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sapphicdalliances · 4 years ago

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Dear Chocolatier,

thank you so much for being here!! my sincere apologies for the lateness and messiness of this letter! sorry about my incredibly inconsistent capitalisation! it has been updated on the 8th of january, and may receive more updates this week.

I’m a simple bitch with simple tastes; here is a general summary of my preferences, and fandom-specific notes and prompts can be found further down!

I very much enjoy:

Fics that are short, but imply a longer, deeper verse; since this exchange is for short fics, but some of my prompts seem expansive, I just want to give you carte blanche permission to dip into an AU, splash around in it, and simply not provide additional details.

Comedic tones, slice-of-life, lighthearted fun, any amount of improbable romcom tropes

Am also on board with misunderstandings and drama as long as there is a happy ending!

I’m deeply okay with AUs, and most likely would be down for any modern, romcom, fantasy/fairytale, gender swap, or remix/crossover AUs you feel inspired to explore! My favourite settings include mundane/urban fantasy (witches! werewolves!), anachronism-stew-with-magic western fantasy jumbles, and disney’s Tangled.

Writing tropes I love:

Proposal fic

Wedding fic where the couple getting married is not the main couple

Outsider/third character POV of the main couple

Exes who are still in love/getting back together

Friends-with-benefits-with-feelings/did a bad job keeping it casual

Shipfic where two or more couples are contrasted

Oblique declarations of love/saying i love you without saying i love you

Provision and caretaking (acts of service!)

Aggressive matchmaking/wingmanning by an enthused friend

Hanahaki, or any other improbably dramatic instances of Cannot Spit It Out

Arranged marriage/fake marriage/fake dating

Epistolary fic

Regrettably I also love a/b/o, especially the kind that emphasises on scent safety and contains little to no actual sex

Art tropes I love, if you offered art:

Art where the characters simply look fond.

Fashion remixes – street fashion, cultural/traditional clothes, festival clothes, renfaire-esque clothes, beach photoshoot, get wild with it

Putting animal characteristics on one or both of them

Botanical motifs + celestial motifs

When plants grow directly out of people

The thing where character A is focused on something they’re doing or seeing, and the character B is focused only, wholly, desperately on A. please… the Gaze

Depictions of intimacy where faces are partially or fully hidden, but the body language is gentle

Characters SLEEPING next to each other, or comfortably doing separate activities in each other’s presence

If you wish to get frisky with your fills:

Yes!

Go for it!

I don’t have strong top/bottom preferences (and usually enjoy it when they switch or are otherwise generally equitable) so whatever you’re in the mood for is fine!

Kink tropes I very much enjoy include oral, restraints, praise kink, when proud characters cry during sex because they love their partners so much, and xeno tropes.

I love non-horny sex scenes; comedic, silly, charged, fraught, or simply affectionate exchanges that happen to include sex are my favourite. Feelings are the real kissing disease.

But like, if you wanna get horny about it.

Chase your bliss.

They simply must be in love.

I’m not as into:

Kidfic

First person narration

Soulmate AUs specifically

Kink wise, my only major squicks are incest, teacher/student, and public sex/getting caught, but i’m also not super keen on daddy kink, toilet stuff, or anything with blades or needles.

In general, please avoid:

Character death or serious/permanent injury

Animal abuse or death

Infidelity

Hopeless or downer endings

Fandom specific info:

Haikyuu!!

changed my life, cured my depression, what can be said about it? truly one of the most important series to me of all time. all musings on craft and creativity aside, let’s focus on the TRUE LOVE!!

i’m all caught up with the manga and supplementary materials!

suggested prompts: - sakuatsu, being mean to each other on purpose vs. being soft to each other by accident - kagehina or iwaoi dealing with LDR - kyouhaba are forced to cooperate on an innocuous, preferably wholesome task, such as gardening, or finding the owner of a lost dog, and it goes approximately As One Would Expect - bokukuroo + overheard phone conversation: and you've slept together how many times now? hmm. yeah, that's not technically a bromance (not in a no-homo way, just in a we-are-both-so-stupid-and-like-each-other-so-much-way) - actually that overheard phone conversation would work for any of these ships.

suggested prompts, art-specific: - festival clothes!! - put some wings on some of them. now it's bird romance, which is for birds - (i lied, this isn't art-specific at all, wingfic is always welcome in any of its forms) - just pick up your whole boyfriend and carry him like that. maybe even kiss him.

Or please do remix it with any of my general tropes listed above!

Oofuri

suggested prompts: - Hanai and Tajima really. struggle to get together. for like a bunch of years probably? Tajima copes with it by patiently processing his emotions in a healthy way and enjoying some casual dating. Hanai copes with it, as he does all things, by not coping - The ways Abe and Mihashi learn to take care of each other… Mihashi cooking 4 Abe… T_T

Promare

i simply think the twink and the himbo are in love.

Ace Attorney

favourite klapollo dynamic goes like this:

klavier: *genuinely and sincerely in love with apollo, in a very soft way* apollo: *furious* he's mocking me. why are you like this? klavier: I enjoy your company apollo: FINE, KEEP YOUR SECRETS

also consider: - what if klavier was a big ol golden retriever and apollo was just an angry liddol bunny. like, think about it

Or please do remix it with any of my general tropes listed above!

Wotakoi

I love that this series has three couples in different stages of a relationship: one who’ve been together for years and love each other like well-worn grooves; one who have history but have only just recently begun a relationship and are discovering each other anew; and one who probably will not bring themselves to share a kiss for another 27 calendar years.

Narumi/Hirotaka: Honestly, the main couple of a series usually goes over my head a bit, but the more i thought about these two the more wretchedly fond of them I became. The thing I think of the most is how Narumi taught him how to smile as a child; how she did things that meant nothing to her, so easily does kindness come, but that meant so much to him; and how now that they are grown, he does things for her that take no effort, but shake her foundations. I think theirs is a love that grows quietly; something that cannot change the world, but can change them.

Koyanagi/Kabakura: My thoughts on these two are not complex, but they are deeply positive. I love how huge their personalities are, and how they fit around and against each other; I love the implication that despite their endless bickering, they are not an on-again-off-again kind of relationship, and have instead chosen each other over and over again for ten straight years. I love that despite everything, they are kind to each other, first and foremost; they find ways to apologise and to take care of each other, and treat each other gently in private.

Kou/Naoya: I love every ship in this manga equally but perhaps I love Kou/Naoya more equally than the other two? They are just so kind and so silly, and so sweet to each other in exactly the way both of them didn’t realise they were missing. I think about Naoya being told that Kou is “okay with being alone”, and realising that “okay with it” and “have accepted it” are different, and taking his little baby steps to fix it. I think about Kou giving Naoya every last drop of patience he’s trained himself not to accept, and doing so because it simply makes her happy. My only concern is that they are both bottoms. I don’t have a solution for this.

suggested prompts, fic:

- accidentally dating ft. Kou and Naoya, or, “and you’ve made out how many times now? Hmm. Yeah, that’s not technically a bromance.” - 5 times Hirotaka and Narumi almost, almost kissed, and 1 time they did; the unresolved romantic tension may kill me and it would be worth it - what Hirotaka and Narumi taught each other (apart from the more mundane gaming and life skills, i believe that she taught him how to smile and be loved by others, and he taught her how to be loved by herself!) - smutty domesticity ft. Koyanagi and Kabakura — a lazy Sunday, laundry in the sun, fucking on the couch, everything easy with familiarity - (addendum to above: pegging)

suggested prompts, art: - festival clothes - someone’s getting married - naoya: *hands kou a tangerine* *hands kou a tangerine* *hands kou a tangerine* *hands kou a tangerine* *hands kou a t - red string of fate motifs

Or please do remix it with any of my general tropes listed above!

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun

seowaka: they are idiots, and they like each other very much, but they do not know. i love a tall crying boy and his short but much more powerful girlfriend.

chiyo/nozaki + chiyo/nozaki/mikorin: im rooting for her in the face of such overwhelming stupidity. one himbo is difficult enough to seduce but two. chiyo is a hero and a woman of rare courage. i like the pair and the trio equally; again, if you go with trio, it’s important that they all love each other please!

suggested prompts: - 5 times any of these ships went on a date without realising, and the time they realised - urban fantasy AU where Waka is a hapless monster hunter and Seo is an annoying but deeply harmless werewolf who’s been terrorizing his town?? - fairytale AU where Seo believes she must rescue the prince from the tower and deliver him back to the kingdom capital, and the prince, who had not realised he’d been kidnapped, thinks Seo is a usurper from a rival kingdom who must be supervised all the way back to the kingdom capital to be served her justice

suggested prompts, art-specific: - festival clothes… - nozaki carrying chiyo, who’s carrying mikorin - (seo carrying waka) - waka sleeping peacefully in seo’s presence… :’(

Or please do remix it with any of my general tropes listed above!

we made it through all the fandoms.

Thank you for making it to the end of this whole disaster; I hope at least one of the prompts sparked joy! The most important thing to me is that whatever you end up doing, you are able to enjoy the process at least somewhat, and deliver a creation that you like! I can also be found on twitter at @hawberries_ (for art) and @popplioikawa (for general ramblings). If you need some more inspo, I recommend going through my art tags for the selected ships because I put a lot of Opinions into my fanart.

#shut up phee #chocbox

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thefloatingstone · 7 years ago

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is it a sign of bad character design if a character doesn't have any kind of accesoire on them? like tattos/piercings or any kind of. i kinda feel everytime i creat one without such things, they look boring or have nothing special on them... is it important or just a case of personal taste?

Hmm…

Having no accessories or tattoos isabsolutely not a sign of bad character design :) But at the sametime, you are following a good train of logic, I just think you needto look into it a little more:

You say that when you create acharacter without accessories or tattoos, they feel feel boring orhave nothing special to them. I think this is a very good insight tohave, and although your solution for adding accessories and tattoosisn’t wrong, in this case I think it’s more of a crutch thanaddressing the true issue.

(more under the cut because this endedup being insanely long)

I don’t know what kind of art style youtend to lean towards (more cartoony or more manga type stuff orsomething like that) but I’m going to assume you’re working withgenerally human characters. If you feel like your characters feelboring or like there’s nothing special about them, then that issomething to try and address, yes. However, using something like atattoo or an accessory or piercing does not actually solve theproblem. What you’re looking for is a way to give your character apersonality that comes across in how they look. And so the firstthing you need to ask yourself is; what kind of personality does yourcharacter have? And does having a tattoo or accessory compliment thatpersonality, and if it was removed, would the character’s personalitystill be obvious to the audience?

I’m playing Persona 4 at the moment, soLet’s look at one of my favourite characters in the game; KanjiTatsumi.

So Let’s look at Kanji’s characterdesign, which has both accessories and a tattoo. Kanji’s outfitchanges in the game depending on whether you’re at school or if it’sthe weekend, whether it’s summer or one of the colder seasons, andvarious other situations. Kanji’s accessories change throughout thegame as well. Especially his necklaces. However the change is barelynoticeable and don’t define how he looks. Also, he has a tattoo onhis left shoulder of a skull and cross-bones. However, when he’swearing his jacket you don’t see it. Again, it does not define hischaracter design.

Ok, so what can you tell about KanjiJUST by his design when removing his tattoo and his accessoriescompletely?

Well most obvious is that he looks alittle scary.

His hair is dyed bright blonde (whichwould be even more intimidating in Japan where he’s from for culturalreasons I’m not gonna go into here) and he’s got it slicked back.Combined with his very sharp facial features, it makes him lookpretty rough. He’s got small, sharp eyes and eyebrows that jutinwards harshly. His nose is also pointed, and his jaw is a littlemore square than the other main characters, even the boys, who havemore rounded or pointed jaw-lines. Then there are smaller detailslike his scar. However, like with his accessories, if you removedthat scar he’d still obviously be Kanji. (I also noticed for thefirst time while looking at these that his nose is pierced. SomethingI never noticed before)

All of his facial features, as well ashis neutral expression and even the way he stands all tell us a lotabout him as a character before we even get to things like clothes,tattoos, accessories, piercings or scars. Kanji is obvious a roughperson, probably a troublemaker and seems like the kind of person whogets into fights a lot. Now you add the kind of colours and clotheshe wears. Kanji generally only wears black with details on hisclothes usually being red or orange. He also wears a lot of tank topswith flaming skulls on them, as well as black jeans and heeled boots.This emphasises his personality, and makes you wonder “is he in agang? Is he a biker maybe? Is he into metal perhaps?”. Then you addthings like his multiple piercings and his tattoo (He might have morethan one? I’m not even sure.) But even if those things weren’t there,we already have a picture of what kind of person Kanji is (or thekind of person people in the story thinks he is) based on hisappearance. The things like his tattoo, piercings and scar furtheremphasise that, but they are not what makes his character design whatit is. They merely tell us even more of what we already know. That ifthis kid was in your high-school, you’d probably want to avoid him.

It may also make him look like a bit ofan edgelord. Like he’s trying TOO hard to look scary andintimidating. And you know what? In Kanji’s case, that’s absolutelytrue. Kanji looks like he’s trying SO HARD to be scary, because heactually is. Kanji is afraid of people rejecting him. Especiallysince… well… Kanji is almost certainly Pansexual, if not bi, andwhen you first meet him he’s agonizing whether he might now just beouright gay. He also loves sewing and knitting, and as a little kidpreferred playing with dolls and cooking to what the other boys did.So he grew up with boys making fun of him, and girls telling him he’sweird. As a result, Kanji grows up into a 15 year old who has becomeso afraid of rejection that he tries his hardest to scare people awayfrom getting to know him. So his character design looks like it’strying too hard to be edgy, but with Kanji that’s actually onpurpose! Because KANJI is trying too hard to be edgy!

Now let’s look at some characters withno tattoos or accessories. (I’m sticking to the anime style just as abasis of comparison since I was using Kanji as my first example)

Say hello to my OTHER big love of ananime series Gay Baseball Okiku Furrikabute (Or BigWindup) Or Oofuri for short.

Oofuri is a sports anime, in this caseBaseball. Which means the characters most of the time either weartheir school uniforms, or their baseball uniforms. Which all lookidentical. None of them have accessories or tattoos to distinguishthem from each other, and heck most of them have the exact same haircolour and almost exactly the same hairstyle! (save for a couple)

However, look at the above picture,especially the two main characters of Abe and Mihashi on the left.You can probably tell a LOT about them as characters just by theirdesigns, but especially by their expressions and posture. Abe looksserious. His eyes are heavy lidded, but his eyebrows are sharplyslanted inwards. His hair is also very dark, darker than most of theother boys, as is his eyes. It gives him a more mature, serious look.Mihashi is the complete opposite. His pose and expression immediatelylet us know he’s a very nervous boy. His eyes are very large, butalso light in colour, and his irises are not big and deep like Izumion the far right (The one with the freckles and big ears). Hiseyebrows are also crooked, making him look nervous an unsure. Hismouth also makes it look like he’s permanently chewing his lip orthat he’s tense. But his hair gives him a softness as well. It looksa lot more fluffy that the other boys’ and looks much softer andpoofier. It’s also obviously much lighter in colour. Along with therest of his features, Mihashi seems like a very anxious but probablysweet boy.

Izumi looks like he would be theyounger, more boyish type of character, but his expression and posemakes him seem more serious than his features would imply, whileSuyama on the bottom Right looks much more mature than any of theothers because of his smaller eyes and more defined nose. As well ashis shaved hair and small eyebrows. He’s probably older than theothers and pretty level-headed. However, there’s something curious inhis expression. He’s not trying to stare you down like Izumi abovehim. He just seems curious as to why the audience is there.

However, that is not to say tattoos oraccessories can’t be an important part of a character’s entiredesign, but again, the question comes back to “how do these addedelements compliment my character’s personality” and not “whataccessories can make my character unique?”

Here we have Jack, from Mass Effect 2.

Her tattoos are a VERY obvious part ofher design, and if they weren’t there it’d harm her character designa LOT and change her complete look. She’d still be striking with herinsistence to walk around topless and her shaved head, but hertattoos are what we see first. But why does she have them?

Jack is an INCREDIBLY damaged characterin the game. Much like Kanji, she pushes people away and tries tokeep everyone at a distance. However, unlike Kanji who uses his looksas a shield, Jack embraces her look as she feels it’s a reflection ofherself. She sees herself as a tough bitch no-one should mess with,and she projects that. She’s lived a life of abuse, betrayal andviolence, and so she’s developed defences to literally keep herselfalive. In a world of gangsters, casual murder, rape and peoplethrowing their partners to the wolves, Jack has decided her only wayto survive is to be king dick of shit mountain. And so her tattoosand accessories are a way to broadcast that she’s, essentially,completely fucked up. She’ll stab you without a second thought andshe wants you to know that. They’re also a “fuck you” to normalsociety. Jack believes most people are full of shit, but the peoplewho fit in with society and act all nice are the scariest and mostdangerous of all. She sees them as even lower than the criminals shesurrounds herself with, because they “pretend” to be good peoplewhen really they’re just hypocrites who’d eat each other alive. SoJack also uses her tattoos and accessories to mark herself asrejecting “normal life”.

In mass Effect 3, her design haschanged. She still has her tattoos, but her overall look hassoftened.

She’s growing out her hair (at least toan extent. She’s not gonna go full housewife on you) and she dressesmore modestly. However, she does so while still exposing a lot of hertattoos, and her jacket is leather and studded. But since she’strying to take steps to be a better person, deal with her pasttraumas and connect with other people, her design is less like she’sa psycho murderer, and more like she’s a hardcore punk you couldbelieve yourself seeing in the real world.

Her tattoos and overall design allspawn from her internal thoughts, feelings and personality, and sochange according to it. Her tattoos do set her apart from the otherfemale characters in the game, but they are dictated by how she iswritten, not the other way around.

And THEN…. you have Tidus…

I’m sorry people who like this game andthis character but… Tidus’ character design is a mess.

All that there appears to BE to Tidus’design is accessories. And yet not a single one of them seems toreally tell us anything about him other than “this is a FinalFantasy main Character.” And yes, you can probably apply that tonot only a lot of characters in FFX but in Final Fantasy as a whole(Zidane isn’t much better in his design. And FF9 is my favourite!)But at least with the other characters in FFX they give us SOMEinsight…. kinda. Yuna looks very traditional and demure. Rikkulooks like a bubbly almost Ganguro style girl. Auron looksno-nonsense and almost like a samurai. Lulu looks like a darkbrooding goth girl. But what does Tidus’ design tell us other thanhe’s a main character in a JRPG?

He has pants that… don’t have thesame length to them. Why? Is there any reason? Does it tell usanything about his personality? He’s got that cropped jacket. He’sgot big clunky shoes. He’s got finger-less gloves which is probablythe closest to making sense since he’s an athlete and they look likesport equipment. But honestly, if you undressed him, took off all hisaccessories and took away his blitzball… how would you know thischaracter is Tidus? The designs of FFX are a little too photorealistic to be recognisable on style alone. And Tidus has no designdetails about him that make me think that he is Tidus. (Spoonyfamously pointed out that he basically looks like Meg Ryan) He’s ablonde dude and erm… that’s it?

So Tidus’ design relies COMPLETELY onaccessories to make him stand out and recogniseable.

And THAT is bad character design.Regardless of the fact that his accessories make little to no sensein any way shape or form for what we DO know about his character(He’s an underwater athlete but wears heavy clunky clothes. He broodsaout his father but his clothes are yellow and sunny), his clothesare the only thing that makes him recognisable as himself. And thefact is that Tidus, really, doesn’t have any personality. He’s “JRPGProtag” personality. He’s upbeat for the most part, angsty when theplot calls for it, has a tragic back story tm which doesn’t seem toaffect him in any real way outside of complaining about his fathernow and then, and he’s in love with Yuna. And these, honestly, wouldall be ok. Because he’s the main character in a video game and we’resuppose to project ourselves onto him. The problem is that even MainCharacters in other JRPGs that we’re suppose to project ourselvesonto have SOME kind of logic or unifying factor to their design.

Yuu from Persona 4′s hair is silver and straight cut, his eyes aresilver and he generally wears very monochromatic outfits, usuallyleaning to white and grey. He doesn’t clutter his outfit with manyaccessories, and what he does wear seem mainly to be practical (likea wristwatch). Persona 3’s main character looks COMPLETELY different.His dark blue choppy hair covers his face, he always carries hisheadphones with him (and he prefers those weird clip-on headphones). He’s obviouslymore casual and laid back, but with a slight rock vibe to him.

So back to Tidus… what exactly unifies his design? What does it tell us about his role in the story and personality? (Since unlike Yuu and the Persona MC, Tidus has a personality outside of his player proxy status) If he removed hisaccessories would he still be recognisable? If we kept his designexactly the way it is but gave him Luffy from One Piece’spersonality, would his design have to change? If we gave him a completely different outfit that looked nothing like his canon one in any way at all, would it even matter?

(btw this is not Tidus. This is Vaan from FF Tactics A2)

The only time we could say we’d need tochange his design is if we went in a hard opposite direction. Like ifwe wanted to make him a broody edgelord we’d probably not have asmuch yellow in his design…. even though he IS broody and angsty inthe game??? Does the bright yellow and blonde hair really scream“existential crises with daddy issues” to anyone???

ugh. What a mess.

So, as a VERY long winded answer;characters don’t have to have tattoos or accessories to have gooddesigns. Nor do tattoos and accessories make designs bad. What makesa design bad is if you are using tattoos and accessories as a crutchbecause you cannot find a way to project your character’s personalityin how they look, in which case you may need to look into what yourcharacter’s personality actually IS. And then examine how you cantake that personality and apply it to their physical appearance andlook. Not just in what they wear and how their hair is styled, butalso in their face, body, posture and expressions. What kind ofcolours would suit their personality best? What about theirbackground or situation would dictate how they look or what theywear? What kind of person are they?

And then, FINALLY, you can askyourself; Do I need a tattoo or an accessory or piercing to enhancewhat I have already put into the design?

Because in the end that’s what tattoosand accessories should be: an enhancement of the character that’salready there. Because THAT’S what’s gonna make your characterinteresting and special. Who they are, what their situation is, wherethey’re from, where they’re going and what are their goals. What aretheir quirks, their likes, their dislikes, their hang-ups, theirstrengths, their fears, their hopes.

A character’s design is how an artistintroduces a character to the audience and what kind of person theyare without having to explain it with words. It gives us a startingpoint to get to know them and what kind of story they are here totell.

If you want to expand on your characterdesigns and not rely on things like tattoos and accessories, Isuggest looking up different character designs and look at how theirfaces and bodies are drawn. If you can find them in different outfitsthat’s a big help too! Look up tutorials on things like facialstructure. Look at your favourite animated movies and take note ofhow the different characters’ faces, bodies and especially their bodylanguage are done. Look at the way they stand, the kind ofexpressions they tend to pull, what the structure of their face islike, how they tend to move, how they stand perfectly still. Whatshapes are used in their designs. What the art style looks like. AndI would also suggest not using too much modern anime for referenceexcept those that have a very distinct look to their characters. Alot of modern anime use exactly the same designs for theircharacters, relying on hair colour and clothes to make them standout. (which is again, poor design)

Honestly a very GOOD anime to look atis Osomatsu-San. All 6 man characters are identical. However you canimmediately tell who is who based purely on their expressions andbody language as well as very small minute details. So even when theyall wear the same outfit, it’s extremely easy to tell who is who.

Anyway… I hope that at least KIND OFanswers your question? Maybe? I’m sorry this is so long but in thiscase I feel the best way to learn is simply through analysingcharacters with GOOD designs and really looking into why they work.And compare them with bad designs and see why the bad designs do NOTwork. Because I don’t think your problem is that you “need”tattoos and accessories to make your characters interesting. I thinkyour problem is you have discovered a weakness in your art skills,and you want to improve upon it. But you’re unsure how, and you feelmaybe tattoos and accessories could be an answer. I feel, however,it’s merely a bandaid. Where it may make it seem a little better, butit doesn’t actually fix the underlying issue.

Just keep at it. Study the kind ofdesigns you like, adapt the parts you are drawn to in your own work,and over time, if you keep at it, your designs will naturally improveto where tattoos and accessories will no longer seem as big anecessity as you feel they are now :) you can still use them as muchas you want, but it will be to strengthen your design, not hold itup.

And I’m really gonna stop typing nowbecause this is insanely long.

#C-Puff answers #character design #long post #image heavy #Anonymous

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dokuhan · 7 years ago

Text

Oofuri XMas Exchange

Title: It Could Happen One Day Rating: PG Fandom: Ookiku Furikabutte Pairing: Mihashi Ren/Abe Takaya Summary: Or...the four times Abe Takaya thought Christmas was completely and totally ruined, but it actually turned out pretty, okay. Notes: HOLY SHIT IT’S FINALLY DONE.

Hey hey hey, @jaesti it’s your Secret Santa~~ I’m sorry this took so long, I had this really cute idea and wanted to make sure it was perfect, but life kept kicking me in the face. Sorry it’s unbetaed, but I hope you like it all the same! Yuletide blessings~! <3

The first really was just unfortunate circumstance. It was probably kind of their own fault, really. Their relationship was barely a few weeks old, and outside of Oki finding out by accident nobody knew they were together. It was still super tentative and overwhelming for two 17-year-old boys and they didn’t want to rock the boat right away.

But at the same time, Takaya wanted their first Christmas together to be special, dammit.

The plan was to keep it as low key as possible and play it by ear. See a movie, grab food, maybe something along those lines. Neither one of them had ever dated before so they didn’t exactly know how it worked, but it would still be pretty fun. It had taken a lot of sneaking around and excuses to get out of hanging out with the rest of the team too.

All that secrecy might have been their downfall, though.

“Abe-kun, it’s so great to see you again!”

Now to be absolutely clear, Takaya had absolutely no problem with Ruri. They barely knew each other, but what little interaction they had was far from unpleasant. He just didn’t want her third-wheeling on what was supposed to be a romantic evening.

“I d-didn’t know she was visiting…” Ren mumbled when they finally had a chance to talk. His head was down, but Takaya swore he could see Ren’s eyes boring holes into Ruri’s back as she walked leisurely ahead of them. “Mom said she should hang out with me and my friends.”

“Right. Because that’s what we said we were doing.” Takaya rubbed his face, breathing in deeply, “Now what?”

“Should…should we call someone? M-maybe Yuu-kun is around o-or Shouji-kun…”

“Yeah, and then then what?”

Ren made an uncomfortable noise and shrunk down a little, which made Takaya feel absolutely guilty but they both knew he was right. So yeah…they were stuck. Awesome.

And he tried to be nice about it, he really, really did – but it was just…Ruri was just there, all the time. She was an unavoidable, unmoving object placed there purely to ruin his Christmas.

When they went to grab food, she slid into the booth next to Ren before Takaya could even make it to the table. The movie was out of the question, because they couldn’t agree on something the three of them would enjoy. She dragged them through every crowded street, lamenting about how there were so many happy couples around them and yet the three of them were alone completely oblivious to the fact that IT. WAS. SUPPOSED. TO BE. A DATE.

Then there was the game center. That frigging game center. On a regular day, it was miserable. Too many people and a lot of noise – far from his cup of tea. Ren was even worse about it. But Ruri insisted, saying it was the perfect atmosphere for whatever tangent she found herself on, because Takaya had stopped listening long before that.

If he hated the game center normally, then on Christmas it was an absolute nightmare. By the time they pushed through the crowd, Takaya was ready to rip his hair out. Ren looked absolutely rattled too, reaching to cover his ears.

“Oh! Let’s try that one out,” Ruri exclaimed, reaching to pull Ren along, “RenRen, come on it’s not that bad.”

“Yes it is!”

Takaya whipped his head around, surprised that he could hear Ren over the rest of the noise.

Ruri looked just as surprised, letting her arms drop. She pouted a little, “Okay, so it’s busy, but I just want us to have fun. You’ve both been so grumpy.”

“B-because we wanted to be alone! It was supposed to be the two of us!”

She looked at the two of them, at first completely bewildered, but then as the dots connected in her head her eyes widened, “Oh…oh…OH! You guys…oh my god.” She covered her mouth, and Takaya braced himself for some kind of disgust, but instead, “I had no idea! I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you say something?”

“Mom d-doesn’t know…n-nobody knows.”

Takaya sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, “We haven’t been on an actual date yet. We’re still figuring this out.”

“Oh no, oh my god. I’m such a jerk. I can’t believe this.” She frowned, deeply.

That maybe, possibly made Takaya feel just a little bad. It obviously wasn’t her fault and she didn’t mean any of it, but it didn’t change the fact that their night was completely ruined. Having everything out in the open probably made it worse too, because now there were three miserable people spending Christmas together instead of just two.

“Wait, I think I might have an idea,” Ruri pushed past them, “You guys wait here, I’ll be right back.”

It wasn’t like they could move anywhere else, anyway.

Takaya covered his own ears, moving in close to Ren, “I guess there’s always next year.”

“I’m so sorry, Takaya-kun.”

“Don’t. We’ll try again.”

Ruri grabbed onto the back of his shirt, “Okay, you two, come with me.”

She led the two of them up an escalator and down a hallway. She opened one of the doors, revealing a small karaoke room, “I could only get an hour, sorry. But I’ll be downstairs. Merry Christmas.”

With the door closed, most of the sounds coming from the lower level and other rooms muffled out.

Ren looked completely relieved and plopped down on the seat.

Takaya was quick to join him and stretched his legs forward. “So…should we put something on?”

“No, um…” Ren looked a little red, but lowered his head, resting it on Takaya’s shoulder, “I-is…is this okay? I don’t…it’s been a lot.”

Takaya felt his heart beating out of his chest, but he still moved his arm to rest around Ren’s waist, “Yeah, it’s okay.”

It was the best hour he had all year.

By their second Christmas and last year in high school, everyone was in the loop. It was understood and generally expected that they were going to be spending the holiday together. Takaya was determined to make it work that year. He pre-ordered movie tickets, looked up hole in the wall restaurants that he was certain wouldn’t be totally crowded, saved up all of his money, and even bought a new shirt for the occasion. After the mess the previous year had been, he was ready to call this their first real Christmas.

Until Japan had what had to have been its heaviest snowfall in all of history.

It had actually started early on the 23rd and the news reports had repeated over and over again that it would be done by the next afternoon, only for the winds to pick up and drop another foot on Saitama over the next two days. Takaya swore it was spite. Some god in the heavens probably saw him and went, “Yeah, that guy? Abe Takaya? Fuck him.”

So that nixed everything. Roads were closed. Trains weren’t running on schedule. Even if places were open there was no way the two of them could get there, much less to each other.

Which left Takaya to sulk in his room. Alone. On Christmas.

He huffed and placed his head on his desk. His mom had tried to reassure him that they could do something in few days, or he could even invite Ren over for the new year, but that just soured his move even more. None of that would be the same, he just wanted this one thing.

When his phone vibrated against his desk, he could feel it in his teeth. He wanted to ignore it, figuring it was one of his parents trying to get his attention. But then he figured it was easier than having them come up to lecture him, so he reached for it anyway.

To his surprise – it was Ren. Ren, who avoided phone calls like the plague. Ren, who initiated emails and conversations once every hundred thousand years when the planets perfectly aligned.

And even more shockingly, it was a video call.

He swiped it open, half expecting Ren to realize he made a mistake and hang up right away.

But there he was, sitting on his bed with the phone at a somewhat awkward, yet definitely intentional angle. “Hi…” he started, a little shakily.

“Hey…”

“I…wanted to see you…”

“Yeah?”

Ren nodded, swallowing hard. The phone shook a little as he fiddled with it, “Yeah.”

Takaya leaned forward, resting the phone against the wall and put his arms under his chin, “This sucks.”

“It’s so cold. And deep. I wanted to come over but my bike—”

“What?! Are you insane? What if you slipped on some ice and broke your arm, or worse cracked your head open?”

He flinched, “I would have been careful.”

“Jeez, just because Koushien is over doesn’t mean you can be so reckless.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, wait just…be careful. At least until we hear back from that scout.”

“Okay…I, um, I wanted…I miss you.”

Takaya felt the tips of his ears warm up, “Yeah, you too.”

They spent the entire day on the phone. By the time Takaya hung up, only because Ren looked ready to pass out and Shun was complaining about him being too loud, his phone felt a bit overheated. Nevertheless, as he plugged it into the charger for the umpteenth time, it still felt like a Christmas well spent.

Next year would be even better, too.

The next year was not better. They were together, but it was so, so bad.

Takaya thought living together would have made things like going on dates significantly easier. They weren’t in the city center itself, but close enough to it that they could go out and about whenever the mood struck. Everyone in their building kept mostly to themselves too, so nobody really bothered them. With all this in mind, Christmas should have been a cinch.

Then came Suzuya.

Before that day, Takaya had never met Suzuya and he was pretty sure Ren only ran into her a handful of times. She was a third year at the medical school connected to their university but their paths had never really crossed, despite the fact Takaya was a first year in that same program. Aside from the occasional noise through the paper thin walls, they wouldn’t have even known someone was renting.

But because it was Christmas Eve and they had the worst luck, that’s when she decided to formally introduce herself.

“I made strew because I thought I was going to be home tonight and tomorrow, but some friends invited on a trip,” she held out the pot to Takaya, smiling brightly, “you just need to keep it in the fridge until you’re ready and then heat it up on the stove. You and your roommate play baseball, right? Athletes need to eat.”

“You really don’t have to do this, we have plans tomorrow night and the rest of it will go to waste.”

“Don’t be silly, it’s still better than all of it going to waste. You could have it for lunch tomorrow too. Please, Abe-kun, I insist.”

So he took the stupid pot and put it in the fridge. When Ren got home from visiting is parents, Takaya put it on the stove and followed all the instructions Suzuya had given him. It tasted pretty alright, nothing to write home about and he figured it would work okay for lunch the next day.

And then 4:43AM rolled around.

Takaya had been the first to wake up, feeling slightly off. He swallowed a bit as the weird feeling traveled through his throat and face. He swallowed again. He tried to will himself to get up for some water, but then that ominous thought crossed his mind, “If you sit up, you’re going to throw up.”

He turned his head to look at Ren, silently hoping that this was just some kind of stomach bug and not what he suspected. He wiggled his way out from under Ren’s arm and rolled off the futon, holding his breath as his stomach gurgled. He started to crawl his way to the bathroom when that NOW. NOW. NOW. urgency hit him like a ton of bricks. Takaya scrambled to his feet and ran to the toilet, just barely making it before retching.

When he finally raised his head out of the toilet and flushed, he heard Ren coughing from the kitchen – probably on the tail end of his own vomiting spell. Takaya placed his head against the seat, “I’m going to kill Suzuya.”

It took until the early afternoon for the vomiting and bathroom trips to stop. Hanai had swung by in the hours before to bring them ginger ale, throw out the rest of the stew, clean up Suzuya’s pot, and set up their rice cooker for when they were feeling better.

“If anything,” he commented as he dried the top, “at least you two are consistent. Call me if you guys need anything else. If you’re feeling better by tonight I’m having cake with Shouji-kun and Yuuta-kun, maybe you can swing by.”

As Takaya crawled back into the futon, though, he knew that wasn’t even a possibility. “Christmas is cursed,” he groaned.

Ren buried his head into the pillow, “I’m never eating ever again.”

He pulled the extra blanket up higher, covering their shoulders, “Don’t say that. We’re just never eating anything Suzuya makes, ever again.”

“Mmm…” Ren moved in closer.

Their third Christmas consisted of a few good hours of sleep and two bowls rice of rice seeped in tea. They watched some dumb variety show on TV and read an article about some new baseball anime that would be starting in January. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked.

When Takaya returned the pot a few days later and told Suzuya about the food poisoning, she just shrugged.

“Oh,” Suzuya said, coolly, “that’s too bad.”

And that was when Takaya realized their neighbor was fucking insane.

But that’s a story for another time.

The most recent was because Takaya was a giant moron.

Ren was out for most of the day, finishing a project with two of his classmates. That gave Takaya all the time in the world to prepare for their quiet Christmas at home. His motivation going into all of it was the idea that if their attempts to go out always failed, maybe staying at home would work in their favor.

And at that point, it was actually working out in his favor. Suzuya had moved out weeks before (thank god), he hadn’t burned down the house making dinner, and the dishes weren’t a complete pain to clean up. That just left one thing.

Takaya reached into the pocket of his sweatshirt and pulled out a small box. He felt like an idiot, but Yuuto-kun had made a joke way back in the summer, and the idea stuck in the back of his head. He opened it up and pulled it out to inspect it.

It wasn’t an engagement ring, okay? It wasn’t that serious. It was…a promise of what could maybe, possibly, hopefully become one someday. Ren definitely wouldn’t wear it all the time, it would probably break during practice, and Takaya doubted it would ever actually leave the box but…well…ugh…

His all the lamenting about his dumb ideas, his brain decided that holding the ring in between his thumb and index finger was too much of a strain. It slipped out of his grip and clanked first against the edge of the counter, then into the sink, and finally into the drain. He swore he saw his entire bank account flash in front of his eyes.

Just as he was about to scream, he noticed that it hadn’t completely fallen down and was just sitting at the very bottom. Surely, surely he could get it out. All he hand to do was reach in and…

How was he supposed to know his hand would get stuck?!

Even more panic rushed through his body as he heard the door open and close behind him.

“I’m home…” Ren greeted.

“Welcome back…help me.”

Ren rushed over to his side, looked down at his hand, at Takaya’s face, and then back down in the sink. He pressed his lips firmly closed to stifle a laugh.

“No, this isn’t funny. I’m stuck. Help.”

“O-okay, just…” he struggled as he tried not to laugh, “h-how did y-you…”

“I’ll explain later. Get butter.”

All the butter did was make his hand feel disgusting, so did the oil. It was amazing he was still holding onto the ring when all was said and done.

When he finally gave in and let Ren call 119, the paramedics laughed at him for a solid minute. Still they were able to pull his hand out without breaking it, so it was worth it.

The ring did slip out of his fingers again, but thankfully it just fell onto the edge of the sink. Of course it was right where Ren could see it, though.

Ren’s eyes widened a bit. The paramedics looked at the two of them, one looked mortified and quickly scurried out while the other stopped to clap his shoulder before following after. Takaya mentally screamed at the demon that seemed intent to ruin every Christmas he had with Ren.

Takaya sighed and leaned against the counter, careful of his still tender hand, “I’m not asking you to…it’s not like…maybe someday?”

Ren picked up the ring and wiped it on his shirt. It didn’t really fit when he slid it on his finger, but they could probably get it resized after the new year. “Someday.”

They both knew they had countless Christmases to get it right.

#oofurixmas2017 #abemiha #oofuri #ookiku furikabutte #dokufic

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misomilk · 7 years ago

Text

To: Maddy ( @brokuro ) Fr: Lea ( misomilk ) for @oofurixmas 2017

Hello, Maddy! Merry Christmas to you! I hope your Christmas Eve has been filled with lots of food and love and cheer, and may your Christmas day be filled with those even more! I’ve got 10 drabbles for you here, each of them concentrating on a Nishiura member + bonus or two (It’s a surprise!). I hope you enjoy all of them, and I hope the boys will be as in-character to your liking. Please have lots of fun while reading these!

Again, Merry Christmas! :)

Rating: G Total Word Count: ~9000 WARNING: hint-y abe+mihashi, pre-relationship. not much shipping aside from them

10.

After the loss against Sakitama, Nishihiro had fallen sick. Though he had been substituted in as a game-changer by the 6th inning in place of Mizutani, and he had redeemed himself for getting on base, he could not convince himself he had been able to give it his all. Getting sick right after the game doesn’t help much either. With nothing to do, and all the time in the world in his hands, he cannot stop himself from sinking further into negative thoughts. Like, maybe it would be alright to just… leave the club, especially when he’s this useless. Useless against Sakitama, who they once managed to beat in a called game. Even more so against Bijou-dai Sayama months ago.

He shakes his head violently to chase those thoughts away, the memory of that last at-bat making him shake to the bone.

No, he tells himself. I can contribute better to this team.

With his head pounding, and his eyes falling closed on their own, he lets sleep claim him.

***

Nishihiro feels as if he’s being pulled away from his dreams, he hears murmurs of a bunch of people. Though they’re mere buzz to his ears, he can tell they all sound familiar, and they feel so close, like home. He feels himself floating to the surface of his dreams, rising to be awake but his eyes refusing to open. The light blares even beneath his eyelids.

“Sssh, Tajima. Where in the world have you been?” says that kind, but firm tone of their shortstop. Sakitama wouldn’t have won if Nishihiro had caught the ball Suyama so accurately threw towards him. But it slipped through Nishihiro’s grip.

“There was so much manga in that room down the hallway. I even saw some about baseball. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” Their fifth batter’s voice breaks from excitement.

“You shouldn’t walk around people’s houses so freely.”

Tajima laughs. “Suyama, you sound like Yuuto… But really, we’re talking manga here. Baseball manga!! It’s the coolest!”

Another pair of voices converse, muffled stomps of feet sounding against the floor of his room.

“O-O-O-Oki-kun, I g-got ice from Ni-Nishihiro-kun’s mom.”

“Thanks, Mihashi. Place them into the basin so we can change the towel on his head.”

Right as Nishihiro feels weight come off his forehead, he slowly opens his eyes. He hears a choir of gasps around the room. Silence passing them as he takes a look on each of his guests.

“Y-you guys…” Nishihiro speaks weakly, not so much because of how his body aches, but because of an energy that fills his bones and his chest. His eyes sting, heart feeling warm. He’s never been visited by friends while he was sick before. Before Nishihiro could ask them why they thought of coming, Suyama beats him to the punch.

“Sorry for waking you up.” Nishihiro watches Suyama walk closer to his bed and sits on floor upon his knees. “Everyone wanted to come check on you, but we were afraid of overcrowding your place, so it’s just us. How are you feeling?”

“Better than before I slept, I think.” Nishihiro manages to laugh weakly. He feels weight on his forehead. He looks up to see Oki has placed the cold towel there. They share a moment, smiling at each other like they do sometimes when they’re passing papers to the front in class after a test. A moment of shared relief. He looks sideways to see Mihashi, fidgeting like usua,l but with wide eyes filled with concern for him, and Tajima, looking at him with his wide, relaxed smile.

It feels good. His whole body suddenly feels good. Like he’s been given a power up because his teammates came to visit him. His whole team wanted to visit him.

“That’s good that you’re feeling better.” Suyama nods, dependable big brother smile on his face. “Rest well and drink lots of fluids so you get better faster.”

Nishihiro sees Tajima nudge Mihashi, turning his attention to them.

“Y-yea!” Mihashi chimes in, nodding his head. “Ni-Nishihiro-kun, p-please get better soon. We’re-- All-- We’re-- Everyone-- We’re waiting-- For you. So. Come back.” Mihashi swallows, then tries to catch his breath. “Quickly.”

“That’s right!” Tajima grins. “We’re not a complete team without you after all.”

Nishihiro widens his eyes, surprised at what their once cleanup has said. For Tajima of all people, of all their members to say that-- It weighs a lot in his heart, and further increases his happiness.

“Thank you, guys.” Nishihiro wipes his eye, preventing teardrops in their attempt to escape. “Thank you. After Sakitama’s game-- I-- I really thought...” I really thought you guys would never want me back.

“PLUS BEAM!” Oki shouts. The other four in the room look towards him, and see his arms in a plus sign. “You’re not allowed to say that, Nishihiro. P-PLUS BEAM!”

Nishihiro smiles, his heart beaming with renewed vigor. He feels like he can be 100% better tomorrow, even with the power of his mentality alone. He needs to go back to his team, after all. They’re all waiting for him. He puts his hands in a plus sign. “Plus!”

They’re all waiting for him.

******

It’s funny how quickly days have turned to weeks, to months, to years. Though it just seems like just yesterday when he was tricked by Abe into a Three At-Bat challenge against Mihashi, here they stand, all ten of them, taking in the sights, the smells, the feel.

Koushien’s soil is soft, yet firm beneath his spiked shoes. This is it.

Finally. This is it.

They had placed top above everyone else in their prefecture, beat champion high schools, and finally they earned the chance to stand here, among the best of the best.

“I know,” he starts his speech to his teammates, the original ten. His second family. He has to shout when the chatter of more than 60,000 people in the stands can challenge the buzz of a bee right beside one’s ear. He can see the excitement and fear in all their faces, standing built with power in their arms, legs and torsos. “I know how you’re all feeling. We’ve come so far.”

The crowd cheers wildly, announcements starting. The vibe is immense, but they won’t crumble to this pressure.

“We’re thinking ‘This is it! This is the first of the last few steps towards our goal!’ But let us remember…” He pauses, closing his eyes, preparing the voice in his chest to shout out their ale. He can feel how tightly they cling onto each other, for this first team circle they have against other top teams.

How far will they go? How many more matches are left for them to cheer in this circle until this last year together comes to a close?

He breathes, taken back to the baseball field at home, the cool misty mornings, teammates’ hands warm within his own. He opens his eyes, observes each of his teammates, pride swelling warmly in his chest. They’ve all changed since they were younger. They’re all much stronger now. They’ve come so far. So far.

Then he yells, their usual spell for a good game. “Don’t focus on last time!”

“OH!”

“Don’t focus on the future!”

“OH!”

“Don’t let your guard down!”

“OH!”

“We will play with?”

“PLUS THINKING!”

“NISHIURAAAAAA! FIGHT!”

“OOOOOOOH!!!!!!!!!!”

******

A slump. This has to be it. Like he’s sinking even though he can see with his two eyes that his feet are solidly planted onto the ground. This is definitely a slump.

It started with their first game for the summer competition of their second year, and continued on to their third game. The opponent teams have been on high guard for Nishiura’s lead-off hitter. He’s established the record of getting on base, and scoring runs far more often than any opponent would desire.

Then again, if it’s put that way, then it isn’t much of a slump at all, he realizes. The teams they play against--they’re all heavily guarded against him, meaning he’s that valuable of a player to his team. But-- But he shouldn’t let himself be caught by their trap, by their strategies, by their adjustments to limit where he can bat. He can’t keep losing to them. There’s got to be a loophole. There has to be. And he has to train his eyes harder to see it, and train his arms so he can swing the bat and take the ball farther than they can imagine.

It’s tough, being trusted to be good, yet not the best. It’s a comfortable space to be, that he has the freedom and flexibility to grow at the rate he wishes. But it’s tough. It’s tough. Seeing how the top two of their team are far from his own capabilities.

“Kou-chan!” Tajima grabs him, an arm hooking over both his shoulders as he pulls Izumi down. Izumi’s grown close to two inches the past year, Tajima’s height is pretty much the same as their first year.

“What?” Izumi asks, normally as he would. He closes his eyes when he sees Tajima’s finger going towards them, but instead of feeling the finger jab his eye, he feels it jab the in-between of his eyebrows.

“You’re thinking too much.” Tajima lets him go and slaps him hard on the butt. It makes Izumi yelp. “You’re losing your cool, Suke-kou~”

Izumi groans. He’s told him countless times to stop twisting his name that way. “Yuu, don’t you dare.”

“Suke-kou’s gonna stay Suke-kou until Suke-kou loosens up.”

“Yuu, I swear--” Izumi dashes off, his words lost to the speed of him running. His feet quickly go one in front of the other to chase Tajima who’s had a fraction of a second headstart. (It’s funny how scared Tajima looked before he started running.) They run, towards the right field, hearing Hanai call out after them but they don’t pay him any mind. Izumi feels this burning need pulsing in his veins to catch Tajima--number one skilled player, quickest feet, running effortlessly enough that he’s laughing while he’s running.

Izumi runs. He runs. He runs. He has to. He has to catch up, otherwise he feels like he’d stay in this slump forever. They run towards the center field, where Izumi manages to outrun him, aiming to trap Tajima rather than grab him, but Tajima manages to stop on his tracks. They reach a draw, Izumi blocking off Tajima’s path wherever he tries to move, but then Tajima manages to trick him with a sidestep, making him able to run towards the bases again.

“Hah, hah~ Can’t catch me, Suke-kou~” Tajima taunts as he runs away towards the third base now.

“You guys, come back here!” Izumi hears Sakaeguchi call out from the distance, but his focus stays on Tajima.

Then for a moment, Izumi feels like his feet feel lighter, and his legs feel smoother. Like he’s a tin man whose joints have been oiled. It’s easier to bring each foot forward, like he leaves fire in his wake at the speed he runs. He runs. He runs. He runs. And just before Tajima manages to step onto the home plate, Izumi grabs him by the back of his uniform, and pulls him back, preventing him from landing the base.

“No!! Let me go!”

“I will not. Just who are you calling Suke-kou, huh? HUH?” Izumi manages to grab the sides of Tajima’s head and noogie him the way Abe used to do to Mihashi.

“Ow, ow, ow, OW! OUCH!! Stop! Stop! Okay! I’ll stop!”

“Hey, you two. Stop horsing around.” Hanai walks over to them. “Tajima, I told you to stop running around so freely. You haven’t even properly warmed up yet.”

“But it was Kou-chan that threatened me. I was running for my dear life, you know! He’s got the intense aura of a monster when he’s angry.” Tajima walks off with Hanai, following him to the bench.

“Then why tick him off in the first place?”

Izumi stays in place, heaving with breath, internalizing what Tajima had just said. His aura? Does he mean his presence? A presence powerful enough that makes even the fearless Tajima cower and run away. It brings pleasing jitters across Izumi’s skin, and a smile on his face.

“Kou-chan,” Mihashi approaches him. Izumi looks to him to see he’s handing him a bottle of water, which he gratefully takes and drinks from. “You’re f-f-feeling better?”

“Ahhh,” Izumi heaves a deep, refreshed sigh as he finishes the contents of the bottle, topping it with a smile. “Yeah, Ren.” He chuckles as ruffles Mihashi’s hair. He walks to the bench where Hanai and Tajima are still (friendly) arguing to refill his bottle.

A presence immense enough to scare even Tajima. Izumi grins again as he refills his bottle with water (not knowing he’s made Tajima flinch, caught by surprise at the sudden intensity coming from him). Maybe he can work with that.

He’s not as tall and capable as Hanai, nor is he small and naturally-gifted with talent as Tajima, but he can have this. He can scare the fielders and pitcher alike with his presence, so they won’t even dare challenge him. Make them cower so that they’ll forget how to deal with him, and give him the loopholes in their defenses that Izumi had been so trained to do.

This could get very interesting.

******

Mizutani stands at the batter’s box, the score at a comfortable 2-0 at the bottom of the third inning. Comfortable--that is, for him, because he thinks his team can totally win against the opponent, but for Momokan who’s looking pretty aggressive as she’s signing at him from the dugout, she’s extremely hungry for more points.

It kind of scares Mizutani, the way she’s glaring, granted Oki had batted an almost clean grounder before him, just that the opponent team’s pitcher was way too good and was able to throw to first faster than Oki could run. (Oki has been putting a bit more of muscle lately. Which makes Mizutani himself realize he should really gear up and take his own efforts to the next level.)

He’s lost in his own thoughts however, that by the time he looks away from Momokan to look at the pitcher and assume the proper batting position he should, his mind goes black.

Uhm.

What did Momokan sign to him again? Was he supposed to bunt? Was he supposed to hit? A grounder? Or let the ball fly? Wait, he’s supposed to look at positions of the batters-- Oh, no! The pitcher threw!!!!

‘I gotta hit it!!’ Mizutani thinks as he swings, his mind full of panic. He misses, of course. He could feel the ball swoosh way over where he swung his bat.

“Strike!”

Mizutani tries to breathe as he adjusts his position, swinging his bat. What is he so nervous for? This is their third game of the season. He’s gotta summon ‘Nice batting’ Mizutani. Come on. Come on.

He looks over at Momokan, her face in a more relaxed vibe, though the glint in her eyes shows: What are you doing? That wasn’t what I told you to do.

Momokan is scary. She always is. She’s terrifying, and it makes him respect her so much. He reads her signs. To wait for this pitch, and watch where the ball goes. Okay. He can manage that.

He does as told, and holds his stance, though he was extremely tempted to swing his bat. Surely enough, the pitch is a “Ball!”, towards the outside.

Alright. Moment of glory coming up. He’ll definitely get on base. He looks over at Momokan, determined to do what she tells him to.

***

“Ahhh, that tired me out, man.” Mizutani sighs when he gets to the dugout. He’d gotten on base during his at-bat, ran to second during Mihashi’s, and now he had just ran home after Izumi hit a double. The score at 3-0 now.

“Nice run!” Sakaeguchi pats him on the back as he changes his glove. The others remain by the railing, shouting out cheers towards Abe.

“Thank you.” Mizutani sighs again.

“What’s wrong?”

Mizutani moves closer to whisper. “Doesn’t it bother you sometimes how detailed Momokan’s signs are?”

“Eh? Not really?” Sakaeguchi replies, his eyebrow raising. “It helps a lot that she’s so specific with her strategies.”

“I agree.” Suyama chimes in, getting ready to go into the next-batter’s box. Mizutani looks at him while he grabs himself a drink. “What she tells me to do really helps me focus on what my role is for that at-bat.“

“Really? Hmmm,” Mizutani crosses his arms, leaning against the railing. “Well, that is true. But don’t you forget sometimes which signs mean what?”

Sakaeguchi laughs softly. “Are you serious?”

“Super serious.”

“Oh.”

“Well, more like I’m mixing some signs from last year with this year. I guess? I don’t know!” Mizutani sobs a little, wiping his face onto his arms. “I’m sorry! It’s really hard!”

”Ahahaha. It’s alright, Fumi.” Sakaeguchi pats him on the back. “Do you want me to go over the signs again with you?”

The sound of a ball hitting the bat clanks. Abe gets to first base. The team cheers together, “NICE BATTING!”

Mizutani takes another gulp of water as he watches Momokan sign to Suyama. “Yes, please. Teach me, Yuuto.”

“Of course.”

Reference: The batting order I thought they went with in this game: Izumi - Abe - Suyama - Hanai - Tajima - Sakaeguchi - Oki - Mizutani - Mihashi. Just in case it got confusing. XD

******

6. (ref)

Before the start of classes on their second year, while the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, the Nishiura boys and Shinooka planned to get together to watch the cherry blossoms in full bloom. Suyama is on his way to their meeting place now, seated on the train, basket of food that he prepared on top of his lap. He hopes his teammates will really like all the food that he prepared. They’re on break from club activities that Saturday to give them rest until club activities start again the following Monday.

He watches the scenery on the other side of the train, barely changing as the train whips past farmlands and wide open areas. He closes his eyes, remembering how different it had been when they were on the train to Koushien, with buildings zooming by. Funny how long ago that already is. It’s been months since they went there as a team. Hopefully, this coming summer, they’ll get to go again. This time, as actual participants of the matches.

Suyama feels the train come to a stop. He doesn’t bother opening his eyes, knowing that his stop won’t be for another five stations.

A surprised “Hm? Suyama?” is what makes him opens his eyes. His eyes refocus for a moment, and after he blinks a few times, he realizes Nishihiro is standing in front of him.

“Nishihiro?”

His teammate nods his head in warm greeting. “May I sit beside you?”

“Of course!” Suyama pats the seat to his left, and lets Nishihiro sit down, watching him put his own basket--half the size Suyama carries--on his lap, too. A few moments pass in silence as the train starts to take up speed again. Suyama turns to Nishihiro to talk. “What a surprise to see you ride the train from there. You don’t live in that area, right? I don’t think we had to ride our bikes this far out when we came to visit you in November.”

“Ah, yeah.” Nishihiro laughs softly. “My mom had me drop off my little sister at our grandma’s.”

“Ooh,” Suyama nods his head. He snickers, teasing. “What a responsible older brother you are. Handling her alone all the way out here.”

“Tell me about it.” Nishihiro sighs, acting tired, but then a warm smile is on his face. “She kept going on and on about getting off at the park a few stations back.” “Right. The one with the big red slide you can see from the train.”

“Yeap. It was hard keeping her from crying. But I’m sure she’ll have fun with grandma. Grandma likes spoiling her.”

Suyama smiles. It’s nice getting to know about his teammates lives outside of baseball like this.

“But wow, Suyama. You sure have a big basket with you today.”

The shortstop smiles, toothy this time. “Sure do. I made a ton of dishes for you guys to eat, so I hope you’ve all got empty stomachs.”

“Whoa! What-- Wow. Really? You made all of that?” Nishihiro’s eyes widen, though when the light from the other side of the train flashes at his eyes he closes them for a moment, then shakes his head. “That’s amazing.”

“Well, my mom helped me out a lot once it was getting too late into the night.”

“But before that?”

Suyama laughs, a little embarrassed he has to admit how much effort he put into these dishes. “I made them by myself, since I got home from practice. That was around 9 o’clock, I guess. She didn’t help me until around 11:30.”

“WOW!” Nishihiro grins wide, like when he catches fly balls. Suyama appreciates the genuineness of it. “That’s seriously amazing. I definitely couldn’t handle cooking that late. And after practice, too!”

“It helps that I just really love cooking. I haven’t had much time to because of practice.”

“Yeah, I can tell from the food you sometimes bring to share with us that you really must love cooking.” Nishihiro nods his head, the compliment making Suyama feel really nice. Like a warm fluff in his chest. “I look forward to eating your food later, Suyama.”

“Good. You better stuff your face with ‘em.” “Of course!”

They laugh for a while, then Suyama points out the basket on Nishihiro’s lap. “Did you make this, too?”

“Oh! Oh, no. Actually, it’s from grandma. I picked it up when I dropped my sister off.”

“I see.”

“I’ll give you the biggest serving, Suyama. In return for always giving us such delicious food.” Nishihiro smiles at him.

“Oh, come on.”

The five stations seem to pass in just a few seconds, now that Suyama’s waiting with someone. When they get to Kawaracho station, where they all agreed to meet up at, most of the members were already there. Only Abe and Oki aren’t there yet. Tajima’s already being rowdy with Mihashi, laughing out loud, with Hanai trying to keep him quiet. It seems the brotherly duo had been driven there by Mihashi’s mom, and Tajima was talking about Mihashi’s funny antics then. Aside from Suyama and Nishihiro, Mihashi and Mizutani were carrying baskets, too. Though by the look of things, it seems that Mizutani’s only carrying the basket Shinooka had brought. The others have coolers, and Sakaeguchi had a huge shopping bag with the blue film they’ll be sitting on.

When the last two members arrive, they walk together towards the park. Though they decided to meet up as early as 8 o’clock, there were barely any spots left where they could sit near the station. They needed to walk a long way, perhaps more than three-quarters of the stretch of cherry blossom trees and rapeseed flowers--a long walk that none of them seemed to mind. They were all busy talking to each other on the way, filling the would-be silence with random stories, new things they learned, and asking for bat swinging tips. None of them could keep quiet, not even Mihashi--who talked excitedly between his stutters.

Once Tajima started running off to an area a few meters away, they realize he’s running to an empty area near the side of the road that should be big enough space for all of them. Half of them followed suit to hurriedly take claim of the area before anyone else could.

“It looks good!” The team says together once they’ve laid down the sheet, and set down the food. “Let’s eat!”

Suyama watches the pleasant smiles on his teammates’ faces as they eat the food he made. He told Nishihiro he was able to stick to cooking so late in the night before simply because he loved cooking, but maybe he had something pushing him a little more than that. Seeing his teammates’ faces--the sparkle in Mihashi’s eyes as he eats the bacon-wrapped vegetables, the loudness of Tajima’s “WOW” when he ate the eggplant stuffed with tomato, Izumi’s wide grin as he compliments Suyama’s take on teriyaki sauce. He could go on and on, noting every smile, every sparkle, and every seldom wince when they find something they don’t like eating in the food (and then the satisfaction that comes right after when they realize they like how Suyama seasoned that disliked food). Suyama’s cheeks dust a little pink when Shinooka tells him he’d make a great husband, knowing of course she doesn’t necessarily mean she wants him to be her husband. But it’s a great deal of a compliment.

With the cherry blossoms floating in the wind, their laughter riding the relaxing sounds of a nearby river, they spend a few hours there--simply enjoying each other’s company, sharing experiences besides baseball, and strengthening their bond to last them even way beyond their high school years.

******

“HANAI!” Tajima shouts out to him on their way up the stairs. The entire team is currently heading to the table tennis room, since they have already rested a bit after dinner. It’ll be a good, light workout for their bodies, said Shigapo.

“What?” Hanai shifts his body to look back once he’s at the top of the stairs. Tajima rushes past his other teammates. (Sakaeguchi calls after him, “Tajima, don’t be too reckless!”) “Whoa, hey, be careful!”

Tajima arrives at the top of the stairs beside Hanai with a grin that goes from cheek to cheek. He grabs Hanai’s arm. “Let’s play together.”

“What? But-- Hey, wait!”

There’s nothing Hanai could say to argue as he’s pulled quickly towards the table tennis room.

“Come on, come on!” Tajima pushes the doors open and rushes to the container where the paddles and balls are kept.

Hanai, who’d been left at the door, holds the door frame to balance himself. It takes up so much energy to be whipped around by a storm like Tajima.

“Here you go.” Tajima hands him a paddle, then rushes over to the farthest table.

Hanai walks after him, taking the opposite side of the table. He watches Tajima practically bounce as he waits for Hanai to take his stance. “You know, Shinooka told Mizutani and me we should be free after dinner. I think she’s going to--”

“It’ll be okay, okay~? She’s still eating with the moms. Which means we should compete for the highest score before she comes up. Come on!” Tajima bounces the ball onto the table, getting ready to serve.

“I really don’t think I should--”

Whoosh. The ball whips past Hanai’s right side. Tajima had served, and it bounced on Hanai’s side of the table before he

Tajima laughs out loud, and grins, his chest puffed out in pride. “Hah, one point for me.”

Hanai looks at the ball that bounced off the wall, now rolling towards the bottom of the table. He should feel cheated that he’d lost a point right when he wasn’t ready, when he hasn’t even summoned his game spirit. However, he finds that he isn’t irritated at all. But there is this certain fire burning in him, that call to compete with Tajima that he can rarely back down from pumping in his veins. “Alright. Fine. You asked for this.”

Tajima watches Hanai’s face shift to a competitive smile, and it makes him grins even wider. That’s right. That’s how Tajima likes Hanai most. When Hanai doesn’t back down, and gives his all--that’s when they can have the most fun together.

“Here it comes.”

They get the ball to go back and forth for quite a few minutes after Hanai serves, and it ends as Tajima’s first point. When they’re tied at 9-9, their rally goes over four minutes.

“Wow, those two have been at it for a while.” Izumi says from the other side of the room.

“Yeah, they’re still on that rally even though Suyama and I have been on, hmm,” Sakaeguchi counts with his fingers. “Three? Rallies?” Suyama laughs light. “Yeah.”

The other pairs stop their own playing to watch the two’s rally. Another minute passes, and they’re still going. “Stay sharp, Hanai!” Izumi teases.

“G-Go, Tajima-kun! Ha-Hanai-kun!” Mihashi cheers.

The rest of the boys start cheering and teasing, and the room grows noisier.

“Hanai-kun? Mizutani-kun?” Shinooka peeks her head into the room before she walks inside and calls for them. She’d just finished eating dinner.

“Oh, Shinooka!” Mizutani waves at her to come closer. They’re all huddled around the table where Hanai and Tajima are still playing. The ball still hasn’t fallen.

At least, not until she’s halfway through the room. That’s when the boys started shouting “OOOOHHH!!!!!!!!” Tajima had Hanai in a corner, relentlessly assaulting him with fast, sharp returns. Hanai can barely keep up, but he’s staying on his toes. It isn’t until Tajima swipes the ball towards the opposite corner where Hanai is, letting it bounce off almost at the edge of the table, that Hanai’s knee makes him tumble to the floor. He was unable to return it. The rally had ended. Point to Tajima.

The rest of the team applauds them for that amazing rally.

“Good game?” Tajima heaves for breath, smiling that ear-to-ear grin of his as he holds out a hand to Hanai. He’s so content. He always has so much fun competing with their captain. He doesn’t even care that he won 10-9. Just the thrill of it makes him so happy.

“Good game.” Hanai takes his hand and shakes it, the other boys dispersing as they talk about their favorite moments from that intense rally. “Next time, I’ll definitely wipe the floor with you.”

Tajima laughs. “Gotta see you try.”

“Hanai-kun!” Shinooka calls out to him. She’s standing by the wall with Mizutani beside her.

“Alright, I’m coming. Let me just get a drink.”

“Okay!”

Tajima watches Hanai walk away, smiling. Still completely content. His attention veers away from Hanai when Sakaeguchi stands opposite to him.

“Had fun?” Sakaeguchi asks him as he picks up the ball from the floor.

Tajima grins at him. Yes, he’s had fun. Yes, he’s still feeling super giddy from that rally. He hopes he can play like that with Hanai again. “Had loads of fun! I won’t back down from you either, Sakaeguchi!”

******

Amidst battling through small-time spring tournaments in their second year, his mother’s death anniversary passed without Sakaeguchi having time to visit her grave. That Friday, before they leave for their Golden Week training, Momokan announced they will end practice early on Saturday, supposedly to give them time for all the packing they need to do for the coming week. The corners of Sakaeguchi’s lips curve a bit upward, happy he can use the time to visit his dearest mother. He was supposed to go on the day they all arranged for a picnic together, but they ended up spending that whole day together, that he found it difficult to excuse himself.

This time, for sure. He’ll go to her.

***

Friday’s practice session ends, the stars shining high above them as they change clothes in the benches.

“Yuuto,” Suyama approaches him, already in his uniform.

Sakaeguchi is in the middle of buttoning up his shirt as he turns to Suyama. “Yeah?”

“Remember we were talking about shopping for new shoes? I was wondering if we could go do that tomorrow, since we’re ending practice early.”

“Ooh, new shoes?” Mizutani chimes in after he’d just pushed his head through his undershirt. He tucks it into his school slacks as he speaks. “I wanna come, too! Mine have been so worn out.”

Suyama smiles toward Mizutani. “It’ll be a nice start to the new year ahead of us. And the training camp will be a great chance to break it in.”

“That’s true. I’m in!!” Mizutani laughs.

“Alright.”

“Actually…” Sakaeguchi finally finds the right timing to cut between them. The two look towards him, a questioning look on their faces. “Sorry, guys. I’ll have to pass.”

A moment passes them. (A moment when Abe’s “Ren, have you eaten the extra onigiri I had Shinooka make? You need the energy to pedal home.” and Mihashi’s excited “Y-Yeah!” echoed loudly through the bench area.)

“Is something wrong?” Suyama asks, his voice laced with concern. “You look a little troubled.”

“Nothing’s wrong, Shouji.” Sakaeguchi smiles as he resumes changing. He places his arms through his school shirt and buttons it up. “I’m really happy you’re inviting me to shop, but tomorrow’s-- Well…” He pauses to breathe. “See, I’m going to visit my mom tomorrow.”

“Oh… Right.” Suyama nods his head, understanding immediately what he meant. Sakaeguchi had mentioned it to him in their first year, how he had lost his mom in spring of his 2nd year in middle school. How whenever the cherry blossoms bloom he remembers her warm smile, the echo of her ‘Welcome home, Yuuto’ no matter how late his practices got, and the delicious picnic food she used to make for them to watch its beautiful petals fall. Most of all, her unfaltering support for him and his love for baseball.

Mizutani looks from Suyama to Sakaeguchi, and back. “Is his mom not at home? Is she at the hospital?”

“No, Fumi. She’s--” He breathes, deep. Sometimes, it’s still hard for him to say it. Strange, when he’s gotten used to going home to just his siblings and his dad. How they’re already well accustomed to housework, taught well by their mother before she left. “She’s already passed away.”

“OH!” Mizutani shouts out loud, alarming the others in the bench. “Oh… S-Sorry. I--I didn’t mean to--”

“It’s alright.” Sakaeguchi smiles, finished dressing up. “It’s okay now. My family and I-- We’re all okay.”

She took care of them so well, they were able to adjust to her absence. It wasn’t easy. It still isn’t. But it’s nice to see that though she may be physically absent, she’s embedded in every chore, in every thought, in every conversation between the three of them. She’s still alive within them.

“But yeah, I wasn’t able to go visit her grave on her anniversary, so I thought I’d like to go tomorrow.”

“Why don’t we all go, then?” Suyama suggests, Mizutani smiles wide at him, then excitedly nods his head towards Sakaeguchi.

“Yeah! What do you say, guys?” Mizutani extends the invitation to the rest of the team, explaining to them when they reacted with “What?”s and “What’s happening?”s.

Sakaeguchi feels a pat on his shoulder, and when he looks over, he sees it’s Izumi. “Let’s meet at the gate after school, then we can all ride our bikes to the station, then ride the train from there. Right, Yuuto?”

“Eh? Eh? Really?” Sakaeguchi looks around his team, an overwhelming happiness coming over him. “Is it really alright with you guys? You don’t have to--”

“Of course, it’s alright.” Hanai nods his head. (Tajima yells to him teasingly, “What about your cram school, Azusa~?” “SHUT UP, TAJIMA!”) The captain clears his throat, calming himself from the sudden outburst at Tajima. “We’d all love to go with you and greet your mom. That is, of course, if it’s alright with you and your family.”

Sakaeguchi is left speechless, tears welling in his eyes. “Ye--Yeah. I’d be so honored. I’m sure she’d love to meet you all. Thank you, really. Thanks all of you.”

The team smile at each other, then disperse as they walk to their bikes, bags slung over their shoulders. Mihashi walks beside Sakaeguchi, asking about his mom.

“She must have b-b-been very kind.” Mihashi says, wide-eyed with wonder and his lips curved deep into a smile. “Because-- Yuuto-- You’re a-- a very nice person.”

Sakaeguchi laughs, warmth filling his heart as he ruffles Mihashi’s hair. “Thanks, Ren. That’s really sweet.”

“Uhehe.” Mihashi laughs, blushing deeply at being praised.

The following day, once they’re all at Sakaeguchi’s mother’s humble grave, they stack package over package of mochi before her, each of them having brought one to offer her. Sakaeguchi smiles at her, his hands and eyes closed in prayer.

Because you supported me playing baseball, I found these wonderful friends. Thank you, mom.

******

Clang.

The sound of his bat hitting the ball. It’s clear, loud, and rings in his ears--delicious as success. He watches, mouth agape, as the ball keeps going, going, going and going. For a moment, everything is silent. His breath still. All he can feel is a warmth spreading throughout his body, a certain high incoming.

He can’t hear the cheers of the stands. The cheers of his teammates. If only he would look towards the dugout, he would see his coach looking at him with much pride.

The ball goes, and goes, and goes.

It falls, hits the metal of the scoreboard that’s right above center field.

A homerun.

It’s a homerun.

He remains standing there, in disbelief. Had he been the one to bat that? Is all this for real? Is this a dream?

“KAZU!!!” yells Tajima, who had stood at second base when Oki hit that homerun.

He hit a homerun.

Tajima hugs him tight from when he’s run past third base and came back home, where Oki remains standing, struck with shock.

“KA!!! ZU!!!!” Tajima yells again, shaking him. He slaps his buttocks to snap Oki awake. Oki looks down towards their fifth batter, who’s grinning widely, ear to ear. “Go run and have the crowd cheer for you, damn it!!! That was so cool!”

Tajima slaps his buttocks one more time before he starts running.

Oki jogs to the first base, seeing the Nishiura crowd on the stands doing a huge wave. He jogs to the second base, finally hearing all the loud cheers, “GREAT JOB, OKI!” from the stands and the “NICE BATTING!” from the dugout. He jogs to the third base, seeing the despaired look on the opposite team’s faces. He quickly looks away from them. He looks forward, towards home--he glances left to his team, all wide smiles and loud cheering.

That’s when it hits him.

He hit a homerun.

He helped turn the game around on the bottom of the eighth.

Him. Shy and not as outspoken as the others as he is. He’s built strength in his arms, and swung the bat hundreds of times each day for this.

For this.

When he gets to their dugout, everyone ruffles his hair. Everyone is so happy. Everyone has been filled with renewed hope. Oki mentally pats himself on the back, knowing he did good today.

No.

He did great.

******

Too close.

Way too close.

Abe wonders how is it that the year previous, Mihashi and Kanou clearly knew each other but stayed at the distance of acquaintances, yet now they’re buddy-buddies? Look at Kanou, laughing with Mihashi, calling him “Ren” with his arm over his shoulder, laughing about things Abe is so damn curious to know, but he knows he can’t squeeze himself in and ask. Had those two been that close before things went down at Mihoshi? The mere thought makes Abe’s blood boil.

“Takaya,” Tajima calls out.

Abe immediately turns his head towards Tajima, fire in his eyes, unable to hide the embers of jealousy burning within. “WHAT.”

“You’ll scare Ren off.”

Abe tsks loudly to let off the steam, loud enough for Izumi and a few others a bench away from them to hear.

(“What’s with him?” Suyama asks.

“Ren problems.” Izumi replies.)

***

“100! Alright, that’s it. Nice pitching.” Abe says as he walks up to Mihashi from the bullpen. Mihashi giggles in that unique way of his whenever he gets praised, with his arms waving like jelly. He looks like a jellyfish about to float away, and though if Mihashi had done this in the past, Abe would’ve been irritated, now he finds it quite endearing. “Time to do your counter weight lifting.”

“O-okay!”

They make their way to the benches where they’d set up a similar weightlifting area to that at school. Mihashi positions himself to start lifting the weight with his left hand. ‘Slowly’ he seems to remind himself, as he starts a slow beat.

Abe watches him, making sure his body’s not awkwardly positioned anywhere. Once Mihashi’s around the 50 count, Abe’s thoughts start straying away. It’s quite unlike him to dare think of something else while observing Mihashi, but his mind cannot help wandering back to Mihashi and Kanou being so close. What makes Kanou so special? he wonders. He may have known Mihashi longer, but it’s Abe himself that helped bring out Mihashi’s potential.

The catcher’s eyes seem to burn with his rage, alerting Mihashi--who thought he must be doing something wrong to warrant himself that glare.

“It’s nothing! Don’t worry about it.” Abe says, harsher than he intended. “Keep going.”

“Oh! O-o-okay.” Mihashi nods, and continues on.

Abe groans. He tries to shift his focus back onto Mihashi lifting. 70. 71. 72. Kanou’s arm over Mihashi’s shoulders. 75. 76. 77. 7… How nice would it feel if Abe puts his arm over Mihashi’s shoulder?

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!” Abe shouts out loud, utterly embarrassed by the image he created in his head. How utterly warm his chest felt, and how his stomach tossed and turned pleasantly. Mihashi yelps at the sudden noise, incredibly alarmed.

“Ah, s--sorry. Sorry, Ren.” Abe apologizes to Mihashi, but he keeps his eyes away from him.

“I-I-It’s okay.” Mihashi says, though his eyes seem to still be spinning in circles. “A-a-are you okay?”

Not really. “Yeah.”

“Okay!” Mihashi nods his head again, and continues. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85.

“Hey, Ren.”

“Y-Yes?”

“You still haven’t called me by my name.”

Mihashi stops his weight lifting with a shudder. And then silence follows.

Abe shifts his weight onto his other leg, bringing his hand up to his hip. He waits, and waits, and waits. He watches Mihashi struggle, mumbling to himself, seeming like he’s wondering if he should say his name now or not. And if Mihashi is about to say his name, Mihashi surely looks like he’s having a difficult time with it.

Why? When it’s so easy for him to call Kanou by his name?

The catcher tsks loudly before sighing. “Never mind. You’re at 85 lifts. Keep going. Slowly, alright?”

“O-okay…” Mihashi continues lifting. 86. 87. 88. And his mouth keeps flapping open as if to say “Ta”.

Abe tries to keep his excitement to himself. When Mihashi finishes 100 lifts, he doesn’t bring up the name topic again.

***

“Takaya,” rings in his ears, sweeter than any candy that’s ever melted in his mouth.

They’re at dinner now, and they’re seated next to each other. The chatter of the rest of the team fills the room, yet he heard it so clearly, as if Mihashi said it directly into his ear.

Mihashi had said, “Ta-Ta-Takaya, can you-- passmethesoysauce?” The latter of which softened to a mumble Abe couldn’t even hear.

All that registered in Abe’s mind was “Takaya��, and how clear he said it, even though it was after Mihashi stuttered. He’d never thought he could be so moved by someone saying his name.

“Say it again.” He requests, not realizing it’s quite an awkward thing to ask.

“S-Say? Ag--again. Uhm, uh,” Mihashi fumbles with his chopsticks. A bad habit, but Abe adores it nevertheless. “Ta-Takaya, can you pass me-- pass me the soy sauce?” Mihashi wheezes from the sheer effort of saying that without blushing too hard. “P-p-please?”

Abe grins wide, and passes him the soy sauce as requested. “Here you go. Ren.”

Mihashi takes the bottle from him, their fingers brushing a tad bit, and at that moment they both shiver, having felt an electric current run through their veins at the small contact. They both turn their heads away, and don’t look at each other for the rest of dinner, eating their meals silently as the room gets louder. Tajima joking around with Mizutani.

Takaya looks so happy. thinks Sakaeguchi, who sits across them and saw the whole thing happen. He eats his meal watching them, happy his teammates are taking forward steps, no matter how small.

******

On the New Year of his first year in high school, Mihashi and his family drove to Gunma. It was a long drive, granted many other people were on their way home to their respective provinces, too. Mihashi had planned to be asleep for most of the time they were stuck in traffic, but he was greatly distracted by his phone, and the person on the other line, sending him replies quickly after he himself has responded.

His heart beats quickly with every vibration of his phone, a notification of yet another new message. Strange how he used to feel this quick heartbeat out of fear before, but now it is all good.

Sweet. Fuzzy. Ties his stomach in nice-feeling knots.

Very good.

He flips his phone open, clicking the right buttons to open the new mail that came in from “Abe Takaya”. He reads, not expecting his heart to sink.

/Sorry, Ren. Mom’s nagging me to help out. I’ll be back soon, I think. Let me know when you get to your relatives’. Ttyl./

Mihashi blinks at his phone, wondering if he should reply. He said talk to you later, which means… they’ll start the back and forth of messages again later. Later. Not now. If Mihashi sends a message now, will that mean Abe will assume he’s already at Gunma? If so, he shouldn’t send a text. But-- But Mihashi wants to reply. Mihashi wants Abe to know he’s read the message and he understands. Say “Okay. I got it. Talk to you later.”

He types that message in, and then his thumb hovers over the Send button as he mulls over it again. Should he send it? Not send it? He’s already typed the message, so he should send it. But what if he’s bothering Abe. No. No. He never bothers Abe. He knows Abe always has the best intentions for him--baseball or not. He knows Abe will understand his intention behind his reply, that he simply wants to clear up that he understood the message. But then again, Abe probably can’t read his reply because his hands are full.

But--

So many buts. Mihashi still feels anxious. He wants to reply. He needs to reply. He still wants to talk to Abe. More and more and more and more and more.

The phone vibrates again.

/Ren. Just in case you’re freaking out, Which I hope you’re not, but just in case. It’s fine if you just reply later. I’ll leave my phone for a while, so I can’t check it anyway. I’ll text you when I’m back. But whether I’m back or not, text me when you’re at Gunma. Take care. Talk to you later./

Mihashi slams himself, face-first onto the free backseat space to his left, surprising both his parents who sit in front.

“Ren? Are you okay?” Mihashi’s mother asks him, concerned. She looks over her shoulder, as she’s seated in the passenger seat. She had driven in the first half of their trip, so now his father is driving. “What’s gotten into you? Are you feeling dizzy?”

“I--I’m okay…” Mihashi replies weakly, almost out of breath. He’s glad he dug his face into the seat, otherwise his mother would see how red his face is (granted he can feel how his cheeks are so warm), and would bombard him with questions.

“Are you sure? Do you need water? There’re a few bottles in the cooler at the back. Should we stop to get them out of the--”

“It’s okay, mom. I just-- I think I’ll go sleep.”

“Alright.”

“Sleep well, Ren.” His father says with laughter strewn into his voice. “We still have around an hour and a half to go.”

Mihashi nods, though his father doesn’t see. He keeps his face buried against the seat, still feeling his cheeks are warm. His chest feels so full. He feels like he’s going to explode from how happy he is. Abe really does know him, and Abe really does understand him so well now. He’s so happy.

He’s so happy. He’s so happy. He’s so happy he can’t quite explain it well.

Months later, when the two of them talk over these feelings that have continuously grew within them, Mihashi will understand. But for now, for now, he hums to the tunes on the radio. New love songs he’s never heard of before, but the rhythm jives with the movement of his heart so he hums.

He hums until he does fall asleep, waking up to a few texts from Abe that make him feel the full warmth in his chest all over again.

******

Bonus:

Kanou and Ruri, who sit on either side of Mihashi over dinner, exchange glances as they see Mihashi pick up his phone and happily type for at least the twentieth time since the first plate of food had been placed on the table.

‘Girlfriend?’ Kanou mouths to Ruri with an eyebrow raised in question.

Ruri overly shrugs her shoulders and winces. An exaggerated ‘I don’t know’. She’s not allowing her favorite cousin to have a girl in his life to have priority over her. Not just yet.

“Ren-ren,” she calls to him. For the fifth time since dessert has been served. No response.

Kanou snickers at her failed attempt, making Ruri huff.

“Ren-ren,” she attempts again, this time bumping her shoulder on his. This makes Mihashi look up, surprised, looking left then right and both ways again before quickly typing on his phone then putting it away.

“Y-yes, Ruri?”

She pouts at him. “Who is it that you’re texting?”

“EH!?” Mihashi almost shouts, but manages to keep his volume down low. “W-wa-w-wa-was-was it obvious?”

Kanou laughs a little louder this time, but not enough to go over the chatter of the adults. He wiggles his eyebrows when Mihashi looks over at him. “Was it obvious that you were texting someone special? Pretty much.”

“Spe!!!!!!!!!” Mihashi straightens his back, sitting up right now, looking alert. “Spe--special?? N--no. A-are they? It w-was just--”

“Just?” Ruri and Kanou say together, leaning forward to gaze at Mihashi from the front.

He looks away, shying from their gaze, with added attempt to raise his arms and hide his face. “Ta-Takaya… kun.”

A moment of silence passes the two of them. A moment to ponder “Who in the world is that?”

“A classmate?” Kanou asks.

Mihashi shakes his head violently as if to defend himself. “N-no! He’s the-- the catcher.”

“Ooh, so Nishiura’s catcher’s name is Takaya-kun.” Ruri nods her head. She’s smiling now, relieved she’s still her cousin’s #1 girl. “Wow, Ren-ren. I didn’t know your team’s already on first-name basis. Must be nice.”

“Yeah, you got us beat.” Kanou leans onto Mihashi, putting an arm over his shoulder. “We’ve already been together for more than three years, yet we all still call each other by surnames.”

“B-but you’re Shuu-chan.”

Kanou chuckles, happy to hear him call him that again. “Yeah, but remember? You were calling me ‘Kanou-kun’ for a while, Ren.”

“O-oh! R-right.” Mihashi nods his head. “I’m sorry…” “Oh, come on. You’ve got no reason to be.” Kanou pats his back twice. His attention gets stolen by his mother for a while, telling him they should be going home soon. “Hey, Ren. Can you walk me out?”

“S-sure!” Mihashi stands up with him and starts heading out of the dining room.

“What about me?” Ruri whines, trying to stand up, too.

Kanou looks over his shoulder, letting Mihashi pass first. “You stay, there, we got baseball stuff to talk about.”

“I play softball, you know!”

They make their way out of the dining room and into the hall where it’s more silent.

“Sh-Shuu-chan,” Mihashi starts the conversation first as they make their way to the front door. “Th-thank you for coming.”

“Of course. Not like my mom’s gonna go without dragging me along with her.” Kanou laughs, making Mihashi laugh softly, too. They stop at the entrance, giving time for Kanou to change from house slippers to his sneakers. “It’s really nice seeing you, Ren. You...” He stops, trying to find the words to say, trying to soften them enough so he himself won’t cry. It had been months since it last bothered him, but it really hurts to see Mihashi, his once best friend, move on with another team. But it’s the best for Mihashi, so he gathers up energy for a huge, wide smile and looks up at him. “You seem much happier now.”

Mihashi smiles back at him, wide, toothy, just like he used to. Before Mihoshi. No, even better and much happier than then. “I--I am happy.”

Kanou grits his teeth. The tears still threaten to push through his eyes, but no longer out of bitterness. He’s so, so happy for his dear friend. So happy. He stands up, finished tying his shoelaces. He slams his hand onto Mihashi’s shoulder. “Let’s both do our best, okay!? We gotta see each other at Koushien.”

Mihashi nods his head, that bright smile never leaving his lips. “Yeah!”

“But before then, see you at Golden Week camp!”

******

Bonus 2: (One extra surprise!)

The Nishiura boys are out swimming at the school’s pool for added training, the lifeguard listening to sports updates on the radio. Hanai wasn’t particularly listening in, but when the crowd suddenly cheered so loud from the radio, he had to stop midlength of the pool to hear what was happening.

“An incredible save from Karasuno’s Ennoshita! Did you see that? Running far out of bounds and returning it for their setter to reach, and then that glorious save by the new ace, Tanaka. Got to hand it to that Ennoshita. He’s really holding his ground as the team’s new captain.” says the commentator.

Hanai waves his arms in the pool to keep himself afloat in the water. It’s not just him, or fellow baseball captains out there that are trying to support their team with all their might. Even captains of other sports do, too. Doing splendid plays like that, to boost the team’s morale. It’s amazing how the word ‘captain’ can unify different sports together.

Hanai nods his head with renewed fervor. He’s going to help his team keep their spirits up this upcoming tournament, too.

******

End Notes: I hope you don’t mind (and that it isn’t too cheesy) that I added an Ennoshita mention. While stalking your tumblr, I realized how much you love him. So I thought it would be a treat to sneak him in.

Thanks for reading this far! I hope you enjoyed all of these. :) Merry Christmas! ^^

#oofurixmas2017 #brokuro #myfics #oofuri #abemiha #abehashi #otp: i'll dedicate myself to you

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pagsys-writings · 8 years ago

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But Sometimes We Will Drift Apart

“I like you to be exactly the way that you are, because in all my experience, I have never known anyone like you.” - Tennessee Williams

High school was coming to an end. Baseball was over for many of them, but some would play in college while the select few were drafted. The third years - the ones who had begun the team at Nishiura - decided they needed to celebrate their years together. It was nice to spend their time together while they all could.

It was Sakaeguchi’s idea that they take a relaxing day at the beach. They had all agreed that a change of scenery would be nice. Spending any more time at Nishiura’s practice field would have made their get together and parting all the more difficult. It was nice, though. Hanai couldn’t remember the last time he had enough time to come to the beach.

The breeze coming off the water smelled salty, and the sun above was warm on his face. They couldn’t have asked for a better day. Hanai looked around at his teammates and smiled sadly. Soon they’d be ex-teammates, but he thought they’d always be his teammates in his eyes.

Shinooka laughed at something someone said. It had been Mizutani’s idea to invite her since she’d been their manager for three whole years. However, once Shinooka was coming along, Izumi mentioned that they should also bring Hamada. It had made sense to all of them. They brought the people who had been there with them from the start.

Hanai sipped at his beer. Tajima had insisted it was the only way to go out in style, and had convinced his older sister to get them all some. Hanai didn’t quite like the idea, but everyone thought it would be fun. He just didn’t find the taste all that appealing, so he made sure to follow each sip with the food they had all pitched in and brought along.

They enjoyed each other’s company as the sun slowly went down. Hanai took a step away from the team to walk along the water. He could hear his teammates laughing together, and wondered if any of them were feeling the sense of loss that he was. Glad he’d taken off his shoes, Hanai moved until the gentle waves washed over his feet. He stood there long enough that the sand began to pull him down. The push and pull of the water, and the cool sand kept him grounded in the present.

Another sip of his beer had him grimacing, but he shook it off. The sunset over the water was too good to let something like his distaste of beer to bother him. The colors of the sky were warm - full of reds and oranges. Soon the blues and blacks would set in when the sun was completely gone.

A weight fell across his shoulders. Looking to his side, he found Tajima grinning up at him. It was a sight that had made his stomach do flips the last three years no matter how hard he tried to bury it. Smiling back, he instinctively wrapped his arm around Tajima’s shoulders. He knew he’d never return the touch so casually if he was more sober, but it really didn’t matter did it?

“It’s over now,” Hanai said, gazing back out over the waves. High school was over. They would go their separate ways and who knew when they would see each other again. Hanai’s arm tightened around Tajima, and he was surprised to feel the other return the gesture.

Hanai looked down at him, but Tajima was leaning his head against his shoulder. The nice thing about the last three years was that although they had all grown, Hanai still managed to remain taller than the other - something Tajima always voiced his annoyance with.

“It doesn’t have to be.” Hanai attempted to shift on his feet, but the sand made him stumble, making Tajima giggle. The sound of it made Hanai laugh as well until they both settled into silence broken only by the waves and the sounds of their friends not too far away. “I’m serious, you know?”

“I know you are.” Tajima had been adamant about his thoughts on the matter. Ever since he found out Hanai wasn’t planning on playing baseball after high school, Tajima had almost had a fit. Instead, whenever the third baseman had the opportunity, he practically praised Hanai’s abilities. It was a little uncomfortable. “But I’m not like you.”

He wasn’t. Tajima was a baseball player through and through. He could make it at the higher level, but Hanai didn’t have that sort of confidence. He’d rather focus on his school work. Maybe he could play in college, but if he wanted to get his dream job, he’d have to do his best in his classes. He needed other extracurricular activities aside from baseball.

The weight on Hanai’s shoulders disappeared, and he reluctantly let Tajima move away from him. He expected this sort of reaction. Every time this subject came up, they always ended up arguing. The water splashed against his legs as Tajima walked in front of him, gazing up at him with annoyed eyes.

“No,” Tajima’s eyes - as unfocused as they were - were burning with determination, “you’re better than me.”

He didn’t mean to, but Hanai laughed. Him? Better than Tajima? “How drunk are you?”

“Listen to me,” Tajima frowned and poked Hanai in the chest hard enough that Hanai needed to steady himself. “You are better, and you have the perfect body!” Hanai felt his face flush and hoped it was dark enough outside that it wasn’t noticeable. He knew Tajima didn’t mean it like that, but Hanai’s mind instantly went in the wrong direction. “You’re wasting your talent!”

Hanai looked away and toward the sky. He could see the stars coming out for the night. “Is it really that hard to believe I don’t want to play baseball after this?” He looked back down to see Tajima’s distraught face. It was as if he couldn’t believe something like that could come from Hanai’s mouth. “What?”

“I wish I was like you.” His voice was low, and very unlike Tajima that it caught Hanai off guard.

“Why?” It didn’t make any sense. If anyone should want to be like the other, it was Hanai. He wished he had the natural talent that Tajima possessed and his confidence on the field.

“Because no matter what I do, I’ll never be strong enough to do what I want.” Tajima was looking down at the water, and Hanai couldn’t see his face. It was weird, though. He didn’t like hearing such defeated words coming from the third baseman’s mouth. It didn’t fit him. Maybe he’d drank a little too much.

“But I like you just the way you are,” Hanai said the words he’d been thinking without even realizing it. Maybe they’d both had a little too much to drink. “I mean… you’re like… the best player I’ve ever seen! And- and your hitting is amazing! You don’t have to change at all!” He knew he was rambling, but Tajima was looking at him with surprise and he couldn’t stop the words. He was trying to make the words less awkward, but no matter what he said, he could tell he was digging himself deeper.

The sound of the waves broke the conversation up. “I like you too Hanai!” Tajima grinned, and Hanai’s face felt like it was burning. He knew Tajima didn’t mean it quite the same way as he, but it was okay. Somehow, it was enough to hear those words, knowing that Tajima meant them enough to say - even if he was a little drunk. Maybe “Let’s go back to the others!”

Tajima grabbed a hold of Hanai’s hand and pulled him toward the noisy crowd. They both stumbled in the waves and wet sand, but managed to stay upright and mostly dry. Hanai looked down at their hands and laced their fingers together. He felt Tajima tighten his hold, making him grin. It was something so small and simple but it meant the world.

When they returned, everyone looked exhausted. Some were a little more drunk than others, but everyone was in a relatively good state. It was getting darker now, and they were one of the few groups on the beach still. “Hey guys,” Hanai spoke up over all of them, “I think it’s time for us to head out.”

There were a few groans and a bunch of complaints, which Hanai had somewhat expected. Thankfully, though, he wasn’t the one that had to address them. “He’s right,” Abe spoke up, but you could hear the disappointment in his voice. “We’re all graduating tomorrow. We need to get back before it’s too late.”

“Let’s clean up then,” Hanai said once everyone was focused on him again. He went to go pick up an empty bottle and felt the pull at his hand. “Sorry,” he mumbled, quickly letting go of Tajima’s hand. He couldn’t believe he’d forgot to let go when they got back to the group.

“It’s fine,” Tajima grinned and walked over to help Mihashi clean up. Hanai stared after him before he helped pack everything away.

The walk home sobered them all up, and it began to sink in that graduation was just hours away. Each stop where they needed to split up, it took a little longer than usual. They stood there, no one speaking, and unwilling to leave. The silence really said it all. Their time together was coming to an end as teammates. They’d still see each other at graduation, but it wasn’t the same.

And in the blink of an eye, the ceremony was over. All the third years stood together at the practice field that had changed so much over the years. Their families were there and lots of pictures were being taken. Hanai found Tajima easily. He was surrounded by his large family, but he felt odd going over to him when he was with them.

As people began to leave, some shed a few tears. Everyone went to comfort Mihashi when he began to cry uncontrollably. As a person and pitcher, Mihashi had possibly gone through the most change throughout the years, so not one of them blamed him for the tears.

“Hanai,” Tajima called to him. He was looking at Hanai with determination. “Are you really not going to play?”

Hanai shook his head. “No.”

There was a look of disappointment in Tajima’s eyes, but at the same time Hanai thought he saw understanding. “Okay.” Tajima walked over and hugged him. It took a moment of stunned silence until Hanai could return the gesture. “I’ll see you around then,” Tajima said, grinning when he pulled away. “You better watch me when I’m on TV!” He said excitedly.

Laughing, Hanai shook his head again. “Alright, I will.”

And just like that, it was over again. Tajima left with his large family and Hanai with his mom and sisters. Their paths were going in different directions, but Hanai was left with this inkling of hope that they would all find each other again.

#oofurishipweeks #tajihana #tajima yuuichirou #hanai azusa #oofuri #ookiku furikabutte #tajihana week day 2 #im so behind on this week omg #better late than never #it's not the path but the destination that matters

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sportsanimebreakdown · 8 years ago

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Breakdown: Ookiku Furikabutte (Big Windup or Oofuri)

SPOILER FREE

Big Windup: High school baseball anime (studio is A-1 Pictures) and manga (Asa Higuchi), ongoing.

Production: Solid. Production IG and Madhouse still dominate in terms of quality, but A-1 is sure as hell head and shoulders above the clusterfuck team that did Eyeshield (which was a combo of TV Tokyo, NAS, and Gallop).

Tropes: Low Self-Esteem Hero, Fudanshi Bait, “I Will Make You A Hero”, Slice Of Life

Not-Your-Wikipedia-Summary: Ren Mihashi is a total wuss because his middle school baseball team utterly destroyed his self confidence. They always lost because the catcher never knew how to use Mihashi’s insane ball control to their advantage. Now Mihashi is in high school and a nervous wreck and joins the baseball team. The catcher, Takaya Abe, (voiced by the extremely talented and easy-to-pick-out Yuichi Nakamura), sees Mihashi’s potential and decides he’s going to make Mihashi into the best damn ace that’ll take them all to Koushien. Cue slow-paced, feel-good, team-coming-together-against-the-odds

TL;DR Review: It’s cute. It’s low stress. If you want to watch the friendship between boys be pushed and pulled and strained and celebrated all in the frame of high school baseball, and if you want that satisfaction that comes from a low-self-esteem hero showing everyone up, it’s a fun trip. Yes, all the character blush too much and the queer baiting between several characters is so obvious it borders on fetishization. But it’s not a bad thing to have different kinds of boys represented: scared boys, crying boys, boys who aren’t sure of themselves but are teaming up to try their best. We need to show that no matter what kind of person you are, you’re still a valuable part of the team.

"Objective” Score: 6/10 (for those who like/need a slow pace and can overlook the problematic coach [more below])

Personal Score: 4/10 (too queer baity [make it gay or don’t, just stop with the fucking baiting], too slow, too problematic with the coach character)

Full Thoughts: So it’s been awhile since I watched this series. After watching One Outs I thought I’d go watch its exact opposite while still in the baseball genre. I have to say, it didn’t really age on me well. I think it’s a good series for 13-15 year-olds. It has all that blushing queer baiting that, if you’re in the closet or still figuring yourself out, might be tantalizingly close to validation. Also, like I said above, it’s great to see boys who aren’t chock full of toxic masculinity. You can be a scaredy cat and still be a good athlete. It has enough humor and embarrassed-youth moments to make it relatable/more dramatic for younger viewers or those who are still capable of being embarrassed. For those of us who are older/cynical/naturally-prone-to-being-an-asshole, watching it is more irritating than anything else.

But let’s talk about something else...

Author Insertion Characters: Now, let me make it clear at the outset that this is NOT limited to female authors/creators. Pretty much every series has The Inserted Author, and more often than not it’s the protagonist. This is especially apparent where there are multiple female characters all in love with one boring ass dude. But what about when the Inserted Author isn’t the protagonist? What about when they’re a side character who is vicariously enjoying some exploitative scene? Usually, with male authors, we get side male characters who “happen to” see panty shots, etc. They’re so common to any series that they hardly need mentioning. I admit, I don’t even mention it, I’m so used to it; I just roll my eyes and watch on. But in the case of Oofuri, we get the team’s coach, Momoe. As soon as I saw her, I knew the series had been written/drawn by a woman, in good ways and bad. She’s got big boobs, has a strong personality, and the team is intimidated by her insane baseball skills and general strength. If she’d been written by a man, the team would’ve been drooling over her big breasts and there would have been a nonstop “comedic” tension over how sexy she was. But she’s not sexualized in any way. For that, I'm super grateful. (The bar is low for my gratitude, I admit.)

But there’s a couple of things about her that threw major red flags for me: one, that it’s made clear that she pours all of her money into this boy’s baseball team. Now, she’s a woman with insane baseball skills and a clear passion for the game. So why the fuck didn’t she start a GIRL’S softball team? They don’t even cover it, as if it’s not even a real question. And why is she pouring all of her everything into serving these young boy’s needs? Talk about gender role stereotypes. Why isn’t the school providing funds for all this equipment? Or if not, why aren’t they finding a way, as a TEAM, to raise funds for it? Why is she, the only woman on it, pouring all of her money into it? That’s one red flag. The other red flag basically answers all of those questions and can be seen below:

I’m sorry, is that woman orgasming over team bonding between adolescent boys? If you don’t have a problem with the above screenshot, if your brain is saying some shit like “but no, it’s pure! Because she’s a woman! And they’re boys!” then I want you to do a mental experiment: imagine that screenshot above with the genders switched. So an older man is clutching himself, blushing and sweating like that, saying “this is so good” behind the backs of a bunch of oblivious 14/15-yo girls. Is your mental reaction a little different? Good. Now readjust your previous opinion. This answers the question of why she’s coaching a boy’s team. Because the author wanted to vicariously jill off on the emotional bonding between young boys, all under the excuse of the Female Purity Myth. What am I talking about? It’s the pervasive idea that women can’t be sexual/perverted. That womanhood somehow makes women “naturally” pure. This is damaging to men and women: To women because we’re shamed when we ARE sexual beings (which is a one sentence understatement of a very complicated issue), and to men/boys who are sexually abused by women but feel that they can’t come forward about it.

So. I’m conflicted. I like her character because SHE isn’t sexualized... but I’m angered by how the series validates the fetishization of queer relationships between boys by older women. I’d rather watch a series that has no female characters than a series that has one who is this problematic. I’ll be passing on re-watching any more of this.

#Big Windup #ookiku furikabutte #oofuri #Asa Higuchi #Author insertion character #Low Self Esteem Hero #anime review #sports anime #breakdown #queer baiting #a-1 pictures #6/10 #fudonshi #ren mihashi #abe takaya #Maria Momoe

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umisabaku · 8 years ago

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1, 4, 17, and 25 for the author ask please :3

Thankyou so much, friend!! You picked such excellent questions, thank you!! =D

1) isthere a story you’re holding off on writing for some reason?

I was wondering/hoping/fearing someonewould ask this question! Yes, as it happens, I have all kinds of AUs centeredsolely around the guardians because I have so many headcanons about them (eventhe ones who are dead in canon) so I just make up stories about them that Iwould love to write. But I hold off because I have too many writing projectsalready, and also, I’m pretty sure making up AUs for your OCs in a fanfic isone of those things that isn’t supposed to happen. But I have lots of funimagining them!! =D

4) favorite character you’ve written

Answered here!

17)if you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be?

Hmm, *my* fledgling author self inparticular? Hmmm. I would say, “always keep writing, because you love it.” AndI think I would also tell myself, “Never let anyone tell you there’s a rightway and a wrong way to tell a story.” Because I feel like there were an awfullot of people telling me what was and was not a story, telling me things like, DESCRIBE THE FURNITURE or EVOKE THE SENSES. What are they smelling? Tasting? What does the wallpaper like? SHOW NOT TELL!! And my reaction was always, “OK….sounds fake but OK…”

I felt at the timethat I was failing somehow if I didn’t listen to them, even though I really didn’t want to listen to them, and now I know I was right not to listen tothem =D

25)copy/paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proudof

Hahaha, ahhh, It feels somewhatembarrassing to pick? But I think I was very attached to this line from “We arethe Kids (You Never Could Kill)” because it conveyed something I felt verystrongly about:

“And,ah, that is what he was trying to express. Living, just the sheereffort to keep living, it was the most difficult thing in the world. Living washard, a fact made worse by the fact that everyone else knew how to get up, gooutside, talk to people, do what needed to be done, and no one could everexplain to him why he had such a hard time doing what everyone else could.”

Ialways related very strongly to Mihashi, so he was also a favorite to write =)

THANKSAGAIN, FRIEND!!

#Mikki writes #ask meme answers #I have asks! and I'm answering them!#writing #i like talking about writing #thanks!

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sambart93 · 7 years ago

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2018.06.01 PuriStage Episode 5 [Review]

This is the final one, I think, I hope. And of course I went! Because I am trash and have an addiction problem that I can’t get over xD I really shouldn’t have but, I got a ticket so might as well go!

Official Website here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1 PreOrder DVD here Online Store here Previous Reviews of the Series: Episode One, Episode Two, Episode Three, Episode Four

CAST and CHARACTERS

Hounan Izaki Ryuujirou as Yagami Riku Aoki Jin as Fujiwara Takeru Matsunaga Arisa as Sakurai Nana Kumagai Kaito as Hozumi Kohinata Kishimoto Takuya as Hasekura Heath Shiraishi Kosuke as Kadowaki Ayumu Ayukawa Taiyou as Kuga Kyousuke Arai Yusuke as Dan Yujiro Mizukoshi Ayumi as Kawarazaki Riko

Saisei Hiramaki Jin as Suwa Reiji Kobayashi Ryo as Mayuzumi Shizuma

Mihashi Kanegae Kou as Kamoda Kei Sawada Takurou as Eifuku Takeshi Yokoyama Masafumi as Nagatsuka Nobuhiko

Ichijyoukan Murata Hisashi as Himemiya Yuri Tanabe Ken as Shishibara Kaoru Asegawa Kenta as Samejima Arata Matsumoto Yui as Hachiya Tetsu

Ichiba Murakami Wataru as Izumi Shinobu Taguchi Ryo as Tomaru Kansuke Iwase Koki as Masunari Ikki

Tsubakimachi Suga Masanori as Minato Shugo Nakamura Tarou as Sata Kazuki Kurosaki Reon as Shizuno Makoto

Kakyouin Kitamura Kento as Yagami Tomoe Harano Masaki as Natsunagi Toya Maruyama Nao as Izumino Hajime Ohashi Noryuki as Izumino Ryo Masuda Yuki as Sakurai Joe

OTHER Kobayashi Shuuji as Piece of shit DJ Stride HAYATE as Isurugi Isamu

NON-SPOILER REVIEW Overall: This was so much better than (at least) the last one (Episode 4)! This was so much more enjoyable and interesting and just a lot of fun to watch! I almost didn’t go this time because while I love the anime and I was super hyped for the stage series, it’s always been pretty forgettable to me. So I nearly didn’t go because whats the point when I keep getting disappointed and none of my oshis are in it but... my fav character was back, Himemiya, I have this huge crush on Hiramaki Jin still, and he’s back this time around by some miracle(!), and we knew it was going to be a completely different story so I was interested in seeing something I couldn’t have expectations for but was with a cast/characters I liked. So I went...

Also every time I’ve had freaking amazing seats. Episode 1: row 5, Episode 2: 10th row, aisle, Episode 3: 11th row aisle, 4th row: 11th row left side and this time: 7th row aisle. You can’t give up luck like that, can you?! And the seat alone is a big enough reason to say this time was so much better! Because of my seat, I had Hiramaki Jin RIGHT behind me. I had Kanegae’s butt right in my face. I have Aoki Jin run past me so fast. I had Izaki run past me and my hair just blew back. During curtain call I’m pretty sure KishiTaku spotted and remembered me and he got this amused smile on his face and wouldn’t look away (I was in my seat WISHING a kankeisha was behind me but I knew there wasn’t). Everyone outside of the stage/story itself was such a good experience. And can I just remind everyone how amazing the pre-show music is?! I freaking love it! Just let me sit in that theatre for 2 hours listening to that pre-show music please!! Or give me a gosh darn CD! xD Then the story itself; it was so interesting! I LOVE what they did and the character dynamics! It was sooooooo good! This stage allowed the lesser ‘important’ characters to develop and show their personalities which was nice. And then the stunts!! Again, please like Aoki Jin just stood out. It was a LOT more obvious this time who had kept up with their training and who hadn’t which made those that had carried on, stand out and look even more amazing -- although I was relieved to see Izaki’s knee muscles had softened a little. And we had freaking Hayate who did (what I think) is the most dangerous stunt of them all and you literally heard the entirety of the audience shit themselves and gasp. It was amazing. OH! The length this time was just right! It’s 2 hours and 20 minutes! I remember being so pissed when episode 4 came about and it was like less than 2 hours (turns out it was supposed to be 2 hours and 10 minutes) and no break. HOW CAN A FINALE BE THE SHORTEST ONE?! Anyway... this was the perfect length for them this time I think - especially because this one is a stand alone story. The character development was really good too! Especially Riku and his brother. And the other school’s members development too was great! I was so emotionally involved this time around that I was crying at the end at a few parts! This was just SO MUCH BETTER! If they’re gunna keep doing PuriStage like THIS one then please, bring out 5 more and I’ll definitely go! My literally only one (new) complaint is the ending. But that’s spoilers so I’ll talk about that later. My complaints about DJ Stride and Nana still stand though. OH! And the AfterTalk was so much fun too! Rating: 7.5/10

SPOILER REVIEW

STORY

So certain members of each school have been selected to join the EAST JAPAN national(?) team, obviously this causes the not-selected team members to either be pissed, get hurt, feel jealous or feel left out, which leads them to create their own rival team: vs East Japan. And so these two teams compete to see who really deserves to be given professional Stride opportunities. Meanwhile, Tomoe gives up Stride so he can take over and continue the family bakery, stating he doesn’t want to do Stride anymore.

That’s the bare basics of this story and that is all you really need to know about the story because it focuses very heavily on everyone’s relationships. Suddenly teams are getting broken apart because one or two of them have been picked for this national team which means they can’t go to their school’s training etc. On top of that, because of the rival team, old team mates are now competing against each other so it’s like “I want to beat you but I still want to be your friend after all this” which causes tension. There’s also tension WITHIN the groups themselves. They ALL used to be rivals and now they have to start working together as a team?! Course that ain’t gunna go so smoothly! The story is just SO damn good! I absolutely loved that the teams mixed and they had to start working together and the conflicts and problems that arised within and between the two groups/teams were so great!!! It got even more juicy when the school members would be AGAINST each other in the races! My favourite was definitely Himemiya versus Hachiya! Oh my emotions... they kept/keep ALL the ‘versus’ pairings a secret until you actually see the stage so they were all surprises to us, which I loved! Although I know my friend said she would’ve preferred it if she’d known about who was racing who BEFORE the show. But personally I think that would’ve ruined a few things such as who’s on who’s team and things. Other pairings like Riku vs Takeru were blatantly obvious they were going to happen so I still stand by that I agree with Trifle for not revealing the teams and rival pairings beforehand.

A huge plus this time around, as stated above, was the fact it was an original story. So while we all knew these characters and we liked them, we were getting something different, something exciting, something we didn’t technically know (maybe this story is part of the game? But from the way they kept the pairing and the pairing bromides a secret makes me think it was an original story for the stage), and because of the story splitting the teams up, we could get some less known characters or less popular characters into the spotlight, or we could get more character development from others. It definitely felt like Hounan was the less interesting and less main this time around which was great and we could focus on others. Even though Riku and Hounan are technically still the main focus, I felt this stage gave them less time and more time to others. Which, me being bias towards others, was a godsend! We like how we spent more time with Takeru rather than Riku this time too and we got to see more of his development and his struggle and I felt he was more relate-able this time around.

The main character development I was happy about was the rift that occurs within Ichijyoukan. We have Himemiya and Shishibara being picked for the EAST JAPAN team while Samejima and Hachiya have been left behind and join the Versus team. And then, as said before, it gets even more juicy when Hachiya and Himemiya go head-to-head; you can see how much Hachiya respects and loves Himemiya and I love how no matter what happens in the race, it isn’t going to cause bad blood between them. And there’s this BEAUTIFUL scene towards the end when Himemiya has been chosen to go further in the EAST JAPAN selection series while the other three are being left behind and they got him a signed Ichijyoukan towel and it seems like he isn’t interest but then (I’m going to tear up thinking about it!) he swings the towel behind him and wears it almost like a flag around him and I just got so emotional - Himemiya is a little shit but you can tell he cares for his teammates, he appreciates them, he supports them even though it looks like all he focuses on is winning.... ahhh my heart!!

Also, with this shift in character/team focus, some lesser appreciated characters got more love. The three that caught my eye were Natsunagi Toya, Tomaru Kansuke and Kamoda Kei. And what got me cracking up part way through about these characters/cast most of all was that I couldn’t help they all felt like my friends’-oshis and when I spoke to my friends after they were like ‘yup that’s one of mine’ xD BUT I love how much more time they got! I’ve always liked Natsunagi and his actor - I’ve always thought he was totally adorable in the anime and the actor himself looks totally adorable, in fact he reminds me of someone.... the Yamanaka twins maybe? -- and he got more time in this which was so nice! Then we had Taguchi/Tomaru (by the way, his picture on the PuriStage site does not do him justice, he looks MUCH cuter in real life) and he has some issues to work through this time around and he takes his anger out on people and for quite a while he has a lot of frustration and he’s upset about the whole EAST JAPAN and not being chosen for it etc. I think his yelling scene was very well done and it shows just how little hope he has even though he’s good enough to be in the Versus group. And then we had Kamoda; it DID help I got that moment where he butt was right in front of my face but this time around he just seemed much more interesting to me and he’s cute so can you blame me?!

As for the new people... there were 5:

Matsunaga Arisa as Sakurai Nana Team Tsubakimachi: Suga Masanori as Minato Shugo, Nakamura Tarou as Sata Kazuki and Kurosaki Reon as Shizuno Makoto. HAYATE as Isurugi Isamu

We all know, I don’t give a shit about Nana, you can take her out completely and I’d be more satisfied. I GET why she is so predominate in the main story, I GET IT but I just don’t want her in it. She annoys me, she’s not exactly interesting, she’s only in it because of her father (yes I went there), just no thank you. Don’t care how many times you change the actress. Just leave. Yes the actresses are very nice and very sweet and I like actresses who’ve played her. I just don’t like Nana. MOVE ALONG.

Ah man Tsubakimachi.... I HATED these guys!! Well two of them. As soon as they came onstage I fucking hated Shizuno Makoto - this bratty arrogant cock head. And just UGH go die Minato Shugo; his hair is TOO anime and annoying as fuck and oh my god, don’t get me started on his voice. Maybe like 10 years ago I would’ve like the stereotypical ‘hair covering eyes and a soft voice’ character but now they just ANNOY me. UGH....

BUT SATA KAZUKI! OH MY! I LOVED THIS BOY STRAIGHT AWAY!!! And the actor Tarou too! His so tall and lean and he’s a good mixture of competitive and devoted but also a little shit. I love how we have the backstory of Kata and Takeru used to be in the same Stride group and Kata bullied him because naturally my brain goes ‘SEXUAL TENSION!!!’ and just... Kata is sexy and mean and great okay!! He doesn’t go overboard like Izumi-mean (if you catch my EnStar/EnStage reference there) in terms of bullying but OH! Did I mention he’s sexy?! I looooooooooved him and he has the whole jacket falling off one shoulder that just so sexy.... ohmyyyyy. But his two team mates are fuckheads okay.

I really want to see Kata and Takeru go head to head. Can we have a spin off which them in middle school and see what it was like? Or should I just go and doujinshi that shit?

So lets just have some appreciation for ALL the non-Hounan guys that entertained me and that I loved in Episode 5

HAYATE! Oh my Hayate is the BOMB! We all know people like Aoki Jin are really talented and good at the stuff in PuriStage but holy fuck, this old man is LEAGUES above everyone else. It never registered with me before but he did ALL the choreography and parcour training for these boys in PuriStage! He did it ALL! And you can tell why! Holy shit... he was doing his own stunts! He was JUMPING OFF the top platforms and onto the floor and it was so flawless and so freaking amazing and he’d doing it while HOLDING ONTO HIS HAT! Like straight away the ability level is way above everyone else. And then he has one scene where he’s training EAST JAPAN team (he’s in charge of them) and he asks what would be the best way to get over this one course; so three of the boys give three different ways and he’s like ‘you’re all right but slow so y’all wrong’ and he proceeds to show them the right way and he literally jumps ONTO A BAR! THE BAR IS LIKE 7+ FEET IN THE AIR. HE JUMPS ON THIS BAR WITH ONE FOOT and has enough power to jump onto a different platform! WHAT THE FUCK?!!? This was the moment that audience absolutely SHIT themselves. There were actual gasps during this moment and the entire room got tense and it was crazy. I’ll be replaying the SHIT out of that scene when it’s on DVD. Seriously, MY explanation is not giving it justice. He JUMPED from a 7+ ft platform onto a SINGLE BAR and onto another 5 ft high platform... WTF?!?!?!? Aoki Jin, you’re good but Hayate clearly showed how superior he is to everyone there for this sport that isn’t even real xD

Can you clearly see how much more I enjoyed this episode?! It took 4 stages (like 8 hours of wasted time... more like 13 if you include goods lines and stuff haha) but we got to a part that was just soooo juicy and gooooddd!! Seriously, PuriStage can continue their series so long as they continue doing things like this; original plot lines, other school focuses, mixed up competitions etc. YES!

And how could I forget to talk about my beloved Hiramaki Jin <3 I was a little worried partway through the show because in the beginning in the opening he was running around the stage just like everyone else but then in the actual play himself, he and Kobayashi were in their uniforms. BUT in the second half they turn up in EAST JAPAN and Jin runs in the final EAST JAPAN versus VS EAST JAPAN match. Kobayashi explains that Jin/Reiji does actually want this and so they cancelled their live for Reiji -- which is the sweetest thing ever!!! So Jin ran in the last race and of course looked great! But before the match he came into the audience area and he was right behind me and I just couldn’t stop looking. He’s so pretty and I’m so glad he was back this time around *cries* I understand why these two spent so much time out of the main story and why they were in it this time; one is to create mystery ‘why they in it if they ain’t going to race?’, another is because they’re damn popular characters you have to have them, another is the actors themselves almost always work with Trifle now so clearly they have a good relationship with the cast, staff and crew so they probably got asked if they wanted to return and did so, another reason is that these guys are much older than the other cast so in order to keep them safe and not over-worked they didn’t give them big whole chunks of Stride-ing. We don’t want wonderful actors like Jin and Kobayashi and KishiTaku getting hurt do we! We leads me actually TO KishiTaku! He also spent a lot of time NOT Stride-ing this time around and again I get it’s because of his age; he still did a damn good job when he DID Stride, just like Jin did, but they convenietly brought back in ‘Heath your injury is bad again isn’t it?’ in order to keep KishiTaku from stretching himself too far. I get all these reasons why they did what they did.

PS. No way am I complaining, I just felt the need to explain to those who maybe see the DVD and love one of these actors or characters and question ‘well what’s the point if they ain’t doing Stride?’ so here you go.

Ahhh Jin....

But Alex, what about the main guys?! Okay... I guess I’ll talk about them...

So the main part of the main characters/school this time is Riku and Tomoe’s relationship, and Riku’s character development (because isn’t it always *yawn* he’s so immature and I feel he never really develops). Riku is obviously hurt that Takeru got picked over him to be in EAST JAPAN so he has some hurt feelings towards the team and towards himself rather than Takeru - which is good - and he wonders why he was not good enough. Then we have the Tomoe plot line; he gives up Stride in order to help at the bakery because their father is ill. While Tomoe explains that he’s in his final year, he can’t do Stride forever and he always planned on taking over the store anyway, so might as well leave now before he gets scouted for EAST JAPAN or something. And stupid Riku takes it from face value and believes Tomoe!! What an idiot! But slowly, people like Heath go to his shop and ask ‘is this really what you want?’ and we also have Taiyou’s voice as NAME HERE calling from America (which is why he isn’t here this time) and telling him ‘the three of us should race together again’ so Tomoe starts to face his real feelings again. There is this beautiful moment towards the end where he gets back into his Stride gear and he’s racing and he finally admits and yells ‘I WANT TO DO STRIDE’ and I was so emotionally involved with him by that point that I was just streaming!

Some other scenes that I love were just so ridiculous and cracked me up. I love how the banana joked carried on from the previous stages in this one and we had one of the PURPLE GUYS taking the banana and eating a massive chunk of it in one go xD Also we had the twins from THE OHTER SCHOOL who had the weirdest warming up stretches and stuff and 50% of the audience were too busy watching and laughing at them rather than paying attention to the slightly serious topics going on between the rest of the EAST JAPAN members xD and sometimes one of the characters would point out and go ‘what the fuck are they doing?! Do you see this?!’ which was hilarious!

I loved the ending when GLASSES GUY was crying and acting like a mother watching her son go to war with the whole handkerchief in hand and waving pose xD speaking of the ending; I didn’t like it. I really like how Takeru is the only one to get picked to go the international races and he’s about to go and Nana and Riku are like ‘don’t worry, we’ll see you there next year’ which was beautiful BUT THEN THEY HAD TO RUIN IT and Dan-sensei gets a call and they’re requesting at Riku and Nana join the team too so they don’t have to wait a year and I thought it completely ruined it. WHY?! WHY?!?!? It was perfect and mature of them being okay with Takeru going off on his own, WHY did you have to.... anime-cliche it and allow the others to go too?! OHHHH I really hate this ending. WHY?!

Unfortunately we’re finishing on a negative here ^^^^ but in general I really, really enjoyed this installment! So much better then episode 4 for definite, so much better than the main story. I really loved this one! I kinda of hope we will get another but judging from tweets and stuff, it sounds like this really was the last one -- at least with this cast... but time will tell.

I am sooooooooo behind as usual, even though I only had two plays this month! I had an entire month to catch up and I just didn’t! I SUCK! I’m sorry. And July... holy shit July is fucking crazy.... prepare yourselves for THAT schedule.

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