#instead of that we talk about guren's love from her and guren is not more than a victim from her

[keres-nyx]

Shinoa & Yuu Analysis

Actually, now that I'm not caged by a small word limit, I do want to talk about Yuu and Shinoa’s relationship because I actually really really love their relationship. And the similarities and discrepancies, how their characters are adjacent to each other. Opposites, but so similar. Similarities between characters (be it personality wise, backstory wise, or ambition wise) do not only occur between Yuu and Mika, but there are actually a lot of similarities between Yuu and Shinoa.

I had mentioned this once before in a tweet, that Yuu and Shinoa are two sides of the same coin. Where Yuu is aware he is being manipulated and used (and we know this because he himself has directly said this) and he does not care. Not in the way a normal person would, at least. He feels rewarded, a sense of usefulness. He likes being useful to someone (in this case, it would be Guren), he is being needed and wanted, and that’s what Yuu yearns for and desires. He wants to be wanted, he wants to be needed. In consequence, he allows himself to be used, because it means that someone wants him. And even if it is for their own benefit, it still means someone wants him.

Not to mention, this feeling was what kept him alive, his whole reason for living. When Yuu was at his lowest, at his most vulnerable and easily manipulated state, Guren had told him: “It doesn’t matter if you don’t live to be happy, live to serve my purpose. My desires. I need you, want you, and that is why you should keep living. Live, because I want you to kill vampires.” (this part is excluding Yuu’s thoughts about Mikaela on the matter, but I do believe he did it not only for that, but yes, out of spite and to avenge Mika.)

And so Yuu, from the beginning, he was aware he was being used. He’s been used in his entire life, in general. The vampires used him as livestock, being used was nothing new to Yuu.

And then we have Shinoa, on the other hand, who is not as socially aware as Yuu is, because she did not grow up in that environment. She is quite the opposite to Yuu, and is pretty socially inept when it comes to people. Shinoa also puts up a front. But her’s is not as carefully and meticulously built as Yuu’s. It’s actually quite easy to see through. Because Yuu’s is so good, some of the readers (us) don’t even realize he has it.

The way Shinoa was raised in a way that she never really got that socialization, she never got the opportunity to read into and analyze the people around her, because that was what they were doing to her instead. She was the one being used. Not only that, but she never really got to see anybody outside that circle. The few times she did, it was people who were already aware of others, and it was her sister literally beating her emotions out of her.

But unlike Yuu, Shinoa wants the opposite. She wants to have her own agency. She wants to have her own will, and make her own choices, not influenced or manipulated by anyone. She wants it to be her. And this is why she confronts Guren so many times. She is aware enough to realize that Guren is using her against Yuu. Not only her, but their whole “family” against him. But, she is not fully aware of just how deep Guren’s influence runs.

For example, her declaration of love to Yuu. The reason Yuu rejected her confession was because he knew it wasn’t real. That is why he didn’t give her too many words, or try to be kinder about it. He didn’t seem to think that something not real, needed to be treated in such a way.

But back to Shinoa, there is a thread out there (I don’t have the link but if you do pls dm it to me) and that Shinoa was manipulated into falling in “love” with Yuu. The topic of love in Seraph of the End is treated differently, in a much deeper manner, than what Shinoa feels for Yuu. It’s more surface level, than anything.

At every waking moment, Guren kept making discreet remarks to Shinoa, almost like accusations, of her liking him. Guren had basically told her “you like Yuu.” And, psychologically, joking about speaking about something at a constant enough rate, you will start to feel that way. It’s why many therapists and psychiatrists will tell people to have positive affirmations, because the brain reacts to the words we speak, and incorporates them into our thoughts until we unconsciously believe them. The first few times we saw it happen, she fervently denied the feelings. But the thought kept getting forced onto her, over and over, until she simply accepted it. “I like Yuu.” She believed it, because other people say that she does.

And that’s one of the biggest things about Shinoa. She is Shinoa, because people tell her she is Shinoa. She behaves a certain way because that’s just how “Shinoa” behaves. She is a squad leader because they tell her she is a squad leader. And why do you think she's the squad leader? Because she listens. She obeys, she’s obedient. Mitsuba has shown to not blindly follow every order, Yoichi and Kimizuki were new; the JIDA weren’t sure what they are capable of, and Yuu also had a reputation for ignoring orders.

But Shinoa was an obedient dog. She listens, and obeys. (Even though she was an outcast from the Hiiragi’s, she never complained. She’s complacent. Even when she found out what had happened with Guren, and Yuu. She still obeyed him. Still does.) You tell her “jump” she says “how high.”

But, once again, in contrast to Yuu, Shinoa doesn’t realize just how much influence people have on her. Just how easily she is manipulated. She thinks that making her own choices, being squad leader, means she’s “out” and “free”, she isn’t. Shinoa is very easily influenced by people around her. (It is simply human nature to want to be validated, and recognized. But for someone who did not have that, they will go through terrifying measures to gain their acceptance. Whether it means hurting themselves, or others. Just look at Yuu, for example.)

While I do not doubt she feels a sense of affection for Yuu, (and I try to be as non biased here for the sake of analysis, but it is impossible to be completely objective) I personally believe that Shinoa does not love Yuu, and that she has been manipulated to think this way, given what I said earlier.

I do not want to disregard her feelings, because she absolutely does feel affection towards Yuu, but I do not believe that it is love. I think her feelings for Yuu border the same feelings she has for the rest of the squad. (Specifically, Shinoa idolizes him. Having such respect and admiration and desire to be like someone, could easily be misinterpreted as love. Especially with someone as out of tune with their emotions like Shinoa.)

Shinoa has a special type of affection for Yuu. Because Yuu is everything she could possibly hope to be. He is doing what she could not. He has his own stubborn, unwavering will, his own agency. And she has said this before, as her reason for loving him.

Shinoa idolizes Yuu. And they knew she would, they made her idolize him. They put those two in the same squad together for a reason. It was not a coincidence. She was literally assigned to him by Guren. But why?

Because they want Yuu to choose somebody other than Mika.

What I believe they hoped to achieve was to get Yuu attached to his “new family.” Guren knew these two, Yuu and Mika, would eventually see each other again. So he wanted to make sure Yuu would choose his new family over Mika. (And it did, sort of work. Like when Mika asked Yuu to run away with him, Yuu told him they had to save his family first. Although, nowadays, he just calls them his ‘friends’ instead. Has anyone else noticed that?)

Anyway, Guren is a smart asshole bitch fuckface (lighthearted I love him). He wanted Yuu to have multiple options. It’s easy to choose when it’s only two people. Like, between Mika and Shinoa, Yuu would choose Shinoa. But Guren is aware that no matter how dark and hurt Yuu gets, he has a pure heart. He knew it would be harder for Yuu to choose Mika over multiple people. And we do see that happen when Mika tries to…kidnap him. He goes back for them. (Although it was all thrown out the window the moment they ‘betrayed’ Yuu, lol.)

But, Shinoa doesn’t understand, nor is aware of this, because she doesn’t have the social intelligence for that. Not that it’s bad, it’s simply from the way she was raised. Honestly, I do hope Shinoa can come to realize that herself, that she slowly learns and realizes what’s going on.

And this is why I love Shinoa so much, she is such a complex character. Her character is the complete opposite of Yuu, in juxtaposition, since they are also quite similar. They are in a similar, if not the same, situation, but flipped. In which you have a person, who has been used his entire life, willingly allowing himself to be used, and aware of it; and someone who has been used her entire life, and doesn’t want that anymore, but is not aware that she is still being used. I say that because at this point in time, many if not all her decisions are being influenced by external factors.

Shinoa lets things get to her very easily, and Yuu does not. Because over the time, he has learned to cultivate a strong will. His will is strong enough that for FOUR YEARS he has never once given up on Mika. (And Yuu knew Mika the same amount of time he knew Guren…interesting, right? Is there a meaning to that?) For four years, Mika has been his pinnacle, his priority. His goal.

Shinoa does not have that. She does not have a priority, nor a goal. She doesn’t even know herself. She cannot find her priorities, morals, standards, etc. until she finds herself first. Yuu knows who he is, and that is why he is not afraid to let himself be used. Because nothing can change who he is fundamentally, because he’s made sure to cement it into himself. (You can really tell with how calm and relaxed he was when Angel Mika and eyeYuu were introduced. He did not falter, because Yuu is sure of himself, and his identity. The past does not change who he is now.)

And I genuinely hope that Kagami gives Shinoa her deserved good character development, because she is, and could be much more, of an amazing character.

Anyway that's the entire rant on my thoughts about them thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[taperwolf]

opinions on nijigaku polycule? this is like the third time i've came to your blog to fetch the group pic from guren no genki (blessed image, it's been my browser bg for a while, i realise i could've just screenshotted it while typing this out) and i soo agree but ive never seen you talk about it specifically (ig i aven't been here for long anyway) i joked about how "nijigasaki is basically the polyamory manifesto" to a girl the other day and we found it funny but then i realised no, that's real

I will talk about 'the great Nijigasaki polycule' occasionally — usually in tags, admittedly — and I guess the best way to describe my feelings about it is that they're about three clicks more serious than "ha ha they should all just date".

Part of it is that I am naturally a multishipper and polyshipper to begin with. Part of it is the way that Nijigasaki's stated theme of "friends but rivals; rivals but also friends" expresses itself most clearly in DiverDiva's ethos of making each other better through serious but good-natured competition. Part of it is the way that the jokes about "your"/Yu's harem and "Hitori dake nante erabenai yo!" are taken almost seriously. And part is the way that, as a parayuri series, the official stories can't or won't commit to specific couples and instead have spent years scattering breadcrumbs widely across many, many pairings.

But there's stuff like — okay, even for Ayumu, the most obviously possessive one? There's a SIFAS bond chapter where she resorts to following "you" out of jealousy because "you" have been going off to meet with some unknown person When she finally bursts in, her accusation isn't about romance or about her — she's worrying that "you" are cheating on everybody with a new school idol. (The punchline, of course, is that it's the head of Ayumu's fan club and they're planning a surprise for her.) Or over in Shioriko's bond story, when Ayumu comes across "you" and Shioriko out together, the conversation basically goes that she's not sure if she wants to steal "you" from Shioriko, or Shioriko from "you"; Shioriko admits she likes both Ayumu and "you", and "you" say "I'll have to adore you both".

Or there's a single main story chapter where Lanzhu insists that everyone has an open relationship — Shioriko tries to correct her that she means the relationship has open communication — and Kasumi insists that there's an agreement in place that nobody gets ahead of anybody else. (The conversation somehow leads to those two cuddling and Mia dismissing "those lovebirds".) So, like, the implications are there!

My basic thought — in my headcanon gestalt of all the sources — is that it's not a flat and completely equal relationship, but a set of interlocking (and somewhat fluid) subgroups, founded in two directions at once: everybody loves Yu while Hitori dake nante erabenai yo, and Lanzhu obviously adores everybody. But while, say, it's obvious that everyone likes Emma, I'm not sure it's all in the same way or degree, and vice versa — you can see in the Nijigasaki dorm bits in the Daily Theatre that while Emma helps everyone get up, Karin gets an extra dose of indulgence and care. Nonetheless, the lines get a little blurry, between "rivals who are obviously about to kiss", "friends who are all snuggly", and "Kanata wants to sleep with everyone".

So that was a long way around to answer the question, and I'm not sure if I actually did! I'm open to any followups.

[helenaheissner]

Love During Robot Fighting Time: Chapter 4

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***

Faith

11 Months Earlier

“AND TEAM DAI GUREN IS NOW THE WORLD CHAMPIONS! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! THE FIRST-YEAR UNDERDOGS FROM LOYOLA MARYMOUNT HAVE TAKEN THE CROWN!!!” Marty screamed. The noise was a lot to process, but just this once I could manage. We were the champions, dammit! This was everything I’d dreamed of. And I had my best friend at my side and the woman I loved just as close. 

The crowd ebbed and flowed around me as I guided my Dai Guren away on the wagon. I couldn’t keep the big, stupid smile off my face, especially as I watched Calloway skulk away to the opposing exit with his tail between his legs and his eyes glued to the floor. Suck it, asshole! This will teach you not to call me a pussy. 

The jerk had been a thorn in my side all season, constantly starting shit when the cameras were rolling, then acting like we were old chums the second they were off. It was such an obvious, obnoxious, odious ploy for attention that it made my stomach churn. 

Whatever, that didn’t matter now. All that mattered was that I’d just achieved one of my biggest dreams in life at the tender age of twenty-two. Yeah, I’d have to defend that crown every time I entered this tournament, ideally for the rest of my life. But for tonight, all I had to do was celebrate. 

Well, not exactly. There was one other thing I promised myself I would do if I won. Probably because I didn’t think I could win, and then I’d just get to keep putting it off every year until I died. But instead, the impossible had happened. 

And now one more impossible thing had to happen. 

I remembered the first time I tried on my mom’s clothes. She was a tiny woman, and I’d been lucky enough to take after her in the looks department. She had this beautiful purple gown in her closet, and one night, she and dad had both been at a dinner party and she’d very conveniently worn something else. I’d spent an hour staring at it, until finally, I caved and put it on and suddenly felt like the world wasn’t such an actively terrible place devoid of light or hope or joy. 

So, I did the normal thing at that point: I googled ‘why do I like wearing women’s clothes.’

The resulting rabbit hole had led me to a dangerous and potentially life-altering realization that I then spent the rest of high school desperately trying to ignore. Trying to fight. I did everything I thought I was supposed to: focused on my homework, on my studies, getting into college; got a girlfriend, focused on the handful of stereotypically male interests I’d had. 

But the feeling, the yearning, never went away. It kept calling to me, no matter how hard I tried to fight it. So I made myself a deal: if I could win this tournament, I’d come out, starting with the two people I trusted above all others: my best girl and my best friend. 

Zeke and Olivia both walked ahead of me. I had no idea how either of them would take this, but I hoped they would take it well. 

We cleaned up and headed for the parking lot, and as I stood in the doorway leading out into the warm night air, I said, “Wait. Guys, wait. I have to tell you something.”

Olivia turned around first, looking nervous, while Zeke simply looked happy. 

“What’s up, Frankie?” Zeke said. The name pricked at me, short jolts of pain to my stomach and chest. Deep breath, girl, just need to say what you’ve been thinking of saying for over a year. 

“Yeah, what’s going on?” Olivia said. “Do you not wanna do that celebratory pub crawl we’d been talking about?”

“No, no, I do,” I said, my heart beating at a million miles per second, my hands trembling, eye contact becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. “It’s just… There’s something I promised myself I would do if we won.”

“Okay?” Olivia said. 

“Whatever it is, we’re here for you,” Zeke said with his big, friendly smile. 

“Yeah, right,” Olivia said in a dull, flat tone that did little to inspire confidence. 

Now or never. Had to do it. It was like a massive weight on my chest I had to get rid of, or it would suffocate me, right there and then. “I’m trans.”

“... W-what?” Olivia said. 

“I’m a girl,” I said. “I’m a trans girl.”

“Huh,” Zeke said. “Neat.”

“Neat?” I said, finally looking up, devastated by the look I saw on Olivia’s face but relieved by the one on Zeke’s. 

“Neat?!” Olivia spat. 

“Yeah,” Zeke said with a smile and shrug. “My friend is a girl, but she’s still myfriend.” Then he looked at me. “Is ‘she’ okay? Pronoun-wise, I mean?”

I gulped, smiled, and nodded rapidly. 

Olivia’s eyes darted back and forth rapidly between Zeke and I. “I have a… You’re a… No. Okay, no, just no- I can’t do this.”

That was the moment my fragile little heart broke in half. “Liv… What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you either drop this nonsense or I walk,” Olivia said. 

“Olivia, you’re being irrational,” Zeke said. 

“I’m being- I’M being irrational,” Olivia said, running her hands through her hair. “My boyfriend thinks he’s a girl and he chooses tonight of all nights, when we’re supposed to be celebrating, to tell me this? How could you do this to me, Frank?!”

I broke off eye contact again and stammered, “I-I-I-”

“Olivia, this isn’t about you,” Zeke said. 

“Of course it’s not,” Olivia rolled her eyes. “Nothing ever is. It’s always about FRANK and what HE wants and what HE needs- you know what? Screw this. We’re done.”

“Olivia,” I said, stepping forward, tears in my eyes, “Please don’t do this-”

“You should have thought of that before YOU destroyed our relationship,” Olivia spat. “But you never think of anyone but yourself. Have a nice life, FRANK.”

I stood there in the doorway as I watched her walk away, vanishing into the night. I don’t remember how long I stood there, I just remember not really feeling or seeing much of anything until Calloway was right in front of my face. And I was REALLY not in the mood to deal with his shit there and then.

***

NOW

I sat in a basement bar in North Hollywood, loud music blaring and overhead lights humming and all manner of conversations blending together amidst all the noise. I sipped my cosmopolitan gingerly, pleased by the lipstick stain I left on the rim of the glass- that was my favorite part of wearing lipstick, like I was leaving little kisses on things that I loved. And if I was lucky, by the end of tonight, that would include the tall, dapper gentleman sitting next to me nursing an absinthe. 

Though considering how he had his head resting on his hand, his elbow pressing into the table, his brow creased and his eyes narrow, I wasn’t sure tonight would be the night that happened. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” I said, leaning forward, trying to emphasize my cleavage. It wasn’t MUCH cleavage, but it was mine after almost a year on estrogen and t-blockers, and I was proud of it. 

“Oh, just… Thinking about Calloway,” Zeke said, then took a sip of his drink. He winced as it entered his mouth- I would never understand his love of hard liquor, considering how his face scrunched up when he drank it. 

I cocked an eyebrow (heh. Cock.) “Why? We kicked his ass!”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Zeke said. “We got lucky. If Calloway hadn’t tripped up at just the right time, we would have been dead.”

“Horseshit,” I said, waving my hand and taking another sip of my cosmo, the warm buzz of the alcohol hitting me gradually with the sweet, sugary flavor. 

“Okay, Faith, you know I love your confidence, but that’s taking it a little far,” Zeke said. “Calloway redesigned Polyphemus to fight us specifically- we were getting asses beat before the bit at the end. And honestly, ‘flaming katana’ is a pretty unique design that most of the league is not suited to squaring off against. If we face Calloway again, we might not be able to pull a victory out our asses twice.”

I scoffed. “We’ve already beaten him twice.”

“A third time, then,” Zeke said. 

I sighed. He was probably right- Calloway’s design was smart. That’s what made it extra satisfying to watch that cocky (heh) grin of his evaporate when we won again tonight. But there were a ton of variables at play inside the battle-box. Next time the dice might not land in our favor. “Okay, fine, you’re right, you’re brilliant, you’re handsome-”

“I’m handsome?” Zeke said with a surprised- and adorably flustered- look. 

“Yes,” I winked. 

He gulped.

Maybe tonight would be the night. 

“That said, we won our opening fight tonight, and we should be celebrating, not strategizing. The next fight isn’t till next week, and neither of us have anywhere to be tomorrow. Let’s just knock back a few drinks and have a good time, yeah?”

“One of us has to drive, though,” Zeke pointed out. 

“So a drink, one for each of us, and then we go home and get plastered there,” I said. 

He creased his brow again, like he was considering something, but then he shrugged and knocked back the rest of his absinthe. “You’re driving,” he groaned. 

“Pfffttt, you jerk,” I said, taking another sip of mine. 

“But I’m a brilliant, handsome jerk, so that makes it okay,” he said with a grin. 

“Yes, you’re absolutely blessed,” I said with my own grin.

His phone then rang, loud and clear in spite of the noise. He pulled it from his breast pocket and looked at it, then tapped it and started texting something intently. 

“Who was it?” I asked.

“Nobody.”

“Nobody? Then who are you texting?”

“Also nobody.”

“This nobody must be terribly interesting,” I rolled my eyes. It was Olivia. It must have been Olivia. Who else could it possibly be-

As if on cue, my own phone buzzed inside my purse. I retrieved it, and found a notification from the tournament organizers. My heart broke apart again, and the pieces dissolved like salt into water. “Dammit.”

“What?”

“Our fight has been set for next week,” I said, tears welling up in my eyes. 

“Oh, God, are we-”

“We’re fighting Oliva next week.”

He scooted his stool over to me and put his arm around me, and I sobbed into his chest for God-knew-how-long. 

***

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[animeloversworldsblog]

The manipulative, toxic, unhealthy and possessive relationship mahiru-guren. Part 1..

Can I say that they relationship is built towards love? No, not at all. Can I say that was love between guren and mahiru from both parts? No, absolutely not (even so kagami tried to make them a couple in catastrophe so bad, like it was the most beautiful and innocent love, when actually their interection is not more than toxic, unhealthy and extremely manipulative something that love or care shouldn’t be, that is not love, not all end always good, but this kind of interaction end hurt, disgraceful and deathly not even with all about her demon's possession to make her look like a victim could make this a good romantic love, bcs is not something that stop them to have a relationship) There wasn't never love at all in mahiru's part and guren's part. Their relationship was built upon manipulation from mahiru'part.

Guren was just an innocent sweet child that doesn't know anything about life and I can't blame him for not being able to see that is bad and cruel people out there in the world,he has (and have) an innocent and sweet heart, he is ignorant about so many things, even about manipulation, vengeance, abuse, and control and he just know his people and even he is training try to have a normal life, even so that he is being educated in an exaggerated and unhealthy way, as the next head of the family would be and carrying on his shoulders responsibilities that a child of his age should not, and is not wrong for him to train, but not to make him assume so much responsibility for people's lives and that is something that Mahiru used to her advantage to force him to protect her, in other words she exploited everything what she saw in guren as a child for her needs. Mahiru, was a vengeful girl who knew what she wanted and what she was doing, she is not a cute or innocent girl. Maybe some people see their interection since child like cute, innocent and sweet but is not the case. She knew that the Ichinose family would pay for her actions, even so she did not care and her actions are selfish one, something a child shouldn’t  know about that. But she knew her family was following her if not, why she would go there in the first place? she get free will when they go look for her and she already know guren would cover her up and they would be hurt and still she did not care and does nothing that manipulate and use guren at her will.

Mahiru does nothing but build guren's mind on manipulation since 5.

Manipulative, narcissistic since 5.

1: "lives is a fantasy world which may include, flirting, affairs and dream of unlimited success and will lie and distort facts and change events to suit their one agenda"

Vol 6 manipulation facts: “Rather serious wounds. Are you being bullied?”“Then why did you suffer such serious injuries?”“What kind of training?”“Eh. Then Guren must be strong.”If I say that I am the fairy of this forest, what are you going to do?”“I have no parents.”“If you want me to tell you. Come here at this time to bath again tomorrow. Then you will be able to see me again.”“Have you ever despised training?”“Has Guren been in a relationship before? Do you have a girl you like or something like this?”“What kind of boy do you want to grow up to be?”“What happens if you become strong?”

2: And here start a classic manipulative behavior. manipulator “(makes) a small request that you agree to, which is followed by the real request. It’s harder to say no, because you’ve already said yes…Now it’s all about them and their complaints, and you’re on the defense.”

“Everything?! If so, then if I ask you to bring some cake here, can you do it?”“You can’t do anything right?”“Then let’s have it next time. Remember to prepare it, Guren.”“Eh, you want a girl to prepare it?”“Furthermore, Guren will definitely become strong one day and get a cake for me right?”“Then I’ll wait until Guren becomes strong.”“That’s okay. But you must let me become a cute bride.”“Guren’s cute bride. I want to be someone like this in the future.”“Is it because you think that that might make me happy?”“I love most.”“I love Guren.”“Must there be a reason for our encounter?”“Never mind. I have already checked that there is no one here. Also, even if I am being found, Guren will become strong and protect me right?”“Hmm. Yeah. Because talking with the child of trash Ichinose House, must be the thing father despise most.However……”“However, things did not progress as smoothly. Because the child of the Ichinose House is too cute, I accidentally fell in love.”“After we become adults……that, we, can we marry?”“Like how we are now. Can we be together forever?

3:THEY WEAKEN YOUR SELF-CONFIDENCE: “Emotional manipulators seek out the vulnerabilities of people in order to exploit them. In fact, they may consciously or unconsciously create relationships with people who are the most vulnerable and willing to be controlled"

Even guren in this chapter feel he have some sense of self-worth, he believe he is strong and he is doing it for his people, he didn't give a crap about hiragi's issue toward them, but that didn't last because she put in his brain that little worth must be to protect her and save her, She destroyed his little self worth and built a new one, about not being strong enough to protect her and stay with her. She over flatter him in a way that is not seen sincere and actually it wasn’t bcs she went there with darkness porpuse. She was manipulating guren and others to get her way. That's why guren think he love her (In fact, Guren was never able to know or understand what he really felt for her, because he just have doubts and question himself about what ties him to her all the time). Because she was broken him down and built him back up to believe it. It wasn't an accident. And yeah people can say nothing of this is like that and is exaggerate bcs she was a child, but a child don't do this to other people, she knew everything she was doing, everything.

Grow up guren and more facts upon her manipulation, control and abuse.

4:"Guilty trips to control, expert at using Passive aggressive behavior to hurt, bullying, arrogant, acts superior to people close to them, anger, violence, abuse, use guilt, charm, hope, love, obligation, fear or confusion to get what they want"

Vol 2: “Enough of that. Keep quiet” tinge of anger colored her voice.(this is control and not a nice way to treat guren by the way and get angry with a person for no reason is not be good).“And a thug like you has learned how to flatter people?”( thug? For real? since when guren is a thug to her? when  she saw guren like that? that is not even being nice or treat a person how should be treat)

And here cames sayuri's part in by the way she was observing the situation and "helps" when guren try to stop the massacre that sheishiro was doing to her. She doesn't care about sayuri at all bcs she could stop it before but after guren show up she doesn’t move a finger to help her, so  she used that opportunity to make feel guren worthless."With your power, you won’t win against Seishirou. If you go, you’ll be murdered.”(drown him down, this is not care) “Don’t tell me you intend to murder someone here?”( didn't she do that? how much hypocrisy can be show in her words?) “Here, your attendant.”( treat sayuri like trash bcs is the way she see people and is true and throw sayuri at guren as an object that is worth nothing). “I hate getting apologies from you. Especially, from the you who is always weak and cannot protect a girl…” ( guilty trips and treat a person like worthless crap, the worst thing is that she says it in front of everyone else, humiliating him, punishing him as if he was absolutely worthless, and as if guren owed something to her, like blaming him for not protect her when she was a child, bcs this words are to herself not from sayuri or other girl. what make her diferent from her family when she is too pride of herself and even is worse than anybody on that school).

Guren was trying to live his life but this get worse upon more and more about a possessive, obsessive and manipulative interection. You don't drown down people you love and humiliate him like he doesn't worth anything. She is false, her kindness is false and is hipocrite with people around her and that is a fact. A healthy relationship doesn't drag you down it inspires you to be better. It support you and guren is not her property and he owes nothing to her.

“Because Mahiru-san is your lover, is she not?”But Guren laughed in response.“I’m not stupid enough to make a woman I haven’t seen in ten years my lover.” “Ahaha, I see.” “Exactly.” “But there’s still an attachment, no?” “No.” “No no, there is. The fact that your power—is at a much higher level for someone your age, is all because to rescue Mahiru-san from the Hiiragi House……”“I already said there isn't”“ Mahiru-san said that she still likes you. She wanted to be together with you. She said to achieve this, she was willing to do anything, even betray her own family.”“It doesn’t matter. You seem to have misunderstood, I didn’t become strong because of her……”

First than anything she is no one to obligated a person to stay with her or love her, that is not more than being a controlling and a psycho person. Saito is already saying she wants to achieve this, be the most powerful, even if that means kills many people on the ways like if they weren’t exist in the first place, bcs she is the one that is suffering so much, and those people out there are worthless objects.

Guren, after no seeing her for ten years still have some sense of self-worth, and honestly he thinks that met her was just a childhood thing and was an ignorant, can we see guren was an innocent child? he even think if he was capatable to defeat her, but met her again, make guren feel worthless bcs of her control and manipulation towards him. If guren did not feel that he was self-worth, even a little, why hide his power? He himself knows he is strong, he analyzes the attack patterns of the others, he is smart on his own right. But according to mahiru, nothing that what you are or obtain on your own merit is useful, power is obtained by committing atrocities, which makes guren feel useless, someone who has no value not only as a person but also as a human being, mahiru does nothing but abuse and destroy other people morally, psychologically, emotionally and physically to achieve her goals.

Can you see the difference between guren without her and guren close to her?

She wear him down his self-esteem and undermine his mental health and she's been doing it since kids, when guren is close to her, even since child, one can see, she bit chips away he's self-esteem and there is when he begin to doubt his perceptions and reality. Guren always feel wounded, frustrated, confused, misunderstood, depressed, anxious, or worthless any time he interact with her and that is no more than being emotionally abuse. And all of this start in their first meet, everybody forget that guren start to feel weak when he couldn’t protect her? (and even having 24 still thinks that he was weak for that reason? and that wasn’t more than mental abuse from her. When actually she was strong and have more free that what she was saying?) Guren with the real people he loves is mentally healthy, smiles, trust, care about the world and has fun, if we believe that his relationship with mahiru from child made guren happy, is wrong, because it caused pain and problems to his family and him, and did nothing but break him down, emotionally and physically, and mahiru did nothing but brainwashed him that he would marry her. Even when Guren grew up, he saw again that the power he seek and wanted was to protect his family. For the first time in his life, he finds value, ideals and belief about friendship, loving and protecting his loved ones, by will, beyond what was instilled in him since he was a child, he does it because he loves them because they support him and they see in him the real guren and not the guren that mahiru wants to force to be, that's not love, guren has no responsibility for mahiru, she forces him to have it because she brainwashed him that that's his responsibility towards her. Guren believe he is a damn rat and all of that is cause for her, bcs he didn’t see himself like that when was a child, but who forced him to feel worthlless? Can you see the difference about guren living in reality with his beloved ones and fantasy with her?

She was telling to saito since child she just want one thing, guren, and like she is a hiragi she could have whatever she wanted, even if that means make guren surrender to her bcs she see him like her property not as a person. Can you see that this was never about shinoa? She wanted to be a queen is other hiragi more, hungry power and have whatever she wanted no matter what, so if she has to eliminate every person guren could love, then why not, and make guren to do it better to her.  Puppy guren is what she see on him. She is not capable of having things without forcing them, she has to take it, and if it is not as she wants, she tortures, manipulates, destroys or kills.

“Don’t say such cruel things.”“So powerful…… You’ve really become stronger, Guren. Was it because of me?”“No.”“Ah, no?”“Aah, no. Don’t make me repeat myself.”Mahiru was not pleased and bit her lip. Guren had seen this expression before. When they were younger, he had seen it on several occasions. Mahiru had always asked if Guren liked her, and when he had always evaded her questions, she would have that expression on her face. “Really……? The reason why I became stronger was because I wanted to be with Guren.”“Fu, fufu…… Once you have the power, it becomes very enjoyable. Isn’t that how you feel, Guren? To let your body become so strong like now you have to be completely immersed in it.”“But the physical body has a limit. I can’t reach a higher level with this. “I guess I can say that it’s almost done. But, Guren. Even with just this, I’m already undefeatable, right?”“Ah, aren’t you being a bit hypocritical? As if you have never made any similar sacrifices…… You have got to be kidding? In order to get this strong, I think you must have also given up something.”“Wasn’t this what we agreed to that day? Under the blue sky, on the green grass. How can you protect something if you don’t have power? Even the people you care about, you cannot protect. Even the important things, you cannot protect. That’s why you need power. Me too, you too…… Right, Guren?”“Why don’t you come with me? If you do, you can also become this powerful. With me together, to make this power complete…… To make it…… complete.”Don’t… don’t come here, Guren. I’m already…… I’m already swallowed by the…… «Kiju». It, it was a failure…… I, I’m already, not…… shut up, shut up! I’m not swallowed up yet! I still have a lot more power…… A whole lot more power……”“I really like you.”“I’m going to ask you again, Guren. Do you want to come together with me?”Guren replied. “No.”“You will gain more power.”“Not interested.”“Ahaha. It looks like Guren really hates me now.”She sounded a little sad. However, Guren replied,“That’s not the problem. The power I seek is not the same as yours.”“Really?”“Really.”“Alright…… But when did we become this different?”“I like you, Guren.”She said.“This is my true feeling. So, I will always wait…… always wait for the day you need me again.”

To her, people are not more than trash that killing each others, but she has the right to killed them? And that is not bad at all? So that make her innocent, victim and a saviour? There is no need to sacrifice people, to become strong, guren is right, she seeks power to dominate, to control, to be on top, guren does not seek that, and for mahiru, her mind does not reach more than seeking power through diabolical things and atrocities. And if there is something that she loves, it is that power that she uses while committing atrocities. And why guren should be the hypocrite here?, if he has become strong without going that far, in fact he is stronger and smarter than anyone in that school, even more than the jujo, goshi and sangu, and he has shown it.

She used her love bombing towards guren can we talk here that mahiru already knows what she wanted, that her goal, was guren, no save the damn world, and yes i know she is possess (but even so she still is her true self and she doesn’t change since child, bcs still is manipulative, controller, egoist, selfish and does not support that others go against her will) and she knows what the hell she is doing and saying, she is aware of everything and doesn’t feel a damn remorse about all of that and people is gonna say, demons use her desire, etc, but her desire is power, nothing more and how manipulate guren about her demon’s issue. Can we talk here how she uses her demons possession to make guren feel pity towards her, can you see her clear manipulation on how she acusses of doing things guren is not doing\things she is doing and how she think guren and her were equals and how he didn’t give a crap about her. She wasn’t capatable to understand and know guren a little. She pleading, begging and repeating something over and over until he wear down. Crying, acting dependant, despondent,sulking and withdrawing. Lack sympathy for others, especially those she exploit (guren) she is not looking to love him, she is looking to control him.

mahiru met guren since 5 and after 10 years she used love bombing that is when someone overwhelms another with attention, flattery and adoration. Is yet another manipulation tactic used by narcissist’s. While there are many reasons behind why a narcissist love bombs, those reasons are typically selfish ones. It’s used by someone to receive a certain result from another person. Whether it’s control or receiving adoration back there are many reasons someone love bombs. Are a false illusion by someone who (most likely) has not fallen in love. It is a form of manipulation and once she feels you are “easily controllable,” the love bombs disappear and emotional abuse sets in and can be used as a way of “trapping” or “buttering someone up” to convince them to be in a relationship. Then once their in a relationship, narcissistic abuse sets in.

Their interaction wasnt a met between two innocent childs was plan and research about a little boy, they relationship start from hurt other people and was more interaction than relationship bcs they don’t know  each other, not from child and less from teenagers. He force himself to love her by her look, godness, fairy, most beautiful girl and the most victim from everybody. Is not more than a fantasy bond what guren had for her. She love him for his strength, for being strong. because if it wasn’t for that she would lost interest in him.There wasn't any sincere action from her towards guren, not even since child. Their interaction (not even relationship, bcs never was one in the firt place) Start: greedy Progress: lust End: pain

[distinguished-slacker]

Owari no Seraph — An Analysis of Shinoa and Mitsuba’s Friendship

(Warning: A long post that nobody asked for and I had to make the panels tightly packed into one image each due to the Tumblr 10 images per post restriction so I am not taking responsibility for any brain aneurysms I might cause. I am serious, it’s really LONG.)

(Why? Because this cursed manga needs more girl power.)

(Note: Friendship)

We always speak about friendships like the ones between Yuu and Mika, and Guren and Shinya but we rarely talk about the one in the girls’ side, which is the the friendship between Shinoa and Mitsuba. It is the only female friendship we actually have in Owari no Seraph since we haven’t seen Chess and Horn ever since Nagoya arc, and we barely get to see how Mito, Sayuri and Shigure act with each other as friends when the topic of conversation is not Guren.

I agree that Shinoa and Mitsuba’s friendship is cute and funny. However, as I reread the manga I realised that their relationship is deeper than that, that each contributed into the development of the other to a degree but at the same there is a wall that keeps them from growing closer but of which none of them is aware of, and how their distance has been exacerbated by some faults that makes me believe their relationship is deteriorating.

So I decided to make a deep analysis with some theorising about their friendship throughout the manga where I make it sound more complex than the sexualised joke Kagami has made of it :D

The first time we had a glimpse of their friendship is of course when Mitsuba debuted in chapter 8 of the manga as the fifth and last member of Shinoa squad. She is first seen complaining to Guren about why was she placed in a squad full of rookies being most visibly infuriated by the fact that the “sarcastic airhead Hīragi Shinoa” was chosen as the squad leader instead of her. When Shinoa appears, she addresses Mitsuba as “Micchan” (or Mi-chan/Mitsu/whatever translation) and mocks her, angering Mitsuba more and driving her to manifest her weapon to fight Shinoa. This scene shows that they have known each other before Shinoa squad was established. The question was when? Shinoa described her life before the catastrophe occurred as “living under a rock” and how she “didn’t see or speak with anyone at all” in the afterword of volume 17, which can be further proved by the events of the Catastrophe at 16 light novels. Shinoa and Mitsuba were bound to meet because of their statuses as Hīragi and Sangū respectively but Shinoa was always kept in the shadows by her family so it’s quite unlikely that they have met as children before the catastrophe.

The only possibility for them to have met is for military reasons rather than for family reasons. In chapter 3, before Shinoa squad was formed, it was revealed that Shinoa is part of the vampire extermination unit but we don’t know for how long. Considering that Mitsuba used the argument of joining the vampire extermination unit at the age of thirteen to explain why would she make a better squad leader than Shinoa, it’s safe to assume that Shinoa joined later than Mitsuba. However, Shinoa received Shikama Dōji as a weapon in 2012 when she was 7 (6 if Kagami could do maths but whatever...) so I doubt the army would let a capable and armed person have a relaxing life for so many years when she could be used for fighting instead since there is a shortage of soldiers (unless Shinoa used her power as a Hīragi, which sometimes works in her favour, to avoid military duties). Moreover, I doubt that the army would place an unexperienced soldier straight into the extermination unit, which is the most dangerous unit in the Japanese Imperial Demon Army, regardless of their status, especially a child. So even if Mitsuba said she joined this unit when she was 13, there is a small chance that she has been a soldier before that but was tasked with easier jobs like being a wall guard and the same thing could be applied to Shinoa. In other words, it’s likely that these two girls have known each other for a good number of years before the timeline of Vampire Reign began.

The reason why I want to believe that Shinoa and Mitsuba met a considerable time ago before the start of the series is because of Shinoa’s attitude towards her. Shinoa has lived a life lacking family love and social interaction which caused her to become apathetic and unemotional up until the formation of Shinoa squad. But somehow there is this girl, who is the only one whom Shinoa gives a cute nickname, has a lot of interest on teasing her and feels comfortable enough to barge into her shower and be seen naked when that is a situation where a person is really vulnerable. I mean, considering Mitsuba’s personality, it’s understandable why Shinoa feels so free to act like that around her but still it’s emotionally detached Hīragi Shinoa we are talking about.

(From top to bottom, and left to right: chapters 8, 9, 19, 29 and 43)

One thing that bothers me is how Kagami made it look like as if Shinoa was completely empty before being influenced by Yuu’s ‘kindness’ when that is not true at all and Shinoa was able to show a caring side before that.

One example of this is in the same chapter where Mitsuba debuted, shown in the top-left panel. In this chapter Mitsuba is acting so bossy and arrogant here that to be honest anyone would find her annoying. However, Mitsuba’s constant shouting about battle formation is to ensure that everyone adheres to the rules to avoid any danger, especially considering the reckless attitude Yuu has displayed here about killing vampires as soon as he sees them. In reality, Mitsuba’s behaviour is a defence mechanism in order to hide her traumas regarding the death of her previous squad members and Shinoa knows this well. Shinoa knows Mitsuba is a kind person on the inside, going to the extent of even calling “adorable” how Mitsuba feels that their lives are her responsibility, and that’s why she tells Yuu to bear with Mitsuba because Shinoa doesn’t want him to hate her.

In the panel below the first one which occurs in the next chapter when the girls are in the showers, Shinoa comforts Mitsuba telling her it wasn’t necessarily her fault that the entire squad got annihilated (as some of the members were already killed before Mitsuba made any reckless move, Mitsuba was too young and it was the leader’s decision to sacrifice himself for her). Speaking about this, Shinoa is the only one in the squad who knows about Mitsuba’s past and it makes me wonder whether Mitsuba herself told Shinoa about this or Shinoa discovered it since as a Sangū, Mitsuba must be well known in the army so her failure might have been spread around and Shinoa happened to discover it. It depends on how much of friends they were before the beginning of the manga; whether they were friends before that or they were somewhat distant but strengthened their friendship when the squad was established. After all, it is hinted that they live together in the chapter where they tried to cook for the guys though Shinoa said it was her room (but it wasn’t specified if it was Mitsuba’s too) so maybe Mitsuba decided to come over for that event. In the anime there was a bunk bed in the room next to the living room which wasn’t shown in the manga but still it doesn’t hurt mentioning it.

This one is a very subtle panel. In the middle panel that happened in chapter 29 after Shinoa and Narumi squad finished their mission of killing Lucal Wesker in Nagoya arc, Yuu realises that people really do die in these missions and Mitsuba replies to him with a “Your friends die. That’s the reality of battle...I...I’ve seen this...” while recalling her previous squad’s members deaths. Shinoa quickly picks up on this and touches her elbow in comfort, as highlighted by the green circle pointed by the green arrow, and gives a speech that reminds Mitsuba that she is not alone anymore and has people who are still alive for her to protect. I really love this moment because Shinoa was so perceptive of the little changes happening within Mitsuba.

In the right panel, it might look like Shinoa is throwing the bothersome job to explain the squad’s situation to Mitsuba, which might be true considering how Shinoa is sometimes, but I like this panel because it shows that Shinoa lets Mitsuba have her part and act as her second in command since being squad leader is what Mitsuba initially wanted. Mitsuba seems to be happy to act as her second in command which shows their relationship is more chill than what their first scene together in the manga made it look like.

Like Shinoa cares for Mitsuba, Mitsuba cares for Shinoa too. In the bottom-left panel which is taken from chapter 19, Kimizuki is suspicious of Shinoa after Yoichi and him were interrogated and tortured by the Hīragis, going as far as thinking she was using Yuu and saying that this is nothing but a “sickness” where he is forced to “play comrades”. Mitsuba quickly defends her by stopping Kimizuki because she knows Shinoa is only making them hide Yuu’s transformation out of genuine care for a comrade. Curiously, this scene parallels to a scene in chapter 99 that occurs after Shinoa makes Shikama Dōji submit. Kimizuki starts shouting at Shinoa thinking that she has been using them all while laughing behind their backs the whole time. This time Mitsuba doesn’t intervene. There are three possibilities for this: one is that Mitsuba is simply being relegated to the sidelines due to constricted space in the current events of the manga, two, that Mitsuba cannot act because this whole situation confuses her which is understandable, and three, that Mitsuba and Shinoa are becoming more distant, which I will explain later in this post.

I tried to find more panels of Mitsuba visibly showing care for Shinoa in the beginning and middle of the manga but it was hard but this is not Mitsuba’s fault, neither Shinoa’s. To be brief, Shinoa is a tough nut to crack. With her personality it’s hard to get emotionally close to her. Add to that that Mitsuba has her emotional baggage too which makes her emotionally constipated, this sets a wall between the girls so I hope Kagami will do something with it later in the manga where it breaks. Yuu already achieved it, so why not Mitsuba who is supposedly Shinoa’s only female friend and even best friend?

(Left: chapter 26 and Right: chapter 45)

When Guren knocked Mitsuba out during the squad mock battle and when Mitsuba was attacked by Crowley, Shinoa always jumped to protect her regardless of the risk. Have a look at Shinoa’s pained face when Mitsuba told them to leave her behind or Shinoa’s determined face when she told Makoto to follow Kimizuki and Yoīchi in order to rescue Mitsuba. That raw emotion. Seriously, is it me or ironically in the beginning of the manga Shinoa showed far more emotion despite being claimed to be initially cold?

(Top left: chapter 19, bottom left: chapter 26 and right: chapter 24)

Does someone else miss when these two girls used to team up to annoy the boys? These scenes might seem for pure comedic purposes but they are actually deeper than what they look like. When Mitsuba debuted, she was not only strict with others but with herself too. Due to her past failure and family expectations, she was forcing herself to grow up quicker, to be the perfect soldier and follow the rules even if that put herself under pressure. However, as she got more involved with the squad she became more free and Shinoa’s personality started started to rub off on her. There are two scenes where Shinoa starts with her pranks and Mitsuba follows with them. It’s vastly thanks to Shinoa that Mitsuba started to act like the teenager she is and that’s really wholesome. I mean, just look at how happy Mitsu is at the bottom left panel or her smirk, something unusual for her, in the bottom right panel when they abandon Kimizuki on the side of the highway (lmao poor Kimizuki). This duo have a great dynamic!

Interestingly, as the series progresses, you can see how both Mitsuba and Shinoa’s characters start acquiring qualities from the other. The always so stiff and temperamental Mitsuba becomes more laid-back and honest while Shinoa goes through the process of discovering more emotions within herself and expressing actual interest on other things. But the problem is that while Mitsuba’s change was influenced by the squad, Shinoa’s was primarily by influenced by Yuu.

(Top left: chapter 8, bottom left and middle right: chapter 48, top right: chapter 17 and bottom right: chapter 43)

It is known that Shinoa loves to tease Mitsuba. In fact, her favourite person to tease is Mitsu because in the fanbook Shinoa said that someone who gets bullied easily is “1. Micchan 2.Micchan 3.Micchan” and even Mitsuba said that she hears Shinoa talk about her a lot.

The first thing Shinoa does when they reunite in chapter 8 is tease her. In chapter 48 when they are talking in the girls’ toilet you can see Shinoa looking at Mitsuba with soft and sweet expressions. Shinoa is really comfortable around her and Mitsuba’s personality allows Shinoa to be herself. Shinoa even said “I really like you when you always react to me like this.” with a gentle laugh which is something rare for her to say.

However, there are times where I personally feel that Shinoa should set some limits to herself regarding how much she teases Mitsuba and with what topics she uses to tease her like when she joked about Mitsuba not being a virgin in chapter 43 because the combined blood of the squad that Mika drank was gross. Although I find hilarious how Mitsuba reacted with a “I am SO going to kill you someday!!” but limits are limits, especially if it’s in front of everyone.

Another panel that was used for comedic purposes that I find somewhat off is the one in chapter 17 showed at the top right corner. Before this panel, Mitsuba says with a serious face that she hopes “things go okay for Yuu” in the interview with the Hīragi family and Shinoa starts teasing Mitsuba saying that she is in love with Yuu. Shinoa teases her but her gaze is at the building not at Mitsuba, her focus is on Yuu, and so it feels as if she teased Mitsuba to cover something else. And what is that something else? Easy. This scene happens not longer after Shinoa confronts Guren in his office about him drugging Yuu where Guren asks Shinoa if she fell in love with him. Ever since this moment Shinoa started to doubt about her feelings and I feel that she teased Mitsuba about her being in love with Yuu to cover her own feelings and that is not a nice thing to do to a friend.

Shinoa annoyed her many times throughout, Mitsuba never really got seriously angry at her aside from an occasional initial outburst. Mitsuba shows great patience with Shinoa, unless there is something we don’t know since we have never gotten an inner monologue of Mitsuba but I will talk about this later.

(Chapter 17)

In the same chapter but some panels before, Shinoa makes fun of Mitsuba addressing her incompetence paralleling to how she made fun of her when they met in chapter 8. Mitsuba just got out of an interview with the Hīragis where she has been promoted, and Shinoa mocks her about how easily she can climb up the ranks just because she is a Sangū and not because of her abilities. On one hand, considering Mitsuba’s severe low self-esteem Shinoa shouldn’t be joking with this a lot but on the other hand, it’s because Shinoa is like this that Mitsuba is comfortable with her. Mitsuba doesn’t like it when everyone talks bad behind her back while praising her on the front, so Shinoa, who is the only one who is honest with her, makes Mitsuba feel at ease (let’s not count Yuu here because that guy is clueless about the weight that the hierarchy holds within the JIDA).

In the middle panel we can see how Shinoa talks about herself to Mitsuba and the same thing can be said with the toilet scene in chapter 48. Mitsuba is the only one out of the squad who knows about Shinoa’s life within the Hīragi family and some story with her older sister Mahiru (I know this is because those higher ranking family members have access to that information but nevertheless this gives Mitsuba an advantage when it comes to bonding with Shinoa). However, Shinoa is here just stating facts but doesn’t open emotionally to Mitsuba so that wall between them persists. Considering that they might have been friends for years, it’s mostly Shinoa’s closed heart the main reason that made their friendship stagnant. But of course, this is not Shinoa’s fault since she is a product of her terrible childhood.

When you look deeper into it, they don’t have the emotional bond and trust they should have with each other.

In the right panel, that’s where the real problem in their friendship starts. Please zoom and have a look at the section surrounded by the vertical amber rectangle. Have a look at Mitsuba’s expression. She is angry and not for comedic purposes. Shinoa has just asked Mitsuba how much information about Yuu she “bribed” the Hīragis with in exchange for her promotion. It doesn’t even look like Shinoa is joking here. She actually thought that Mitsuba, her closest friend, would fall so low as to sell a comrade for a promotion that she didn’t even want in the first place. Look at the region surrounded by the horizontal amber rectangle and you can see that despite Mitsuba already told Shinoa she did not say a thing, Shinoa keeps asking her if she said anything about Yuu going berserk in the battlefield as if she doesn’t fully trust Mitsuba. To be honest, Shinoa crossed the line here and I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t read the beginning of the manga since in the anime they made it different.

This is the beginning of the popular scenario where a friendship is tested when a guy comes in between.

(From top to bottom: chapters 57, 70 and 75)

In chapter 57, Guren reveals to everyone a shocking fact; Shinoa was born with a demon inside her because of a crazy experiment. Mitsuba is the one who looks the most visibly shocked and when she asks Shinoa what does he mean by that Shinoa instead looks away to where Yuu is even though he didn’t ask her anything unlike Mitsuba. To me, this where Mitsuba and Shinoa’s friendship officially entered the amber region.

Then, in chapter 70, Aoi starts choking Mitsuba, asking her why she is not dead and branding her as traitor. Shinoa didn’t try to stop it but it’s understandable since going against Aoi could be punished, especially because they are in JIDA territory, and that Yuu was already doing the job of defending Mitsuba. What I found curious about this is that the whole time Aoi was talking bad about Mitsuba being a traitor we get scenes with Yuu, and even a glimpse of Kimizuki and Yoichi as highlighted by the blue square but not of Shinoa. Shinoa is only shown just after Yuu says “I’m Mitsuba’s family” as if this choice in the structuring of these panels is implying that Yuu saying something nice to another girl gets more reaction from Shinoa than when said girl, who is a friend of Shinoa too, is in a problem. What hurts me the most is that even if there was no need for Shinoa to intervene, we don’t get any shocked or sad expression of her while Aoi puts her hands on Mitsuba’s neck or starts insulting her.

Shinoa’s priorities changed and this is further seen when she is turning into a vampire in chapter 75 and everyone is around the wheeled stretcher where Shinoa is lying on but she looks only at Yuu. I could say that maybe she looked at Yuu instead of anyone else because he was closer to Shinoa’s face but then when Shinoa is taken to the doctors and scientists the last thing she thinks of is “Yuuichi...ro” and only Yuuichiro.

(Chapter 86)

I guess we are going into the orange area now...While Shinoa changes, Mitsuba stays relatively the same. The panel where Mitsuba runs to Shinoa and hugs her in tears is the greatest proof of how much Mitsuba cares for Shinoa, which is impacting for the readers since we haven’t got much of their friendship for a long time up until that point. Now, if we compare Shinoa’s facial expressions in this chapter with the ones I have previously shown in chapters like 45 (when Crowley attacked Mitsuba) and 48 (when they talked in the toilet), you can see the difference. Before, Shinoa’s face was full of genuine happiness, care and worry but now she is poker faced. She completely disregards Mitsuba’s concern for her and crying. She doesn’t show a shocked face, doesn’t hug Mitsuba back or doesn’t even tell her “Sorry for making you worry, Micchan” or something like that. She turns the situation into a boob joke and Mitsuba simply replies back. Then, we get an emotional panel again of Mitsuba asking Shinoa if she is really herself again (and if you zoom to where the green arrow as pointing at you can see Mitsuba’s red eyes from crying a lot) but then Shinoa continues with the boob joke like nothing. Sure, I understand that Shinoa has fallen in love and her priorities are somewhere else, but could she at least show more concern for Mitsuba?

Now some people might tell me that I am making a huge deal out of it, that’s it normal Shinoa is not comforting her or acting accordingly to the situation because Shinoa is emotionally stagnant and dense but this is actually not true at all. Please have a look at this image below:

(Chapters 85 and 90)

The first and only person Shinoa thinks about after being freed from her possession in chapter 85 is “Yuuichiro” (or Yuu-san if the translators did it properly). She doesn’t think about the rest of her squad even though she is supposed to be the squad leader.

Then here is where we can make the comparison. In chapter 86, Mitsuba was crying because she was scared since Shinoa was ‘dying’ by turning into a vampire, Yuu got kidnapped, and Kimizuki, Yoichi and Makoto left her without telling her a thing when the war broke out. Mitsuba informs her of this. Four chapters later, in chapter 90, which probably happened like half an hour or an hour in the OnS universe after Mitsuba cried, when Yoichi says Yuu was crying Shinoa gets worked up saying “I have to rescue him”. Shinoa hasn’t even seen with her own eyes that Yuu was crying yet she is prepared to go and help him when she didn’t do it for the girl who was crying right in front of her just some minutes ago. This shows clear favouritism towards Yuu. Of course, there is nothing wrong with having the person you like as your first priority. It’s almost the natural thing to occur, especially considering that this is the first time Shinoa feels like this. However, it’s because of things like this that the possibility of Shinoa eventually losing the closest friend she has exists.

(Also if someone wants to object to that part saying that Shinoa didn’t comfort Yuu in the end I will just say that it’s not weird considering Yuu was acting all happy go lucky and on the outside he didn’t look like needed comfort even if he really did.)

Also, many people noticed the use of “I” instead of “We” in “I have to rescue him” and “Yuuichiro... Hang in there. I’m on my way.” even though she is with the whole squad and I especially find it more surprising considering that when she said this last phrase, Mitsuba was next to her (or behind her from our perspective) showing that Shinoa doesn’t think of Mitsuba as much as she used to in the past. This mirrors what Mahiru told Shinoa in chapter 56, even though Shinoa couldn’t hear her, about how “sexual desire and lust” (I am going to put “crush” here instead because this might be too far someone like Shinoa) “corrupts you” “to the point where you don’t care about the world and its future anymore” and this already started with Shinoa’s care for the squad decreasing at the expense of her care for Yuu increasing.

Additionally, if you are a fan of this manga art style you might have took an interest on its illustrations and might have noticed that ever since Osaka arc there have not been many illustrations of them together anymore. At most it’s just Shinoa alone. Whether it implies their distance or Yamamoto simply does not have the time of making complex illustrations again, I don’t know.

(Chapters 54 and 96, and volume 17 afterword ending on chapter 69)

Boob jokes. The worst part. Boob jokes. The first time I guess it was okay but it just keeps repeating and it’s not only in the manga. I even looked at the anime fanbook, and watched the CD Dramas and some clips of the game Owari no Seraph: Unmei no Hajimari (which all take place at the time before the squad defected the army) and I realised that there are more times where Shinoa makes a comment about Mitsuba’s chest. Some people say that this significant number of times Shinoa starts a boob conversation may indicate that rather than being jealous, she is obsessed and actually attracted to Mitsuba. But ships aside (I want to keep this post as ship-free as possible), it’s not nice that every time these two have an interaction, which is rare lately and so special because of its rarity, the topic is boobs. It’s not even funny and it degrades their relationship. Why Kagami cannot treat their relationship like the boys’s and give them scenes where they talk about their emotions rather than body parts? After all, the friendship between Shinoa and Mitsuba is not that different to Yuu and Mika’s or Guren and Shinya’s for reasons like sharing a past together. The major difference I can only find between them is their biological sexes and this is not an excuse for this bias.

But since I am the type of person who likes to looks deeper into every joke I am going to do it for these ones. The only thing that I find refreshing about these jokes is that at the beginning every time Shinoa made a comment about Mitsuba’s body, Mitsu was always embarrassed, exhausted and denying any claims. But because Shinoa started this topic of conversation so many times Mitsuba has gathered the experience and skill points to retort her insults😂 Shinoa has awakened Bad Girl Mitsu, and Dethroned Sass Queen is now on the losing end loool just joking.

It might seem that everything that I mentioned in this post until now it’s a lot for Shinoa and Mitsuba but remember that for them, ever since they arrived to the JIDA and all this mess started around chapter 70 they have been in the same day in the OnS universe (even if for us it has been years) and only two days passed at most ever since Shikama Dōji started influencing Shinoa’s views on Yuu in chapter 66 (although Shikama Dōji probably talked to her about him offscreen a lot of times before this chapter). It has been only one bad day, it’s okay, there is no need to panic, Mitsuba and Shinoa are still super best friends and will be...or that is what I would like to say because one, if in just one day Shinoa’s feelings became this crazy imagine how she would be after a longer time if no one stops her? And two, Mitsuba is starting to notice Shinoa’s feelings for Yuu:

(From left to right: chapters 10, 19 and 99)

As I mentioned in a previous post, the number of times Mitsuba is realising that Shinoa feels something for Yuu from afar in the manga is around 3 or 4 (I am not including the fourth since I am not really sure about it), with the most recent being the most eye catching. Now, you might tell me that Mitsuba is just jealous which I would agree since the first panel gives that impression by going with the typical cliché where the second girl is jealous of the first girl. But then if you look at the whole three panels there is nothing that exactly shows a jealous expression on Mitsuba’s face but rather she is just concerned or surprised. It’s hard to decipher her emotions here but if you look closely at the middle and right panel you might notice something in common: Shinoa is placing her hand on top of Yuu’s. So it’s more likely that Mitsuba is looking at this specifically rather than at the whole picture of Yuu and Shinoa together considering that these latter two have gotten scenes together many times but Mitsuba never looked at them and acted normal. Kagami is the type of subverting our expectations like when Yuu was supposed to be the main protagonist but sometimes he seems to be a cover and the real protagonist of the story is Guren (this is just my impression). For this case, Shinoa has been called a “dispassionate observer” by Shikama Dōji in chapter 72 but sometimes I feel that the observer is Mitsuba.

This could explain why we have never gotten a glimpse of Mitsuba’s heart and demon even though she is a main female deuteragonist and the only one unaddressed in Shinoa squad. It might seem that she is patient and a stagnant character, but all these subtle moments might be building up to a potential Mitsuba mini arc that will be about her relationship with Shinoa? After all, what Mitsuba cares about the most is her squad, so bonds is a likely theme. Moreover, in the fanbook Mitsuba’s favourite person was stated to be Shinoa (while for everyone else it was ‘Yuu’). It’s possible that she will confront Shinoa about this because Shinoa never tells her anything about herself so Mitsuba has to do all the guessing and Shinoa has grown distant from her. No way Mitsuba is fine with that. Looking at this, it’s normal we haven’t gotten much of them because looking at the current events of the manga, now is not the time to sit down (it’s not like they either have the time) and do something that might sever bonds anymore. This is why I came to the conclusion that if it’s not just bad writing, then Kagami deteriorating their friendship is something intentional.

Now, how will Shinoa and Mitsuba’s friendship proceed from here will rely mainly on two factors. One is whether what Shinoa feels for Yuu is genuine or a result of Shikama Dōji and Mahiru brainwashing her, and two, whether Mitsuba feels something for Yuu too or not. For one, I am not going to jump to conclusions regarding Shinoa’s feelings for Yuu and I will just say that regardless of whichever route Kagami chooses, Shinoa still has to cherish her friendship with Mitsuba. For two, it’s ambiguous as I can say as many arguments for Mitsuba having a crush on Yuu as arguments against. So let’s wait and see. However, I want to say that making Mitsuba crush on Yuu would be unwise considering that it’s already hard enough with Mika and Shinoa, so adding Mitsuba would mean pointlessly adding more fuel to the fire, especially considering Yuu’s personality and that he might not end up with anyone by the end of the series.

However, if somehow Kagami decides to take the route where one, Shinoa’s love for Yuu moves forwards and two, it happens at the expense of her friendship with Mitsuba and others, I will start calling Kagami a hypocrite. This is because we are talking about the guy who said that the focus of OnS is not romance, but family and bonds. Therefore, I would be disgusted at his bias of exploring only the theme of family and bonds within male friendships at the expense of destroying female friendships just for romance.

I theorise that this confrontation (not a cat fight) will happen around when Shinoa will entirely lose the strength to keep restraining Sika and become possessed again (unless Yuu is here to save the day of course). For this to happen we will need a scene with Mitsuba talking with Tenjiryū in which we can finally see how she feels in order to set everything up before this moment, and another scene that will be a flashback of Shinoa and Mitsuba meeting for the first time when younger so we can actually understand the magnitude of their friendship.

And how this confrontation will happen? To be honest I don’t think that there is any person capable of putting up a fight against a Shikama Dōji possessed Shinoa (unless the main character’s plot armor is used here again) so Mitsuba confronting Shinoa will be at an emotional level where Mitsuba might voice her preoccupations and will tell Shinoa to trust her more instead of keeping things to herself because they are friends. This will be a perfect opportunity for the wall that Shinoa put between them to break and for Mitsuba to be finally given the chance of paying back everything that Shinoa did for her.

The reason why Shinoa needs to be stopped is easy. If she keeps going like this, at this rate she will take the same path as Mahiru where she moves everyone out of the way in order to obsess over one thing, being alone with no one to give advice to her or stop her when she will be making dangerous decisions. All this emotional outburst Shinoa has shown recently is not healthy because she is being rushed instead of being allowed to do things at her pace. She needs to calm down, and realise that where she should be emotionally expressive is with her friends as a whole group.

If you managed to read the whole post, I am sorry aghjskwkashs but it’s just that I wanted people to give attention to this underrated friendship😭💔 It’s so underrated so that’s why I wrote such a long post because I wanted to include every single detail (I hope I didn’t miss anything🤔) and searched for as many images as I can for evidence (sorry for making it so compact that the images might look blurry due to Tumblr restrictions🤧).

P.S. When I will be a granny (considering the fuckin slow pace of this damn manga) I wish to go back to this post and assess whether I was an amazing analyst or an idiot for trusting Kagami😂

[thesoundofanicefall]

Something interesting about ONS chapter 97:

For now and only for now I don't want to talk about Mahiru's actions and what she did to Shinoa (cause that was obviously both good and bad at the same time and needs a complete different post for itself which is not the time NOW)

But what I want to say is that:

Mahiru Hiragi was never in LOVE with Guren

And the answer of the question why? Is too easy, she admit it herself:

Yes she stopped her LOVE towards Guren and wanna be more clear she CHOSE Shinoa over Guren at the very end.

She knew if she wants to be with Guren, she need to let GO of Shinoa and let her be possess by Shikama doji at the end and will go and die fully but in other case if she wants to keep Shinoa safe then she needs to STOP loving Guren and instead of that will USE him and BREAK him so can USE him to SAVE her sister, Shinoa Hiragi.

That's it.

You can see the difference between Guren and Mahiru here clearly.

The 16 years old Mahiru (and the current one) was completely put aside her LOVE towards Guren and CHOSE her sister SHINOA over him and in other hand we have Ichinose Guren who REFUSED to kill Mahiru even at the very end of everything where she killed all Guren LOVED and hold DEAR.

Mahiru after killing Shinya and the others to the broken Guren:

Mahiru: Do you hate me now?

Guren: yes

Mahiru: Do you want to kill me?

Guren:.... No, tell me how to SAVE you Mahiru...

Guren the one who was that kind that wanted to even save her.

And this is really feels ridicule to me that people even DARES to compare these two character!!

This is just too funny lol (ofc less brain cells than Kimizuki and Yoichi😌🤦‍♀️😂)

But now we know that the 16 years old Guren after the Catastrophe looks at Mahiru as a MONSTER. (Wrat19 volume 2 chapter 3)

He doesnt love her anymore.

He CHOSE his FAMILY over Mahiru finally.

But unfortunatelly in order to SAVE them he is now FORCING to do as Mahiru's plan. (Wrat19 volume 1 chapter 3)

And if he won't his family will go and die.

And that will be the end of everything for Guren.

But is he agree? Is he happy by working with Mahiru?!

For godness how can you REFUS this FACT that Guren SCARED of all these shits?

He is also a human too.

He wants to be normal and happy too.

But HIS happiness is his FAMILY'S happiness.

And in this way unfortunatelly he stuck with a woman he LOVED from the bottom of his heart someday who is literary ABUSING him to can reach to her own goals.

We can't deny this anymore.

Mahiru CHOSE Shinoa since she was 12 and a loooonnng ago over Guren before meeting up with Guren again.

So the 16 years old Mahiru on the first volume of Catastrophe at 16, the one who came to meet Guren again when he was on hospital (thankful of Shinya beating him🤧😂) was NOT in love with him anymore.

She had a clear mind and thoughts.

And that was this:

I want to protect Shinoa and not YOU, Guren.

Actually the ONS story is one of the FEWST stories I had saw till now that the female character of the story is the one who is ABUSING the male character one.

[namelessexistence]

Part 6 of 10 of my top 100 favorite characters

50 - Kozuki Kallen (Code Geass)

She could have embraced the privilege that would come with her brittain lineage. Instead, she chose to give that up in favor of fighting for freedom and equality. Fiercy, brave and skilled. Too bad that CG had this bad habit of adding unnecessary sexualization of it's female characters in the most random moments

49 - Ferris Bueller (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)

I was completly charmed by the chaotic energy he had. He's absurdly smart, but, instead of carefully planning, he would rather go around doing whathever he wants and dealing with problems as they come. Not the wisest way to live real life, but very fun to watch on tv

48 - Allen Avadonia (Evillious Chronicles)

My First contact with the EC was the song Servant of Evil. Probably not an uncommon way of starting. But still made me emotionally attached to the character. I found interesting how, in the song, he explain his actions, but never tries to justify, neither he tries to justify Riliane's actions. He just goes "Yes, that's my sister, the Evil Queen, and would commit atrocities for her". He calls himself "evil", he doesn't try to avoid this. The character never comes up as cruel. He's always acting for someone else's sake. But he's still a villain. If not in nature, at least in the role he (willingly) plays. As the song of his adoptive father Leonhart, A Hero's Armor Is Always Crimson, says

"Even if these are deeds for someone's sake

Can you call that "justice"?"

47 - Guren (Naruto)

One of the best female characters in Naruto. I was really disappointed when I found out that she was Just a filler character that did not exist in the mangá.

46 - A-Qing (Mo Dao Zu Shi)

She was smart, brave, but not reckless, and a godly self control. She deserved better. She was a child who grew in the streets with no family. Xiao Xingchen was the first to show her affection, so she tried to save that person instead of simply saving herself when she had the chance

45 - Belle (Beauty and The Beast)

The Disney movie. Belle loved books and fantasy and daydreamed a lot. I've seen people say that she acted as If she was better than people in her villeage, wich is not true at all. She was sweet and more than once in the song Belle, she tried to talk with other people about the books she was reading, tried to share her passion and her toughts with someone else, but no one was interested. She was judged for being different, even tought she never did anything to them. Judging what Is different is kinda the theme of the movie, but apparently some people missed It

44 - Tatiana Slozhno (Spies Are Forever)

Great musical, I recomend to everyone. Go watch it. Tatiana is great and her song, Prisoner of My Past, is just perfect. So short, but so much emotion.

43 - Asriel Dreemmur/ Flowey (Undertale)

Maybe I Just listened to too much versions of His Theme, but this character always hit me right in the heart. He's very tragic and, even in the happy ending, we cannot save him. It's impossible. We cannot bring back his souls. We cannot bring back Chara. Even after that Nice talking and hug, he's doomed to Go back to being a souless flower.

42 - Nebula (MCU)

I'm sure most of us are tired from MCU by now, but they did some things right. They had a lot of chances, so It makes sense. Nebula should have killed Thanos. If the writers coudn't give up that Iron Man scene, she should at least kill the Thanos from her timeline instead of Thor. Honestly, before Infinity War came out, what I truly wanted was a team formed by her, Tony Stark and Loki defeating Thanos. Not only because they are my favorite MCU characters, but also because they were the ones with personal issues with Thanos, along with Gamora and Drax

41 - Orihara Izaya (Durarara)

Sometimes you just want to see a bastard being the worst in the screen. But we have to agree, he's not the worst person in the story, just the one who was in the role of the antagonist for longer. Let's not forget that Vorona was a killer by choice. Anyway, he's a interesting character. His main motivation is his interest in human behaviour. Also his relationship with death and afterlife is very interesting to me as well

[shinyaxhiiragi]

Okay I'm out of character again for the moment remember when they were all gathered to take out the nobles and the kids heard some noises coming from the car and didn't know who it was well this story is the untold part try not to get too excited 😊

The kids were by the wall and looked at a sports car that was parked by the wall and noises coming from it leave her confused not knowing who it was forgive me I cannot remember his last name so I'll just call him the guy with the pink hair in glasses lol no offense have a hard time remembering names till I see over and over again that includes foreign names 😅 so please bear with me

Mitsuba: isn't that the lieutenant general's car I wonder who's using it right now sinora squid looks at the car

The guy with pink hair and glasses: come on guys the mission will start and plus it's really none of your business but others do before missions

Meanwhile in shinya's car Shinya and gruen. Ware having one of thare moments

Shinya was sitting in the front seat welcome in the passenger seat as he glanced over and decided to kiss his neck girls face and reaction was just too adorable he opened up his collar and did it more

Guren : s-shunya we're about to go on a mission this isn't exactly an appropriate time

Shinya : I talked with my brother I know it's a suicide mission we could either die or not so what's in the point of being professional all the time never knowing what days you last

Guren was blushing very hard because his best friend found his sensitive spot on his neck

Shinya sees this but couldn't help tease what's wrong I'm not a vampire I'm not going to suck you dry but I can buy it for you if you want me to 😜🤤

Guren was blushing so hard it looked like his head was about to explode

Guren : s-shut up I'm not into that no blood suckerl has ever touched my neck🤯 he looks away that was totally a lie

Shinya : oh let's check that theory he licked guren's annoyingly where Fred bit him when he was younger and he would blush and shudder shinya and raised a eyebrow Guren did you cheat on me with a vampire?

Guren's face was so red and he glanced over at shinya you were unconscious and a vampire wanted to drink you dry so I offered him my butt instead okay I wasn't cheating on you I didn't to save your life he couldn't tell him everything but that part was definitely the Truth

Shinya studied his friend's face and decided to leave it exactly like that he didn't like him praying too deep okay I'll let it go this time he leans in and kisses Guren deeply on the lips

The seat that Guren was in want backwards startling him and he looks at his childhood friend in shock

Guren's face was as red as a lobster as he covers his face 👀

Shinya looks a little sad I'm sorry Guren I just wanted to have you I don't know if you'll survive this mission he goes to get off only for Guren to stop him

Guren : I had a feeling this was a suicide mission from the start and I didn't want you to come but you you did I guess I can do this one thing for you Guren undid Shinya's belt and uniform jacket and put it in the driver seat and shinya did the same for him as guren and did the belt on his pants as shinya took his off

Shinya : I love you guren he said as he starts to move on guren's lap

Guren was so shocked to hear this come from Shinya's mouth and grads him by the shirt and pull some in for another kiss

Guren : you're so hopeless what am I going to do with you

Shinya : take me with you no matter where you go

Guren managed to move them into the back seat where it was more comfortable and manage is out a sigh

Guren : I love you to you hopeless idiot you knew this was a suicide mission and yet you still came

Shinya could not move any more he was tiers it was his first time so he holds on to Guren

Guren : all he could do was laugh how are you going to help me on this mission if you tired easily

Shinya : I'll be fine i omly need 20 minutes

Guren could only let out a sigh and pet his friends hair

Guren : okay I'll give you 20 minutes no longer we have to go out on time

Guren holds Shinya realizing how pretty and adorable he was for the first time now that he was super close to him like this all he could think of how could his hair be so soft

[lostsoulaltair]

OnS Theories (16S). Eighth Theory - Shinoa Hiragi. Who is she and what is she?

Hello everyone, I hope you’ve been well, remember to wash your hands and stay safe!

P.S: THEORIES DON’T INVOLVE SHIPS. THEY’RE FOCUSED ON NEUTRALITY

You might wonder why I’m making a theory related to Shinoa, and this is due to some detailes that have become rather interesting despite seem like something normal, therefore, let’s talk about it in this theory, shall we?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pReea0L1AC4

As we might recall, Shinoa Hiragi is deemed as a character that was created under an experiment performed by Tenri Hiragi. Said experiment was to create powerful beings but of course, within those experiments, only two beings survived, said beings were Mahiru and her sister.

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 97

And of course, due to the fact that Shinoa was the last being to born safe and sound from said experiment which in now we know that Shikama used his cells for such experiment, there were higher expectations towards her but; you might wonder, what’s new about this within the theory.

For that, let’s talk about some points that have been dismissed within the story:

1. Shinoa’s mother

Perhaps some might wonder what role Shinoa’s mother plays, and that there might be no relevance but, there’s actually an issue; if you might recall back in the Catastrophe LNs, it was mentioned that Tenri Hiragi killed Mahiru Hiragi’s mother when she was 5-6 years old; but what does this have to do with Shinoa’s mother?

Easy. Shinoa’s mother wasn’t killed, instead, she died in an unnatural way

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 97

It was said that the females chosen for the experiment were followers of the Hiragi Family; but within this, how is it possible for a human to disintegrate?

Correct. There’s no possibility unless said human was created. What do I mean?

If Shinoa’s mother was originally a normal human being, it could have been real that she’d have passed away after giving birth to Shinoa but, the fact that she literally disintegrated after her birth, it is something that cannot be expected from a normal human being but then, the question pops and why did Mahiru’s mother could surive?

The reason can be divided in two options, the First one being that she might have actually been a normal human being which was given a curse to give birth to Mahiru; while the second option could be that since she carried or brought Asuramaru with Mahiru, the effects weren’t harsher compared to Shinoa.

Within this,there’s more inclination towards the first option, and this is due to the fact that the First Progenitor, at that time didn’t or rather, couldn’t leave Tenri’s body as he pleased until Mahiru developed the Cursed Gears; on which he could bring a part of him or rather his shadow towards and this is actually crealy visible on how, after Tenri was killed in chapter 57 and the events of Shibuya, Shikama Doji ended up residing with his real host or wielder giving away a vast amount of power to his vessel.

Therefore, it can be said that Shinoa’s mother might have not been a normal human being but rather, an artifitial human like was Yu in the dark ages.

2.Shinoa’s similarities with the First Progenitor and Michaela

This point is quite dusty or rather was spoken in an old theory about how the First Progenitor and her shared many things in common such as their mannerism, physical aspect, and of course, you might wonder how this can be possible; for this, it was possible thanks to the experiments lead by Tenri Hiragi under the First’s command.

Within this, thanks to how the story has gone so far, it is visible that the First Progenitor aimed to bring back his son by other methods or rather create a vessel for his son with said methods

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 85  The angel Michaela seen by Noya,Krul,Ashera and Yu

So far, we know almost to nothing about Shikama’s son; so far, we know he aims to get Mika’s soul to bring back his son but the only perfect vessel he has is Shinoa; a vessel capable to withstand powers close to almighty; but now, can I state such thing?

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 97

Correct. Shinoa has shared many physical characteristics with Shikama’s son along some of his characteristics by using his cells, but why?

It is well known that the experiment Tenri directed ended since the scientists believed it was a waste and a failure alone; but Shikama was aware that Shinoa was the vessel he needed for his own goals, but why?

It is known that back in the past, Shikama took the First step of creating synthetic humans or artifitial humans which could be seen with Yu mass production; but the issue was that he lacked the concept of the soul; hence why Yu had no memories of his death, nor had knowledge of who he was; all he did was play and obey.

While in Shinoa’s case, it could be seen that she was created under a different method but with a possible base from the old experiment Shikama had in mind.

But then, how was it possible for Shinoa to acquire many traits from him?

Shinoa was born with special abilities that weren’t possible for the other Hiragi members; while Mahiru displayed intelligence, her latent abilities relied on other stuff such as her being able to harbor demons, being able to see them and have absolute control of her heart; and this is due to the fact that her heart didn’t harbor personal desires except a selfless love towards her sister which lastly, Mahiru had to break down so Shikama wouldn’t take advantage of her at a younger age.

But at the end, how does this relate to Shikama and the corpse of Michaela?

It could be said that, despite her having a slow personal growth, she was visioned to be the holder of Michaela’s soul in order to bring back what Shikama lost long ago; within this, there’s a key element and this is through the LNs of the Catastrophe.

After she got Shikama back, Shinoa felt as if Shikama was part of her or rather, the cursed gear created for him to reside was an extention of her instead of the most common thing to see within the wielders which is the adaptation and development of abilities between demon and wielder when it comes to the usage of their cursed gears; alas with Shinoa, she felt a connection between her and her demon after she got it back; she didn’t require training on how to handle her scythe in order to have mastery over it. There was a deep connection between them, a mysterious one between an unkown being and a girl who had no knowledge of the world but felt that Shikama and her were one and the same.

3. Who and what is Shinoa Hiragi?

Within this, it might seem that her relevance to the plot goes as to the part of being a vessel and that’d be all but actually; let’s start defining her by who she is.

Shinoa Hiragi at first seems like a sassy character within the story that ends up having admiration towards the Main Protagonist; of course it could be said that this is just an act.

Shinoa Hiragi is a character that harbors no emotion, she’s displayed as a character that doesn’t require emotions due to the past that involves her sister and the methods she considered good to protect her, and within this, it allowed Shinoa to forget her strong emotions she once held towards Mahiru, this only made her feel nothing towards reactions, pain, etc. which is really sad to see within the cast.

But of course, she gradually gets her memories back after Mahiru delivered Shikama Doji to her with the purpose to make her heart withstand the will of the First Progenitor. (This is seen in the Catastrophe LN Vol. 7)

With time, it is visible she starts to develop something considered as appreciation; what do I mean?

After she started interacting with Yu, Yoichi and Kimizuki; it could be said that her humanity slowly started to appear since back in old chapters Guren labeled as an ice hearted princess but with time; after the squad was born; after sharing a limited time of 5 months within the whole story since time works differently in the manga story; she gradually developed “love”. But of course, it is not love in the romantic side but rather, appreciation towards those who she considers family, those she needs to protect.

Of course, within this, she views herself as someone without power nor worth; that’s something heavily written in her heart which is why when she was about to get possessed in chapter 74, she tells Yu that she isn’t worth it:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 74 

Shinoa tells Yu to not worry nor let it bother; this is due to the fact she doesn’t see herself as important or valuable; such thing can be visible in old chapters such as chapter 16 when Mitsuba talks with her about a high rank position which she dismisses it easily

But now that we have talked about who exactly she is and how she is defined or displayed, let’s talk about what she is.

As I stated before, many might have seen chapter 97 as a brutality or perhaps as a non important chapter but, there’s a detail dismissed within said chapter and the latest which was chapter 98, what do I mean?

Correct. Shinoa survived a powerful drug.

If many might recall, Mahiru Hiragi used a powerful drug that could destroy her vital organs so Shikama Doji wouldn’t peep into the conversation she held with the Queen:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 98

It is displayed how Mahiru literally suffered a massive loss of blood due to said drug, and she requested Krul Tepes to turn her into a vampire so she could have few minutes of freedom and share her plans to her without the knowledge of Shikama Doji. But within this, there’s something rather intriguing that involves Shinoa, what could it be?

Correct. Such drug appeared twice:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 97

It could be said that Mahiru used a powerful drug against Shinoa in order to truthfully hypnotize her so she wouldn’t have lingering feelings nor emotions toward pain,people and her sister; but within this there’s something rather interesting and disturbing.

Shinoa survived such drug; but how can I say that?

Due to investigations, it is said that one of the worst ways to torture a person is under drug effects; such drugs can lead to the death of said person; and of course, if Mahiru was trying to break Shinoa with beatings which didn’t work, then the effects of a drug could have a bigger impact on Shinoa; but despite of this, despite seeing that Shinoa at that time was around 4 years old despite being knocked down, she survived.

Such detail only leads to wonder, how exactly she managed to survive, and of course that leads to the First Progenitor in a way; but for the meantime, we shall leave it within a grasp of doubt due to the fact, we still don’t know how Mahiru removed Shikama from her.

Another thing to observe that is severely dismissed is the issue that she’s able to see the demons of other wielders; back in the Catastrophe LNs, Shikama told her she could accept any demon in her heart; but among this, she recalled she could see demons.

But how exactly was she able to? What was the key in order to achieve such ability?

It is sadly unknown how, if it had to do with the fact that she had the cells of the First Progenitor or if another element played within such factors; but, to see such ability, it can be seen within this chapters:

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 51

One of these cases is seen when Yoichi managed to supress Gekkouin’s possession; Shinoa noticed Yoichi’s demanor which can imply she was observing if things could go wrong

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 73

Another example of this is taken back in chapter 73 when she tells Yu that his demon is in danger and crying out for help which gives an insight that she actually is capable to see the hearts of others or rather, that she’s able to peek if there’s stability between wielder and demon.

Another thing that can be observed is that she was going through a process of becoming a vampire but after all the possession ended, her body remained of that of a human with the exception she gained strength.

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 75

After Shikama started possessing her, instead of the common thing to see when a demon manages to possess its wielder, she started going through a painful vampire transformation; of course, said transformation was halted by Ferid Bathory by making the First Progenitor appear sooner than what the First expected.

Her body alone managed to handle for a good amount of time the pressure the First Progenitor submited through her after possessing her but of course, after the Sinful Keys were used, he decided to let himself be sealed for the meantime

Image taken from Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign - Chapter 85

Therefore, what can be said of what Shinoa is exactly?

Asides from what Krul stated that she’s a test subject for Shikama Doji; Shinoa is her own individual but of course, thanks to the First Progenitor, it is not possible to label her as a normal human being which is something displayed with the members of the Shinoa squad; it can be said that her body is more unusual than someone could expect; but in what exactly she could be defined is unknown; she got the seraph powers Shikama has, she was close to becoming a vampire since the source of all vampires was within her.

What do you think dear readers? What’s your insight of Shinoa’s character and what do you think she might be?

Let me know!

P.S: Reminder that theories don’t involve ships and are always focused on a neutral view.

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 68 Rundown

Code Geass: Lelouch gets Rolo to Za Warudo Suzaku so he can talk to Nunally for a bit before pretending he doesn’t know her. Then they decide to go hijack Nunally’s airship and “rescue” her before she can become the new viceroy. Kallen gets a flying upgrade to the Guren that matches Suzaku’s “Lancelot but with bigger gun” model and now she can fly too which is enough to take out all of Britannia’s airforce apparently. Still Nunally sees Zero!Lelouch and is like “you’re running around murdering people, that’s not cool” and Lelouch is like “I’m murdering people for you damnit” and turns out Nunally asked to go become viceroy so she can continue Euphy’s “Let’s just all get along” plan which was basically pacification by the higher ups anyway so it’s not like she’s NOT being used but she at least has the illusion of agency and Nunally rejecting Zero kind of breaks Lelouch. Also Suzaku flies in and adbucts Nunally and instead of moving the Lancelot’s arm like one foot and fucking punting Zero into a wall to end this whole thing once and for all, he uses the safety triangle go save Nunally.

Inuyasha: It’s filler time again! This time we do have an admittedly adorable version of Inuyasha being duped into household chores for Totosai while taking care of a young lynx demon that reminds him of Shippo, being nicer to Bunza than he ever was to Shippo for some reason. Still Inuyasha breaks the Mantis Demon (it’s always Mantis Demons wtf) barrier and saves the day before Totosai has to come clean and we get way to much information about his hygiene habits but Inuyasha finally gets the real lead on how to break barriers because the Tessaiga is a swiss army knife of stolen techniques.

Yu Yu Hakusho: We’re up to the third Saint Beast and Hiei is not about to stand for some Ice asshole killing someone for being weak which taps into his tragic backstory gland and leaves everyone else puzzled as to why the most stoic person of their group is so triggered by betrayal he definitely would have done himself. Seiryu and Hiei do the ice tango for a bit before Hiei does ninja shit and no-sells the ice to slash him up like it’s nothing. Meanwhile Suzaku gets his info and is like “Oh boy, Yusuke has a childhood friend to exploit” like all the other villains find out sooner or later. Despite the stupid name he gives the song and the corny one-liners from the zombie teachers chasing Keiko, hearing the haunting melody of the Makai Whistle/Flute (seriously that’s not a whistle it’s a fucking flute) while seeing Keiko go about her day before being hunted down by zombies is pretty striking.

Fate Zero: So Kirei’s like “Oh no, Gilgamesh killed my only servant, better hide out in the church till this is all over” only to have like 39 other servants to fuck around with that are gonna try and get some stealth kills based on the fact no one knows they exist. Also Iskander is walking around Waver’s place in booty shorts trying to reenact Citizen Kang on President Clin-ton and fetishizing bombers and jets. Kiritsugu’s got his guns and shit, ready to do his Homura thing but is worried about having feels now and being a dad may make him only able to kill 999 people without breaking a sweat instead of the full 1000. And lastly we catch up with Saber and Iris who definitely knows she’s being thrown into this to die as Saber’s fake master so Saber takes her out for a night on the town to enjoy herself and possibly question her sexuality. Doesn’t last too long though as their lesbian outing is interrupted by Lancer, seems like the Lancers are just the starter bosses in Fate for some reason since UBW started with a Lancer fight too.

Konosuba: So the last member of Kazuma’s party is revealed, Darkness the Masochist Saber has arrived. I mean I really don’t know what to say about these bits because everyone already knows the premise of Konosuba and going too much into it is probably just explaining the joke. Kazuma gets his steal ability and can only steal panties because his luck is so good and haha irony. Cabbage hunting also happens and Darkness has the Dead or Alive 2 jiggle physics on her tits turned up to Age 102 (god I’m dating myself with that reference). But it’s funny, Kazuma doesn’t seem happy about it but everyone’s just kinda having a good time fucking around and being insane. Like I get the joke is none of this is practically useful but I kinda wish Kazuma would stop being such a wet blanket and just enjoy being friends with everybody while he can, the girls seem to get along well enough together and they even give him praise when he does cool stuff, like really this just seems like a pretty positive (if insane) friend group and I wish he was more down for it.

Sailor Moon Crystal: So our third Sailor Guardian is a priestess fresh off of preparing for the Cotton Drifting festival (wait, wrong anime, thank goodness, Usagi just plain would not survive Higurashi). But I love how Ami convinces Usagi to go with her just by saying there’s a pretty girl there, like it’s so ridiculously gay and Usagi’s just all for it. Rei’s probably the most complicated character so far and gives the most thought to why she’s doing this out of the first three, like Rei literally asks Usagi what she’s fighting for and she badly mangles a Spider-man quote. That being said we’re starting to see that group dynamic come together which is fun and other than weird teleportation shenanigans and teleporting right into the boss’s lair and then just leaving making me scratch my head, this was a fun episode.

Durarara!!: This episode kind of reminds me of a pre-school cartoon show, but in a good way. Like they just pick a theme, in this case “lost things” and have all the characters have a small plot around that and kinda navelgaze on it for a while. Obviously the main plot is Celty’s continuing existential crisis over losing her head and Shinra’s insistence that she doesn’t need it despite him being tied to the pharmaceuticals company that almost certainly has it and he probably knows where it is at this point. It’s an interesting philosophical point that the show keeps bringing up, that Celty has made a life in Ikebukuro and the real disembodied head was the friends she made along the way. In other anime that would probably be the answer but it’s more complicated than that because Celty does feel incomplete without it, hundreds of years of her life and something deeply personal to her is just missing. Shinra’s terrified that the person she’ll become once she’s “complete” won’t be the same woman he loves and will leave him behind and Celty wants to balance enjoying the time she has spent in this town with being complete in a metaphysical sense. She should be able to take solace in the life she’s made but you also understand her yearning and that makes some really good moral quandaries right there.

[imgoingtoregretthisblog]

A Big Ole Analysis

The latest ONS chapter has a lot of interesting material that I want to cover, but first I’m going to cover the part of the chapter that a lot of people have been talking about. So let’s discuss the “It’s as if you are in love” statement :). I want to start out with saying that I don’t ship Gureshin as I don’t take interests in non canonical ships. I will try to make my interpretation as straight forward and factual as possible. First, I think the use of the word ‘love’ Byakkomaru was a very interesting choice for Kagami. As we all know, Kagami uses the word family A LOT so for him to use the word love (correct me if I’m wrong), which he really has only used with Shinoa’s feelings for Yuu and Guren and Mahiru’s feelings for each other, makes me call this situation into question. I know that some people have said that Shinya said longing instead of idolization, but I haven’t seen anyone question the translation of ‘love’ so I’m taking that as an accurate translation. From the context I take this to definitely mean romantic love, but just because Byakkomaru suggests it doesn’t mean it’s cannon. Shinya quickly dismisses the notion and continues the conversation. However, Shinya being in love with Guren doesn’t seem that insane. I think that Shinya is possibly either confusing platonic love for romantic love or romantic love for platonic love. His upbringing has a lot to do with why I believe he probably doesn’t understand and process the idea of love like most people do. Shinya is used to people leaving him which is why he became so detached from everything. But, Guren is the one person that hasn’t left him and the only person that he’s really been able to get close to. It’s only natural that he might get confused about how close he is to Guren. He might not even recognize his own affections for Guren fully which would be why even Byakkomaru simply suggest that Shinya’s in love rather than stating it outright. I also saw someone say that it’s not cannon because Byakkomaru didn’t pressure him about his feelings like Shikama does with Shinoa. However, I don’t think that this is a valid argument because Shikama is trying to make Shinoa confess her feelings and give into her desires so he can possess her. Byakkomaru has the exact opposite goal of Shikama. He doesn’t want to possess Shinya, in fact this whole conversation is him telling Shinya to abandon Guren, not to fall in love with him. He wouldn’t want Shinya to figure out he has this desire for Guren, and as I mentioned earlier Shinya may not even know he has these feelings yet. Now, the tragic part of it all is even if Shinya has feelings for Guren I do not think they are reciprocated. Guren canonically was with Mahiru, so unless he is bi this relationship is not happening. I honestly don’t see Guren sharing romantic feelings with Shinya as nothing in Guren’s character alludes to these deeper feelings. Really, right now I see Byakkomaru’s words to be more of a jab at Shinya like “stop treating this guy like your defenseless girlfriend, he’s dangerous”. But, it’s fun to theorize and analyze the situation to be more than it probably is. That concludes this anylisis, but I will be reblogging this post to add on a concern that I have. I decided to do it as two separate posts so anyone who just wants to have a fun time theorizing can just stop at this post :)

[mysticdragon3md3]

I tried to limit my choices to my MOST current fandoms/obsessions, otherwise, I’d never be able to decide.  

Whenever Good Smile posts these "surveys for fun", I can't help but think they're trying to gauge which figures they should make next.   In that case SCHOOL UNIFORM PERSONA 5 NENDOROIDS!!!  AND PHANTOM THIEF FUTABA SAKURA NENDOROID!  And yes, I want Nendoroids for “My Next Life as a Villainess”, but my wallet doesn’t!  ;o;!   Hopefully, listing Akira Kurusu on a Good Smile Company survey like this will ensure he'll get more figures.  I'm actually not sure if I'd consider him my husbando.  I just want more figures, especially Nendoroids.  lol  

Best Boy / Best Girl: I hate choosing just one.  But if I go with my most recent favorites, it'll help narrow things down.   Ryuji Sakamoto / Maria Campbell Ryuji Sakamoto / Catarina Claes LOL  it's been a long time since I loved a super genki gutsy girl like Catarina.  Maybe not since Lina Inverse!  lol  There have been a lot of kuudere queens since Lina.  lol  Though...I guess if you count Rukia's sillier moments, maybe she can be pretty genki and enthusiastic?   . Waifu / Husbando:   Maria Campbell / Akira Kurusu I wasn't expecting to separate Best Boy/Girl from Husbando/Waifu.  o.o?  Once again, I'll go with my latest fandoms, just to make it easier.  But Akira?  Husbando material???  I guess?...  He is really cool.  He just doesn't cause those stupid zoned-out warm smiles to spread across your face, the way Ryuji Sakamoto does.  But that's why I choose Ryuji as Best Boy.  Though I guess I'm constantly swooning over how goddamned pretty Akira is.  How did Soejima design such a goddmaned pretty bishounen?!  Damn it!  But if we're talking about crushes, I can be absolutely sure about Maria.  I'm a sucker for ingenue.  She definitely causes those doki doki, forget-to-breath, then sigh stupidly moments.  *___* If I was still as obsessed with DateSana as I used to be, I probably would have chosen one of them.  Probably Yukimura.  He's the most perfect cinnamon roll to have ever cinnamon rolled!  ...But that's not the series I'm obsessed with right now.  .....Though, I've always liked Mido Ban.  He's both silly and cool.  ^.^  I'll try looking through my old #husbando Tumblr posts.   (https://mysticdragon3md3.tumblr.com/post/156909097412/rightstufanime-in-celebration-of-valentines) (https://mysticdragon3md3.tumblr.com/post/125329019812/this-was-supposed-to-be-a-chart-of-characters-i) (https://mysticdragon3md3.tumblr.com/post/125373206597/the-other-day-i-made-a-chart-of-my-favorite) Seems like I was just using the word "husbando" for my favorite characters, and not for characters I was crushing on.  Well, this is going to make it akward to put merely a "favorite character" next to "Maria Campbell" who makes me swoon.   I think the problem is that since I grew up very anti-girlygirl and am still in the process of getting over that, I have some kind of mental block vs admitting if I have a crush on a male character.  And I have such low self esteem, that I can't "see" myself with anyone.  Whereas with waifu, there's no stigma in my psyche, so I can just unabashedly admit when I'm drooling over a girl and just stupid in love.  So if I have to think of a male character that makes me feel the same as an ingenue like Maria Campbell, then it'd have to be someone that I just stupidly smile and sigh in the presence of, especially when they smile or whenever they talk, someone for whom I always want to protect their happiness and rain adoration onto...  The funny thing is that when I compare (https://mysticdragon3md3.tumblr.com/post/125329019812/this-was-supposed-to-be-a-chart-of-characters-i) vs (https://mysticdragon3md3.tumblr.com/post/125373206597/the-other-day-i-made-a-chart-of-my-favorite), there are a lot of favorite characters who I think are the coolest and I respect the most, but I'm not a drooling crushing idiot, over everything they say.  Actually, the characters in the more expanded list (https://mysticdragon3md3.tumblr.com/post/125329019812/this-was-supposed-to-be-a-chart-of-characters-i), who are more like secondary favorite characters, better fit that reaction from me.  Like Makoto Tachibana.  He's like an ingenue shojo stuck in a boy's body.  Everything he says and does is precious.  Yet, as much as I like him, he didn't make the cut into my narrower list of favorite characters (https://mysticdragon3md3.tumblr.com/post/125373206597/the-other-day-i-made-a-chart-of-my-favorite). If I stick to current fandoms and choose Akira Kurusu as husbando, that would explain why I tend to be jealous over him.  Ryuji, I can ship with Ann or entertain other people's ship art with Ryuji, even though I prefer Ryuji with Akira.  But if I catch even a glimpse of anyone besides Ryuji with Akira, I click away from the entire website!  Like a voice in my head will not tolerate anyone with Akira who isn't Ryuji!  ^^;;;;;;;  Maybe that's a sign that Akira is my husbando.  ...Am I saying jealousy can be equated to the adoration I feel for ingenues like Maria Campbell?!?  That doesn't sound right.     Y'know what?  If I don't have an answer for husbando, then I just don't have an answer for husbando.   . Must see arc:   omg  I don't know.  Are we talking about just anime?  I guess if I added manga, it would just make the indecision harder on myself.  x_x;  I guess I always did like that last arc in Code Geass enough to re-watch it a zillion times.   Emperor Lelouch story arc (Code Geass) . Best anime OP/ED:   If we're going with current obsessions, lately a day hardly goes by without the Carole & Tuesday opening theme going through my head.  Though I do love anything by Asian Kung Fu Generation and T.M.Revolution/Abingdon Boys School/Takanori Nishikawa.  His Kamen Rider Zero One opening theme is amazing!  *u*  And I really love the themes from Fullmetal Alchemist's "Rewrite" opening theme from Asian Kung Fu Generation.  But L'Arc En Ciel's opening theme for FMA was also amazing...  And I love Yui; she's done a lot of anime themes...  See, this is why I said to limit myself to current obsessions.  So, "Kiss Me" by Nai Br. XX and Celeina Ann.   As for ending theme...?  I've always loved the ending theme for the Devil May Cry anime.  I had my eye on Oikawa Rin ever since she did the insert song "She Said" for the live action movie Kamikaze Girls. And I think she's done some Mamoru Hosoda movies too---Wait.  That was Hanako Oku.  Her music is good too!  *o*   I wonder if I could just pick one song instead of 1 opening theme AND 1 ending theme.  I'm too indecisive for 2 songs.   Well, since I'm limiting myself to only my most current fandoms, then I wouldn't have to check too many songs.  Haikyuu to the Top has a good ending theme.  I think Dr. Stone had a good one too.  And since I'm now watching My Next Life as a Villainess, I can add that to the candidates.   Dr. Stone's ending theme is good, but it's not as invigorating as Haikyuu season 4's.  At least to me. Naw, MNLAAV's ED is kind of typical.  Haikyuu s4's ED really grabs me.  "Kessen Spirit" (Haikyuu to the Top) . Best weapon:   ??????????????????  Should I include magical powers too??????  I've always liked swords.  So, magic sword?  Or am I supposed to be specific?  Like a specific mecha or specific Persona?  Should I include skills?  Like Hinata Shoyo's athleticism?  Should the answer be metaphysical, like how Love motivated Homura Akemi to re-make the universe?  But maybe "best weapon" is necessarily the most powerful.  Should it be the tool that enables the most good? A metaphysical tool that does good has got to be a Shonen protagonist's determination.  Y'know what I've always liked?  The innovation in Ranma Saotome's martial arts skill.  Someone online commented a LONG time ago, that Ranma can pretty much learn any martial arts technique, even really difficult ones, sometimes overnight or in a week.  And during a lot of his duels, he often has to throw out whatever technique he trained for, specifically to use against that opponent, and come up with something on the fly.  And that impromptu fighting technique usually works!  So is the best weapon a "sharp mind"?  Maybe I should just say "magical swords" to be simple and humorous.  It'd be really cool if I could think of something specific as my favorite.  Y'know what?  It's already 12:57 AM 5/16/2020.  I'm gonna go with "a sharp mind".  It was what made Nabiki Tendo dominate every situation, it's a key component to Lelouch vi Britannia whom I love so much.  ...a sharp mind & martial arts...  Now that I'm filling it out, maybe I should just pick a personal favorite weapon, vs "the best".  How about Natsume Takashi's compassion?  "magic sword, sharp mind, Shonen protagonist's determination".  Titual character plot armor?  lol   "Shonen protagonist's determination; Shojo protagonist's compassion" . Best mecha: I've never really been into mecha.  Even when I was obsessed with Magic Knight Rayearth, I still wasn't that interested in their mecha.  I usually always say "Deathscythe Hell" is my favorite mecha, because even though I'm not into that much mecha anime, I used to be into Gundam Wing, Duo was my favorite, his mecha was really distinct with its scythe, and his emotional connection with it was very endearing.  But Code Geass is one of my favorite anime now.  Gurren is cool, becasue Kallen Kozuki is cool and they've both been through a lot together.  But I feel like I should say Shinkiro is best mecha, since I love Lelouch.  Earlier today, Bluefin revealed a new figurine for the Shinkiro and my jaw dropped.  Maybe I should say Shinkiro?  But I don't really know even the specifics of Shinkiro? Maybe that's not a requirement.  Maybe I should just put anything, since I'm not a mecha expert.  Maybe I should go "classic" with Escaflowne?  Naw, that's a copout, not my personal answer.  The problem with choosing the Guren or Shinkiro is that I'm not so much favoring the mecha, as much as I am the pilot.  But the question is about the mecha.  In terms of capabilities, Shinkiro's calculating abilities might be more amazing, but only Lelouch specifically can use it.  But that ability can be used for both calculating defense and attacks... And the lazer dispersing gem on the Shinkiro is pretty cool too.  I guess I like the aesthetics of Shinkiro better than Guren.  But Guren's Radiant Waver Surger arm has turned the tide of so many battles, I can't help but be emotionally attached to that capability too. And should I say "Guren", "Guren Mark II", or "Guren Seiten" is best?  I love Guren Seiten's wings.  Y'know what?  I'm just gonna put both.  "Guren Seiten / Shinkiro"

[onsgiftexchange]

Melodrama - GureShin Yakuza/Mafia AU (R17+)

◈ Pairing: GureShin ◈ Characters: Hiiragi Shinya, Ichinose Guren, Ferid Bathory, briefly mentioned Kureto and Mahiru ◈ Genre: Mafia/Yakuza AU ◈ Warnings: Angst, Gun Violence, Blood and Gore, Injuries, Stabbing, No Happy Ending, Character Death, (heavily implied) Major Character Death ◈ Word Count: 4032 ◈ Summary: 

Killing the host would be a vigilante’s wet dream, Shinya and Guren told each other in the days leading up to embarking to downtown Tokyo. To see his long, silver hair stained red from the blood gushing out of his head—to see his body riddled with bullets upon bullets upon bullets—to see those unsettling, vacant eyes gloss over as the convicting hammer of death cast his filthy soul into hell.

Author’s Notes: Hi, Feli here! (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡ Surprise, surprise, I am Ouyajuice’s (tumblr // twitter) Secret Santa for the ONS Gift Exchange. I hope you enjoy reading! (And let me know if you’d like for me to continue and take away Guren’s rights.)

Broken champagne glasses reflected more of an internal state than any mirror ever could.

Factions in a modern day guerrilla war against each other in the bustling criminal underground of Tokyo was nothing novel; each day, reports of catastrophic street battles littered the daily news morning, noon, and night; families were torn apart; husbands turned on their wives; sisters killed their brothers—all for some supercilious illusion of power no one would have the fortune of uprooting.

That didn’t stop ambitious rival gangs from trying.

What was to note, however, came from the flaring extravagance of these modern-day gangs calling the messy, gruesome shots in Tokyo day-in and day-out. Lavish philanthropic ballrooms filled to the brim with the most influential names in Japan and overseas—the aroma of escargot and Venetian wine, of freshly popped champagne glasses sensuously mingling with Parisian perfume tinging the chandelier-lit hall an ambient pink. The expensive flatscreen televisions displayed a slideshow of a variety of food and drink choices offered, as well as a growing list of names of some of the attendees.

Though, the true allure didn’t come in the form of luxury kissing the patron’s senses, but from the patrons themselves.

These patrons clad themselves in crystals and gold, largely ignoring the undeniable fact that their bounty came from blood. Only the richest survived, and the rich would continue to get richer if there was enough blood on the floor to wet the bottom of a martini glass. 

Within the sea of patrons having a hearty time laughing at some awful dinner party joke and complementing the financial success of the friend, they were about to have their lower ranking yakuza members slaughter in the back of an alley—discard their remains across the underbelly of Tokyo as a cruel scavenger hunt, and wipe out their entire bloodline—were those who sought to level out the playing fields.

With weapons concealed under a dashing dress suit of expensive material and golden Rolex watches, a handsome, handsome pair of men leant against one of the walls furthest from the grand stage at the back of the ballroom, sipping on crispy champagne and engaging in small talk with peers they knew they were tasked to murder in less than fifteen minutes. 

A sturdily built man with dark hair carefully combed back into a formal sweep—with just a few strands sticking out to add that spark of charisma so essential to his character—passionately, protectively wrapped an arm around the waist of his fair-haired companion who laughed softly at some horribly told joke one of the women attending the banquet dared to utter in his presence.

He felt the gun securely strapped to the waistband of Shinya’s trousers and had to resist the urge to rip it off of his partner and fire a single round of hot steel between this woman’s eyes.

“Ladies, please, if you keep inflating his ego like that, he’s going to end up leaving me again!” Shinya said with audible amusement, but Guren knew well enough that there was abjectness and fear carefully woven into his words with a solid mask, and he groaned loudly enough for the beautiful man at his side to laugh and lace his fingers through the ones at his side, making a show of how affectionate he wanted to come off to these patrons.

But the crushing squeeze cutting off Guren’s circulation was a far, far, far cry from affectionate. It was hostile. Angry. Terrified. And a reminder to him of the mission they were given from their Boss, Hiiragi Kureto.

“Again?! My goodness, what do you mean again?!” One of the women cried out incredulously, black hair swishing around as he dramatically turned her head between the men before her, the pink Zinfandel dangerously close to splashing over the rim of her glass and staining her hideous white fur scarf.

“Shinya, can we not—”

“Yes! Do you know I saw him sleeping with my sister before I caught her?” Another loud groan followed by a chorus of scandalized gasps and an enraptured laugh. “I admit, my sister was beautiful. Was. But we all know beauty is fleeting and God loathes sinners, cheaters, and nasty fiancée-stealing whores.”

“Oh, is she not alive anymore?”

“No, she betrayed our family. Sold our information to The Brotherhood and tried to run me through with a sword, haha! This guy—” Shinya jerked his thumb backwards with a jovial smile, intentionally catching Guren’s bottom lip and ignored the irritated “ow” that curdled the fabricated atmosphere of amiability. “—still hates me for killing her, but what was I supposed to do? She nearly put a bullet through his pretty little head before I could, so I had to protect the man I love.”

Shinya surveyed the sea of sympathetic nods, bright blue eyes glancing upwards to catch the boiling gleam in his partner’s stormy ones and shot him a satisfied smirk. For some reason or other, knowing that he was admitting to total strangers that he killed his sister– for secondary reasons like protecting his family’s gang, and more importantly for sleeping with his husband-to-be– felt good. He was boasting that he killed her, and these women didn’t think anything out of the ordinary, like murdering your siblings was just daily life (which, for these criminals, it was).

Petty shithead.

“Oh, Mr. Hiiragi, I am truly sorry for the circumstances, but it’s good to see that you and Mr. Ichinose are back on track! Have you sent out the wedding invites yet?” Another woman asked, a curious expression on her face, like she was dying to know of any other juicy conflicts these bright young yakuza are involved with. Before Shinya could open his mouth to indulge the woman in his fair share of gossip and continue throwing Guren under the bus, the crowd of patrons near the front of the stage erupted into delighted screams and deafening laughter at the arrival of the courier of the banquet.

Just as the noise died down, a small beeping from a Bluetooth securely  positioned in both men’s ears rang as a signal for them to begin their mission. Guren huffed a short “Let’s go” into Shinya’s hair, meant to appear to the guests as a gentle kiss placed on the side of his beloved’s head.

“We’re finalizing the last few details before we get them printed out. First, I have to hear Guren say he loves me and to make sure my engagement ring wasn’t won in some cheap arcade,” the smaller man laughed, holding up his left hand sporting a lavish diamond ring to the women to emphasize his point and send the joke home.

Oh, he sure is a lady killer, Guren thought with soured levity and a wry snort at the irony.

“For now, you’ll just have to wait for your lucky golden ticket. Until we meet again, my dears! We have some other business to attend to, but I would love to get your opinions on some decoration colours one day soon.” Shinya dismissed himself and his partner from the company of the women, his friendly exterior melting to expose the ruthless assassin borne as his true nature the moment he and Guren distanced themselves from the women.

“Thanks to you, we’re going to ruin this mission,” Guren hissed quietly as he checked his watch for the time and poked his head above the crowd of tipsy patrons for the unmistakable flagrance of their target.

“Will you shut up and search for him? I want to kill him so I can go home and get Kureto off my fucking back. I don’t know why he couldn’t get any of the expendable rookies to stop wasting our supplies on inconsequential turf battles and kill this pretentious asshole instead,” Shinya snapped back, lowering his tone so only the violet-eyed man could hear his heated words of aggravation for the task they were so graciously given.

“Well, if someone wasn’t bitching about my suit before we left the condo I might’ve had time to put in my contacts so I could see—”

“Stop. What you were planning on wearing was so ugly, Guren. I couldn’t let you do that to me—I refused. Why do you even own a yellow suit? Why? Who gave that to you? Who lied to you and said you looked good in something that is just a mustard cum rag?”

Between the tense silence and the muffled laughter from one of the waiters who overheard their conversation, not another word regarding the evening’s earlier mishap was spoken. Shinya didn’t need to see his fiancé’s face to know he was both livid and irrefutably embarrassed, with the flush dusting across his angled cheeks, past the dark circles under his eyes, all the way up to the tips of his ears.

The platinum-haired man snickered to himself as he reached into the holster at his side to unclip the polished Glock. The action brought no attention from any potential onlookers, either too consumed with the fanfare of fancy food, useless chatter, and illicit riches or arrogantly assured the man loading bullets into his gun was not here to ruin their nights.

No, the yakuza’s intended target was a singular foreign man who engraved himself into the merciless gang scene with his nonstop triage of intimidation, torture, slaughter against any and all who stood in his way. How sickening it was for such a monster to host a philanthropic dinner to donate all the proceeds and contributions to abused and neglected children in foster care, knowing damn well that he was responsible for the gruesome deaths of all those children four years ago in the Hyakuya orphanage.

But no charges were ever brought against him; the police were too busy shitting themselves over the very near and dear threat of losing their only source of income if they actually gave those poor children justice.

Killing the host would be a vigilante’s wet dream, Shinya and Guren told each other in the days leading up to embarking to downtown Tokyo. To see his long, silver hair stained red from the blood gushing out of his head—to see his body riddled with bullets upon bullets upon bullets—to see those unsettling, vacant eyes gloss over as the convicting hammer of death cast his filthy soul into hell.

“Do you see him?”

Squinting and scanning the patrons, Guren suddenly sucked in a breath, nodding firmly in the direction of the buffet table near an “Employees Only” door—most likely a rouse for the crowd and a quick escape plan for the host—and grabbed Shinya’s soft hands to get his attention. He lowered himself to brush his lips against the shell of Shinya’s ear, his warm breath dancing across his skin as he dropped his deep voice to a whisper. “The bastard stuffing his face with those little pastry things? The ones Kureto makes the lower ranks buy for him before a meeting? That’s Ferid. If we don’t kill him here and now, let him escape, then we’re both dead.”

All Shinya gave was a slight nod of acknowledgement, eyes flitting around the grand ballroom for all possible escape exits and any of Ferid’s guards, lest he and Guren fail detrimentally in their attempt. Pushing himself away from his partner already disappearing into the depths of patrons to cover himself, Shinya slowly approached Ferid with the gun loosely connected to his hip and ready to be fired at a moment’s notice. Besides the front archway leading to a magnificent set of dark cedar doors to the brisk night-time air and the “Employees Only” door directly behind Ferid, he noticed no other options of a quick escape for either the egregious host or the rival yakuza.

So either they’re blessed or extremely fucked.

Releasing a shuddering breath of apprehension and exhilaration, Shinya turned his head for merely a second to look for Guren, hoping to see him somewhere nearby as a safety crutch—but he was met with only patrons laughing in distorted greed and corruption. He saw pampered, makeup beaten cheeks; horrible plastic surgery to achieve a youthfulness never once experienced; wicked smiles of deceit and betrayal from other reputable office officials and yakuza bosses surveying the younger, oblivious women and sizing up the young men ready to throw their livelihoods and identities away for a named painted in curdled innocence and false hope of prosperity.

Much like how he and Guren were indoctrinated into this mess.

Just as Ferid came within walking distance—only five or six steps away—Shinya began to feel horribly wrong; a rapidly expanding ball of dread weighing down his stomach as the target came into view, absolutely unaware of the danger closing in on him. His left hand reached behind him in the most inconspicuous movement he was capable of, carefully managing the reactions of the warm bodies pressed around him in case they became privy to the black Glock sparkling under the limelight.

Alas, the thrill of the first bullet would not be used on Ferid.

In the midst of his calculating steps intended to deliver one fatal blast to the base of Ferid’s neck, the silver-haired gang member didn’t realize one of the waiters carrying a tray of champagne glasses had trailed behind him–bubbly liquor in one hand, unsheathed knife in the other. Completely inattentive to the threat of being stabbed, Shinya pulled back the safety on his gun and aimed it at the host’s carefully managed head seconds before he heard glass shatter; held the trigger ready to release and plant a bullet that would make a pink and red Banksy out of their biggest rival’s brains mere seconds before the weight of the world thrust into his side in the form of polished steel from the banquet’s kitchen.

He felt the cold metal of the knife cut into his skin immediately before his body registered that it was wounded, punctured, bleeding over the shiny linoleum tile; He felt the waiter–with excruciatingly uncoordinated movements, indicative of an untrained hired help–attempt to drag the blade through the middle of his body and dissect him on the spot, but this unfortunate young man was either extremely nervous, scared out of his mind to recognize the position the knife drove into Shinya’s agile body would give no purchase, given how it was securely wedged into his gun holster, protecting its wearer from any further life-threatening injuries; or the amount of blood on his hands from the flesh wound kept his grip unstable, continuously sliding off the handle as he tried to pull-pull-pull the knife in a direction counterintuitive to his own body.

The young Hiiragi’s initial reflex was to protect himself, first and foremost. No gap in time sequencing passed between Shinya hurriedly rearing the arm clutching the gun backwards against the waiter’s head, his finger slipping off the bullet, and the deafening sound of a barrel of steep blasting through bone, brain, and connective tissue.

The waiter, already dead, dropped to the ground in an unrecognizable lump of gun powdered flesh, his stunned body gushing and gushing and gushing from the gaping hole in his forehead in time to the panicked screams and thunderous footsteps of the patrons fleeing the building. Some people–frightened by the violence so commonplace in their world of killing off their enemies–ran towards Shinya, perceiving him as the ultimate threat, but didn’t make it far enough before they slipped on the waiter’s blood coating the floor. They fell into the mangled pieces of a man ruled by lies and clamoured backwards, shrieking hysterically and brushing off chunks of warm fat before a bullet silenced them.

And it continued until the mass of attackers waned and Shinya could focus on what the fuck went wrong.

In the chaos that ensued, one of Ferid’s guards–perfectly camouflaged within the crowd–knew he was going to kill him; the guard, who he immediately identified as the waiter that tried concealing his laughter while he angrily whispered to Guren about their plans (despite him no longer having any discernible features, courtesy of Shinya), followed him to protect his boss… his boss, Ferid….

Who used the turmoil of the patrons to escape.

“Fuck… fuck fuck fuck–FUCK!!” He screeched into the empty ballroom, furiously glaring at the dead bodies scattered around him. The knife sticking out of his side became less important than finding Ferid, figuring that he could let it stem the blood long enough for him to make his way to his motorbike and find his target.

But where was Guren?

“Fucking–” A strangled hiss of pain nearly had the man doubling over, however. His entire right side stung worse than flames licking his skin ever could. The blood seeping out of his body incrementally made him nauseous, nearly provoking him to spill his guts onto the little red sea at his feet. Yet he couldn’t–not until Ferid was dead. Not until his gang–his brother’s gang–was out of harm’s way, even for a little while. Not until he was home, safe, wrapped up in Guren’s arms.

Gritting his teeth hard enough to hear them creak beneath the force of his jaws, Shinya wrapped his free arm around his front to cradle himself, pushing the skin underneath the knife up against it to slow the bleeding just enough to refocus on walking–no, limping– to the “Employees Only” door, the one slightly ajar and reeking of death.

Opening the door should have been nerve wracking, but the silence of it was… almost soothing. The red hand print on the handle tipped the yakuza off that he should expect at least another attacker, but all he found behind door number one was his fiancé–bruised and bloodied, like he was just in a nasty brawl with someone; black hair effectively dishevelled and dripping in sweat from exertion and the utter stuffiness of the secret corridor; lips swollen and busted from taking one too many punches; large purple and red marks sure to leave ugly indentations in his skin for weeks to come–with his hands assuredly wrapped around Ferid’s neck, squeezing the last few puffs of air in his lungs before his consciousness gave out.

The foreign boss’s perfectly manicured nails were dyed a horrendous pink from the series of primal scratches wrought again the back of Guren’s palms and his face in his last struggle of survival.

Shinya leant against the wall, transfixed, watching the muscles in his fiancé’s arms strain, flex, relax, and repeat in order to suffocate the rich piece of shit. He stared with something akin to adoration as Guren released the listless body with a hard thump against the cold concrete floor.

Ferid wasn’t dead, not yet. Guren left that job to Shinya to finish.

Approaching his partner with an unreadable expression, he reached for the knife embedded in the smaller male’s side with the intent to pull it out and possibly perform some painful fucking first aid, but he didn’t even manage to wrap his hand around the blade before the sounds of yelling echoed throughout the corridor and a shower of gunfire hailed in the couple’s direction.

During the surprise attack from Ferid’s lackeys rushing in to avenge their boss, Guren tackled Shinya to the floor as a reflexive response to protect him, not registering the loud pained scream as the knife tore against more of his flesh and clattered against the floor on impact. 

Even on the ground steadily losing blood, Shinya was a trained killer and expertly fired single rounds into their attackers to give them even a few more minutes of life. He pushed Guren–fumbling on the concrete for his gun–off his body to regain enough stability to continue shooting, and a small sigh of relief escaped him when Guren took a protective stance in front of him to shield his injured body from any other trauma. In a practiced, synchronized tandem, they kept up an unstoppable momentum of firing–reloading–firing–reloading, watching the ragtag team of underlings fall like flies against the cool grey concrete slowly soaking up to a deep red.

But the relief would not last long and events soon spiralled out of control.

The barrage of Ferid’s men stopped after only a few minutes of an intense shootout, the corridor smelling of fresh blood and gunpowder. The only sounds were erratic, strained gulps of air from the handful of grown men dying as their lungs and heart succumbed to their injuries; and the laboured breathing perforating the air around Shinya and Guren, both battered and worn out from the night and their botched mission.

Hard puffs of gasps for air turned into breathless laughs as Guren got to his feet with a groan, cradling his arm, squeezing the flesh around his biceps like a vice. The lighting of the corridor couldn’t mask the prominent hole in Guren’s upper arm the size of a golf ball; couldn’t mask the way his skin rapidly lost its colour; couldn’t mask the blood spurting out of the very clear arterial wound and the tiny singed ring of cloth and flesh around the entry point.

Of everything that’s happened that night, Guren laughing at the injuries were draining his strength was the second-most mortifying sight Shinya had ever seen in his entire life.

The first-most was a bullet traveling at mach speed, piercing straight through Guren’s back and out through his left rib cage, with almost certain accuracy. The man released a startled gurgle and a choked noise of confusion as he stumbled over, face-first into the red-soaked ground. A bone-chilling three seconds of eerie silence was suddenly split wide open by an anguished howl of pain and panicked panting that only told a portion of the damage that single bullet had done to him.

Eyes wide and in horrified disbelief, Shinya’s gaze trailed downwards to the mop of long silver hair whose ends were permanently stained red and stared directly into the eyes of a man who refused to die without taking his assailants with him. He huffed, somehow audible through Guren’s low groaning and dry sobs of torment while the feeling in his body quickly dissipated and the writhing he did on the ground ebbed into sporadic convulsions. Still staring in shell-shocked astonishment, Shinya’s mouth opened and closed, gaping like a fish out of water and at the mercy of the target they didn’t kill.

Ferid, baring his teeth in a defiant grin and cackling madly at the critically injured men, pointed his gun at Shinya and mouthed “your turn” before he smashed his bruised finger against the trigger.

And then he smashed his bruised finger against the trigger… against the trigger… against the trigger…

Five, six, ten times, Ferid’s finger pulled and released the trigger in the hopes that something would give, and the jam would fix itself. Yet it did not. The only respite for his suffering the Lord, if he existed, gave to the yakuza boss came in the form of a single bullet, which was quickly returned in kind to him.

Returned in kind to him ten times over, until the barrel of Shinya’s shaking gun was almost emptied into his immobile body. It slipped out of his hand with a loud clamour, and in the back of his mind he should have been wary of the trigger inadvertently going off and striking either him or Guren, but he was at a loss to give thought to much else, not when the cries from behind him weakened with every passing minute.

Trembling—oh, trembling and trembling and hoping to his brightest stars that his worst nightmare wasn’t coming true—Shinya ever so slowly, with the weight of the world crashing into his body like a freight train, turned his torso around to see the uneven breathing of his fiancé lying on the floor, blown open from the back, and eyes swimming in a mixture of fear, agony, cowardice, and determination as they glassed over, almost resembling the bloodied, broken champagne glasses from the banquet in the ballroom over.

[serendipitykpop]

eternal love - part 1

Pairing: oh sehun x reader

Summary: “Our love is eternal.”

part 2

“You look wonderful, your majesty.”

You glanced at the boy through the mirror and waved the last of the servants away after they slipped on the last piece of your outfit. You turned to him and met his gaze. He laughed and gave you a thumbs up.

“Are you ready to head out?”

You nodded as Gyu guided you out of your chambers and towards where you had to be.

“Ah, there they are!” He piped up, jumping up and down. He giggled and waved at the two you were supposed to be meeting with the most excitement you have ever seen. “Bo! Nana!”

Nana and Bo turned to you, each with a different reaction upon seeing the hyperactive boy. He ran up to them while you were still walking towards them.

“Gyu, what have I told you about waiting for our majesty instead of running off like that?” Bo lectured.

“Don’t waste your energy on someone like him. Seriously, you’ll tire yourself out more than you already are, old man.” Nana interjected and swung her spear on top of her shoulders, both arms hanging over the handle.

“Have some manners! You’re in front of our majesty!”

“Man, you are seriously too loud.”

“Don’t cocky with me, kid. I’m your superior.”

“You’re a retired general.” She sighed. “It’s surprising you still have enough energy to yell at Gyu and me.”

“Oh, there it is. Nana’s bluntness,” Gyu giggled. Though, he was stopped when the sharp tip of a spear nearly touched his neck. He held his hands up in surrender, but his smile was still on his face. “Whoops, seems like I pissed her off again.”

She clicked her tongue and pulled him into a headlock. He was whining to be let go, but at the same time, enjoying himself as they bickered.

“All right. That’s enough! You’re in front of our majesty!” He managed to pull them apart by their collars, then turned to you to bow his head. You raised your hand to dismiss the matter while the two of them rubbed their sore spots.

While continuing to where you had to go, each of them updated you on their individual assignments. Nana, who was your highest ranking general, spoke of military and training matters. Gyu, your aide, spoke about matters involving the condition of the castle and the servants. Bo, a military general retiree, spoke of your country’s welfare.

You were all interrupted when you felt something hit your head. You glanced over your shoulders to find two little children running up to you, both with a not-so-sorry smile. With their hands behind their backs and innocent smiles on their faces, they put up their angelic front.

“Whoops. Looks like we hit Y/N with our paper airplane, Guren.”

“What ever shall we do, Gray?” They shrugged at each other and you stared blankly at them, not giving them the reaction they wanted. Of course, they weren’t expecting one from you anyways. Turning to the fuming old man, they laughed and started running circles around you.

“Two more brats I have to deal with,” Bo grumbled while the duo giggled, fastening their pace to tease the old man.

“Y/N, are Gray and Guren teasing you again?” Your youngest brother pouted up at you as he gripped the bottom of your uniform. You bent down to his level and shook your head. Still, he did not cheer up even after you patted his head as reassurance. “Wait, I have something that I know will cheer you up!”

He dug through his uniform to retrieve your present, patting himself until he found it. His mouth formed an ‘o’ when he did. With bashful cheeks, he nervously held it out to you. In his hands was a drawing of you, him and your twin brothers living in your little castle.

“That’s me and that’s you! Gray and Gurn are over here though because they’re being mean to you!” He frowned and you couldn’t help but smile a little. Upon seeing that smile, he finally wore one of his own.

“I love it, Levi.”

“Do you?”

“Very much so.”

He giggled and glomped onto you, giving you a sense of happiness. You softly smiled and wrapped your arms around his waist, giving him a tight hug.

“Thank you.”

Levi cupped your face into his hands and rubbed your noses together.

“Hey, Levi is hogging all of Y/N’s attention again!” Guren whined and stopped running, which caused Gray to bump into him.

“No, I’m not!” Levi hugged you.

“Give Y/N back, Levi!” Gray huffed.

“There, there,” You spoke and pulled the two of them into your other side. They grinned and wrapped your arms around you despite Levi’s protests. You smiled as you pulled your brothers into a tight hug.

“Your majesty,” Bo called and you met his eyes. He nodded towards where you had to go and you nodded. You pulled away from your brothers and gave them each a kiss on the head. You stood back up and bid the three of them goodbye, but they didn’t show a chance of leaving.

“We’re coming with you!” Guren threw his arms up.

“What?” Your face fell into a frown.

“You heard us, Y/N! We’re coming with you. Right, Levi?” Gray beamed and looked over to the youngest prince.

“Yes!”

“Very well.”

Guren and Gray were in front, messing around with Nana and Bo while Levi stayed by your side. It was then when the twins couldn’t help keeping their mouths shut anymore.

“Where are we going, Y/N?”

“I have a meeting with some people from a different country.”

Guren and Gray shared looks, then all of a sudden grew serious. They turned back around, continuing to mess around.

Hanging off of Nana’s arm, Guren spoke. “So the rumors are true.”

Your eyes narrowed. “What rumors?”

“Of you getting married to another royalty.”

“Yeah, we heard the maids talking about it.”

You sighed, tired of the maids gossiping in front of your brothers. You glanced at Gyu and he gave you a nod, knowing he had some talking to do.

“So a marriage meeting is really happening?”

“Yes. It’s for the sake of peace as this’ll prevent anymore fighting between the lands.”

Guren and Gray frowned. Meanwhile, you felt Levi’s grip on your clothing tighten and he was suddenly crying. Everyone rushed over to the young prince and you all crouched down to his level. You wiped away his tears while your twin brothers comforted him with hugs.

“I don’t want to share Y/N with anyone else!”

“Levi,” You softly spoke and he buried his face into your neck as he hugged you. You chuckled and patted his back. “There, there. You don’t have to worry.”

“But you’re going to leave me, Gray and Guren!” He cried, pulling away to look at you.

You smiled and pushed his hair back to place a kiss on his forehead. “Silly, I’m not leaving you, Gray or Guren.”

“You mean it?”

“I mean it.”

“Promise?” Levi raised his pinkie up and the two boys followed shortly after. You chuckled and hooked all three pinkies with your own.

“I promise.”

[eachainn]

Author’s Note: Why not talk about Shirley in this? They let her live, might as well actually have her doing something instead of being pretty in the background, or on an orange farm in France. I’m just slamming together both versions of Shirley, from the series and the recap movie. Shirley was shot, it wasn’t fatal.

Shirley pulled her hair back, wrapping the hair tie around her ponytail a few times before tugging it secure. She reached over for her phone, turning off the speaker and hooking it over her ear again. “Sorry.”

She heard her mother laugh, something in her stomach unkotting a bit at the sound. It had been a long while she her mother had laughed. Years.

She swallowed, sitting back in her chair as her mother spoke. “I remember the summers well enough in Ar-Japan.” The word didn’t seem to sit right in her mother’s mouth because she cleared her throat and continued. “It was always so humid there.”

“That hasn’t changed.”

“No, I guess it wouldn’t. But it feels like it should.”

Shirley nodded, even though her mother couldn’t see her. It had only been a year, but it felt longer, it felt like ten. She wasn’t aware that something like that could happen, that so much could change so quickly. She traced her fingers over the armrest of the chair, looking around the locker room. “It does…How are you?”

“Me? I’m fine. I should be asking you that.” Her mother hesitated before lowering her voice. “I’m still not sure how comfortable I feel with you staying over there.”

“Mother.”

“Finishing high school was one thing, and your internship-”

“You said it was too good to turn down.”

“I know, and I stand by it. You’re lucky to have gotten in.”

Shirley hummed, dropping her gaze to the side. Her hard work had been part of it, but most of her luck had rested with the fact that she had known members of the Black Knights. They were the UFN’s defense force, and no one could say no to Captain Kozuki, not when Kallen was determined to be convincing. It had allowed her to get to know many of the heads of state, had gotten her into the program she was in now, had gotten her the job she had now. It was all a great honor, too great to leave Japan.

But, sometimes, she would walk down that street and she would have to stop and lean against the nearest building because she couldn’t breathe right, couldn’t see anything but Zero charging up to Lelouch and running him through.

Shirley clutched at the armrest, trying to keep her breathing steady. She knew what was coming next, and she didn’t want to hear it. Her mother had managed to slip it into every conversation, and she was running out of ways to put her off.

It started with her mother sighing, silence falling on the other end of the line for a moment before her mother spoke up again. “I just wish you weren’t so far from home…or still over there.”

Shirley tipped her head back. “Mother, it’s been quiet all year.”

“Not on mainland Asia.”

“That’s across the water.”

“It’s too close!” Shirley winced at the panic in her mother’s voice. “You lived through the Black Rebellion, so you know how quickly those things can spread. It started in Area 11 and jumped right to China.”

It was a testament to how agitated her mother was that she didn’t automatically correct herself. Shirley closed her eyes. She wished that there was something that she could tell her mother, but nothing seemed to calm her down. The only thing that Shirley could think of was saying that she was coming home, but she wasn’t ready for that. Japan had been the death of her father, and nearly the death of her, but she couldn’t leave, not when what she was doing felt right.

Shirley reached down to rub over the scar from her bullet wound. “I know, but I’m in the best place to hear about it.”

“Yes.” Her mother took a deep breath. “Yes, you are. And you’re safe behind the lines.”

“Yes.” It was a struggle not to draw out the word, but Shirley couldn’t stop herself from looking at where her flight suit hung. She hadn’t shut her locker to give it a chance to air out a bit. She bit her lip, filing her Knightmare pilot training as something to beg her mother’s forgiveness for later.

She had only done it on a whim, to try and get closer to her father, but she had come out of the simulation with a single thought. She wasn’t going to allow one more person to die or to suffer. Not one more.

Shirley reached back to play with her ponytail, wrapping her hair around her fingers. “Honestly, I’m mostly doing boring stuff. Talking with departments, making lists, making phone calls.”

“That’s good.” The relief in her mother’s voice just made her feel worse. In the year since the end of the Britannian empire she had become a consummate liar. The fact that it was to only one person didn’t make her feel any better. But the fact that her mother sounded so happy was almost enough to make it alright.

Almost.

She shifted in her chair, resisting the urge to sink further down in her chair. Shirley licked her lips, offering an olive branch, more to assuage her own conscious than excite her mother. “I do have my vacation coming up and I have some days off from work. So, I should be able to visit in a few months.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh.” Shirley turned around in her chair to face the door to the locker room. “I’ll have to get back to you with exact dates, but would that be alright?”

“Of course! It’s been too long. Everyone over here wants to meet you! We can go to the little tea place down the street. Oh, and Andrea ‘s son will be home at the same time. The two of you should meet. You have a lot in common.”

Shirley swallowed, looking back over at her open locker and the pictures from her Ashford days that were taped there. “Sure, sounds good.”

Her mother dug into the subject then, Shirley feeling a lump growing in her throat the longer her mom went on. 

Her gaze lingered on one of the group pictures, when all of them were piled in the student council room. It was a captured moment of chaos. 

Shirley couldn’t remember what they had been working on, but there were papers flying as Kallen tripped over the chair that Shirley had pushed out in a bid to grab onto Arthur. Arthur had taken the chance to lunge across the table and bite down on Suzaku’s arm, and Suzaku had recoiled to knock into Rivalz, who was twisted to try and save Nina’s computer from falling off the desk with Nina. Oblivious to all of it were Milly and Lelouch who were in a middle of an argument.

She missed those times.

The sound of the door opening started her from her thoughts. Shirley turned to look at the door, nodding when she saw Kallen stepping in.

Kallen waved back with one hand, the other occupied with a towel that she was using to scrub at her hair. She turned to head over to her own locker, pulling it open and rummaging inside.

Shirley reached up, pressing one hand against her phone. “Mom? Mom.”

“And he’s so sweet with cats. What?”

“My ride just showed up, so I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Of course. I love you.”

“I love you too. Bye.”

Shirley sighed when the other side of the line clicked. She shouldn’t feel relieved that the conversation was over, and yet she always did. It might be the talk about what she was doing in Britannia, a world away in more ways than one. Or it might have been the relentless way that her mother was trying to entice her with boys. It was an honest effort, something to ease what she thought was the loss and betrayal of everything that had happened with Lelouch. The problem was that Shirley wasn’t sure what she thought about it.

She loved him, that was the one thing that she was sure about. Everything was a confusing jumble of emotion that she didn’t quite know how to start to unpack. All she knew was that she wasn’t ready for anything.

Shirley took the phone from her ear with a sigh, glancing over at Kallen as there was a bang and a curse.

Kallen pulled back from her locker, rubbing her head. “Fucking locker.”

“You alright?”

“Yeah.” Kallen pulled her hand away, looking at it before shaking her head. “It’s got it out for me.”

“We could switch. Mine’s well behaved.”

“Nah, I’ll remember to stay low one day.” Kallen turned back around, nodding over at the phone. “Another check up with your mother?”

Shirley nodded. “Much of the same.”

“Come back to Britannia, it’s too dangerous?”

“Yes. And, come meet the new boy.”

Kallen sighed and shoved her locker shut. “Just tell her and get it over with.”

“I can’t. I can’t even tell her what I’m really doing here.”

Kallen turned to look at the flight suit, raising her eyebrow. “Telling her that you’re not looking for a boyfriend is easier.”

“Not really.” Shirley stood up with a groan, rubbing her back. “It’s hard enough telling her that I’m staying for the rest of the year. I haven’t even covered my next year in college.”

“That’s slightly more important.”

“I know but, she hates it here and hates that I’m here. And I can’t come up with a good reason that I’m staying. Anything I say makes it sound like I’m still hung up on-”

She motioned over at the pictures in her locker, watching as Kallen came around to look. The curiosity on her face softened, Kallen staring at the pictures with a familiar look longing before she shook her head. “I think we’re all hung up on that. Rivalz called me a few weeks ago to talk about how he ‘missed the days of our youth.’”

Shirley laughed, shaking her head. “We’re not that old yet, are we?”

“It feels like it sometimes.” Kallen stretched her arms above her head, groaning when her back popped. “That seat redesign is going to kill me.”

“Oh, I know.” Shirley walked over to close her locker, stopping a moment to press her fingers against one of the pictures before shutting it. She jiggled the lock to get it to shut securely. “I’m this close to turning in a report on the adverse effect on this position on pilot wellness and effectiveness.”

“Please do. I spent two years jury-rigging the Guren with pillows and the clothes I changed out of. I don’t want to do it again.”

“Consider it done.”

“Thank you.” Kallen reached out to open the door, holding it open as the two of them stepped out into the hallway. She fell into step beside Shirley, their shoulders bumping against each other. “For that, I owe you. Tamaki is opening his second café next week. It’s not tasteful at all,” Kallen rolled her eyes, “but the food and drinks are good, and it’s all free. I’ll hook you up with a ticket.”

Shirley glanced over at her, watching the way that Kallen stepped gingerly. “You’re going to owe me a bit more than that.”

Kallen shot her a quick look. “How so?”

“My college has a huge pool, and a hot tub. I’ve been going there after work to soak this out. As a first year sports medicine student, I’m going to prescribe you a long soak and sneak you in with my student ID.”

“Shirley, you are a life saver.”

She smiled. “It’s for the defense of the free world, right?”

Kallen laughed. “Yes. The free world needs us to spend an hour in a hot tub.”

“At least.”

“For our health.” Kallen leaned forward, laughing and ignoring the strange looks that the rest of the staff shot them. Shirley took the chance to wave at the people that she knew, pausing mid-wave when Kallen stood up, the smile on her face softening. “I’ll figure out something to pay you back.”

“We’ll grab dinner on the way back.”

Kallen nodded, slowing slightly. Shirley turned to look back at her, slowing to match her.

It took Kallen a moment to meet her gaze, Shirley bracing herself when she saw the girl take a deep breath, Kallen squaring her shoulders.

“Speaking of dinner, has Milly asked you about the…the thing next week?”

Shirley took a quick breath, feeling it catch somewhere in the back of her throat. Her phone felt like a stone in her pocket, her fingers twitching as she fought the urge to reach for it. The message was still there, read but not responded to.

She struggled for words for a moment before she nodded.

“Are you going?”

Shirley fixed her gaze ahead of them, watching as people streamed out of the building. It would be easy to pretend that she hadn’t heard the quiet question, but she couldn’t do that. There was only so much lying that she could do in a day. “I…I don’t know. I think we should.”

“I kind of thought we should to. I just don’t understand how we’re suppose to celebrate and remember when I was the one who-” Kallen cut herself off, her gaze going unfocused.

Shirley watched Kallen for a moment before reaching out to link their arms. Kallen startled a bit at the touch, but she was quick to hold on. Shirley glanced around before speaking, keeping her voice low. “It’s not about what they became. It’s about what we miss about them.”

Kallen glanced over at her. “I’ll go if you go.”

“I don’t think we have a choice. I think Milly might move it to wherever we are.”

“Didn’t anyone tell her that she can’t order us around anymore? She’s not Student Council President.”

“I don’t think anyone is brave enough to do it.”

Kallen huffed, the sound almost a laugh. “I’ve fought Britannia and I can’t do it.”

“It might be good just to go along with it then.”

“For our health?”

Shirley nodded. “For our health.”

Kallen didn’t say anything to that, but she did hold onto Shirley’s arm tighter. Shirley squeezed back, happy to have something to hold. It seemed to be what the two of them had been doing for the better part of the year, holding each other up. Shirley was glad for it. 

She didn’t know what would happen if she had tried to go through all of this alone. She would have crumbled so many times if Kallen hadn’t been there to drag her somewhere in Tokyo or even to the apartment that she and her mother shared. It was nice to know that she wasn’t the only one that was torn between mourning and anger at what Lelouch and Suzaku had done.

The world was a better place in the end, it was just her selfish heart that said she would have preferred it with the two of them there.

Shirley cleared her throat, pushing those thoughts away for the moment. She could unpack that later, maybe at Milly’s get together. The important thing at the moment was not to linger.

She tugged lightly on Kallen’s arm, getting her attention. “What did they keep you back so long for?”

Kallen stared at her for a moment before rolling her eyes, some of the life coming back into her eyes. “Some final tweaks to that new outer armor unit.”

Shirley frowned, trying to remember what that was. She had heard talk around the Knightmare unit, but she was still in training, so she got nowhere near where Kallen was. The bet she had were what Kallen had told her about. “Is that the thing that got you locked in the Guren for an hour?”

“Yes.” Kallen groaned. “Where were you and your offer of a hot tub then?”

“Does it work now?”

“Kind of.” Kallen took a deep breath before she launched into an explanation why the armor was generally a good idea, but why she personally hated it.

Shirley listened with a while, letting most of the technical stuff go over her head. Kallen sounded more like herself, and, in the end, that was all that mattered.

[lendmeyourpower]

     Guren smiled when he heard Mahiru’s voice, she was right in the room with him. As he turned he let go of just one more person that had been in that way of what was going to happen tonight. He didn’t even care that he had blood on his lips, he was just ..... glad she would be here in the end. She probably couldn’t hear him from where he was, but he spoke anyway, “Mahiru. My sweet Mahiru. You came after all.” 

     Tears were in her eyes, as she took in his appearance, hands on the hilt of her katana. Shinya was right next to her....comforting her. “Yes Guren, I did. Let us save you. You know we all care about you. We need you.” 

    Guren laughed a little at that. As he watched the distance close so that they could hear him now. “You can’t save me. I asked you time and again Mahiru to join me, but time is up. Sadly there is no more time to mess around with anymore.” 

     “Master Gur-” Sayuri started, but Mahiru cut her off. 

     “We can.”

     “You can’t! But I am glad you came,” he said with a smile that always made Mahiru’s heart flutter. 

    “I said I would!”

    She was right next to Guren than. He saw it like it was in slow motion. Every attack they made. It was so easy now that he was a vampire to dodge everything. He even knew the Fuda spells wouldn’t hurt him somehow, so he didn’t waste energy moving and didn’t feel anything when they went off. He could tell they were trying their best, and if he was his old self, he would be almost on par with Mahiru, maybe a little slower. But now he didn’t even have to fight. 

     “Sorry Mahiru,” he said softly. In the next second he grabbed her arm, and tossed her into the others. Smelling blood told him he had done his job at, at least pacifying them for now. Maybe now they would hear reason, and stop trying to fight him. But knowing all of them, they wouldn’t. His old bodyguards wanted to get him back, Shinya and the other two he figured were following Mahiru to save the world or for some other reason. 

    But Mahiru.....she was here due to him. He wanted her here. He could tell she loved him still, just like when they were little. At school she came to see him when he was hurt, even though he knew it would heal soon enough. She was the whole reason he had undergone this entire madness. 

     He wanted to give her, her wish. 

     He started to laugh at little. Watching all the mighty saviors on the ground, unable to even lay a hand on him. It was sad really. In the end, he was just as screwed as the day he was born. 

     “What the hell is so funny, you crazed Ichinose?” Shinya asked, finally able to get up, blood going down his mouth. 

     “Shinya!” Mahiru said worried. She moved to clean his mouth, but stopped when a deep growl came from behind her. 

     “Are you jealous Guren?” Shinya asked, in a mocking tone.

     Guren paid Shinya no mind. He had his eyes locked on Mahiru’s. “How long are you going to stick around these people? One is a stud horse we both know you don’t want, two are from a sect the Hiragis would rather see squashed, and the other two...just hanging onto due to your name. They don’t know you like I do. So why?” 

     So many emotions were filling the air of the room. Sayuri and Shigure seemed as if Guren had slashed them open and said that they were better off dead. Mito, who was still laying injured on the floor, was giving Guren a glare that made it seem her red hair was fire that would burn him if he got to close. Goshi was shaking his head and silently saying, not cool man. 

     The worst reaction out of Guren’s friends, was Shinya. He was standing there torn between crying and wanting to run over and punching Guren. They seemed to always have a connection for some reason, even now Guren could tell that his words had stung him so deep that he wanted to hate him beyond words. He was even shaking, and it wasn’t from the built up tears. Even so, there was a part of Shinya deep down, that couldn’t hate Guren for some reason. And that was going to be his down fall.

     Suddenly a voice broke the awful silence, “It is what you would have done.” Mahiru’s voice tore his crimson eyes away from the scene in front of him, to only focus on Mahiru. “I know you Guren, you need people. That is why you keep asking for me right. These are your friends too. They are worried about-”

     Shinya cut off Mahiru with a chuckle. “He knows he has us beat, and yet he doen’t do anything, but talk about friends. Well I will tell you one thing Mahiru I don’t think he needs friends. All he cares about is power.” 

     Guren growled again, his demon coming to the front of his mind. Sure he had power, sure he had to get it. He had his reasons, and things had to happen. Shinya however wouldn’t understand, he just saw the Ichinose teen that went on adventures with him, trying to get ahead of the families, even though Guren was working for both sides. 

     Shinya walked closer. “I’m right, are’t I. You once told me you wanted to save your clan and someone you cared about. What happened to that?”

    In an instant things could change. Guren had learned that when he was six. Shinya and the others were learning it now while Mahiru was screaming. One moment Shinya was just standing there, the next Guren jabbed his hand into Shinya’s chest, through ribs just to get to his heart. It would be so easy to rip it out, but instead Guren held back. He wanted Shinya to live a little longer. Which is why he was looking at Guren confused.

     “You don’t understand anything stud horse. My struggle has everything to do with them and Mahiru. If you and the others had just stayed out of the way, this would have ended differently.” 

     Shinya opened his mouth to try and answer but only blood came out. Guren only let the adopted Hiragi drop to the floor when he heard the lady of his heart crying his name over and over to stop and let Shinya go. 

     In that one moment no one did anything. The only noise besides the fans, was the blood dripping down Guren’s hand. He looked down at Shinya. There was a hurt and confused look on his face, the moment that he died. They would all wear that look soon. After all he had fought this to get to Mahiru, not to hurt her, but to......

     But it was too late. The least he could do is remove the fake friends that she had. The people that only used her for her name. The ones that didn’t know her as, her. The sweet, loving girl that just wanted to be normal. 

     It only took on tick of the clock, not even enough time for Siyuri to call out for her Lord to stop. For anyone to say Guren’s name. Soon only bodies remained, all headless, apart from the one Guren had in a head lock right now. It was Shigure. One of his most trusted friends and bodyguards once. Now in his madness, he just saw her as someone that was a threat between him and Mahiru. Someone that wasn’t really a friend. 

    “Guren, no!” Mahiru finally got out. 

     “”If he wishes to kill me than so be it,” Shigure finally said. “Master Guren is-”

     But what he was Mahiru would never know, Guren broke her neck, before fully taking her head off. Guren dropped her, as he did the others. Before walking over the bodies to come closer to Mahiru. 

    “There, no more fake friends. Just you and me. Like you wanted when we were kids.” 

    Mahiru at that point was crying, eyes fixed on everyone on the floor. She looked as if she was about to scream, as she pulled out Noya. Guren pushed her arm down and pulled her closer. “Hey, there is time for that later. Right now just know you are-”

      “Gggg tttt, your arm off of her.” 

    Guren growled as he saw that Shinya was still alive. Mahiru stabbed her cursed gear into the ground and ran to him. He pulled it out of the ground and held Noya, remembering when this was made, and when he gave it to Mahiru after they had a night together, ignoring Mahiru and Shinya talking. Mahiru was begging him not to die, Shinya was saying he was going to have to disappoint her yet again. But his last words caught Guren’s attention,

     “You’re lucky he loves you so much. You know why I came along, I guess I will have to tell him in person, I’m sorry I failed. Do it.....for me. Just don’t cry.....or let the demon win okay Mahiru.”

     Mahuri nodded, “Okay.” She kissed Shinya’s forehead. But the light had left his face and eyes by then. She shook him a few times and he just stared blankly at her, with his smile on his face, that got him through life.

     “What was he talking about?” Guren asked darkly, Noya over his shoulder.

    Mahiru stayed by Shinya, wiping her eyes. “He cared deeply for you. He said he wanted to save you since he made a promise to your father that he would. Now I have to do it, since I promised him.” When she got up and turned around she saw Guren holding Noya as if he was inspecting it. 

    “You can’t, not this time Mahiru. All you can do it this,” he said, handing her the hilt of the katana the housed Noya. She looked confused, but did as she was asked. “Noya thanks to you has drank a lot of blood from demons and humans, he is the last piece to the experiment that is happening tonight. Are you ready?”

     “Ready for what Guren?” she asked, afraid of what else could happen.

     What happened was worse. Worse than Guren killing their friends, worse than what had been happening over the last few days, worse than anything she could think of. Guren ran himself through with the blade so deep that he came right to her and hugged her. 

    “Guren!” Mahiru screamed, as Guren’s knees buckled and she had to lower him to the floor. She moved to pull it out. 

    “Don’t. This needs to happen, I am bound to your demon now.”

    “Why? Why are you doing this?” 

     “I said it before,” he said softly, when she moved to put his head in her lap, “to save you. This was meant to be you Mahiru. I took your place a long time ago. I found out you and your sister were born with demons, and I took them both.” 

    “The cursed gear you gave my sister?” 

    Guren slowly nodded his head, a few tears going down his face. “I wanted you and her to have a normal life, like you wanted.” 

    “What about you?!” 

    Guren was turning translucent and even though he seemed solid to hold, it was clear something was wrong at the point of contact of the sword. There was black lines coming out like veins, as if the sword was feeding on him.

    “I won’t be here very soon. I am becoming one with your demon.” He closed his eyes for a moment, when he spoke with his eyes closed he sounded more like his normal self. “Mahiru this place is to conduct the Seraph of the End experiment. The world will only end if someone activates it.”

    “What is it Guren? You never fully said.” 

    Guren opened his eyes, one red eye was already black. “It is stepping into a realm man should not go. It is the punishment to man when they bring someone back from the dead.”

    “Guren you are not making any sense,” Mahiru pointed out. 

    “I don’t have much time. I left you enough information Mahiru, no one is watch us. Take your sister and go, you don’t have to do this. You are the only thing keeping the world from ending. The experiment was meant for today can be stopped thanks to you.” He took in a deep breath. Looking up at her, he smiled, and Mahiru knew it was Guren and not the demon in that one moment. “I do love you, and I will be with you.” 

      Mahiru started crying. She bent down and kissed Guren. “Please don’t go. I love you.”

     But in that moment, she wasn’t holding him anymore, she was holding a katana sword, with a letter fluttering to the floor. Inside it was not Guren nor Noya, but a newborn demon, that had all the memories of Guren. 

    Outside Mahiru had made her choice, deciding that she was going to bring her and Guren’s friends back. As she strapped on her cursed gear she noticed the letter, gently opening she noticed Guren’s handwriting.

     My dear Mahiru,

                 By now I know that things have reached the end and I am going to die soon. I just wanted to sit down and write something while I still had a clear head. 

    I know what I am doing doesn’t seem fair to you, but it did save you from growing up just to die at sixteen. This was my way to save you like I promised when we were kids. I also wanted you to know that my choice was part of some Hiragi plan. So i would ask yourself, how do the Hiragis stay so powerful. 

    I would ask that you take care of my clan since I was the head and I had no heir at the time, and they had to use dad against me and I couldn’t come in they executed him for their own sick games. Since I was not fully sticking to their plans. I was at least grateful for the funeral, and that you came. 

       Guren didn’t sign it, but he did put a crimson lotus inside the letter. 

    Mahiru shook her head and called him her stupid prince. 

    When the world died at the hands of Mahiru Hiragi, the demon inside her blade awakened. 

    That demon’s name, Guren-Aku-Ya