#and if i’m not talking to my friends I’D BE LOOKING AT REO

[pwr3tties]

“Hey babe, who’s this?” You asked softly, pressing the phone into Reo’s hands. “Who? Oh, that’s Cammie- or Cameron, Cameron Taylor. She’s my best friend from high school.” He replied calmly, returning to his phone as you hummed. You didn't completely like his response but decided not to push it. He could have friends that were females, no big deal. Right? Right. But you couldn’t shake the thought of this ‘childhood friend’ you’d never heard of before.

Clicking on her icon, you scrolled through her profile, randomly tapping on photos you thought were pretty— or showed signs of your boyfriend cheating, but there was nothing except for the overly nice post and the flirtatious captions she typed tagging @reomikage. You weren’t jealous, no. You were precisely watching out for your boyfriend.

—

Months went by, and your second-year anniversary poked around the corner. Everything was fine until a rumour spread that ‘Supermodel Cameron Taylor and Soccer Sensation Reo Mikage Were Secretly Dating’ after being seen exiting a fancy hotel together, laughing about something while holding hands.

You better than anyone knew the internet loved to twist things around and make it look one way even though it was another, but the sight of your boyfriend being all ‘lovey dovey’ with another woman churned your stomach. But you didn’t bring this up. You knew what you had signed up for by involving yourself with a professional soccer player and successor.

—

Today Reo had a big game against PXG, and you surprised him with your presence after declining, saying you had an important conference that day. Luckily your boss also was a fan of your boyfriend’s team and let everyone out early to watch the game.

Settling in your seat in the front row behind Manshine’s bench, you notice a flawless brunette waving toward none other than your boyfriend, who was waving right back at her. You almost vomited at their interaction but retained yourself. After all, she was his best friend.

The game ended in a win for Manshine City, and you rushed to their locker rooms to congratulate Reo, but someone had already beat you to it. “[Y/N]? Is that you? I thought you said you couldn’t come?” Stepping closer to you, Reo reached out his hand to hold you, the same hand he crested his ‘best friend’ with.

“Suprise..!”

“Reo, is this your girlfriend? She doesn’t look like I’d imagined.. but still! She’s.. cute?” It would be an understatement even to say that she insulted you all while your boyfriend stood there watching with no intention of defending you.

Uncomfortable enough, you excused yourself, telling Reo you’d meet him at home, allowing the two to talk.

—

“Reo—“

“—Can’t right now. I’m going out with Cameron!” Without letting you finish, he slammed the door shut, rushing to his car.

“.. I love you.”

—

“Reo, it’s 3 AM right now. Where are you coming from?”

“Sorry, Cameron’s party lasted longer than anticipated.” He replied, slipping off his shoes. “I told you not to wait up for me.”

“That’s beside the point. You didn’t call or text to tell me where you were or that you weren’t hurt or missing—“

“[Y/N]! I’m tired. Can we go to bed, please?”

“.. I think I’ll sleep down here tonight.” You replied, returning to the couch, attempting to make it more suitable to sleep on.

“If that’s what you want. Go ahead.”

—

“Reo, we need to talk.” You demanded as he picked up his jacket off the rack. “Can it happen after? I’m hanging out with some old friends.” He pled, twisting the knob, ready to leave.

“Reo, I’m breaking up with you.”

Silence..

“You’re what? No, no, no, why?” He finally turned to look at you after what felt like months.

“I can’t do this anymore. You love Cameron. Everyone sees and knows it. I can’t be stuck as the second option forever.” You said, staring him right into his eyes, the same ones that used to look at you so lovingly.

“Second option? Cameron? Baby, no, Cameron’s only a friend!”

“Please stop lying to yourself. Mikage, I think it’s better if we stopped seeing each other for good.” That was the last thing you said before leaving the house while Reo ran upstairs searching for your things.

Nothing. Everything was gone. How did he not notice? How could he be so foolish and let someone so loving and kind like you go..?

How did he lose the one person who wasn’t with him for fame or riches? How did he manage to lose the person ‘he wanted to spend the rest of his life with’?

How did he manage to let go of you?

His ‘so-call’ best friend, that’s how. Taking a step back, he recalled all the moments that he failed to show up for you and instead went to spoil his ‘best friend.’ All the moments that he would rather spend millions to get attention from the supermodel than to freely receive affection from the woman he had at home.

The times he neglected you, thinking you were wrapped around his finger like everyone else, forgetting you were a real human being with emotions, needs and a heart.

If he could, he’d turn back time and fix all the moments he messed up. But he can’t, so now he has to settle for stalking your Instagram as he watches you and your fiancé slowly dance in your kitchen in your share house. As your new love stares at you as he should have. As your fiancé loves you the way you deserve to be loved.

Now he is, at your wedding, staring at you as you walk down the aisle with your cousin throwing flowers before you as you stop at the altar and wrapping your hands around your husband’s neck while tippy-toeing to kiss him.

Except, it’s not Reo. It’s his best friend, Nagi Seishiro.

[saffyspirals]

EYYY!! I recently found you in this app and I just gonna say your content is pretty great! Is it okay if I put on a request? Like what would the blue lock characters call their S/o? ;) any characters is fine to me but I hope Nagi and Kurona will be included hehe- Good work btw!

❥ fandom: blue lock

❥ includes: nagi, kaiser, bachira, chigiri, kunigami, shidou, kurona, hiori & reo

❥ notes: hi!! i really loved writing this request, so thanks for sending it in! i thought really hard about what kurona would call his s/o (literally took days), and fell in love w/ his character in the process :)

❥ warning(s): hmm…kurona might be ooc IDK but i like this kurona!

you are nagi’s little angel. he low-key started calling you that as a joke (he used to find couple nicknames a little cringe), but eventually, he grows to love your reactions to the name. you smile at him, a lot, and it gets him out of trouble 90% of the time. “come back to bed, angel… ‘m asking nicely, aren’t i?”

kaiser switches it up like no man’s business. he’d been calling you by different pet names since before you got together so, you’re pretty used to it. i’d say he rotates between babe/baby, love and princess. honey bunches and names of a similar strange nature are saved for when he feels like teasing you. mein kaiserin (my empress in his native tongue) is only used on special, romantic occasions. like, when he tells you he loves you for the first time. or when he’s trying to get his family to understand just how serious he is about you. <3

bachira switches between love and sugar. sugar-plum when he wants to embarrass you. bachira is definitely one to tell you that he loves you quite a lot, he just doesn’t want you to forget, i suppose! giving you ‘love’ as a nickname is a way of reminding you of the fact rather than declaring how he feels 24/7. sugar is just another name he likes. it sounds good coming from him, and you usually get a kiss after he uses it, which is of course a bonus. “eh? you’re asking me how i think you look today? you look perfect, sugar! always do.”

chigiri refers to you as his darling. the nickname is beautiful, and elegant, just like he is. it’s easy to get flustered, having him call you that. chigiri likes the fact that he’s able to bring about such an adorable reaction.

kunigami doesn’t call you by this nickname often. actually, he uses your first name most of the time, mostly out of habit (i’m thinking friends-since-forever turned lovers), partly because he feels a little embarrassed giving you a nickname and using it in front of others. BUT ANYWAY, kunigami refers to you as pretty. he’d first called you it by accident, but since you seemed elated by it, decided he’d continue to use it on occasion. “tell me what’s going on in that head of yours, pretty.”

SHIDOU CALLS YOU SWEET GIRL. (🫠🫶) + similar variations like, sweetie or sweetheart, or sweet cheeks. snookums is reserved for when he’s about to tell you he’s done something that will probably annoy you. reason for the nickname? well, you’re sweet! you’ve got a good heart, and won’t swing for people if they say/do anything you don’t like. “are you gonna kiss me goodbye, sweet cheeks? or am i gonna have to chase ya?”

kurona primarily calls you pudding. his reason for it? “i like pudding, and i like you.” i feel like he’s kind of a private person, and only opens up when he feels totally comfortable with someone so, it’s only used when it’s just the two of you around. HOWEVER. private as he is, i think kurona’s got this other side to him. he likes to tease you, just a little. say for example, you’re giving him the silent treatment. he’ll still try and talk to you, but will eventually get tired of not getting any attention. and then, “hey, y/n? can you pass me some napkins?” “…” “…ah, right. you love being called pookie bear, don’t you. POOKIE BEAR, WILL YOU PASS ME SOME NAPKINS?” he’ll pull this kind of stunt in front of your mutual friends when you’re having breakfast together (or something of a similar scenario!). it’s embarrassing, but it gets you to talk at least. he likes having you address him, even if it’s to tell him to, “stop embarrassing me, idiot!”

hiori calls you pumpkin. a little on the cheesy side, but i think it suits him! he isn't embarrassed about referring to you by the name in public either. it shows anyone who might be questioning your relationship that you're definitely together. if it embarrasses you, he'll do his best to tone it down. no promises that he'll never say it though, hiori simply can't help it!

reo rotates between a lot of sweet sounding nicknames. precious, my love, honey. i don't think he does this on purpose, but reo loves using 'my' before a lot of nicknames too. it's just an unconscious reminder that you're all his, and honestly, he's all yours. reo would be all in for any relationship he pursues, and nicknames come with the territory. bonus: he'd be absolutely over the moon if you gave him a cute nickname too. sure, he'd be a little embarrassed if his friends teased him about it, but his heart would swell with pride. being known as the 'sickening, lovey-dovey' couple isn't a bad thing, you know!! "My love, remind me what you wanted me to get you at the store later?"

[waffledforbreakfast]

Nagi - Catchup!! - [BLLK X READER SCENARIOS]

Staring: Nagi x f!reader

[ BLLK Scenario Masterlist ]

TW: heavy ooc, bad grammar, bad spelling, bad formatting, cringe, scuff, etc.

>First Encounters 

Nagi is playing online games 24/7, but never really made friends there. It’s not like he had much of a reason too, most players he’d only play with once in his life. Until a while ago. This user, [user] was in every 3 games he played, every time he played Mario Party, they were there. Even across other games! Tetris, honkai, pjsk, etc!

It was probably mainly because he was playing Local everytime- but Nagi was very interested in this user

He was world hopping in Genshin once, and just happened to join [user]’s world

Nagi immediately recognized the gamertag, and sent a message, 

[Ch0k1] “Are you [user]? I keep seeing you in all my games”

[user] “OH IT’S YOU” “CH0K1 right? Yea ur everywhere LOL”

[CH0k1] “Mhm, didn’t think i’d find someone who plays so many of the games i do

You guys kept the convo going as he played with you, asking him about random things, game recommendations, manga he likes, literally anything

This was the first friend Nagi made on his own, he was actually pretty excited to talk to someone

Eventually you had to go, so you logged off as Nagi played a bit more. But it didn’t feel the same without you, so he hopped off soon after.

It was funny, you two would hop on around the same time everyday, play for a while together, and maybe switch games once in a while.

After some time, he asked for your discord, since you two played so often together anyway. He hadn’t heard your voice at all, and he wanted to at least know you before he could admit to crushing tolerating you

He got your username and added you quickly. You both sent the wumpus wave emoji and friended each other

“Wait, one mutual friend?” Nagi looked at the tab and clicked it, was there someone you both knew??

Mutual Friends - 1 -> Reo 💸💸

Nagi took a stared at it for a moment in confusion before messaging Reo, 

You Reo, do yk @[user]?

$$ Reo $$ Yea she’s in our math class??  Doesn’t she sit right beside you?

Nagi was shocked, there was no way… RIGHT??? He trusted Reo though, and maybe he could meet you

You Ur friends w/her right? Can i meet her?

$$ Reo $$ I mean but you don’t have to ask me lol She’s pretty chill Wait how do you know her-?? (seen) NAGI??? (seen)

>Second Encounters

Reo did in fact mange to hook you two up, but he was curious about what was going on between you two, so he invited the both of you to his place on a random weekend.

You got there and he welcomed you in, you’ve gone over a few times so you were pretty comfortable. 

“You said you wanted me to meet your friend right?” you asked him “tbh i didn’t know you had friends besides Nagi…” you took a sip of some champagne

“Wowww [Y/N], thanks.” he scoffed, pouring you another glass “Actually, it is him I want you to meet, but there’s something special.” 

You looked up at him, confused “Huh? Special?? Also- he sits beside me in math- i don’t understand why you well the need to throw a whole get together” 

“Eh, just get lonely, that’s all. Anyway, he’s running late again…”

You guys made some small talk as you waited, and luckily, he wasn’t too late

“Hey Reo, sorry I’m late..” he walked through the doors with a lazy wave

Then his eyes met yours, and he stopped “Oh, hey [Y/N]...” Nagi gave a small nod.

“Oh uh- yea! Hey Nagi!” you gave an awkward wave back, “I wasn’t aware you knew my name…” you joked, he was usually asleep in class anyway

He stayed silent and nodded again, still standing

Reo didn’t say anything for a few seconds before interrupting “He learnt it this week, and memorized it.” 

Nagi glared at Reo, 

“That wasn’t in the plan >:(“

“Yea but the plan was u make a move and u ain’t doing sh1t >:P”

Nagi sighed “So- you’re [user], right?”

That caught you offguard, he called you by your online username, “Yea that’s me… Do I know you???”

He hesitated for a second, “... So… I’m Ch0K1…”

It took you a few seconds, but you audibly gasped when you got it

Reo was just there, shaking his head :’3

>Birthday Gifts from him

Nagi really wouldn’t know much about gift giving, so he’d ask Reo. But Reo doesn’t know much about it their, and just told him to give you a fat stack of money

Nagi thought that was kinda boring (+ he couldn’t afford it), so he just wandered the mall, buying whatever he thought you’d like

He ended up with 2 bags of your favourite Sanrio character in plush form. He may’ve overdone it….

“Reo… can you come pick me up? I don’t think I can carry all these…”

“... Nagi- how much did you buy???”

Reo went to go pick him up nonetheless, and he was understandably shocked by how much Nagi had.

“Don’t you think this is a bit overkill…? Just how many plushies do you have???”

Nagi just shrugged, “Dunno. Will they fit in the back?”

“... I’m gonna call another car over-”

With the help of Reo, Nagi got all the gifts over to your house, and into your living room

He didn’t bother setting up any decorations, he just threw all the plushies on the floor, and flopped on them, waiting for you to come home

Reo silently laughed, before getting on his way, just as you got back

“Supriseeee…” Nagi said, doing little motions with his hand with no particular energy 

He pulled you into the pile and clung on to you, “Happy birthday btw :x” 

>Roomate

Super duper lazy, leaves socks around the house all the time

Can’t cook either, will ask you to do it for him

It’s almost like he’s relying on you to live, “Can you make dinner please? Hey can you pick something up for me at the nintendo store? You’re going to the cafe right? Can you get me some lemon tea? Do you have the charger?” etc.

But as you two get closer, it turns into “Can I watch you make dinner? Wanna come with me to buy a game? Let’s go to the cafe today”, and he’ll send you photos of anything he sees outside if it reminds him of you

Nagi :x 

Kinda looks like u

He doesn’t contribute much as a roomie, but he does pay his bills on time (he just tells u where the money is and tells u to get it)

He also has a plushie collection, he didn’t mean to start one, but he did somehow :x 

Will get jealous is you say hi to choki and not him (for those who don’t know, Choki is his pet cactus)

>Kiss an their cheek

He was shocketh, the kiss came out of nowhere

“I-.... :x

He was blushing, he was totally blushing

It took him a few minutes to decide what to say, “I didn’t quite get that, do it again.”

>Watching his game

Nagi was slacking during warmups, looking around to entertain himself

He saw a blur and squinted, “Is that…?”

You waved to him, and he waved back, smiling a bit

“Cmon Nagii, let’s go!” Reo pulled him towards the field

Nagi waited a second before averting his attention, “Hey Reo, give me all the balls, okay? I’ll score them all”

“Sure thing, Nagi!”

Nagi nodded, before turning back to the crowd to look for you again

“... Is this all for [Y/N]-??” Reo asked

“...”

After the game (they won ofc ;) Nagi was absolutely exhausted he’s never tried so hard in a game, he hoped you at least thought he looked cool, or it would’ve been such a waste

He could hardly keep himself up right when he found you after packing up, Nagi slumped on top of you, almost making you fall back

“We won.” he told you,

“Yes, I saw.” You couldn’t help but laugh a bit at his current

“I’m so cool right?”

“Yes, you looked very cool, good job Nagi.” you ruffled his hair, giving him light praise 

“Mmm” he buried his face in the crook of your neck, content with your compliments, “Let’s order some take-out tonight, i think the new Haikyuu movie’s out too, we can watch that.”

Despite having just won a game, Nagi was looking forward to lazing at home with you

>Tell them ur busy

(Nagi POV)

You are u busy rn?

[Y/N] NAGIIIIII Yea sorry i am ;w; Hangin w/a friend rn

You Is it a guy

[Y/N] … noooooo? (read)

He frowned at the screen for like 30 seconds, before rolling on his bed and just: “ :’x “

Would look back at the message every minute, just incase he read it wrong

Nagi still texted you every 30min, even though you told him you’re busy

Would ask so many question about who you were hanging with, “Are they better than me?” “Do you like them more than me?” “Can they carry you in genshin?” 

Wouldn’t stop bothering you, and demanded that you hop on w/him after

I’m sure you wouldn’t leave him hanging, would you?

>First date

Nagi invited you over to his house, was it because he was too lazy to go out? Partially- but he was also really lonely at home(in episode nagi he lives alone 😭).

He cleaned up the house(shoved everything into a closet) and bought some new games for you guys to try out :D Bought some popcorn, jello, and every snack that he knew you liked, even ones he think you would enjoy.

So it may seem that he didn’t put in much effort, but in reality, he was going out every second day to buy things.

Would it be easier if he just made a list? Yea. But that didn’t cross his mind til the 3th trip…

He didn’t mean to over prepare either, but he found himself setting up hours before you were supposed to come over. This resulted in him sitting around doing nothing for a while.

When you finally arrived, Nagi greeted you and helped you inside,

“Hey [Y/N], you’re here”

“Mhm, thanks for having me over, Nagi!”

He nodded as he put your bags down for you, angling his his face away from you so you wouldn’t see the light blush on his face

It just hit Nagi that you were the first girl in his house, or even remotely near him.

He sat down on his bed, and patted the space beside him, inviting you to sit down.

You were pretty close to him, not touching but still. Mentally he was fine, he didn’t feel stressed at all, but his heart was going 20x faster, and he genuinely couldn’t figure out why.

He grabbed you a controller, pulled out the snacks, and threw a blanket over the two of you, “What do you wanna play?” he asked, “I’ve got basically everything”

We’re gonna try a little interactive part here, select one! [Animal Crossing] [Mario Kart] [Genshin(2player)]

Animal Crossing

He showed you his little island, and it was a mess, but he had (somehow) successfully paid off all his debt to Tom Nook

“Yea, I used to play daily… Do you have an acc? Let me friend you”

He let you re-organize his island, showed you the museum, etc.

He made a mental note to get back into the game for you, but he’d never admit that

Mario Kart

Pick One(don’t look, AND ACTUALLY CHOSE ONE)! 

[Option Red] [Option Blue]

Option Red You play really well! Nagi was actually getting really into it, trying to beat you, and failing(much to his silent surprise) It was the first time he really concentrated on a game, and you and him were fighting for first, being well ahead of the other players. You won, and Nagi gave you a little “good job…” he was starting up the next game before giving himself a little smile, oh how lucky he was to find someone with the same hobbies

Option Blue Nagi was intentionally throwing, he chased behind you, staying in second place, and throwing bananas at anyone who came close. Did he lose his streak? Maybe, but seeing you smile(even if you knew what he was doing) was well worth it, even he smiled at the sight. If you knew, then you’d poke fun at him, and have a good laugh :3 “Lol thanks for the carry, Nagi” “...wdym? :x” 

Genshin(or HSR)(for the plot, this’ll be 2 player) Nagi would let you explore, or do your quests and trail behind you, killing any mobs, collecting loot, etc. Even though he wasn’t doing as much as he usually does, he was having much more fun. And he was totally looking more at you than the game. He’d catch himself staring, sigh to himself and go back to the game, just to go back to staring in a matter of time. Helps you finish all your quests, clears your Domains for you, will carry you through the game with no complaint.

He wouldn’t realise it, but playing with you made him really happy, like really really happy. 

“Hey, let’s order some take-out, what do you want?” He lazily leaned on you, pulling out his phone. 

You were still eating some of the snacks he provided, but leaned on his head to see his phone, “Hmm, ngl, think i could go for some [________]” 

“Yea, sounds good.” Nagi’s face flushed slightly at the contact, but he brushed it off

While waiting for the food, you two just lazed around with a show on in the background, talking about whatever came to mind.

Once the food came, you stood up to go get it, and Nagi immediately followed behind you, sticking close.

He watched you open up the box, and ate some himself, approving of your taste in food. 

You were about to take a bite, but then Nagi ate it off the fork instead, staring at you with a “ :x “ like he didn’t just fanum tax you(i’m so skibidi)

The rest of the day was chill, Nagi stayed close to you and turns out, he actually has amazing humor! Does that consist of “ur mom” jokes? Maybe - but don’t act like you don’t pull those either >:)

When it was time for you to leave, Nagi offered to walk you home, which was not in his original plan, but he insisted on it anyway. 

Please give him a hug before you go, he’ll be very happy, and may or may not stay up thinking about it :3 

>Sending Love Letters

Nagi highly doubted that anyone would like him, if anything, he was pretty sure most the girls hated him and were jealous that he got to be around Reo

Reo himself didn’t really care much for them, they came and went, not many stayed for long once they realized he wouldn’t give out money that easily

The only other constant friend Reo had was you. You and Reo used to hand out pretty often, until Nagi came along

Nagi was worried that you hated him, because anytime he entered the room, you’d leave quickly with a red face. Which was very unfortunate for him, since he had started to like you more and more.

For once he understood true jealousy, “why does she like Reo? Why doesn’t she like me? It’s so unfair….”

He refused to come to terms with the fact that he liked you though, thinking that you liked Reo.

Sometimes he’d just follow you around school without you noticing, listening to your voice, the things you said, the way you walked, talked, he was so jealous for every guy you talked to

He was tempted to just walk up to you and pin you down so you couldn’t run, but he figured that would just make you hate him more, and he didn’t want that.

So for now, he would just sit in the shadows, while you and Reo chatted like old pals

That’s why he was slightly shocked, but didn’t care much when he got a Love Letter

He was tempted to just ignore it, since there was no shot you were the sender. But he read it anyway, maybe out of desperation, maybe he was just bored.

“To Nagi Seshiro, I really want to get this off my chest, so I can have an actual reason to run away from you, but I really really like you. I’ve had a crush on you for the longest time, and everytime you were around I felt so embarrassed to I ran 😭 but yea, i just wanted to get this out so i could hide in peace ;w;   “

Nagi genuinely couldn’t believe it, he had to re-read the letter, it was the first time he smiled in like weeks 

In fact, he went to sleep with it under his pillow. He went to sleep SMILING

Oh the things you do to him

He totally forgot to text Reo about the first day, but he did mentioned it the next

Nagi finally felt comfortable to confess as well, but he didn’t want to scare you, so he too would make a letter

>Receiving Love Letters

If it were anyone else, he would’ve just ripped a corner of his notebook out, but for you, he ripped out a full page (It’s the thoughts that matters ;w;)

He wondered if he should use a sparkly gel pen, but decided against it in order to not look like a fool to you.

Nagi tried his best to make his handwriting somewhat legible, you could tell he was pressing hard on each letter

“Hey [Y/N], i rlly like u ♡ will u go out w/me? - Nagi :x “

He actually had a lot of thoughts running through his head, but it was too much a hassle to write it all out. He’ll tell you one day, surely 

A/N: Nagi Catchup! Wasn't sure if i should've integrated his parts into the others, but decided against it and stuck w/my wattpad lines!

[rindouheart]

Thank you for the rules link!! So I was wondering about headcanons (or whatever you want tbh) about Reo falling for a reader that doesn't even give him the time of the day lol like reader thinks he's a standard rich boy, you know? So they avoid him at first until Reo manages to win them over. Take all the time you need of course, and thank you if you accept my request!! 💕

REO MIKAGE with a s/o that avoids him 🌿

content. fluffy hc about our fav rich boy + g/n reader!

author’s note. hi love! tysm for requesting, i hope you like this mix between hcs and a drabble, i’ve enjoyed writing them + reo is so cute i can’t.

reo mikage is a rich boy. everyone knows it.

also if he’s not that “rich kid” who just flexes around how much money he has, you’ve always been quite suspicious about his behaviour.

obviously, reo is handsome, smart and also good ad football, basic characteristics of any wealthy boy.

your friends always told you that his future is already planned: reo will be the ceo of his family’s business, he will marry someone rich and he will live the life that everyone dreams.

a lot of people in your school crush on him, for real: reo is friendly, slefless and “fun to be around”, as many students say.

honestly, you’ve never spent so much time with him, just the plain small talk when you were forced to. you aren’t really interested in getting on well with him, but still, being polite is always a good thing.

until he started to try to talk to you more frequently.

“omg, i think he might like you!” these are your best friend’s words every time reo gets near you. “you should give him a chance, for real” and then you just shrug it off.

“hey, y/n, i was wondering if we could work together for the chemistry project that was assigned today” reo is always smiling. always.

“i’m sorry, yuri asked me to do it with her just about ten minutes ago” you answer, lying. you aren’t interested in going to his enormous house or in inviting him to your modest apartament.

“oh, sorry for bothering you, i’ll ask someone else then, have a nice day!” he didn’t seem too in the beginning.

“nagi, why are they avoiding me?”

he is determined to get to you, also if you reject him.

reo doesn’t know why he got so interested in you: it was probably because you’re the only one who tries to “escape” from him, and he isn’t able to find an answer.

he is quite stubborn, so if he wants something, he will do everything he can to get it.

he wants to know you. he wants to understand why you’re behaving like that when he’s around. he wants to know stupid stuff about you, like your favourite film or food. he likes you, a lot, but it seems that you don’t like him.

you’ve noticed that, recently, reo has been around you more often than usual.

paired with that, your friends have already created a ship name for you and reo.

why does he want to talk to me so much? shouldn’t he be interested in talking with other high-class students?

it has been three weeks since reo started to be around you more than required, but now you want to know why he’s doing that.

so, when he’s walking behind you, you suddenly turn and ask “reo, why do you keep following me everywhere? it’s quite annoying”

reo’s face says all: he’s astonished. he wasn’t expecting this.

“i’m really sorry, i just wanted to get to know you more”

you blink. why does he want to?

“listen, i know that i might look like the standard rich boy who is nice to everyone just because i want to be appreciated, but i really want to get to know you”

you just stand there, crossing your arms.

“please, give me just one chance. i’d like to try to change your opinion on me” he asks.

“okay, show me”

and then something *clicks*

also if it felt weird at first, reo always offers to carry your gym bag because “it’s heavy, i don’t want you to get tired”

small acts of service that make your heart melt.

he’s not treating you like a deity, he’s just doing what he’s good at besides football, being caring.

“i took an extra water bottle for you at the vending machines, it’s quite hot today, so don’t get dehydrated during lessons”

reo remembers everything about you. you’ve had a test this morning? he’ll ask you how it went and, if you said you might have failed it, he will reassure you.

he cares a lot about your mental and physical health. being an athlete has taught him a lot of things about that.

congrats! you now are the main gossip topic at school.

actually, you begin to appreciate reo more. he’s definitely not the type of person you were expecting.

he’s caring and sweet by nature, not because he’s rich and wants to be loved by everyone.

you now tend to open up with him more, and he’s very happy about that. reo is aware that you trust him much more than your first meetings.

“you know, i’m glad that you accepted to give me a chance”

you smile, “actually, i quite like you to be honest. i thought you were just a mere rich teenager who only thought of himself” you confess “that’s why i used to stay far away from you”

“you just ‘quite like’ me? i don’t believe you” he smiles back and laughs at your words. “however, i’m happy that you’ve changed opinion about me. i was curious to get to know you, but you always escaped in some way”.

“i like you, reo”

“oh, i see… so, would you like to get a coffee in a fancy place after school?” he asks, hoping for your positive answer.

“i’d love that” 🫶🏻

@rindouheart ‘s headcanons — 01122023

[tigreblvnc]

BLUE LOCK MATCHUP EXCHANGE — @lapsthings

Your match is...

— Seishiro Nagi

✦ (Yes, A Clockwork Orange is my favorite movie. I read the book too and, in French, they did a wonderful translation. Burgess invented a language inspired by Russian, and it's very impactful. There's some words that I still remember even though it's been almost 7 years since I read the book.) (I could speak of this masterpiece for hours! I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed your reading.) (Did you know that it's also Shidou's favorite movie?)

✦ (ANYWAY.)

✦ I had this sleepy genius boy in mind all along while reading your bio, but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to match him with you.

✦ At the same time, how could I not? He appears way too many times in your words for me not to think of him.

✦ But I kept asking myself: "If I pair her with Nagi, she'll never go out again."

✦ "Is this really what we want, Suo?"

✦ Heh, I don't make the rules.

✦ Or, maybe I do.

✦ Well, welcome to your best sleeping partner, I guess.

✦ I think as long as he's with someone who's not boring or too loud, he's cool.

✦ Nagi... is always cool.

✦ "I don’t have any siblings." You're like his twin sister, lost somewhere before the start of the show, you know? Nagi's the brother you wish you had, somehow.

✦ "Whenever I go to a convention or an anime store, I spend a good 30 minutes deciding which figure to buy, but since I’m indecisive, I end up getting both of them. I also buy or help pay for my friends more often than not, so I’m always broke. They even came up with a motto: 'Buy now, regret later.'" You know the best thing I find in this description is the fact that you're actually going out. Even Nagi struggles with that.

✦ Good point: you convince him to put his shoes on since he might be interested in the merchandise you buy.

✦ I can see some lazy dates outside, mainly for playing at the arcades or buying trinkets and anime goodies. From the outside, you two look like brother and sister.

✦ That's the core of your relationship, a bit.

✦ I can't see Nagi in any relationship, but I can totally picture him always calling the same person to do non-boring activities. It's normally Reo's role, but Reo isn't always around.

✦ And Reo hasn't always been in Nagi's life.

✦ "I struggle to continue conversations, so I’d say I’m not that good at talking either. I may come across as indifferent or uninterested, which is why I also kind of struggle to make friends." Nagi looks uninterested, and most of the time, he is.

✦ "When giving opinions, I try to be honest, though I do sugarcoat it sometimes." Here, Nagi doesn't.

✦ In fact, the two of you remind me of two baby pandas, a bit lost, always in their beds.

✦ But you are very similar and at the same time, very different. Like black and white merging.

✦ The possibility that you met each other in an online game is huge, I won't lie.

✦ "Dislike: lack/bad communication." This is the biggest pet peeve with Nagi—the lack of communication. This is what led him and Reo to separate, with Reo thinking Nagi had abandoned their dream while Nagi was actually doing his best to reach their common goal.

✦ You can't expect anything from Nagi, but he may expect some things from you.

✦ Yes, that's unfair.

✦ Yes, that's Nagi.

✦ Yes, I chose this match.

✦ (Hahahahaha)

✦ (I regret nothing.)

✦ He never forces you to do anything, though. You're still free to go, doing your own thing while he does his.

✦ In my opinion, the best balance someone can have with Nagi is to play with him occasionally and then say, "Bye bye, see you next time."

✦ Nagi's like his cactus, Choki, after all. Never feed him too much, or he'll die.

✦ You know what I mean since you have YOU'VE HAD your own Choki too.

✦ He finds it cool that you can play instruments.

✦ He also "gently" asks you to play in another room because you make too much noise.

✦ The moments when Nagi is the sweetest are when he wants to try a new game but doesn't want to play alone. Reo isn't interested, so Nagi calls you instead.

✦ I can totally hear him calling you "buddy" or "man."

✦ He reads mangas on his phone too. I think he's the best at knowing the top websites to read tons of scans, so when your favorite site is taken down, Nagi sends you a copy-paste list on Discord.

✦ You two are totally the type to live under the same roof but communicate with each other via texts or weird, unfinished voice messages. It's too boring to speak out loud to someone who's in the room next door.

✦ "Giving: Acts of Service, Gift giving." Let's be honest, he's totally in sync with your love languages.

✦ Always asking you to carry him from one room to another.

✦ He's surprisingly not that heavy.

✦ But 190 cm doesn't lie.

✦ Long silences may occur between you. From the outside, people might even think the house is empty.

✦ The best part about that? You love these moments where no one is talking. You feel comfortable because this is how you like being around others.

✦ So he treasures the fact that you don't talk too much.

✦ Sometimes you forget that you're not alone in the house.

✦ It may give you a fright when you hear a door open.

✦ Or when it's 3am, you're in your pajamas, nose buried in your phone, and you go downstairs only to bump into each other.

✦ "Oh my god. You were there all along???"

✦ "Yeah. You too?"

✦ Actually, it's like you're sharing a flat.

A word about your match: When I read a Nagi-like bio, I usually think of pairing with an opposite character to create a balanced relationship. But your words and facts convinced me to go all the way and choose the laziest soccer player the world has ever seen.

© TIGREBLVNC 2024 | INTERESTED IN A MATCHUP EXCHANGE? CHECK THIS.

[stunie]

I CAME RUNNING WHEN I SAW ALL THE MATCHUPS ON MY DASH i hope you don’t mind me trying to squeeze myself in in time :,)

TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS

- my day has been a little rough if i’m being honest, i got hit with a lot of things that could’ve been better (i’m telling myself that it could have been a whole lot worse lol) but i’m okay dw!!! :)

- something fun though is that i watched a show recently with one of my best friends and it was so fun!! the show is a live adaptation of a book we both love (she got me into it) and we were cracking up making fun of how they did it (no malice ofc but just a little smidge of judgment) i also got to see my bf twice this week which was really nice :3 (we are ldr)

- i fear i can’t say any of my favs because i will most def reveal who i am lol but i’ll talk a little about why i like them…?

- my signature is that i always without fail somehow fall for the rich ones. and part of me wants to say that it’s not because of their money that i like them (but it may be partially why i stay…) but is it my fault that all the rich ones are also my type :,) <- i say this delusionally

- jokes aside, i really enjoy the ones who would be infatuated literally full on obsessed with me. i think it’s because im the other part of the spectrum of immigrant eldest daughter (i want to be coddled and cared for and have someone who will take responsibilities off of my shoulders)

- i would describe myself as an extroverted introvert! i can do the social setting very well, but i get exhausted very quickly and would def pull on the hem of my fav’s shirt whisper-asking if we can early (which btw if he doesn’t take the blame himself… is he really even my fav? 🤨)

- my fav love languages are physical touch and acts of service (for both giving and receiving, though i give more acts of service and like to receive more physical touch!) and i think my favs would cater to this a lot! though with them being rich and all, gift giving might be in there too lol

- i think i’m really toeing the line here but i’m very attracted to voices. like it’s the second thing i notice about someone usually (first being their eyes) and if i don’t like someone’s voice, it also usually means i won’t like them a lot too (so all of my favs have really really attractive voices…)

- this might be redundant but i love the tropes that are like villain or morally gray coded, grumpy x sunshine, doberman/black cat x orange cat, etc

- i’d like to ask for a random one from either wb, hq, or bllk for the matchup!! if that’s possible :,) if not, from bllk would be fun :)

hi nonnie aaaaa i loved reading through this !! I LOVE GRUMPY X SUNSHINE AS A TROPE lemme not elaborate or we’ll be here forever. OKAY. endo popped up pretty fast when you said infatuated but it swapped to …

REO !!!! i didn’t match you with reo because he’s rich 😭 i pinkie promise it’s a coincidence. THE REASON WHY. coddled and cared for. mhm mhm …. thinking about him giving nagi piggyback rides and such except it’s with you. it’s literally perfect. your shoelace untied ? he’s tying it for you > < also will not let you step anywhere near a puddle when it’s raining. omg. you can zone out if you’re with him, he’s got you. the tugging the shirt as a cue to leave solidified it my choice btw !!! he knows you so well, one tiny tug and a look at the face you’re giving him and that’s all he needs. gives you a knowing little smile and comes up with an excuse on the spot (the blame does NOT end up on you btw).

[m1ckeyb3rry]

LMAOOO “let’s not be hateful” I could never because I’m sorry to say but some people deserve the hate..!!! Let’s just say I’ll never gossip or shit talk without good reason….

And FR its not like you can’t enjoy a villain without acknowledging the actual. Yk. Villain parts…like let’s not ignore the pile of corpses Sukuna left behind (as an example)!!! And bro those yuki haters<<<<<< like if you’re thinking that then literally any convo could’ve swayed geto..? I mean those types of topics are bound to pop up someway or another in jujutsu society like it could’ve been anyone….if anything I’d also say that Gojo had more influence on him than yuki like?? But you don’t see people blaming gojo??? Getos character has a lot of potential fs but yeah ugh some parts of the fandom…..

LMFOAOAOA WAIT I WOULD DIE FOR A POV SWITCH MOMENT THATD BE SO FUNNY HAHAHAHA im actually crying the “hot but scary neighbor” is too funny

All the other bllkers being like haha wtf and y/n just face palming….imagine he also comes up with more ridiculous excuses like the high quality honey excuse…”oh sorry my cockatiel needs a root canal” “sorry I need to go drive my sister to an appointment halfway across the country” etc OR he keeps using the same lame excuse like “oh sorry gotta take a shit” and at some point the bllkers convene like damn that man really is full of shit…LMAO I guess he’d only be able to pull that off on the more oblivious members/people who don’t care like Nagi Bachira and Isagi though HAHA I can imagine the moment yuki losing it would make me laugh so hard like calm mature soft spoken yuki finally being like “NO!!! SHE LIKES YOU DUMBASS!!! IS YOUR BRAIN FILLED WITH HAIRWAX???? ITS YOU MF!!!”

Omg wait that’s so annoying…I hope your symptoms get better!!!! Actually I mean you probably don’t have any on you but I’ve found that ginger based candy is really helpful for nauseousness!! I’m not a huge fan of ginger myself but I can usually live with ginger candy!! And it helps with any queasy feelings so if you ever wanna give that a shot…but YAY SWITZERLAND!!! Have fun and enjoy the flight!!! See you on the flip side LMAO

-Karasu anon

i fear i AM a shit talker at heart like i’m super nice 99% of the time but the second someone crosses me or my friends i let loose (although not in public and only w people i trust because i’m not trying to start drama!!) 🤫 it truly is part of the human condition but it has to be done properly…some people go crazy with it and just are plain mean

LITERALLY WHAT I’M SAYING like anything could’ve made him snap at that point ☝🏻 it just so happened to be yuki because she was there but it’s not her fault as such because he was already way too far gone atp…people are always like “she shouldn’t have talked abt something so sensitive when he was obviously spiraling 🥺” HOW TF WOULD SHE KNOW?? maybe he just looks like that all of the time she literally has never met this kid plus i’m sure he’s not the first sorcerer to be depressed 😭 just the first to go crazy

no because IMAGINEEE like reader is all blushy because barou keeps visiting to yell at her and she’s like “oh my god he definitely has a crush on me oh my god he’s so fine he lowkey looks kinda murderous but it’s really attractive actually 😳🤤” meanwhile barou is like “you have 13 minutes to clear that snow off of my driveway before i kill you myself”

PLEASEEE KARASU IS NOTTT ESCAPING THE IBS ALLEGATIONS 😭😭😭 i think the first would def be otoya because karasu wouldn’t even need to make anything up to get that date to happen LMAO and as it goes on the excuses get progressively weirder…like with reo he just says smth like “oh sorry i’m feeling a bit under the weather i can’t make it” but by the time we get to nagi he straight up is just like “bro i’ve been kidnapped let’s do smth another time” and nagi is like “okay 👍” HFKSJSJ yuki is a patient guy but he has his limits 😔 one can only take so much two way pining and ridiculous mishaps before they snap 😰

THANK YOUU 🥹 i have been dealing w reproductive system issues for like foreverrrr my periods are so bad 😩💔 apparently it takes abt three months for your body to adjust to birth control and i’m on like month 3.25 so hoping to see some improvements soon 🫦 the flight wasn’t horrible!! def could’ve been worse…excited to be here finally though!! even if i’m super nauseous still 😓

[lastdr3am3r445]

💘Dying Your Hair with Eijirou Kirishima 💘

Hey guys!~ Sorry I haven't been posting, I've got a case of the sads, so only one post today, but it's something I've been wanting to write for a while. Today I just needed a soft fluffy comfort story. No naughtiness here, but maybe tomorrow 🤫

Genre: Fluff Wordcount: 999 (yes, really.) CW: Like a small mention of maybe being bullied in the past, but nothing actively described.

If you like to listen to music while you read, might I suggest this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gt1cAfalNM Semi-related, does anyone else get the feeling that Kirishima listens to old 80's Top 40's like REO Speedwagon? Maybe I'll do a headcanon on that... Anyhow! Now to the story: You pick up the same damn box of hair dye for probably the fourth or fifth time, examine the instructions on the back, the sample colors on the side, and wonder if your hair will actually turn out like that before you heave another sigh and replace it back on the shelf.

What were you doing here?

Maybe you were having an identity crisis. Maybe you were worried that if you didn’t do something soon, you’d be stuck looking the way you do your entire life, that would just be your “Brand” as a “Hero”, and you just didn’t feel very heroic.

At that moment, about the worst possible thing found your ears.

“Hey! New kid!”

Great, you’re ‘the new kid’.

You squeezed your eyes shut and hoped that if you thought about it hard enough, you might become one with the display of boxes of dye and thus not be perceived by anyone you might have to see ever again.

“Hey!” A smiling voice let you know that your manifestation had failed.

“Oh God..” you heard, and you waited for it. The judgement, the teasing, the laughter at your expense that always seemed to follow you as “the new kid”.

“Are you dying your hair?”

“Yeah. What about it?” You clipped, and when you looked up, you saw red.

Not in that way, literally red. Red hair, red eyes, all framed by a relaxed red hoodie slung over his head.

“Well don’t use that brand, it washes out, like, instantly!” He flicked his hands with a toothy grin, “and that one..” he pointed to the box next to the one you had picked up, “that one is semi-permanent, and will rub off on ev-er-y-thing!”

He laughed brightly, like he was recalling a memory. He didn’t seem like he was putting you on, seemed… genuine. You decided to indulge him, “Oh.. well.. which one do you recommend?”

He brought a crooked finger to his chin, and red irises floated up, accessing his brain, “hmmm..”

You backed up a little when he stopped to start perusing the shelves, “based on that color, want demi-permanent… not too expensive… with good coverage… I’d go with this one!” He hands you a bottle, not a box. You look at him, a little confused.

“This one?”

“Yeeep! Typically you wanna stay away from box dyes.” He says through a deep stretch, which left his arms folded behind his head, “you might need to bleach your hair just a little, but I have that stuff at home.” He gave you another sharp toothed grin and a wink, “Hi, I’m Eijirou Kirishima!”

You introduced yourself and asked “How.. do you know about all this stuff?”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” He pulled the hood off his head to reveal dark shadowy roots, “did you think this was my natural hair color?”

“Stranger things have happened!” You said, a small smile quirking your lips.

“Yeah I suppose that’s true.” His face fell into a sheepish smile.

“So.. you’ll let me borrow your bleach and stuff?”

“I’ve got a better idea…”

***

You sat cross legged against Eijirou’s bed, a splotchy bleach-stained towel around your shoulders, still damp from your shower.

“You’re sure about this?”

“Apfolutely!” He muffled past the plastic brush pinched in his teeth, his arms a tangle of gloves, foils, bowls and product.

He dumped his armful across his desk and started sorting the pile, “You’re gonna look great!”

He didn’t even look at the directions as he mixed the bleach and developer into a viscous goo.

“Alright!” He cheered with a *fwoomp* as he leapt with his bowl onto the bed behind you. He positioned a box of foils beside him and asked, “Ya ready?”

You covered your face, and took a short breath, “As I’ll ever be…”

“Heheheheh~” he loosed a sinister laugh, took up his rat tail comb, and started sectioning and clipping your hair.

***

“Alrighty!” He chimed, snapping the vinyl gloves off his hands, “Check it out!” He handed you a wide hand mirror.

“I look like I’m waiting for the mothership…”

You weren’t wrong, tin foil jutted out from your head in every direction. At least you were protected from gamma waves, or whatever.

“Hahaha! This is the part where you trust the process..” He laughed as he padded over to the desk to mix up more product.

“Yeah.. Sure..” You guessed you kinda had to, at that point.

“Okay!” The mirror left your hand, replaced by the bowl of lightener, and your new friend plopped down in front of you, “Your turn!”

“What?! I- I never- I thought you said you’ve done this before?”

“Yeah, just because I can do it by myself, doesn’t mean I want to.” He rolled his eyes, “Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through everything.” He flipped the mirror up in front of his face so he could see the dark stained roots and you beyond them; “It’s a part of the fun anyway!”

“O-okay…” You hesitated, but you pulled on a clean pair of vinyl gloves and went to work.

***

He did as he promised, and walked you through every step. Turns out it wasn’t that hard, and it was pretty repetitive after a while. Section the hair, paint the darkened roots on the front and back, section again; it left you plenty of time to talk.

By the time you were done with his roots, your hair was done developing. You rinsed and rinsed and rinsed, and after many more reassurances from Eijirou to “trust the process” you did it all again with toner, then again with color. The two of you were up until the wee hours coloring your hair, watching movies and talking.

After all was said and done, and your skin itched from the constant in-and-out of the shower, you were super happy with your choice, and that you had made a friend. Nowadays the two of you keep an appointment, maybe even a date, to do each other's hair every 6 weeks.

[shoichee]

Request is about Rakuzan manager, who is a foreigner (from Russia). She is really popular in school, because the Japanese thinks that Russian are very pretty. But she thinks that she has ordinary appearance. Besides she always does her best for the team, tries to be the best manager for them and takes care of them because of her kindness. So Rakuzan boys warm up to her slowly. And Ore-Akashi slowly started coming to his sense (he's Boku-Akashi now), because she reminds him his mother.

Hi hi hi! Even after researching to portray this accurately, I am more vague on the specificality on Russian culture, especially in a Japanese high school setting, in order to make this more relatable and applicable. Still, I took care to implement some core values/general traits you’d see in Russian society // I HOPE I DID THIS JUSTICE;; 

[Rakuzan Manager f!Reader Headcanons]

you’ve always been the center of attention ever since you transferred to Rakuzan, a private school with extremely high standards

not to mention, your aura and looks completely encompasses that perfect “high-caliber student” look that every student wants so badly… so effortlessly? a lot of the students instantly took a liking to you just because of your appearances and how easily you stood out against the rest (especially in a collective society like Japan’s, where everyone is highly pressured to blend in)

but coming fresh from Russia, a society that focuses on individualism, you didn’t really see why everyone would suddenly worshipped you just because you expressed yourself freely… even so, in trying to make friends as a rare foreigner, you made sure to be kind to everyone

you made it out of your own way to always help the student council out with menial tasks, even if you weren’t a part of it, or always reached out a helping hand to other teachers, staff, and peers

so that may have shot up your popularity even more

your altruism easily reaches within earshot of Higuchi, the current 3rd-year manager of the Rakuzan’s basketball team, and he immediately soughts after you to invite you to the position of manager alongside him

after all, he’s going to graduate this year, so he wants to ensure that the team would be in good hands for the subsequent years

still, he’s quite nervous about introducing you to his… superiors, mostly because the team leadership has become quite… scary and strict this year

Higuchi brings you along as he slowly approaches Coach Eiji and the Rakuzan captain, who were both discussing about the imminent future of the team’s starting line and debating whether or not to switch around some players

Eiji noticed you first, and after hearing Higuchi’s suggestion, he immediately recognized you from how much the teachers and his coworkers had been praising you; hence, he has no doubt about you or anything… but he turns to Akashi to hear his input

all the while, the captain has been staring silently at you… and assessing you

“What do you think?” Eiji spoke up, glancing down to the 1st year in the corner of his eye.

“...” Akashi continues to sit with his hands clasped in front of his mouth

“It’d be an honor to become a manager for such a capable team!” you say, putting yourself into a deep bow to try to express your sincerity

“W-Wait, (y/n)-san, there’s no need to go to that extreme,” Higuchi says hurriedly, ushering you up

“S-Sorry, but I believe bows are used to express utmost deference and appeal?”

“Ahaha… only a few cases warrant a bow as deep as that.”

“Right, right! Noted…”

Akashi’s eventual sigh interrupted the both of you as he drops his hands into a more relaxed posture

“She’ll be useful. I have heard about her from other students within the student council. Shōta, you will keep her in line, correct?”

“Of course!”

“Then there is no need for this conversation to go any longer if this is settled with no further objections?” he turns to the coach for any further comments

“Yes,” he nods in agreement. “I hope you know this team expects nothing from the best from you, even if you’re only a manager.”

. . .

so here you are, on your first day as a manager alongside Higuchi, being taught the ropes of your duties: noting players’ favorite snacks and food, making sure there’s plenty of water bottles left, changing towels if needed… these honestly felt like normal chores to you, so you didn’t feel overwhelmed at all

“W-W-Whoa!! Our new manager is a girl?—Ow, Reo-nee!”

“Sheesh, show some respect to the manager! Quit looking at her like that!”

“B-But…”

“Hello!” you waved at them, popping up right in front of them, and Hayama quickly jumps to gain some distance for himself out of shock

“The foreign transfer student?!”

“I’m a new manager here, and I hope we get along!”

“Ah…” Mibuchi turns to you with a hand on his chest and a slight bow of his head in acknowledgement. “I must compliment you on your Japanese. You speak as if you’re almost native—in fact, your way of speaking is more elegant than most people here.”

“Thank you!” you beam at him. “Yes…! I’ve worked to at least become fluent for the JLPT N2, so I’m very glad you complimented me so!”

“Reo-nee, you tell me to back off, but you’re being chummy with her right now! Ei-chan, look! Don’t you agree with me?—Wha, where did he go?”

“Who knows?” Mibuchi shrugs indifferently. “But it’s no wonder that it’s been a lot quieter around… by the way (y/n)-chan, are all Russians as striking as you? It makes me a tad bit envious that such beauty is effortless to you.”

“No, no!” you deny with a laugh. “We’re quite ordinary, you see? I think everyone has their own type of beauty to admire and appreciate.”

“Oh! Beautiful words spoken by a beautiful person! Ah… I’ve been called by Higuchi-san. I must part but I hope you’ll allow me to ask you more questions later!”

as you wave off Mibuchi with a smile, Hayama only frowns at you as he crossed his arms, irritated at the fact that you don’t seem too keen on using honorifics for the upperclassmen:

“Look, you might’ve gotten Reo-nee to approve of you, but don’t think the rest of us will be just as accommodating. We’re serious about basketball, so don’t slack off and bring us down.”

but you only turn to him with a smile before giving a slight bow before replying: “I will put 100% of my time and effort, so everyone can do their best on the courts with peace of mind!”

Hayama immediately gets flustered, not expecting such a warm response to his words and he scratches head and replies loudly, “U-Uh… yeah, just, just don’t screw it up for us.”

the first week of being manager was just like what Hayama spoke about: most of the players were wary of you because you were extremely different in how you carried yourself, or curious about you for that same reason… perhaps you were recruited out of pity?

there were a handful of teammates who were brave enough to ask you questions about your culture or personal background

Eikichi, on one hand, asked about your cuisine and whether there were “big guys” like himself that can be a challenge to his strength (you only laugh at him as you easily answer all of his questions)

“I heard the Russian men are unbelievably strong! *flexes his own biceps* Their muscle masses are rumored to be insane!”

“W-Well… it’s different for everyone, but I agree that we’re very strong-natured and have dignity for ourselves.”

“Ohh, (y/n)-chan… that must be why you stand out so much yourself!”

“Mibuchi-kun, you’re very striking yourself, you know…”

and here is Hayama petulantly huffing all the while, doubting you all the while still

“Here you go again, forgetting to add senpai after Ei-chan and Reo-nee!”

“Why should I?” You tilt your head in confusion. “Whether I add such honorifics or not doesn’t change how much I respect them, Hayama-kun.”

“It’s Hayama-senpai to you!”

“If you’re spending this much time fixated on this, then you can spend that much time practicing and showing me the skills to earn the respect you want! Come on! Chop, chop, chop!”

. . .

“Ei-chan! Don’t you get mad when (y/n) doesn’t address you properly?! Reo-nee, what about you?!”

“Huh? I’d never be mad at someone who doesn’t seem to mind me burping at all, and she never scolds me about this stuff like Reo does—”

“Who wouldn’t?! It’s gross, seriously! While I do not understand her tolerance of your vulgar manners, her eloquence and natural aura is equal to those of Sei-chan’s… so in my eyes, I see no need for her to use such honorifics.”

“HUH?! Reo-nee, but why?!”

his opinion of you only gradually changes when you never seem to snap at him back even though he’s being a little shit when you’re around… you remind him of a motherly figure… but a kind, level-headed one, which is slightly different from the naggy mother-hen (but good-intentioned) vibe Mibuchi gives off

besides, anyone with eyes can see how much you scurry around holding handfuls of towels and bottles for all the players, even for the bench players

people think it’s really odd that you’re so physically close to the teammates, especially when you link arm in arm with them or give little distance when you talk with them; as a result, a lot of speculation of “dating” and “relationships” pop up when your name is brought up

the Uncrowned Kings easily squash those rumors… Akashi’s presence alone is also enough to silence them LOL

Mibuchi is the main guy who always likes to link arms as a symbol of your shared friendship

. . .

it’s an odd relationship between you and Mayuzumi… no matter how much you call out to him, he ignores you, and no matter how much he ignores you, you still treat him the same as ever

“Stop pestering me,” Mayuzumi clicks his tongue, blatantly making the effort not to face you properly, and you finally smile, seeing that he finally acknowledged your presence

“Ah, you’re quite the blunt one, aren’t you, Mayuzumi-san?”

“If you get that, then go away.”

“Well, I can’t! You’re part of the lineup, so I am especially not going to neglect you.”

“Are you this mindless to help people like a saint and then expect everyone to adore you? As far as I’m aware, most see you as some ‘exotic’ curiosity and nothing more. And I frankly love myself too much to be associated with such people. If you’re only here out of pity, beat it. Now.”

“Well, it seems like you care enough to tell me that,” you muse, but your face hardens with a serious glint in your eye. “But heed my words when I say this Mayuzumi-san. I am not doing this to be a people-pleaser. I am doing this for myself and only myself. I want to be a good person because it is a decision I make for myself. When there is a choice of being a good person versus bad, I’ll choose to be the best version of myself at any moment. That is my own definition of self-respect. No way in hell I’m doing this because I feel sorry for you… I will complete my duty with my pride as Rakuzan’s manager on the line.”

he’s stunned at your words, and he instantly relaxes his posture before he turns to continue reading his novel on hand… “I see.”

he actually likes the fact that your culture allows people to be more outspoken about their opinions, since he’s all too aware how the majority of his own peers are constantly worried about collective reputation and doing things for the sake of others

Mayuzumi becomes a lot more… cooperative with you from that point on

he relates to your words of having high self-respect and pride, and he’s pleasantly surprised that you actually know how to hold your own ground despite being very kind // even if he finds it weird that being a manager makes you happy… but since it’s something you do for your own sake, he can learn to respect it; after all, he reads light novels for his own happiness

imagine his unadulterated surprise when you not only brought him bottles, snacks, and a towel (that’s the part he expected from you), you slipped in new issues of the latest light novels within the towel bundle (this is what caught him off guard)

you’re suddenly seen in a good light in his eyes

. . .

it’s been almost a month since you’ve been recruited, and most of the teammates have now accepted you as one of their own, more or less, but something bothered you that you couldn’t help but ask Rakuzan’s senior manager

“Higuchi-san, don’t managers need to do some analytic work for the team statistics? It seems that all we do is mundane tasks.”

“Ah, most of the analytic work is done by Akashi.”

“But why? Does he not trust the managers with this work? Does he see us as not capable?”

“Not exactly… he’s very… particular about ensuring the best possible strategies for victory. So far, whatever he’s been doing has earned him complete trust from the entire team and even our coach.”

“Wow… that’s… a really impressive feat for a 1st year…”

“No one’s really surprised though. (y/n)-san you may have just transferred here so you might not know, but he was Teiko’s previous captain and the main public face of the Generation of Miracles…”

after he finished giving a crash-course on their prodigal status in the basketball world, you’re more fired up to work harder for Rakuzan as the manager

“Besides, (y/n)-san, our main duty of being a manager is to maintain the well-being of our team. All these little things add up, and surely, the team knows to appreciate these gestures from us.”

you actually later approach the Uncrowned Kings to playfully complain about why they didn’t tell you how prestigious they truly were on the courts (after learning about their status from Higuchi)

“Huh? (y/n)-nee, now you wanna show respect to your senpais, huh?”

you don’t miss the playfulness in his complaint as he tries to ruffle your hair… and also the way Hayama has recently addressed you differently

“This is different, Hayama! You have such titles under your belts because of your skills and accomplishments on the court… that is extremely admirable!”

“D’awww, it’s nothing, really.”

of course, they all have pride in their titles, but they all immediately turn the direction of the conversation to Akashi, saying they were nothing compared to him

that only made you more curious about the captain

you actually never made conversation with him throughout the month because you were so busy with your duties and helping out everyone… but you finally decided to try to help the captain in any way

Akashi has been observing you for the entirety of your time in the team… that much is to be expected, considering that he needed to evaluate your performance and compatibility with the rest of the teammates to make sure that there is still unity even with the addition of a new person (after all… as much as he doesn’t want to admit, he is still fearful of the possibility of his team crumbling from the inside again)

the fact that you even got Mayuzumi to approve of you in his own way actually impressed him; even he himself had to be authoritative to get Mayuzumi to be cooperative on the team

it’s the little things you do that reminds him of the tickles of nostalgia, when he first played basketball with his late mother, within his mind: the way you were the only one giving positive encouragement to the players in a club filled with cutthroat competition and perfection; the way you made sure that everyone was calm and collected before they walk into the courts; the way you diligently remember and cater every care package and preference to every unique player, in addition to your minimum duties.

he unconsciously mellows out whenever you approach to him to speak, and he only realizes that fact every time you leave the conversation to continue your next to-do on your schedule

“Akashi-san!”

he turns to look at you impassively, but he stands to wait to hear what you have to say

“Can I help you with anything in any way?”

“Are your assigned duties of manager not enough?” he asks, but he continues to give little away from his blank expression

“No, no, that’s not it,” you reply. “I was wondering how I can extend my hand to also help out the captain of the team as well. After all, it’s important for the managers to care for the well-being of every team member… you’re no exception!”

“Do what you think is best to ensure victory,” was all he said before he left

you’re now confused… did he mean for you to keep up your work as normal? did he trust you enough to let you decide what to do on your own? his vague words certainly threw you in for a loop

still, the Rakuzan teammates were able to breathe easier whenever you were in the same room as Akashi, because there’s always a gentler aura around him when you’re near the vicinity

sometimes his Orekashi side slips out, whether he gives an open compliment to a good play (albeit, delivered in a calm, spartan way) or when he gives an occasional perfect-rhythmed pass that leaves his teammates in a stupor

Akashi’s mannerisms towards you as the manager is as subtle as a speck of dust, but he’s grown a quiet sense of respect for you and the atmosphere you’ve brought to the team

however, it will only be at the final game where his Orekashi side will fully reawaken again

if any student dares to approach you with insensitive questions and comments about your race and culture with stereotypes, they should be expecting all hell breaking loose from the basketball team in 3… 2… 1…

[theanimeview]

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SKATE-LEADING☆STARS (Spoilers)

By: Peggy Sue Wood | @peggyseditorial​

I have said it before, and I will say it many more times--of that I am sure. I used to be a competitive figure skater. It was a long time ago, I had stop in high school due to several consecutive head injuries but I still love and follow the sport (I also still skate, just not competitively). 

When Yuri!!! on Ice was out, I loved it because it showed a lot of the cultural parts of skating. The travel, the personality types (in some cases, though not as much), the publicity, the news coverage, etc. We had cameos of famous skaters, we got to see competitions in a pretty realistic way, costuming, the dance and/or gymnastics that skaters must do on and off the ice, and so much more! (I could probably nerd about all the easter eggs and everything else all day long.) The skating in Yuri!!! on Ice is good too. The sounds are near perfect and the movements, though a bit stiff due to the use of CGI, are accurate. 

THAT ASIDE I think Skate-Leading☆Stars is better. In regards to the culture of skaters, SL☆S falls way short but that’s alright. After all, this is a sports anime set in a high school where sports is an all consuming entity and reality takes a back seat to guys with eccentric hair colors. The skating is what's important here and OH LET ME TELL YOU it is near perfect.

Let’s look at this: 

This is our MC, Kensei Maeshima, doing a triple axel (I think they called it a quadruple in the anime which would mean 4 spins but I counted 3 so I’m calling it a triple for now). It’s the only jump that takes off going forward in skating and is one of the most difficult jumps. All of the movement here is accurate--from the way he jumps up and straightens his legs as soon as possible with arms tucked in to help the spin, to the way he lands with a slight bend of the knee, curving around and throwing out the arms for balance (and flare). 

It’s gorgeous. And it continues. When we see Kensei practicing, we get these shots: 

A Sit Spin ^

Crossovers ^

And a Salchow ^ (I think it is Salchow, but if could be a Lutz--the uncertainty comes from me finding it difficult to decipher which edge he’s on before jumping).

ALL OF THESE are beautifully animated and correct--from the way he pulls his arms in quickly and straightens his legs before bending for the landing again to the way he moves after landing. 

Crossovers are especially good as they help build momentum quickly before jumps, allowing a skater to travel more during their jump. 

And when he falls, you see something else that they train you for in skating--how to fall. It’s literally the first thing I was taught when I began taking lessons. Let me explain--in the gif above where he falls coming out of the Salchow, we see this:

He landed on the correct foot, but was still coming out of the last half of his last turn. His other foot, which is meant to swing out, around, and behind him, before guiding the glide out of said jump, hits the ice at an angle as he lands thus causing most of the ice shaving we see happening to the top layer of ice as his other foot slides out from under him. 

Now, if your feet went out from under you--the first thing that you might do automatically is go to your knees or hands to protect your fall. In skating, it’s a bit different. If you fall, your aim is to quickly move to try and let your butt or thighs take the hit while trying to avoid joints (knees, elbows, and wrists) and head injuries. What does Kensei do? He quickly turns to land on his butt first:

His hand skims the ice, but he moves it up, and off the ice as he bounces:

He then turns during the bounce, aiming to land on his thighs (less painful in my experience, and less risk of a tailbone or head injury as you continue to bounce and slide on the ice). His arm extends outward to avoid hitting his elbow directly on the ice with the weight of his upper body against it, while moving the arm up, placing his bicep closer to the head (which will help prevent his head from smacking against the ice):

Finally, he stops sliding and has, officially, “landed” his fall:

Note how the head is tucked in, resting a bit on the bicep, his elbow is not being leaned against (or broken after this fall) since it is laying flat, and how he is on his side? Yeah. That’s a pretty great fall. 

You’d be a little scratched up after that if the ice was rough and since he wasn’t wearing a jacket/gloves--but you’d probably avoid bruising or any severe injuries. The reason for the fall was probably a combination of the scratched up ice (which he credits), being out of practice, and his need for more muscle training.  Still, AWESOME. He’s doing really well for being as out of practice as he is. 

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE STORY??

Okay--Now that I’ve nerded out about the skating I’ll talk about the larger story.

Kensei is hated by his current team. It reminds me a lot of the hate that was given towards Ren Mihashi in Big Windup! prior to transferring schools. 

Kensei is obviously very talented--I mean, not everyone can come back from being off the ice FOR YEARS and do jumps like that without seriously hurting themselves and falling all over the place. It’s not like riding a bike--it’s more like highly skilled dancing... on blades... on a very slippery surface where you are likely to seriously break something. His team hates him for some reason, and act like he’s not a team player or something but he doesn’t come off that way. Perhaps a bit overly confident for their liking, but he clearly has the skills to back it up and we have proof that he can play on a team since we’re shown him playing basketball in Episode 1 and told that he’s played on and been scouted by a number of other teams at the school.

If they dislike him because of him quitting for a while, I’d say they need to get over it because we learn in the first few minutes of the anime that before Kensei’s last competition he lost both his parents--who were professional ice-skaters--in a traumatic accident. 

In the flashback we see of him as a child, the reference point for why so many of his current teammates seem to hate him, we see that Kensei doesn’t seem to have any friends. In fact, our antagonist Reo Shinozaki is the one seen surrounded by people and other kids. While Reo doesn’t seem to regard any of his peers as being friends or equals, it’s pretty clear that he is at least liked more by the other kids than Kensei who is alone. 

As a teen, Kensei has made several friends outside of skating which we see in the current episodes but he still hasn’t made much headway with the other skaters--though at least one of the older kids, Yukimitsu Mochizuki, is nice to him. Some of the members are obviously mad at him for something and wish he wasn’t part of the team and maybe that’s because of his boisterous personality but more likely its due to something more petty, like jealousy or envy at Kensei’s skill or some sort of lack in communication. (Remember, they were all individual competitors going against each other at one point, and when your friends are also who you actively compete against it can get pretty ugly.) 

That’s not to say Kensei is without flaws. As mentioned, he is overly confident at points and makes careless statements about a few of the other members’ being of lower skill or caliber than him despite knowing that he is out of practice and that they take the sport very seriously. If I was to apply this to my own experience as a former skater, it may be like when I had a falling out with many of my skating friends after I had to stop competing and no longer attended lessons. Many of them, particularly at our young age and level, couldn’t imagine giving up skating for any reason aside from losing life or a limb. Concussions or the after effects didn’t feel real to them (nor to me), and yet the pain I felt doing simple spins or moving quickly left me in pain and feeling like I had just slammed my head against the ice. Some felt like I was quitting just as the real competitions were getting started (entering adult competitions). One friend later told me that she felt like I had quit while I was ahead, “robbing” her of the chance to beat me, as though I would have know that. A few others said that it felt like I didn’t care about them or the sport anymore when I stopped coming to group lessons. Meanwhile, I felt like I was being abandoned and lost now that I couldn’t do the one thing that had consumed much of my free time and focus in life at that age... But it’s okay now, because I found anime. (JK--it all worked out as we got older and talked things through.)

I’m sure that as the series progresses, these combative issues within the team will work themselves out and I’m looking forward to it!

Comparatively, it feels a LOT like the Free! series (you remember that swimming anime we were all obsessed with?), though the focus on ice skating that we see within the series thus far (such as news stories, the number of clubs and schools that have ice skating clubs, youtube-videos, and other media) imply that ice skating is as prevalent there as basketball or volleyball. Which, as much as I’d love that to be true, is simply not the case. It’s fictionalized, obviously, and the story is really laying on the drama pretty thick from inter-team disharmony to a larger rivalry with our antagonist that said antagonist doesn’t even seem to register, think about, or give two hoots towards.

As for the rest of the fictional universe of this world... Uh. It’s a high school sports anime so what do you expect?

Simply put, it’s a standard story for this genre. 

I have not yet read the manga--but I plan to immediately. 8/10 recommend streaming on Funimation.com, and 10/10 on animation (if only for the skating). The next episode comes out on the 10th, so now is a great time to catch up! 

[notebooknebula]

Flip Real Estate Virtually with Paul Lizell & Jay Conner, The Private Money Authority

https://www.jayconner.com/flip-real-estate-virtually-with-paul-lizell-jay-conner-the-private-money-authority/

Jay Conner and his special guest Paul Lizell talk about how to utilize systems and processes that simplify the buying process of real estate.

Paul is the founder of The Virtual Investor, JP Homes, Inc & www.housedealsamerica.com He has been flipping properties since 2001 and is the original virtual wholesaler having purchased all over the U.S. since 2009. He has bought and sold properties in 44 out of 50 states and will continue to look at expanding into new markets.

Paul is a graduate of Drexel University in 1998, holds a degree in Finance and a minor in Economics, he now teaches at www.ReoAuctionAcademy.com. He focused exclusively on online auctions, bank REO’s, buying off the MLS and wholesalers across the country since 2013.

Timestamps:

0:01 – Get Ready To Be Plugged Into The Money

1:42 – Jay’s New Book: “Where To Get The Money Now”- https://www.JayConner.com/Book

3:20 – Today’s guest: Paul Lizell

4:57 – How Paul Lizell gets started on the real estate business.

6:58 – What is wholesaling?

8:01 – What is the advantage of buying a house vs getting it under contract?

10:28 – When you buy a house in today’s market are you primarily selling them to other real estate investors at a profit or are you selling them to the people who are going to live in the property?

11:16 – What kinds of profit are you seeing in today’s market while doing your business virtually?

11:57 – Wholesaling vs. Wholesaling

13:01 – Do you think that Wholetailing is more popular now because of the lack of inventory?

13:58 – When you’re wholesaling a house to an end buyer, what’re your criteria for pricing that home versus a complete rehab?

14:52 – In today’s real estate market as long as it’s clean and smells good that property is okay.

15:34 – How do you find your buyer?

16:07 – How do you find deals given the low inventory in today’s real estate market?

17:35 – How do you get the leads?

19:29 – How to connect with Paul Lizell: https://www.REOauctionAcademy.com & https://www.FlipRealEstateVirtually.com

20:30 – How do you manage your people on the grounds to inspect the property?

24:21 – Do you give additional compensation to your bank-owned real estate agents?

25:23 – How do you find your REO agents?

26:56 – When you become the winner in the online auction how long do you have before you got a close? Do you make a house inspection before you take it down?

28:34 – Paul Lizell’s parting message: In my business model my time is my only marketing cost.

Private Money Academy Conference:

https://jaysliveevent.com/live/?oprid=&ref=42135

Have you read Jay’s new book: Where to Get The Money Now? It is available FREE (all you pay is the shipping and handling) at https://www.JayConner.com/Book

Free Webinar: http://bit.ly/jaymoneypodcast

Jay Conner is a proven real estate investment leader. Without using his own money or credit, Jay maximizes creative methods to buy and sell properties with profits averaging $64,000 per deal.

What is Real Estate Investing? Live Private Money Academy Conference

https://youtu.be/QyeBbDOF4wo

YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/c/RealEstateInvestingWithJayConner

iTunes:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/private-money-academy-real-estate-investing-jay-conner/id1377723034

Listen to our Podcast:

https://realestateinvestingdeals.mypodcastworld.com/11279/flip-real-estate-virtually-with-paul-lizell-jay-conner-the-private-money-authority

Flip Real Estate Virtually with Paul Lizell & Jay Conner

Jay Conner

00:02:57

My guest is a good friend. We’re in a mastermind together. Well, he is the founder of The Virtual Investor. That’s right. He is a virtual investor and virtual wholesaler. He’s been flipping properties all the way back since 2001. And he actually is the original virtual wholesaler. And he’s purchased all over the US since 2009 virtually. In addition to that, my guest has bought and sold properties in 44 out of 50 states and continues to look at expanding into new markets. Now, in addition to that, he contributes his success to utilizing systems and processes that simplify the online buying process. He’s focused exclusively on online auctions bank REOs, buying off of the MLS, and wholesalers across the country since 2013. I’m so excited to have my friend and fellow mastermind member, Paul Lizell. Paul, welcome to the podcast.

Paul Lizell

00:04:32

Thanks for having me, man. I really appreciate it.

Jay Conner

00:04:34

Absolutely. I’m excited to have you on here, Paul. And of course, we’re going to be seeing each other again here pretty soon at one of our upcoming mastermind meetings. And today we want to hear all about what it’s like to be a virtual wholesaler. What in the world does that mean? And what’s that process look like? But before you get started on all that, tell us, how’d you get into real estate?

Paul Lizell

00:04:58

Interesting story. So let’s go back to the 1990s when I was in college. I was working for my uncle who’s a general contractor and he bought a quadplex, a 4-unit building. We fixed it up, renovated it. He turned around and rented it out. He was making pretty good profits on this property, too, and still had a lot of equity in it. So that kind of stoked my interest in real estate. And that point on, after he bought a few more and we renovated them and I was going through college, I decided this is something I got to get into. It’s gotta be my long-term goal. So I did and basically in 2001, I started my first property. Unlike his, it was a fix and flip. I got into that so I could build up some cash. Eventually, I did build up, got some rentals as well, but stuck with the wholesaling, the fix and flip game owner-finance game, and I’d been doing that ever since.

Jay Conner

00:05:46

That’s awesome. So, were you doing fix and flips a while before you started doing wholesaling? Or were you doing wholesaling and fixing flips simultaneously, like right out the gate?

Paul Lizell

00:05:59

Well, I really started in the fix and flip game and then when I had too many flip deals going on, I did a couple of wholesale deals. And I started to realize it was kind of easy doing these wholesale deals. So after the crash of 2008, 2009, when all the marketing was just tanking, and you probably remember that well, I’m sure, I decided, all right, let’s go more to the wholesale game and turn them and burn them, and we did that. And we still did fix and flips, don’t get me wrong. We kept those good deals, did fix and flips on them, kept some good deals, rentals, some owner-financing, but we basically became virtual wholesalers at that point. We started expanding. We started in Pennsylvania where I was originally from. I just moved here to Florida this past month, but originally I’m from about 45 minutes north of Philadelphia. And so I started in that market, expanded out, went to Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio, Indiana, the Carolinas, which I love and where you’re from. And then I started going down to Florida, Texas, before you know it, I bought and sold in 44 to 50 states.

Jay Conner

00:06:57

First of all, let’s make sure everybody understands what we’re talking about when we say wholesale a deal. There’s more than one way to wholesale a deal. So, what’s your definition of wholesaling? And what’s that look like?

Paul Lizell

00:07:11

So for most people, they think wholesaling is getting a property under contract from a seller and assigning that contract and collecting assignment fee. So for us buying bank-owned properties, and we do a few of those, don’t get me wrong. We do a few of those deals, we get some of those referrals. But, primarily, what we do with auction properties or bank-owned or HUD properties, we have to buy them, take them down and then resell them. So, it’s a wholesale, it’s just we actually have to take down the property. So we do need the funds to be able to purchase it, whether we use transactional funding, private lending, as you’re great at, at raising money, we do as well. We love the raising money game and using private lending for that. But yeah, it’s kind of the same deal as it is with assignment of contract, it’s  just we actually take it down so we show ownership at one point.

Jay Conner

00:07:59

So, what’s the advantage of actually buying the house instead of getting it under contract and then collecting an assignment fee?

Paul Lizell

00:08:09

You know in certain states there’s been a crackdown, I think Tennessee and Illinois have had a crackdown on wholesalers where they’re making them become licensed realtors. So I think this kind of negates that because you’re actually purchasing the property, right? You’re showing you have the vested interest, not just the vested interest or equitable interest, you actually purchased it and took it down. So you have the right to do what you want to afterwards, and nothing can come back. So from a legal standpoint, we’re probably the safest and best. I am licensed in Pennsylvania. I probably will get licensed in Florida. And occasionally we’ll do some of those assignment deals, but for the most part, we just take them down, resell them. And in this market, as you know, wholetailing has been unbelievable, just getting the property in decent enough shape to be mortgageable reselling it, not sitting on it for 6, 7 months while the rehab is getting done, while the showings are going on. It’s much quicker, you’re in and out 30 days at the most, and you’re hopefully selling it in 30 to 45 days in this market right now.

So, it’s been much quicker and better.

Jay Conner

00:09:08

Right. So the reason you actually buy the house and take ownership of it is, that way, regardless of where you’re doing business, you don’t have to worry about there being issues with just collecting an assignment fee. Am I hearing you right on that?

Paul Lizell

00:09:27

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we would prefer to do it without having to have all the cash and buy it, but the banks don’t allow you. So if you buy a property from the bank, you can’t just assign it to another buyer, you must take it down in your name and you can do things with it. We’ve done things in trust. You know trusts are great. But the problem with that is, unless it’s an investor that’s a buyer investor, that trusts in you and understands what you’re doing, that they know what you’re doing, they usually don’t want to buy your trust, or if you put it in an LLC and sell them that LLC, they don’t usually want to buy it. And I totally understand that, they’re going to want to put it in their own name. We’ve run into that in the past with Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae had that anti-flipping where you couldn’t sell it for more than 20% of what you paid for. I think it was 90 days after the deed was recorded, not when you purchased, but when the deed was recorded. So with those properties, it either had to do something off the HUD, or we just had to wait those 90 days and then just sell it to them at that point, which has other risks. But, overall, if you’re making profits, I’m alright with that.

Jay Conner

00:10:26

There you go. So when you’re buying the houses in today’s market, are you primarily selling them to other real estate investors at a profit? Or are you selling them to people that are actually going to move in and own the home themselves and live in it?

Paul Lizell

00:10:44

In this market, we’ve done more to end-buyers. More people are going to live there than in the past. Typically, we sell to other investors for the most part, but in this market, the way it’s been and the kind of properties that we targeted, we’ve kind of pivoted and go on into less of the trainwreck properties, the ones that need everything and more to the ones that just need a little bit enhancing to get it back to become mortgageable and then resell them. So we’ve kind of pivoted a little bit just in this market to try to take advantage of what’s there. Go after the low-lying fruit rather than everything else.

Jay Conner

00:11:14

I got it. I know it’s going to depend on the market. I mean, you’re in all kinds of markets all over the nation, but what kind of profits are you seeing in today’s market doing the business the way you do it?

Paul Lizell

00:11:26

So our wholesale profits are generally around $12,000 per deal, and that’s your standard wholesale. If we’re wholetailing it, we’re around $32,000 and the full-scale fix and flip we’re into anywhere from probably close to your number, the $67,000, but we’ve had plenty of that have been $80,000, $100,000, even $120,000, especially in this market over the past year. So it’s been nice, but those are your full-scale rehabs. And those were the home runs, obviously, they’re not your average.

Jay Conner

00:11:55

Right. And we’ve already said it, but I want to make sure our audience understands it. Tell everybody what wholetailing is versus wholesaling.

Paul Lizell

00:12:05

Yeah, great point. So wholetailing is more or less where you’re getting a property and it just needs some paint, some carpet, it doesn’t need a full kitchen gut. Maybe you just repaint the cabinets. Maybe you put new cabinet poles on them, or maybe put countertops on them. With bathrooms, you’re okay with them but maybe you just put a new toilet in, or a new vanity or even easier sometimes, just a new faucet on a sink. And then you’re reworking your painting and carpeting. Usually, you don’t have to do roof siding, windows, things like that. So wholetailing has really just been super profitable. It’s more so than the fix and flip, believe it or not, for us. When you look at it from a time standpoint, we’re selling those so quickly, as quickly as our full-scale fix and flip, but we’re putting less effort in, and our holding costs are so much lower. It’s been worthwhile for us and less management of contractors because it can be one of the most difficult, taxing things in this business.

Jay Conner

00:13:00

Do you think that wholetailing, or in other words, “not doing a full rehab,” but you just make it okay and nicer? Do you think wholetailing is so much more popular now and working so well because there’s just no inventory?

Paul Lizell

00:13:16

That’s it. You hit the nail on the head with that, Jay. We go back to 2009 when I was doing fix and flips. If I didn’t do a full-scale, redo everything, you didn’t have that many buyers interested in the property unless it was the first-time home buyer. But as the market has gotten hotter and hotter and has lesser and lesser inventory, people are being less picky figuring they’ll do some of the work themselves. So it’s really just kind of taking what the market gives you. We follow it in our business. We follow the “Keep it simple, stupid” theory, and I think that’s the best thing to do in any business. Whatever the market is giving you, take that, right? If you don’t need to do the full-scale rehab, don’t, unless it’s going to warrant you getting an additional $50,000 or $60,000 where it becomes worthwhile, just take what the market gives you.

Jay Conner

00:13:56

Yeah. So how do you determine how to price? Like if you’re wholetailing a house to an end-buyer, what’s your criteria for pricing that home at the stage you got it in versus a complete rehab?

Paul Lizell

00:14:15

So basically what we do now with the wholetailing, we’re discounting it at 10-15% off what the normal end, full-scale rehab would be, which is still giving some equity to the buyer, should they want to do something there. And still it makes them fly off the shelves, I tell you, they don’t last very long when you’re just doing the basics and people see it’s clean and easy. I can change the carpet. I can change the paint color or whatever, I can do this or that. So people aren’t as picky as they used to be because there’s just no inventory. It’s hard to be picky. You take what’s there, basically, more or less.

Jay Conner

00:14:50

So in this market, as long as it’s clean and it smells good, if it’s dated, that’s okay, right?

Paul Lizell

00:15:03

Yes, dated, okay. You go do the ’80s, ’90s style. People can live with that as long as things aren’t broken, right? As long as you don’t have holes in the roof and things like that. Roofing is definitely a big issue, HVAC system for people. We just did one in Laurinburg, North Carolina, and unfortunately it did need a new HVAC system, so we did install that. We’re still gonna do pretty well. His property is still gonna net around $32,000, even though we had to do the roof and the HVAC system and the rest of it was a wholetail.

Jay Conner

00:15:32

Gotcha. So when you’re wholetailing to an end-user, are you finding the buyer by listing it with a real estate agent in the MLS?

Paul Lizell

00:15:42

We are. So, 90% of the time we do that. And occasionally like we did in one in Charleston, Tennessee, which is a very rural area, I had my disposition manager reach out to a bunch of agents in that area to just let them know we have a property and we offered them 2% commission. And the only thing we had to do was put it in a hot water heater in that one. That was literally it.

Jay Conner

00:16:05

That’s amazing. So first of all, to be virtually wholesaling, you have to find these deals and there ain’t no inventory to speak of. So everybody wants to know, well, if there isn’t any inventory, how in the world are you finding the deals?

Paul Lizell

00:16:27

Well, we got a little bit of an advantage over a lot of other people in the market. Most real estate investors out there stick with certain territories, maybe one or two markets out there. Occasionally somebody does three or four, but for us, the whole country is our oyster, really. That’s what we look at. We got inventory anywhere. We have preferred states where we’d like to do business, don’t get me wrong, but if there’s a great deal in another state where we don’t typically do business, we will go there. Just to give you an example, we’ve done 5 deals in New Mexico this year. We hadn’t done a deal in New Mexico in I think the previous 6 years before that, so we just kind of take what the market gives you. If there’s a deal there, we’ll take it. And we also hit those tertiary markets, and the second-tier markets that if you’re looking at a town or a city like Charlotte, go an hour outside, like a town like Kannapolis, Gastonia, and then go another hour outside that loop there. And then you’re in like a third-tier market. We target those markets because people do want to live there, especially now with what’s going on with the pandemic and everything. People are looking to be more and more rural. So it kind of fits right into what we’ve done all these years, which is a big advantage for us.

Jay Conner

00:17:33

Right! So how do you get the leads?

Paul Lizell

00:17:35

So for us, it’s our own time. So we pay no marketing fees, right? We don’t have any marketing costs whatsoever. I had turned off the direct mail marketing in 2013 and I just buy exclusively off of these auctions. For me, it’s really looking at what’s on the auction sites right now. We use VAs. We have several VAs that do this for each different auction site, whether it’s Auction.com, Xome, the Hudson & Marshall, Hubzu, Realty Bid, Auction Network, HUD Home Store, Fannie and Freddie. We have them go through and they do what I call “First-level fig.” They look at it and we give them the criteria of what we look out for – square footage, repair amount – and then they’ll send me a spreadsheet on Excel. Yes, yes, no, no, no. So, let’s say there’s 250 properties on this particular auction that’s coming up.

We might weed that down to about 20 to 25 that we’ll actually bid on. And then as the bidding process goes, if we’re getting out there and we just let those go off and again, we pick the low-lying fruit there. We’re not going to get into a bidding war. Today, for example, there’s a property in Florida that was in Sarasota, which is a red-hot market. It’s a nice market. My maximum allowable offer is 141 because there’s a buyer’s premium on this property. So the most I would spend was 150 because the ARV was 350 tops. This thing ends up getting bid up to 203 with a buyer’s premium. It was over 210 that that person is purchasing a property for, plus it needed everything. This thing needed at least 125 and work. So basically whoever bought this is probably an end-buyer, but they’re going to be upside down when all is said and done. So we fall off that, we have our maximum viable offers that will go up to, and you can’t get emotional with it, right? That’s a nice market. I would have liked to have been in there, but it didn’t fit our criteria. So I let it go.

Jay Conner

00:19:27

Paul, in case we’ve got some listeners that need to leave the show a little early, go ahead and let folks know how they can get in contact with you and continue the conversation.

Paul Lizell

00:19:38

Sure, absolutely. So we have a couple of different websites. www.REOAuctionAcademy.com is one of them. And also FlipRealEstateVirtually.com is another one. Both URLs work. You can contact us, and if you want to learn more about our coaching program, which we teach people how to do exactly what we do. As a matter of fact, we teach a lot of other investors who do direct mail, postcards, and PPC. They want to learn this aspect of the business. They actually hire somebody or have somebody who doesn’t have as much going on and let them handle this whole new arm of the business for them.

Jay Conner

00:20:13

Again, those 2 websites are REOAuctionAcademy.com, and the other one is FlipRealEstateVirtually.com. All right, so you got the leads coming in. You got your VAs researching all the houses that are coming up on all these different auction sites. How in the world do you have boots on the ground, eyes on the ground, in all these different markets, taking a look at these houses to even know what a close estimation of repairs would be that you need to do? Because, obviously, you don’t want to bid on a property until you know what kind of repairs you’re looking at.

Paul Lizell

00:21:02

Absolutely. And this is one of the most important things. So how you develop these kinds of relationships and these relationships end up blossoming and give you more deals throughout the years. I’ll give you an example of it. So in Tucson, Arizona, there was an REO agent who I bought a bunch of properties through over the years from 2010, all the way through now, we still currently do. Basically, he saw I was a serious player in Tucson, Arizona. We wholesaled a bunch of them. And then he was starting to bring me deals and bring me leads and bring me properties. So he was my boots on the ground. And how that started was I just reached out to him initially after I was bidding on some properties, and this is what you need to do if you’re entering any new market, you need to contact the realtor or the REO agent for that property.

If it’s a bank-owned property, get some details. You’re trying to get the BPO, which is the “Broker’s Price Opinion” of the property. And if you can get that, that’ll tell you basically what they think the “as is value” is, the 30-day sale price, the 90-day sale price,  the 120-day sale price. And they’ll show comps on there, and that’s like, that’s gold. That’s gold when you get that. So you utilize them for that. You also try to get additional pictures from them. And then you’re trying to get what kind of repairs are needed because they generally know, again, the utilities usually aren’t on, but they know what repairs were needed. They know if the roof’s leaking, they know if the air conditioner or heater looks really bad and it looks like it needs replacing, the hot water heater. They’ll tell you if the kitchen needs to be replaced. And the best referrals I get for contractors, hands down, is from these agents.

And the big reason is these contractors who work for these agents get referrals and they get a lot of referrals. So they do not want to screw over these agents when they’re giving them, basically, free marketing. So the guys that we’ve used from all the agent referrals have all been good, and I’m going to knock on wood when I say that, the ones that I run into that have been bad are ones that I picked on my own. I’ve also gotten great ones, but the best referrals from people who are there, who have boots on our ground and have local people, you know how to do those repairs. So we relied big time on the agents on these properties. If there is no agent, we use a company called BPO Photo Flow that’ll go out there and take some pictures of the property.

And if we have a lockbox, they can usually get inside, take more pictures. And we kind of tell them what to look for, like take pictures of the exterior, make sure there’s no cracks in the foundation, take a picture of the basement, the systems, make sure the HVACs are right, hot water heater, kitchens and bathrooms are important. You know, anything that they noticed cracks or issues with flooring, whatever, anything off-level. We want to know that kind of thing. If there’s moisture in the basement, just so we know what we’re in for an aid, generally do a pretty good job and they’re fairly inexpensive to utilize.

Jay Conner

00:23:49

And what’s the name of that service? One more time.

Paul Lizell

00:23:54

It’s BPO Photo Flow, like “Broker’s Price Opinion.” BPOPhotoFlow.com. And they do a really good job. They’re not in every market, so sometimes we actually have to reach out to other local agents and send them out there. And then we just pay them basically more or less to go out there and take some pictures for us and then tell them if we buy it, we’re going to list it through you. We do offer that. And if we do buy, we do end up listing it with them or having them help us sell the property if they know some investors.

Jay Conner

00:24:20

So these REO real estate agents, also known as bank-owned real estate agents, have the listing for these properties that are going up for auction. So obviously if you buy it, you don’t have to pay them anything for the purchase because the bank, the REO, is paying their commission. But do you compensate these agents in any additional way other than when you make a purchase, the bank pays them?

Paul Lizell

00:24:46

We do at times, like if we know they’re going to be doing above and beyond, and they’re not going to get the listing, we will definitely pay them. We’ll say, “What do you want for this? Or what free one for that service?” They usually are very, very fair with the prices and we’re glad to do it. We just Venmo them most of the time. I’ve never really run into any issues with that. Most of the time, they’re really happy to just hand the listing for you. I even have thought of them managing my rehabs for me because they know the contractors, they kind of manage, oversee, and take pictures. They’re happy to go do that. They see the progress and they want it listed so that they can get their permission when all is said and done.

Jay Conner

00:25:21

Awesome. And how do you find these REO agents? I suppose one way you could find them is, well, your VAs are looking at auctions coming up. They go research the property and right there, they see who’s got the real estate listing on it. Right?

Paul Lizell

00:25:37

Absolutely. And you get a lot of these agents who will have 5, 10, 15, 20 different properties. And they’ll cover a huge geographical region, which is crazy. I mean, they’re running around all the time. Nobody works harder than an REO agent, that I can tell you. Those guys and gals, they work their butts off and they are good. Their numbers are so spot on. For example, on a property we had in Ohio a few years back, I was talking to the agent, “What do you think the value of this property is, as is?” And she’s like, it had to be somewhere between 17 and 20. Sure enough, we picked it up for like $7,500. We sold that for $17,500. She was just right on the money with it. And that happens time and time and time again, the only time, if you’re in with a newer agent, that’s where you want to be careful.

If it is a newer real estate agent, they’re not going to be as experienced. You’re going to want to try to lean on a secondary agent. Hopefully somebody that’s in one of these towns that has their own brokerage that’s been there for 10, 20 years and really knows the market. Well, those have been our best sources. Far and away, the people that are in small mom & pop shops, they just know the market. They know everybody in town. They usually know who lived in that property, especially if it’s a smaller town, like you live in, Jay, they know people, right? And they’ve been our greatest source all over every market that we’ve ever been in.

Jay Conner

00:26:55

Let’s say that you make a bid and you win the bid at the auction and all these auctions are online, right?

Paul Lizell

00:27:04

Yes. They’re all online.

Jay Conner

00:27:05

So you win the bid. So now you’re the winning bidder. On average, how long do you have before you get close? In addition to that, do you sometimes, or always get a home inspection before you take it down?

Paul Lizell

00:27:22

So, Jay, I’ll answer the first question first. 30 to 45 days usually is what you got, time-wise. Sometimes a little bit longer. If the title is a little cloudy or there’s past issues or where something wasn’t done right at the Sheriff’s sale. That’s the answer to the first question. The second one, we never get a home inspection. We’ll just send a contractor out there. I don’t have too much faith in the home inspection field, business, people. Most of these guys learn out of a book and never swung a hammer a day in their life. So the people I rely on are the contractors. I try to find general contractors that really know everything, as many aspects of it. And yeah, if they miss some stuff, sure, they’re gonna miss some stuff here and there, but they’re going to see the big stuff. And they’ve been a great source for me and are far less expensive because you’re just gonna pay $400 or $500 for these home inspections when I can send a guy out there for a hundred bucks to give me a pretty good inspection, you know.

Jay Conner

00:28:14

And again, as you said, you find these general contractors by referral from the bank-owned real estate agents, right?

Paul Lizell

00:28:21

Yup. And about 95% of the time, they don’t charge you a penny to go out there. They’re hoping to get the work.

Jay Conner

00:28:26

That’s fantastic. Well, this is a fantastic business model you’ve got, Paul. Any parting comments?

Paul Lizell

00:28:35

I love it. It’s a great business model. The one thing I really like about it is that I can turn a business on or off anytime I want, unlike the direct mail marketing or the PPC where you gotta be on those calls right away. On a PPC lead or direct mail, it’s constantly going. If I want to go on vacation, I shut down for 2 weeks or a month. If I want to go overseas, I can do that and just stop operations and start right back up when I get back. So I do love that. That is my favorite aspect of the business. I also don’t have to deal with home sellers 99% of the time. So those are 2 facets. I really like how it’s really simple. It’s not turnkey, but your time is your marketing costs, right? Your time and energy, which is your most valuable asset. Your time is all your costs involved.

[lsvdw-blog]

Spicy Newlywed Questions

Thank you for these, @jamespotterthefirst! Love you sm 💓

Mild

Do you kiss and tell? Have you told your friends about your...adventures?

Serena: "Uhm, definitely yes. If anyone was expecting me to not brag about this man and his skills, that's their fault."

Ethan smirks. "I do not. I like my privacy and dislike sharing, in any capacity."

My spouse looks the hottest in ____________.

Serena: "A towel or sweats/pajama bottoms slung low around his hips," she bites her lip.

Ethan's eyes immediately follow. "When she's wearing my shirt and only my shirt."

What song best describes that night after the country club (1.15)? You know which one...

Serena: "Levitating, Dua Lipa."

Ethan: "Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore, REO Speedwagon."

Hottest thing my spouse has ever done is ___________. (Doesn’t have to be dirty)

Serena: "How he's ready to fight anyone at the drop of a hat for me. Or how proud he is to have me on his arm at public events. Oh! Maybe-"

Ethan: "This, right here. How excited she gets talking about the tiniest things about me. I'll never understand it, but I'm so grateful."

Who said “Let’s make out” first? Where was it?

Serena: "Me. We were at his place, cuddled up on the couch, and he was making me watch some boring documentary about something or other," she rolls her eyes.

On a scale of 1-10, what would you rate their seduction skills?

Serena: "8 and only b/c he doesn't really try, I'm just obsessed."

Ethan laughs. "Give me some credit, I do romantic things."

"You do," she smiles.

"A 12/10, would recommend."

"I thought you didn't like to share."

"I don't. I'm recommending it to myself. Doctor's orders," he smirks.

What bathing suit does your spouse look the best in?

Serena: "Any swim trunks, b/c when he's shirtless, I'm not paying attention to what his swimsuit looks like anyways."

Ethan: "Any bathing suit she feels comfortable in. She looks good in everything, though I am partial to a bikini."

XTRA HOT

*Not suitable for minors. By reading these, you are acknowledging you are 18+

What’s a surefire way to turn on your spouse?

Serena: "Biting my lip while my eyes slowly roam over his body. Or when my hands start at his chest and leisurely go south."

Ethan: "Dirty talk or grabbing her ass."

Who makes the most noise?

Serena: "Depends on the session," she smirks.

Ethan blushes and he goes to fiddle with his tie.

Who loves foreplay the most?

Serena: "Neither?" She looks at Ethan.

Ethan: "I'd say we're on the same page with that. Either we're both impatient, or we're both ready for an," he clears his throat, "eventful night."

One round or multiple-- Which do you prefer?

Serena & Ethan at the same time: "Multiple."

Best night/sex you’ve ever had with your spouse?

Serena: "I can't pick just one! When I say this man leaves me satisfied every time, I mean every. Single. Time," her cheeks color and she goes to fan herself.

Ethan's eyes darken as he watches her respond. "Likewise."

*They proceed to heavily, and I mean heavily, eye fuck one another.*

Morning or night? What’s your favorite place to have sex in?

Serena: "Night sex, all the way. If I get woken up in the morning by anything other than my natural body clock, I'm pissed. Plus, I just have more energy at night," she winks. "Favorite place? Literally anywhere I can get him, b/c I'm obsessed," she whispers the last word in a husky tone.

Ethan’s eyes are hooded as he watches Serena and his cheeks are red. "No preference, for either question. Anytime and anywhere she'll have me."

*The sexual tension is thicccc and Bree becomes slightly concerned that that means here, right now, and she's unsure if she should just get up and leave.*

Who dominates in the bedroom?

Serena: "Again, depends on the session," she flips her hair.

Ethan continues to undress her with his eyes. He doesn't respond.

MC, what’s your favorite outfit to wear for him? Ethan, what’s your favorite MC wears?

Serena: "A trench coat or longer jacket, nothing underneath," she gives a devilish smile.

Ethan: "Anything in red. And also anything of mine."

What’s your favorite thing your spouse does in bed?

Serena: "When he finishes inside."

Ethan chokes on his own saliva. Serena continues as if nothing happened.

"When he growls or is vocal. When he laces our fingers together. When-"

Ethan: "Okay baby, I think Bree gets it." He pauses. "Do I have to answer this one?"

"It's the last one! You've made it this far," Serena flashes that winning smile at him and he's a goner.

"When she's deepthroating me as I finish and she swallows. A close second is when she also pays attention to my..." he clears his throat.

"You can say 'balls,' sweetheart," Serena teases.

Ethan runs a hand down his impossibly red face. "We're done here."

[tigreblvnc]

BLUE LOCK MATCHUP — @letsliveagaintoday

Your match is...

— Seishiro Nagi

✦ There are people I know I would never pair with Nagi because it just wouldn’t work AT ALL.

✦ ...And then there are people for whom I don't even have to think twice.

✦ That's the case with your match: I know he's the ONE for you.

✦ In fact, I think you two are very similar! You’re both pretty relaxed, analytical, and a bit in your own world. You don’t like intrusive people who try to tell you what to do and how to do it. So even though you're both cool, you still like your space and peace.

✦ Most of the time, you don't hear much from Nagi, and it’s not because he’s shy but often because he just doesn’t care.

✦ And then there are moments when he becomes very intense because the topic or situation has caught his interest, and in those moments…he becomes a different person.

✦ Kind of like you when you suddenly raise your voice because something excites you.

✦ You both have an ON mode and an OFF mode.

✦ "I think of most people (including those I talk to a lot) as just acquaintances. There's only around 4-5 people I’d confidently say are my friends. But even with them, I struggle with genuine vulnerability." I think Nagi might have even fewer people than that (one person, actually) (and that’s Reo). Honestly, I wonder if the concept of friendship is even familiar to him.

✦ "This may seem arrogant, but I genuinely think I’m smarter than most of the people around me. My strong suit is logic and analytical thinking, while I struggle with memorizing things I don't find very interesting." This really made me think of Nagi! We see several times that he trusts himself a lot; he even tends to rest on his laurels too much and avoid making an effort. He’s very analytical, which tends to diminish his emotional availability: he struggles to understand the motivations and feelings of others. And if he misjudges someone, he knows how to change his opinion when proven wrong.

✦ Ultimately, it’s just a bit of childish ignorance, like a kid.

✦ But once he learns, he evolves. And exponentially so.

✦ "Reading: my favorites are historical fiction." The only subject Nagi liked in school was History, so I think you could catch his interest.

✦ "Receiving: words of affirmation & quality time." We’ve seen that Nagi can offer that to someone he truly cares about. Remember the moment when he pointed out Reo's improvement in technique on the field (even if it was the worst timing and context to do so, let’s be honest). His quality time is mostly about listening—it's rare to get the boy's attention, so if he’s listening and looking away from his video games, it means he's genuinely interested.

✦ It’s the first time someone has given me their attitudinal psyche type and tritype, and I’m really happy about it, hahaha.

✦ Based on these traits, you’d probably be the one motivating Nagi to get up and out of bed in the morning. Even if he finds it annoying, I think you understand how he operates. He needs a challenge, to be put in a difficult spot to push himself to improve.

✦ There’s a certain similarity between the ISTP that he is and the INTP that you are. While he's grounded in reality, the concrete world…you know how to imagine and interpret. That’s a quality he lacks, as we see when he has to think about his own goals: he doesn’t know because he’s so disconnected from his own feelings.

✦ In a way, you would have the effect of a calmer, wiser Reo on him.

✦ I’m sure he’d like to see your drawings, thinking they could look great in a manga.

✦ He probably reads a lot of them between video game sessions.

✦ I don’t know why, but I imagined you two meeting at a convention or something like that? Something Nagi would have ended up at by chance because Reo pushed him to go with him.

✦ And then he saw you.

✦ He really clicked with your personality, both when you’re calm and when you’re passionate.

✦ You’re not annoying, and he likes that.

✦ When he wins a video game, he sends you the screenshot.

✦ Because ever since Nagi met you, he’s started talking less to Choki, his cactus.

✦ Isn’t that the biggest sign of interest from this super lazy guy?

A word about your match: I didn't doubt, Nagi is for you. You are his new buddy and you're so much cooler than Choki.

© TIGREBLVNC 2024 | AUGUST '24 MATCHUPS EDITION.

[chibimyumi]

🍵Japanese Reactions☕ Kuromyu 2021

Dear everyone, I received overwhelmingly many questions about Japanese audience reactions, so here you go!

Methodology:

For this post I logged out from Twitter to avoid any bias because of my own user algorithm, and just simply searched the term “kuromyu” (生執事) , and selected “latest tweets”. As you can see, all posts have the word 生執事 in bold, meaning that was my search term.  There are a LOT of reactions, I can’t possibly discuss them all. What I did was just search at any random point of time, and take every other comment. I censored the usernames of the commenter to protect some (ceremonial) level of privacy.

I watched the Kuromyu costume rehearsal and cried, this is not it，，I think it might be better to go to Osaka [performance] without expecting too much I shouldn’t expect the Kuromyu of until last time

Honestly no matter how often I watch [the musical] this time’s Kuromyu is fantastic... as someone who knows the energy of the original comics, I really enjoyed it...

In Kuromyu Violet and Chesslock were the real thing

Like Violet’s way of walking being so slothful it was like the real thing, and the rapping of Chesslock in the cricket scene was cool

The reception of this time’s Kuromyu is entirely polarised, and indeed [this production] has a very different taste than the ones until now so I also understand the people who criticise it, but I think that’s fine.

Click “keep reading” for (a LOT) more reactions. Don’t lie to yourself and not click it, I know you all want the tea. Here’s the tea (ÒvÓ)ノ☕

There’s so much thought going on now I have seen the PV of Kuromyu. Eh? Because he [probably Konishi (Ciel)] has roots in Tennis [Probably prince of Tennis] once he holds the cricket it just looks like he’s swinging a tennis racket.

Bocchan is just too big, I’m not sure about that.

I only watched until half way ー

Calling it the Prince of Cricket is too befitting😂 Such singing and dancing, the youthfulness is exploding. They sure have stamina. #Kuromyu

Ah ーSomehow a lot of memories just popped up tears really are welling up... even though my deep-seated grudge has now passed, my obsession for Kuromyu surfaced, and it felt like it got beaten to a pulp by its big brother...

My heart is recovering through the Kuromyu DVD but the big brother is still the big brother... sob...sob (the dirty wailing of an otaku)

TLN: Big brother here means something’s superiour or better.

It became this production that made me think: Never mind the actors but is it the problem of the makers? Erm. I think it’s a waste. Is it because it’s the footage of the first day performance?

I don’t have the feeling that it’s not that, but that it somehow became cheaper? Is a really strong thought I got from this performance. With this line-up [of cast/staff] it should have been able to create the high quality of Kuromyu, but the impression is that it was a mess.

I finished watching kuromyu. Erm... somehow... it was a theatre production that strongly reminded me of the first Lycoris (the cheapness of the set), felt like they tried to create the feeling of🎾but failed, and tried to do something trendy (🎤) but then the production lost the sense of unity.

Well Mr. Tate’s [Tateishi] Sebas was good, and Undertaker’s acting was good (make up...)

I’ve watched the stream of Kuromyu countless times and gotten used to the songs, and even though I miss the old Kuromyu, maybe it’s not so bad that somebody who can’t let go is rewatching something countless times. If next time they will do the Cult Arc or the Witch Arc I’d be pursuing it. Honestly I want them to stage Lycoris again ←

Kuromyu was this place where I got stimulated by Yuta’s TOHO quality, Ms. AKANE [Madam Red] and Ms. Son [Akisono, Frances]’s Takarazuka quality. The synergy of everything, the original manga’s story, actors, music, directing all were so perfectly done in the past three productions they sure have become a tremendous bar. Once again Yuta, thank you for playing Sebas for us for three times 🥺✨

Kuromyu really was too fun, I’m in trouble

Honestly ------------- Kuromyu was so fun !!!!!!!!! Yasue-kun, you also go watch soon!! Ah, you going tomorrow???

It might be quite unsatisfying for people who only watch Kuromyus that are like Imperial Theatre grand musicals, but I think it’s good that it’s a bit like the Kuromyus of the beginning of before when they adapted the manga arcs

I watched Kuromyu and had fun 😊

I cried, I laughed, it was amazing anyway!

It was the first time watching a musical for me but I think I’ve been sucked into it...

Shall I buy the DVD, I’m indecisive 🌀🤔💭

Now I’ve seen the PV of Kuromyu I don’t think it’s worth going at all... Even in the PV the vibe of 2.5D was ridiculously strong...

My friend went to watch Kuromyu and gave me the review: “I’ve seen all sorts of 2.5, why did they do this for Black Butler. It’s trivial.” I’ve only seen the PV so I won’t say anything, and I really get what I’m refraining from saying. But Mr. Kuma once tweeted the descriptions of Black Butler, I guess it’s fine that the Boarding School Arc feels like this 🤔

Click here for the translation of this tweet. The description of the Weston Arc is as such:

(To the people who will be going to see it I’m sorry)

They did say that the staff along [with the cast] would entirely be renewed, but I feel like they’re actively trying to shake off the fans of Kuromyu until now   I’m a bit sad but I guess I won’t be watching [Kuromyus] anymore... I feel like      But I am buying the stream    I’ll think about it after I’ve bought it...

Anyway about Kuromyu, my mom said she wanted to watch it too so I watched it again with her yesterday, and she sure had a lot to say 😶 My father pulled this weird face of “what is this even” and I had to see him off halfway 😑 I thought about buying the stream of the final performance, but I guess I don’t need a second viewing. I don’t feel like watching the archive either. I really liked the Kuromyu of until now, my shock is too big.

At the beginning [of the musical] we looked back on Lycoris, Circus and Luxury Liner... kinda like some sort of recap, but I thought “huh?”... now I just want to watch that. I used to like Kuromyu, I really have trouble accepting it this time it’s painful.

But honestly when talking about Kuromyu it’s the Sebas with the superb voice who sung about the dynamic with the little lord full of emotion and built the world view, and for better or for worse the world view of Kuroshitsuji is maintained through Sebaciel, the songs, the directing of Sebaciel, but what happened there. Whether you should watch it or not. The past 3 productions were masterpieces、、、

But Sebas is not Mr. Furukawa, Ciel is not Reo-kun and even Mr. Izumi’s [role] of Undertaker was unfortunately changed, this is the new Kuromyu huh...

I watched the stream of the first performance.

I liked the songs so I checked, and I knew it.

This time has a lot of laughing factors, and I thought it was good it had a fresh cast.

I didn’t expect the cricket scene to be taken that far. I thought it was Tenimyu.

Kuromyu, this time be it the story, script, directing or casting, I thought: “it’s more enjoyable to take up this [musical] while temporarily erasing the memories of until now ～🎶”, and I watched the theatre piece without looking back to the past productions, and that was the right decision   To the people who came to love Kuromyu of until now, it’s safer to watch it while temporarily erasing the memories.

Did Kuromyu turn into Tenimyu half way?! I thought,

and the Elite Musical → 2.5D Musical transformation I also felt

Konishibocchan being cutesy was cute, and the P4′s desperate faces resonated all went by in a flash

Above was the report from the theatre ☺️

I went to Kuromyu

I went into it knowing it’d surely be something different from the past productions so it indeed turned out to be so

There were parts that made me go “erm the script....” and also this part that made me go “was it really necessary to make Undertaker descend into that dream in Act 1 just because you wanted to give him stage time??”

I went into 2 shocks gradually

Sebas doesn’t sing He only sings properly at the very beginning of the beginning Even though he’s Sebas There’s no ending solo Even though he’s Sebas

You’re the ♪ah~a~a~ number-one main character though!! That’s why this one!!! Is the N・E・W production--!!!!

I am in shock

I   A M  I  N   S  H  O  C  K  ANGER!!!

I watched the Kuromyu stream!

It was TOTALLY 2.5D~❕❕😁It was also a school setting and the Tenimyu vibes were strong (laughs)

It’s a bit of a shame that Ciel isn’t played by a child actor anymore, but because he has more stage time than Sebas has this time I caccept it.

Sebas and Ciel’s visuals are also good ~ ☺️ 

It’d be even cooler if they increased the fight scenes with Sebas though.

@ivvy_toshiki [Tateishi Toshiki (Sebastian)’s Twitter account]

Thanks for the hard work in the performance.

Today I saw the “first viewing of Kuromyu” of my dreams 🥀😆 Regardless of what I could say Sebastian’s beauty is from beginning to end spellbinding ☺️  My eyes were very happy. moreover, the songs and the killing were also AMAZING 😍 my eyes were nailed to Sebastian. I want to watch it again 💕☺️  I wish that the performances will go without a hitch until the final performance ❕

I was so happy to see the recap of the past productions

I really liked the Circus Arc (original comics), and even though it was comedy it really dived into the darkness! That was the story I also didn’t expect to see the Luxury Liner Arc So Undertaker, for real... for

Up to the last time there weren’t that many songs in total, but there were songs like I shall become your pawn and sword and the contract that made me go BATHUMP--- I have to rewatch this number!!! It’s a shame that this time there were no songs like that.

#Kuromyu

Calling it the Prince of Cricket is too accurate 😂 They sang and danced so much, the youthfulness was bouncing off it. What stamina they have. #Kuromyu

What’s different from the last time is the strong 2.5D vibe...... Until now the ages [of the characters] were fairly faithful [to canon] and in a good way there was no 2.5D-ness and I could just enjoy it as a proper theatre piece This time both the casting including the music had a strong 2.5D vibe for better or for worse #Kuromyu

Very personally! Matsushita’s Sebas was “heavy as the evil of evil and beautiful”, and Furukawa’s Sebas was  “evil, strong and unapproachable and beautiful and gorgeous”, and Tateishi’s was “light hearted and beautiful and a florid kind of evil”!! (My vocabulary is failing me) All Sebastians have a different aura about them it’s fantastic!!! #Kuromyu

The new Sebas is good

Overall

It’s this arc so that it’d get a chit-chat idol? vibe was within the expectation The cricket of the second half had a bad vibe and I was sick of it It might have been different had I watched it live I don’t like the Boarding School and Green Witch arc that much to begin with I am looking forward to the appearance of the real Ciel That's it for now

I don’t know why I’m mentally dead but it must be that, I watched the Kuromyu stream and I am thoroughly dead, mentally dead, but as I managed to say this I’ve reached a level that I recovered a bit??? I am too tired but I don’t feel like sleeping, but if I doze a bit then I realise my fatigue and feel like sleeping unnecessarily

This time’s kuromyu... erm I guess I’ll quit 🤔

I’ll be rant-puking for a bit

I’ve seen a lot of Tenimyu and A-stage [Mankai A3] but it’s not like I wanted to see that in Kuromyu... What I wanted to see was Kuromyu...

I watched the video of the Kuromyu PV? but it’s impossible. Watching the PV [I thought] children should be played by children... and as I watched their interaction it’s not the character building I had in mind... and there’s no wound on the vice principal’s forehead. I planned to watch the stream of the final performance, but I’m hesitant about spending more money to watch that... If I can’t accept Ciel and Sebastian I can’t watch this, that’s just me...

Now I’ve read the reviews of Kuromyu all are saying it went back to 2.5D, and I think that it’s not worth going after all. It’s probably because the Kuromyus until now far surpassed the quality of 2.5D... I guess it’s fine if one were to go for the cast, but I really loved the Kuromyu of until now.

[motownfiction]

keep on loving you

REO Speedwagon is the last dance of the night. It feels a little out of date already, but as soon as it begins to play, none of that matters. People lose their minds. Sam, who finally came in from the parking lot, decides to be snobbish about it.

“Please,” he says. “It’s REO Speedwagon. They didn’t resurrect Elvis.”

Steph smiles and pokes him in the ribs.

“I don’t think everyone in our party feels that way,” she says.

Sam knits his brows and follows where Steph is pointing. To his surprise (then horror, then delight), he watches as Lucy and Sadie slowly glide toward each other in the middle of the dance floor, arms wide open.

“And though I know all about those men! / Still I don’t remember!” they scream-sing at each other as they join hands. “‘Cause it was us, baby, way before then / and we’re still together!”

They spin each other around so fast, it looks like they might fall over. But they don’t. They catch each other right before they go down, and right away, they start laughing.

“We’ve never talked about this song in our lives!” Lucy shouts.

“We really haven’t!” Sadie shouts back.

“When I thought about dancing with you at the prom, it was always ‘Sister Christian.’”

“I thought it would be ‘Down Under.’”

“You thought we’d dance to a song by a group called Men at Work?”

“Because Night Ranger’s that much better?”

Lucy throws her head back and laughs at the ceiling. She glances back and over her shoulder and spots Will and Daniel in the corner, watching their girls. Will shoots her a thumbs up, and she turns back to Sadie with a grin.

“You got me,” Lucy says. “Still, though. I think the Ohioans nailed it with REO Speedwagon. Now that I think about it, this song’s about us.”

“Every song is about us,” Sadie says. “Together, separately, both. Or am I the only one who listens to music that way?”

“You’re not.”

“Thank goodness. I’m already a control freak. I don’t think I could handle being an egomaniac on top of it.”

Lucy laughs again. The girls grab each other’s hands and spin around and around all over again. A carousel of red and green.

“Look, I know you want to give Daniel the credit for this whole prom-crashing thing,” Lucy says, “and maybe he’s the one who discovered it. But I know you’re the one who put it together. You’re the only one who could.”

Sadie shrugs.

“Will could have done it, too,” she says, and they both know it. “He didn’t know about it, but you know. If he had.”

“Don’t try to downplay it. You put this together. You made this happen. You took me to buy a dress. You knew exactly how to get me here, and you knew that once I got here, I’d want to stay. Nobody else would have known that.”

Sadie smiles a little, still swaying to the music.

“Are you thanking me?” she asks. “You’ve got that voice where I’m not really sure.”

Lucy nods.

“Yeah,” she says. “I am. Thank you, Sadie. I don’t think … I don’t think I would have felt right without a prom. I know it’s a patriarchy parade, but I just … I think it’s something I needed to say that I did. You know how I feel about missing opportunities.”

“You hate it.”

“I hate it.”

Sadie laughs, too. She holds out her hand for Lucy to twirl around her finger – the perks of being seven inches taller than your best friend.

“You know,” she says, “this is what I always thought about when I thought about the prom.”

Lucy pauses and gives her a strange look.

“Crashing someone else’s prom in Toledo, Ohio?” she asks.

Sadie rolls her eyes.

“No,” she says. “This. Dancing with my best friend to some melodramatic song.”

“I hope you mean melodramatic in the classical sense and not as an insult,” Lucy says. “Because this song is awesome.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Yeah. But why would you think about dancing with me? When we were little, and you’d talk about the prom, it was always you and Daniel and ‘I’m Not in Love.’ 10cc, remember?”

“I remember. And I love that I’m here with Daniel. I was starting to think maybe that would never happen, and I’m so, so glad it did.”

“But?”

Sadie takes a breath. For as much as she loves Lucy (and for as much as she knows Lucy loves her back), she never knows how much she can say without Lucy turning it into a joke. She exhales and gets it all out in one breath.

“But it really was us way before then,” she says. “And way before them, too. The boys. I know … I know we’ve all been together for a long time, and I guess I’ve known the boys since we were born. But as soon as Ms. Cunningham asked you to sit next to me, it was like … I’d never had a friend that was a girl before. And by the time I was six, I would’ve taken anybody, even if all she wanted to do was play hopscotch.”

“You hated hopscotch,” Lucy says, and Sadie laughs.

“I scraped my knee once, and I never forgave it,” she says. “But I got to sit next to you. And you weren’t just the first girl who wanted to be my friend. You were the perfect friend for me. And you still are.”

Sadie takes a deep breath in and expects Lucy to make some sort of crack at her. But she doesn’t. Instead, Lucy hugs Sadie tightly, allowing the music to fall down around them.

“You were the perfect friend for me, too,” Lucy says. “And you still are.”

When Lucy steps back, she sees that Sadie is wiping her eyes. She nudges her in the ribcage with her elbow.

“Hey,” Lucy says. “I can get sentimental for a minute, but I draw the line at a minute and a half.”

Sadie laughs and wipes her eyes one last time.

“Right,” she says. “I know you.”

“Damn right you do.”

They continue their dance for a few seconds more. It doesn’t take long for Lucy to break the silence – her favorite thing to do.

“So, I was thinking,” she says. “In the fall … do you want to take comp together?”

And even though Sadie saw the question coming, she couldn’t be happier to hear it.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

LMAOO I GOTCHU I know exactly what you mean…Otoya in love but he doesn’t realize what he’s feeling is love like wdym wanting to hang out and be with y/n all the time and laughing whenever she smiles is not just hanging out with the bros?? And especially since he’s so (for lack of a better term) flingy he automatically associates what he feels with his flings as what love and romance is but he just has no experience actually like dating someone he loves fr

I chuckled when I read this a dramatic ass breakup and then within a couple hours back to their dumbassery is so them LMAOO

And STOP the way I was literally thinking of that scene of Barou with Isagi in the cafeteria when I was writing like….I loved how Barou actually ended up kinda reaching out to Isagi and communicating with them and took like inspiration from his thought process?? Truly believe in Barou Isagi rival supremacy the on/off field dynamic always gets me though it’s like we see dyed hair hyped up lion entrance king Barou in the Ubers match and then we see another scene of him hair down meditating in their screen room (??) with like peaceful white noise LMAO but also speaking of which the light novel is releasing like next week iirc I need to get my hands on that thing

FRRR lmao teenage boy friendships and dynamics are so funny like it definitely just reminds me of how I see high school boys acting and joking around with each other

Tall good looking smart thoughtful attentive the list goes on this is just the ideal man

The “basically anyone but Isagi” makes me laugh so hard for whatever reason but so true…even Isagi gets labeled as “Slursagi” everywhere because of how he acts on the field (and also that fan translation omg)

FR someone needs to give us a plaque like…we were here first!! Or like one of those flags where we can plant our stake like here marks the first steps into tabieitaken nation LMAO

And OOO time to do some lore digging on a Mira original work hehe

OUUU REO Y/N LORE DROP I cant lie whenever I read works that have Reo and y/n as friends or having some form of platonic relationship (even if the work isn’t Nagi centric!) I find it really interesting maybe because I can see Reo kinda fitting like a bestie position like Chigiri is to you (I think) LOL ESPECIALLY when y/n fills that role of Nagi for Reo before meeting Nagi like I swear I’ve seen a couple (like one or two they’re kinda rare shsgshs) other works that play around with my dynamic and I honestly find it so fun to read so I’m looking forward to that potential next installment!!! Maybe it’s also that kind of relationships drifting apart and sometimes coming back together thing you mentioned that gets me…kinda reminiscent of the childhood friends theme too! But this reminds me I think I should do a reread refresher of everything again because I’ve had my brain just filled with Karasu lately oops but I’m READY FOR THE NAGI Y/N BREAKUP SCENES HAHAHA locked in for the drama

NO LITERALLY LIKE I literally don’t care if you wanna ship them but please don’t shove it down other people’s throats?? Like just because I don’t like a ship it can suddenly warrant these crazy threats and everything like please maybe take a walk outside?? I feel like that’s also the first defense they take like if you don’t like the ship it MUST be because you can’t stand two dudes together like no I just read the manga and don’t like the character dynamic they have because it feels like a waste of their potentials..? I honestly feel like this is an issue in a LOT of fandoms with one really popular ship and honestly sometimes I feel like shipping and pairings romantically kinda limit the possibilities for development and other dynamic avenues so it’s just not my thing….like you do you but don’t come for me just because we like different things!! REO AND ARYU WOULD BE SO REAL?? I can see them talking about fashion and trends together and dude after the latest epinagi chapters I’d love to see Karasu and Nagi interacting more like another interaction between hardwork vs talent show me it all!! But yeah we’ve had this convo before kinda LOL but yeah some ship fans scare me so bad

I especially like how cute nagi looks in the epinagi artist style there’s just something about his expressions that really brings out the nagi vibe LMAOO I’m also laughing I didn’t register ego being on the colored panel pic he’s fr shielding us from Shidou’s pink highlights (mostly LOL) I forgot how big Rin and Shidou are in this art comparatively LMAOOO I want a real tabieitaken focused colored page but seeing as we’re past that u20 arc idk when we’d get it ugh

-Karasu anon

YES EXACTLY WHERE I WAS GOING W THAT like him not realizing her loves her because he confuses love w attraction/lust but for some reason he wants to be with her all of the time and she’s like the only stable relationship in his life and he doesn’t ever want to give her up 🤔?? but that’s just because they’re bros 🥶🤙🏻💯🔥 (karasu won’t be in this one because he’d solve the problem in ten seconds flat by being like “dude you’re in love with her 😕” and otoya is just like “oh damn fr??”)

I’M SAYING they def act so dramatic w each other for NO reason but like they truly do not vibe with anybody else in blue lock quite as well as they vibe w one another so it’s mostly just jokes and silliness between them

WE ARE ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH FR!! i was also thinking of the recent chapters where we see the ubers watching the match and barou is wondering to himself what isagi will do now that kaiser has scored…it just had a v supportive feel to it?? like yes they’re rivals but they want each other to be the BEST because nothing less will do from a rival. whereas rin and kaiser just want to completely crush isagi 😭 honestly barou’s dynamics w literally every character are PEAK because yeah he’s all tough and gruff and bossy and whatnot but he also really seems to look out for everyone in his own way??? like him helping nagi out of the bath when he was abt to pass out and giving him a harsh but needed pep talk after mc vs ubers even though they literally hate each other KFHSJDH he’s honestly rlly mature in some ways (but def not in others) i love him a lot and love his development

i feel like karasu really brings out the teenage boy in all of his duos 😫 like hiori otherwise is so chill and reserved but w karasu he’s suddenly a menace?? and otoya is super go w the flow and relaxed but w karasu he’s ready to talk shit w the best of them 😭 he’s just the right mix of silly and serious it’s so perfect i will always love him

HAHA isagi def gets his fair share of shit but i think he has protagonist aura + we see so much of him off field that people generally agree that he’s a green flag because we really get to know what he’s like in his daily life!! also tbf isagi def is a little brutal on field but honestly he only ever gives back as good as he gets so i think the bad rep is a bit undeserved 😓 i think every example of him talking shit has been in response to another character dogging on him first — hence why players like hiori, nanase, kurona, and ig kiyora haven’t been insulted by him yet!! isagi is just an energy matcher fr 🥱

omg that story that these requests are based off of is sooo extensive it’s an attack on titan fic but it’s based mostly on a part of the world we don’t see in the show so the plot and characters are mostly mine (w some canon ones thrown in there for funsies). it’s probably one of my fav stories i’ve written even though i never finished because that y/n is fascinating — she is forced to commit some crazy war crimes and then has severe ptsd from it, and she’s also very very intelligent and selfish which is a rlly cool combo to write — and so much of the story is focused on her mental health issues and slow spiral. she’s almost like the forebear of hollyhock y/n LMAOO

man honestly i need to reread peregrine too just so i don’t accidentally contradict myself when writing it 😭 reo y/n may and chigiri are such a fun and interesting little friend group because they’re so fluid?? like there’s a lot of dynamics changing around there. and yess chigiri is my bestie!! tbh reo kinda is too even though i find him handsome just because i could never read or write for him…the instant nagi pulls up it’s wraps

i don’t mind shippers but i do agree that the shipping culture has changed a lot from how it used to be!! i have always loved rare pairs because they allow for more unique character exploration but as of late people have been very against rare pairs i feel?? like no you MUST ship “x” popular pairing or else you’re dumb and didn’t understand the media. i’ve also noticed people trying to make the most random ships problematic…it truly is never that deep never that serious and no a ship is not problematic just because the characters don’t like each other in canon or wtvr. that’s the whole fun of fandom and fanfiction!! imposing rules on it takes that away

the epinagi artist is just phenomenal they really do get the essence of nagi down pat…like his cute squishiness but also his colder side?? plus major bonus points for how they draw karasu 😮‍💨

HAHA rin and shidou are HUGE in that art and they’re like the only two characters in the spread i don’t care as much abt 😭 i fear a tabieitaken spread may never happen (unless we get smth w them in epinagi??)…also yes i figured ego was unnoticeable enough that it didn’t matter + he makes sure my pinned isn’t overwhelmed by shidou’s hot pink aura so in the end i can’t complain too much 🤷🏻‍♀️