#hyogo souvenirs

[stellamancer]

entreat (reader x yuta okkotsu)

notes: hellow hellow! this is actually my first time writing yuta ahaha. he's a sweet boy who deserves the world (like most of the rest of the cast). intially the idea for this fic was a bit different but, i think this is cute too.

this fic was a request written as part of the @/ficsforgaza initiative as a gift for @yutaleks. my requests are currently closed, but if you are interested please do check the ffg tumblr out! there are lots of writers participating!

contains: gn!reader, food (mentions of, eating and sharing), yuta okkotsu being a cutie patoot

Whenever Yuta travels for a mission, he always brings back souvenirs; boxes of ridiculously sugary sweets for Gojo, bags of interestingly flavored potato chips for Maki, eclectic and downright gimmicky foods for Panda and Toge and for you—

Yuta brings back things he wants to eat with you. 

It started with the first-ever souvenir he brought back for you, from the very first solo mission he received after being reinstated as a special grade. He'd given it to you to say thank you for your support because just saying it has never been an adequate expression of gratitude for Yuta. 

But he'd apologized too, as he handed you the box– cookies from Hokkaido using locally sourced butter and cream, the prefecture’s pride and joy. 

Yuta is maybe the only person you know who would say sorry when handing someone a gift. 

“Why?” you'd asked.

He looked embarrassed as he answered. “I didn't know what you would like, but I couldn't just not bring you anything so I… got something that I thought sounded good…” 

His face was the picture of guilt, like he had admitted to the most heinous crime in all of history– not knowing what you would have liked. 

“It's okay if you want to throw it away or give it to sensei! I won't get upset or mad!” 

You remember distinctly thinking that if Rika were still here, she would send you to the grave if you threw away Yuta’s gift. Instead of that, you started to open the box, peeling away the wrapping and the box top to reveal two neat little rows of individually packaged cookies. You’d plucked one out and offered it to Yuta. 

“You said you thought it sounded good right?” you had asked. 

Yuta only stared, obviously unsure of what to do. 

“Come on, take it.” 

He hesitated, clearly not wanting to partake in a gift meant for you and for a moment you both stood there, unmoving. 

“Come on, Yuta, please?” 

That had been enough to get him to give in. You remember being surprised that was all it took. He gingerly took the cookie from you, handling it like a treasure, and you’d grabbed one of your own, knowing there was no way Yuta would eat one if you didn't first.

You'd tucked the box under your arm to rip the packing open and with another thanks you popped the cookie in your mouth. 

Honestly speaking, it had been one of the best cookies you'd ever had; crisp, yet tender, with a subtle sweetness that was nothing short of addictive.

When you had finished it, you stared at Yuta intently. It took him a second to realize that you meant for him to eat his, too, and with both yet another apology and yet another thank you, he delicately tore open the package and ate the cookie. 

You watched as he chewed it thoughtfully, evaluating the flavor. And when he finished, you tilted your head to the side and asked, “So, did you like it?” 

You remember how he nodded and smiled, carefree and innocent– a look you had always felt suited Yuta best. 

In return, you’d offered him a smile of your own. “You don't need to go through the trouble of bringing me back anything, but if you do, bring stuff like this— that we can share.”

And Yuta did just that. 

Now, every time he comes back from a mission, he comes bearing souvenirs from all over Japan: chestnut daifuku from Nagano, gyoza senbei from Tochigi, Kobe pudding from Hyogo… the list goes on. Sometimes, it’s just one thing. And other times, he comes back with two or three, looking apologetic as he tells you that he just couldn't decide. 

You don't mind, though, you never do– in fact, you actually look forward to when he brings multiple. More to share means more time with Yuta.

And this time, this time is no exception, but….

“...this is an awful lot…” you say looking at the array of ten different boxes that Yuta’s brought back from his latest mission. 

“I'm sorry!” He apologizes automatically and then, just like always he adds. “It was so hard to choose… Everything sounded so good.”

He's not wrong. Every single thing he's brought back sounds absolutely delicious and catered specifically to your tastes. It kind of makes you wonder if he's been taking notes all this time, commiting the things you've liked to memory. 

“It's fine!” you insist. “I'm just not sure if we can finish all this together…” 

At least not all at once. The things that are individually wrapped should be fine, but there are a fair amount of things that are probably meant to be eaten in a single sitting. 

“...maybe we should see if the others want some too…” you murmur thoughtfully. It's been a while since all of you ate together, between missions and the like. It would be fun. 

Yuta makes a soft sound and you look toward him. He’s very obviously avoiding your gaze, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. You know him well enough to realize that means he's got something on his mind.

“What's up?” you ask. 

He doesn't say anything, not at first, but it's obvious he's debating whether or not to tell you. If you wait long enough, though, you think he'll say it. And sure enough, after a minute or two Yuta takes a deep breath and says, “I was actually hoping we could still just share everything just the two of us!” 

The words come out in a two-breath rush and you stare at him as the meaning of his words sink in. You did tell him to bring back things the two of you could share, it just never occurred to you that he thought that meant only the two of you. 

Yuta, on the other hand, looks mildly horrified, regret instantly visible, as if it was a mistake to voice his own desires, and so he adds. “But— but if you want to eat with everyone, that's fine! I can call Toge and Panda and–”

“Actually,” you interject and while you don't want to talk over Yuta you want him to know— need him to know that it's fine. It's fine for him to say what he wants, because not only will you always listen, you’ll—

“I take it back. I think we can eat this all ourselves. Just the two of us.”

You’ll never, ever refuse him. 

[tomorrow-we-try-again]

And that was all the pictures I took on the hike down, because I made a few friends! 😄

This group of 4 was ahead of me and at a perfect pace, so I was just following them to make sure I didn't go to fast. We got to the part with the steps that just have some random rocks mixed in with them and they suddenly noticed that I was behind them. They stopped and waved for me to pass, but I said "No, no this pace is good!"

They're from all over the area (Nara, Osaka, somewhere in Hyogo, and Kyoto), but they used to work together, so they were back together in Kyoto with the local as the tour guide.

We talked about my study of Japanese, my favorite Japanese food (okonomiyaki, and how they _have_ it in the states, but it's not the same), where I'd visited, and my dad being a pilot & riding with him here. They asked if I had bought any souvenirs yet, and when I flashed the Sumikko Gurashi bag that I had just bought for my sister, they nearly shrieked. 😂

I've spoken to people at shops a little here and there, but this was the first actual Japanese conversation I've had this trip, so that was really nice, if only to confirm I still can. I mostly just talked to two from Nara and Osaka, and they did a nice job of keeping the conversation comprehensible for me, which I could not appreciate more. (Some people just go a mile a minute like I'm native, and I'm very much not.)

We hiked probably halfway down together, then out the shops, and parted ways (they headed south towards Ninenzaka / other temples & shrines). I told them I was glad to have been able to meet them, and they said let's meet again someday. 👋😄

Edit: Just remembered, at one point my fellow hiker, the one from Nara, said that when she first offered to let me pass, she was worried I wouldn't understand どうぞ (in this context, "go ahead")... and then I started talking to her! 😂

[trivia-jp]

有馬温泉 兵庫の名所

有馬温泉（ありまおんせん）は、兵庫県神戸市北部に位置する日本有数の温泉地です。古くからその歴史と湯治場として知られ、日本三古湯の一つにも数えられています。 1. 泉質と効能 有馬温泉は多様な泉質を持つことで知られており、鉄泉や硫黄泉などさまざまな温泉が湧いています。泉質によって、美肌効果や神経痛、筋肉痛、リウマチなどの効能があるとされています。 2. 歴史 古くから皇室や貴族に愛された歴史ある温泉地で、源頼朝や豊臣秀吉なども訪れたとされています。また、有馬温泉の歴史や文化を学べる施設も点在しています。 3. 趣のある温泉街 有馬温泉街は、石畳の小道や古い建物が並ぶ風情ある街並みで、歴史的な趣を感じることができます。温泉街には足湯やお土産屋、レストランなどが点在しています。 4. 宿泊施設 温泉街には多くの旅館やホテルがあり、さまざまなタイプや料金帯の宿泊施設から選ぶことができます。

♪♫♬🎤🎹🎶♪♫♬🎤🎹🎶♪♫♬🎤🎹🎶♪♫♬🎤🎹🎶

Arima Onsen Hyogo sights

Arima Onsen is one of Japan's leading hot spring resorts located in the northern part of Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture. It has been known for its history and as a hot spring resort since ancient times, and is counted as one of the three oldest hot springs in Japan. 1. Spring quality and efficacy Arima Onsen is known for having a variety of hot springs, including iron springs and sulfur springs. Depending on the quality of the spring water, it is said to be effective for skin beautification, neuralgia, muscle pain, rheumatism, etc. 2. History It is a historic hot spring area that has been loved by the imperial family and aristocrats since ancient times, and is said to have been visited by Minamoto no Yoritomo and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. There are also facilities where you can learn about the history and culture of Arima Onsen. 3. Quaint hot spring town Arima Onsen Town is a charming townscape with cobblestone streets and old buildings, giving you a sense of history. The hot spring town is dotted with footbaths, souvenir shops, and restaurants. 4. Accommodation There are many inns and hotels in the hot spring town, and you can choose from a variety of accommodation types and price ranges.

[seoafin]

perseids

pairing: gojo x reader ; fushiguro megumi & reader warning: fluff. obligatory gojo warning. mentions of severed fingers. megumi thinks gojo is a stalker word count: ~3.9k

“Megumi,” you say his name one day, unassumingly. He knows that tone. He looks up from his homework, already anticipating what will inevitably follow. "Would you rather lose your hand or foot?”

Gojo guffaws from the couch, suddenly awake for someone who had collapsed on the couch twenty minutes prior and gone slack. Looking tremendously amused, he leans over the end of the couch, awaiting Megumi’s answer.

Underneath your expectant gaze from across him, book spread out in front of you, Megumi isn’t sure, if he’s being honest; to the answer to your question and the reason you asked in the first place. The only thing he is sure of is that he dislikes being fodder for Gojo's entertainment.

You deserve an answer though, for whatever line of thinking prompted this seemingly unexpected question. There's always a reason for it he thinks, however unapparent it may be to anyone else; some unanswered question or unorthodox approach that puts you at odds with people who don't know you.

So. He needs his hands; doesn’t know if he could call out his shadow shikigami without the coordinated hand movements the process entails. He also needs his hands to hold weapons for the training Gojo’s hinted at starting within the next month or two. But he also needs his feet. To run, to fight, to—

You laugh. “You’re thinking about it too hard! Though, I suppose you're thinking about all the potential disadvantages..." you go quiet, deep in thought. You probably don't realize you've stopped talking.

“You’re the one who asked the question,” he retorts, fiddling with his pencil, staring down hard at his homework to avoid having to see Gojo’s expression.

“Where’d this come from all of a sudden anyway,” Gojo says, stretching his arms out with a yawn. “It’s too early for you to be like this.” It comes out like a sigh, but a grin pulls at his lips.

You look down at your spread hand, flexing your fingers. “I lost two of my fingers last month,” you start casually. 

The smirk slides right off Gojo’s face. “Ha?”

“I almost lost my entire hand. A curse sliced it straight off,” you recount it as if you’re discussing how the rainy weather has ruined your plans for a picnic you hadn’t wanted to go to in the first place.

“When was this? Kobe? Tokushima? Hyogo?” Gojo begins to list the very specific locations of your previous missions in a worrying fashion that Megumi thinks should warrant at least some alarm on your side.

“Shoko reattached it.” You observe the pinky like you can’t believe it yourself, as if you’re admiring a pretty ring instead of the wonders of the reverse cursed technique. “Isn’t Shoko amazing?”

Megumi doesn’t have an answer for any of this. The conversation has spiraled past the conventions of normal talk, into wild, unfettered territory akin to stumbling around in the dark, blind, slowly feeling a path out.

“Oi,” A flicker of exasperation and impatience taints the usually unbothered lines of Gojo’s face. “Answer the question already.”

“Oh,” you turn to Satoru as if you had forgotten he was there in the first place. “Tottori. The sand dunes? I brought you souvenirs, remember?”

Gojo makes a face, lips verging on a frown. “Yeah no. That’s not what this is about—”

“I guess it got me thinking. The human hands are really important, you know? Our opposable thumbs are one of the wonders of the human body, and considered one of the greatest evolutionary forces in the development of our brains. It's the reason why I can handle my katana so well. But if for some reason I couldn't get to Shoko in time and had to choose between my foot or my hand, I'd probably choose my right hand. I think if I really had to, I could relearn the katana one handed."

Megumi does not know in what world this conversation would be applicable. Even Gojo is looking distinctly disgruntled, lips thinner than he's ever seen them, but he attributes that more to the fact that Gojo does not like being ignored by you.

"Anyway. We shouldn't be so reliant on Shoko all the time. You never know when she might not be able to come to your immediate aid." You finish with a nod, looking satisfied, and Megumi gets the sense that this is the climactic opinion that has formed the basis of this conversation.

"Oh," he says tonelessly. "Got it."

You smile.

-

“Megumi, Tsumiki,” you say, entering the apartment with a large bulky object under your arm, slightly out of breath. Tsumiki looks up from the table, eyes going wide as her gaze lands on the telescope. You grin. “There’s a meteor shower tonight. Let’s go see the stars!”

He hadn’t heard anything about a meteor shower, but he had seen several papers plastered to the telephone poles on his way to school depicting what he had assumed to be a shooting star for some event at night.

Tsumiki is boundless in her excitement, hands gripping his arm tightly. Even now, she looks towards him for a confirmation. She doesn’t want to leave him alone.

“Can we?” She asks. “Let’s go Megumi!” 

“Well, I don’t want to force you.” You set the telescope down. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. But I just thought it’s been a while since the three of us did anything together…”

Tsumiki tilts her head to the side. “Gojo-san’s not coming?”

“He’s in Nagoya for a super top rated secret mission!” She looks intrigued at your exaggeration. “There’s a really amazing place up in the mountains where we’d get a great view…” you trail off, raising an eyebrow at him. “Though if you don’t wan—”

“No,” Megumi says, decision made immediately. “I’ll go.”

Forty minutes later, after a car ride with a person you had introduced as an auxiliary manager and a short hike up the mountain’s trail, he and Tsumiki are spreading two large blankets over the grass while you are kneeling, telescope in arms as you adjust the lens with a precision that tells him this is nothing new to you.

Above them, away from the pollution and the gasses of Tokyo, the stars shine brighter than he’s ever seen. They all blur together, but if he focuses hard he can distinguish semi shapes. Not that he’s ever paid much attention to the stars in the first place. Tsumiki, on the other hand—

“And right there—”

“The milky way!”

“Correct!” you beam. The two of you are huddled around the eyepiece of the telescope as Tsumiki peers in with a smile that reaches to her ears. “Can you find the Orion constellation?”

The two of you chatter about the types of constellations you can see during the different seasons, Tsumiki following along easily. He’s seen the astronomy books checked out of the library, squirreled away in her book bag where she thinks nobody can see them, and he thinks you’ve seen them too.

From the darkness, the shadows morph into two familiar shapes next to him. Eager tongues lap at his hand in greeting. Then the two dogs bound towards Tsumiki.

“How about you?” You take a seat next to him on the blanket. Tsumiki is eagerly adjusting the focus on the telescope in front of the two of you while an absentminded hand scratches an ear of a happily panting dog. “Want a try?”

He makes a noncommittal noise. He’s content with watching Tsumiki. His own gaze gives him more than enough.

“The meteor shower is going to start soon,” you murmur, looking up. “So I suppose we won’t even need it then.”

The two of you observe the stars in silence, as Tsumiki calls out her observations every few minutes. There’s a couple of names that don’t sound real to Megumi, but you nod, pointing out several other constellations to be found in the sky tonight.

You lean back on your arms. “It’d be nice if I could take you two to see the Southern Crux,” you muse, “You can’t see it in Tokyo. The only place you can see it from in Japan is at Ishigaki or the Yaeyama Islands. We could go all the way to Ishigaki for a vacation next summer during June, how does that sound?”

Megumi’s never been outside the grand metropolitan area of Tokyo; has never really had any desire for it, too caught up in the taxing issue of immediate survival and Tsumiki’s care. A vacation. The concept is not unwelcome as it is foreign.

“Do you usually do things like this?”

You hum, now lying flat against the blanket, eyes unfocused. “A long time ago,” you sigh out, face resembling something that looks like indifference although it isn’t. “With my parents.”

A delighted gasp tears out of Tsumiki’s throat just as you finish, and Megumi watches a single bright line streak across the upper atmosphere amongst the thousands of stars glittering like cuts of jagged glass, following the path set by the undiluted milky way. It cuts through the sky until it slowly fades out of view.

Megumi thinks it’s pretty anticlimactic, but still pretty. An invaluable memory to Tsumiki so worth something.

Tsumiki is glued to the telescope as another comes within sight. And then another. Soon more than a few are in sight, looking as if they’re falling from the sky.

“I wish Satoru were here. Shoko too.” There's a space between your words; something you don't say. Darkness falls upon the two of you, a rare cloud engulfing the waning moon. There is a ghost of a smile in the curve of your lips, both content and longing and something sad splayed out on your face.

Megumi thinks that this is where he should say something. So you don’t get too lost in your head like you’re prone to doing.

“Are you leaving soon?”

You inhale, stretching your arms over your head as you sit up. “People have gone missing by Mt. Shiomi. I’m being sent to investigate tomorrow.”

Summers are always busy, that’s what he’s learned in the couple of years since you and Gojo have entered his and Tsumiki’s lives. If you’re going to be gone, then he should expect Gojo in lieu of you. It’s not an appealing trade off.

Megumi can already hear the older boy’s ugly, grating laughter and looming smile. He is suddenly exhausted.

“This is rare,” you say, interested. “You don’t usually ask about our missions.”

He doesn’t. He’s already resigned himself to a bleak future of jujutsu sorcery. His flat lipped disdain pulls your eyes wide.

You blanche, straight as a rod, looking at him. “W-wait…this wouldn’t happen to be because of the other day? When I brought up losing my fingers?” Panic lines your face, and you look vaguely ill. “I didn’t mean to scare you!” You wave your hands frantically to assuage the panic he doesn’t feel. “That was just…” Your head hangs down as you sigh. It takes you a few seconds for you to find your footing.

“Megumi,” you say quietly, eyes sharp. “I want you to know that if you don’t want to be a jujutsu sorcerer, I’ll help you. I’ll do anything.” Then softly: “You don’t need to be a jujutsu sorcerer. Your wants come first,” in an attempt to inject some levity, your lips quirk upwards. “I’d go against the Zenins for you in a heartbeat.”

“Even against Gojo?” He regrets it the moment it leaves his mouth. There’s no backpedaling when you stare at him, a curiously probing gaze that prods at him with the soft graze of a feather. You’ll draw back, expression torn as you struggle for a brief second on how to let him down gently. There’s no way you’d choose him over Gojo, and he’ll regret having even thought it, for letting himself get carried away, for letting himself think for one second that—

You break out in a wide smile. “I think you’ve got the wrong idea here.”

The wind picks up, and a chill climbs up his exposed arms as your hair whips against your face. Grass pricks at the hand situated outside the blanket, flattened against the earth. Even in the dark, he can see your face clearly overlapping with the shadows of the night and the soft glow of the stars above, blanketing the earth.

“I’m on your side, Megumi.” You say it like a fact, and his chest goes tight, as if there’s a quivering fist clutching at his heart. “And whatever you want, I’ll do everything in my power to help you.” Your words are slow and measured, as if you’ve thought long and hard on this, ruminating on the possibility of this very exchange. You exhale. “I’m nobody special so these words might be meaningless, but I want you to know I’m always on your side, whether you want to be a jujutsu sorcerer or not.”

It’s hard to look at you. His vision wavers, blinking in and out like the smattering of constellations above.

“And Satoru, huh?” Your face goes thoughtful. Then inexplicably amused. “Well, I’d just have to make him see reason. Somehow. And if that doesn’t work then—” you chuckle, flopping back on the ground, turned to the sky, and Megumi’s tense shoulders go slack; partially in relief that you aren’t looking at him anymore “—I’d take you and Tsumiki and run!”

The words are heavy in his mouth, throat indescribably thick, even though he feels light enough that he could float into the sky. But he, ever the pragmatist: “Gojo would find us within the week.”

Maybe even less. Megumi wouldn’t put it past Gojo to have installed some sort of tracking device in your phone, like the ones he’s seen commercials for on tv. You don’t seem like the type of person to get easily lost, but he’s witnessed Gojo scouring crowds for you in search of where you’ve wandered off to for the second, third, fourth time, attention captured by an intricate detail in the carving of a marble fountain in the park or some stray cat or something most people wouldn’t give a second glance to. He had garnered it was a regular occurrence in the way Gojo would enter a store, take you by the arm, and ferry you out without another word. In the way you'd let him.

“It’s a full time job with you,” Gojo had said to you, chidingly light, the other day upon finding you. He slid in between you and the man Megumi had assumed stopped you on the street, making a space for himself that forcibly separated you away from the so-called offender. Megumi could tell that there was displeasure lurking underneath the surface of Gojo’s curved lips.

It hadn’t been perceptible at first. But there were moments this irritable character of his peeked out from beneath his ceaseless smiles and taunts in the form of a sharply formed retort, a shadow of a twitching brow, fingers curling into your wrist or shoulder steering you away. And it was most noticeable when you were heavily engaged in conversation with someone other than him.

Gojo had crowded into you, while the man watched eyes wide, and leaned down, gaze forcing yours. “Do you really think anybody but me could handle you?”

You hadn’t understood. Instead you gawked at him in visible confusion. There was a flyer in your hand. Breast Cancer Awareness, it said.

Both thoughts give Megumi a headache.

“H-have a little faith in me, would you?” But you also, look troubled on the account that Gojo probably could and would, find you easily enough.

In fact, you’re looking downright depressed now, face clouding over with a memory he’s sure merits some truth to his words.

“Megumi!” Tsumiki is beckoning him over to the telescope wildly, cheeks red with the cold but eyes alight with an childish excitement that’s been cementing itself on her face more often nowadays, as if it never left with her mother in the first place. His demon dogs bark at her side, spurred on by Tsumiki's enthused demeanor. He’d die before he’d admit it, but It’s nice to see his sister smiling. “Hurry, hurry! I found Orion!”

You’ve propped yourself up on the backs of your elbows and nod with a smile that motions for him to go on.

He stands; takes a few steps forward but his feet stop, back towards you.

“I’ll become a jujutsu sorcerer.” Megumi made a deal after all. And if nothing else, he at least has his word. There’s too much to be lost; all contingent on a transaction his deadbeat of a father made all those years ago, monetizing his existence. He’s too old to be relying on people, yet all too aware of his limitations made painfully apparent, forcibly dragged up to the surface and laid bare in the face of Gojo’s dissecting gaze. 

Megumi understands intrinsically there is security in being a jujutsu sorcerer that’s been lacking his entire life. No matter how much of a shitty job it is, if Gojo’s complaints are anything to go by.

“Think on it,” you say, and he doesn’t need to look at you to know your smile has turned forlorn. “You’re too young to be worrying about these things, you know?”

He also understands that he wouldn’t put the burden of a selfish decision on you either.

—

The three of you are walking down the trail that winds down the mountain, the winds whistling through the trees as owls hoot and other smaller creatures scurry through the dark and crackling branches. The sky is still unnaturally bright, watching over him as you navigate down with an ease that speaks to memories of long ago.

Megumi feels the softness of his dogs flanking him, brushing against his legs. It’s probably two in the morning now, and he feels the grogginess of sleepiness pricking at him while Tsumiki is still wide awake, glancing up at the sky every few seconds in awe.

“Thank you for taking us,” Tsumiki says politely. “We had a lot of fun! Right, Megumi?”

“I’m glad,” you smile, affectionately rubbing her head. “Anytime!"

“...Thank you,” he mutters, because he is still unused to the words. Unused to accepting things from others, especially adults. He hopes you can’t hear that he means it, but judging from the way you try to hide your face to the side, in the darkness of the forest, you know.

The three of you make it down to the base of the mountain, to the gravel lot, and he releases his demon dogs. They bark once in a goodbye, before melting into the shadows of the ground without another sound.

There’s someone leaning against a sleek black car. 

“Ah,” you say instantly, perking up in a way that illuminates your face. “Satoru?”

The implications don’t hit you as quickly as they do him. The drowsiness abates.

Megumi slows to a stop in the gravel of the parking lot. It’s two in the morning and instead of the nice looking man that had driven them to the mountain, there is Gojo Satoru.

There are many words to describe Gojo Satoru. Megumi adds stalker to the list.

“Yo!” Gojo replies, looking energetic, but Gojo is always energetic in your presence as if ensuring being as outlandish as possible will draw your ever fleeting attention towards him and only him. 

On the other hand, it drains Megumi’s energy, depleting him even further.

The smile on your face falters. You open your mouth. “How—” You close your mouth and stare.

Gojo cocks his head to the side. “How?” He parrots.

Your voice sounds a bit reedy, a touch bewildered. “How’d you know I was…?”

The smile touches his sunglasses, high on his face, as you look on blankly.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...” You sweat. “S-Satoru…”

“There’s my favorite Fushiguro!” Gojo exclaims, taking Tsumiki into his hands and lifting her up and down like a maniac while her laughter fills the empty lot. Then his voice picks up a notch, louder and frenzied, taking on a shrillness Gojo knows he hates, especially at a time where normal, sane people would be talking in a much more hushed tone. He’s doing it on purpose.

“What’s with the face Megumi? Is it that late? Past your bedtime? Did someone miss their afternoon nap?” Tsumiki giggles goodnaturedly, still in Gojo’s grip.

Too many questions. Even the irritation that surges into him like a tide crashing onto the shore is dulled. It’s too late for this. Megumi doesn’t even take naps. He’s not a baby. But Gojo is looking at him now, chin tilted downwards, too bright eyes peeking out from above his sunglasses like a partial eclipse, as if he knows that Megumi spent up most of his partially developed cursed energy on his demon dogs. That he knows he might pass out from exhaustion the second he hits his bed. Megumi doesn't know how you can stand being the center of Gojo's rapt attention most times. He'd rather get picked apart by the crows.

Gojo only tucks Tsumiki into the car and buckles her in.

The theatrics disappear. “How was the meteor shower?” He asks you, without missing a beat, skipping right over the ten seconds of your silence that he had met with his own. The telescope is promptly taken from your arms, collected into his own and secured in the trunk of the car. Then he's back in front of you, leaning in inquiringly at a suspect closeness that you don't blink twice at. 

There's no way a sane person would let this go. There’s no way a sane person would greet Gojo with anything less than suspicion.

You are an unfathomable person though. Insane at times, and just as incomprehensible as Gojo. He forgets that sometimes, when you flit between unsensible and sensible the way you do, as natural as breathing.

You blink. “It was…” the perturbed look falls away from your face, the corners of yours eyes crinkling, lips easing into a smile that doesn’t hide how genuinely happy you are to see him. It feels like a loss. “Good. Did you get to see the shower too?”

He can practically feel the smug aura radiating off Gojo. Once again, he's worked around your suspicions, and he knows it.

Rationalization, Megumi thinks from the haze of sleep cottoning his brain, is a scary thing.

He thinks it’s a certain trait that most jujutsu sorcerers share. There are too many different variables out in the field, and one second of underestimating the truth of reality can mean the difference between life and death. It's a saying Gojo likes to repeatedly drill into his head. The importance of time.

This isn’t normal, he wants to say. But his blinking slows, every drag of his eyelashes drawing down feeling like weights stacked atop of one another.

He keeps his eyes open through sheer willpower. You kneel down, and your worried face comes into view, a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you alright, Megumi?”

He thinks he nods.

“Let’s get you home.” Your voice sounds strangely distant, and he doesn’t remember his legs moving into the car, next to Tsumiki who pokes him on the cheek. He can’t even bring himself to swat her away. Then he feels a gentle hand on his head. He almost closes his eyes at the touch.

When you get into the front seat, he hears you say: “I didn’t know you got your license.”

Gojo smiles.

Great.

-they are looking at the Perseid meteor shower!!!

-it's not gojo but actually shoko that has the child tracking app on rip!mc's phone lmfao but she does not mind bc they r gfs who look out for each other <3 and in shoko's case that means making sure she isn't lost in a ditch!!!

-no gojo did not track her phone LMAO but she did mention the meteor shower in great detail to him like a week ago and he just put the pieces together. although the other times.........

-If u know me i do in fact distinguish gojo’s hs characterization and adult characterization. I think the persona he constructed in front of megumi (flamboyant, excited, teasing) is the one we see in the anime/gojo as an adult. I think in the time this fic takes place (2-3 years out of hs) you can still see hints of his hs self (rash, easily annoyed, blunt) bc the persona hasn't fully developed. then we get the much “smoother” gojo we see in the anime

so does gojo (knowingly) terrorize the man giving mc a flyer about breast cancer awareness? yes. he is asserting his dominance.....

[fukurodaze]

tryhard

pairing: suna rintarou x fem!reader genre: flangst wc: 3.2k warnings: cursing!!, uncomfy vibes, it’s the ‘good friend but shitty boyfriend’ type beat synopsis: inarizaki high’s second year trip to kyoto is infamous for its many rendezvous. you just happen to want to follow the trend.

special thanks to kei @keistays​ for beta reading! ily <3

LISTEN TO: gimme love - joji; cool girl - dodie; bags - clairo

“hey.” your hands are shoved in your coat pockets, your boots hitting against the asphalt as a small puff of smoke escapes your mouth. you meet him at the back entrance of the inn. 

he looks up from his phone. “oh, hey. let’s go.”

his shoulders are lax, but his feet tell you otherwise. he scurries along the street, then stops to wait for your slower footsteps. the stoplight is green, but he doesn’t mind waiting for you.

you don’t say anything as he looks at you with tired eyes, a light red across his cheeks. you wish it wasn’t so cold - maybe then you’d know if it was you who had that effect on him.

the light is red now, and you feel your heart pound in your chest as you stand beside him, eyes flickering every now and then to check his blank face. 

“where are we going again?” you inhale a bit of the cold air, nuzzling your face into the thick scarf around your neck. 

“kamo river.” 

“can we walk along gion too?”

suna shrugs. he tells you, “sure. whatever you want.”

the cars are less at night. only the bright green-yellow-red of traffic lights and the faraway warm glow of street lamps stay behind. kyoto’s beautiful, you think. you wish you could hang around for hours here with suna without a care for anyone else.

as soon as you two cross the first road, he lets out a sigh of relief. you then see him chuckle, almost silently. the sight of it makes you smile.

“are you hungry?” he asks.

“we can get snacks, maybe.” you’re caught off-guard at his sudden change of demeanour. or maybe you just don’t know him enough yet.

you’ve had so many questions about this boy for so long, and now that you’re here in kyoto with him - when you’re not allowed to be out, nonetheless - you’re not sure where you stand with him. 

you were introduced to suna rintarou as osamu’s friend and the notorious middle blocker of the school volleyball team. you’re friends with the girls on the cheer squad - the same ones who would always teeter between the lines of friendship and romance with some of the boys on the school's sports teams. you only know the middle blocker by association. your interactions were limited to random glances as you brought your math paper down the room and the rare hello’s when you’d pass by his desk in the morning. 

there was also the one time when the volleyball club planned a birthday surprise for suna and just had to assign you the role of the “distraction” because you weren’t in any “important clubs.” firstly, ouch, and second, why you?

yet it seemed like suna didn’t have a problem as you awkwardly approached him on the morning of his seventeenth birthday, seeing as osamu had weirdly been absent on his best friend’s birthday. 

suna talked to you like a friend, and though he seemed uninterested in you at first, you made sure to spare him the purple chuupets from the canteen, telling him that you’d rather have the white ones instead.

you didn’t really think it was a coincidence when he left you three white chuupets on your desk on valentines day. so when you texted him about it, he gladly told you they were from him. since then, there always seemed to be an elephant that entered the room whenever you were with him.

it didn’t bother you at first, but as text conversations run late and a fluttering feeling in your chest arose, there’s a question that repeats itself in your head.

you heard it the most when he texted you tonight, telling you he couldn’t sleep, and judging from the way you had stayed up until the crack of dawn texting him on multiple occasions, it only felt right for him to ask you. you told him to meet you outside, discreetly, at half past midnight, when the teachers had stopped patrolling.

suna rintarou only texts you when nobody else is awake. suna rintarou only smiles at you after the first crosswalk, when you’re further away from the inn. 

but suna rintarou also follows your every word with a question. suna rintarou also gave you, only you, something for valentine’s.

the question still stands: what are we?

the convenience store is no different to any of the ones back in hyogo. bright saturated colours and white fluorescent lights make you squirm in your almost sleepy daze. but your heart beats so fast and your skin is so cold that you’ve convinced yourself that sleep is not an option. 

suna’s arm brushes yours as you two walk through the aisles, and he reaches for the warm drinks.

“we’re going to be walking some distance to the gion. better not have you fall asleep.”

you pick out a pack of chips from the shelf, and you raise your eyebrows at him, silently asking him if he wanted any. he nods, and you take four.

suna offers to carry the shopping bags as you two begin your little adventure through the city, wary of the closed shops and dark alleyways but enamoured by the old town nonetheless. you’re not surprised to be the one leading the conversation, seeing as he had always been the one to listen. but you notice how he hums with every interjection, how he laughs with every sarcastic remark, and how he makes sure to look at you whenever you tell him something about yourself that he didn’t know before. 

when he speaks, there’s always a quiet attentiveness to him, suddenly so interested in the most useless topics and rambles you would otherwise think he’d dismiss. you notice how he tries to prolong any and all dialogue, like silence was to be untouched. you like it.

“hey, y/n,” the two of you stop and what seems to be the umpteenth red light, the area lined with closed shops and a late market just around the corner. 

he turns to you, and you look at him “yeah?”

he hands you a can of coffee. you take it, confused, and he tells you, “it’s warm. could you just hold it for now?”

a shy smile creeps onto your face, and you nod slowly. he’s sweet, isn’t he?

you watch as puffs of cold air run out of his mouth, his voice low and mellow. when you think about it, you don’t really know him. you don’t know what he likes, you don’t know how he feels, you don’t know what makes him laugh or cry.

but you want to know. you want to know everything about him.

yet, there’s doubt tugging at your heartstrings that tells you he won’t let you. (you ignore it.)

"how was your trip?” suna asks.

‘you are my trip,’ you want to tell him, having secretly anticipated his asking you out. inarizaki’s second-year class trip to kyoto was infamous for its midnight rendezvous, where people would confess and go on dates in the freedom of an ancient city before the pressure of exams in the third year would temporarily keep everyone’s love lives on hold - at least that’s what you’ve heard. though you had told yourself they were only rumours, you can’t help but grin to yourself at the idea of a late night adventure with suna. 

now, as you look down at the little can of coffee in your hands, you find that they were never just rumours.

“my group went to so many shrines...” you say, “at some point it just became the same thing over and over again, and the souvenirs just had to get more and more expensive. it was pretty, though.”

suna exhales through his nose, “all my group did was eat.”

you chuckle, “that’s to be expected when you’re with miya osamu.”

“i got good pictures, though.”

“oh? can i see?” 

suna stops to shuffle his phone out of his coat pocket and hands it to you. he unlocks it in your hand, and you tell yourself to keep quiet at the brush of his large hands around yours. 

it’s between your shock and his photos that you’re given a glimpse of the rest of his phone before you’re scrolling through a gallery of photos. for a second, you’re close to complimenting him on their beauty - you take it back when you click on the first one you see.

“suna, these are all blurry.” you deadpan jokingly.

“wasn’t my fault we were running all the time.”

you giggle, “why were you running?”

“for some reason class two and class one have overlapping routes, so the twins met.”

you nod in acknowledgement, “they don’t ever stop, do they.”

you click away from the pictures app and instead go onto the camera. he’s off talking about something funny that happened today, and as you laugh along with him, you snap a few (many) low quality pictures of you both from below, and then a video, just barely tilting the phone so that the underside of his head is visible in frame. you hope he’ll see them later - maybe even keep them in his gallery, you know, for keepsake. 

you hand his phone back to him, “here.”

he sees your little grin and questions it, but he pockets his phone and continues speaking.

you start to wonder if you’re dreaming when he holds your hand.

the air is colder when you two are seated along the kamo river.

“do you think we’ll get caught sneaking out?” suna says. you reckon it’s the first time you’ve seen him talk so much and so enthusiastically all at once. 

you shrug, snickering, “i think we already have. they just don’t care because everyone goes out anyways.”

“nights of romantic rendezvous, they say.” he turns his head to you, a ghost of a smirk evident on his lips.

though you give a playful push to his shoulder, you scoot even closer.

“doesn’t that make us one of them?” you cringe at the question. you find your body turning to him, and it seems like he’s doing the same.

are we going too fast?

you don’t miss his mouth parting and his eyes staring at your lips. you can hear him breathe - he’s so close. 

you hesitate a little; a lot. you succumb to small looks over his shoulder and quick glances back at the water until your mind starts to wander off into uncertainties and questions you don’t even know how to answer - because you can’t. you ponder why you’ve never really heard him laugh before tonight; if he’s keeping close to you because he wants your warmth or just simply hates the cold; why you find yourself second-guessing the moment you’ve wanted to happen since valentine’s day.

although your head is loud, your surroundings are quiet. then it becomes a matter of head and heart.

so you listen to your heart. 

you want to kiss him, and that is what you know. the hunches and hesitations in your head aren’t concrete - at least not yet.

slowly, little by little, you let his lips collide with yours, closing the space in between. it’s cold and dry, yet the feeling is enough to enshroud you in a blanket of warmth. it’s short, as you expected, like a prolonged peck. you still feel a tingling sensation on your lips afterwards.

it’s then, for a fleeting moment, that you start to think that maybe you could find comfort in this fluttering feeling.

“have you seen anyone else going out?” suna asks like nothing happened.

you shake your head, “mina-chan snuck out with ayane-chan, and i think sakuragi-san with hirai-san... but that’s all i know.”

suna’s eyes widen at the mention of your friend, ayane. not that he cares about her, of course. he clears his throat.

“ayane? dating mina?”

“all the girls think they’re dating, but i guess it seems like a friendship for others.”

you inhale the cold air, and you feel yourself starting to regret the mention of her name. “i know ayane’s been out for a while. i’m glad that everyone’s been so accepting, too. she seems so lively all the time.”

suna’s eyes bottom into a sullen gaze, “yeah, ayane. i’m happy for her too.”

you snicker, “could’ve said that with more enthusiasm, no?”

suna shrugs, “we’re- yeah.”

perhaps he does care about her.

but suna stops himself as his eyes meet yours, “anyways, i bet sakuragi and hirai just wanna find a love hotel.”

you reply with a laugh.

“and i think akagi’s getting close to someone lately.”

you take a sip of your coffee, “really?”

“yeah,” suna zips up his coat tightly, “shit, it’s cold...”

you agree with him. 

despite suna’s conscious efforts, conversation dies out when it’s meant to die. whether it be the tens of questions swimming in your head, the hundreds of i-told-you-sos that play in your mind, or the biting wind, you know neither of you can’t stall anymore. 

it’s so pathetic, you think. you just kissed this boy and now you don’t know if it’s the coffee or his lips because the truth leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.

“suna, what are we?”

he doesn’t answer. he doesn’t even do so much as to react to your words, like if he prayed your words away, you never said them. his eyes bear holes into the ground, skimming through a mental encyclopaedia of answers he could form without hurting your feelings.

it’s then that the distance between you and him feels as wide as the river. it’s two in the morning, and you find yourself hugging your own legs instead of hugging him.

it feels like betrayal, almost.

not that he betrayed you; more like you betrayed yourself. in truth, you were tired of chuupets, always fighting your sleepiness when he texted you late at night, willing to put up with his shit talk behind everyone else’s backs. 

yet you still worried that your legs wouldn’t look just right to him in the jeans you wore tonight.

you take a bag of chips from the shopping bag with snacks you two had splurged on earlier. it makes a quick pop as you open it, and suna hears a crunching sound beside him, away from his peripheral vision.

he’s frozen when you reach the bag out to him, offering him a chip. you’re relaxed, he thinks, even after asking that. it’s okay, he tells himself.

suna still shakes his head in decline and takes another sip from his convenience store coffee. he braces himself, because it’s only now that he’s realised the mess he’s put himself into.

“we’re-” he pauses.

you take another chip in your mouth, savouring its saltiness as you inwardly flinch at his hesitation. 

suna takes a deep breath, “i mean, not everyone who goes out is-”

you see it now; you should’ve listened to your head.

“it’s ayane, isn’t it?” you brush it off. all of it.

he’s unmoving, not daring to even blink. but he opens his mouth to speak.

“i wanted it to be you.”

you want to laugh at him. at least he didn’t deny any of it.

“but it’s not, right?” you shake your head, bitter chuckles falling from your mouth, “and you have no choice because she likes girls, huh.”

“i’m sorry. i fucked up.”

you know you can’t cry, but you sure as hell would like to. maybe then he’d really feel bad about it, after knowing so well even back when he’d given you sweets on valentine’s that you were just a compromise. 

“yeah, you did,” you pick at the grass around your soles, “what was even more fucked up is that i still thought i had a chance.”

“i still care about you.”

you exhale, hating the words that fall from his mouth. “of course you do! i’m your friend, osamu’s friend, ayane’s friend.”

you hate that you can’t hate him. you hate that you can’t hate how you genuinely get along with him, how his laughter and words hold no lies, how he’s honest with you. but that doesn’t change the way you hate how he’s led you on - and how you let him.

“is that why you were so smiley and eager tonight? because you were trying so hard to ‘win me over’ so you could forget about her?”

suna sighs. he needs to say something, he tells himself, because it’s only starting to sink in that he might even lose you as a friend. he kissed you, damn it, and held your hand, and asked you out on what everyone calls a date.

what a ‘friend’, huh?

“i’m so sorry.”

you wish he could at least say more. you feel a slash of anger, and though it stops quickly, you make a jab at him.

“you’re too lazy with your words. too lazy with your feelings.”

silence.

“i wanted to be wrong, but,” you shrug, “turns out you have a few things to work out yourself.”

his shoulders fall even lower, “i’ll stay out of your sight. i’m sorry.”

you laugh again, bitterly. your feet bring themselves to stand, and you decide to take the shopping bag and hug it. you think it’d look funny from afar, but you know it’s only to fill the hollow feeling in your chest and the burning embarrassment on your cheeks.

you look back at him, and his eyes are full of worry. they’re so wide that you almost feel flattered at his display of regret. you know he regrets it. you know osamu’s going to beat him up for it. you know the cheerleaders will talk about it. but you’ve forced all your focus on the bags of chips you’re holding and the feeling of a soft mattress back at the inn. the plan to gion is long forgotten.

suna stands up immediately, shoving his hands into his coat pockets, just trailing behind as you make no effort to slow down. you only speed up, briskly walking through the streets you remember from tonight.

you even cross the road on different green lights. 

you don’t wait for him. not anymore. 

the inn is a fresh breath of heated air, the reception dark and the stairs creaky. you tiptoe every inch of the way, not once looking back. 

eventually, when you reach your room, you slide the door open, seeing nothing but your friend’s nightlight. you take care to place the bag of snacks in a corner of the room, hidden yet still available for any of your roommates to see. you’re quick to shed your coat and change into the gym clothes everyone’s been wearing since dinner, sliding into your futon and forcing your eyes closed like you hadn’t just drank an entire can of coffee. 

you don’t cry, you don’t sob, you simply lay there. now you want to laugh at yourself, for knowing that something definitely was wrong, but having too big of a hopeful pride to even consider it.

your hands crinkle the thick futon and bring it up to your neck as you curl yourself up. warm. not electric nor addictive, just comfortable. 

you wanted electric.

you wanted to take back all your words and ignore everything because he kissed you and held your hand and waited for you at the crosswalk, only for you to be some replacement for someone he can’t be with. it makes you wonder if he thought of her when he kissed you. 

you hear the creaking of the wood boards and two voices. you know that it’s other people returning from their own little kyoto dates. their voices are high and squeaky and one of them had whispered something that you could hear three rooms away. 

it stings even more. too bad.

“fucking embarrassing,” you mutter under your breath, turning in your futon, “so fucking embarrassing.”

you’ll tell osamu that you’ll be hanging out with the kids in class 3 for a while. you’ll ask your friends to save a seat for you on the train tomorrow. you’ll make sure to give away the snacks to everyone later. it’ll be a hassle, but you’ll do what you have to do.

at least you can let yourself sleep now.

[xiaonesis]

Summer Chills // Miya Atsumu x Fem!Reader

Summary

This August month would be the summer of Atsumu’s seventh year with you.

Pairing: Miya Atsumu x Fem!Reader

Genre: Fluff, angst, uhhh soft attempted wig-snatching?

Word count: 5.8k

It is a hot summer night and the heat of the season pulsated in the evening air even without the sun. Young adults hopped from bar to bar with cheap cans of convenience store chu-hais, and salarymen sang in their drunken stupor, stumbling on their swaying feet, sweat sticking to their skin and clothes.

This August month would be the summer of Atsumu’s seventh year with you.

Another summer season of lazy days at the beach, of barbeques surrounded by his and your friends, roaring and throwing back beer and tequila in laughter, Osamu grilling food to perfection for everyone, of sharing ghost stories around a campfire with you huddled safely in his arms.

Another August of sultry nights cuddling to the serenade of cicadas, of trips to theme parks and screaming in fearful thrills at cheap jump scares in haunted houses. A month of Atsumu laughing whilst he wiped away your frightful tears that spilled when the last poorly costumed ghost chased your running figures down the final corridor to freedom; of your giggles and gasps as you stumble away from the exit with Atsumu’s arm on your shoulder, of you hollering at his ghastly face on the attraction photo screen; another thousand yen photo souvenir to line the apartment wall.  

It would be the summer of his seventh year with you and Atsumu wanted to celebrate the way the two of you always did: with good food, drinks, and a bit of a scare before heading home for the night.

And ever since Osamu opened his restaurant, good food for him and you have always been Onigiri Miya. And tonight, on what would be your seventh anniversary, that was no different.

“It’s been forever since we came here!” You exclaimed as you pored over the menu together with Atsumu. It’s something you did as a habit and Atsumu only ever looked to entertain you. He already knows what he wants; just like anything else in life.

With a large wave of his hand, Atsumu flagged down his brother from the other side of the store.

“Yo, ‘Samu! The usual and one of this,” Atsumu drawled, draping the red jersey that was in his lap across you seated next to him.

Atsumu knew how susceptible to the cold you were, especially when the two of you were about to embark on another one of your “Scary Date Nights,” like tonight. You always get cold after receiving a good scare, and Atsumu is no different though he much preferred to take in the heat from you once his jersey did its job and warmed you up.

“Well I wasn’t expectin’ to see yer here tonight,” Osamu commented as he began preparing the two orders, all the while looking at Atsumu from over the countertop.

You smiled at Osamu, leaning your cheek into a propped arm as Atsumu conversed merrily with his brother who he hasn’t seen in a while.

You didn’t speak much, preferring to watch the two brothers catch up instead. It’s been some time since you saw either brother, and you were more than happy to just be able to see them laugh and grumble at each other, cherishing each moment you have with them and branding it into your heart. You’ve known the twins ever since your high school days in Hyogo, but moments like this grew few and far apart in between as time passed and all of you grew older.

It didn’t take long for the proprietor of Miya Onigiri to serve up two beautifully prepared plates of onigiris. He eyed his brother from his space across the narrow bar as said blonde twin immediately began chowing down on his tuna onigiri, brows and lips pulled into two opposing emotions.

“Ah- I missed ‘Samu’s onigiri! It feels like forever since I had it!” You exhaled a happy sigh, blissfully looking at your own plate of food. How long has it been since you saw Osamu and his legendary onigiris? A year?

Atsumu hummed in agreement with you and through a mouthful of food, praised his brother’s cooking. “It’s so gooood- ”

In your excitement, Atsumu’s old volleyball jersey from his high school days shifted in your lap with your movements, nearly falling off. But a quick hand had reached out to catch it from behind you and pulled it back up. Looking up, you thanked Osamu who had come around the counter to put a glass of water down on the table.

Osamu didn’t say anything, merely rubbed his fingers on the cloth with a nostalgic smile.

Osamu raised an amused brow as he walked back around the counter, and there was a glimmer in his eye as Atsumu’s onigiri quickly disappeared.

The familiar red jersey lightly fluttered under the artificial winds of the air conditioning above, and Osamu’s eyes softened once more at the sight of it. It’s been years since he even set eyes on his own pair,  packed away in a box somewhere but Atsumu is often seen with his, especially at this time of the year due to you.

People always thought Atsumu is the more sentimental of the two whenever they see the jersey Atsumu specially kept for you hung on his arms. But knowing the history of the jersey for his brother and you, Osamu can’t blame them for thinking wrongly.

He still remembered the very first time he saw you wear his brother’s jersey, and Osamu knows full well that Atsumu remembers it too.

Because it was the same night that Atsumu kissed you for the very first time.

✺✺✺✺✺

It had been a humid summer night just like this when Atsumu first kissed you, before he ever gave voice to his feelings for you and you to him.

Perhaps it was never needed, as all was said and told in his lingering looks your way and your gentle touches fluttering atop his arm, the warmth of your body that always sat next to his in group gatherings; in your common fears of ghosts and all things that go bump in the night, in your mutual love for the thrill that comes with a chilling horror movie; in shared moments of your shrieking lungs at the fourth zombie to jump out at your frozen figures, grunting with a lolling tongue for Atsumu to push you along in whatever haunted house you found yourselves in, your terrified figures holding up the ride, and your hand held tightly in his.

It was a sweltering summer night like tonight when someone from your year came up with the silly idea to do a kimodameshi, a Test of Courage, for your last summer of high school before everyone parted ways for a bit of time, and for good.

Drawing lots, Atsumu and you were the third pair to walk through the dark forest, jittery with anticipation for the cheap scares and tricks your fellow classmates have prepared.

You had screeched your heart out and latched tightly onto Atsumu’s arm, muttering and wishing for the stupid test to end. His own arms were trembling, whether from the latest eerily well-done scare or from the crushing awareness of your hot skin wrapped around his, neither of you had been sure.

At the time, Atsumu wasn’t sure which he preferred for you to think it was either.

He figured it didn’t matter though, when the second to last spook of the silly test had both of you jumping into each other’s arms, your shivering figure cowering into his.

Atsumu had cursed himself through the entire ordeal for wearing his team jersey on a humid summer night, but the thought of going into the forest gauntlet filled with his scheming classmates and his brother, who will surely be out to get him, with naught but the shirt on his back unnerved him, even if he rather die before he admitted it.

But at that moment, as he instinctively lifted the loose sides of his jersey to wrap around you, shielding you from the spectral caresses of the wind and Osamu’s cackling voice in the darkened woods, Atsumu was very thankful that he wore his jersey that night.

He faintly registered that your skin felt cold against his heated skin, the effects of the midnight winds and not having a jacket.

And when you lifted your red eyes and sniffling nose to apologize for your less than heroic display, Atsumu thought you looked beautiful in the dim moonlight and shade of trees; perfect enfolded in his sweaty jersey with the heat of his body and sweat of your skin warming up the bubble cocooning you and him.

It was a muggy summer night when Atsumu first kissed you and you kissed right back.

To the slow change in the rhythm of your heart, from thudthudthudthud to ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump , in the safety net of Atsumu’s jersey and scent.

In Atsumu’s own chest, his heart’s rhythm changed too, to the opposite beat of yours, going from ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump to thudthudthudthud, with the spread of a nervous smile and an eager thought of finally.

It had been thoroughly hot, humid, disgusting, sticky, and felt completely right.

✺✺✺✺✺

“So where are yer headed after this?” Osamu asked, gray eyes watching the way Atsumu’s eyes crinkled and a lopsided smile tugged at his cheeks; he had a vague idea of what his brother was reminiscing about. Only thoughts of you could create such a dopey look on his annoying twin’s face.

Osamu knew his twin very well. Sometimes, better than Atsumu knew himself. And Osamu couldn’t help but think Atsumu looks way too happy across from him, sitting in his and your usual seat in his shop.

Osamu’s happy that Atsumu is happy, but he can’t help but wonder what made him more cheerful than usual, especially during this month of the year.

There shouldn’t be anything good about August.

Atsumu grinned at the sight of you leaning back in your seat with a satisfied expression, your hands draped on your stomach. He patted his own full belly before stretching an arm to drape across the back of your chair, looking at Osamu as he did so.

“Gonna go check out that limited time haunted escape game they’re havin’ at this department store.”

“Ah, that one, where they open the department store after hours for participants? Ya’ sure you’ll last the night?” One of Osamu’s brows raised skeptically. “Who else are ya’ goin’ with?”

“Nah, no one else,” Atsumu replied, reaching out to take a bite from the onigiri that remained on your plate. “Don’t need some other scrubs to get in the way of completin’ the escape on time.”

Mouth still chewing on rice, Atsumu stood and reached to take the jersey from you who happily let him, your eyes softening and heart warm with how well Atsumu always treated you.

He’s tough and straightforward, and many perceive that as mean but…it’s just Atsumu.

People’s opinions will not hold sway over him and what he does.

And how he feels.

As Atsumu reluctantly paid for your meal at the register, you smiled widely at Osamu rolling his eyes at his brother’s complaints of having to pay. Family should eat for free, is what he loved to say.

“Thank you for the meal, ‘Samu. It was really delicious!” You waved your hand in farewell, a fond smile for Osamu on your lips as you took in his droopy eyes, slightly fatigued from the long day, but ever kind and steady.

You don’t know when you, or Atsumu, will next see him. But you felt that you didn’t need to worry too much; Atsumu always tries to visit his brother as much as he can, even if he claims it is only because he knew Osamu misses him.

In any case, Atsumu will see him more often than you can, as it should be.

Atsumu slid the entrance door open, leaning against the frame with his arm propped on the top, as if he was waiting for you. You ducked underneath his arm to get through as Atsumu exchanged his own goodbyes with Osamu, muttering about how he’ll pop by Osamu’s place early tomorrow morning.

“Sure, have fun. See yer tomorrow.”

The door closed after Atsumu, and Osamu turned to clean off the plates and mess his brother left behind. He paused ever so briefly at the leftovers of the second onigiri Atsumu had ordered, with only one bite taken, in the shape of Atsumu’s greedy mouth.

And frowned.

What a waste.

✺✺✺✺✺

You would love this, Atsumu thought with a smile full of adoration, and nostalgia, as the scenes of the past summers with you played in a reel in his mind; filled with exciting excursions they were, with paid creepy ghoulies, your shouts and his yelps, quiet sniffles breaking through laughter and his old jersey wrapped around you, even years after graduation.

No matter how much both of you hated it during the scares and threatened never doing it ever again, it has become a tradition for Atsumu and you to spend summer doing everything classically terrifying. From gag-horror flicks to themed escape games, the two of you will fill your hearts with the chill of the unknown and throw your bodies into the stifling August night air.

It has been a while since you two went to an escape game, a haunted themed one at that.

He had seen the advertisements and reviews for it from weeks before, and the first thing Atsumu thought is that it is perfect for your usual summertime traditions.

Unfortunately, in the August of last year and the year before that (… and the year before that), you and Atsumu only had enough time to go to one.

The game master’s voice droned throughout the empty Concorde of the department store with a long list of rules and instructions, how everyone would be locked in the building from 11pm till 4am, how they might win the game, and where the safe zones are; but Atsumu didn’t care for any of that.

Atsumu is aware that he isn’t feeling very competitive tonight, unlike how he usually would be when it came to events like these.

Tonight, his focus was on his time with you rather than competing with the other pairs of scrubs locked in the building for the next five hours.

Atsumu smiled down at you excitedly rolling on the balls of your feet excitedly next to him as you waited for the game to start.

It’s really been a while since he saw you.

His hold on your connected hands tightened; just ever so slightly but for a professional athlete like Atsumu, it was a strong grip and it should have been hard enough to make others react.

But not you.

It didn’t matter how busy he was or where in the world he was with the team; his thoughts always came back to you more than they should. A lot of people and everyone frequently thought it is in their place to tell Atsumu that he shouldn’t think about you this much, that it has progressively gotten worse with him over the years- beginning from three years ago-, that it is unhealthy and detrimental to him but Atsumu didn’t care.

The opinions of others will never influence or change what Atsumu wanted to do, and wanted to

And what he wants to do is love you, and think about you, as much as his body and mind would allow him to.

Opinions and health be damned.

It’s the summer of Atsumu’s seventh year anniversary with you and whilst others’ loves may wane with time, Atsumu’s love for you has only continued to burn stronger and brighter with each August that passes.

Atsumu wore his jersey in place of you as the two of you worked your way through the escape game. Running a hand down the open flaps, a far-away glaze rolled onto the colors of your eye, and Atsumu rubbed a calloused finger on your cheek when he saw it.

“It brings back memories,” you murmured, nuzzling your cold cheeks into his chest. You pulled the flaps over the sides of your head, and Atsumu raised his hands to press the jersey into him and you.

“Yeah,” Atsumu murmured in turn, bending and pressing his nose to the top of your head.

It’s exactly like that time in the forest- a lifetime ago- except you weren’t shivering in fear right now. You still felt cold like you did then though.

In that moment, Atsumu thought he’ll never get tired of this bubble that only you have the exclusive rights to make with him.

Atsumu is well aware of the eyes of the people around him, but he didn’t care what they were thinking about. Whether they were wondering if he is who they think he is, or thought he looks strange bent with his jersey bunched in his hands, he didn’t care.

There is only the faint scent of you and the cold touch of your fingers under his shirt.

And that is all that mattered to him, always and forever.

✺✺✺✺✺

It is after hours at midnight at the department store and despite the horde of couples and groups of friends permeating the dim building filled with faceless mannequins and gaudy horror decor, the place still felt empty enough that you and Atsumu had enough privacy from possible judging, prying eyes.

Like the ones from earlier, before the game even started.

Once in a while, a scream from several floors up would echo down and the thundering of hectic footsteps beat off the walls and glass of the hollow stores.

Tugging Atsumu along, you went from clue to clue, occasionally passing by other participants in their pairs and groups, who never failed to turn to look at Atsumu with tilted heads and inquisitive blinks.

A group in the vicinity of a clue you were busy trying to solve had even approached Atsumu when you had your back turned a little ways away, asking if he wanted to join them.

“It’ll be more fun in a large group than alone.”

“Nah, I’m good. Not here alone. Thanks.”

When they left with hesitant nods of their heads, Atsumu turned around to find you standing several steps behind him with a tiny smile.

Small, but lovely as ever, he thought. But he didn���t miss the way you momentarily glanced away, hesitant, before approaching him.

“You sure about not joining them? They are right that it is more fun in a larger group.”

Atsumu scoffed. “Pfft, it wouldn’t be fun with scrubs like them. ‘Sides, I have yer.” He grinned, pulling you into his side and burying you into the folds of the red Inarizaki jersey that no longer falls in perfect waves around him but instead pulled tautly across his shoulders and arms.

You pulled at the sleeve around his wrist with a sad frown. “It’s a bit tight, isn’t it?”

Atsumu shrugged in response, reaching to take your chilly fingers and palm into his warm hands.

“It’s fine. Still fits.”

“Barely.” You quipped.

“If it fits, I wear it.” A grin and a tap on your cheek.

“Like a cat in a box?”

“Exactly!”

Your steps faltered, almost pausing, but Atsumu’s hold on your hand pulled you along to his slow gait.

“…don’t you think it’s about time you put this away?”

At your words though, Atsumu stopped and you thought you might have upset him. But he merely squinted at you with a childish glare and stretched his free arm out and waved it up and down, a show of his ease of movement in the old red jersey.

“Why? It still fits!”

Your brows turned up at the silly sight of his flailing arm.

You couldn’t disagree with him that it still fits but…anyone with an eye can see that it is much too tight at the shoulders for his broad form that has filled, grown, and turned stronger over the years since high school; that the red sleeves stopped higher up on his forearms and the ends of the jersey hung at his hips rather than below.

With a purse of your lips, you reluctantly acquiesced if only to dispel the kicked puppy look on his beloved face and squeezed his hand, giggling at the victorious grin stretching his lips.

Looking up at him next to you, a heavy reminder of how much you love this man and how much you missed him washed over you, tiding over your heart with the force and chill of a crashing winter’s tsunami.

Passing by another empty store, you looked at Atsumu smiling at the space where you walked next to him through the reflection of the glass.

You shivered, and the window of the store next to you fogged when you passed by and idly ran your fingers on the glass.

You wish you could wear that red jersey now.

✺✺✺✺✺

It is now 3am and there is only an hour left for you to finish the escape, and the screams and chaos in the department store had gradually crescendoed to a climax.

Except for you and Atsumu.

Though you went about solving the puzzles at a solid pace, a languid air hung around your closely entwined forms; Atsumu with his hands in the pockets of his jersey and your arms wrapped around his elbow, head barely touching his shoulder.

The sounds of his sneakers squeaking on the floor is sharp but slow against the pattering footsteps of terrified participants and the ghosts that have since emerged to hinder them.

It is only when a hideously costumed ghost appears before you two that you and Atsumu rushed and made a break for it. Atsumu is fine with just enjoying the time with you but he was not going to be willingly kicked out of the running.

“Are you sure you don’t want to run towards the next puzzle piece? We have less than an hour to finish this,” you whispered with a kiss into his arm.

“If yer really want to, but I’m enjoyin’ this.” He placed a kiss on your forehead.

You giggled and pinched his tapered cheek. “I still remember the times when you would leave me behind so you can clear the puzzles before I do.”

Atsumu winced with a cheeky laugh as he was unwillingly assaulted with memories of the countless times he did run ahead of you, not just in escape games, to finish something before you could catch up.

He is a competitive person at his core.

Just not tonight.

Because tonight isn’t about him.

Atsumu pulled you to a stop and wrapped you inside his jersey, a content sigh puffing from his lips at the presence of you. Instinctively, you wrapped your arms around his waist, snuggling yourself further into the bubble that never failed to warm your body and heart.

Just as Atsumu was about to lean to capture your lips in another series of kisses that he has continuously rained on you through the short night, a ‘ghost’ leaped out from the side corridor behind him with a shrill cry that caught Atsumu off guard and had you reflexively screaming into his shirt.

“Argh-!!”

Bloody ghosts! With an indignant glare at the ghostly actor that wasn’t even all that scary now that Atsumu got a better look, Atsumu sprinted down the wide hall and down an escalator. For a pro athlete like him, it didn’t take long for him to lose the poor actor who was quickly left in the dust.

“That scrub just had to-” Atsumu stopped when he saw that you weren’t there right behind him.

Apparently, the ghost-actor wasn’t the only one he left behind in his speed.

“Crap!”

With a curse, Atsumu hurriedly retraced his steps. He hadn’t meant to do that, you just-

He just-

He just didn’t feel you, couldn’t, and-

You must have slipped out of his grasp before he realized and-

“Tsum-Tsum?”

Atsumu skidded to a stop, foot staggering on the first step of the escalator that would take him back up to where he left the faux ghost and where he was certain you were still.

But…

Atsumu turned around, and there you were.

You were behind him, standing by a circle of couches, giving him yet another beautiful ( ethereal ) smile.

How did he miss you- and that smile he wished he could see everyday-, even if it was in his hurried frenzy to find you?

A breath of relief left Atsumu at the sight of you, his shoulders deflating together with the fall of his chest.

He jogged up to you with a flurry of apologies breezing past his mouth and into the chilly air.

“I swear I didn’t mean to leave ya’ behind! That fuckin’ ghost just came outta nowhere and- I swear if he pops up again I’m gonna give him hell for-”

His nervous rant stopped when the frigid touch of your fingers brushed his cheeks, freezing the army of words in his throat. Atsumu isn’t even sure why he felt nervous.

“I know, ‘Tsumu. It’s okay.”

There is something about the sad way you’re smiling up at him that he didn’t like. He loved all your smiles, loved everything about you (except maybe the way you would always take Osamu’s side against him in anything) but he certainly didn’t like that look in your eye and that downward tug on one corner of your lip.

Your hands bundled the cloth of the jersey that is honestly starting to suffocate Atsumu with its small fit.

It still fits.

It’s tight and uncomfortable, but Atsumu is adamant that it still fits.

He didn’t get where he is in his career without sheer determination, dedication, and willpower. If he set his mind to it, Atsumu is absolutely positive he can do anything and make anything happen; for him and for you.

And this is no different.

He is certain that it is no different, is as certain as Osamu is his blood and you’re the only one he can ever love, no matter what happens and in whatever forms and-

“‘Tsumu…I think we shouldn’t do this anymore next year.”

Your voice, unearthly in its melody to his ears, fell over Atsumu as an icy shawl that gently wrapped around his shoulders with a bitter vice. To Atsumu, it is always welcoming to hear your voice, to hear you speak (and ever since three years ago, more so than ever) but those words were not words Atsumu ever wanted to hear.

Atsumu- immediately, reflexively, instinctively - understood that you weren’t talking about you two spending your summers at Onigiri Miya and another haunted house for your anniversary the following year. Or the year after that. And the one after.

He definitely preferred if you were talking about that instead, about no longer scaring yourselves silly on everything horror and stuffing yourselves full with the tastes of summer.

(but you weren’t.)

He would give all of those up in a heartbeat rather than what you were suggesting.

“I love you.”

The words spilled from his mouth without thought.

And Atsumu was graced with a larger smile that was even sadder than before for his trouble.

“I know.” You know everything about him so well, don’t you?

“I don’t want to-” Yeah, you definitely know this too.

“I love you too, ‘Tsumu. So, so, so much.”

And Atsumu knows that.

Else, you wouldn’t be here at this time of the year with him.

“That’s why we need to stop.”

You would have been with your family like the rest of the souls that crawled this planet, visiting them and not him and his forsaken ass.

“So let’s make the best of this one.”

Even with his old jersey- your jersey, really-, wrapped tightly around him, Atsumu felt cold as a ghost.

And he finally felt that maybe the jersey was indeed too tight and perhaps didn’t fit anymore.

✺✺✺✺✺

The walk back to your place is silent.

It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t comfortable either.

There is a certain tension that clung to the air and haunted every space and breath between you and Atsumu ever since that particular moment at the department store.

You and Atsumu didn’t complete the escape in the end.

(can’t the two of you at least escape this fate?)

Atsumu could feel the furious flappings of anxiousness in his stomach, and the dry sifting of rough soil on his tongue, crumbling down his throat and settling in his stomach, atop the coffin of dread that was already there.

He didn’t want tonight with you to end.

He didn’t want whatever you and him had been doing for the past three years to end.

But the hands of his watch pointed to 4:34am and with each tick and slide of the long hand, more soil was shoveled into his stomach by the looming Mortician known as time.

He’s running out of time. You’re running out of time.

A cold finger poked his cheek and Atsumu looked down- desolate, hopeless; like all the joy and good in the world is about to disappear and for Atsumu, it is.

Because you are his joy, you are his good and you were going to leave him.

Again.

[4:44]

You kissed him on his cheek, tugging him over the final steps that brought you and him to your final destination of the short, short night.

Standing before your home, neither you and Atsumu spoke but there is a light smile, a bright smile, on your face whilst Atsumu is stiff as stone.

“Why?”

Atsumu finally managed to croak out.

Why are you doing this? Did he not do good enough?

Why are you leaving him again?

“They looked at you weird, ‘Tsumu.”

“Yer know that I don’t give a shit about what they or anyone thinks-!”

Atsumu heard his own voice break.

Felt it break.

“…but I care, ‘Tsumu.” Ugh, why can’t you stop smiling at him like that? It’s so…so sad, so accepting, and he just doesn’t want to see it. “Well, yer don’t have to care about the-”

“ -I care because you still have so much to live for, so much left to achieve in your life, ‘Tsumu, and you…you shouldn’t be tied down by me.”

Had you always felt that he was tied down by the ghost of you for the last three years? Because Atsumu didn’t feel that way at all and he was about to tell you that, yell it at you for the entire neighborhood to hear but you wrapped yourself around him.

And inhaled the scent of him and his jersey.

Atsumu is always warm but even he couldn’t help but shiver at the frigid contact of your skin.

You’ve always been susceptible to the cold.

[5:00]

“‘Samu is too nice to say anything but he looked at you today, ‘Tsumu.”

Atsumu might have played it casually and pretended he didn’t see it, but you saw the way Osamu looked at the jersey laid across the empty counter chair next to Atsumu, the way his brows slanted when Atsumu ordered two plates of food- his favorite and your favorite-, and the purse of his lips when only one bite was taken from your favorite onigiri.

You didn’t miss the sad and cheerless glimmer in his pretty gray eyes when he looked at Atsumu, his brother.

“Then there were all those people from the escape game. They kept staring at you and we both know it isn’t because you’re a pro athlete.”

Atsumu might have been able to ignore their eyes but you didn’t have the same fortitude as him. You saw their judgemental gazes towards him, how they thought he might have been loose in the head because he was acting and moving weird, curling and bending around empty air; thought he might have been lonely because he was at an escape game meant for couples and friends alone, and might have been overheard talking to himself.

“And even that ghost you kept cursing for interrupting us-” you giggled softly and Atsumu could only wrap you tighter into him with his jersey as if he could keep you if he just held on harder. Your laughter fizzled and there was a sniffle against his shirt.

“-you left too fast to hear it but…he was saying you were a weirdo for standing there, talking to yourself.”

Another audible sniffle. Louder this time.

You were trembling now, and Atsumu knew it wasn’t because you felt cold. You always felt cold now anyways.

“I don’t want this for you, ‘Tsumu. You deserve more.”

[5:05]

“I love you, ‘Tsumu.”

Is there a God?

“So I’m letting you go.”

Atsumu finds himself wanting to ask you, if there is one, and if He would be willing to turn back time to three years ago; to before the moment the light turned green and you took your first steps on the ominous arrows of white that led you away from him.

Regardless of the answer though, a part of Atsumu is already starting to understand that you meant what you said about…about not doing this anymore.

That this will be the last time.

“So…you have to let me go too. Or…”

That there won’t be any more good food and laughter at Onigiri Miya or anywhere else, no more ghost stories around campfires or nights huddled underneath blankets with the latest horror hit; no more lazy beach days and money spent on photo souvenirs from a haunted house.

At least, there won’t be any more with you in them.

“I won’t be able to move on.”

It is now 5:14am on August 16th.

And every year since three years ago, between the days of August 13th to 16th, your spirit would return to this world to Atsumu, instead of your family as traditional Obon beliefs dictated.

Every year on August 13th since three years ago, the ghost of you appeared to Atsumu. And he would do all the things he did with you when you were still alive: as if you are still alive.

And Atsumu waited for these special three days every single year, for the last three years.

But now, as his watch ticked to 5:16am, you pressed cold lips to Atsumu in one last fervent kiss, pouring all your love and passion and feelings for this one man into it and all Atsumu felt is air and a frigid chill all over him.

He sees you; your soul and your spirit.

But he can’t feel you; he hasn’t been able to since you were laid to rest.

[5:17am]

It would have been the summer of Atsumu’s seventh year with you if you were still here.

[5:18am]

Dawn.

The old caretaker of the local graveyard paused at the gates leading into the quiet grounds, scratching his head in surprise at the sight of a blonde man sitting with his back against a tombstone, head pressed into his knees. He thought he kind of recognizes that mop of blonde hair from TV.

The old caretaker glanced at the smooth stone the young man was sat against, and his eyes turned down in sadness and pity. Ah, he remembered that one.

A young girl.

A car accident.

Three years ago.

**Obon is a Japanese Buddhist custom originating from the Ghost Festival of China; it is believed the ghosts of the dead return to visit their families during this period.

[haikyuuphilia]

Congrats on 2k!!could i pls request amusement park date w/osamu??

amusement park date with osamu ♡

→ osamu’s never gone to an amusement park before because they’re always in the big city and he hadn’t left hyogo much as a kid

→ so he’s looking forward to going with you

→ he’s usually really calm and mature, but his eyes light up like a kid when you two step into the park

→ osamu lets you take the two of you around, looking at all of the attractions

→ he wants to ride all the rollercoasters, and he’s not one to be afraid of heights

→ (does get a little scared when you two are lined up at a rollercoaster with a lot of loops, but he won’t admit it)

→ osamu doesn’t even mind waiting in line because it’s fun to be with you

→ buys the overpriced park food for the two of you, and he’ll get you two matching souvenirs to take home

→ it’s one of his favorite memories, and he’s so glad he got to share it with you

[wakatoshine]

of royalty, pointe shoes, and country boys MASTERLIST

(kita shinsuke x fem!reader)

prelude (introductions)

1. practice match? + new friend + cuzzo talk

2. girl talk + vacation time

3. MIYAGI BEST GIRLS + twitter shenanigans

4. fox gossip + an arrival + boba stop

5. home boys + insecurities + girl gang

6. farewells + faith and trust + hyogo loverboy

7. ito chizue + good morning texts + new member

8. miyagi bound + sleep over! + girl code

9. good at yer job + GTA + same room

10. fun day + video call + “shinsuke”

11. interhigh qualifier preparations all around!

12. interhigh qualifiers day one!

13. interhigh qualifiers day two!

twitter extra #1

14. interhigh qualifiers: finals edition!

15. emoji lessons + comfort

16. future talk + “bubs” + intentions

17. tokyo bound + enter yachi hitoka + onigiri

18. honorary manager + a reunion

19. souvenir rights + not your manager + jacket

20. spectating + dirty work + fukurodani

[fayeimara]

Meant To Be || One For Every Billion

7. Definitely Pretty

Hyogo is definitely a big change of pace and scenery from Tokyo, but a welcome one. The last time you were able to visit your aunt and cousin Kazuya was over winter break and it's nice to spend some time with them during the hot summer instead. You've spent your last few days here enjoying chilled tea in tall glasses dripping with condensation and hikes through the mountainous region with Akira and Akari's excited chatter filling the space previously occupied by the gentle sounds of nature. Though you suppose they're both a force of nature in their own way, as well.

Akari, specifically, has used her considerable talent at coercion to drag you and her two brothers to the summer festival today. Although she didn't need to expend much effort convincing you in particular.

Your aunt, their mother, had already painstakingly picked out and bought yukata for each of you, each piece a match for every one of your personal tastes and styles, knowing that at least you and Akari would appreciate the event all decked out. It's not something either of you have much of an opportunity for when you're both back in America.

She also helped you two style your hair and made sure you all took enough pictures to last a lifetime of memories, reminding all of you that someday these would be the moments you look back on with fond reminiscence.

Kazu and Akira have wandered off since you all arrived, saying something about food, so you and Akari decide to investigate the booths that hold various food and souvenirs themed to the event.

The two of you are at a stall studying the various masks displayed for purchase when a group of girls several years younger than you move into the recently emptied space to your right, giggling and whispering before turning to you both.

"Sorry to bother you! We just wanted to say we love both your yukata!" One of them confidently exclaims, jade eyes beaming with excitement and a little nervousness.

You turn to her with a pleased smile, "Thank you, you and your friends look beautiful, as well."

"Do you think? Thank you! My mom helped me pick mine out!" She indicates her pretty jade and white yukata with a lazy gesture, moving slightly closer to you as Akari starts off a conversation about her friend's hair.

You have to grin at her, wondering if this is considered chaotic neutral, a term your friends often seem to apply to you. "Yeah, definitely, I think it fits you perfectly. Really sets off your eyes."

"That's my best feature! Runs in the family actually." She states with a smirk. She's really too precious.

"Rika." A low voice startles you as the speaker comes up from just behind where you're standing.

You turn to meet a stunning copy of her eyes except for the completely uninterested look in them, this pair on an expressionless guy probably about your age. Wow. He's undeniably attractive and you're sure that unbothered but capable air just adds to the appeal. At least for you.

"Rin-onii!" While mostly still exuberant, she seems a little chastised by the single word from the guy that you're assuming is her older brother.

He doesn't say anything as he studies you back with that intensely perceptive gaze before turning away to address his sister, "You shouldn't have wandered off."

Her doe eyes and innocent smile are turned on full force, you guess growing up a younger sibling really teaches one how to do that well. It doesn't actually seem to work on him though as he narrows his eyes with an arch look, cutting her off before she can even try to sweet talk him, "I was forced to come to babysit you, so don't run off again."

She pouts for a small moment before perking back up to say, "But I made a new friend! And she's so pretty, right?"

You can't help the amused smirk that pulls at your lips while you wait for his response. Try and tell me I'm not, I dare you. Pausing for a moment while he stares at his sister, you catch him as, without moving his head, his piercing eyes slide back over to you again, looking sideways and down at you as if the last thing he wants to do is acknowledge you.

Then, instead of answering his sister's question, he finally addresses you directly to ask one of his own, "And who are you?"

You want to laugh at the pure arrogance of his question but instead you shrug and reply, "Right now, I'm just a pretty, new friend. Or should I assume you don't agree?"

This time you think you almost do see the lightest blush, yeah, you directly called out the way he dodged the question to throw the ball back in his court. I can slip audacious questions just as well, pretty boy.

His sister - Rika? - jumps back into the conversation a little cautiously, probably sensing the tension but not understanding why or where from it's originating. Me neither, girl, me neither. "Rin! Don't be so mean! We approached her and her friend first, you can't just demand an introduction!" and then turning away from her actual chastisement of her older brother, she beams up at you before continuing, "I'm Suna Rikona but you can call me Rika! This is my brother Rintaro. You can call him Rin or Rin-Rin."

"Shut it, Rika. That's not appropriate." He rolls his eyes and yes, he's actually blushing now. You wonder for a moment if you could push him further by using his first name to address him but you can't bring yourself to tease a complete stranger just yet. Not this one, at least, for some reason. Oh my god, your friends would be so proud.

"Nice to meet you Rika. You too, I guess...Suna." You follow her suggestion to call her by her nickname but also accommodate her brother after a teasing pause. "My name is L/n F/n. You can call me Y/n though."

You add the last bit with a smirk aimed at Suna whose eyes narrow again on you this time. Hm. Perceptive guy. Those are always interesting.

His eyes shift to your side just as you notice Akari pulling back to rejoin the three of you, along with the three other girls that came up with Rika. You introduce her to the two you're with and then have another round of introductions with Rika's friends, periodically catching Suna watching you every time you look back his way. He's making it really difficult for you to keep your composure.

"We were going to follow the booths down the street and then find a good spot to watch the fireworks." One of Rika's friends - Misa - explains.

Rika picks up from where she leaves off, throwing her pleading puppy dog look your way this time, "Would you please join us?"

While you and Akari have enough practice using that very same look with your own older siblings, you doubt either of you have had to field it and from someone so adorable too. You catch Akari's smothered smile before she meets your eyes and shrugs so you turn to look at Suna who just raises his chin along with a bored eyebrow, like he could care less but still somehow daring you to say something. What that thing is, you don't know him well enough to tell but okay then.

Looking back at Rika who's been giving her brother a frown at seeing his challenging look thrown your way, you laugh and agree, "I don't see why not. We did come here with two others but they've pretty much disappeared by now so I'll text to let them know and then we can go."

"Wait!" Akari cuts in as you pull your phone from the small pouch hanging from your wrist, "We still have to get our masks."

"We should all get one!" Rika declares but Rin lightly flicks the back of her head.

"Didn't you only bring enough for the food."

It's not actually even a question but he must be right because she turns back to him with the pleading look, "But Rin-onii, won't you-"

"No."

Completely deadpan versus completely affectionate, you really have to hold back the laughter at their cute exchange. She continues pleading but is cut off at every one of her sentences by Suna's monosyllable of choice. Eventually, your mirth is completely full and you can't take it anymore.

So as you put away your phone, you offer, "If you pick one for me, I'll get it with yours."

You swear, she and Suna both whip around to face you so fast that you get whiplash.

They speak over each other in the next instant but you can barely make out yet another firm, "No." from Suna over Rika's happy cry, "Really?! Y/n-chan, you're not just the prettiest, you're the best!"

You ignore both Suna's response and even Akari's outraged, "The prettiest?!" and turn back to the stall, Rika bouncing to your side in an instant. She picks out kitsune masks for everyone, a mix of half face and full face for her and her friends but half masks for you and Akari. You also whisper to her to pick out one her brother will like and after a delighted smile your way, points out the final one for your purchase.

Oh my, you can just imagine his eyes through the mask, something to be seen for sure, but you doubt he'll actually put it on. Turning back while Akari exclaims over the masks with Rika and her friends, the latter kindly assisting her with angling it just right on her head, you approach Suna, who's on his phone like he couldn't be bothered.

He looks up at your approach, face finally showing surprise when he sees you holding two masks and, before he can say anything, you extend one to him with, "Rika picked it out, but I think it really suits you too."

He opens his mouth as if to speak but closes it, eyeing the mask before reaching out and taking it gently from you with a quick, "Thanks."

You watch him carelessly arrange it on his head and when you look back to his eyes you realize he was watching you in return. You quickly move to place your own mask against the side of your head, you're sure you're blushing as a small amused smile tugs at his mouth before he gestures at you.

You don't know why and he must read your confusion because he elaborates, "Here." which is not much of an elaboration but it's accompanied by him moving up towards you and then you suddenly find yourself right in front of the bottom half of his face as he reaches up to your hair.

You don't know what you would have done given a cute but strange boy suddenly invading your space the way he just did, but you don't have a chance to find out as realization hits you when you feel the mask shift and settle again, realizing he just fixed its position on your head.

The two of you don't move for a minute as Suna looks down to study you, mask and all, and you hear him say, just for your ears, "Definitely pretty."

Yeah, anyone would blush so who can judge you for it, especially when you finally see his neutrality complete break with an amused grin. It's short and he even chuckles as he backs away, but it's fully wiped off as if it never happened by the time your cousin, Rika, and the rest of the girls swarm you exclaiming over our masks and asking about theirs.

After some reassurances that everyone's masks look incredible, Rika points out, "Rin-onii, I can't believe you actually wore it?!"

He raises an eyebrow with his uncaring, "Yeah? What of it?"

"Nothing.." She trails off as she studies him, then her eyes slide over to you for a moment before zeroing back on her brother, as a sly smile grows on her face. "I guess even you care what some people think, huh?"

He gives her a deadpan stare instead of an answer and she huffs before grabbing one of her friend's and Akari's wrists and starts dragging them to the next booth, other two friends automatically following behind, as she calls over her shoulder, "Whatever! We should get through the rest of these before we run out of time to find a good spot for the fireworks!"

And so, with another look at each other, you both follow in the wake of a natural force quite possibly as powerful as Akari. Which is how you end up spending your evening getting to know the quiet and compelling Suna Rintaro.

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Masterlist

Behind The Scenes!

-Suna's height with [age (year) - height] > 25 (2021) - 6'3, 22 (2018) - 6'2, 16/17 (2013) - 6'1... so as of his current age, 14, he's about 5'11 or 6'

A/N: Can I just say Suna has been taking the most room in my head for months now and leave it at that? I just... yeah.

Taglist: @delusivist, @prettyinblack231, @kac-chowsballs, @sakusasimpbot, @hawkthekinnie, @poppi144, @oikawasbuttcheeks

[keikakudori]

Hyogo sits within the Kansai region, from which his accent originates. The slight, relaxed tongue colors the speech both lyrical and snappy. He might seem a relaxed man. A nonchalant man. An eccentric man, who could be both comedic and strange. Yet there’s a sharpness buried within.  Like his fukutaichou. Aizen Sousuke. Aizen-fukutaichou. Aizen-san. Sousuke-kun. Sousuke... The capable, studious, mellow, perfect fukutaichou. ... Could’ve fooled me ... Not.

The bottle of Kenbishi sake sits quietly in the corner under his desk. Samurai’s drink. Harvested, brewed and bottled in Hyogo, the Kansai region -- like his dialect. Like his tongue and cheek. Like his sharpness buried within, coming out like a switchblade, cutting off the tail end of long vowels, making short work of them.

“Sousuke.” Short. Like that. Snappy. The moment Sousuke steps inside the office. The bottle of sake appears on the desk, gift wrapped in earth-tone linen and tied together with a strip of thin fabric. A tie. A souvenir from the World of the Living. Not that Sousuke should know. Such rare article of clothing in the Soul Society, a tie is. So what would it say if Sousuke did recognize it? He knows Sousuke doesn’t wear a tie. Just like he knows Sousuke doesn’t drink. Or does he? He doesn’t trust anything he thinks he knows about Aizen Sousuke.

Shinji pushes the bottle of sake across the table to the brunette.

A wisp of wind slips in through the door, bringing up the edge of the booklet he’s just reading. A small illustration peeks out from under the corner of the page -- a fox and a hound dashing through the woods. Is the Fox more cunning or is the Hound more keen?  -- I’ll catch you slippin’ some day.

“Happy Birthday.”

happy birthday, aizen! | birthday asks

              it has felt like something of a busy day and it's still early. no one can forget their birthdays, after all. his trails and trips along in but a mere two weeks after his captain's, two weeks in which much of the fifth - and other divisions besides - seem to go into a fervor of trying to see what gifts they can place upon the golden boy of the seireitei. some things are quietly given out to residents of the rukongai, his hands distributing them out one and all, for they can use such things and he finds himself overwhelmed some years by the array of items that come flooding into his life on this day. it's always telling when it's a flock of new recruits that are buying him things. but that takes place later, in the weeks afterwards, when he no longer has to smile so much and accept them. the ingratiation of others is not what he wants but they try it anyways, flavoring his mind. sometimes he does get vaguely irritated with this day of days.

              but shinji knows his birthday because aizen knows his. it seems almost fated that the fukutaichou is to follow on his captain's heels in every manner of the word, which he is sure irritates the older man in some sense. but shinji handles it with the same ill-tempered grace he does where his fukutaichou is concerned the way he does everything else and it is his gift which aizen finds himself curious about. he wonders if he'll get one. ... then again, strangely, not a year has gone by where he hasn't, has he? for all of those narrow-eyed looks, for all of the way thin brows can furl inwards and that mouth hook down at the corners, he still finds a small gift every year from the older man awaiting him. some have been decidedly whimsical. some have not been. never does aizen know what to expect; there is a box in his desk, a box he sometimes pulls out to open and look at. the brush inside he has told his captain he is saving for a special occasion, ever since he was asked why he hadn’t used it yet, those eyes boring into his face. how is he to make his captain understand that being gifted such a fine brush has him unwilling to use it yet? it will take a special occasion indeed. it’s been ten years since he received it and still it remains pristine.

              so to step into the office and hear his name cut so sharply into his hearing, it makes him straighten up immediately, a pose trained into the academy recruits. but the slide of movement has his head turn after a second, parade ground rest dissolving into surprise at the way those fingers nudge the bottle to him and he moves forward, blinking once or twice to pick the bottle up. he can tell what it is and he's careful as he stands before shinji's desk, gazing down at it. his captain knows he seldom drinks, if ever. knows that aizen's tolerance is remarkably abysmal. knows this and yet he still got the bottle. so it is with great care that aizen reaches out after a moment, fingers seeking to grasp upon the slip of red cloth and tug gently, watching the unfurling of scarlet. of blood, he could have said. slowly the tie comes loose and he slides it between his hands. not a sash, no -- not long enough. and then he understands as he takes in the shape and he smiles for a moment before it is left draped around his neck, behind it, a splash of carmine bright against his uniform as he looks to his captain.

              does it suit me?

                in a great many years, perhaps his captain will see that shade again. a banner. but for now, it simply hangs there, around his neck -- as if his throat has been cut and the red is frozen against his frame. how beautiful aizen must be when covered in blood.

              he doesn't speak as his hands move to gently dishevel the brown fabric, fingertips grazing along the firm surface of the bottle as he lifts it, studying the label. the province. how observant aizen sousuke is -- too keen of eye for his own safety, for the safety of others. keen of eye and with such a brilliant mind. but he understands in his own way, doesn't he? the choice of province, that is. ... yes, he decides suddenly, he'll keep this. he will. and maybe when it is emptied out he might set it where it will catch sunlight in his rooms, studying the glass intently as he does so, taking in the colors. he knows someone might comment on it. might even break it. but for a few days -- perhaps he can simply look at it, absorb it.

              ❝ thank you for this present, hirako-taichou. ❞ his smile is warm and gentle as his fingers cradle the bottle almost as if it is somehow filled with something precious. for all that he does not drink, prefers not to drink, for so many reasons he cannot stop the next words that slip out of his mouth. perhaps he should, but he makes only a half-hearted attempt and still the smile remains, a gentle thing, a warm thing, the genuine article. but shinji might doubt it as he doubts so much about him. aizen sees it and yet he asks him a question that could become so fatal -- ❝ ... would you do me the honor of sharing it with me, later? ❞

              he might regret it. he might not. but surely a cup or two will be safe. besides -- it would be rude not to offer to share, wouldn't it? it might, for that matter, put his captain’s mind at ease. yet he offered. he did not expect acceptance.

[utanotranslations]

Blog Post Translation: June 30th, 2019: 180* Welcome Back, Saya-chan <3

Enjoy, and please don’t repost without credit!

BEYOOOOONDS This is Satoyoshi Utano! <3

Thank you very much for all the comments and likes yesterday, too! I read them while I was on the train *

Today, We did a release event in Hyogo Prefecture's Kobe Harbourland

Speaking of Hyogo Prefecture! It's Sayarin (Eguchi Saya-chan)'s hometown <3 <3

Sayarin, welcome baaaack! <3 <3

It's really exciting when we go to a member's hometown! Since everyone welcomes them warmly :) <3 Today too, when it comes to an event in Hyogo! I was happy to see Saya-chan who was sparkling more than usual...... * <3 :) <3

And! Today, we also did a self introduction MC <3 <3

Today 1. Your favourite place in Kobe 3. A place you want to go to in Kobe 3. A self appeal pose!

1. Places with delicious food, and all the tourist attractions!!!

There really is a lot of delicious things in Kobe, you know! I didn't know what to get for a souvenir...lolol I was told that the Kobe Pudding is delicious, so I bought that, and Akashiyaki There's also a lot of tourist attractions, but you can't go around to them all in one day...... Next time, I want to see the tourist spots

2. A leisure boat where you can ride with a dog! "Kobe Sea Bus Fantasy Style"

You can ride with a dog! :O <3 When I ride in a car with my pet dog, Omochi-sensei, he loves to look out the window at the scenery * I definitely, definitely want to ride with that Omochi-kun, and enjoy Kobe's scenery!

3. Omochi-kun pose

I created the "Omochi" pose How you do it is, Use four fingers on both hands, close them, and bend to 90 degrees! Then, you put your hands on the top of your head, to recreate Omochi-sensei's cute, cute ears please I couldn't take a picture today when I put it into practice, but maybe someday

That's it for today, clap clap

Kobe special~! It became a fun day <3 <3 <3

There aren't any release events this weekend... T_T T_T

The weekend after that, We'll be doing the major debut single release events July 10th at CLUB CITTA' Kawazaki July 11th at Ikebukuro Sunshine City, and everyone will do our best to put our fighting spirit into it **

And! From July 13th, the summer Hello! Project concerts will start <3

So it can be the start of a fun summer, I'll do my best with all the preparations

Please check it out **

And! Weekday talk and handshake events, And polaroid and autograph signings, please check those out too, okay~! Let's do the "Omochi-kun" pose together at the polaroid event for sure!

Well then! Tomorrow is the start of a new week! If you're feeling depressed, you can exercise with "Go Waist" and blow it away BEYOOOOONDS*! I'll do my best tomorrow, too! Okay! <3

See ya! <3 <3

[kanamechari]

Souvenirs d'Anne Frank 一昨日2019/10/25 雨が止むのを待って、再びのアンネの元へ。秋も来れた。アンネに会えた。何も言うまい。語るまい。ただ忘れないで。　#アンネのバラの教会 #アンネフランク #annefrank #rose #annefrankdiary #souvnirdeannefrank #アンネの薔薇 #アンネフランクの思い出 #はなまっぷ薔薇2019 #hyogo #japan #nishinomiya #西宮市 (アンネのバラの教会) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4GQeyqgWLZ/?igshid=gr6y3weng2c

[putschki1969]

2017/04/10 Blog post by Keiko 『始まった♪』

Translation will follow in the afternoon.

『We have started ♪』

Good evening ♪ (*^^*) This is Keiko ♪ As Hikaru and Wakana have already mentioned in their blog posts, we spent the past three days holding promotional events for our new double-A-side single 『into the world/Märchen』 which was released on April 5. At each venue we were able to create a special and unique music experience together with the audience, it’s always amazing to relish in the joy of being able to sing in front of you while seeing you smile. I was truly happy (*^^*) Thanks to everyone who bought the CD and came to see us at the event!!! Yesterday we went to Hyogo prefecture to perform at Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens and then on our way back home we came acrosss this airplane!!!! It was a STAR WARS ANA JET ♪ We were on an aircraft called C - 3 POTM ANA JET! It was yellow and flashy♪ And then on the inside of the plane...!! Yoda was there to greet us! We received those cards as a lovely souvenir. I am very happy we got the chance to board such a plane  (* ^^ *) It was a pleasant surprise ♪ Well! Today we started our full-on rehearsals for our upcoming spring tour 『Kalafina “9+ONE"』  (*^^*) Our tour is starting this weekend already! Up until this day we have tried to connect with you through various ways, through this blog, through interviews, through campaigns, through SPICE... time went by in the blink of an eye (*^^*) Well, I’ll return to our rehearsal (*^^*) See you tomorrow!

[ookamirinchan]

Golden Week Adventures

Remember how I said spring break was going to be my last trip for a while?

Well, I lied. Because even though I had no money, I found myself physically incapable of sitting at home for 5 days in a row with nowhere to go while everyone else was traveling. Such is life in Japan. 

And so, only a month after my spring break trip, for the first time since coming to Japan, I decided to really get out and enjoy all of the chaos that traveling during Golden Week entails. Together, a friend and I set out to explore southern Honshu (confusingly called “Chugoku”--a word which also means “China”) and tick a few more prefectures off each of our lists.

On Friday night, I met my friend at her place and we walked the quick journey to the Matsumoto bus terminal, where we caught the dreaded night bus to Osaka. We left around 10:30, and, after 7 and a half completely sleepless hours, we arrived at Osaka Station. We stopped at a bakery for breakfast and caffeine before we quickly hopped on a train headed to our first stop, Himeji City in Hyogo Prefecture, only about an hour from Osaka by local train. From Himeji Station, it only took about 20 minutes on foot to reach the main attraction of the city--Himeji Castle.

Himeji Castle (also called the White Heron Castle) is the most famous and most visited castle in Japan. It’s also the largest, one of the oldest, and (along with only 11 other castles) has never been destroyed in any way. It has survived extensive bombing during World War II and the great Hanshin earthquake (Kobe earthquake). It’s both a national treasure of Japan and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And it has ties to both Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Two years ago, a 7-year-long renovation on Himeji Castle was completed, and since then, more than 2 million people a year have visited the castle.

In short, this is one castle that you can’t miss according to anyone who has been to see it ever.

With all that hype, I’ve got to say I was a little skeptical. I mean, it’s just another castle, right? Japanese people always get so excited over little castle things--oh, it’s over 400 years old! Cool! Or it’s the largest castle in Japan! Cool! In all honesty, every castle I’ve been to in Japan has something that makes it “super special, omg, you can’t miss it.” But usually, the little details that are oh so important are never really that fascinating.

So you should believe me when I say that Himeji Castle was 100% worth the visit. The grounds and the castle are beautiful and large, and the architecture is stunning. The white exterior stands out when compared to most other castles, and is reminiscent of Osaka Castle without the modern museum inside. It’s definitely the best castle I’ve been to in Japan.

We arrived around 9 a.m., just as the doors opened. We bought our tickets and were lucky enough to get inside before the mass crowds that generally accompany Golden Week could come. We explored the inside of the castle for a while, marveling at the many weapons racks--this was clearly a castle built for war, although it never saw a single battle in its 400 years. As we left the main keep, we stopped to have our photo taken with a woman dressed like Princess Sen, the castle’s most famous inhabitant. Finally, we explored the large hallway and living quarters on the outskirts of the castle grounds before stopping at the gift shop and leaving the castle itself. It was only about 10:30, but the castle had already reached maximum capacity and people were lined up outside waiting for their chance to enter.

After we left the castle grounds, we had planned to visit the nearby gardens, but we got distracted by a boat ride, which was taking people on a short cruise around the castle’s moat. 

We enjoyed what little of the history talk we could understand, and were amazed as, during out 30-minute tour, the clear skies turned pitch black.

We decided to visit the garden despite the change in weather, and managed to enjoy a short walk before the skies let loose. With nothing else to do, we retreated to the classy Japanese restaurant on the grounds, where we both enjoyed grilled eel and tempura while waiting for the weather to clear up.

Luckily it did just as we finished lunch, and we spent a couple more hours exploring the nearly-empty garden before we finished the area. 

We stopped at a few souvenir shops, bought some festival food (yay Golden Week!) and headed back to the station to catch a train to our next destination: Okayama.

Now, in our massively crazy Seven-Prefectures-in-Nine-Days Master Plan, we had decided to only spend half the day at Himeji and the other half exploring Okayama Prefecture. But Himeji Castle was just so amazing, we couldn’t help but spend much longer there. By the time we were leaving, we knew we wouldn’t have any time to visit Okayama City that day, and so we simply caught the train straight to our hostel, which was about 20 minutes outside Okayama City, about an hour and a half from Himeji.

Our hostel may have been in the middle of nowhere, but it was a lovely building. We unpacked our things and went in search of food with another girl staying in our room. Eventually we decided on sushi at a lovely (and cheap) little sushi shop that served us literal mugs of green tea.

Being in the countryside, things closed pretty early of course, and so we retreated back to the hostel around 8:30 for showers and a couple episodes of Bones before bed.

________

The next morning, we woke around 8, packed up our things, and headed for the station where we caught the local train into Okayama City.

Okayama is also a castle city (there are a lot of those on this trip), but it’s much more famous for a completely unrelated thing--a fairy tale called Momotaro.

Momotaro is probably the most famous Japanese fairy tale--quite literally everyone knows the story. An old woman was washing clothes by the river one day when she saw a large peach float down in the water. Curious, she fished it out, split it open, and inside, she found a baby boy. She and her husband creatively named him “Momotaro” (Japanese for “Peach Boy”) and raised him to be strong and brave. One day, Momotaro heard a story about how some ogres from Onigashima (Ogre Island) were terrorizing innocent people, and he decided that he would go and stop the ogres. The old woman made him a sack full of a traditional Japanese snack called kibidango (dumplings made from pounded rice and covered in roasted soy bean powder) and sent him on his journey. Along the way, Momotaro met a dog, a monkey, and a bird. He shares his kibidango with each of them and they decide to accompany him to Onigashima. When they arrive, they fight and defeat the demons and everyone lived happily ever after the end.

Amusingly enough, this story is retold in the Hi Friends textbooks, which are used to teach English in elementary schools all over the country. The horrendous version in its entirety has become a massive inside joke among ALTs in Japan, and many ALTs frequently quote it. 

(Obviously some of the dialogue is missing because you’re supposed to listen to the audio with it...which, if you can believe it, is even better than the pictures). So if you’re ever in Japan and happen to hear a foreigner say “We are strong. We are brave. We are good friends.” and then proceed to fall over laughing, this is why.

Both my friend and I teach using this textbook. And so, although we enjoyed Okayama Castle, the vast majority of our time in this prefecture was spend spoofing Momotaro.

As you exit Okayama Station, your eyes are immediately drawn to this statue of Momotaro and his friends.

We made some silly poses with it and went on our way. On our trek to the castle, we also found a Momotaro manhole cover and quite a few souvenir stalls selling kibidango and other Momotaro products.

We did manage to make it to the castle, which was right next to an island park. The park was instantly named Onigashima by us, and many jokes were made about “Let’s go to...Onigashima!” The castle itself was interesting but uneventful, although it was covered in oddly-colored tape, which apparently is supposed to represent the 3 famous products of Okayama--jeans, peaches, and muscat grapes. Whatever, we thought it looked a bit strange.

We explored the inside of the castle for a little while, bought some cheap kibidango from the souvenir shop, and retreated to the front lawn where we proceeded to take selfies while eating kibidango at Okayama Castle.

After the castle, we walked across a bridge to Korakuen Gardens Onigashima. Once there, we rented a swan boat for 20 minutes to enjoy the view of the castle from the river. Because nothing says “Japanese Culture” like swan boats in masking tape...?

The gardens came after, which we explored for about 30 minutes before we wandered back toward the station to buy more kibidango and catch a train to our second destination of the day, a small town called Kurashiki.

Kurashiki is a historic town about 20 minutes south of Okayama City, most famous for its lovely canal and old buildings. We went to see those things, of course. Our decision to visit Kurashiki didn’t have anything at all to do with the Momotaro Museum that was there. Nope. Nothing to do with that at all.

After a lengthy search for some coin lockers, we walked the 20 minutes out to the Momotaro Museum, which was, of course, our first stop. We were suitably impressed with the displays, which were a mix between weird optical illusions, party tricks, animatronic ogres, and interesting merchandise. We enjoyed ourselves immensely.

After the museum, we walked along the historic streets, exploring the cute little shops and looking for some interesting soft serve ice cream, which you can always find in Japan no matter where you are. We were expecting to find peach flavor, because usually you find flavors that match things that are famous in that area. We did not expect to find alcoholic ice cream. But that is exactly what we did find. We were both quite amused to see brandy and sake flavors, and even more amused when we discovered the ice cream wasn’t just alcohol flavored--it had a legit alcohol content. We got one of each and had a good time.

We shopped around a bit more after the ice cream before we hired a rickshaw to run us around for 10 minutes. It was expensive but fun, and our guide spoke really good English (he was also really cute when he tried to speak it).

Finally, around 4 in the afternoon, we headed back to the station and settled in for the long ride down to Hiroshima--about 3 hours on the local trains. We checked in to our hostel for the night, made our plans for the following day, and headed to bed.

----------

On the third day, we caught a cable car from the station near our hostel to Miyajimaguchi, where we boarded a cheap 10-minute ferry to Miyajima Island. Think you don’t know what that is? I pretty much guarantee that you do.

Miyajima Island is home to Itsukushima Shrine and one of the three most famous views in Japan--the “floating” Torii gate. A Torii gate is the Japanese name for the large (usually red) gateways that mark the entrance to shrines and supposedly keep evil spirits out of the shrine grounds. Famous Torii gates in Japan include the massive one at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo and the tunnel to Torii gates at Fushimi-Inari Shrine in Kyoto. And right up there at the top with those is the gate at Itsukushima Shrine.

The gate, which is 16 meters (52 feet) tall, was built on the beach of the island right next to the shore line. During high tide, the water rises and covers the base of the gate, which makes it look as though it’s floating on the water. The tide does the same for the rest of the shrine, which was built on stilts to protect it from the water and to make it appear separate from the island, as a place where only the devout could enter. During high tide, you can charter a boat to get up close and personal with the gate, which, of course, we did.

Although the gate and shrine are certainly the most famous things to see on Miyajima, we also enjoyed some other sights as well.

Miyajima, it turns out, has a well-known deer population. Thankfully, unlike in Nara Park, the deer weren’t spoiled and aggressive. But they were quite interesting. While my friend and I were enjoying our “deer poop” ice cream (unique to Miyajima), we witnessed a tourist accidentally drop her map, which was on letter-sized paper. Before she could collect it, it was devoured by a deer. The same deer came over to us and ate the papers that had been on our ice cream cones. I guess they don’t have to worry about trash on Miyajima with walking garbage disposals hanging around all day.

We also visited a couple temples, an owl and cat café, and several souvenir stores before we caught a boat back to the mainland. From there, we caught the cable car back into the city and made the short walk over to the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum.

The museum was nice, though half of it was closed for renovation while we were there. We also only had about an hour to explore before they closed, and so we didn’t get to fully explore all of the exhibits. Although it was an interesting museum, I found I enjoyed the one in Nagasaki better, and I wasn’t too upset to have a time limit inside the museum.

After the museum closed, we walked over to the Atomic Bomb Dome--a famous building which survived the bomb despite being only a few meters from the hypocenter.

Finally, with the sun setting, we ventured into a covered arcade market in search of some famous Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki. We found some, and it was delicious. Definitely better than traditional okonomiyaki, that’s for sure.

We also found some Obama buttons. People in Hiroshima were really proud of his visit.

And after dinner, we stopped by a convenience store to pick up some drinks and retreated to the hostel, where we watched many episodes of Bones before bed.

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On Day 4, we woke ready for a long day. We checked out of the hostel and caught the cable car to Hiroshima Castle--a beautiful dark-colored castle that was completely levelled and rebuilt after the bombing. We enjoyed the exhibits in the castle, just barely making it inside and through ahead of the many school groups that were also visiting that day.

As we left, we found a tree on the grounds that survived the bomb.

On the outskirts of the castle, we also found a shrine. It turns out this shrine is one of the locations of Japan’s well-known “crying baby” festivals (in which sumo wrestlers hold babies and try to make them cry...the baby which cries first is said to be the healthiest and most fortunate). We were 2 days too early to see the festival, but we were still amused to be standing in the arena.

When we finished at the castle, we headed to Hiroshima Station, where we planned to make the long journey from Hiroshima to Hagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

It just so happens that Hagi, while lovely and popular among tourists, is in the middle of nowhere and takes ages to get to. Originally we had planned to take local trains the whole way...a trip which would have taken us 6 hours and 5 transfers. But instead we decided to bit the bullet and pay the extra 2500 yen to take the bullet train to Asa, which wound up saving us about two and a half hours. So. Worth. It.

We arrived in Hagi around 5 p.m., walked the 30 minutes from the station to our hostel, checked in, learned the excellent news that our hostel could accommodate us for two nights (saving us the hassle of trying to find an internet café the following night) and then set out to find dinner. We also tried to find an onsen, but it turns out that all of the hotels with public baths had closed them to the public for the holidays since they were so busy with their guests. Who knew? So we returned to our odd little hostel for the night and watched Bones.

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We could actually sleep in a little on the fifth day, since the bus we needed to catch didn’t leave untill about 10:30. We walked to the station, caught the bus we needed, and rode for an hour toward central Yamaguchi and a small town called Mine (pronounced “me-neh”) which is home to the largest limestone cave in Japan. It’s called Akiyoshidai in Japanese but it was dubbed “secret tunnel” by my friend and me. That’s definitely an Avatar: The Last Airbender reference, and we definitely didn’t visit this cave just so we could walk through it while singing “Secret Tunnel.” Of course not.

We spent a couple hours walking around the cave, and we split up for a bit as well so I could go up to the plateau above the caves for some light hiking. We had a good time, and caught the last bus back to Hagi, which left at the late hour of 3:30 p.m.

Upon returning to Hagi Station, we caught another bus almost immediately out to Mt. Kasayama, Japan’s smallest volcano. It was about 5 when we reached the base of the short little mountain, and we paused for a moment at Myojin Pond, where you could buy bread to feed to the hawks. (Who know hawks eat bread?)

After feeding some hawks, we began the short hike to the top of the mountain, where we had the opportunity to climb down into the crater and then climb up into the observatory. We got lovely views of the sun setting over the water, and then we walked back down, hoping to find an onsen at the hotel at the base of the mountain.

But as was our luck with Golden Week, we weren’t able to enter there, either, and we returned to the bus stop an hour before the next bus would arrive.

We debated what to do for a while before finally deciding that we should just walk back to the hostel. Although it was an hour walk, it wouldn’t take any longer than waiting for and taking the bus would. And so we took a long but lovely walk along the coast, stopped at a family restaurant for dinner, and finally, finally got lucky with an onsen that would let us in. Yay!

We returned to the hostel completely exhausted and fell into bed, not looking forward to another long journey the next morning.

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Day 6 started with another long stretch of travel. We caught a train at 8 and transferred an hour later to an express train that would take us to Izumo City in Shimane Prefecture, home of Izumo Grand Shrine, the oldest shrine in Japan.

Surprise! Everyone else was there too. Because Golden Week. 

We arrived by train, which was lucky, since the traffic was backed up for what looked like miles. We wandered around the shops for a while, bought some “rice burgers” for lunch, and meandered up to the shrine itself. 

We enjoyed it immensely, but we only spent a couple hours there before hitting the souvenir shops where we both bought some Magatama charms from the shop that makes them for the emperor. We got some ice cream too before taking the train for another hour, up to Matsue City, the capital of Shimane.

We checked in at our hostel which gave us a private room (yay!), hit up the convenience store for dinner and drinks, and turned in for several hours of Bones.

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The next morning, we checked out and wandered over to Matsue Castle, yet another lovely building filled with interesting artifacts. It was completely crawling with Chinese and Korean tourists, and we pushed and shoved our way to the top and back down before ducking around the back of the castle grounds to visit the lovely little Inari shrine.

But our Matsue adventure didn’t last long, and soon we were at the station, chilling in Starbucks and waiting for our train to Tottori.

We travelled for another 2 hours to Tottori Station, where we walked about 30 minutes to visit Jinpukaku and the Tottori Castle Ruins. Jinpukaku is a large Western-style mansion that was built by the Ikeda clan to house Emperor Taisho in the early 1900s. It’s quite an interesting house nestled at the foot of the castle ruins, which go up and up and up the nearby mountain.

When we finished, we caught a bus back to the station, shopped around for a bit in this amazing little store we found filled with foreign foods (why doesn’t Nagano have one of those???)  and caught a train about 20 minutes out of the city to our hostel.

We were happy to discover that we pretty much had the entire upper floor of the hostel to ourselves, including the large-screen TV. So what did we do? Bought dinner at the conbini across the street, hooked a computer into the TV, and watched Bones all night.

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The next day was the last full day of our trip, and we woke up to pouring rain. Of course. But we ganbatte’d and caught a train and bus out to the main attraction of Tottori, the sand dunes.

If you have never thought about the words “Japan” and “desert” in relation to one another, you’re not alone. And really, the Tottori sand dunes aren’t really a desert. Really, it’s just like a beach. The sand stretches a little under a kilometer from the shore, and continues for about 16 kilometers along the coast. But this is not just a beach. This is a beach with giant mountains of sand. And if you get down in the middle of it, you kind of feel for a second like you might be in a desert. It’s pretty cool.

But like I said, it was raining when we arrived. And so we first visited the Sand Sculpture Museum, which was probably the highlight of our day. The theme of the museum changes every year, and this year it just so happened to be the U.S.

Just look at these things. I mean really. They’re 3, 4, or 5 meter high sculptures made entirely out of sand. Like, wow.

We had a good time in the museum before we finally headed over to the chair lift that would take us down into the actual sand. Then we had fun running around in the sand, climbing dunes, and taking lots, and lots of pictures. We also tried to ride the camels, but it turns out you can’t ride a camel there unless you’re a kid. Lame.

But we spent about an hour there anyway before heading back to the main strip for souvenir shopping and lunch. 

We returned to the dunes for a short time then, and eventually took the chair lift back up, did some more shopping, and took the bus back to Tottori Station. From there, we went in search of an onsen and had about as much luck as we did in Hagi. But a nice hotel worker pointed us in the direction of a good sento (a generic public bath house), and, while not an onsen, we figured it would do. We enjoyed the bath, grabbed dinner at MOS Burger, and returned to the hostel for more Bones after realizing there’s literally nothing to do in Tottori City besides see the sand.

We enjoyed the night and went to bed, not at all ready for our long trek home the next day.

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Our final day, we woke up early and caught a train into Tottori City and, from there, we caught a 2.5 hour express train to Osaka. We visited Krispy Kreme in Osaka before we caught a 3 hour bus from Osaka to Nagoya. And in Nagoya, we caught a 4 hour bus to Matsumoto. And finally, after almost 15 hours, we arrived back in Matsumoto. I drove home, slept, and went to work the next morning. Yay!

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All in all, this trip was a lot of fun, despite the craziness of planning it so last minute. The hardest thing about it was the transportation, which was pretty long and complicated on the second leg of our journey, once we got off the beaten “foreigner tourist” path. When we decided to go on this trip, neither of us had considered 1) how big Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Shimane, and Tottori are, and 2) that there were no busses to any of these locations. The train fares wound up being really expensive, especially after we gave in and paid extra for express trains in a couple cases. We also spent a lot on boat rides, rickshaw rides, and kibidango. Oops.

But we did have a good time, and it was nice to cross another 6 prefectures off my list. Now I’ve been to 31 of 47, which isn’t too bad considering how many places I’ve been to outside of Japan as well. I might be able to hit a couple more on the weekends in the next couple of months, but we’ll see about that. For the most part, I’m just glad we survived this trip.

Now, my big trips are over for the most part, and I’ll be spending my remaining weekends hopefully checking some last-minute things off my Japan bucket list. I plan to hit to Kurobe Alpine Route, the Ghibli Museum, Kamikochi (yes, again), the Shinetsu Trail, Mt. Ontake, and Achi Village before I head back to the States. These things may or may not happen, we I’m going to try.

And in the meantime, I get to focus on boring things like job hunting, cleaning, and packing. Yay.

I can’t believe it’s almost time to leave Japan. And I also can’t believe I’ve been here for 3 years now. Time flies, that’s for sure. But I’m ready for my next adventure.

[japangelito]

No explanation in English this time. 🙏 一個450円プラス消費税の高級和菓子だよ。山形県酒田市にいるお婆ちゃん宅に持って行った兵庫県宝塚市の菅屋 山本店の金覆輪です。これは、元々高貴な方々の大切なお道具や調度品等に金箔の装飾や縁取りを施したものを申し、栗や小豆の実り、自然の恵みを尊び慈しみ、感謝の意を込めて大切に覆う事から名付けられました。手芒豆、卵黄や栗の実など新鮮な素材に、心を込めて作り上げた風味豊かな生地を金箔に見立て、真ん中には特別大粒の柔らかな栗を十勝小豆で包み、ぎゅっと覆いくるんでる。菅屋の代表商品で、母が祖母のために購入し、僕が配達しました。🚅💨桐箱に入ってるんです。😲 母が数個だけ別途購入してたようで、東京から帰って来てから頂きましたが、お抹茶と頂きたいですね。🍵ご興味があれば大切な人への贈り物として、菅屋の金覆輪、チェックしてみてください。やばい、これー。繊細な味わいで激うまでした。😋😋😋#sugaya #souvenir #souvenirs #japanese #japanesesweets #wagashi #yamamoto #takarazuka #hyogo #hyogoken #japan #kinpaku #goldsheet #food #foodie #foodpic #foodgram #foodgram #foodstagram #foodporn #foodgasm #foodlover #菅屋 #山本店 #宝塚 #兵庫県 #金覆輪 #和菓子 #高級和菓子 #和菓子 (Itami, Hyogo)

[matchajapantravel-blog]

Reaching Himeji From Tokyo, Osaka And Kyoto - Routes And Souvenirs!

Himeji is a city in Hyogo prefecture's southwestern region and is a day trip spot from Osaka and Kyoto. Here are the best routes from Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto to Himeji and information on souvenirs from Himeji Station.

https://matcha-jp.com/en/3871