#miruna has so much anger

[harpersheroes]

i need a numbered list of miruna's least favourite people actually. like. top 5 at least

Lutheria, obviously.

Sydon, obviously.

(This was Estor previously but we murked him so--) Chondrus, slimy asshole who talks in circles and sneaky words and is everything but straight forward.

Gaius, asshole husband armor stealer and also just a POS.

Taron. She's still mad she wasnt allowed to deck him in the face.

Acastus, apple & the tree. He skeeves her out. Also wants to punch him but he is a king.

The twins at the lutheria temple.

Moxena & her sister. Traitors. >:(

[autumnmobile12]

“Did you know I remember when you were born?”

“Yeah?”  Simon lifted his head.

“I was six, and it had been raining all day.  Alucard was watching over Catherina and I downstairs, but I think Miruna or Apa would come down to check on us now and then.”  Leona drew her long legs into her chest.  “In the morning, after it was over, Apa woke us up and said, ‘Come meet your brother.’  And he scooped us in both arms and carried us.  He used to be able to do that.”

“I remember.”

“Mm-hmm.”  Leona grinned.  “You know, I remember the first thing I ever said to you.  I looked right into your pinched, newborn face and told you,  ‘I’m Leona and this is Catherina, and we have the most amazing family.’  I was six years old, but when I saw you, I knew I wanted to be a sister that could protect you both.”

“And that’s just it.”  Simon shook his head.  “You’ve always known who you are and what your purpose is, Leo.”

...

She looked, Mircea mused, a good deal like her mother.  They had the same face, but the surface resemblance between them ended there.  Unlike Belnades, Leona was tall and broad-shouldered, her hair and eyes were uncannily identical to her father’s, and when the pair shed their customary taciturn demeanors, they both had the same indomitable smile that roared triumph.  “If I didn’t know better,”  Leona said in a voice that was a weird blend of her mother’s eloquence and her father’s brusque tones.  “I’d say you were afraid of him.”

...

It was nearly autumn.  She could feel the air crisp in her lungs when she breathed, the chill that pricked at her bare calves where her legs had grown longer than her trousers, and the sun above had grown heatless and oppressive in the twilight.  Autumn, Leona thought, meant red and auburn leaves, ripe apples, bonfires and harvest and cider.  It meant the approach of snow and cold weather, mittens and wool cloaks, but it also meant she would be ten years old soon and that was when Apa promised he would finally let her begin training with her own sword.  A real sword.  Live steel, not the wooden ones she used to batter the straw and burlap dummies in the yard.  From her perch on the fence that bordered the field, Leona wriggled with excitement.

Leona is the eldest Belmont child, the reliable elder sister.  All three of them were trained to fight, but Leona is the one who threw everything she had into physical combat and it shows.  She loves her family and is fiercely proud of both lines of her heritage, and most of her character revolves around defending what’s hers.

Among the three, so far the character I developed Leona to be is the most balanced between Trevor and Sypha.  Catherina and Simon have physical and personality traits from both their parents, but they seem to sway toward one or the other.  Like Trevor, Leona has an intimidating appearance and demeanor, and she’s impossible to ignore.  She has a very low voice, it’s very brusque, but the counterpoint to that is that she has Sypha’s manner of speaking.  She’s also not as cynical as Trevor is, leaning more toward Sypha’s optimism while maintaining the general level-headed attitudes of both parents.  In contrast, Catherina has Sypha’s hot temper while Simon is quieter and much slower to anger, which comes of being the youngest of three, albeit he does have his breaking point.  Beyond her parents, Leona has the charisma from her paternal grandfather and the calm wisdom of her maternal great-grandfather.

All three of the siblings can read spells and, courtesy of Sypha, have at least a basic understanding of how magic works.  In particular, Leona has the infamous memory of the Speakers and is able to memorize long passages of text, complex alchemical equations, and even financial records in account books.  Give her a glimpse of a runic diagram and she can recreate it.  When it comes to fighting, her longsword and her own fists are her preferred method, although she’s not opposed to using charms, armor or even weapons imbued with magic for protection and the like.

Keeping true to Sypha’s heritage, Leona and her siblings are multi-lingual.  They’ve been speaking dozens of languages since they first learned to talk and this reflects in how they address their parents.  Leona calls her father Apa, the Hungarian word for father, and she calls her mother Omm, the Arabic word for mother.

Key words for Leona:  Charismatic, protector, unwavering, ferocity.  Ever loyal to family, absolutely ruthless toward the enemy.

...

Her Siblings

 Catherina

Simon

[knybits]

A Murder of One

Chapter:

24

Summary:

Akiko loves her sister-in-law, she swears

Previous Chapter | Origin | Next Chapter

Akiko doesn’t see Tanjirou again until a week later. 

By the time he returns, Akiko is about to leave for the Butterfly Estate by her lonesome, but upon seeing the brutal condition her fiance is in, all anger flies out the window. 

“What happened?!” Akiko leads Tanjirou to the futon, yelling for swordsmiths to prepare some food as well as her bag while he explains the week’s events. 

Turns out Tanjirou has a perfectly good explanation for why he left Akiko alone for a week! 

He was being bullied by a 10 year old. 

Akiko spends the next day tending to Tanjirou’s wounds, which thankfully aren’t a lot. Just bruises and sore muscles; nothing a long soak in the hot springs can’t fix. 

It’s when Tanjirou is talking to Genya about his week’s events that things slowly start to go south. Genya gets pissed off enough that he throws the basket of rice crackers, much to the couple’s dismay. And when Tanjirou notices that Genya’s tooth has grown back in, Akiko can’t even come up with a good excuse. 

“I never lost it…” Genya mumbles weakly. 

“But I have it right here!” 

“TANJIROU THAT’S UNSANITARY!!” 

Defeated, the physician leaves the room with the tooth in a napkin, ready to be thrown away. She plans to also soak in the hot spring, since they’re likely to leave the swordsmith village the day after Tanjirou’s sword is ready, which should be in 2 days. 

When she reaches the hot spring, there’s only one person left, but he’s gathering his things to leave. Akiko smiles to herself, bidding the swordsmith a goodnight before she undresses to soak in the hot springs. 

Akiko falls asleep in the hot water. She always does. Something about the swordsmith village and being able to take care of herself makes her fall into a deep sleep, and she’s woken up multiple times from breathing water up her nose. 

This time, she’s woken up to the sound of a distant explosion. 

Miruna caws above her, alerting her of a demon attack. Akiko shoves herself out of the hot spring, hastily wrapping her kimono around her and haphazardly tying the knots. At the very least, she remembers to wrap her kimono left over right. 

“Go alert a nearby pillar for assistance!” Akiko yells up at Miruna, and her crow jets away. 

Akiko leaps down the steps, blood rushing out of her face when she sees a splatter of blood at the base of the hill. There isn’t a body in sight, which Akiko can’t deduce to be a good thing or a bad thing. 

By the time she arrives at the front entrance of the village, there’s a small swarm of swordsmiths, kakushi, and lower level demon slayers. Akiko begins to direct the crowd immediately, yelling for half the kakushi to undergo an evacuation of the village and the other half to start setting up a med tent and treatment. 

“Sayu, you’re in charge of treatments while I’m gone!” Akiko says to a kakushi that she knows, “The village chief isn’t here, so demon slayers come with me to the main building for an extraction!” 

The three or so demon slayers huddle around Akiko, keeping her protected when they encounter some weird fish demons. One leaves the pack to lead a small group of swordsmiths they found. By the time they reach the main building, they can hear a commotion upstairs. 

A pink blur flies over Akiko and the two demon slayers’ heads, and upon exclaiming that the Love Pillar has arrived, the two demon slayers rush up the steps with newfound confidence. 

There’s no work to be done though, because Kanroji has already defeated the big demon. In her arms is the village chief, and Akiko does a quick survey of the damage. 

There are two dead demon slayers on the floor, one decapitated and the other split in two. A swordsmith lays in the corner next to a giant hole in the wall, presumably unconscious, while the village chief is being held in Kanroji’s arms. 

“I think he has internal injuries!” Kanroji says to Akiko, pointing to the other swordsmith. Akiko begins treatment immediately, and Kanroji lays down the village elder close to Akiko. 

When Akiko looks up and out of the destroyed building, she notices another flurry of attacks happening at the inn. Looking a bit closer, she sees Genya and Nezuko, but no Tanjirou. 

“I’ll stay behind! Go to the inn, I think Genya is there! Nezuko too, so Tanjirou shouldn’t be far away. I’ll meet up when I’m done here.” Akiko says to Kanroji, but she shakes her head. 

“Muichirou’s crows is still around here, so he must be fighting demons alone. You should go find him when you’re done, I’ll be fine with the others!” And with that, she hops out of the building. 

Thankfully, the injuries that both the village chief and the unconscious swordsmith have sustained is not extreme. The other two demon slayers work on removing the bodies of their fallen demon slayers, being instructed to return them to the med tent and then come back to safely transport the other two patients. 

Akiko is done with treatment once the two demon slayers return, and she places the two swordsmiths in the demon slayer’s hands before heading off to find Muichirou. 

She picks up her physician’s bag, running around the town in hopes of finding them. Once on the outskirts, she hears a loud crashing noise, the sound of wood being split apart. After locating the noise, Akiko spots Muichirou fighting an Upper Moon demon. 

There are three bodies close to the battle, and Akiko does her best to pull them to safety. It’s hard to pull one of the swordsmiths though, since he’s just sharpening a blade. He doesn’t even seem to notice the fighting going on. 

Akiko does remember Kanamori, but there’s also a kid that’s injured. His arm has a deep gash on it, so Akiko pulls out her tools to begin sterilizing the wound. 

After 8 stitches and a lot of crying, Akiko is done with the kid and can move onto Kanamori. He tries to explain what happened, being slashed at by the demon and then thrown to the wall. She can see that his back is heavily bruised, and his ribs are close to breaking, but they surprisingly haven’t. She still sterilizes the cuts, the slashes not deep enough for stitches, then binds Kanamori in bandages from the waist up. 

“And what about him? What happened?” Akiko gestures to the man still sharpening a katana. 

“Oh, Haganezuka? Honestly, I highly doubt you could treat him at the moment. He’s too far into sharpening Tanjirou’s new blade.” 

Akiko’s eyes almost pop out of her face when she realizes who exactly is in front of her. She always thought Haganezuka was some grumpy old man with nothing better to do than bully children and make swords. 

Guess she’s only wrong about the “grumpy” and “old” part. 

A shroud of mist envelops the four, and a few seconds later Akiko sees the head of the demon fly into the sky. It spits some heated words at Muichirou for a few seconds before Muichirou chops the head up into smaller bits, hastening the disintegration of the Upper Moon demon. 

“Lord Tokitou! Are you alright?!” Kanamori jumps up in time with Akiko, and the two rush to the Mist Pillar. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine. I feel great right now. But I have to hurry to Tanjirou and the others.” 

Akiko holds her hand up to stop him, “You’re pale and shaking. Not fine.” 

“I said I’m totally fine. Didn’t you hear me?” 

“And I said that you’re not fine. Didn’t you hear me?” 

“Would you please go to Kotetsu-BLEH” Foam starts pouring out of Muichirou’s mouth and Kanamori starts to scream. Akiko steps forward to catch his body, laying him down on the ground and requesting for Kanamori to grab her bag. 

Thankfully, most demon poison is the same, so the antidotes are largely universal. 

She treats the poison first, injecting it so that it will circulate his body faster. Then, she begins to work on the multiple needle-like puncture wounds littered across his face and body. Muichirou takes longer to treat, but at least with him being knocked out, it’s easy. Kanamori is helpful too, knowing enough basic medical terminology to hand Akiko the tools that she needs. 

Akiko finishes just in time for the antidote to flush the poison out of Muichirou’s system, and the boy comes to.  

“There’s still another demon.” Is the first thing Muichirou says when his eyes open. “An Upper Moon. Stronger than this one.” 

“Dammit, two Upper Moons?” Akiko grumbles to herself, packing up her bag. Kanamori helps Muichirou up, and Akiko can’t convince keeping him on bedrest at the moment. The battle is still going on, from the sound of trees breaking in the distance. 

“Yeah, I encountered the other one first before he hit me and shot me straight out of the inn. Last I saw, Tanjirou and Nezuko were fighting the demon.” 

“Ok, well last I saw, Genya and Kanroji were there too. Let’s just hope we can get to them in time.” 

Luckily, they don’t need to get very far before running in on the action. 

Akiko watches as a demon, Tanjirou, and Nezuko plummet down a cliff. They land hard enough for it to be considered a small explosion, and there’s a blade stuck in the demon’s neck. Nezuko remains motionless, but Tanjirou catches a tree branch on his way down. 

“There’s no sword,” Akiko breathes out. Tanjirou has no sword, and the demon is starting to make its way to a couple swordsmiths. 

“Gimme that!” Akiko yanks the sword from Haganezuka, and Kanamori holds him back as he grabs at Akiko. “Throw this to him, Muichirou!” She thrusts the katana into his hands, and with the last bit of strength the Mist Pillar has (which is still more than Akiko), the sword flies through the air and plunges into the ground right in front of Tanjirou. 

“Use it!” Akiko yells at her fiance, beginning to carefully slide down the cliff. “Kill that son of a bitch!!” 

In a white hot blaze, Tanjirou shoots forward with inhuman speed, leaving a wake of flames behind him. He rushes to the demon, and its head comes clean off. 

Akiko makes it to Nezuko at the base of the cliff, but Nezuko jumps out of Akiko’s grasp to rush to her brother. She screams with the bamboo in her mouth, warning Tanjirou just as Akiko notices too. 

“The demon isn’t dead!” Akiko yells, just as Tanjirou yells for Nezuko to hide from the sun. Akiko tries to catch up to the siblings but she’s slower than the two as they run for the demon, aiming to finish him off. 

But daylight breaks, and Nezuko starts to burn. 

Nezuko screams in pain, covering her face in a futile attempt to stay alive. 

Tanjirou turns back for his sister, and the demon starts to get away. 

“Nezuko! Shrink! Make your body smaller!” 

“Tanjirou, just go!” Akiko finally makes it to the two, “Get the demon! I’ve got Nezuko!” 

“But she’s-!!” 

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence. Nezuko kicks her brother up into the air, a peaceful look on her face that lets him know that it’s alright. Akiko does her best to cover Nezuko but there’s no use. 

Nezuko will burn to death. 

“I believe that Nezuko will conquer the sun.” 

Tamayo’s words cut through Akiko’s mind as she begins to cry. But she doesn’t know if Nezuko will conquer the sun, and she doesn’t know if she’s willing to take that gamble. There’s no use now, she’ll have to gamble on Tamayo’s theory whether she wants to or not. 

So Akiko squeezes Nezuko’s hand, crying words of encouragement and love. She urges Nezuko to beat the sun, to stay alive. 

And Nezuko does. 

this was NOT my favorite chapter. it was the first chapter i wrote after being on hiatus for 3 years and not writing a single thing. honestly i just wanted this arc to be done with so i could continue on, sorry guys!

[sentrava]

Ladies Who Launch: Miruna, Ana, Monique & Kotryna of Sindroms Magazine

Sindroms Magazine launched in 2017 with their first issue, “Red Sindrom.” The magazine won immediate acclaim for its high quality photo spreads, creative styling and unique editorials (Editor’s disclosure: I wrote an article for the first issue). But what goes on behind the scenes of an independent magazine is just as interesting as what ends up in the pages.

We spoke with founder and Creative Director Miruna Sorescu, founder and Business Development Manager Teodorel, Editor-in-Chief Monique Schröder and Communications Manger Kotryna Abaraviciute to find out about the whole process.

Here’s what the Sindroms team has to say about publishing an independent magazine and what it’s like to work on a passion project:

When did you launch Sindroms? Tell us about the inspiration and to lead-up to that.

Miruna: We launched our first issue in the summer of 2017. It was a long process leading up to our launch. Not necessarily in terms of actually making the magazine, but putting together the team and finding all the contributors, as well as figuring out all the technicalities of starting a business.

The idea came up in 2016, when Kotryna and I were just graduating, and decided to make the dream of having our own magazine come true. It was something that just seemed very exciting to us because we could combine our backgrounds and work in more than one field. We didn’t know much about what it would take, but since there is so much competition, we knew we needed a unique idea.

We were working a lot with color in our recent projects, plus we are color enthusiasts still adjusting to the Scandi colour palette (uhm, black and white much?). The idea just struck me: what if we made a magazine that obsesses over a single color in each issue? We loved the idea, we pitched it around to friends and acquaintances and got a great reaction. Plus the occasional: “So you’re making a magazine about color in Scandinavia?”

    Monique and I met during my internship at Kinfolk. Ana and I were already close friends as well as working together. When we joined up, things started getting a bit more real; we defined our vision, found contributors, and the magazine started to take shape.

We were also joined by Ausra Babiedaite, who was one of the first contributors to submit an editorial. She was a perfect match for Sindroms in terms of aesthetics. She became our Art Director for the first issue. It was very much our own vision, with us doing the editorials in-house as well as Monique writing a lot of the content herself.

    Why color? What is it about color that inspires you? What do you think it is about color that inspires others?

Miruna: Color plays a huge role in our lives because everyone is affected by it. That’s why we decided to structure Sindroms on feelings and moods evoked by each color. It’s so inspiring to see how a certain color can influence your mood. You can then use that knowledge to spark different reactions in your audience.

Monique: Exactly! We really wanted to create a place where we touch upon the not-so-pretty sides of a color as well as what’s beautiful. With the red issue, we could have easily just talked about love and passion but we also wanted to showcase that anger is also part of the red journey. The same goes for yellow: anxiety or cowardice are equally important as happiness or optimism.

      How do you want a reader to feel when they have an unread copy of Sindroms in front of him/her? How do you want him/her to feel after reading it?

Monique: I secretly wish I could be there every time someone opens a new issue of Sindroms. Colors are so personal, there are always aspects that I re-discover or hadn’t thought of before when I talk to someone new about colors. I hope the reader is surprised by how one color has so much to offer, whether positive or negative. Hopefully that will make the reader pick up the magazine over and over again.

Miruna: I’d like people to feel what I feel when discovering a beautiful new publication or just finding a brand new issue from my favourite ones: excited to touch it and to discover what’s inside. Maybe even smell it (or is that just me?). After reading it, I hope that they can’t “unsee” that color, and it follows them everywhere for a while.

    Does Sindroms fit within the Scandinavian aesthetic? Why or why not?

Miruna: It does and it doesn’t. You could say it doesn’t because it’s so obsessively colorful, and that’s not something Scandinavia is particularly famous for. The Scandi color palette is definitely more focused on grey, black and white. You instantly notice this when moving here from a country where color is more easily found and more abundantly used; I personally did, and while I adapted to it so much and changed my style because of it, I did feel this need to bring color in my life here. This played a big part in the inspiration of creating Sindroms, I think.

And it goes beyond the print publication. We try to bring color and this element of monochrome states of mind also through our events in Copenhagen. On the other hand, it does fit within the Scandi aesthetic in terms of visual style. While we are very colorful, we also try to cultivate a quite conceptual and minimalist aesthetic, which has definitely been very influenced by Scandinavia’s design scene.

Monique: Funny that you’re asking! We actually receive this question a lot and it’s so difficult to answer. Before we started, I only noticed all the muted colors; whereas now I’ve started noticing so much color around us. I don’t know if that’s because there has been an increasing color splash recently or if my mind is wired for colors now.

    Given that print is known to be having a tough time on the market right now, what was the initial reaction from people when you told them you were printing a magazine?

Miruna:  It’s true, we had to brush off a few “but everyone knows print is dying” reactions, but we weren’t discouraged by those because we realized they came from people that were not that familiar with the independent publishing market. We believe the statement is partially true: some print may be dying, but other print is thriving. Of course some print publications are suffering – newspapers, mainstream magazines that simply aggregate news or trends – we already have all this content conveniently available online, for free. But indie publishing tells a different story. This market is filled with creative people that are reinventing print, producing beautifully-designed, exciting publications.

Monique: It’s clear that people still love print but they also laugh it off very quickly when I tell them that I have one foot in the printing biz now. I think this two-faced reaction is very interesting and it could go either way. I’m excited to see how the generation that has always been immersed in the digital sphere feels about print. Like Miruna mentioned, print objects have so much more to offer and can even become design objects.

Kotryna: I would say people that were fans of indie publications or were familiar with this industry were really supportive and encouraged us to follow our dream of having a print magazine. But as mentioned, we had a couple of those “print is dying” moments. I think that diving deeper, seeing all the amazing indie mags that are making it and of course having our strong vision made us stick to our goal and finally helped us make it happen.

Ana: In order to approach the print mag industry you strongly need to believe in what it offers compared to digital. All four of us see a higher value in having a print issue rather than creating a digital version. When you also consider the concept of colors and sensuality, print was natural. 


    Explain the production process for Sindroms – where is the paper sourced, where is it printed, bound, etc? Were these vendors hard to find?

Miruna: We work with a printer based in Romania. That’s where Ana and I are from, so it is quite easy for us to visit them when needed and be closely involved in the process. They have a wide variety of paper and materials, and have the patience to do a lot of testing with us prior to printing. This is very important for us – especially since Sindroms is about color – so we are over-the-top picky about the way the colors come out on paper.

    How did it feel to launch your first issue?

Monique: This sounds so cliché but we felt ALL the feelings.The entire rainbow back and forth and back again. It’s really difficult to describe but there was definitely anxiety, overwhelming joy and pride in the mix. I remember seeing Sindroms for the first time so clearly. It’s a moment I’ll never forget.

Miruna: It felt chaotic and overwhelming, but exciting at the same time. Kind of like a positive panic attack, if that makes any sense. It was definitely weird to finally have this magazine in our hands and share it with other people as well, putting it out there in the world and seeing that people liked it and were actually buying it, and not just our friends.

Kotryna: I agree. I felt all the feelings we talk about in our publication. Passion while creating it, love at first sight when I first opened Red Sindrom, anger when something didn’t work out.

Ana: We worked in house on the first issue because we were really picky but also because we wanted to make sure our breakthrough issue was transmitting the exact message we planned for. Looking at the intense working rhythm from the few weeks before the event, the launch itself came as a tornado of happiness.

    Tell us about your upcoming issue! What was the most difficult, and what was the most fun about producing it?

Ana: The most fun was every photoshoot we had for this issue! We worked with so many talented artists for this issue that seeing their creativity into action and working together not only inspired us further, but brought a lot of fun on set as well.

Monique: Because Sindroms is our creative venture after business hours, finding the right balance of a productive but also fun process will always be challenging.

Kotryna: I agree with Monique, finding the balance and making that hard work enjoyable can be tricky sometimes. We are still in the process of learning it, but it is getting better and better. When I think about the most fun times, I firstly remember our “pre-printing” meetings, where we overview all the content, do the final touches and make it ready for print. Of course, the minute when I have it in my hands, that “we did it” moment is something wonderful. As for challenges, it was so hard for me to come up with emotions associated with yellow. I had no idea how yellow feels. After the research and our brainstorm sessions, I was surprised at how many angles on yellow we came up with.

Miruna: This issue is special to me because we managed to go a level up from the red issue. I personally can’t wait to see if our readers will recognize the progress in the same way we do. The yellow issue is thicker, has a reinterpreted cover, and has many more contributors making it more complex.

      Why did you choose to do a Kickstarter? Tell us what that process has been like so far

Ana: Kickstarter for us was a way to start including our community while also expanding it. We saw it as a new challenge in order to be able to take Sindroms to the next level in terms of quantity, as well as in terms of finding new creatives to work with.

Miruna: Exactly, and it was also a great way to get support from our readers and get pre-orders for the yellow issue so that we can make it happen. Printing the magazine is a big financial effort, one that we took upon ourselves for the first issue. While the magazine is out there in stores around the world, the process of getting paid for sales can be very lengthy, and usually doesn’t happen until a new issue is out. So it was really wonderful to be able to gather the support we needed in order to cover our printing costs upfront.

    What advice would you give others wanting to start out in the publishing industry?

Ana: Come from an authentic place, translate your passion into your project, find your own space, build a concept around it, and communicate the initial steps meant to guide your audience.

Monique: Don’t expect to be rich [laughs]! No, but it’s true. If you go into this industry, be passionate about it and have a clear purpose in mind.

Kotryna: Always remember your primary vision and mission. It is very easy to lose it while you are trying to figure out the ways to stay on the market and make some money.

Miruna: Make sure you have an idea that they are passionate about, and be ready to dedicate your life to it. The competition is high, there are dozens of new magazines coming out every month. Ask for advice from others that are doing similar things.

    Want to get the next issue of Sindroms for yourself? Pre-order by donating to their Kickstarter.There are great rewards, such as their Monochrome Dinner (an entirely yellow dining experience!), a curated weekend of color, and the chance to help them decide on next issue’s color!

Ladies Who Launch: Miruna, Ana, Monique & Kotryna of Sindroms Magazine published first on https://medium.com/@OCEANDREAMCHARTERS

[knybits]

A Murder of One

Chapter: 

10

Summary:

Akiko says fuck “Do no harm.” She talks to a man important to others before talking to the man important to she.

Previous Chapter | Origin | Next Chapter

“Let me get this straight… You’re banned from seeing him ever again?” 

“Well, on the bright side-?” 

“There is no bright side.” 

“...I got to meet Oyakata-sama!” 

Kanon sighs, face in her hands as she looks at a messy Akiko. The hems of her hakama is a little ripped and it isn’t tied right, there’s a missing button from her usual poofy blouse, and her hair looks like a mess. 

She’s eating some bread and cheese, crumbs on her face as her crow pecks at what’s fallen on the table.

Kanon doesn’t even want to ask.

“Hey, but I said sorry before it happened!” 

“That doesn’t mean you can just go to the water estate to rip out Giyuu’s hair! What happened to ‘do no harm’?!” 

---

A good few hours earlier, Akiko is seen with a small bundle of food tied to her back and her leather physician's bag in her hand. Kanon looks at her with a tilted head, hands folded behind her back. She doesn’t remember making Akiko food. 

“Where are you going?” Kanon asks, and Akiko jumps. 

“Kanon… Whatever happens… I’m so sorry.” 

Akiko runs out of the house after that, hobbling a little under the weight of her bag. She has to hold it with two hands, and she curses her weak arms. 

A good hour later, Akiko arrives in front of the water pillar estate. The aura to commit a crime oozes from Akiko and she makes a mental list of her weapons- ahem, tools, in her bag. 

“Tomioka-san?” Akiko knocks on the door, “Sorry I’m not Kanon, but can we talk? It’s important.” 

There’s no answer. Akiko furrows her brows. She can see him sitting, looking at the door with slight fear, through a sliver of a crack in the door. Her eyes narrow in on his figure, and she notices that he doesn’t have his katana on him. 

He could probably still mess her up though. 

“I’m walking in,” she deadpans, and she watches him jump a bit. Her bright smile is disarming, and Giyuu doesn’t know why she looks so happy to see him. 

“Good! You’re home! I’m gonna kill you now.” 

Ah, that’s why she looks so happy.

And she’s not kidding. 

Giyuu easy dodges some flimsily thrown scalpels, disarming her easily and tucking her under his arm like he did Shinobu a couple weeks ago. 

“I know you’re mad-” 

“Uh, YEAH. My fiance is alive and you didn’t tell me!” 

“I forgot who he was. Also, I didn’t know his name and you didn’t give me a physical description.” 

“I DON’T CARE!!” 

Kakushis arrive to the water pillar estate under frantic orders, only to find the two tumbling around the tatami mats. Akiko is going absolutely feral on Giyuu and yells at him for bringing her so much pain. Giyuu takes it like a champ, but he doesn’t suffer any injuries. Akiko gets hurt the most, honestly. 

The kakushis have to rip Akiko off of Giyuu, Goto asking her what’s wrong and promising her some snacks and a free therapy session later. She resists for a while, until a kakushi pleads for Giyuu to knock the poor girl out. 

He does as he’s told, a swift hand delivered to her neck, and the last thing Akiko sees is the guilty look on Giyuu’s face. 

When she wakes up, she’s not at the Butterfly Estate. She’s laying in a garden, the shade of a tree protecting her. There’s light humming nearby, and Akiko blinks to readjust her sight. 

She sees Giyuu seated patiently far away from her first. Then, she sees a man with long hair and a serene face. His eyes are dull, and Akiko concludes that whatever is making him look so sickly must be why he’s blind. 

“Tamura Akiko has awoken,” Giyuu states, and the man stops humming. He smiles at the direction of Giyuu’s voice, nodding his head in thanks. 

“Thank you, Giyuu. You may go now.” 

A fuzzy feeling awakens in Akiko’s chest and she stands from her spot underneath the tree, slowly walking towards the man. He hears her footsteps and waits patiently, hands folded in his lap with a smile on his face. 

“Come,” he pats the wooden floor next to him, “sit beside me.” 

She does as she’s told, and she doesn’t feel any anger in her heart anymore. The aura this man radiates is soft, and Akiko can’t find it in her heart to hate Giyuu right now. She even feels a little bad for Giyuu, but she shakes her head at the thought. 

Three years of agony and suffering can’t be excused nor forgotten. 

“I’m so glad I get to meet another one of my lovely children. You’re worked so hard to save so many,” he says, and she smiles weakly. 

“Children?” 

“The demon slayer, yes. I commend you for your service.” 

Akiko tilts her head in confusion, “But I’m not… I’m not a demon slayer.” 

The man offers her another smile, and Akiko’s heart skips a beat. 

What happens next makes her heart stop completely. 

He suddenly holds his arm out, and Akiko nearly screams at the crow that lands. 

She backs away uneasily, sweating profusely as the man pets the crow. 

“This is Miruna, by the way. Your crow. A kasugai karasu for demon slayers.” 

Miruna looks at Akiko before hopping off the man’s arm to land closer to Akiko. She shakes at the sight of her own crow, breathing highly irregular and shaking down to her bones. 

“I’m sorry for attacking Giyuu but just get that thing away from me,” Akiko quickly rambles out, closing her eyes when Miruna tilts her head at Akiko. 

The man chuckles lightly before looking to the source of her voice, “May I see your hands?” 

Akiko rushes to his other side, away from her crow, before doing as she’s told. His grip on her hands tighten when she struggles to get away, Miruna flying onto the man’s shoulder closest to Akiko. 

The man starts to hum again, and the crow relaxes on his shoulder, closing its eyes. Akiko stares at it with wide eyes, breathing slowed significantly to the point where she might not even be breathing at all. 

“Feel better now?” 

“You’re going to die.” 

He laughs, shoulders shaking as Miruna is disturbed from their peace. 

“Why do you say that?” He inquires, and Akiko blushes with embarrassment. 

She turns away, hand relaxing in his hold, “My eyes… They’re cursed. That’s why. The minute my eyes see a crow, someone dies.” 

He hums at her explanation before smiling. The crow hops down right in front of Akiko, and he feels her tense up again. So he continues to sing under his breath, and her shoulders relax. She allows for him to lead her hands forward, though Akiko still jumps at the feeling of soft feathers against her slightly cut up hands. 

“Not so cursed now, hm?” 

Akiko leaves the Ubuyashiki estate with her bag of food and physician’s bag, names and faces memorized in her mind, a crow perched on her shoulder, a warning, and a dangerous proposal. 

--- 

“Akiko!” 

Said girl turns her head at the sound of her name, and she smiles gently at Tanjirou. He looks utterly exhausted, his body bruised lightly in random places from what Akiko can see. Despite his fatigue, Tanjirou still looks more worried for her than himself. 

“Are you okay?” Akiko starts first, “You’re all battered up!” 

Tanjirou laughs weakly and the two walk down the hallway together. He nods his head before explaining, “Sumi, Naho and Kiyo have been hitting me with futon beaters so that I can learn to do the full concentration breathing all the time.” 

Akiko raises her brow, watching the way his chest and shoulders rise to confirm that he really is doing the full concentration breathing. He’s not lying, but she worries at the method. 

“But besides that, I heard something happened between you and Giyuu-san?” 

Just at the mention of his name, Akiko grows a bit irritated. She wishes for Oyakata’s humming, but the look on Tanjirou’s face is enough to ease her nerves. 

She sighs in defeat, “Let’s talk about this on the engawa. I’ll ask Kanon for some snacks.” 

Zenitsu and Inosuke are still moping around the medical ward, and Akiko knows that Tanjirou and she are at risk of being overheard by the blonde. But when she checks in on the two in silence, she finds that Zenitsu is curled up next to Nezuko’s box. Inosuke snores loudly, and she rolls her eyes. 

Tanjirou is already waiting for her by the engawa, head turned to face her before she even rounds the corner to the garden. There’s some matcha tea waiting for them, and some of Akiko’s favorite rice crackers. 

He doesn’t say anything. Akiko appreciates that he’s okay with waiting for her. 

Birds fly by, and Akiko hears her crow caw nearby. Tanjirou doesn’t smell her fear anymore, and he only wonders as to what happened. 

“I met Oyakata-sama,” she starts, and his eyes widen. 

“You did?” 

“Mhm. He called me one of his children. He has a nice voice.” 

The conversation falls silent again, and Akiko feels awkward. There continues to be pauses and moments where they both don't know what to say. Their rhythms are struggling to pace with each other, and there are times where the sailor has to leave for the ocean. 

“But I went to find Giyuu to fight him.” 

Tanjirou raises a brow, but he Akiko’s scent indicates that she’s being completely truthful. 

Sure, he understands that Giyuu is a hard person to approach, what with his aloofness and cold personality and blunt tone, but to want to fight him? And for Akiko of all people to want to fight someone? 

She can see that he wants to know why, so she continues, “He told me you died.” 

“Really? He did?” 

Akiko nods, taking a sip from her matcha before closing her eyes, listening to everything around her. Tanjirou continues to watch his fiance, trying to redraw Akiko’s imagine into his mind. 

“I never got the letters you sent to my grandmother, and Tomioka-san telling me that you died put me through three years of emotional hell. And then...” she opens her eyes the barest amount, lashes brushing her cheeks and a sliver of sunlight peeking out, “you came back.” 

He falters, mind going blank when she turns to face him. He’s caught in her eyes all over again, and it’s almost as if he’s being pulled in.  

Tanjirou is drowning in liquid gold.

His insecurities rise to the surface and Akiko can see them plain as day. 

Zenitsu wakes up to the sound of nails on a chalkboard, and he grasps his ears at the severity of the sounds. It doesn’t take much energy to realize that Akiko and Tanjirou are out of sync, and they’re struggling. 

It’s been three years but he can smell the city life radiate off of her. The brushing of shoulders in Tokyo, a smell completely foreign to Japan that Tanjirou has to assume it’s what other countries smell like. It’s her western blouse that throws Tanjirou off the most, as he can smell that it’s most likely been imported or bought overseas. 

Moga. 

A modern woman. 

When they were kids, he thought he would support the family he would have with Akiko. She’d be great at teaching the kids and taking care of them with her medical knowledge, and they would live comfortably. 

But she smells so strongly of independence, verging isolation, and Tanjirou is afraid that she doesn’t need him. 

Doesn’t want him. 

Akiko can see through the rise and fall of his chest that his breathing has quickened, and his heart rate is speeding up. It’s different from the concentration breathing she sees from Kanao, so there’s something wrong. 

And she wants to hold him close to her.

He looks so stressed and overwhelmed and she knows that it’s because of her. Because of them. 

He can smell how dancers step on each other’s feet and the pain they feel between Akiko and he.  Akiko can see the artist fail to encapture their vision onto canvas, failing their model and enveloped with defeat. 

Even Zenitsu can hear the orchestra fail to follow the conductor, and the panic that ensues. 

Still, Akiko quietly reaches out. 

The hands supporting her behind her back are an exact mirror of Tanjirou’s sitting form. One carefully extends, and the tips of her fingers loosely find a way to become woven with his own. 

Tanjiou blinks, snapping out of his panicked state to look down at his hands. They’re laced together ever so slightly, her fingers finding the opening gaps of his spread out ones. 

He hates to think it, but she smells closer to him both physically and figuratively now. 

And so he smiles, his breathing reverting back to its full concentration breathing for practice and his heart rate decelerating from it’s erratic one. Tanjirou further pushes his fingers through her’s, tightening his grip and absentmindedly tracing her thumb with his own in circles. 

They’re flushing red, looking away from each other, but they decide to scoot closer so that Akiko can place her head on his shoulder. They were always close in height as kids, but now Tanjirou is significantly taller than she, and her head rests comfortably in the crook of his neck. 

Tanjirou still can’t understand Akiko and Akiko continues to look for a version of Tanjirou that doesn’t exist, but for now, at least now, the dancers glide across the floor and the artist completes their masterpiece with the help of their muse. 

Zenitsu can hear their hearts beat as one, like that of a symphony.

everybody say THANK YOU @wittlecowokie for this new update bc their drawing of akiko made me pumped af :,,) (although i have a bunch of chapters already prewritten thanks to my hiatus) 

tanjirou isnt trying to dismiss akiko’s independence!! he’s rly not guys, and i gotta try and make that clear here. she’s borderline ab to isolate herself thinking that’s what independence is, and doesn’t realize that she can and should rely on others. tanjirou relates this moga ideal with her isolation and worries for her, since he doesnt know all too much ab the new modern woman. 

also 👀👀👀 a proposal??? wonder what thats all about mmmmmm

sorry this chapter felt a little all over the place,,, im trying to figure my writing out lmaooo  

hope you guys look forward to the next chapter!