#i wish i can add more to majima's part but that's all i can think of atm qwq

[centerofreality]

Could I get some general headcanons for kiyru and majima with male S/O? (If your not comfortable writing this then I understand)

It’s all good! I apologize for the wait, and I hope this is up to your standards!

Warning. May Include: Homophobia, Possible OOC Kiryu and Majima

General Kiryu and Majima with Male S/O HCs

Kiryu:

The man never knew that he would have a male lover so it was definitely a surprise for him when he started dating you

At first, he’d be so confused with himself. He doesn’t have some experience with dating nor liking a guy so you may have to reassure him and answer his questions

Before you started dating, he suddenly approached you, with a weird look on his face. “Kiryu? What’s wrong?” “Y/N... Is it normal to like both women and men?”

Eventually, with your help, he’ll learn more about his sexuality and starts to feel relaxed about it

“You’re attracted to both men and women, so you’re a bisexual!”

“Bisexual, huh? Are other people like that as well?”

“It depends on the person. Sometimes they’re sexually or romantically attracted to any gender or no one at all.”

“I see... Thank you, Y/N.” *goes to confess to you the following days*

Now, we all know he never judges someone by their sexual orientation and he wholeheartedly supports them so if ever you want to wear feminine clothing, go for it! He loves anything you wear!

He’ll glare at anyone who even talks or looks at you wrong, he knows there are many people who wouldn’t approve of your relationship but with a mean look and maybe even a fist if they’re that rude, they’ll change their mind and leave you both alone. Don’t worry, Y/N, he’ll love you no matter what anyone says.

Homophobes break the lines sometimes with their words and actions so Kiryu suggests that the two of you keep it lowkey in order not to let anyone know. Whenever he sees your dejected face as you walk together in public, he’s disappointed in himself that he can’t give you the affection that you want even if you reassure him it’s okay.

In public, both of you act like close friends but in private, hoo boy, that’s always when the both of you give and receive affection, especially hugs!!

He gives the best hugs. It’s the type of hug that makes you feel safe and warm like you could stay there forever. You’d often get back hugs often whenever it’s night or whenever the two of you cook together

Whenever he looks at you- he won’t realize it-, but he always seems to look at you with affection. If you ever ask him what he was looking at, he’ll quickly change the subject

If you don’t approve of him smoking, he’ll try and stop as much as he can but if you do, he’d occasionally offer one to you whenever things get too tough

Teasing is a good way for you to get him flustered but do it too much and he might get smug and tease you back

“Heyy, how’s the most perfect person in the world doing?”

“I don’t know, how are you?”

*Cue you staring at him while he adjusts his outfit with a smirk*

Chances are, you’d meet Rina and be great friends with her! She’d joke that you two both go at a club to look at other men and women, and suggested that in your birthday, Kiryu act as a host for you

Kiryu grumbled that he wouldn’t do it but watch him ask Kazuki and Yuma for a favor when your birthday’s near-

With you being his boyfriend, Kiryu would get way more confident with destroying gender norms.

He’d use his new knowledge whenever a kid or an oblivious teen ask about their sexuality, you’d be so proud of your mans. He’d be so supportive of the kids.

When you think low of yourself or that you feel like you have to stop being emotional because you were told to, Kiryu would hug you tight and give you a kiss in the forehead and give you words of encouragement

“I’m proud of you, you know that?”

“You’re really strong but you don’t need to be that way forever. You can act weak around me when it gets too rough for you. I’ll protect you no matter what.”

“You don’t have to care about what they think. You’re you and no one can change that.”

“I’m glad that I got to meet you.”

He doesn’t usually say ‘I love you’ but he shows it through his actions and his words

If you don’t want any words of comfort, he’ll silently hug and rub your back. It doesn’t matter if you need to stay in that position for a whole day, he’ll always be there in your time of need.

Majima:

Now this man, this man knows his sexuality and embraces it fully

No one would even DARE to look at you the wrong way. You’re the boyfriend of Goro Majima, Mad Dog of Shimano, and Patriarch of his own family. What are the homophobes going to do? Insult you? Not a chance.

If some rookies in his own family are insulting you for being gay, they’d be leaving with broken bones, or worse.

He would simply not care about what other people would think but he does care about you, so if you want him to not add any people in his list of “Homophobic Assholes To Hurt Badly”, he’ll consider it.

You’d be in all sorts of shenanigans with him if you want to tag along. Majima’s happy for you to join him on annoying Kiryu. Just.. stay out of their range whenever they fight, okay? He wouldn’t know what he’d do if you get hurt because of him.

You’re the only one that can calm Majima down immediately. The Majima Family respects you a lot and Nishida thinks you’re an absolute godsend.

Imagine, you’d be buying something around Kamurocho and a group of scary yakuza men approaches you and then they’d immediately bow and meekly ask you to help them.

You sigh, “What did Majima do this time?”

The power you have is limitless, Y/N.

Not only are you the one who can calm him down but you’d also be one of the only people to see him out of his Mad-Dog persona.

You’d immediately notice because how he talks is way more..softer and he’s far more relaxed. He seems so gentle around you that you almost forgot he’s the one who hid under a traffic cone for several hours to fight Kiryu.

Majima trusts you a lot so he’d tell you about his past, about his brother, and how he lost his eye while you tell yours. It feels refreshing for the both of you and your relationship goes on a deeper level. Majima feels like he can really be himself around you.

If you feel sad, Majima would do all means of cheering you up. He’d go from suggesting the both of you eat something to pole dancing just to cheer you up.

He’ll definitely reassure you when you’re insecure with anything!

“Babe, you look hot every day! But if you want, we can go shopping! I found some matching outfits we can go both wear! Then we’d look hotter together!”

He’d sometimes be jealous but play it off by being teasing

“Who wouldn’t take an attraction to my man?”

At times, he’d show you self-defense but expect him to flirt with you during it, you can call him Majima-Sensei~

He’d admit that he doesn’t want you to be involved with yakuza business and he’s scared that you might get killed. His carefree persona might fend off several people but his persona can only go so far

Your dates would actually be simple and casual. Most of the time you would spend it at the batting cages. If you don’t know how to play baseball, Majima would teach you! May or may not be the time where you both stared into each other’s eyes and had a passionate kiss-

Overall, your relationship with him would be both fun, you won’t have to worry about anyone because he’s there. He’s both your best friend and your boyfriend that’s willing to sacrifice himself for you

As Majima smokes a cigar, he looks at you and says, “I know it feels draining to be with me sometimes, babe. I understand if you need space.”

You smile at him and for a moment, he was caught off-guard.

“With you? Never.”

[snuggetfish]

Oh my! I just read the twitter that explains goros injuries and i was shocked since I didn’t notice it all. So this gave an idea, what if majimas s/o had noticed about his habits but decided not to say anything, thinking they would make him uncomfortable. So let’s say it’s s/o’s birthday and when they blow candles on the cake majima had ordered, he asks what did they wish for and s/o just walks up to him and hugs him tightly, whispering in his ear “ my only wish is that you take care of yourself

You’re right that it would likely make Majima uncomfortable if they just outright addressed his chronic issues. That last thing he wants is to be seen as weak or vulnerable, even in front of a partner. Call it toxic masculinity from being part of a patriarchal organization or just his dogged determination to survive and not let anything stand in his way... but because of it he’s frequently reckless with his body, which is bound to only make the pain worse.

So then the question...

“What did ya wish for?”

I think he’d ask more as joke, not really thinking about and not expecting a serious answer. If someone were to pose the same question to him on his birthday, Majima would be quick to say something ridiculous like “a crossbow ‘n a few dozen boys good at balancin’ shit on their heads”. Because you’re not supposed to reveal your real wish, right? He’s maybe hoping it’s something material, a gift he can add on top of the already lavish birthday presents he usually buys...

So the response then catches him off guard and in particular the tenderness with which his partner says it. Their soft, pleading eyes so full of love...they make his chest tighten and his heart pound. He flashes a flustered smirk, pretends not to know what they’re talking about, before finally reciprocating that tight, tight hug. It’s their birthday though, he would’ve much rathered they were a little selfish, instead of always worrying about him...

But this is how he knows their concern is genuine. And that they’re definitely clever for making it a birthday wish. After all, if the love of his life really wants something, Majima Goro’s gonna do his damned best to make it happen! 💙

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

The BNHA Group Chat Fic Nobody Asked For

Pairings: Todoroki Touya (Dabi)/Mr Compress (Sako Atsuhiro), Shimura Tenko (Shigaraki Tomura)/Chisaki Kai (Overhaul)/Kurono Hari (Chrono), Yamada Hizashi (Present Mic)/Aizawa Shouta (Eraserhead)/Shirakumo Oboro (Loud Cloud), Fukukado Emi (Ms. Joke)/Kayama Nemuri (Midnight), Bakugo Katsuki/Kaminari  Denki/Kirishima Eijiro, Iida Tenya/Monoma Neito/ Aoyama Yuuga

Word Count: 1,637 Words

Summary: LOV, internships, and Tenko unintentionally reveals a secret some of his classmates keep hidden from even Aizawa.

Warnings: Abduction Mention, Kidnapping Mention, Caps, Death Mention, Injury Mention, Amputation Mention, Prosthetic Mention, Cursing, Blood Mention, Teen/Underage Pregnancy Mention, Pregnancy Mention, Broken Bones Mention, Drugs Mention, Adoption Mention, Half Blind Character, Deaf Characters, Mostly Mute Character (due to a different medical issue), Selectively Mute Character, let me know if I should add anything else.

Notes: In this AU, Hisashi Shimura married Nao Shimura and Inko Midoriya had Hana with Nao then Izuku and Tenko with Inko and Nao respectively before Tenko's power went out of control and killed his parents.

Notes: Honoka (or 和花) means harmony flower. She's named after Hana Shimura. Nanami (or 七海) means seven seas. She's named after Nana Shimura. Akiyama(秋山) means autumn mountain, Sekai (世界) means world, Ayaka (彩花) means colorful flower, Akari (明り) means light/brightness.

Usernames: We Are Number One™ Aizawa: Dadzawa, Aoyama: immafiringmahlaser, Ashido: princessbubblegumknockoff, Asui: Galvan, Iida: Emergency Exit, Uraraka: 9.8, Ojiro: tailfloof, Kaminari: Pichu, Kirishima: baby shark, Koda: youredoingamazingsweetie, Sato: GuyFieriIsGod, Shoji: Cthulhu, Jirou: Jack Skellington, Sero: Spider-Man, Tokoyami: EdgarAllanCrows, Todoroki: WHERE?, Hagakure: cena, Bakugo: WHAT?, Midoriya: SmolMight, Mineta: Mineta, Shinsou: exhausted, Yaoyorozu: TheGreatCreator, Kurono: stopwatch, Chisaki: donthugmeimscared, Yukimura: choticgaydisaster, Bubaigawara: shadowclonejutsu, Shimura: idontfeelsogood, Awase: illrememberyouallintherapy, Kaibara: IDOWHATIWANT, Kamakiri: scyther, Kuroiro: itsmeyaboy, Kendo: Akimichi, Kodai: deadinside, Komori: shroomgurl, Shiozaki: wElCoMeToBiBlEsTuDiEs, Shishida: furry, Shoda: cryptid, Tsunotori: mylittlepony, Tsubaraba: airbender, Tetsutetsu: Iron Man, Tokage: t-rex costume, Fukidashi: glorifiedtextbubble, Honenuki: Eren Jaeger/spookyscaryskeletons, Bondo: Slimer, Monoma: HopeSummers, Yanagi: iLiEdImDyInGiNsIdE, Rin: snek, Toga: mystique, Sako: lostmymarbles, Hikiishi: queenofmagnetism, Iguchi: eye gucci, Shinokanri: stardust

Usernames: Emos Anonymous Kaminari: blackcloakedbrides, Shoji: fryingpan, Jirou: greentwentyfourhours, Tokoyami: myscientificinfatuation, Todoroki: twentyoneplotpoints, Bakugo: immobileinwhite, Midoriya: falldownboy, Shinsou: stabtheveil, Kurono: inhalecarolina, Chisaki: plummetingininverse, Yukimura: anxietyintheclub, Shimura: nappingwithsirens, Kuroiro: thousandfootcane, Kodai: marianaspit, Monoma: entiretimelow, Yanagi: recentyearsday, Sako: halfminutetomars, Aizawa: hollywoodlivingdead, Shouji: fryingpan, Kurono: inhalecarolina, Aoyama: phantomtown, Honenuki: visualizedragon, Sako: halfminutetomars, Awase: distressparade, Shinokanri: simplestrategy

Usernames: UA Teachers Are Tired™ Eraserhead/Aizawa: grumpy scarf cat, Present Mic/Yamada: screeching cockatiel, Midnight/Nemuri: chaotic goth gay Ingenium/Iida: gotta go fast, AllMight/Toshinori: actual sunshine, Vlad King/Kan: bloody hell, Power Loader/Majima: speechtotext, Ectoplasm: needalegup?, Snipe: kazoo cowboy, Cementoss: concrete block, Blackmist/Kurogiri: goth portals

Me? A Bitch? More Likely Than You’d Think-Chapter 8

10:03 am

We Are Number One™

Dadzawa: So, I heard someone's operating the LOV again?

idontfeelsogood: No, it's inactive. There shouldn't be anyone in it, all of us are here, in UA becoming heroes, none of us would become villains again EVER. At the very most, drop out and live life out as a normal couple, but never become villains again. We all talked about this.

mystique: yeah, if we did, we would have told you heroes already about that one of us and have them put with Koku and the two creeps

Dadzawa: Well, someone's running it and it seems they had a meeting with the yakuza and I'm afraid I need all of you to be under constant supervision by a pro hero for a short while.

stopwatch: If it proves our innocence we shall do it.

2:01 pm

We Are Number One™

lostmymarbles: @chaoticgaydisaster Agency is fun. I really like working under Sir Nighteye.

chaoticgaydisaster: That's because you're both really serious and you get along very well.

lostmymarbles: Perhaps.

lostmymarbles: Oh, we're already going on a patrol! I'll call you when I come back from patrol, honey!

chaoticgaydisaster: I love you, you absolute dork.

3:59 PM

We Are Number One™

Dadzawa: I've just received word that Atsuhiro Sako has been kidnapped during his patrol.

chaoticgaydisaster: GET MY HUSBAND BACK THEN!

Dadzawa: Calm down, you need to be rational. He should be fine. They're looking for him as we speak.

chaoticgaydisaster: Please don't let him die? I love him, I need him.

Dadzawa: I can't promise you anything sadly, I'm not a part of the rescue team right now but they'll involve me if it becomes more serious.

chaoticgaydisaster: Can I have a Good Dad™ hug?

Dadzawa: Of course, come to the teacher's dorms, Hitoshi is already here stealing said hugs.

5:25 PM

We Are Number One™

Dadzawa: I have confirmation that they've found Sako. He's mostly fine.

WHERE?: What do you mean 'mostly'!? That's my brother-in-law!

Dadzawa: It looks as though his left arm has been ripped off but they're currently working on both healing him and attaching a prosthetic that would allow him to still channel his quirk through the arm.

mystique: Has anyone seen Tami?

eye gucci: She was with the Fatgum Agency I think.

baby shark: I haven't seen her for a while. She showed up with me and then she just kinda disappeared near...oh

stardust: what is 'oh'? What happened to our favorite girl?

baby shark: She disappeared at around 2 or 3 just like when Sako disappeared.

Dadzawa: I'll send the search team out for her too.

6:19 PM

We Are Number One™

Dadzawa: Magne is back! She's in the ICU recovering now, she needed some pretty strong healing so she'll be out of commission for quite a while. We haven't closed the investigation but you LOV kids need to know the message stapled on your friends.

Dadzawa: [pic of two papers reading 'here take this back, we don't need him yakuza' and 'I will always run the League.']

Dadzawa: Do these mean anything to any one of you?

idontfeelsogood: I'm so done. I've been hiding from a little twerp, I can't even believe I was scared of him. He's going too far, like always, and I thought he'd changed like we did but he didn't. I'm going to sort this shit out. Send a search team by tomorrow morning at 6:30 if nobody sees me by then, I have some business to take care of.

Dadzawa: wait, AllMight will have my head if you get hurt!

idontfeelsogood is now offline

Dadzawa: fuck.

6:34 PM

UA Teachers Are Tired™

grumpy scarf cat: so it looks like Tenko is going off-grid for what I'm going to call a 'private investigation' into the revived LOV. He's apparently taken his hero supervisor with him because Ragdoll is gone with him and he's going to, and I quote, "sort this shit out". and requested a search team if he doesn't show back up in 24 hours.

yeet yeet bitch: yeesh, you really can't catch a break, huh, Shou.

grumpy scarf cat: I'm starting to wish I expelled them at this point.

gotta go fast: bullshit, they're our disciples and you know it.

yeet yeet bitch: you're right but why say it?

9:35 PM

We Are Number One™

donthugmeimscared: No sign of Tenko yet, Hari, I'm getting worried.

stopwatch: Me too, but we need to trust he can do this.

shadowclonejutsu: he should be fine, guys. he'll be okay.

6:17 AM

We Are Number One™

donthugmeimscared: Almost 12 hours

Dadzawa: I know, Kai.

donthugmeimscared: Do you think he'll be okay, Mr. Aizawa?

Dadzawa: honestly, I don't know but I'm here to offer you hugs if you need them.

donthugmeimscared: Thank you but I can't do hugs right now, too constricting.

6:30 AM

We Are Number One™

Dadzawa: the search party is officially being sent out to get him.

4:17 PM

UA Teachers Are Tired™

screeching cockatiel: we found him and we have the traitor under arrest. Tenko looked worse for wear so he's at the hospital already

actual sunshine: Who's the traitor?

screeching cockatiel: Minoru Mineta.

actual sunshine: I'm glad he was arrested.

gotta go fast: Yagi, are you and Tenko okay? you've always sympathetic when it was someone underage being arrested.

actual sunshine: it becomes null when my mentor's son gets hurt. blood to me or not, I can't feel sympathy for someone who's hurt him. he didn't have a childhood to begin with and I won't let anyone take what little is left of it from him.

screeching cockatiel: is he okay, Yagi?

actual sunshine: Since he's in my temporary custody until Ms. Midoriya can finalize her adoption paperwork, they contacted me first with his injury report and I would like that purple little shit to burn for what he's done.

yeet yeet bitch: Do you wanna elaborate?

actual sunshine: His leg is broken. The leg he had an injury in before. They have to fix it again.

yeet yeet bitch: Shit.

actual sunshine: Along with that, he's been deemed unable for further stress in the form of training and extraneous activities because the hospital confirmed he's eight months pregnant and needs to deliver early due to the drugs Mineta forced into his bloodstream.

yeet yeet bitch: Fuck, this isn't good.

actual sunshine: I'm pushing Ms. Midoriya's paperwork up through the courts as an emergency adoption due to the situation of him being her technically being his step-mother and her son being his only remaining relative, even if only by half of his blood and him needing a stable family after the birth of a child.

yeet yeet bitch: Hopefully they'll get it done quickly.

actual sunshine: Until then, I need to go offline and be there for him as his only parental figure and the only other person allowed in the delivery room.

screeching cockatiel: What do we tell the children? Tenko's boyfriends?

actual sunshine: Hari was already called to the hospital but they cannot confirm it's his child so I'll be the only familiar face to young Tenko in the room for the delivery.

actual sunshine: I must go.

actual sunshine is now offline

8:17 PM

UA Teachers Are Tired™

actual sunshine: Tenko is fine, out of surgery for the C-Section and in recovery now. the two little girls are fine too, both are a little smaller but that's expected since they're both premature and Tenko never gained much weight during the pregnancy.

grumpy scarf cat: I still can't believe he's been pregnant his whole stay at UA. hell, he was probably pregnant during the USJ incident at the beginning of the year.

actual sunshine: You're probably right and I don't like that idea, Aizawa.

grumpy scarf cat: me either but that's the reality of the situation.

10:24 PM

We Are Number One™

idontfeelsogood: Out of surgery in recovery. Got drugged and they needed to induce me there to give birth, which I didn't even know I was pregnant. Two healthy little girls named Shimura Honoka and Shimura Nanami.

chaoticgaydisaster: Welcome to the teen mom club, Tenko.

WHERE?: We have meetups on Mondays and Fridays and have playdates with the kids.

idontfeelsogood: I thought you two were the only ones with kids though?

wElCoMeToBiBlEsTuDiEs: No, I have a one year old son, he is the light of my life.

WHAT?: Well, I mean...

princessbubblegumknockoff: I best be going! Wouldn't want to burn down the house with the water I left running.

spookyscaryskeletons: Oh, would you look at that, it's time to go to sleep and never speak of this again.

Dadzawa: wait, we have seven of you now? I thought we just went up to three!

Dadzawa: And Honenuki, I never expected you to be a teen parent.

spookyscaryskeletons: Whaaaaaat? Nooooo. I never said that. I said I was going to bed! I'm just going to bed!

Dadzawa: Suspicious.

spookyscaryskeletons: I certainly don't have a one year old son named Akiyama. Nope, not at all.

wElCoMeToBiBlEsTuDiEs: My son's name is Sekai.

princessbubblegumknockoff: Honestly, I thought you'd read that in my file. I was basically just out of the two day hospital stay when I took the entrance exams to get into UA.

baby shark: Can confirm, my moms watched her daughter that day.

princessbubblegumknockoff: Her name is Ayaka.

WHAT?: You literally met Akari when you visited my house.

Dadzawa: that wasn't your parents' child!? That was a ten month old child!

WHAT?: No, I fucking made that!

Dadzawa: I shouldn't be shocked I got six of the seven teen parents in this school. well, if you need me, please don't hesitate to ask me for help.

WHAT?: Well, I want to bring Akari to the dorms because she'll be safer here. She's been staying with Auntie Inko for a month or so now.

Dadzawa: of course.

Taglist: @logan-sanders-enthusiast @luckyicekitsune @whippedbel @lgbtforeverything @pinecone-chomper @mikmacmoo @wasinotwantedatthisexactsecond @purplespiderstormcloud @stankyratman @king-of-the-oranges @headcannons-and-random-things @fear-ze-queer @turtleluv799 @ymmm-someone

[journaloftomfooleryandjapery]

All the TOP 10 OF THE DECADE posts made me want to make one of my own, so here’s my 10 fave games this decade:

Yakuza 0  Shovel Knight  Nier Automata  Metal Gear Rising  Gunvolt Chronicles Luminous Avenger IX Final Fantasy XV   Scott pilgrim vs the world the game Undertale Persona 5  Doom

Danganronpa 2, New Vegas, Touhou Luna Nights, Katana Zero and Mario Odyssey all only barely missed out, and it was a tough decision not to include them. I loved the shit out of those games but thinking it through I decided they were just slightly less loved by me than the above.

Below the cut are some extended thoughts (of varying length) on the games included:

Just CTRL F if you wanna find a specific one

Yakuza 0

Every Yakuza game is delightful and this is definitely the best one, in my opinion. The Yakuza games appeal to me for a lot of reasons: the combat, the story, the variety of activities, the look of it all and the music. I feel like its a very unique game experience with its blend of weird in-depth side activities, serious crime drama, manly man masculine combat friendship melodrama, metal gear-esque convoluted conspiracies and a surprisingly compassionate view of the world it takes place in. 

The combat is what drew me in initially because it just feels good, the feedback of stomping on a dudes face in yakuza is delivered perfectly, and the attacks are brutal, hard and flashy. Its a very solid and satisfying combat system and in 0 its the best it has ever been. The ability to switch between 3 different and equally fun fighting styles on the fly really lets you mix things up and adapt your approach, every style feels fun and useful. If i had to pick a favorite it would be slugger, but its a tough choice, and they are all very viable and FUN.

Yakuza 0 also gets big points for having the best story in the series. The protagonists feel much more interesting in this era, the fights feel more earned in this game than others, the relationships are incredibly touching (I’m almost mad majima didnt stay with makoto) and the substories (and some parts of the main story) are the funniest they’ve ever been. Stuff like the quasi-stealth mission where you have to make sure women don’t see you buying a porn magazine for a child, and the extended scene of kiryu trying to guess the right business manners for a meeting had me laughing so much i was i was almost in physical pain.

The extensive business and host club substories get you tons of extra game content and are good enough to almost be there own game. The other games in the series have extended side activites of varying quality, but i think 0 had a rare case of all of these being, basically, perfect. The team obviously agrees since host club management came back repeatedly, but never as good as it was here.

Being set in the 80s elevates almost everything in the game because of the outfits, money flying out of every enemy you attack, the classic sega games you can play at the arcade (Outrun is so much fun and I’d have never have given it a proper go otherwise) and the disco minigame everyones made a meme out of (that music is so catchy).

As a final note this game has the best boss fights and music in the series, which is a very high standard to surpass when you look at the rest of the series. The dual final boss fights, the recurring boss for kiryu and almost every majima fight are highlights of the entire series for me. 

0 is going to end up being one of the few games I’ll never sell my copy of because i want it available for me to play forever, its a complete delight.

Shovel Knight

This game has been analysed to hell and back, so i wont have much original to say i suppose. Admittedly i did enjoy the first campaign but it didnt completely win me over, plague knights campaign and beyond was what really made this an all time greats for me. It’s one of very few games that gets the NES+SNES platforming appeal 100% right and essentially surpasses most games of the day, with almost perfect pacing, challenge and level design. IT helps that the whole world and story and look is charming as all hell. It’s an easy game to love and the more you play it the more that feels justified. Being PACKED with great content is also a plus. If you liked the first campaign you can just keep going through a set of campaigns about as good that only really rehash some level assets. I would say its one of the best 2D platformers ever for me, if not quite my true number 1.

ALSO JAKE KAUFMAN KNOCKS IT OUT THE PARK WITH THIS SOUNDTRACK

Since i have little else to add to the shovel knight discussion, here’s my ranking/thoughts on each campaign

Plague of shadows. BEST storyline, great levels with a really cool gameplay gimmick, the characters are all cute and the ending really makes me feel for him. both sorry for him at first and then a very real AAAAAAAWWWWWWWWW for LOVE

King of cards. king knight is just fun as hell to play as, he doesnt have that many tools but his movement is just crazy fun and i love the flair in all his animations. also has that rad final boss. joustus is ok i guess.

Shovel of hope. uuuuuuh what can i even say about this. its good, and the melancholy dream bits add a lot to the mood of the story. we’ve already analysed this campaign within an inch of its life i dont think i can say anything new. wish we could fight the battletoads on pc.

Specter of torment. still fun and i appreciate the tone change, but i didnt care as much for the characters and the mega man-esque level select doesnt suit shovel knight imo. specter knight has a lot of fun movement options though. mainly i just love GRINDING and the diagonal slash. i dont give a fuck about reize

Nier Automata

I feel a tiny bit ashamed i have so little to say about this considering it is one of the most emotional experiences i have ever had with a story. If i lsten to the final version of weight of the world i still cry just from remembering this game and how it made me feel. i think its one of the greatest narratives of the century but i can barely get across the appeal to anyone who hasnt already played it. its a story about hope, despair and the nature of the human race that never feels like its preachy or pretensious or taking on more than it can handle. it made me feel all kinds of emotions deeply and intensely, it genuinely made me burst into tears about 10 times, maybe more. even putting aside the ggrand narrative, theres so many cool character moments and bits of world building and visual eements and tragic little side stories that you would need a whole book to talk about them all while doing any real justice to them. i loved it so much that im paying £70 to see an orchestra do the soundtrack live. I want to hug and kiss 2b and 9s better. i just love it deeply and i find it hard to explain why it makes me feel that way, but its a dark beautiful and hopeful story where every moment feels earned. the despair of the story giving way to genuine hope with the rest of the world helping you fight for it is such an intensely emotional moment that you could never replicate outside of this kind of story and medium. how the fuck do i explain that to anyone that doesnt already get it. I’m glad this game exists

Metal Gear Rising 

Well, complete tone shift here. Platinum made a lot of great action games in the last decade that all dig into that same itch for DODGE SLOW MOTION BANG BANG BANG alongside great soundtracks, visuals and awesome set piece moments. Just intense, flashy, awesome combat. Picking a favorite of the decade was the hard part, because a platinum game had to be one of my faves of the decade. The closest was transformers, but mgr has a couple of things about it that put it above the rest of the platinum catalog for me.

The story actually works very well at still being metal gear while in the platinum formula, its about the cycle of violence and FINDING YOUR OWN PURPOSE and it works weirdly well. The strangest part is that it feels like a legitimate sequel to metal gear 4 tonally while still being the crazy action game it is

Raiden is just super fun to play as, while I’ll always miss the DODGE SLOWMO in a platinum game parry and zandatsu give a great flow to fights and there’s real exhilaration to parrying a hard chain of attacks and tearing out a bunch of enemies spines at once every time

raiden is also just  a fun protag, it truly allows me to embrace that kind of stereotypical edgy cool anime swordsman he embodies

BEST PLATINUM SOUNDTRACK DO NOT @ ME

Bosses just rule

one of the best final bosses ever, in my opinion? maybe that’s controversial, but armstrong gets an insane amount of characterization and pure PRESENCE out of such a small amount of screen time and the fact he feels like such a perfect rival to raiden so quickly is kind of nuts to me. within about half an hour you are ready for the ultimate final showdown with everything at stake, and then the gameplay 100% delivers on that with a fight that is challenging as hell and just feels climatic and intimidating. its a little thing, but having this dude just smack you around with his hands and almost no fighting skill after a game filled with crazy flippy cyborg ninjas makes him feel TOUGH and the way you finish him off? it just rocks, plain and simple. I don’t think i need to justify slices a massive dudes chest open and ripping out his giant still beating robot heart as the music climaxes and our cool edgy protag literally says WE’RE DONE HERE. truly, it has to be this way.

Gunvolt Chronicles Luminous Avenger IX 

For fast twitchy 2d platformers this barely beat out Katana Zero and Touhou Luna Nights, but i think its just a little better. The skill ceiling on this game is high as hell and once you really get to grips with it, its an experience you cant find anywhere else. its just satisfying as hell to be able to get through the point where you can ZOOM  through these levels by making use of copen’s dash and lock-on and weapons well enough. once you get good enough to get through a hole level without touching the ground, you just cant go back. I liked this enough to get an S rank on almost every level. this game just rules, man.

story, art and music are all great as well. but they pale in importance next to zippy jetpack zoom zoom fun time.

also great for having a cool twist that i genuinely did not see coming at all

Final Fantasy XV   

For context, my experience of FFXV was not the base game so i cannot personally address the concerns of the version at launch, which i hear from others was a total mess! The game has been updated and changed so much that it is probably almost unrecognizable aside from the absolute base aspects of it. The version i am talking about is, as far as we know, the “final” version released right before Episode Ardyn. There was of course an update after this, but it only added DLC compatibility and a few items, so it means very little in the grand scheme. I also played all of the dlc and watched all the periphery material to get the full, messy disjointed experience. it is also worth noting that the only other FF game i have played is the classic title Mario Hoops 3 on 3 Basketball. I feel it important to tell you this before getting into things so that you can have a full idea of the perspective i come at the game from.

This was chosen over Mario Odyssey and someone will probably kill me for that. I just think its a great emotional story that does a fantastic job of making you care for all the characters, and the world feels massive and full of cool stuff to see. It’s my favorite open world game and i love The Boys.  its not the kind of thing i usually play but i think it genuinely had a great story and its a very fun game to just explore and spend time in. ffxv truly understands the emotional bond between The Lads and it is fun to kill big monsters with your party

(they kinda ruin the last cutscene in english, in japanese he says I LOVE YOU GUYS and it makes me cry but in english he goes U GUYS ARE THE BEST which just isnt the same. a small nitpick though. a lot of this game made me cry regardless, its just great at creating an emotional bond)

I admire the insane level of ambition in the visuals and scope, and i bought every dlc for it because it was just that good. the ifrit boss fight and all the giant monsters are just amazingly epic in scale. the “found a cool rock” post is what i truly admire about this game summed up. 

all the ancillary material for the game is great and worth getting into, with the exception of the Comrades multiplayer expansion. Everything else adds depth to the story and the world without being entirely necessary for you to get through the story. the anime and the dlc all really feel worth getting into without being something you have to see to get The Full Experience

the giant monsters are cool

Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game

Being from 2010 this game only just makes it in, but it was my favorite beat em up this decade and a source of great nostalgia for me. It had a pretty big impact on music and art tastes in regards to games, and in retrospect this games existence was very much a dream team scenario. Paul Robertson is a great sprite artist who does a lot of good work, Anamanaguchi have gone on to become one of my favorite bands (another winter is still one of their best tracks imo) and at the time this came out i was obsessed with scott pilgrim. That plus the beat em up gameplay makes this kind of a perfect blending of a lot of my specific tastes. Playing this brings me back to the time in my school life that i played it very distinctly, a more comfortable time in my life for sure, and i think the game still stands up excellently. I hope that someday it will get a rerelease so others can enjoy it. I give this another play through every year or so, but i wish id gotten the dlc while it was still available

Doom

ITS VIOLENT ITS FAST ITS FUN ITS METAL

i like this game because of the intense adrenaline rush and violent catharsis it gives me, essentially a constant dopamine rush

fun game good

Undertale

I’m glad i got to this before the massive wave of spoilers and popularity came about. It’s a great story with some fun gameplay, and i think SANS UNDERTALE was one of the best boss fights this decade. Its a shame that for so many new players this experience is going to be ruined by spoilers

Persona 5 

Danganronpa 2 and fallout new vegas were close contenders for this last spot. I actually made a post about my thoughts on this game before https://journaloftomfooleryandjapery.tumblr.com/post/184341270554/nue-is-great-love-his-goofy-design-when-life-will but essentially 

Essentially, its got a great cast of characters, a cool slick look, great monster designs, a fun gameplay loop of collecting monsters and grinding stats while waiting for the next big event, and a surprisingly good story

No idea if royal is any good, but its on a pretty small list of games that i might actually take the time to replay

[marudeinu]

GET TO KNOW THE BLOGGER.

Can be used for RP and non-RP blogs to get to know a bit about the person behind the screen!

tagged by: no one, i snagged it from @fearfcrged​ tagging: be gay. do crime  

1. FIRST NAME: I still need to get it legally changed, but Jae-Seung 2. STRANGE FACT ABOUT YOURSELF: I have a natural resistance to certain anesthetics? I always wake up WAY too early and they keep having to add more until they get scared I’m gonna OD. When they tried putting me in a ‘Twilight’ state during extraction of my wisdom teeth, they could only get halfway through the procedure before they had to stop. The oral surgeon I was referred to just knocked me out entirely and it went fine. This understandably makes me really nervous about needing any major surgery in the future... 3. TOP THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE ON A PERSON: Uhh... Usually stuff like their eyes? I also LOVE toned and/or veiny forearms, idek why. Muscular AND veiny? HUBBA HUBBA. But soft is also great, I do love a person that actually like, looks like they enjoy food like I do. 4. A FOOD YOU COULD EAT FOREVER AND NOT GET BORED OF: Soon dubu jiggae... omg. I eat that shit no matter what time of year it is, always boiling lava hot. And Boba Tea. And like, breakfast sandwiches. 5. A FOOD YOU HATE: Jellyfish and sea cucumber, the texture bothers me greatly 6. GUILTY PLEASURE: Buying stuff for my main on FFXIV...  7. WHAT DO YOU SLEEP IN: pajama or sweat pants and a tank top 8. SERIOUS RELATIONSHIPS OR FLINGS: Serious, but I’m definitely not in any hurry atm. Monchichi is my girlfriend, all I need is my cat to spoil and lavish affection on. 9. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN THE PAST AND CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WOULD YOU AND WHAT WOULD IT BE: I think I might have reached out to my birth family sooner, re-learned my native language sooner, just... been more interested in reclaiming my heritage and identity a LOT sooner than now. I mean, there are other things I kinda wish I had done, but I also don’t believe they would have changed the outcome? But maybe how I felt about trying wouldn’t have been so... regrettable.  10. ARE YOU AN AFFECTIONATE PERSON: I am affectionate in that I’ll verbally support you and genuinely talk about what I love about you and will go out of my way to help and buy/make you thoughtful things. Physical affection seems to be an area I’m still very awkward at and my own discomfort with being touched doesn’t help that I don’t especially think about it mattering so much to other people. 11. A MOVIE YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN: I’m going to agree with Ray and say The Hunchback of Notre Dame! I also SUPER loved Into the Spider-Verse? And The Last Unicorn, OMG- AMAZING ANIMATED MOVIE. 12. FAVORITE BOOK: The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie 13. YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP ANY ANIMAL AS A PET, WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE: Maybe a tiger or snow leopard? Cheetahs are VERY nice, as well. I guess they also wouldn’t be so much like PETS and more “a wild animal who is also my friend” since I would hate to keep them in captivity. So whenever I go out into their territory, they remember me as a human they can trust and want to spend time playing or relaxing with me. 14. TOP FIVE FICTIONAL SHIPS: Booster Gold/Bruce Banner (only the RP portrayals that Turk and I wrote tho), Soriku, Todoiideku, Pullo/Vorenus, Taiga Saejima/Majima Goro 15. PIE OR CAKE: Cake. 16. FAVORITE SCENT: “Wasabi”, it’s a soap I use that smells like mint, lime, eucalyptus, and ginger. Also, Sugar Lychee is an AMAZING scent. Burberry Brit Sheer is nice sweet, but SPICAY. Also Candy by Prada. 17. CELEBRITY CRUSH: Robert Downey Jr., Salma Hayek, Bryce Dallas Howard, Choi Min Soo, Mads Mikkelsen 18. IF YOU COULD TRAVEL ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD YOU GO: ALSO, EVERYWHERE. But my big ones would have to be Italy, China (again), Japan, Thailand, and back home to Korea.  19. INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT: Introvert 20. DO YOU SCARE EASILY: No, I was raised on horror movies and am not easily spooked, so I kind of am ATTRACTED to the possibility of actually being scared. But I also am a wuss when I truly believe there is a hostile supernatural presence around me, like I will be the first one to admit I’d run and pee myself. 21. IPHONE OR ANDROID: Android, I just... don’t like Apple anymore as a company.  22. DO YOU PLAY ANY VIDEO GAMES: So many... 24. WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A MILLION DOLLARS: Help my parents finally retire, get all my dental work done, TRAVEL, buy a huge house where all of my friends can come visit me and have a smaller manse for each cat I own (priorities). 25. FICTIONAL CHARACTER YOU HATE: DC movie Joker iterations, Griffith from Berserk, Tyler Durden from Fight Club, canon Bkg from BNHA, The Comedian from Watchmen. 26. FANDOM THAT YOU WERE ONCE A PART OF BUT AREN’T ANY LONGER: ATLA/TLOK, Joss Whedon’s Firefly, Harry Potter, uh... I’m sure there are others but I can’t think of them right now.

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: Why Tite Kubo Giving Characters Personal Songs is So Important

  It probably goes without saying, but music is magical. For many people, important moments and times of their lives are pinned to certain soundtracks. You've likely seen those memes about your taste in music in high-school, your first playlist, your usual driving music, what songs you listen to the most, what your Spotify playlist says about you, and so on. Put simply, music is a huge part of the human experience, and we tie our identities to the music that punctuates our lives and the moments that surround it. And when it comes to our love of anime, we’ve all probably made our own playlists of songs that remind us of characters and series, interspersed with opening and ending themes. But what about when the author of a series does it themselves? Well, that happens to be the case with Tite Kubo, and it’s worth thinking about whether this is why Bleach’s huge, diverse cast is so memorable. 

    Like many long-running series, Bleach is long; the anime ended after 300+ episodes, and the manga ran for 74 volumes. The issue with a lot of long series is that eventually, characters start to get sidelined or forgotten, and we start to lose sight of exactly who they were or why they were important; a character we might have loved at first suddenly becomes barely recognizable. Throughout Bleach’s run, though, I never found myself having that issue. Kubo’s visual designs help, as he’s always masterfully created unique and interesting designs that all stand apart from one another, but I started to realize that it was a bit more than that. Bleach’s character roster didn’t just feel like characters in a story, they felt like people, and a large part of that was the way Kubo rounded them out so completely that he attached specific, real-world songs to each of his designs. (If you’re curious about the list, we wrote about it here). These songs add an extra layer to each character that few other creators come close to and help to not only make Bleach’s characters visually memorable, but also helps to create fuller profiles in our minds of who this character is or was and what makes them tick.

    But does it really matter that much, you might ask? Well, at least in my humble opinion, the answer is yes. Because this goes beyond simply designing a character by color and shape, it leans into viewing them as a complicated collection of personality traits. A pretty specific and interesting aspect of this is that these songs never changed, which leads to questions like, “Did he really have Kenpachi’s character arc designed the whole time?” or "How far in advance was most of the major storyline developed?" But more importantly, it made me want to listen to all of these songs from disparate groups of musicians and genres. Personally, music has always been a big part of my personality and I’ve loved listening to and exploring music throughout my life. So, when I first encountered Kubo’s character design notes and saw the songs, you better believe I burnt a CD right then and there to listen to in my car. But what I also realized is that looking back at Bleach, all of the side characters — especially Ichigo’s classmates from Karakura town — stayed memorable. Whereas in series like One Piece and Naruto where I can struggle to remember one-shot or forgotten characters, I still know exactly what Tatsuki's and Don Kanonji’s deals are in Bleach. They’re people, just not the ones the series focuses on, and in large part, these songs play a big part in that memory.

    Perhaps the biggest aspect of this design choice, though, is how well these songs fit the characters. In some cases, it takes a few listens to recognize what exactly Kubo’s intentions were. Some of that may be conjecture or interpretation on our end, but it really starts to make a character’s personality and “idea” click in our heads when we get it. The songs aren’t totally about the lyrics, either. It’s important to think about the music, melody, and theme and consider the ways in which all of these things play in to being the “theme song” of a character. The songs also help turn seemingly one-note characters into more well-rounded ones; for all of the villains that vanished after a single battle, thinking about their song choice makes them suddenly much more interesting and fulfilling, and lets us think about the various, complex ways Kubo went about designing a character that was only meant to accomplish a single thing and then disappear forever. Further, playing these songs during re-reads of the manga makes certain scenes just that much more impactful and powerful; playing a theme song during a character’s big moment or fight really heightens the tension in a way that I can’t get from other series, even those where I’ve built my own playlist. Knowing that Kubo selected these songs gives them purpose and makes the impact that much bigger.

    On a different level, though, these theme songs also forced me to engage in something that wasn’t entirely related to the anime or manga — the music and songs themselves. I don’t think it would be a mistake to say that following Kubo’s list of songs forced me out of my own musical comfort zones and made me learn to appreciate and even become a fan of various musicians and styles of music that I’d never really listened to before. And for me, I think that speaks to something even more important in terms of what Kubo’s done: Bleach isn’t just a self-contained thing, but a piece of art and culture that exists and is influenced by other pieces of art and culture. We can trace Kubo’s thought processes and ideas to the things he listened to, saw, and engaged with as he was working on the series — and this music is an aspect of that. Let’s be fair, a lot of these songs are fairly dated today, but they encapsulate certain pieces of the history of Bleach and the early '00s that round out the full picture in such a beautiful and unusual way. I don’t think one needs to become a fan of every song or artist on Kubo’s list, but I do think this is something so unique and special that I wish every creator would engage with it, just once.

    Of course, we’ll never know the full intentions behind every song unless Kubo ever wants to explain them to us, but I think one of the most troubling aspects of appreciating characters and design decisions for fans is authorial intent; we can never know the true answer. These songs, however, give us something that few other creators have ever attempted, and really makes Kubo’s ability as a character designer and author stand out in the crowd in a way that was easy to overlook before. Considering how deep the ocean of music really is, it’s fascinating to think about all of the songs that he must have listened to or thought about before selecting each of these specific, singular titles for characters. In the end, Bleach will always remain an amazing series to me, and the characters still stand out to me while others have started to fade. Part of me wonders if it’s because of that playlist I made where I first heard the band Hellacopters and made Chad one of my favorite characters ever once everything just “clicked” in a way that I doubt it would have otherwise. Perhaps it's unreasonable to expect every creator to follow in Kubo’s footsteps here, but sometimes, just sometimes, don’t you wish you knew what your favorite character’s theme song was?

  Who’s your favorite Bleach character, and what do you think of their song? Let us know what you think in the comments!

      Nicole is a frequent wordsmith for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[italian-love-cake]

Grief Prompt by @plotsandpromptsforall - #4

Goro Majima x Makoto Makimura

A/N: I’ve been thinking about getting back into writing, and I wanted to use all of the angst built up from this ship and then put it into something I can give back to the fandom. Granted, I ship Majima with both Makoto AND Kiryu, but my boys don’t make me cry the way these two do. I may do a prompt involving them later. I already have a couple of prompts in mind…

Before I do this, I wanted to give a quick shoutout to someone that made a fanfiction for these two called Chasing Cinderella. It’s on Archive of Our Own and it was created by PrecariousSauce. I’d like to think of this fic as a stepping stone for this prompt.

If you haven’t read it (and I really think you should!), rather than canonically moving on with her life with the doctor that’s assigned to care for her, Makoto goes out of her way to find Majima herself. She goes from the pawn shop to the takoyaki stand and even comes across some people he’d assisted while he was there. The more and more she learns about him, the more and more she falls in love with him, until she finally gets help from Nishiki to tail him down. I’d like to kind of take a certain part a step further and possibly add some angst into the mix.

Assuming that Makoto is happy with her marriage in Yakuza Kiwami 2, we can come to the conclusion that this technically isn’t canon...but it’s fun to think about the what-ifs sometimes! If you guys want another part of this, I do have another idea in mind. Just let me know in the notes or reblogs if you’d be interested in that. I think PrecariousSauce did a great job with their work as a standalone, however; I just used it as inspiration for this piece.

Anyway, without further ado….

“Why did you have to go? Why did you have to leave me? I didn’t even get to say goodbye…”

Not only had those words pierced through him like the knife he was wielding just moments ago, he wa still trying to process that she was standing in front of him. The only thing setting them apart was a chain link fence. He had been caught completely by surprise.

Memories had flooded in at that moment. He recalled when he’d first seen her cry. In that moment, he knew that he never wanted to see her cry again. It wasn’t the same feeling as when some woman at his cabaret was crying either...Something about her tears made his heart feel like it would tear. It made it difficult for him to breathe, and all he could think about was what he could do to make her feel better.

He thought that by leaving her, she’d cry a lot less. Boy, was he wrong. There she was going out of her way to see him, and here he was shaking in his leather shoes.

“Answer me!” she cries out. Her dark chocolate eyes were staring at him with curiosity the way they did when her eyes were first fully healed. Back then he’d told the doctor to start seeing her and eventually get married. Were things not working out?

He had to tell her the truth. For her to have found him here, she had to have known that he was actually a yakuza. That doesn’t mean he was comfortable with just spitting it out. His chest heaved a heavy sigh, and he scratched the back of his neck. He couldn’t stand to see those eyes watching him anymore.

“Why are you here? It’s dangerous ‘round these parts. Yer gonna get yerself killed if ya aren’t careful.” he muttered, staring at his shoes. Makoto scoffed at his response.

“I could ask the same of you! I mean...I get it, it’s what you do, but you could’ve just saved me the trouble of looking for you by just seeing me off yourself!” Makoto explains. Her feelings, much like her tears, were starting to pour out of her very being. Crap, he thought. Why’d it have to come to this?

“Damn, you’re persistent...I just wanted to protect ya. I’m through with losin’ people I care about, dammit...Why can’t you accept that?”

“But I lost you, Majima! I… I didn’t even know your name until I started pursuing you!” she says this with a hysterical smile. The guilt of it was finally settling in. He only left to prevent her from seeing this part of him, but...cat’s out of the bag. “Look at me, Majima!” she calls out to him once more. He grits his teeth. “Why’d you leave me without saying goodbye? If you had just told me, I would’ve understoo-”

“I LOVED you!” he shouts. They were only inches away from one another and he had screamed right in front of her face. “You were shot, you coulda died. I’d already lost Lee-san and Nishitani… God, did you see that footage of him, too?”

She flinched at the question, but nodded hesitantly. It was gruesome, even for Majima. The Mad Dog of Shimano had the displeasure to have witnessed it both in person and on camera. “I didn’t want that kinda fate for you, Makoto…” he lowers the volume of his voice. He starts walking away, wishing this turn of events never happened.

He reaches into his jacket pockets to grab a cigarette, then his lighter. He ignites the narcotic and then adjusts it into his mouth and inhales.  “Majima, wait…” the woman he fell in love with utters. He exhales the smoke that is entering his lungs. The yakuza reluctantly turns around to allow his right eye to meet her left. Her hands were grasping at the fencing that divided them. It felt like that prison of a city. “I…” she couldn’t find the words she wanted to say.

She didn’t have to. He started walking closer to her, his left hand still holding the cigarette. His right, however, had reached out to her. He gently cupped his leather gloved hand onto her cheek. He wasn’t sure if it was the nicotine or his feelings for her, but his heart was beating a mile a minute. With nothing concealing his chest, he wondered if she could hear it.

It was then that they both heard a truck roll in that would soon whisk Makoto away to Sera-san.