#i am making up stuff about tamers and putting my own head canons in this

[tonguetiedraven]

The Circle of Strife

Part: One, Two (you are here), Three (final part.)

A/N: Per usual, this is going to be a bit longer than anticipated, with a third part getting them actually together, lol.

“What the hell was that stunt, you asshole?!” Ryuuji bellowed the moment Rin’s form appeared in the old dorm he’d taken as his training spot.

“I’m not— you can’t just parade me around like I’m some kind of party trick!”

“I wasn’t, you dick! I told you I had to pass a class and you’re the only guy I can summon!” And now Ryuuji was going to lose control of him and he wasn’t going to pass his class and he couldn’t work with Rin like this. (And Miss Yamada’s statement had sounded like a threat. What were those people going to do to Rin?)

“I don’t care about your class! I—” Rin clenched his hands in angry fists. “I don’t want…”

“What?” Ryuuji huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and trying not to glare. All his books made it sound like he wasn’t supposed to listen to his summons, but he also hadn’t met a Tamer who didn’t listen to their summons. Plus, Rin was obviously upset and yelling wasn’t getting them anywhere, and they were on such a time crunch.

“This… this is fine,” Rin grumbled, looking off to the side like he was annoyed he even had to say it. “Bullshitting stuff and working… it’s fine when it’s just us. You’re not… annoying. But… I’m not some kinda circus act. I’m not a pet to order around or something. I don’t like being ordered like that.” Rin growled a little. "I don't like being trapped."

Ryuuji huffed out a breath. "I know you're not a pet." Even if Rin should be forced to follow his orders with the tamer/summons relationship. Something was a bit… wrong with this one. 

"And I'm sorry if that made you feel like some kind of show, but I thought we had an understanding? I have to have your help to pass this class. I'm a shit tamer and you're all I've got for that." He'd never failed a class before, and if he couldn't pass this… he'd lose the option for a dragoon rank.

"You're not a shit tamer," Rin grumbled.

It was almost a compliment, and it had the result of making Ryuuji's cheeks a little warm.

"Gee," Ryuuji muttered back, "thanks so much."

Rin scowled.

Ryuuji took in a deep breath and slowly released it. The other part of Rin's complaint still needed to be considered.

"I don't know why you're being summoned with this circle, and I don't know how to separate you from the containment spell."

Rin slouched more and kicked at the concrete.

"But," Ryuuji added, trying not to think about how dangerous this was, "I'll try and figure it out if you promise to at least pretend to listen to me so I can pass this class."

Ryuuji watched Rin try to decide with bated breath. If he didn't agree, Ryuuji was going to fail and he wasn't sure what would happen to Rin.

"You could just try and summon something else," Rin muttered, but he looked a little soured as he said it.

"I have," Ryuuji said around a laugh that was utterly exhausted. "Some people just… can't." Though, he never had tried to summon a nixie.

Rin scowled. "You'll give me food?"

Ryuuji didn't let himself relax yet. "Yeah, of course."

"And can you make the stuff sound less… ordery?"

"Yeah "

Rin nodded like he'd expected that. "Alright, Ryuuji. I'll do your stupid tricks."

Ryuuji released a relieved breath and let his head hang a little. He could work with all of that.

— — — — —

Rin, as it turned out, also liked manga. Ryuuji's was sitting on his dresser and apparently the artwork on the front had been a bit too hard to resist.

Ryuuji hadn't been particularly attached to that story so he let Rin have it after he did a few simple spells, and now Ryuuji had two things to make Rin (mostly) listen.

There was more talking too, which Ryuuji hadn't really expected, even though it kinda felt like he should have. Even when he was throwing a hissy fit, Rin was talkative.

Ryuuji mostly tried to stay on track, but it was all too easy to get sidetracked by some random question, and more often than not it ended with Rin laughing and calling him a nerd like they were back in Middle School. (If demons even had an equivalent to middle school. He imagined the teasing and bullying had to be as bad or worse than what he’d gone through.)

“Would you stop that?!”

Rin laughed all the harder as he shook his head, rocking back and forth a little from his seated position on the floor. He was showing his fangs in a delighted smile, and it should look ridiculous on him, but mostly he just looked stupidly happy and Ryuuji kept blushing about being called a nerd and he was one. He’d memorized numerous volumes, had top ranks in his top class, and regularly read ancient scriptures for fun. He owned the market on nerd.

But Rin was cackling and his tail was thumping giddily against the floor, and it was making Ryuuji blush and feel entirely embarrassed, and it was a stupid thing to be embarrassed about when he’d been called so much worse, and Rin was right. He did have an enormous book collection. (And this was only part of it.)

“Your face!” Rin cackled, falling onto his back as he over rocked, and even that just seemed to make him laugh harder.

Ryuuji shoved up to his feet, torn between leaving the room, throwing the empty soda can at Rin, or just breaking the circle. 

He didn’t quite trust Rin alone, and the can was as far away as the circle, so he stomped up to the circle, intending to break it and the connection to Rin. (Just for a little while. He’d summon him back before the hour was over. The dorm room seemed weirdly quiet now without Rin’s endless rambles, and it was good practice to try and stay focused on his recitations while Rin rambled.)

Rin’s hand flew out and covered the edge of the circle as Ryuuji drew near.

“No!” He yelped, voice still cracking on his own laugh, “I’ll stop!”

“Will not,” Ryuuji grumbled moving his hand to the other side of the circle in a mostly mock threat. 

Rin, apparently not thinking it a mock threat, shot his hand across the circle and flopped it on top of Ryuuji’s, pressing Ryuuji’s palm against the hardwood and chalk, stopping him from erasing it.

Despite being on fire, Rin’s touch wasn’t any hotter than a human’s touch. He was solid too, which probably shouldn’t be strange, but Ryuuji hadn’t really expected him to be solid.

“Come on, don’t!”

Ryuuji found himself momentarily forgetting what he’d threatened to even do. He swallowed, staring down at the hand over his and wondering how he’d been summoning Rin so many times and never actually touched him. There were calluses pressing against the back of his hands, claws poking at his skin, and Rin was squeezing, just a little. Not as much as he probably could, and not painfully so.

All Ryuuji could think was you’re real, and it seemed too stupid to possibly say, so he just stared moer than was probably polite. 

“Ryuuji?” Rin let go of his hand and tilted his head curiously. 

Ryuuji snatched his hand back and stood up to cross over to his desk chair. 

“Nothing,” he muttered, wondering why everything seemed a little different when nothing had actually changed. Rin had always been real. He was just trapped in a circle because Ryuuji had somehow managed to summon and trap him in a circle, and he couldn’t figure out which part did what yet. 

Turning to his book, he frowned at it. That suddenly seemed far more important to figure out. 

“Ryuuji?” Rin asked again, and apparently that ‘nothing’ didn’t quite take. 

“Nothing, you dork—”

“I’m not a dork!”

“—I’m just thinking about some things.” He only had a few more days before the summoning exam. He could focus on which part had Rin stuck once they passed. (Though, he wouldn’t have a reason to summon Rin after that, would he?)

“Ryuuji?”

And apparently Rin was still not buying it. Ryuuji rolled his eyes and grabbed one of the packets of gummies off his desk. He tossed it to Rin (was it just his imagination that Rin’s hair looked a bit… translucent?)

“Eat up. We got some more stuff to do.” And I still haven’t figured out how to let you sustain yourself off my energy.

Rin eyed him like he still didn’t quite buy it, but he ate the gummies anyway. His hair seemed to solidify again, and something a little guilty squirmed in Ryuuji’s gut. 

He didn’t quite want to stop summoning Rin.

— — — — —

“Tomorrow?” Rin asked, bouncing from foot to foot because he had a ludicrous amount of energy before Ryuuji had started bribing him into work with sugar and caffeine. 

“Yeah. Tomorrow.” Ryuuji went over his notes a bit nervously. “You—”

“Relax!” Rin laughed. “I know the drill. I’ll do the stuff and you’ll pass. Just don’t make your tone all bossy, ‘kay?”

“I’m not bossy! And you’re sure you got it?”

“Yeah!” Rin exclaimed, all teeth as he smiled. “Think there’ll be some kinda fight?” He bounced from foot to foot again, raising his fist like he was going to box. “Think I’ll get to show off my moves?”

Ryuuji couldn’t help a snort. “No, you dork. This isn’t some Pokémon training. All they should be looking for is if we respond to each other.”

“What?” Rin asked, dropping his hands and blushing a little.

“Pokémon? It’s a game. Never mind. They just want to see if we’ll work together. If we’ve got a good rapport.”

Rin, still looking a bit pink and purple, scrunched his nose with confusion. “Rapport?”

“If we’re able to understand each other and communicate?”

“Oh.” Rin toed awkwardly at the floor. “Okay.”

Now Ryuuji was the one feeling awkward. It seemed so strange that he had reached the point where tomorrow was it. He would summon Rin and then…

“I promise I’ll leave you alone after tomorrow, and… Thanks. For working with me.”

“Leave me alone?”

“Yeah. I’l break the circle tomorrow and… And that’ll be it. You won’t have to see me again.  

“Oh.” Rin’s smile faltered a little. “So this is it?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry you got roped into all this, and thank you for helping me anyway.” 

“Yeah,” Rin toed at the ground again. “It was… fun.”

Something in Ryuuji’s chest loosened and relaxed. Rin hadn’t really had a choice, and Ryuuji had tried to not be a jack ass, but knowing Rin had enjoyed some of the time was an enormous relief.

Ryuuji offered Rin as broad of a smile as he could, feeling like it didn’t quite sit right before he just let it drop. 

“Tomorrow.” Tomorrow and then no more Rin.

“It’s gonna go great,” Rin promised, and Ryuuji hoped it would.

— — — — —

Ryuuji made the circle as hastily as he could, not really wanting Miss Yamada to look at it too closely and figure out where the difference in his circle and the proper one were. Rin seemed tied to those changes and he didn’t quite want her to be able to summon him. Rin deserved to just be able to chill in Gehenna. (Even if that sounded awful to Ryuuji.

With the circle complete, it only took a moment to drop a few hairs and rice. (Apparently Rin couldn’t really taste the first offering. It was only once he appeared that they started to have flavor, so Ryuuji went cheap on the first.)

Rin appeared, a bit translucent, but with a less aggressive stance than he’d taken last time. 

So far so good.

Ryuuji gave him a small smile and pulled out a pack of strawberry pocky and tossed it to Rin, careful not to step through the barrier in front of his teacher. 

Rin’s eyes went a little wide before he was prying the packet open and popping one in his mouth.

“Rin, I beseech you to create a ball of fire for me.” He’d agreed to use more formal language because Rin thought it made them both sound cooler. 

Rin snapped the pocky between his fangs, swallowed it, and gave him a sharp smile. Then, raising his hand, he formed a ball of fire. 

Yes! Miss Yamada saw that Ryuuji had summoned, and that his summons could follow an instruction.

“Spells? Which spells have you two mastered?”

Mastered? They’d had two weeks. 

“Rin, please heed my prayer and grant me a fire slash.” Ryuuji bowed a little for that one. He would swallow pride to get an A. 

Rin beamed and summoned a sword of flames from his hand. Then, with a sweep of his sword in a sharp arc, he sent a flare of fire in an arc across the entire room. They weren’t hot, and did no damage.

Miss Yamada’s eyes narrowed. “Well, he certainly seems responsive this time. I suppose you’ve tamed him?”

Rin’s posture stiffened. 

“We have a contract,” Ryuuji said, confirming but not using her wording. He hadn’t tamed Rin. He was pretty sure Rin couldn’t be ‘tamed.’ Ryuuji certainly wasn’t capable of it. It was a damn blessing that he’d even gotten Rin to show up.

Rin seemed to relax a little. 

“I’m impressed, Suguro.” She said, and Ryuuji did a small victory punch in his head. 

The victory punch died after class when he was getting ready to dismiss Rin for the final time.

“You’re taking my course next semester?”

“Err…”

“Because if not, I’ll expect the details on your modified circle. This demon needs further investigation.”

Ryuuji could feel himself going pale. Further investigation? What did that mean? What was she going to do with Rin?

She nodded her head. “Yes. Very impressive. I look forward to finding out just what all we can make him do.”

Fuck.

— — — — —

“What are they going to do to me?!” Rin demanded, flaring with frightened fire. He tried to make it look intimidating, but Ryuuji recognized the wild way Rin went when scared.

“I don’t know. I gotta—stop that. I gotta think.” 

“Well think quicker!”

“It ain’t something you can just do on demand!” Ryuuji huffed and pressed his fingers against his temple, trying to ease some of the tension. 

“Well?” Rin asked after all of three seconds. 

Ryuuji inhaled slowly. “You’ve never been summoned before?”

Rin blushed purple past the flames. “No,” he muttered. “I already told ya that. You’re… It’s only happened like this.”

Rin was an unknown and unregistered demon then. Ryuuji didn’t know a lot about that, but it would mean that Rin was going to need to be tested, and the section they’d covered on testing in this class didn’t sound like a whole hell of a lot of fun.  They sounded torturous. Intense and endless and painful. There might even be testing with arias and sutras. 

It could be torture, and it would be entirely Ryuuji’s fault. He had forced himself into Rin’s life and irrevocably changed it, and…

There was really only one thing to do. Well, only one thing he could do with anything like a clear conscience. Doing anything else would be wrong. (He’d already learned Rin had favorites and liked manga and struggled with reading and bounced to rock and though Ryuuji was a nerd, and he was warm and solid when he was touched because he was entirely and frighteningly real and alive.) 

Ryuuji had summoned Rin, and in doing so, he automatically assumed responsibility of what happened next. Rin had to respond to the call. He was (annoyingly) innocent in this.

Ryuuij stood straighter and gave Rin a determined look. “Get comfortable. I gotta figure out how to get you out of that damn circle if I’m taking her class next semester.”

Rin drew back. “What?”

Ryuuji shrugged and took his seat. “I got ya into this mess. I’m not going to leave you hanging. We got a contract, right? You helped me and I help you.” He’d gotten his passing grade and got out of taking the class again. Hell, he’d passed enough to qualify for the next course.

He looked back up when he realized Rin hadn’t answered. The demon was giving him a look like he had never quite seen Ryuuji before.

“What?” Ryuuji demanded.

Rin shook his head. “Anyone ever tell you you’re cool?”

Ryuuji scowled. There was no need for Rin to make fun of him when he’d just made the sacrifice of taking another semester in a subject he hated. 

“Shut up!” 

Rin grinned goofily, looking entirely happy as his tail wagged. “Alright, Ryuuji. Whadda we do first?”

“You shut up,” Ryuuji threw a pack of rice crackers at him, hitting him square in the chest, “and eat.”

Rin did as he was told, grinning in that stupidly happy way and making a constant thump thump thump as his tail wagged and beat against the circle. 

Ryuuji really didn’t want to take this damned class, but as he spread out his notes on the circle and started to read to the sound of Rin’s ludicrously loud chomping and happy thumps, he figured there were worse things he could get stuck doing than partnering with Rin.

— — — — —

“Hey!” Rin appeared the moment Ryuuji’s blood hit the circle. He appeared so quickly that he nearly clocked Ryuuji in the nose. Ryuuji drew back with a colorful curse and promptly scowled.

“Would ya watch it?!”

Rin had never appeared like that before. It always took a lot more than blood.

Rin grinned sheepishly. “Sorry. It’s kinda hard to control the speed I come in at.” 

Ryuuji found himself immediately and annoyingly fascinated. “You can change the speed?”

Rin shrugged. “Yeah? I was dragging my feet at first. Still had to come, but I could make it take longer.” The demon paused, eyes going a bit wider when he saw the the rice in Ryuuji’s hand. “Was that for me?”

“Yes. But you don’t need it?” Had he been wasting money on that all this time? Was the blood all he needed?

No. That didn’t work. He’d summoned Rin with just blood before, but he hadn’t been strong enough to come all the way over. Why had it worked now?

Rin scooped up a mouthful of rice. “Need it?”

“To get over here.”

“Oh,” Rin stuffed more rice in his mouth despite not having swallowed the first bite. “I don’t know. I just heard ya call.” 

Ryuuji’s cheeks turned pink and he wasn’t sure why.  “Heard my call?”

Rin swallowed and stuffed twice as much rice in his mouth. “Yeah.”

Ryuuji looked down at his notes feeling strangely flustered and warm. “Oh. Okay…”

He looked back up at Rin, still blushing, and found Rin had already been looking at him with a small smile.

"Uh," he stuttered, clutching his papers a bit too tightly as Rin's smile seemed to grow. "We--books."

"Books?" Rin teased, and Ryuuji was pretty sure his ears went a bit pink to join his blushing cheeks.

"Shut up!"

Rin just laughed.

[ograndebatata]

EoA Ship Appreciation Week 2020 - Day One - New Beginnings  Enemies/Rivals

Note: So...I get it I likely am stretching it more than a bit with this kind of story, as we have absolutely no idea of whether these characters are rivals, much less of whether they even know the other exists. 

But this ship just came to me one day, and I sailed away on it before I knew what had happened. And given what we know of their characters, I think it would make sense for them to have started out like rivals, before turning into something better, so to speak. 

I hope you like my take on this.

Note #2: The full name I gave Professor Mendoza is not canon in any way. It’s something I came up with. I felt and feel it makes sense, but it’s not in any way official. Just thought I’d say it. 

Now, without further ado, check on below for the actual fic.

Sparks Under Stars

“And so, according to the legend, the Creators rewarded the jaquins for the role they played in that battle by giving them a picture in the sky, so their bravery and loyalty would be remembered for all eternity,” Professor Sabina Campana Mendoza finished, her brown eyes locked on the familiar constellation whose story was one of her favorites.

If she looked hard enough, it almost seemed she could see the creature taking form around the stars that were its central structure, turning to smile at her before flying away to halt the plots of evildoers, like she had often seen real jaquins doing over the course of her life.

Of course, it did not happen, but all the same, those stars seemed to carry a special glow about them, one no other constellation could match. Just looking at it, she could understand why the Maruvians had made this out to be a special constellation.

"Wow," a familiar raspy voice breathed from her side, a soft rush of hot air caressing her hair.

Drawn away from her musings, Sabina looked at the sound, right into the eyes of the man who had once been the greatest pain in her neck, but was now something much more wonderful.

"That was a beautiful story," Antonio Agama added as the stared into her eyes, his own green ones glowing softly in the light of the campfire they were lying by as they huddled half-dressed under a blanket. “Thank you for telling it to me.”

Taken aback by both his voice and gaze, Sabina could only blink. Both things told her that he meant what he said, and yet the feeling somehow seemed out of place on him. Yes, she had told this story many times before, and while she had yet to receive truly nasty feedback - discounting people who were plain rude or deliberately trying to start trouble - this kind of delighted reaction seemed out of place on an adult man.

Unsure of what else to do, Sabina reached up and bopped Antonio's nose.

"Don't you think we're past the stage where you need to butter me up?"

For some reason, his smile briefly dimmed at her words, as if he was actually hurt that she was genuinely accusing him of something.

"I meant it," he stated, sounding just as sincere as before. "It was a beautiful story, even if it had its sad parts. I'm glad to have learned it."

Despite herself, Sabina had to make a noticeable effort not to scrunch up her face in puzzlement. As honest as his words still sounded, what they were implying seemed just a bit too… unexpected, for lack of a better term.

“You mean… You'd never heard it before?” she managed to whisper.

Antonio nodded, again conveying full sincerity in his face. The slightest of gasps flew past her lips from the small gesture, though it conveyed only a tiny part of the amazement that she felt at this reveal. Him saying he’d never heard this story was almost as shocking as if he’d told her he had never learned to read. Which she knew some people didn’t in certain parts of the world, but not in Avalor. Despite all the damage Shuriki’s rule had done to them as a culture, everyone still learned to read as far as she knew.

But then again, she also thought everyone knew this story, and Antonio had just told her he didn’t.  

“But it’s the kind of thing taught at school from an early age, even in remote villages that only have basic schooling.” Sabina at last managed to say. “I know children usually get told a tamer version first, but still...”

Antonio’s face darkened, the flames in the campfire suddenly shifting as a stick popped open on it, the snapping sound giving the illusion that something was breaking inside it by him admitting that.

“I didn’t really go to school,” he graveled out. “All the school-stuff I learned was from my mother, and she was too busy working to teach me a lot. Most of what I know, I taught myself.” 

Sabina reached up and rested a hand on his upper arm, feeling her sympathy going out to him. Antonio had never told her much about his childhood, but she knew it hadn’t exactly been happier. Or at any rate, that it had been even less happy than the childhood of the average person unlucky enough to grow up during Shuriki’s rule. 

After a few seconds of her resting her hand on his arm, he smiled and put a finger under her chin, the light back in his eyes. 

"Which is why I'm glad to learn from you," he added.

Sabina returned the smile, feeling a weight she had only noticed now lifting from her chest. One thing she liked about him - at least ever since they had actually straightened things out between them - was that he admitted when he knew less than her, and that he was willing to learn. All too often, men she met assumed that she knew less just because she was a woman, and when she proved otherwise they only scowled and huffed off in annoyance. Antonio never had, even when the two of them were at odds. And now that they were on better terms, he was actually eager to learn from her, which suited her just fine, because she was always eager to share her knowledge.

“Well, they do say we’re always on time to learn,” Sabina teased as she reached up and curled a strand of Antonio’s hair around her finger.

For some reason, though, Antonio scowled again at her words, as if they reminded him of something unpleasant.

“Tell that to my brother," he grumbled. 

Sabina pulled back her hand. 

"I thought you and Pablo had mended your relationship by now?"

Antonio’s scowl faded a bit. 

"For the most part, we did. But he still hasn't let into his thick head that he needs to make a different living."  

“Well, some of us need more time to learn than others,” Sabina teased, a smirk on her lips. "I mean, how long did you take to care about more than the money you can get for ancient artifacts?"

Antonio’s scowl deepened again, a long breath rumbling from him. 

"I thought we were past this," he ground out. "I only ever claimed finders' fees for the things I found, and only when they were affordable, and I always returned things to their rightful owners."

“I know,” Sabina said, her voice calmer and gentler now. “And I understand why you did it now,” she added, remembering when he told her how he had grown obsessed with the rewards of adventure, and how it tied to his childhood troubles, and how despite everything he had always strived to keep a certain code by not simply selling objects in the black market and making sure to find out who the rightful owners were. “But how long did it take you to learn to care about more than that when it comes to things you find? To realize how important they truly are to help the world learn about its past?"

He let out another long breath at her questions. His eyes clouded over as he pondered her question, the faint popping of the firewood and the chirps and calls of the night animals filling the silence as he thought.

"A lot," he eventually managed.

"And yet you got there," Sabina insisted. 

Antonio’s thoughtful look remained the same. 

"All I mean is, as long as there’s life there’s hope,” she added. Memories of a time when she had forced herself to believe the very same thing crashed over her, sending a shiver through her being and almost making her grimace from the memory. “Trust me, I’d know,” she added, her voice a hushed whisper.

Though the fire was in no danger of going out, chills kept rippling through her, fueled by the memories of those 41 years of terror. They might be behind her, and the memories might be kept away most of the time, but sometimes they still invaded her.

A warm calloused band set on her face, Antonio drawing her away from her thoughts again, this time by rubbing a thumb over her cheek bone.

“I suppose that’s true,” he conceded, now  with a deliberately teasing voice of his own. “After all, we did learn to get along. And how unlikely does that sound in comparison?" 

A barked laugh flew from her at the analogy, all the more genuine because of how true it was. A year ago, if she had been told that she and Antonio Agama would become as close as they were, she would have guessed that the person had either escaped from an asylum or drank too much pisco. Yes, there had been a certain chemistry between them for years, but both had refused to act out on it, held back by the rivalry that fueled them when it came to their discoveries. And if they had never needed each other to escape five target-seeking javelins, an anaconda, four crocodiles, seven caimans, and three jaguars, they probably still wouldn't have stopped being stubborn, nor would they have admitted that they worked better as a team than as rivals.

"It does sound much more unlikely," Sabina at last replied. "Especially after all the repeat attempts that were needed." She tapped her chin in mock-thought, deliberately rolling her eyes. “How many clashes over ancient artifacts did that take exactly?”

“Fourteen,” Antonio replied with a smirk. “I kept tabs.”

Sabina mock-rolled her eyes again. “And don’t I know it…”

"Don't talk like you weren't doing it," he mock-scolded as he took his hand from his face and playfully swiped at her nose with his finger. 

Sabina snorted at the remark, rubbing her nose to clear the tickling. She could certainly say that, but that lie would be dirtier than she and Antonio had been after they got through all those spots of trouble. As much as she had fumed when Antonio held his victories over her, she had never hesitated in holding hers over him either.

“Look on the bright side,” he added as he drew her closer to him. “At least we know we won’t be fighting for this one.”

Despite her muttered laugh at his poor joke, Sabina snuggled into his chest, listening to his heart beating in her ear.

“Well, this is much better than fighting...” she murmured, resting her hand on his ribs.

She felt him shifting as he smiled at her words, and then felt his fingers running through her hair, more gently than she would have once thought him possible, his voice just as gentle as he replied.

“Yes. It is.”

[makeste]

BnHA Smash!! 01 and 02: Smash!!Might is a Fucking Menace

okay, so. I have about a million other things I should be doing instead, including (1) responding to asks and/or finishing in-progress metas, (2) reading Vigilantes, and last but not least, (3) actually making a dent in the ever-increasing backlog of Actual Work That I Really Should Be Doing Instead.

so naturally I’m procrastinating by taking my first stab at reading BnHA’s cute 4-panel omake spinoff series, BnHA Smash!! IT JUST MAKES SENSE. look, I have exactly one thing I felt like actually doing and not procrastinating today, so I might as well do the thing. basically it’s my attention span’s world and I’m just living in it.

anyway! so apparently this series was scanlated by good ol’ Fallen Angels. that’s right; prepare yourselves for some very creative cursing, fellas. other background info for anyone who, like me, is unfamiliar with this spin-off: this series debuted on November 9, 2015, a little over a year after the original series. said original series was currently at chapter 66, meaning the Final Exam arc was just wrapping up.

so now that we’re all properly oriented, let me go over a few disclaimers real quick and then we’ll get started!

all comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity afterward, and added a few ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.

I’m aware that not everyone may be familiar with Smash!! even if they’ve read/watched the original series, so I’ve tried to make this recap comprehensible even if you haven’t read the spin-off. that being said, it’s probably more enjoyable if you have, so you can either purchase the first volume from Viz here, or read the chapter online (I don’t want to link directly, but the spin-off is available on most of the usual sites. literally just google “read mha” and you’ll find some good options).

this readthrough contains a handful of sorta-kinda spoilers for the BnHA manga, although there are no direct spoilers. just an indirect reference to a joke in chapter 242, as well as a reference to a theory which as of now is in no way canon. but just to be on the safe side I’m posting a heads-up.

and I think that’s it! so here we go.

so we’re opening with a brief summary of the series. people have superpowers and shit’s nuts. you know the drill

there’s also a brief description of the way that the superhero economy works, complete with Mt. Lady’s employees unionizing and demanding better pay

...what

guys I keep staring at this and thinking that surely, SURELY it doesn’t say what I think it says. sidekick... what... manager??

you know what? Viz unfortunately doesn’t include this series as part of their subscription package (WHAT AM I PAYING YOU FOR, VIZ), but it does at least include a free preview of Smash, and I bet you that this, the first fucking page of the series, is a part of that preview. so... let’s see...

okay, see, this actually makes sense! so did the FA scanlating team collectively all have a fucking stroke?! just, what??

this is one of the reasons why I had difficulty reading Vigilantes too, tbh. those early chapter scans were, uh. but at least Vigilantes has a Viz scanlation too. I don’t want to spend 10 bucks just to read one volume of this, but we’ll see. anyways

so now there’s a strip about baby!Izuku watching his favorite clip of All Might saving one hundred people from a bus accident or whatever

lol Inko you should not have left your shrewdly calculating four-year-old son unattended omg

TWELVE MONTHS’ WORTH OF TEXTBOOKS HOW CAN THIS EAGER YOUNG MIND RESIST

and this is why you don’t leave your credit card info saved on the computer when you have kids. life lessons learned today

this is the first indicator we have ever had that baby!Izuku wasn’t perfect and was, in fact, capable of being a little shit and giving his mom plenty of gray hairs in his own special way. ngl, I fucking love it

also 12,800 yen is about $118 USD, which is honestly a really good deal for a year’s worth of textbooks. he got three boxes of books! I just googled the average cost of college textbooks, and the google article said the average student spends about $1200 a year. so this is a fucking steal tbh

OH MY GOD INKO HOW MANY TIMES MUST HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF BEFORE YOU LEARN

at least install a fucking adblocker ffs. you’re lucky quirk supplement ads are the worst of the ads he’s getting! PARENTAL CONTROLS

now we are cutting to a comic about baby!Izuku defending another boy from my problematic fave, as seen in page one of the original series!

lmaooo

I’m not clear on how much of this spin-off can actually be considered canon. my understanding is that it is Horikoshi-reviewed and approved, even though he doesn’t actually write it. but it’s obviously a humor series, so a lot of it is just going to be jokes. that being said, I think my approach is going to be “if it’s not completely ridiculous and doesn’t contradict the actual manga, go ahead and consider it canon”

(ETA: I might change this up after reading the first two chapters. most of these strips would have terrifying implications if they were actually canon sob.)

anyhoo, this actually does contradict the manga in that we saw this encounter play out very differently. but I kind of wish it was canon regardless because looool. these cocky preschoolers and their fucking Battle Tears

the next comic is Mt. Lady accidentally stepping on a guy’s face and the guy being way too fucking happy about it (read: having a fucking nosebleed and taking an upskirt shot). we’re just going to skip this entirely. this is another problem I was having with Vigilantes too. you know, for all my complaints about Mineta and such, BnHA as a whole is so much tamer than it could be, and I need to give Horikoshi credit for that. he mostly knows where to draw the line, and to his credit he’s also much, much better about this kind of thing than he was when he first started. maybe Mineta’s standings in the character poll results are helping to clue him in

anyway, I’ll mostly just skip past the iffy stuff because I don’t have patience for it and there’s still plenty of other stuff to cover. so on to the next strip

which features a bunch of reporters fawning over Mt. Lady’s flashy quirk while Kamui Woods laments in the shadows

and yet we know this kid will have a prominent rise within the next six months. it’s so strange to revisit the start of the series and see how much things have changed in such a short time

oh my god

no one who dresses up as a giant mushroom could possibly have good intentions. I. just

and look at the fucking disappointment in Deku’s eyes. KAMUI WOODS HE BELIEVED IN YOU!

now some strange man is coming up to Deku and is all HEY YOU, YOU’RE A HERO OTAKU, TELL ME WHAT TO BUY MY SEVEN-YEAR-OLD SON FOR HIS BIRTHDAY. better not ask him unless you’re prepared to shell out $120 bucks for some fucking textbooks

hey, what!!

WE DIDN’T EVEN GET TO SEE WHAT HE BOUGHT HIM? unless it’s the action figure the kid appears to be holding? but I’m just going to go ahead and assume Izuku recommended the number one best gift that any seven-year-old child would love, i.e. a giant sword

now it’s a sludge monster omake!

so Izuku is trudging home all depressed after CERTAIN INCIDENTS, and Sludgey is glooping his way out of a sewer towards him

oh no All Might

my biggest takeaway from this is the fact that the entire second half of chapter one takes place after All Might has emerged from a fucking sewer. I forgot all about that somehow. or maybe it never fully processed until just now. but omg. this entire chapter must have smelled so fucking bad. these poor kids

wow All Might

sure called that one wrong. ah well nobody’s perfect

looooool

lmao, Smash!!All Might appears to be quite a bit more vain than the original. wow dude

btw, friendly reminder (and I think this is something that was actually pointed out to me after one of the recaps; that’s one of my favorite things about doing these) that All Might, after saving Deku, actually read his notebook before signing it. super-fast, I guess, because he’s the best. but yeah, so he knew exactly how smart and observant Deku was, and how much he wanted to be a hero. his decision to pick him as his successor didn’t just come out of the blue; even before the “my body moved on its own” thing, there was a lot Deku had going in his favor. this is one of those little details of which BnHA has so many, and which I love

lmao what the fuck

ngl this version of the series would have been amazing in its own way. but yeah. so this is why we clearly can’t assume everything in Smash!! is canon lol. but I can already tell I am going to enjoy the shit out of this series

now we’re cutting to Deku running at Sludgey in order to save Kacchan, oh shit. the most dramatic part of chapter one. clearly no moment is sacred

sob what

I don’t understand this strip at all. is this supposed to be a serious moment inserted unexpectedly among this multitude of joke strips? or did I miss the punchline? heeeeelp

(ETA: okay so. my best guess is that All Might wrote all over Deku’s life-saving advice, and so the joke is that Deku no longer knows what to do when assaulting sludge men because HIS NOTES ARE RUINED. idk. what does 25 P mean??)

now All Might has Done The Thing and saved my boys, and now Mt. Lady is helping with the cleanup. scooping up all the bits of sludge and putting it in trash bags

oh my god

nope nevermind. nope. nope

-- shit. okay, you know what? this first chapter has been a real in-your-face reminder of the fact that the sludge monster was not made of cute sparkly 2018-trending-fad slime, but was in fact composed of RAW FUCKING SEWAGE. (ETA: to be clear, I’m pretty sure the joke in this strip is that she accidentally picked up dog-doo during her clean-up. but still, the fact that it was indistinguishable from the rest of the gunk speaks for itself.) I think I forced myself to gloss over this fact originally due to the nope factor. but just. Izuku and Katsuki were both choking to death on this shit?? and just, how the fuck did they make it out of this not traumatized

and also, like. All Might was straight up going to leave Izuku alone afterwards, just, “well enjoy your autograph, fine citizen” and blasting off out of there. and everyone fucking saw Katsuki almost suffocate to death later on, and after giving him a pat on the back they fucking let him go off on his own too? and you can’t even make the argument that this was Just Another Day In Quirk Society either, because more than a year later, Katsuki is still a bona fide fucking celebrity from the media coverage of his attack. it clearly was not something that happens every day. in conclusion, these kids are resilient as fuck, and thank god for that because people apparently just do not give a shit, holy christ

anyway. at least Mt. Lady had gloves

OH MY GOD

I FUCKING KNEW IT OH MY GOD. THE ROIDS. MUSCLES LIKE THAT DON’T JUST GROW ON TREES, I DON’T CARE HOW MANY LBS OF GARBAGE THIS KID HAULED OFF THE BEACH. THIS BOY BEEN HITTIN THE JUICE

Smash!!Might is so fucking shady omfg. probably sells cheap counterfeit electronics on Amazon

oh shit and that’s the end of the fucking chapter lol. that’s it?? that was only eight pages. fuck it, let’s read another. but first here’s Horikoshi’s note on the spin-off

so he really feels that Neda gets the spirit of the series and understands him. that’s very encouraging. the best spoofs and parodies are done out of love. I really think I’m going to enjoy this series

so! onward to chapter two

so here’s All Might dressed as Mr. 2 Bon Clay from One Piece, I guess??

“you know what’s funny? dressing a man in girl’s clothes LOL.” guys can we grow the fuck up. and also acknowledge that All Might can look good in anything, so this questionable gag wouldn’t have even landed anyway. you work that tutu All Might

lmao check out the past users of OFA here

All for One for All theory fucking confirmed lol. just look. that’s him in the back of the conga line. clearly

so Deku is all “hell yes why would I possibly say no??” but then

HIS LIMBS. lmao. sign here

in all seriousness, given the shit this kid has been through since the part of the series, All Might probably should have gotten him to sign a liability waiver of some sort. not that it would have stood, since Deku is underage! anyways Deku you totally have grounds to sue the shit out of the Symbol of Peace should you ever choose to do so. and the trend of Smash!!Might being shady af continues yes please give me more I love it

so now All Might is giving Deku his fitness plan which has a really elaborate name

given that this is Smash!!Might, I can’t help but wonder if this plan is in actuality some sort of MLM scheme. All Might are you trying to get Deku to do Herbalife

lol what in the fuck

the original series skipped right over a hell of a lot, it would seem. like the time Deku traveled to Arizona and fought coyotes in a poncho

I’m starting to suspect that Neda-sensei might be on some sort of substance. “let’s see what jokes can I make about chapter 2 of BnHA. I know, I’ll send the protagonist to a fictionalized version of the American Southwest in a sombrero, and then turn him into a 65-year-old oil tycoon.” naturally

lmao that’s really it, that’s the strip. moving right along. okay??

now Izuku is staring at the intimidating piles of Beach Trash and is all “I HAVE TO PICK ALL THIS SHIT UP?”

omg Deku no

somebody call Marie Kondo. Deku none of this is salvageable. not even to reuse in a color page photoshoot spread four years from now

OH SHIT

PROVED ME WRONG OH SNAP. SHOWED ME RIGHT WHERE I COULD PUT THOSE SASSY TAKES. MY BAD DEKU I’M SORRY

anyways I don’t know what Smash!!Might is so upset about. he probably wove some kind of clause into the contract Deku signed that allows him a percentage of the profits. unless Deku already spent it all on textbooks

what the fuck is this fucking series lmao

time for a round of “what is All Might casually crushing in this panel?” is it (a) a cardboard box, or (b) like, a mini-fridge or some fucking shit. IT COULD BE EITHER. IT MAKES EQUALLY AS MUCH SENSE EITHER WAY. “HEROES THESE DAYS ARE [FLEEEEEEX] OBSESSED WITH BEING FLASHY” 

holy shit no wonder he ran away to the Sierra Nevada. it’s only a matter of time before this freak fucking kills someone

NOW WE’RE CUTTING AWAY TO KAMUI WOODS DRESSED LIKE A DAFFODIL, IN THE SAME FUCKING COMIC STRIP, BECAUSE REASONS

my jokes about the mangaka being high as a fucking kite when he wrote this are gradually becoming less jokes and more serious inquiries??

lol so he coincidentally just stumbled across All Might and Deku at this exact moment

AND IT WAS A FUCKING REFRIGERATOR OH MY FUCKING GOD

do you guys remember during the final exam when All Might beat the everloving shit out of Deku and Kacchan, and everyone was all “JESUS CHRIST WOULD YOU LEARN TO FUCKING HOLD BACK A LITTLE THEY ARE CHILDREN YOU MANIAC.” but now we can see plain as day that he was, in fact, holding back. anyways Smash!!Might is terrifying as shit and if this had been the main series I would have already pegged him as the final villain by this point

here he is now wearing an old-timey bathing suit but looking more like an escaped convict than anything else

this panel is actually canon. I’ve decided. this 100% definitely happened at some point. especially the swimsuit

now two bikini babes are walking up and they’re all “IS THAT ALL MIGHT??” with excited sparkly eyes because they don’t know that he’s actually a deranged con artist who crushes refrigerators like empty soda cans. this spin-off has truly opened my eyes

LOOK AT THIS SKEEVY FUCK. JUST LOOK

AND NOW HE’S RUNNING OFF AND LEAVING DEKU TO DROWN IN EXHAUSTION, SON OF A

“SUDDEN BUSINESS” KSJLDKF SMASH!!MIGHT IS A FUCKING MENACE TO SOCIETY AND ALSO DOES NOT GIVE ONE SINGLE FUCK. NOT ONE!! HE’S OUT THERE FUCKLESS, AND NO ONE IS SAFE

now Deku is approaching his mom all serious and says he wants to change up his diet

and she’s looking at the menu he prepared all impressed and thinking that she might join him. as long as it’s for your health, Inko. if this manga starts making jokes about your weight, I will beat it over the head with Deku’s textbooks

OMFG

THIS WENT IN THE EXACT OPPOSITE DIRECTION I WAS EXPECTING, AND THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING THING I’VE EVER READ WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. the whole fucking family is on the juice. and the fucking mangaka is on some special juice of his own oh my stars

now we’re cutting to Mt. Lady stomping on a car

thank fuck no one was actually in there. also does she not wear shoes

and also, it only just occurred to me that she must be another person with a special quirk costume, because her suit shrinks and expands along with her. Hagakure and Momo are really getting shafted by the costume design team here. they need to fire some people

anyway so Mt. Lady slipped on this carelessly placed vehicle and fell down and crushed an entire building whoops

bruh, you think you’re “ow.” let’s hope that building was empty too

and now she’s toppling another building just fucking because, I guess. and saying she can’t do urban areas

lmao and now the sidekick [CENSORED] manager from chapter one is back to guilt-trip her omg

I need this man to show up in every freaking chapter. please. respect my wishes

and now Izuku is standing on top of his collected pile of garbage screaming in victory

I only just realized that there’s still a big old Pile O’ Trash on this beach, though. someone needs to haul all of this junk away. or else get All Might and Mt. Lady to crush it all with a combined effort

oh shit here it comes y’all, the famous “eat my hair” scene. potential comedy gold right here omg

lol what the fuck

this man is a fucking billionaire and he’s out here clipping coupons and deleting pictures of his son in order to make room for them smdh

okay now we’re doing the hair scene

oh. oh no. I know where this is going sob please keep this comic rated PG for the children Neda

motherfucker they really --

Smash!!Might is a straight-up felon. this man has no fucking scruples. that’s okay Midoriya-shounen, if you don’t want to eat my hair we could just try some REDACTED, jesus christ I am going to need some bleach for my eyes after this

OR LET’S JUST STRAIGHT UP GO THERE WHY NOT

lmao sob. well, two chapters in and we’ve established that no territory is off-limits here. it’s a brave new world. wow

 so that’s it! our introduction to BnHA Smash!! I enjoyed it a lot and I will definitely be reading more! I’m not sure what kind of schedule I’ll keep, but this is a really good procrastination manga thus far, so knowing me I might actually work my way through this relatively quickly. especially since the Manga At Large is on break this week. anyways my deepest apologies to the many people who have been requesting for me to start Vigilantes instead. I just need something lighter right now, and this is a good fit. one of these days I’ll get my shit together with the other two spinoffs as well.

[mikototsu-trash]

It is always funny to see people say anyone but Totsuka mattered to Mikoto because he made him good

I’m Late to answering this ask but what else is new

idk why anyone would send me an ask thinking that I agree only Totsuka is important to Mikoto bc I’ve posted quite frequently in the past about especially Anna’s importance to him??? Anyway, this disc horse is long dead and gone but I’m a petulant little shit and I have a lot of Thoughts and Feelings about Suoh Mikoto, the fictional love of my life. 

Disclaimer: this is just my opinion/interpretation of canon and not intended as an attack on anyone else’s thoughts or a presentation of the One True Correct Way To Interpret K Project, or as an attempt to reignite any disc horse, I’m just chronically late to the party lmao. Also, my memory is shit and I haven’t read some of the side materials in a long ass time so if I forget/misremember anything, please let me know!!

Secondary disclaimer: whilst I am a hardcore miko/totsu, this is written from the perspective that all relationships mentioned are platonic.

Third disclaimer: this is probably gonna be long af so it’s going under a cut, but the main summary of my viewpoint is that Tatara, Anna, and Izumo are all equally important in Mikoto’s life, but they all serve different purposes in his life and balance him in different ways. The difference in the ways in which their personalities and traits complement and balance Mikoto’s own doesn’t diminish their importance though, and he would be worse off without any of them.

Okay, so I’ll start with Mikoto’s oldest friend Izumo, who Mikoto knew before he even met Tatara. He’s basically the closest thing Mikoto has to family, and I read their relationship as quite a brotherly one. Izumo knows Mikoto very well, and seems to have a pretty good grasp of how he works. Izumo is also hard-working, tactful, clever, and thoughtful. He’s very forward thinking and level-headed, and takes on leadership roles well. In this way, he balances out Mikoto’s impulsiveness and lack of forethought/difficulty controlling his powers that he displays on some occasions. He helps to direct Homra’s, but particularly Mikoto’s, strength to the places where it would be best employed. I also read a number of Mikoto’s character traits as potential symptoms of depression, especially his low energy and motivation, so having someone like Izumo around to deal with day-to-day running of business and behind-the-scenes stuff takes a burden off him. Izumo is the right-hand man and brains of the outfit, and without him, Homra would be disorganised and ineffective, as would Mikoto. In essence, Mikoto is the Big Gun, who is very powerful and commands respect, but who is far less useful without the tactician to decide where would be most effective to point it. 

Next we have Anna, who is basically Mikoto’s daughter. He cares for her fiercely, to the extent that sometimes her presence is enough to calm his aura (but not persistently). His final words were his apology to her, a threat against her from the Colourless King sparked more anger in him than a threat against anybody else, and he does things for her that he wouldn’t be caught dead doing with anyone else, like going on “dates” and to the amusement park and reading stories. He barely knew her that well in Side:Red and he nearly started a clan war with the Golds over her anyway. I’ve elaborated more on the importance of their parent/child relationship in this post. The way Anna balances Mikoto is like Tatara says - Mikoto’s powers are meant to protect, and Anna is the thing Mikoto most wants to protect. Mikoto and Anna also seem to have an understanding of one another - they’ve both suffered immensely because they’re different to everyone else, and it seems to create this instinct in Mikoto to want better for her than he had for himself. Their influence on one another is very pronounced, and their bond and Mikoto’s protectiveness of her is very deeply important to him. I’m very passionate about these two’s relationship, and I refuse to believe that Anna doesn’t matter deeply to Mikoto, and vice versa. This is the hill I’m gonna die on he’s her dad and that’s that. 

I also wanna dedicate a little bit to Reisi as well, because whilst in my view he’s maybe not 100% as important as the other three, he does perform an important role. He’s the only person who is Mikoto’s match and equal in terms of their level of power, and when Mikoto can’t control his powers, he knows he can let it out safely around Reisi without having to worry about hurting him. They’re pretty much foils to one another, and Reisi is the only person Mikoto trusts to end his life - Habari Jin was stopped by Zenjou Gouki, and yet Mikoto chose Reisi rather than Izumo, because he knows Reisi will do whatever is for the greater good above all else and he doesn’t let emotions cloud his judgement, whereas Mikoto is very much controlled by his emotion. He provides something for Mikoto to safely throw his powers against and let off steam, but he also understands the burden of being a King in a way Mikoto’s clansmen can’t, and is a force of regulation and discipline, by contrast to Mikoto, who is more unwieldy and uncontrolled. 

Then of course there’s Tatara, whose most important role in Mikoto’s life is as his “stopper.” His powers were designed precisely to complement Mikoto’s own - whilst Mikoto is very powerful but struggles to control it, Tatara can very deftly control his own weak power, and help Mikoto control his. He balances Mikoto in a more obvious way - he calms him down, helps him regain control of his powers. That’s what Tatara’s powers were made for - he’s the beast tamer, and nobody else can reliably control Mikoto the way he can - Anna has been shown to help him cool his flames on a couple of instances, but Tatara is the only person who can do so consistently. Plus, he’s very optimistic and happy-go-lucky whereas Mikoto is often portrayed as apathetic and pessimistic, or at least putting up an apathetic front to disguise his fear of hurting the people he cares about, so his optimism helps to balance out Mikoto’s anxious/self-deprecating/pessimistic traits. He’s also very perceptive and empathetic, and therefore has a knack for interpreting what Mikoto needs and what he’s thinking/feeling without Mikoto having to speak (and Mikoto’s not much of a talker). For that reason, he understands what Mikoto needs and what he’s feeling better than most others.  As demonstrated, without Tatara to help him control his powers, Mikoto wouldn’t last very long - the Greens targeted Tatara for a reason - because they knew it was a surefire way to make the Red King end up dead.

However, this doesn’t necessarily make the other characters less important. They’re just important to Mikoto in different and unique ways. If it was Izumo who was killed in the shooting, I’m not 100% sure Mikoto would have ended up dead. He would of course definitely seek revenge, but his attempt would be less organised, and he would have had Tatara around to help him control his Weismann level and prevent a Damocles Down, so he may not have died. Similarly, if Anna had died, again of course Mikoto would seek revenge, but again because he still has his stopper, he’s not guaranteed to have a Damocles Down. Having Tatara around could definitely change Mikoto’s fate, though it’s of course impossible to say with 100% certainty how it would have played out because it’s not canon, this is just my interpretation. But again, just because Mikoto might not have died if the others had been killed doesn’t make them less important, it just means that Totsuka’s main importance to Mikoto was to help him control his powers, and it was an (albeit intentional) loss of control of his aura that caused Mikoto’s Damocles Down and therefore his death, so maybe if Tatara was still around, he could have prevented it. 

Regardless of that tho, it would never have been the others who died anyway, because Tatara was predestined to die prematurely if he stayed beside Mikoto, and he never would have chosen to leave. Mikoto is, in my opinion, the most important person in Tatara’s life, but that’s a different story for a different post.

So yeah that’s my very long-winded two cents on the matter. Again, not trying to start discourse (tho I will fite anyone who says Anna isn’t important to Mikoto because that’s just... are we watching the same series???) and feel free to give me y’all’s opinion on the matter, I always wanna discuss needlessly-in-depth K meta with whoever will listen to me lmao