#blue lock fanbook

[bllkwriting]

Summary of Blue Lock

Blue Lock is a manga and anime series written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrated by Yusuke Nomura. Since August of 2018 it has been serialized in a Japanese magazine from the publishing company Kodansha called Weekly Shōnen Magazine. The series is about a 17 year old striker named Yoichi Isagi. One day, after losing in a match against a rivaling school, Isagi receives a letter in the mail from the JFU (Japanese Football Union) inviting him to a special football training facility called Blue Lock. Upon arriving at Blue Lock Isagi learns that he is among 299 other 18 and under strikers in his country. Now Isagi has to compete against all the other strikers to become the best in the world.

He starts off the series joining a team ranked the lowest of the low, Team Z, as well as being in the worst ranked strata, strata 5. Z is the worst ranked team out of all the teams B-Z in Blue Lock. Their players all have the rankings 289-300, but after playing a game of tag and eliminating one player from each team, their rankings change to 265-275. Isagi plays with that team for all of the first selection and after winning 3/5 of their games against the other teams in the strata, their whole team moves on to the second selection.

In the second selection they learn that the person in charge of Blue Lock, Jinpachi Ego, lied to them and everyone else in Blue Lock when he told everyone that they were all ranked the worst in teams V-Z. After that, the ones who make it past a 1v1 with a hologram called "Blue Lock Man" and score 100 goals in the time limit will move on to stage 2 of the second selection. There they have to team up with two other players and compete against another team of three. Whichever team wins that takes a player from the other team, and whichever loses has to most back a stage and play in a 2v2. And whichever player doesn't get chosen gets kicked out.

Eventually, after playing in a few rounds, the teams of five will go on to play against a team of five made up of very good players from across the globe; a rainbow Argentinian, a French prodigy, a Brazilian tank, a British man, and a sarcastic Spanish guy. No team managed to beat them, the furthest a team got was 1 goal, which was Isagi's team.

After the game was over and all the other six (not including Isagi’s) teams had finished their game against the Team World Five, everyone gathered into one large room. After that for the third selection everyone is divided up into three teams; A, B, and C, and two of each of the top six players will be automatically put into each of the three teams. B and C each play in three games, while A plays in four. Three players (not including the top 6) from each team are randomly chosen to play on each game along with their two players from the top 6.

When this arc was finished Blue Lock got to play in their biggest game so far against Japan’s U-20 team. One player from Blue Lock got picked to play for the U-20 team, but everyone else stayed on team Blue Lock. After a long and fan favorite match, Blue Lock ended up winning 3-4.

They all got a 2 week break to go home and just have a break then they were back at Blue Lock. When they returned they had all got to pick 5 world class leagues to play on. The options were England; speed and physique, Spain; technique and creativity, Italy; slyness and tactics, France; a gateway for success for up-and-coming athletes/money making, and Germany; logic and rationality.

Each of the five teams plays against each other in what is called the Neo Egoist League.

(To be updated)

You can view the doc with the whole book so far here

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I’m fine with reblogs on this site but anywhere else I ask that you ask for my permission before doing so.

[stormgardenscurse]

‘do you remember? back when…’

Summary: a childhood friends AU! Well, Lilia’s is more like ‘back in our youth’ rather than childhood, but you get the gist.

Characters: Lilia, Malleus, Riddle, Jamil, Vil

Content warning: the Reader is gender neutral, but it’s mentioned they’ve worn dresses in Malleus’ part.

If you liked this, consider checking out my TWST Isekai Fanbook, now digitally available on my kofi!

Lilia Vanrouge

Back when you were both training to be knights, you mistook Lilia for a girl at first. 

In your defense, it’s simply because of how pretty he is, yet so cutthroat and lithe on his feet that you swear this is what they mean by ‘angels of death’ descending on a battlefield. 

Lilia calls you weird for comparing him to that when he much prefers to think of himself as some type of demon, or harbinger of doom.

“Do I still not look intimidating enough for you?” He’d asked, sharp teeth flashing with the question as the both of you leaned against the railings on the castle rooftop. Lilia angles his head back to gaze at you, and you think to yourself how it exposes the pale skin of his neck, which he’d never show to any opponent in a fight.

Two of your fingers reach to tap on that expanse of skin, causing Lilia to freeze from the contact. He tilts his head, comfortable enough that he hasn’t decided to shove you away yet. 

“It’s just… you seem more mortal to me.” You shrug. “As mortal as a fae can be, anyways. I can reach out and touch you, and I would walk away unharmed.”

“That’s because I allow you to.” Lilia rolls his eyes. He finally steps away, picking up his weapon — heavy and gleaming emerald. From beneath his lashes, he gives you a challenging smile as he flips and catches it in his hand. “Care to spar before we turn in for the night?”

“Maybe you’re a vampire after all.” You pretend to be tired of his late requests, but follow Lilia down to the training grounds regardless. “The kind that human kingdoms are romanticizing in their newest novels. Sparkly under the sunlight.”

“If you’d like to sleep already, I’d be more than happy to croon you a lullaby.”

“You’ll only do so after I’m defeated on the ground, I’m sure.” With a pause, you give Lilia a proposal. “If I win, I’ll sing to you instead. But I’m not carrying you back to your dorm.”

“Oh? It’s a deal, then.”

Ever since, you can’t be sure if Lilia likes to throw your sparring matches just for the chance to hear you sing. You don’t often do so (you’re knights, after all), so he regards it as a secret side of you that only he gets to witness. You only come to this contemplation after feelings spark between you — face flushed as you wonder what to do next when you’ve fallen for someone so impossible.

He’s already been keeping you up at night with his nocturnal tendencies and hangouts… and now this?! 

Malleus Draconia

It helps that as children, you never truly processed who Malleus was until a little later in your friendship. You were told he’s the son of the royal advisor, and so you prattled to him with questions of what the crown prince is like. He’d answer vaguely, sometimes saying that His Royal Highness has bad habits, and you’d nod along, hanging onto his every word.

Malleus soon realizes that you don’t care as much for ‘the prince’ as much as you did for him as your mysterious friend. You were both lonely noble-children, and you enjoyed sharing treats, flowers, and any new thing you could with Malleus. Once, he even tried on the trendiest dresses with you out of curiosity, and you lamented the fact that he could’ve made a beautiful girl.

No one would dare say that to him in any lifetime, other than you. Though to be fair, you didn’t know he was the prince yet. 

“Flowers look wonderful in your hair! Since it’s dark, they stand out.” You continue weaving yellow and blue blooms into Malleus’ locks. “...Hey, what do you think life would be like if we were regular children?”

“Not nobles, you mean?” He hums, helping you decorate your hair once you’re done with his. He casts an easy spell to dye your hair with highlights to match the dress. “I suppose we’d be towns-children frolicking without a care in the world.”

“We’d still be friends, right…?”

Malleus pauses at the anxious edge in your voice. Perhaps you were just as reliant on this comforting friendship as he was. He tells himself to hide his status for a little while longer. “Of course. Our parents would still be acquainted, and we’d still have playdates — only running through the roads rather than castle halls.”

It’s hard to find a real friend amongst noble children. Some cling to their families, others are picky or judgmental, and…

A lot are only friends for as long as the other is useful.

“We should have an outing in the city one day.” You smile, trying to fight away the heavy air. “I’m sure you’d like the marketplace. I’ve only seen it from inside a carriage, but it looks fun.”

Soon, the outing is arranged. However…

“Before we go, there’s something I need to tell you.” Malleus takes your hands in his, squeezing them as if to ground himself in the moment. Time passes quickly for the fae, but his heart is beating out of his chest at what your reaction might be.

…He ends up delaying this reveal until the end of your excursion. But the last thing he expects is for your eyes to well up with tears and for you to latch onto him in a hug.

“I’m… I’m so sorry—! If only I was more reliable, you wouldn’t have to keep this a secret, and…”

As you let out a hiccup and continue apologizing, Malleus’ confusion melts into a soft smile, hugging you back. 

Riddle Rosehearts

Riddle’s mother didn’t know about your existence for a while, as you’d always sneak over to his window after she left the house. You claimed you knew how accomplished his family is, so you told Riddle you’d prepare for a better impression in the future! “That way, we can hang out normally or study together!”

Truth be told, the only studying you’re interested in is with practical magic — as another child with an affinity with magic, you’ve been going to the library often to read up on theories, experimenting with what spells you can do.

As worried as Riddle is for your safety (you’ve been doing all this without supervision), he’s also very curious about watching magic unfold from your own hands. You showed him a color changing spell once, surprising him by appearing with a different appearance — it was cute how he panicked, thinking you went ahead and dyed your entire head pink.

“And nothing hurts? No side effects?” He asked.

“Nope! And one day, we can both attend a magic school and do spells like these all the time!”

One day… Despite how he’s temporarily stuck at home still, adhering to his mother’s strict rules, he clings onto the hope that it’ll fruition in him becoming a great mage. Then, when that happens, he can be the one to wow you with magic you haven’t seen before. Just as you have all these months, visiting with the intention of cheering him up or encouraging him. 

On rare days, you manage to sneak Riddle out of the window for a quick visit to the park or library. There, with his heart thumping out of his chest, he’d marvel at the world you’re so familiar with already, and so willing to place into his unsteady palms.

“Can you read that?” You ask, pointing at a passage in a history book. While technically rebelling, you still chose a book on the same topic Riddle was meant to study at home.

“Yes, it’s…” As Riddle translates the scripture, he realizes you’re listening very intently. And all of a sudden, the closeness of your seats in the corner of the library makes him flush, realizing how you’ve always spoken to him kindly. Different from the playful tones you used at the start of your friendship, or currently do with the acquaintances he’s seen you greet along the way.

It’s been a while since he’s felt special, especially as the sentiment expired after years of his mother claiming he had a gift; that because he had the potential to be perfect, it'd come at a price of overwhelming pressure.

So why does your kind of ‘special’ feel like a balm? 

Jamil Viper

Between his busy schedule working for the Al-Asims, it’s all Jamil can do to relax in the solitude of his own room… that is, until you’re temporarily displaced from your own, and have been allocated to bunk with Jamil since he’s ‘very capable’ and close to your age. Another bed is moved in. There’s still space, but Jamil dislikes having his privacy encroached upon.

The two of you never interacted before this, but he’s seen you around the mansion before doing chores and learning from the head servants. You aren’t too chatty, Jamil thinks, until you finally break it to him after the night of a banquet (the both of you too tired to keep up appearances, slumped on your respective beds), that he frowns a lot. And that’s why you haven’t spoken to him much until now.

Jamil blinks once, then twice. “I do?” He’s always been good at controlling his facial expressions—

“Yeah, when you think people aren’t looking.” You raise a finger in the air. “Especially when the meals aren’t to your liking, you tend to look around with judgmental eyes.”

“So you watch me when we’re at work.”

“Only because you never looked like you wanted to talk.” It’s not accusatory, merely an observation from you. With a sigh, Jamil falls on his back against the mattress. “Did you see the performers at the banquet?”

“The dancers were great. I saw them practicing in the morning before the event.” Jamil answers. It’s the first time you’re having a proper conversation, and while he’s not as chatty as Kalim (who he’s normally assigned to watch), you feel at ease. 

“I remember them! The kitchen was handing out meals to the staff, and I was one of the delivery people.”

“Did you help cook too? There wasn’t enough salt in the curry.”

“You—! Then come and help us yourself!”

“Too much work.” Jamil pushes himself up on his elbows just to stick his tongue out at you, before turning to lay on his side. “We should rest. Tomorrow the guests are leaving, so the suites have to be cleaned.”

Even after you move back to your room, you spend time with Jamil, running off to the market after visiting family, and watching street performers and food vendors go about their day. On rare occasions, you knock on his window when you have a bad dream, and Jamil groggily holds up a conversation until you’ve calmed down. The stars are especially twinkly on those nights, as if they’re another witness to the friendship you shared beneath busy days and tall adults.

“Do you think we’d make good adults, Jamil?”

“Not many adults are good at it either. So we’ll be fine.”

“Well… That’s true. Goodnight, Jamil.”

“...Goodnight. Sleep tight.”

Vil Schoenheit 

When you first met Vil as kids, you were intimidated by him not because he acted in evil roles, but because he had the aura of an adult.

“It’s weird… you look my age, but walk and talk like a grown-up.”

“Hm, I guess that’s not too bad of an impression. …What’s your name?”

You were next-door neighbors, and suffice to say your interests lied more in pop-culture as an audience rather than as an artist on-stage. It’s a world away from Vil who’s a child-actor and upcoming model, but when he’s not pursuing such work, he’s still just a boy.

…A boy who you were very surprised to see act his age, when he was with his father or smiled as he told you about the movies they starred in. You’d always listen, realizing that while Vil was always pretty, he’s even more eye-catching when he’s rambling about something he’s passionate about. It almost makes you want to grow up quickly too and pursue your own dreams.

No one would see this side of him outside the comfort of your homes, though. Vil has an image to uphold (at least, you’re quite sure he’s trying to craft a persona for the camera, considering how he asks you what you think an actor’s personality should be like), so you try and cover for him when strangers ask about Vil. Giving just enough praise without revealing too much, since they might be reporters:

“He’s really hard-working and nice to others! Vil even explains his work to me if I ask. You can tell he really loves acting.”

“Oh? You sound like you admire him a lot.”

“Well… lots of people do. Once you meet him, you’ll realize he’s like a diamond!”

Word of your comments gets to Vil, and he seems to be in a good mood, explaining to you that it sounds like something a fan would say. “...One day, I’ll have as many fans as my dad does.”

It becomes routine for Vil to knock on your door whenever he gets a new script. He likes having you watch him rehearse and give him your thoughts, amongst other things like discussing the story and causing the both of you to become invested in the plot. 

You’re sworn to secrecy, of course, since you can’t leak the movie’s details. And after you’re a bit older, Vil instead makes it a game to read random lines to you, then asking you to make up the rest of the story (it’s a good improv session, even if your conversations devolve into ridiculous scenarios.)

You got each other parting gifts after you were accepted into different colleges; Vil’s to you is a ‘poisoned flower’, which is to say, an artificial flower scented to help you sleep. It’s so you can get proper rest instead of scrolling on your phone, Vil claims. And of course, you’re added into his personal Magicam to get life updates — even now, when asked who you were texting with a smile on your face, you keep Vil’s secret and claim it’s just a childhood friend: 

“He’s in Night Raven College.”

“Oh, the same one Vil Schoenheit is in?”

“The very one! Pretty impressive, huh?”

[mj-ackerman]

I can see why some people ships Yuri and Fiona even though they haven't even met in the manga yet, their ship will be the most chaotic one in the series. Imagine them hating each other at first because Fiona hates Yor and Yuri hates Loid but since they have common goal, which is to separate them, they decided to work together. They sometimes meet to discuss their plan on breaking Yor and Loid's marriage but people around them misunderstanding it as them dating. Loid thinking that it's Nightfall's plan to get some intel from a secret police, while Yor being happy that Yuri finally have someone other than her. IMAGINE THAT.

This art is from the Blue Lock artist Yusuke Nomura btw, this is included in the official Fanbook.

[luna-3-clips]

I'm going to be making a (unofficial) Blue Lock fanbook

So far I only have the logo designed

It most likely will be changed and updated in the future but it's what I have so far. I'm mainly going to be focusing on the writing and all that.

I need opinions on it, what do you think?

I will be posting all the parts of it on another account @bllkwriting.

Please do not repost this or any other parts of this fanbook without my permission.

[x0401x]

Jeweler Richard Fanbook Short Story #14

Feel free to message me about possible corrections, and please consider supporting the creators by purchasing digital copies of the official releases: Novel || Manga || Fanbook. In case anyone is feeling generous: Ko-fi | PayPal. ( ╹◡╹)っ’･*

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Santa Invasion

“What’s this?”

“Ice cream.”

“Well, I can tell that much just by looking, but...”

“To be precise, it is an ice cream cake.”

A gigantic ladybug was sitting on the low table. Its vivid red and dark brown-like black shades were definitely berries and chocolate. The back was decorated with flowers like marguerite. It was adorable. And huge. It was a hemispherical cake that looked like a basket ball cut in half, the name of a store from Dogenzaka printed on its box. It was 7PM. The last customer had left, I was done with the cleaning and all we had left to do was closing the store. It was still the second week of December, so the mayhem of making provisions for winter presents was a few ways ahead, but the number of clients was increasing little by little.

Just what on earth would this beautiful jeweler come up in such times?

Due to a habit of his from whenever he had something that was hard to say aloud and thus failed to speak up, Mr. Richard Ranashinghe de Vulpian had a serious crease forming just slightly between his brows. It made me feel at ease. This guy didn’t make a face like this when he was burdened with something that was actually difficult to say. He would speak more bland and expressionlessly instead.

“This is a little souvenir.”

“Are you going to a customer’s place after this?”

Richard’s reply was a gentle “no” in English.

He’d been often speaking a mix of Japanese and English lately. When English-speaking customers came by, he would switch completely to English as if for practical assessment, so I was desperate just to keep up with listening to them. I was grateful for having him as my English conversation teacher.

“A certain good-for-nothing who works with finances is currently in Japan, so...”

“Ah, Jeffrey-san, is it? He seemed so busy last time... Sorry, forget what I just said.”

“No need. That is a correct interpretation, so it is nothing to apologize about.”

Despite saying this, Richard’s facial expression did not seem even remotely satisfied as he swiftly took an indigo envelope out of his pocket. It had no seal, so it must have been handed over to him. The content was a pop-out card, and under a paper-craft cake colored with gold leaves and uneven printing, it was written in very tasteful Japanese: “I’m going to hold a party at the hotel, so come over. I’ll be waiting.” The date of the party was today and the place was the room of a luxury hotel in Tokyo. A home party? No, a hotel party.

The title was “Richard’s birthday party”. The plate of the pop-up cake didn’t say “Merry Christmas”. It said “Happy Birthday”.

Christmas Eve on the 24th was this beautiful shopkeeper’s birthday.

As I returned the card to him, a crease once again formed between Richard’s brows as he said with an unsparingly decisive tone, “How very embarrassing.”

“Doesn’t seem so much like it from your face.”

“Because I practiced making it. But this is extremely embarrassing. I think it is not something that warrants going through the trouble of arranging a plane ticket.”

“I wonder if anyone else will be going.”

“It seems Chieko will attend. I received an e-mail yesterday saying, ‘I am going to show up as a surprise so please take care of me’.”

“Is that even a surprise? Well, okay.”

Chieko-san was Richard and Jeffrey’s private tutor in the past and I was acquainted with her to some degree. I wondered if Homura-san, who had married her daughter, was also coming. No, not happening. He was a customer of Etranger, so Richard would probably feel abashed if he did so.

“If it goes on like this, the people lying in wait in that room will just gang up into an assembly to celebrate me.”

“What even is ‘ganging up to celebrate’?”

“They are ganging up on me. I likely will not be able to say anything other than ‘thank you very much’. I need reinforcements. If you would like, could you come with me?”

“Me too? That okay?”

“Of course. The party starts at 8PM probably because it coincides with Etranger’s closing hours. That British safe-like man is not narrow-minded enough to leave you out.”

It was written there that the party would begin at 8PM. We had 30 minutes. There was no spare time to make a pudding. What to do? What should I do?

Richard was apparently unable to let my groaning an “ngh, ngh” while deep in thought go unnoticed. “If it is impossible for you, just say so right away. I know that you are at the final stage of studying for your exams.”

“That doesn’t matter. Why didn’t you tell me a bit earlier about this? If I knew, I could’ve made preparations for it... Aah, is that why?”

“It is. I recall saying that you should refrain from being overly distracted.”

“I don’t think a ‘celebration’ is ‘overly distracting’, though.”

“Anything is fine, so please answer. Will you come or not?”

He didn’t have to go as far as asking me something like that.

I bowed in a way that wouldn’t cause any hairs to fall onto the ice cream ladybug. “I shall humbly accompany you.”

“Very well.”

“Sorry, but before that, I gotta go to the toilet for a bit.”

I hastily rushed to Etranger’s restroom and unlocked my phone in a flash. I then tapped on the e-mail app. Of course, the destination could only be one person.

“Help. I’m sorry but I just got informed about the birthday party, so I have no present.”

Jeffrey-san.

The contents of the message were not at all on a level that someone should send to the person they owed their life to, but he would understand.

The reply came in a matter of seconds. As expected, he worked fast.

“Good evening. I have everything, so there’s no problem if you come empty-handed. There will be champagne, canapés, chicken pie and cake, and I plan to have chocolate fondue coming up at the end.”

There was a proud smiley emoji at the end of the text. It seemed this was going to be a big deal.

Richard would probably have work tomorrow, and he wasn’t the type to get wasted or stuff his face with sweets in the middle of the night. It seemed I also wouldn’t have to worry about dinner. It made me feel sorry. This was the same old pattern. This course of eating and seeing good stuff amidst the confusion of the moment made my stomach hurt when I thought better about it.

“Don’t you know anything that Richard wanted?”

The response came after a moment, “My bad, but nothing comes to mind. How about you give him what you want most?”

What I wanted most. I could only think of refill shampoo and new socks. I’d be ashamed of giving things like that to Richard. After all, this was a mixture of birthday and Christmas party—

Just as I was thinking this, a genius inspiration sprouted in my head. It wasn’t the best solution. Not at all. But I felt it could work. This was too obvious, but if only I had the necessary materials for it, I could do it immediately.

Making up my mind, I came out of the restroom, apologized for making Richard wait, and as we rode to the designated address on the jaguar, I had him stop the car in front of a mass retailer for a moment. I told him I wanted to buy refill shampoo for my home. Richard was exasperated, but didn’t have any suspicions in particular.

We arrived at the hotel, got into the elevator, and on the way to the party venue, I made sure to walk a bit behind Richard. Staying out of his sight was essential.

When he opened the door to the suite, sure enough, Jeffrey-san and Chieko-san were waiting inside. Giving off a relaxed atmosphere, a room-service feast even bigger than what I had imagined from the phone call was waiting on the table for the main guest.

“Happy birthday, Richard. Chieko’s here too. Surprised?”

“Of course. Very surprised. Extremely.”

“Hmm, by the looks of it, I guess there was some information leak. Well, that’s okay! Where’s Nakata-kun?”

“What do you mean ‘where’? He’s right here. Seigi... Seigi?”

My eyes locked with Richard’s. I had locked them with Jeffrey-san’s before that. I was grateful that he had done me the favor of not laughing.

I politely shook my head at my boss, who was making a flabbergasted face. “My name is Santa.”

What I had bought at the mass retailer was a handy Santa makeover set. The three-piece set consisted of a hat, a put-on beard and a Santa costume, but I hadn’t had time to change into the costume, so it was folded up in my bag. I intended to borrow the suite’s bathroom to put on the costume. If I at least had my face ready, I could somehow make it work.

Richard was dumbfounded. It was the obvious reaction. But I wanted him to forgive me for this. After all, it was December and today was a party day.

“I’m Santa Claus! I came from the North Pole. Please take care of me for today!” After introducing myself, I thought that maybe this wasn’t an exemplary self-introduction for Santa, but it was already too late.

Jeffrey-san, who completely livened up the mood whenever he got excited, went along with the joke, saying, “Wah, Santa-san, thank you for coming from such a faraway place!”

I was grateful for that one. And that was how I got away with playing the role of a worldwide mascot-like old man character from the Arctic for the day. The ice cream cake brought by the star of the party was a success, and we had a toast with both champagne and royal milk tea. Chieko-san was wearing a kimono, the remade peridot brooch on her chest.

   It had already been more than half a year since then, but to my body, it felt like even longer ago.

My location had moved from Japan to Sri Lanka, as one would expect, and I was busy fully enjoying a spring in which white temple flowers were blooming in Kandy, my new home. But for some reason, Santa was here. A beautiful blond, blue-eyed man slipped in and out of sight, but his outward appearance was that of Santa Claus. It was the kind of Santa costume that you could buy at the costume section of any mass retailer. One of the sad things about unmatched beauty was the fact nobody could actually claim that his natural beauty was ruined by the look. The brilliance of his blue eyes, which looked like they could suck you in, was the same as ever.

“I am Santa Claus. I came from the North Pole.”

“But now’s a hot time of the year.”

“Santa Claus is a symbol of summer in the Southern Hemisphere. I do not think it is particularly strange.”

“T-That might be true. Well, then... what’re you doing?”

“Santa does what Santa does. The tradition of Santa Claus, much like the language of jewels, has a wide variety of legends to it depending on the region, but either way, the role of a saint who grants blessings to little children, women and those in need is a guise commonly demanded in society. And for you, here it is.” Saying this, “Santa” offered me a plastic, loose stone display case that I was all too familiar with. There was a red stone stuck between the cushion and transparent lid. “Can you identify this gemstone?”

“Tourmaline, I guess. Red tourmaline.”

“Good for you. Did you know that it has one more name?”

“Rubellite.”

“Perfect. Large, pinkish-red tourmalines are called by that name, and it is a stone of which huge carved crystals have been loved as works of art, such as the amulet of Empress Dowager Cixi and the Romanov royal treasure, the ‘Strawberry Pendant’.”

As I peeked at the stone inside the case, humming that it was pretty, the beautiful jeweler cleared his throat and started over.

“Just as people’s feelings dwell within beautiful stones, this one is filled with the feeling of celebrating the start of your new life, from your family back in Japan, your friends and your superior at work, with whom you have a relationship other than the aforementioned and that neither of us knows how to define. Santa is wholly thankful for being in the position to bestow you with such a gift. I forgot to say it, but happy birthday. Nakata Seigi-san. I sincerely pray, all the way from my home in the Arctic, that this year will be a fruitful one for you.”

“Thank you. Seriously, thank you for always, Richa...”

“Santa. I am a passing Santa.”

“Then let’s go with that. By the way, if you’re Santa, where are the reindeers?”

When asked this, the man in disguise answered with a cool gaze that the reindeers were using stealth technology nowadays so that they wouldn’t be found by radars, hence they couldn’t be seen. He had it down to the details.

“It’s been about ten years since the last time Santa-san came around. I’ll take good care of this. Santa-san, you take care of your body too. I’ll ask my boss next time I see him about the person who gave you this stone.”

“You should. Well, then.” With a bow, Santa left for a car parked in the courtyard. I probably wasn’t supposed to see him off. I’d feel bad for the stealth reindeers.

The red stone stayed in my hand.

I had told a white lie. It hadn’t been ten years since Santa had last showed up. This was the first time ever since I was born. In my home, there was always someone playing the role of “Santa”, such as Hiromi, Grandma and Nakata-san, so they never tried to tell me nice lies. Nakata-san probably just followed Hiromi’s way of doing things, though. The fact I thought up something like that last December, when Jeffrey asked me what I “wanted most”, might not have been unrelated to this. At any rate, to me, not even once was there any supernatural existence who would leave toys by my bedside if I were a good kid. Until this day.

After a while of standing by the garden, where it was always summer, and listening closely to the cries of birds with my eyes closed, I unlocked my phone. The Wi-Fi range of the house seemed good, and so I could send e-mails immediately. The contents were simple. The destination was my boss, Richard.

“Santa came to my place. But he left so quick that I couldn’t make him tea.”

The reply soon came: “Are you half-asleep?”

If he really thought that I was half-asleep, then maybe I should delay the reply for a few more minutes, I thought, but I didn’t write anything further. The house’s cleaning was half-assed and I had to check the security. I also wanted to know as many of my neighbors as could.

Together with the feeling that I had suddenly been given something I had forgotten, and that I didn’t even know I had forgotten, I put rubellite in the jewelry safe and stepped out into the Sri Lankan provincial city. I had nothing to fear and no hesitation. The ill feeling that I’d be living here alone had disappeared. After all, Santa had come by. Far from elementary school, I was now an adult who had already graduated from university, and it currently wasn’t December but May, where the only anniversary I could think of was my own birthday, yet Santa had come by. Such an impossible thing had happened.

So I could do my best, I thought.

And so, I could be getting ahead of myself, but I began thinking about my plans for this December. Would there be a second chance for Santa to appear? If not, I wanted to make one. I decided to fuss over the outfit a little more and prepare proper gifts this time. Then I’d tell him stories about jewels and try to make him laugh a lot. That, too, was Santa’s duty.

[lancermylove]

BlackStar Theater Starless Gameplay Guide (1/2)

So I have received some messages asking about Theater Starless’s gameplay. I am not sure if someone has already done this, but here’s the game info and gameplay in slight detail. (Some pictures have spelling mistakes, please ignore that because I’m too lazy to go back and change it. XP)

~~~~~~~~* ~~~~~~~~* ~~~~~~~~* ~~~~~~~~* ~~~~~~~~* ~~~~~~~~

Home Screen

1. Daiya - in-game currency (you can purchase daiya with real money by clicking the "+" next to the daiya amount) obtained through spending money, reading stories, finishing daily challenges, logging in, event store, and special occasions.

2. Yell - in-game currency, obtained through performance and daily challenges.

3. Heroine status - depending on the amount of points you gain, you will receive daily gifts (S rank gives rehearsal bottles, SS gives blue (performance) tickets). Increase status by performing, rehearsing, gift purchases for cast members, spending chips, and logging in (to name a few).

5. Heroine level - increase your level by rehearsing.

4. MVP - highest and lowest ranking members get an additional boost on their stats. If there is an ongoing event, then the main characters of that event will gain MPV points when you finish missions (more about this in “Event Page”). Other main ways to change MVP are by gifting rings, penlights, and chips.

5. Current ongoing events/gatchas - click on the banner to go to that event. Gatcha banners disappear after the end date, but event pages stay for additional days and the event store can be accessed even after the event ends.  

��————

Menu 

1. Cards - shows you all the cast cards you have.

2. Character info - character profiles, current teams/team members.

3. Card enchantment - you can level/update cast cards here. To look at a specific card, press down on the card for a second. 

4. Burn cards - burning cards get you badges. Be careful because if you accidentally burn a card, you won’t get it back!

5. Team/Support setup - you can edit your performance teams here. 

6. Items - you can see all the items you have here. 

7. Store - boost items for rehearsals, performances, yell gain, and heroine level. You can also buy monthly cards here by spending money.

8. Friend page - you can see the list of your friends, their support card, and player profile. You can also see the people who have added you to their friend list. 

9. Player profile - you can update your player profile here, change your icon, display your cards for others to see, find your player id, among other things.

10. Player rank - same as your heroine status on the home page.

11. Settings - [1st column top to bottom] help, data transfer, return to the title screen. [2nd column top to bottom] options, clear cache, contact us.

12. Help - same as the help option in settings. You can find info about the gameplay here.

13. Daiya history - your gain, purchase and spend history for the daiya. 

14. Support - same as contact us in settings.

15. Mini games - for special events. So far we have only had one mini-game, and the answers can be found in the fanbook (mookbook) assuming that it’s still available. 

—————

Stories

1. Main story - all the chapter stories as well as the season end stories are available here. Reading each part of the chapter (of the ongoing season) will get you 50 daiya. 

2. Character stories - login messages, intimacy level, and card stories for each character are available here.

3.  Unread - if you want to see only the sections you have not read, click this button. 

—————

Gatcha Page

1. Friend pts - used for the friend points gatcha to get 1* to 3* cast cards. 

2. Featured cards info - you can see the stats and skills for the featured cards here. 

3. Card rates - the gatcha drop rates for all the available cards can be found here.

4. Get star card - when you get extra copies of fully ascended cards, you can get star petals. When you get all the petals filled 30 times, you can get a star card. Star cards are free 5* cards that you can use to ascend ANY of your 5* cast cards. NOTE: use these cards wisely as they are incredibly difficult to attain!

5. Paid vs Free daiya - free daiya are obtained in-game, but paid daiya are purchased through real money. For paid daiya press the “+” next to your daiya amount (2,158 in the picture above). 

—————

Rehearsal Page

1. Cast in Rehearsal - these members will appear in the rehearsal. You can change the cast member by clicking on their name. The little circle on the upper left side of cast member means they are the main characters in the ongoing event (more info on this in “Actual Rehearsal”).

2. Cast total reha level - you can get cast rehearsal cards by rehearsing cast members a number of times. You can check their total rehearsal levels here, as well as how many levels left to get a copy of their rehearsal card.

3. Standard members - by clicking this button, your rehearsal team will be set to the original team members of the selected song. This button is useful to train "stamen" members for daily medal challenges (more about this in "Performance Settings”).

4. Stamina amount - the amount displayed at the bottom of the button will show how much stamina will be consumed from your total stamina bar. You can select between 10, 20, and 30. The higher the amount of stamina, the more chances of bonus boosts during rehearsal.

—————

Actual Rehearsal

1. Higher point gain - the higher the number of orange arrows, the more points you'll gain for rehearsing that cast member.

2. Intimacy level - unlocking higher levels will unlock intimacy conversations in the character story section. Also if you're using 3* cards, then you will receive a score boost based on the intimacy level of that character. This bar will NOT appear every time you select the characters.

3. Ongoing event special - this bar will only appear when there is an ongoing event with that cast member. Unlocking the levels for the "linked" cast members will unlock side stories for that chapter/event story.

4. Chance for additional points - always select cast members with "!" for a chance to get additional points. Depending on the type of bonus, the points will vary.

5. Autoplay - unless you are using 10 stamina at a time, try to avoid using this button. If you have autoplay selected, the game will pick the center cast member EVERY TIME. You will miss the chance to get additional bonuses.

—————

Performance Page

1. Current selected song - rotate up and down to change songs. Clicking on the song cover will lead you to the support card page (more about this in “Support Cards”).

2. Song type - your support card choice will be based on it. There are 4 song types songs Act, Vocal, Dance, and Flat. Flat means you can select the “type” for the song! Some songs will have a combination of act, vocal and/or dance, and your support choice will depend on your team stats.

3. Song difficult - there are 3 difficulty levels: normal, hard, advance.

4. Current event songs - this option will only appear if there is an ongoing limited time event. You will have an option to play the original track, side A, and side B (more on this in “Event Page”).

5. Story missions - during ongoing events you will get missions to unlock the story. Once the missions are complete, “Clear” will appear on that tab. It’s generally a good idea to complete the missions during the event, but in case there is a VERSUS event ongoing and you want to support only one character, you will get a chance to complete the unfinished missions even after the event has ended. You can find these unfinished story missions in the Past event songs section.

6. All chapter songs - all the non-event songs can be found here.

7. Daily challenges - the chapter songs have daily challenges you can complete. The rewards include, but are not limited to, yell, daiya, orbs, gatcha tickets, friend points, medals, and rehearsal bottles. You will have a good amount of time to finish these challenges, so it’s HIGH recommended to complete them.

8. Past event songs - special event, side A/side B, and limited time songs can be found here. You will need pink tickets to play these songs.

9. Unfinished past story missions - explained in story mission.

—————

Performance Setting

1. Performing team - this team will be performing: 

Highest MVP will be shining with yellow sparkles, lowest MVP will have black sparkles. 

The gold writing on the top right of the cast cards means a high event boost, while silver writing means cast boost for the event. 

2. Item drop level - the higher the level, the higher the chance to get item drops post performance.

3. Team reha level -  the total rehearsal level of your team.

4. Stamen team -  the "original" performing team for the song. This team is used mainly for the daily challenge missions. 

5. Your selected team -  the blue diamonds are fixed teams, but the yellow diamonds are teams you set.

6. Edit team - pressing this will take you to "Team Formation".

7. Performance/Skill settings - you can change the note speed and turn on/off skill animations.

8. Auto/Manual play - blue means auto mode, black means rhythm (manual) mode.    a. Autoplay: notes are autoplay, but you have to manually activate character skills.    b. Manual play: you will have to manually tap the notes, but skills are on auto.

9. Start performance - during events you can select to consume 2 tickets per performance, but for daily challenges, you can only use one ticket at a time. 

TO ACTIVATE CHARACTER SKILLS WHEN PERFORMING: wait for the skill gauge to fill and pull character icon down. You can lock the character icon by pulling the icon down and holding it for a second; this will lock that skill and will continuously spam skill every time the skill gauge is full. 

—————

Support Cards

These are the best support card right now. The icons are of the unbloomed versions, the bloomed (ascended) card art looks different. 

—————

Friend Page 

1. Friend profile - switch between friend profile and their equipped support card

As mentioned earlier, you don’t have to be mutual friends in this game to use support cards! If you use support cards from mutual friends or people you follow, you gain a higher amount of friend points. 

[poetryinthedawn]

Nessian fanbook: chapter 1

NESTA:

‘You’re making me go live in mountains? The pointy things, with the snow on the top of them? I don’t think so. I don’t know who you think you are, to order me around-’ Rhysands glare was piercing into me, but I continued to ignore it, but I could not ignore how tense the fae male came stood next to me. What is it with these people. ‘But just because you’re a ‘High Lady’, whatever that means, does not mean you have the entitlement to tell me what to do, and where I live.’ I sharply turned on my heels, striding towards the open doors. When they slammed shut, and as much as I pushed, shoved, kicked and cursed at them they would not open. I knew I was making a fool of myself, but I didn’t want to turn round, and see the look on everyone’s faces. What was it their business how I lived my life? As far as I was concerned, me and Feyre has never been close so why would it bother her now.

But as I turned to face her, her eyebrows were pinched together, and her eyes looked like they were a moment away from filling with tears. But they still stared at me hard. ‘Are you going to sit down, and let us talk about this like adults? Or are you going to throw a tantrum, because things aren’t going how you seem to prefer?’ Feyre said. She said it softly, but her worlds still spat at me and stung me sharply. Feyre had stood from her chair and I could see the full length gown she wore, assuming her mate gifted it with her. The top was a deep blue, but as you trailed down it sparkled gently, and it looked as if the stars were caught and had been sewn into her dress to fall around her feet. ‘We can either sit, and talk about it. Or you can leave. Leave the night court, leave us, and find your own place in the world.’ Growled Rhysand, his power rippling from him in anger, I almost recoiled at the power that swarmed around me, in my head, pushing my feet forwards, pushing me into a chair.

‘Bastard.’ I spat at him, to use his power against me, all of them, keeping me locked in here to’talk’ about my ‘problems’. Rhysand looked ready to jump across the table and pummel me with his bear fists, Amren was staring daggers at me...but she also looked disgusted. And this surprisingly, hurt the most. Not Feyre kicking me out, not Rhysand using his power to control me, but the way Amren was looking at me. ‘Get, out.’ Feyre hissed at Rhysand, she sounded like a poison snake who was preparing to attack. She wasn’t looking at him, in fact she wasn’t looking at anyone, but the wall just behind my right shoulder. Her mate stared at Feyre for a long, hard minute before stalking out of the room with a sharp slam of the doors.

‘We are going to do this one last time,’ Feyre held up a slender hand to silence me as I opened my mouth to interrupt, ‘we are going to sit here and civilise, and figure something out. Or, you leave. And trust me, you do not want to be left alone out there under no ones protection.’

‘But you’re still sending me out there anyway.’ I responded.

Feyre sucked in her lips, and looked stuck for words. Amren, seemed to think it was her place to start talking; ‘We understand why you are attacking like this, we don’t agree with it, and none of us definitely like it and enjoy watching you fuck up your life. But you’re being childish. You’re acting selfish. Your actions are inconsiderate to your family. Before you even dare try and tell me I couldn’t possibly understand what you are feeling, how you are feeling, look at everyone around you and consider their life styles. Feyre almost died! And came back fae, she has found her place now, but imagine the adjustment she had to over come, from human to fae. I am stuck in a fae body, instead of having freedom. I have been stuck in this body for years, and the one chance I had. I let it slip away. I chose to. Everyone in this family, has been through something different, something that affects us all differently. We over came it, together. As a family, and you, girl, are only pushing that family away. Your sister is worried sick about the state you drink yourself into, about the conditions you live in, and the men you offer yourself up to. Everyone has tried. But you don’t care. You would rather live alone, with no one, with nothing, than even try to live like us, with us.

Your actions are damaging, so Feyre is banishing you. To the mountains. With Cassian.’ Amren gave a slight tilt of her head in the direction of the male stood next to me, ‘Do you not think we are in reason here to dismiss you? To remove you, and allow you to return as not someone else, but someone who is willing to try more, meet people half way.’

Silence fills the room, I don’t think anyone expected such a speech to come from Amren. She is usually over her boyfriend, or watching from the side making pointed comments. Who knew she saw... so much.

Once I’ve taken in the words spoken, once I had consumed what was being told to me, about me, I finally speak. I finally ask, what I have been wondering since I found out I was being kicked out, I wouldn’t consider this place or where I live home, but banished?! ‘And what is your intention for the banishing? What do you expect, or hope to accomplish by forcing me to go live in the mountains for how many months, or years? Will I even be able to return here, or is this just your polite way of saying you never want to see me again Feyre?’. I address my sister now, the baby of the family, but the one who kept us alive all those years, who risked her life every time she went into the woods. Well, no one asked her, no one told her to do that. She could of just married the man she was sleeping with, and we wouldn’t be her problem anymore.

‘In banishing you, I hope for you to learn to come to an understanding. An understanding about who you are, what it means to be fae. Yes, you are fae. You need to stop being so afraid of what you are, and who you now are. If you aren’t willing to listen to any of us, or learn from any of us, we can’t help you. Go to the mountains, accept yourself, and learn.’

‘I don’t have a choice do I?’ I whisper, too afraid to speak without my voice cracking. If my voice cracked, it would show I was afraid, terrified actually, but to show them my feelings would be an act of vulnerability. 

‘No. You don’t. We have already spoken to Cassian, and he has agreed to go with you. Do not speak!’ Feyre abruptly shouts. Her chest rises and falls quickly. She closes her eyes, and for a minute she looks at peace, before she repeats, ‘Do not speak. Just listen. Cassian has agreed to go with you, and you should consider yourself lucky it’s Cassian and not someone else. He will look after you, keep you safe, and meet mine and yours requests. Such as, he will teach you about fae, your background, and will train you. He can deny any request you make. He is not a dog. Cassian is doing this more for you, than any one else. And you will appreciate that, you will appreciate everything he is doing for you. Cassian,’ Feyre turns to face, ‘meet me by the reception with Nesta in an hour.’ Cassian -the name imprinted in my head by the number of times it has been said- simply nodded. He didn’t look happy about this arrangement... in fact, he looked sad? Well, if it’s that big of deal why did he so willingly offer himself up? Instead, he turned to me, smiling and said ‘Right, we need to head to yours so you can pack some clothes, and then.. I guess we say our goodbyes to everyone.’

Rolling my eyes, ‘I think I can pack some clothes myself, come find me later. Say your goodbyes, no one will be sad to see me go.’ Standing and walking out of the room once more, I hear a sigh behind me, and following footsteps. 

‘Well, I’ll be with you. I’ll always be with you.’

I don’t respond, I ignore it as if it wasn’t said to me. But I can’t ignore the heat that rises up my neck and sits on my cheeks, I can’t ignore the gentle flip my stomach does at his words. 

[pretty-idol-hell]

Jewel Pact quick review

I caved and got the Meltic Star Jewel Pact today as well as the Suzu/Maria Jewel Set! 

I just love the light blue color, it’s so pretty..... but....................

I... already kinda regret it.... ahah ha..............

Didn’t get the Emo/Rinka Jewel set and may not bother. Something I didn’t realize until right before buying this was, if you get the Meltic Star model of the Jewel Pact then you lock yourself out of getting Mirai’s Jewel. Because Mirai’s Pink Jewel comes with all the other models of the Jewel Pact but none of the separate sets. So I didn’t pick up the Emo/Rinka Jewel set hoping that they (and Mirai’s) may be available later in like gatchas or candy toys or something. 

But what I didn’t realize until after bringing the Jewel Pact home is.... I don’t need Mirai’s Jewel. Or any other Jewel. Because the Jewel Pact is TERRIBLE. And I thought the original PriPara Jewel Mic was bad! But the Jewel Pact seems to misread Jewels way more than it scans them right sometimes. 

Maybe it’s just mine but.... It honestly took me about ten tries for me to get my Sara Jewel to scan as Sara and not Mirai. And the Maria Jewel scans more often as.... A FRIKKIN ANIME SPOILER AHGHKDKHGKJ (I’m putting it in the comments after posting this, so check if you want to know.) I don’t know how the scanner can be so bad. There are only four little prongs inside it which determine which Jewel it is. After some practice (yes, practice) of turning it upside down and putting them in as straight as possible it started getting more accurate. But still. 

The PriTicket scanning function however, seems to work pretty well. Although the Jewel Pact can only determine two things about the tickets you scan: a.) Whether the ticket is a top, bottom, shoes, or accessory and b.) Where the ticket came from. In other words, it knows whether it was an arcade PriTicket (and it will say which series) or a PriTicket pack PriTicket (it will say which season). 

See these two coords are totally different but their bar code is the same. 

So the Jewel Pact cannot tell the difference between the two. It recognizes both as being bottoms from the spring PriTicket packs and that’s it. 

So about what the Jewel Pact actually does, there are three modes: Coord Change mode, Coordinate Yattemita mode, and Coord Power mode. Turn it on without inserting a Jewel and press the Kiratto Button (silver button) to change modes.

For Coord Change mode insert a Jewel to determine the character and then scan a ticket. (Literally ANY ticket. Just one.) Then press the Jewel. This is just to hear your idol of choice speaking some coord change dialogue. 

For Coordinate Yattemita mode insert a Jewel and that idol will tell you what kind of a coord she wants. Then you scan top, bottom, shoes, and accessory in that order. But since, like I said before, since the Jewel Pact can’t tell the difference between a lot of coords it doesn’t really matter what you scan. If the idol asks for a “cute” coord you can scan a cool one. Doesn’t matter. As long as you get all the parts. Actually I think it even let me skip some before? Not sure how but this basically seems impossible to fail. When you succeed you get +1 Coord Power. 

Coord Power mode is the mode where you connect to the arcade game. Apparently you can only do this when your Coord Power is max (5) though and once you use it the Coord Power is gone. This means if it doesn’t scan into the game right, or if you want to use it again, you have to sit at the arcade scanning coords into it via Coordinate Yattemita mode five times before you can try again........

It’s kinda vague what determines what coord you get, although I think the Jewel influences the color. It doesn’t even come with a list. I learned what coords the Jewel Pact has from the fanbooks. Bleh.

Will take it to the arcade and work things out another time. Maybe tomorrow.

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 11/17/21

SEAN: Hey, remember when I totally screwed up? And did all of Seven Seas’s release dates wrong? No? Well. So everything you saw in LAST week’s Manga the Week of should have been on THIS list. Go look at the post for 11/10 for those. I will backtrack and do stuff that should have been on that list for this one. Apologies to Seven Seas.

Airship, in print, has My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s and Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Lily’s Miracle.

Digitally we see Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 3.

Cross Infinite World has the 2nd volume of Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: World Conquest Starts with the Civilization of Ruin.

Ghost Ship already has out Double Your Pleasure – A Twin Yuri Anthology. Twincest: the manga. Yaaaaaay.

ASH: Goodness!

MELINDA: Oh dear.

SEAN: As well as the 8th and final volume of Destiny Lovers.

J-Novel Club debut a new title, Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte (Tsundere Akuyaku Reijou Liselotte to Jikkyou no Endo-kun to Kaisetsu no Kobayashi-san). Two guys playing a game with a villainess suddenly realize that her fiance can actually HEAR their commentary on the game! Can they change the outcome?

Also coming out next week: Are You Okay With a Slightly Older Girlfriend? 6, Ascendance of a Bookworm Fanbook 2, Demon Lord, Retry! 7, Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World 2, the 2nd manga volume of My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AΩ—, Otherside Picnic 6, and the 2nd manga volume of Villainess: Reloaded! Blowing Away Bad Ends with Modern Weapons.

ASH: I’m certainly behind, but hooray for more Bookworm fun!

SEAN: Kodansha, in print, has Drifting Dragons 10 and Sweat & Soap 10.

ASH: I’m reading both those series right now, so this is a good Kodansha week for me.

SEAN: Digitally, the debut is Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You. (Dose Koi Shite Shimaunda), a Nakayoshi title. From the author of I Fell in Love After School, this is straight-up reverse harem fun.

MICHELLE: I am easy to please and this cover is cute so I will check it out.

ANNA: I do enjoy reverse harem fun.

MELINDA: As do I.

SEAN: Also debuting is Arakawa Under the Bridge. It had come out print-only years ago, now enjoy the digital.

ASH: I enjoyed this series, so am glad that it’ll be more accessible to even more people now.

SEAN: And we get Blue Lock 9, Cells at Work: Platelets! 4 (the final volume), Medalist 3, Mr. Bride 4, and Quality Assurance in Another World 4.

One Peace has a 3rd volume of Farming Life in Another World.

Seven Seas has some debuts. That are already out, please see above.

THE EXO-DRIVE REINCARNATION GAMES: All-Japan Isekai Battle Tournament! (Chou Sekai Tensei Exo Drive: Gekito! Isekai Zen Nihon Taikaihen) is from Mag Garden’s MAGCOMI, and is a parody of the genre, as isekais have become bread and circus tournaments for spectators.

A Life Turned Upside Down: My Dad’s an Alcoholic (You to Bakemono ni naru Chichi ga tsurai) is an autobiographical essay manga from Champion Cross. It’s complete in one volume.

ASH: That’s certainly a tough subject, but I’ve heard good things about the manga.

MELINDA: I suspect this is an important story to tell.

SEAN: And there’s Bite Maker: The King’s Omega 3, The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún 11 (the final volume), Karate Survivor in Another World 2, Species Domain 11, The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary’s 2nd manga volume, and Time Stop Hero 2.

MICHELLE: I am several volumes behind on The Girl from the Other Side, but that just means I have a nice little chunk to read up until the end. I hope it’s happy but it’s hard to see how just now.

ANNA: I really liked the first few volumes but stalled out on this series. I’m curious to see what you think of the ending.

ASH: I’m a few volumes behind, too, but I really do love this series.

SEAN: Back to things actually coming out in the future, Square Enix has Wandering Witch’s 3rd manga.

SuBLime has a surprise non-2nd week of the month release with Sayonara Game. A one-shot from Shinshokan’s Dear+, it’s a baseball BL story?

MELINDA: I’m listening…

SEAN: Tokyopop has Ossan Idol! 5.

Udon has the 2nd omnibus of Steins;Gate 0.

Viz gives us BEASTARS 15, Children of the Whales 18, Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku 11, Urusei Yatsura 12, and Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead 4.

ASH: Whoops! BEASTARS has gotten away from me; I didn’t realize how much catching up I have to do!

SEAN: Yen On has Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 15 and The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn as a Typical Nobody Side Story: The Wonderful Life of a Typical Nobody.

Yen Press debuts the manga version of Reign of the Seven Spellblades (Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru), which runs in Shonen Ace. I love the novels, so the manga should also be great.

ANNA: I’m a little curious about this!

Also debuting… sort of… is Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? II, the sequel to the first manga, but let’s face it, it’s just a continuation with a different artist.

We also have Solo Leveling 3, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 11, and A Witch’s Printing Office 5.

ASH: I still need to read Solo Leveling, but I’m ready for more Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun!

So, as I try to forget this list and the previous one ever happened, what are you buying?

By: Sean Gaffney

[katzuyas]

written for @yoi-fanbook almost a year ago and so I’m finally posting it before 2017 is over~ hope you enjoy!

if your wings are broken, borrow mine

His job had always been easy. Sometimes too easy, boring even, and when that happened Victor strayed from the task he'd been given. Nudging lightly a guy who was too shy to ask the pretty model out, or lending a hand to a middle-aged couple who'd been trying to adopt a child for years on end with no luck; he broke the rules and reached out to humans. It wasn't enough to be hailed a miracle, but it made Victor smile. Put more wind in his wings on his way back home.

He loved his job.

Humans were curious creatures – their lives were short and hectic, but even in all kinds of despair they were so prone to feel there was always an inkling of hope in their hearts. Sometimes... sometimes Victor wished he could be one of them. To live so vividly, so intensely, to love, to be loved, to care for someone, to hope, to dream. How amazing it would be to see the world from down there, from where the humans looked up to the skies in awe and wonder, where the passage of time could touch him and make him grey with old age?

But he knew he couldn’t have that. He was an angel, his place was not among them.

So he watched, and he helped, and he created miracles – those small and those big, making the insignificant lives of humans something more, something that filled the world with the beautiful, pure energy of Life and Creation.

And that was enough.

 ***

 With only a towel wrapped around his hips and another around his shoulders to keep his wet hair from dripping, he stepped into the bedroom. Yuuri was still nestled between the sheets, just like he was before Victor had left him. Face smushed in Victor's pillow and one arm slung around Makkachin, who was napping at his side, Yuuri was snoozing softly in the morning hush.

Smiling, Victor padded over to the bed.

"Yuuri," he called quietly. "It's morning, time to wake up."

But there was no reply. Victor knew better than to expect that. He rested his hand on Yuuri's head, gently threading fingers through the black locks. The tender touch, more than his words, stirred Yuuri from slumber and bleary eyes blinked at Victor.

"Good morning," Victor chirped.

He retracted his hand when Yuuri smiled back at him: a serene smile, warm and soft, still mulled with sleep. Yuuri stretched under the covers, waking Makkachin in the process. With tender affection churning warmly in his chest Victor listened to the moan that slipped past Yuuri's lips as his joints popped in all the right places.

"'morning," Yuuri mumbled over a yawn.

Suddenly unable to look at him, afraid of the strength of his own feelings, still so new, so intense, so precious, Victor stepped away from the bed.

"Where are you going?" Yuuri asked, following him with his eyes. "Come back to bed for a bit, it's still so early. We can nap at least half an hour more." And when Victor didn't reply, Yuuri whined: "Victooor..."

Victor only chuckled.

Happiness coursed in his veins and joy put a spring in his step as his heart danced to the ancient song of love, kindness, devotion, when he moved back into the bed and Yuuri's warm embrace.

 ***

 Demons had no souls. Neither did angels.

But there were halves... Nephilims and cambions, daughters and sons of angelic or demonic descent, who still retained half their immortal soul from their human parent. They had no place in Heaven or Hell, forever sentences to suffer in the realm of men. Despite never asking to be brought into the world, they had nothing they could call theirs. Shunned by all, accepted by none – their only consolation was the scrap of humanity they'd never wanted.

Yuuri was one of them. And he despised it.

 ***

Anxiety, oppressive and ugly, sunk its claws in Yuuri's chest. It did so often, more than he'd ever admit. The darkness curling around him from inside out was familiar, a friend almost, pulling at his limbs and choking his breath away.

Yuuri had always dealt with it in a simple way: by not dealing with it. He curled in his bed, with lights off and curtains drawn, and slept through the heavy burden of guilt, sadness, desperation and shame.

He was half-human, it was only ironically fair that human weaknesses were to touch him as well. But as a half-demon he should've been able to handle it, to shrug it off. He should've... but he couldn't. Even in that he was a failure.

Tugging painfully at his hair, Yuuri swallowed a sob of anger. The voices in his head whispered over each other, louder and louder, driving him into insanity: mistake, failure, freak. Human.

Under the blanket, Yuuri trembled.

A hand, like a light among darkness, deceivingly warm and gentle, rested on his back. It chased away the heaviness, the fear, the disgust with a single touch – a feat none of Yuuri's efforts ever achieved.

Before he knew what he was doing, Yuuri opened his eyes and turned around to look into Victor's concerned face.

"Can I help?" Victor asked, voice soft and careful.

His eyes were bright, even in the darkness of the room. They were clear, and blue, so, so blue, that without even trying Yuuri could see the love, like clouds on the sky, nestled inside them.

"How?" Yuuri rasped through his tight throat. How could Victor do anything about–

"Any way I know," Victor answered with no hesitation. "Any way you want."

He was reaching for him, offering, but never taking, letting Yuuri make his own choice as if he had one, as if it was obvious, as if he was... human, and allowed to be.

Sinking into Victor's embrace right before he drifted off into blissful nothingness, Yuuri thought that maybe, just maybe, being human wasn't a curse like he'd believed. Maybe it was a hidden blessing instead.

 ***

 Love was incredible, Victor always thought so. Every time he witnessed an act of kindness from one human to another he couldn't get enough of the pure, glowing energy of the Creator that filled the small space in the world with its precious light. It was warm and it drew him in like a flame calling to the silly moth, except here there was no danger – just love and light and life.

He wondered what it would feel like to be the one receiving that energy, that love. It must have been an experience like no other, he reasoned. Humans smiled. Some cried. And others laughed joyously. It surely had to be an ecstatic experience, an epiphany, a spiritual height of quality Victor couldn't possibly imagine.

Giving love, receiving love.

Victor wanted it.

Humans were so lucky.

 ***

 A rose in the tall vase on the kitchen table. A rose on the pillow next to his when he unusually woke up after Yuuri. A rose atop his skating gear when he opened his practice bag.

Petals of heavenly blue curled tightly in the centre and spread out into a deeper shade until they dipped in purple, like a morning sky on the days where the world turned cold, but bright with colour. It reminded Victor of the past. A nostalgic feeling settled in his bones, in the tissue memory of his heart. It reminded him of that feeling when he hovered high in the clouds, watching, observing, the rising sun pressing a loving hand to the middle of his back in a soft push towards Heaven, towards home...

The door leading onto the small balcony squeaked and Yuuri stepped back inside. Scissors in one hand, he was holding a freshly cut blue rose in the other. The railing of the balcony was completely covered in vines, just like it had been the first time Victor had seen it. The roses sprouted from the vines proudly day after day under Yuuri's careful care, as if to repay him for his love and care, and Victor couldn't find a sight more uplifting to his spirits.

Yuuri smiled when he spotted Victor, stepping up to him with no reservation. He reached up and tucked the flower behind Victor's ear, eyes soft and warm. His fingers lingered in Victor's hair for a moment, tenderly brushing the ends.

"A beautiful flower for a beautiful soul," Yuuri said.

Victor shook his head in fond amusement and took Yuuri's hand, kissing the slightly chilled knuckles. He smiled back.

"No more than your own."

The flush of Yuuri's cheeks was a precious gem in Victor's memory.

 ***

 The terms of his deal were simple – reap a thousand souls and live in Hell forever. Yuuri believed it wouldn't be hard, even with him being a halfling. He had an eternity for it, he'd manage at some point. Or that was what he'd thought before he actually stepped into the human world.

It took him years to find his way around, to somewhat fit in.

It took even more years to get over the initial shock that he would have to corrupt, to kill to take a soul.

Three decades later found Yuuri slipping.

He didn't want to kill. He never wanted it. His morality, that of a human more than a demon, grew stronger as his eyes opened to the real world. He'd spent so long amongst the humankind, day after day witnessing their short and vivid lives, that without even noticing he became thinking like one of them.

Killing was wrong. Killing was... something in Yuuri's chest throbbed every time he thought about it and he tried to pretend he didn't know what it was, but the truth was hard to run away from. His half-soul: the human part of him revolted at the idea of taking another's life.

But unlike the rest of humans, Yuuri wasn't blind. He could see the plethora of evil plaguing the societies, killing the innocents, blaming the weak. Demons were busy at work, pushing good people onto the paths leading into darkness, reaping the souls which before their touch were meant for Heaven – stealing, plundering, leaving corpses behind.

Yuuri was disgusted.

With them, with himself for ever considering it, with the angels who stood by, just watching, and did nothing even if they could.

Free will, they always said. All humans were created with a choice.

Yuuri was born half a demon, half a human, so did he have half a choice as well? He believed, he hoped.

And he resolved himself to taking only the souls which were already condemned, the souls of the broken, the souls of the fallen. Unsurprisingly, those were plenty in this vile and cruel world.

 ***

 Laughter was a wondrous thing. The souls shone with pure light and happiness, so blinding and beautiful, no demon would be able to resist the temptation of tarnishing such light.

Yuuri watched them, jealous, but also content. His instincts, the demonic genes that pressed him to corrupt that which was innocent were quiet now. Hushed over by whole decades of holding back, they remained dormant even in the face of such temptation and that, more than anything, pleased him beyond simple content.

Looking at the small children skating around Victor in circles, laughing so carelessly, Yuuri felt relieved. He didn't need to kill, he didn't need to take souls – not if he didn't want to.

And he didn't. At least for now.

Victor's soul caught his eyes, brighter than most, a little wild, but unblemished. It filled Yuuri's vision like a burning bonfire. His constant presence next to him, feeding him light, chasing away the darkness, and clearing his thoughts was something Yuuri would never be able to explain. Why? How? He couldn't tell, even if he tried. Victor just... was. Some might have said Yuuri was the one being corrupted, that he was giving himself up, but Yuuri wanted it. To be close to him, not to devour, but just to be close to that light, to the warmth of Victor's beautiful soul.

Victor's eyes found him as if he felt Yuuri's gaze and he smiled at him. A smile of soft affection, cheerful, yet tender, and Yuuri smiled back. Skates glided across the ice and Victor stopped before him to take his hand. And Yuuri followed – willingly, happy that he could.

The warm hand leading him never let go.

 ***

 Demons were born of human weaknesses. They fed on them, grew stronger, more powerful and corruptive. Thankfully, most of them spent their days in the deep pits of Hell, away from civilization and away from angels. There were some, however, who took pleasure in snatching human souls right from under the Guardians' noses.

Victor wasn't a Guardian, he was a Virtue, so as such his contact with demon kind was limited. Or it should've been. By some inconceivable twist of fate, Victor had seen this particular demon more than once. More than twice. More than…

It should’ve been impossible, but there he was now, staring at Victor with warmly glowing eyes. Their gazes met for just a second before the demon turned his head away, giving Victor unvoiced permission to ogle him, which he unashamedly did.

The demon looked human, painfully so. There were no horns, no tail, no evil aura clinging to his skin. In fact, if Victor couldn’t see him feeding on the soul of a broken man who’d beaten his two children to death just minutes before, he would’ve mistook him for a human.

Alas, half a soul that shone inside him, half the proof of his humanity, was bright in Victor’s eyes. A halfling, he realized with eyes wide in surprise.

The halfling finished his meal before his face contorted in disgust as if eating the soul of the murderer brought him pain. Fascinated, Victor drifted closer. There were two more souls in the small house, the soul of the older boy, which was ready to return to the Creator, and the soul of the small girl, who was clinging to life by a thread.

Victor was prepared to fight for both, the demons never missed a chance at a free soul, but–

The one before him only swept a bored glance at them and turned away.

Victor watched him go with mouth parted in surprise and curiosity burning in his chest.

 ***

 Even after he'd been turned into just a human, Victor couldn't help it. He stood between the demon and the poor, terrified soul. He couldn't leave, he couldn't let the demon have it, he just couldn't walk by them and pretend he didn't see. But...

He couldn't really protect it either.

The demon cocked her head at him, dark eyes gleaming with malice as if he was a new toy for her to play with. And with his wings gone, with his heavenly powers gone, Victor would be just that if she attacked.

Fear curled around his heart, squeezing hard and urging him to run, but even then he refused to move.

"You're a Fallen One," the demon observed, a curious quirk to her lips. "What's a Fallen One doing pretending to protect a meagre soul? You'll die. For real."

"I don't care," Victor replied, gritting his teeth. "You're not taking this soul."

The demon laughed, a shrill, crazed cackle that raised the hair on Victor's nape.

"Oh, darling," she cooed. "I will take that soul. And I will take what's left of yours, too."

Before he could as much as blink, she lunged at him with the speed he could not match in his human body. Realization and resignation kept him still, even as her talons reached for his chest as if to pluck his heart out of it. Milliseconds of memories, of fragments of his life flashed before his eyes: Yuuri smiling, Yuuri pressed against him on the couch, Makkachin licking his face, Yuuri's face–

Yuuri's dark face, tight in anger, made Victor suck in a greedy breath.

He watched with unblinking force how Yuuri, his sweet, gentle Yuuri, grabbed the demon's wrist and with little effort flipped her over his shoulder, sending her body straight at the brick wall of the building nearby. The crash and crunch of bones reached his ears, but Victor could not look away from Yuuri. In that moment, nothing else mattered.

Yuuri's hand locked around Victor's elbow: a hard pressure, almost desperate.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

He wasn't looking at Victor, his eyes – now glowing with a strange light – were glued to where the fallen demon was trying to stand. Body tense and on guard, Yuuri shifted to stand before Victor protectively.

"Unharmed," Victor said, afraid to say more in case he distracted him.

The demon finally stood, glaring at Yuuri with heated passion. She hissed something, something Victor didn't understand, but Yuuri clearly did. His lips pressed together into a thin line. He didn't reply, however, and the demon snorted, sending Victor a fowl scowl before she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Yuuri was still tense when he turned to look at Victor for the first time. His hand trembled when he reached to touch Victor's cheek, and Victor smiled, taking the hand halfway and leaning into the touch. Yuuri's eyes never stopped glowing.

"You never stop surprising me," Victor admitted, a little awed.

It was strained and slightly on edge, but Yuuri laughed. Victor pulled him close and leaned their foreheads together, his panicked heartbeat slowing down in the safety of Yuuri's presence.

 ***

 There was someone watching him. Yuuri could feel the gaze between his shoulders, heavy and sharp like a sting of a whip, but no matter how often it happened he could never tell where it was coming from. The humans around him mingled without a care and no one seemed to mind him, and yet...

The insistent itch of being followed made Yuuri uneasy. He clutched the sweaty hand he was holding onto and led the drunk girl slumping at his side into the apartment building. Up the stairs, down the corridor, until the door with a crooked 26 stared him in the face. He patted the girl’s pockets for keys and found nothing.

With a sigh, Yuuri closed his eyes briefly. Humans.

He checked if the girl’s eyes were closed. They were. The stench of alcohol hung around her closely, making Yuuri grimace, but at least her lack of restraint was good for this one thing. He could leave her before her door, sure, or he could… Since there was no one in the corridor except for them ­– he laid his hand on the doorknob. It opened with no resistance, a trickle of his demon power working its way into the lock and letting them in.

The gaze – heated, uncomfortable, overbearing – was still on him and Yuuri shivered. Quickly, he pulled the girl inside the small flat, but it was no use. The feeling was with him when he let the body leaning on him slip onto a small bed in a cramped bedroom. It was there when he shifted the girl around to her side, so she wouldn’t choke if she ended up puking. And it was still there when he left the same way he came from, locking the door behind himself.

Yuuri knew there was a chance that it was all his imagination, that he was just paranoid. But there was also a chance he wasn’t. Someone could’ve been watching him.

A demon? Trying to make sure he was fulfilling his part of the deal? Maybe. If so, they would certainly be disappointed. Yuuri smiled to himself, resigned to always be too weak for his brethren.

From the corner of an eye he noticed a flash of white and curious, he turned that way. The street was just as dark as before. Only the neon street signs flashed with colour, but none of them resembled the pure, unearthly white he was sure he’d seen a second before.

Oh well, he must have imagined it. It's been a long day.

 ***

 Everything Victor did was undeniably graceful and charming, it was just a fact. From brushing his teeth, through falling on his ass on the ice, to finally... spilling food all over his lap. There was nothing that didn't make the people around him stop and stare, and as annoying as the attention oftentimes was, Yuuri couldn't help but be amused as well.

Leave it to an angel to make something as mundane as using chopsticks into a spectacle.

When another clump of rice ended up on Victor's lap before he could put it in his mouth, Yuuri couldn't sit back anymore. Especially when Victor's pouting face was making him breathless with the laughter he was trying so hard to swallow.

He nudged Victor's leg under the table while he picked up his own chopsticks again to show Victor the correct way of using them.

"Watch me," Yuuri said.

"Always," Victor replied with a promise in his eyes, which somehow, Yuuri believed, had little to do with learning to eat with two pieces of polished wood.

Fighting off the urge to look away as his cheeks reddened, Yuuri cleared his throat. Stupid angel and his stupid charms.

 ***

 His wings had always been beautiful. They sprouted tall from his back, right from his shoulder blades, and even though they were heavy, the weight was comforting like a brother's back pressing into his own protectively, giving him strength and confidence. His feathers were in immaculate condition, too. Long, soft to the touch, pure white and glowing subtly with ethereal light of the Creator – they were Victor's personal pride and joy.

His wings were an object of admiration to many, and even Victor himself marvelled at them from time to time; he was one lucky angel. He loved them, from the tips to the delicate padding of feathers across his back, which hid the place the wings dipped into his flesh seamlessly. It would hurt to–

"Are you sure it is what you want?"

The Holy Spirit, an entity made purely of light, was right before him as he knelt on the golden floors before the Heavenly Seat. He was a Virtue, one of many belonging to the Second Sphere under the Spirit's jurisdiction, so even though God was presently seated on His throne, it was the Spirit's voice that resonated within Victor's mind.

He stroked one of his wings, a fond smile on his lips. He was going to miss them, but...

With no hesitation, he gave his answer: "It is."

The waters of the stream that spilled from a crack in the throne and run through the whole of Heaven, curling and winding around it in a protective embrace, were bright and clear – just as was Victor's dedication to the mission he had imparted onto himself.

Even if it meant losing something precious in return.

"So mote it be," God proclaimed, and Victor fell.

 ***

��He tried not to think about it, to pretend it didn't bother him, but sometimes... sometimes it did, and keeping it in was too much. The scars on his back were paling, the pain when he moved his shoulders was near to nonexistent, and when he put on a tick sweater even the cold wind didn't faze him.

But the weight, the weight threw him off.

Without his wings, Victor felt bare. He felt too light. Just catching his balance the first few days was a challenge, and although he got quite used to it with time, he still couldn't help but move the shoulder muscles that linked to his wings whenever he tripped – only to be reminded by the sting in his hands when he caught himself falling that his wings were truly gone.

He knew that he gave them up willingly. And yet... it didn't hurt any less.

A knock on the bathroom door made him startle. Wide blue eyes filled with unshed tears stared back at him in the mirror just as Yuuri's muffled voice came from the other side:

"Victor?" he asked. "Are you okay in there?"

Yes, of course, he wanted to say.

Not really, he admitted only to himself.

But when he opened his mouth, it was only "I'll be right out!" that left it.

Yuuri was waiting for him, concern on his face and warm light in his eyes, which Victor let himself sink into when Yuuri gathered him into a hug. Careful hands rubbed his back, knowingly or not soothing the phantom ache where his wings were supposed to sprout from.

Victor gave them up.

But he gave them up for a good reason.

For this: this soft smile on Yuuri's face when he peered into his with gentle consideration, for those tender hands, and love.

He gave his wings up for freedom. And he would've done so again, and again, because Yuuri was worth it. He was worth more than a pair of wings and Victor, if he could, would've given him the world.

 ***

 They've never officially met. At least Yuuri didn't think so.

Those curious, fleeting looks traded from afar couldn't count as having properly met, so when he saw him in the park he'd frequented on his way back home, he truly saw him for the first time. Not the translucent silhouette hidden from human sight, not the flash of gorgeous white wings in the corner of his vision, disappearing faster than Yuuri could turn around. He saw him: standing there on the stone path and looking up to the sky in childish wonder as if he never before had seen the colours of the setting sun.

Yuuri's steps faltered for just a second, but he didn't let it stop him. This wasn't his business. Whatever he was doing here of all places wasn't his business. They didn't know each other, it was just a coincidence, just a big–

"Yuuri!"

The voice startled him and he tripped, barely saving himself from falling. Once the wild beating of his heart somehow settled off the thoughts of smashing his nose on the hard stones, he turned around. A smile, blinding and overjoyed, was sent his way and for the love of everything, Yuuri couldn't remember a thing he'd done to deserve it.

"Do–" he started, faltering, and after a deep breath trying again: "Do we know each other?"

He frowned, a small wrinkle appearing between his brows as the smile disappeared.

"You don't recognize me?" he asked. "I swear I've seen you looking straight at me a few times..."

Yuuri stared at him, like a deer caught in the headlights. "I don't–"

"Ah, no matter then!" The guy waved his hand carelessly, smiling again at Yuuri in that blinding, all-too-happy way which made him speechless. "I'm Victor, it's nice to finally meet you in person."

And Yuuri automatically took his hand, because that's what people do when someone is offering theirs – they shook hands and, through the veil of bizarre that was covering his eyes, Yuuri felt the very human warmth of Victor's palm, the slow flow of the blood in his veins, the thumping of his heart; and he knew, then, that something just wasn't how it used to be.

 ***

 "You knew?!" Victor looked at him, shocked. Yuuri shifted, embarrassed. "How could you not tell me?"

He was sulking, Yuuri noticed with a small smile.

"It just never came up?" he offered carefully.

Victor huffed a little, kicking a lonely stone off the path they were taking. He was mumbling something under his breath, something too quiet for Yuuri to hear, so he let Victor process. Finally, Victor lifted his head to look at Yuuri again with his dangerously bright eyes.

"So that day we first talked, in the park, you knew who I was?" Victor asked again. "You knew I was an angel?"

Yuuri nodded. "I was surprised when you talked to me, but, well, it's hard to mistake you for someone else... so yes, I recognized you."

"And you didn't say anything," Victor pouted again and Yuuri smiled sheepishly.

"I didn't want to seem rude," Yuuri admitted. "An angel without wings... It's not exactly something you bring up over tea."

It made Victor chuckle. A second later, he whirled before Yuuri, taking his hand and lifting it up to press a kiss against the knuckles.

"A demon caring about an angel's feelings," he teased with a smile. "Only I could be so lucky to find one."

"That makes two of us, then, since I found a silly angel that cares about a halfling demon spawn enough to give up his wings for him, " Yuuri replied with a smile of his own, light, happy, careless and right.

 ***

 Angels didn't belong with demons. They were opposites, enemies, never meant to cross paths as more. But from the moment Victor had laid his eyes on Yuuri, he knew he was different. They both were.

What shouldn't have happened, did happen.

Victor couldn't help but wonder if this was the Creator's intent, if this was his Will, or maybe... it was Victor's final miracle, his biggest, best work yet – a miracle of love, compassion and forgiveness.

 ***

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

                                                                                       — Genesis 1:3

[nei-ning]

Guided Sleep Meditation Raphael x Donatello

My little fic what I wrote to “Fire Meet Gasoline” fanbook. More will be under the cut!

A screen of Don’s computer in his room brought enough light to two lovers who were in Don’s bed having sex silent moans, groans and whispers filling the room with bed’s creak sounds. Lips shared kisses one after another, hands traveled all around on their bodies bringing more pleasure as silent whispers gave away hints of their nearing climaxes.

Raph’s voice turned more raspy groans as he was coming more and more near to his limits, keeping his glowing eyes locked with Don’s shiny orbs and to Don the look in his mate’s eyes was something what brought him over the edge, releasing his load with pressure on his stomach. Hearing Donatello calling his name with such love and need made Raph bury himself fully in his brother’s ass, trembling and releasing his seeds deep inside. Collapsing heavily panting and sweaty beside Don, Raphael felt weight next to him move and warm smaller form was soon pressed against him, blanket sliding on them covering their bodies from cool lair air. Before Don could praise his sex partner from another amazing sex moment his disappointed was clear on his face when hot head was already snoring loudly. Oh well, he will thank him later. Purple banded turtle settled down better having nasty feeling of fear in his guts and that feeling had become so familiar to him during these past few months. Donatello struggled hard not to fall asleep but eventually those eyelids forced themselves closed, his tired mind instantly taking off. It was an hour or so when Donatello woke up to a nightmare. A nightmare about the time when he’d end up in another time and fought against the Shredder with his older future brothers who, sadly, lost their lives in that battle. It left deep mental scars in Don’s mind and it had take long time before Don had start to recover, slowly but surely. Sitting up sobbing and rubbing his eyes, Don felt movement next to him and gentle touch on his arm snapped him out of his thoughts few seconds later. “Ya okay, bro?” Raphael’s voice was raspy, quiet and so gentle it instantly started to ease his purple banded brother’s feelings. Sighing deep Donatello only nodded when Raph sat up next to him. “Another nightmare again?” “Yeah...” Deep sigh left Raphael’s lungs as he started to fall back down gently pulling Don down with him sealing him in his arms, kissing that olive green forehead. “It’s okay, Donnie. I’m right here with ya. Nothing like that will ever happen. Not in our time and world. We’ll beat Shredder before he beats us.” Don smirked a bit as he pressed more closer to his muscular brother’s warm body, his eyes burning and stinging. He wanted to go back to sleep so bad but he was too scared to close his eyes and Raphael sensed this. Gently starting to stroke his brother’s carapace he hoped it to lull his brother, and lover, to sleep but even after 15 minutes Don was still awake in his arms. “Come on, Donnie, close those eyes and get ta sleep.” “I can’t even if I want to.” Sigh hit Don’s head as Raphael’s chest rose and land under him with his deep inhale and long exhale. Don knew he was starting to stress his lover since he needed sleep after all those days what he had been working without any sleep at all but he just couldn’t close his eyes. “Hey.” “Hm?” “I have an idea but I have ta know ya trust me.” Don raised his head up from Raphael’s plastron, looking at him with asking look in his eyes. “Of course I trust you but… Where are you getting at?” “Lay back down and I tell ya.” Gently pressing Don’s head back on his plastron Raphael held his brother close pulling blanket more over them so they were nice and warm once again. Then he took another deep inhale and released it, Don patiently waiting his brother to get ready. “Close your eyes.” “Wha--? I told you I can’t.” “Just do it, Donnie. Trust me.” Hesitating wasn’t something what Don normally did but he feared his nightmare would continue if he closed his eyes but… Then again… His brown eyes met Raphael’s golden orbs, seeing so much love and encouragement in them. Raphael had promised he would be there and there was nothing in Don’s mind what would question that. Raph was a turtle of his words. Nodding once with small movement Don rested his head back in more comfortable position and closed his eyes and it was all black. “Ya closed your eyes?” “Yeah.” “Good. Now I want ya ta only focus on my voice.” Raph felt how Don chuckled a bit, letting their eyes meet once again. “Don’t tell me you try ‘guided mediation’ on me?” “Why I shouldn’t try? If it helps ya ta sleep then I give it a try, do ya like it or not. Now get back down and relax.” Still having small smile on his face Don let out another little chuckle as he pressed back down, relaxing with deep sigh his whole focus on Raphael’s slow whispering and calming voice after Raph had put some fitting relaxing meditation music play from his phone. “It’s alright, Donnie. I’m right here with ya. Keep listening my voice and let it sooth ya ta sleep. Ya breath nice, steady and calm letting your body relax and turn more heavy.” Nuzzling gently against Don’s forehead Raph pressed his lips on warm skin and continued with more silent whispers; “Ya are feeling all warm and safe. Your lids feel heavy with every passing second and your mind is finding peace. Ya want ta fall asleep.” Taking a little pause here Raph gently rose his hand on Don’s carapace, slowly starting to pet it since his brother was still not as relaxed as he wanted him to be. “Ya have nothing ta fear. Nothing can’t harm ya since I’m here and I gotcha. Take a deep inhale of my scent and let it help ya ta relax more. Let go of all fears and worries. Free yourself.” Starting to doubt his skills of helping Don with guided meditation Raphael got surprised when his brother indeed took deep inhale of his scent and relaxed. Air under blanket had started to warm up and it also started to make Raphael feel relaxed but he wasn’t done since Donatello wasn’t sleeping yet. “Do ya feel and see that? Clear blue sky above ya, pure white clouds slowly slipping past while screaming seagulls fly over ya. You feel water stroking your body and you realize ya are floating in crystal clear ocean water, waves gently swinging ya towards the shore. Your carapace hits the shore in most gentle way and ya lay perfectly still closing your eyes, enjoying the feeling of sun warming ya, waves caressing your lower body, and warm silky sand making small rustle sounds when a crab walks past ya behind your head.” Taking a little break to breath, Raphael continued. “So how are ya feeling? Your legs should be heavy like the rest of your body, ya should be all warm, relaxed and comfortable. Ya are feeling so damn good ya ain’t wanting ta move a muscle.” Feeling Don really started to be extremely relaxed and warm, Raphael rolled them on their sides being face to face with his lover. Good, Don didn’t react to it so he was very close of falling a sleep. Slowly sliding his arm over Don’s side Raph kept holding him close while carefully placing his leg on those thinner legs. Pulling blanket fully over their heads it started to feel like if the two of them were safe in warm nest like baby turtles in sand. Resting his chin on Don’s head Raph went on. “It’s nice, warm and peaceful in my arms and in your mind. Ya are happy and floating into a dream world of beautiful and peaceful dreams. Your breathing is still going on nice and steady while ya are feeling how all cells in your body have reach their maximum level of relaxation. Ya are more then ready and willing ta fall asleep.” Staying perfectly still silently Raphael listened Don’s breathing what had changed. It indeed was now slow and calm and despite the fact Raph couldn’t see Don’s face, he felt the relaxation on that adorable face. Small smile of joy and pride spread slowly overtaking sai user’s lips. Raphael never hadn’t done this to others but at times to himself when he had find it difficult to fall asleep and it always had helped him so now that he’d had a chance to use it on someone else, he was eager to do it… and he was happy he had. Kissing Don’s head carefully Raphael took deep inhale of Don’s scent closing his eyes. “Good night, Donnie. I love ya.” Closing his eyes and resting his head better on Don’s pillow Raphael closed his eyes focusing on still playing music behind his head on low volume, letting it lull him to sleep as well only to find out he was sharing the same dream with Donatello. Both of them were on this huge field full of purple and red flowers side by side, holding hands as they walked forward finally finding a good spot to lay down and let flowers surround them, their scent being sweet and relaxing. Holding one another they enjoyed this peaceful and beautiful dream and they weren’t in a rush to wake up any time soon.

[bllkwriting]

Yall, I am SO sorry for not posting. My motivation has just been 👎 recently so I haven't gotten to finish writing, although I promise the next part is almost finished being written, I'll get it out as soon as I feel like it

[bllkwriting]

Volume chapters layout/plan

A/N: I just wanna apologize about not posting about this book for a while, but this is to hopefully make up for it and I promise to have the next part out soon, either today or tomorrow (most likely today)

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[Volume cover here (on the doc it'll be on the right and a good amount of the text would be to the left of it)]

Featured character: [Character on cover]

Background color: [Color of cover background + hex code]

Why A/N thinks the cover is how it is: [Why I think the cover was designed how it was]

About the volume: [What was actually within the volume explained in kinda detailed writing (I go a lot more into detail in the individual chapters)]

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 10/20/21

SEAN: As we inch ever closer to Halloween, beware of the manga yokai, which look like Shonen Jump volumes but lure children to their doom.

ASH: I absolutely believe this tale to be true.

MELINDA: Okay, I lol’d.

SEAN: Airship has two print light novel debuts. We get print versions of The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe and The NPCs in this Village Sim Game Must Be Real!.

ASH: Looking forward to giving The Haunted Bookstore a try now that it’ll be in print!

SEAN: Also in print (and same-day digital): Monster Girl Doctor 8.

Early digital volumes include Adachi and Shimamura 7, Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Lily’s Miracle (a side-story), and Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist 3.

Ghost Ship has World’s End Fantasia 5.

J-Novel Club has a bunch of print titles. We see the debut of Her Majesty’s Swarm, as well as the first Ascendance of a Bookworm Fanbook. We also get By the Grace of the Gods 6, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 6, In Another World with My Smartphone 18, Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles Omnibus 3, and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 2.

ASH: I’m still delighted to see things like fanbooks being released these days.

SEAN: Digitally we see Guide to the Perfect Otaku Girlfriend: Roomies and Romance 3 and My Next Life As a Villainess 10.

Kodansha has a new print omnibus of Attack on Titan, containing the first three volumes, back when the story was at its best and the art was at its worst. We also get Attack on Titan 34, the final volume, which is the opposite.

ASH: Oh, how the times have changed!

SEAN: Other omnibuses in print: Love in Focus Complete Collection (the entire series), The Seven Deadly Sins 1-3, And That Wolf-Boy Is Mine! 3-4. There’s also Eden’s Zero 13 and The Heroic Legend of Arslan 15, which are not omnibuses.

And we get a print release for Vampire Dormitory, whose ebook came out two years ago.

Digital debuts? We get Doing His Best to Confess (Natsuaki-kun wa Kyou mo Kokuhaku shitai), a Betsufure title which has a seemingly cool and aloof guy turn out to just be shy and awkward. Can he confess to the girl he likes?

MICHELLE: This looks pretty cute. I tend to like stories about seemingly cool and aloof guys who are just awkward (see Lovesick Ellie).

ANNA: That does sound cute.

ASH: Agreed!

SEAN: The other debut is Tesla Note, which is a shonen series that runs in Weekly Shonen Magazine. It’s filled with action and conspiracies, is from the author of Tiger & Bunny, and its anime has bombed so bad possibly no one will care enough to get the source.

Also out digitally: Blue Lock 8, The Decagon House Murders 3, Defying Kurosaki-kun 17, A Girl & Her Guard Dog 6, Nina the Starry Bride 5, We’re New at This 9, and You’re My Cutie 2.

MICHELLE: At some point I will actually read Blue Lock.

SEAN: One Peace Books has Hinamatsuri 13.

Seven Seas has three debuts. Creepy Cat is a full-color graphic novel based on the popular webcomic which balances between cute and scary.

ASH: Always curious about a new cat comic!

SEAN: Kiruru Kill Me is a new Shonen Jump Plus series from the creator of Pretty Face and Mx0. A young man is rich and successful, but has no one to love. Then he falls head over heels… for an assassin. There’s only one thing to do: order a hit on himself.

ASH: I’ll admit to being curious about this one, too.

Monster Guild: The Dark Lord’s (No-Good) Comeback! (Yuusha ni Haiboku Shita Maou-sama wa Kaerizaku Tame ni Mamonogirudo o Tsukuru Koto ni Shimashita) runs in Shinchosha’s Comic Bunch Web, about a dark lord defeated by an OP Hero, who manages to survive and now forms… you guessed it… a ragtag band of misfits.

Also from Seven Seas: Even Though We’re Adults 3, GIGANT 6, Kingdom of Z 4, and Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time 6.

MICHELLE: At some point I will actually read Even Though We’re Adults!

ASH: I’ve been picking them up as they’ve been released, but have not actually read any of the volumes, yet.

SEAN: Tokyopop has the 2nd volume of Her Royal Highness Seems to be Angry.

Viz debuts Burn the Witch, from the creator of Bleach. Indeed, it’s set in the same world as Bleach, albeit a little further into the future, and in London. Two agents trying to get easy assignments they can turn into cash instead end up in fantasy misadventures.

Also from Viz: Asadora! 4, No Guns Life 11, No. 5 2, and The Creative Gene, a collection of essays by the creator of Metal Gear Solid.

ASH: Happy to see the next volume of No. 5 coming out!

SEAN: Yen On has two light novels: A Sister’s All You Need 11 and Solo Leveling 3.

Yen Press’s sole title is a digital-only debut: If You Could See Love (Moshi, Koi ga Mieta Nara). This yuri series runs in Shonen Ace Plus. Have you ever seen those complicated love charts fans make with arrows pointing forward and back? Our heroine can see them… including two pointed at her. But… this is an all girls’ school!

ASH: The premise sounds like it could be promising.

SEAN: Are you haunted by manga? Or by the spirit of Sasha Braus demanding a potato?

By: Sean Gaffney