#and touya's just so fucking difficult to read; which makes him terrifying

[inkykeiji]

daydreaming im dating touya & dabi twins. i came home & had to break the news that i got partnered with a boy from class for a project. "uhm me and this guy have to meet at the library for a project and..." dabi cuts me off saying "absolutely not" & touya is like dabi its for school so why doesnt the guy come here to work on it in our kitchen & im so scared this poor boy is gunna shit his pants. eyes glued to him the entire time making sure he doesnt dare look at my thighs or chest 🍓<3 ugh

LMFAOOOOOOOO OH MY GOSH BERRY BABIE I LOVE THIS SOOOOOOO MUCH AAAH

omfg okay first of all, you got their reactions SO right. dabi gets up to about “i got partnered with this boy—” and already knows exactly where this is going, voicing his disapproval immediately. touya, on the other hand, who is smoother and slyer than his twin, has an evil smirk spreading across his handsome face—one of those sharp little grins that sends shivers skittering down your spine—and calmly asks you to continue before ordering you to invite the boy to the home the three of you share. because there’s nothing that touya loves more than exerting his power over those weaker than he is <33

you’re only allowed to do your work in the kitchen, and you are never, under any circumstances, to be left alone with this guy; not even for a second...as if the dude would even dare to try anything—not with the way dabi’s scathing glare is burning a hole through his forehead and touya’s relaxed, half-lidded stare is forcing his entire body to break into a cold sweat <3 dabi watches him like he wants to murder him slowly—arms crossed, eyebrows knitted together, scarred lips set in a deep pout—while touya watches him like a lion lazily playing with it’s prey <33 poor dude can barely speak, let alone look you in the eye, his gaze glued to the papers in front of him the entire time, mumbling into his chest <3

[makeste]

some asks about BnHA 241 and 240 and then some random other asks

I agree with this completely, anon (especially given his attitude throughout the rest of the chapter), but I didn’t edit my initial response since I think there’s a good likelihood that he still deadpanned the line despite being 100% sincere. one could say he was Accidentally Sarcastic. anyways yeah, Todoroki Shouto is a disaster more at 11. 

(but also, he’s totally right and Bakugou is in full-blown denial over their blossoming friendship. because he already decided that they’re Not Friends, and thus he has to actively work to maintain that status now. which Todoroki is making very difficult these days! can you fucking do your part to keep the fucking rivalry going, Icy-Hot?? can you at least try?? why does he have to do all the work. sometimes he forgets for a moment and Todo catches him off guard and he responds normally without thinking and doesn’t realize it until later, and god. why is everything and everyone so stupid.)

I have not forgotten (though I did mix up Pixie-Bob with Mandalay though woop)! and that annoyed me too. we only have like six female pros out there as it is. why do half of them (looking at you too, Midnight) have to be mildly sex-crazed. I know it’s not serious and they’re not actually being serious, but still, is it really asking so much to get some female pros whose eccentricities are less specifically tailored to common male fantasies. you’re a fucking hero Pixie-Bob! you’re a fucking earthbender and you’re hot as heck. why are you so worried about not being able to Get A Man. with Mt. Lady it at least fits more with her general personality from what we’ve seen, I guess. anyways, y’all know I love like 98% of this series, but this is part of the 2%, so. it is what it is.

Tomura is Endgame Thanos, a.k.a. the most sinister and most genuinely frightening of the Thanoses. this really isn’t on track to end well sob.

ah, my bad. (regardless, it was still dramatic af.)

I think she’s a six-year-old (?? she seems six-ish, idk) girl who was terrified of her father and trying to stay under his radar (which was frankly the smart thing to do based on what we’ve seen), and was trying to teach her younger brother how to do the same, and I don’t blame her at all for throwing Tenko under the bus (if that’s indeed what happened); I’m sure she just panicked and didn’t mean it. she’s just a kid. -- was just a kid. anyways she was super cute and would have made a fucking awesome hero, and her death is easily the one I’m still the most raw about out of that whole fucking nightmare. I’m not getting over that. I want her to still be alive; at one point I was convinced of a conspiracy theory that AFO had secretly spared her too (because two Shimura heirs to manipulate are better than one), and Tomura only believed that she was dead due to his fragmented memories. but that seems less likely post-chapter 236.

so yeah, I’m still very upset about this. she was good and kind and loved her brother and had a lot of spirit and she did not even remotely deserve what happened to her.

thank you so much!! one of the best parts of fandom is interacting with other people and reading everyone’s different takes and theories. lord knows I miss a lot of stuff when I read, even when I’m trying very hard to pay attention. so I love when other people point stuff out and bring up ideas I hadn’t thought about.

also! without exception, every single person I’ve ever interacted with in this fandom on tumblr has been polite and courteous and civil as fuck, even on the occasions when we disagree, and I absolutely can’t take credit for that. people are just cool. so thank you everyone. (and particular shoutout to @thequietmanno1, who for some reason I can’t tag, but whom this ask is almost certainly referring to specifically.)

lmao anon this made my fucking day. thank you!!

all right, here goes!

a) this is possible for sure in that as a rule, I never put anything past AFO, and I don’t doubt for a second he’d be capable of this. but, it would kind of suck though. specifically it would suck for Tomura, who’s only just starting to come into his own at long last, and who has gone through quite a lot to get to this point. like, that would be devastating to see him reduced to a literal puppet after all of that. and if it did happen, I don’t know what the odds would be of him actually being “saved” after that (All Might at least would try, but I can’t see anyone else being concerned enough to bother. well except for the rest of the League, come to think of it. that could be interesting), and I’d be really sad if that ended up being how he went out. these things usually don’t end up working out too well for the body snatchee.

plus, this also hinges on whether or not AFO is capable of transferring his quirk to Tomura’s body. if not, there’s no way he’d take the tradeoff, regardless of how powerful Tomura’s own quirk has become at this point. that would just be a really bad deal. like trading the cow for beans, except these ones aren’t even magic beans, just like. normal beans. but if he does have a way of transferring the AFO quirk, then yeah. although he could take anyone’s body then if that was the case, and I can think of a few targets who just might be even more tempting than his protege. All Might’s protege, for one. ...you know what, this line of thinking is starting to get a little too horrifying so let’s move on to the other theory lol.

(b) a few people have mentioned the Shimura Momo theory to me, but to be totally honest, I can’t see much of a logical basis for it other than them bearing a slight resemblance and having similar hairstyles. Inko has also been brought up as potentially being related to Nana for the same reasons. it’d be cool, no doubt, but for me, I need more evidence than just that. I just don’t see how this would advance the plot or the characters’ storylines in any meaningful way. I guess it could potentially tie Momo in more to the central plot, but it’d be kind of a weird way to do it, idk.

then again I’m one to talk, because until fairly recently I was on board with Hagakure of all people turning out to be a Shimura (Hana, to be specific). she’s the traitor, she’s invisible, we never did find out what Hana’s quirk was, and this would mean that Hana was still alive this whole time which would be GREAT, because seriously fuck you Horikoshi!! but yeah that doesn’t seem likely now either. dammit.

anyway, so I’ll just say that both of these theories are possible, but for me personally, in order to be sold on a specific theory I need to be able to see how it logically fits within the storyline and how it moves the story forward. like, Dabi being Todoroki Touya is something I’m 100% on board with, because that’s an established mystery in the series (who is Touya, what happened to him, who is Dabi, etc.), and Dabi fits into place with the evidence we have, and it gives us a lot of Todoroki drama and gives Endeavor and Shouto a personal connection to the Leagu... Pliff. but for something like the Momo theory, I would need there to be some indication that there’s a third sibling we don’t know about, and some hinting about there being more to Momo’s past than we know, and right now I don’t see either of those things, so it’s hard to get on board. hopefully that makes sense.

anon I really like that you phrased this as an inevitability lol. (and I am 100% on board.)

assuming this happens at the very end of the series, I like to think Tomura and the rest of his gang will manage to “escape” the heroes (“oh no... Tomura... he’s getting away... this is awful... somebody stop him” meanwhile no one is making even the slightest effort to move lol), at which point they will live the rest of their lives happily ever after as Lovable Outlaws and All-Around Scamps. like, maybe they’ll still commit some crimes, but they won’t be like serious crimes or anything. they’ll have more of a Guardians of the Galaxy vibe, maybe. I want them to be happy and I don’t want them to go to jail even though they’re teeeeeeeechnically murderers, I GUESS (look, nobody’s perfect!!). but maybe they steal the occasional priceless artifact and inadvertently wind up saving the world. seems like the best compromise.

lol I don’t know what this means either. like in the way a Youtuber has their own brand?? or like Frito-Lays. idk all I really do is talk a lot about an extremely popular manga, so I don’t think that’d really count?? I’m fine with this just being a little tumblr discussion blog haha.

so I’ve gotten like a half dozen asks and messages about this lol. (someone actually told me a very specific detail about said past! so just to remind everyone, I’m spoiler-free on Vigilantes right now guys, I’m sorry. I know it’s no fun.) I regret to admit that I still have not yet gotten around to it. I don’t know what it is, but I’m having a lot of trouble reading new stuff right now. I tried to start the other new BnHA spin-off which @temperatezone told me about (and btw no I did not know about it, so thank you!!) (and also! BnHA has THREE SEPARATE FUCKING SPIN-OFFS right now, how fucking crazy is that. like, I don’t want to accuse a manga series of literally trying to take over the world, but!! seriously that’s just insane), which has an amazing premise, but I haven’t had time/been in the right mindset to start that yet either. it sucks. I’m sorry. I’m working on it. ;;

press f to pay respects to what could have been, guys. they literally had it all. class, an ironic acronym, you name it. and now it’s just PLF. the Iron Patriot of villain organization names.

[tenspontaneite]

Paper Cranes (14/?)

Hikaru is more of a dickhead than usual.

Hikaru woke to a room without air.

One moment he was deep in slumber, and the next he was gasping for breath, dread clawing sharply at his throat. Too recently awoken for rational thought and too terrified to get himself together, Hikaru desperately tried to scramble up, away – but only succeeded in tangling himself in his sheets. Fabric cocooned his legs like a death sentence, and he couldn’t breathe - he kicked and struggled and writhed free, falling out of his bed with a shock of pain as he hit the floor-

“Shindou?” The voice was familiar and unthreatening, despite its alarm, and the sound of it was almost like a physical sensation, like a cold wind, like fresh air. Hikaru gasped, breath coming in short bursts as he hunched up against the side of his bed, quivering with the urge to run away. “Shindou, what on Earth-“

A hand settled onto his shoulder, and he looked up to stare at it uncomprehendingly. He followed the line of the arm up to a face he recognised very well, and felt his pulse slow a little. “…Touya?” He managed. “What are you doing here?”

“I stayed over last night.” The other boy reminded him, brows furrowed. He looked rather worried. “Are you alright? You…”

Hikaru stared back at his houseguest, thoughts struggling their way through panic. “I’m…at home.” He said, mostly to himself. “And you’re staying over, and – what time is it?” He whirled around, looking for his clock. “Six in the morning. Huh.” It was still completely dark, but it was the darker time of year, so…

Run run run his impulses continued to urge him, and he shuddered. Resisting them and sitting still made his skin crawl, but he’d do himself no favours by running out into the night in his pyjamas.

What the hell was that? He thought, with an unpleasant feeling that he already knew the answer. The dread and anxiety scraping at his nerves were far too familiar.

“Shindou?”

Hikaru blinked, and frowned uneasily at his friend. He was too keyed-up to be especially embarrassed or self-conscious at essentially waking Touya up with a panic attack, but that would probably come later. “…Nightmare, I think.” He lied easily, injecting just enough reluctance into the words that it should go down nicely. “Give me a minute.”

He closed his eyes and, carefully, pored over his ragged soul for signs of incursions. He couldn’t find anything – it wasn’t coming from within, then. That could only mean that a demon, almost certainly Kaminaga’s, was in range of his developing senses. They were so new to him; it was difficult to interpret the unease and fear that twisted viciously in his mind, and the sensation of extending his reach remained tenuous and uncertain. He tried it anyway, awareness stretching in wobbly stops and starts outside of the house’s protective shell.

The sense of dread grew more and more as he extended in a particular direction, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out what that direction might be. Concentrating, Hikaru shuffled to orient himself where he felt the danger, and opened his eyes. The first second of vision threatened to snap that awareness back to his body, but he took a deep breath, and persisted.

Hikaru stared at a blank bit of wall between his windows, having ascertained that Kaminaga was in the direction of the train station and probably not all that far away. Was he getting closer, though? He trembled at the thought.

“…Shindou.” Touya said, distracting him just enough that his reach snapped back at once, and then there was only the feel of the house around him and of doom approaching.

Hikaru looked over at his friend, and the rush of fear was like freezing water down his spine. Touya is here, when someone maybe possessed by a demon might be after me. He acknowledged, fingers curling into fists. Why the hell did I let him come here? Stupid! What the fuck do I do?

“…Yeah?” He responded, instead of voicing any of the panicked thoughts that were swelling in his head. He rubbed at his face with both hands, feeling shaky and off-balance, considering the picture he must make. Nightmare, he thought, firmly, as he looked up at his guest. That’s the story I have to stick to. But what if Kaminaga came? What if he broke into the house? Would the ofuda stop him?

Oh, right. Ofuda. “A nightmare?” Touya prompted, following on from his improvised excuse.

“Kind of a nasty one.” Hikaru admitted, rising slowly to his feet to investigate the packet he’d brought back from Utagawashi’s shrine. He fished past the packet meant for Akari’s house and pulled out the personal charms in their crinkly plastic. There were three of them, it seemed, and thankfully they came with their own cheap cord. He tied one around his neck, slipping it under his shirt, and felt its spark flash against his skin. Then he offered one of the remaining two to Touya, stubbornly not thinking about how weird it must all seem. “Put this on, will you?”

Touya took it from his fingers and read it, turning it dubiously in his hand. “A protective ofuda?” He asked, brow very lightly furrowed.

“Just do it.” Hikaru sighed, climbing back onto his bed. “You can take it off tonight if you like, just put the damn thing on.”

“Why?” His rival demanded, never one to easily do as he was told.

“Because I said so, and I’m your host.” He scowled back, furtively peeling back one of his curtains to peer in the direction of the train station. “Don’t be a bad guest.” You should really escape now, his instincts suggested again, undaunted by his resistance.

“I hardly think wearing protective charms is part of good guest etiquette.” Touya said, an eyebrow raised. Hikaru glanced at him and then back to the road, unable to see very far in the low light. If someone was approaching, he’d not be able to tell until they were close enough for the nearest lamps. He sat back and let the curtain settle.

“It is now.” Hikaru inspected the nanadan’s face, quickly interpreting his obstinacy. The boy didn’t actually care about the ofuda, he just wanted to be belligerent and maybe get some answers out of him. Dickhead.

“Tell me why.” Touya said, proving Hikaru’s observations in three stubborn words.

“Because.” Hikaru insisted, brushing aside another frothing rush of panic that demanded his immediate escape from the area. It felt somewhat stronger than before, an impulse that nearly bypassed his thoughts entirely to seize control of his body. He paused, breathed, and added “Just do it, and then maybe we can get back to sleep for a couple of hours.” He didn’t mention how spectacularly unlikely that was on his part. In fact, he’d probably be fleeing right now if it weren’t for Touya, and for the fact that Kaminaga was currently in the direction of his escape route. Very inconvenient.

Touya studied him, eyes intent. Go-intent. Like he was searching for a trap hidden in stones. Usually, that look was directed at a goban; it was somewhat disconcerting to have it aimed at his face. Then, slowly, deliberately, he opened his mouth and said “Why?”

Hikaru let out an undignified and somewhat frustrated sound. “Touya!” He complained, biting the syllables off like an insult, and gallantly resisted shouting ‘to protect your non-existent soul from demons, you idiot’. It was a considerable effort. Sai would tut at the rudeness of his current thoughts, no doubt. He exhaled, and distracted himself by closing his eyes and reaching out again, awareness wobbling the further he extended it. Terror encroached like a tide of red, pulling more ardently at his breath the closer he reached to the distant threat, which he thought didn’t feel quite as distant anymore. It was getting closer.

Shit. Hikaru cursed inwardly, wondering what he’d do if something actually happened. What could he do? He had the ofuda barrier, but…Touya was here, and he didn’t know anything. All he knew was that Hikaru had abruptly become religious and also very weird about ofuda.

…I’m an idiot. He opened his eyes and immediately went to grab his phone from the bedside, opening a new text message to Utagawashi.

Kaminaga is in town. He’s coming from the train station. He sent, quickly. Then, a second later, he typed out might be coming here, or shrine. What do I do?

It was quite early. He knew Utagawashi tended to be up in mornings, but he wasn’t sure how early those mornings might be. Still, it was worth a shot. Shrine staff started at ridiculous hours, right?

Touya was still watching him, eyes ever-so-slightly narrowed, and Hikaru knew him well enough to understand that there was a lot of thinking going on there. He still hadn’t put on the charm. Hikaru twitched, and held himself still against the aggressive urge to just go over there and force the damn thing around his neck. “Put the ofuda on, Touya.” He said, almost plaintively.

“Will you tell me why?” He shot back immediately, voice calm except for the edge of challenge, damn him.

Hikaru scowled at him, and wondered if there was a way to pack emergency supplies for fleeing Tokyo without his dickhead of a guest noticing and getting in his face about it. Which, actually, was another good point…

He opened a text to Yashiro, stating Just a heads up, might be dropping by soon. Don’t count on it though. Then he closed the phone, turning to regard Touya.

He paused. He mulled over his options. Then, in a tone of deep and biting sarcasm, he said “I had a scary dream, and if you put that on, it might make me feel better.”

Touya tilted his head, ever-so-slightly, considering. He held the eye contact for several seconds as he pondered the partially-untrue statement. Then, calm and collected as anything, he reached up and tied the charm around his neck. Finally.

“Thank you.” Hikaru sighed, his annoyance at the requisite effort somewhat counteracting his relief at success. Still…when he reached out, he could feel that guarding spark there, and it did help.

“…Are you going to go back to sleep, now?” His guest inquired, settling into stately seiza on the futon. The sheer solid calm of his posture and demeanour was startlingly reminiscent of his father, though the nightclothes sort of ruined the effect.

“I’m not sure I can.” Hikaru admitted, honestly, after a moment. “You can, though. We don’t need to be anywhere for hours yet.”

“Hm…I don’t think so. It’s not that early, after all.” Touya decided, and glanced deliberately at the goban they’d played on the previous night. “We could discuss that game, if you’re not going to sleep?”

Hikaru stared at the board, anchoring himself in the black-and-white. Was he in a state of mind where he could sit down, unmoving, and discuss a game? When a soul-threatening menace was drawing near outside? “...In a bit, maybe. I don’t think I’m awake enough for that yet.” It was patently a lie: with the amount of adrenaline pumping into his system, he could hardly remember a time he’d felt more awake. He was jittery with it, resplendent with agitation, every new second crawling under his skin like an unwelcome insect.

“Maybe take a shower, then. I’m happy to wait.” The other boy looked impossibly serene for the situation, but then again, he had no idea what was near. Hikaru envied him his ignorance.

Still, it wasn’t a bad idea to get somewhere away from his uninformed guest. He’d prefer to conduct any oncoming freak-outs in private, thank you very much. “I think I’ll do that.” He sighed, clutching at the wall for support as he stood up. He reached for the fan, unwilling to leave it here for a trip to the bathroom under these circumstances, even though it earned him an odd look. He left his room, closing the door quietly, and walked rigidly down the hallway. Running would do no good, he reminded himself, pushing back the maddening urge to get away. He had nowhere better to escape to, and his house was warded. Running wouldn’t help.

But, ugh, what if it would? Hikaru turned the lock on the bathroom door, leaning forwards to hit his forehead against the wood, groaning quietly. Utagawashi was of the opinion that a shrine’s honden couldn’t be ventured into by anything less than a demon king, so maybe the shrine would be a safer place, after all? But…no. Even if that were the case, and the honden would offer sanctuary…

Hikaru went still against the door, breathing very quietly, as though he were hiding. As though any movement would give him away.

There wasn’t enough time to run, now.

Dread crept up on him like a black wave, a tide of shadow come to pull him under. What he’d felt as a distant terror, abruptly, passed into awareness; a nameless horror reaching out from the dark, steeped in blood and madness. It was looking for him, its gleeful anticipation gushing out as though from a lanced boil, the pus and rot of it choking up his lungs – it was too late to run. It was already here.

Barbed desperation seized him by the throat. When Hikaru shoved his arm up between his teeth, stopping up his voice, it was from the atavistic certainty that if he screamed it might find him. In the space of seconds, fear swallowed him whole, promising that the slightest sound, the slightest movement, the slightest twitch of his senses would be ruin-

The demon unfurled, terribly close, searching, reaching out for him, its crooning shadows slipping profanely between the layers of reality, and-

For several seconds, Hikaru – wasn’t there. He was separated, distant, held apart from everything by stark panic. His senses were lost to him, thoughts well beyond his grasp. For those moments, he remained suspended from everything without even the lights in his soul to hold on to-

But then, with a shock like a lightning-strike in the dark, Hikaru felt his enemy’s reach break upon light.

It was the ofuda – but they’d never been so bright before. They gathered as blinding as sunlight in the walls, so furiously incandescent that Hikaru felt that his eyes should be hurting, that there should be white spots on his vision, but there was only the ward. The ward, poised between him and a demon.

When Hikaru returned to something resembling awareness, he was curled on the cold tiles, teeth clamped painfully into his arm as he shook. His heartbeat was horribly, dizzyingly fast, and he was alive. His eyes were watering in some reflex reaction to light that wasn’t actually there, salt stinging in trails down both cheeks as he blinked rapidly to clear it.

Minutes had passed and the demon was still held at bay, curling like a snarl beyond the house-wards. The first thing he thought, hysterically, was thank fuck we fixed the wards last night and then he was laughing. Sick, choked sounds into his arm, reminding him that he was still biting himself like a total idiot. He pulled his arm away, clamping his teeth closed, as the walls frothed with power.

The second thought he had, dazed, was I owe Inari a really nice offering.

Once another minute had passed, Hikaru recovered enough of his wits to, tentatively, try to feel for what was still going on. All around him the wards crested, mantling with radiance, the motion almost angry. It was actually quite hard to tell what was going on beyond them, now – the horrifying blight of the demon’s presence was certainly far less immediate. He could just about feel it, coiling out in the dark street like an angry snake, thwarted and hateful and hungry.

With the overbearing terror of it distant, kept at bay by his wards, a hint of embarrassment occurred to him. He’d completely lost it, panicked so thoroughly that all capacity for higher thought had fled him, which was decidedly not a good thing to have done under the circumstances. Just…it had been so overwhelming. Without a doubt, he was a lot more sensitive than he’d been the last time he faced the demon, and apparently that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Hikaru exhaled, his breathing returning to something approaching normal. He sat quietly, feeling for the monster outside in the dark. He remained uncomfortably aware of the wards’ fragility, and the fact that Kaminaga might peel away his protection with a single piece of paper.

Minutes slipped away, and slowly, the presence receded. The wards settled down from their bristling rage, though their shape still prickled with alert.

Carefully, he felt after the retreating menace. It was heading vaguely shrine-wards, but…not quite.

For appearances’ sake, Hikaru staggered to the sink and ran a cloth over his face, and then left the bathroom. He’d not brought his phone, and he needed to warn Utagawashi. He pushed into his bedroom and paused. “Why are you on my phone?”

“He’s here now.” Touya spoke into the phone, voice professional and polite. “I’ll hand you over.”

Hikaru eyed the proffered phone with suspicion, but accepted it and held it to his ear. “Hello?”

“Shindou-kun.” Of course. It was Utagawashi. “You didn’t mention a friend was staying with you.”

“Didn’t think to, sorry.” He said, making a ‘wait’ gesture at Touya and leaving his room again. “Hang on, need to get downstairs so I can talk…”

“…You seem quite calm. Did Kaminaga-san not approach after all?”

Hikaru went into the kitchen, which was possibly the furthest he could get from his bedroom and still be in the house. “No, he definitely did. Came and stood outside the house for a bit like a total creep. Listen – I think he’s heading for you. The demon couldn’t get through the ofuda.”

“It tried?” The priest’s voice was sharp.

“It definitely fucking tried. It was looking for me.” He shook a little at the mere memory, dread still looming in the distance as the demon receded.  Quietly, he added “…I think it might be stronger.”

Quiet held over the line for a few seconds. “Why do you say that?”

“I could be wrong. I’m more sensitive now, so it felt a lot worse. It could just be that.” Hikaru said hastily, before getting to the meat of his observation. “But…uh. I couldn’t feel Kaminaga. Even though he must have been right outside my house.”

Utagawashi cursed, softly. “Not at all?”

“Could be the demon was so noisy I just didn’t feel him.” He pointed out, uneasy. “I was pretty freaked out – I could totally have missed it.”

The priest was silent, and Hikaru could understand why. After all, he’d been able to sense Kaminaga at the shrine, and that was before the circumstances had forced his sensitivity to skyrocket. Not being able to detect him now did not bode well.

“…I’ll make preparations under the assumption that he’s fully possessed. Just in case.”

“What does that mean?”

There was the sound of movement on the other end. “Mostly, I try to sanctify the area any way I can. I’ll burn incense, sit down to pray – I’ll have ofuda and a purification chant ready. I won’t let him into my building.” There was a pause. “Can you feel him from where you are?”

“…Hang on.” Hikaru closed his eyes, and focused. Concentration was difficult to hold, after the fright he’d had, but he just about managed to chase the looming menace in the distance. “…Yeah, I can. I can’t really judge distances yet though, so it’s not that helpful. I think he’s definitely heading for you and not the shrine, though.”

“Unfortunately, he knows where I live.” Utagawashi’s voice was grim. “I’d best make preparations, Shindou-kun.” He hesitated. “I’ll keep you updated as the situation progresses.”

Hikaru felt his throat tighten with fear for the priest. It occurred to him that Utagawashi’s life might well be in danger, and this danger was something he’d brought on, by asking for Kaminaga to be called in. “I’ll pray for you.” He said, abruptly, and his face burned once his own words registered with him. It was possibly the corniest thing he could have said in any situation, but…

“…Thank you.” Quiet gratitude filtered over the phone. There was a moment of uncertain pause, and then he hung up.

The phone beeped in his ear until he lowered it, exiting the disconnected call screen with a press of the button. His heart didn’t necessarily beat quickly, but it thudded, almost painfully.

Hikaru stared at the phone screen, a confused tangle of guilt and worry twisting in his gut. He considered, for a moment, phoning the police anyway, despite the potential problems. They’d surely stand a better chance than Utagawashi of fighting off someone with a sword, right? Especially if they were warned.

…They’d fare a whole lot worse against possession, though. Especially if the sword-spirit had become stronger, or at least less restrained.

He put the phone in his pocket to avoid gripping it too hard, and went for the liquor cupboard to get a fresh saucer of sake. As quietly as he could manage, he climbed the stairs, replacing the saucer at the kamidana before heading to his room for incense.

Touya, thankfully, had not allowed his nosiness to progress to eavesdropping. He had exchanged god knows how many words with Utagawashi, though, so Hikaru might potentially have some explaining to do. “You’re done on the phone, then?” His rival inquired, apparently curious enough about everything that he’d not messed with the goban at all.

“Uhuh.” He mumbled in reply, fishing out a stick of incense and extracting his lighter from the corner of the drawer.

“…You’re going to pray? Now?”

“Yep.” Hikaru said, with something as close to cheer as he could approximate given the circumstances. “Feel free to join me.” He headed for the door without waiting for a response, making a beeline for the house’s kamidana. To his surprise, Touya did actually come, arriving just as he was lighting the candles. When Hikaru blinked at him, he shrugged.

“You did offer.” He explained, a little condescendingly, in answer to the unspoken question. “Is there anything in particular we’re praying for now?”

“…The safety of friends and family, I guess.” He lit the incense. “Also, thank him for protecting us.” Hikaru sat down in front of the shrine, bowing his head and closing his eyes. He barely noticed Touya following his example. This time, he didn’t wait. He pushed aside his vague fright of the god’s too-vast shadow, and reached straight in.

Awareness washed over him, again, and he let out a shaky breath.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. He pushed gratitude out in a desperate, tremulous, heartfelt torrent. If it wasn’t for those ofuda I’d be dead by now, or – or worse, I’ll be giving offerings for weeks before I can even start to make up for that-

The heart of the kamidana flickered, almost like acknowledgement. Shifted, to welcome the open flow of feeling.

-but, please. Utagawashi is – it’s heading for him. Protect him, too. He’s only in danger because of me in the first place. Hikaru swallowed, eyes stinging beneath his eyelids. Don’t let that bastard get him.

In the shrine, the hint of consciousness said Peace, so firmly that it might as well have been written in stone. Faith chased the uttering, with the ironclad assurance of keeping one’s own from harm.

…And that, apparently, was that. The flicker of awareness retreated, settling back to the spark in the ofuda. The weight of that vast, ephemeral attention shifted away – hopefully to Utagawashi’s benefit.

Even though he wasn’t sure he had an audience any more, Hikaru spent the rest of the incense’s lifespan pouring in his thanks.

---

Once he was done with the prayer, Hikaru wasn’t completely sure what he should be doing. Common sense indicated that he shouldn’t remain in the path of the demon, since Kaminaga would need to pass by his house again if he wanted to catch a train. On the other hand, the idea of leaving the wards with a demon so comparatively close seemed a frankly terrifying idea. The more he thought about it, though, the more it seemed a good idea to put some distance between the demon and himself.

Leaving for Osaka, however…somehow, that felt a little too close to abandonment. At least if he was still in Tokyo, Hikaru might be able to respond to hypothetical distress calls. Which, actually, was a reason why it might be better to stay home. But in that case, Touya would have questions…and he already had enough of those.

“That man called himself your spiritual advisor.” Touya informed him, as he went about making some rice for lack of a concrete decision.

Hikaru snorted, despite his tension. “Pfff. Really? Spiritual advisor? Is that what he said?”

“Is it not true, then? He did sound like he was scrambling for an answer when I asked.”

“No, actually, that’s pretty much exactly right.” He admitted freely, staring vengefully at the rice cooker. “Never actually thought of it that way, though. He’s a priest,” He added, seeing Touya’s brows draw into a befuddled frown. “Works at the local Inari shrine.”

Touya said nothing for a few moments. His eyes flickered briefly to one of the ofuda on the kitchen walls. “…Is he who wrote you the ofuda?” He asked, because he was unwholesomely sharp like that.

“…Yeah.” Hikaru sighed, wondering how much he was going to regret Touya’s visit once everything calmed down. What with the ofuda thing last night, the morning’s performance, and now this…he might have some difficulty bullshitting his way out of an explanation. Stubborn stonewalling might even be necessary – it seemed likely that Touya would get pushy about this sort of thing.

“Why did he give you dozens of custom-made ofuda asking for spiritual protection, of all things?” It was the sensible follow-up question, but damn him for asking it anyway.

“He’s superstitious, obviously. Claimed there’s a demon problem in the area and told me to put them up for a while.” Hikaru sort-of-lied cheerfully, removing the rice bowl as it signalled the end of cooking. “Can’t really argue with free ofuda, right? I even got replacements for the house shrine.”

Touya eyed him with deep scepticism. “Shindou, I’ve heard you complain about your grandfather’s superstition at least ten times in the last year.” He said, in a particularly flagrant example of exaggeration. “You will not convince me that you decided to fill your house with ofuda on a random priest’s say-so.”

“Why else would I do it?” Hikaru demanded, filling two bowls and an offering bowl with the rice before unceremoniously planting the cooker’s tub into the sink.

Deciding to pretend that the question was not rhetorical, his inconvenient guest promptly started listing off possibilities. “You could have been promised something else in return for putting the ofuda up.” Touya began, primly. “You could be putting the ofuda up to freak people out or win a bet. You could actually believe the priest and be putting the ofuda up because of that – which would incidentally explain why you became so defensive when I tampered with one yesterday – or you could be-“

Hikaru passed him a bowl of rice to shut him up, absconding with the little bowl for the shrine. He carried it upstairs and rested it carefully on the shrine shelf, and then returned for his own bowl. “We’re leaving in no later than twenty minutes, so get that down your throat.” He informed, completely ignoring all of the guesses he’d been battered with, and began shovelling sustenance forcefully into his own body.

“Why the hurry?” Touya demanded, abandoning his prior line of questioning. He seemed disinclined to use his hands like a savage as Hikaru was doing, and investigated likely drawers until he located some chopsticks.

Again, Hikaru cheerfully ignored him. Once he’d finished, quickly enough that his oesophagus had become very displeased with him, he put that bowl in the sink as well, and hurried upstairs to pack some essentials into his day bag before Touya could follow and get all suspicious about it. He made another, very brief, trip to the bathroom, and got dressed as swiftly as he could manage. As it happened, he managed all of this in the time it took Touya to finish his breakfast, because he was making abortive attempts at washing up when Hikaru went to check on him.

He shooed his slightly harried-looking guest away from the sink, claiming “You don’t have time for that, go get ready. I’m leaving without you if you take too long!”

“You are a terrible host.” Touya informed him as he was bullied upstairs, and then Hikaru was alone.

After he heard the bathroom door close, Hikaru closed his eyes and tried to feel for the demon again. It must have been far away enough, by then, to be approaching Utagawashi’s flat. He couldn’t quite reach it – the focus was too difficult to hold – but there was a hint of distant menace at his furthest stretch. Hikaru checked his phone, and found nothing. He wished, suddenly, that he’d thought to get the onmyouji’s contact details from Utagawashi. Then, maybe, he could get another opinion more informed than his own.

Hikaru kept his focus on the faraway demon as best he could while he waited, feeling it grow steadily more and more distant. He opened his eyes at the sound of footsteps on the staircase, blinking a little blearily at Touya. “You ready to go?”

“More or less, though it’s hours too early for me to need to be anywhere.” The boy said pointedly.

“Finally.” Hikaru said, as though twenty minutes was a reasonable amount of time to ask someone to eat breakfast and get ready in. “Let’s go.” He swiftly went about the business of getting his shoes on by the door.

Touya followed. “Go where? You don’t have anywhere to be for hours, either.”

He considered the question as he opened the door, stepping out into the early-morning cold with a slight shiver. “Eh, somewhere. You can go home or to a salon or something.” He waited for Touya to step through the door before he closed it, swiftly setting off down the path. Around two metres from his front door, Hikaru felt himself leave the wards, the protective light passing behind him. Abruptly, he felt far less safe, even though the sword demon was distant enough now that he could barely sense it.

“…You’re not suddenly leaving the city again, are you?” The nanadan’s tone was deeply suspicious, and Hikaru reflexively grimaced at him.

“Probably not.”

“’Probably’?” He repeated, a little too loudly for the quiet of the street. Some people were up at this time, going about preparing their cars, but for the most part no one was around.

“Shut up, Touya, it’s too early for your pestering.” Hikaru informed him, setting an uncomfortably brisk pace for the train station. His earlier anxiousness to escape still lingered, and he was putting it to good use.

“Why are you walking so fast?” Touya demanded, lengthening his own stride to keep up. “Do you have an appointment I don’t know about?”

“Nope.” He replied, cheerfully. “Walk faster.” He followed his own advice, now solidly into solider-walk territory. He doubted he could convince Touya to run so this was sort of the best he could manage.

“Shindou…!”

“Stop bitching and walk.”

By the time they got to the station, Touya was really quite annoyed with him, and undoubtedly full to bursting with intrusive questions.

“You’ve been behaving strangely lately.” The boy accused, belatedly fumbling with the ticket machine as Hikaru threatened to walk off without him. “You’re not making any sense.”

“I think you’ll find it’s your face that doesn’t make sense.” Hikaru answered, checking his phone for the fifth time in as many minutes. Still no update, and the demon was beyond his range. He sighed, and settled deeply into the most obstinate kind of stonewalling-mindset he was capable of.

“Why did you make us leave so early?” His persistent rival demanded.

“Why were you born with green hair?” Hikaru returned, slipping his phone back into his pocket as Touya took his ticket.

That prompted a confused, vaguely enraged grimace. “Why was I – how is that relevant?”

“See, most Japanese people don’t have green hair. And your parents don’t. Are you sure you’re not adopted?”

Touya stared at him, flummoxed. “I am not adopted.” He insisted, slowly. Suspiciously.

Hikaru pretended to mull over his words. “Yeah,” He said, thoughtfully. “I guess you have to be related to your dad, at least. That sort of Go obsession has to be at least sort of genetic, right?”

“…That hardly explains you, Shindou.” The other boy said, eyes steadily narrowing. “And don’t think I’m going to be distracted so easily – you’re hiding something, and trying to irritate me so I’ll stop asking questions.”

“Is it working?” Hikaru inquired, as though genuinely interested in the answer.

The narrowed eyes shifted into full-out glaring. “No!”

“I don’t know, you’re looking quite annoyed. See, your face is going kind of pink and blotchy.” He pointed helpfully at the face in question, as if Touya needed help locating it. It turned even pinker in response.

“I have too many questions for you to distract me.” His rival informed him through clenched teeth.

“You have one of those faces that changes colour when you’re worked up about things, has anyone ever told you that?” Hikaru inquired. “Kind of like one of those shitty mood rings, but with less colour variety. Occasionally you manage purple but not usually anything more interesting than that.”

Touya very clearly wanted to hit him. Instead, he asked “Why did that man call you at half six in the morning?”

“He wants me to take up misogi.” Hikaru said. “I told him to fuck off about it, but he’s persistent. Keeps bugging me early in the morning when the water is iciest.”

He was rewarded with a beautifully frustrated scowl. “That’s not even close to being believable.” He claimed, with heat.

“Really? Funny, because that one was sort of true.” He remarked, pushing his way onto the train with grim victory. It was already crowded with early commuters, and given train etiquette, Touya now wouldn’t be able to interrogate him without the carriage as a whole reacting as though he’d dribbled on their shoes.

Touya opened his mouth as he followed into the train, then grimaced and closed it again. The glare he shot Hikaru was nothing short of vengeful. “I will get answers out of you. Later.” He promised.

Hikaru stuck his tongue out and left it at that. After all, later, many things might have happened. And he was frankly far more concerned about those things than a nosy and persistent rival.

Eventually, he identified the stop Touya would have to get off at to go to his father’s salon, and shoved him towards the train doors. The nanadan shot him a venomous look as he left the train. Hikaru stared as the doors closed, the sight of that annoyance making him feel oddly contemplative.

It really was a good thing that they were rivals, more than friends. Most friends, after all, wouldn’t take that sort of antagonism lightly. Hikaru almost felt bad about it; it wasn’t Touya’s fault that he was embroiled in spiritual conflict, after all.

Still, he was literally fearing for someone’s life at the moment, as well as his own. He thought he could be excused for being more of a dick than usual. Also, Touya thrived on challenge and irritation. Their next game was probably going to be gorgeous.

Assuming he, you know, hadn’t been eaten by a demon by then.

Hikaru really hadn’t had a destination in mind, but after some considering of the timetables, he switched trains and headed for Chuo. The Namiyoke Inari shrine was there, after all, and a shrine seemed as good a place as any to wait for news that may or may not come.

---

After frequenting Utagawashi’s shrine, which was just about big enough to warrant having a kannushi but only just, it was a little weird to see one of the well-known shrines again. At this time on a weekday, not many people were there, but it was still odd to see. He might be mostly alone in all the spirit stuff, but he certainly wasn’t on the Shinto side of things.

Hikaru behaved like a proper respectful shrine-goer, washing his left and right hand and his mouth as well, and bowing properly to the torii. He even bought an ema, one of those wooden prayer boards, writing ‘please let no one I know die today’ on it before hanging it with all the others. He’d have bought some tofu or mochi for offering, if there had been a place nearby selling it, but there wasn’t.

He received a curious glance from one of the miko as he proceeded to the prayer hall, probably on account of his hair, or maybe the early hour. He removed his shoes in the space provided and went in, sitting quietly where he could. It was good that few people were visiting – it meant he wasn’t going to get shooed out so that other people could take their turns.

Hikaru closed his eyes, settling into familiar seiza. This shrine felt…different. He’d started to feel a sort of presence about Utagawashi’s shrine, an odd otherworldliness, and while that sensation was quite distinct here…there was something else, too.

It felt like something was watching him.

Uneasy, he gave his soul a thorough looking-at, but found nothing of note.

Something further away, then? Hikaru cast out his awareness, trying briefly to do it in all directions at once and failing miserably. Instead, he reached forwards, where he knew the honden was, beyond walls and stairs. The heart of the shrine was strong and distinct – a proud flame, where the ofuda were mere sparks. It flickered briefly at him in acknowledgement. Then there was a pause, something moving in the energy like the curl of a thought.

The shrine’s heart reached back to him, very smoothly, and echoes of mischief eddied over him like rain on a window-pane. Searching-leftwards, it whispered, and then retreated.

Hikaru opened his eyes to stare in the direction of the honden, not certain what to think. The hint was fairly obvious, but…

To hell with it. Hikaru closed his eyes and swept his awareness left, reaching out as though feeling around for something in the dark-

A hint of fur.

Hikaru grabbed at the presence, blindly, and felt it slip through his insubstantial fingers like a startled fish. Surprised!, Hikaru felt, very briefly, before it retreated entirely beyond his awareness. He felt around but found no hint of it again. He looked around himself, surreptitiously, finding only the prayer hall.

A spirit, then? And, evidently, one that Inari was okay with.

Despite everything, Hikaru felt himself growing interested. The demon sword hadn’t been the best first spirit to meet, so it was kind of cool that he’d felt another one, now, even if it did seem to be hiding from him. And maybe watching him.

His phone buzzed. It came as such a surprise, after his distraction, that he jumped half-way out of his skin. Restraining a curse, he bowed respectfully to the kamidana and then left the prayer hall, slipping his shoes on as he removed his phone from his pocket.

He groaned when he saw the name on the message: Yashiro. He liked the guy, and all, but he was kind of in major suspense waiting for Utagawashi. Well, no matter. He opened the message.

‘Anything I should know about?’ Yashiro had inquired, in response to his notification of a maybe-visit.

Hikaru tapped the keys indecisively for a few seconds, then sent ‘Nah. Thanks, though.’

The reply was quick, maybe less than a minute later. ‘Let me know if your plans firm up.’

He pondered that, a little grimly. After all, he hadn’t decided how long he was going to wait for Utagawashi to respond. Sure, he had stuff to do today – the Meijin study session in the afternoon, as just one example – but if he didn’t get an update within a reasonable time-frame, it would not bode well. And Hikaru would rather miss out on some responsibilities than die.

Kaminaga had to have arrived at Utagawashi’s place a fair while ago, by now. If more than maybe two hours passed without any updates, he should probably head for Osaka. ‘I might know for sure in a few hours.’ He wrote back. Yashiro didn’t respond to that one, but it didn’t really need a response, so.

Hikaru sighed, and went to sit by a fox statue to wait.

---

The being-watched sensation persisted.

After a while, waiting tensely for Utagawashi to get in contact got tiring, and Hikaru allowed the watching-spirit to distract him. He was quite sure that it was intentionally hiding from him – otherwise, he felt sure his spiritual flailing should have touched on it at least once. But…the thing was sneaky. Without Inari’s tip-off, he might have never caught the hint of it earlier at all.

He tried to focus on the feeling of being watched itself, because the fact that he was feeling that meant that he was sensing something. After half an hour of what felt like trying to catch smoke, he thought he was starting to get a better feel for it, but nothing concrete enough to find the thing-

His eyes narrowed, feeling watching settling on him from behind, up – he thrust an arm out, in reflexive accompaniment to the reach-

Can’t-catch-me danced tauntingly at the edge of his senses, the feeling of it slipping away between one second and the next. His eyebrow twitched as his hand closed on thin air.

He pulled his arm back in, closing his eyes to grope for the sensation of something-watching again. He’d almost found it when, unexpectedly, his phone vibrated. He jolted, and it vibrated again, in a sequence, which meant he was being called-

Hikaru pulled out his phone, saw Utagawashi, and felt his heart thud as though hit by a particularly large hammer. He pressed the accept button urgently, shoving the phone to his ear as he retreated in search of a quiet corner of the shrine. “Are you alive?” He demanded, before the person on the other end had a chance to say anything. He waited with bated breath for the voice, pessimistic fear pointing out that Kaminaga could conceivably either have the phone or be forcing the phone call.

“I’m fine.” Utagawashi’s voice said, sounding shaken, but largely normal. Hikaru’s breath left him all at once in a gusty sort of heave, and he collapsed by an out-of-the-way stone lantern with relief.

He bit back his first three comments, which would have been thank fuck, I was worried he’d got you, and shit. “What happened?” He asked, instead, jittery with the release of tension.

“He came to the door and buzzed my apartment. He wanted me to let him in.” Utagawashi said, his own voice tremulous. “When I refused, he phoned me to demand why.”

Hikaru swallowed “Do you think he’s still in there? Alive, I mean?” All he’d felt was demonic malice, reaching for him.

“He is, I’m certain of it.” The priest sounded exceptionally relieved, and no wonder. “Good news, to be sure.”

“He’s definitely being sort of controlled, though.” He said, with conviction.

“I’ve no doubt of that, either.” Utagawashi confirmed, the relief turning sour. “When I asked him why he was calling unexpectedly, before polite hours, and why he’d been loitering outside a teenager’s home, he couldn’t seem to answer. Every time he tried to reply, it was like his mind jumped. He’d forget what we were talking about and demand to be let in, instead.”

Hikaru grimaced, remembering how his memory had stuttered over the demon’s intrusion, keeping it quiet almost past the point of recovery. “What did you say?”

“I told him he’d have to make an appointment in advance if he wanted to meet with me, and that it would only be at the shrine.” The kannushi claimed, voice vaguely terrified at the recollection. “…I also told him that he should be more diligent about his demon containment because clearly he wasn’t as good at it as he thought.”

“…Hah.” He managed, eyes wide. “You said that? When he was right there?”

“I did.” Utagawashi moaned, sounding perfectly horrified at himself.

Hikaru was impressed. “I’m impressed,” he said, because it bore saying. “How badly did he take it?”

“He went off on a rant about how a student as misguided as me had no right to criticise his betters. It was quite vitriolic, actually. Quite unlike him.”

“I dunno, he came across as a big enough dickhead when I met him.”

Utagawashi made a negative noise. “He’s certainly blunt and scathing enough, I wasn’t denying that.” He said. “It’s just…I’d expect him to spend several minutes insulting me over every mistake I’d made, rather than just plain insulting me.”

“Did you tell him to fuck off?” Hikaru inquired. “I would have.” Contingent on his coherency in the presence of the demon, of course.

“I’m sure.” The man’s tone shifted, becoming quite dry. “I didn’t tell him so in as many words, but I did say that he should leave and that if he wanted to meet, he should request ahead of time like a polite adult should.” A pause. “Then I hung up on him.” He added.

“You totally told him to fuck off.” Hikaru concluded, satisfied. “Is he gone now, then?”

“I assume so. I don’t have your senses, but I looked outside and no-one was there.” Utagawashi swiftly slipped back into anxiousness. “You’ll have left the area, I assume?”

“Yeah, I did. Still in the city though.”

“I’ll stay home today, I think. I’ll not risk Kaminaga-san waiting between here and the shrine.” The man sounded half-annoyed behind the resignation. “If you return later, please let me know if the area is safe.”

“Will do.” Hikaru nodded. “I’m going to try to go about my day normally now, but I’ll let you know if I sense demons and have to run.”

Utagawashi sighed. “What a mess.” He bemoaned. “I suppose I had better call Arakawa-san, now. I would hope this constitutes a reason to come sooner.”

“It had better.” He muttered, frowning as he recalled his earlier thought. “Give me his number, will you? I want to be able to contact him if Kaminaga kills you.”

There was a startled cough over the line at that. “Uh. Alright, then. That does sound reasonable.” He agreed, hesitantly. “…I do hope it doesn’t come to that, though.”

“Yeah.” Hikaru affirmed, standing up and stretching forward. He felt his back click satisfyingly in several places. “Anything else I should know about?”

“Not that I can think of. I’ll contact Arakawa-san and tell you what he says.” The priest paused. “Be careful today. It’s possible he’s looking for you.”

“I’ll keep a feel out.” He promised, finger hovering over the disconnect button. “Later, Utagawashi.”

“Shindou-kun.” The man acknowledged, and Hikaru hung up.

He looked out at the shrine, sighed, and headed for the torii. It was early, but he might as well get to a salon and see if he could scrounge up some students. Extra money never hurt, after all.

Hikaru stepped through the torii, awareness twinging at him as he did so. He paused, tilting his head.

Something-watching, said his hindbrain.

“You’d better not be another demon.” Hikaru told the thin air, and kept walking.

Watching nagged at him, persistently, as the spirit followed.

---

End chapter.

Notes: I present: a chapter. I’ve not done the editing on the earlier chapters yet, but I figured you wouldn’t mind.

This is a region of the story where lots of things happen fairly quickly, so very little time was covered in this chapter. I expect a good two or three more chapters out of this arc, but since I’m a bit rubbish at estimating this stuff, don’t hold me to that.

At any rate, I’ve stayed up far too late finishing this and I have work in the morning. On that note, the last 3k of this chapter hasn’t been proofread at all, so forgive clumsiness. I hope you all enjoy.

(Also, on ao3 we passed 1000 kudos quite a while ago, and ranking-wise we’re not far off second place. On top of that, chapter 13 on tumblr got so many notes, I love you all.)

03/06/18 – minor edits