro has been told before that he doesn’t seem to have a sense of danger, but considering that he’s immortal, he can’t help it.

As he watches Iwanaga fly through the air after striking the monster with a fire extinguisher, fear floods him, because even with one eye and leg and God of Wisdom and all, she is still human. If she hits the ground, she will die, and she will not get up. Even earlier, she had unnerved him with her stand against the creature, attempting and failing to speak with it. But him grabbing her to escape from that was easy. Now, as she soars through the air, if he doesn’t catch her—

He does, of course. Dwelling any longer would be counterproductive. Kuro has to sigh at her cheekiness to comment upon her pleasure at being held, and she squeaks when he pulls her closer—not out of romance, but so she cannot be any more reckless than she has been.

“I’m trying to stop you from getting us both killed,” he tells her when she protests, the sound muffled against his chest.

The monster roars, and she squirms against him, her voice high and panicked.

“Kuro-san, run!” she yells, but he’s calm in the face of danger, as he’s always been.

He holds out his arm as the monster opens its maw and Iwanaga turns her head—and strangely, he’s not even worried about what she’s seeing as the creature’s jaws close around his flesh, taking his arm clean off. Blood splatters across his face and hers as well. Iwanaga’s eyes are wide, and she grips his shirt tighter. Her mouth opens and closes once before her words come out properly.

“Then…and now…you have that unconcerned look on your face…how can you be so indifferent?! Don’t you care that you’re in danger?!”

It’s almost sweet, how she’s worried. Her reaction is both expected and unexpected; expected because she’s not pulling away from him, even after what she’s seen, and unexpected because it seems she doesn’t actually know the truth of what he is like he thought she might.

“It’s upsetting to hear that from you, miss leap-before-you-look. I was sure you of all people would have been able to guess.”

She tilts her head in confusion, but at that moment, his body begins to regenerate. Bones, blood, flesh—his arm reconstructs itself, good as new. Iwanaga looks surprised, but not disgusted, and—frankly, he’s more relieved than he’d like to be. He has no reason to want her approval—he’s not sure he even likes this girl, but he doesn’t necessarily dislike her either.

Kuro looks at the monster, which has gone still.

“Thought so,” he murmurs, as its body begins to bubble. “It looks like my meat doesn’t agree with him.”

A few moments later, it explodes and its flesh disintegrates, surprise washing across Iwanaga’s face again.

“Kuro-san,” she says, her voice serious again. He lowers her down and gets up, brushing off his clothes as he begins to walk towards the skeleton that remains. “What are you?”

“Those things ask you for wisdom. Can’t they tell you that?” he says, his back towards her.

“No one likes to talk about the things that truly frighten them,” Iwanaga says slowly.

Kuro thinks about that for a moment. And her? Does he scare her? If she’s scared now, what about in a moment, when he answers her question?

“…True,” he agrees. “Well, to borrow your words…” he turns to her, and her eyes widen at the emptiness on his face. “When I was eleven, I gorged myself on two different kinds of yokai meat.”

She stares. He waits. Truth be told, he’s already said too much by sharing he’s eaten two kinds of meat instead of only one. She didn’t need to know the second part. But he’s told her anyway.

The shock passes, and she looks merely thoughtful instead.

“I see,” she murmurs. “I suppose that would explain the fear from other yokai. They sense the amalgamation in you, which is…unnatural.”

She tries to get up but does so a bit awkwardly because of her prosthetic. He offers her his hand without thinking about it, and she takes it without hesitation.

Kuro blinks at her. She raises an eyebrow at him.

“Kuro-san,” she says, and—he’s had enough for today, he thinks.

“I think I’ve completed my part, here,” he says, the words coming out too quickly. He steps back. Coward, he thinks to himself. “Goodbye, Iwanaga-san.”

She sighs, even as he’s turning away and down half the stairs already.

“I will see you soon enough, Kuro-san,” she calls after him.

He glances back but doesn’t stop moving. She’s smiling at him, and offers a little curtsy.

Kuro wonders if he should feel threatened.

Briefly, he remembers that night, with Saki-san. How she had clung to him and called his name, only to start shaking, and then let him go with horror in her eyes.

He supposes there’s something wrong with him, that there’s some satisfaction in having this uncanny girl come after him.

.

Iwanaga does, of course, appear the next day at the hospital, peering around his side to look at the flowers he’s brought for his cousin. He’s not even surprised.

She’s worried for him, even after what she saw, repentant about the fact that she was the one who brought him into the mess.

He explains about the mermaid meat, grabs one of the rose stems from the bushes nearby, dragging his hand down its length. The thorns cut, his hand bleeds, and he opens it to show Iwanaga the wounds healing. She watches with less surprise than yesterday.

“I’ve lost fingers, been burned pretty badly, but I don’t have a single scar,” he tells her.

Iwanaga thinks. “Since ancient times, it’s believed that eating mermaid flesh bestows ageless immortality…but you don’t look eleven.”

“I think the other yokai meat I ate nullified some of the effects,” he says, his eyes distant as he looks down at his hand, “But it’s possible I will stop aging at some point.”

Iwanaga looks at him, tilting her head to the side.

“You said you ate two types of yokai meat. What was the other one?”

He smiles faintly at her.

“…I need to get going, otherwise I’ll be late for my visit.”

She sighs, but allows him to drop the topic.

“Very well. I suspect we’ll be seeing each other frequently for a long time to come. I’m sure I’ll have ample opportunity to ask you about yourself.”

“You can still say that after everything I’ve told you?” he asks, with some mild disbelief.

“Well, I do find it somewhat upsetting,” she says honestly, and this simple admittance doesn’t hurt him at all. “And I’m sure it’s why your relationship with Saki-san ended in ruin. Outwardly, you are the very picture of naiveté. But for my part, having you by my side is a welcome development both romantically and for solving yokai problems. Two birds, one stone!”

She twirls prettily and holds up to fingers to illustrate her words. She looks perfectly cheerful, for someone who had just found out something so disturbing so recently. But he supposes, as the God of Wisdom as she says she is, and a girl who had lost her left leg and right eye to supernatural creatures, his story, though unusual even to her, is not as big of an upset as it would be to someone else.

“…Are you sure you’re not being too logical about this?” he asks, is eyebrows furrowing. Because the fact remains that he is unnatural. Yokai and other such creatures are natural, especially to her, even if most humans cannot see them. They are part of a natural order that she is meant to keep.

He falls outside of that order. Shouldn’t she be thinking of getting rid of him somehow, then, instead of positing a relationship?

“What’s wrong with that?” she pouts, breaking him out of his thoughts. “And if we could just ignore the fact that my appearance doesn’t match what appeals to you, this would all be solved handily.”

He sighs.

“That’s not the problem and you know it,” he says, shaking his head. He isn’t ready to broach the topic he was just thinking about with her. He doesn’t know her well enough yet. “And you never said yokai extermination would be a requirement for this relationship.”

It’s funny. It wasn’t as though he ever said yes, but somehow—he’s already in it, this relationship.

“Most of their problems can be solved their consultation,” Iwanaga says easily, “And with you by my side, there won’t be any major upsets.”

He chuckles a little.

“What happened yesterday wasn’t a major upset?”

She looks a bit sheepish at that, turning her head in slight embarrassment.

“Sometimes things don’t work out,” she admits, “It was unfortunate for that cow that it couldn’t see you. But it’s very rare for a spectre to see you—part human, part yokai—and not be filled with dread. It would be quite the monster that doesn’t find you frightening.”

He stops short, just after they walk through the hospital doors. Kuro thinks about that, and wonders what that makes her, if yokai, monsters, spectres, and demons fear him. Humans are more fragile than yokai, and if humans are more intelligent, then they know above all what should be feared.

Iwanaga Kotoko fears neither humans nor the supernatural. So what does that make her? Her being a God of Wisdom is merely a title; she will say she is human when asked. So the fact that she doesn’t fear him and wants to date him (as a preamble to getting married, no less!)…what does that make her?

It would be quite the monster indeed.

He can’t think of her as a monster. So what is left? A true god?

Kuro puts a hand to his forehead. This is all too much. Even so, he’s her boyfriend now, whatever that entails or means in this situation. She’s too logical and unromantic and oddly risqué for him to think that being her boyfriend will be anything like being Saki’s. It’ll come with its own troubles, he can feel it, but…it doesn’t feel bad.  

“Why did you stop?” Iwanaga calls to him, “You still have time—as my new boyfriend, the least you could do is walk me to my appointment before your own, you know.”

He sighs, but his lips quirk into a resigned smile once she turns her back to him, pouting slightly.

“Yes, yes,” he says, and offers his arm for her to hang onto.

She blinks at him, mollified.

“Well, now,” she says, “You do have some manners after all.”

“Moreso than you, sometimes,” he says, “How did you learn to talk like you do when you were raised in polite society?”

“Hey!” she says, pouting again, “There’s nothing wrong with being forthright. And seriously, what kind of idea of polite society do you have anyway?!”

He laughs, and continues to do so as she gets even more irritated, her cheeks reddening with frustration.  

Yes, in some ways, he doesn’t think this will be bad at all.

[komahinasecretexchange]

Title : A peculiar case

Author : @bidoofgodofdestruction

For : @smol-anime-hat

Rating/warning : Some mentions of the backstory but they don’t go in too deep.

Prompt : Hajime and Nagito in a talentswap au where Nagito is the ultimate supreme leader and Hajime is the ultimate detective or survivor

Authors note: I don’t particularly like sai//ouma so i kinda gave myself a challenge with this prompt. Thankfully it’s a lot more fun with these two. I even decided that if this goes over well enough I might continue it on my ao3. So I hope you enjoy!

“So that’s the Ultimate Supreme Leader?” “Yeah. He’s apparently the leader of some huge evil organization. But nobody knows who they are or what they do.” “Huh? Seriously? That’s nuts.” “Well, he’s pretty annoying so people just avoid him. So nobody knows what his deal is.” “Wow… I wonder what kind of secrets he’s hiding.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hajime Hinata as a detective, has to use his intuition to decide which rumors are worth following, and which ones are simply dust being spewed. Everything he does has to be laced with a cynical edge to hold up as credible. So he looks at his classmate with suspicion. His supposed talent is an odd one, but not the only supposed criminal organization in the school, seeing as one of his classmates is a Yakuza. Still, he was yet to see concrete proof of it, so the rest is left up to- you guessed it. Intuition. And he has the intuition to pursue the mystery of Nagito Komaeda, so he finds himself paying close attention to the boy. From there he begins to notice things about him, like his calming smile, the way he always smells like he’s fresh out of the shower, and the fact he looks half-dead at all times. But most of his actual investigations bring up nothing to speak of and he’s just about ready to call it quits. So, one day in the library he sees him there and he simply sits in front of him. “Ah. Hajime.” The boy regards him warmly looking up from his book “It’s good to see you here. How goes your day?” … What is he doing? He’s going against pretty much every rule in the book by directly confronting his suspect without any evidence. Well, it’s not exactly a confrontation. Just an admission of defeat. He’s placed himself in an awkward situation just to tell himself he was done chasing the white rabbit. “It’s fine.” He mutters looking for an escape to the situation he had planted himself in. “Hm… I see, I see.” He nods and his curly white hair bounces “What about your investigation of me? How is that going?” Hajime’s eyes fly to Nagito’s in shock, as they innocently stare back. “You… you know about that?” “Was I not supposed to?” Hajime splutters out a few syllables. He’s looking at him so genuinely, and the revelation punches him in the gut. “You’ve known this whole time?!” He plants his hand on his head “Of course you did! That’s why I couldn’t find any leads! You’ve been making sure I don’t find anything!” “Oh, no!” He puts up his hands “I would never leave someone as wonderful as the Ultimate Detective in the dust! I even tried to drop you your first hint!” “Excuse me?” He glares “What hint did you drop me?” “Well, I gave it to Kazuichi to give to you, because I thought you’d be happier to take it from him than me. Didn’t he give it you?” “You gave it to Kazuichi?” Well it’s no mystery why he didn’t get it. First of all, Kazuichi is extremely unreliable, and second of all, Kazuichi hates Nagito. “I’m finding it hard to deduce if that was an intentional act of genius, or pure genuine stupidity. Or if what you said was even true.” “Oh but it is! Did you not get it?” “Of course not…” He mutters leaning backwards “You mind telling me what it was or do you have a way around that?” “Oh, I’m more than willing to tell you directly if you’ll take it.” He smiles “It was the address of the orphanage I grew up in!” Hajime winces. He didn’t expect to learn he’s an orphan. At least not to hear it from the horses mouth so bluntly. “Is that so?” He plays it cool with the information “And how do I know you’re not lying?” “Well, I want to see your investigating skills shine. As the ultimate detective, I’m sure you can figure it out!” “You don’t… mind me figuring out about it?” “Of course not! I’d even show it to you if it weren’t for the fact that it would make your hope shine brighter if you found it yourself.” “Wait.” Hajime bursts up from his seat, a glare making its way across his features “Are you just trying to string me along for your entertainment?” “Oh dear! Do I give off that impression?!” He gasps “I just want to say that I would never! I admire you far too much for that! I would never string along someone so incredible, intelligent, fantastic, amazing-“ With each word, Hajime can feel his cheeks growing redder. He’d never met someone who laid it on so thick. “You know what, forget it. Just tell me the address and I’ll be on my way.” “Ah… actually, let me write it down so you don’t forget.” He takes out… a notepad. How long did he have that with him? Well he writes down the address and hands it to him with a smile. Hajime snatches it, regarding him with suspicion. “This better not be a prank.” He warns. “Don’t worry. It’s not.” He huffs turning away, and beginning to leave the library. “Oh, and feel free to come to my dorm at any time! I’ll make tea!” Hajime looks back at him. ~~~~~~~~~~~

The room doesn’t yield anything when he looks through it. That’s unfortunate. He sighs deciding he lost this battle and listens to the clinking of the teacup against the table. “Care to sit down Hajime?” He looks to him, still ever-smiling. It looks way too genuine. “Sure.” He sits down across from him and takes the cup lifting it to his lips “You know, I might be stumbling upon your lair soon.” “Oh! Magnificent! I knew you could do it!” He applauds “Congratulations Hajime! This really is call for celebration!” It sounded like a first grade teacher congratulating their student. “So… you’re really okay with this?” “Why wouldn’t I be?” He tilts his head to the side, with a look of confusion in his doe-like eyes. “You’re a little… different from how I’d expect a leader to act.” He comments bringing the cup down a little “How did you become one?” “Well… we drew straws for it. And I got the biggest straw. So I was made leader!” “Wait. Is that it?!” “Yes. It’s not the most exciting story is it?” “Oh good… you’re aware of it.” Hajime begins to lift the teacup again pouring some into his mouth. He immediately spits it out. “Ugh! What did you do to this?!” “Well I boiled the water, added the teabags, poured in the soda-“ “Soda?!” “Yes. The others love it. I don’t see the appeal but-“ “The others? You mean your organization?” Hajime demands “Who drinks tea with soda?!” “They do.” He replies calmly. “God… this is totally useless.” He mutters rubbing his temples “What is wrong with you?” “Am I not providing a satisfactory experience?” He asks “If so I’m terribly sorry.” He says it with a bow. This guy… he’s not sure if he can ever understand him. Well… maybe if he finds out the truth… That’s right. Solve the puzzle and he has access to whatever sick twisted mind games this idiot is playing.

He stands up and begins walking out the door without goodbyes. “Ah! Come again Hajime!” Oh he will all right. He’s going to burst down the door to that lair and get his answers. After all, he’s a detective, someone in constant pursuit of the truth. He’ll figure this out, one way or another. ~~~~~~~~~~

He’s looking at an ice cream shop. Not even an abandoned ice cream shop. There’s a girl standing inside behind the counter of desserts. Well that’s not too surprising. Organized crime tends to have open places as cover. He decides to walk in, putting on his best non-conspicuous act and goes to the counter. “Hi. What flavors do you-“ “Hey, you’re Hajime Hinata right?” Instincts tell him to go on guard and deny it, but the best thing he thinks to do is counter with another question. “Who are you again?” “Asuka Sato. I’m in the Reserve Course.” She shrugs “I guess you want into the back room right?” “You’re… you’re going to let me in?” He asks still being on guard. “Yeah. Go on back there. It’s time for my break anyways.” She throws off her apron and jabs her finger towards a door behind her “Just be sure to bring some ice cream back there to appease them. They don’t usually like strangers coming in.” He observes her leaving, and doesn’t bother with the ice cream as he stomps to the back and pries open the door to find… Four kids playing on Nintendo Switch systems. He doesn’t understand the sight he’s seeing, because it is in no way some kind of organized crime setup. A trap? But where’s the… and then he gets hit with something from behind. A pair of dentures? In the direction of it is a fifth child with pink pigtails smirking. “Wow! I caught my first intruder!” Hajime has plenty of questions, but they’re made irrelevant as he falls to the ground and feels his consciousness slip. “I wanna be on guard duty next.” Is the last thing he hears. He wakes up finding himself bound up because he can’t move his body. “So!” A redhead demands putting a finger on his nose “You think you can come in here without ice cream?” He tries to respond but comes to realize there’s duct tape on his mouth. He can only look on helplessly as the children crowd around. “Good job catching him Kotoko!” A girl in a wheelchair claps “Monaca is super proud!” “Ha! You see?! Monaca is proud of me!” Kotoko shouts. “Yes well…” A boy with blue hair speaks up “What should we do about this guy? He found us, so he might report us.” “Isn’t it obvious?” The redhead shouts “Death!” Death?! He begins attempting to scream but it’ muffled by the tape. The kids look back at him. “Wow… death. You must hate him more than you hate me.” A boy with brown hair remarks. “We are not killing him!” The blue haired boy counters. “No… we’ll just leave him tied up and send him to the bottom of the ocean… like those yakuza movies!” The redhead shouts. “No!” As the kids argue, Hajime begins realizing more and more that this wasn’t something they had an equation to follow. He’s just some guy and these are just some kids. But where was- “Everyone, I’m back.” A familiar voice sounds out and Hajime sees Nagito enter with a pint of ice cream “How are- oh my.” Hajime begins screaming again, and Nagito frowns. “What did you kids do?” “He came in without ice cream! He’s an intruder!” The redhead yells. “I understand that’s upsetting but still that’s no reason for doing this! Especially to someone as wonderful as Hajime Hinata himself!” “… Who?” The redhead asked. “The Ultimate Detective! A fine person!” He smiled “Ah, Hajime I’m so sorry about this, I promise they’re usually really wonderful kids. Let me get you out of all that.” He walks up to Hajime and takes out a pair of safety scissors. Then he cuts through the bindings which Hajime realizes are jump ropes. Once he is free he takes off the duct tape. “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!” He screams once he is free to. “Ah… Hajime.” Nagito looks at him with a frown “You should watch your language. They are children after all.” “You think I care about that?!” He glares “You better have a damn good explanation for this!” “Ah… of course.” He nods “Let’s go out though. If you keep cursing…” He holds out a hand towards him, smiling, and Hajime slaps it away, gets up and stomps out himself. “Oh! Hajime! Wait for me!” He exclaims running after him. Hajime waits for Nagito to get out, before grabbing his shirt and pinning him to the wall. “What. Was. That?” “Well that’s the group.” Nagito smiles “They’re a little rowdy sometimes. Sorry about that.” “Why does your group consist of little kids?!” “Well that’s a bit of a long story.” He hums “You see… They ran away from their homes. When they came to the orphanage they tried to return them to their parents. I didn’t want them to be sent back, so I helped break them out, and-“ “Wait, wait, wait. Why wouldn’t you want them sent back?” “Well…” he smiles sadly “Those kids were born in situations where they’re far better off without their families.” “… Ah.” Hajime softens up a little, under the explanation but remains guarded in case he’s lying. “So you just hide out here?” “Yes. We’re a little on the run, but this place is hosting us quite nicely. We’re even an attraction! ‘The evil organization that tries to ruin the ice cream.’ It’s quite pleasant!” “That… that can’t be it.” But what else would an evil organization consisting of kids do? He sighs and lets go of him turning away. “I wasted my time with this…” “Oh… I’m sorry you feel that way. Would you at least like to stay here a little? The kids should be apologizing in some way. Maybe you could play Nintendo with them!” “I don’t play video games.” He scoffs turning around “My studies and detective work come first.” “But don’t you want to try it?” He smiles at  him “You’ve been working so hard! You deserve a reward of some kind!” “I don’t get rewards.” “But you deserve them!” He replies “Because you’re constantly working hard! You were gifted with a beautiful talent, and you use it everyday to its fullest!” “I don’t do detective work because I want to.” He snaps back “I was just dropped off with some guy who runs a detective agency because my parents didn’t want me.” God everything moved so fast since then. From solving b&es and missing pets to missing people and murders. He eventually made his way to being a private investigator, and worked until his Hopes Peak letter arrived. The detective business was a cutthroat world where anyone could be lying, and he had to be sharpening his instincts and skills at every moment. “And you worked hard from there and earned your title! You’re so wonderful! I have to do something for you!” Hajime eyes him trying to glean what’s hidden in those grey colored eyes. He can’t see any sarcasm, or lies, nothing that isn’t told by his words. “… Fine. 10 minutes.” ~~~~~~~~~~

Hajime makes the tea next time they meet. “Oh dear.” Nagito sighs after taking a sip “You just took hot water from the sink instead of boiling it didn’t you?” “Oh, there’s no difference.” Hajime claims spinning it around with a spoon “If there isn’t then why did I notice immediately?” “Don’t get cheeky with me babysitter.” He gets a laugh for that retort, and rolls his eyes as he takes a swig of the drink. “Why go through all the trouble for those brats anyways? Doesn’t it make your life a lot harder?” “Well…” He looks into his teacup almost nostalgically “I didn’t want my life to be useless.” “… I guess that’s something we have in common then.” Hajime comments releasing the cup from his mouth to speak. “I always wanted to be somebody. It’s what drove me forward in my work.” “Ahaha… it’s pretty incredible having something in common with you.” “Oh of course we have something in common. No two human beings are completely different from one another.” “Hm… well it’s nice nonetheless. I like having someone I can relate to over tea like this.” “Oh, just call me your friend.” Hajime huffs. “Eeeeeeeeeeeeh?!” Suddenly, Nagito’s eyes turn to dinner plates “Friend?!” “… What? Is something wrong with that?” “Well…” Nagito’s hands begin shaking and he looks almost embarrassed “Nobodies called me their friend before.” “Oh come on. Someone has to have called you that at some point.” Hajime sighs taking a sip. “Ahaha… I can’t recall the last time it happened if that’s the case.” He smiles apologetically “Can you?” “I…” He’s at a loss for words. His work meant he was usually not talking to people unless he was investigating in what they had to say. “I can’t really either.” “Ah… I’m surprised.” He looks at him and holds his glass out for him. “Then a toast. To our first friends.” Nagito observes him and clinks the cups together. “Well, I’m sure the kids will like to see you again too Hajime…” Nagito smiles “After last time.” “Ugh. Don’t remind me.”