#drawing hajime genuinely scared me

[eggs-can-draw]

Es dee ar toodles

[seijorhi]

Bully ~ Part II

Oikawa Tooru x female reader (+ Iwaizumi Hajime)

TW dub/non-con, bullying, slight degradation, voyeurism, filming, implied abuse, one mention of slapping, nsfw

Part I

‘Honey, it’s your choice. Whatever you decide to do, we’ll respect.’

The final whistle sounds, the team gathering up in a huddle and with a sigh you dutifully close your books and begin to pack them away into your bag. They still have to pull down all the nets and tidy up, but that never takes too long and the sooner you’re all out of here the better.

The sooner you can get away from them, the better.

It’s become routine at this point for you to slowly make your way down to the edge of the court while they duck into the locker room; the other third years acknowledging you with friendly enough smiles, the underclassmen no longer staring at you in vague confusion. 

But at this point you’re truly beyond caring what any of them think of your relationship with their Captain. 

Except instead of filing out like the rest of his teammates, Oikawa’s still on the far side of the court, trapped in a conversation with Coach Irihata and Mizoguchi. For a split second, his attention shifts towards you, lingering awkwardly by the big double doors, and you think you catch a flicker of irritation in his eyes – which is unusual, considering that he’s made this game his life and he has nothing but the greatest respect for both of the men before him. 

But it doesn’t really matter, you suppose. You’ll wait for him, whether it’s five minutes or fifty and he’ll either tell you what’s pissing him off, or he won’t and he’ll end up using you to work out his frustrations anyway.

With your parents away for the rest of the week and your house otherwise empty, you can only pray to any god that’ll listen that he won’t try and spend the night. Not that there’s much you can do to stop him, but a girl can dream, right?

The others are heading off, Makki laughing off some biting comment from Kyoutani, but you pay them no mind. Despite being the people you now spend the majority of your time with, they’re not your friends. 

You resign yourself to trudging back up into the stands to wait for Oikawa to finish up when a hand gently wraps around your arm, spinning you around. You start, every muscle in your body tensing on instinct, but as you come face to face with familiar olive eyes you relax – it’s only Iwa.

He regards you silently for a moment, an unreadable expression on his face before he glances over your shoulder to where Oikawa’s still talking with the coaches. 

“C’mon, they’ll be a while, I think. Let me walk you home.”

His place is almost a fifteen minute walk from yours, but you don’t bother trying to bring that up. Instead, you just shrug, shifting the strap of the bag slung over your shoulder, “It’s fine. I don’t need an escort, you know, it’s not that late.”

Maybe it’d be nice for once, walking home without Oikawa’s looming presence over your shoulder. You’re almost positive that he’ll still come by afterwards, especially because he knows as well as you do that there’s nobody to interrupt tonight, but you’ll take the tiny wins when you can.

Besides, you only have to stick it out a little while longer. 

Still holding onto your arm, Iwa’s eyebrows draw together into a slight frown and he bites back a sigh, “Shittykawa’ll throw a hissy-fit if I let you walk home alone tonight. C’mon.”

He’s not asking, you realise belatedly as he firmly but gently starts to lead you out of the gym, not sparing his best friend another glance. And you could probably dig your heels in and kick up a fuss and he’d probably let you go – at least, you think he would. He would, right? He’d listen if you asked him to stop – but what’s the point?

Nobody here actually cares what you want anymore.

Iwa’s different, you suppose. You don’t really know why. He’s just as complicit as the others, maybe even more so – he at least knows what’s going on, even if he refuses to acknowledge it or do anything about it… but that’s not entirely true, is it?

He’s the one to step in when Oikawa starts to take things too far in public. He’s the one to scare off your would be bullies, snarling and glaring at them from his place at your side. Iwa’s the reason you haven’t lost it completely, the one keeping your head above water. He’s a friend you suppose, or at least the closest thing Oikawa’ll let you have anymore.

He’s certainly the only one Tooru trusts with you whenever he’s not around, hence you haven’t heard any indignant shouts from the gym following in your wake despite the grip he has on you.

And Iwa is nice, in his own way. He cares about you, you think – or he cares enough to pretend for Oikawa’s sake. Either way, at least you know he won’t try to pull you down an alleyway and force you to suck his cock, so compared to your other options, he’s definitely the lesser of two evils. 

It’s quiet as the two of you walk, and you find yourself thankful for it. Oikawa’s always talking, he never shuts up, his incessant chatter shattering every moment of quiet, peaceful solitude you try to steal for yourself. 

And tonight, tonight your head’s already too full to pretend to play along with some semblance of chipper friendliness. 

Maybe that’s why you like Iwaizumi; you don’t have to pretend with him. He knows exactly what Oikawa is, and he’s too intelligent to believe that you’re content spending every waking moment by the setter’s side, much less that you genuinely love him. 

It’s a nice night, at least – there’s barely any clouds in the sky. You can see the stars glittering in the inky, midnight blue, and it’s peaceful, you think, with Iwa strolling quietly along beside you. 

Even when the breeze starts to pick up, the late summer night air nipping at your exposed skin. Your jacket’s folded up and shoved somewhere towards the bottom of your bag, but you honestly can’t be bothered to stop and ferret for it. 

“You’re cold,” Iwa states after a beat. Again, not a question.

Nevertheless, you shake your head. “I’m fine,” you reply, perhaps a little tersely, but he’s already shrugging off his own jacket and draping it over your shoulders. Oikawa would do the same thing, more out of a perverse sense of enjoyment from seeing you wearing his clothes than a genuine sense of concern over your comfort.

Still, you don’t fight Iwa on it, pulling his jacket tighter over your body. It’s warm, his lingering body heat making your own cheeks burn a little, and it smells like him, too. Musky, yes, but there’s something almost comforting about the fresh, woodsy scent.

Silence resumes between the two of you, but you feel the weight of his stare as the two of you wander along the path. Iwaizumi’s always been perceptive, more so than most give him credit for, and it’s only another few minutes before he speaks again.

“You’re quiet tonight.”

You hum noncommittally, staring resolutely at the concrete sidewalk rather than meet his pointed gaze. 

He huffs. “You gonna tell me what’s bothering you or not?” he tries again, the sheer bluntness almost enough to make you flinch.

“And what makes you think there’s anything bothering me?” you reply dully, kicking at the small little pebble on the pathway in front of you.

Iwa stiffens just a fraction, but you feel it – the shift in the air between the two of you. It’s the truth you won’t speak, the one he won’t acknowledge. Of course there’s something bothering you; this whole fucked up situation between the three of you. It’s not normal, it’s not healthy, surely he sees that, how the hell can he–

“Cut the bullshit,” he snaps. “You think I haven’t noticed how you’ve been acting lately? Something’s up, and if you think I’m the only one who’s paying attention…” he trails off, and suddenly his hand’s catching at yours, pulling you to a stop.

And when finally you drag your eyes up to meet his, your heartbeat quickens at the scowl written across his face, plain as day. 

“I’m not talking about… that. Did he–” he hesitates, biting down on his lip and you honestly don’t know whether you want to laugh or cry. “Something’s up.”

You could probably tell him to mind his own business, and part of you almost wants to. He might even listen, though he wouldn’t be happy about it, but the thing is, you’re just so tired. Tired of playing girlfriend for Oikawa, tired of being dragged along against your will, manhandled and fucked at every opportunity, tired of pretending that this is in any way okay, and you just want to finally give in and admit it out loud.

You want this to be over, and it’s so close you can almost fucking taste it. 

So you breathe deep, forcing yourself to relax. “My mom got a job in Tokyo. My parents… they’re leaving at the end of next week. Moving. It’s why they haven't been around much lately.”

Iwaizumi’s eyebrows furrow into a frown as he takes a second to absorb the information. “And… you? We only have a few months left until we graduate.”

You allow him a wry smile. “I know. They gave me a choice, I’m eighteen, I can stay here in the house by myself, finish up the year and graduate at Aoba Johsai before moving down with them…”

“Or?” he prods.

“Or,” you continue, “or I can go now. There’s some really good schools down there, I could have my pick. It’ll be a struggle, I know, transferring so late in the term, but–”

Iwaizumi scoffs, cutting you off, “But you’re not actually gonna go, right? You can’t just pack up and leave so close to graduation. You’re staying here in Miyagi.” 

He almost sounds angry– the muscle in his jaw’s twitching and as you stare at him you realise that he doesn’t sound angry; he is angry. His whole body’s tensed like he’s preparing for a fight, and it takes you by surprise. 

Sure, he’s pretty much the only person outside of Oikawa that you’d consider yourself to have any kind of relationship with anymore, but you’d never really thought he’d actually–

“Iwa,” you say gently, “I was gonna go to Tokyo after graduation anyway. Sure, it’s not exactly an ideal situation, but…” 

But it’s your chance to get away from all of this, from Oikawa, and you’re gonna take it and run. Whether or not Tokyo University accepts you, whether it means you have to work three times as hard to adjust to a new school’s curriculum just so you won’t completely flunk your final exams. 

It can’t be any worse than this.

He has to understand that. 

And really, what did he think was going to happen after graduation? You know Oikawa’s plans, and you’ll be damned if you let him ruin your life anymore than he already has, dragging you halfway across the world. You belong here, in Japan. Oikawa can go chase his pipe dreams on his own. 

He swallows tightly, and while the pinched scowl on his face doesn’t falter, his grip on your wrist eases just a fraction. “You were really just gonna leave without telling anybody?” he asks, his voice uncharacteristically quiet.

“Who would I tell?”

—

Sure enough, it’s a little after midnight when your bedroom door sweeps open and Oikawa strides in like he owns the place. You watch through half lidded eyes as he starts to shed his clothes, stripping off and tossing them haphazardly onto the floor until he’s just in his boxers. 

He doesn’t say much as he lifts the covers and climbs into bed beside you, merely presses a surprisingly gentle kiss to your cheek, murmuring a quiet, ‘Just sleep, cutie,’ when you try to shift away from him.

He sounds tired, exhausted really, but you don’t care enough to comment, relieved more than anything that tonight he doesn’t seem to have the energy for more. There’d been some part of you that was worried that Iwa might have told him about the walk home – the secrets you’d unthinkingly entrusted to him – but he can’t have. There’s no possible way Oikawa would be so calm right now if he had. 

And Iwa wouldn’t do something like that in the first place. 

It might not have been the most traditional of friendships, and you know he’s still a little pissed off with your decision and the fact you had no intentions of telling him, but Iwa wouldn’t break your trust like that. 

And so with Oikawa’s arms wrapped around your middle, the warmth of his chest pressed up against your back, you allow sleep to claim you once more.

—

You hardly see him the following morning. 

There’s no sign of him when you wake up, though his side of the bed is still warm – you know he likes to run in the mornings; he probably ran home to shower before school. And if you’re grateful to Aoba Johsai for anything, it’s for putting the two of you in separate classes. You’re spared his presence and those of his mooney eyed fangirls, and you can actually focus on learning. Or try to, at least.

Iwa regards you with an unreadable expression when you take your usual seat at the desk next to his, but at least he doesn’t seem as pissed off as he was when he left you last night. You only have a week and a half left until you go, but considering he’s the closest thing you have to a friend anymore, you’re not sure how you would survive if he suddenly decided to give you the cold shoulder.

Still, he is quieter than usual as you both settle into class, and you can’t help your gaze from flickering over to him throughout the lesson, an uncomfortable pit settling into your stomach. Iwa doesn’t so much as look your way, busying himself in copying down the notes the teacher’s scrawling on the board.

You honestly didn’t expect him to be hurt, and as he brushes past you on his way out after the bell rings you begin to doubt whether you should have told him at all. It stings, more than you expect.

Yet the moment you try to follow him, calling out his name, a familiar figure steps in front of you, halting you in your tracks. 

“Hey, cutie,” Oikawa purrs, grinning down at you as he reaches out to tuck a stray lock of hair back behind your ear. “I’ve missed you today. Come on, let’s go somewhere a little quieter.”

His fingers are laced with yours, tugging you along before you can even try to voice a protest. You both know you wouldn’t anyway, not anymore. 

Just like you don’t speak up when instead of dragging you outside to the courtyard, or even to the gym, he chooses an empty classroom, kicking the door shut behind him. 

There’s a question on the tip of your tongue, but you don’t have a chance to voice it as he grabs you by the collar of your shirt and smashes his lips to yours. 

Oikawa usually likes to take his time, to drag out your humiliation and reluctant pleasure as he toys with you, but today he wastes no time in shoving you back up against one of the desk, his fingers already yanking down your necktie and prying your lilac shirt open – buttons scattering as it rips.

“Tooru–” you gasp, panic flaring, but his lips curl into a smirk as he forces you back into another kiss.

“Quiet now, cutie, let me take care of my pretty girl, hm?” he growls between panting breaths. “You don’t want somebody stumbling in and interrupting us, do you?”

And your chest tightens, squeezing around your lungs like a vice, your gaze flickering back to the door – shut but not locked.

“Tooru,” you whisper again in a panic, clutching at the lapels of his blazer as he draws back enough to level a gaze at your chest, bare save for the virginal white lace bra you’d unthinkingly chosen that morning. 

His grin widens, but there’s something cold and utterly unflinching in his eyes as they flicker up to meet yours. “Lean back,” he tells you.

You shake your head, “I d-don’t–”

His hands are on your shoulders, abruptly shoving you backwards. “I said,” he coos as you sprawl back onto the wooden desktop with a startled squeak, “lean back for me.”

It’s been months since you’ve fought him, but as he flips up your skirt, fingers grazing possessively along the cotton of your panties and he sighs contentedly, sheer panic floods your system, overwhelming your better judgement. Before you can stop yourself your knees come up as you desperately scramble to right yourself, to put an end to this–

The slap to your cheek isn’t all that forceful, at least not compared to what you know him to be capable of, but it still takes you by surprise, the sharp, burning sting only registering as the shock of the blow fades.

Oikawa’s no longer grinning, his face twisted into a terrifying glare as wide, teary eyes stare back up at him. “Baby, you’re really testing me right now. You want to act like a disobedient little bitch, kick up a fuss, bring everybody running so they can see what a needy little whore you are, spread out on the table for me?” He snatches at your panties, harshly wrenching them down your now prone legs with one hand, the other reaching for his belt buckle, “You think you have a choice here? You think I give a fuck what you want?”

Your ears are ringing, the sound of your own heartbeat drowning out almost everything else.

It’s not the first time he’s hit you, or even the hardest, but with that one slap all the fight you have left just dissipates. You don’t even flinch when he spits directly onto your pussy, his thumb harshly spreading his saliva over your cunt – you just bite down on your lip to stifle the sob that threatens to burst.

And victory shines bright in his eyes at the sight of it. 

“Good girl, you know who this pretty pussy belongs to, don’t you?” he croons with saccharine sweetness, even leaning over to press a tender, affectionate kiss to your swollen lips. 

And you’d squeeze your eyes shut and try to imagine that you’re somewhere else, anywhere else if you didn’t know how much he hates it when you do. So instead, you lie there pliant and trembling, humiliation burning hot as he spreads your legs, pressing your thighs back towards your chest as he slots himself in between them.

“You look so good like this, you know?” he muses with a soft little chuckle as he leisurely strokes his cock, letting the flushed tip brush teasingly along your folds, nudging at your clit. “Prettiest little thing, and all mine, aren’t you, cutie.”

Tears well and spill soundlessly down your cheek, but your only answering is the hiccuping breath you draw in, your fingers finding purchase on the edges of the desk as he guides it back to your entrance.

It doesn’t matter that you’re not nearly ready for him, that his spit and the pre-cum that’s beading at his slit isn’t going to help ease his passage in the slightest. He’ll fuck you how he wants to – and you’re too broken to try and stop him.

Yet instead of savagely plunging in like you expect him to, Oikawa stills, regarding you with a tilted head and a cruel smirk. 

“Fuck,” he curses quietly, the sound almost reverent as he stares down at you. He shakes his head, another soft laugh bubbling out, “I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of seeing you like this, but if you’re going to be running off on me so soon, maybe I should take a little memento, what do you think cutie?”

Your stomach drops, dread creeping down your spine as Oikawa reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, opening up the camera and flicking it across to video. 

“I mean if this is going to be our last time together, don’t you think we should make it special?” You jerk, your breath coming out in short, harsh pants but you can’t move, can’t seem to lift a single finger as he leans in closer, bringing his lips to your ear, “That way we both have something to remember this by.”

And as his breath ghosts the tiny hairs on the shell of your ear he laughs again, pressing another quick kiss to your flushed, tear stained cheek. “Aw, don’t cry, cutie. You brought this on yourself.”

You don’t have a moment to prepare yourself, his hand slamming over your lips to muffle your shrieks as he thrusts his hips forward, sheathing himself in your tight little cunt with a choked moan.

“F-fuck, baby,” he grits out, biting down on his own lip as he relishes the vice like grip your pussy has on his throbbing cock, “Smile for the camera.”

Your back arcs up off the table, fingernails digging into the wood as he draws his hips back slowly, letting you feel every inch of his cock as it drags along your walls until it’s only the tip that remains inside of you.

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts – a sharp and throbbing pain that only grows with each passing second. 

There’s something sadistic in his grin as he angles the phone down to where your bodies meet, your lewdly spread thighs, your glistening pussy in perfect view as another glob of saliva joins the first, pooling over your sex, sliding down his cock.

“You have no idea how perfect your pussy feels, baby,” he pants, slowly filling you up once more – your own wails stifled by his hand. “You’re mine, all fucking mine, aren’t you?”

There’s no hiding from the camera as he fucks you, slowly at first, but picking up his pace as the slick starts to build, your warm, velvety walls sucking him in deeper, squelching obscenely with every thrust. And between the sounds of his balls slapping against your ass – skin hitting skin as he fucks you roughly without care – and Tooru’s own satisfied moans, your muffled whimpers and cries go unheard. 

And just when you think your humiliation is complete, he takes his hand from your mouth, his thumb returning to your clit, teasing at the sensitive nub with slow, measured circles that have you keening, shaking beneath him as he stuffs you full. Slowly but surely that searing ache gives way to pleasure, a slight shift of his hips and his cock’s hitting that sweet spot he’s all too familiar with – and another strangled moan slips out.

“You gonna cum for me, pretty girl?”

You shake your head, fingernails digging into the wood, biting down harshly to keep yourself quiet as you feel that familiar heat pooling in your core, wanton pleasure flickering through you with every swipe of his fingers, every harsh thrust.

“No? You sure about that?” he laughs at the desperate whine that slips from your lips, “I wanna hear it, baby. Cum for me.”

But you can’t, you can’t make a sound, the door’s not locked, the door’s not locked and anybody could walk in any second, but you can feel it coming, your legs shaking and toes curling as your control slips–

“Cum,” Oikawa demands, his own voice a husky, shivering growl, and this time you’re helpless but to obey.

Your orgasm crashes into you like a wave, suddenly sweeping your legs out from under you. You arc up off the table once more, white hot pleasure exploding as you shiver and quake, your pussy clamping down on his cock and gushing as he fucks you relentlessly through it, chasing his end while drawing out your own.

And you’re so lost in the bliss, the pleasurable rippling aftershocks short circuiting your system that you don’t even realise that he’s pulled himself out of your cunt, stroking his slicked up cock with harsh pants–

Not until you feel the hot spurts of his cum hitting your stomach, a choked moan resembling your name shattering the fuzzy afterglow, dragging you harshly back down to reality.

There’s a twisted, self satisfied smirk on his face as he watches the cold realisation sink in, your eyes filling with fresh tears as your gaze flickers between him and the phone in his hand, still filming.

“You’re not leaving me,” he says, still a little breathless. “You’re mine. Isn’t that right, Iwa?”

No.

Please god, no.

Blood drains from your face, the pit in your stomach plummeting as his smirk widens and he turns his head to glance over his shoulder. You don’t want to look, can’t bear to, but it’s like trying to rip your eyes away from a car crash; your body moves with a will of its own. Heart pounding, nausea churning in your gut, you follow his gaze to find Iwaizumi by the door; jaw tight, arms folded across his chest, staring impassively back at you.

And that last little piece of you breaks.

[austajunk]

soumaeda and/or enonami 👀

SouMaeda

-Whether I ship it or not

OH GOD YES I DO. I WANT THEM SO BADLY. I WANNA WRITE MORE OF THEM. I LOVE THEM.

-Why I ship it or not

I am actually not sure why I started shipping them so hardcore. I think it’s because the only one who would be a genuine bottom to Nagito would be Kazuichi. I like that Nagito especially scares Kazuichi but also seems to subtly flirt with him and enjoy making him feel uneasy. They also have a “friendship” rivalry over Hajime. I love it.

Also I think Nagito genuinely likes Kazuichi. He does flirt with him and also makes sure to have an “ideal world” with him as one of the closest people to him after all. They both hate horror films and while Nagito seems to enjoy creeping Kazuichi out, he also… like… flatters him a lot too.

Look at this shot. Just tell me you don’t ship them!

My opinion on their canon potential (chemistry, canon interactions, etc)

Well where do I start? The sexual tension of Kazuichi punching Nagito’s lights out and then having to chain him up. The way he gets so defensive whenever Nagito is mentioned. The way Nagito lavishes praise on him whenever Kazuichi flexes his mechanical skills. Kazuichi carrying him in the anime? Nagito lovingly embracing him once he wakes up in the OVA and making him the closest person to him alongside Fuyuhiko? Making a world he thinks will make Kazuichi the happiest? That world falling apart when he loses Kazuichi? Kazuichi actually smiling and joking with Nagito when he woke up from the NWP? The way Nagito toys with Kazuichi’s trust in Hajime in the fourth chapter and tries to draw him away?! Just ahhhhhhhh~!

-My opinion on fanon interpretations/fandom around it (Favorite widespread hcs, pet-peeves, etc)

Again, like every other Nagito ship has too small of a fanbase! I really like the fanart pieces and interpretations because we all just know Kaz would be the bottom in this relationship. Hehe.

EnoNami

-Whether I ship it or not

*quietly* Yes. Yes I do.

-Why I ship it or not

It’s a controversial ship and all, isn’t it? But I really like the bloody, angsty aspect of it. These two are really opposites in a way. The Hope in a class full of Despairs and The Despair in the class full of Hopes. Parallels galore! And I really think Junko could have brought the worst and darkest out in Chiaki… and she did. Look at how Chiaki fights to defy Junko and tell her to fuck off basically as she struggles to stay alive.

Junko may have snuffed out Chiaki’s life, but there’s something suggestive and romantic in that brutality. A brutal dance of cruel Hope and Despair as you will.

-My opinion on their canon potential (chemistry, canon interactions, etc)

Obviously the majority of their interaction is in the anime with Human Chiaki. Junko instigates Chiaki’s horrific death, knowing that it would torment her classmates and makes them easy to brainwash and control. But the way she goes about it… saying she and Chiaki will be the bestest of friends… making an entire labyrinth to kill her… well, if there’s anything about Junko, it’s that if she kills you herself and watches with interest, she must really like you. Puhuhuhu. What a messed up concept.

More than that, look at the sexual tension of Chiaki defying Junko, sliding her bloody palm across that screen to block Junko’s face out. Something about that is so delicious. Also AI Chiaki would top since she just constantly is able to tell Junko (through Monokuma) to shut the fuck up and then Junko’s like “Yes ma’am!”

-My opinion on fanon interpretations/fandom around it (Favorite widespread hcs, pet-peeves, etc)

They’re so minimal but I love the dark content people give EnoNami! It’s so good. Usually it’s Junko keep Chiaki alive or twisting her AI in a way. I love it with all my heart! <3 It’s messed up but so am I!

[neutinya]

Some relationships are you, a human, with a human partner, and other are you, a human, and your 240cm tall monster bf, but that's okay - !! I included their backstory as well as the setting up of the general context for this AU below the cut so if you’re interested,,, do consider reading it fhdjdj;;; I'm really happy with how this turned out and it's super fun to draw monster tooru and his 4 arms lmao I'm super excited for this AU;;; I really wanna draw more of it dndjjxjd

Iwa is monster-hunter royal blood. However he doesn't want to be heir to the monster hunter shit so he decided to run away the day before his coronation??

As a kid he would play with all the monster animals near the forest which is where he met his lizard familiar and llama ceb. The day he runs away he brings them with him??

The moment he ran away from his kingdom and title as prince he was immediately hunted down by hunters sent by his own family for dishonouring them the Iwaizumi name. Like he's straight up wanted??? ahhh

Somewhere along the way he meets Tooru and they probably wouldn't get along at the start

?? Like they meet at some weird beer house?? And Iwa obviously sticks out because he's human and humans aren't exactly super welcomed because of the history between monsters and humans. Iwa being oblivious to the monster world obviously doesn't realise why this four armed dude won't stop pestering him in spite of his attempts to keep a low profile.

Tooru had approached him because he was sure if he didn't step in, Iwa would have been killed

Iwa was initially extremely resistant to Tooru's "advances" until Tooru whispers into Iwa's ear that "I don't know if you realised but almost every monster in this beer house is staring at you with the intent to kill, so unless you want to leave this place alive, play along and let me get you out of here"

And Iwa just looks around the room and he realises that Tooru was right so he plays along and they try to leave but one of the monsters in the beer house walks up to them and asks Tooru to back off so they could kill Iwa, and Tooru is just like "no can do, he's a friend of mine" and the dude is just like "move." But Tooru is adamant much to the annoyance of the other. A fight kinda breaks out, but much to Iwa's surprise, Tooru managed to take all of them down with ease

As they go aside, Iwa just asks Tooru why doesn't he want to kill him like the rest of the monsters and Tooru is just 🤷🤷🤷🤷🤷 Iwa apologises for causing such a big commotion and getting Tooru involved unnecessarily. Tooru says it's not a problem and Iwa not really having that much money on him, asks if he could return him in some other way? He offers a family heirloom at first but Tooru is just like "Not interested, although how about you let me tag along wherever you're headed?"

Iwa’s response is just "???" Tooru says "look, you aren't getting anywhere in these parts as a human, if I tag along, you won't have to worry too much about being killed and you returned the favour, it's a win win."

So that's how they kinda go off on their journey!!! Iwa actually learns a lot about monsters from Tooru who seemed much more knowledgeable than he looked (no offense to Tooru but that was Hajime’s genuine first impression) There were so many different types of monsters and Iwa was just?? So amazed and almost excited that there were so many things for him to learn and explore??

Like okay they had a bad first impression but he was kinda starting to like Tooru as a companion, listening to way Tooru told all those stories offered him a comfort that he never had back at home

Tooru did most of the talking honestly but Iwa was always intently listening and Tooru could tell he was intrigued and super attentive so he didn’t mind

He did ask Iwa about why he was wandering around in the first place and why the hell was he just traversing across the land with no plan or knowledge of the terrain. Iwa tells Tooru he ran away from his family but neglected to tell Tooru he was of royal monsterhunter blood. Iwa fires back the same question and Tooru responds saying “I get bored of spending all my time in the same old place every day.” neglecting to tell Iwa the fact that he too was of royal blood, the king to one of the many monster kingdoms. (Actually one of the most feared in fact??)

I was thinking the four armed form isn't his real monster form but a less scary version, he's actually a huge fearsome beast but he would walk around in this form to blend with the common folk. This also explains why people don’t recognize him, because if they really knew who he was, they’d be terrified of him.

Tooru is extremely flirty and generally enjoys teasing Hajime. Iwa's lizard does not like Tooru at all. It would be sitting on Iwa's shoulder, breathing small fireballs at Tooru whenever the brunette got too close- For example, when Tooru tries to wrap an arm around Iwa's shoulder or waist, Haji’s lizard would get extremely angry and began attacking him. Tooru is super upset about this tiny little creature preventing him from getting close to his new human companion, but nevertheless, he learns to pick moments where the lizard is asleep to try and engage with Haji

Sidenote, Iwa is a really fucking good archer and good at knives. He may not have had the heart to be a monster hunter, but he definitely had the physical skills to be one if he desired.

Of course there’s a bunch of shenanigans, but honestly speaking there’s also a good amount of sexual tension?? They have a lot of moments where they kinda save each other, whether it be having run ins with unfriendly monsters or humans, to navigating dangerous terrain and making hard decisions;;

They grow to be rather close friends I would dare say;; In fact, for the most part, Tooru would be Iwa's first genuine friend :(( Iwa was never given the luxury of having friends growing up. He spent most of his time training to be a monster hunter or learning about them, which is why he grew super attached to Tooru platonically at first

Once they have a pretty mean run in where Tooru ends up seriously hurt;; Iwa was so scared that he would lose Tooru at that moment;; Tooru fake dies to kinda tease Iwa but he didn't expect Iwa to cry, so as Iwa is there like "don't die on me you idiot-" Tooru "comes back to life" and is all like "awww is Iwa-chan crying because of me?" And Iwa, embarrassed, just punches him in the chest and wipes away his tears like "shut the fuck up asshole"

Tooru is just like "ow- I may not be dead but I'm still kinda hurt you know?" And Iwa feels bad so he just tries to play it off like "that's what you deserve dumbass" before treating Tooru's wounds. They end up spending the night at this cave near a lake where they decided to stay for a few days since Tooru was pretty beat up and the weather was pretty bad

Haji pretty much nursed Tooru back to health, finding berries, herbs and all that during the day in order to make medicine and food

I think at one point Tooru comments "You're really good at this kinda thing huh?" And Iwa is just confused like "good at what?" And Tooru elaborates "taking care of people. Not everyone can make medicine like you do you know?" And Iwa just says it was nothing and he learned most of it from reading when he was a kid

Also like I said the weather was pretty bad so imagine Iwa curling up next to his llama and lizard for warmth. Tooru finds it so fucking adorable??? Clearly the two of them loved Iwa and vice versa, but he couldn't help but feel a little jealous at the sight uxjxhdh

So like one night he just casually says "you guys sure look warm over there" and Iwa just looks at him like 😐

"I gave you my cape you know" and Tooru just "Monsters can't regulate heat like humans do, at least not my species" That was a lie but Iwa didn't know that, so he kinda just looks at Tooru funny before scooting over to Tooru and lying down next to him. His llama and lizard follow, and scoot on Tooru's other side so Tooru is kinda sandwiched in between Haji and the pets. Iwa just mumbles a quiet "now go to sleep dumbass" and Tooru just smiles like a fucking idiot

Iwa quickly dozes off but Tooru not so much, when he was sure Iwa was asleep he gently drapes the cape over Iwa instead before going to bed himself

The next day Iwa is the first to wake up and much to his fucking surprise, he was pretty much incapable of moving because Tooru had somehow wound up hugging him with two of his arms. He was so embarrassed he thought he could die so he could only stay there and not do anything. After while he realises that staying like that could only mean more mental suffering so he slowly tries inching away from Tooru to which he eventually succeeds

He does his morning routine which was to look for berries and herbs because Tooru needed quite a bit of medicine. Tooru was definitely close to being back to his healthy normal self but he still needed to make sure that everything was in check

[potatotrash0]

Imagine them staying on the island and Nagito is so protective over his little siblings hhhh they're all a big family now and the Warriors love themmmm

Despite having completely forgotten all that happened to her, Nagito doesn't allow Teruteru near Kotoko unless supervised and Nagito gets scary when he's supervising so he usually just stays away (nagi knows teru wouldn't do/say anything to the children, but he's very overprotective and low-key scared that they will remember everything someday)

Ryota is Jataro's favorite. They're working on a short anime together. He sometimes does artsy stuff with Ibuki (it gets a little crazy with all the paint and glue everywhere), and Kazuichi gets along great with both him and Masaru

Masaru and Nekomaru are nearly inseparable, and he loves Akane too (she has to be supervised because she doesn't understand how climbing and jumping off buildings could be dangerous and Nagito almost died the first time he saw them hanging out)

Kotoko adores Sonia, she's being taught how to be a little princess too. They play dress up together often and have tea parties. She likes Gundham too, but it's mostly just because of his cute animals. He got her a little bunny and she dresses it up in cute little outfits

Monaka's favorite is Izuru, and she likes Imposter as well. She likes solving puzzles and coding games with Izuru (I hc it's a hobby of his, in memory of Chiaki and all), and she's programmed a few of Kazuichi's creations

Nagisa sticks with Hajime the most, he helps out with the chores and they mostly just talk. They go to the library with Nagito at least once a week and read together. Hajime and Nagito are the only ones he's not afraid of asking help from.

Nagito is all the WoH's #1 fave. Monaka and Nagisa like to just chat, read or play puzzle-like games with him. Jataro likes to draw with and on him, and Masaru loves him dearly but prefers to hang out with the others (Nagito can't keep up with all the running around). Kotoko gives him makeovers all the time, she loves his fluffy hair and compared him to her bunny (probably put the bunny on his head once to see if it'd blend into his hair). He's constantly walking around with makeup, thousands of cutesy hair pins and random hairstyles and (a bit messy) nail polish. He never takes anything off, and Kotoko is very proud of herself for making him look "adorable" (he thanks her for her hard work). They've all called him dad at least once (Nagisa also called Hajime dad one time).

Nagisa and Kotoko start secretly working together to make Nagito and Hajime start dating already, and soon all five kids are coming up with plans and scheming how to make operation komahina a success. The others on the island help out sometimes

Cries..........this ask is everything to me hold on. This is so cute. Anon I love you (/p) your brain is so goddamn huge. I’m sobbing over literally all of the Nagisa hcs and Kotoko giving Nagito makeovers they’re all so cute

Ryota and Jataro 🥺🥺💞💖 I wonder what kinda anime it would be? My bet’s on a magical girl or mecha anime. Maybe a comedy? Idk man but I do know Ibuki and Jataro would rope Kazuichi into letting them dye his hair for him. He ends up with extra eye-searing neon strips in green and yellow. It clashes horribly with his jumpsuit and they all love it

Nagito panicking over Masaru and Akane is hilarious skfnskdnksbx I can just see him almost crying out of relief when Nekomaru finally gets them off the roof and Masaru back safely into his arms. (You clearly hear Masaru complaining about it but he does hug Nagito back.) Akane’s careful in her own way, she’s a big sister herself after all. Buuut Nagito still worries bc seeing her dangle Masaru from her bicep when they were on top of the barn was absolutely terrifying

Sonia Gundham Kotoko dynamic so real?? Gundham considers Kotoko more Nagito’s kid but he does let her run around with the Devas when asked. Also she basically just claimed one of the horses on the island and Gundham insists on teaching her how to “properly tame the dark steeds!!” (He means how to take care of them and not scare them. She’s like. 10, he doesn’t want her or the horses getting hurt.)

Also!!! Sonia and Kotoko playing dress up is so cute? I like to think they curtsey every time they see each other and it’s a little inside joke between them haha. Also them braiding each other’s hair!! Kotoko probably borrows a ton of ribbons from Sonia

Izuru and Monaca coding together!!!! I feel like she would be curious about the NWP, maybe they work on it together while Hajime rests. Also I can totally see her programming Kazu’s inventions to mess with him a bit because she thinks it’s funny how high he jumps skjfskdnksbx. He’s super suspicious of whatever she hands him now but she’s genuinely helpful a lot of the time so he isn’t too too hard on her. (She’s still not allowed to have access to any remotes though)

(Also Izuru making little games in honor of Chiaki has me so soft I’m in love—)

Nagisa calling Hajime “dad” has me 🥺🥺 your honor I am simply a sucker for these two...........him asking Hajime and Nagito for help and them only also made me kinda wanna tear up a little but me being emotional over him isn’t the point

Back to Matchmakers of Hope now huh dkfjskdnkd. I like to think Komaeda and Hajime look at each other after the kids slip up and reveal that they were trying to get the two together and both of them just snort. Their kids basically had to push them together smh

[kuroopaisen]

tiny love || 10

➵ as tooru’s younger sister, falling in love with iwaizumi hajime was easy. iwaizumi ultimately decided to rebuff you. through a few strange twists of fate, you’ve ended up living with the very boy who’d broken your heart. but, perhaps it’s not as bad as you thought it’d be. he is the perfect gentleman, after all.

warnings: f!reader, implied nsfw, reader is hopelessly infatuated with iwaizumi but who isn’t 

wc: 1.5k

m.list |  ch. 9 ↞ ch. 10 ↠ ch. 11

It’s strange, waking up in a bed that’s not your own in your very own house.

Stranger yet is that you have nothing to blame expect your own temper. You weren’t there because you’d drunk too much or taken something that’d impair your judgement.

You were there simply because you’d gotten so angry.

What happened didn’t fix anything. Maybe it’d just make everything messier.

But you couldn’t bring yourself to be upset about it. Not when Iwaizumi’s arms were wrapped around your waist and his peaceful sleeping face was just a breath away from yours.

He looks so soft, that small kink in his brow that’s around so often he may as well trademark it is gone, the corners of his mouth are upturned instead of tugged downwards by the weight of all his responsibilities, his hair all un-styled and messy due to all your ‘hard work’ last night.

Your eyes flicked down to a red mark on his collarbone. Whoops.

Granted, perhaps you should’ve been grateful that was the only obvious remnant from the events of the previous evening. Not that you had any idea what you looked like. Maybe you hadn’t made it out so clean.

Regardless, you just wanted to take the moment to admire him, to let yourself lie in this quiet moment.

Iwaizumi’s eyes flickered open, still heavy with sleep.

You held your breath.

What if he regretted it? What if the morning brought some kind of change? What if he’d had the so called ‘post-nut clarity’?

The softest smile you’d ever seen spread across his face as his eyes focused on you.

It’s enough to make you blush, all things considered.

He brought a rough hand up to cup your face, running his thumb gently over your cheek.

“Good morning,” he murmured, in what was perhaps the sexiest voice you’d ever heard.

“Morning,” you whispered back. God, why were you so bashful?

Iwaizumi was still smiling at you, an overwhelmingly fond look in his eyes.

“Sleep well?” He yawned, his arms tightening around your waist.

“Yeah,” you admitted. “You?”

“Best I’ve slept in ages,” he mumbled, gently tugging you closer to him. You conceded.

His shirtless torso was so warm, so inviting. And his arms… His arms… You’d fantasised about being wrapped in those muscular arms of his more times than you were willing to admit, but you were delighted to report that they did not disappoint.

This whole morning felt it was straight out of one of your teenage daydreams.

“Don’t you go for runs in the morning?” You asked, smoothing a hand over his side and up his back. It was enough to make your cheeks flare up again, but he couldn’t be the only one being all touchy.

Iwaizumi grunted, burying his face in your neck.

You giggled as his breath tickled your skin. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t just abandon me.”

Iwaizumi chuckled lowly, smoothing his large hand over the small of your back.

You shivered against his touch. It was almost like every nerve in your body was on fire. Iwaizumi still seemed positively sleepy, but you were wide awake.

“Hey,” Iwaizumi murmured, his lips brushing against your neck.

“Hm?”

“Is this what you want?” He asked.

You paused. Did he mean… this? The situation you’re in right now? Or did he mean ‘this’ on the broader scale? As in…

“What do you think?” You mumbled, your chest fluttering as you tightened your arms around his shoulders. It was safer not to assume anything. Not when it came to Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi chuckled, his breath tickling your collarbone. “It’s a serious question.”

“Are you asking me if I want…” You trailed off, your mind caught in a war between dramatized recollections of last night and the will to discuss said events seriously.

“I’m asking you if you’ll have me,” Iwaizumi murmured, his voice low. “If you want to give us a shot.”

Everything stopped. Was this… was this really happening?

It felt irresponsible to let yourself believe that. Not when there was still so much unresolved tension.  

“Hajime…” You gazed at him for a long moment, your eyes roaming his face. “But, last time…”

“I was an idiot,” he smiled. “I thought we established that.”

“I know,” you pouted. “But what about…”

Tooru.

You don’t need to say it. Iwaizumi understood.

“Hey…” He brought a hand up to your cheek, caressing it gently. “I want to be with you.”

He’d said them. The words you’d always wanted to hear.

But it still wasn’t enough.

“Are you willing to say that to Tooru?” Perhaps your tone was firmer than it needed to be. Perhaps the question ruined the mood.

But you deserved an answer.

One quiet, frozen moment.

“I have to,” he murmured.

“What if he gets angry?” You asked.

That was one of the things he’d been so scared of all those years ago. It was only one brick in the wall between you; but if you had to chip away at it bit by bit, you would.

There was a long pause.

“This is what you want, right?” Iwaizumi’s voice was more fragile than you’d ever heard before.

“Is this what you want?” Given the situation, it might seem like a stupid question. But you weren’t going to make him fight for this if it wasn’t

“Yes.” He said it without hesitation. “I should’ve told you that a long time ago.”

“Yes, you should’ve,” you grumbled.

But your chest felt like it was both collapsing and expanding. It was like flowers made of light were sprouting from your bone marrow, twining through your ribcage and tickling your lungs.

Not that you’d let him know that.

“But… if he gets angry, we’ll just… have to work it out,” you said. It didn’t feel like much of a solution. It was barely even a comfort. But, you had to say it. Even if it was just a promise to yourself that you’d face this, even if every instinct was telling you to run.

“I can talk to him alone,” Iwaizumi said.

“But—”

“He’ll be angrier at me.”

You bit your lip. “I… I guess.”

Iwaizumi was right. But part of you felt like that was only the case because Tooru kept babying you. It was like he thought you were still twelve, young and innocent and completely unaware of the world of relationships.

But Tooru had to accept that you were growing up. Iwaizumi Hajime was part of this, whether by sheer chance or as some part of a great cosmic prank.

“We’ll tell him together,” you said.

Iwaizumi lifted his head and stared at you, eyes slightly round. “You sure?”

“Yeah,” you nodded. “That seems fair.”

“But—”

“I’m not a doll, Hajime,” you said. “If Tooru thinks he has a right to dictate who I can and can’t be involved with, then he’s going to have to speak to me about it.” 

Iwaizumi laughed. A true, genuine laugh. It was a beautiful sound.

“My bad,” he smiled, bringing a hand up to stroke your hair. “We’ll talk to him together, then.”

It was happening. It was finally happening.

Iwaizumi Hajime was within your reach. And this time, he wasn’t running away. This time, he was letting you in with open arms.

Nice as it was, it was disorienting. You didn’t know what to feel – proud? Ashamed? Stupid?

You were lying in his bed, after all. You can think of at least one person who’d berate you for that.

But Amaya’s inevitable scolding aside, you don’t feel… bad, about it. Was that just because you hadn’t really done anything like this before? Were you moving too fast? Or was it okay, given your history? But then again, your history probably meant you’d need to go even slower…

“Hey, Hajime?” You asked, your voice tiny.

“Hm?”

“Do you think we… rushed things?” You asked.

“Maybe,” he sighed, drawing back from you. “If you want to slow down, then—”

“No.” Your cheeks bloomed red in recognition of how embarrassingly quickly you’d cut him off.

Iwaizumi smirks. “No?”

“I just mean that—well, you know—” You swallowed, rifling through your brain like an office worker who’d lost a very important piece of paper. “It’s just that—we’ve already, you know…”

Iwaizumi laughed, the corners of his eyes crinkling in the way you’d always adored. “Are you saying you can’t keep your hands off me?”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” you huffed. “You pervert.”

“Pervert?” He grinned. “If I remember correctly, you were the one begging for—”

You kissed him coarsely in a meagre attempt to shut him up. You felt him smile against your lips, his hand moving down from your waist to your ass.

“Like I said,” you mumbled against his lips, “Pervert.”

Iwaizumi chuckled. The warmth of the sound spread from his lips through your whole body. 

This is where you were meant to be. 

✧ ✧ ✧

a/n: hh hi sorry this is incredibly overdue i hope it doesn’t disappoint 

[amazingorangedangantrash]

Excuse me Orange. I have seen the posts of Makoto interacting with class 77 and as much as I would love to hear about it I'm really curious about how a relationship with class 79 and Makoto would be. More specifically Makoto and Kokichi.

Yes this is because I can't get the fic "Rosemary" out of my head. In summary, Makoto loses his memories and becomes a counsellor at a school in Germany after meeting Rantaro and adopts Kokichi. Besties Rantaro and Makoto with the disaster child that is Kokichi.

Hello anon! Thank you ever so much for being so polite and patient with me :). This post has been a long time coming, and people have requested it ever since I made those class 77 headcanons. I put it off partly because I was worried I wouldn't do the V3 characterisation justice. I based a lot of this off the wiki info, so I highly encourage anyone to add their thoughts or counter if they think of something different!

(Also since pre-game personalities are basically non-existent outside of headcanons, this is based off their killing game personas)

Makoto is excited to greet another school year, and some underclassmen along with it! With all the... interesting characters (turned friends) he's encountered in both his own and the above year, he can only wonder what the new students will be like...

Kaede- out of all the protagonists, I'd say Kaede shares the most similarities with Makoto, moreso than his own sister. These two would definitely get along and make a great tag team- watch out Hope's Peak, because these two will have befriended you before you know it! Makoto definitely admires Kaede's straightforwardness and her optimistic nature. They act as great support for each other if tag teaming another person/persons, as Kaede is bolder then Makoto, whilst Makoto acts well as a medium. They're both extremely loyal, arguably to a fault. Both Kaede and Makoto have lied in a class trial to protective their friend (a detective each time too, lmao). Apparently she also lied for his sake in the demo, which is sweet. I feel like they'd connect well over their mutual optimism and kind hearts. I think Makoto would convince Kaede to step out of her comfort zone- socially, she's very bold, but she strays away from activities that could affect her piano playing (by hurting her fingers) and can waste away a lot of time in the practice room. She misses out on a lot of potentially fun activities that way. On an outing with some others, she accidentally cuts her finger, and whilst Makoto apologises and tells her she was right to be cautious, she waves him aside. Despite being unable to play the piano for a few days, she fills her time with other activities and it actually... doesn't bother her so much. As an 'ordinary person', Makoto helps a lot of talented students by opening their eyes to seeing that their identity doesn't revolve around their talents. In return, Kaede offers to teach Makoto whilst he spends time with her in the practice room. Whilst piano is her favourite, she knows how to play other instruments, and teaches Makoto the violin (maybe you think he'd play a different instrument but violins are my favourite so I'm going with that-). They even practice together, and whilst Kaede still practices nearly every day, she finds that it can actually be even more fun with company.

Shuichi- ah yes, yet another detective. Makoto was initially surprised that they'd accepted another Ultimate Detective, since there's normally only one ultimate at a time in the school (aside from Luck, which is decided each year with a raffle or draw or whatever). It's revealed that Shuichi is actually undergoing part of a new tutoring programme, in order to increase the number of people with talents especially useful to society. He's to be tutored by his upperclassman... *drumroll* Kyoko! Being close with Kyoko and with Kaede, Makoto sees a lot of Shuichi and befriends him too. He helps out with Shuichi's lack of confidence and feelings of inadequacy. Unlike Makoto, Shuichi has an obvious role model that he both aspires to and compares himself against. Unlike Kyoko, Shuichi is much more connected to and feels responsible for the people his detective work condemns. Whereas Kyoko is confident in her goal to obtain the truth, in totally neutrality, Shuichi is hesitant about it, unable to feel unbiased and take a neutral stand. Makoto convinces him this is a good thing, that feeling guilt is normal and is a sign of being a passionate and sympathetic soul. Shuichi doesn't have to be the kind of detective Kyoko is- sometimes that kind of compassionate and caring person is exactly the mindset people want. He also reassures Shuichi that as painful as the truth is, uncovering it means being able to eventually move on, and embrace hope. (He also tells Kyoko to maybe be a bit more... /welcoming/ in their lessons, and eventually Kyoko grows quite fond of her student, discovering a fondess for teaching she didn't know she had).

They're both very humble and polite, and whilst Makoto isn't reserved, he can be very passive. I think the two would appreciate having more of a calm relationship, typical of a 'normal' friendship that is often er- 'lacking' at Hope's Peak. With Kaede's help, Shuichi would open up to Makoto and others over time. I personally headcanon Shuichi to have an anxiety disorder and depressive bouts, so I think someone like Makoto would be a great support friend, for him to go to when he needs company and comfort, someone to listen and to understand, and vice versa to an extent. I like to imagine Makoto, Shuichi and Kaede often spend time together (with Hajime too protag gang ftw). Shuichi likes to study in the music room with them. He's already good at research, but the music actually helps him... enjoy it more. (Maybe he takes up an instrument too, to give him a hobby to focus on, hmm).

Kokichi- Kokichi Ouma. Kokichi Ouma... what do I even say? Trying to wrap my head around his character is like trying to clear the death road of despair in your first try. Still, I'll try my best!

I've seen a headcanon before (i dont remember by who, if you know lmk and I'll credit them) that Makoto via his unpredictable luck would be immune to Kokichi's pranks, and I think that'd set up a pretty good basis for their introduction. I think if Kokichi and Makoto had to describe the other in one word, it would be... "frustrating". At first glance, they're practically opposites- someone like Kokichi, who seems to breathe lies instead of air, and a person like Makoto, who's so honest and open it's almost stupid. Makoto doesn't like how Kokichi lies so much, even if it means people hating him. He almost seems to WANT people to hate him (I think he said once that honest people scare him more than strangers). Makoto has a tendency to break down even the most difficult characters (coughcoguuh class 78 coughcofuh), and that both scares but intrigues Kokichi. Makoto couldn't hate him if he tried (literally the only person he ever even /disliked/ was Junko. Not /hate/, but just /dislike/? Really???), and it frustrates Kokichi that Makoto is so willing to trust him and put faith in him. Makoto isn't blindly optimistic either, he genuinely believes in people, and I think Kokichi would feel envious towards being able to trust so... freely. Part of Kokichi's childish and carefee personality and his perchance for lies is the manifestation of his desire for freedom. If no-one knows what he's thinking, if no one can guess his moves, if no one can use emotions or weaknesses against him, and he can do whatever he wants, isn't that freedom? Except it isn't. By not letting his guard down and being honest with people, in a way, Kokichi's lies have left him trapped, unable to open up out of a fear of vulnerability. Whilst Kokichi would be initially suspicious of Makoto, maybe even distrustful of or uncomfortable around his personality, I think having such a grounded, honest individual whom he can /rely/ on would be... comforting. Kokichi would warm up to him, and see that with Makoto, what you see is what you get. He's above all else, a /genuine/ person, though certainly not an ordinary one, and Kokichi learns to respect and even admire that. Kokichi intentionally pushes people away to avoid expressing vulnerability, by being intentionally unlikeable, but even so I think he's lonely. Pushing away others isn't out of a true desire to be alone (it never is), but a defense mechanism. That tactic wouldn't work on Makoto, and so Makoto could become someone who Kokichi not only considers a friend, but who wholeheartedly returns the sentiment.

Makoto isn't sure what to think of Kokichi at first. He's heard so much about this terrifying new student, an overlord of a secret underground organisation with roots all over the globe... and yet the first time they meet Kokichi is trying to drop a bucket of custard on him. I don't think Makoto would like how Kokichi lies so much- especially about things like killing people or sending them away to never be seen again. It upsets him how Kokichi can joke about it, and how he seems to enjoy toying with people's feelings. When Makoto has a goal, he'll follow it through to the end, so when he's determined to break through Kokichi's walls... well, it's not easy at first. He's also willing to keep Kokichi company and give him attention and hear him out, which Kokichi admittedly likes. Whilst Makoto isn't a pushover, he's also not going to threaten Kokichi or retaliate with mean words, he genuinely listens and entertains Kokichi even though he knows Kokichi is messing with him, which is.. really nice, actually. Even if he tries he can't really shake Makoto that much (pls after all the other -weirdos- people he's met?). Like oh-? They have to duel to the death with yu-gi-oh cards? It's lucky Makoto brought his stack with him! Kokichi orders him to play tea party with him? He loved playing it with Komaru when she was younger and was sad when she stopped! Kokichi tricks him into eating a really gross weird food? How did you know that was a family favourite! Kokichi is fond of Makoto, and is desperate to keep Makoto's attention on him, whilst at the same time not wanting to reveal his true feelings, leading to plenty of complicated situations. Eventually they reach a breaking point (i love drama ok) and whilst Makoto doesn't lash out at him, exactly, he admits that maybe it's best he leaves Kokichi alone, believing that maybe Kokichi truly is content to be the way he is. It's this event that causes Kokichi to realise that Makoto really is someone he'd rather not hurt- that he doesn't just 'like' him but truly cares for him. From then on he tries to dial it down a bit, and Makoto comes to understand how Kokichi's lying and 'cruelty' stems from a place of insecurity and fear of trust. He promises to be a person Kokichi can trust, to show him that vulnerability doesn't have to mean gettint hurt. Whenever the two are around each other all kind of wacky hijinks are bound to ensure, really. Kokichi loves having someone around to not only give him attention, but want to as well, and Makoto enjoys how Kokichi is willing to spend time with and entertain him, pushing him and supporting him in ways that he didn't realise initially. They both find the other extremely interesting, and their encounters usually lead to significant changes in their relationship and mindsets.

I like to imagine they'd spend time playing games and fanboying together- Kokichi adores video games, and it always poses a challenge going against Makoto's luck, which is great for someone competitive as he is. Kokichi also seems a fan of the shounen genre, and 'basic' Makoto is the only other person in the school aside from Hifumi and Tsumugi to even watch anime so you know those two nerds geek out constantly. Kokichi likes to play other kinds of games with Makoto too- and they really like word games- especially two truths one lie. Makoto is... suprisingly good at it. He's pretty poetic, and his genuineness makes it hard to disbelieve him. Which makes it all the more fun when going against Kokichi!

Rantaro- how would these two describe each other in 5 words? "A breath of fresh air". They're both some of the "normal-est" in the school tbh. It's really great for both of them to have someone to do normal teen stuff with. They love going shopping together, hanging out at cafes and arcades. They actually meet when looking for a birthday present for their sister(s). They both reach for the same one before apologising and insisting the other have it. Rantaro insists Makoto take it, since, well, it's not like /his/ sister would get it anytime soon... confused, Makoto asks why and somehow Rantaro ends up confessing the whole thing about his sisters' disappearances, and how he always buys a present for each of their birthdays, waiting for the day when he can give them to them in person. (Pls why does this always end up with makoto counselling the students akdhsjsj-). Makoto could definitely sympathise, having a younger sister of his own. I think they'd bond over that "older brother" role they share, and Makoto would definitely help alleviate some of Rantaro's guilt. I like to imagine that Makoto, whilst being a 'typical teenage boy', also has a lot of feminine interests that he might be a bit insecure about. I love the idea of Rantaro encouraging him to embrace that (guy has like 12 sisters, he gave up feeling shy about makeup, nail polish, jewellery and dressing up in tiaras years ago). Rantaro is the first person to paint Makoto's nails and he loves it so much-!!! They go out for boba together and wear matching green nail polish pls its awesome. Rantaro also tells Makoto stories from when he was travelling and its also amazing- Makoto loves hearing all about it, and Rantaro is actually an incredible storyteller. Though Rantaro initially adventured to find his sister(s), he remembers why he loved travelling in the first place, and he's able to look back fondly on those memories that used to be clouded with the despair of his sisters' disappearance. They even go on vacation together to a tropical island at some point (maybe with friends). I'd like to say Makoto's luck might even lead to them finding one of the sisters, but maybe that's a bit too coincidental ahaha.

Miu- hmm. I think Makoto would be a little put off at first by her vulgarity and very openly sexual and crude behaviour. It's not that he dislikes her, he just isn't really sure... how to react around her? Her and Kaede don't get along, and Makoto often finds himself playing peacemaker when he stumbles upon their arguments. To his surprise, though, she seems to actually... like it when they fight? In fact- she seems to like it when people give her the time of day at all, really. Maybe she's just... lonely? And well, she can be a bit... um- /obnoxious/, but she can't be that bad! Making him go to see her weird (weird) inventions, that must be her way of reaching out and trying to spend time with him, right?

And then she starts calling him "Ma-crap-to", "Naegidiot", "Makusoto", and "Na-unchi"

nevermind she sucks

Makoto, with his saintly patience, would probably end up getting closer to her similar how Shuichi does in his FTEs. (I'll be honest there's not much difference I can think of akdjsjjssksj-)

Kaito- Kaito! Who doesn't love Kaito. It's no secret Kaito thinks himself the centre of the Universe (insert space joke here haha)- he's the protagonist of his own life, and luckily for him, Makoto fits quite nicely into the sidekick role. Both of them are passionate, with big hearts and strong spirits. Kaito is really good at seeing through people too- (idk how accurate this is but apparently in the wiki it says he sees that Nagito isn't interested in his talent or him as a person so much as him as a symbol). Whilst Makoto obviously has a lot of respect and admiration for all the talented students, I feel like it's a lot more... genuine? In a way that he can appreciate the person behind the talent, more than the talent itself. Kaito is someone who likes to inspire people and I think this would resonate with him. I think the two could seriously get along! They're both hopeless (haha) romantics and stupidly optimistic lmao. Kaito can be a little hotheaded at times, so I also like the idea that Makoto could calm him down, or at least reel him in a bit. He's stubborn when it comes to... um.. certain types of people (kokichi) so maybe Makoto could open his mind a bit.

Maki: MAKI ROLLLL. Ok I'm sure she'd probably have to hide her talent until it all came out at some point. I think Makoto is someone who's very against killing (even Junko he believed there was a better way for), so whilst he wouldn't agree with her talent, I think he wouldn't hold it against Maki, especially because he's very good at separating person from talent. Makoto is very understanding, and I think that like with Kaito, he would try to befriend her and open her up. He'd probably feel bad for her, not knowing what a "normal" life was like, so he'd try his best to do that. I think Maki in turn would appreciate that, and slowly get to know him like she did with Kaito and Shuichi. (She also likes complaining to him about Kaito lmao).

(he also takes her out for sushi so she can see for herself what a harumaki is LOL)

I'm sorry anon, this is as far as I could go aksnjjssj. When I feel up to it I'll try and make a part 2 to this, but I hope this is good for now?

(Also that fic sounds awesome and I'll definitely have to read it at some point)

[everafterkeiji]

Song: drivers license by Olivia Rodrigo

Summary: How the flashing lights in the street bring you to the moment that was once yours and Oikawas.

Parings: Tooru Oikawa x fem! reader

Word count: 7.3k

Genre: angst

A/N: fuck it honestly, self control we don't know her boo, pls be careful with the flashbacks and little details, enjoy pt. 1 <33

next

"Can't you give me just one more kiss?" Oikawa begs, leaning his arm behind your seat as you see his irresistible pout resting on his lips. You chuckle before leaning close to him and him copying your actions.

Lips lingering with each other, as he removes his arm behind you to ghost upon your cheek. It was so intoxicating, a distance too great that was covered in tension. He glides his finger through your lips before resting it on your chin.

"Run away with me."

He states, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead to yours with a shaky sigh, his hand now running through the hair from the back of your neck. You smile at his words, caressing his arm, shutting your eyes like he did, embracing his warmth in his car.

"And we'd go everywhere?"

"Everywhere, any time, you name it babe." He whispers with desperation in his tone. This close. Why can't he hold you like this forever? A tear nearly escapes his eye as he cherishes your touch. Why did he have to lose contact with his true self?

He opens his eyes to see yours closed and in full serenity. He bites his lip before allowing the tears to cast down his cheeks. He tried not to sniffle so you'd let this moment last without any trace of pain.

"In that case, I'm not driving."

You joked, making him let out a soft laugh as he wipes his tears before you can see. Instead, he leans in finally breaking the distance between you two. You kissed back, not knowing his cheeks were tear stained as he lets his lips tell his apology. This wasn't him, this wasn't a kiss that could last more than once.

He hesitantly pulls away as you caress his cheeks as he leans into your touch, melting in the skin he's adored every inch of. He takes in the way you stared at him, the lights of the passing cars glowing on your face as his hands shakes at the sight of you.

He wished the silence wouldn't give out how painful it was to watch you like this, so with a disguise, he smiles.

"You'll be able to in the future." He says, earning him an ache to surround his heart. You intertwine your hands with his, your thumb assuring him since you've noticed a change in his aura.

"Maybe, but it's still you and me right?"

His eyes wander around his car, reminiscing on each memory that you've made in just a vehicle. Every moment where you'd leave the window open, freedom in your clutch. Every time your voices were close to being gone from furiously shouting the lyrics. All the times you'd rather sleep in his car and run from your problems. Even the random placements of clothes from the two of you, to scattered photographs and snack wrappers.

Just one more, Tooru.

"You and me, love. That's all it takes. "

You let your head rest on his shoulder as he turns on the engine, surprising you with your hands still intertwined with his.

"What'd you say babe? One last drive?"

You nod happily as he chuckles looking at you before driving, his facade weakening with every mile.

One more.

-

"Pick up, Tooru!" You shout, aggressively clicking the button on your phone as each call was heard with his voice mail. You threw the phone to the floor as you let out a scream, your throat begging you to stop torturing yourself.

"Pick up!" You scream once again before lying down on the bed, not giving a care that your sobs echoed outside his apartment. Your cheeks were warm, with heavy eyes and mascara staining the pillow cases. Tears nonstop with the crumpled paper in your hand. Shaking uncontrollably as you denied what he's done.

Running to your door, the breeze greeting your legs since you wore his hoodie to sleep and little shorts to cover the weather. Frantically turning left and right to reach the entrance of the building.

You let your hand cover your mouth as you see his car nowhere in your sight. You gripped on the handle of the door to steady yourself from falling, with your sob catching the attention of strangers.

"Y/N! Fuck- I'm here- hey I'm here."

Clouded with water, you barely recognize the person who was hugging you tightly. Falling to the rough surface of the ground, he joined you in your downfall and it seemed that nothing made sense anymore. The noise of the world drifted far from you as the only sound that replayed was his words, and you despised it.

How come it was only you?

"Y/N- I got you, it's okay now." Iwaizumi whispers but you shook your head punching his back as you fell into a state you didn't know Oikawa could put you in, solitude.

Iwaizumi hated hearing you cuss at the universe. It still scares him the way the color was drained out of your body when he saw you got out of the apartment looking like an absolute tragedy. Your punches felt numb to him but he couldn't ignore how painful it was to hear you scream Oikawa names, and for him to desperately come back.

"W-why-" You couldn't form the words properly since you were having trouble breathing. Iwaizumi carried you in his arms since he noticed your knee had been scraped, as he tried his hardest not to fall in rage for his best friend.

"I'll be here. C'mon, let's calm you down yeah?" He assures you making you nod, left with no energy but what remained was your heart torn by the person you loved the most.

-

You woke up to Iwaizumis voice making you shift in the sheets, mistaking him for your Tooru. When you opened your eyes, you didn't see your favorite pair of brown eyes instead you were face to face with the same hue but a different person.

"Y/N- hey I got somewhere to go to today but I made breakfast, is that okay?" He asks softly, a comforting hand to your shoulder. You nod as he smiles standing up to open the curtains now that you were wide awake.

"Thank you, Hajime." You bid him as he sits down on the bed, beside you. You turn to where he is and stare at him, overwhelmed with how he chose to stay.

"I'll be gone for half the day." He states as you sit up slowly, rubbing your eyes.

"I've never seen a birds nest this up close before." He jokes making you glare at him before punching his shoulder as he laughs.

"Says the fucking spikey ass hair." You threw back as he laughs, delighted that your past self was resurfacing every now and then.

"What about you? Don't you have any plans today?" He asks as you check your phone. You sigh as you saw the reminder on your phone as he takes a peak and his heart drops at it.

"It's nothing."

"You have to go. "

"It doesn't matter anymore."

"Okay now put your foot here babe." You obeyed Oikawas words as he pecks your cheek. Before you could insert the key in, he stops you. Questioning him, he turns to you with a smug smirk before leaning close to your lips.

You expected him to kiss you the way that he does but instead he pulls away before strapping you in, putting your safety first before kissing you. He laughs at how you were clearly upset that he lead you on. He strapped himself in as well.

"You'll get that kiss if we make it out here alive." He jokes as you gasp in betrayal, making him stick out his tongue, still taunting you.

"I'm kidding baby! But you will get that kiss when we reach that pole over there." You glanced to where he was pointing as you sighed in relief at how easy it was. Turning on the engine, he smiles at how eager you were to succeed.

"Then I'll get us there."

"Y/N-" he bites his lips before he could throw you something he'd regret. You look to him, wondering why he became silent. Clicking in your mind that he's being careful with his words since Oikawa left, you leaned your head on his arm.

"I know, Iwa. I'm sorry." You apologized so suddenly, surprising him that you'd catch up on his behavior. He shakes his head before wrapping his arm around yours, just like he always would.

"I know how much this means to you. Hate me for saying this, but he'd be proud to see you get it." He says, making you smile at how honest he was. If he were here, he'd immediately bring you to your favorite restaurant and go all out just because you aced it. To others, it'd look like another step into growing up, learning how to drive and how to maintain the quality of the car.

It wouldn't be this important if his words didn't paint you perfect memories.

"You know what makes me so excited?" Oikawa asks as you continued to run your fingers through his brown locks. His head was laid on your lap as he draws constellations in the air, smiling to himself.

"What is it babe?"

"I'll get my drivers license." You whispered as Iwaizumi pats your hair, happy that you managed to push yourself through that cloud of sorrow.

"Okay that is extremely random, Tooru." You chuckled but he shakes his head before sitting up to meet with you. Slowly, he pulls you into his lap as you wrap your arms around his neck as his hand loosely finds its home to your waist.

"We don't have to wait anymore, think about it." He asks making you focus on what he's hinting to. Once he realizes you couldn't figure it out, he chuckles before pulling you to him gently. Your heart beating too quickly for you to even realize that it felt normal for you to be this dangerously close to him.

"We can come home to each other."

At first you questioned why he was so worked up in teaching you how to drive and finally getting your drivers license, but now it was too clear for you and you hated it.

"Call me when you get it ok? Maybe by dinner we can celebrate?" Iwaizumi suggests as you nod, genuinely smiling that he was there to celebrate with you. You immediately wrap your arms around him as he does the same, closing his eyes, proud of you.

"You got this." He whispers as you embraced him longer, desperately wanting to cry at how thankful you were for him. Iwaizumi feels a flush to his cheeks as he pulls away, fearful of the pace of his heart.

"Well don't get my shirt wet with your tears again- I need to look presentable!" He jokes make you wipes your eyes as he smiles when he hears your laugh.

-

Hajime: I'm sorry I can't make it tonight, Y/N. I'll promise I'll make it up to you by morning.

That was the message that was sent to you hours ago yet here at 11pm, you were staring at the movie in the ceiling. Oikawa insisted buying a projector for the two of you to enjoy movies in the comfort of your own space. So using it now felt nostalgic remembering how much he loved this movie.

Sighing, you sat up as you lift the drink to your lips, relieved at the sensation of alcohol entering your mouth. It's been a while since you've got a hold of it. Iwaizumi being protective of the amount you could consume while he was gone so he kept the alcohol cabinet away from you. He promised that he'd allow you to drink once a month because he was indeed worried for your health if you allowed yourself to drink everyday.

On this day, you chose to ask him if it'd be okay to drink. Understanding the pain that you were in, he agreed. Before he went away, he got the key and unlocked the cabinet handing you your favorite drink. You thanked him as usual, now being satisfied with being alone with a bottle of liquor that could temporarily drown the pain.

Hearing a smack from where the projector was set up, the bright lights of the ending movie flashed through your eyes so you shield yourself from it. You immediately turn your back to the projector that was now facing you since it's lost it balance from your previous angle.

The credits rolled in as you reached for your laptop to stop the screening but then another video plays, making you read the date of the video.

"Hello! Unfortunately I'm still here in the car but I'm making this video as proof if I died, it's because of my girlfriend right here who can't drive properly."

It's him.

Turning your attention to the video playing in front of you. You scoot to the left so your silhouette doesn't create a barrier while you watched.

You had a hand to your mouth, lost at words for this unexpected video to play. His voice immediately brought you to tears as you gripped the pillow beside you as your laughter in the video echoed in the background.

"For the record- I'm learning so get this camera away from me, Tooru!" You defended yourself as Oikawa looks at the camera before rolling his eyes.

"On this episode, I'm teaching her how to park! So wish me good luck- maybe prepare a casket for my car." You immediately slap his shoulder as he lets a loud laugh. He sets the camera in a better landscape angle.

You smiled at his teases. It struck you how much you missed his little remarks that would always make your day. Wiping the tears from your eyes, you watched the way he looks at you as you tried to figure out which direction to turn to. His stare was one of the things many people wished they could experience.

A look as if you were the reason they believed in love and how endless it was.

Surprisingly, in your last drive, he still looked at you the same way.

Your chest tightens as you fell for his illusion. It felt like it'd be an eternity for you to move on from how he looked that night. You should've asked him why a tear landed on your clothes, why was his fingers cold and trembling? You thought that his kiss felt like the one you'd receive when you finally hear the priest bid you two as husband and wife but it was a kiss that held farewell in secret.

"Would you look at that! I'm alive and barely a scratch on my car so far- good job baby!" He cheers engulfing you in his arms. You swarmed him in sweet and tiny kisses as he giggles at each one before placing a delicate to your lips, closing his eyes as you pull him closer placing your hand on his cheek.

You wondered if there was something that could hold you back from how much you allowed yourself to endure the pain this long. Moving closer to the wall, your chest heavily coming up and down, difficulty in finding a way to breathe properly.

Kneeling to reach him, you let your hand touch the wall as your hand lands in Oikawas face as he laughs at something you said in the video. You felt how you closed your eyes and reminiscing on what it felt like to hold him in your hands again. His soft lips, his skin that warms you up during your cuddles, his hair that would be snuggled in your neck when he embraced you.

"I love you, Y/N."

He says, leading you to sob as you turned away from the wall, the light of the projector passing through you as you dropped to the bed with knees to your chest, the walls of the room was familiarized with your cries again.

You felt every part of you crumble as you continued to scream, having another miserable night. You'd rise from your knee from time to time to gasp for air from the unstable breathing.

You felt like a stranger to him.

That alone was enough for you to be swallowed by darkness once again.

-

How careless was he to assume you'd give him a call?

You're probably out with Iwaizumi celebrating and driving freely with him. Oikawa sighs as he removes the reminder from his phone as he takes another punch to the steering wheel as he feels the irony hit him that he's jealous of his best friend.

For someone who has been with you since you went to Aoba Johsai, Iwaizumi would've been perfect for you, Oikawa thinks. To keep you grounded, to take his position in making you the happiest.

He's everything Oikawa is but the difference is that Iwaizumi was the one who could give you more, and importantly, he stayed.

And nothing scared the setter more than to lose you to a person that can truly love you more than he ever could.

Though it feels like he's defeated already.

"Sir! Good morning, this is Oikawa from room 104?" He greets through the phone as the man smiles fondly at the sweet boy who he's seen chasing around in the hallway with his girlfriend.

"Ah! Mr. Oikawa! I barely see you nowadays what happened?" Oikawa sighs, running a hand through his hair, debating on what answer to give to the landlord.

"I've been okay sir, I just called to ask about the payment due-"

"No worries Oikawa-kun, the man took care of it for this month!"

Man?

"E-excuse me sir?"

His heart was beating too loudly at the sudden information. What man? He feels sweat rushing to him, heavily anxious of what happened to you and his apartment.

"Hajime was it? Ah anyway he's covered it this time!"

Iwaizumi?

It felt as if he was struck down by force as he drops to his couch with his mouth agape and eyes widened with his heart raging too fast for his liking. He let out a gasp, putting each piece into its place as he feels a swift of the threatening atmosphere surround him, along with anger.

"H-he's my friend sir- does he stop by often?" He asks, biting his fingers in anxiousness. With his other hand, he reaches for a pillow, gripping it tightly like he'd want it to collapse in his hand.

"Often? He lives there silly. I was honestly surprised you'd let him but I guess young love isn't for everyone, son."

He didn't even notice that he's thrown the pillow all the way across the room as he stands up, his phone held tightly in his hands, wanting nothing more than to be slammed to the floor but with sourness in his tone, regret in his heart then he replies.

"You're right."

After that day, even if it's been months since he was informed, he chose to feel numb but there was a tug on his heart at the thought of Iwaizumi taking care of you. You deserved every ounce of effort that the ace gives you. Oikawa is more than thankful that Iwaizumi was there to wipe your tears and embrace you since he was the one to cause you this overwhelming amount of pain.

But he didn't expect this.

"Iwa-chan, how are you?" He asks with envy hidden from his true intentions of calling him. Iwaizumi stretches, tired from the workout as he answers the boy.

"I'm tired. What about you?" Oikawa lets out a mocking laugh as he leans on the couch, hands behind his head but both hands were formed into fists as he converses with him.

"I'm sure Y/N is there to patch you up huh?" He exclaims making Iwaizumi sit up, nervous at the outburst but then he looks at the apartment, seeing your sleeping state on the couch, and he sighs. Oikawa was bound to know sooner or later.

"I'm sorry Oikawa but-"

"Hajime that's my apartment!"

"And she was your girl wasn't she? But where are you right now!"

He was at lost for words, like the life of him was knocked out of him, deeply taking in Iwaizumis words. It was unhealthy with how much he was shaking and how he felt so cold and empty. On the other end, Hajime bites his lip, suddenly regretting his words but he can't turn back knowing it struck a nerve to Oikawa.

"Oikawa, listen to me." Iwaizumi starts as the setter was left to no other option then to obey since he couldn't think of anything else to respond to him.

"I know you love her but you're never going to be there for her. You asked me to go to her when you left and it's been a year. I know it's a dick move to move in with her but I don't trust her when she's alone. If you ask her, it feels like it's been forever so I'm just- being there for her cause she needs me."

He hated how right he was. If he would be honest, leaving you alone would be the least appropriate thing to do. All he can hear was your screams and imagining the way you look made his heart throb with too many emotions.

What made him lose was the fact that he can come back with hundreds of medals, but he'll never have you.

And Iwaizumi was more than ready to win.

-

He was surprised to see you awake at 12am but seeing how distraught you were, he couldn't help but want to end the day with you smiling or at least a reaction where he'd feel his heart flutter at the sight of it so he sighs before asking.

"Wanna go for a drive?"

The question that left you with so much trauma, sounded so soft when Hajime said it bringing a new feeling to it. It didn't sound like an unfulfilled promise and you nod to him knowing he could never hurt you the way Oikawa did.

Maybe it was best for you to escape the apartment.

Spending time with Iwaizumi as you drove around made you realize that there was a world where you can enjoy life without wondering about him.

Or maybe because it was suffocating.

Being in your apartment and Iwaizumi moving in with you was something your heart can never handle. To this day, you couldn't put into words how you despised that Iwaizumi had to care for you so much, even letting him living with you for a year. You admired the way he's known you since high school and now that you all had to choose different paths but he still took the one that had you in it since Tooru left you stranded.

With every tear that left your eyes, he was one step ahead to wipe them away and comfort you with his embrace. His patience when he sees you passed out on the couch from binge watching a series you were never really interested in, even to bringing you to random events just to spark your interest like you had back in school. Taking the time for you to fully open yourself to him by sharing your memories with Oikawa and why you've gained an attachment to his white car that held too many memories for you to just let go instantly.

At first, Iwaizumi wanted to laugh at how simple it was. What was so special about these late night drives and basic driving lessons from him? Wasn't that just one of the little things included in a relationship?

But then he sees the way you'd always ask him to put the windows down and how you preferred driving at night, driving without a specific location. Even when you'd clung to the seatbelt when he'd drive in the rain. He was more than curious. There were so many questions in his head but he had to give you some space knowing these memories course through your heart and mind everyday.

Now looking at you as you leaned on the seat with a solemn look on your face, he realizes how heavy it was for you to drive like this, without him by your side.

"He's proud of you, you know?" Iwaizumi whispers as you shift your body to face him, leaning your head on the seat.

"If only that was true." You whispered as he shakes his head before hesitantly sets his hand on your knee as a way of reassurance.

"I never understood it at first but now I guess it makes a fuck lot of sense why you didn't wanna get your drivers license." He comments, making you nod drunkenly.

"Because what's a journey without him?"

Iwaizumi then shifts his body like you did, fully invested in whatever you had to say feeling like this was finally the moment where you'd let him just how bad were those memories embedded in you.

"He used to say- that the best part of getting my license was that distance can never be a problem but says the asshole who's fucking miles away huh?" Iwaizumi knew that even if it was a joke, you held nothing but the truth. He sees the way your eyes didn't hold a sparkle anymore when Oikawas name was mentioned or just the sight of him. You didn't look like the lovesick fool back in high school, that made Iwaizumi realize how love makes such an impact on a person.

"I don't even know who to come home to anymore."

"You have me."

Iwaizumi boldly confesses as your eyes gaze at him, wide eyed at his statement. How come it held something that you could never figure out? Realizing that he held his heart in his hands, he switches the tone of his voice, finding it hard to fight the urge to be real with himself.

"As your friend, idiot. Plus, I don't trust you around cup noodles." He adds, trying to clear the tension that surrounded the two of you. Smiling at him, you close your eyes, wondering why it felt right to be in this moment. You felt your self drown in intoxication as you took him by surprise as you let your hand rest on his cheek as Iwaizumi flinches at the sudden contact but finds himself accepting it, ignoring the pleas of his thoughts to back away.

"Don't fall in love with my broken pieces, Hajime. You deserve someone who is- complete."

You let a tear slip from your eyes as it mixed with exhaustion as Iwaizumi lets out an anxious breath as he takes in every word you said.

Yet there he was picking every piece of you wherever you went, admiring each of them.

Before he could answer, he felt your hand slip away from his skin and he turns to see you asleep. He gently puts you back in your seat, putting on your seatbelt as he frustratedly runs his fingers through his dark hair as he feels the trembling of his fingers. Hands to the steering wheel, gripping it knowing he's betrayed his own promise.

Opening his phone to check the time, what flashes before him was a photo of the three of you when you graduated. He sees Oikawa with a hand to your waist, grinning brightly at the camera while you had your eyes closed with a smile, holding out a peace sign. His eyes linger on Oikawa before he watches over your figure on the passenger seat.

Lastly, he throws his head back before glancing at Oikawa in the picture, closing his eyes before painfully whispering to himself.

"I've never felt this way for no one."

He then shuts his phone as he turns on the engine, hoping that this isn't the night where he'll regret leaving his heart open.

-

"Don't overthink it." Iwaizumi whispers as you sniffle in his arms, he let his hands play with your hair as he removes the phone from your hands. Why did it have to be so early? It's 10am, both of you were utterly exhausted from the night before, one of you experiencing a heavy hang over, and the other just extremely tired from his racing thoughts.

Unfortunately, Hajime found you sat up frantically on the bed as he quickly stepped in just to see an image of a post from one of Oikawas fan pages. Spotted in multiple places were the one and only Oikawa Tooru, accompanied by a certain blonde. Captured in photos were segments of them in a café holding hands, smiles plastered on either lips. Which lead him to sit beside you and embrace you, seeing that your luck was purely running out.

You hated how in each photo, he looked painfully happy. Even if you were meant to skip the photo, how could you when this was real evidence that he's promises were turning into thin air the more you look at it. After a year of constant aches and wasted tears, here he was smiling, which you envied until the end.

"God- she's tall, gorgeous, I can never-" Iwaizumi shushes you as you wiped you tears as they continuously ran through his sweats. Iwaizumi leans his head on yours, sighing as he prepares himself, wishing that you'd realize that not enough words were there to describe how beautiful you were.

"Don't try to tell yourself that you can't compare to her- because you're all he could ever want. "

"Shit, I'm so sorry. " Iwaizumi says as he watches a figure pick up the ball that landed next to her, a ball that was spiked by him, almost hitting her directly. You turn around, the ball in your hands with a smile.

"No it's fine!" You say but Iwaizumi was struck with the view of you. You hand the ball to him but the beating of his heart was as loud as fireworks during New Years. He knows you, of course he does. Oikawa never stops ranting about you anyway, showing him multiple photos of you, completely bragging about the fact that he's got you to himself.

And fuck- you were prettier than what the pixels display you in the setters phone, you had the ace momentarily blank at your presence.

How lucky. He thinks.

"Iwaizumi was it? I'm Y/N!" You reach your hand out as he smiles at you, taking in your hand shaking it lightly, as he stared at your eyes and admired the way your lips were tugged in a beautiful smile.

So this is her. He says to himself and the feeling washes away when Oikawa walks up to greet you with a kiss to your cheek. Turning away, he shrugs his shoulders returning to play.

She's his.

"Believe me that Oikawa can never look at anyone else the way he does with you." He puts your face in between his hands, wiping your tears as you sobbed holding onto his him. Iwaizumi wanted to scream at how the world kept pushing you through your limit.

Seeing the images felt like the universe added salt to your open wounded heart. It felt like your heart was progressively being tossed around like it was nothing. How come everyday felt like you weren't given a chance to be at peace? How come the moment you felt the tiniest amount of calmness was being in the car with Iwaizumi and then the next day you were back to zero all over again.

The image of yourself was already broken when you let yourself completely fall for the insecurities, but how can you rise from all of it? When it was clear that she was all you ever wanted to be.

"Hey, why don't we take a break? For real now, Y/N. Let's just put the phone down and- rest." Iwaizumi whispers, caressing your cheek as you closed your eyes, desperate to remove all trace of emotion. You wanted to blur out the world even for a second and Iwaizumi could promise you a silence worth more than you could ever want.

Your lungs were giving out, every muscle in your body, every function. It felt like any time you could collapse from the lack of sleep, the lack of proper nutrients, the lack of a smile. Your confidence was down to one as you held onto Iwaizumis words, drifting off into what he said before about Oikawa.

If all that he could ever want was you, how come you didn't feel like you weren't what he needed?

-

"You know that you're just being an asshole at this point, Tooru." Iwaizumi says as Oikawa sighs at the other end of the line. The blonde casually looks over to the setter as she takes a sip of her coffee. Oikawa leans on the pillow as he chooses his words wisely.

"How is she?" He asks, he can imagine the way Iwaizumi would roll his eyes, followed by a disappointed scoff. Oikawa knew the way your mind would work, and it never grew on him how every motion of his would bring destruction to you in any shape or form.

"What do you think? She's fucking crying again."

Even if there was a pinch to his heart, he simply took a deep breath to sustain how painful it was.

"Who is she, Oikawa?" Iwaizumi asks desperately. Oikawa turns to the girl sat in the dinner table as she meekly smiles unknowing she was the certain topic of the two best friends. The setter tiredly runs his hand over his face, wondering if there could be a way that he can exit without stepping on you and Iwaizumis heart.

"You owe me at least one explanation. If you can't give me one, then I'll be-"

"I'm ready. I'll tell you who she is."

And with the following sentences, the ace felt his ears ring along with a ruined heart.

-

Driving has never felt so rueful before but with every passing mile, all Oikawa wanted to do was stop and turn to where you were.

With a stab to his heart, he promised himself that he can never come back until he's found the silence in his mind.

"This is for us. I'll be better, Y/N. I'll come home to you- and I hope you can wait."

Those words may seem like they were directed to you but Tooru can feel himself stand small to his own declaration. He knows you're willing to wait for god knows how long, but he's indecisive if he has the power to wait for this emptiness that surrounds him.

He couldn't allow the rage in his soul to sit around and act like he's deaf to the screams of it. He needed to stop the sensation of his hands missing the way the ball was placed in it and how each serve leaves a breathtaking reaction on any crowd. The hole in his heart was too big enough for him to ignore, and he'd allow anyone to call him selfish knowing it was the inescapable truth.

Hearing all your voice messages to him the following morning had his heart begging for release. Every crack in your voice had him tipping over the edge. He deserved it- god he deserved it more than anyone else because he would have never heard such pain if he didn't book a flight to Argentina.

"Tooru, baby what happened? Please tell me this is a joke."

"Please fucking answer I need you- god Oikawa please!"

"Come back to me, Tooru- I'll do anything please."

"I love y-you, but I guess you've changed your mind huh?"

"Tooru, let's go home yeah?" A soft voice calls out for him as he averts his gaze to her. He sees how his bags were packed as well her tiny suitcase next to her, all dressed up to go. He stands up from where he is, gripping the handle of the luggage as the girl turns to him with such worry.

It was usual for the girl to awake him from his thoughts and he was thankful that she was brought to him, helping him in ways he could never imagine. She was a mere light in his street, a guide in his moonlight trips, and this was finally the moment to stop the waiting.

He takes a look at his apartment, before landing his eyes on the blonde girl who was tying her hair. He smiles fondly as he's felt the adrenaline to finally move again.

"Yeah, let's go."

TWO DAYS LATER ; 9:16PM

"Hajime, stop fucking around!" You laughed as you continued to drive. What a breather it was, to drive with somebody who brought warmth to the passenger seat. Previously, Iwaizumi tested your so called driving skills as he purposely flicks your forehead from time to time for no absolute reason.

You two were on your way home from a movie and Iwaizumi was the star that had grabbed your heart the entire night. He was pulling these jokes, making you cackle to no extent, threatening you that if you'd lose the arcade game one of you will have to forcefully wash the dishes for a week, of course both wouldn't back down.

Maybe for the first time, Oikawa has never visited your mind.

And damn did it feel good.

The part that you found pieces of yourself slowly gathering as you were introduced into a new way of light, it felt too good to be true. Felt like each piece was slowly coming all back together because Iwaizumi was the glue that got you together, it may take a long time to fully be fixed, but the ace proved to you his promise.

You're finally resting.

After the anger that rose above you, Iwaizumi stayed confident to his promise of finally giving you a break you well deserved. He fulfilled you days without technology to shield yourself from any knives from the social world, got you out of bed to watch the sunrise with you, left you places to visit while he was out for his internship. This was more than you could ever ask for.

It felt like flowers were decorating your lungs, heart was slowly being treated with a smile, and laughter that radiated growth.

All because of Iwaizumi.

Now there's a new feeling that has unlocked in your heart and you could feel the burn of it when you noticed how everything felt so light. Unlike before where every step felt too heavy for you to carry on, now that weight is being lifted off by Hajime.

And nothing feels better than that.

-

Inserting your hands into the pocket of your hoodie, you shivered in the nights embrace. Once Hajime has fallen asleep on the couch, you decided to take a stroll and your feet lead you to a place you've yet to visit in a year.

It was a walk meant for you to clear your head, to settle if everything was going to be permanent because you had to know which part of the moments you wanted to hold onto.

This was entirely a mistake- to stroll around his neighborhood like it was always welcoming you with open arms. All the things you wanted to decide on felt like it vanished once you became familiar with the turns of his car when it drove to this place.

This is where it all began. The lessons, the confessions, the blossoming of love, everything. It doesn't matter how many times you try to deny it, this place will always make your heart bleed at how noxious it was. You can never hate the way chills ran up your spine because of how they all rushed to your mind as fast as light.

It's truly a crime to despise how love is formed.

With the sight of his house, a smile creeps on your face remembering your last interaction in this household.

"This is my lovely, Y/N." He sweetly introduces you as you respectfully bowed but you were taken by surprise when you were hugged by his mom, making your boyfriend laugh at your crazed expression. You lose this tenseness when you felt how endearing she was as you gained courage to gently wrap your arms around her too.

"Welcome honey! I've been wanting to meet you so badly since this twat never shuts up about you." She says earning a pout from your boyfriend and a giggle from you. You turn to his dad smiling softly, as he reciprocates your gesture.

"Might as well get used to the house babe, you'll be an Oikawa soon."

You felt your heart clench with his words and you avert your eyes on the road instead. Finding it hard to sustain the bite of how it all turned into a pile of lies.

"No, mom! Please don't embarrass me like that."

You hear a voice shout out making you jolt from your previous stance.

Meanwhile, Iwaizumi awakens with a groan as his phone dings with every second. As he grumpily opens his phone, he was greeted by a flood of messages coming from a certain setter making him sit up and frantic to reach for you. Seeing your door that was wide open, he lets out a gasp as he fidgets for the door, cussing himself at the situation.

"Fuck, Y/N please no."

You suppressed your sobs with a tight hand to your mouth as you felt your feet gain the urge to ran away but your mind demanded you to stay to finally awaken you in this false hope you've been holding onto.

A silhouette of his tall now much more bulky figure was stood next to more of a petite on with hair tied in a ponytail. Wiping your eyes to sharpen your vision, it hit you like a grenade at war.

There he was, proudly introducing the girl that's haunted your dreams.

Oikawa was smiling brightly at her as you watched her look at him with the same expression.

He's right there with someone who isn't you and can never be you.

"You and me, love. That's all it takes."

"Tooru." You whispered as if you'd ever get the chance to let him notice your cries. God, it was unbearable. No words came to your mind, no beating of your heart, it was all gone because the only thing that will forever linger in your mind is the sight of the person you waited so long to come home to, has gone and found the perfect replacement.

Her.

Another glance meant like a sword heading straight to your heart in one swing so you finally decide to turn your back on something you knew you had to forget.

Love.

-

"Tooru, who is she?" His mom asks softly, not wanting to let the curiosity lace her tone knowing the smile on his sons face was an exact look he had when he had you.

"This is Himari." He glances to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, with his lips tugged into a smile, a genuine one that's been kept a secret for too long.

"My dear little helper." Oikawa jokes as Himari rolls her eyes as his parents grew more in confusion at the sight of this stranger.

"Help with what Tooru?"

"To get Y/N to live with me in Argentina."

[hajimeow-archived]

Yo Hajime talk abt ur kin mems

since there were no specifications on which ones i am going to start from the beginning and go where my brain takes me from there. they're all gonna be for hajime bc i physically cannot think about my other memories anymore jsyk

also! this ended up being so long i had to put a cut. i will not be apologizing because i feel no remorse.

so first the basic stuff, i remember having a med skin tone and a FUCK ton of freckles like those motherfuckers were everywhere i had skin. also i was 5'7 i think?? or 5'6. i still can't remember exactly but it's something like that. i was also alloaro, some form of mlm, unfortunately cis, and autistic and probably had some other stuff like adhd or depression or whatever but i forgot. also i was kinda muscle-y but also chubby at the same time. and i had light green eyes. basically i was fanon hajime JSJSKDJDKS

and i was going over the wiki recently and my personality was EXACTLY how they described it like i'm genuinely surprised they got it so accurate

i don't remember much pre-game and post game, most of my memories are in game but i do remember pre game chiaki really well, honestly i rly miss her :( she would always reassure me that i didn't need a talent and i never even cared when she beat me in games cus just simply playing them with her was so fun .,.,,;:,,...,,!:&:&:jsjdjskskck</3

anyways. in game. ok. i'm gonna skip over memories where i just know feelings and not specific things like strong feelings or ppl saying stuff or else this would be so long. also obvious sdr2 spoilers

so i remember the party & blackout in the beginning of the game pretty clearly. i was mostly just standing alone in the corner and watching everyone have fun, but it was really freeing to see the others able to enjoy themselves in such pressing circumstances. then the blackout-- it was kinda like all that happiness going away and the dread and denial immediately setting in .

anyways i remember like panicking and wanting to cry when i lifted the table cloth cus i really liked twogami. i'm p sure i did end up crying cus i really liked them for their realism and leadership skills, and the realization that one of us killed them and that the killing game was actually real etc etc

anyway i don't remember much from the investigation or trial besides being really freaked out when nagito basically admitted to being the killer n stuff, and pretty much all the body discoveries after that (besides ch 5) we're just like "ah shit here we go again" but i do remember mikans trial really freaking me out when she just straight up shifted completely, and i also remember being really proud of fuyuhiko for putting his walls down a bit and deciding to help everyone out while the despair disease was going around

anyway enough of the boring stuff, i spent basically all my free time with komaeda, chiaki and mikan (in order of frequency) and with mikan i mostly listened to her talk about medical stuff and i comforted her when she needed to vent, but i didn't hang out with her much because the constant apologizing n stuff started to bother me since i really liked seeing her happy. chiaki i would mostly play games with and we wouldn't talk much, but she gave me a really strong sense of familiarity like when we played games together it gave me a shit ton of deja vu

AND i've already talked a lot about komaeda but idc i'm doing it again. so we started talking cus of him waking me up on the beach obvs and i was pretty attached right off the bat, but i stopped talking to him for awhile because the way he acted in the first trial REALLY scared me so i just got a pit in my stomach even being around him

but he was the one who started approaching me first, i'm guessing since he couldn't rly sense anything was wrong he just kinda picked things up where they left off and started talking w me at breakfast n stuff and it was pretty weird at first, but i wanted to give him a chance and didn't wanna be rude so i accepted offers to hang out in his cottage n stuff

i remember he has surgery scars tho and i'm rly mad ppl don't draw him with any!! i think he had about 5 and i don't remember all of them but i know one was a skin graft on his leg and the one on his side/stomach that i touched wassssss for appendix removal maybe???? mmmm i'm not too sure about that one tho

also !!!! his death. hoooooly shit. ok so yunno the despair that junko always talks about ?????? yeah <3!! i remember like once i saw his body and took the reality in i just. straight up could NOT stand i like fell to my knees and jsut . cried. like i had no thoughts my head was so full that it was empty i just kinda sat there and silent cried while chiaki stood next to me it was so awful dude

later while investigating n stuff i felt really bad ab how i treated him and thought about him, and i thought a lot about our last interaction. it was the first time i had ever approached him myself cus usually he'd come to me. i was gonna hang out with chiaki but i wanted to check up on him first, so i did and he told me to go hang out with the others and i just. knew something terrible was about to happen.

OH AND THE FUNHOUSE OMG ok i literally. i usually didn't mind being around komaeda like he was chill most of the time when he wasn't ranting about hope but when he was acting like such a bitch in the funhouse i wanted to punch his stupid twink ass so bad like...... what BUSINESS does this dude have being such an asshole. he doesn't even know what face wash is. what the fuck. which is another fun fact! komaeda did shower every so often which is why he didn't smell that bad but his skin was always so dry cus he didn't know how to actually wash right and do proper skincare so he just washed his face w soap and left it like that

also he didn't need to cut his nails cus they were so brittle they would just break off on their own <3 plus he had a nail biting habit so they just never grew ever

OH AND THIS IS THE SADDEST THING i remember feeling so bad for this man bc i would like put my hand on his shoulder and he would lean into it. i mean i'd tap his shoulder for a SECOND and girl when i let go hed be lowkey so sad i could just sense it like??????dude he needed a hug SSO BAD like when i hugged him in my cuddling memory he was like holding on for dear life but also was like "u dOnT hAvE tO tOuCh TrAsH LiKe mE hAjImE" like dude it was the saddest shit. i want to hug him forever. like what the fuck what the fuck!!!!!!!!!

also a thing hed do when he started ranting ab hope n shit like he would just go on and on and yunno that one sprite where he's hugging himself yeah he literally did that shit. also sometimes hed just stare dead at me and start backing me into a corner ((ish-- we were usually sitting somewhere but he mostly just got super close to me) and it was the scariest shit i. bro if i saw him like that on the streets i'd return him to the mental hospital like i can remember it somewhat vividly and that shit was TERRIFYING i mean obvs after i shoved him away and told him to cool it he'd apologize and go back to the way he was but jeez dude ....

also a little fun fact the only reason i really kept hanging out with him (i had a few ofc but this was the most prominent) is cus he was hot in my stupid monkey brain. yes that's it. like that's literally pretty much it. i hate admitting it but this post is SO fucking long i doubt anyone's gonna read it anyway so i'm admitting it now lol

anyway i hope u enjoyed :) i'm glad u asked btw! i'm sure you regret it though!

[cassahina]

Could I get a kin match up with Danganronpa, Demon Slayer and Saiki K.?

- I’m fun and one of the loudest people in my friend group, but outside of it my usual quiet. I’m not shy or anything, I just don’t have anything to say to them… actually I get kind of nervous when I speak to outside people because I’m scared I’ll go on a big talking spree.

- I guess going back to the talking spree, I love talking about my interest!! Not in a rude way or anything, I just need someone to talk about the shows I’m watching or about movies. It could be anything from character development and designs to movie lighting or how they built up one scene in an amazing way!

- I hate texting because I write at least two small paragraphs as a response. Why is this bad? Well I get anxious whenever people type back with one 3-4 words as a response to me because I think I weirded them out.

- I have a crying problem. Anything could set me off. I gotten better at holding it together, but it’s still nothing special. It’s been happening since I was young, at the time being the worst. I finally snapped in year 4 where I just didn’t give a bloody damn about anyone outside what I considered my friend group, that’s the year I remember I didn’t cry that much.

- Okay more lighter notes, I love to write and take lead in different situations (where I most need to, I don’t do it most of the time). I also love drawing!

- Idk if this is needed, but my type has always been brown hair/brown eyes idiot. But I have some exceptions.

- I really love swimming! I hate doing it competitively, but I don’t mind doing a couple laps. Fave is mix between backstroke, freestyle and butterfly. I can’t do breaststroke for the god damn life of me.

- I’m not mean in anyway, but because it’s common in my family I tend to say some things on accident that could someone’s feelings. But overall I’m known as a kind person. I get along with most people (boys and girls and other) and I’m considered a friend in each of those friend groups.

Ahh! Sorry if it’s a lot or to little! I wanted to make sure it’s at least readable.. heh. (Ah! I guess I could also say I say sorry a lot… like if I drop something I was carrying I would say sorry, but I’ve said sorry to some of my friends if they drop something that I was no where near.) Hopefully it’s alright!

-🌸

Sure thing 🌸 Anon! Sorry this took a bit, my birthday kept me busy and the 30th was my best friends birthday too so 😅. I hope you enjoy this though despite the wait! It was really fun to do for my first kin matchup on this blog, so thanks :))))

I match you with….

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Aoi Asahina and Mahiru Koizumi from Danganronpa, Zenitsu from demon slayer, and Kaido from Saiki K., all for a kin matchup!

I chose Zenitsu and Kaido both for very similar reasons. They are both very nice, very dorky boys who give me the same warm, maybe a little anxious, but genuinely super sweet vibe that you are giving me. Both the boys here are more sensitive in their shows than other characters, and they cry a bit (Zenitsu especially), but they are really just very lovable. They are very loud and considerate with their friends, but aren’t the best when with meeting new people which I think fits how you are quiet around them. Kaido also reminds me a lot of you when it comes to rambling about interests with friends, not in a rude way at all though as it’s more so just excitement and wanting to share it with others. Both the guys here just genuinely have really big hearts and are very dorky and sensitive (in a good way btw, I mostly use this term in a positive connotation), which I personally love about them and seems like something you could relate too.

I chose Aoi not only for the fact that she is a swimmer, I swear lol. But that was part of it, her love for swimming, but you would be less competitive than her. However, Aoi is also very fitting to how you described yourself in the beginning, she is a very loud and fun person with her friends who loves to ramble about what she is interested in (whether it’s sports, doughnuts, Sakura etc.) she can also take the lead in certain situations, and would probably hate when people respond to texts with only 4ish words seeing how she would be like you and write paragraphs. She is also very much a people person and gets along with both boys and girls thanks to her kindness, which fits you :)

I chose Mahiru because although she is less extroverted than Aoi, she still is very kind and is always trying to be considerate of others. She also seems like the type to be fun and maybe a little bit loud with friends, but is quiet outside of them like you because she doesn’t have much to talk about with others. She would definitely ramble about photography and other arts as well! Moreover, she is the type who might not be the leader of the group, but she definitely steps in to lead at times. Also, seeing how she loves photography, it can be assumed that she appreciates the arts so she could very well be into drawing and writing as well. Out of all the people here, she is the most likely to also say something on accident that could hurt someone’s feelings, but it is never in a malicious way, more so it’s likely to be her trying to give them advice because she cares. Oh, and as for your type, everyone who I have seen so far who loves Mahiru either ships her with Hiyoko or Hajime, and Hajime almost fits your type perfectly minus his eyes so there is that as well :)

Honorary matchup with Mikan Tsukimi, who cries quite a bit but is genuinely such a sweetheart and is comfortable talking about things associated with her talent. :)

[tomie-elle]

Haikyuu Matchup

@myeggodied: "Here for a matchup! I go by Keyo or Yo, either one. I’m 18, female. i’ve got brown hair, hazel eyes, i’m 5’2, i’m a Taurus. Born May 2nd. I’m super introverted, pretty shy, but I try my best to be nice to everyone (once u get to know me im loud). I LOVE cats and food. My love language is DEF acts of kindness, and physical touch. I’m a middle child, I like to draw, read and for some reason I find math fun. My favorite song is CharcoalHearts by Bones. As a kid I always found a way to bring a new cat home..lol. In a s/o I want someone very very attentive and tall/big, specifically male please. But a romanic rel. is ideal and I would like to know how my matchup and I met. Thank you so so much for doing what you do, you’re amazing. 💜"  

Hi Keyo (I love your name btw it's really pretty), the HQ boy I would most likely match you with is... 

Iwaizumi Hajime   

Iwaizumi=Best Boi

he for sure knows how to take care of his S/O

kind, caring, and supportive he’s everything you could ask for 

plus have you seen those arms (there's a reason why he is the arm wrestling champion) 

Reason(s): the main reasons for me choosing Iwaizumi as your matchup is because: 

attentive/understanding: you had voiced your want of an S/O who is an attentive partner and due to Iwaizumi's very supportive nature I thought that it would be a great fit for you. Iwaizumi is very perceptive with him  being one of the only people that is able to notice Oikawa's slight change in behavior/attitude, he for sure would notice when something is wrong and would be very pro-active with constant light-hearted advice and words of support/praise. In addition as a fellow introvert I understand that starting conversations with people your comfortable with can be a burden, with Iwaizumi's attentive native he would totally notice when your starting to go back into your shell so he'll always help start and continue the conversations when needed.

love language: Iwaizumi's love language has to be physical touch. He totally seems like one of those people who would rather express themselves through their actions rather than their words (I think he would have a hard time expressing himself through words, he would never be able to say want he really means). Having someone have the same love language as you can make a relationship a lot easier because it makes the communication between you both better because of it's easier to understand the person's actions/words. Iwaizumi's favorite form of intimacy would probably be just holding you, like whenever, he just loves having you in his arms (but like who wouldn't want to be held by Iwaizumi). He also loves hand holding, it makes physical touch a lot easier/more convent from, and it's one of the ways he's able to communicate with you. For example, when he notices that you're nervous he'll gently squeeze your hand to let you know that he's there, or when you're holding hand he'll kiss the back of your hand to let you know that he loves you. 

Scenario: (1st meeting) 

Spring, the season of new beginning filled not only with flowers blooming but with endless possibility. You had been hoping for a new beginning yourself with last year in the past, and the new year ahead all you could think about is getting out of school and doing bigger and better things for yourself. You’ve always been on the shyer side at times letting people and opportunities often pass you by because of your genuine fear of being a burden to others and always wanting to be perceived as kind. But that's you in the past, the new you isn’t going to let some dumb bullies harass a sweet and innocent little kitten. While on your way home from a long and tiring day at school, the only thing that sounded good right now was being able to draw in the comfort of your bedroom to let out all the tension and stress school brings with it. As you continue daydreaming and wishing the walk from school wasn’t so damn long, you happen to hear the loud laughter of a group of middle schoolers crowding around each other in the middle of an alleyway. Not really paying any attention to the crowd you continue on with your walk home, until you hear the slight meow of a kitten. You look back one more time into the alleyway and while the children clear for just a second you see a horrific scene. A small kitten was being placed inside a cardboard box and as suddenly as it entered one of the middle school boys started to throw rocks at the box, one by one each of the boys started to throw rocks at the cardboard box with the kitten trapped inside. Horrified and infuriated by the scene before you, you couldn’t just watch helplessly as a bunch on middle school losers were torturing a small and fragile kitten. You run to the kitten's rescue hoping to be able to stop the boys before they could inflict any more damage on the little cat. Screaming at the top of your lungs, “Get the hell away, you little dickheads, I’m going to call the cops of you all”. Stopping, all the boys can’t help but stare at a 5′2 being running at them full speed screaming like a maniac offering to call the cops, not wanting to look scared one of the boy's answers back with, “Yeah call the cops, I ain’t scared of you” and proceeds to shove you to the ground. But as soon as you are shoved a pair of muscular arms are wrapped around your waist to stop your fall. “You should be scared” the mysterious figure behind you growls at the boys. As if they had seen the devil himself, the boys couldn’t help but start to run away. Looking back at the figure behind you, all you can see is a pair of green eyes staring back at you with a look of concern. “Are you all right?”, the boy questions, “Yeah I’m good, um... thanks for that by the way,” you answer. “Hey it was no problem, they needed to be taught a lesson don’t you think.” “Yeah for sure” you giggle back, getting a better view of the mysterious boy, you can’t help but drool at how handsome he is, with a muscular figure and a pair of light green eyes, you can’t help but stare. “Sorry”, looking away shyly cursing yourself for staring too long, “It’s ok”, he answers back with a soft smile, “I wanted to tell you that what you just did right there was pretty badass you know that. Running to save that kitten it was really cool,” the stranger says with a slight blush, he always looks nervous you note to yourself. “What?!?” you quickly answer back, “Me? cool you’re literally the one who scared them all away with just one look”, looking away you can’t help but feel the warm blush start to litter your face. What are saying Keyo?!? you curse yourself. “The names Iwaizumi Hajime”, “Keyo or just Yo, whatever fits”, you shyly reply. “Keyo...that’s a very pretty name, I like it”, Iwaizumi says. You now your face is red, a handsome stranger complimenting you what is going on you ask yourself. While continuing to curse yourself for looking like an idiot, Iwaizumi can’t help but stare at the beautiful stranger in front of him. He remembers seeing you moments ago run into an alleyway screaming at the top of their lungs to save a little kitten, he can’t help but start to laugh. As you hear Iawizumi laughing beside you can’t help but ask, “What?” continuing to laugh he’s able to answer back with, “It’s just...nothing...nothing at all”. And just like that, your life can change as easily as deciding to scream at a bunch of middle schoolers.

(*srry if this sucked, my brain=not work sometimes*)

Honourable Mentions:  

1. Hakuba Gao

2. Kuroo Tetsurō

3. Ushijima Wakatoshi

[stephissalty]

the chances are getting lower

Pairing: Iwaoi

Rating: T

Warnings: Language

Words: 1700

Summary: "And although there’s the 80% - wait, maybe 70% - chance that Oikawa probably doesn’t like him back, Iwaizumi can’t stop himself from thinking how pretty he looks like this. He briefly wonders if you could consider this a date. He also thinks that the chance Oikawa doesn’t like him back might be closer to 60%."

AO3

the chances are getting lower

It’s summer when Iwaizumi has a life-shattering realization. Honestly, it really shouldn’t shock him that much. Maybe he’s just dense - that’s probably it.

He likes Oikawa.

He really likes Oikawa.

This realization doesn’t scare Iwaizumi as much as it had ought to, but he files it away as something to deal with later. Iwaizumi is about 80% sure his best friend doesn’t feel the same way, but when he’s being dragged through crowded festival grounds by said best friend isn’t the time to be debating the state of his world.

Oikawa has a tight grip on the sleeve of Iwaizumi’s hoodie and is in the process of tugging him along. He hasn’t said anything about their destination, but Iwaizumi knows better than to ask. So, without questioning, he follows his friend through crowds of people. They pass a row of games they’d played an hour or so ago (Iwaizumi had won a small alien plush for Oikawa and Oikawa won a cat plush for him), and then go through the line of food trucks, where the population density is highest.

Finally, they break out of the crowd. Oikawa turns around, his eyes shining as they reflect neon lights from all around them. “The fireworks are going to start in a few minutes, Iwa-chan!” And then he pulls Iwaizumi past further from the festival, to an open field. Several couples and friend groups had already settled in the grass. 

They find a spot away from other people and sit in the grass. Iwaizumi stretches out his legs and leans his weight back on his palms. He briefly considers that, if his theory is correct, it’s like an invitation. It’s an invitation that Oikawa gladly takes. He rests his head on Iwaizumi’s thighs, laying perpendicular to him. Their eyes meet, and Oikawa’s eyes are bright as the expression on his face seems to ask is this okay?

It’s very okay.

And although there’s the 80% - wait, maybe 70% - chance that Oikawa probably doesn’t like him back, Iwaizumi can’t stop himself from thinking how pretty he looks like this. Pink and green lights from the festival behind them cast over his face, showing his light sprinkling of freckles on his cheeks. His hair, although beautiful, is subject to gravity, and thus has fallen away from his face and is spread across one of Iwaizumi’s thighs. God, he’s beautiful.

Not wanting to think about any consequences, Iwaizumi smiles and gently cards one of his hands through Oikawa’s hair. The other relaxes against him and closes his eyes, content. 

They both startle when the first firework explodes in the sky.

Oikawa watches the show in amazement, but Iwaizumi watches Oikawa the whole time, just to see the joy on his face.

He briefly wonders if you could consider this a date.

He also thinks that the chance Oikawa doesn’t like him back might be closer to 60%.

Iwaizumi isn’t one to deny himself pleasures, as a general statement.

If he wants to eat, he’s going to eat. If he wants to watch a movie, he’s going to watch a movie. If he wants to look at a pretty boy, he’s going to look at a pretty boy.

The pretty boy looks back at him.

During practice, they’re playing a practice match, and somehow Iwaizumi ended up on a different team than Oikawa. Oikawa’s team is winning - but just by a little. They’ve been making eye contact the whole time, like you’d expect best friends to. But Iwaizumi rakes his eyes up and down his friend’s body, subtlety be damned,  and he looks the same way he always looks when he’s playing volleyball - fucking incredible. Iwaizumi vaguely registers that Oikawa’s up to serve, but his head is far from the game as he watches Oikawa’s hands twirl the ball. Those hands. Iwaizumi’s knees feel weak when he realizes how long he’s been staring, but he’s too far gone now, it’s too late for him, he’s already passed the point of no return -

And then there’s a hard impact to his jaw, and he’s staggering backward, and suddenly he’s on the ground. There’s some dull pain - in his face, on the back of his head, on his ass - but he’s definitely felt worse.

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa shouts as he ducks under the net and slides to a stop on his knees next to Iwaizumi. His eyes are filled with concern as he leans over Iwaizumi and cradles his jaw gently. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I -”

“Tooru, I’m fine,” he responds, voice hoarse. For a second he forgets their teammates are surrounding them, so he covers Oikawa’s hand with his own and smiles weakly. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

Damn, that serve hurt. 

“Oikawa, take him to the nurse to make sure he doesn’t have a concussion,” the coach yells.

Cliche? Trivago.

Oikawa’s arm around his waist and supporting a good portion of his weight, they make their way to the nurse’s office. “Iwa-chan, what happened? You’ve never just taken a serve to the face like that before.”

Iwaizumi stiffens. “I was distracted.” It’s not a lie.

“Be careful, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa orders, but his voice is soft with genuine concern.

“If I get knocked out, no one else will keep you in line. I’m not going anywhere.”

He misses the look that Oikawa gives him, full of adoration.

The percentage might be closer to 50%.

Oikawa is laying on Iwaizumi’s bed, calculus homework spread around him, and Iwaizumi’s eyes are glazing over from where he’s been staring at an essay at his desk for the last hour.

Iwaizumi picks up the stapled stack of papers - twelve pages long, double sided!!! - and pitches them across the room and groans in frustration. “I’m tired of this bullshit!”

“Aww, is Iwa-chan tired of literature analysis?” Oikawa teases, resting his head on his arms. 

“Yes,” he growls and goes to pick up the now-wrinkled papers. “I understand math, but this literature bullshit is driving me up the fucking wall.”

Oikawa pouts. “You want to do my calculus homework for me? If I see another integral, my brain may melt, and the team can’t stand to lose me.”

Iwaizumi regards one of Oikawa’s worksheets. “This really isn’t that bad. My class covered this last month. It’s just u-substitution to make your life easier. U-sub is your friend.”

“Look, you can say that all you want, but that doesn’t make the words make any more sense,” Oikawa complains. “This squiggle shit -”

“Integral.”

“- squiggle shit is bad enough, but now they’re throwing in inverse trig? My brain wasn’t built for math, Iwa-chan! It was built for volleyball!”

“I’ll do your calculus if you’ll do my literature.”

“Fucking deal.”

After trading homework, they finished their respective assignments in about twenty minutes, after which, they both laid down on Iwaizumi’s bed, Oikawa’s head on Iwaizumi’s stomach. 

“Thanks, Iwa-chan.”

“Thanks, Tooru.” He lightly runs his fingers through Oikawa’s soft hair as the other relaxes and purrs quietly under the touch. “Are you spending the night tonight?” It’s a Thursday night, but that’s never mattered to them.

“Sure, but I’m not moving,” Oikawa announces and grips onto Iwaizumi’s hand that’s laying by his side.

“...Alright.” Iwaizumi pauses his ministrations. “Do you want to watch a show before bed, though?”

“Ooh, can we watch that American cooking show?”

“Yeah, we can,” he laughs.

After a few minutes of shifting, they end up shoulder to shoulder with Iwaizumi’s laptop balancing on both of their legs. Oikawa drops his head onto Iwaizumi’s shoulder and grips his bicep. Then, he carefully entwines their fingers and squeezes gently.

Iwaizumi, heart pounding, looks down at his friend in surprise. He doesn’t know what to do from here, so he just goes along with it and sinks into Oikawa as he watches the terrible American show that Oikawa has taken a liking to. 

He’s thinking that the percentage might not be 50%, but maybe closer to 30% when Oikawa pulls their conjoined hands up to his own mouth and kisses them.

Iwaizumi’s fairly certain that, in that moment, his heart stopped. “Tooru?” he whispers, not wanting to break the magical moment, but too scared to let it go unrecognized.

“Iwa-chan?”

20%.

“What are you doing?” The contestant on screen is crying over ruining his potatoes.

“Do you not know?”

10%.

“Know what?”

Oikawa lifts his head and focuses all of his attention on Iwaizumi. “I like you a lot. I think you probably feel the same, don’t you, Hajime?” Inhale. Exhale. “I really hope you do, anyways, or else this is going to get weird,” he laughs nervously.”

Iwaizumi smiles softly. “Of course I like you too. How could I not?”

“That’s exactly what I was figuring,” Oikawa says cheekily. “Can I kiss you?”

In lieu of a proper response, Iwaizumi brushes their lips together, gently at first and then more firmly. Oikawa responds immediately, kissing back with fervor and dragging a hand into Iwaizumi’s hair. 

Iwaizumi pulls back suddenly. “I’ve been waiting to do that for a while.”

Oikawa reclaims his lips in a searing open-mouthed kiss that has his entire body writhing and wanting more, more, more. Iwaizumi moans quietly into his mouth and nips gently at Oikawa’s lower lip, drawing a beautiful, breathy moan out of the other. 

The laptop on Iwaizumi’s lap is long forgotten as Oikawa climbs into his lap and presses their bodies closer together. Everything is so hot as they pant into each others’ mouths. Oikawa works his way down Iwaizumi’s neck, kissing firmly but careful not to leave any marks. Iwaizumi inhales sharply and presses his hips upward, seeking some friction. 

“Fuck,” he swears as their hips collide. The indirect contact alone feels so, so good. He tugs on Oikawa’s hair mostly out of desperation, bringing him back up to his mouth. He connects them in another hot kiss as Oikawa grinds down.

And then, suddenly Oikawa disconnects their lips. “We should slow down just a bit, alright? I… I don’t want to be too hasty with you. You’re too important.”

“Of course,” Iwaizumi responds and kisses him chastely. “Anything for you.”

Oikawa grins and snuggles into Iwaizumi’s chest. “I like you a lot, Iwa-chan.”

“I’m pretty damn fond of you, too, Tooru.” He kisses his hair.

“Good. Don’t let me go.”

“Not a chance.”

0%. 

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Golden Kamuy Volume 2 Data Hunting

So this is a collection of assorted information about Golden Kamuy Vol 2 inclusive of data, points to ponder, notable quotes and so on.

It was a terribly long work and I don’t expect it to be perfect. If you notice something is wrong (especially in the translation from Japanese) or missing please, feel free to drop me a note.

I will try to do something similar for vol 3 as well but I don’t promise at all I’ll manage it.

Anyway, I’ll hope you’ll enjoy this!

VOLUME 2

Cover: Asirpa & Retar

Chapters: 10

First printed: 19/February/2015

Volume only extras: Sugimoto’s black and white illustration, Retar’s tiny black and white illustration, reprint of Huci’s words to Sugimoto now translated, 2 page extra story about Sugimoto and Asirpa eating river otter, Asirpa wearing a Kaparamip, frontal and back image, the Ainu sentence ‘Kanto orwa yaku sak no arankep shinep ka isam’ (“Nothing comes from heaven without purpose”).

GENERAL INFO

Notable or recurring Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Gotō (後藤), Wilk (ウイルク), Retar (レタㇻ), Toraji (寅次), Umeko (梅子), Toraji and Umeko’s child, Asirpa (アシㇼパ), pimp (妓夫太郎 ‘Gifutarō’), prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group (杉元達を尾行していた囚人 ‘Sugimoto-tachi o Bikō Shite Ita Shūjin’), Hijikata Toshizō (土方 歳三) , Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形 百之助), Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見 篤四郎), Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石 由竹), Noma (野間), Okada (岡田), Huci (フチ), Makanakkuru (マカナックル), Nikaidō Kōhei (二階堂 浩平), Nikaidō Yōhei (二階堂 洋平), Osoma (オソマ), Tamai (玉井), Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣 源次郎), Tsukishima Hajime (月島 基), Ushiyama Tatsuma (牛山 辰馬), Wada (和田)

Maps of the places mentioned:

Meiji years mentioned: Meiji 9= 1876, Meiji 23= 1890, Meiji 37=1904, Meiji 38= 1905, Meiji 40= 1907, Meiji 41= 1908.

Weapons used:

- Arisaka Type 30 rifle: Sugimoto, Tamai, Noma, Okada, Tanigaki, Tsukishima, Nikaidō Yōhei, Nikaidō Kōhei

- Arisaka Type 30 bayonet: Noma, Sugimoto, Nikaidō Yōhei

- Ainu bow (Karimpaunku) and aconite poisoned arrow (Ay): Asirpa

- Ainu short knife for women (Menomakiri): Asirpa

- Ainu hunting knife (Tasiro): Asirpa

- Koishikawa Arsenal Type 26 revolver: Tamai, Ushiyama

- Murata Sword: Hijikata

- Borchardt C-93: Tsurumi

- Amappo: Makanakkuru

- Sutu: Asirpa

- Dango skewers: Tsurumi

Convict appeared and their tattoo owners (at the end of the volume):

1. Gotō: Sugimoto

2. Prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group: Sugimoto

3. Hijikata Toshizō: Hijikata (original and copy)

4. Shiraishi Yoshitake: Shiraishi, Sugimoto (copy)

5. Tsuyama: Tsurumi

6. Ushiyama: Ushiyama, Hijikata (copy)

——————————————————————————

 08. FLIGHT (逃走 TŌSŌ)

First printed: 09/October/2014 Weekly Young Jump 45

Characters: Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Wilk (ウイルク), Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣 源次郎), Tamai (玉井), Noma (野間), Okada (岡田), Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形 百之助).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None.

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February.

Historical events mentioned: None

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Wilk.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None.

Character deaths: None.

Animal deaths: None.

New Ainu words:

- Isepo: “Small creature that cries ‘iii’”. Hare

- Pukusa: Alpine leeks

- Osoma: Poop

Food and drinks: Hare’s raw eyes. Citatap with hare and ohaw in which it’s cooked. Sugimoto adds to it Miso as well.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- The Ainu legend about why Ezo hare have black spots on their ear tips is a cautionary tale against greed ‘If you don’t let greed get the better of you, you won’t have to spend your life running’ that well end up mimicking what the characters will do, run around for more than a year searching for the gold.

- Asirpa offers Sugimoto’s the hare’s eyes as, by custom, the man who caught the hare, gets to eat the eyes… but actually it was Asirpa who caught the hare 2 chapters ago. Noda said Asirpa wants to genuinely share all the food she finds delicious with Sugimoto so she’s not trying to gross him out… but she’s definitely forceful  with him (with Ushiyama she’ll be much nicer) considering Sugimoto is clearly not willing to eat them.

- Sugimoto eat the eyes, same as in the past chapter he ate squirrel brain and says ‘hinna’ probably out of politeness, which might be why, after Ogata refused to eat animal brain and they reached an Ainu village, he told him to behave politely.

- Sugimoto literally says the warm food makes him alive again, not just that it gave him his strength back. That’s because not much before he risked dying by hypothermia, after falling in the frozen river.

- Asirpa is not against adding something she never heard about to the soup, she’s against adding MISO to it because she thinks it’s poop and, even though she forced Sugimoto to eat Ainu food when he  didn’t want to, she isn’t shy to refuse eating Miso rather vocally, insisting it’s poop and refusing to believe Sugimoto who, for three times, will say her it’s not, her comments ending up on making Sugimoto feel as if she’s implying he’s a freak.

- Sugimoto confirms he’s scared of bears when Asirpa orders him to check a bear den and he asks ‘why him?’ although he obeys. He claims his disliking of bears is due to their last encounter with one.

- Asirpa explains Sugimoto her father was so brave he would crawl into the den clutching a poison arrow and kill the bear himself with it. It’s a system to kill a bear that Sugimoto will deploy when the bear will attack Anehata.

- Asirpa’s father clearly underwent a change in character design as in this chapter he has much has sunken cheeks, the scar of his face is either missing or much shorter as it’s supposed to continue on his cheek and yet it doesn’t and his bear is much longer and the same goes for his moustaches.

- Although despite Asirpa telling him according to Ainu a bear doesn’t kill a human that enters its den Sugimoto is firm in how he won’t get in, saying they already have to handle convicts. He’ll change his mind when it’ll become a matter of survival.

- When refusing, Sugimoto acknowledge they’ve already to face dangerous prisoners (‘Kiken'na shūjin’ 危険な囚人). Sugimoto is aware the prisoners can be dangerous… and he also knows the 7th could be dangerous. In short he was already aware he was exposing Asirpa to risk but hadn’t developed with her a bond strong enough it made him think he should apologize for involving her in this and discouraging her from continuing.

- Tamai’s group manages to find the hut Asirpa and Sugimoto had left short after they did (the fire was put out recently).

- Tamai seems to have a good opinion of Ogata, thinking he wouldn’t let a hunter and a child take him down and that he didn’t push his body to the limit just to brag but to tell them something.

- Noma is more prone to think Ogata just fell on his own and wrote ‘immortal’ to brag about how he didn’t die. While it looks like he’s not having a good opinion of Ogata, there’s also to consider Tsurumi will comment Tamai, Noma and Okada are all experienced mountaineers, something Ogata probably isn’t. So Noma’s negative judgment might also stem from the fact Ogata went to wander on the mountain alone when he didn’t know it well and this might have lead him to make mistakes that experienced mountaineers wouldn’t do (like standing on a snow cornice like Sugimoto and Shiraishi in the past chapter).

- Okada has a very minor role but, interesting enough he asks about Ogata’s conditions.

- We learn in this chapter Ogata’s jaw got broken in the fall so he couldn’t talk, yet he did his best to communicate with the others. Vasily, who also can’t talk, except for his attempt to deliver, through drawings, who he was searching to Sugimoto, hadn’t really made an effort at communicating with others, though, to be honest, the others hadn’t done an effort to talk with him either.

- Ogata only wrote ‘immortal’ because he tried to write ‘Immortal Sugimoto’ (although in English we favour ‘Sugimoto the immortal’ in Japanese is ‘Fujimi no Sugimoto’ with “immortal” ‘fujimi’ written first) but, apparently, fall back to unconsciousness before ending the sentence. We’ve seen Sugimoto is pretty well known for his nick so, writing it down would have given people an immediate grasp of who had attacked him. It’s also worth to mention that the message was possibly aimed not at Tsurumi but at Tamai as we’ll discover Ogata was in a rebellion with Tamai, Noma and Okada.

- Noma’s sentence about Ogata claiming to be unkillable it’s actually “did he want to say ‘I’m immortal’?” which is, ironically, Sugimoto’s catchphrase and probably Noma himself, who had met Sugimoto at Port Arthur, slapped himself later on when he realized what Ogata was actually trying to say. On a sidenote as ‘Fujimi’ is generally translated as “immortal” but technically mean “not-dead/not-dying” maybe Noma meant Ogata only wanted to say something like “I am not ding” but this is a speculation I’ll let to who’s more knowledgeable of me in Japanese.

- Tanigaki do not take part at all in the whole discussion about Ogata. While it’s true it’ll turn out Tanigaki is not a chatter, it’s also worth to mention Tanigaki doesn’t like Ogata so he probably wasn’t interested in his whereabouts, although it’s also true he was busy searching for Sugimoto and Asirpa and he’s the one spotting them.

- When Asirpa sees the flashing light caused by binoculars she can’t realize what are they, although Sugimoto does. I guess this hints Asirpa has little to no experience with binoculars.

- Tamai, Noma, Okada and Tanigaki use “Karafuto-style” or “Russian-style” skis. Noda confirmed that back then ski weren’t in use in Japan yet but that he assumed they could have been introduced in Hokkaido due to the prosperous trade with Russia.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Sugimoto: “So the moral of this story is…”If you don't let greed get the better of you, you won't have to spend your life running”…” (‘Tsumari sono ohanashi no kyōkun wa “yoku o dasanakereba nigemawaru hitsuyō mo nakatta”… tte kotoda na’ つまりそのお話の教訓は『欲を出さなければ逃げ回る必要も無かった』…ってことだな)

- Asirpa: “Here, Sugimoto. you can have the eyeball.” (‘Sugimoto, usagi no medama tabete yoi zo’ 杉元、ウサギの目玉食べて良いぞ Lit: “Sugimoto, you can eat the rabbit’s eyeball”)

- Sugimoto: “Ahh… It's warming me up from the inside. I can feel my strength coming back.” (‘Ā…-tai ga nukumaru. Ikikaeruu ~’ ああ…体が温まる。生き返るう～ Lit: “Ah... my body gets warm. I’m coming back to life~.”)

- Sugimoto: “This is already pretty delicious, but I bet If you added miso it would really enhance the flavor. What do you think?” (‘Asirpa-san, ko no mama demo jūbun umai ndaga, miso iretara zettai au n janai no? Kore’ アシㇼパさんこのままでも十分美味いんだが、味噌入れたら絶対合うんじゃないの？コレ Lit: “Asirpa-san, it is delicious enough as it is, but if you put in it Miso, it'll definitely fit well, right? I think this.”)

- Asirpa: “Are you trying to feed me poop!? I refuse to eat a bite!” (‘Watashi ni unko kuwa seru ki ka! Zettai tabenai zo!’ 私にうんこ食わせる気か！絶対食べないぞ！Lit: ‘Do you want me to eat poop?! I'll never eat it!’)

- Asirpa: “Eww, He's eating poor and smiling while he does it.” (‘Uwaa… unko tabete yorokon deru yo kono otoko’ うわあ…ウンコ食べて喜んでるよこの男 Lit: “Wow... he’s happy to eat poop, this guy.”)

- Sugimoto: “Don't talk about me like I'm some kind of freak.” (‘Hito o hentai mitai ni iu n jaarimasen yo.’ ひとを変態みたいに言うんじゃありませんよ)

- Asirpa: “There's an ainu saying that goes: a brown bear will never kill a human that enter its den.” (‘Ainu no iitsutae ni kō iu no ga aru “higuma wa suana ni haitte kita ningen o kesshite korosanai”’ アイヌの言い伝えにこういうのがある『ヒグマは巣穴に入ってきた人間を決して殺さない』)

- Sugimoto: “Hell no. I’m not going there. We’ve already got our hands full chasing dangerous criminals. It’s not like we starve if we don’t catch a bear right now. Let’s get out of here.” (‘Zettaiyada. Oretachi wa tadade sae kiken'na shūjin o tsukamaenaki ya naran noda. Ima sugu higuma kuwanakya uejini suru tte wake jane~eshi. Ikōze’ 絶対やだ。俺たちはただでさえ危険な囚人を捕まえなきやならんのだ。今すぐヒグマ食わなきゃ飢え死にするってわけじゃねぇし。行こうぜ Lit: “Absolutely not. We just have to catch dangerous prisoners. I wouldn't be starving to death if I didn't eat brown bears right now. Let's go”)

- Tamai: “It’s hard to believe a capable man like superior private Ogata was taken down by a couple of hunters… but maybe they know something.” (‘Ogata jōtōhei hodo no otoko ga ryōshi no oyako ni yara reta to na waru enga... Nani ka shitteru kamo’ 尾形上等兵ほどの男が猟師の親子にやられたとな悪えんが... 何か知ってるかも Lit: “A man like Superior Private Ogata being taken down by a hunter and his child seems (the) wrong (option)… They might know something.”)

- Noma: “It’s possible that he simply slipped and fell on his own.” (‘Tan no hitori de karraku shita dakedato waruimasuga nē’ 単のひとりで滑落しただけだと悪いますがねえ)

- Okada: “How's his condition?” (‘Yōdai wa?’ 容態は？)

- Tamai: “He managed to regain consciousness once. However he wasn't able to say much with a broken jaw. He used what little strength he had to write something with his finger. ‘Immortal’.” (‘Ichidodake ishiki o torimodoshita kirida. Ago ga warete hanasenakattaga. Sono toki-ryoku o furishibotte yubi de moji o kaita. “Fujimi”.’ 一度だけ意識を取り戻したきりだ。アゴが割れて話せなかったが。そのとき力を振り絞って指で文字を書いた。 「ふじみ」。Lit: “He managed to regain consciousness only once. His jaw his broken so he couldn’t talk. At that time, he collected all his strength and wrote some letters with his finger. ‘Fujimi’.”)

- Noma: “Perhaps he was trying to boast about being unkillable? To fall into a frozen river with injuries like that and come out alive is remarkable good fortune on his part.” (‘Ore wa fushida to demo ītakatta nodeshou ka ne?’ 俺は不死身だとでもいいたかったのでしょうかね？Lit: “Did he want to say ‘I’m immortal’?”)

- Tamai: “No, I don't think that's it... he pushed his body to its limits in order to tell us something. He wouldn't use that effort merely to brag or joke.” (‘Iya... Yatto no omoi de wareware ni tsutaeta noda. Karuguchi hazu ga nai’ いや... やっとの想いで我々に伝えたのだ。軽口はずが無い Lit: “No… he hardly managed to tell us. It couldn’t be a frivolous talk.”)

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09. CORNERED RAT (窮鼠 KYŪSO)

First printed: 16/October/2014 Weekly Young Jump 46

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Tamai (玉井), Noma (野間), Okada (岡田), Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣 源次郎), Gotō (後藤), Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石 由竹), Retar (レタㇻ), Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形 百之助).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: 203 hill in Port Arthur (current Lüshunkou) (China)

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904  – 5 September 1905), Siege of Port Arthur (1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905), Hokkaidō shikaryō kisoku (北海道鹿猟規則 “Hokkaido Deer-Hunting Regulations”) (1876)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Tanigaki, Noma and Sugimoto.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None

Character deaths: None

Animal deaths: None

New Ainu words:

- Kitura sisam ohaw or si omare wa e: The man I was with puts poop in his soup and eats it.

Food and drinks: None

Useful info and points to ponder:

- This is the chapter in which Asirpa teaches to Sugimoto that if he walks on bamboo grass his footprints will become less obvious. Sugimoto forgetting about this will become relevant in chap 228 when he’ll get lost and Asirpa will have troubles finding him.

- When realizing they can’t shake them Sugimoto will decide for him and Asirpa to split up, claiming that the soldiers would chase only the adult’s footsteps, not Asirpa’s. Tamai’s group will actually chase both, specifically sending Tanigaki to track her and Sugimoto was aware this could happen, as he specifically instructed Asirpa on what to do, should they find her.

- Sugimoto also, instead than hiding the skins somewhere, entrust them to Asirpa claiming that if they were to find them on him, they would kill him on the spot but that if they were to find Asirpa, she should hand them to them and pretend she knows nothing because they aren’t the types who would kill a kid. Not only this is purely Sugimoto’s assumption but he knows it’s baseless because later, acknowledging the 7th division is dangerous for Asirpa too, he will try to leave her behind. At the moment though, he entrusts the skins to Asirpa because he hasn’t developed a bond tight enough with her yet and therefore prioritized trying to protect himself and the skins, underestimating the danger he put her in.

- Sugimoto claims all Asirpa cares for is for someone to find the gold (so that Noppera-bō will be executed and her father avenged) therefore whoever were to do it would be fine for her. This remarks that Asirpa has no interest in the gold itself (which would therefore go all to Sugimoto if they were to find it) but also that Sugimoto didn’t realize Asirpa cares for him as well.

- Asirpa’s sad expression at such words and her warning he shouldn’t fight them or they would kill him prove she actually cares for him.

- To Asirpa’s words Sugimoto replies with his catchphrase “I’m Sugimoto the immortal”. It seems a cool scene because he’s the main character (so we know he’s not going to die) and because “Sugimoto the immortal” was introduced as his nick. When Tanigaki, in chap 231, will reply the same to Inkarmat in a scene that parallels this one though, we’ll realize how silly and unbelievable of a reply it is in a real life situation.

- It’s Okada who finds Sugimoto’s and Asirpa trails even if it’s Tanigaki who afterward tell them that Sugimoto and Asirpa split.

- Tamai sends Tanigaki after Asirpa. This is likely not really because Tanigaki is the best tracker and Asirpa is better than Sugimoto at hiding her tracks but likely because Tamai and the others are in a rebel group with Ogata and, if Sugimoto were to turn out involved in his incident, they wanted to question him without risking for Tanigaki to overhear something compromising.

- Tanigaki claims he’s a Matagi of Tohoku who has seen animals double back on their tracks countless times, basically telling us he’s a hunter. In fact he easily finds Asirpa.

- Asirpa tells Tanigaki a random sentence in Ainu to pretend she doesn’t know how to talk Japanese.

- Tanigaki doesn’t talk Ainu, not even a little bit.

- Although nervous, Asirpa decides not to hand the skin to Tanigaki and hides it on the tree she was hiding on. Ironically, one of the squirrels she loves to eat cause the skins to fall down and be seen by Tanigaki.

- Tanigaki asks Asirpa if the man with the army cap is her brother or father because 63 Ainu joined the army and so he’s thinking the man with the army cap is actually an Ainu related to her.

- When Tanigaki discovers the skin Asirpa attempts reaching for her poisoned arrows. Likely she only meant to scare him as she doesn’t want to kill anyone but Tanigaki can’t know this, which is likely why, later on, he’ll use her as a human shield seeing her as dangerous as the others despite her age.

- Although Tanigaki doesn’t point his rifle at Asirpa, he charges it, automatically becoming more threatening.

- Retar is then shown running toward Tanigaki from behind.

- An unclear scene shows Sugimoto running with his rifle on his shoulder but in the next panel he has it in his hands.

- Sugimoto lies and claims he escaped because he believed the soldiers were there to catch poachers and he was hunting deer illegally using an Ainu kid as his guide. He’s pretty smooth in his lie, showing he can be a good liar although his sentence is, in itself, too elaborate if he had really bee a poacher. Not only he confesses his crime too easily and too calmly despite having tried so hard to escape but he also adds unnecessary information as Asirpa being his guide. Tsurumi would have easily spotted his lie, but with Tamai’s group it can work.

- On a sidenote Sugimoto would be hunting illegally for two reasons, because he doesn’t have a hunting licence and because hunting deer was limited to a period that went from November to January.

- It’s worth to mention the deer hunting regulations greatly impacted on Ainu life (Japanese even forbid to everyone to hunt deer from 1890 to 1900), also forbidding to hunt them with poisoned arrows or amappo (they were supposed to use rifles like Kirawus does) and fundamentally making most of them illegal hunters.

- Noma says he saw Sugimoto at the field hospital in Port Arthur. As he knows Sugimoto’s division and also his nickname but Sugimoto doesn’t seem to know/recognize him, evidently he was merely pointed to Noma. There’s to say the two had crossed path in Mukden also, when Noma was among the men transporting Tsurumi and Tsukishima (Tamai was there as well) but, evidently, back then he hadn’t recognized him.

- As soon as Noma points out the one in front of them is Sugimoto the immortal, Okada immediately confirms to know him by reputation and Tamai also, like Noma, connects the dots and realizes Sugimoto is the one who attacked Ogata.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Sugimoto: “Asirpa-san. Let's split up. I'm the one they're chasing not you. Here. Take the tattooed skin. I want you to hold on to it. If I'm holding it when they find me, they'll probably just kill me on the spot. If they happen to catch you, don't fight back! give them the skin! act like you don't know what's going on. they're not the type of guys that would kill a child. In the end, all that matters to you is that someone finds the Gold! So does it really matter who finds it!? Just do as I've said, Okay?” (‘Asirpa-san futa te ni wakareyou. Yatsu-ra wa otona no ashiato dake o karera ga anata o ou hazuda. Irezumi hito kawa kore o… Asirpa -san ga motte itte kure. Ore ga motte ireba osoraku sonobade korosa reru. Moshimo Asirpa -san ga tsukamattara issai teikō sezu ni yatsu-ra ni watase! Nani mo shiranai furi o shiro. Kodomo made korosu renchū janai! Asirpa -san ni totte wa kinkai sae mitsukete kurereba sore wa dare datte ī hazuda. Ore ga itta tōri ni suru nda zo ~tsuī na?’ アシㇼパさんふた手に分かれよう。やつらは大人の足跡だけを彼らがあなたを追うはずだ。刺青人皮これを…アシㇼパさんが持っていってくれ。俺が持っていればおそらくその場で殺される。もしもアシㇼパさんが捕まったら一切抵抗せずにやつらに渡せ！何も知らないふりをしろ。子供まで殺す連中じゃない！アシㇼパさんにとっては金塊さえ見つけてくれればそれは誰だっていいはずだ。俺が言ったとおりにするんだぞッいいな？Lit: “Asirpa-san. Let's divide. Those guys should chase only after the footsteps of the adult, not yours. The tattooed human skins, these… Asirpa-san should take them with her. If I had them I would probably be killed on the spot. If Asirpa-san gets caught, give it to them without any resistance! Pretend you don't know anything. Those guys are not those who would kill kids! For Asirpa-san, it’s important the gold is found. Whoever it, is fine. Do it exactly as I said it, okay?”)

- Tanigaki: “Aw, shucks. I have no idea what you're saying. I'm not some monster here to gobble you up. please come down.” (‘Maitta na sappari wakaran. Totte kuttari wa shinaikara orite oide.’ まいったなさっぱりわからん。捕って食ったりはしないから降りておいで Lit: “Annoying, I don't understand her at all. I won't catch and eat you, so come down.”)

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10. GAMBLE (博打 BAKUCHI) 

First printed: 23/October/2014 Weekly Young Jump 47

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Tamai (玉井), Noma (野間), Okada (岡田), Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣 源次郎), Noma’s grandfather, Asirpa (アシㇼパ).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: Noma’s grandfather charcoal-making hut, up in the mountains

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: None

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Noma.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None.

Character deaths: Tamai (killed by a bear), Noma (killed by a bear), Okada (killed by Tamai)

Animal deaths: Mother bear (killed by Tamai)

New Ainu words:

- Itatani: Cutting board used for meat

- Rikosinot: “Tossing up”. A bear attack in which the bear bites its target and throw it up in the air over and over.

Food and drinks: Bear citatap.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- During the confrontation between Tamai’s group and Sugimoto, it’s clear the 4 of them are all scared. Sugimoto is without weapons and against three armed men but Tamai’s group, due to Sugimoto’s legend of being immortal and dangerous, is also scared of facing him.

- Tamai is the one who manages to remain the calmest, ordering to shoot Sugimoto in the knees, a sign they didn’t aim to kill him, at least not at first.

- At the prospective of being shoot in the knees, screaming his catchphrase ‘I’m immortal’ Sugimoto decides to overcome is fear of bear and try entering in its den in hope Asirpa was right and the bear won’t attach him.

- Tamai is completely pissed off by what he judges an act of cowardice from someone who’s called ‘immortal’ and who fought like a ‘Kishin’ to the point he decides to shoot into the hole personally, even if this means he could kill Sugimoto and not get any info from him. It’s unknown if the fact that Sugimoto hurt Ogata, one of his underlings, also played a part in Tamai’s anger (Tanigaki had a good opinion of him so Tamai could be a superior officer who cares about whose under him and he also expressed appreciation for Ogata).

- Noma’s question is actually more vague as he says only they won’t be able to ask him what happened, without mentioning Ogata, even if it’s clear he’s referring to what happened with him.

- Despite being mountaineers, none of the three realize the hole is a bear den.

- Despite the shock of seeing the bear running toward him Tamai recharged his rifle but, as Nihei will point out later on, he didn’t manage to shoot the bear. The bear, with one paw, will manage to rip his face and his jaw away, the shock causing him to press the trigger and, inadvertently kill Okada.

- Regardless of the situation Noma remains calm and talks to the bear. He explains his grandfather worked up in the mountains making charcoal (this confirms Noma is a mountaineer and might point out he’s from Hokkaido). His grandfather warned him when meeting a bear running or playing dead won’t work. One has to stay calm and talk to the bear, looking at him in the eyes until it calms down and then shoot him in the head which Noma does, claiming this is revenge because a bear killed his grandfather while he was in his charcoal-making hut.

- Noma’s grandfather’s teaching were wrong. As Nihei will later do, Noma should have shoot the bear when the bear was standing, aiming for his heart and not for his head as a bear skull is really thick while the brain is small, hence it’s pretty difficult to kill the bear this way. As a result the bear gets up and attack Noma, his claws cutting his stomach and causing his intestines to come out, therefore giving him a fatal, although slow killing wound. Noma will still pull out his bayonet and stab the bear multiple times challenging the bear before the bear will toss him in the air over and over, causing him to end up on a tree where he’ll die, still holding his bayonet in his hand, albeit he’ll lose his shoes.

- Noma might have had some contacts with the Ainu as he’s aware they consider bears gods of the mountains.

- Despite the terrible wound he received, Tamai will manage to stand up again and shoot multiple times to the bear’s skull with his gun, until he’ll empty the revolver. Then, after giving a last glance to his fallen men he’ll die as well, probably of blood loss. Overall both Noma and Tamai revealed themselves as tough guys who, despite their terrible wounds, still managed to fight and eventually took down the bear.

- After he shows up, Sugimoto will comments Asirpa was right in saying a bear doesn’t kill who enters in its den and wonders if she threw off her pursuer already (he likely has realized since 3 soldiers came after him the 4th should have gone after her, proving they would chase both of them). He’s however clearly unconcerned and even takes time, before walking to help her against an adult soldier, to talk with the bear cub and hide it in his coat. This clearly implies back then he didn’t care for her as much as he’ll do later.

- Sugimoto, coming out of the bear den, was holding a bear cub in his arms as if he were a child. He claims since the cub’s mother is dead he can’t leave him there but he can’t promise Asirpa won’t turn him into Citatap. It’s not a joke but this will be developed in the next chapter.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Noma: “But what if we hit him in the head and he dies? We won’t be able to ask him what happened with Ogata.” (‘Shikashi… Atama ni demo atete sokushi sa setara nani ga atta ka kikidasemasenyo’ しかし。。。頭にでも当てて即死させたら何があったか聞き出せませんよ Lit: “However… If we hit him in the head and kill him immediately he won’t be able to tell us what happened”).

Noma: “What's wrong!? You scared!? The Ainu call you a god of the mountain? Pathetic! I'll show you what it means to take on the 7th division!! Come and get me!!” (‘Dō shita a! Iru nda ka? ! Ainu ni yamanokami to agame rare teru bunzai de yō! Teikoku rikugun dainanashidan aite ni tada de sumu to omou na! Kakatte koi ~tsu!’ どうしたあ！怯んだか？！アイヌに山の神と崇められてる分際でよお！帝国陸軍第七師団相手にただで済むと思うな！かかって来いッ！Lit: “What's wrong! Are you frightened? ! Someone who has the social standing of being worshipped by the Ainu as the mountain god! Don't think you’ll win easily against the 7th division of the Imperial Army! Come on!”)

Sugimoto: “Your mom’s dead and I can't just leave you here. I'll take you with me… but I can't promise Asirpa won't make you into Citatap.” (‘Omae no kāchan shin jimatte hottokene~ekara tsurete kukedo… Asirpa-san omae o chitatapu ni shite kutchimau kamo na’ お前の母ちゃん死んじまってほっとけねぇから連れてくけど…アシㇼパさんお前をチタタプにして食っちまうかもな Lit: “Your mother is dead and I can’t leave you alone so I'll take you... but I'm afraid Asirpa-san might eat you as Citatap.”)

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11. AINU KOTAN (アイヌコタン AINU KOTAN)

First printed: 30/October/2014 Weekly Young Jump 48

Characters: Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣 源次郎), Retar (レタㇻ), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Huci (フチ), Ekasi (エカシ), Hapo (ハポ)*.

Location: Near Otaru, Asirpa’s village near Otaru

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Hokkaido Wolf extinction (1890)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Asirpa, her grandparents and her mother.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None.

Character deaths: Ekasi (illness)

Animal deaths: None.

New Ainu words:

- Horkew Kamuy: “Howling God”. Hokkaido wolf.

- Kotan: Village

- Nusasan: An altar. Objects like the skulls of the bears were enshrined there.

- Cise: House

- Mukkur: An Ainu musical instrument also known as Mukkuri. It’s a sort of mouth harp.

- Pu: A type of building used as a storehouse

- Huci: Grandmother

- Ekasi: Grandfather

- *Hapo: Mother (to be honest this word isn’t used in this chapter but as Asirpa’s mother is still unnamed and Asirpa names her relatives using Ainu words I listed her as such)

Food and drinks: Brain of a bear

Useful info and points to ponder:

- Differently from Sugimoto Tanigaki immediately realizes Retar is an Hokkaido wolf and not a white dog.

- Retar bites Tanigaki’s leg and use it to toss Tanigaki around, breaking his leg and causing him to go unconscious, before attempting to bite his throat and kill him. Differently from Tamai and Noma, Tanigaki won’t attempt to fight at all.

- Asirpa stops Retar from killing Tanigaki, saving his life. Later, fearing Sugimoto would finish him off, Asirpa will tell him he’s dead, potentially saving Tanigaki’s life a second time. Tanigaki will never thanks her for this, although, as he was unconscious, he might not have realized she had made sure he wasn’t killed.

- Between telling Sugimoto Tanigaki is alive and leaving him in Hokkaido’s wilderness Asirpa judges the safest option for Tanigaki is to be left there as she assumes he’s tough enough to survive this. Her assumption is slightly off as Tanigaki could have probably handle it on his own if he had tried going back, as Tanigaki tried to chase them he fainted and needed to be rescued by Nihei.

- Asirpa’s assumption on they being safe because he can’t go after them with his leg snapped like this is not taking into consideration that if Tanigaki had gone back he could have told to the other soldiers exactly where they met and who they are, with the result that many soldiers would came for them, aware they should search for a man and an Ainu child.

- Asirpa’s reasoning to stop Retar is she didn’t want him to become a Wen Kamuy due to her, though she thanks him for saving her.

- This time Retar not only approaches Asirpa and laps her face but let her rub his belly and scratch his favourite spots as he remained there with an expression of enjoyment. However, as soon as Sugimoto comes close, Retar takes a majestic pose and then hurries to leave.

- It’s worth to mention Asirpa too, once she got rid of Tanigaki, didn’t run to try save Sugimoto but remained with Retar, petting him. However for her it was probably the first time she got herself threatened by a soldier and, anyway, according to the plan she was meant to escape. It’s noteworthy though how things will change for Asirpa as well and worrying about Sugimoto trying to run to help him will become often the first thing she will do in the future.

- Probably, seeing Tanigaki on the ground, taken down by the wolf, subtly drove in Sugimoto’s mind  the point Asirpa had been in danger.

- In the past chapter Sugimoto warned the cub he couldn’t promise him Asirpa won’t turn him into Citatap. We see he meant it for real as first, he very clumsily tries to hide the cub in his coat, then, when he’ll get discovered IMMEDIATELY, he tries to childishly deny its presence as he think she’ll want to eat it. As it’ll be clear Asirpa saw the cub, he’ll claim he’ll take care of the cub and will be his mother, to which Asirpa points out he doesn’t know how to do. At this he won’t dare to oppose to her, handing it for her to eat it, although he’ll say he won’t manage to eat his brain. Honestly, if this was how hard he was going to fight for the cub’s survival he could have abandoned him there. Asirpa is right in saying he doesn’t know how to take care of it, but he could have said something along the lines of ‘I’ll learn’, instead he gives up. Also his approach to the whole thing is very childish, though probably this is due to Noda wanting the thing to be ‘funny’.

- Although Asirpa didn’t mean to be creepy looking not to eat the cub, Sugimoto saw her like that and was surprised when she told him Ainu don’t eat cubs but raise them, which is why she’ll bring him to her village.

- Asirpa is welcomed by the children of the village, showing she’s popular among them. Women also, seeing her, recognize her.

- In the anime the man near the Pu is Makanakkuru. In the manga, unless Makanakkuru’s character design underwent a drastic change, he seems to be another man who still get a close up and to give a long stare to Sugimoto and Asirpa.

- Sugimoto is confused because no one seems to be afraid of him. Asirpa explains him Ainu are curious and love new things but Sugimoto’s problem is another. As he thinks it was Asirpa’s village which was gathering money to fight the Japanese, he believes he’s unwelcomed there and therefore sees again the village as threatening looking through his ‘Sugimoto vision’ and therefore  wants to leave the cub there and then go away immediately. It’ll take him a while to realize, as Asirpa said, Ainu are really just curious and don’t aim to harm him.

- Asirpa’s grandmother is her grandmother on her mother’s side. She seems serious and Asirpa explains she can’t talk Japanese but she still wants Sugimoto to spend there the night as he’s the first guest Asirpa brought there. Asirpa also explains that Huci’s husband was the most important man in the village therefore nobody would say anything against her and add as a proof how Huci’s tattoo is very large because the more important the man, the larger is the tattoo the wife gets. From this we can speculate Asirpa’s grandfather was the head of the village. We don’t know though who the current head is.

- Greeting Asirpa’s grandmother is one of the few instances in which Sugimoto removes his hat. Meeting her he calls her ‘Obā-san’ (お婆さん “Grandmother).

- As soon as Tanigaki wakes up, he lights a fire and takes care of his wound. However he decides he won’t search for his companions or go back to report to Tsurumi what had happened but that he’ll hunt Retar and won’t stop until he had killed him, blaming his Matagi (hunter) blood in him. This act actually constitute desertion and more than his Matagi blood what’s to blame is the fact he is hiding in Tsurumi’s troops because he’s ashamed of himself, yet he doesn’t see the army as his place and longs to go back home.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Asirpa: “You're the last Horkew Kamuy (wolf god), I couldn't bear it if you became a Wen Kamuy (Evil God) for my sake. Still, thank you for saving me.” (‘Omae wa saigo no horkew kamuy (ōkami no kami-sama) na ndakara, watashi no tame ni Wen Kamuy (warui kami-sama) nanka ni natcha dame. Demo tasuketekurete arigatō’ お前は最後のホロケウカムイ（狼の神様）なんだから、私のためにウェンカムイ （悪い神様）なんかになっちゃだめ。でも助けてくれてありがとう)

- Asirpa: “Here we go～who's a good wolf!? this is your favorite spot, right? I remember～” (‘Yooo~shi, yoshi yoshi yoshi koko ka? Kokoda na? Shitteru zo?’ よおぉーし、よしよしよしここか？ここだな？知ってるぞ？ Lit: “Gooood, good, good, right here? Is it here? I remember it.”)

Asirpa: “… Let’s go. He’s already dead.” (‘…Ikou mō shin deru’ …行こうもう死んでる)

Sugimoto: “I'll take good care of him! I'll be his new mother!” (‘Koitsu wa ore ga mendōmiru ~tsu! Hahaoya kawari ni naru nda a!!’ こいつは俺が面倒見るッ！母親代わりになるんだあ!! Lit: “I’ll takes care of this guy! I'll be his substitute mother!”)

Sugimoto: “Fine, I understand… but you’ll have to eat him alone! I can’t bear the thought of putting salt on his poor brain and eating it!” (‘Wakatta… koitsu wa Asirpa-san dake de kutte kure. Koitsu no nō miso ni shio kakete kuu toka oreniha murida’ わかった…こいつはアシㇼパさんだけで食ってくれ。

こいつの脳ミソに塩かけて食うとか俺には無理だ Lit: “Okay… Only Asirpa-san should eat this guy. It's impossible for me to sprinkle salt on his brain and eat it.”)

Asirpa: “Huh? I'm not going to eat him. when we find a bear cub during a hunt. it's our tradition to raise it in the village.” (‘Hā? Taben zo. Watashi-tachi ha ryō de koguma o tsukamaetara mura de taisetsu ni sodateru fūshū ga aru’ はあ？食べんぞ。私たちは猟で子熊を捕まえたら村で大切に育てる風習がある Lit: “What? I won't eat it. If we catch a cub when we’re hunting, we have a custom of carefully raising it in the village.”)

Asirpa: “We Ainu are more curious than anyone! deep down, we just love new things!” (‘Ainu wa kōkishin ōseida. “Atarashimonozuki”na nda’ アイヌは好奇心旺盛だ。『新し物好き』なんだ Lit: “The Ainu are brimming with curiosity. The ‘We love new things’ type”)

Asirpa: “Look at this tattoo! The more important the man, the larger the tattoo his wife can get.” (‘Miro. Kono irezumi. Erai hito no okusan hodo ōkina irezumi o suru nda’ 見ろ。この入れ墨。偉い人の奥さんほど大きな入れ墨をするんだ)

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12. KAMUY MOSIR (カムイモシリ KAMUI MOSHIRI)

First printed: 06/November/2014 Weekly Young Jump 49

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Huci (フチ), Makanakkuru (マカナックル),  Unarpe (ウナルペ)*, Ekasi (エカシ), Hapo (ハポ), Osoma (オソマ), Wilk (ウイル��), Ushiyama Tatsuma (牛山 辰馬), Hijikata Toshizō (土方 歳三), prostitute.

Location: Asirpa’s village near Otaru, Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: None

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Asirpa, her grandparents and her parents.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None

Character deaths: Ekasi (illness), Hapo (illness)

Animal deaths: Bear cub (killed in a Iomante)

New Ainu words:

- Kamuy mosir: “Land of the gods”

- *Unarpe (ウナルペ): Aunt (to be honest this word isn’t used in this chapter but as Asirpa’s aunt is still unnamed and Asirpa names her relatives using Ainu words I listed her as such)

- Iteseni: Stand for weaving mats.

- Asirpa ekimne patek ki wa menoko monrayke eaykap: Asirpa spends all her time in the mountains, and can't do a woman's work.

- Kemeiki neya itese neya menoko monrayke eaykap menoko anak aynu hoku kor ka eaykap: A woman that cannot sew or knit is unable to get an Ainu husband.

- Tane sinuye kuni paha ne kor ka kopan: She's nearly of age to get tattooed, but she refuses.

- Sugimoto Nispa tan matkaci etun wa encore: Mr. Sugimoto, please take this girl as your wife.

- Tan kumippoho kuepotara wa mosir kuhoppa ka koyaykus: So long as I'm still worried about her future, I can't depart this world in peace.

- Nispa: Mister

- Sinna kisar: “Strange ears”

- Si taktak: “Clump of feces”

- Opkehur: “The farter”

- Huuratekki: “Raised stinky”

- Ekasiotonpuy: “Grandfather’s butthole”

- Kimun Kamuy: Bear

- Heperset: Cage for bear cubs

- Iomante: “To send something/someone off”. Ceremony in which the bear cubs are sent off.

Food and drinks: Mixture of meat broth and rice water

Useful info and points to ponder:

- Asirpa explains only her and her grandmother live in that house as her aunt and uncle live in a different one. Her mother died of illness soon after giving birth to her so that she never really knew her. We know though it wasn’t IMMEDIATELY after giving birth to her because in late chapters it will be shown that she was filmed while holding Asirpa on her back. Asirpa’s grandfather fell sick and died 6 years ago. This is relevant because, as he likely was the head of the village, it’s possible he was the Ainu who knew about the gold hideout. In chap 2 Asirpa said the ‘Noppera-bō incident’ took place 5 years ago, therefore AFTER her grandfather’s death. This might mean her grandfather passed the info to Wilk, his firstborn husband and, after his death, Wilk decided to act. On the other side later Noda said Wilk was in jail by 7 years, therefore BEFORE her grandfather’s death so the old man might have known something about it. It’s also worth to note that, if Asirpa considers Huci’s home her home, it’s possible Wilk never built a home for himself, his wife and daughter. Now… this would happen among Ainu if there was no male heir that could inherit, so the daughter’s husband would move in his wife’s home and become a family member. However we were lead to think Makanakkuru is Huci’s son which would make him the male heir. That is unless he’s actually not Huci’s son but was adopted into the family because he married the second daughter or because he was parentless. We’ll see.

- Huci calls Sugimoto ‘Sugimoto Nispa’ while, from now, on he’ll call her ‘Obā-chan’ (お婆ちゃん “Grandmother”) (in the previous chapter it was ‘Obā-san’ (お婆さん “Grandmother)).

- Huci complains that since Asirpa spends all her time on the mountains and can’t do woman works like sewing or knitting won’t get an Ainu husband. Plus, despite being nearly of the age to get tattooed she refuses doing so. Due to all this Huci asks Sugimoto to marry Asirpa because, as long as she’s worried for her future, she can’t depart this world in peace. Long story short very likely Huci invited Sugimoto to spend the night because she thought he could become Asirpa’s husband and that’s why she brought him home.

- Note that Huci didn’t mean they should marry right then but Ainu had no problems to promise children in marriage by arrangement between his or her parents and the parents of his or her betrothed, although the marriage would happen only when the involved kid/kids would be of a marriageable age, which, for women, was around 15 to 16 years of age (varied from village to village), the age in which they were regarded as adult and in which her tattoo is complete. Marring a Sisam was often encouraged among Ainu because it was believed it would lessen discrimination toward them.

- We’ve heard that the pimp speculated Asirpa is around 12/13, which would yes, make her close to marriageable age.

- Tattoo age varied from village to village, with some starting when the child was 6/7 and other doing it later, when the child was around 11 years old, and other even later, also due to the Japanese ban on tattooing (the ban were done in 1799 and 1871, with the  ban renewed in 1976) that didn’t stop the tattooing practice but required it was done in secrecy. The real important point though is that, according to Ainu women, marring without tattoos was a great sin and, if they did, the legend said, they would die and go to hell where the demons would take large knives and do the tattooing all at once. It’s worth to note the profession of tattooist was exclusive to Ainu females and being tattooed rather painful as they would do it by cutting he skin with a knife and then rubbing soot into the wound.

- After Huci asked Sugimoto to marry Asirpa we can see her face is slightly flushed and her ears are red but she refuses to translate her grandmother’s words and, lowering her gaze, say to Sugimoto instead Huci had said people shouldn’t eat poop.

- Sugimoto doesn’t seem to notice Asirpa’s embarrassment nor how Huci supposedly shouldn’t know he eat Miso/poop and cheerfully replies it’s not poop but Miso, though one of his brows is furrowed. Through the story is hard to say if he’s really completely oblivious to Asirpa’s crush on him or he’s just pretending to be, because not interested.

- Osoma is Asirpa’s cousin. Ainu children were raised almost naked until about the ages of four to five but at 6 they would be given a real name. From this is possible to speculate Osoma is around 4/5 years old as she’s dressed but also still retain her filthy name (when Tanigaki will be back after a year she’s still called Osoma… has Noda forgotten about this, has she kept her filthy name or is she still not 6 yet?).

- Asirpa’s filthy name was Ekasiotonpuy, which means “Grandfather’s butthole”.

- Sugimoto continues viewing bears as “monsters” (怪物 ‘Kaibutsu’), commenting it’s hard the bear cub will become one when he grows up. However he previously called the bears he met ‘bakemono’ (バケモノ “monster”). It seems the difference is that a ‘Kaibutsu’ is something that looks ugly or creepy or unidentifiable and therefore is defined as a “monster” while a ‘bakemono’ got some supernatural power and turn into a “monster”. So it’s possible while Sugimoto saw the other bears as nearly supernatural creatures he was afraid of, in regard to the cub he’s just telling he’ll become something as creepy as them. However there are actually debates over the implications of the two words so take this with a grain of salt.

- Asirpa discourage Sugimoto to keep on petting the bear cub, saying he’ll get attached to it so, when he’ll have to say goodbye to it, it would hurt. She knows that, when the bear will grow up, Ainu ‘will send him to the land of the Gods’. Therefore Asirpa doesn’t pet the cub because, if she keep her distance, she won’t get too attached and it won’t hurt parting from it. She explains when she was a child she doted on a bear cub like she would with a younger brother so, before it got ‘sent away’ she unsuccessfully tried to sneak him out and return him to the mountains. She got discovered and the adults were furious with her but she was so sad that she couldn’t take part to the sending away ceremony. In short, prior to her father’s death Asirpa was already thinking distancing herself from people would spare her from the pain of loss.

- Sugimoto’s idea they’ll return the bear in the wild is naïve. Asirpa has explained not much ago how Ainu use every part of the bear and they’re bear hunters. Of course, if they were to have a bear they wouldn’t release it to the wild to just hunt and kill it later.

- Sugimoto is overall negative about the idea of ‘sending back’ the bear cub. He calls it ‘killing’ and, even after Asirpa explains him their religious beliefs he questions her, saying if she really believed in this, killing the cub (Sugimoto says “killing the bear cub” [子熊を殺すことは ‘koguma o korosu’] not “sending it back”) wouldn’t be a sad thing and that therefore she’s avoiding the cub because she doesn’t believe it. Basically Sugimoto, who doesn’t believe in the Ainu beliefs, is trying to have her saying she doesn’t believe in them as well.

- Asirpa’s reply is very clever. She defends Ainu beliefs saying that within them there’s a lesson that help them to survive. Basically they wrap Ainu’s actions in a narrative that make easier to make things that are beneficial to Ainu like killing the bear cub LATER instead than IMMEDIATELY ensures them more meat and fur. This makes Asirpa thinks that the overall teaching is correct. In fact the bear cub has to be killed once is older as they need its meat and fur. You can strip the whole thing of the story the bear cub is sent back but you can’t say killing the bear cub is wrong, on this Asirpa is firm. On the other side she acknowledges that, even if killing the bear cub is right, this wouldn’t save her form the pain of saying goodbye so she keeps her distance so as not to get hurt.

- In a way the whole thing presents parallels with how Sugimoto will spin a narrative in which it’s okay to kill Russians and convicts because they’re soulless evil people. The problem here is that Asirpa doesn’t tell him killing the cub is right because it’ll go back to the world of gods but because they need meat and will confirm that saying goodbye to it is painful while Sugimoto will tell her she shouldn’t feel pain for bad guys’ death because they’re soulless and don’t feel pain when they died. Asirpa doesn’t hide herself between a nice narrative, she faces the truth and acknowledges it’s painful so she tries to protect herself from it by distancing herself. Sugimoto hides the truth (during the war he needed to kill to survive) behind a narrative that dehumanize his opponent. On the surface it can seem similar but, by being aware of the truth of her actions (she kills the cub because she needs to eat) Asirpa can control them (she doesn’t need to kill the cub if she were to have enough food). Sugimoto instead ends up on blurring the borders because if you embrace the fact that  people who oppose to him are bad and won’t feel pain when killed you can kill them regardless of your survival being involved (which is why he can consider involving himself in murdering the convicts for gold even if the convicts weren’t directly threatening him), won’t just distance from them but dehumanize them and overall have problems copying with his instinctive sense of guilt as he tries to suppress it as unneeded… though of course, Sugimoto’s problems stem from very traumatic experiences so it’s sadly normal he developed maladaptive coping mechanisms.

- On a sidenote Asirpa’s attachment for Sugimoto in a way parallel the attachment she felt for that bear cub as, if everything goes according to Sugimoto’s plan, he’s not going to stay in Hokkaido but go back to his village to marry Umeko. It doesn’t help Sugimoto gets paralleled to a bear.

- Sugimoto comments that Asirpa’s way of thinking is ‘genjitsuteki’ (現実的) which can mean “realistic”, “pragmatic” and “practical”. I’ve heard there’s some debate on which would be the better translation but I’ll let the decision to people more competent than me. What hits me is that Sugimoto then comments Asirpa is different from other Ainu. While I think he means it as a compliment toward Asirpa… well, he’s learning about Ainu and Ainu culture through her so from where his impression on how other Ainu are if not from stereotypes? In a way his statement mirrored the one of Asirpa. She thought him being a good warrior was impressive for a sisam, he thinks her being realistic/pragmatic is uncommon for an Ainu. To Asirpa’s credit though, she had to interact with Sisam more than he had to interact with Ainu (to sell what she hunted and buy things, in fact she had explained how she got used at them insulting her) so, at least, her opinion is based on a partial direct contact.

- Asirpa’s name was given to her by her father. As we had learnt in this chapter children get their real name at around 6, this means Wilk was still around when she was 6. She explains it means “new year” but also “future” declaring this means she’s a new kind of Ainu woman for a new age. It would be interesting to know exactly how she has gotten her name as we know Wilk had ambitions for her but Asirpa explained names are given according to the children’s personalities and what they’ve done in life not what their parents hope for them so I’d like to know what she did/say that made her have such name. Was it just the fact she preferred to hunt versus sewing and knitting? Or there’s a story behind it?

- Hijikata and Ushiyama’s meeting take place in one of the many brothels in Otaru that also doubles as a soba restaurant.

- Hijikata informs us that Ushiyama, whose nick is “Ushiyama, the undefeated” (‘Fuhai no Ushiyama’ 不敗の牛山 ) has a voracious sexual appetite, the consequence of which was the prostitute he was with tattled out his presence to Hijikata.

- Ushiyama’s reaction at having been betrayed is to toss the prostitute at Hijikata. There’s to say Ushiyama tends to toss things. When they’ll go to Shibukawa he tosses one of his men through the roof, when facing the 7th, he tosses Shiraishi at them and when they fight with the fake Ainu he tosses Ekurok at them. So, not only for him it’s normal to toss people, but as she has just betrayed him to a man who Ushiyama assumes is there to kill him, he likely wasn’t going to be considerate with her. On the other side I’ve had the feeling Noda has later shifted Ushiyama’s characterization a bit so it’s possible Ushiyama originally was meant to be a worse person than the one he ended up on being in the end.

- When Hijikata place his sword against Ushiyama’s forehead the sound effect implies a tapping, meaning Hijikata wasn’t trying to cut Ushiyama’s head but is holding his sword there merely to threaten him.

- Ushiyama also got a Type 26 revolver, likely by the soldiers they had killed when they escaped.

- Differently from what Asirpa thought it isn’t necessary to skin the convicts to get their tattoo, Hijikata, who was the leader of the escape plan, knows it’s enough to cover the body in oil paper and trace the tattoo so as to get a precise copy. When he says so he shows Ushiyama a copy of a tattoo. It should be supposedly his own as, at the time, he had no others, but as Ushiyama isn’t yet his ally and the manga pointed out more than once how copies might not be reliable (Ushiyama himself saying so to Shiraishi), I wonder if that copy is a fake.

- Hijikata as with himself a couple of underlings. It’s unknown where he got them but he asks Ushiyama to join as well. Through the story Hijikata will recruit more convicts and voice his concern over the mistreatment of the convicts so, although he’s completely capable to kill men without hesitation, it’s possible he meant to join hands with all the 24 convicts.

- In a way Hijikata is set up as the direct antagonist of Tsurumi as they’re both two bright and manipulative army men who dream to make a separate state out of Hokkaido.

- To Ushiyama who asks him if Hijikata plans to face the army with a sword, which is nothing else but a relic of the past, Hijikata replies age doesn’t matter, boys just love playing with swords… through it’s worth to note we’ll discover Hijikata uses a rifle well enough. So he’s likely aware of the sword being a relic but he still swing it because he evidently favours it.

Notable changes from the magazine version:

- This chapter in the magazine version had a color cover. In the volume version it has been turned into a black and white one. It’s also worth to mention this cover has the same image that will be used for the volume cover.

Notable quotes:

- Asirpa: “My aunt and uncle live in a different Cise (house)” (‘Betsu no Chise (ie) ni oji fūfu ga iru’ 別のチセ（家）におじ夫婦がいる Lit: “In a different cise (house) are my uncle and his wife.”)

- Asirpa: “Once children turn six years old and have formed their own personalities, we give them a real name based on what they've done in life.” (‘6-Sai kurai ni natte seikaku ga dete ki tari Sonoko ga okoshita dekigoto nado ni chinande chanto shita namaewotsukeru’ ６歳くらいになって性格が出てきたりその子が起こした出来事などにちなんでちゃんとした名前を付ける Lit: “When around 6 the child’s personality has appeared and we give him a decent name after the events that happened to him.”)

- Asirpa: ““Kill” isn't exactly the right word. We think of it as "sending him back. All the useful things around us, all the things with power beyond our control, we revere them all as Kamuy (Gods). We've maintained a good relationship with the Kamuy by expressing courtesy and gratitude.” (‘Korosu to iu yori “okurikaesu” to iu kangaekatada. Watashitachiha minomawari no yakudatsu mono-ryoku no oyobanai mo no, subete o Kamuy (kami) to shite atsukai, kansha no girei o tōshite yoi kankei o tamotte kita’ 殺すと言うより『送り返す』という考え方だ。私たちは身の回りの役立つもの力の及ばないもの、すべてをカムイ（神）として扱い、感謝の儀礼を通して良い関係を保ってきた Lit: “Rather than to kill it our thought is ‘to send it back’. We treat everything that is useful and that is beyond our power as Kamui (God), and we have maintained a good relationship through courtesy and gratitude.”)

- Sugimoto: “Do you really believe all that Asirpa? If you believed it, then sending that bear cub off wouldn't have been anything to get sad about, right?” (‘Asirpa-san wa sore shinji teru no? Shinji tetara koguma o korosu koto wa kanashī koto janai ndaro?’ アシㇼパさんはそれ信じてるの？信じてたら子熊を殺すことは悲しい事じゃないんだろ？Lit: “Does Miss Asirpa believe in that? If you believed in it, it wouldn’t be a sad thing to kill the bear cub, right?”)

- Sugimoto: “Could it be that some part of you didn't believe it, so you tried to let the bear escape?” (‘Doko ka de shinji tenaikara koguma o sake teru n janai no kai?’ どこかで信じてないから子熊を避けてるんじゃないのかい？ Lit: “Maybe you're avoiding the bear cub because you don't believe it somewhere?”)

- Asirpa: “Within every belief lies a useful lesson to help us survive. For example, If we raise the bear cub instead of killing it right away, that means we end up with more meat and fur. We've lived our lives following those lessons so I believe that they are correct. But that doesn't mean saying goodbye doesn't hurt. That's why I keep my distance, so I won't get too attached.” (‘Shinkō no nakaniha watashitachi ga ikiru jutsu ga haitteru. Tatoeba tsukamaeta koguma o sodateru no wa ōkiku nareba soredake kegawa ya niku ga torerukarada to watashi wa omou. Sō yatte watashitachi wa ikite kitakara tadashī kotoda to watashi wa shinji teru. Demo wakareru sabishisa wa dō shiyō mo nai. Dakara watashi wa kesshite jō ga utsuranai yō ni kyoriwooku nda’ 信仰の中には私たちが生きる術が入ってる。例えば捕まえた子熊を育てるのは大きくなればそれだけ毛皮や肉がとれるからだと私は思う。そうやって私たちは生きてきたから正しい事だと私は信じてる。でも別れるさびしさはどうしようもない。だから私は決して情が移らないように距離を置くんだ Lit: “Inside our faith there is the means for us to we live. For example, I think that the reason for raising a caught cub is that the larger it gets, the more fur and meat we can take. In this way we have survived so that’s why I believe it’s correct. But the loneliness of breaking up can't be avoided. That ’s why I keep my distance.”)

- Sugimoto: “That's a very pragmatic way of looking at it. You really seem like you're a bit different from the other Ainu.” (‘Kangaekata ga genjitsu-tekida na. Yappari Asirpa-san tte Ainu no naka demo chotto kawatteru n janai no?’ 考え方が現実的だな。やっぱりアシㇼパさんってアイヌの中でもちょっと変わってるんじゃないの？ Lit: “This way of thinking is realistic. After all isn't Asirpa-san a bit different among the Ainu?”)

Asirpa: “My father gave me the name Asirpa. It means "New year" but it can also means "Future." I'm a new kind of Ainu woman, for a new age!” (‘Asirpa to iu na wa chichi ga tsuketa. ‘Atarashī toshi’ to iu imidaga ‘mirai’ tomo kaishaku dekiru. Watashi wa atarashī jidai no Ainu no on'nana nda!’ アシㇼパという名は父がつけた。「新しい年」という意味だが「未来」とも解釈できる。わたしは新しい時代のアイヌの女なんだ！)

Hijikata: “Your voracious sexual appetite has cost you. wouldn't you agree, Ushiyama the undefeated?” (‘Ōseina seiyoku ga ada ni natta na. Fuhai no Ushiyama!’ 旺盛な性欲がアダになったな。不敗の牛山！ Lit: “Your voracious sexual appetite has cost you. Ushiyama the undefeated!”)

Hijikata: “It doesn't matter how old you are. Boys just love to play with swords, right?” (‘Ikutsu ni natte mo danshi wa katana o furimawasu no ga sukidarou?’ いくつになっても男子は刀を振り回すのが好きだろう？Lit: “No matter how old it may be, boys like to swing their swords around, don’t they?”)

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13. GUARDIAN SPIRIT (憑き神 TSUKIGAMI) 

First printed: 13/November/2014 Weekly Young Jump 50

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Makanakkuru (マカナックル), Osoma (オソマ), Wilk (ウイルク), Huci (フチ), Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見 篤四郎), Tamai (玉井), Noma (野間), Okada (岡田), Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣 源次郎), Wada (和田),  Tsukishima Hajime (月島 基).

Location: Near Otaru, Asirpa’s village near Otaru, Mukden (currently Shenyang) (China).

Other Places mentioned: 203 hill in Port Arthur (current Lüshunkou) (China), Mukden (currently Shenyang) (China).

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904  – 5 September 1905) Siege of Port Arthur (1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905), Battle of Mukden (20 February - 10 March 1905), the Treaty of Portsmouth (September 5, 1905)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Asirpa and Retar and about Tamai, Noma, Okada and Tanigaki and about Tsurumi.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape:

The people in Asirpa’s village were hoarding gold to battle against the Sisam… which led to the gold being stolen and Asirpa’s father being killed along with all his comrades. Their ancestors gathered all that gold and for decades it lay untouched by anyone then some men decided to use it to buy weapons. Everyone in the village believes they were killed by the wrath of the Wakkaus Kamuy. Ainu do not use rivers to do laundry or wash away excrements but people decided to pan the water for gold, causing the water to grow cloudy and the fishes unable to breathe, risking to cause their disappearance and the disappearance of the animals that feed on them. Soiling the water to gather weapons for war should never have been done therefore the gold was possessed by some sort of evil spirit and cursed. (Source: Makanakkuru)

Character deaths: Makanakkuru’s cousin (got hit by an amappo), 7 Ainu (killed in the Noppera-bō incident), Wada (shoot in the head by Tsukishima as per Tsurumi’s orders)

Animal deaths: Sakhalin sculpins

New Ainu words:

- Heperesinotpe: A special toy for bear cubs

- Raomap: Trap for catching river fishes

- Amappo: Arrow trap used to catch animals

- Wakkaus Kamuy: God of the water

- Turenpe: Guardian spirit that comes in and out through the back of the neck

- Kinaohaw: Soup made with many vegetables.

- Sutu: Punishment road.

Food and drinks: Sakhalin sculpins, Kinaohaw with roasted sculpin, daikon, carrots, potato, spinach and kombu (Sugimoto also adds Miso to it)

Useful info and points to ponder:

- Sugimoto carries around the bear cub holding it in his coat.

- When Makanakkuru stops Sugimoto from turning on the Amappo, Sugimoto’s first though, as he hadn’t realized about the trap, was being ‘unfriendly’ with him. In fact Sugimoto’s reply ‘Nanka-yō ka?’ (なんか用か？“What do you want?”) sounds rude because apparently you use it when you suspect something and the background behind Sugimoto darkens. Sugimoto will later apologize for this, explaining why was his reason for his rudeness.

- Makanakkuru explains how aconite poisoning from the Amappo  would cause one to suffer for a long time instead than dying instantly, killing the person slowly.

- Makanakkuru mentions his cousin got hit by an Amappo but, although he manage d to get out the arrow, as there was still poison inside the wound he was in agony for several days, his body swelled up and he died.

- Asirpa’s arrows also have aconite poison but evidently in a much bigger amount as she states a bear would only manage to make 10 step while a human won’t manage to make one. After hearing all this, it’s impressive Ogata managed to survive being hit by one of Asirpa’s arrows.

- Makanakkuru uses ‘watashi’ (私) to say “I”.

- Makanakkuru, after telling Sugimoto his name, explains him Asirpa is his OLDER sister’s (‘ane’  姉) daughter and Osoma’s father. The fact that Makanakkuru calls Asirpa’s mother his ‘older sister’ doesn’t necessarily mean they’re related by blood as, although there’s a Japanese word for ‘sister-in-law’ you can also call her just ‘sister’. What we can see for now is he doesn’t resemble neither Huci nor Asirpa’s mother (though Huci might have gotten small eyes due to her old age), while Osoma’s mom seems to have Huci’s square face and a nose more similar to hers. However, unless it’ll be specifically said or we’ll get to see Asirpa’s grandfather we won’t be able to tell if Makanakkuru took from him or not.

- We learn from Makanakkuru that since Asirpa lost her father she’s been going into the mountains alone. In the past chapter we discovered she learnt to distance herself from others so as not to suffer when it would be time to say goodbye. As we’ll later learn she had tried forgetting Wilk, her going in the mountains was probably also a way to distance herself from others after undergoing the trauma of losing her father.

- Makanakkuru says he had been worried about her so now he can rest easier since there’s a strong guy like Sugimoto with her and that since Asirpa is smart (‘Asirpa wa atamagaī’ アシリパは頭がいい “Asirpa has a good head”), if she likes Sugimoto this means he’s not a bad guy. My general impression is Makanakkuru too, like Huci, thinks Sugimoto is there to marry Asirpa.

- Sugimoto’s reply can either be ‘it’s him who gets saved by Asirpa’ or ‘it’s him who gets helped by Asirpa’. At this point, Asirpa has only saved him from the bear but all her teaching and hospitality are helping Sugimoto to live in Hokkaido.

- I do wonder if Sugimoto’s apology, which comes kind of late, is because Makanakkuru said since Asirpa like him he’s shouldn’t be a “bad guy” (‘warui yatsu’ 悪い奴) and Sugimoto felt the need to confirm he isn’t by politely apologizing or if it’s an attempt to push Makanakkuru to talk.

- Makanakkuru asks Sugimoto if he heard about the story of the gold from Asirpa. Evidently he wasn’t told that Sugimoto learnt about it from Gotou and he’s assuming Asirpa told him that to explain her father’s death. In short Makanakkuru might not know Sugimoto and Asirpa are searching for the gold.

- In chap 2 I wondered about Asirpa’s words which only implied it was the people of her village which was involved in this. Makanakkuru instead says clearly it was the people from THEIR village which collected the gold dust to fight the Sisam… when we know at least two people weren’t from Asirpa’s village. Retcon or Makanakkuru is misleading Sugimoto? Asirpa was young so she might not have known not everyone was from her village but Makanakkuru should have done it.

- It might mean nothing but normally they were talk of ‘kinkai’ (金塊 “gold nuggets”). Makanakkuru here talks instead of ‘Sakin’ (砂金 “gold dust”). As of now I’ve managed to find the word ‘Sakin’ coming up only when Huci told the tale of the gold and when Hijikata said he knew the right amount of it. It might have been used other times and I might have missed it, of course but still it’s worth pondering.

- In the manga Sugimoto merely asks Makanakkuru “Who do you think was the criminal who stole the gold?” which scanlation preferred to translate it with “Do you have any idea who it was that killed them?” assuming the crime is to murder those Ainu. The anime instead modifies the sentence so it’s not vague anymore and becomes “Who do you think was the criminal who stole the gold?” (金塊を奪った犯人に心当たりは？ ‘Kinkai o ubatta han'nin ni kokoroatari wa?’). As the original sentence didn’t mention which was the crime, we can’t say if this addition was done in cooperation with Noda or it’s just an anime thing which however implies Sugimoto is more worried for the stolen gold than for the killed Ainu.

- Makanakkuru is rather vehement about how the river shouldn’t be polluted explaining how harmful it is gold panning for rivers. Long story short he believes they absolutely shouldn’t have done it, especially to support a war.

- When asked to say who could have killed the men Makanakkuru invoke the supernatural. It’s the wrath of Wakkaus Kamuy, the god of water. The gold dust was possessed by a ‘mamono’ (魔物 “evil spirit”) and cursed. In short he doesn’t pin the blame of those deaths on any human, be them Ainu or Sisam. They deserved it (because they dirtied the river) and the gods or the spirits punished them. Compared to how Asirpa searches always for a realistic explanation this seems pretty abstract… unless we’re meant to interpret it as ‘the men were killed to punish them for their actions’. This can also mean that Makanakkuru views the killer as someone who represents the gods and brought on those men their wrath… but as the Ainu think killing is wrong maybe Makanakkuru thinks who did the deed in order of doing it was possessed by something evil. It’s kind of like saying, they deserved it, but it wasn’t our place to punish them. It’s interesting how the visual at this point shows Wilk. At the time we didn’t know Wilk was innocent so we could think the visual did so to show who was to blame for the crime of murder… but, if anything, Wilk could have blamed for wanting to use the cursed gold to wage war.

- Huci can see the Turenpe (“guardian spirits”) residing on the back of people’s neck and offers food to her own. Much, much later (chap 231) we’ll discover she says her guardian spirit  can tell her the sex of a baby about to be delivered.

- According to Huci Sugimoto has a very powerful Turenpe. Sugimoto wonders if it’s him who makes him immortal and then offers him food, pleasing Huci.

- The scene implies Asirpa will hit Sugimoto with the Sutu. A box explains us a Sutu is normally used for crimes like theft or punishment and therefore is not to be used lightly but to have a girl hit a man is sadly a type of gag that’s considered ‘fun’. So, while Asirpa does it clearly to assert her own authority (Sugimoto doesn’t have to disobey her or there will be punishment) and role as some sort of teacher, ultimately this is taken away by the scene intended to be humorous and clearly done with Sugimoto’s ‘permission’ as we know he could easily rip it from her.

- Overall Huci, who views Sugimoto as Asirpa’s future husband, seems pleased with his behaviour. He offered food to the guardian spirit, embracing Ainu traditions and Asirpa could, at the same time, ‘discipline’ him. It’s also worth to mention how Huci accepted Miso, that all the Ainu exchange for poop, without hesitations, proving either she trusts him or that she wouldn’t refuse an offering from him whatever it is (or that she knows Miso). I guess she thinks Sugimoto brings in the benefits of Asirpa marrying a Sisam (who, she believes, would accept her even if she didn’t know how to sew or knit as well as Sisam’s privileges) while embracing Ainu culture and obeying to her granddaughter. Honestly she feels naïve. She hadn’t realized Sugimoto isn’t interested in Asirpa like that but has another woman in mind and that he acts like that out of politeness not out of belief. This is made even more dangerous by the fact that at the time there were many Wajin who would come in Hokkaido, take an Ainu bride and then dump her when they would return back home.

- As he did for Ogata, Tsurumi is out with his men to search for Tamai and Co. With no luck this time.

- Tsurumi tells us that Tamai, Noma, Okada and Tanigaki are all experienced mountaineers, and Tanigaki is even from a Matagi family so it’s unlikely to believe they would get lost or stranded.

- Wada calls Tsurumi ‘kisama’ (貴様 “you”). As said in chap 5 ‘kisama’ is nowadays an insulting way to say “you”, normally translated as “you bastard” but back then it was the normal way to say “you” in the army. We don’t know though, if Noda is keeping this into consideration. So, while Wada is clearly angry at Tsurumi it’s hard to say if he’s being insulting or not in Noda’s intentions.

- Wada might sound rude to Tsurumi but his complains are all legitimate. Tsurumi shouldn’t have moved his men till Otaru (they were meant to stay in Asahikawa), among the men Tsurumi moved one ended up in critical conditions and four are missing. In addition Tsurumi also took weapons and ammunitions from Asahikawa (in fact we’ll notice later that even first class privates have, occasionally guns they weren’t supposed to have).

- Wada uses ‘watashi’ (私) to say “I”. His ranking is “Captain” (大尉 ‘Taii’) which makes him higher in rank than Tsurumi, who’s a First Lieutenant.

- Wada is drawn there by Tsukishima, who’s the one who’ll shoot him in the head. Very likely it was a trap to get rid of him. As we’ll learn Tsurumi prefers to deal with superior officers by blackmailing them or indebting them to him I guess this means Wada had no dark spots in his past as Tsurumi couldn’t blackmail him into obedience. On the other side, as Tsurumi could manipulate Yodogawa, he could have asked him to just remove Wada from duty or something instead than killing him so I wonder if there’s more than what it looks why on Wada’s death that made important for Tsurumi to kill him. It’s possible Wada too was connected to Ogata and Tamai’s rebellion, hence that’s why he worries about them so, by killing him in secrecy, he wanted the rebels to lose his support and, at the same time, it would work as a warning to them.

- For the first time we see Tsurumi’s brain leaking. Tsurumi explains that during the battle of Mukden a piece of shrapnel from an exploding shell lodged itself into the front of his scull which causes a bit of odd fluid to leak out. I wonder if the mention of that happening is painful for Tsukishima who has to steady himself to be ready to kill a superior officer.

- Tsurumi bites off Wada’s finger. I wonder if Wada pointing his finger awoke unpleasant memories (Tsurumi’s family lost its prestige, due to Tomoharu’s death he wasn’t allowed to advance) or if he did it just because he could. He claims it’s just because his frontal lobe took a bit of damage so he has troubles controlling his temper but that aside he’s the picture of good health and takes pride in his scars who, according to him, make him look dashing. I wonder if it’s more in them he sees Olga’s face disfigured by a bullet.

- Remember when I said Sugimoto almost killing a superior officer was a big deal? Wada wanted to have Tsurumi killed for biting his finger off… and it was completely okay at the time.

- Tsurumi has Wada be stripped off his uniform and buried. In short he plans to keep his death as a secret and have him ‘disappear’.

- Tsurumi paints the whole thing as a battle between lower ranks and higher ranks, claiming the graves their companions got in Manchuria were beneath the cold barren stone, that they hadn’t received reparation from Russia and therefore were left with nothing despite fighting to defend Japan’s borders and therefore their war is not over. Tsurumi conveniently skips on how, between him and Wada, there’s only a rank of difference.

- To clear up a little Tsurumi’s words in an historical contest:

The “graves our comrades in Manchuria got” likely refer to the many graves they left in Port Arthur, where, according to Tanigaki, more than a half of the 7th division died. I guess they can include the ones of the battle of Mukden as well, although they’re probably a reference to the scene of Tsurumi in front of the graves at Port Arthur.

The “reparations they still hadn’t received from Russia” refers to the Treaty of Portsmouth and to how from it Japan didn’t receive any Russian reparation. It’s not so much Japan’s fault on that, as Russia agreed to many things but would have preferred resuming the war than agreeing to give reparations to Japan for a war Japan started and here there’s the problem. Japan, despite doing well during the war, couldn’t sustain the continuation of it. So while Tsurumi’s talk might seem an attack to the state that gave up on fighting without pretending reparation, not considering that war over would have lead to Japan’s defeat. Therefore Japan did as well as it could and Tsurumi is merely feeding up the discontentment.

The soldiers left with nothing refers to something that Tanigaki will explain later, that when Hanazawa ‘committed suicide’ the government blamed the 7th division so they received no metal or monetary reward and were treated as outcasts. To be honest this is not an historical point as this didn’t happen in real life but just in “Golden Kamuy”.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Asirpa: “f you don't clean and gut sculpins right away, the flavor suffers! Hurry up and get them, you dolt!” (‘Kajika wa hayaku sabakanaito aji ga ochiru hayaku tori ni ike baka!’ カジカは早く捌かないと味が落ちる早く取りに行けバカ Lit: “Sculpins will lose their taste if they are not handled quickly! Go get it soon! Stupid!”)

- Sugimoto: “She's so cruel!” (‘Hidōī’ ヒドーイ Lit: “Mean!”)

- Sugimoto: “What do you want?” (‘Nanka-yō ka?’ なんか用か？)

- Makanakkuru: “My name is Makanakkuru! Asirpa is my sister’s daughter. And I’m Osoma’s father.” (‘Watashi no na wa makanakkuru. Asirpa wa watashi no ane no musume da. Soshite Osoma-chan no chichioya’ 私の名はマカナックル。アシㇼパは私の姉の娘だ。そしてオソマちゃんの父親)

- Makanakkuru: “Ever since Asirpa lost her father, she's been going into the mountains alone. I've been worried about her. I can rest easier knowing a strong guy like you is with her.” (‘Asirpa wa chichioya o nakushite karamo hitori de yama e itte shimaukara shinpaidatta. Omae mitaina tsuyo-sōna otoko ga isshonara anshinda’ アシㇼパは父親を亡くしてからもひとりで山へ行ってしまうから心配だった。お前みたいな強そうな男が一緒なら安心だ Lit: “Asirpa, after losing her father, had been going on the mountains alone, so I was worried. It’s safer if she’s together with a strong looking man like you.”)

Sugimoto: “No, I 'd say she spends most of the time saving me.” (‘Iyaiya kotchi ga tasuke rare-ppanashi de’ いやいやこっちが助けられっぱなしで Lit: “No, No, I’m the one who’s being helped by her.”)

- Makanakkuru: “Asirpa is a smart girl…If she likes you, it's safe to say that you're not such a bad guy.” (‘Asirpa wa atamagaī. Aitsu ga natsuku ndakara omae wa warui yatsu ja nai nodarou’ アシㇼパは頭がいい。あいつがなつくんだからお前は悪い奴じゃ無いのだろうLit: “Asirpa is smart. As a guy she’s emotionally attached at you are probably not a bad guy.”)

- Makanakkuru: “You heard the story from Asirpa, right? About how the people in our village were hoarding gold to battle against the Sisam… which led to the gold being stolen and Asirpa’s father being killed along with all his comrades.” (‘Asirpa kara kiita nodarou? Watashitachi no mura no ningen ga shisamu to tatakau tame ni sakin o atsumete ita ni to ya. Sore o ubawa rete Asirpa no chichi-tachi ga korosa reta koto’ アシㇼパから聞いたのだろう？私たちの村の人間がシサムと戦うために砂金を集めていたにとや… それを奪われてアシㇼパの父たちが殺されたこと Lit: “Did you hear it from Asia? How the people of our village were collecting gold dust to fight the Sisam… and that Asirpa’s father and the others were killed after being robbed of it”)

- Makanakkuru: “Our ancestors gathered all that Gold. and for decades, it lay untouched by anyone. then some men decided to use it to buy weapons.” (‘Ano sakin wa wareware no senzo ga totta mono de, nanjūnen mo zutto fure rarezu ni ita monodatta. Sore o ichibu no otoko-tachi ga buki o kaou to te o tsuketa’ あの砂金は我々の先祖が取ったもので、何十年もずっと触れられずにいたものだった。それを一部の男たちが武器を買おうと手を付けた)

- Sugimoto: “Do you have an idea who it was who killed them?” (‘Kinkai o ubatta han'nin ni kokoroatari wa?’金塊を奪った犯人に心当たりは？ “Who do you think was the criminal who stole the gold?”)

- Makanakkuru: “Everyone here believes it was the wrath of the Wakkaus Kamuy (God of the water). We Ainu don't do our laundry in the river, nor do we use it to wash away excrement. That’s how much we care about keeping the river clean. But the people decided to pan the waters for gold…” (‘Wakkaus kamui (mizu no kami) no ikarida to min'na itte iru. Ainu wa kawade wa sentaku o sezu haisetsu-mono mo nagasanai. Soko made shite wareware ga yogosanai yō ni ki o tsukete iru kawa de sakin nante torukara…’ ワッカウシカムイ（水の神）の怒りだとみんな言っている。アイヌは川では洗濯をせず排泄物も流さない。そこまでして我々が汚さないように気をつけている川で砂金なんて採るから… Lit: “Everyone says it's the wrath of Wakkaus Kamui (water god). Ainu in the river don't do laundry, nor do we wash away excrements. We go so far to take care of not getting the river dirty so taking gold dust...”)

- Makanakkuru: “Soiling these pristine waters just to gather weapons for war…It should never have been done. That Gold was possessed by some sort of evil spirit. it was cursed.” (‘Ainu ga arasoi no tame ni kawa o yogosu nante zettai ni atte wa naranai. Ano sakin wa mamono ga tsuite iru norowa reta monodatta noda’ アイヌが争いのために川を汚すなんて絶対にあってはならない。あの砂金は魔物が憑いている呪われたものだったのだ Lit: “The Ainu should have never pollute the river for a war. That gold dust was possessed by a demon and cursed.”)

- Wada: “How dare you take my men all the way out here to Otaru without my permission! What the hell do you think you're doing?” (‘Kisama watashi no buka-tachi o katte ni Otaru made hikitsurete. Dōiu tsumorida’ 貴様私の部下たちを勝手に小樽まで引き連れて。どういうつもりだ Lit: “How dare you take my subordinates and drag them to Otaru without permission. What did you mean to do?!”)

Wada: “In the first place, how the hell have you managed to keep the rank of first lieutenant with an injury like that!? I can't cover for you anymore! There's no longer any place for you in the imperial Japanese army!!” (‘Somosomo son'na kega no arisama de kongo mo chūi ga tsutomaru ka! Mō kabai kiren! Tsurumi! Kisama ga rikugun ni modoru basho wa mohaya nai to omoe! !’ そもそもそんな怪我のありさまで今後も中尉が務まるか！もう庇いきれん！鶴見！貴様が陸軍に戻る場所は最早無いと思え！！ Lit: “In the first place, how can you continue working as a lieutenant with such injuries? I'm not covering for you anymore! Tsurumi! There is no longer a place for you to return in the Army! !”)

Wada: “You're a goddamn lunatic. Fire at will.” (‘Shōkide wa nai na… ute’ 正気ではないな…撃て)

Tsurumi: “The only graves our comrades in manchuria got were beneath the cold, barren stones. We still haven't received any reparations from Russia. The soldiers that defended the frontier were left with nothing but barren, worthless land. Our war is not over.” (‘Sen'yū wa ima demo Manshū no areta tsumetai ishi no motoda. Roshia kara baishō-kin mo torezu, moto tondenhei no temoto ni nokotta mono wa yaseta tochi dake. Wareware no sensō wa mada owatte inai’ 戦友は今でも満州の荒れた冷たい石の下だ。ロシアから賠償金も取れず、元屯田兵の手元に残ったものはやせた土地だけ。我々の戦争はまだ終わっていない)

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14. HOWLING (遠吠え TŌBOE)

First printed: 20/November/2014 Weekly Young Jump 51

Characters: Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Osoma (オソマ), Huci (フチ), Makanakkuru (マカナックル), Retar (レタㇻ), Wilk (ウイルク), Ainu kids.

Location: Asirpa’s village near Otaru, near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: None

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Asirpa, Wilk and Retar.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None.

Character deaths: None.

Animal deaths: River otter

New Ainu words:

- Esaman: River otter

- Kisarri: “Long-eared monster”. A toy of some sort you wave standing outside a window making terrifying noise to scare the children inside.

- Uko Karip Ciwe: “Ring catch”. An Ainu children’s game in which everyone competes to catch a ring made from vines and tossed into the air.

- Ratcako: A light stand that holds a scallop shell that contains whale or fish oil.

- Aca: “Father”.

- Sugimoto Nispa. Asirpa anakne kueyam pe ne. Neita pakno turano an wa unkoraye yan.: “Mr. Sugimoto. Asirpa means more to me than anything in the world. Please always be there for her.”

Food and drinks: River otter cut into bite sized chunks cooked into a ohaw with pukusa (alpine leeks), windflower, daikon and burdock root. Also boiled river otter head.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- According to Ainu, River Otter/Esaman are incredibly forgetful Kamuy, so eating them or mentioning them would cause people to forget things.

- Sugimoto is a complete fail at making scary sounds. Asirpa instead excels at them.

- Makanakkuru tells Sugimoto that while Asirpa and her father were out hunting one day they saved a tiny wolf cub from a bear. Since it looked like a tiny snowman they named it Retar, “White”. Asirpa and Retar were inseparable but after Asirpa’s father died they went up into the mountains however on a night they heard a howling and despite Asirpa’s pleading Retar to come back and not leave her, retar left, leaving her behind to cry for him and her father.

- Makanakkuru comments that Asirpa may act mature for her age but in the end she’s a lonely, fragile little girl who had smiled rarely since that day but recently seemed much happier because she enjoyed her time in the mountains with Sugimoto.

- Makanakkuru too, like Huci points out, how Asirpa, up till then, after her father’s death had lived for most of the time alone on the mountains, especially after Retar too left her. Likely this wasn’t just because she liked to be there but also because, due to the pain of her father’s loss, she has tried reducing her chances to form attachment to others in fear of losing them as she’s afraid to be abandoned again, something that Inkarmat will remark as well and that’s a fear she carried within herself from when the bear cub she loved like a brother died. Her isolation protected her from pain but, at the same time, bereft her of happiness. Humans are social animals though and, as she got closer to Sugimoto, as Makanakkuru noticed, she became much happier.

- Makanakkuru calls Sugimoto ‘Sugimoto-san’.

- Noda has Huci talk to Sugimoto but as no one translates what she says, he doesn’t know what she’s peaking about yet he still says he understands and that she means that she and everyone in the village love Asirpa very much. This is because Noda is subtly telling us Sugimoto is an “unreliable narrator” of some sort. In fact in many manga the main character’s interpretation of an event is THE RIGHT INTERPRETATION. However we’ve already seen more than once how ‘Sugimoto’s vision’ doesn’t match with the truth. He thinks Gotou is harmless and a guy who tells tall tales… he’s not. He thinks the men of the 7th trying to get the gold are the dregs of the unit… they’re not. He thinks Asirpa doesn’t care about him… she does. He thinks the soldiers won’t follow Asirpa… they do. He thinks the Ainu are unfriendly… they aren’t. He thinks Makkanakkuru has bad intentions… he saves his life. He thinks Huci is telling him she loves Asirpa very much which pushes him to leave her behind… when at the end of the volume in an extra page we see Huci is also telling him not to leave him. And in future chapters he will interpret things in the wrong way again and again. Sugimoto is not stupid, he’s simply not perceptive. He presents things as he sees them through his experiences but his role as main character doesn’t insure his interpretation is right so we can’t take Sugimoto’s opinions/interpretations as the one of a reliable narrator and therefore as facts just because he’s the main character, as he’s often wrong.

- I wonder if, while watching Asirpa playing with the other children, Sugimoto in a way felt cut out. Not that he was jealous of them but he probably realized those children were Asirpa’s words, she was meant to play with them and have fun. On the opposite Sugimoto has no one he was meant to be with, he’s with Asirpa, in her village, but he doesn’t belong to that place. While Asirpa has people who care for her he has no one. Yet he has grown attached to her as well, we see he thinks at her with fondness but then he thinks at her when he escaped from the 7th and frowns, realizing he has put her in danger. So he does to her the same thing he has done to Umeko. He leaves her behind because he doesn’t want to put people HE CARES FOR in danger (he knew when they were escaping she too was in danger but back then he didn’t care about her as much as he cared about her now so he wasn’t overly concerned… now he is). However this time the thing is even worse because not only he doesn’t discuss the thing with her or at least say her goodbye or talks with an adult, let’s say Makanakkuru, but just leaves in the night. It’s clearly painful for him but, despite hearing more than once that Asirpa has issues with abandonment, he’s abandoning her and the people who have welcomed him. Asirpa wants to have faith in him but Shiraishi interpreted his behavior as him double crossing her, stealing the skins and running away. Overall this would deserve a long discussion but that’s not the place for it.

- Before leaving Sugimoto would like to caress the sleeping bear cub yet hesitates. This is not so much for the bear cub but for himself. In this moment he’s leaving he’s keeping it at distance to make the separation less painful… which is partly probably why he doesn’t say goodbye to Asirpa either.

Notable changes from the magazine version: In the magazine the translation of what Huci said was placed in a note in the page in which she’s speaking. In the volume the translation is placed at the end of the volume.

Notable quotes:

- Makanakkuru: “Asirpa may act mature for her age, but in the end she's still a lonely, fragile little girl… Asirpa has rarely smiled since that day, but recently, it seems like she's been much happier. She must be enjoying her time in the mountains with you, Sugimoto.” (‘Otonabite wa iruga Asirpa wa samishigariya no itaikena kodomona noda. Son'na koto ga atte kara Asirpa wa egao o misenaku nattaga, saikin wa zuibun to akaruku natta. Sugimoto-san to yama ni iru no ga tanoshī ndarou’ 大人びてはいるがアシㇼパは寂しがり屋のいたいけな子供なのだ。そんなことがあってからアシㇼパは笑顔を見せなくなったが、最近はずいぶんと明るくなった。杉元さんと山にいるのが楽しいんだろう)

- Sugimoto: “…I understand, Grandma. I know you love Asirpa very much. You and everyone in this village.” (‘… Wakatta yo obāchan. Asirpa-san wa obachan ni aisa re teru nda na. Mura no min'na ni mo’ …わかったよお婆ちゃん。アシㇼパさんはお婆ちゃんに愛されてるんだな。村のみんなにも)

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15. SCENT (におい NIOI)

First printed: 04/December/2014 Weekly Young Jump 1

Characters: Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Retar (レタㇻ), prostitute, Umeko (梅子), Toraji and Umeko’s child, Umeko’s mother, pimp (妓夫太郎 ‘Gifutarō’), owner of the Soba restaurant, Nikaidō Kōhei (二階堂 浩平), Nikaidō Yōhei (二階堂 洋平),

Location: Near Otaru, Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: Umeko’s house in her village in the Kanto area

Time: 1907/1908 (?) March

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904  – 5 September 1905)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Sugimoto, Umeko, Toraji and Toraji and Umeko’s child and about the pimp.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None.

Character deaths: Toraji (killed during the war)

Animal deaths: None.

New Ainu words:

- Ipapkeni: Deer whistle

Food and drinks: Nishin Soba

Useful info and points to ponder:

- The chapter starts with Asirpa immediately pointing out how Sugimoto’s escape in the night wasn’t selfless but “too selfish” (勝手すぎる ‘Katte sugiru’). They were working together for a reason, because it helped both of them. Him leaving only means Asirpa will have to work alone, not that she’ll give up.

- Again, although Noda remarks Sutu aren’t to be used lightly, he presents Asirpa planning to whack Sugimoto with it in punishment, in an humorous light.

- It should have been complicate for Asirpa to explain Huci, who believed Sugimoto to be her future husband, why he was missing.

- Asirpa’s behaviour though, contrast with Umeko’s, at least as far as we know. Even though both were worried for him, Umeko let Sugimoto go, Asirpa chased him.

- Presented with the problem of a missing Sugimoto, Asirpa first checks all the hunting huts then decides that trying to find him in Otaru would be too difficult for her and therefore she needs Retar’s help. In order to get it he tries to lure him using a deer whistle, hoping if he hears the sound of a prey he would run to her. Actually though it seems Retar came because from Asirpa’s scent he could tell she needed help. This gives us an idea of how distressed Asirpa was if Retar thought he needed to go help her.

- Sugimoto, seeing a prostitute, thinks she’s Umeko. Although there’s a vague resemblance this is also likely because he desperately wants to see her.

- Seeing a woman that looks like Umeko triggers in Sugimoto a flashback. Toraji’s child has grown enough he can stand and talk. He brings flowers to his mother and, due to her sight deteriorating, Umeko recognizes them thanks to her sense of smell. In chap 100 we’ll learn it’s springtime. In that moment a soldier (Sugimoto) arrives. He’s dirty and unshaved. He hands to a woman who might be a servant or a relative what he says to be all that’s left of Toraji, his finger. The woman bows, telling him they had given up on recovering his remains and thanking him… before realizing he looks familiar and asking him if he’s Sugimoto Saichi-san. At this Umeko comes closer, her child clinging to her and asks him if he’s really ‘Saichi-chan’. He turns away from her but Umeko seems happy as she admits she can only see a blur and asks him if he has come back home. However she catches a scent that makes her shudder and asks him who he is. Sugimoto sees himself in his army uniform covered I blood, wondering what did he smell like to her and saying the person he was is dead, wondering if, should she regain her sight, would she recognize him.

- It’s worth to point out it’s implied Toraji lost both arms and legs so… where did Sugimoto got that finger? Is it really Toraji or is he bringing her some bones to ease her heart?

- When Sugimoto stops the prostitute and realizes it’s not Umeko he tells himself that of course it’s not her as Umeko wouldn’t be selling her body at some port town in the frozen north but he also tells himself he has to do something and fast. Although Sugimoto says so, it’s likely just to reassure himself. He doesn’t know how Umeko’s situation is. Even though it’s unlikely she would sell her body in Otaru, she might be selling her body at home. Meanwhile, as he tries to find the gold her sight deteriorates… and the irony of him telling himself he has to hurry up when we know that more than a year will be gone with him still not having found the gold is rather cruel but at the same time this is a call back at the story of the hare of chap 8. For the greed of getting all the gold Sugimoto had been running after it through all the story getting also horribly wounded and killing more people when he could have tried to just get a job and remain near Umeko. Maybe he would have never managed to collect enough money to heal her eyes but he could have supported her.

- Sugimoto goes asking for info to the pimp who wanted to sell Asirpa to a brothel. The guy, despite wanting to sell Asirpa, tells Sugimoto that if he finds the guy, with a really strange tattoo, who hurt a prostitute in a friend’s brothel will make it worth his while because he was born and raised in a brothel and won’t forgive assholes who go around hurting prostitutes. Now… while it’s nice he cares and even the past time he worried that Asirpa was there to taunt his girls… well, he wanted to sell Asirpa. Is this guy who claims to care for prostitutes’ well being, unable to understand that forcing someone into the profession is a quite horrible thing to do? Or is it a mere racist matter, because Asirpa was an Ainu he was sure there was nothing wrong in selling her as if she were a thing? Still he doesn’t send Sugimoto there to sell him to the 7th because the pimp will cooperate with Shiraishi too and won’t try to sell Shiraishi to the 7th.

- The guy who hurt the prostitute the pimp was talking about was clearly Ushiyama by the way.

- We’ve another example of Sugimoto’s poor perception sense. The woman at the Soba restaurant that also works as a brothel tells him she’ll bring the girl immediately and, in the meanwhile, he should have a bowl of soba. As Sugimoto eats she goes to call the men of the 7th instead with Sugimoto not suspecting a single thing and not even realizing she’s taking too long.

- Sugimoto says he’s a Kanto guy… which is something we could have guessed as he was in the 1st division that’s the Tokyo division but it’s nice to have confirmation he’s from that area as Aoyama Kenkichi for example, despite not being from the Kanto area, will join the 1st division.

- When the Nikaidō brother comes in the soba shop searching for the guy looking for tattoo, Sugimoto kicks them both, sending them flying. This prompt another soldier to try to attack him. Sugimoto sends him on the ground and steps on his face, likely breaking his nose (well, at least he didn’t step on his throat). However there are three more soldiers who aim at him their weapons. Sugimoto acted out of instinct and fought well however not only his attack made him really suspicious, but the people he attacked are other veterans who were merely doing their job and who, due to the war, possess the same instinct of him to kill who attacks them so it’s no surprise if the Nikaidō brothers will inscribe him in the list of the people they want dead.

- As Yōhei and Kōhei look almost the same, it’s hard to understand who is who. If you want some help recognizing them Yōhei is the one with the puttees, who’ll hit Sugimoto’s legs and then give Sugimoto’s face a real beating with the butt of his rifle. Kōhei is the one who pointed his rifle at him and told him to get down so that when he were to shoot at him the bullet won’t hit anyone and who told Yōhei to stand back because he wanted to kill him right now. After Yōhei’s death Kōhei will start wearing puttees.

- Both brothers are bleeding profusely through their nose and, possibly their mouths, bruises on their faces due to Sugimoto’s kick, but while Yōhei is just being violent, Kōhei would just kill Sugimoto and get done with it. After Yōhei’s death Kōhei had probably blamed himself a lot for not killing Sugimoto that day, when he had the chance.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Umeko: “Who… are you?” (‘Anata… donate?’ あなた…どなた?)

- Sugimoto: “Ume... just what did I smell like to you? The Saichi you knew... is probably long gone. Even if your eyes are healed, will you really know that it's me...?” (‘Ume-chan… ore wa don'na nioi ga shita? Ume-chan no shitteru ore wa mō konoyo ni inai nodarou ka. Me ga naotte mo sugu ni oreda to wakatte kureru ka na’ 梅ちゃん… 俺はどんな臭いがした？梅ちゃんの知ってる俺はもうこの世にいないのだろうか。眼が治ってもすぐに俺だと分かってくれるかな Lit: “Ume-chan ... What did I smell like? The me known by Ume-chan probably isn’t in this world anymore. Even if your eyes heal… will you immediately understand that it’s me?”)

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16. SHINIGAMI (死神 SHINIGAMI)

First printed: 11/December/2014 Weekly Young Jump 2

Characters: Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見 篤四郎), Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Tamai (玉井), Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形 百之助), Nikaidō Kōhei (二階堂 浩平), Nikaidō Yōhei (二階堂 洋平), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Retar (レタㇻ)

Location: Otaru, near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: Hanazono park in Otaru, 203 hill in Port Arthur (current Lüshunkou) (China).

Time: 1907/1908 (?) March

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904  – 5 September 1905) Siege of Port Arthur (1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905),

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Sugimoto and Tsurumi.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None

Character deaths: Russian soldiers.

Animal deaths: None.

New Ainu words: None.

Food and drinks: Dango skewers.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- It’s Tsurumi who saves Sugimoto’s life from the Nikaidō’s brothers who wanted to kill him, claiming he didn’t want him dead yet. However, as he saw him fighting, it means he also saw the brothers hitting him over and over and didn’t stop them.

- Tsurumi too uses ‘Watashi’ (私). However he doesn’t use ‘kisama’ (貴様 “You”) for Sugimoto but ‘omae’ (お前 “You”). Is he trying to sound more friendly or less?

- Tsurumi introduces himself saying he’s Sugimoto’s ‘Shinigami’ (死神 “God of death”) and that he can blow Sugimoto’s candle anytime. This is a reference to a Japanese myth of human lives being represented by candles and the Shinigami snuffing the out to kill a person.  In early Meiji era there was a famous Rakugo program titled “Shinigami” which referenced this idea.

- Sugimoto, with a good poker face, says he’s working for a guy whose favourite prostitute got hurt by a guy with a tattoo and that wants Sugimoto to beat said guy. Sugimoto says he asked the old lady to bring out the girl but when he saw people with guns he tried to escape. While this time his story is closer to the truth (he was actually sent there by a pimp, not by a customer) this doesn’t change the fact he has overreacted. The ones with the guns were soldiers and if he really meant no harm and is no criminal he shouldn’t have attacked them to try to escape. Tsurumi doesn’t buy it at all and doesn’t even bother to hide it, though, to Sugimoto’s credits, what really damns him is that Tsurumi saw his way of fighting and recognized him.

- There are 3 soldiers in the room in addition to Tsurumi and Sugimoto, though we can only see the Nikaidō brothers. The anime is of no help as, apart from increasing the number to 4, it doesn’t show them.

- Tsurumi’s interrogation method is clever. He figured Sugimoto was a tough nut to crack so he let Sugimoto talk without countering anything, so Sugimoto doesn’t know his cards he only knows Tsurumi isn’t buying it. Then he distracts him with sweets, which, as Sugimoto admits, is something he doesn’t commonly have, causing him to relax and lower his guard, to casually mention the word immortal, saying one of his men, who barely survive, wrote it with his finger. It works to send Sugimoto, who has not even finished his dango, into a hurry to escape, which is nothing else but a confession. As to deliver the final blow comes the accusation, he’s the one who sent Ogata to hospital, complete with Sugimoto’s name and nickname.

- Sugimoto, who knows he’s screwed, find nothing else to do but annoy the Nikaidō brothers, increasing the grudge they feel toward him. It’s not because Sugimoto gets off on this but because this gives him some measure of control and, therefore of confidence. In fact he manages to sit down calmly and insist he’s not Sugimoto.

- Tsurumi tells Sugimoto he has seen him fighting at Port Arthur once, although Sugimoto was a little away he was fighting like a ‘Kishin’ and Tsurumi couldn’t tear his eyes away from him.

- In hindsight the fact Tsurumi couldn’t tear his eyes away from Sugimoto should have told us that a man who’s fascinated by such brutal murdering method is up to no good.

- Tsurumi concludes he recognized Sugimoto by the way Sugimoto fought in the soba shop. Meaning if Sugimoto had let himself be arrested pacifically Tsurumi might not have recognized him.

- Sugimoto keeps calm and denies it. His poker face is back in place but this time he doesn’t have a lie ready.

- When Tsurumi hits right on the spot again, surprising him by realizing Sugimoto has the tattooed skins Sugimoto feels the need to regain confidence again by acting confident and vaguely insulting (he asks if Tsurumi is insane).

- Tsurumi plays along, allowing the tension to drop then… stabs Sugimoto with the skewer and Sugimoto failed to realize if he wanted to insist denying of being Sugimoto he had to react. He just remained there, without even blinking, which proves he’s Sugimoto the immortal.

- Tsurumi subtly hints at how he’s a man who can adapt himself. If the fire of Sugimoto’s candle is an immortal flame he’ll just destroy the candle. We’ll see through the story he’s not one who can’t adapt to the situation but stubbornly insist on the same way.

- Asirpa’s plan is to track Sugimoto by having Retar smell a sock he left behind and search for him by nightfall as Retar stands out too much.

- Tsurumi continues delineating his modus operandi. He tells Sugimoto if he wants to survive he has to join him. This parallels how he’ll tell Ariko that if he wants his family to survive he’ll have to side with him. It also tells us something about Tsurumi. He understood that Sugimoto has a strong wish to live, that he’s alone and that he’s angry and proud of his ability as a fighter, in fact, after the stick, ‘I’ll kill you if you don’t join me’, he presents him with the carrot, the carrot being his great plan to conquer Hokkaido in which Sugimoto can avenge himself from how he didn’t gain anything from the army and hope to have a place, with an extra spoon of sugar when he says that Sugimoto is the courageous soldier he needs. People are always who Tsurumi needs, he says the same to Tanigaki too. It’s also worth to compare this speech with the one Tsurumi had with Asirpa in vol 21. Tsurumi is in control here, after scaring Sugi he explains him something trying to make him feel involved on an emotional level and appreciated. It’s probably a variation of his usual speech for soldiers. With Asirpa he never had such plan to win her over in fact he doesn’t even try to talk with her but just orders to take her away. It’s Asirpa who engages him in a discussion but he hardly attempt to win her over with his speech which was more likely a pretence for his men and Sugimoto than for her.

- Tsurumi claims he has lost many men due to the war claiming he has less than a hundred scattered all over Hokkaido. I do wonder if he says so to get Sugimoto’s sympathy by mentioning the ones who died in the war. Men are, after all, conscripted each year so Tsurumi should have already got a replenishment unless they decided to simply give him less men because there’s not a war at the moment… though of course Tsurumi might wish more he has.

- Sugimoto’s question reveals his feelings on the idea of the men of the 7th wanting the gold. He thinks they only want it in order to get rich. He doesn’t imagine they might want it to do something.

- Tsurumi makes clear the gold isn’t to share among them but to use for military expenditures, informing Sugimoto as well of how they took army from Asahikawa but those aren’t enough and then presenting him with what looks superficially like a grandiose plan but making it really simple and easy. Basically Tsurumi’s plan, even explained in such a simple manner, is extremely disadvantageous for his men who would see no gold and take a huge risk above them becoming rebels. However as he seems so confident and try to play on emotions his plan doesn’t seem so bad.

- When Tsurumi talks of heroes on the battlefield destined to the life of vagrants he’s very likely referring to Sugimoto only, as his men aren’t vagrants but still in service, while Sugimoto seems to be one. In fact Japanese is vague enough we can’t tell if he’s referring to more people or just to Sugimoto.

- Sugimoto refuses, removing the stick that’s through his cheeks. As he’ll state later it’s not like he’s against Tsurumi’s plan, it he has another priority (he needs money fast for Umeko and he thinks he can get it by finding the gold) and he’s afraid of consequences because he hid the skins with the weapons of the other soldiers he killed.

- Since the carrot didn’t work Tsurumi returns to the stick by going back on threatening him in hope to force him to comply. Sugimoto should have remembered this experience in which, even though he had 2 skins, Tsurumi didn’t try to come to compromises with him and tortured him to get what he wanted instead than thinking Asirpa would have some leverage with Tsurumi just because she knew the code.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Tsurumi: “I'm your Shinigami. Your life is a candle, and I can blow it out any time I choose.” (‘Watashi wa omae no shinigamida. Omae no jumyō no rōsoku wa watashi ga itsu demo fuki keseru zo.’ 私はお前の死神だ。お前の寿命のロウソクは私がいつでも吹き消せるぞLit: “I'm your death god. I can blow out the candle of your life anytime.”)

- Tsurumi: “We were heroes on the battlefield. but once we got home, all that awaited us was the pathetic life of a vagrant. Did we gain anything for our service? I'd say we lost far more than we gained wouldn't you? A courageous soldier like you is exactly who I want in my army. Let us fight together, Sugimoto!” (‘Senjōde wa eiyūdattanoni furusato e kaereba hōrō seikatsu. Nani ka mukuwa reta ka? Ushinatta mono no kata ga ōku wanai ka? Watashi wa omae no yō ni yūmōna heishi ga hoshī. Wareware to tomoni tatakatte kure’ 戦場では英雄だったのに故郷へ帰れば放浪生活。何か報われたか？失ったものの方が多くはないか？私はお前のように勇猛な兵士が欲しい。我々と共に戦ってくれ Lit: “Although you were a hero on the battlefield, you returned home to a wandering life. Did you gain something? Wasn’t it more what you lost? I want a brave soldier like you. Fight with us.”)

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17. TRACKERS (追跡者 TSUISEKI-SHA)

First printed: 18/December/2014 Weekly Young Jump 3

Characters: Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Retar (レタㇻ), Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石 由竹), Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一), Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見 篤四郎), Noma (野間), Okada (岡田), Tamai (玉井), Nikaidō Kōhei (二階堂 浩平), Nikaidō Yōhei (二階堂 洋平)

Location: Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) March

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904  – 5 September 1905)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Sugimoto and Nikaidō Yōhei

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None

Character deaths: None

Animal deaths: None

New Ainu words:

- Cinoyetat: rolled birch bark used as a torch

Food and drinks: Dango skewers

Useful info and points to ponder:

- Asirpa can ride Retar.

- Asirpa, believing she has found Sugimoto, does what was implied in chap 15, hits him by surprise on the head with her Sutu without checking it’s him first.

- Asirpa calls Shiraishi ‘Dappun-ō’ (脱糞王 “Defecation king”), instead than ‘Datsugoku-ō’ (脱獄王 “Escape king”). Scanlations go with “Excrement king” because similarly sounding to “Escape King” and close enough to “Defecation king”. It’s worth to note Asirpa likely remembers how he’s called but she hadn’t forgotten he made the Ainu=dog ‘joke’ in chap 6, and will keep on calling Shiraishi the wrong way until he volunteers to bring her in Abashiri chap 49.

- Shiraishi won’t use the Ainu=dog joke again but just call her ‘Ainu no Gaki’ (アイヌのガキ “Ainu brat”). ‘Gaki’ is not very polite but it’s pretty common to use to refer to a kid. Problem is Asirpa doesn’t like to be viewed as a kid.

- This chapter starts the beginning of the recurring gag of animals biting Shiraishi’s head wih Retar doing so trice, each time Shiraishi annoys Asirpa.

- Shiraishi might have noticed Sugimoto took the wrong sock… yet Sugimoto didn’t.

- Shiraishi summarizes Asirpa’s situation as ‘Sugimoto double-crossing her, stealing the skins and running away’ which is likely what Asirpa fears he did but she’s trying to hope that’s not the case.

- The model for Shiraishi Yoshitake ended up in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. There’s to wonder if the Shiraishi too was betrayed as he ended in jail for stealing but we never saw him stealing anything.

- We learn Shiraishi is always up with local info, and therefore knows Sugimoto got involved in a fight and was arrested by the 7th.

- Hearing Sugimoto is in danger Asirpa points one of her poisoned arrows at him, demanding he’ll take her there. It’s unlikely she had the time to remove the poison so if she were to shoot by mistake, as she herself explain, Shiraishi would die quickly. She said she didn’t want to kill anyone so I think she only wants to threaten Shiraishi but if she were to let go of the arrow by mistake she would kill him. This works as a huge hint that Asirpa might end up changing her stance of ‘I won’t kill anyone’ to ‘I’ll kill for Sugimoto’.

- Shiraishi shows again he’s clever. He didn’t fight Asirpa, he takes time and escape. His only problem is he doesn’t how good Retar is as a tracker.

- Asirpa informs Shiraishi no one can escape Retar’s tracking ability, not even if one were to hide in a toilet. Shiraishi will remember this.

- Tsurumi clearly had Sugimoto tortured in attempt to get him to tell him where the skins were. Sugimoto’s face is blending much more than before, and he has two skewers pulled through his cheeks (remember he removed the previous one Tsurumi stuck through him). Sugimoto is a tough guy who wouldn’t have talked easily yet Tsurumi tortured him to get him to talk. What in the world gave Sugimoto the idea Tsurumi wouldn’t have tortured Asirpa to get what he wanted from her without having to give her anything in exchange? Also note that sadly, back then, torturing people to get them to talk, was a pretty common practice so it’s not even surprising or considered particularly evil.

- Sugimoto’s reasoning is flawed. He thinks he couldn’t have pretended to join them because he wouldn’t have fooled Tsurumi as Tsurumi knew he had tattooed skins and would want them in exchange but Sugimoto hit them along with the equipment he looted off the soldiers the bear killed. Basically he’s afraid they would believe he killed those soldiers and kill him in retaliation Honestly I don’t think Tsurumi wouldn’t care but this isn’t the real problem. The real problem is he thinks everything went down the drain because he tried to do it by himself. In truth everything went wrong merely because he did it poorly. If he’d done everything in the same way but Asirpa had been with him when he was arrested, the only result he would have bought home is that Tsurumi would have had the both of them. However it’s clear he feels alone so the idea this is the reason why he’s in trouble probably stems from this.

- What’s also worrisome is… ‘when did he hid the weapons?’ Did he do so after they died, before reaching Asirpa, losing even more time before going to check on her? Or did he do so afterward? But if that’s the case why didn’t he try to retrieve Tanigaki’s weapon also? Because if he had, he would have realized Tanigaki was very much alive and walked away on his own.

- Nikaidō Kōhei calls Sugimoto ‘Kushi dango yarō’ (串団子野郎 “Skewer dumpling bastard”), mocking him because Tsurumi put through him skewers.

- The Nikaidō brothers are clearly people to hold grudges. Being first kicked by Sugimoto and after having him make fun of them set them on their hardest in paying him back and it only will get worse from here. We know nothing about their past so it’s hard to say if the war turned them like that (it sadly happened to way too many soldiers) or something else triggered it or they were like that right from the start. We’ll see if we’ll ever get more backstory.

- As Yōhei and Kōhei look almost the same it’s hard to understand who is who. Kōhei is the one who doesn’t believe the guy they caught is Sugimoto while Yōhei, noticing the swelling on Sugimoto’s face has gone down, thinks he might be Sugimoto and considers cutting out his guts (something that will inspire Sugimoto later on). Kōhei points out they can’t kill him if they want info from him so Yōhei would like to force Sugimoto to talk by cutting off his finger. He makes the mistake of getting to close to Sugimoto who hits his face with his head, causing him to lose a tooth. Yōhei is also the one who manages to partially stab Sugimoto, while Kōhei’s head gets trapped by Sugimoto’s legs.

- I’m starting to think everyone and their mom knew Sugimoto during the war. Even Yōhei says he heard rumors about him regarding how he recovered overnight from wounds the doctors thought were fatal.

- Yōhei remains the more violent prone while Yōhei remains the most rational. Where Yōhei just wants to cut Sugimoto’s guts out K ō ehi reasons they need him alive.

- While Yōhei seems to be there just to kill/hurt Sugimoto, there’s to wonder if the twins were actually there to get him to tell them where the skins were without Tsurumi hearing, as it’ll turn out they actually were in a rebellion with Ogata, Tamai and the others.

- Assorted translations more or less agree that when Sugimoto speaks up the first time, he mumbles something unintelligible. In the anime they actually have him asks Yōhei if he was the one who hit him in the soba shop. In the volume version though Sugimoto didn’t talk enough to voice that whole sentence as he only says ‘bonbon’ (ボンボン). While yes, it’s likely meant to be an unintelligible sound, ironically enough it’s Koito’s nick which  means “pampered rich boy”… but it’s unlikely that’s what Sugimoto is saying as I don’t think Yōhei fits the description.

- Sugimoto shows his best skill is dealing with close contact enemies. He fakes being weak, whispers to get Yōhei close and then takes advantage of it to strike him, manages to break the chair so as to manage to bring in front of himself his tie hand, to stop Yōhei from further stabbing him and to restrain Yōhei. This is impressive (and also a bit unbelievable as it seems adults with normal bodies can’t just manage to bring forwards their hands if they were tied behind themselves.)

- As he’s stabbed Sugimoto yells his catchphrase, “I’m Sugimoto the immortal”.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Asirpa: “Huh? You're not Sugimoto.You're  the "Excrement King"…what was your name again?” (‘Are? Sugi moto janai. Omae wa tashika…“dappun-ō” no…’ あれ？杉元じゃない。お前は確か…『脱糞王』の… Lit: “Huh? You’re not Sugimoto. You are...  the “Defecating King” ...”)

- Shiraishi: “That's "Escape King!" and the name's Shiraishi Yoshitake!” (‘“Ore wa “Datsugoku-ō” no Shiraishi Yoshitake da!’ 俺は『脱獄王』の白石由竹だ！ Lit: “I’m the “Escape King” Shiraishi Yoshitake!”)

- Shiraishi: “So, let me guess…Sugimoto double crossed you didn't he? I bet he just stole the skins and ran away! It all makes sense now. that means the rumour I heard really was about Sugimoto.” (‘Nanda omae… sateha sugi moto ni uragira reta na? Irezumi no kawa o mochinige sa reta ndaro. Naruhodo gatten ga itta ze. Yahari ano uwasa wa sugi motodatta ka’ 何だおまえ…さては杉元に裏切られたな？入れ墨の皮を持ち逃げされたんだろ。なるほど合点がいったぜ。やはりあの噂は杉元だったか)

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VOLUME COLOR GALLERY

[danganronpa-imagines]

May I request headcannons where Nagito, Teruteru, Hajime, Ouma and Kiibo find their s/o crying because they are being relentlessly bullied? Thank you.

Hi! And yes, you may! Thank you so very much for the request! I vow to try my very best! Have a good day now, okay? If you are being bullied, please don’t hesitate to come and talk to me. Being bullied is definitely not fun, and you don’t deserve it. No one does. So, you can definitely come talk to me if you’d like. That goes for anyone who may be going through something troubling, regardless of what it may be. I can be busy, but I’ll make time for you if it means you’ll feel better.

Nagito Komaeda

- Needless to say, Nagito was grief-stricken to discover you crying alone in your room. Something was amiss when you arrived home from university in silence and rushed away to your room. He happened to not have class that day, so he was lounging on the couch, anticipating your return. Once the front door opened, there was a sorrow that polluted the air, prompting him from his seat.

- He approached your door and gently knocked with concern. No response, although there was a barely audible hush on the other side, silencing the sniffling. He urged the door open to find you withdrawn and stowed away beneath your desk. He walked toward you slowly and quietly before crouching down, his gaze meeting yours. 

- “S/O, please talk to me. Please, what is the matter?”

- You tell him that you’ve been bullied at university, and that you’ve been keeping it from him, as to not worry him. He sighs, and offers a disappointed smile. He relays to you that he wished you would have said something, and that worrying about you is something he does anyway. He asks if you would like for him to do something, or for something to be done. 

- You shake your head quickly, although he has already decided what he would like to do. For now, he pulls you in close for a reassuring embrace. Because of your knowledge of his past, his hold always is comforting albeit saddening, considering all he has been through. It amazes you how he still is capable of such pure and genuine love despite it all. You two hold each other for what feels like the remainder of the day.

- The following day at university, you head out to lunch, worried about what is to come. You see them approaching from the distance, and brace yourself. But what surprises you, however, is seeing Nagito as well. He walks toward you confidently, with a box lunch in hand, before sitting beside you. He looks up to the students with nothing to offer but a menacing glare, driving them away quickly, before turning back to you with a smile. He hands you the lunch he made himself.

- “How has your day been so far, S/O?”

Teruteru Hanamura

- You return home in tears. Teruteru immediately rushes to your side, alarmed.

- “Why, whatever happened to you, my love? What is wrong?”

- You tell him that you were heckled quite harshly by your coworkers today. It was your first day at the job of your dreams, so the outcome was all the more hurtful and devastating. He sighs understandably. He tells you that he, too, was bullied as a child. He was bullied for his appearance and for being overly dependent and attached to his mother. 

- He proceeds to lead you to the kitchen, sitting down on the kitchen floor beside you. He holds your hand and tells you about his childhood. Teruteru was bullied relentlessly, just like you were. But whenever he came home in tears, his mother would always sit and talk to him, just like he is to you now. Then, she would cook him his favorite meal afterward. It never failed to cheer him up, which is why he adored his mother so very much. 

- You recalled your most recent visit to her home. She was very compassionate, kind, and loving. It’s no wonder that Teruteru was and is so attached to her. You broke out of your preoccupation when you felt him gently lead your head to rest on his stomach. He strokes your hair lovingly. He smiles at you warmly, and suggests that he get up to make you your favorite meal.

- It takes him no time at all to finish preparing your favorite meal. It is presented to you fresh and hot. You look at it for a while, leaving him to wonder what is wrong. You get up from the kitchen counter stool and run over to hug him tight. 

- “Ah, S/O. My cooking is for the sake of making the people I love happy. Besides my own mother, that other person is you.”

Hajime Hinata

- “S/O? Come here. Did something happen?”

- You open your bedroom door a little. You had arrived home from work earlier than Hajime today, but only because you decided to leave early. You texted him, and he also decided to leave work slightly earlier than usual, about 5 minutes or so. He was a rather earnest and hard worker, so his boss is very kind and lenient with him. 

- You walk slowly into his outstretched arms, sobbing quietly into his chest. He embraces you, his hold firm and his arms filling with strength. He buries his face in your hair, and his hold becomes tighter. He apologizes that you had to endure such a thing, and asks if there was anything he could do to help. You tell him that your coworkers were bullying you, but you really had no choice but to remain at your job since you wouldn’t want to be without one. 

- He releases you, his hands resting on your shoulders. He asks if there are any hobbies or interests you pursue at home, such as drawing or writing novels. You say yes, and tell him what it is. He smiles and suggests that you begin to work at home, and pursue what you like without needing to endure any harrassment. He says he will support you for as long as you need until you take off, and the proposal brings you to tears. 

- From that day on, you have quit your office job and decided to pursue your hobby, turning it into a career you can maintain from home. You have gained a following of very kind, and compassionate people, all of whom appreciate and praise your work. Hajime looks on proudly, often reminding you of how proud he is. You thank him, appreciating his support with all of your heart. He says it’s no problem, and places a gentle kiss on your forehead.

- “I believe that if you try new things, even difficult things, that everything will be okay. I’m glad that this new approach you decided to take was something that you enjoy, and that I could help and be a part of your journey.”

Kokichi Ouma

- What? Someone bullied the person he treasured most? That is unacceptable. Something must be done, but only if you say it’s okay. But in all seriousness, Ouma becomes extremely protective and tender whenever you are hurt in any way, and seeing you hurt, distressed, or saddened affects him quite heavily, to the point in which he might cry out of frustration at how unfair things were. However, he tries not to, because he understands that he must be strong in order to support you. 

-  “S/O … I’m sorry that you had to endure such poor treatment. The world’s just so unfair …”

- He hugs you tightly, burying his face in your shoulder. You can sense his anger. He is angry because someone as patient, loving, compassionate and understanding as you were bullied. When no one bothered to speak to him, befriend him, or even look at him, you did. He was never sure why you did. Perhaps it was out of the kindness of your heart, or because you saw through his facade and knew he was a damaged and lonely person …

- He cries quietly into your shoulder, apologizing for not being able to protect you. He doesn’t mean to cry, because this isn’t about him but … he just loves you so much, and believes that you only deserve the best. He releases you, and gazes into your eyes with determination. He asks if there was anything he could do, anything at all. If you wished to obtain your revenge, you could consider it done. You smile and kiss him through your tears.

- He exclaims that he is serious, and that he is willing to do just about anything for you. You tell him that it is fine, and that you would just like to spend a quiet evening together with him. So that’s exactly what you two do. He makes you laugh, as he always does, with his silly jokes and antics. His presence brings about a lightheartedness about the air, and it wasn’t too long before you forget and fall asleep.

- The next day, you prepare yourself for more bullying. You see some of your bullies, and wonder why they weren’t all there. They were high achieving students, so it was rare for them to be absent. Your eyes meet, but they shriek in fear. They scream something about seeing a twisted, demon’s face, shrouded in darkness as if it was something from a horror movie. They began to shrivel in fear, whispering about seeing something absolutely satanic and blood-curdling. Upon arriving home, you offer Ouma a suspicious look. He snickers devilishly.

- “Nishishi … What I did was a lot less boring than just leaving them be! You now have nothing to worry about, S/O!”

Kiibo 

- “S/O! I sense that something is wrong! Please do not hesitate to tell me what that something is! I will not allow for you to push me away this time.”

- At work, there was this individual that liked you, but you did not reciprocate their feelings. The situation quickly became alarming and potentially dangerous. They began stalking you, following you around whilst being close behind, calling you derogatory names and terms, and cyberbullying you. You thought that returning home would grant you some space, but the cyberbullying prevented that. They haunted you and you were always in a state of worry, sadness, or fright.

- You never wanted to reveal this to Kiibo, as you did not wish to trouble, scare, or worry him, knowing his innocence and purity. Because the individual was potentially dangerous, you wanted to spare him, knowing they would harrass him as well for being different. So you kept quiet. He noticed, but whenever he would ask, you shrugged it off. He didn’t wish to pry any further if you didn’t want to share, so he would not persist.

- One day, it became too much. They threatened you, declaring that they knew where you lived. The message shook you to your soul, clasping at your heart and nearly suffocating you. You hear him calling you, but you don’t respond. You were paralyzed with fear, until your bedroom door swung open, and within an instant, Kiibo’s warmth engulfed you. He was holding you tightly from behind, his eyes closed tight and his face buried into your back.

- He is practically pleading for you to allow him to help you, and you show him your phone. He reads it over quickly, and exclaims that this is extremely serious, and that he won’t stand for this kind of harassment toward you from anyone. Without a second thought, he phones the police, and afterward, grabs you by the hand and leads you to the car. He drives you both to the police station, and upon arriving there, he meets with the police officer with whom he was on the phone with. Kiibo gently asks for your phone, and shows it to the officer. This was a form of dangerous harrassment, and the individual is to be reprimanded. 

- You are breathless as this all unfolds. Despite his usual meek demeanor and unfamiliarity with human institutions, he handled this so bravely and with so much determination. He believed your well-being, happiness, and life was on the line, and he knew he had to take action, no matter how drastic. He even asked you if you would like to move someplace else.

- You look at him, loving him with everything you had. During this entire process, he was so set on protecting you that he paid no heed to anything else, and when you hugged him, he finally was brought to tears. 

- “S/O … I was so … frightened, by everything that has happened to you. I just love you so much and … please, next time this happens, come to me right away, okay? I love you, so much.”

[itbeajen]

Idiotic Friendship | Oikawa Tooru

"Hey [F/N]," Oikawa casually drawled. His finger drew circles on the desk as you continued to check his work. He was studying at your place, but it was more like he was trying to fool around while you were desperately trying to get him to study. If it wasn't for the fact that you two were friends since middle school, you probably would have dropped this kid the moment someone had asked you to tutor him. "Hm?" "Why don't you call me Tooru at school?" "Cause we're just friends." Oikawa frowned. Something about the way you had said that bothered him immensely and he sighed, "So what if we're just friends, I call you [F/N], you call everyone else on the volleyball team by their first names, why won't you-" "Tooru," you softly called out. And he sat up, his head no longer rested on his free hand and his finger that was once idly drawing circles were now still against the wooden table. You sighed, "Don't you get it?" "Get what?" "We're just friends."

"I know." What are you getting at [F/N]? You sighed, "No, you don't get it. Oikawa-kun," he scowled, "Tooru," his scowl lightened, "Do you have any idea about how popular you are sometimes?" "Don't you mean all the time," he playfully teased, but the deadpanned expression and the exasperated sigh that left your pretty lips made him drop the act. And he poked your arm, "Hey, are people bothering you because we're friends? What's so wrong with our friendship? If it's bad I can-" "Your fans are ridiculously stupid and give me headaches every time you talk to me. I can't even pretend to be nothing more than a friend cause you treat me as though we're more than friends Tooru." You gave him a weak smile, "The way you would link your arm with mine, or how you always pet my head or pinch my cheeks. All of that is fine when it's just us, but around your fans it isn't." Ah. So that's what it was? Oikawa's expression dropped, the cheerful and playful demeanor that was generally seen on the volleyball captain dropped and he asked, "Does it bother you that I'm close to you? It's because it's you [F/N]-chan, that I can do those things." "Then tell me Tooru," you asked. His chocolate orbs met your [e/c] gaze, and you whispered, "Are we friends? Or are we something more? You can't leave us at an in between, it doesn't work that way." "We're just-" more than friends "just friends." He didn't see the flicker of pain in your eyes, nor did he see the way your lips slightly trembled and your hands shake. You flash him a fake bright smile, "I see." Oikawa looked down, and he grabbed his pen resuming his schoolwork. This is the right to thing to do... right?

"Oi, Shittykawa," Iwaizumi gently hit the latter's shoulder, finally grabbing his attention, "Did you and [F/N]-san get in a fight?" "Eh? No! Of course not! We'd never!" Oikawa quickly replied, the surprise was genuine in his voice, but the listlessness in his eyes showed otherwise. Iwaizumi narrowed his eyes and he sighed, "Whatever it is between you two, fix it. It's awkward." "What's awkward? Everything's the same as usual!" "Yeah?" "Yeah!" Oikawa nodded confidently and then playfully teased, "Aww, is Iwa-chan worried about us?!" A smack was heard and Oikawa was seen holding the back of his head, "Shut your mouth Trashykawa!" "Iwa-chan, you meanie!"

"Oh? You're not eating with Oikawa today?" You look up from your phone, but it takes you a while to adjust to the strong sunlight that caused the shadows over the two taller males. Upon adjusting, you recognize the familiar physical frames of Hanamaki and Matsukawa. The duo were never separated from each other and you blinked before smiling, "Nope." "Did the two of you get in a fight or something?" Hanamaki asked as he sat down beside you on the grass. Matsukawa sat down beside you on your other side and casually places his lunch next to yours. The two look at you curiously and you shook your head, "No, I just needed to breathe properly." You hear one or the other chuckle as you fumble to put your phone away. And Matsukawa softly commented, "Must be hard being our manager and Oikawa's childhood friend." "Not quite childhood, I mean, I met him after Hajime-kun did." "Hmm, but still close enough," Hanamaki pointed out, "Oikawa seemed off. Ran into him on the way to lunch when he was heading to Iwaizumi's classroom. You didn't make him lunch either." Your eyes widened. They knew I made him lunch? But I thought only Hajime knew. Hanamaki sees the surprise in your eyes, although your face was still framed with a pretty smile and he asks, "Didn't you like Oikawa at some point [F/N]?" "Hey, don't be so blunt," Matsukawa reprimanded his best friend and you shook your head, indicating that it was okay for Hanamaki to ask the question. But the latter still looked slightly guilty for saying it so bluntly. Thankfully the area you were resting at was empty since it was behind the 3rd year's building. You smiled, "Did I?" "You did," Hanamaki points out. And he sighs, "You still do huh?" "Well, I certainly don't like you in that way Hanamaki-kun." You playfully teased. The latter laughed and Matsukawa smiles, "That's right, it'd be bad if you did cause Oikawa would get mad." "He shouldn't," you muttered. We're just friends. But the sorrow in your voice didn't go unnoticed by the two quiet giants and Matsukawa gently pats your head. "Our captain is kind of dumb isn't he?" "Well I wouldn't-" "Not academically obviously, just in general." Hanamaki chimes in. "Probably from all the times Iwaizumi hit his head." Matsukawa adds. You open your mouth to retort, but you laugh instead, and the two smile. It was better to see you smiling instead of drowning in your thoughts alone.

"Too-" his name fell at the first syllable as you saw him cheerfully chatting with a bunch of his fans. Amidst the conversation, Oikawa sees you walk past, his mouth open to call your name, but he hesitates. He hesitates because he knows that this distance between you guys was necessary. Or was it really? The girls notice Oikawa's gaze on you, but you quickly walk by and Oikawa shifts his attention away and he quickly flashes them a smile and you hear him apologize. Your grip on your messenger bag tightens. This was okay. It was better this way.

"Not fighting, what bullshit," Iwaizumi called Oikawa out for it after practice. Iwaizumi had seen the changes in your friendship with the captain of the volleyball team and he strongly disapproved it. Oikawa avoided the latter's gaze and the ace sighed, "Seriously, it wasn't as though she was-" "But she said it herself, it was better if we were just friends." Iwaizumi saw the way his friend's shoulders were tense, his fist clenched and the way he gritted his teeth. It was the same expression of disappointment in himself, and also the same expression that Oikawa had whenever his insecurities ate away at him. Besides, she deserves better than me. Oikawa lowered his head and Iwaizumi asked, "What about you?" Oikawa looked up, clearly in shock and Iwaizumi let out an exasperated breath, "Well?" "I-" Oikawa's words are cut short as both males hear the gym door creak open. Your [h/c] head is seen first before the rest of your face pops up. You take a step in, and they see you take a quick breath, as though gathering your resolve. "Oi- Tooru?" you called out softly. Iwaizumi slowly made his way out, and you looked at him as though you wanted to ask him to stay. Oikawa looked at you, clearly surprised to see you there. "[F/N]..." "Were you overworking yourself again?" you asked as you approached him. The gym was littered with scattered volleyballs, probably from Oikawa overworking himself to be the best. Still wearing the school uniform, you picked up a stray volleyball on your way there before tossing it into the ball bin. "No, not really." "Don't lie," you teased. But the playful grin fell off your face and you softly mumbled something under your breath. Oikawa swears he heard it wrong. But one look at your eyes and the unshed tears were all he needed to know that he didn't. His figure immediately embraced yours, and he felt your hands fist his shirt. Both of you ignored the obvious sweat, and you mumbled, "I can't do this anymore Tooru." "[F/N]-" Oikawa is cut off though by your next words. "I've always liked you." You feel him stiffen, and then he pulls away slowly. His dark-chocolate brown orbs met yours and he murmurs your name and you continue, "I... I know that this is stupid. We're best friends. I'm the one female friend you had for years that didn't fawn over your appearance or your popularity, and simply hung out with you and talked to you like a friend should." Your grip on his shirt tightened, and you close your eyes. Your head lowers as you refuse to look at him. You were scared to see him reject you with his expression. Unknowing that his expression was pure shock right now. And you continued, your voice shaky, "I'm not as-" "Don't." Your heart fell. He didn't even hear you out. The one who was always there to pick you up, to support you. The person who was always cheering you on and encouraging you to do your best. The person who was basically one of the biggest factors that made you who you are today had just cut you off. I didn't even finish explaining my side... Tooru probably feels disgusted with me and how selfish I've been all these years. I just- "Don't you dare tell me that you're nothing compared to those other girls," you heard his voice quiver and you slowly raised your head. His hands were on your shoulder, rough and calloused from the years of volleyball training, but still gentle to the touch. His firm grip on your shoulders made you feel his desperation that had not only leaked into his voice, but his being. Your [e/c] orbs met his and he lowered his head until his forehead rested against yours. "Don't tell me that I deserve you when I don't." he whispered, "Don't make me not want to let go of you. For years [F/N], years I've been debating if I should ever tell you. You were the one person I didn't want to push away. If it meant hurting myself by deliberately friendzoning myself in order to keep you by my side, I'd do it." You felt his nose gently rub against yours as his hands traveled south to rest at your waist, pulling you close. You felt his warmth as it enveloped you and your hands shakily found their way to his broad back as you linked your arms around his neck. "Tooru." The way your lips had formed his name. The feeling of your breath as it fanned over his lips, tempting him to just lean in a bit forward was almost too much for him. "[F/N], I love you. I love you so much that I'm desperately hoping this is real." His voice cracked. Oikawa wouldn't be able to handle it if this was nothing more than a figment of his imagination. A dream that has manifested due to his constant pining and longing for your presence again. If he had known just how much it would have hurt for him to attempt to push you away in order to protect you from his fans, he wouldn't have done it to begin with. Hell, he should've never let you leave his side to begin with. "Gods, I'm an idiot aren't I?" Oikawa laughed when you didn't respond. He began to slowly pull away and then he heard your voice once more. "We're both idiots, but I still love you Tooru." Oikawa's eyes opened as he felt your lips gently press against his. No, this was not a dream. And as soon as he felt you pull away, he leaned forward, taking you once again. Your arms that were once lax around his neck had tightened as your soft hands found their way to his hair, gently tugging at the soft and fluffy brown locks. His hands trailed over your back, gently rubbing soothing circles until he heard you whimper for air. Unwillingly, he pulls away, your lips were slightly swollen, and you were out of breath, but he would never forget this moment. Never. He leaned forward once more, his nose gently rubbing against yours and he whispered, "I can finally call you mine right?" A genuine smile was flashed at you, and you quickly peck his lips, and you nod your head as pink dusted your cheeks and his. You feel him pull you tighter until you're pressed against his chest, and he mumbles against your ear, "I'll never let you go again."

[randomuser678]

3, 9, 10, 23 for the salty ask thing :3c

Ooh boyFirst of all thank you for sending an ask! Now let’s go.3-Yes! Mainly bcuz of ships. Like there was one who shipped something with an age gap that made me uncomfortable and there was once bcuz they shipped a lesbian with a gay guy (just my headcanon btw). I think that’s it but I tend to be really petty so idk9-Well, in Dangan, it’d be Celeste, cuz she killed my fave (still like her design, and the way she’s written tho), Togami, and like, I understand his appeal and stuff, he’s just not my cup of tea, he’s too rude for my tastes, and that one pedophile from drae, and probably someone from the new game but I’m not sure just yet. But I don’t really hate them ( expect the one from drae), cuz that would require too much of my time, cuz when I hate something, I absolutely despise that something. So I basically like all of the characters, there are just some I’m neutral abt. 10- Well I didn’t like dr3 that much, but I don’t really hate it, I just think it was ok at best. But I think my most disliked parts are the ones that feel to rushed, like dr3’s ending, the chapter 3 on dr1, their constant use of hope vs despair and the talent vs effort thing that was barely touched on the dr3 anime, and that went nowhere cuz Hajime kept his Kamakura superpowers and was only capable of getting his happy ending bcuz of it, that really bothered me, but only bcuz they brought it up on the first place, cuz if they didn’t I would be fine with Hinata having all of those powers, but NO we gotta be deeper than that or whatever.And also, I don’t like the heterosexual arcs, but those are kind of more abstract, but you know what I mean; character development that came from forced straight romances; characters bonding out of nowhere and the game acting like they are already married, while treating the gay relationships like jokes; reducing character interactions and forcing a boy into every girl, reducing her character( the biggest examples being Akane and Peko, I think); killing badly written love interests for the sake of angst and character development; yadda yadda,the list goes on, you get the idea.23-Ok don’t freak out or anything.Saionji, Teru and YamadaLike, don’t get me wrong, they are all terrible people, but I don’t hate them as much as the fandom does, I kinda of like all of the potential they have.Like, Teru is a passionate chef, who came from a poor family, so he tries to act all fancy, he’s pround of his sexuality, and bi/pan characters are a rarity, specially the ones who are so ok with it. So while he is a terrible person, and really bad representation (Cuz y'know, bi perverted guy) but I love the lost potential there was, and I specially like his backstory, his cute mom, and what the writers could have done with him if he wasn’t reduced to a comic relief all the time. And also he tried to kill Komaeda, so bonus points.I like Hifumi for the same reasons, lost potential and I like how much he loves anime and his SHSL, and he wasn’t as bad as Teru even though he was annoying and bland most of the time. And I aldo feel kind of bad by what happened to him in chapter 3, he genuinely wanted to help Celeste and really thought he was doing the right thing, but in the end he died just because he trusted in the wrong person.And also I like their designs.Now for Saionji, on the first playtrough I hated her, she was just plain mean and even without that I didn’t think she was that interesting, but thanks to certain ppl that I follow I started liking her more, then I noticed just how much she was suffering through out the game, with Mahiru’s death and stuff, she seriously didn’t have a break after that and I felt really bad for her. So after a while, I just started liking her more. (And also I like Faulero’s interpretation of her character, with her being a “Meta Brat” bcuz Saionji never took any shits from other people, and she’s really good at reading their insecurities, like what she did with Souda)But I totally understand why the fandon hates this characters, it’s kind of hard not to, so I don’t care if people dislike them. I usually like the character’s lost potential more than anything really. And since in pretty much all of these cases are just writers not caring enough abt their characters to give them more development and not make them into bland stereotypes, and whenever there’s a character who suffers from this thing, I just change the character for my personal liking.That said, other unpopular characters I like are Nekomaru, Sakura, Monomi and Akane. But I really believe these guys don’t deserve to be disliked, especially Nekomaru! Like, Akane and Monomi I can understand, but Nekomaru literally sacrificed himself twice just so ppl he cares abt could live. And Sakura also sacrificed herself just so a bunch of ungrateful kids and her girlfriend could live, and it hurts even more cuz almost everyone was scared of her, two of them even tried to kill just because she was “scary looking” and she was able to stop the murders, cuz after she died, the only other death was the mastermind’s. I really think those two are unpopular cuz muscles are harder to draw, but it makes me sad that they are so underrated.And also I love Akane’s free time events, and she’s a “I’M GONNA PUNCH YOUR FACE, I’M GONNA PUNCH MY FACE, I’M GONNA PUNCH MY FEARS AND ANXIETIES” type of character, I love those characters, they are usually so tragic and beautiful.So yeah, thank again for asking and sorry for taking so long!!Love answering things!Byyyyeee!