#not saying what Mine did was right but he was spot on about Kiryu

[skysquid22]

Came to a revelation about Daigo’s character while I was half awake.

His anger is a massive part of his character and the fact he is/seems so controlled and mellowed once he’s Chairman is a bit of a testament to Kiryu’s power to inspire others (look at Mine and Hamazaki). But I think that anger is always there, no matter how we see Daigo. The Fudo Myo-o tattoo alone represents a deity who, in one translation, has a name meaning ‘Violent Wrathful One’ and slays ghosts and spirits with his fierce anger. Chosen for Y2 Daigo because of his position to be a leader someday and his anger, despite on the surface him embodying apathy more at the start. Kiryu is the one that forces him into a more active position and their first goal working together is making peace with with the Omi, but Daigo the entire time lashes out. He constantly fights Ryuji to varying degrees of success and later I think the more powerful display of anger comes out against Koji Shindo, the second Nishikiyama patriarch.

Murder undeniably is a pretty big deal to the main characters of these games and practically is the linchpin to the plot of 0. Y1 and Y2 don’t treat as serious because different writing at the time but nonetheless I’m going to meta-ize the fact that Daigo outright kills Shindo. He shot him to disarm him for aiming to kill Yayoi then shot him dead after yelling at him for nearly fucking over the Tojo Clan and probably also likely as revenge for Shindo forcing himself upon his mom. The only reason he doesn’t shoot him more despite the second shot being a death blow is because Kiryu steps in to curb his anger (pull his gun down and shake his head).

[More under the cut.]

Before Kiryu kicks his ass out of apathy, Daigo was in the midst of a decade long struggle to come to terms with his father’s death, the majority of the time where he believed his hero had done the deed. He had to have been pissed off beyond compare and had no way to come to terms with it directly so he burned off his rage like many men in the series—getting into stupid fights. His impulsiveness got him into the set up by Ryuji, landing him in jail for five years. Even before all this, going back to Y0, he’s being a brat because he’s angry over no one treating him like a person, only as the son of the patriarch. His father was neglecting him because of his job and considering that Yayoi was active enough in the Clan to be the acting Chairman, she was probably in the same boat of neglect. Kiryu, his only friend basically, got kicked out of the Clan and yes Daigo says that it’s no reason for him and Kiryu to not hang out again he does phrase it as a question. At the very least, he’s unsure and worried that he’s going to be alone. It makes sense he decides to get apathetic about it and not care who wants to be his friend, but that apathy comes from his anger over feeling trapped in a situation.

People shit on Daigo a lot for making bad decisions but I think his decision making skills comes from two sources. Trying to be like Kiryu and trying to not let his own anger fuck over the situation, as the times before where he’s done that has either made the situation worse for himself (hating fake friends but giving into fake friends bc he’s lashing out) or he killed someone for it. That has to be hanging over his consciousness, or at least I’m going to treat him like it does with how the rest of the series treats murder. Kiryu being his hero sets up a lot of shitty actions on Kiryu’s part that Daigo follows because of course he will it’s Kiryu (who in fairness does help him sort his shit out it just also comes with consequences). Regardless of Daigo coming to honor the job of Chairman or not, it was a shitty thing to push the responsibility of the job from Kiryu to Daigo. Daigo needed direction at the time and it’s not a stretch to say that Chairman would’ve been a fit for him (and Kiryu ended up being right), it wasn’t what Daigo was looking for at the time. He didn’t need or want or care for the Tojo Clan until Kiryu knocked some sense into him. I’m arguing both sides here because Kiryu’s decision worked out well, but it was still a shitty decision since Daigo was pushed into taking the role at the start. Responsibility trumps over personal wants. As the series goes on, Daigo still looks up to Kiryu, but actively looks to him for advice on how to handle the Tojo Clan. Again it’s a situation that makes sense from both sides.

Daigo’s job is to lead the Clan, he can’t rely on Kiryu’s council or leading hand as he did for him during Y2. It’s a distance that Daigo has to learn to establish. I’m not saying it’s bad that Daigo makes exceptions for Kiryu, but it is to be reliant on him. This was sort of a crux in Mine’s argument in Y3–that the Tojo Clan had priority over Kiryu, especially considering that Kiryu was no longer in the Clan. The massive core to this back and forth argument (how much should Kiryu help Daigo out) is the fact that Kiryu was the Fourth Chairman. He had just as much responsibility to the Clan as Daigo does and while Daigo chooses to lead, Kiryu passed the buck to Terada (which lets be honest was the most short-sighted and one of the stupidest decisions on his part). It flatly comes across as Kiryu not wanting to take the responsibility of his position and that reasoning influences every single interaction with Daigo from then on. Yes, Daigo is a sound choice to become Sixth Chairman, yes also Kiryu did it because he didn’t want to take responsibility to be Chairman himself (hi Mine, you were right on this). Yes, Daigo needed to not rely on his hero, a person he idolized so much despite spending nearly a decade confusingly hating, yes also Kiryu should’ve given him council when requested because it would’ve likely helped the situation more than hurt it and also it kept the connection between them. Daigo saw Kiryu as a friend when he had none, then as his fallen hero, then back to being his hero for saving him from his own self destruction tendencies, then… that last part stagnates. Kiryu’s connection to Daigo when he’s Chairman is distant and not at all close. Considering the reaching out efforts Daigo makes, it makes more sense that Daigo is the one with the father complex upon Kiryu and not the other way around. Kiryu never reaches out to Daigo for anything other than Work(tm) and even then it’s only out of a response to more external pressures AND after Daigo tries to reach out. His letter to Kiryu comes as a result of reuniting with Haruka in Y6, it’s not much of his own resolve to reach out naturally.

All of this is to say—how could Daigo not be incredibly angry? During his time as Chairman he seems composed, slipping out into normal anger or being worried since he’s struggling with the job, but considering his former displays of anger up to that point I think it’s a miracle Daigo didn’t have a midlife crisis and cracked. He has to be full of rage, but managing to keep it under wraps because appearances are important. His life has always revolved around what others have expected for him, never once getting a say in what he wants to do from the start. Instead of his hero worship snapping, he clung even harder to it to make up for the fact that he had no one else to turn to. His same hero writes him a letter after his death about how he saw him as a son to him despite only being there for him when it was convenient and also when it also served to benefit himself. (Some dad, huh…) I want to see Daigo angry at Kiryu, I want him to grow outside of the garden Kiryu made for him.

[twilightmalachite]

Christmas Live - Line to Line 4

Author: Akira

Characters: Chiaki, Kanata, Tetora, Midori

Translator: 310mc

JP Proofer: Mika Enstars

EN Proofer: ryuseipuka

"Huh? Where’d this come from…? I’m Ryusei Black, aren’t I?"

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Season: Winter

Location: Park’s Live Stage

Tetora: Here you go, Midori-kun; the green-colored outfit’s for you…♪

Midori: Uuu, so I’m also gonna participate in the end…? I’m not a fan of the green-colored Santa-san costume, since it kinda makes him seem like he’s an impostor…?

Kanata: how [colorful]~ it looks like a [coral reef]. mine will be~ blue…♪

Midori: Ah—Shinkai-senpai, you were sleeping this whole time, but you’re awake now, huh…?

Are you doing alright, health-wise…? If you’re not feeling it, how about we go home together…?

Kanata: ufufu. i do not want to be the only one [left out]~ let’s work hard at this job… okay, midori? ♪

the five of us together are ryuseitai, you know…♪

Kanata: chiaki~ chiaki will be [red] as always, right? here you go~...♪

Chiaki: … …

Kanata: what is wrong, chiaki? you do not seem energetic…?

did you catch my [cold]...?

Chiaki: Ah, no… Nagumo, would you like to wear the outfit for Red this time?

Tetora: Huh? Where’d this come from…? I’m Ryusei Black, aren’t I?

There’s a black Santa outfit here, so I’ll be wearing this one, yeah~?

Chiaki: No, it’s just that I thought it’d be a good opportunity for you. After all, you seem to admire Kiryu—...admire Akatsuki. Plus, you’d much prefer the color red over black, right?

And yet, you’ve constantly had a color that barely satisfies your wishes pushed onto you. I’m sorry, I also had my reasons why I couldn’t just give up Red, but…

I’ve had you bear with it all this time, and I apologize for that.

Tetora: Mm~... Well, yeah, I couldn’t stand a single bit of it at first. Every time I put on the black outfit, I felt so pathetic and frustrated with myself.

But the black spots on the sun are where the temperature is lower. And that’s what I am.

I’m still inexperienced, and I was lacking in lots of different areas. That’s why I couldn’t get into Akatsuki—That’s all there is to it.

So that one day I can burst into red flames… I’m currently getting a share of everyone’s coal and heat.

I’m still a greenhorn who can’t yet reach Taichou’s level, let alone Taisho’s.

And when the day comes that I wear the red outfit… I don’t want it to be just ‘cuz “the opportunity for it has come”; I wanna wear it once I personally feel satisfied and ready for it.

So, is it alright if we put this talk off ‘til next year?

I’ll be sure to grow strong by the day you graduate and leave, Taichou.

As for Santa-san, he always comes dressed in the color red.

And Red, the leading actor… is definitely you, Taichou. I appreciate how you feel, but I’m just not capable enough yet.

Right now, Ryusei Black suits me just right. I’ll gladly wear this outfit.

So you don’t have to be considerate over stuff that nobody asked for, y’know~? It doesn’t suit you at all to be like that, anyway.

Chiaki: Ah, I see… You’ve really grown, Nagumo. May I hug you?

Tetora: No, I don’t want it. What’s with you today? You’re kinda acting gross. You sure you didn’t catch a cold?

Chiaki: Ah, no, sorry… Thank you, Nagumo—For growing up to be so big and strong.[1]

Aaalrighty then, I’ll wear the red outfit with much gratitude!

I’ll sing with all my might today, as Santa-san! For the sake of bringing dreams to all the kids out there! Fuhahaha…! ☆

Kanata: … …♪

Midori: Shinkai-senpai, your face is red… If you’re still not feeling well, please make sure to rest, okay…?

Kanata: no, i am [alright]. i feel [nice] and [warm] somehow~...♪

o holy night… the stars are brightly shining… twinkle, twinkle~♪[2]

[ ☆ ]

← prev | story directory | next →

Chiaki says something similar to Tetora a year later, in Motor Show, Epilogue 3.

He’s singing the lyrics from kiyoshi kono yoru, also known as Silent Night.

[meadowmines]

WIP: The Bit, Chapter 4

[In which baby bi Kiryu has several questions Majima is happy to answer, and Majima has one Kiryu doesn’t want to answer]

The window is barely gray when Majima wakes up in Kiryu’s arms. He wishes he could have gotten a little more good sleep to prepare for whatever the fuck is going down tonight, but on the other hand he gets to lay here and enjoy this for a little while and that’s nice. He feels the pad of Kiryu’s thumb absently stroking back and forth across his fingernails, and he guesses Kiryu knows he’s awake because he hears a little thoughtful noise to go along with that.

“‘Sup?” Majima grunts.

He feels that thumb tap on one of his fingernails. “Just wondering if I should do mine.”

Huh? Oh, right. He did let one of the girls go nuts on his nails a couple nights ago, didn’t he? They’re too short to do a proper French manicure on but Keiko did her best: his usual patent-leather black, with slim little crescents of silver at the tips to match his shoes. “Do ya wanna do ‘em?”

Kiryu shrugs and makes a little I dunno noise. It doesn’t sound like he’s particularly squicked out by the idea, but it doesn’t sound like he’s all that into it either. 

“If ya wanna try it, try it. If ya don’t, don’t.” Majima twists around and snuggles into his chest. “I mean. If ya try it and hate it it comes off, but if you already know you’re not gonna like it... why bother?”

“Mm.” A long silence while Kiryu absorbs that. “What about makeup?”

“What about it?”

“You wear it sometimes. Eye stuff.”

“Yeah.” Majima picks up his head to look Kiryu in the eye. The half-lidded drowsy thousand-yard stare is less than informative. “What’s all this about makeup n’ shit this early in the morning?”

“I dunno.” Kiryu shrugs again. “Is that... stuff we’re supposed to do?”

“‘We’ who?”

“Guys like us. That... like other guys. I just... I’ve never wanted to try makeup and stuff, so I thought maybe I’m... doing this wrong.”

Oh, bless his little heart. “I do it ‘cause it’s fun and nobody's left to tell me I can't. If it don’t sound like fun to you, don’t worry about it. There’s no wrong way to be you, dingus.”

“Okay.” That seems to be the right answer, going by the way Kiryu relaxes. “It looks good on you, though.” There’s another long thoughtful silence. “Do you ever wear other... lady stuff? Like...” He trails off again, less “thoughtful” this time and more “not sure if what he’s trying to say will get him punched.”

“Drag,” Majima says. “The word you’re lookin’ for is ‘drag.’” 

There’s an airy little chuckle of relief. “Okay. I thought so, but I wasn’t sure enough to actually say it.”

Majima turns his head and presses a little playful kiss to Kiryu’s innocent little shoulder just to show there’s no hard feelings. “Nah, but I’d be lyin’ if I told ya I never thought about it. Always got a little jealous when I took my girls shoppin’. Ain’t fair that girls get all the fun sparkly shit, y’know?” Huh. He’s never said that out loud. “‘S kinda funny. Like... I’m a man. Inside n’ out, through n’ through. Never thought of myself as anything else. But damned if I don’t like the idea of bein’ pretty sometimes.”

Kiryu makes another one of those little thoughtful noises. “That makes sense. I can’t explain how but... yeah. I get it.”

They don’t say anything else for a while. They just lie there sort of half-dozing off, and Majima finds himself absently trailing his fingertips along Kiryu’s collarbone, to a spot he’s noticed a few times since he’s been staying here but hasn’t had the guts to ask about. There’s a scar there, pretty fresh if that shade of pink is anything to go by, and Majima knows there are only so many things that leave a scar like that and he doesn’t like the idea of any of them happening to Kiryu. “Tell me this ain’t what it looks like,” he says, before he can stop himself.

“What’s it look like?”

“Like you got shot.”

The silence is different, at that. Heavier. Majima thinks, for a minute, that Kiryu might actually be trying to find the right words for this. 

Instead, Kiryu rolls over, pinning Majima under him. Majima doesn’t expect it to feel nearly as good as it does--the warm, solid weight of Kiryu pressing him into the futon just does something to him, something that makes all the fight just sort of leak out of him. “Oi. Don’t change the subject.”

“You said not to ask about yours.” Kiryu ducks his head to trail a few lingering kisses down Majima’s sternum, and there’s nothing Majima can do about it but pet the back of his head and let out a little breathy whine for more. “Maybe I don’t want to talk about mine either.”

“Okay.” Majima nods and lets out another breathy little noise when he feels Kiryu’s thigh settle between his. “Okay. ‘S fair.”

[cryingcow]

Mine & Daigo - Kirin’s Dream [RGGO]

To celebrate Y3 soon becoming available on the PC, have some RGGO-approved MineDai angst :D This 2-part Event is different from the previous ones I translated, because instead of scratchcard/lottery tickets, the goal is beating Mine up 100 times!

It’s not necessary to understand this, but if you haven’t read it, check out Mine’s Character Story because that’s where they first become drinking buddies :D

(Just look at this weirdly-textured taxi that Mine left Daigo! )

Mine: “I’m giving you all my taxi companies in my will, Daigo-san, because I love you.”

Daigo: “Haha, you mean like family, right? :D ”

 Note: “惚れこん” according to the various dictionaries I’ve checked means “fell in love with”, “is charmed by”, “deeply admire”, or “has a strong attachment to”. I went with “enamored” because that seemed like a good blanket word for all that. (Just saying this before someone accuses me of purposely making this shippy XD ). Also, the “hot” that Daigo says is “temperature hot”. I’m leaving it as is because the last time I tried wording it as “burning hot”, it just ended up sounding more suggestive lol

 .

PROLOGUE

.

|March 2009. A few hours before Kiryu and Mine have their final battle . . .|

Mine: “How soon before we arrive at Toto University Hospital?”

Hakuho Clan Member: “I think we’ll be there in about 15 minutes.”

Mine: “I see.”

{Mine’s phone rings.}

Mine: “Hello, this is Mine.”

Richardson: “It’s me, Richardson. Have you arrived in Tokyo yet?”

Mine: “Yeah, I just came back from Okinawa. I’m heading now to Toto University Hospital where Chairman Dojima is hospitalized, based from your information.”

Richardson: “ O  K  . Do you know what to do once you get to the hospital?”

Mine: “Of course. I will end Chairman Dojima by my hands. Afterwards, I will take over the development plan of Okinawa as the successor of the Tojo Clan. You can do as you wish.”

Richardson: “Very well. But I worry if you can actually do it.”

Mine: “What?”

Richardson: “You were very fond of Dojima Daigo. More than anyone I’ve ever met. Is it really possible to have a change of heart right before you kill?”

Mine: “. . . A bedridden Dojima Daigo is useless as long as he is alive. I’ll pull the curtain close on him. That’s all there is.”

{The phone call ends.}

Mine: “. . .”

Hakuho Clan Member: “Um, Chairman Mine?”

Mine: “What?”

Hakuho Clan Member: “Do you really want to kill Chairman Dojima?”

Mine: “. . .”

Hakuho Clan Member: “Though you told Richardson otherwise, I’m well aware that you are enamored with Chairman Dojima. Can you really do it once you arrive at the hospital?”

Mine: “You talk too much. Shut up.”

Hakuho Clan Member: “Pardon me . . .”

{The car keeps driving until Mine spots a certain bar outside.}

Mine: “! . . . Oi, park the car.”

Hakuho Clan Member: “Eh? But we’re not at the hospital yet?”

Mine: “It’s fine, stop here.”

{The car stops.}

Mine: “. . . I didn’t think I’d pass here by chance. I’m going out alone for a while. You guys stay in the car.”

Hakuho Clan Member: “Understood.”

----

Bartender: “Welcome . . . what’s this? Isn’t this Mine-san?”

Mine: “It’s been a long time, bartender.”

Bartender: “It’s rare for you to come alone. Usually you’re with Chairman Dojima.”

Mine: “I happened to go past the bar so I stopped by. I wanted a moment to think in a calm place . . .”

Bartender: “Is that so. I heard that the Tojo Clan is having a lot of trouble due to the shooting of Chairman Dojima. So please take your time. Mine-san’s favorite is bourbon, right?”

Mine: “Yeah. Please give me one drink.”

----

Mine: “Phew . . . thank you for the break.”

Bartender: “So, is Daigo-san safe?”

Mine: “. . . No. He still hasn’t regained consciousness after getting shot.”

Bartender: “Is that right. I hope he’ll get well soon so you can drink together again.”

Mine: “. . .”

Mine: “Thank you, bartender. Thanks to the drink, I’m able to calm down. I’ll be taking my leave . . .”

Bartender: “. . . Mine-san. Wait a minute. Can you take a look at this?”

Mine: “What is it? What about that bottle?”

Bartender: “This bottle was previously brought by Chairman Dojima, asking me to store it in the bar.”

Mine: “Chairman Dojima?”

Bartender: “Yeah. When the Chairman brought this liquor, he said this: ‘I got some good liquor, so please store it here so I can drink it with Mine next time.’”

Mine: “!”

Bartender: “That person really thinks of the Tojo Clan as his own family. Even when he comes here to drink alone, that’s all he talks about. Talking with worry or with pride . . . Of course, he talks about you often.”

Mine: “Chairman is . . . what is the Chairman saying about me?”

Bartender: “’Is he being too careful in front of me? Is Mine’s impression of money really okay? I’m just worried. Still, there is no one in the Tojo Clan now as reliable as he is.’ . . . is what I remember him saying.”

Mine: “The Chairman said all that . . .”

Bartender: “Even if he is unconscious now, Chairman Dojima will wake up and be able to come back someday. Mine-san thinks so too, right?”

Mine: “. . . . . . I believe in that person’s return . . . is there a way to wait, I wonder?”

Bartender: “Hm? Did you say something?”

Mine: “. . . No, it’s nothing.”

{Mine’s phone rings.}

Mine: “Hello, this is Mine.”

Richardson: “Richardson. New information about Kiryu Kazuma has been obtained. Apparently he has also learned about Dojima Daigo’s whereabouts. It seems he is heading there from Okinawa now.”

Mine: “! Kiryu is going to Chairman Dojima too . . . Alright. I’ll be at the hospital soon.”

{The phone call ends.}

Bartender: “What happened, Mine-san? You made a scary face . . .”

Mine: “. . . Thank you very much for telling me all this, bartender. It’s time for me to go. I’ll drop by the bar again soon.”

Bartender: “Ah~ I’m sorry, Mine-san. This bar is about to close down.”

Mine: “Really?”

Bartender: “Yes. Sales have been scarce these days, so I’ve been thinking if it was time to withdraw. That’s why I finally served this bottle. I was wondering if you would like to drink it for Chairman Dojima as well.”

Mine: “. . . No. The Chairman prepared that bottle to drink together with me. I can’t drink it alone.”

Bartender: “Is that so. But now there’s a problem. I can’t leave this as it is . . .”

Mine: “. . . Bartender. Regarding that, I have a suggestion.”

Bartender: “A suggestion?”

----

Hakuho Clan Member: “We’ve been waiting for you Chairman. The car is waiting on the street. Please go this way.”

Mine: “Heh. What I did . . . I had a faint little dream.”

Hakuho Clan Member: “Chairman?”

Mine: “It’s nothing. Kiryu is heading to Toto University Hospital. We’ll snuff him out together with Chairman Dojima.  . . . Let’s go.”

.

-END-

.

EPILOGUE

.

|A few weeks after the end of the decisive battle between Mine Yoshitaka and Kiryu Kazuma.|

Tojo Clan Member: “Congratulations on your discharge, Chairman Dojima.”

Daigo: “Yeah, thank you.”

Tojo Clan Member: “The car will pick you up by the entrance. Please head there . . .”

----

Daigo: “. . .”

Tojo Clan Member: “What’s wrong, Chairman? Even though you’ve been discharged from the hospital, you’re wearing a heavier look on your face. Are you still feeling ill?”

Daigo: “No . . . I still can’t believe it. That Mine could have caused such an incident . . .”

Tojo Clan Member: “I see, is it about Mine Yoshitaka? The Chairman believed that man to be like family. But he tried to kill the Chairman.  . . . An unforgivable traitor, if you ask me.”

Daigo: “The Mine I knew was serious and wise, yet he is a hot man at his core. Why did Mine do such a thing . . . Was the Mine I knew the ‘real Mine’?”

Tojo Clan Member: “Chairman . . .”

Daigo: “I’m sorry. Change your destination.”

Tojo Clan Member: “Eh? But the Tojo Clan Headquarters is preparing to celebrate your discharge . . .”

Daigo: “It’s bad, but I feel like drinking alone now. Head to my usual bar.”

Tojo Clan Member: “Understood. If the Chairman says so . . .”

----

Daigo: “Long time no see, bartender.”

Bartender: “Ah, well if it isn’t Chairman Dojima! Has your body already recovered?”

Daigo: “Yeah, I left the hospital today. So I came here for a drink.”

Bartender: “Is it okay to be discharged from the hospital and drink alcohol so soon?”

Daigo: “The alcohol I drink here is better for my body than the medicine I was drinking at the hospital.”

Bartender: “Heh, alright. Would you like your usual for now?”

Daigo: “Yes, please.”

----

Daigo: “Phew~ . . . the alcohol soaks into my throat after a long time.”

Daigo: “. . .”

Bartender: “Something wrong?”

Daigo: “I was thinking about Mine . . .”

Bartender: “Is that so. I heard he died.”

Daigo: “I was thinking the whole time I was hospitalized. What kind of man was Mine, really . . . I’ve always believed him to be family. But what was I to him . . . I still don’t understand it.”

Bartender: “So that’s what’s troubling you. Chairman Dojima . . . actually, Mine-san had come to this bar by himself before he died.”

Daigo: “What? What did you two talk about?”

Bartender: “We talked a lot. About how you thought of the Tojo Clan as your family . . . We also talked about this bottle that you brought.”

Daigo: “. . . Oh, is that the bottle I asked you to set aside for me to drink with Mine?”

Bartender: “I told you this before, that I’ve been thinking of closing this bar soon due to financial difficulties.”

Daigo: “Yeah.”

Bartender: “But if the bar closes, I can’t keep this bottle in here. That’s why I decided to have Mine-san drink it, and at the time I served him this bottle. However, Mine-san didn’t drink it. ‘The bottle was prepared by the Chairman to drink with me, I cannot drink it alone,’ he said.”

Daigo: “. . . that sounds just like Mine.”

Bartender: “So when I was wondering what to do with this bottle, Mine-san offered a suggestion.”

Daigo: “A suggestion?”

Bartender: “’I’ll buy the bar and help you, so don’t close it down,’ he told me.”

Daigo: “! Why did Mine make such a proposal?”

Bartender: “At the time, Mine also said: ‘This place has my last memories of drinking with Daigo-san . . . so I want to keep it around forever.’”

Daigo: “Mine did that . . . . . . Thank you, bartender. It was nice listening to Mine’s story. So with Mine gone, are you planning to close down the bar after all?”

Bartender: “No, I decided not to close down the bar.”

Daigo: “Eh?”

Bartender: “Mine-san and Daigo-san . . . I thought it would be a bit hard to bear to lose the place of your memories. I’ve found a bank that would loan to me, so I’ll keep it going.”

Daigo: “I see . . . Thank you very much, bartender.”

Bartender: “So, Chairman Dojima. What will happen to the bottle you were supposed to drink with Mine-san? Do I open it here so you can drink it now?”

Daigo: “. . . No, don’t. If Mine didn’t drink it, then leave it as is.”

Bartender: “Understood. Then I’ll put it back on the shelf.”

Daigo: “. . . Really . . . so he was the same one I knew until the end . . .”

Daigo: “. . . You’re a big idiot . . . . . . Mine . . . !!”

.

-END-

Masterlist

[itsybitsylemonsqueezy]

I know this isn’t an ask prompt but I would love to know if you had any ideas for a Kazumaji proposal?

Awww, you’re so sweet anon, thank you! Hmmmm, let me think. The problem with them is where to pick it up in continuity? End of 5? After 3? Even before 1? 

I’m quite partial to after 5 myself just because Kiryu’s this old gay man by then who seems to realize that he’s wasted a lot of time not doing the things that made him happy for the greater good and, in doing that, may have sacrificed the thing most important to him. It just feels like a good place for these middle-aged men who have known each other too intimately and too well to finally, y’know, be happy. Let themselves be happy. 

Majima, meanwhile, has been ready to marry and settle down practically since he met Kiryu. If you’ve seen 2, then you see how painstakingly Majima constructs (pun intended) a safe, stable environment apart from the Tojo Clan while not wholly divorcing from it. He’s still accessible when he needs to be, but he has total security living on top of the Florist so he has early warning for any and all threats and has amassed a reputable business with a lot of strong and loyal types that would deter petty disputes. I don’t know about you, but sounds like a pretty reasonable place to raise children if you were also someone who needed to do yakuza business and keep your flock of children safe. I’m Just Saying. And Majima... just waits. Just sits there and waits, ever ready for Kiryu to come to him, for whatever he needs, providing though he hasn’t been asked. I- ugggghhhhhh. Fuck. 

And after 3 seems like such a reasonable time for Kiryu to come back to the fold. I think it’s fair that Kiryu tries to find himself, that he isn’t sure being yakuza is really want he wants to do after all and he goes off to raise some kids because he thinks that’s what he wants. And let’s be real, Kiryu needs a family, he loves his kids, he loves having people to take care of and having people around who love and support him. It does him good. But there’s a reality check there. It’s cool that you want a family and all and you were left devastated by the yakuza life and all your family, all your identity markers were stripped from you because they’re all dead so you’re scrambling to make a new identity with new people filling in those gaps, that’s cool and all, but it’s too fucking late. You’re Kiryu fucking Kazuma, you’re the Dragon of fucking Dojima and you will never not be that. Whatever else you are, whoever else you become, you are always going to be that too. 

And this is what Kazama was trying to warn you and Nishiki about when he said don’t join. If you join, there’s no leaving, there’s no going back, the ink on your back will not fade. You are and always will be the third chairman of the Tojo Clan and because of that, people are always gonna come for you. You’re always going to be a target, and it’s fine, you can take it, but maybe your kids can’t. And in 3 that problem was Loud And Clear. No one would have given a fuck about that orphanage except you were running it. Those kids never would have been in danger except they were a way to get to you. And I'm not trying to make Kiryu feel shitty about his life decisions, again, totally good and reasonable to want a family, but you gotta understand your own damn position. There’s wanting what you want and then there’s ignoring the risks and consequences.

So, y’know, all the more reason to MAYBE find a safe place to have your fucking kids. Just... just saying. MAYBE you COULD have your cake and eat it too if you weren’t such a stubborn idiotic askdfjkjasdhfkjsdh. I’m fine, I’m fine. It’s not him, it’s the writing, it’s not him... it’s fine. 

Anyway. But you asked me for a proposal, I’m getting off track. I think there’s a strong and dangerous argument to be made pre-one. Hell I nearly backed that in Snowed Inn, so, I feel y’all. I feel it. It’s intoxicating, the idea that these bastards couldn’t help themselves, dared hell and high water, and just fucking did it at the worst time possible, when there was everything to lose, because they were just so fucking into each other. Like... fuck, and they would too. Because, in their hearts, it’s always been true. They’ve always been married, there’s never been anyone else. Or, not since they met. Why not get it in writing? Why not just own it? We’re this fucked up about each other, we’re this vulnerable and it’s just... true.

And I’ve also got a real soft spot for old, tired men who have sacrificed a lot for stability over happiness and that has come to such heartbreak that finally... it’s time. 

But I think what I’ll do this time is fix canon and give us the post-3 marriage that we all fucking deserved. It’s not the only thing canon fucked (and Oh Boy we don’t have time for my list on THAT. Send another ask anon ;) ) but it is a glaring one. Enjoy:

After Kiryu got down from Millennium Tower, shaken, bloody, but whole, the first place he went was Majima Construction. 

“Kiryu-san!” Nishida ran over to him when Kiryu came striding through the gates, shirtless and determined, “What bring you-?”

“Where’s Majima?” he huffed, not even stopping for the answer, scanning the layout of the site hoping to spot him. 

Nishida trotted to keep up. “We- we weren’t expecting you! The boss returned not long ago, he’s in his quarters-”

“Where?” Kiryu snapped, eyes on Nishida now. 

Nishida gulped and pointed to a trailer above the work site. “But Kiryu-san, he said no visitors,” Nishida tried to uphold his boss’ wishes. 

“He’ll see me,” Kiryu insisted, starting off in that direction. 

“But he really wasn’t looking like he wanted visitors!” Nishida supplied.

Kiryu stopped and turned to Nishida, forcing himself to relax for a second. “Thank you, Nishida-san,” he nodded gratefully, “I’m not here to fight him, I just want to talk.” 

Nishida’s worried frown loosened a little. “He had a bottle with him,” he muttered, “I think... talking to him might help.” 

Kiryu smiled for half a second. “I hope so.” With that, he nearly sprinted to the stairs like he was making up for lost time. There was no real need to rush, he knew where Majima was and he was unlikely to do anything drastic right now. There was just this tight pressure in his skull that demanded he get to Majima before he lost whatever it was he needed to say. 

He rapped on the trailer door. 

“Go’way,” Majima whined, slurring a little, “We’re closed.” 

“I’m not a customer,” Kiryu explained. 

There was silence, then a rustle, a small sound as Majima tripped on something, then the door swinging open. “Kiryu-chan?” Majima blinked at him, hair askew, leather pants wrinkled and hung unevenly on his hips, “Whatcha doin here?” 

Kiryu blew a breath through his nose. “I came to see you.” 

Majima’s eye widened and, for the first time ever, Kiryu saw a bit of blush rise in his cheeks. Did alcohol have that effect on him? Kiryu saw him try to school his reaction, folding his arms and leaning ineffectually against the doorframe. “Thought ya didn’t want anythin’ t’do with me,” he huffed.

“That’s not-” Kiryu bit his tongue. “Won’t you at least invite me in?”

Majima raised an eyebrow and then leaned back, letting Kiryu just enough room to squeeze inside, so long as he bodily brushed against Majima to do it. Kiryu did catch the sigh escaping from Majima as just for a second their body heat mingled and it became hard to tell where one of them ended and the other began. Kiryu pushed pass and tried not to get distracted. 

Majima’s snakeskin jacket lay disregarded on the floor, the camp bed under the windows looked rumpled, clearly recently vacated. Kiryu swallowed and looked for somewhere to sit. 

“The bed’s free,” Majima murmured behind him, not quite salacious, but not quite not. 

Kiryu glanced at him over his shoulder before taking the offer and sitting on the edge of the bed. Majima’s mouth twitched, but didn’t quite smile as he plopped down too, stretching out behind Kiryu. 

“So, ya came t’see me?” Majima rejoined, not drunk enough to forget the conversational thread. 

Kiryu breathed deep and focused on a patch of carpet in front of him. “Yeah... yeah I did.” He swallowed. 

The silence held for a moment, then Majima squirmed, sitting up a little more alertly. “Kiryu-chan?” 

“I think I’ve made a mistake,” Kiryu finally said, licking his lips and glancing over at Majima.

He frowned. “Bout what?”

“About... everything,” Kiryu sighed, “I um...” His eyes drifted outside, unable to hold on to anything. “I, no, I’m doing this wrong.” He shifted back to the floor. 

Majima sat up properly now, swinging his feet in front of him so he could sit next to Kiryu. “What is it, Kiryu-chan?” he murmured, “You can tell me, I won’t tell a soul.” He grinned a little. “I’m good at that.” 

Kiryu smiled a little. “Yeah, I know. I know. I should have listened to you sooner.” 

Majima nudged his shoulder. “Ya scaring me now, Kiryu-chan, c’mon, just say it.”

“P-People are crazy in love, aren’t they?” Kiryu turned to Majima helplessly. 

Majima’s eye drew saucer-wide. A stuck noise came from the back of his throat. 

Kiryu licked his lips and tried to keep going. “It’s just... what I just saw... I just had a fight with Mine. Daigo’s alive, by the way, he’s fine.” Majima nodded vacantly. “And that fight, it got me thinking. I can’t keep running that orphanage.” He looked away. 

Majima’s sound finally restarted. “Don’t say that Kiryu-chan! Ya love that place!” 

“But I can’t, can I? I’m a danger to those kids,” Kiryu frowned, “You were right, you were just right when you offered me your protection.” He looked back at Majima. “And I’m grateful, I truly am. But I can’t accept.” 

Majima’s face didn’t just fall, it shattered into a thousand pieces on the ground. He dropped his head. “If that’s all you came to tell me, you needn’t have bothered,” he hissed. 

“I didn’t-! Move in with me!” Kiryu gasped.

Majima stared up at him quizzically. 

“I mean- me move in with, I...” Kiryu dropped his head to his hands. “I want to move here, Majima. I should never have left, I’m needed in Kamurocho and I’m needed by those kids and the obvious answer is just... to move here. Live with you. If you’ll have me.” 

Kiryu could hear Majima swallow. “Ah- O-Of course, we’d be-”

Kiryu looked up at him and cringed. “No, see, I’m still not saying it right. I don’t want,” he slid a hand over Majima’s, “your family. I want you.” His fingers wrapped around Majima’s, squeezing tight. “I’ve..." He swallowed hard, looking at Majima’s shoulder and not his face. “I want...” He bit his lip. 

“Kiryu-chan...” Majima whispered, bringing his free hand to Kiryu’s face, stroking the curve of his cheek just once, “will you marry me?”

Kiryu groaned something like a sob and crushed Majima to his chest. He buried his face in Majima’s shoulder so hard he didn’t feel Majima shaking for minutes as they both cried. 

“Yes,” Kiryu swallowed, nodding fervently as he realized he hadn’t actually responded, “Yes, yes, I... yes.” He panted, leaning back to look at Majima. 

Majima’s smile wobbled, his tears still running over, but the smile was there. “Oh, Kiryu-chan.”

Kiryu pulled him close again and ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve been real stupid, I’m so sorry.”

“Shut up,” Majima muttered, “Don’t ruin the moment. You’ve just... done more than I could ever ask for, Kiryu-chan.” 

Kiryu just held him close. Majima’s heart beat close to his and it was nice to know it would never beat from afar again.

[subasekabang]

The World Ended With You, Chapter 4

Author: Mizuki

Rating: T

Word Count: 891 of 8736  

Pairings/Characters: Neku Sakuraba, Shiki Misaki, Eri, Yoshiya Kiryu, Daisukenojo Bito, Raimu Bito, Sanae Hanekoma  

Warnings: Light Gore

Summary: Shibuya, a once lively city, now stained with the blood of the unfit. A young orphan, Neku Sakuraba, is left alone to fend for himself. Due to the circumstances, he is forced to join a survivor group. If he has any will or hopes to survive, he needs to learn to trust and cooperate with others. Otherwise, he will be at the mercy of hell's demons.

Chapter 4 My eyes fluttered open to the pale white walls of my room. I let out a few grunts and groans before sitting up and pulling the blanket off. I blinked around in half headed confusion before I remembered where I was. It’s been about a few days or so since I’ve been staying with everyone. I’ve been recovering slowly, the swelling on my ankle has gone down a lot. I can almost walk around freely now. As for everyone else, it's been relatively uneventful. I looked to my left to see him, my roommate. He still doesn't say anything, I can’t get a single word out of him, I don’t even know his name. He doesn't even come down for meals. That's probably why Sanae comes up every now and again, to make sure he doesn't starve to death or anything I guess. I also haven't seen that other chick that was with Shiki, is she…? Whatever, I’m hungry and breakfast should be downstairs. I pulled on my jacket and grabbed my mp3 player before reaching for the the door handle. I looked at my roommate, still in the same spot he was yesterday. “Should I even bother?” I thought to myself “Ah, screw it.” “I’m gonna go get breakfast, wanna come?” I asked. No response, why am I not surprised? I opened the door, closing it behind me and heading to the cafeteria. When I got there, a few people were spruced among the tables talking amongst themselves. I didn’t really see anyone I really knew, then again, I barely knew anyone. As a result, I ended up sitting at an empty table alone. After a while, I watched as other people filtered out slowly as I ate. No one came to talk to me, then again, I’m not really complaining, more time to space out. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sanae walk towards a metal door. He walked up to a small keypad, lucky I was close enough to see the numbers he punched in before slipping through it. ‘0303’ I imprinted in my mind as I slipped on my headphones, pretending like i didn't see anything, before pressing play, soft music surrounded me. It bounced and swayed around my ears like a summer’s breeze, releasing a calming aura. When was the last time I was able to do this? I don’t have to fear about the monsters or where my next meal is coming from or the screams. Is this what peace of mind feels like? Nirvana? Euphoria- “Hey…” My train of thought was interrupted by an annoying voice, I looked up to see who it was. I was met with the girl from before, I was drawing a blank on her name, Something beginning with an ‘S’ I think. “Um...Mind if I sit with you?” “I don’t care, do what you want.” I muttered She took a seat across from me. “Uh...never caught your name…” “That’s cause I didn’t throw it.”  “O-Oh…” She stuttered We sat in silence for a while, I looked over to her. She was fiddling with a few bracelets on her wrist and looking around anxiously. The silence was suffocating, I want to say something to her? Why? I don’t know. “Ugh, why the hell not?” I thought to myself “So um...How’s your friend?” I forced out, trying to break the awkward silence.

“Oh, um, Eri’s okay...She’s on bed rest right now. I should go back to her soon, she’s my roommate and by default caretaker. Um, How’s your ankle?” She quickly changed the subject. “Uh, It’s fine? I can sort of walk.”  “That’s good, Who’d you get as a roommate?” “Hi-” I stopped dead in my words, I...I actually never learned his name, Did Sanae tell me? If he did, did I forget? “Huh?” “I...I actually don’t know his name. He doesn't talk at all.” “Really? What room are you staying in?” “Nineteen-Oh-Three” “Oh!” She exclaimed in pleasant surprise “Mine is a few downs up, One-nine-oh-five” “Huh, small world.” “Yeah” She let out a smile giggle. “What does he look like? I might know him.” “You seem to know a lot of people around here.” I teased “Well, He has pale skin, lavender eyes, and blond-whitish hair.” Her face became slightly confused and-or surprised. She looked around.“I...I’m actually drawing a blank, I don’t remember seeing anyone that fits that description. Are you sure you don’t have a ghost roommate?” She let out a small laugh but stopped when she saw my unamused face.“Oh- uh, bad joke?” “I don’t really have that much a sense of humor.” “Oh…” She trailed off.We resume our awkward silence. “Um, well, I should go check on Eri. Um, I’ll...I’ll see you around-” “Neku.” I interrupted. “Huh?” “Neku Sakuraba, my name.”  She flashed a smile before walking off.

“What...What just happened?” I thought to myself. “Did...Did the girl who robbed me just smile and laugh with me? I even pointed a gun at her at one point. She...She actually tried to shoot me...She could have killed me. She could have actually killed me. I could be dead right now. Is this her way to lure me into her murder trap or something? Can I really trust her?”

[heavenzwish]

A little piece to get started! Something I noticed is there is not a lot of people who have written for Jo Amon. I really enjoy his character so I thought i'd write a soft Amon fic. Soon I'll be back to being busy with college, I believe after new years so if you do make requests at that point ill try my best to get them out as soon as I can.

(Short fic)

Character(s): Jo Amon

Prompt: Home late

The clock read 11:30pm as you slowly approached the couch. You had a fire going in hopes to keep the house warm for your fiance who has been keeping a track record of being out late. You aren't really allowed to go where Amon trains due to their secret policies. You're not even sure what type of training he has been doing but you did know it was dangerous because Amon would come back home with more and more scars across his body everyday. You would sometimes spend the night tending to fresh wounds and some older wounds if they needed tending to. You sigh as you look out the window at the dark blanket know as the night sky coating the world. "Another night where Amon is overly late to coming home, did his loss to Kiryu really affect him that much as to spend so much time training?" You asked yourself sinking down into the plush cushions of the couch. You couldn't say you weren't worried about his body giving out due to the damage, physically preventing him from doing general tasks. You noticed the fire was slowly burning out so you got up and began to add more logs and poke around at it. Once it started going again you could feel the warmth of the blazing fire start to spread quickly against your body. You moved back to your spot on the couch and laid down on your side to observe the fire's movements. A few hours had passed and you're still watching the now charred, smokey wood as the remaining fire slowly burns out. You find yourself fighting your eyes to stay opened but as you hear the sound of keys jingling and the door handle turning you jump up like an excited puppy and awaited for him to walk through the door. "Amon!" You exclaimed, jumping over the back of the couch to meet him. He took off his overcoat and kept his sunglasses on. You noticed something was missing and began observing him. His hat, usually he would be wearing a fedora when he came home. "What happened to your fedora?" You asked clinging yourself to his arm as he shut the door "also you were gone for so long! You had me worried" you pouted holding onto his arm tighter. "I gave it to an apprentice of mine" he chuckled as he pulled you with him to the couch. "As for being late. Im sorry about that but I'll need all the training I can get to beat Kiryu" he proudly stated as you sit yourself down by the burnt out fire. "Don't you think you could take a break? One day your body might give out on you" you sigh looking up at him. "Ha! Nonsense. My body will never give up on me!" Amon laughed with a slight smirk earning himself an eye roll from you. Once you got the first going again you made you way over to Amon who was yawning. You sat down next to him and in one swift movement you wrapped your arms around him and nuzzled his neck. You noticed he was still wearing his sunglasses so you reached up and gently took them off. "You don't need these on inside. The fire isn't that bright" you giggled placing them to the side. "You may be right about that" Amon pushed you down onto the couch and laid himself on your chest, sighing contently. You blushed a bit and began to gently rub his back in slow circles ushering him to sleep. You stayed awake for awhile admiring your lover in the warmth of both him and the fire. You couldn't help but still worry for him but in the end you figured things would be okay.

[rawbiredbest]

@kiiryukazuma did someone say domestic kazumaji?

Akiyama Shun sleeps for approximately five hundred years, then catches a flight to Okinawa. He knocks on the orphanage door and cracks a hesitant smile when the stone-carved face glares at him through a sliver of space.

“Kiryu-san,” the Lifeline offers, showing his palms, “Just because hundreds of yakuza bowed to me doesn’t mean I have any more criminal ties than usual.”

Kiryu relaxes by a degree. “I know that. I trust you. It’s just...some things have happened since all that.”

“Things happen to everyone. That’s life, my friend.”

“I got married.”

Akiyama resists the urge to mine for gold in his ear. “You -- you did? That’s fantastic! About time you settled down! Who’s the lucky lady?”

“Not a lady.”

Shun extracts his phone. Checks the address in his GPS. Mostly to gather his thoughts, because while part of him is flabbergasted, another is smiling smugly and chanting I knew it! I knew it! “You married a man?”

Kiryu sighs. “Close enough. Kamurocho doesn’t offer same-sex marriage certificates. They call ‘em partnerships instead.”

“They can blow that out their ass!”

Akiyama balls his hands into fists by sheer reflex. He recognizes that voice, and all the trouble it brings. Looking over a defeated Kiryu’s shoulder, he spots Majima Goro on a couch, long legs propped on a table. Toe prints mar the glass.

“We agreed to call each other wives,” Majima yells, “It’s the surprise factor. Kiryu-chan got beat up by ten guys once, shakin’ ‘im down fer cash. Hurt me all ya want, he says, Just don’t touch my wife. So these jerk-offs start grunting like fuckin’ pigs, thinkin’ they’re in fer a bonus check. Hell no! I saw what they did to my Kiryu-chan, I clocked the lead shitlord in the head so hard he lost an eye. Serves ‘im fuckin’ right, I thought, then realized he’d get a lot of cred fer sayin’ somethin’ dumb like: I’m like Majima’s protege, look, we match, so I pounded on his skull till it looked like the Smile Burger special.”

With that out of his system, Goro turns his attention back to the TV. Kiryu fully opens the door. “Get you a drink?”

Akiyama, white as a sheet, replies, “Yes. Please.”

[pot-of-gluttony]

Flickers of Stardust for the Lady

Prompt:

Day 1 - Stardust and Scrap Metal

Day 2 - Starting Line

Day 3 - Unicorns and Rainbows

Rating: G

Category: Gen

Chapters: 1

Characters: Yusei Fudo, Martha, Dr. Schmidt, Jack Atlas, unnamed extras

Summary: For his 6th birthday, Yusei decided he would celebrate Martha's birthday too.

Author’s Notes:

Late prompt fills and uneven writing, I know, I know. I'm sorry. I haven't written in ages but I'd be darned if I didn't contribute to the event somehow and I'm afraid I can't art or edit, so here we are.

"Dr. Shcmidt" is that doctor that operated on Yusei after his duel with Kiryu. He didn't have a name in the original Japanese version of the anime, but apparently this is what he was called in the English dub. I considered giving him a Japanese name, but most people living at the Satellite had English/Western names, so I decided to roll with it.

Also on AO3!

--------------------

“An astronaut.”

The 5-year-old’s jaw slowly fell open with a soft, prolonged gasp and his eyes widened so much that Martha almost had to hold her breath to keep from laughing.

“You mean like--” he paused and took a deep breath, mouthing words as he tried to recollect his thoughts, “like-- like-- going to the stars? And the moon and the sun?”

He always spoke with a sort of hushed voice. It didn’t strike Martha as a thing of shyness, though. It was more of a calculated response. Yusei was an impressively thoughtful child. He didn’t speak as loudly as most of the other kids in the orphanage, but he spoke far more often. Usually, about whatever new thing he happened to learn each day. On days when brand new knowledge didn’t come looking for him, he’d quickly go out of his way looking for some, and what easier way than following Martha all around the house, asking literally every question that came to his mind all day long.

Right now, he was watching her do the laundry when he thought of asking what she wanted to be when she grew up and he wouldn’t take “I already grew up” as an answer.

“Well, you can’t actually land on stars or on the sun,” Martha replied.

“Why not?”

“Because the sun and the stars are made of hot gas and fire. Astronauts would burn alive if they tried.”

He brought his chin to rest atop the washing machine, tapping his fingers on the cold metal with a tiny frown on his face. She half-expected him to question how they knew it was made of fire if they had never landed on it, but instead he nodded along.

“Did they get really close to it and then when they feeled it was too hot they just-- they went around and drove away?” he asked. He firmly pressed eight fingertips against the top of the machine and urged the rest of his body weight to drop back, pulling himself back to a safe stand when his fingers slipped too close to the edge.

“Maybe,” Martha hummed a little distracted. “I don’t know all the details.”

“Do you know all the details when you turn into a austronaut?”

“I would if I ever became one, but I don’t think I will,” she said, then gave him a scolding glare when she caught him hoisting himself over the washing machine before dropping back to his bare feet.

“But isn’t it your dream?” he asked.

His eyes stared at her unflinchingly and with a great deal of concern, and she couldn’t help letting a chuckle slip out.

“It was,” she answered with a confident smile. “Back when I was a little girl. Well. I was bigger than you at the time, buuuut... not by much.”

“You were a little girl before?”

If she got a handful of pocket change every time a kid asked her that, she could buy all of Japan two times over. She sighed and gave him a resigned look.

“Yes, Yusei. I was a little girl once.”

Yusei lowered his head and shuffled his feet. He must have detected he said something she didn’t like, but she didn’t want him to feel bad for asking about things he didn’t know. It was very important to her that her kids ask as many questions as they could and she absolutely adored Yusei’s curiosity.

She ruffled his hair and pulled him into a hug. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and looked up at her, again with wide eyes.

“But why dun you wanna be a austronaut anymore?” he asked eagerly. “Is it because you learned the sun was too hot? Because you can still walk on the moon. All the other austronauts do it in the videos.”

“I lost interest, I guess. Besides, if I decided to be an astronaut now, I’d have to leave you guys for space and I don’t want to do that!”

“Well--!” he spluttered with ill-contained excitement, jumping to his tippy-toes and making throwing motions at the ceiling. “Maybe not, ‘cause! ‘Cause maybe you can take us with you to the moon! If-if like! If like the other austronauts say it’s okay, then you can take us all! We can build a house on the rocket and then use a crane to move it on the ground when we reach the moon.”

Martha doubled over in laughter. “Honey, that would be dangerous!”

“W-well...” he paused and turned his sights down, eyes dancing side to side as he thought carefully, “we could... We could tie it down safe with a loooooot of ropes... So it doesn’t fall down on the way.”

“It still wouldn’t be very safe. Besides even if we could take everyone, we would still be missing a lot of stuff that’s only here on Earth.”

“If you mean like water and food, we can take some in the fridge.”

“We would run out,” she said as she pulled him into another hug. “And we wouldn’t be here for all the other things, like holidays and new card releases.” She heard a little gasp escape him, but no other response. “We wouldn’t have flowers or grass either. Now I don’t know about you, but sometimes I like to sit outside, run my toes on the grass and smell the flowers. If I want to see the stars, I’ll just look out into the horizon at night. It won’t have an awful lot of them to look at, but something’s something.”

“Hmm... okay.”

----------

Everyone has a birthday, apparently.

Martha made his second-favorite breakfast today and happily announced that they were a week -- that’s seven days -- away from Yusei’s birthday, which was a wonderful revelation, of course. Everyone at the table had been eagerly discussing what their plans would be for it and then one of them asked if there was any chance of them getting a cake this time around. Before Martha could answer, however, one of the newer kids at the orphanage asked what they meant by “this time” and soon learned that every kid at the orphanage had their birthday celebrated every year.

Then everything got very quiet very suddenly. After a few minutes, the kid who asked the question started crying. She claimed she didn’t have a birthday, but Martha said that she did, she just didn’t know.

“How are you so sure I have one?!” the little girl had demanded amidst tears.

“Because everyone has a birthday,” Martha reassured her.

This immediately set off an alarm bell in Yusei’s head. He waited until his foster sister calmed down and everyone ran off to do chores or play outside after breakfast to approach Martha.

“Is it true everyone has a birthday?” he asked.

“No doubt.”

“So you have one, too?”

“If you’re going to stand here with me all day, you might as well help me dry these dishes,” she replied.

His feet quickly scattered as he hurried to drag the little stand he and his foster siblings always used to reach the sink. He settled it on the perfect spot possible, where he was close enough to speak privately with Martha but not so close that he wouldn’t be able to reach the dish rack.

“So?” he asked eagerly.

“Yes, Yusei. I do have a birthday.”

“But it’s not every year because you’re not a kid, right?”

Martha laughed. Very loudly. “Oh, I wish I could skip some birthdays! No, dear. I have one every single year, just like you and everyone else.”

There was already a stack of dishes accumulating next to him while he was still busy drying up the first plate he was handed. This was the only reason he hated helping with the dishes. He always worked so hard to dry them carefully so the water wouldn’t pool underneath the rack and so that it wouldn’t slip out of one’s grip and fall into oblivion, but Martha was so fast at washing them -- she was really good at running everything in the house, really -- that she would end up helping him dry them. And then she would end up drying most of them up. And then he felt like he didn’t really help at all. But Martha always said that she would prefer he helped a little rather than not at all. How honest she was in that statement, he wasn’t sure; she usually let him skip dish duty anyway.

“Why dun we celebrate your birthday this week, then?” he asked as he tried to hurry himself and keep up with the dishes. “I dun mind waiting until next year so I can have my birthday.”

The speedy clutter of the dishes stopped but the water kept running. Yusei looked up at Martha to see if anything was wrong and found her staring at him. She looked a little bit surprised. Then she quickly pulled him into a hug and kissed his temple.

“Aww, my little Yusei, you’re such a sweet boy,” she said, then immediately let go of him and wasted no time getting back to work. “We don’t have to cancel or replace anyone’s birthday to celebrate mine. We can celebrate it just fine, I just,” she shrugged, “I’m getting a little old and very tired, and it just doesn’t matter much to me anymore.”

“Everyone’s birthday matters!” Yusei declared.

“Hmph. Welp. I won’t argue with you there. I am glad I have a birthday, even if I don’t celebrate it. And who knows? Maybe someday, I might feel like celebrating it again.”

“Would it be okay if I gave you a birthday gift?” Yusei asked.

“Oh, I would love that,” Martha said.

He placed the second dish he dried up on the rack and turned back to the stack, where there was now seven, eight, nine, ten... and then lots more after that... He was sure someone had tried to teach him how to count this high before, but the numbers just weren’t coming to him right away. It didn’t matter. Martha was already getting a rag of her own to help with the drying.

“What would you like?” he asked sheepishly, quietly hoping she wouldn’t ask for something dish-washing-related. That would be the second-worst thing she could answer with, he thought.

“I will love whatever you can get me,” she replied earnestly.

Yusei sighed. That would be the first-worst thing she could answer with.

----------

There was a building in Satellite with a lot of chairs, desks and other materials. A lot of it had been ransacked, but when Yusei had entered it for the first time in his life, he had been surprised to find there was still a lot of stuff to be found inside. He asked around and everyone had an answer for why they never loot around the place. Most of the other kids didn’t know what to do with the materials inside. The adults’ answers were more uneven: some of them said that it reminded them of their old schools, which just made them sad; a few claimed that the stuff in it was useless; and others said that they wanted to leave it be out of respect.

“It used to be a community center,” one elder said to him. “It was a place ran with love and care for people who had very little or who were very alone.”

That sounded a lot like Martha’s house, if Yusei was honest. But when he asked Martha about it, she said there wasn’t anything in it they needed. He asked Dr. Schmidt about it and he just shrugged his shoulders.

“There might be some textbooks or almanacs there,” he said. “But I already have my fair share of those here. In fact, Martha’s been asking that I scan them so that we can save the text in the computer and clear the actual books from the house. They take up a lot of space and she thinks it would be a good idea to figure out a way to recycle the paper. Can’t say I disagree much.”

It had taken a few days of exploration and messing around, but Yusei had managed to find a way to get around the blockade on the stairs and move on to the elusive second floor. It was very intact. In fact, if it weren’t for the heavy dust and lack of lighting, it would look a lot like the hallway in Martha’s house.

Of the rooms there, he found he could only open one of them seeing as the other doors were locked. There were rows of small desks lined up and several blackboards stood at the end of the room. Thinking of the shows he saw on TV -- on the rare occasion that they could watch TV -- he was fairly sure this was how school classrooms looked. Or rather, how they would look if Satellite had any school of its own. Several hours of scavenging around in it yielded some excellent results. Books with very worn pages, notebooks (both used ones and empty ones), scissors, several markers and pencils... Honestly, it was a treasure trove. Surely, Martha would have to agree that these things were useful.

But before he could bring the valuable haul back home, there was a more pressing matter to attend to -- and this was the best opportunity for it.

Yusei organized all his findings to his own liking and strategically hid them in different desks. He would need to know where everything was when he came back tomorrow. He wished he could get started now, but it was already getting late and Martha always made him promise to be back home before it got dark outside.

----------

“What are we doing here?” he whispered to himself with a high-pitched voice.

“Well, you see,” he answered his first whisper with a second, more gravelly-toned one, “we’re doin’ a experiment today.”

He gasped and put on a concerned face. “A experiment? But wouldn’t that be dangerous?”

“Nope,” he quickly replied with a smile. “Is a differen’ type of experiment, you see. You see! Because we’re a-gonna make a birthday present for Martha with all this stuff.”

“Stuff?! All I see is junk, hon hon hon,” he whispered to himself with the snootiest voice he could come up with and nearly ended up giving himself a giggling fit over it.

“Ha!” he countered and confidently tapped the side of his noggin. “That’s where you’re wrong! Nothing is trash because everything and anything can be used!”

“But... but some grown-ups said that trash is just trash and--”

“Those grown-ups are wrong!” he shouted, only to clasp his hands over his mouth as quickly as he possibly could. He meant to say that, not shout it.

He poked his crazy, spiky-haired head over the only window in the room. No one seemed to be within earshot. The other buildings were too far and there didn’t seem to be anyone on the ground level below. He ran over to the door and pushed it open with care. No one was listening in on him in the hallway.

“You dummy,” he whispered to himself.

Yusei shut the door as best as he could and hurried to gather all the supplies from the desks, all neatly ordered to circle around the textbook he had borrowed from Dr. Schmidt.

“So wha’s the experiment?” he whispered in a new tone of voice, realizing there was only so little more he could do to keep up this game before he started to annoy himself with it. At least this time no one was around to call him a weirdo for talking to himself.

“We are going to maaaaaaaaaake,” he ran his finger over the side of the book until he felt his bookmark and wildly flung the book open, “a star!”

It was a picture of a starlit night unlike any he had ever seen before. He plopped down on his belly in front of the book and admired his discovery anew. It was going to be perfect.

----------

It was not going perfectly.

First, he tried to make the star out of paper, using pages from the books he found around the room and cutting them out with scissors, but they looked flatter than how he pictured them in his head and just like the ones everyone had made a few months back during the most recent arts-and-crafts session Martha had held at the house. Nothing new or interesting.

It should pop and stick out. Also, obviously, it needed to glow because stars always glow.

He remembered going into an abandoned building with glass windows of different colors once. It always looked as if it glowed. It wasn’t hard to find glass around Satellite; the problem was that glass was dangerous. It would break too easily -- he knew this from experience -- and it could cut you up really badly --or so would Martha always say.

He found a green, empty glass beer bottle not too far from the community center’s entrance and he held on to it tightly with both hands. He maneuvered it back to the second floor with all the precision and patience required to transport a bomb. He sighed a sigh of relief upon arrival and placed it atop one of the desks, where he was certain it would be okay.

Except the instant he turned around, it rolled off and crashed on the floor. He jumped with a gasp and fled from the room, hopped off the stairs and ran out the building with all of his strengths, then hid for a good long while. If any grown-up caught him in the act, he would have been grounded for a long time and maybe his birthday would be cancelled. Martha would be so disappointed, it wouldn’t matter if he brought her a real star because no gift would be enough make her not be mad at him for many days to come.

So he waited and waited until the coast was clear. He feigned innocence and looked in all directions to ensure no one was following him as he made his way back to the building, back to the scene of the crime, whereupon he faked an undignified gasp at the broken bottle, just in case someone saw him. No one did, though, and he brushed all the glass away using the pages of a notebook. It was while looking for said notebook, however, that he encountered the secret stash of glitter he had forgotten he had hidden on his first day in the room.

That would have had to do the trick, he had figured. He tried gluing paper spikes on a rubber ball to make it stick out and he covered them in glitter, but it looked kind of ugly. And the glitter couldn’t glow on its own. It needed light.

Looking around the room for something that could glow on its own, he found an old desk lamp in the supply closet. He had ignored it the first couple of times he had come upon it, but now that he looked at it closely, he managed to recognize that it was just like the one that Martha kept on her sewing table. It was missing a light bulb, though.

So he ran back home and searched every room in the house until he came across Martha.

“Can I have a light bulb?” he asked.

Martha looked down at him and blinked. “No.”

“But I need it,” he insisted.

“Yusei, you have no use for a light bulb,” she said.

“It’s not for me,” he answered.

Martha raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. “Then who is it for?”

“It’s-- hmm...”

He puffed up his cheeks and flicked at them rhythmically as he thought. If he told her it was for her, it would ruin the surprise, but if he didn’t tell her it was for a grown-up she might not give it to him. He blew out the air and yanked on her skirt.

“Is a secret and I can’t tell you,” he said, “but I promise I’m being very good and I’m not getting in trouble and it’s not for ‘nother kid because it’s for a grown-up thing and I promise I’ll bring it back to you so please please please can I have a light bulb like the one on your table with the clothes machine?”

Martha didn’t budge in what felt like forever. He wasn’t sure if she would be moving any time soon, wasn’t sure if he had made her mad. He picked his words very carefully, though. He knows that much.

Finally, she sighed and headed towards one of the closets in the house and took out a light bulb. She knelt down to his eye level and gave him a hard look.

“You promise you’ll be careful with it?”

“Yes.”

“If someone asked you for it...” she paused and turned her head to a nearby window, “they can keep it if they really need it, but I would prefer it if they asked me for it themself next time.”

“No one asked me to get it,” he replied. “But I can’t tell you why I need ‘cause is a secret.”

“Well,” she squeezed his little shoulders and gave him an even harder look, “promise me you’re being very careful with what you do and who you talk to out there, okay?”

“I promise,” he nodded. “But does this light bulb work for the lamp you have on the clothes machine table?”

“It does,” she said. “Which is the reason why I won’t be giving any more of these away unless an adult comes ask me for one. And only if it’s an emergency.”

“S’okay,” Yusei replied. “One’s nuff.”

And off he ran. Or rather, he started running before Martha grabbed him by the arm.

“No running with a light bulb in hand!” she scolded.

“Oh. Sorry, okay,” he whispered as he dutifully marched out of the house with a steady step.

Martha followed him all the way to the front yard and called out to him as soon as he started to slip away from her line of sight, reminding him to be careful and to come back before dark. Yusei was reasonably sure he could make it back to the center on time without running, but he would need to fasten his step. So he peeked back every three to six steps until he was sure Martha hadn��t followed him and then he walked as fast as he could. Some would even say he was running, but he wasn’t. He swore he was just really good at walking really fast.

As soon as he made it into his hideout, Yusei barricaded the door, placed the light bulb in the safest spot he could think of (on the floor of the emptiest corner in the room; he realized in hindsight that that was where he should have placed the bottle in the first place), retrieved the lamp, screwed the bulb in with delightful ease, plugged in the lamp, flipped the switch and--

“What?”

He flipped the switch on and off many times in one go, but nothing happened. Did Martha give him a faulty bulb?

“Oh,” he whispered. “Oh!” He slapped his forehead with the heel of his hand. “Duh!”

How was it that Martha had explained it once? That there was no power in most of Satellite? That must have been it. No power in the building. He had forgotten in all of his excitement. He turned off the switch, unplugged the lamp and screwed the light bulb off.

“S’okay,” he said. “Martha said it worked so it definitely glows, just not here.” He scrambled around the supplies, collecting the necessary glue and glitter containers. A new inspiration had come to him on the way there, way better than all that paper and rubber band stuff from before. “I’ll just make it glittery now and then it will shine when I bring it back home.”

He uncapped the glue and squirted nearly the entire contents on the bulb, then readied the glitter for the assault.

----------

It went horribly wrong.

Yusei painstakingly covered every single millimeter on the bulb with glitter, he got back home just as it was getting dark outside -- sure was a close one -- cleverly sneaking the lamp unseen. After successfully shooing away some of his nosier foster siblings, he locked himself in the bathroom, plugged the lamp in, turned off the bathroom light and flipped the switch. But nothing happened.

Clearly the lamp was busted from being so old, so he unscrewed the glittery bulb, waited until bed time and sneaked into the little room with sewing table in it once everyone was asleep. He flipped Martha’s lamp on and it worked perfectly with the bulb it already had. It was just a matter of switching the bulbs.

He worked as steadily and stealthily as he could, constantly stealing glances at the door to make sure he didn’t get caught. Slowly but surely, he replaced the bulbs and flipped the lamp on to test out his gift star.

But nothing happened?

Something did happen, actually. It was the same something that had happened with the lamp he hid in the bathroom, except back then he didn’t realize it was a something. Now that a little of the glitter had fallen off in a teeny-tiny spot, he could tell the light bulb was glowing... only from that spot. Not from the rest.

But how? He put extra glitter everywhere and it glows less rather than more. It made no sense. For a couple of days, he pondered long and hard on what went wrong. It was three days before his birthday when Martha announced during breakfast that she needed to run some errands outside of the house, so she was trusting everyone to stay put with Dr. Schmidt while she was gone. She’d be back before dark.

So he took the chance to bring his experiment to Dr. Schmidt. Martha always said that people of science helped each other figure things out.

“The problem is you added too much glitter,” Dr. Schmidt explained. “It made the glass of the light bulb opaque.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means the light can’t shine through it.”

Yusei huffed and scoffed and pouted. His eyes started to get a little misty with frustration. He took a deep breath to compose himself. “Can we fix it?”

“Um, tsk. I’m afraid we probably can’t, little one,” the doctor replied. He turned the light bulb around and around, but no matter how much he inspected it, all he could do was frown. “It would probably be best to just throw it out.”

The doctor didn’t even have time to hand the light bulb back before Yusei had already dropped to the floor. The heels of his feet were raised and he balanced his curled up body on his toes, face buried in his hands as he sobbed quietly.

“Yusei, it’s fine,” the doctor insisted. “I’ll talk to Martha about getting you a new light bulb if you want.”

“That’s not it,” he sobbed softly.

“Then what is it?”

“I-I-I wanted to” -- a hiccup -- “make her a star! But I ruined it! And I’m out of time now!” he cried.

“You... you wanted to make a star?”

Yusei nodded.

“You mean make a star of your own, right?”

He nodded again.

“For whom?”

“For” -- he gasped for air in-between sobs -- “For Martha. So that she could see stars at night.”

Dr. Schmidt reached out a hand and patted his head.

“How about we wait for her to return home,” he started, “and then you an I can go find a solution?”

----------

Martha managed to get a cake this time around.

She had never been able to get Yusei a cake before and who knew if she would be able to pull that off ever again, but children live very much in the now so she figured it was best to put her worries away until the next birthday -- which was only a month and a half away.

Yusei had woken up exhausted. The past few days, he had headed off fairly early in the day alongside the good doctor and returned at night, almost nearing Yusei’s bed time.

“What on Earth are you doing with my boy, doctor?” she had asked him then.

“It’s more of a matter of what he’s doing with me, my dear Martha,” he joked. “He has big plans and needed my help. I’m only offering base assistance and adult supervision.”

On the night before his birthday, they arrived late, carrying bags full of school supplies. Textbooks, notebooks, pens, pencils, glitter, scissors, rulers, glue, markers, crayons and much more. Apparently no one had bothered working their way through the stairs blockade at the community center until Yusei, and even then it took the doctor a while to get through it since the boy had simply managed to find a little gap he could squeeze through.

“A couple of men may be delivering an important item during Yusei’s birthday party,” he said. “Until then, you should try helping him fall asleep. He’s so ready to bust with excitement, he might not be able to get a wink.”

She felt as though she could throttle that man in that moment. The nerve of the guy staying who-knows-where this late and dark out with one of her kids. Had he not been a trusted friend, she probably would have hunted him down to give him a good ass-kicking for it.

Ultimately, Yusei fell asleep sometime after midnight. It was the only reason she tried to give him at least an extra hour of sleep the next morning, but as soon as she woke up his foster siblings, they all ran to Yusei’s bedside to wake him up and wish him a happy birthday before she could stop them.

Oh well. Thankfully, Yusei always had the heart of an angel and he took the other kids’ excitement to motivate himself out of bed. They all eagerly fell in line for the bathroom, letting Yusei go in first as a cordiality, to wash up before breakfast. Everyone helped set up the table and no one let a single bite of their breakfast go to waste. Promptly afterwards, they split into little groups and ran around the house to get ready for the party. One group handled dishes, another would be in charge of setting up the picnic blankets on the front yard and the others would help organize the gifts. Ironic as it may sound, birthday mornings were the easiest mornings Martha had because of this. Though of course there was always the birthday nights to deal with and boy were those a thing...

Before they eat the cake -- naturally, they all erupted into cheers when learning that there was, indeed, a cake to be had on this joyous occasion -- Martha clapped her hands together and announced it was time for the gift exchange. As with every year, Yusei would get a little awkward and embarrassed at all the rapt attention he would get from his foster siblings as he unwrapped each of their homemade gifts -- all of them arts-and-crafts projects they secretly put together with Martha’s help, using scrap and supplies they collected themselves. Jack lived up to the other children’s expectations -- they would dub him “the King of Lazy Gifts” each and every birthday -- when it turned out he hadn’t even bothered to put his spare pieces together to make a gift. He literally just dumped a bunch of scrap metal and junk he had collected unto Yusei’s lap.

“Jack!” Martha scolded as she jumped off her chair and to her feet, glaring at the boy while the rest of the kids laughed their little hearts out.

“He’s gonna break it all apart in the end anyway!” Jack complained. “He just waits for a lot of days to go by so that no one gets upset but I dun care. Now it’s easier because he doesn’t hav’ta wait for it!”

She was loathed to admit it, but he wasn’t wrong. Whether on purpose or by accident, none of the gifts Yusei received on his birthday ever survived until next year. He would make scrap pieces out of them in a few weeks and then reassemble them into his own little projects. Sometimes he would even wreck his own creations to make new ones.

After the gift-giving was all wrapped up, Yusei thanked everyone for their presents, then swiftly turned on his heels and looked up at Martha with rosy cheeks.

“So,” he said with hushed, ill-contained joy, “can we... have the cake now?”

“Of course we can,” she said.

Normally everyone would wait until the end of the party to cut the cake but when you’re in charge of a stampede of children, you learn that the sooner you can get the sugar in and out of their systems, the better. Waiting until the end of the party meant a later attempt in sending cake-fueled children to bed and that was just not going to happen.

So halfway through the festivities, she brought out the cake. She lamented it was so small -- there was only enough to give every kid a single thin slice -- but one of the kids excitedly proclaimed that it was even bigger than the last birthday cake they had had.

“It is not!” Jack objected. He stomped over to Martha with the angriest of pouts on his face and tugged at her skirt. “Tell them Martha!” he demanded. “Tell them it isn’t bigger than mine!”

“Jack,” Martha wanted to pacify him but children can be cruel, even when they don’t truly mean to be, and any attempt she could make to lie about the cake’s size would surely result in the kids calling out her bluff to make Jack feel better. “Jack,” she tried again after her initial pause, “didn’t you tell me that a king gives to his people?”

“Yeah?”

“That was why you shared your cup ramen with everyone during your birthday, right?”

“Yeah.”

“You all remember that and are very grateful to Jack about it, aren’t you, children?” she spoke to the others.

A guilty chorus of “Yeah...” answered her, much to Jack’s smugness.

“So,” she continued, “it doesn’t matter whose cake is bigger. What matters is that we got another cake and we’re all going to share it. Isn’t that right, Yusei?”

“Yeah!” he pumped his fists into the air.

Martha grinned, triumphant and pleased. Crisis averted.

They all ate cake. Jack ultimately admitted that this cake was a little bigger than his, though not before boasting that his tasted better. None of the kids remembered enough about the previous cake’s flavor to argue with him about it and Yusei didn’t give a damn as long as everyone got cake, so Martha didn’t bother revealing that it was the exact same recipe, just a bigger amount.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent playing “party games.” These involved singing songs at the top of their lungs (unfortunately, no one could convince Yusei to sing along with the others; he would bashfully mumble some lyrics before retreating into his fortress of gifts); many, many guessing games where the clues ran the gamut from descriptions to smells; and lastly, running around the yard in circles playing an improvised version of tag that involved shouting colors, card types and attributes, all while stopping in the middle of a chase for impromptu rock-paper-scissors sessions whenever the temporary referee yelled “Duel Time!”

It was only about an hour before bed time that all the kids lied down on the picnic blankets to stare at the star-less night above, tuckered out and sweaty.

All of them, that was, but the birthday boy, who somehow became increasingly restless the longer the day got. She was making her way to his side when she spotted a pair of men led by Dr. Schmidt coming their way. Yusei gasped excitedly, leaping to his feet and swirling into a mad rush that nearly caused him to crash into her.

“Martha,” he beamed at her as he grabbed her skirt and yanked in the direction of the incoming guests. “You have to come see this!”

“What is it?” she asked cautiously.

“You have to come and see it,” he urged.

He got a hold of her hand and led her forward and across the tiny field of children and blankets on grass.

The men accompanying Dr. Schmidt were wheeling in what appeared to be a large board with a heavy sheet draped over it. The doctor pulled with him a small wagon carrying a strange device in it and he carried a couple of extension cords coiled around one shoulder.

“Here should be fine,” he said to them. “Thank you very much for your assistance.”

“No problem, doc,” the older of the two replied. He waved to Yusei as he and his friend took their leave, “Happy birthday, little guy!”

“Thank you!” Yusei waved back.

“Is this,” Martha asked as she ran her hand over the sheet, “that... mystery... project you two had going on?”

Schmidt wheeled the wagon directly behind the board and adjusted the device on it, tilting it to face the back of it.

“It is indeed,” the man said. He plugged the device to the extension cords and handed one of the coils to Yusei. “You know what to do.”

“Yes, sir.”

Yusei slowly walked away from the device as he unfurled the coils and disappeared into the house, presumably to plug it up.

“I can only have it up for about fifteen minutes tonight. I had to borrow it from a friend and it just drains too much energy to keep for long.”

“What is it already?! I’m just about to lose my patience with you two, I swear.”

“I’ll show you!” Yusei’s voice declared as he ran back into view. He grabbed the sheet and pulled it off in one swoop. He would have brought the whole board down had Schmidt not had the foresight to hold it in place.

Little gasps followed Martha’s own. It was a blackboard with countless perforations scattered all around and paint splattered on to resemble stardust.

“You made this?”

“Yusei showed me pictures from an old astronomy book I once picked out before moving here. I did a rough sketch on the board and a group of generous helpers made the holes. After that, I gave Yusei a few instructions on how to, uh,” he made a flickering motion, “how to paint the stardust right. But he was the one who spent hours choosing and mixing the right colors and getting them to flicked on the right side of the board.”

“I chose the picture with the red and the green, the blue, the yellow and the orange,” Yusei added. He scrambled to open up a textbook that was almost half his side. “‘Cause you said, ‘cause you told me that you liked all the colors of the rainbow.”

“I said that?”

“Yeah, once! Uhhh, a long time ago? I asked you and you said so.”

“Right, of course.” She ran a hand through his messy, inexplicable hair and turned back to the board. She could swear it on her life that it was the greatest work of art she had ever seen in her life, museums be damned. “Yusei, it’s gorgeous!”

“And look at the best part!”

He tried to snap his little fingers at Schmidt, but failed spectacularly. He was too pumped, though, so instead he compensated by making finger guns and quiet pew-pewing at the old man. He chuckled at the cue and shook his head, leaned forward and flipped a switch at the device.

A stunning light shone from it, and while it obscured the light coming from the house, making it harder to see the stardust painted on the front of the board, it poured perfectly through the tiny holes on the board.

It was the starriest night she ever witnessed at the Satellite.

[yugirl-with-dragons]

Spy squad

( Submitted by shadowdarkleonidascrusade)

It all started one lazy afternoon at Neo Domino University. There was never the intention on sneaking around. However, when Yusei had started to neglect to update his friends on his whereabouts, Crow and Jack began to investigate as to where the spiky haired genius was running off to. This was, without a shadow of a doubt, one hundred percent, Yusei’s own fault.

“Where does he even go in the afternoons?” Crow asked as he was currently sprawled all over the couch in the commons area in the male dorm. “He’s usually either here in the dorm with you or he’s in the library doing his homework.” Crow waited for a response only to get silence in return. The orange haired teen rolled over to look over at his supposed talking companion and was no surprised to find the tall blond sitting in the beanbag chair (that Jack insisted that it should be called his throne) lazily playing with his phone. “Jack? Hello? Earth to the idiot with no brain!” Jack glanced in Crow’s direction before not so subtly giving him the finger and turning his attention back to the phone. Crow sighed heavily. “You’re useless to me.”

“Have you considered that Yusei might actually have a life outside of us Crow?” Jack responded. His amethyst colored eyes never once looking away from his phone.

“I know that!” Crow exclaimed. “I just-it feels like Yusei isn’t around very often you know?” Crow went back to laying on his back. “Like, it’s been ages since I talked to him.”

“You talked to him at breakfast this morning.” Jack pointed out as he sighed in annoyment. “And you also tackled him at lunch. If I had someone that never lets me get a break in the day, I’d be running away all the time too.”

“What about your fangirls?” Crow asked him. Jack Atlas had been the center of every girl’s attention. All the girls on the campus had pretty much dedicated their college lives to Jack’s college life. While the fan club was unofficial, it still amassed way too many members to be legal. Although, Jack never acknowledged the club unless it was to boost his ego, which was often. But he never acknowledged them in public.

“That’s different. I can retire to this dorm hall knowing that they’ll have a hard time getting in and they don’t know what room is mine. So, I can relax all day if I wanted to.” Jack explained. His voice remaining in his matter-of-fact tone.

“I guess that’s fair. Still. What about Yusei? Like he’s not the type to go out and party and to overly socialize.” Crow stated to Jack. Crow had only known Yusei for the past five years when they met through their mutual friend Kiryu Kyosuke. Despite the age difference in their friendship and their different backgrounds and upbringing, Yusei befriended Crow and they’ve been friends ever since.

“Why don’t you let this go Crow? He could be doing literally anything, like a project or he found a new homework spot.” Jack told the shorter teen. “I think you’re over thinking this.”

“Maybe you’re right. Mind if I nap in your room? I have a class in like an hour and it’s like right across the street and I really don’t feel like going all the way back to the freshman hall.” Jack laughed. “I’m serious Jack! Those dorms are a living hell! Why do we as freshman have to go through that?”

“Because freshman is full of the weak and natural selection will come for those that can’t survive in college.” Jack told him as he left his ‘throne’ with his keys in his hand. “Well let’s go and do me a favor and don’t drool on my pillows this time. I really don’t feel like more laundry than what I have to do.”

“Jack, since when do you do chores?” Crow joked.

“Better be nice to me if you want to nap in my fucking bed you little shit.”

“I’ll be good.” Crow promised as he followed Jack down the hall.

Later that night

            Crow was up later than what he normally would have been. Alas, the poor freshman had forgotten about a paper that was due the next day and decided to attempt to finish most of the paper at night. Luckily his classes on Fridays didn’t start until the afternoon and so he would have most of the morning to recover some sleep and edit the paper some more. It was reaching close to about one o’clock in the morning when Crow felt his phone vibrate off to the side of his desk. Quickly saving the document for fear of losing it he grabbed his phone and was surprised to find a text message from Jack.

            (12:49am) I’m willing to concede that you might be right.

(12:50am) About what exactly?????

(12:50am) Its fucking midnight and Yusei still isn’t back.

(12:50am) I DUCKING TOLD YOU

            (12:50am) *FUCKING

(12:50am) The library is already closed so he’s definitely not there and he’s not in the lounge.

(12:51am) Sooooooo

            (12:51am) Should we call the police?

            (12:51am) Or campus security

            (12:51am) Is there a possibility that he went home and just didn’t tell us?

            (12:52am) wait he’s got a test tomorrow

            (12:52am) Or I guess today technically

            (12:53am) WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GO?!?!?!?!?!

(12:55am) I found him.

            (12:55am) He just got back and I was talking to him in the bathroom and asking where the fuck he was.

(12:56am) So???? What did he say????

(12:56am) He told me he was studying for his test tomorrow but I don’t buy it.

(1:00am) Wait why not?

(1:00am) Crow all the other buildings on campus have been closed already. And the all night study room door is currently being repaired so no one can use that right now.

(1:01am) SO WHERE THE FUCK WAS HE?

(1:01am) I have no idea but I don’t appreciate him avoiding the subject with his promises of breakfast this weekend.

(1:01am) Is it working??????

(1:05am) …maybe

(1:05am) DAMMIT JACK! WHAT HAPPENED TO BEING HEADSTRONG!?!?!?!

(1:05am) LISTEN!

            (1:05am) HAVE YOU EVER HAD YUSEI’S COOKING!

            (1:06am) I WOULD BE MORE THAN WILLING TO KILL SOMEONE FOR IT.

(1:06am) …that’s fair

            (1:10am) welp I’ve gotta finish this paper, in the meantime try to find out where the fuck Yusei was.

(1:10am) Will do.

12 hours later

            “Did you find anything?” Crow asked as he stumbled into Jack’s dorm room.

            “No and he’s gone for the afternoon again since he has two classes back to back.” Jack informed as he plopped down on his bed.

            “Like nothing at all?”

            “He told me not to worry about it, which of course now I’m worried about it even though I shouldn’t be.” Jack told Crow. “But I do have an idea on where he’s going after his classes.”

            “Where?!” Crow jumped with anticipation and scurried over to Jack’s bedside. “We gotta find out!”

            “The little coffee shop on campus, you know the one run by students?”

            “He goes there?” Crow questioned. Crow never imagined Yusei to be a coffee person, that was more of Jack’s thing. To be honest, Yusei was still the guy to drink Nesquik chocolate milk if given the opportunity.

            “Well, apparently, some of the guys on basketball team told me that he’s been there the last few times that they’ve been there.”

            “New homework spot?” Crow asked.

            “Not exactly.” Jack paused for a second while he sat up. “Apparently, he’s been there with a girl.”

            At that last comment, Crow’s mind short circuited. Crow’s mind started racing with questions. A girl? Who was the lucky one to grab Yusei Fudo’s attention? From the stories that he hears from Jack and later confirmed by Yusei, he’s never dated anyone ever. Except for Sherry Leblanc, but that lasted about a whole two weeks before they decided it was better to remain as friends. So, that doesn’t necessarily count. Yusei has also informed Crow that in high school he had no interest in dating anyone and that interest apparently hadn’t changed in his first year of college either. Which caused him to earn the nickname ‘Heartbreaker’ since no one was ever given a chance.

            “Holy shit.” Crow whispered.

            “That was my reaction when my teammates told me.” Jack replied. “We wait till just before Yusei’s classes are done and head on over to the coffee ship. Then we see who mystery girl is.”

            “Thank god my second class got cancelled or else I would have missed this.” Crow responded while simultaneously agreeing with Jack. “Time to find out who the future Mrs. Fudo is.”

Two hours later

“Oh cool! I’ll take a snickers frappe.” Crow told the worker behind the desk. “With extra whip cream.”

            “Alright! That’ll be $2.50.” Crow handed over the money and went back to his spot in the corner with Jack. Since the two of them were out in public, Jack had to hide under a baggy sweater, ridiculous sunglasses, and a beanie hat to hide his signature spiky blond hair.

            “You know, all you need to do now is cut off the Jedi padawan braids of yours and you’d almost look like a normal person of society.” Crow joked.

            “Look who’s talking carrot top.”

            “Hey fuck you! My hair’s fabulous.” Jack only shrugged at Crow’s statement. Crow was waiting for his order to ring up when he noticed someone on the opposite side of the coffee shop. A girl with magenta colored hair pulled back with a headband. She had a drink off to one side of her and looked to be reading out of a textbook. She looked…familiar. Crow had seen her somewhere, but couldn’t remember where.

            “What are you looking at birdbrain?” Jack asked as he was once again playing on his phone.

            “Does that girl look familiar to you?” Crow asked as Jack turned into the direction that Crow was looking. Jack tilted his head before Crow noticed the look of recognition that appeared on Jack’s face.

            “Isn’t that Aki Izayoi? The senator’s daughter?” Jack stated.

            “Wait you mean the girl that kicked Saiga in the balls?” Crow said when the memory of Saiga getting kicked in between his legs came back to him in a flash.”

            “Of course that would be where you remember her from.”

            “Hey that was pretty funny! I remember you getting it on Snapchat!” Crow remembered as he and Jack started laughing. His drink was brought to him and he was currently wiping the tears from his face. “Now that I think about it, I remember last week Yusei telling me that he had to tutor her in algebra.”

            “Good to know he survived the encounter.” Jack chuckled as he took a sip of his water bottle. “Speaking of which, I’m pretty sure that’s Yusei now.” Jack motioned towards the window. Sure, enough, through the window Crow could see the spiky raven haired man coming to the main entrance of the coffee shop. His backpack filled with books no doubt. Yusei entered the coffee shop and his cobalt colored eyes quickly scanned the shop as his eyes landed on the other side. Right where Aki Izayoi was sitting.

            Jack and Crow watched intently as they observed Yusei walk over to the young girl. They were both surprised to find that Aki smiled fondly at Yusei as he sat his stuff down next to her. A few words were exchanged before he went over to order his own drink. Crow felt like it was ages that him and Jack were watching Yusei and Aki. Although, it didn’t seem to be any more than tutoring session. Things didn’t get interesting until Aki had apparently said something to make Yusei choke on his drink and start laughing. It was at this point that both Crow and Jack decided to stay just a little bit longer before they had to run back since Jack had off season training practice.

            Although they weren’t going to stay much longer since Yusei had decided to look over in their direction and notice them staring. Yusei’s tanned face expressed confusion as Crow flashed him some quick thumbs up while Jack did a less appropriate hand gesture. This led to Yusei faceplanting into his textbook, which got a concerned look from Aki. She seemed to be asking if he was okay as he shook his head, sat up and glared at them. Crow had planned to say hi, but that was unable to happen since the worst thing that could have happened, ended up happening.

            “Is that Jack Atlas!?” They heard a girl shriek from the main entrance of the coffee shop. That’s when Crow noticed that Jack had removed his sunglasses from when they were laughing and never put them back on. In the immediate vicinity, all the girls turned their attention to Jack with a gleam in their eyes that gave Crow the chills.

            “Back door?” Jack asked.

            “Back door.” Crow answered as they both bolted out the exit of the coffee shop and began sprinting their way back Jack’s room.

—————

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH SHADY THIS IS SO AMAZING AND THE FACT THAT IT COMES FROM A TRUE STORY MAKES IT 10000 TIMES BETTER AAAAAAAAAAAAA I’M SO GLAD YOU WROTE IT IN THE END DFGHNJM JUST BURY ME HE R E