#i forgot how much i love drawing aki

[hansooyung]

hansooyung's coloring tutorial & ctiys: alma time! 🍒

hello everyone! though i've been meaning to for a while, i've finally gotten around to making my first manga coloring tutorial! i'll be going over cleaning panels and screentones, choosing base colors, and finally shading and lighting.

this will also be a color this in your style challenge, so if you're willing, feel free to post your colored panel and tag me in it!! i'd love to see all the results :)

find details under the cut! 🦋

DISCLAIMERS:

this is just how i personally color! i know for a fact that some of my other friends follow other methods and have such beautiful colorings <33

for colors specifically, i play around a LOT. if you don't like your color scheme for the time being, mess around with it! i don't use psds since i like to mess around by hand with color palettes, but maybe i'll look into it for the future.

i explain a lot just bear with me gang 🙏

TECHNICAL STUFF:

software: ibis paint x (on iphone). i use ibis since it is FREE for all phones and it worked on my chromebook as well.

while this tutorial is made for ibis paint x, everything works on other softwares except the brushes, which i've provided alternatives for below.

brushes: i will be using dip pen (hard) which is automatically included with ibis, and two other brushes i made myself which you can find here and here. for more brushes, @/bkdkdh was incredibly helpful and posted her awesome set here!

for other softwares, you can use similar brushes. dip pen (hard) can just be the default brush, while wet edges is just the default brush on lowered opacity (and more of a rectangle/marker shape?). watercolor pencil is a watercolor brush in the rectangle/marker shape as well. if you can't get the shape, you can always smudge your lines into shape as well, so don't fret too much! a bunch of people only use one brush for coloring everything (which is insane to me, personally, they are so talented!)

fun fact: the first brush listed that i made was originally called "aki tao watercolor smooth" 👍

ok here we go guys!!

STEP ONE: CLEANING THE PANEL

i think of this part as setting up the panel for coloring! usually it's pretty exhausting cuz it's all b&w but it's all worth it i swear. the panel i'll be coloring is this beautiful one of alma from chapter 2:

imgur link here (x)

a lot of people redraw their lines to avoid screentones, which is extremely helpful. however, i work on a phone and my fingers are not steady even with the stabilizer turned all the way up T~T. i do it this way, but a different (possibly easier) way may work for you!!!

your first step will be to remove all the white, giving us a transparent background to work with. THIS IS THE NUMBER ONE REASON WHY I USE IBIS PAINT X.

when you upload the image to ibis, a popup comes asking if you would like to "extract line drawing". this creates a lineart of your image. click yes, and your work is like 90% done.

if you're not on ibis, you can redraw your panel, put lineart layer on screen, etc. or you can just extract line drawing from ibis and upload to software of your choice

for those of you not on ibis, i've included the line drawing here (x) if it looks black, don't worry and set your background to white.

omg i was not kidding when i said i explained a lot. ok now onto the three main steps of cleaning the panel:

cleaning background

removing screentones

repainting black lines

for cleaning the background, we're going to clear off all the extraneous stuff. this includes the text in the speech bubble, the gradient screentones behind alma, and the panel line on the left side. just use your eraser tool and go crazy! (i forgot to save the panel at this point of the coloring OTL)

for removing screentones, we're going to remove all those "dots" that mangakas use for shading. these are used to show value for b&w art, but since we're coloring we don't need them—a lot of people have really cool ways of incorporating screentones in their colorings though, and it looks amazing! i used it on nana's hand in my bnha coloring.

remove the screentones from alma's hair and jacket with your eraser tool. this will take time, but it's worth it in the end!

for portions with a bunch of lines, you can create A NEW LAYER and redraw some of the lines. that way, you can erase indiscriminately from the original layer but the lines you drew are still there. again, like i said, my hand is really shaky so i don't do it a lot, but it's extremely helpful for smaller parts where i have control! i used this on alma's jacket, and here's a screenshot of the process:

(i made his jacket purple so i could distinguish between layers easily).

it should look like this when you're done:

for the final step of cleaning, i like to erase all the things colored black (the collar and strings of the jacket, along with the back part of his hair). that way, i can color them in with dark colors and it adds to the whole look of the coloring.

i've circled the parts i'm going to erase below:

and it should look like this when you're done!

ok everyone cheer we're ready to color now!!!!

STEP TWO: BASE COLORS

CROWD CHEERS ok lets go!

this part is the most important to me, because it sets the tone for the whole coloring. i like to use three-four main colors in my colorings, and it's usually background, skintone, hair, and the secret fourth color. the secret fourth color is usually whatever color fits the character's vibe, or if the character's color is the bg, it'll be an accent color.

for example, with my nagi coloring, i used white for the hair, i had my skintone, i had blue as the main coloring vibe (as nagi's color), and black as the accent color.

for alma, i chose his main color to be red! it's the color of his hair and his jacket, so i wanted it to be vibrant and stand out. since blue contrasts red, i went for a greyish-blue shade for the background. (i went for grey rather than solely blue because then it would clash rather than complement).

disclaimer please please please take your device off night mode warm mode f.lux whatever you have. this has screwed me over more times than you may think :(

i like to make my vibrant colors closer to the right end of the color square. for alma's hair, i chose this color:

i dragged it down from the corner a bit but kept the saturation since his hair is kind of dark. we can use vibrant colors to shade it though, so don't worry!

here's his hair and the background together:

now from here, play around with skintones until you find one that matches the hair!

i usually drag around the wheel to the orange-red intersection, and have it on the lighter, more saturated side. here's the color i chose for alma's skintone.

i thought his original skintone looked a bit too orange, so i pulled the saturation back a little bit (moved closer to the left side of the square).

after that, color in his jacket with a bit darker red than hair, choose a gold color for the accents on his jacket, and color in the black parts with a grey-ish color (we will change that later).

here's the base colors!

if it looks a bit bright, don't worry! we can change that with shading. or you might just have to. accept the light.

STEP THREE: SHADING AND LIGHTING

wooo we made it!!!!!!! ok now i lied, we have a bit more of base colors to go. on a layer above the skin, color in your teeth and tongue. for pieces that have a more red feel (like this one), i like to make the teeth and the shading a more vibrant blue color. (for blue pieces, i make it a purple!).

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL SHADING AND ALL COLORS SHOULD BE DONE ON NEW, CLIPPED LAYER.

i'll then go in and do some light shading with my wet edges brush. i'll use a darker color for hard shadows and then a lighter, more vibrant color to accentuate it.

next up we have blush! a lot of people do this in very different ways but i like to do it directly under the eyes, in a vibrant red shade. make a new layer above the skin and clip it on. color pick alma's hair and drag it to the most saturated shade (red corner). then using the watercolor pencil brush, lower the opacity of the brush and drag a line under the eyes on both sides.

make sure to erase the portion of blush that goes above the eyeline. i also added some lips for alma as you can see, and then added a red line under the eyes! this was back to the regular dip pen (hard) brush on 100% opacity. it may take a few tries to get your blush to the way you want it, so don't worry too much.

now we can start our actual shading!

i break this part up into three steps: skin shading, blue shading, and light shading (highlights?)

for all of them, think about where the light is falling and how it will look on alma.

quick interlude about brushes: i use the watercolor pencil brush for softer, bouncy looks (like blush and noses) and i use the wet edges brush for more hard lines in shading.

again, make a new layer above the skin and clip it on. (i like to have it below the blush, so it doesn't cover it). for skin shading, i take the vibrant red and lower the opacity of the wet edges brush by a significant amount (specifics don't really matter, as long as you're happy with it). i'll trace his neck, from the shadow of his face, shadows of his hair falling on his face, ears, and nose. (for the nose i used the watercolor pencil brush for a softer look).

this is what i have once i'm done!

next we have skin shading part two, where we basically make a new layer on top of our first shading, lower the opacity further, and trace outside whatever we just did to blend it in more.

i used the watercolor pencil brush since it's more softer shading meant for blending! i also added it around the eyebrows for depth.

next up we have our blue shading! this is a technique that i learned from @/bkdkdh's colorings, but adding blue as a shadow really adds to the whole coloring. using the watercolor pencil brush, select a light-ish blue shade (a bit more saturated than background color) and use it to shadow a few more areas than your skin shading. i always make sure to hit the underside of the nose, cuz i think it adds depth!

finally, to wrap up our skin shading we have our lights. i use an orange-ish yellow color, which i set pretty light to not blend into the skin. using the watercolor pencil brush, i'll basically highlight any areas opposite to where the blue was, and highlight different parts. i always highlight one side of the nose as well.

i erased the line around the nose since we now have shading there, and added a darker shade to the teeth since i felt it wasn't shaded enough.

now onto the hair!!! (guys we're almost done bear with me, skin and hair are the two main things and then you can half-ass the clothes)

color pick alma's hair color, then drag the red a bit further down to get a darker yet still saturated color. here's mine:

then, using the wet edges brush, draw lines of shadow wherever clumps of his hair fall or overlap with each other. you can have the opacity set to whatever level you want, i just went with around 90. just try to follow the natural lines and patterns of the original line drawing, and everything should work out fine.

here's how mine looks! then, just like we did for skin shading, place a layer on top and lower the opacity to around 50%. place some more shading to blend it in. you can also shade more parts with this shade for some softer shading. i actually forgot to take a screenshot of this step but you'll see it in the next one!

for our (almost) last part of hair shading, take a layer and place it below both of your shading layers. this is going to be our highlight layer! you can see it below, labeled 49%.

remember how we set alma's hair a bit darker from the corner color? now select that corner color and draw highlights in the center of each hair clump.

lightly visible but it's there!

now here i skipped around a bit bc i was having fun and forgot i was doing a tutorial, but repeat the shading (not highlighting) steps with darker colors for alma's jacket. you should have your base layer, a dark shading, and a softer shading for blending.

we're almost there guys!!!

for the pretty much final step of shading, select a light blue color and do some blue shading with the watercolor pencil brush opposite to wherever your darker shading falls (just like we did on the face). make sure to do it to both your hair and your jacket! here's mine:

now for the black portions, we're going to color the whole thing in a dark blue color. just alpha lock your layer and make a big stroke of dark blue, almost black. for our black shading, we're actually going to go lighter.

select a lighter (but still dark) color and place highlights on the base layer, then take an even more vibrant, lighter blue and place it on the very outside for highlights. a better example of this would be nagi's legs in his blue lock uniform here. then, choose a shade to apply shading to the gold accents on alma's jacket and we're done!

CROWD CHEERS!!!!!

STEP FOUR: FINISHING TOUCHES

we made it guys!!!! for finishing touches, i'll usually do background effects or text or that kind of stuff.

step one is coloring your lines. you can add a new layer and clip it to your lineart, or simply alpha lock your lineart and color directly on top. for hair i like to add vibrant blue/purple lines, along with a few red ones. for skin lines i try to do dark brownish purples, but leaving some black is good too bc it adds flavor!

i colored in the text boxes and added shadows using the wet edge feature, then added some text. for the glitch effect, i duplicated the lineart, dragged the layer below all of my colors (including speech bubbles) and then used the glitch effect with height full from ibis. if you don't have ibis, you can look into features on your software, or you can also just drag your lineart layer a bit to either side and color it in. i also applied just the tiniest bit of noise on top of everything

and there we go!!!!! we made it to the end :)

if you've read all the way til here, thank you so much! if you decide to color this panel of alma (or any other panels!) don't be afraid to post them and tag me for a color this in your style type of thing! (you can also put it in my tracked tag, #user.roy) i'd love to see everyone's works :)

here's the full timelapse: (it stalls for a bit at some times but hey we can't have everything)

[rekino2114]

Hello! This is my first time requesting! I hope you write it later on! :D

 

How about the Chainsaw Man Girls Celebrating Their S/O Birthday? 

The chainsaw man girls celebrating your birthday

A/n:so this request was actually sent only a few days ago but I decided to anticipate it because today is actually my birthday and that's on theme. Thanks a lot to everyone who wished me happy birthday by the way

(I know today was supposed to be a drdt daturday but my birthday comes first)

Makima

Be prepared to have the best birthday anyone could possibly ask for, makima will literally do anything you want and make sure there isn't a moment where you aren't happy,from the moment you wake up to when you fall asleep together

She will give you the best cake money can buy, with your favorite flavors and decorate it however you want it to be (spoon feeding it to you, obviously)

As for the gifts she just brought you everything you expressed interest in during the year, from talking to her about how much you liked it to a simple glance in the shopping mall, she brought it. And don't even worry about how much it cost, she has enough money whatever it is

Makima never thought she'd truthfully celebrate a human's birthday let alone do this much, but you're the person who she loves more than anything, seeing you happy makes her heart swell with love she wants nothing but to celebrate the birth of the person who made her a human

"Happy birthday my love, I hope you get to spend another wonderful year of your life by my side, I love you so much"

Power

(I want you all to know I was this close to making a joke about "that scene," but I decided against it to avoid spoilers.....and also because every time I look at that panel I get the urge to stab makima 37 times in the chest)

She.....might have forgotten about it and only remembered when denji and aki mentioned it to her. In any other case she wouldn't care about a stupid human's birthday but since it was you she genuinely felt guilty.

Preparing your party was a group effort with her friends, she asked aki to bake you a cake and denji to put the decorations on while she.......she didn't really do that much, just kinda looked at them while they worked, which made the two guys mad at her

She didn't know what to get you (she said her presence was enough of a gift), but after being pressured by her friends, she just drew you a picture of you together and wrote you a letter with all of the love she felt for you written down

The drawing.....wasn't the best and her calligraphy was quite bad but you really appreciated the effort, you could tell she really loved you and wanted to express that.

"Happy birthday human! I'm happy you have survived another year to be with the great power......Hm....i-i love you, h-here's your gift...i-i put a lot of effort in it"

Himeno

She threw a straight-up party for you, inviting every one of your friends, including all members of division 4. You all had fun and laughed together, but she made sure the attention was all on you, it's your special day after all.

During the day she acts like there's nothing special going on, just being her normal self but not ignoring you so you don't get mad her but then in the evening she tells you makima assigned you two to a special mission but then she brought you to a bar where your party is being held before scooping you up in her arms and telling you happy birthday

She brought a classic cake and a gift she knew you wanted for a while (she might have also told everyone there to bring you a gift too) she also definitely sang happy birthday to you while everyone else (including you) was embarrassed

She tried not to get too drunk this time as she wanted to remember this amazing moment, and she actually succeeded. She spends all night near you being even more affectionate than usual and complimenting you every 5 seconds

"Happy birthday, babe! You thought I forgot, didn't you? Don't worry, I could never. I hope you enjoy the party cause it's just the beginning~"

Kobeni higashiyama

She was very ready for this day, she put a reminder on her calendar and prepared herself for it, she wanted to celebrate you and the fact that you loved her

She tried baking the cake herself, and it actually came out pretty good. She didn't know she could actually bake but she found out she was okay at it, that kinda raised her confidence just by a small bit though

She actually made you a handmade gift. Maybe she learned how to sew to make a shirt, or maybe she knit you a scarf, whatever you prefer, she specifically made it for you. The reasons why she chose to do this were 1:she didn't have enough money to buy you what she thought was a good enough gift, and 2: she wanted to show you how much you truly meant to her, she learned a new skill just for you.

She's just smiling the entire day, when you're eating the cake, when you open her gift and when you hug her telling her how much you loved it (she almost passed out from how much she blushed there)

"H-happy birthday y/n, i-I actually made you this, I hope you like it......oh y-you do? Thanks so much, i-i just wanted to do this, it's your special day after all"

Quanxi (and her harem)

They actually decided to throw you a surprise party with only the six of you, like himeno they tried to act like it wasn't a special day, quanxi was definitely the most successful at that as she doesn't show that much emotion in the first place, her girlfriends however had some issues....you saw them giggling to themselves and getting all nervous when your birthday was brought up

Quanxi took you out on a date while the fiends decorated your place and prepared the cake. When you got back, they all hid and jumped out, yelling surprise and laughing.

They each brought you a gift that they knew you'd like. Some of them brought it, and others handmade it. It's really sweet because they'll take turns giving you the gifts and making speeches about how much they love you while the other girls hype her up

They also each take turns kissing you and hugging you all resulting in a giant puddle of affection that make you feel so so loved and warm

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!/HALLOWEEN!"

"I think I can speak for all of us when I say that the day you entered our lives was amazing, you made all of us feel even more loved than we already were, we cannot thank you enough, happy birthday y/n"

Asa mitaka

She was both excited and nervous for this day, excited because she got an opportunity to do something to show how much you truly changed her life and you meant to her but nervous because what would happen to your relationship if she did something you wouldn't like? Would you break up with her? These thoughts plague her mind often, but especially on occasions like this

In a surprising twist, it was actually yoru who helped her gain confidence, mentally slapping her (like actually slapping her in her mind) and telling her to stop whining because you'll definitely like what she did for you, it was pretty surprising for asa seeing the war devil actually being nice to her, but she thanked her and calmed down

She brought you a cake and something you told her you wanted but didn't have enough money to buy, she saved enough to buy it from doing part time jobs and other stuff only for you.

She also made a speech that she wrote down and studied the night before like it was a test. In that speech, she told you everything she ever wanted to tell you, how much she loves you, how just being near you makes her feel so much better, how you make all of the struggles in her life easier just by being there near her and how much she wants to spend the rest of her life with you.

"S-so did you like it? The party, the speech, everything,.....I just want to say....thank you, you make my life worth living, i-i truly love you"

Yoru

She doesn't fully understand the concept of birthdays. Why would a human want to celebrate the fact that they're one year closer to death? But this time she made an effort for you

She did threaten basically everyone who she needed something from, the bakery to get your cake and the store to get your gift, they should be thankful it was her partner's birthday and so she felt merciful and didn't kill anyone, she also forced asa to decorate her house but the girl doesn't mind that much since you're her friend

Other than the gift she stole brought for you, she also made you something herself, a shield shaped badge she made by turning a small thing into a shield with her powers, she told you to always wear it as it signified that she would always protect you

(I can't remember if she can actually make shield, I still consider them weapon so I feel like she could)

Even if she'd never admit it, seeing you happy over she did made her (asa's?) Heart flutter, she thought she only loved destruction and bloodshed before she met you but she found out she was wrong...she loved you too

"Hm? You like it? Oh thanks but it's nothing, I can literally make one whenever I want, oh... You're talking about the party, well you're welcome, I don't understand human customs but it's the least I could do for you, thanks I love you"

Fami

The moment she found out when your birthday was, she made a lot of reservations to every restaurant you like. You're getting a day full of eating, and you don't get a choice in it

You're having a literal feast for every meal of the day, whether it be at fancy restaurants or fast food or just something fami tried to make or ordered from take out places, all of it are all of your favorite foods that she shares with you, she had to stop herself multiple times from just devouring everything but seeing you enjoy the food was enough to make her happy

All of it culminated when she brought you home and gave you your cake. It was actually something she made, and it was pretty good. She wanted to make something special for you with her bare hands to show you her care. Even if she's not the best cook, the cake still tastes amazing to you cause you can taste all the love in it

This was probably the day you saw her smile the most. Just seeing you eating and looking at her, you looked so precious and amazing. She wants to see you like that more, the look of gratitude and love you give her feel more delicious than any food could ever be

" So what was the best food you ate today? Uh? My cake? It's really nothing special it was actually the first time I ever cooked something.....thank you. I'm glad you liked it, I love you Happy birthday"

[meownotgood]

Prince Aki doodle 👀

I forgot the little cross on his earring lol

AAAAAHAHSHSHSHAHAHHAhahjajnsnsndnsnsjsjs listen......... LISTEN......... today is not the best of days but seeing this made my day so much better 🥹🥹🥹🥹 he's so cute I will cry.... his cutie earssss ahhhh!!! I love how you draw him so much!! 💞💞💞

[toggle1-mrfipp]

Points that Nayuta is Not Dead

Point A: Mole

As others have pointed out, on the severed head on the plate Nayuta does not have a mole under her left eye. This is a distinguishing feature of hers that Fujimoto has been rather consistent in drawing and it would seem ill-timed if this was the one of the times he forgot some detail. That being said, Fujimoto has forgotten details before, so this might be the most flimsy one, but that being said it does lead to the next point.

Point B: Fire Devil

Currently Fami has in her employ the Fire Devil, a devil capable of activating extensive physical transformations in people who make a contract with it, so it's possible that was not Nayuta, but rather someone who had made a contract to look like her. This also flows into the theory that a Chainsaw Man doppelganger, dubbed Fakesaw Man, is also a Fire Devil contractee, that someone enacted a contract with the Fire Devil for the purpose of looking like another character.

Point C: Denji

As of the current chapters Denji is at his lowest, every person around him has, in one way or another, contributed to destroying the life he built for himself, of tearing apart his identity and ruining his dreams. The Hero of Hell, as I've previously said, is something I view as Denji's abuse and exploitation made flesh, where all the trauma and manipulations against him finally becomes too much. The last time this happened Power was able to pull him back, but things are worst now; There is no Power to bring him back, Denji fully believes that he is responsible for the deaths of the people he loves, that he has no right to to live a happy life. Nayuta being alive is the only thing that could possibly give him a reason to come back, a reason to want to live, because the only other person who could actually reach out to Denji is Asa, and that won't be good enough. I love Asa, but her relationship with Denji is rocky at best, and unless she really puts the work into it I can't think of anything she could possibly say to Denji to make him come back to life, let alone believe anything she can say. For Denji's sake, Nayuta has to be alive, because if she's gone there's no reason for Denji to even exist.

Point D: Artwork

The cover art for Volume 18 was recently revealed, and looking at it you can see how different it is compared to the previous Part 2 covers; They featured a close up of a character in the foreground against a kind of abstract background, such as Yoru against the cityscape, Yuko and the upside-down forest, Miri with the butterflies, ect. Volume 18, however, features Nayuta in the midground of a relatively normal field. I bring this up because of this image:

This is the spread that was released after Aki and Powered died. It is them going into the light while Denji remains in the dark.

This is the cover image for Volume 18:

It's Nayuta standing in a clearly shaded area, not a single bit of light on her.

Nayut has not followed Aki and Power into the light, she remains in the dark like Denji.

[raveneira]

HII!! Thanks for answering and trying to bring the fandom back! Can't wait to see what everyone will write (or draw) for KawaSara week, i'm sure it'll be great content^^. I can see why would they lose faith but that could never be me, conflict doesn't scare me lol!! Omg that "healthy" vs "toxic" thing is so annoying like idc lmfao, the worst part is i ship SasuSaku and KawaSara and both get hate for that and mind you most of the time it's people that ships toxic stuff too but draws the line at other ships🤦🏻‍♀️. The "healthy" ships fan are ironically the most toxic people i saw. I literally saw them on twitter harassing that KawaSara week page and one of them even posted the pic of OP blocking them & laughed with their friend, the obsession BS fans have with KS fans is astonishing. All of this over a mid ship that isn't even canon. That "you don't care about her feelings" coming from them is ironic, they literally ignore her saying that she does NOT like Boruto lmfao. They literally discredit and undermine SasuSakus moments, a CANON couple, of course they wouldn't lose the chance to do that with a fanon ship (for now), SS&KS have one thing in common and it's the haters, they are literally the same people. Not only they're insecure with KS but BoruSumi too, that's exactly why they ship Kaw*Sum* to get them BOTH out of the way. (I'll be a good person so no shade towards SH/SNS fans XD). Idk but their hate is so weird, also the way they treat Boruto & Sarada is so weird, it's all about that Uzu*aki x Uchiha stuff and that's sooo creepy. Exactly they don't care about them (or just Sarada), it's either for "op babies" or because they previous ships flopped (Nar*Sak* or Nar*Sas*). Them saying to KawaSara fans they don't want a SS 2.0 (they don't even have a lot of things in common, just a few) but than comparing BS not only to SS (free ss😭) but every other ship in Naruto is beyond hypocritical. They get away with everything and it's SO annoying. Literally just saw them calling other haters/jealous lmfao, they're so easy to predict. Also you forgot to add how much they love to call everyone else delusional as if their ship is canon, like girlie none of them is canon, so for now everybody is delusional lol. WHEN YOU POINT THIS OUT THEY DENY IT LIKE??? She literally revolves around him and ignores her own parents (that she separated) like hellooo?? Her idol, ChoCho her best friend?? Like come on guys. It's all about him, nothing about her and that's another thing that i dislike about them. I'm praying that Kawakis development will be good and that we'll see more deep/interesting conversations between him and Sarada. They should block, silence and report them and enjoy KawaSara week in peace, i hope that they won't let BS fans stop them from enjoying it!! Sorry i wrote a lot too lmfaoo.

I literally saw them on twitter harassing that KawaSara week page and one of them even posted the pic of OP blocking them & laughed with their friend,

Really? Im not surprised lol these ppl are very devoted stalkers, no matter how many of them I block, theres always someone who slips through the cracks and watches from the shadows until they finally reveal themselves, and also go reporting to their leader what I be sayin or doin for them to send their minions after me or play victim lol I literally put it to the test because I was suspicious that that was the case, so I showed several screenshots of something they said I was lying about proving it wasn't a lie, but I purposefully didnt censor the names to see if they would go running to snitch to them and thats exactly what they did, not even a few minutes passed between them responding to me and the person in the screenshot talking about me.

The kicker? I have that acc BLOCKED and have had it blocked for years, so for them to of seen it, somebody HAD to report to her what I said, so my suspicion was proven true, there ARE minions stalking me from the shadows and reporting to whatever leader with a big following they follow lol not only that, but they TOLD her that I be stalking HER and even make posts about her ON MY TUMBLR so Im not only stalked on twitter, but on tumblr as well, which btw is a flat out lie because I dont care enough about anybody THAT MUCH to stalk them

I have mutuals who will show me some of the dumb takes she makes occassionally, but they do that with any acc that makes dumb takes, all gcs do, I dont go looking for it because I dont care enough to, but I guess because I occasionally made comment about the dumb shit she says, one of her minions went and made me out to be a stalker over it, despite them literally stalking me to even find that out lol Its sad honestly, bein that obsessed with a ship and its fandom to that extent.

Not to make myself seem important [their the ones who do that with their actions] but I think these ppl hate me so much because they cant rattle me lol they cant stand that they cant get to me, that they cant scare me off, that they cant intimidate me with their 'lol ksa is dead, bsa is canon, accept it, she blushed, they hugged, they clearly love eachother, I know your mad, I know it bothers you, you should just give up, you've lost, just accept bsa is canon and give up on ksa, it'll never happen' ramblings but everytime they throw one of those at me Im never bothered, I always come back at them unbothered and just stating the facts lol its not canon, its not even semi canon, theres still zero confirmation of romantic feelings on either side, any implication you claim there is is just your personal interpretations of what they mean, not what they are canonically confirmed to be, Sarada has denied having romantic feelings clearly and firmly multiple times and has remained consistent on that so Im not giving up or accepting anything that isnt confirmed yet just because of how YOU interpret their relationship and interactions thus far, talk to me when you have confirmation like BoruSumi has, till then your in line waiting with the rest of us lol they never bounce back from that

I know it kills them inside that no matter how much their fed they still dont have confirmation from either side yet while BoruSumi does, it eats them alive that Sarada, the main female, the one they claim is closest to him and so obviously loves him so much, has yet to be confirmed to be inlove with him and everytime shes asked she denies it and is uncomfortable, they were overjoyed when Mitsuki asked her and she avoided his question so they could be like 'See? Mitsuki knows she likes him, he said she doesnt know how she truly feels yet, its confirmed' yet that didnt go how they wanted because unlike they hoped, ppl actually paid attention to what was said and it wasnt anything like they tried to make it out to be.

Mitsuki was talking about himself and being unsure of HIS true feelings, his question to Sarada was him trying to figure his own feelings out through Sarada, but when she avoided the question, Mitsuki backed off seeing she was uncomfortable and said that it didnt matter, they tried to deny this for the longest and insisted it was about Sarada until chapter 7 of TBV released and proved our statement EXACTLY right, that it WAS Mitsuki being confused about his feelings for Boruto and trying to make sense of them so their one little sliver of confirmation they thought they had went out the window and now their back in limbo with the rest of us waiting for confirmation.

So no matter how confident they try to act, their scared to death that their still not confirmed without a doubt to be semi canon yet, because even tho it doesnt automatically mean their endgame, it DOES give them a higher possibility to be if they are, which is why they fear Sumire being so involved because you could ignore Hinata majority of the time because she wasnt around Naruto or involved with his plot that much, but you cant ignore Sumire because she IS, and THATS what scares them.

Even so they seem to still harbor a greater hatred for KawaSara than they do BoruSumi despite them not even being semi canon, which is crazy to me because I dont even think they realize how insecure they look for doing so lol if your more threatened by a not even semi canon ship, maybe your ship aint doin as well as you act like it is cuz trust and believe if your ship had nothin to worry about then you wouldnt be bothered, so if your bothered that means you see something to be threatened by.

That "you don't care about her feelings" coming from them is ironic, they literally ignore her saying that she does NOT like Boruto lmfao.

That one really is rich coming from them, they care about her feelings but their the ones who insist she doesnt know or understand her own feelings even when shes outright saying what she feels

"Does it bother you that other girls might like Boruto?" "Huh? seriously? of course not"

^^^^ This statement is totally ignored, instead they focus on her being shocked at Sumire confessing she likes him as implying shes jealous, even when her character profile also said Sarada was shocked at Sumire's bold statement, they still said it was jealousy, not caring about what she SAID is her feelings, they decided she doesnt know how she feels but they do.

"So you do like Boruto?" "What!? where the heck did that come from!?" "So you dont?" "Im saying whether I do or dont has nothing to do with this!"

^^^^ Another statement they ignore that debunks one of their main arguements that her wanting to help, support, protect etc Boruto is because she loves him romantically, this statement debunks that entirely because she says those exact feelings have NOTHING to do with whether or not she likes him, those are just her genuine feelings for her friend and teammate thats struggling and shes feeling frustrated being unable to help him like she wishes she could.

Its honestly ironic the lack of self awareness ppl have, to accuse others of lacking reading comprehension, while also blatantly lacking it themselves that they cant even comprehend something as simple as this.

But again, they ignore how SHE says she feels and instead THEY decide how shes feeling, because to THEM yea she says that but she doesnt mean it, she actually does love him but she just hasnt realized she does yet cuz shes tsundere [even tho she isnt] because to them THEY know her better than herself, THEY decide how she really feels not Sarada herself, because anything she says that doesnt fit their narrative oh well shes just confused but WE [they] know what she really means so just take their words for it because unlike us who cant 'read between the lines' they actually understand her character and respect how she feels.

Yeah, because nothing says respecting someones feelings like ignoring everything they say they feel and trying to make them feel how you want them to feel.

The only time its ok to insist someone doesnt know how they feel, is when their actually shown not knowing how they feel, not them saying outright what they feel firmly without hesitation.

So the fact that they try to dictate and determine what Sarada feels over what Sarada herself says she feels is nothing short of them not caring about her feelings, because they dont care that she doesnt like Boruto, they are going to MAKE her like him whether thats how she really feels or not. So anytime somebody hits you with that 'if your a real Sarada fan you would accept her feelings even if you dont like them' know their full of shit because when they dont like it they dont accept it either, they just want YOU to respect what THEY say her feelings are, nothing else.

Not only they're insecure with KS but BoruSumi too, that's exactly why they ship KawSum to get them BOTH out of the way.

Its funny because they used the same talking points too that they used for SK lol 'she understands him, they have a similar past, he has a soft spot for her' same bs different ship, but they say KawaSara is SH/SK lol better look again.

Idk but their hate is so weird, also the way they treat Boruto & Sarada is so weird, it's all about that Uzu*aki x Uchiha stuff and that's sooo creepy.

The sad part is this isnt even a theory or antis makin stuff up on them, heres a compilation, straight from the horses mouth, that THIS is their main objective and appeal of the ship.

It is genuinely weird as hell how obsessed these ppl are with these kids genes, but it makes sense when you consider how they treat Sarada, their just a little TOO protective of her ya know? like she just HAS to be with Boruto no matter what, she CANT be with anyone else but him or it'll just be terrible for her and the story etc.

Exactly how would it be terrible for her tho? whats wrong with Mitsuki? lack of development? so what? Chokarui exists.

Whats wrong with Kawaki? cuz he tried to kill her? cuz hes mean? cuz he hurt the MC? SasuSaku says hi so whats the problem? oh well KawaSara isnt like SS because Sakura actually liked Sasuke since the beginning and they had development, well so did KawaSara, even if Sarada doesnt like Kawaki like Sakura did from the beginning, so what? she doesnt have to for them to still be similar to them, and the irony is she doesnt like Boruto either, so shouldnt the same logic apply to them? its all bs.

Their main goal and objective is seeing what an Uchiha/Uzumaki/Hyuuga baby would be like because their convinced their children will be gods, even if they try to pretend they ship them cuz of love, development, mutual respect [there isnt] and the energy they put into eachother [its one sided, Sarada gives way more than she receives] its really all about their genes, the same reason they desperately wanted Sasuke with Karin, but with BoruSara even more now because thats THREE op clan genes their children will have, Uchiha, Uzumaki, AND Hyuuga.

They dont give af about their bond, their feelings, or their characters, they care about how powerful their child is gonna be, and that is truly disgusting.

The fact that they have the nerve to talk about other ships being disgusting, when their ships main objective is what kinda OP baby Sarada pops out for Boruto, is nothing short of hypocritical. Eugenics should never be the main basis for a ship, period, its just weird, and the fact that it has been a topic of discussion SINCE THEIR INTRODUCTION and they were both around 6-7 is downright weird and sickening.

If Boruto did not have Uzumaki and Hyuuga dna, BoruSara would not be half as popular as it is now, the appeal of how strong their kid would be is the main reason this ship has as many supporters as it has, NOT how great the actual ship as a whole is.

Think about it, what other ship do you see have THAT MANY comments about wanting them together to see how powerful their child is? you cant name one, because unlike them, OTHER SHIP FANDOMS ACTUALLY LIKE THEIR SHIPS FOR THEIR DYNAMIC/RELATIONSHIP/BOND not how powerful their kid is gonna be, their kids are an after thought, not they primary one and main reason they want it endgame.

Obviously shippers imagine their ships endgame and family life, but there's a big difference between just coming up with fanon kids/enjoying family content, and straight up eugenics where the only appeal is how OP their children are gonna be and what crazy new jutsus etc their gonna have

So when these hypocrites try and act superior like their the healthy ones and everyone else is toxic I have to laugh because their fandom is the only one this obsessed with eugenics, every other fandom just likes the ships dynamic and relationship and bond, their kids are a fun afterthought not a primary focus, for BoruSara fans its a main focus. That alone tells you where their priorities are, not love, just babies.

Sarada's only value to them is that she's Uchiha, if Sarada was lets say a Haruno/Lee instead not even half of these ppl would ship her as strongly with Boruto as they do now.

It explains why they care so little about Sarada's character and ignore all justified complaints about how poorly shes written, why is that? because why would they be? they dont need Sarada to be a good written character to get what they want, they LIKE her being written as a Boruto centric damsel in distress whos whole world revolves around him, thats good for them, because they need her for those babies, so the more obsessed she is with him the better, they dont care how bad it looks for her character, as long as its bringin them closer to those OP kids they dont care if Ikemoto had her kissing the ground Boruto walked on, or hell, even using her as a stepping stone over a puddle, they'd justify all of that and say shes a good well written character if it means their gettin those OP babies.

Sakura hasnt done half the pathetic things Sarada has and she gets dragged as the worst female character in shounen history, why do you think that is? because shes just a normal girl with non special genes to be passed down and create something powerful, but Sarada? the only other living member of the famous Uchiha clan, the strongest clan in Konoha next to the Senju, her genes passed down with someone from the Hyuuga/Uzumaki, two other very powerful clans, would create something truly out of this world.

And there you have it, thats all you need to know, just ask yourself whats different about how Sakura is written and Sarada and you'll notice the main deciding factor on why Sarada is better than Sakura is because of her genes. Thats all Sarada is to them, her genes, and they've made that more than clear to everyone whether they try to pretend that isnt the case or not, we all see the truth.

Them saying to KawaSara fans they don't want a SS 2.0 (they don't even have a lot of things in common, just a few)

Ironic considering this is them

Its all bs, they realized how stupid it was denying similarities to a canon ship because that actually increases the likelihood of it being canon [NH being similar to MinaKushi and SS being similar to FugaMiko, ShikTema being similar to his parents etc] so then they started claiming SS for themselves to claim they'll be canon, even tho prior to that they were saying they didnt want SS 2.0 because it was toxic and abusive and ruin Sarada's character like her mother and that Kishimoto learned from his mistakes, even though he never once expressed regrets about his endgame ships lol they think somehow BoruSara is supposed to be his 'atonement', yet now suddenly SS 2.0 is fine now that they apply it to BoruSara, suddenly its not toxic or ruins Sarada's character.

The way you know their not even sincere about it and just saying it to prove how their endgame, is because these ppl dont even understand SS themselves and only look at the superficial things on the surface, not their core characters and relationship and everything that went into it from the beginning to now.

This is why BoruSara is an insult to SS because its such a shallow representation of what SS was

For example Sarada's speech to Shikamaru about her defending a traitor like her dad used to be, and comparing her defending Boruto to how Naruto [and Sakura] defended Sasuke. Of course those buffoons ran with it like yea she's defending Boruto like Sakura did Sasuke when he was a traitor its totally endgame.

This is just surface level SS tho, Sakura wasnt just defending an innocent man wrongly accused, Sakura was defending an ACTUAL traitor, Sasuke made the conscious decision to abandon Konoha and betray everyone and willingly attempt to kill his comrade, all in his pursuit of power to avenge his family that was wrongfully murdered by his brother, he chose revenge >> his friends and Konoha, Sakura and Naruto stood by him despite that because they knew the real him and wanted to save him from that dark lonely path he was walking because they genuinely wanted him to be happy and knew he wouldnt be if he walked this path.

Compare that to BoruSara, why is Boruto a traitor? he isnt, everyone just thinks he is because of mass brainwashing, its Kawaki who is actually the traitor that everyone hates, but due to omnipotence thats all directed at Boruto now, why did Boruto leave? because if he didnt he would've been killed by everyone who thinks hes a traitor now, what is Borutos end goal? to undo omnipotence and knock some sense into Kawaki [and save the world obviously] and what is Sarada defending Boruto from? absolutely nothing, because hes innocent, so all her mouthing off has zero weight because shes defending an innocent person, so of COURSE she'd stand by him.

With Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura were defending a traitor, and then an international terrorist, they were INSANE to defend him but they did anyway because they loved him, they understood there had to be a reason, it was hard, and there was doubt, but overall they loved Sasuke and refused to give up on him and kept hope that one day they could all laugh together again as team 7.

Sarada is going through zero conflict over this, zero struggle, everyone is just brainwashed so none of the push back she receives has any weight because she knows its because of omnipotence that their acting that way, so the most she does is get frustrated that she cant break through omnipotences hold over them, but with Naruto and Sakura you had friends, comrades, even family telling them that they need to give up and let Sasuke die, that there was no saving him, that as Hokage your gonna have to make the hard decisions even if you dont want to etc and these werent ppl brainwashed, these were their sincere thoughts and feelings about the situation that brought both Naruto and Sakura to having breakdowns because of the inner tormoil it caused.

Show me where Sarada is going through that type of hell for Boruto, that kind of struggle, literally going her against the world [not ppl brainwashed by omnipotence] where is Sarada facing REAL hardship and pain trying to fight for Boruto? this is what I mean by ppl only making surface level comparisons for SS, because defending Sasuke wasnt just about defending a traitor, it was much deeper than that, and to treat it as if Sarada's situation is even remotely similar to that is a huge disrespect to SS.

The only way this would really parallel SS is if it was Kawaki she did this for, not because of my ship preference, but because its literally thematically similar. If you remove omnipotence, leave everybody in their right minds where they all believe Kawaki is a irredeemable traitor they want dead, THEN it would be similar to SS because Sarada would ACTUALLY be defending a traitor against non brainwashed ppl and trying to prove to them that despite his terrible actions there must be a good reason behind it and that hes still a good person etc, THEN it'd be similar.

But having Sarada just be defending an innocent man like shes really some ride or die when she doesnt have to ride or die for anything since he really isnt a traitor or bad guy to begin with is nothing short of goofy, even more so comparing it to SS when Sarada currently cant even handle a brainwashed Shikamaru not believing her like she already knew he didnt, Sakura and Naruto were willing to fight cloud nin, Naruto got on his knees to beg the Raikage for mercy on Sasuke, they were willing to go confront Danzo and possibly fight him, Naruto pushed Gaara's hand away when he tried to tell him to give up on Sasuke, Sakura punched Sai in the face for disrespecting Sasuke, Sakura fought tooth and nail against Sasori to get more info on Orochimaru, Naruto let Kurama take over to get back at Orochimaru for manipulating Sasuke

What has Sarada done to really 'ride or die' for Boruto? buy a similar jacket to his? yell at ppl you know cant help but not believe you because their literally under the influence of a massive shinjutsu? what a joke.

'Sarada wore a Boruto style jacket as a fk you to omnipotence' and nobody moved lol like seriously nobody moved so who was the middle finger to? who cared? nobody, omnipotence is still in full effect, nobody believes her or cares about her ramblings, Ada doesn't care, and Kawaki is so unfazed he doesn't even bother trying to stop her from running her mouth because she is THAT irrelevant, so who exactly is the fk you for? herself? shes the only one who gives a danm so like...ppl treatin that like its some huge badass character moment for her are laughable because unlike Naruto and Sakura who did have an impact, Sarada has had absolutely zero.

And its equally disrespectful to all the other ships they compare them too as well for equally shallow reasons, just because they might have similar moments on the surface doesnt mean anything if the core meaning and sentiments behind said moments arent the same.

For example MinaKushi, exactly what do they have similar to BoruSara? what is Sarada's biggest insecurity she hated that Boruto complimented and made her love? what enemy ninja has kidnapped Sarada that Boruto was the only one who noticed and followed her and saved her from? since when was Sarada bullied for her appearance where Boruto was the only one who didnt and supported her dream?

THE IRONY is that while Minato actually supported Kushina's dream from the start while everyone else made fun of it, Boruto was the ONLY ONE who made fun of Sarada's dream and berated her for it, but their similar to MinaKushi lol

'But Kushina looked down on Minato too'

Kushina looked down on him because she thought he looked unreliable, Boruto looked down on Sarada because of his personal issues with his father being Hokage and he took it out on her who didn't deserve it and he never apologized for it either, they are not the same.

Like I said they only focus on surface level similarities, but not the actual core elements of the relationship and characters, they have NOTHING in common with MinaKushi on a deep meaningful level, even down to the spiral symbolism they claim is somehow a parallel for BoruSara is literally about Kushina and Mito about being jinchuriki and getting through it thanks to the love of their husbands, like…they really think Kishimoto had BoruSara in mind when he made that one shot, instead of ya know, just focusing on MinaKushi who the one shot was actually about.

Same way they try to claim NaruHina similarities for again, surface level reasons instead of the actual deeper meaning of their relationship.

Tell me where Sarada grew up in an abusive household where her father practically disowned her because she was weak? where was Sarada inspired by Boruto being a 'proud failure' and wanting to be like him? where was Boruto Sarada's inspiration for her nindo? where was Sarada breaking Boruto out of his insecurity for a big upcoming fight he thought he couldnt win which gave him the courage and motivation to give it his all? when has Boruto ever literally fought to avenge Sarada because he was so angry at how she was treated? when has Sarada fought a far stronger enemy despite his protest? [a single fireball distraction and just standing there after the fact is not fighting]

They have none of that stuff that actually mattered and added substance to their relationship, you know what they did have? Sarada just watching Boruto from afar as if that is an actual deep meaningful part of their relationship…the funny thing is even that isnt similar, the contexts are literally complete opposites

Hinata watched Naruto out of admiration and infatuation, Sarada watched Boruto out of jealousy, and then later she was just watching him train with her dad hoping that he'd take Boruto on as his student since she knew it'd make him happy

Ironic right? the same guy who insulted her dream and berated her for it, Sarada was busy supporting him and wanting her dad to accept him as his student

You can tell these ppl dont understand or care about these ships their comparing them to fr fr, because if they did, they wouldnt be using only surface level similarities and not the actual deep core elements of the relationships.

you know where you CAN find ACTUAL similarities to other ships that DOES match the deep core elements of them? NaruSaku and SasuNaru.

Sarada was originally annoyed with Boruto at first [Just like Sakura and Sasuke] but after becoming teammates became alot closer like family, Sarada would watch Boruto pull pranks for his fathers attention in envy but despite being annoyed she also sympathized with him because she too had an absent father she craved attention from, Sasuke used to watch Naruto go around pulling pranks for attention too and despite thinking he was a moron he sympathized with him as well because they were both orphans and he understood his loneliness, Boruto and Sarada pretty much bicker with eachother the exact same way OG team 7 did, the only difference being the lack of drama now because theres no conflict with one of the teammates goin rogue and betraying them [Kawaki fills that role] but overall the sentiments is the same when it comes to those ships.

Sakura despite being annoyed with Naruto often she still worried for him alot and wanted to help him anyway she could and was frustrated with herself when she couldnt help him more, same way Sarada is frustrated with herself for not being able to help Boruto more, Sasuke resented Naruto for thinking he understood him when he had nothing from the start and has no idea what its like to have a family and then lose it, same way Sarada resented Boruto for his ignorance of being so blessed always complaining about his dad overworking when Sarada would kill to have what he did [Boruto had the perfect family then lost it when Naruto became Hokage and neglected them but still tried to be there for them, Sarada always had a dysfunctional family and absent dad that she only just got to finally know at 11, he did not understand her at all]

Regardless, they still sympathized because even though the situations were very different, they both understood the pain of missing their fathers, which is why she was still able to empathize with him despite being far worse off.

Hell the only OG ship with a heavy emphasis on a promise like BoruSara is NaruSaku, same for it being the only OG ship with an emotional surprise hug after an invasion where the FMC hugs the MC relieved to see he was ok while the other one sided love interest watches [whether ones smiling and the other not is irrelevant, its the overall context and execution of the scene that matters]

I made mini compilation here

Theres alot more but you get the picture, THESE are actual similarities that actually fits in depth with their relationships and not just surface level similarities, but actual CORE relationship elements.

This is why they hate being compared to NS and SNS because they know themselves that those are the ships they have actual similarities with, but neither of them are canon so obviously they dont wanna be associated with non canon ships cuz then that means they wont be canon either right? That's why it HAS to be SS, HAS to be NH, HAS to be MinaKushi, all canon ships that totally proves BoruSara will be endgame just like em.

They get away with everything and it's SO annoying.

Agreed, but as the biggest fanbase unfortunately they can get away with just about anything since they have way bigger numbers so the amount of ppl calling em out gets easily drowned out and made the one in the wrong instead.

Literally just saw them calling other haters/jealous lmfao, they're so easy to predict. Also you forgot to add how much they love to call everyone else delusional as if their ship is canon, like girlie none of them is canon, so for now everybody is delusional lol.

Ironic because nobody comes off more jealous than them, and they don't even have anything to be jealous about yet lol they literally have more than any other ship so why they sweatin? because they know it don't mean shit, it could easily be a red herring leading em on just for disappointment in the future, they act like they don't fear that possibility and that there's no way it'll happen again but deep down their scared to death because they know it is possible, they prove that by being so bothered and obsessed with much smaller ships ain't no way they should be concerned about UNLESS they felt there was genuine good reason for doing so, aka being threatened by said ships lol

The delusional thing is always funny to me because they'll go and make up a whole fanfic headcanon scenario for why their right, and then when you slap them with reality and canon facts that easily contradict their twisted fantasy version of events, they get mad and say your delusional or in denial and just jealous when...your literally just pointing out the canon facts that are in literal black and white for all to see, but to them the truth is delusion, and the lies they tell themselves are reality.

She literally revolves around him and ignores her own parents (that she separated) like hellooo?? Her idol, ChoCho her best friend?? Like come on guys. It's all about him, nothing about her and that's another thing that i dislike about them. I'm praying that Kawakis development will be good and that we'll see more deep/interesting conversations between him and Sarada.

Same, there is so much untapped potential between her and Kawaki its not even funny, they had some of the biggest wasted opportunities ever

Like Boruto's death was handled WAY too quickly, Sarada wasnt even given a chance to process it, she was told right in the heat of the moment of them fighting, then everything happened back to back afterwards so she didn't even get a chance to process THAT before she had to process 50 other things that happened all at one, that was such a missed opportunity for some real conflict that they only gave to Sumire who didn't even do anything with it and just looked scared of him every interaction afterwards, thats info that would've been far better utilized on Sarada

Just imagine after checking on Boruto, Sarada went to Kawaki's room and overheard them talking about what happened, she's shocked, she's confused, shes wondering why Boruto lied to her about what happened, why Naruto is ok with this, a lot of conflicting emotions running through her mind that she needs to process so she goes meet Mitsuki at the balcony where they are watching Boruto and her dad, Sarada considers telling Mitsuki what she heard but when Mitsuki tells her how he doesn't know what he might do to the person that tried to kill Boruto, Sarada withholds what she heard cuz she doesn't want to go after him, so Sarada internalizes and has to deal with these feelings on her own, on one hand she understands that this was what Boruto wanted to protect everyone, but on the other she cant bring herself to just be ok with Kawaki trying to kill him, however this situation brings up a new internal conflict she hadn't thought about before and thats what SHE would do if she were faced with a possessed Boruto in that kind of situation? would she be able to kill him if needed? does she have the resolve to do what needs to be done even if she doesn't want to? could she make that difficult decision like Kawaki did? even if thats what Boruto wanted? if he had asked her to, would she be able to honor his wishes? or would she be unable to and let Momo rampage

I could go on but I dont want this to be too long but you get the point, imagine we got THAT instead of all that rushed bs, imagine we got some actual reflection, some inner conflict, some internal struggles trying to figure out her resolve and if she'll be able to do what needs to be done as Hokage.

Imagine her and Kawaki had that talk when they were alone and she confronted him about it, Kawaki affirming his resolve to her that he will do anything to protect Naruto, even killing his own brother, and then the question is passed on to Sarada for what her resolve is, but she has no answer at the moment, all she knows is that she too wants to protect Naruto but she wants to protect Boruto too and doesn't want him to die, but Kawaki tells her there may be a time when she has no choice in the matter and will have to make up her mind soon, then in 78 shes forced to make that decision on just how far shes willing to go for her beliefs, can she kill Boruto if he's a threat? can she kill Kawaki if he's threatening Boruto? she gets there and its time to make a decision, Kawaki once again affirms his resolve by even being willing to kill her if she got in his way of doing what he genuinely believed is right, but Sarada is still unsure of herself, unable to let Boruto die even if he's a threat to everyone, but unwilling to kill Kawaki either even when he's threatening her life, because, despite his rude attitude a lot of the time, she still came to view Kawaki as a friend and teammate and THATS why she hesitates.

Now imagine, shocker, that she actually feels REMORSE for costing Boruto his eye, I know crazy right? you would think that'd have happened IN CANON but oddly it did not, she hasn't been shown feeling even the slightest bit of guilt for costing him his eye that day which is crazy to me, but unsurprising because she didn't even feel the slightest big of remorse for her dad being treefied because SHE sent him off to protect Boruto.

RIP the empathetic caring Sarada who actually gave a danm in 28, 36, and 39 you will be missed.

Having Sarada go there acting all sure of herself but not backing it up did such irreparable damage to her character, whereas in the scenario I just laid out or anything similar to that actually adds depth and valid reasoning for why she'd freeze up there, vs talking a big game like she was about that life only to freeze as soon as shit got real, it was such a stupid writing decision to do that, yes even worse than both of Sakura's failed kill attempts on Sasuke because at least we actually saw the internal conflict she was going through that made her hesitate, we got none of that for Sarada, she just said she couldn't stand by and do nothing....only to stand by and do nothing.

Pure goofiness.

So I really am hoping, by some miracle, the upcoming Kawaki development will lead to some for Sarada as well, but considering Boruto is being brought to the village now I doubt we'll be seeing that anytime soon and she'll continue hyperfixating on HIM and how HES treated until he somehow gets free.

And even then once he's free and out of the village, I hope her 'development' wont be just more bitching at everybody and calling Kawaki Otsutsuki too some more cuz my god, can the girl have any other personality traits besides 'bitter at everyone whos mean/doesnt like Boruto' ? I don't think thats too much to ask. Can she also actually act like she has other friends besides Sumire? can we really not let her be SO BORUTO CENTRIC that she avoids all her other friends/family, even her long time bestie Chocho, over a fkin boy? is this not THE SAME SHIT ppl got on Sakura for doing to Ino? choosing a boy over their friendship? wheres that energy now huh? just again goes to show where the priorities REALLY were all along.

This is a main reason I dont like the ship, because no other Sarada ship is she written THIS poorly for, when its her and Mitsuki their equals and Mitsuki gives just as much to her as she does for him, when its her and Kawaki they are also equals, Kawaki never looks down at her as defenseless or weak, he knows she's strong and capable of fending for herself and allows her to do so, its only BORUTO that intervenes and acts like she's helpless, HES the one who doesn't view her as an equal, but a helpless damsel that needs him to fight all her battles for her, even one about her own fkin father HE takes on the role of freeing him, best believe Sarada will have nothing to do with it, its gonna be all Boruto for her to have the big 'thank you' later and relieve Borutos guilt by returning her father to her, it sounds sweet in concept, but the execution is terrible and makes Sarada useless in her own plot, just like shes already useless in the plot in general besides being unaffected she has done literally nothing of substance with that immunity.

When shes with Boruto he will always take center stage, it'll never be an equal partnership with equal treatment, Sarada has given her ALL to Boruto yet Boruto hasn't even given half of that, the only time Sarada is a thought for him is as an extension of Sasuke, him thanking her before he left? because she sent Sasuke, his promise? because his dream is to be the supporting shadow like Sasuke who supports the Hokage and thus Sarada since she plans to be Hokage [put anyone else in that role and he'd do the exact same thing] , his new promise? to save Sasuke, him coming back to Konoha? to tell her what happened to Sasuke, him coming back again? because his sister was being targeted and then Sarada was being targeted by the Sasuke clone and he took the opportunity to kill him to get the thorn soul bulb that'll help free Sasuke

But when he was about to be killed by Kawaki? he only thought of his mom and sister, when Mitsuki guilt tripped him about breaking his promise, it was only the mention of his mother and sister that got him to change his mind, the only one Boruto has told Naruto is alive to was Mitsuki, not Sarada despite knowing thats her idol, he never made any attempts to contact Sarada in the entire 3 yrs despite clearly having the village bugged with frogs he can teleport to easily , hell he could even just leave letters with the frogs to deliver them to her, ya know, the sorta thing ppl got on Sasuke's case for not doing and now here Boruto is doing the same thing but nobody says anything about it.

Again I dont want this to get too long so Ima cut it here but I think I made my points clear enough at least to get why this ship is so ass and its shippers are so fake as hell shipping it. They can delude themselves that their the 'healthy' and 'not deluded' ones but they are, always have been, their just even worse now because they've lied to themselves for so long they actually believe it, and that is truly sad.

They should block, silence and report them and enjoy KawaSara week in peace, i hope that they won't let BS fans stop them from enjoying it!! Sorry i wrote a lot too lmfaoo.

No no its fine, I wrote alot too lol I'll be surprised if you or anyone else reads all of it 😭 but if you do thank you.

And I hope so too, their not worth letting them ruin their week, and the best get back is to just go on enjoying our week unbothered and ignore them cuz they want attention to distract from us actually focusing on celebrating KawaSara to fight with them, DONT DO IT, don't fall into the trap, just focus on KawaSara and ONLY them, antis will get bored eventually when they seen nobody is feeding into them.

[komyoffxiv]

#21- Grave (Komyo)

"Good morning, daddy." Komyo murmured, kneeling with her small bag in front of the grave. She frowned as she saw the state of it- leaves and dirt scattered at the base of the pillar, her previous flowers still there, dried out completely by the hot sun. Weeds sending tendrils up from the ground around the Hingan-style grave.

Heedless of her fine kimono, she set to weeding and cleaning the grave, using her claws to dig up the roots of the unwanted plants and the sleeve of her kimono to brush away the dirt and to shine the surface of the grave.

"I'm sorry it's been so long, daddy. It's been hard. I'm trying to watch out for Mother and Aki, but you know how they both are. ...Aki's been doing better, but the stone you left to him, and the armor...they weigh heavy on him. I wish I could do more, I try and be the steady stone that he can find his center and strength in, but I worry about him. I wish you were here... to see him and be proud... and to guide him, too. To give him someone to talk to that... that knows. I think... I think that's what's hardest on him. It's the first time either of us have ever had to really handle something...alone."

She swallows hard, tears closing her throat and gathering in her lashes. Resting a hand on the stone, she whispers, "Daddy... tell me what to do. Tell me what to say, what I can give him that will ease his heart. What did Mother give to you? What did the tribe give? Were you... were you so alone too?"

The thought made her heart ache, remembering her father's easy smile and the way his eyes lit up with pride when he looked at her even if he didn't always understand why she did what she did. Akihito needed that smile, now. Her hand tightened up into a fist and she beat it lightly against the stone without realizing it, crying out softly, "Why aren't you here, daddy?! Why can't I find you... I've searched for your spirit, the way the tribe teaches, the way the onmyouji teach. But you're gone... I didn't learn fast enough to find you before you forgot. I tried, daddy. I'm still trying so hard... Trying to keep everything together. Trying to help Mother even though she's gotten so... so..." Her voice trails away, unable to speak ill of her mother to her father. Eyes closing, the Auri woman shakes her head and murmurs, "I'm sorry, daddy. I know you'd tell me I shouldn't worry so much. But I love them, I love them and I can't heal what's broken, what's hurting. ...I can't even heal myself. I miss you, I miss you so much, and now that I've left the Sugisekki... I don't know where I'm going to go. What I'm going to do. Please... please find a way to send me a sign. Something... something to tell me I'm doing right. That I'm going the right way."

Leaning her head forward, she touches her forehead to the sun-warm stone and whispers again, "Please." Then she draws back and pulls a few things from the bag. New flowers and plants- sweet and earthy scents from the Steppe to adorn and mark the grave as well-tended and loved. A pair of cups and a flask of kumis. A little container with a few buuz. A bowl and a stick of incense that stood in the bowl. Lighting the incense, she waited until the smoke began to rise before pouring kumis into each cup, raising hers in a salute, and drinking. The alcohol burned and made her head spin for a moment, and she smiled as she remembered the first time she'd taken a sip from her father's cup. How she'd shouted! And of course, Aki needed to try it too after that. Her mother laughing, her father looking sheepish at letting the little ones get into his cup. The little tableaux of family was far, far away from the grave that stood in this cemetery. It was the family that Komyo held in her head as she drank her kumis. When it was done, down to the last drop, she put the flask and her cup into the bag and, reluctantly, rose to her feet. She touched her fingers to her lips and transferred a kiss to the grave, brushing it against the stone.

"I love you, daddy. I'll visit again next moon, I promise."

(( Akihito belongs to @talesfromthegameff14))

[areyousanta]

I forgot I made the other 2 boyfriends and omg they’re so damn cute

[pillars-of-alt]

they’re in LOVE OKAY???

[kosakashuntaro]

for some reason, i became obsessed with this irrelevant filler character from izumi tsubaki’s lesser known series, oresama teacher. he’s consistently forgotten by fans and ranked 2nd to last out of the student council members, but despite that, i still think he’s a great and well-written character. also, he’s super cute!

and so without futher ado— here’s my stupidly long lovemail/analysis of shuntaro kosaka. a pure 1.5k word ramble about my favorite boy!

kosaka first appears in chapter #43, introduced alongside the rest of the student council members. he’s in class 1-3, the same as yukioka komari. the first major scene we see him in is him having a bad relationship with fellow council member, kanon nonoguchi.

not gonna lie, i forgot this scene existed and i don’t like it since he touches her forcefully. it’s a setup for their relationship later on, though. at this point, kosaka and nonoguchi are both closed off and cold towards each other; aside from their animosity towards each other from their interactions, they have their own personal issues for not being good with interacting with others. nonoguchi has her problems with men stemming from childhood and kosaka just seems bad at understanding how to act properly with people in general.

kosaka’s main arc is the student festival arc, where he plays the villain, but honestly, he’s just cringy as fuck in it. i think it’s good in that it shows how damn extra he is, though-- imo, he’s the most realistically extra of the characters. he’s a 15 year old kid who thinks he’s smart just ‘cause he gets good test scores. of course he’s going to be that bitch who smiles sneakily and thinks of himself as the grandmaster of the chess game, even when his partner in crime, kawauchi, knew all along of his betrayal plan.

we don’t see much of his motivations or personality in the student festival arc as it focuses mainly on okegawa and kawauchi. all we know so far is that he’s smart, manipulative, and sneaky. seems like a typical bad guy.

until the last chapter of the arc, #51. for the first time, we see the previously cool (lol) and cunning kosaka shuntaro... nervously fretting over how to kneel in apology to his superior, miyabi hanabusa.

we learn that kosaka is obsessively reliant on instruction manuals, ever since his childhood. he’s ridiculously good at studying and always gets first place in tests at school. however, he can’t cope with unexpected changes at all. everything has to go exactly to plan or else he comes up with a different approach to completing the original plan, that isn’t always appropriate for the situation.

he’s perfectly confident in interacting with people-- that’s obvious enough throughout the student festival arc--, but he’s bad at interpreting things on the fly, once again, prone to saying things inappropriate to the time and place. kosaka has to do things in order, step-by-step, otherwise he can’t proceed.

a while back, there was a post that talked about him being autistic. to be honest, i never considered this earlier (as in a few years ago, when i first started liking him a lot). but reading back, he really is strongly coded as such, i think. so frankly, the reason i like him might be a more personal reason, but... anyway.

like with the other student council members, miyabi helps him relax and feel better, guiding him to be more carefree and open. i have mentioned this a few times, but i think it’s really wonderful that miyabi basically helped out a bunch of kids with mental issues when their problems might’ve looked small or stupid from the outside. this is also brought up in chapter #104 during the hayasaka arc, where mafuyu and hayasaka both contact him for information about miyabi. he basically says that miyabi got him to join the student council because he was worried about kosaka’s personality and wanted to stay near him for help. 

honestly, kosaka is probably the one who’s most grateful to miyabi (outside of nonoguchi?) simply because he recognizes his own issues. there’s a reason why he’s the only student council member whose face you can’t see during the scene where miyabi graduates; he’s the only one of the guys who cry.

kosaka’s problem is that he can’t cope with his plans going off at all, so miyabi sends him to prank mafuyu. even though he tries to get her by making many elaborate plans, he eventually learns to just attack without plan. it ends with him stuck in a ditch and miyabi unexpectedly pranking kosaka himself.

here we see kosaka’s first genuine smile. and it’s beautiful!!! he’s a sweetheart!!! i think that the story of kosaka could’ve worked even without the student festival arc, but that establishes him as an dramatic kid who’s super smart and cunning-- and here we see him just relax for once, and be truly happy.

after this, there aren’t any more kosaka focused chapters. however, he does appear once in a while, usually with the other student council members. (he’s in the very next chapter using yui’s equipment to cross the lake. but since he usually feeds the fish, they all come to him for food...)

kosaka's bad relationship with nonoguchi is reiterated in nonoguchi's arc, chapter #71 where she beats him up for saying that all girls want a prince. it's a stereotypical thing to say either way, but nonoguchi's response about "men wanting to be princelike is self-serving" is more due to her own issues rather than about kosaka in particular. anyway, this is just to highlight that at this point, they both still have their own problems and don't get along.

the next time we see him is during the school trip arc, where, although he’s still being far too overprepared by carrying too much luggage, he seems to be getting along with his class very well. kosaka organizes his class’s schedule and accommodates for changes on the fly (when his teacher wanted to stay longer to see the sea otters), even if it annoys him a bit. it’s an improvement! he’s able to assume a role where his pedantically organized personality is a benefit. mafuyu also notes that both he and ayabe have become more carefree and open with others, with kosaka becoming “the center of class 4″.

i think this chapter, #82, is also the first time kosaka talks about yukioka. since yukioka doesn’t talk to anyone aside from miyabi, he had never heard her voice despite being a close friend. there’s not really any significance to them being besties (does there need to be?), but it does show his sense of responsibility for others since he basically takes care of her. he has more scenes with yukioka in various arcs, mostly in the miyabi graduation arc where he helps protect yukioka from aki.

speaking of that arc, like the other student council members, he gets something precious to him stolen. in this case, it’s the books that he always reads. we find out that he’s actually surprisingly good at drawing from memory despite him believing he doesn’t know how to draw without instructions. this may be partially may be some juxtaposition of him truly being ‘creative’ even though his methods are so ‘academic/scientific’ (even though i don’t believe ‘drawing well’ is what ‘creativity’ is). in my opinion, this represents his progress in general. it’s probably not just art/drawing, but he’s actually gotten better at doing most things without manuals without realizing or being aware of it.

this idea is also expanded upon with the protection of yukioka i mentioned earlier. because kosaka doesn’t have his books, he doesn’t act so formal and is instead more forceful and ‘manly’, making it easier for him to communicate with classmates. by the way, kosaka’s actually popular with the girls in his class (shown in school trip arc 1-koma), but doesn’t realize it because he can’t understand things not directly stated. what a guy...

here is a short break to talk about kawauchi. i think their relationship is hilarious. from kawauchi getting him to dig holes to kawauchi stealing his math books... i feel really sorry for kosaka, but it’s so funny... he just can’t escape him. even in the very last student council saga arc, it was kawauchi behind the scenes all along...

really they’re two characters who are heavily associated with each other and yet... i don’t think kawauchi’s relationship with kosaka says anything about his personality since kosaka was such a one-bit character during the majority of the arc where they interacted (plus kawauchi is awful to everyone). all kawauchi did was give kosaka more trust issues and broke his phone. i feel kinda mean for saying this but it’s so funny how he caused kosaka to be absolutely terrified of delinquents.

honestly kosaka like... doesn’t have a reason to be associated with kawauchi beyond the student festival event. imo it’s just a way for tsubaki to make kosaka relevant or appear once in a while since the other character he’s associated with (yukioka) got a boyfriend and doesn’t appear as often (kawauchi’s common appearances is due to his surprising popularity with fans).

enough about kawauchi though, we’re finally at the end of this long and loving post. at the conclusion of the miyabi graduation arc, the very first conflict of kosaka shown is finally resolved: he’s made up with nonoguchi!

i really love this scene so much!!! i know it’s kinda just a set-up for the next joke, but tsubaki still dedicated over a page just to nonoguchi and kosaka, so it’s genuine to me! it’s so lovely to see that nonoguchi and kosaka have both resolved their own issues with the help of miyabi and the public morals club. they both acknowledge that they weren’t the best in the past, but now they can become friends... this is a relationship that’s been developing in the background of oresama teacher for over 80 chapters... it makes me so happy that tsubaki gave a resolution to it in the end. she truly does care about all her characters no matter how unpopular they are, and i love her for that.

(by the way, i just found out that this can badge released in the same year as the miyabi graduation arc. they’re so cute!)

the story of kosaka and the student council as a whole ends here. everyone’s finally improved, and they’re all happy... people say “oresama teacher has no plot”, but there’s so much to the story of the student council. if i can write so much about one minor character who rarely appears, i think there’s plenty of plot and plenty to say about the others.

that’s all i have to say on this topic for now.

actually, i started writing this back in 2019 but i forgot about it until recently. my thoughts haven’t changed, though... i hope this post shines some light on why i like kosaka and tsubaki so much. to be honest, though, i’d probably just say that he’s sooo cute and i wanna protect that sweet smile of his... my 174 cm tall son.

[the12thnightproject]

Chapter 8: Lessons in Seduction

Taking a moonlight bath in a lake near Kasugayama was a really bad idea. Trying to bargain with a strategist... a worse idea.

Notes for a future life: if the audience is screaming ‘don’t go into the basement, don’t go into the basement,’ then don’t go into the basement.’ Or in this case, don’t go skinny dipping in an unsecured location.

As I continued to curse my luck, Shingen looked at the ground, leaned over, and casually picked up my “towel.” (No, bath towels haven’t made their way over from Persia yet, but for simplicity’s sake, I’m mentally using the word towel, because it’s faster than using the phrase ‘large piece of fabric that I intended to use as person-drying-device’… and yes, my brain did short circuit into ramble mode because for the first time since we’d met, Shingen directed the full wattage of his charisma at me, and… it’s a lot. It was surprising that the water closest to him hadn’t started steaming. Yet.)

He examined the towel. “Not a mermaid then. A Moon Goddess, bathing in the light of her celestial sister.” Ok, there was a quarter moon out, I’ll allow him that one. Thankfully, it was no brighter than that, or I’d be worried he’d connect this me with Katsu.

Now leave me alone sir, before I freeze. It felt a lot colder once I was no longer splashing around.

He opened the towel and shook it. “Do you want this back, Angel? I imagine you do – I can tell you’re very cold in there.”

Yes, of course I want the - then my brain kick started with embarrassment. How exactly could he tell that I was cold? I sunk lower until the water covered my chin.

“Your teeth are chattering.” Oh. So they were. Ok. At least he didn’t see- “And,” he directed his gaze to the water line. “Other reasons.” I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking, “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you dead.” When I opened my eyes, he was still there. Could the developers please hurry up with the ‘kill you with my mind’ patch?

Keeping one arm over my “other reasons” I edged closer to reach for the towel, but he was holding it just out of range.

“I’m proposing a trade, Angel. You want this,” he shook the towel again. “And I would like one kiss from those very blue lips.” He looked at me, then the same slow smile that he had loosed upon the women at the teahouse last week spread across his features.

Why hadn’t I kept my eyes closed? His smile is lethal.

If I answered him, would he recognize my voice? Thanks to Aki’s training, I was used to pitching my voice as ‘Katsuhira’ lower than my normal tones. I should be safe, but I also had thought my bath would be uninterrupted and Mai had thought the water would be warm enough, so the women of Kasugayama were 0-2 in judgment today.

My poor judgment further manifested when I began shivering.

Shingen stepped closer to the lake. “Get out of there before you freeze to death. I’m catching a cold from looking at you.” There was an edge to his voice that suggested he’d come in after me if I didn’t hurry. Of course, if he really wanted me to get out of the water, he should leave me alone, but that didn’t seem to be on his agenda.

I raised my hand, and circled my finger, hoping he’d get a clue and turn around. He folded his arms and leaned back against a tree, clearly prepared to wait me out.

Right. Didn’t think that would work.

Ok. What were my options?

Plan A. I could swim to a further part of the shore and book it out of here. I was certain of my ability to outrun him, but I wasn’t keen on the idea of streaking barefoot through the forest. If Sasuke was leaking ground spikes again, I’d be risking foot injury – which would be difficult to explain tomorrow.

Plan B. Stay here and freeze. No, let’s avoid any solutions that would involve cryogenics.

Plan C. Game this thing out. After considering that idea, I realized he had left me a loophole.

I held up my index finger, signaling “one.”

“Right. One kiss in exchange for this nice, dry, warm, blanket.” He held open the towel.

Alright. I guess we’re doing this.

I took a deep breath for courage and bolted out of the water, zipping squarely into the towel he held open like a target. “There you go,” he murmured as he wrapped me up. His body radiated a potent heat compared to the lake water, making me aware just how close I had come to courting hypothermia. He briskly rubbed my back and shoulders, then grabbed a corner of the towel and scrubbed it over my hair a few times. Maybe he had truly been concerned that I would freeze.

Then he leaned closer, his voice scorching my ear. “Kiss me, Angel.” He brought that beautiful face closer to mine.

I rose up on my tiptoes and at the last moment, changed the angle to briefly kiss his cheek. (Loophole!). I almost laughed at his chagrined expression.

Then I pulled back and tugged at the towel. He did not let go. Again, I tried to pull away. “That didn’t count,” he said.

Risking a verbal response, I said, “You didn’t specify where you wanted to be kissed.”

“She speaks!” He ran his thumb across my lips, his touch doing much to counteract the cold of the lake. With a smile, he continued. “You are correct, Angel, I did not specify.”

I gripped the towel to my body and again tried to leave, but his arms were firmly wrapped around me. Though I wasn’t frightened, I was annoyed enough to give him my best glare.

He tapped my nose with his finger. “Our agreement was for one kiss in exchange for the blanket. You are holding the blanket, are you not?”

I was, but…

“If you wanted to leave with the blanket, you ought to have specified.” Then he winked (!) at me.

One, all.

Forgot I was dealing with a strategist. Let’s try this again. I drew myself up to my full height and spoke with as much dignity it was possible to muster when wearing only a towel and a warlord. “I would like to leave right now with the … er, blanket, alone, and be assured that you won’t follow me.” That, hopefully, would cover all contingencies from sneaky warlords.

“An Angel who negotiates. I’m intrigued.” He pulled me closer, resting his chin on the top of my head. I made a half-hearted attempt to scoot away, but he massaged more warmth into my shoulders. “You’re still shivering. I’m only trying to warm you up.”

Yeah. No one with half a brain would believe that one. Even the chorus of crickets in the background was going, ‘nope, nope, nope.’ “And next, you’re going to try and sell me a castle that you don’t own?”

I could sense him smiling into my hair. “You opened the negotiation with three requests. One proper kiss of a suitable duration, per request – for a total of three kisses.”

“I can count,” I muttered. If I had to kiss him, then at least then I would know what it was like to kiss him, and I could stop wondering. I’d have to stop at one kiss though – one kiss, then this ‘Angel’ was going fly away forever. I felt a slight pang of disappointment about that, but staying with him too long only increased the chance that he’d find out that ‘Angel’ was also ‘Katsu.’ So. That was that. I counter-offered with, “One for the lot.”

“Two. Two proper kisses of a suitable duration.” He lifted a clump of wet hair out of my eyes, flicking it behind my ear.

That … was vague. Too vague. I leaned back and looked at him. “What do you mean by a proper kiss of-”

I got almost through that question and that Star Wars Fish Alien whose name I can’t remember broke through my obviously hypothermic brain (I normally would not have made such a stupid miscalculation), yelling ‘it’s a trap!’ then Shingen said, “Like this” and closed the gap between our mouths.

Oh.

Oh!

He really is good at this.

His lips glided over mine, gently at first, merely brushing past before pausing, hovering, almost touching, but not. Maybe I should have moved, but instead, I held my breath, until he pressed his mouth to mine again. He held me firmly against his body, but didn’t try to overpower me, and as I relaxed into his kiss, he brought one hand up to cup my cheek.

His hair tickled the back of my hand - only then did I realize I had put my arms around his neck to bring him closer. He took his time, acting like he wanted to savor me, like I was one of those pastries he loved so much. And with that image, came the taste of sugar – I don’t know if he actually tasted like sugar, or if it was because I associated him with pastries – but I had not expected such sweetness in his kiss.

Then he flicked his tongue across my lower lip and nipped at it. Surprised, I gasped, and he slipped his tongue inside my mouth. He placed his hand on the back of my head to draw me closer still. His kiss was warming all over, defrosting my lake frozen-body, and I wanted to get closer to that warmth, let it burn through me even, and that was my last coherent thought for a while and I went with it.

Yes. Him. Now.

Then bargains and agreements went out the window, as he slid his mouth down to the base of my throat and pressed a kiss to it that had me catching my breath in a moan and I grabbed his shoulders to keep from sliding to the ground in a boneless heap.

“I knew you’d like that, Angel,” he murmured. There was both laughter and triumph in his voice, and finally my brain woke up and broke free of that seductive hold.

Angel. Goddess. He wasn’t kissing me. He didn’t know me. I could have been any woman. The realization, as cold as the lake, help me retake control of my senses.

No, I would take my chances with the ground spikes.

Flipping the towel up and over his head, temporarily blinding him and tangling him up in fabric; I used that element of surprise to make a run for it.

I dashed through the underbrush, then swung up into the tree I had secreted my clothing in earlier. In a flash (literally), I was sitting on a thick branch, clutching the bundle of ‘Katsuhira’s’ clothes like a security blanket. I pressed my hand to my mouth to silence my rapid breathing – my lips were still tingling from his kiss.

Somewhere below me, Shingen was crashing through the trees, calling for “Angel”.

The calls stopped suddenly with a muttered oath.

Watch out for ground spikes.

*******************

Luckily, the night guards didn’t examine me too closely when I returned to the castle, my damp hair tucked into my clothes and creating a giant wet spot on my back. They were used to Shingen’s staff coming and going at all hours. Once inside, though, I had the sense that someone was watching me as I hurried through the corridor to my room. I paused, looked around, and noticed that a doorway that had been closed when I passed it a moment ago was now cracked open.

After a brief mental debate – I was wet and armed with only a dagger – I crept back, and peered through the tiny sliver of open space. It appeared to be a storage room, I couldn’t see anyone in it, though they could be lurking behind the door. I listened for movement, breathing… anything, but the only noise I heard was coming from the corridor behind me – two vassals were heading my way, engaged in some nonsense argument over the best brand of sake in the area. Not wanting to be caught lurking, I gave up on the idea of investigating further, and returned to my room. I’d return to this one tomorrow and give it a thorough examination.

To my surprise, I managed to fall asleep without much difficulty, especially considering the effect my night swim and the aftermath had on my imagination. My brain basically just shut down in self-defense. I woke up once a bit later when my brain produced the name of the Star Wars Fish Alien (Admiral Ackbar), fell asleep again, only to be jarred awake again by the sound of my door sliding open.

I reached for the dagger I kept next to the futon.

“Don’t be alarmed, it’s just me,” Shingen stood in the doorway, a lantern in one hand, and a packet of letters in the other.

Actually, I found that pretty alarming. Had he figured it out already? Had ‘Angel,’ like Cinderella, left something behind?

He gestured to the messages. “Can you deliver these first thing?”

Oh. Ok. He hadn’t figured it out. “First thing as in right now?”

Please say no and go away.

“No, I’m simply dropping them off. It can wait until sunrise.”

Good. Now, go away.

My mind control was working about as well as it had earlier this evening – which is to say not at all. Perhaps I should have added the phrase these are not the droids you’re looking for to it?

He moved from the doorway and came into the room, and I was suddenly conscious that I wasn’t wearing the binder over my breasts, and that my hair, though pulled back, was still wet. I pulled the blanket over my head and rolled into a ball and did my best impression of a lazy teenager. “Will do.” I mumbled, trying to give every indication that I was nearly asleep again.

“You’re not terribly alert for someone who’s already legendary for getting up and around early in the morning,” as he placed the letters on my writing desk, then sat down behind it.

I risked Kilroying my eyes and nose over the edge of the blanket. “Being a morning person usually requires being asleep at this particular time of the night.”

He laughed. “Don’t mind me, I just realized I need to write another.” He grabbed some paper and the brush off the desk and I was suddenly glad that I was the organized type of person who did not leave incriminating things lying about. (Actually, that is exactly why I am organized).

As I once again retreated under the blanket, I wondered if maybe he had figured out my disguise and was torturing me for the fun of it, but the rhythmic and determined scritch of the brush across the page convinced me he truly was writing an urgent message. Finally, my curiosity won out, and I asked, “What’s going on?”

He bent over the desk, the light of the lantern turning his hair from auburn to burnished red. “I’m looking for a woman.”

“Aren’t you always?” I muttered, as I mentally swore at myself for asking. That catch-all nickname “Angel” still stung my ego, even as I rationally knew it shouldn’t. I hadn’t told him “Angel’s” name, and for all he knew, we had just “met.”

“A specific woman,” he clarified, the brush still scribbling furiously on the paper. “Part Mermaid, part Moon Goddess.” He mumbled something else under his breath that may have been ‘imp.’ Or limp? Well, he had stepped on a ground spike.

“What makes that one special?” Ego damage repair sequence initiating.

He rolled the handle of the brush over and over his fingers like a magician manipulating a playing card. “We were playing a game of sorts, and the next move is to be mine. But I need to locate her first.”

I needed to shut this thing down. Though it might be a good idea to learn what he had in store for Angel, so that I had a next move of my own. Or, better yet, avoid getting into a situation where a move needed to be made. “A game? Like shogi?”

“Somewhat, although I’ve never found that particular game all that exciting. But it does involve thinking several moves in advance.” He smiled, and I got very very worried. “Of course, if we play this game correctly, we will both win.”

I might be in trouble. I inched further under my blanket.

“What have the messages to do with it?” Did he write Angel a note and address it to the North Pole? Or the Moon, probably, because of that goddess thing.

“I’ve asked my mitsumono to search for her, as the lady is probably a spy.”

I am definitely in trouble.

He tapped the pile of letters. “Sorry to have disturbed you, Katsu.” And then he was gone.

Link to complete work, Twelve Lies I Told Shingen Takeda here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32812042?view_full_work=true

[lalikaa]

“Gravitate”

A fic I wrote for the @yamakagezine years ago and forgot to post, whoops haha. Hope you enjoy!!

~*~

It was a crisp Sunday in March; the kind of day where you’re not sure  whether you need a coat or not. The sakura trees had yet to bloom, and the  frost of February still lingered. This was one of Tadashi’s favorite times of  the year; he liked the chill before everything bloomed. 

However, Tadashi was not enjoying the cool weather at the moment, as  he was currently inside, piling bread onto a plastic tray. 

“It feels like just yesterday we were nervous about our first practice  match against Seijou, and here we are,” Tadashi began to lament. 

“...We’re in a cafe, Tadashi.” 

“You know what I mean!” Tadashi said with a huff. He was almost  tempted to say his boyfriend was being snarky, but in reality, it was just Tobio being… Tobio. 

When Tobio titled his head to the side slightly in a way that made it look like a giant question mark was floating over his head, Tadashi could not find it in himself to be exasperated. 

“Y’know, as in we’re here as third years, about ready to graduate and move on with our lives, that kinda thing.” 

The giant question mark dissipated over Tobio’s head (quite a feat, since  it was invisible to begin with), but was quickly replaced by an equally invisible exclamation mark. 

“I was never nervous about the match against Oik- Seijou,” Tobio retorted to Tadashi’s previous remark.  

“Well, you’re never nervous about anything.” 

Tobio didn’t respond to this, as they got to the cashier. Tadashi set a chocolate cornet and a red bean roll, which he had gotten for himself, and  Tobio’s melon bread and taro bun on the counter while Tobio ordered their usual drinks; a hazelnut latte for Tadashi and a matcha latte for himself.  

They scoped out their usual table by the second window to the right, and once they sat down Tobio said; “Well, some things make me nervous.” 

“Yeah? Like what?” 

“Like… passing tests, not being able to play volleyball, possibilities of  injuries… askingyouout.” The last few words were mumbled, but Tadashi  caught them anyway,  

“Awww, really? Asking me out made you nervous? But you didn’t even-” 

“I know I didn’t! Because I was nervous!” 

“There was no way you were more nervous than I was! Wait, then is  that why Shouyou-” 

“Yeah,” Tobio interjected. “Because I couldn’t do it.” 

“That-- this makes more sense now. Though, y’know, it’s not like I could’ve either.” 

Tadashi unwrapped his cornet and took a bite, now thinking back  to when their relationship had begun. If he were being honest, their  relationship definitely had an unusual start.  

Tadashi was pulled back to almost three years ago, when he’d first  joined Karasuno’s volleyball team, to when he’d first met the briskly terrifying force of nature that was Kageyama Tobio. 

~*~

Tadashi hadn’t been the only one blown away by Kageyama, but he felt like he was being affected more strongly. His heartbeat skittered whenever he was around him, something that he hadn’t experienced before. At first Tadashi was concerned that perhaps he was showing premature signs for cardiovascular disease, but when he confided this to Tsukki, he’d been met with a scoff and an eyeroll.  

“This is why feelings are stupid,” Tsukki had said. 

Whatever the hell he’d meant by that. 

After a few weeks (and a few hours on WebMD), Tadashi came to the  conclusion he wasn’t at risk of heart disease. He poured his anxiety into volleyball, and found relief in striving to be the best player he could be, drawing heavy inspiration from a certain setter.  

With every successful jump serve he made, the thought that often crossed his mind was-- 

I hope he notices. 

Months passed though, and Kageyama didn’t seem to pay any more  attention to Tadashi than he did anyone else. Tadashi tried not to take it personally.  

~*~

“He’s just so cool,” Tadashi said wistfully one day in autumn as he and Hinata sat on the steps outside the gym before practice. Tadashi was  eating a convenience store onigiri and sipping apple juice while Hinata was  bouncing a volleyball on his arms, focus sharp. 

“Yeah, he is, you should ask him out,” Hinata replied, still bouncing the  volleyball. 

Tadashi promptly spat out his juice. “I can’t do that!” 

“Why not? You’re just as cool!” 

“I’m… I’m really not. Thanks, though,” Tadashi said sheepishly. 

“Why do you think you’re not cool?” Hinata asked, catching the volleyball as he looked at Tadashi. 

Tadashi couldn’t find the words to articulate that he felt like he was floating in space when he was around Kageyama; he was a scattered  meteor, helpless to the gravitational pull of Planet Tobio.  

...That sounded kind of odd, but still.  

Tadashi sighed. There was no way he could tell Hinata all that, so instead he just said; “I don’t know.” 

“Well, I think you’re cool! You work really hard, you know? Plus you’re super nice, even though people wouldn’t think that ‘cause you hang out with Tsukishima so much.” 

Tadashi snickered. Hinata just said whatever was on his mind. 

Maybe he should, too.  

~*~

About a week after Shouyou had suggested that Yamaguchi should ask  Kageyama out, he found none other than Kageyama by his side as they were cleaning up after practice. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi had finished  folding the nets early, leaving Hinata and Kageyama to sweep the floors.  “I feel… weird,” Tobio started, which made Shouyou jump a little because Kageyama hardly ever initiated the conversation.  

“You’re always weird, Bakayama-kun,” Shouyou replied. 

When no volleyball came hurtling at his head in response, Shouyou  knew something was wrong.  

“I think I like someone as much as I like volleyball,” Kageyama  muttered. 

Shouyou stopped mid-sweep. 

Kageyama? Talking about his feelings?  

This had to be serious. 

“So… who’s your someone?”  

“No one,” Kageyama said, immediately backing out. 

“It’s gotta be someone,” Shouyou insisted, trying not to bounce in excitement. 

“Nevermind,” Kageyama grumbled.  

“Is it me?” Shouyou teased. “Kageyama, please, I’m too dedicated to volleyball to be in a relationship.” 

“It’s not you!” Kageyama snapped. 

“Ouch,” Shouyou said, pretending to be hurt.  

Then, it came to him. 

“Is it Yamaguchi?”  

“No,” Kageyama said too quickly, turning bright red. 

Aha. 

Now Shouyou just had to find the right time to ask. 

~*~

The right time came a couple months later, after the intense training camp hosted at Shiratorizawa. Hinata and Yamaguchi were eating lunch together at Hinata’s desk while Tsukshima was listening to music in his and  Yamaguchi’s classroom. Meanwhile, Yachi was tutoring Kageyama in her classroom. 

“So how was the training camp, Hinata? Tsukki said it was lame and that you were annoying.” 

“Ugh, not as annoying as he is! He put in such minimal effort, you wouldn’t believe-” 

“I think I get the idea.” Yamaguchi laughed.  

“Anyway! Are you free this Saturday afternoon after practice?” 

“Yeah, why?” 

“Awesome! You’re gonna go on a date with Kageyama at Aki Cafe in Sendai! I booked your train tickets already, you’re welcome!”

“Oh ok, thanks-- wait, WHAT.” 

Shouyou grinned as Yamaguchi proceeded to panic, giving himself a  mental pat on the back. Man, was he the most awesome friend, or what! 

On the day of the date, Tadashi had to remind himself that ‘this is fine’ approximately 19 billion times.  

But what if Kageyama didn’t actually like him? I mean, why would he?  What the hell had Hinata been thinking?! 

~*~

The train ride was as awkward as he’d expected, honestly. Kageyama  wasn’t the most social of butterflies, but as soon as Tadashi brought up  their latest practice match against Datekou, one thing led to another and  soon they were talking about various ways they could demolish Datekou’s  Iron Wall. Tadashi loved when Kageyama talked about volleyball; he was  so passionate. Tadashi envied him a little, as he felt as though his passion  for anything could never match Kageyama’s. It was just another aspect of  him that drew Tadashi in.  

Tobio was surprised at how easily he could talk to Yamaguchi. He was  used to people not wanting to talk to him, ever, so this was an unusual, but  appreciated, change of pace.  

The train bumped along as they traveled towards their destination. Tobio didn’t have the faintest clue why Hinata had bought them both train tickets and given instructions on getting to a particular cafe, and he had  definitely considered declining when Hinata brought it up… until Hinata  mentioned that his travel partner would be Yamaguchi. 

Partner was a word reserved for someone you could completely trust, and Kageyama hadn’t felt a true connection like that until he’d met Hinata.  But then, how he felt about Hinata was vastly different from how he felt  about Yamaguchi. While he wanted Hinata to spike his tosses, he wanted Yamaguchi to hold his hand... or something. It was weird.  

They got lost on their way to the cafe Hinata had suggested. “We could just go to another one,” Tobio said as they took what was likely their eighth wrong turn. 

“But Hinata went through all the trouble of finding one, so we should  go!” Yamaguchi insisted. 

Tobio shrugged. As long as he was home in time for his 8 o’clock run  he was fine. It was only 1 o’clock now, so he should be good. He tried not  to think about spending seven hours with Yamaguchi. Surely it wouldn’t be  that long…? If it was, Tobio was in trouble. He might get the urge to do  something drastically romantic, like pat Yamaguchi on the shoulder.  

Tobio snapped out of his thoughts when Yamaguchi said suddenly;  “Oh, here it is!” 

Aki Cafe was a small building, nestled between a hair salon and an  ice cream parlor. The two walked in and were greeted by the smell of  cinnamon, vanilla, coffee, and at least nine other different scents. They  studied the menu together in silence, then picked up their bread and made  their order; they each got savory crepes. 

As they waited on their food at a table by the second window to the  right, they fell into awkward silence. The waitress brought them a pitcher  of water and glasses, which was a welcome distraction. They both then  sipped their water, with Tobio doing his best not to stare too much. He’d  never realized how many freckles Yamaguchi had. They were kind of cool.  Tobio began to wonder how many there were and oh god what was wrong  with him? 

Thankfully, Yamaguchi broke the silence by bringing up a homework  assignment that he’d recently struggled on, and they came to an agreement that math was indeed the Worst, and should be banned from school. The waitress came with their crepes. They thanked her, and began to eat. 

~*~

Think of something else to say, think of something else to say oh my god why  are you so awkward this is why no one really ever wants to hang out with you,  you don’t deserve- 

“You’ve- you’ve gotten really good at jump float serves,” Kageyama said  abruptly. 

Tadashi tried not to gape at him. Kageyama, the king of serves, was  complimenting him on his serves!? No way. 

“Uh, thank you,” Tadashi said. He was still pretty bad at taking  compliments. “You’re really amazing at serves too!”  

Kageyama seemed to be just as bad at taking compliments, but not in  an awkward way like Tadashi—more in a blunt, yet endearing sort of way.  “I still have a lot to improve on,” he said seriously. 

“Me too,” Tadashi said. “Maybe you could- maybe you could help me  practice sometime?” He winced, fully expecting Kageyama to decline. “Yeah, sure,” Kageyama said. 

Tadashi suddenly felt overwhelmed. Because extra practice with  Kageyama obviously meant spending more time with him, which meant  that Tadashi’s life would become far more complicated. He wasn’t sure how  much his heart - and his nerves - could take. 

“I’d really like that!” Tadashi responded, a little too loudly. “Me, too,” Kageyama said, giving a rare smile.  

To Tadashi, it felt special, somehow. Kageyama was smiling because  of him, and only to him- it felt intimate in a way. Tadashi grinned back,  feeling his heartstrings loosen and his nerves settle down. Maybe he could  handle more time with Kageyama after all. 

~*~

After they finished their crepes, Tobio suggested getting ice cream at  the parlor next door. He was still hungry, and anything milk-based was always a good thing. The parlor was really cool—various pictures hung on the walls, and the shiny tiled floor made it look like the shop was brand  new. The counter had a large display of at least 30 flavors of ice cream  on display behind clear glass. The signs above the counter showed that  the parlor also served soft serve, sundaes, and milkshakes. The friendly worker greeted them, and after some deliberation, both boys decided on  milkshakes- chocolate for Tobio, strawberry for Yamaguchi.  

They found a table near the corner of the parlor, milkshakes in hand.  As they sipped their milkshakes, Tobio couldn’t help but think; God, he’s pretty. 

Was “pretty” the right word, though? Maybe it should be handsome.  Either way, Tobio wanted to look at Yamaguchi more than he looked at a  volleyball. 

Something was really wrong with him.  

Yamaguchi was cool in a lot of ways, so maybe his line of thinking  was acceptable then…? In all honesty, Tobio had no clue. He was already subpar at best with friendships, never mind actual romantic relationships.  

He hadn’t even considered being in a relationship like that until, well…  when had he considered it first? Maybe when Yamaguchi made his first  successful jump float serve in practice?  

He didn’t know for sure, but he was certainly happy to be where he was  now. Yamaguchi looked a little anxious, but Tobio couldn’t be sure. He  gave a small, nervous smile, in hopes it would… do something. Maybe he was reading the situation wrong…? 

When Yamaguchi smiled back, though, he felt his heartbeat quicken, like he’d just run several sprints.  Tobio wasn’t sure if he would get used to this feeling, but his instincts told  him it was a feeling that would last.  

~*~

Tobio and Tadashi finished their bread at Aki Cafe, a sense of nostalgia still hovering between them. Tadashi thought maybe they were too young  to feel nostalgic about a relationship that was only a little over two years, but  the pull he felt on his heartstrings and the maybe-maybe-not tear in his eye felt differently. Tadashi tried to think of something to say as they started walking out of the cafe. This time, though, it was Tobio who initiated their conversation. 

“It’ll be… hard not seeing you every day,” Tobio admitted.  

“Nothing is ever hard for you, Tobio,” Tadashi assured him. 

“Except for not seeing you every day.” 

Tadashi really loved how straightforward Tobio was. He never left Tadashi guessing; he was always honest. 

The sun started setting as they meandered along the sidewalks of  Sendai, glowing red-orange in the cloudless sky. 

“I promise to come to all of your matches,” Tadashi said as they turned  a street corner.  

“I’d rather you promise to play.” 

“We’ll see.” 

“I’ll see you on the court, then,” Tobio said firmly. 

It was comforting how much Tobio believed in him. So, Tadashi  responded by laughing as he took Tobio’s hand, the two walking side by side, with no real destination in mind in the two hours they had before  their train home. It really didn’t matter where they went though; they  would always gravitate back to each other in the end.

[cielwritesshit]

Wait, NATSU!!! - Gratsu

Summary - Gray is feeling that his days are blurring together. He goes to school, works a shift at 8-Island, then heads home, without much variation day to day. Except for this day, when his daily commute to work is interrupted by a boy with pink hair. A boy that Gray cannot remember the name of for the life of him. 

MAJOR TRIGGER WARNINGS!!! Natsu is incredibly depressed in this one. Also, attempted suicide, suicide, and homophobic slurs (briefly). Do NOT read if that is a trigger for you.

You have been warned, I'll be waiting in the comments with tissues :)

A big thank you to @fuckyeahgratsu for finding this on Ao3 before I had chance to post it here :)

><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><

Gray had to admit, his life was pretty boring. His life seemed to be on repeat, never changing schedule for even a full day. When his alarm went off, he’d get up. While he was at school, lessons dragged on. Lunch ended up being a drag as well, although he got the chance to look at the really pretty pinkett that also had lunch at the same time as him. When he was walking to is job at 8-Island, he always took the same route, which had him crossing a large bridge over a fast-flowing river. Everyday, he’d pass the same people heading to, and leaving, the city center. Nothing changed, ever.

Except for today, it seemed.

It was raining. Normally, it didn’t rain, but since Autumn was drawing to an end, Gray didn’t find it too weird. He’d just stepped onto the bridge when he saw a pink blur run past him, knocking his shoulder on its way past. Gray looked down slightly, checked that his shoulder was okay, before carrying on across the bridge. He was trying to work out who’d run past, since normally, that didn’t happen. Gray could tell that he was male, and could see a mess of pink hair. They guy looked incredibly familiar, he must share a class or two at school. But the thing that worried Gray was that he was visibly shaking, almost as if he was crying. Anxiety getting the better of him, Gray decided that it would be okay if he was a few minutes late to his shift. So, he turned around, following the boy, trying to remember his name. After all, if someone he knew was crying, then he wanted to help.

The boy kept running until he got to the middle of the bridge. Gra struggled to keep up, his bag weighing him down. So, he ended up dropping it and sprinting after the kid. Luckily, he didn’t have to run far before he other boy stopped. They were halfway across, and right over the river. That’s when the boy decided to climb up onto the wall that was there to stop people from accidentally falling off. Gray was shocked, but hurried his ass up, he didn’t want to see the boy jump off. There was no way that he’d survive.

“Wait, please!” Gray shouted, hoping that the other could hear him. The boy turned his head, showing that yes, he was crying. And it looked like he’d been cryin for a while. It didn’t help that it was raining, meaning that ray had to pray he wouldn’t slip on his way over. He skidded to a stop when he was finally close enough to talk normally. It didn’t help that Gray couldn’t remember the kid’s name. It was something important. Was it a place? A season?

“Why are you up there? What made you run?” he asked, running through names in his head. Was it Fuyu? Aki? Haru? What was it...

“It doesn’t matter! Especially not to you!” The kid shouted. Gray didn’t realise that the kid would be angry as well. “You don’t even know my name!” The boy was clearly distraught, and Gray didn’t want to make the moment worse.

“Hey, take it easy. It does matter to me!” Gray responded, getting annoyed at himself, that he had no idea how to handle the situation. The guy’s name was on the tip of his tongue, he’d nearly got it. “Can you please come down from there? On this side of the wall? I just want to talk to you.” Gray held out his hand. He locked eyes with the boy. He’d started running his hands through the once-spiky mane on his head. Gray knew he should know the kid, they had to share a class or something. Was it Nathan? No, it was a Japanese name, what the hell was it?

“O-Okay. But if I don’t feel better, I’m gonna climb back onto the wall.” The boy shuffled his feet, before raising his hand to try to meet Gray’s. He had to lean slightly, shifting his balance, as Gray moved to meet his hand. However, at that moment, a car drove past, splashing rain water all over the two of them. It hit with such a force that it off-balanced him, and he slipped starting to fall backwards. The boy screamed.

Nate - Nat -

“NATSU!!!” Gray shouted, as he darted forwards, grabbing the boy’s wrist and pulling him upright, then down off of the wall, and close to his chest. Natsu wrapped his free arm around Gray, and sobbed, tears streaming down his face. His hair was getting in his eyes, and he just looked so broken. Gray held onto Natsu, slowly letting them drop to the floor. The floor that was completely soaked by rain. But at that very moment, it didn’t matter to either of them. Natsu curled up, holding onto Gray as if he was a lifeline. He’d got one arm round Gray’s back, and the other crossed over his body, clutching the necklace that Gray always wore. Gray was thankful for it when he realised what was happening.

“Shh, it’s okay, I’ve got you. I’m here Natsu.” Gray gently wiped a tear from Natsu’s face. He wasn’t sure when he himself started crying, but once he had, he couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down his face. Natsu kept his gaze on the necklace in his hand, voice shaking.

“I… I g-got kicked out-t. O-of the k-kid’s home.” Natsu started. “T-they saw me hugging Sting a-and flipped. Th-Thought we w-were together I had t-two minutes to g-grab my stuff and get out, th-they told me that I should just jump off the bridge, sin-since no-one could-d l-love a f-fag like me.” Natsu clung tighter to Gray, stumbling over his words. “That was-s a w-week ago. I- uh, I’ve b-been sleeping rough. Th-then when I, when I forgot t-to hand in my assignment today, the teacher screamed at me. I just couldn’t take it anymore.” Natsu completely broke down.

Gray was shocked. How could an organisation do that to Natsu? And the teacher, what was he thinking? Gray remembered that incident from earlier in the day, why didn’t he recognise Natsu sooner?

The two of them sat in silence, Natsu still crying, Gray running a hand through Natsu’s pink hair, that was laying flat against his head. Gray knew that normally it would be sticking up straight, that it was normally an untamable mess, but the rain seemed to have flattened it.

I guess the rain is heavier than I thought.

“You could always stay with me,” Gray broke the silence between the two of them. Natsu looked up at him, his eyes shining. “We don’t have much, but there’d be a bed to sleep on, food to eat, and a roof over your head. Lyon may fuss a bit, and mom and Ultear might be a bit annoyed at having another boy in the house, but they’d let you stay.” Gray looked into Natsu’s eyes, which were filling with fresh tears. Gray brought his hand out of Natsu’s hair and rested it on his leg instead, completely missing the slight hitch in Natsu’s breath.

“Y-you’d do that? F-for me?” Natsu could feel the tears starting to fall down his face. Again. He hated being such a crybaby.

“Of course. But I won’t make you come with m-” Natsu pulled Gray into a bone-crushing hug. It was awkward, and uncomfortable as hell, but in that moment, it didn’t matter to either of them.

“Thank you Gray.” Gray returned the hug. “Thank you so much.”

“It’s fine. You, er, you know my name?” Gray asked, helping Natsu to his feet. Natsu blushed.

“Well, yeah, ‘course I do. We’re in the same class at school. But, I, um, don’t really talk much.” Natsu grabbed his bag, refusing to look Gray in the eyes as he grabbed the boys hand. Gray payed it no mind, Natsu would be completely drained after breaking down like that.

“That’s okay. Let’s go home Natsu. You need to get out of those clothes before you catch a cold.” Gray interlocked their fingers and started to walk towards the other end of the bridge, trying to work out why the butterflies in his stomach were back.

[ick25]

Rockman.EXE Episode 47 Review.

Told you these guys would be back. -__-

Let the Wacky Races parody begin!

We start the episode with car related shots, something that looks like a photo shooting with Aki-chan, more car related close ups and a scene of Iceman being taken away from Aki by Glyde.

A race is taking place today! Shots of the drivers getting their cars ready along with Rush getting chained to one of the cars for some reason, and Rockman putting on the goggles we saw earlier along with his battle mask.

He looks cute with goggles. :3

We see the different “cars” at the starting line as the race begins!

Yes, that is in fact Magicman’s arm shoveling coal into a train engine.

Its is reveal to be a Net Mobile Grand Prix hosted by Yaito since the commentator is one of her maids. Just then, a newcomer drives in at the last second.

Blues joins the brawl! I mean race.

After the title card, Yaito’s maid tells us the name of each car and their respective drivers.

Rockman is driving the only real race car, Gutsman is racing in a tank, Roll’s car looks sentient and Glide is wearing gloves over his gloves.

Mania-Obsessive, the Ex-WWW Navis are driving a train, Net agents are driving a manly submarine and Yaito’s maid just straight up insults Blues. Talk about an objective commentator.

This is basically Mario Karts, so we all know they’re gonna attack eachother, be realistic woman!

The winner, aside from the title, will also receive a kiss from the CGI race queen.

“I love you, you love me, we all love weird looking CGI~”

I can only imagine those are the lyrics of a new cheezy song of hers.

This is something I didn’t like from the dub, we all know that Roll has a crush on Rockman, but it is not okay to make her jealous of other girls? The dub change the dialogue to Roll complaining about Rush not being in the car with her, as if she didn’t know that she has him strapped to the car’s front. It’s actually cute how Roll wants to win the race to avoid having Aki kiss him.

But Rockman couldn’t care less about the kiss because all he wants is to win no matter the battle, as he then gives us a flashback from a few days earlier at the Maha Ichiban where Yaito is telling everyone (including Higure for some reason) about the race.

I love that little gag with Netto, eating curry is always a priority for him. Also, why is one of Hello Kitty’s friends on the wall? Or... maybe its just a pig.

Yaito then shows them a new line of Navi cars with Numberman as the model.

The idea behind these cars is that Navis will be able to drive cars through the internet, which is pretty stupid considering that there are no highways in Internet city and Navis can easily travel fast plug-in style. But we all know that the real reason is to make Blues look cool in a future episode and have a Wacky Races parody.

In order to advertize the cars, Yaito wants to hold a race and asks Netto and the others to take part, they accept, but the Ex-WWW overhears them and ask to join as well for the publicity for their restaurant. And for some reason Commander Beef and the rest of the Net Agents arrive and decide to enter as well to foil WWW’s idea. And Yaito being so selfish doesn’t give a crap about the WWW’s intention like she did in the last episode and just accepts everyone.

But it DOES bother you when Enzan joins the race at the last second, you self centered big headed hypocrite! You are tied in with Rush for the second spot on my list of most hated characters from this season! (You should all know who number one is).

In the cyberworld, Glyde asks Iceman to be his co-pilot and Roll invites Rush along before noticing something wrong with him. Turns out the Cutman brothers are back and they made a paper cut out of a flea to spy on Rockman’s group. They plan to take out Rockman during the race because they still think he’s evil and now they seem to have a crush on Roll all of a sudden.

Makes sense that Glyde asks to team up with Iceman, because I don’t believe there is a car small enough for him.

The flashback ends, making me wonder if the Cutmen scene was part of Rockman’s memory, and we return to the race. We also see the thoughts of the Net Agents taking part as well.

Funny you ask that, Miyuki, because we then cut to Madoi wondering why the WWW is driving a train. Mahajarama just happens to have a thing for trains.

We cut to Rockman who just now finds out that Blues is in the race, I mean come on, Netto didn’t tell him?

Gutsman manages to pass Rockman... On a tank! How?

Gutsman gets in front of Numberman and decides to bend the rules by attacking the car, sending it flying and forcing Numberman to log out after it blows up leaving an emoji face Higure-san.

The cars enter a tunnel where Iceman decides to freeze the road causing Gutsman to drift out of control.

However, Roll-chan is too close, but she avoids crashing into Gutsman by quickly drifting along with him. Worried about Roll’s safety, Gutsman decides to destroy his own car forcing him to log-out.

Here is another line changed in the dub. It’s a fact in both versions that Gutsman has a crush on Roll and he even sacrificed himself in episode 24 to protect her. Here, the dub had him saying that he was getting dizzy and he destroys his own car because he couldn’t take it anymore. I guess the dub wanted Roll to be portrayed more as an equal than having a man sacrificing himself for her for no real reason.

After this we see the Cutman brothers waiting outside of the tunnel where they make a giant paper cut out of a canon. Netto cheers for Rockman, but just then the WWW train pushes his car off balance making him slide out of control before cutting to commercials.

We come back from commercials with Netto saving Rockman by changing his tires, with a little warning about using those tires in public roads that was skipped in the dub. Rockman regains control by driving on the walls of the tunnel and the race continues with Higure-san as a new commentator.

The insult of the day is “pain in the ass” because this is the third time we hear that in this episode. Or the sub was too lazy to think of another insult.

The cars exit the tunnel where the Cutmen are waiting for Rockman with the canon, but for some reason they just stand there. I guess the cars are so fast that they didn’t get the chance to shoot?

The line in the dub was just as pathetic. ¬ -¬

The next obstacle is a draw bridge opening, Rockman and Blues manage to jump to the other side without problems, Roll-chan has some kind of air bag under her car that allows her to bounce to the other side, but the manly submarine can only do what it does best, dive.

So the Net agents are out and now its time for the WWW to upgrade their train from a steam powered locomotive to an electrical train thanks to the Count and Elecman.

I like how Coloredman and Heatman are waving their hands in the air like they don’t even care. XD

Time for the Cutmen’s third attemp to destroy Rockman, by planting something on his car using a manhole they created out of paper. It looks like they forgot cut some stairs because Cutman Jiro (Eyebrows) is using the rest of the Cutmen to give him leverage. The fat cutman at the bottom gets a supper boost of strenght causing Jiro to get run over by Rockman’s car. They ask about what happened to the paper cut out, which turns out to be a time bomb, and they assume that it successfuly stuck to Rockman’s car making them feel victorious and making up a new excuse for last time about Roll-chan being in danger too. What’s this sudden crush for Roll?!

“It was at this moment that Cutman Jiro realized... He f*!ked up.”

We return to the race with the WWW Navis in first place and attacking the other cars, they eventually take out the Battle Bus much for Yaito’s maid’s dismay.

Boo-hoo, maybe now you  can concentrate in being an objective commentator.

The WWW feels confident, but Enzan, Netto and Meiru power up their Navi’s vehicles giving them a boost of speed to pass the WWW train.

As the WWW Navis are shocked by Rockman and the others passing them, the Otoko-Maru raises from the water and returns to the race just to get in the way of the Wakahage taking both teams out.

This was just a hilarious accident, but the dub made it look like the Navis themselves did it on purpose to get the WWW out of the race. That would actually make sense, Sharkman, Woodman and Skullman sacrificing themselves for their main objective fits with their characters, after all we don’t see their reactions inside the submarine. They like “Screw this race, we are taking the WWW with us!” ;)

Cue the final lap music of Mario Karts, or in this case, Rockman’s victory music since we have reach the third and final lap of the race with Rockman, Blues and Roll-chan racing eachother.

We see the Cutmen waiting at the finish line as Rockman and Blues focus on eachother and both of them try to make a move in a corner, but they seem to forget that Roll is behind them because they open up a gap for her to move on to first place.

And the seventh panel was ruined by a layering mistake. ¬ . ¬

Roll is now in the lead, but Rockman and Blues are not happy with this so it’s time for their Netops to send in their last accessory chips to transform their vehicles, with Meiru doing the same to keep her advantage over them.

Roll’s corny car just became a freaking rocket plane with wheels!

As Rock and Blues try to catch up with her, we check back with the Cutman brothers who discover a tiny problem with their plan of blowing up Rockman.

That little Cutman is an idiot. Turns out the bomb was stuck to Jiro’s back all along, probably after he got ran over by Rockman’s car, the rest of the Cutman panic trying to take it off with no avail.

The three Navis are almost at the finish line, Roll is holding her ground, until one of her tires suddenly blows up for whatever reason causing her to spin out of control, Rockman and Blues take advantage of this to pass her. 

Roll’s car finally crashes and blows up sending Rush flying and forcig Roll to log out leaving behind a tear.

Yeap, that is a tear drop breaking. The dub kept this in because I remember wondering what that was. I inicially thought it was like a sweat drop, but after watching the original version, I realized that was a tear because Roll was heartbroken knowing that she failed to stop Rockman from winning and getting kissed by Aki-chan. AWWWWW.

So now it’s down to Rockman and Blues! Who will become the champion?

Hmmm... Considering that motorcycles don’t normally take part in car races, this is gonna be a tough call.

Anyway, the race is over and I want my fireworks!

Woo hoo! Let’s celebrate because this is the last time we see the Cutman brothers. (Until the Beast saga, but that’s another story.)

As they are waiting for the results, Blues raises his index finger to the sky making everyone believe that he is declaring himself the winner, but he surrprises them by pointing at Rockman and declaring him the victor.

But this moment of good sportmanship is ruined by the photo finish that shows that the winner of the race.... Is Rush.

I dont know why they cutted out Blues’s reaction in the dub, it was funny. Or do they think Blues is too cool for this?

Yes, Rush is the winner because he crossed the finish line first after Roll’s car blew up, so I guess in a way, Roll got her wish. :3

And the episode ends with everyone booing as Aki-chan kisses an unconscious Rush and Netto breaking the picture with his face.

My thoughts?

Before I forget again, here is a fun fact! Cutman Jiro and the original Cutman were voiced by the same person who voiced Bubbleman in the rest of the anime, Chiyako Shibahara. It was until the Beast saga when the Cutman Brothers and Cutman himself return for an episode where I realized it was the same voice, the only difference being that they don’t say “Puku” all the time.

Wacky Races was an old Hanna-Barbera show from the 80′s that was very popular in a lot of countries, specially in Japan for many animes would include an episode based on the concept. Whether it was a direct parody or just inspired by it, this episode is clearly one of those examples. Sure, it might also be a reference to the Megaman Battle and Chase game that was released in 1997, but that could’ve been inspired by Wacky Races too.

How can I tell if this was directly inspired by the Wacky Races cartoon?

Because Roll-chan’s car is an obvious parody of Penelope Pitstop’s car from the show, with the car wearing mascara an all. And I think there was also a tank in the race.

All and all, this was a very fun episode to watch, it wasn’t ridiculous like the baseball one, this one was written into the story to actually make sense. Remember my criterias for episode 43? The episode introduced something new that fits in with the anime’s universe, and Blues’s bike will make a comeback in a future episode.

[thirstywaffles]

*eye zoom* If you want to, could you tell me more about your ocs? I love their designs

oHH BOY I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS EXACT MOMENT

(everything is under the cut. bc it’s probably gonna be a long post so bear with me)

*cough* you’re probably asking the kids from the “ocs dump” post, so i’ll start clockwise from top left

Aki : a shapeshifting entity byproduct of a surprisingly successful satanic ritual. They are a mutation of countless human sacrifices. They took the appearance of one of the sacrifices (which is where they also got their name from) but sadly since the ritual wasn’t successful enough they went out of control and accidentally murdered every cultist in the building and ran away (i still haven’t planned out a nice backstory for them yet.. but hey, i like this one. it’s edgy)

Axel : axel is actually an android (he doesn’t look robotic here bc i forgot his robotic part rip). At first his purpose was to be a substitute of his creator dead child with a perfect artificial human emotions (which never goes well in every story lmao). Everything’s chill, until the government found him and basically uses him as a bio weapon experiment. (since axel was one of the most human android which is a big deal at that time). i don’t want to spoil his story that much but, well let’s just say after that point in his life everything went down hill

Arthur : a legendary hero who died after beating the demon king. he died peacefully… well.. until someone from the demon world resurrected him as a golem. the person who resurrect him told him that they need his help to bring peace to demons and humans also stop the new hero from attacking the demon world. which made him very upset bc he has to deal with war drama™ again 

James / Law : one of my oldest ocs (and also one of my favorite, most of my ocs drawings are him lol) but weirdly his story isn’t well developed as the former ocs. but the gist of his story is that he gets his ass handed by fate a lot.

btw this is like a fraction of how much ocs i have, and man do i have lots of them...

[somevirtualnolife]

Three Isn’t a Crowd Pt. 1

Part 2 Here

1237 Words

Rating: G Pairing: ‘Bambi’ X Arashi Fujiyama X Junpei Niina  Summary:  A year after graduating from Habataki High, Akiko Hoshino (Bambi) has a difficult time trying to explain what she feels is a simple relationship with Arashi and Junpei. Author’s Note:  So, I replayed Tokimemo 3rd Story and forgot how much I loved it. Sadly, I noticed that there wasn't much fanfiction, so I figured I write some with my favorite 3P pairing with Arashi and Niina. So here’s a 3-parter mostly exploring Bambi’s thoughts about her polyamory, without really having the vocabulary just yet. So sorry for lack of proper fluff or romance just yet.  Some divergences to the original story such as making it a little more modern as well as changing Bambi's personality a bit. 

“Aki!” two girls ran up behind Akiko Hoshino, catching up with her as she waited in front of the train station near her university. Her classmates. “A bunch of us are going to be going out for drinks on tomorrow. You’re joining us right?”

“Ahh, I’m sorry you guys, I have plans that day,” Aki replied, giving a bit of an apologetic smile with a bit of a bow. “One of my kohai from my old judo club is graduating, I’ll be going to the ceremony and then hoping to catch with him and a few others afterwards,”

“Oh, you mean the cute high schooler that I see you with sometimes?” one of the girls said, snapping her fingers and then grinning. “Are you sure he’s just your kohai?”

Akiko felt her cheeks burn. Here it comes. How would she put it? “Well-um, you see…”

“Oh come on,” the other girl said, rolling her eyes. “We all know that Akiko is seeing that boy from Seifu University,” the other girl said. “I saw you two in the park the other night getting really cozy,”

The red from her cheeks made its way to her ears. Were they really being that obvious? They needed to find another place to meet up when he came into town. But if she could just get out of this conversation painlessly, that would be ideal.

“Wait, but I saw that high school boy kiss her on the cheek when they were shopping!”

“You were probably seeing things. She’s very clearly with Fujiyama-kun,”

The two girls continued to argue a bit and Aki felt herself growing a little anxious. She could just let them continue to argue and let them draw their own conclusions. Then again, when she let that happen, there was usually some misunderstanding. But then again, even when she was being honest about the situation with Arashi and Junpei, it didn’t necessarily make things easier either in her experience.

But still… they’d figure it out eventually.

“I’m… seeing both of them,” she finally said with a long sigh. “And yes, they both know about each other,”

Her classmates looked at each other and then back at her in silence. Just as she predicted, they gave her the look. The look that everyone gave her when she tried to explain herself. Expected, but it didn’t make it any less annoying. Before the conversation could continue however, an announcement went off.

The train bound for Habataki Station will be arriving shortly.

A wave of relief came Aki. That was lucky. She honestly didn’t have the energy to explain herself right now to them. They could draw their own conclusions if they really wanted to at this point and she’d just correct them on Monday.

“I should go,” she said with a quick wave as she hopped onto the train. “I really want to make sure that I get home on time to prepare some things for the ceremony,”

As the doors of the train closed, Aki let out another deep breath and found a free seat. Well, that wasn’t too painful.

She enjoyed her university life well enough. She loved her program and was diligent in her studies. Not to mention that there was just so much freedom compared to high school.  No uniforms, or being worried about being called upon in class. Honestly, it was great. She had very few complaints.

However, one thing that she really did miss from Habataki High were her friends. First, there were Karen and Miyo, the best girlfriends anyone could ask for. Although they had questions about her love life, they never really questioned her love life, if that made sense. Instead, they always gave her advice and cheered her on and she would do the same for them. Not to mention, they were used to seeing their Bambi with the two judo boys, goofing around, arm-in-arm. They never found it weird, or wrong. Speaking of those two…

Junpei and Arashi… ‘Team 3J’, as Junpei liked to call them. In his opinion, it made them sound like a cool idol group. The J was for judo of course, the thing that brought and kept them together at school. Honestly, she and Arashi always thought the name was a little bit ridiculous (An idol group? Really?), but it ended up sticking with them.

So what were they? Like Karen and Miyo, she always considered the two close friends. People that she loved. They’ve been through thick and thin together, pushing Arashi in judo, teaching Junpei to be dedicated, giving Aki confidence. For those two years, they’ve shared their secrets, tears, frustrations and dreams together. It was a shame that they weren’t able to be together like they used to, but with Arashi and Aki going to different universities and Junpei still in high school, their schedules rarely matched up.

But the more she divulged to people that didn’t know the two, it became apparent that they were more than just friends. And then she’d get ‘that look’. And then ‘that look’ would be followed by slightly invasive questions and comments. Wouldn’t someone get jealous? Do they like each other? Isn’t this basically a reverse harem? How does it even work?

And the most frustrating of them all;

Who do you like more?

She hated that question so much, more than any other. No one would dare ask her that about Miyo or Karen. Nor would they ask parents who was their favorite child, so why were people so inclined to ask about it when it came to Arashi and Junpei? She felt her relationship with them was pretty simple, but it seemed that everyone else around her enjoyed complicating it for her.

But this was all for another day. For now she wanted to focus on Junpei’s graduation. Finally, after all this time, they could reunite.

Aki then felt a vibration coming from her purse. Her phone. She pulled it out and turned on the screen. It was an IM from Arashi.

Arashi:

Just finished up practice. I’ll probably grab the bus in about an hour. I’ll be in late, but can’t wait to see you two. <3

 Aki smiled to herself and felt her frustrations starting to melt away.  Even a little message from Arashi was enough to put her in a good mood. She knew how busy he was with judo lately, but even he couldn’t miss Junpei’s graduation. She quickly started to type back.  

 Aki:

Same~! (o´▽`o)

I’m on the train back rn. I’m so excited for tomorrow! Should we do a repeat of last year? Hop on stage? www

 Arashi:

Heh. I think Himuro-sensei is going to keep a close eye on us so that won’t happen again.

 Aki:

Well, at least we got to do it once! (￣▽￣)

… … …

I wish you didn’t live so far. I was hoping to see tonight.

… … …

But I’ll send you a picture when I see Jun tonight, okay?

 Arashi:

Actually, could you maybe wait until tomorrow to meet with him?

… … …

I think the three of us need to talk together. It’s important.  

 Aki suddenly felt her throat tighten. A talk… the three of them had a talk once, just a little while before they graduated. She felt herself hesitate and just look at her phone before finally typing again.

Aki:

Talk about what?

[uraberika]

Octopuses and Broken Hearts

Title: Octopuses and Broken Hearts Characters: Urabe Rika, Ichinose Kazuya Rated: T  Genres: Angst, Humour (or at least I try) Words: 4 446 words Summary: A year after the FFI, Ichinose Kazuya returns from America for a short visit in Japan. Little had he expected a certain blue-haired girl waiting for him at the airport.  On other platforms: ff.net / ao3

Ichinose Kazuya considered himself a patient and peaceful man. He was always the one who would try to make peace between Aki and Domon when they were quarreling with each other. He was the one everyone liked and some of the reasons for it was his endless patience and perseverance. No matter how hard the task would be, he would always continue his training to achieve his goal. Also, when it came to the number of friends, Ichinose was the second one in the ranking -  right after Endou -  due to his kind and tolerant nature.

However, at this exact moment no one would have believed that since Ichinose Kazuya, the Living Statue of Peace and Tolerance was screaming at the top of his lungs in sheer fear.

‘Would you just stop, please!’ he cried as he tried to find an escape route.

It has been two days since the magician of the field has returned from America and this wasn’t exactly how he had imagined his return on the plane to Japan. The first shock was that one of his suitcases had just surprisingly gone missing, so now he had lost half of the souvenirs he had originally planned to give to his former teammates at Inazuma Town. The second surprise awaited him in the lounge of the airport in the form a blue-haired screaming teenage girl. She immediately fell on Ichinose’s neck and haven’t let go since. Well not literally, but Ichinose almost felt like suffocating so it was almost the same. Since the day of his return Rika hasn’t let go of him more than it was necessary. Which meant that Ichinose could spend a peaceful meal with his family but got accompanied by Rika to almost everywhere else than home. He was now actually heading to the riverside to play soccer with his old teammates. Which obviously included Rika, but she really shouldn’t have escorted him all the way from his house...  When he mentioned that to Rika, the girl just waved dismissively and said something along the lines of spending as much time as she can with him until he has to go back to America. And Ichinose wouldn’t have minded, really. He liked to say to himself that he actually had no problem with Rika. He actually had problem with her way of showing affection towards him. All this clinging and squealing just wasn’t his thing.  And it has been going on for days now, so Ichinose felt like he was going to die right there if Rika tried to hug him again.

‘Oh Darling, I’m so glad you’re finally back! I’ve missed you so much!’ Rika said for the fifth time today with the same enthusiasm as the previous four ones.

‘Yeah, yeah, I know, but I can’t feel my arm!’ Ichinose cried in agony as he desperately tried to peel Rika off of him. He tried to ignore the dozens of prying eyes staring at them curiously. Maybe he shouldn’t have chosen the shortest way to the riverbank, which lead through a big, crowded park, but he wanted to meet his former teammates as soon as he could, so he stuck with this route .

‘Oh sorry, Darling’ Rika said apologetically as she loosed her grasp on her loved one’s right arm. ‘I’m just so happy that I finally get to spend some time with my boyfriend,’ her smile was brighter than a car’s headlights on a dark night. And that was exactly how Ichinose felt every time he was with Rika since he arrived in Japan; like he was a deer in the headlights of a truck about to crush him. Though he didn’t fully understand why. Back when he was part of Endou’s team, Ichinose never really felt this way about her. Of course, he was annoyed by Rika’s loudness and affection-attacks but he didn’t really care back then. He just let the girl be and hoped that one day she would realise that they just weren’t meant to be.

But now - since it became clear to him that Rika won’t leave on her own -  it was more than just simple annoyance. He felt exactly like in the field, when he had to make big decisions. He wanted to close this case with Rika once and for all, but he also didn’t want to distance himself from her or hurt her feelings. Because the truth was that once he got to know Rika better, Ichinose had to realise that she wasn’t so bad at all. As he got more and more used to her voice and the way of her speaking, he discovered that Rika was smart as hell. She knew a lot about tactics and positions and the pressure of being a captain. They talked about this while he was in America, through e-mails and chats. When Ichinose had received the first message from Rika asking about his wellbeing, at first, he didn’t want to reply. But his conscience told him not to be a jerk so he answered honestly; how he was worried about not being good enough for a national team or how nervous he was at the first training. And Rika always answered wholeheartedly and kept him updated with the events in Inazuma Town. Rika (just like everyone else when talking through Internet) was much more bearable via e-mail; even amusing, Ichinose risked admitting it. So, Ichinose considered Rika his friend, but nothing more.

And it was about time that Ichinose told her. He knew that this day would come and dreaded it greatly. But he had to tell her, before he went back to America. He was just… waiting for the perfect moment. Which somehow just didn’t seem to come. Ichinose knew that he didn’t have much time left before he left Rika again and having her hopes destroyed just made his stomach clench into a tight knot. Maybe he should tell her right now?

Ichinose was so deep in thoughts that he didn’t realise that Rika had already moved on from the topic and was now talking about her latest recipe. He tensed again as Rika started to scream in a high-pitched voice.

‘What is it?’ Ichinose asked, as he tried to mask the annoyance in his voice.

‘I just remembered that I didn’t give you my present!’ Rika squealed.

‘Present?’ Ichinose asked confused.

‘Yes, I made you a welcome back present, and I wanted to give it to you, but I was so happy to have you back, Darling that I totally forgot it!’ she answered as she searched her pockets.

‘Oh, you really shouldn’t have…’ Ichinose started but got interrupted by Rika’s loud shout.

‘Got it!’ she said as she lifted a little box out of the pocket of her sweater, smiling  triumphantly. ‘Here!’ she said it as she offered the little box to him.

Ichinose took it as carefully as if he was accepting a bomb. He stared at the pink box with the blue ribbon and he felt as if the knot in his stomach had moved up to his throat. He swallowed hard, but the lump didn’t seem to move. He slowly sat down in the grass and Rika followed him, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. He carefully opened the small package and peeked inside while his conscience kept shouting “You can’t keep doing this!” in his mind. Ichinose let out a small gasp as he lifted the small gift out of the box.

“It’s a charm,” he said  in awe, as if he has never seen such an object before. He stared at it in total daze as he observed it. It was a phone charm with a small orange metal octopus on the end.

“Well, I thought that it might remind you of our first meeting…” Rika blushed a little bit as she suddenly became quieter and started fidgeting with the hem of her sweater . “You can put it on your phone or your keychain so you can always remember me when you’re in America…” she mumbled, and the end of the sentence was almost inaudible for Ichinose. He was speechless. Ichinose didn’t know what to say, though he knew that eventually he would have to say something, but he wasn’t sure he will be able to. He was in shock. He got a gift from someone! And not just from anybody! From Rika! From the girl whom he tried so desperately to avoid and get rid of! He felt guilt crawling up his throat. How could he let this happen? How couldn’t he see what was going on? Rika really liked him! Like liked liked him. Ichinose knew that she had expressed it several times before, but he never thought that it would be anything serious. It was just Rika getting overexcited about things like she always would, wasn’t she? But does Ichinose know her well enough to draw that conclusion? And more importantly: how can he reject this girl after she gave him a present?

“Do you like it?” Rika asked, with a hint of nervousness in her tone. Her voice drew Ichinose out of his thoughts. “Because you know, at first I wanted to give you a picture of us, with a handmade frame and everything, but Touko said that it is too much for a first gift, and you always look a little bit weird on our pictures - and not in the funny weird way - so I thought that this might be more  suitable and…” Rika was just babbling nonsense but she couldn’t help it. Ichinose watched in astonishment as the words rolled out of Rika’s mouth, flowing like a flooding river. How does she do that, Ichinose wondered. It’s like she doesn’t need oxygen or anything to speak.

“It’s okay,” Ichinose finally said quietly, and his voice made Rika stop immediately in mid-sentence. “I really like it.”

“You do?” Rika said, her face lighting up, and her thousand watts smile was back. “Oh, I’m so glad you like it, Darling!” she yelled in excitement and did that clingy-hugging thing. Again.

“Rika…” Ichinose groaned as he tried to catch his breath. “You’re squeezing me…”

“Yeah, right,” Rika let go of him, and Ichinose could feel his cardiovascular system working again. “Sorry.”

Ichinose looked at Rika’s happy smile and felt the guilt pressing his chest with much more force now. He should tell her. Right now. Here’s his chance. This is the worst possible moment, but it’s the only moment. After the practice, he will go and have and ice-cream with the team and after that he goes home and he can be sure that a couple of teammates will accompany him. And the next day, he’s already off, back to America so he won’t have a single minute to talk to her in private.

“Uhm… Rika… can I ask you something?” Ichinose said reluctantly as he carefully placed the charm in his pocket.

“Yes, I will gladly marry you!” Rika shouted enthusiastically.

Ichinose’s face turned red, and he started to gesticulate with his arms dismissively. “N-No, I wasn’t going to ask that! Where did that come from, Rika? I want to ask something more serious.”

“What’s more serious than marriage?” she asked part jokingly, part surprised.

“Love,” Ichinose answered staring at the grass in front of him. “Rika… do you… love me?”

“Well, of course I love you, Darling, why would you even question this?” Rika answered with puzzlement in her voice.

Ichinose sighed. Well, there’s no turning back now, so the best he could do is to continue this conversation.

‘And… how do you know you love me?’ Ichinose asked reluctantly.

‘What a silly question, Darling!’ Rika asked with a giggle. Ichinose almost failed to catch it, but he could swear that he heard some agitation in her voice. ‘Why do you ask such strange questions? Are you feeling alright?’ She asked worriedly and put a hand  on Ichinose’s forehead. ‘Hmm… you’re temperature seems normal to me…’

‘I’m fine,’ Ichinose answered with a little annoyance in his voice. ‘Just answer the question, please.’

‘Well, you simply just know it. You just feel it, here,’ she sing-sang and dramatically placed a hand on her chest.

‘Oh,’ Ichinose expected something like this from Rika. He simply sighed again. ‘Okay, then answer this: how do you know that I love you?’

Rika seemed to seriously think about the answer. ‘Well, I guess it’s the same way around. I just feel it,’ she shrugged but the motion seemed a little ragged to Ichinose.

‘Are you sure?’ Ichinose asked, raising a brow.

‘Of course I’m sure!’ she exclaimed. ‘You ate my cooking, therefore our souls have been linked. We are soulmates now, Darling, and you should know that too,’ she scoffed.

‘Oh really?’ Ichinose crossed his arms in front of his chest. ‘If we’re so soulmates then tell me what my favourite animal is,’ he said challengingly. He looked in Rika’s eyes and was shocked to see a glimpse of fear in them. What happened? Did he scare her? But Rika quickly blinked, and any sign of anxiety was gone.

‘Cats,’ she said confidently.

‘Wrong,’ Ichinose answered. ‘I’ve always been a dog person,’ he said, but he didn’t let Rika reply and asked the next question. ‘Favourite season?’

‘Spring’ Rika answered determined.

‘More like summer,’ he answered. ‘Favourite colour?’ he bombed her with another question.

‘Blue’ she answered but she seemed to lose confidence.

‘It’s green!’ Ichinose groaned in frustration. ‘You see, that’s what I’m talking about! You know nothing about me! ’

‘Tch…’ Rika scoffed but didn’t look him in the eye. ‘Who cares for such mundane things like favourite animals when we have a destiny together!’

‘Rika, you can’t just excuse everything saying that it’s destiny!’ Ichinose drew quotation marks as he spoke to emphasise his words.

‘I’m not excusing anything!’ she stomped.

‘Okay, Rika, are you, one hundred billion-million sure we are soulmates?’ Ichinose asked with seriousness in his voice.

Rika hesitated. Just for a second, but it was enough for him.

‘See?’ he pointed out.

‘Why are you so mean to me?’ Rika burst out. ‘All I did was love you, and now you’re saying that all these months, damn, these two years were for nothing?’

‘Rika, did I ever say to you that we’re dating?’ Ichinose asked slowly as he felt that his throat was getting drier and drier. He swallowed hard. This was all his fault. He let things slip out of his hands. Two years… dear God, for two whole years he had been misleading Rika without even realising it! Whenever Rika told him that she loved him or something so affectionate, he just smiled sheepishly and brushed it off. He thought she would grow it out, but oh how mistaken he was! He, of all people misread Rika so badly! She opened up to him, told him everything, and even though they only saw each other like thrice a year, he took advantage of her. Because Ichinose liked having someone waiting for  him in Japan.  The thought that he was welcomed back here gave him such reassurance. Because a year had passed, and even though they exchanged letters with Aki, he had only seen her two times out of the six times he visited Inazuma Town. And that hurt Ichinose’s feelings. The thought that Aki simply let him go, and she started a new life working as a coach, forgetting all about Ichinose, hurt him so much. Without Aki, he had no one to go home to. But Rika always waited for him at the airport (he could never get used to that, she always scared him in the first ten seconds of their meetings), and the feeling that he is loved and wanted back here made his chest warm. Ichinose just realised that he somehow liked Rika. Not in the way Rika liked him but in a different way. He saw Rika as a friend and maybe… just maybe… it felt good to come home to her.

But none of this mattered since he was too much of a coward to tell Rika that he only liked her as a friend and now everything was screwed up. He screwed it up actually, and he wished that he could just teleport out of this already embarrassing situation. But he couldn’t. It’s time to face the music, look into Rika’s eyes and tell her the truth. He reluctantly did so, only to find a wide-eyed Rika staring at him with a fearful expression.

‘What are you implying?’ her voice was higher than normal by two octaves at least.

‘What I’m saying is that we are not dating, Rika!’ Ichinose averted his gaze from her now, unable to look at her. ‘We never were. It’s just…’ Ichinose sighed and ran a hand through his hair. ‘You were so damn persistent, and I never dared to say no…’ Ichinose looked up from the grass afraid of Rika’s reaction. But Rika wasn’t facing him anymore. She turned her back to him, and Ichinose couldn’t see her expression.

‘Uhm… Rika?’ he asked and tapped the blue-haired striker on the shoulder. Rika flinched at the touch and turned her head towards Ichinose. Her eyes were full of tears. Ichinose felt like his circulation just stopped.

Before he landed in Japan, he played out a hundred scenarios in his head about how this talk would go. Each and every one of them included Rika crying in the end. But Ichinose always imagined Rika as a loud crier. He always thought she would sob uglily with trembling shoulders to the verge of suffocation. But Rika didn’t make a scene. She cried so silently that Ichinose didn’t notice it! Another thing he guessed wrong about Rika…

‘I’m sorry…’ he mumbled.

‘Yeah, this makes me feel much better now, thanks,’ Rika huffed ironically and wiped her tears away with the hem of her sweater.

‘Okay, I deserved this,’ Ichinose replied. Rika started to stare at a bench across the park with a stubborn expression on her face. She avoided Ichinose’s gaze.  They sat there like that in silence for at least five minutes when Ichinose finally dared to speak again.

‘So, you’re not gonna lash out at me?’ he asked sheepishly. He was expecting her to do that too.

Rika sighed and buried her face in her hands. ‘I guess I’m still in the state of shock. I think I could use a blanket…’ she murmured in her hands.

‘Here, have my jacket,’ Ichinose said and handed his jacket to her.

‘How chivalrous…’ Rika murmured, her voice dripping from sarcasm as she put on the jacket.

“Are you alright?” Ichinose asked with real concern in his voice.

“You just dumped me. Take a guess,’ Rika snorted.

Now it was Ichinose’s turn to bury his face in his hands.

“Why?” Rika asked suddenly. Ichinose lifted his face but still avoided Rika’s eyes.

“Because we are not compatible, Rika. We are too different. And we live on the other side of the planet, far from each other. This wouldn’t have worked in the first place. Damn, we barely even know each other!”

“No, not that,” she waved her hand dismissively. “Why have you kept leading me on? Why not just tell to my face at the beginning? Would’ve saved a lot of trouble for you…”

“I…” Ichinose scratched the back of his neck. “Honestly don’t know… I didn’t wanna lose you, I guess...”

“Ichinose Kazuya, I advise you to make up your mind and quickly,” Rika crossed her arms. “Because playing with a girl’s heart like that is simply cruel!”

“I-I didn’t mean it like that!” he answered slightly flustered. “I meant that even though I don’t like you that way, I still consider you a good friend. I was afraid of losing our friendship... Guess it doesn’t matter since I screwed up anyway.”

“Yeah, you did.” Rika answered in a cold tone. She stared far away for a minute then shook her head. “But I’m not all innocent either. I admit, I was too much at times. It’s just that…” Rika stopped in mid sentence not sure whether to continue or not.

“That?”

“I was so afraid of history.”

“Huh?” Ichinose asked absolutely confused now.

“That it’ll repeat itself,”Rika said and placed her chin in her hands and sighed. “Guess I could say I’m my mother’s daughter. Can’t even keep a guy…” she laughed bitterly. “It’s just that, y’know, I had this ideal image in my mind about love. When I was six, my mom told me about my father. However, she spoke so highly of him like he wasn’t some douchebag who left us!” Rika rolled her eyes. “She would talk about how they met, fell in love, yada-yada. I guess she needed to get this off her chest somehow. And in that exact moment I swore to myself that if I ever found this so wonderful thing called love, I wouldn’t make the same mistake my mother did. If I find love, I’ll never let it go” she sighed. “But I guess I went a little overboard with it.”

“Rika,” Ichinose placed a hand on the blue-haired forward’s shoulder and looked her in the eye. “You don’t need a love interest to live a happy life. I know that you concluded the opposite from your mother’s speech, but trust me: you can be happy without a boyfriend. But even if we put this fact aside: honestly, you’re smart and talented and an amazing player. You can find a boyfriend for each and every one of your fingers if you want to.”

“Tch… You’re the one to talk…” Rika shook her head disapprovingly but her tone seemed to be kinder now. “You know it would take you just a word, and Aki-san would gladly fall into your arms.”

“Wh-what are you even talking about?” Ichinose stammered, and his ears turned red.

“Ichinose Kazuya, don’t you dare lie to me!” Rika snapped. “You like her, don’t you?” she asked, in a much more serious tone now. “Like that,” she mocked his way of saying the word.

“Uhm… maybe? A little?” Ichinose tried.

“Then go and get her,” Rika sighed tiredly, her eyes emotionlessly scanning the landscape in front of her. “I need some time to think anyway.”

“Maybe I can help you think?” Ichinose asked sheepishly.

“Huh. You're the main reason I need time to think,” Rika said and continued to stare into the void. Ichinose didn’t move, and followed Rika’s example. However, after three minutes or so he started speaking again:

“So, what are we thinking about?”

“You, of course!” Rika rolled her eyes and chuckled but then shook her head. “Look, since you apologised I feel like I should do the same. I’m sorry for being such an annoying girlfriend, even though apparently we had never even dated.”

“It’s okay. I guess we’re even now,” Ichinose smiled slightly.

“It’s just that I’ve never been the loner type, y’know? I was always surrounded by friends. Back at my school, I had a big squad, and we were really good friends. I remember when I started to play football, the boys in my class would always call me names and make fun of me, telling me that I’ll never play as well as a boy. And then my squad stood up for me. They told the boys that football isn’t just for boys, and that they were playing football too. But of course, that was a lie. And then the boys wanted to check out our practice so we had to fake a whole football team, and that’s how everything started. But that’s another story,” Rika smiled sweetly as she recalled the memory. “But when I joined your team everything changed. There weren’t many girls to make friends with, in the first place. Natsumi was so busy and stuck-up to care about another girl joining Raimon, Haruna was too timid to initiate a friendship, and Aki seemed to avoid me on purpose - not like I would blame her!” she scoffed. “As for the team; almost all of you guys felt rather uncomfortable in my presence thanks to that small scene in Osaka. Even Endou gave me the cold shoulder! Touko specifically hated me at first, I remember. So, all I had was you, Dar… uhm… Ichinose to hang out with and discuss everything with. And that’s why I was so clingy. Because I was afraid if I lose you I won’t have anybody to talk to.”

“So,  it seems to me that you only needed a friend?” Ichinose scratched his neck, deep in thoughts.

“I guess,” Rika shrugged.

“I think I can manage that,” Ichinose smiled slightly.

“Hmm?” Rika asked.

“Being your friend” he grinned.

Rika’s eyes widened at this statement. “I… I think I can manage that too,” she replied finally with a hint of suspicion in her voice.

“How about we start all over?” Ichinose suggested.

“I like the sound of that,” Rika agreed.

“Ichinose Kazuya, the magician of the field,” Ichinose suddenly said and stuck out his hand. “Nice to meet ya!”

“Urabe Rika, the greatest chef and forward in all Osaka,” Rika seconded and shook his hand. “The pleasure’s mine!”

“Now that we’ve properly introduced ourselves, may I invite you to come and see a match of mine?” Ichinose asked with mischief in his eyes.

“Isn’t this a little bit straightforward, Ichinose-san? We’ve only just met!”Rika played along. “Well fine, I’ll join you. Only on one condition!”

“What would it be?”

“I get to play too!”

“Well of course. As you wish Rika-san!” Ichinose replied as they got up from the grass and continued their journey to the riverbank, giggling and laughing at each other.