#oshi potion

[cataoshi]

✨ 🔮 Oshi Potion - It’s a personal project about a mobile game in which you help little Luna with her cute Potion Shop. Luna travel from town to town helping people with her magic and potions. 🌱🌺

[faline-cat444]

On top of everything else this was one of the “bigger” delivery days

[dennavanhossen]

Merch I bought at Convención Oshi ❤️🩷 It was so much fun!

[violenteconomics]

Twst but the first-year gang become actual licensed professionals cause Crowley will donate to the Vacation Fund if they do?

anything 4 u, baby.

actual licensed professionals in what, though, is the question? 🤔

maybe the nurse quits because of their extremely low wages, so crowley convinces the first-years to go to freaking medical school to get licenses to practice medicine (because he is NOT going to be sued if things go poorly), and all of them start working in the infirmary part-time for 100 thaumarks a day.

sebek is already the son of a dentist, and he's surprisingly really intense about it (IT'S MY FATHER'S LEGACY, AND I WILL CARRY IT WITH HONOR) so you have him filling in cavities and stabbing people and saying that the knife going through their arm wouldn't have hurt if they had just flossed, obviously. given all his swords training, he's also in charge of applying ointment to cuts and making casts for broken bones. he's also great

being a pomefiore student, and combined with his newly-secured medical license, epel can mix up an extremely potent healing potion. being an apple farmer from harveston, he can also expertly mix epels into the concoction so that it tastes a little less like dirt. students start going to epel instead of crewel for their health potions because his don't make them feel like throwing up, lol. he also gains a reputation for cursing out people who keep showing up with the same injuries every damn day. ("WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU GOT BUCKED IN THE FACT BY A HORSE AGAIN, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU--")

ace is very good at noticing little details in people (always thinking about his fairy gala vignette fr), and can almost diagnose someone the moment they step through the infirmary door. the rumors of his genius ability spreads through the school like wildfire, and next thing you know, he's putting actual sage's island hospitals out of business because now people are going to him instead of actual adult doctors, and ace just. doesn't notice?? like he genuinely thinks full-grown adults coming to him for his expert opinion is just a part of his job description as a high school nurse.

while deuce has a license, he's still not very good at being a medical professional. first day on the job, he knocks over all of epel's potions, catches the infirmary on fire, and gives their anemic patient the flu... somehow. luckily, as we all know, deuce has the charisma of a million gods, so he's in charge of calming people down in the waiting room that he also helped to decorate. the harsh blue on yellow walls are a little much, but eh. deuce is cute, so he makes up for it. some people come in for check-ups just to talk to him, because the rizz never ends.

ortho is like. all the hospital machines in one tiny robot body. he is your x-ray, your weight scale, your height scale, and your radio if your laid in bed and bored... if you don't mind listening to hetalia character songs, lol. he'll switch to something different if you want, but you can't actually tell him what to play, because he's not being paid to play music for you so he doesn't feel the need to heed your request. you are literally at his mercy when it comes to music, so you better get used to listening to oshi no ko's opening theme on loop while you're laid up in bed for the next five hours.

jack does the actual physical stuff -- checking reflexes, writing up prescriptions, using ortho to take x-rays, that sort of thing. people are a little intimidated by him, especially the kids, but all it takes is letting them pet him between the ears for them to calm down. importantly, he is literally the only one of the freshmen to realize that they're doing a lot more work than they probably should be for seven people in a school full of people who'd rather relocate their dislocated limbs themselves than admit they need help. not that he says anything about it because, well, they need the vacation money.

yuu is their ever-exhausted secretary. they're in charge of scheduling appointments, receiving calls, managing their budget, and growing herbs in the botanical gardens, because ingredients for healing potions don't grow on trees... they grow in bushes. they're so overworked, it barely ever occurs to them that maybe some of the people scheduling for appointments really shouldn't be there??? like this girl is literally 6, why is she coming to us about her aching tummy-wummy.

the first-years's medical practice becomes famous around sage's island, and they're over here trying to figure out where they're going to go once they've raised all their vacation money, lol.

[tsukiyadori]

Reading Log 2024.05 - May

Previous: Reading Log 2024.04 - April

Trying to grasp the moon. Wonder if anyone would ever want to come over to my moon? Maybe we can try grasping it together?

——————————————————————————

Reading languages: German, English, French, Japanese, not listing which was what. (There's also been some feeble attempts at Chinese.)

Titles are as I’ve read them either first or most and thus remember it for that title mostly

Not going to bother putting in the original titles of translated reads unless there is something worthy of note to it

Cursive titles have been completed

If it says a volume number it may mean it has been finished or is still in progress

Some notes’ content may be subject to repetition here and there, as I also copied some older notes from casual conversations over and didn’t go through any rounds of cutting things down.

——————————————————————————

MAY

JNC (English) puts A Pale Moon Reverie into this month' Catchup Lineup, so there goes a subscription. You gotta make most use the buffet, do you?

I still failed to finish trying out all that was in the catchup...

Also struggled with the JNC Nina deadlines

The JNC quota of my monthly reads have not been counted, but they must make a notable percentage.

What does that tell me again? I get the most things done with a deadline leash.

The distinction between LN/WN regular novels is a bit fuzzy this time due to the potion of Rosmei previews...

Light Novels/Web Novels/Novels:

A Pale Moon Reverie v1-2

At the World’s Mercy Rosmei Preview

Brunhild v3p1

By the Grace of Gods LN v14

Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers v1ch1-2

Don't You Like Me Rosmei Preview

Fushi no Kami v1

Hell Mode v3p4-6

How to Survive as a Villain Novel Rosmei preview ch1-5

How to Survive as a Villain Novel ch137-235

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? v10

Kaleidoscope of Death Rosmei Preview

Marriage, Divorce, and Beyond: The White Mage and Black Knight's Romance Reignited v1p1-v2p1-6

Mushoku Tensei v1p7-8

Nanchan Rosmei Preview

The Defectives Rosmei Preview

The Earth Is Online Rosmei Preview

The Killer of Killers Rosmei Preview

The Rebirth Of The General Who Always Sees Himself As A Replacement ch1

The Saint's Magic Power is Omipotent LN v3p7-8

Unnamed Memory LN v1p2-5

Wolf and Parchment v5-6

Zilbagias the Demon Prince: How the Seventh Prince Brought Down the Kingdom v1p1-5

Manga:

12 Jahre v18

A Livid Lady's Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires (Manga) v2ch7-11

An Archdemon's (Friend's) Dilemma: How to Babysit a Crybaby Knight ch1-5

An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride v1-10, ch52-54, ch60-63

Are You Okay with a Slightly Older Girlfriend? ch16.3-21

Arte ch86-87

Bibi & Miyu v1ch5

Buta no Liver wa Kanetsushiro ch36.1-2

Daijuukou to Unicornis no Otome ch15.2

Dead Mount Death Play v6

Dekiru Neko wa Kyou mo Yuuutsu ch109, ch88-91

Domestic na Kanojo v9-11

Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte (Manga) ch1, ch6, ch10, ch14, ch18, v5ch23-26

Everyday Escape v1-4

Fragtime v1-2

Girl Crush ch85-87

Hari to Hitsuji no Fune ch10.2

Heart Gear ch4-10

How I Attended an All-Guy's Mixer ch5-16

I'm a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic (Manga) ch1-5

Is Love the Answer? ch1

Isekai de Ane ni Namae wo Ubawaremashita ch18.2-4

Just Because I Love You

Kakan no Oukoku no Hanagirai Hime ch13.2-13.3

Knitter's High ch27.3-4

Living With My Brother's Wife ch49-65

Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru ch32

My Not-So-Fair Lady is Doomed! (But Not If I Can Help It) ch4.2-9.2

My Unexpected Marriage ch10.3-14

Nagiko no Hanashi (re-read)

Okazari Ouhi ni Nattanode, Kossori Hataraki ni deru koto ni Shimashita ~Usagi ga Iru no de Hitorine mo Sabishiku Arimasen!~ ch26.5-6

Oshi no Ko ch145-147

Shinde Miro to Iwareta no de Shinimashita. ch11-12

Shuumatsu Touring ch38.1-3

Sleeping Moon v1

Solange wir zusammen sind v8

Sonna Kazoku nara Sutechaeba? ch68sample, ch69sample, ch70sample, ch70-71

Suicide Notes Laid on the Table ch35.2-50

The 6th Loop: I'm Finally Free of Auto Mode in this Otome Game ch3.3-10

The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses ch81-99

Unnamed Memory ch37.1

With the Light v1

Webtoons:

Closer Heartbeat ch0-1

Fall in the Night with You ch74-101

Ice Lamp: The Chronicles of Kira ch49-51

Taberare Usa ch102-105

The Goddess of Healing ch80-92

The Silent Concubine ch1-32

To be or not be ch95-101

Notes:

A Pale Moon Reverie v1-2: What a gob smack disappointment. I really (really) do like Unnamed Memory, but this thing from the same author is just… doing everything UN does right, not all that right. I'm kind of… just astonished. And makes me a bit wary of the rest of the author, which I had planned to buy and read in JP if it doesn't get licensed.

A Livid Lady's Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires (Light Novel) v1: It's interesting how the hook is basically identical to 7th Time Loop, but the route it goes down is already so completely Anti-Fluff as can be. The hook is easily the least interesting thing, as it's a complete dumpster trope by now, but so far MC doesn't feel like a bad person per se, or more like not even really a person, but more like a completely OP mirror. She does not set out to do evil, but if you do her bad, she will reflect it, as she would honor you doing her good. And then the world is full of evil and incompetence, so it just winds up her mirroring all the mud and dirt of it. Which creates all the more of it in the process.

That's very much an Anti-Fluff spiral and kinda somewhat uncomfortable…. Tho, she remains a badass female MC with some brains and guts at least.

I think another issue probably is. This whole revenge objective. It's not even really feeling like it's genuinely her own. It came from her servant, who had a moment of being passionately full of hate. And she was like "oh you're right" and just adapted it. So she really just feels like a mirror, absorbing and reflecting what crosses her path. And she's unlucky that apparently she's not granted the blessing of meeting anything fluff on her way.

I suppose another bit that makes her very different to Rishe from 7th Time Loop is that Rishe got her OP cheat skills over time though effort and maturity, and she got it all through teachers who were nice enough to take her in. In this one's case, she is simply a prodigy, and it all came from herself. She knows modesty by advantage/disadvantage calculation, etiquette not really having any real innate greed and pride, but there is also a sense of natural condescension that comes out of it towards anyone else, even if she can honor people doing things for her.

German first impressions:

Uffz. Das Inciting Incident ist praktisch 1:1 identisch zu 7th Time Loop, aber die Route, die das hier einschlägt ist so Anti-Fluff wie es nur irgendwie sein kann. :NotLikeThis:

Es ist dabei nicht nur "nicht fluff" sondern geradewegs anti-fluff.

Die MC, mal abgesehen, dass sie viel zu OP ist, sie wirkt ein bisschen wie nicht wirklich wie ein Mensch, sondern eher eine Art gut geölte Maschine + ein Spiegel. Sie reflektiert quasi alles, was ihr widerfährt irgendwie in gleicher Art, und offenkundig hat sie nie was Fluff oder wirklich emotional Gutes erfahren, jenseits von Loyalität, die sie erfährt, weil sie es sich irgendwie erarbeitet hat. Und sie reflektiert das irgendwie und dabei verstärkt sie es noch mehr, was am Ende zu einer Spirale von evil begets evil führt. Und dann ist sie dabei auch noch vollkommen methodisch, effizient, ohne jedes Mitleid oder Verständnis für irgendwelche Motivationen, die dazu geführt haben, dass ihr widerfuhr was ihr widerfuhr (obwohl sie es z.T. auch genau weiß) und das wäre noch eine Sache, aber ihre ganze Rache fühlt sich nicht mal richtig emotional an (so wie bei Brundhild oder so), sondern geradezu Secondhand übernommen, nachdem die Dienerin einen emotionalen Rant voller Hass ob der Ungerechtigkeit (und auch Mitgefühl) abgelassen hat. Buchstäblich quasi "oh you're right" und dann zieht sie, ohne mit der Wimpern zu zucken ihre Konsequenz daraus und alle, die ihr im Weg stehen, kümmert sie nicht, egal was.

KA, irgendwie wirkt sie wie ein leeres Gefäß voller Skills, Wissen, Etikette und Macht. Sie hatte ihren Job, den hat sie wunderbar gemacht, wurde dafür aber nie honoriert und dann wurde der infrage gestellt und sie hat die Rache zu ihrem neuen Job gemacht und das ist irgendwie alles, was sie ausmacht und sie scheint auch nicht das geringste Interesse zu haben daran, großartig was zu ändern.

Am Ende vom Band ist sie geradezu teuflisch, aber irgendwie auch, das Teuflische wurde erst erweckt durch Missetaten und irgendwie ist das so eine Dynamik, die nur das Schlechte vom und im Menschen weiter propagiert.

Fushi no Kami v1: The Maika side of things are still extraordinary uninteresting. Unfortunately, you can't exactly skip them. Probably.

Marriage, Divorce, and Beyond: The White Mage and Black Knight's Romance Reignited v1p1, v2p1-6: Maybe skipping the rest of v1 because streaming has expired was not the most bright thing there, but it somehow worked out still decently fine??

Mushoku Tensei v1 finished: Aaand somehow there's now yet another pervy guy.

Side character: "He reminds me a lot of you [….] like stealing underwear or watching me while changing […] Maybe all heroes are just sex-addicted?"

This series is really…..

How to have some good moments and then just throw of pervy curveball to ruin it, and then it gets better again and yet another curveball….

It's kind of interesting how at first I thought it structurally was very much Hell Mode, but now I was thinking structurally it's a lot like Fushi no Kami, but obviously both are younger so much rather they got inspired the other way round.

Fushi no Kami's switches of PoV are definitely more obnoxious, tho. Cheese striken Maika is for the trash bin, but here there's a strange comicalness to it in MT.

The Rebirth Of The General Who Always Sees Himself As A Replacement ch1: From the same author of How to Survive as a Villain. I had read the beginning of the webtoon, but wasn't exactly wowed, but the novel is coming around with poetry, idioms and literature and everything, and I'm already liking it a hundred-fold more just because of this and how it's used to depict the MC's inner turmoil.

An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride v1-10, ch52-54, ch60-63: Sooo, this was also in the JNC May Catchup list.

Me, before reading: Nothing but a doubtful stare.

But I was being told it it would have fluff, and that came from the same one who made me read Otonari, so....

Me, upon noticing I've been binging this rather fast:

Me upon finding out, I'm liking this, despite, let's say a bit of a wacky beginning: (It screams cheese! It screams it!!)

If A Pale Moon Reverie was a complete flop, reading this directly afterwards immediately amortized the JNC subscription all on its already. And then it was pwoerful enough that sorta everything else tasted staler and worse than it actually was so I needed several days of a reading break to avoid souring me on the other stuff.

The series' primary draw definitely are the masses of good faces (especially Chastille is Lady Good Faces), but even behind that it has a really strong going Found Family aspect to it and while the romance bit is there from the beginning and a central part to it all, it considerably overlaps with found family in its most foundational aspects, which makes it that much less just your ordinary cheese. (And they are kinda doing things backwards, that's also a nice pattern I vastly prefer, but is seen all too rarely.) I also like it how the series has the girl coming from the slave trope, but quickly ties over all the apparent submission into a deeper going characterization and turns it all on its head. She is definitely not your a naive innocent something, not an obedient, subservient damsel in distress, if she exhibits it, it's out of self-loathing and self-punishment and there is a component of active choice and agency to it. And that conversation between her and Chastille about how she refuses to stand at the frontline (despite actually being more than qualified to be there), because she has decided upon which role she considers to be most needed by her and therefore leaves the frontline part to Chastille was such a great way to avoid the trap of both Damsel in Distress or OP Mary Sue. How she's fairly wary of her powers also implies an additional reason why she chooses to continue wearing the mana-sealing neck-chocker (and thus not engage with sorcery on top of her mysticism) aside it from being basically their the engagement ring-replacement. (Altho, her wearing it while confronting an unknown demon alone that turned out to be an archdemon may have been a bit silly.) Chastille's holding it somewhat together while on clock vs. a bit of a hopeless idiot when clocked out is also a streak I find, uhm, hitting a bit too home. She is a great dork in any case. The only thing that did me more in were the good question mark faces. Like, they are glorious. And despite all the dorks, fluff and compf, the thing also has an actual plot to follow, that is both having acute stakes (due to danger baring it fangs already), but also not (because no one knows about any sort of concrete time limit beyond it's coming). And there is a whole mystery component surrounding not only that, but characters themselves as well. The romance aspect comes off as downright simple in comparison, and that also makes for a decent balancing off the scales that gives even the more regular simpleton romance elements more flavor.

But in any case:

Question mark faces ftw!

And Chastille

is just adorkable.

Also this is such a mood, aside from the question marks:

An Archdemon's (Friend's) Dilemma: How to Babysit a Crybaby Knight ch1-5: This guy's dense, an airhead and a tsundere. Also, he's already very much done for. The spin-off is also having a fine amount of good faces, but beyond that I still find it a bit lacking. In part because the side characters aren't as engaging and the two MCs don't exactly have as much freedom for development due to constraints in the main plot (where still nothing much as happened). And kinda, it lacks a proper plot of its own to draw you in.

But it also has Lady Good Faces. And maybe it needs not be more. (It just makes me not so sure about its re-read value.)

"Erm, I'm... not here to listen to your lovey-dovey talk, am I?"

Domestic na Kanojo v9-11: I still do not know what I am reading, beyond that it is definitely a series about a bunch of idiots.

Reactions per volume as they were being read:

Volume 9: Somebody please isekai them to a place where bigamy is legal already…

While at Volume 10: This author really seems to have a thing for lingerie… The ecchi situations are a bit much atm, I'm stuck with this book for 3 days already :NotLikeThis:

As in the sense of them being extraordinarily dumb and feeling artificial. Like if Rui goes to undress herself while telling the guy to not look and then withdraws without him ever knowing that's kinda fine, it's clearly for the reader, but it's still making sense in character.

But like the whole thing around Rui's father's new daughter-in-law with the tripping and everything is just =_=

(Also the hell you go to shower yourself without preparing towels and change of cloth, or if you were dumb enough to forget, then just tell them to leave the room and get it yourself, instead of screaming kyaaa and hitting the other for being a pervert, draahhhh)

Across v11: [An assortment of screaming idiot at just about any of them one after another]

Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte (Manga) ch1, ch6, ch10, ch14, ch18, v5ch23-26: Good Faces and lots of tsundere tsun tsun, and I'll probably complete reading this (will it drop in a catchup maybe?), but I worry about its re-read value or general amount of being memorable. Considering how I could jump all those gaps and not feel too much like I missed out on a lot of plot, so there is that…

I still laughed at this.

Everyday Escape v1-4: It has nice covers. The art is decent and pretty at places. Its content for me, however, is kinda for the garbage trash bin. (Right, you can't get the feels of winter in summer, so turn the air conditioning on to freeze, and then turn on a heater, because it's too cold? Excuse me?) Also, I feel like I picked it up thinking it was GL, but if anything it's just GL-bait.

Fragtime v1-2: I didn't know anything about it beyond the Anime movie key illustration used as the Blu-ray cover, so kinda read into this blindly. From the manga covers I did not expect anything too great, but it was to a surprising level kinda garbage yet again. (What up witht eh GL grabs this month being bad ones?) Peeking panties in any case was not something I expected…

Girl Crush ch85-87: Tenka is great, but now there are even more clear signs of a budding potential romance and between her and that guy, that may get to be a male lead or not, there's now a very interesting dynamic: She's kinda tsundere to him and only him and part of it is she can't help it because his character's obnoxiousness just provokes it and in part because he's a total tsundere himself hiding behind arrogance (which has substance to it, as he is capable however) and she just does him the favor to be just like that in turn. He clearly enjoys it. And to her, it in a way widens her horizon as well as being silly like that just puts away the tension she tends to build up herself. This is a pretty interesting dynamic.

Is Love the Answer? ch1: Read the German sample as it came out, which is ch1. It's still good and authentic, but also just makes my face muscles go rather grumpy.

Isekai de Ane ni Namae wo Ubawaremashita ch18.2-4: These two totally are going openly dorks from now on, now that the cat is out of the sack.

Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru ch32: Pouts. Pouty Pouts!!

My Unexpected Marriage ch10.3-14: This… could have been so much more interesting. It had all the good ingredients, but in the end it just served up a decent, but nevertheless rather standard narrative dish, tho I am not particularly surprised, as it seemed more simple from the get-go. The court intrigue was still decently wrapped up, although it does feel a little bit anticlimactic. (And to have a fortune-teller have actual supernatural abilities was rather unneeded, especially as he was kinda painted and implied as a gross pedophile at first.) The entire supernatural bit at the end was kinda weird, but oh well.

To have a tsundere mother-in-law was definitely a kinda very interesting dynamic and the thing I'll probably remember from it most.

Nagiko no Hanashi (re-read): It's still just great, but this time I realized, having read Archdemon right before it: It also has the sort of good cute question mark faces! Apparently that latent preference has been there since forever, I just didn't notice??

Sonna Kazoku nara Sutechaeba? ch68sample, ch69sample, ch70sample, ch70-71: Ok, me messing up the time limited free reading deadlines yeet again and the gaps are not going it any good, but it's rather interesting where this has gone. The initial hook and premise is solved, for the time being at least, but the arc that is now ongoing is kinda dark in its own different way. I unfortunately missed the chapters where the new teacher characters explained themselves, but it really now has a plot surrounding someone nonbinary who has a few issues about that, while there's also somebody else with some entirely different issues herself, will be interesting where this is going.

Suicide Notes Laid on the Table ch35.2-50: finished. The ending twist reminds me a bit of Be My Slave in its mood, it has a sense of something quietly sinister but at the same time still being really human in its own way on the character, who turns out to be quite different from what was painted and then overturned twice.

The lesson it comes out with is still a nice thing, while also not and somehow it leaves me with a similar feeling Piece ~Kanojo no Kioku~ left me as well: That inconspicuous character has kinda ruined somebody else's life with their lack of care and manipulations, but also it was the ruined persons own choice as well to a good extent, and to a considerable number of people the learnings coming from the incident probably may stick and improve their life, although, you definitely can't do anything about human nature in itself either. And that's also interesting to just observe.

With the Light v1: The English omnibus vols are definitely bricks. I had read v1 in JP before, and it has been on the back of my mind from time to time, but I can see that this series will take a while to read. While it's informative and interesting in a learning something you maybe didn't know already way, it's also kinda just so very unpleasant to read, too. So far, at least.

How to Survive as a Villain Novel ch137-235: How to just shy away of reading the last chapter, because you don't want it to end, but then also you've long since read it anyway, because while reading you read out of order. So technically I had finished it already at ch223. In any case, everything I blurbed about it last month still holds. Xiao YuAn really is about as aroace as you can be at the beginning and even after he notices how important Yan HeQing is to him, he's just approaching the things is more directed by his rather misguided ideas of being that tyrannical president (that he never wanted to be, that is against his nature, but he still is proficient enough to be… until Yan HeQin who naturally is the real thing takes over). Like, aside from suggesting they could just have sex for him to "find out", he's also talking about it like "And then we do the things we should be doing". Should be doing? And there is this bit in the fan translation that has him consider him "attractive", but the Chinese word is more like dazzling. And it still just feels all too aesthetic whenever he looks at him and has his eyes stolen, because he's just, well, so dazzling. And then he also seems to jump at doing things spicy for reasons like, he knows Yan HeQing is weak to his seductions, so it seemed like a go to way for him for distracting from the thing at hand or a means of reconciliation, or later it sounds more like it's just become a habitual activity, and he feels "nostalgic" about it, and then maybe because he doesn't have this hunger and appetite he goes and does all the strange ideas he has about it and a playful way. It just comes off very different to Yan HeQing who really is very horny, knows it and therefore keeps trying to restrain himself. What, in the end, I find most interesting: it works out regardless. So at the end of the day: Same difference. And the series makes a good case just how much it complements each other's flaws or gives them what they need most in their life, even if some other aspects they may have liked as well may fall short of it. The novel also has none of the things I felt like were lacking when I finished the webtoon. I still find myself wanting more of it, the characters and the world, even as the main plot is over. And if the extra bonus stories prove, the characters alone are engaging even without an overarching big main story plot hanging around.

Also in terms of Isekai: I find is very pleasant that the narrative never flaunts Xiao YuAn's modern life knowledge as cheat skills. Something that gets frequently used to drive the plots forward in the genre otherwise. The extras do shortly reveal that he makes use of them, like suggesting the imperial exam system ancient has had, but other than that, the only modern knowledge ever gets to be shown is his first aid for saving Xiao Fengyue. Usually it's just his songs and weird words nobody understands that make him a oddball for the rest, but as for the narrative, trying to blend in bits of modern civilization does not drive it whatsoever, but character relationships and politics.

Speaking of him singing, the amount of poetry and idioms or also contemporal slang and tropes just needs another mention. I really do like how every single emotionally tangent thing is expressed in classic literature quotes. You have trouble to express things in your own words? Maybe just let the masters of old do it for you. It's not a new thing, is it? (And they still talk and act on their own, too.) Xiao YuAn's self realization and the nature of his love and how it was just there, there never was a start proper, but simply has sunk into his bones to notice some when just seems even more plausible with there not being any sort of Love at First sight for him, or any of the overtly deep infatuation and cravings that otherwise usually get sung and talked about over and over.

I am also quite interested how this will be translated officially:

Also, I finally found all the footnotes together, well, bar one, which I know on my own I think. (The Internet Archive ftw. Why didn't I think about this from the beginning?)

Anyway, Rosmei's official Singapore English one is coming next month or so, will be fun to have another re-read.

To be or not be/How to Survive as a Villain Webtoon ch95-101: Uh, well, this is a case of you read something liked it quite well enough, then read another version, and then it just falls from your graces a bit… And one of the scenes I found hilarious (the bit about Zhang Changson caughing because he knows they were doing the spicy stuff last night), suddenly makes no sense whatsoever. Yan HeQing wouldn't have done that and then even go to overtly humiliate him by spanking his butt, or like running away from him, leaving him alone all night while knowing he can't sleep without the breathing sounds. And them having done it already before he came back in his new body being all like he wants to sleep with him, also comes off considerably more different. (Like one is, he just comes off as irresponsibly unreasonably horny. While the other is he'd otherwise he'd regret it, especially if he considers it something that he should be doing. And then he's using the entire speech to mentally torment the guards and just generally he as a habit of elevating his anxiety of talking distracting nonsense.) Or like he realized his feelings, because he couldn't imagine Yan HeQing being with a woman? Oh come on, after all the shipping attempts and thinking it to be the natural state of things for him to have his harem? Mere jealousy as a realization trigger makes no sense at all here and more than that it really comes off as trite compared to how he realized it only in the cave in a life and death situation and the prospect of maybe loosing him for good and really really not wanting it.

It's still good when it's good tho, some other bits were just cut in a too bad way and I reaaaaalllly would have preferred the other extras over the AU arc, but oh well. The first third is still good and on the whole also what got me to the novel and that one has opened some gates to getting interested in Chinese stuff generally, something that has lingered in the back of my mind behind a bit of a blockade, so just that alone is a pretty enormous thing.

The Goddess of Healing ch80-92: The two MCs are just such nice fluffy dorks.

The Silent Concubine ch1-32: I saw this on the Monogatari Novels webpage (the publisher that licensed up How to Survive a Villain's webtoon for English release, but still has yet to release anything in English.) Then I noticed it's also up on Comikey, to trying it out it be. Uuuuh. So the premise is kinda the same as The Male Bride (aka Lala no Kekkon), but unlike The Male Bride which has ostensibly the MC make his own choices only to then get drugged, sexually assaulted, kinda confined only to then reveal his agency was fake, because he was being all kinda manipulated in it, while the other guy ostensibly is also a good guy at heart, just the other one is way to seductive to him so he's frequently out of his mind (i.e. your usual questionable BL tropes), this one……….. has all that, but it doesn't even try to put things in a better light. Things are happening to MC Shen Yu, because he's mute and thus disabled, because he's poor and at the mercy of those in power. He never had a real choice in the matter. And so his being all subservient is a literal matter of survival rather than just the trope. Even his winding up going all happy and romanticizing both the guy and his circumstances seems more like Stockholm Syndrome proper and desperately trying to find the silver lining in the hell he's stuck in, and it's delusive, and the plot never even tries to paint it differently.

And the other guy is a cruel, controlling, violent man and he stays it. He just finds out, that if he stays as cruel, his gonna break his latest concubine whom he finds himself drawn to, so he goes and does a few uncharacteristic nice things to keep him safe or humor him, but quickly enough the narrative makes it very clear: He did that with expectations. Nothing about it changes his fundamental nature. Of him looking down on everyone else, of him thinking that MC being subservient is what is to be expected. Ultimately, the romanticized dream pops as exactly that, just a dream. And Shen Yu actually goes to set out finding real agency using everything he can use, despite his handicaps. Which makes things interesting, because the plot is a power struggle between the Male Lead and the emperor, but at the same time it's also a power struggle between him and MC Shen Yu and also an internal conflict inside the latter, because of lingering attachment to the man that doesn't exactly do him good, but still gave him a few things he needed and wanted most in his life for the first time (and still isn't really getting from anyone). At the beginning I thought this was going to go terrible things happen, but the oh so holy grail of love is gonna reform the heinously cruel Male Lead and then everything's good afterward despite all the terror inflicted in the beginning. It put that one on its head, at least so far. It's quite an interesting read, but it's also rather very toxic in all the ways that be.

But then it also wrecks pouts like these:

Which looks almost like an entirely different series. Well, I suppose it's a scene from the middle of the delusive dream era.

Artwise it's solid, but it does seem to take 'shortcuts' by using real life images thrown through some filter and sometimes not even that, which at times feels a bit weird, because those and the drawings themselves don't always blend too well.

[koistocrat]

Jacksepticeye Vtuber AU - Marvin the Magnificent

look it only make sense we start with him first okay :p

"Welcome, entitled guests! I hope you get to enjoy the show as I, Marvin Magnificent, make you laugh at the face of science by serving magic!"

i. About Me

Name/Nickname: Marvin Magic (Marv) Age: 26 Height: 1.7m Species/Race: Part-cat human Job/Affiliation/Role: Magician | mentalist | wizard | penlight dancer Oshi Mark: 🔮🐈‍⬛ or 🃏🐈‍⬛️ Birthday: August 11th, 1998 Languages: English | Latin | Japanese A small bio/description: Panromantic catboy with ADHD who uses magic to rizz my friends. Also STAN MIKU!

ii. Lore

Marvin is a magician-in-disguise residing in a town near London, doing his wizardry business like usual. His major goal at this moment was to solve the mystery of ALTR 114209 that breached from the facility of IRIS. One day, he got robbed by a stranger in a hoodie, stealing his lunch for the day. He was trying to catch the thief from going scot-free by making a portal that teleports to their location. However, instead of teleporting to the suspect, he got... Isekai'd?

Marvin found himself lost in a bustling city of Shibuya, where locals and tourists go for all things gacha and anime. Considering he is a long-time fan of Vocaloids, he even finds this moment a dream. "I never thought I can just go here, I'm still a newbie at magic!" He exclaimed ecstatically, even jumping in excitement.

However, doing so made him notice the weight behind his back. He turned around and saw... "WHAT? I HAVE A TAIL? WHAT IS THIS?!" Panicking in confusion, he went to check his body to see what went missing from his inventory. Thankfully, none got taken away from him, apart from his food. He tries to take the hood on but noticed somethings on his head. He massages it and immediately feel ticklish from the sensation. "Ow! What the... CAT EARS??!"

He looks around to see what else is wrong in "Japan", and noticed that some people are otherkins, some look like part-monsters, and saw some letters in the neon lights to be not Japanese, but rather a script he is very familiar of; Elvish. Turns out, the place he warped to is not human. From how strange the place is, with him becoming a cat-human hybrid upon arrival, he realized he is sent in an alternate version of Earth.

iii. Likes & Dislikes

Likes:

Sushi

Cats

Utaite

Illusion

Parallel universes

Tea (not drama)

Eldritch abominations

✨️SPACE✨️

ANYTHING MAGIC

and MIKU

Dislikes:

Art scent/smell

Coffee with no cream

Magic things not working

Lewd shit

Clearing cat poop

Math

Hobbies:

Making weird "potions"

Drawing

Petting and adopting cats

Manicure

Activities:

Doing magic things in public

Going to dnd/japanese cons

Drag

Cosplay

iv. Favorites

Anime/Movies/Televisions:

DOCTOR STRANGE

Tomorrowland

Miku (does she count?)

Pokemon

Manga/Manhua/Books:

harry potter HP Lovecraft

Dr. Stone

Sailor Moon

Necro-nom-nom-nom

Music:

Anipop

Medieval bgm

Cinematic movements

Some rock

MIKU

Games:

Skyrim

Hoyoverse

Potion Craft

Cooking Mama

ProSekai

My Talking Tom (SHUT UP OKAY?)

v. Mascot

Mascot name: Higgins Fluffington

Mascot personality:

Doesn't like wearing anything, not even cones

Scratches my sofa

Z O O M -

vi. HashTags

General: #marvinmajikku Fanwork: #marvwitchcraft Outfit reference: #marvfit Lore: ??? Head empty

FanName: Marvgicians

vii. Main Model Showcase

viii. Types of content

Experimenting with magic

Talking about miku

Gaming streams

Magician roleplay asmr (to cure my missing childhood T^T)

Voice overs of books i read

Some vods when traveling

ix. Future Goals

Going back to MY Earth!

Get my lunch back

Learn more magic and be good at it

Go to Miku Expos

Win a drag contest

Pulling good gachas under $1000

Solve what is Iris' intention with Anti (and if they're actually nice)

Credits

Vtuber template by toorufrappe Applications:

Gacha Life 2

Pony Town

[fzzr]

Fall 2023 Anime Wrap-up

Original post:

New Stuff:

16bit Sensation: Another Layer - What happens when galge meets the One Rule of Time Travel? A wacky trip through the history of the mechanics and the passion of bringing lewd ladies to your monitor. Good all around. 8/10

Boukensha ni Naritai to Miyako ni Deteitta Musume ga S-Rank ni Natteta (My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer) - I don't usually go for the daddy-daughter anime, but this turned out to avoid most of the saccharine heartstring-tugging of the type by combining it with the overpowered protagonist fantasy subgenre. Quality was fine overall. 7/10

Boushoku no Berserk (Berserk of Gluttony) - As I expected, this turned out to be pretty low-quality trash. I kept with it in the hopes it would double down, but in the end it sorta just petered out. Credit for not also being a harem anime I guess. 6/10

Kimi no Koto ga Daidaidaidaidaisuki na 100-nin no Kanojo (The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You) - Now this is a harem anime that commits to the bit. Every character is pushed to the extreme, from the perfectest boyfriend to the tsunderest tsundere to the kuuest kuudere. You actually believe that this collection of weirdos would be all in for the maximalist harem suggested by the title. I don't think we'll get the two digits of seasons suggested by the number in the title divided by the five girls in the OP, but I'll probably watch as many more as they make. 8/10

Potion-danomi de Ikinobimasu! (I Shall Survive Using Potions!) - I added this one after the season started. I must confess, I'm impressed with the creativity demonstrated with how the OP isekai power is used, and with the willingness to continuously upset the status quo. I'm being generous by giving it an 8/10, but I think it makes it there.

Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari: Dantoudai kara Hajimaru, Hime no Tensei Gyakuten Story (Tearmoon Empire) - The only thing of note here was its willingness to toss the initial framing device of the main character's foreknowledge due to having been returned to her past. The rest was a show where everyone misunderstands the ill intentions of protagonist as enlightened, like a very meh Eminence in Shadow. I'd probably watch more if they made it. 7/10.

Toaru Ossan no VRMMO Katsudouki (A Playthrough of a Certain Dude's VRMMO Life) - This was never especially good, but I held out due to the relative novelty of a VRMMO anime without artificially elevated stakes. The problem is that while being a VRMMO anime was necessary for the background plot, 80% of what happened in this show could have been done without the VRMMO setting. It turned out to compare quite unfavorably with Shangri-La from this season on nearly every measure. Still, I finished it. 6/10

Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou. (I'm in Love with the Villainess) - This fell off after a quite promising start. The quality drop, out of nowhere incest (why?), and forced conflict in the back half held it back. A painful 7/10.

Zom 100: Zombie ni Naru made ni Shitai 100 no Koto (Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead) - Finally returning after multiple days, this wrapped up just in time for the end of the year. Even aside from the delay, it didn't keep up the momentum from the start. A respectable 8/10, though I wish it could have been a bit more.

Sequels

Dead Mount Death Play Part 2 - It's getting hard to keep track of the nearly a dozen different factions and the amount they know or misunderstand about the plot, but the concept, drama, and characters remain gripping. 8/10

Dr. Stone: New World Part 2 - After a concerning first half, it came together as a return to form for the series by getting back to the underdogs scrappily making things of the first season. 8/10

Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! 2nd Season (The Eminence in Shadow Season 2) - Another commanding performance as trash of the season. The comic tension between the emotional investment of everyone but Cid and his un-self-aware detachment has only increased and the polish more than held up. 9/10.

Spy x Family Season 2 - After a slow start it got it back together for a pretty strong season. I'm pleased with the amount of Yor, though I still wish she would be more integrated into the main plot. 8/10

Uma Musume: Pretty Derby Season 3 - Perhaps the strongest season since the first. And hey, it's more weird sports anime, no one should complain! 8/10

Ongoing:

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (The Apothecary Diaries) - Like all the best mysteries, no problem is truly solved until you know not just the who and how but the true underlying why. The (deliberately generic) Imperial China setting is a nice twist and the medical focus of the mysteries lets it stand out. Hopefully it keeps it up!

Sousou no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End) - This somehow got 28(!) episodes, so it's ongoing. Still, it holds show of the season status pretty much uncontested.

Undead Unluck - David Production is really flexing their Jojo's-enhanced muscles with this banger of an action comedy with a sincere (and slightly raunchy) heart. I'm looking forward to where it goes from here.

Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su (Shangri-La Frontier: Crappy Game Hunter Challenges God-Tier Game) - The game may not be as god-tier as the title claims but I'd sure play the hell out of it if it existed. I really enjoy the main character's speedrunner mentality, and it does a good job of presenting MMO player archetypes (power gamer, griefer, etc.) without letting those positions subsume the actual players. Blog post about this and the other VRMMO anime below coming sometime.

Dropped:

Hametsu no Oukoku (The Kingdoms of Ruin) - I should have just let myself bounce off the first episode. Using violence against women for shock value to justify the main character doing 9/11 personally, by hand, making sure to include some violence against women in that too, plus some more later? Yeah, don't watch this. Dropped at episode 2. No rating.

Bullbuster - It was boring on purpose and ugly by budget. Dropped at episode 2. No rating.

Hoshikuzu Telepath (Stardust Telepath) - This ended up dragging too much. I knew it was going to be slow but... yeah. You might say it failed to launch a-hyuk. Dropped at episode 3. No rating.

Konyaku Haki sareta Reijou wo Hirotta Ore ga, Ikenai Koto wo Oshiekomu (I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness) - It turned out to be a light shenanigans show without enough humor to keep me interested. Dropped at episode 5. Generously 6/10.

[kilmameri]

About me

I'm Kilma, they/them, agender bi, finnish, studying biochemistry

Current fandom interest is dungeon meshi. I'm watching random anime. (Some of my important recent ones are duke of death and his maid, shield hero, spy x family)

Here's my rec list:

games: nier automata, citizen sleeper, oxygen not included, horizon zero dawn, nicky case games, strange horticulture, potion craft, cultist simulator,

anime: oshi no ko, buddy daddies, toilet-bound hanako-kun, trigun stampede, given, mob psycho 100, bluelock, sasaki and miyano, horimiya, saiki k, my love story!!, seraph of the end, mushoku tensei, stars align, no game no life

Some tags I use:

kilm in tags - for when i add to a post in the tags, etc genshin, dungeon meshi, mp100, dw, buddy daddies, tristamp, - fandom tags for others to search or blacklist

Ask me to find you stuff online based on a description, as this is a special skill of mine. I once found a specific aesthetic image based on my friend's description alone. So try me! This includes tumblr text posts, images, fanfics and anything you have at one point seen online

About me has been updated last on 19.5.2024

[yatorihell]

In The Darkness Chapter 84 - Gringotts

Noragami x Harry Potter AU

Words: 5,959

Summary: The trio head to Gringotts to find the next horcrux.

Also available on Yatorihell AO3

Of all Yato’s schemes and plans, this was the one where they would most likely end up dead.

It was a ludicrous idea: break into Gringotts, a high-security bank, to retrieve a horcrux from an undisclosed vault that was miles below ground.

“How will you even find the vault?” Bishamon had pointed out, sour but still fearful. “It’s a maze down there.”

“We’ll have to rely on my internal compass,” Yato replied. It was a pitiful idea, but he had felt drawn to the locket before he even knew what it contained. If his visions were anything to go by, then maybe he would be able to sense the goblet too, just like the locket.

Kazuma and Bishamon left the cottage early in the morning, Apparating away to deliver a message to Kofuku; it would be the first she would’ve heard they were alive since the wedding. They would tell her that the locket was destroyed, and the location of the next horcrux in Hogwarts. She would also learn of their plans to break into Gringotts to steal another. Yato was only thankful he wouldn’t have to see her anger as she realised they were putting their lives on the line.

Yato, Hiyori, and Yukine woke early the next morning. The plan was to disguise Hiyori as Oshi using Polyjuice potion made of a long, black hair they had found on Hiyori’s clothes. Along with Oshi’s wand which Ebisu had taken, Hiyori would be every inch the murderous witch.

Yukine, on the other hand, would be disguised as a foreign wizard in allegiance with the Sorcerer, sworn to protect ‘Oshi’ following all of the ‘bad business’ at Father’s house. Besides the Oshi disguise, he should fade into the background. Yato would disappear completely under the Invisibility Cloak, a silent watcher to whisper instructions in case anything happened.

Yato and Yukine waited in the front room. Yukine looked unrecognisable: his freckles and green eyes were gone, replaced by pale skin and dull brown eyes that matched his wavy hair. They heard footsteps on the stairs and turned to look.

Headmistress of Hogwarts Oshi was walking down the stairs, tugging her black robes and stashing a small clutch bag inside one of the many pockets. Yato felt a crawl over his skin seeing Oshi’s face again, but he could see Hiyori’s mannerisms underneath the façade, the nervousness of wearing a stranger’s skin.

“How was it?” Yukine asked.

Hiyori looked at him briefly, taking in his new appearance, before answering. “She’s tastes awful.”

It was a small jibe, but it lifted the tension a bit as they made their way outside to the front garden. Yato knew it couldn’t be easy for her to see Oshi’s face in the mirror looking back at her, but she was stronger than she looked.

The sky was lightening in the east, but the sky was still pockmarked by stars and clouds. Far in the distance, they could hear the sea.

Yato cast his eyes down at Ebisu’s grave, noticing the closed-up flowers that had sprouted up around the stone without magically help. They stopped for a moment, saying a silent prayer and a thanks.

Yato felt Hiyori’s hand slide into his, and a strange weight on his heart seemed to lift at the small action. Yato took Yukine’s hand, and the gold-blue world blurred away.

~

Yato, Hiyori and Yukine emerged in a deserted road Yato recognised as Charing Cross. The Leaky Cauldron, one of the inns Yato had stayed at in his first and second year summers, stood like a lopsided coal bucket on the left side of the road. Yato threw the cloak over his head and vanished, following Hiyori and Yukine inside.

The Leaky Cauldron was nearly deserted at such an early hour, except for the bartender cleaning glasses and two wizards in a corner who kept their voices low. The bartender looked up as the door closed and nearly dropped his glass.

“Madame Oshi,” the bartender nodded his head, hands stilling on the glass.

“Good morning,” Hiyori replied, not stopping to talk. Yato saw the bartender's face twist in surprise.

“Too polite,” Yato murmured once they had slipped out the back door. “You need to treat people like dirt.”

“Okay, okay,” Hiyori replied in a hiss, clearly already stressed from one interaction.

Hiyori drew out Oshi’s wand from her sleeve and tapped a combination of bricks in an order Yukine gave. The bricks began to shift and slot themselves away, peeling back until a hole appeared in the middle, growing bigger and bigger until it formed a passage into Diagon Alley.

It was quiet and empty apart from a few wizards and witches hunched against the walls. The crooked cobbled street wound past deserted shops that had been boarded up, though it seemed some of them had remained open to serve the Dark Arts. Their true faces stared back at them in the form of posters, all captioned Undesirable #1, #2, and #3.

The few wizards who had holed up in the doorways of desolate shops melted away as they passed, though it seemed that they shied away from Oshi’s stormy façade as she passed. Some hid their faces and fled like rats before her, but still, they pressed on.

Gringotts Wizarding Bank was a gleaming white building that sat at the north foot Diagon Alley, splitting the road into two paths. The white marble steps led up to great bronze doors which were usually flanked by liveried goblins, but instead, they had been replaced with two stone-faced wizards.

Probes, Yato recalled the briefing Kazuma gave them before the heist: wizards who detected concealment spells and hidden magical objects.

Yato gripped his and Sakura’s wands in his hands, murmuring ‘Confundo’ twice. Both guards seemed to rear back slightly as the spell hit them, a dazed look crossing their face as they tried to remember what they were doing.

Hiyori’s black hair swooshed behind her as she reached the top of the steps, Yukine only a step behind. Her hand reached for the door.

“One moment, ma’am.”

One of the guards held out a hand, barely just touching Hiyori’s robes, blocking her path. Hiyori’s hand dropped and a short look of panic crossed her face before she remembered who she was meant to be. The guard lifted his wand to search her for concealments, but Hiyori batted her hand at him.

“You just did that!” Hiyori sounded perfectly affronted in Oshi’s voice, so much that it was hard to believe she wasn’t actually there at all. The other guard looked at them, expression still slightly dazed. Yato held his breath, waiting.

“You just checked them,” the guard agreed. With that, the guards apologised and opened the doors.

Hiyori swept forward in a billow of robes, nose in the air snootily, followed closely by Yukine. Yato slipped in behind them as the door shut behind them.

Another set of doors greeted them, this time silver, guarded by two goblins. A poem had been inscribed on the doors, as old as the bank itself:

Enter, stranger, but take heed of what awaits the sin of greed

For those who take, but do not earn, Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors a treasure that was never yours

Thief, you have been warned, beware of finding more than treasure there.

Yato had never understood the words on the door, or what a thief may find along with treasure, but it seemed they were about to find out.

The doors split the poem in half as they opened, and suddenly they were stood in a great hall. Two parallel tables stretched the entire length of the room, the ceiling high and domed over their heads. Goblins sat on high stools counting their coins, glasses perched on their pointy noses and lips pursed.

The door slammed shut behind them and they all turned, finding another wizard guard who regarded them with suspicion. Hiyori looked at Yukine, and without a word, they made their way through the hall.

The click of boots on polished marble made a few of the goblins look up, their gazes following the dark witch Oshi as she held her head high and ignored them.

Yato followed silently, turning slowly and taking in the bank. A high glass dome lay above them, and a crystal chandelier dazzled down at him. He took in the goblin's faces around him and, behind them, the multiple doors that led off from the room. One of them must lead to the vaults, but which one?

In between the end of the tables was a podium where another, seemingly more elderly goblin, sat with a quill and parchment. He did not look up as they came to a still in front of him.

Hiyori bristled with Oshi’s sour face, her voice ringing high as she addressed the goblin. “I wish to enter my vault.”

The goblin looked up at this. A flash of recognition passed his face.

“Madame Oshi, what an honour it is,” the old goblin said.

“I wish to enter my vault,” Hiyori repeated herself.

The goblin seemed to recoil a little, shifting on his stool. His eyes flickered between Oshi’s and Yukine’s unfamiliar face beside her. “You have… identification?”

Identification? Yato thought with a start. Kazuma hadn’t mentioned that. Had Gringotts been warned of an imposter?

“I-I have never been asked for identification!” Hiyori exclaimed. She crossed her arms over her chest, an eyebrow arched in contempt as she stared at the goblin's unrelenting expression.

“Uncertain times,” the goblin said. He reached out a taloned hand. “Your wand will do.”

There was a beat of silence and, with a noise of disgust so typical of Oshi, Hiyori produced Oshi’s wand. The goblins crooked fingers wrapped around the wand, and Yato felt his stomach drop with dreadful realisation.

They knew. The goblins of Gringotts knew that Oshi’s wand had been stolen. The Sorcerer would know exactly where they were if the alarm was raised.

The goblin brought the wand up to his face, eyes peering at the twisted wood.

Yato’s hand twitched. He had to stop the goblin from inspecting the wand, to make him stop and lead them to the vault.

The goblin's eyes narrowed and Yato knew they were out of time.

“Imperio.”

The goblin froze for a moment, face going slack and waxed before life came back to his eyes.

“Ah, I see you have a new wand, Madame Oshi,” the goblin nodded and the wand slipped back into Hiyori’s possession. He clapped his hands and a young goblin appeared beside him. “I shall need the Clankers.”

The young goblin scurried away and returned a moment later with a leather bag that dragged along the floor with weight, a jingle of metal inside.

“If you would follow me, Madame,” the old goblin said, hopping down from his stool. “I will take you to your vault.”

Yato saw Hiyori spare a look to Yukine, and the quick flicker of her eyes as she tried and failed to discern where he was and what he had done. Yato felt the warmth of the spell draining from his hand, knowing that what he had done was unforgivable but necessary.

The goblin clattered his bag over to a door on the left-hand side, close to the end of the table. He held the door open as Hiyori, Yukine and Yato slipped inside.

The door slammed shut behind them and Yato shrugged off the Invisibility Cloak, but the goblin didn’t seem to show surprise at the appearance of Undesirable #1 in their midst.

The goblin had already started taking the stairs that they wouldn’t have noticed in the dim light, but Hiyori and Yukine looked at Yato and the cloak he handed back to Hiyori.

“He’s Imperiused,” Yato tried to explain to their shocked faces, but decided it would just be better to get on with getting to the vault.

They followed the stout figure down a stone passage that wound down into the earth, lit by flickering torches that threw their shadows behind them. A sharp whistle pierced the air and a grumbling clatter on wheels rolled towards them from the darkness. Yato shied back into the shadows, watching as an empty little cart trundled up to a stop in front of the goblin.

Yato darted his wand at the goblin again and they clambered into the little cart after him.

The cart lurched forward in a clatter of wheels and squeaks, gathering speed. There was barely any light aside from the lantern hung on the cart's post, but their eyes didn’t adjust in time to see the steep drop. Hiyori screamed and Yato’s stomach flipped, clutching onto the side of the cart for dear life beside Yukine. They twisted and turned around sharp bends and labyrinthine passages that seemed to lead into the smallest cracks and crevices where small lanterns were lit outside large, metal doors. They passed the flickering lights and great stalactites that speared down from the cavernous ceiling as they flew deeper into the earth.

Yato’s ears pinpointed the sound of rushing water a few seconds before the dark gleam of the waterfall appeared in front of them. He opened his mouth to chant some quick protection spell, but the water was already filling his mouth and blurring his vision before he could speak.

The track took an immediate sharp turn, and as if built specifically for a single purpose, Yato, Hiyori, Yukine, and the goblin were flung over the edge of the cart. Yato heard the cart shatter somewhere to his left, but darkness greeted him as they plummeted to the ground. Beside him, he heard Yukine’s garbled words, and then they were drifting to the rocky floor.

“Cushioning Charm,” Yukine said, an obvious shake in his voice.

Yato looked over the room and found the goblin safe a few feet away, but when he looked at Hiyori and Yukine he saw their true faces. Yukine’s blond hair was sodden and Hiyori’s robes were far too big for her short stature. When they looked at each other they too realised the problem, hands immediately going to their faces.

“What the…” Yukine started.

“Thieves!” the goblin roared. He pointed an accusatory talon at Yato, Yukine, and then Hiyori. “Imposters!”

Yato cursed again. Whatever the waterfall did to them, it nulled the Imperius Curse’s effects. Yato tilted his wand and cursed again. “Imperio!”

The goblin froze mid-sentence, face confused before it relaxed into another easy smile.

“The Thief’s Downfall!” he said giddily as if he’d been in the middle of giving them a tour of the vaults and not nearly been killed. “It washes away all enchantments. They know there is an imposter in Gringotts, they have set off defenses against us!”

Yato cursed. Their presence had been noticed. Had the younger goblin been listening in on the conversation? Yato aimed his wand skywards towards the gushing waterfall.

“Protego!”

The shield charm broke the flow of the waterfall above them, a temporary defense in case trouble came faster than they could get out. Yato looked back around, finding that the goblin had hobbled away to a dark corner, returning with the bag of clinking metal. From somewhere up ahead, Yato thought he could hear something stirring.

“Mustn’t forget the Clankers!” the goblin grinned with pointed teeth.

“What are Clankers?” Hiyori whispered to Yukine, but he shrugged.

They followed the goblin steadily through the rocky passage, looking behind themselves every now and then with their wands drawn. The clanking got louder, synonymous with the clinking in the leather bag and the fall of their footsteps. There was a slight bend in the path, and when they emerged, they froze.

A dragon, pale as the moon was tethered to the centre of the large circular room by a huge, thick chain that was clamped to a choker around its neck. Its milky eyes were rimmed in pink and the scales over its body were flaky and translucent under the lamplight. Its wings resembled tissue paper folded across its back, but they were spiked and large enough to touch each end of the cavern. Yato then noticed five huge metal doors that rimmed the circumference of the room.

The dragon reared its head towards them and roared with an intensity that sent particles of rocks falling from the walls of its prison, and a flame ignited in its throat.

Yato, Hiyori and Yukine stumbled back, but a high-pitched ringing filled the air. The goblin had walked forward with a large piece of metal that resembled a distorted bell, clanking it noisily at the dragon. The leather bag was empty at their feet: so, this is what Clankers were.

The dragon wilted away with a roar, cowering in on its bony form, milky eyes trying to discern where the noise was coming from.

The goblin looked over his shoulder and beckoned them with a clawed hand, but Yato noticed the sadistic grin that took over his face. Carefully, Yato led Hiyori and Yukine around the outskirts of the room, keeping a close eye on the dragon as it crouched away against the far side of the room. Now they could see scars across its face and hide, and when they looked into its hateful eye’s they could see that it was nearly blind.

“The beast has been trained to expect pain when it hears this noise,” the goblin called over the din of the bells which were beginning to vibrate inside their heads.

“That’s barbaric!” Hiyori shouted above the noise, but the goblin didn’t seem to care.

The goblin kept ringing the bell as he pressed a hand to one of the vault doors. The doors melted open in a fashion eerily similar to the door of the Chamber of Secrets. The metal slotted itself away with a groan that Yato had heard in his vision, and the contents of the vault were laid bare.

The vault was as big as the Great Hall in Hogwarts, crammed floor to ceiling with gold and silver coins, goblets and jewels, statues and armour, weaponry, and crowns. Multiple animal hides were draped over chaise lounges and skeletal remains of beasts resembling dragons and other magical creatures were suspended from the ceiling.

The door slammed shut behind them, but the goblin didn’t seem fazed as they were plunged into darkness. “If Madame would like to collect her treasure, I can release you.”

“Start looking, quickly! Lumos Maxima!” Yato cast his wand out and silvery light flickered over the treasures.

They split up, delving left, right, and center in search of Hufflepuff’s goblet. Their wands glittered over jewels and gold as they inspected the piles that had been heaped on the floor and shelves that lined the room.

“Could this be -? Ow!” Hiyori exclaimed.

Yato and Yukine turned just in time to see a jewelled goblet fall from her hands and hit the floor. But as it fell it split into a shower of goblets, rolling and multiplying as they touched until the original was indiscernible to the rest.

“It burnt me!” Hiyori said, sticking her finger in her mouth to alleviate the pain.

“Gemino and Flagrante Curses,” Yato said quickly, holding his hands up. “Everything you touch will multiply and burn until we’re crushed to death, so stop touching things!”

The message came too late as Yukine accidentally knocked one of the goblets and it exploded into a shower of twenty extra goblets, burning their feet through their shoes.

“Just looked around!” Yato ordered. “Remember, it's small, gold, two hands, and there’s a badger engraved on it.

They turned slowly, mindful of their feet as the light of their wands hovered over the mounds of treasures. Yato accidentally knocked a pile of Galleons to the floor which multiplied at their feet until they couldn’t move. The heat was becoming unbearable but still, they swung their wands over the goblin-made helmets and swords that hung from the walls.

Yato’s heart hammered in his chest, a distant call rising in him that told him it was close. His wand danced higher to the shelves of treasure chests and orbs, the string of pearls roped like bunting, loose sapphires glinting back at him. Yato froze for a moment, heart stuttering.

“It’s there! It’s up there!” Yato called. Yukine and Hiyori spun with their feet planted to the floor, wands joining the spotlight of Yato’s wand on the goblet.

“How do we get it?” Hiyori asked.

“Accio cup!” Yukine cried, but the goblet stayed still. He’d forgotten that magic was useless in here.

A loud clanking outside cut the silence and penetrated through the vault door, and the dragon roared. They were surrounded now; the only way out was through that door where a hoard of goblins was waiting.

“We need to get up there,” Yato said as the clanking outside grew louder.

Yukine raised his wand and aimed it at Yato. “Levicorpus.”

Yato felt his body lift from the ground, his feet finally free of the sweltering heat and burns of the treasure that was piling up around them. He noticed the beads of sweat rolling down Yukine’s face and the dryness of their robes that came from the sauna they were trapped in.

Yato’s chest bumped against a full suit of armour, and helmets and gauntlets rained down on Yukine and Hiyori as they screamed in pain, yet Yukine’s focus didn’t waver. Hiyori held onto the goblin and tried to keep his head above the burning heat and was failing. Yato floated higher, feet just inch growing wave of treasure and stretched his fingers. The goblet so close in his reach, glinting, calling. The dragon roared again, and the sound of the vault door opening grating across their ears.

Yato's fingers closed around one of the handles had white heat seared his hand as ten goblets exploded from his grasp, and the vault door finally swung open. The melting treasure spilled out of the vault in a tidal wave that engulfed the first dozen goblins that had come to seize them. Yukine finally dropped Yato to the pile, goblet still in hand and sliding out over the treasure along with them.

The cave's air was agonisingly cold on their burns, but the swarm of goblins that had invaded the cavern occupied their attention. The dragon was breathing fire on the far side of the wall, the chain straining against the beast’s power. Multiple goblins lay dead or burning, another set of Clankers crushed under its claws.

Yato stashed the burning goblet into his jacket, feeling the warmth of it against his chest. Hiyori worked on pulled the old goblin free of his accursed gold prison, unable to leave an innocent person to die, as Yato and Yukine sprung to their feet, slipping down the piles of gold and raising their wands.

“Stupefy!”

Sparks of red and blue light left their wands. A few goblins fell but more rushed towards them. At the other side, in the tunnel where they had entered, Yato saw a few wizards – Deatheaters? – surging forward. The dragon reared its head, milky eyes unfocused as it let out a flume of fire that sent them scampering back the way they came.

Hiyori skidded down the pile in a shower of coins, black robes dragging and hair wild. “How are we going to get out?!”

Yato’s eyes flickered to the fire-breathing dragon, slaying its captors and keeping the wizards trapped in the corridor on the other side. There may only be one way in and out of Gringotts, but they could always make another.

Yato pointed his wand at the thick chain that was pegged to the floor. “Relashio!”

The chain snapped with a reverberating snap. The goblins cried out and scattered before it like mice in a field.

“This way!” Yato called. He cleared the treasure in one bound and made straight for the dragon, shooting off Stunning Spells at the goblins that neared him. A few of the goblins had lurched forward to grab the broken chain in a feeble attempt to hold the dragon down, but it only resulted in them being tossed and dragged across the stone floor.

“Yato! what are you doing?!” Yukine shouted from across the room, but both he and Hiyori were already following in a trail of red sparks.

The dragon hadn’t noticed the chain was broken, nor that it was free to lay waste to the entire chasm. It gave Yato the time to find a foothold in the creases of its scarred hind leg, and to pull Hiyori and Yukine up after him. They clung to the grey spikes that lined its back, feeling the rough hardness of the scales under their body as the dragon reared from left to right, spewing fire.

Suddenly, as if the dragon realised it had taken a step too far out of its usual chained area, it let out a great roar and unfurled its tattered wings. The edges brushed up against the cave wall, and the dragon took two large steps which were followed by the cracks and screams of goblins that were either crushed or running for their lives. The wizards had taken the opportunity to surge into the room, blasting spells at the beast's hide in an attempt to hit one of its passengers, but the dragon lifted its head to the air and soared upwards.

The scrape of claws on rock grated their ears as the dragon's flattering wings gave out from years of disuse and neglect, leaving the trio to lurch and hang on for dear life as the dragon clawed its way upwards. There came the sound of rushing water again and the clattering of another cart full of goblins who raised the alarm as they saw the dragon and its riders scaling the side of walls. The dragon reared its head, claws catching on the tramway. The rails came away like peeling paint and the cart was flung over the edge. Hiyori didn’t look down for her fear of heights was beginning to resurface, but Yato saw the shattered wood of the cart and the goblins' bodies hit the rocks far below.

The dragon sank its claws into the crevices adjacent to the waterfall, showering Yato, Hiyori, and Yukine once again. There was a devastating crash overhead and broken glass showered them, slipping down their robes and snagging against their faces, making little cuts. Yato glanced up, seeing the soft warm light above, and realised where they were the second he saw the chandelier.

The dragon burst from the ground of the great hall, the marble cracking under the sheer force and molten heat of the dragon’s breath as it dragged its way through the floor. They caught sight of goblins fleeing, and others petrified to their seats, Galleons spilling to the floor as the earth trembled. There was a loud crash that accompanies the screams and diamonds showered them, the chandelier coming to a crash at the dragon’s feet as it stumbled blindly and let out another wave of fire.

The dragon turned its head skywards again, the sunlight like a beacon above its head. It beat its wings and crashed through the domed ceiling, sending another shower of glass cascading around them.

The dragon’s weight crunched against the tiles that lined Gringott's roof, coming to a stop at the edge where they could see the entirety of Diagon Alley laid out before them. Its wings furled to its heaving side’s, head tilted to the sun which sheened off the scars that littered its skin; its first taste of freedom.

There was a scream from below, and Yato realised that Diagon Alley was not as empty as it had been when they entered. Witches and wizards stood frozen outside the shops; mothers and shopkeepers and Deatheaters all staring up at the beast and its riders.

“Now what?!” Yukine shouted. The wizards below had scattered like ants, and the first spells were fired at them.

Yato spun around and aimed at the dragon’s rear. “Reducto!”

The dragon let out a screech of pain, shaken from its moment basking in the sun, and launched itself into the air, chain snapping in the air with the force of the movement. The wind pushed through their hair and sent shards of glass falling to the cobblestones of Diagon Alley like snow.

Within seconds, they were out of sight.

~

They flew for hours in the wind, over empty fields and villages where they hoped no Muggles would look up and see them. There was no way to steer the dragon, nor for it to clearly see a landing spot when it would eventually tire.

The sky changed from pale blue to violet streaked with pink clouds. The dragon soared higher, clouds whisping around their faces and chilling their tenuous grip on its spikes. Cities and villages and rivers passed underneath them, fading blanket of patches, mostly green but punctuated with bright yellow and dull fields sliding by.

How long would it take for the Sorcerer to find out that the vault had been breached? How quickly would he realise what had been taken? He would believe that they had the Sword of Gryffindor unless Oshi was forced to confess in a bid for mercy to show that, somehow, the one item that could destroy the goblet was not in their possession.

“We’re going lower!” Yukine shouted over the roar of the wind in their ears.

Yato snapped back to reality. A lake stretched out before them, the dragon's shadowed wings spanning over the reflective surface as it dipped lower and lower, listing to the right.

“We should jump as soon as it's low enough!” Yato shouted back, hoping that the dragon wouldn’t realise that it still had passengers before they could get away.

Yukine gave a determined nod, but Hiyori’s hands clenched impossibly tighter to the grey spines despite her nod. The water rippled, disturbed by the slow beats of wings fanning above the surface of the lake and the trail of its claws just beginning to dip into the water.

“Now!”

Yato let go of the spines and let himself slip down the side of the dragon’s scarred hide, the blur of Hiyori’s and Yukine’s robes following him shortly after.

The fall was greater than he anticipated and Yato hit the water hard, plunging feet first into the frigid water.

The pain came immediately, white-hot and more intense than he had ever felt it before.

Flashes of the locket and its dark contents. The Sorcerer, eyes dark and screaming as his soul was split open by the Sword of Gryffindor. Hogwarts. Ravenclaw’s crest. Hufflepuffs goblet clutched in his own hand. Flashes of green and shrieks and cries for mercy as bodies fell around the Sorcerer, blood lapping at his toes. Nagini’s body sliding through the pools, tongue flickering, leaving a trail on the marble floor at Father’s house.

The Sorcerer looked around, slowly, before finally, his eyes locked on Yato.

The world came back in a rush, dark and reaching out to him with spindly threads of reeds that brushed up against his legs and hands. Yato’s eyes flew open, mouth opening in an involuntary gasp, and water flooded his lungs before he could close his mouth.

Yato tilted his head upwards, through the ripples of dappled sunlight overhead, and kicked his way to the surface. His body was heavy and his head was thumping, but the cold air breaking over him and the hacking of his lungs made him feel like he was reborn.

A hand landed on his shoulder; Yukine, dragging him in the direction of the shoreline, Hiyori trailing along behind them under the weight of her robes.

It wasn’t as deep as they grew nearer to the promise of land, heaving themselves through more mud than water until they finally flopped down on the grass, coughing and sputtering. The cold had seeped into their bones and with the enclosing darkness it would have been tempting to simply curl up and sleep, but Yato forced himself up with Yukine and Hiyori.

“He knows. He knows we have the goblet. He knows we’re hunting horcruxes,” Yato spluttered out. “He knows that if we destroy them, we can kill him. He’ll do anything to stop us.”

They stood huddled on the shoreline, the light fading fast. Hiyori was already turfing clothes from her clutch bag and shucking off her soaked robes, but she looked up with a stricken face. Yukine’s expression was dark.

“I saw a woman; I’m sure it was Rowena Ravenclaw, and Hogwarts,” Yato continued.

He accepted the fresh t-shirt Hiyori handed him and shucking off his wet clothes. Yukine took the clothes she offered him and they both turned away, giving Hiyori privacy to change.

The dragon was a dot on the other side of the lake, its wing furled to its side and snout dipped into the water. Soon, maybe in the morning, it would take to the skies again and they would be alone once again.

“Her diadem must be the next horcrux, and it’s in Hogwarts.”

“We need to go there now before he gets to it first,” Yukine said. He threw his own robes to the ground and worked his shoes off his feet with a wet squelching sound. “We can go to Honeydukes, take the secret passage into the castle.”

“It’s risky, but it’s the only way in and out,” Yato agreed. “The Deatheater’s knew about them when they were trying to assassinate Professor Tenjin thanks to Nora. They might be charmed to detect intruders.”

Yato pulled on the tracksuit bottoms and jacket Sakura had gifted him years ago, and familiar brown boots that he seldom wore. “Whatever horcruxes are left, he might feel that Hogwarts is the safest. With Oshi there, it will be impossible to get in unnoticed, so he might leave it to last.”

“Do you know where in Hogwarts it is?” Yukine asked.

“No, but we’ll have to split up -.”

“We can’t do that!” Hiyori exclaimed.

Yato and Yukine jumped, cautiously looked over their shoulders, and turned when they saw that Hiyori had changed. Their wet clothes lay abandoned in the grass, little lumps of black that would go unnoticed.

“You said yourself it's risky, there has to be another way -!”

“We need to get into the castle before he realises where we’re going,” Yato cut in. “He’s lost the ring, he’s lost the locket, and now he knows we have the goblet. What if he decides to move the Diadem to somewhere else?”

“And how are we going to get in?” There was a hard edge to Hiyori’s voice and her face was stony. She folded her arms over her chest.

Yato would’ve stumbled for an answer if he didn’t already know that there was only one option. “We go to Hogsmeade and try to work something out once we find out what the school's protection is like. There will be plenty of Deatheaters around, so we should find something. We’ll go under the Invisibility Cloak. All of us.”

An echoing rhythm resounded in the silence that followed. The dragon had drunk its fill and, although impaired, had risen into the air, face tilted to the half-moon shining in the twilight. They paused for a moment, watching it rise higher and higher until it became a speck in the sky; a silver glimmer that blended into the stars.

Hiyori pulled the Invisibility Cloak from her bag and wordlessly handed it to Yato. She and Yukine took their places beside them and, once they were covered, blinked away from the stillness of the lake.

[ao3feed-bennguin]

i put a spell on you

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2CVLXXi

by Anonymous

“Benny?”

Jamie makes a noise of acknowledgement, but he doesn’t lift his head from where he’s currently sprawled out on his couch, his eyes closed in relaxation.

“Benny, I think we fucked up the spell,” Tyler says.

Words: 3417, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Men's Hockey RPF

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, T. J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Frederik Andersen (Hockey RPF), Morgan Rielly, Devin Shore, Alexander Radulov

Relationships: Jamie Benn/Tyler Seguin, Minor or Background Relationship(s)

Additional Tags: Witches, Spell Failure, Succubi & Incubi, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Mildly Dubious Consent, Love Potion/Spell, Halloween

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2CVLXXi

[ppgang]

GANG PARADE First interview with new formation “GANG 2” “I want the 9 of us to stand on Budoukan”

GANPARE's reformation prime. At the “end of trade ceremony” on Ryokoku Kokugikan on 3/ 4 Kamiya Saki returned, and on the “WACK 2018 group audition” Tsukino Usagi and Haruna Ba Chiin who successfully passed joined to make the new formation of GANG PARADE. We planned to release a series of documentary interviews at the time but, on the half of May when we met the members again we saw the change in their mentality and so decided to make an interview there in a hurry, delivering the updated text now. Without being trapped in the group's image, while letting each of them show their individuality, we want you to feel the current completely awake GANPARE.

Members:

Kamiya Saki Yamamachi Miki Yumeno Yua Can GP Maika Coco Partin Coco Terashima Yuuka Yui Ga Dockson Tsukino Usagi (new member) Haruna Ba Chiin (new member)

GANPARE'S REFORMATION PRIME “FROM ORANGE SORBET TO LOVE POTION”

- On 3/ 4 at Ryoukoku Kokugikan Kamiya Saki returned after the “end of trade ceremony” (Kamiya went to BiS and Aya Eight Prince came to GANG PARADE), and also Tsukino Usagi and Haruna Ba Chiin who passed the “WACK 2018 group audition” joined making the new formation of GANPARE, what kind of group is it now?

Yamamachi Miki: First Saki-chan returned at Ryoukoku, and the one song we performed there was “FOUL”, we thought we had to show “the start of the new formation is here” otherwise the fans would feel anxious, so we changed quickly 'cause we had to show “GANPARE with Saki-chan is like this!”. That's why I think we performed “FOUL” with the strongest feeling so far.

Yumeno Yua: Then the 2 new members joined, we had our first live with this new formation at Zepp DiverCity but, I think we were able to show a completely different side of GANPARE so far. There was anxiousness until after the actual live ended, but the audience enjoyed the new GANPARE and said “9 members GANPARE, it's interesting!”.

Coco Partin Coco: I think it was a GANPARE different from when Aya was here, the new members still aren't used to it, I think there was some awkwardness (laughs). But including the innocence of the 2 new members, the new GANPARE, I think it was good that it was a live that showed that this indeed is the start of GANG 2.

Yui Ga Dockson: I can't predict the current GANPARE's future. But that is really fun. Until now I had this image that “we must do like that”, like we would think what we had to work hard to in order to reach that place but…

- What do you mean by “must do like that”?

Yui Ga Dockson: The previous GANPARE focus was to make one strong color, to make one color out of 7. If we were to talk about ice creams it would be an orange sorbet. Compared to that the current GANPARE is like a love potion, feels like we are making a lot of patterns. There was this flow, when we became a new formation for a while it was also like “We must have one feeling! Now, to do that we all have to compromise”, we had this way of thinking but, now in a good way everyone has their natural posture. By giving oneself naturally what kind of group will it become in the end, that is something to look forward. In that meaning, compared to when we had just become a new formation we are now more flexible. “It's good that this type of girl is here, this other type is also good”, this way of thinking. When it comes to performance “If there's someone expressing angry at “Plastic 2 Mercy”, there's also someone showing a lot of fun “Plastic 2 Mercy”, I think we started to think like that. Because this is the chance we have to make a new GANPARE, I want to investigate this thoroughly.

- By the way, Dockson-san will debut solo on 6/12 with the single “Like a virgin”. You will do a solo live “Like a virgin” on the 10th at TSUTAYA O-WEST, right?

Yui Ga Dockson: Thank you for the sold out!

Everyone: (applauses)

Yui Ga Dockson: It's just a guess but, everyone has expectations about “Isn't there something else to it?” rather then my solo live. There's also the big opening act, everyone is looking forward to things like who will it be. That's why I need to give my best and make it an interesting live.

- How do other members feel about Dockson, who is being greatly featured in current GANPARE?

Kamiiya Saki: The new member Haruna looks up to Dockson.

Yui Ga Dockson: Someone who understands!

Haruna Ba Chiin: To me Dockson-san is like a master, I understand everything that Dockson-san is thinking, I look up to all of this way of thinking.

Coco Partin Coco: The 2 of them feel sympathy towards each other (laughs).

- A master and pupil combination is being born in GANPARE (laughs). Maybe it's this influence, but Haruna Ba Chiin, who showed a desperate side in the beginning, have steadily improved her performance. She came together with the groups' mood.

Coco Partin Coco: I think that too. Haruna comes to my side during “Plastic 2 Mercy” and when we do the “Weei!” and I look at her she's smiling, this kind of moments is slowly increasing.

Kamiya Saki: Comparing Haruna to the beginning her expressions became a lot better.

Coco Partin Coco: Yes, it's softer.

- Is GANPARE fun?

Haruna Ba Chiin: It's fun!

- How fun is it?

Haruna Ba Chiin: Maximum from everything I lived so far!

- During “WACK 2018 group audition” you would exemplify everything using jungles, if you were to talk about current GANPARE using jungles?

Haruna Ba Chiin: Now it's Amazon. I will reclaim the 2nd Amazon.

- Meaning?

Everyone: (laughs)

Coco Partin Coco: Please feel it (laughs).

Haruna Ba Chiin: I want to make a worldwide jungle. It's maximum to the point of thinking that. It's like “Let's surpass Amazon!!”.

THE HOPE I NOTICED WITH BiSH “I THOUGHT “I WANT TO STAND IN YOKOHAMA ARENA ONE MORE TIME”

- You'll surpass Amazon?

Yumeno Yua: After surpassing it there's a new jungle of the 9 of us. Is it ok like this?

Haruna Ba Chiin: Yes!

Can GP Maika: It's settled.

Haruna Ba Chiin: We'll lose the earth's seas!

- It became not understandable again (laughs).

Coco Partin Coco: I see! It's like we'll make the whole surface of the world our jungle!

- Why can everyone understand it…

Haruna Ba Chiin: We'll make GANG PARADE a jungle. The scale will rapidly become bigger, the fun too will increase!

- Yamamachi-san has a face like “what are they saying?”.

Yamamachi Miki: No, I think it's good!

Everyone: (laughs)

Yamamachi Miki: The sense is great, isn't it? With a girl like this it will expand, the groups's capacity. That's why I think it's good!

Can GP Maika: It's really fun since the 2 new members joined. My papa is a GANPARE wota but, when the live ends and I go with papa to eat Chinese food, he starts talking “I want to feed gyozas to Haruna”, papa also seems to be having fun (laughs).

- Your papa was a Yamamachi Miki oshi, right?

Can GP Maika: He is a Miki-chan oshi but, because he likes GANPARE as a whole, we often talk about other members. Who improved where, etc.

- For example, what does he think of Kamiya Saki?

Kamiya Saki: So sudden (laughs).

Coco Partin Coco: It's better to just have PapaKyan here already (laughs).

Can GP Maika: Saki-chan already stood on Yokohama Arena with former BiS, right? So he says “You have to respect Saki-chan no matter what”.

Kamiya Saki: I heard this for the first time.

Everyone: (laughs)

Terashima Yuuka: I'm thankful Maika's papa always come to take a full cheki.

Can GP Maika: Papa praises Yuyu a lot. Everyone is having voice lessons but, he says “Yuyu is projecting her voice”.

Terashima Yuuka: I'm happy.

- From Yuyu's perspective how is the current GANPARE?

Terashima Yuuka: It really feels like we don't know what will happen. Before the formation changed we were stable but, we were always getting an average mark. But, since Saki-chan returned, the 2 new members joined so we really don't know what will happen, that's why I think the way the audience see's GANPARE will also change, I think the things that are being demanded also changed but, I want to surprise who is looking at us and thinking that. I want to build a GANPARE that will surpass the image of people who think “Will it be like that?”, I want to make the whole earth into a jungle.

- “I want to make a jungle” seems to be everyone's common sense (laughs). Kamiya Saki, who returned to this GANPARE. At first the situation seemed a little disturbed, right?

Kamiya Saki: There was a hopeless period. But now I think it was good it existed. It was a situation exactly like “Barely Last” lyrics part “A feeling of letting only important things fall out”. After the end of the trade and just returning I was desperate about each and every thing like “not having my feet on the ground”, I was like “I must do something” while being airy. But, before I would pretend to not notice that and would just run forward alone as I pleased but, this time not only I understand this self I also became able to rely on other members. I think that's a big thing.

- You were able to go trough the tunnel.

Kamiya Saki: I went trough the tunnel, now it's about how I'll move from here. To become like that, BiSH's Yokohama Arena played a big part on it. I think a lot of members received a lot of hopes from that live but, to me I could remember that I used to think “I want to stand in Yokohama Arena one more time”. After the trade ended, I felt a lot of pain from the things that would happen but, it was not painful because of that, I probably gave up on dreaming, that's why I would suffer thinking “I have to do something”. By watching BiSH Yokohama Arena I realized something. Until I'm there the members who listened to my stories were a big cause too but, in the end I received a lot of power from music and thought “I had a dream”.

Coco Partin Coco: First time I hear that. It's a nice story.

Yui Ga Dockson: Nice story!

- What do you think of the current Saki-chan?

Haruna Ba Chiin: … like a parrot!

Everyone: (laughs)

Yui Ga Dockson: With this now I discovered something.

- What discover?

Yui Ga Dockson: Kamiya Saki who recovered a human heart.

- And so to a parrot.

Kamiya Saki: Then I'm not a human again (laughs).

Yui Ga Dockson: A parrot that screamed love from the center of the world.

- After Haruna Ba Chiin joined the nonsense speed up. As a peer, what do you think of her?

Tsukino Usagi: Our places in the group are complete opposites. The things that are expected from us are also opposites. But Haruna seems to be fluffy like that, and it feels like she's a baby but (laughs), there are times she talks with me about serious stuff. There's also a mature side she projects. That's why I can respect her, and sometimes I'm also envious but, I'm glad my peer is Haruna.

THESE 9 MEMBERS FINAL FORM “I WANT THE 9 OF US TO STAND ON BUDOUKAN”

- So, I want to know what other members think of Tsukino Usagi, from Yumeno Yua's view how is she?

Yumeno Yua: She's a really serious girl. Regarding dance she has an absorbing power more than anyone else, she's also able to look to the group as a whole, she's been improving in a great speed so I think “I can't lose”.

Tsukino Usagi: I'm happy. But I really wont become the ace. Eyes just go to Haruna naturally, right? But because I'm not someone who attracts eyes… I want to be in a position like “Ah, that person, she was important” once I'm gone.

Everyone: (laughs)

Tsukino Usagi: But I don't plan on going anywhere!

Coco Partin Coco: I know, I know.

Tsukino Usagi: I want to become this “actually important” existence.

- Exactly like the moon.

Tsukino Usagi: Clever!

Coco Partin Coco: “Exactly the moon.”

- It's embarrassing so don't repeat it please (laughs). Now reversely, from Tsukino Usagi's view which kind of person is Yumeno Yua?

Tsukino Usagi: Before I joined GANPARE I had this image “she's really cool” watching her live performances. But looking closely she's absurdly girly and cute.

Coco Partin Coco: She has always been cute though.

Tsukino Usagi: But because I saw the most recent GANPARE…

Yui Ga Dockson: The Ikemen era. You were watching exactly the period she said “I want to become hot”.

Coco Partin Coco: Before that she was PuaPuaPii-chan.

- What is PuaPuaPii-chan?

Coco Partin Coco: She would say “PuaPuaPuu”…

Yumeno Yua: I never said that (laughs).

Yui Ga Dockson: We sang a fairy tale like song with Yuapippi as theme.

Yumeno Yua: Everyone around would just sing them as they pleased.

Yui Ga Dockson: There was this image. Like “I will eat, a pink sugar. PuaPuaPuu”.

- Now since PuaPuaPuu what self do you want to be?

Yumeno Yua: I want to be rock. More than anyone else.

- Specifically speaking?

Yumeno Yua: I want to value the emotions. I think rock bands value the emotions. That's why I'll laugh when I want to, I'll cry when I want to, I want to keep valuing those feelings.

- Like that, GANPARE has a lot of individuality that explodes during lives in a good way but, what kind of group do you aim to be from now?

Yumeno Yua: I want to make a GANPARE as the 9 of us to the point we can assert that “This is the current GANPARE!” after the summer national “REBUILD TOUR” and the 9/20 one man at Zepp Tokyo. Because I think that will become a completely different thing from GANPARE until now, I want everyone to look forward to it. Also, I want to make this to be the last REBUILD.

Coco Partin Coco: Because 2 new members just joined, I want to take advantage of that. I think there are characters that came out because the 2 joined. For example, Maika's mama character. That's why I want to make a plus that the 2 of them joined and show this on tour, doing that, I'm looking forward the interesting thing that the 9/20 Zepp Tokyo one man will become.

Tsukino Usagi: Before I joined GANPARE their team power was amazing, I want to perform in a way people will be able to see it. But at Zepp DiverCity first live with new formation, for good or for worse I think there was something missing. I think the reason for thinking “There's still room for growth” or “It's the beginning” was also due the fact that we (Tsukino & Haruna) had joined just 1 month before, and because the Zepp Tokyo one man was scheduled on next tour but, I think that what the fans are most excited about is our growth. That's exactly why I want to make a live that will respond to… (tears overflow) what the 7 of them had build so far.

- Why are tears falling…

Tsukino Usagi: Yes! It's like that!

Everyone: (laughs)

Coco Partin Coco: It was interrupted (laughs).

Haruna Ba Chiin: I too want to show a figure that grew more since Zepp DiverCity. To the point of doing thing with all one's might will disappear…

- Giving your best will disappear?

Coco Partin Coco: To the point of a lot disappearing a lot.

Haruna Ba Chiin: Yes! I want to be renewed every single day. To be able to do things today that I couldn't do yesterday, my current objective is to make people think “Wasn't it good today?” every day. That's why I'll make sure the same day won't be repeated. And so I'll continually change, I want to show a figure with a lot of growth.

Can GP Maika: To continue renewing the best each and every live. That's something I'm always saying but, I want to make it feel like everyone will think “These 9 are the final form”.

Yamamachi Miki: It has been over a month the new members joined, I think the things demanded from the debut live are continually changing, I also think that with that the expectations are getting bigger, in the middle of that I want ride on the flow steadily and stand on the landmark that is Nippon Budoukan… I know it's something difficult but, I want the 9 of us to stand on Nippon Budoukan. To do that I'll aim to these 9 to be fit to Nippon Budoukan!

[cataoshi]

Luna can make any potion you need - Art and Animation by cataoshi ​

[hunterartemis]

Mahotokoro Headcanon #2: Founders of Mahoutokoro (From the Top)

Family of Keikain

The Keikain Family was a practitioner of exorcism or Omnyou-jutsu in medieval Japan and was much respected aristocratic family in Heian era. However, during the Exodus of the Wizards, the family head Ryuji Keikain chose to leave with his fellow wizards, renouncing his position. Although Ryuji was the one who led the Wizards out of the community, it was Ryuji who again suggested that they should blend in and should not leave their ancestral homes unattended, as he saw, as a skilled Exorcist, how it will affect both ‘Tsunehito’ and ‘Madoushi’ or Muggles and Wizards.

The Keikain family motto is: ‘Zettakai no Hogo’ or ‘Absolute Protection’. Thus what Ryuji did was to protect both Tsunehito and Madoushi community. His house symbol is a Byakko or White Tiger, with black stripes that stylistically form the kanji ‘Mamoru’ or ‘protection’

Kazoku Keikain or The Family of Keikain values dedication, righteous and justice and banishment of evil. The students of this Family are often skilled Exorcists or Duellist. Their characteristic trait is being brave, persevering and assertive.

The Standard colours are White and red. Representing element is Fire. Direction North; Season: Fall, Time of the day: Afternoon.

Family of Matsuyama

The Matsuyama family were a clan of healers. They brew medicines and treated ill people, but none of their recipes were publically available. Legends say that Matsuyamas received the Knowledge of Medicines from the God Okuninushi himself, but in reality, they were wizarding clan, that brewed miraculous potions. Skilled and devoted, the Aged Potionier, Hideo Matsuyama was the first to come at forefront when Ryuji Keikain opposed that all of the Wizards should abandon their ancestral home.

The Matsuyama Family Motto has been: ‘Eternal Life’ or ‘Fushi’. The kanji of ‘Fushi’ appears on the grass-green coloured crane, as a pattern of wings with black ink with a background of Gray background.

Kazoku Matsuyama or the Family of Matsuyama values skill, perfection, delicacy and forgiveness. The students of this house are usually skilled Potionier and Herbologists. Their characteristic feature is being humble.

The Standard colours are Grass green and Gray, Representing element is Earth. Direction: Center; Season: Spring, Time of the day: Dawn break.

Family of Yonomori

The Yonomori clan studied, bred and used magical/mythical beasts in warfare and they had helped the Overlord of Japan many times with their enchanted beasts, however, only the Overlord knew that they were enchanted, because women of Yonomori clan had a special spell, similar to Tsusumu, to conceal the mythical as normal.

At the Wizarding Exodus, the young woman, Lady Hanako of Yonomori had her own reasons to support Keikain and Matsuyama. She did not wished to isolate her family from Japan, as they had a considerable amount of power as Dragon Breeders and the Yonomori were benefitting from the Overlord by blackmailing him of his misdeeds and they had enough forces to usurp him. Lady Hanako Yonomori promised that she can convince the overlord and shut away the priests so that the Wizarding community could leave in peace. It was Lady Yonomori’s first born Ichiro, who became the first Prime Minister of the Japanese Wizarding Government or ‘Nihon Madoushi Seifu’

The Motto of Yonomori family was: ��Yaban Oshie’ or ‘Feral Lesson’, however, Yonomori changed it as ‘Toitsu’ to symbolise that all Japan should unite once again in a school, from all class and category. The Kanji ‘Toitsu’ is written in black ink over the golden forehead of a Kyubi or a Nine-tail-fox, in a brown background.

The Students of this family are particularly good at Concealment magic, Psychic magic (Occlumency and Legilimency) and in Care of Magical Creatures. Their characteristic trait is being materialistic and diplomatic.

The standard colours are Gold and brown. Representing element is Metal; Direction South, Season: Summer, Time of the day: Noon.

Family of Hideyoshi

The Hideyoshi clan was famous for their study of Mathematics, and secretly, the study of Applied Astrology and Almanac. They had the monopoly of writing Birth-charts all over Japan. The Hideyoshi clan stood up to Keikain because the alignment of the star was in his favour. The Master of Hideyoshi, Akio later admitted that the great Warlord Mars and The bright Regulus (as per western translation) was guiding Keikain, and seeing that Keikain’s cause was pure, Akio supported him wholeheartedly. However, he did not approved of Yonomori, as she had a selfish reason to follow Keikain, as he saw Lord of Tricks, Pluto was governing her thoughts, however the bright Moon in her ‘eyes’ convinced him enough not to go against her.

The Motto of Hideyoshi clan was: ‘Ever-changing sight’ or ‘Henka no Chikaku’, meaning ‘one should always be prudently perceptive’. However, the silver dragon of Hideyoshi bears the Kanji of ‘Kan’ or ‘Perception’ at its forehead, against midnight blue backdrop, as the Dragon governs the sky and preserves the knowledge of the stars, which shows the past, present and future.

The Students of this Family are particularly good in Divination, Arithmancy and Applied Astrology. The most favoured trait is being logical, perceptive and vigilant.

The standard colours are blue and Silver, Representative element is Sky/Air; direction: East, Season: Winter, Time of the day: Midnight

Family of Nobuyuki

Nobuyuki clans were famous for chants and scriptures. They had been accepting priesthood for centuries. Rather than clan of families, they were like a Monastery that accepted students or monks from a very young age. They provided them educations and taught how to manage priesthood. The head of the Nobuyuki clan, Tsumeragi Nobuyuki was a very strict person, however it is his adopted daughter Umemiko Nobuyuki, whom he found at the doorstep of his monastery came forth to assist the four. Umemiko, as the other founders call her, was the very personification of purity, grace and devotion: she was a true priestess, or a Miko.

The Motto of Nobuyuki clan was ‘Converging Knowledge’ or ‘Shūsoku chishiki’ or prudently ‘the ideal world where all knowledge meet at the same point’. The black tortoise has white kanji ‘chi’ or ‘knowledge’ engraved over its shell, against the violet backdrop.

The students of this family are very good as Scripture based magic, such as: Applied Kanji (Japanese version of Ancient Runes) and Art of Scripture (writing a kanji in air with an enchanted brush, bare hands and later with wand to achieve a desired magical effect), talisman making or art of Ofuda, wandlore and History of Magic. Their favoured trait is being philosophical.

The standard colour is Black and Violet. Representative element is Water, direction: West, season: Monsoon, Time of the day: Dusk.

����

[ao3feed-hockey]

i put a spell on you

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2CVLXXi

by Anonymous

“Benny?”

Jamie makes a noise of acknowledgement, but he doesn’t lift his head from where he’s currently sprawled out on his couch, his eyes closed in relaxation.

“Benny, I think we fucked up the spell,” Tyler says.

Words: 3417, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Men's Hockey RPF

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, T. J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Frederik Andersen (Hockey RPF), Morgan Rielly, Devin Shore, Alexander Radulov

Relationships: Jamie Benn/Tyler Seguin, Minor or Background Relationship(s)

Additional Tags: Witches, Spell Failure, Succubi & Incubi, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Mildly Dubious Consent, Love Potion/Spell, Halloween

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2CVLXXi

[yatorihell]

In The Darkness Chapter 50 - I Must Not Tell Lies

Words: 3,703

Summary: Students return to Hogwarts, but the Ministry of Magic has assigned a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Previous chapter | First chapter

Thank you @kiun for beta-ing me

Read on AO3

Hogwarts was back to its usual self. The maze had been destroyed after the Triwizard Tournament and the dragon pit was long gone. The only reminders of the previous year were the Great Lake which spread out underneath Hogwarts’ candlelit turrets, and the knowledge that one of their classmates wasn’t coming back.

Yato, Yukine and Hiyori had spent the train journey in near silence, buried in books about defence charms or, in Yukine’s case, mostly staring out of the window. They settled into their school dormitories quickly, comfortable in their second home and amongst friends once again before they attended assembly in the Great Hall.

The Great Hall’s cavernous ceiling was littered with floating candles, a sight that had Hiyori reminisce about the first time she had walked under them for the Sorting Ceremony, the same one that would take place tonight.

The students took their seats at their house tables and the Great Hall doors were closed with a soft, resounding clatter.

Professor Tenjin stood from the teachers table and approached his spread-eagled podium, and silence fell across the room.

“Welcome back to you all,” Professor Tenjin’s voice boomed through the Great Hall. “I hope you enjoyed your summer and are ready for the following school year.”

Professor Tenjin continued his welcome and began to dive into the thing that students didn’t want to hear… exams.

“Fifth years will take their O.W.L. exams this year-,” the mention of this had Yukine and Hiyori shudder simultaneously with the rest of their grade. “- and seventh year students will be taking their N.E.W.T. exams. Please do study as these are important for your careers.”

Yato sighed. He’d forgotten about that. Because he was caught up in the Triwizard Tournament in fifth year, he was excused from O.W.L. exams. Unfortunately, Yato now had to take his O.W.L.s and study for N.E.W.T.s this year to catch up. At least he’d have some classes with Yukine and Hiyori for once.

“Caretaker Kiun would like me to ask for the hundredth time today that magic and broomsticks are not permitted in the corridors or in between classes.” Professor Tenjin said this with a hint of a smile. The smile faded rather quickly and the students could sense a change in the atmosphere.

“Before we welcome our new students let us blow away the storm that has clouded our school,” Professor Tenjin said gently. “The Sorcerer has returned; I told you this many months ago but still the Ministry does not believe it. Not even when one of our own was slain at Hogwarts.”

Yato looked over to Hufflepuff’s table. He could see Yukine’s head was bowed, no doubt trying to hold in the emotion at the mention of Suzuha.

As if today wasn’t bad enough without the reminder, Yato thought to himself. They had only been back at Hogwarts a matter of hours and Yato was afraid Yukine would break at any second.

Professor Tenjin continued. “We must be diligent, and now more than ever we must be prepared to defend ourselves and others from the Dark Arts.”

Professor Tenjin’s gestured for Kiun to open the Great Hall’s doors without another word, and with that the conversation was over.

Professor Tsuyu stepped forward with the Sorting Hat and a short wooden stool placed in front of the Headmaster as the doors creaked open. Kuraha led the bewondered first years into the hall, and the darkness that had overshadowed them was somewhat lifted by the commencement of the Sorting Ceremony.

Yato kept an eye on Yukine throughout the Sorting Hat’s declarations, and after a few minutes, Yukine raised his head. Yato could see the redness around his eyes but it was clear Yukine was putting on a brave face. It couldn’t be nice sleeping beside Suzuha’s empty bed.

Professor Tenjin stepped to his podium once Professor Tsuyu had carried the Sorting Hat and its stool out of the way. He launched into his annual speech welcoming the new students to Hogwarts, how they should avoid the Forbidden Forest, and the new Quidditch Cup tournament.

Having sat through six years of the same announcements, Yato’s thoughts and eyes began to wander. He found himself staring at the teachers table that overlooked the Great Hall. The usual suspects were there: Kuraha the Groundskeeper seated at the very end of the table, Akiha the Charms teacher, Madame Kofuku…

Yato’s attention was caught by the person beside her; there was a new face at the teachers table.

Between Madame Kofuku and Professor Takemikazuchi sat a woman dressed in white robes sewn with scarlet. She had long dark hair in a tight updo, apart from two long bangs that hung either side of her face. She was unusual and striking, but her face seemed cold with the way she showed no warmth to her new colleagues. Her blue-grey eyes swept over the room and lingered on Slytherin’s table, and Yato couldn’t help but feel she was looking for him.

Yato tuned into Professor Tenjin’s announcement as he turned his attention to the newcomer.

“… And we would like to welcome our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Oshi, who has joined us from the Ministry of Magic.”

There was a smattering of applause from teachers and students, but Professor Oshi did not react or acknowledge the introduction.

Yato should have expected as much since Rabo – their last Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher – had been outed as a Death Eater sent to ensure Yato ended up in the Sorcerer’s hands. It had become somewhat of a trend besides the year they had a werewolf for a teacher.

But a professor sent by the Ministry… that sounded off, if not dangerous.

Especially when they didn’t believe that the Sorcerer was back.

~

The following morning the trio snagged a corner of the Slytherin table where a group of seventh years had wearily trekked away to the library to begin studying for their N.EW.T. exams.

They picked over a breakfast of toast and sausages as they discussed their classes. It felt strange to be back at Hogwarts after so long away, their black school robes and bags heavy. Yukine kept pulling at his tie, loosening it more than a professor would’ve liked.

“So what do you do if you’re taking OW.L.s and N.E.W.T.s this year?” Hiyori asked Yato.

Yato swallowed his mouthful of toast. “I’ll take my O.W.L.s this year with you guys, my N.E.W.T. exams will be next year.”

Yukine raised an eyebrow at this. “So, you’re being held back a year.”

“No,” Yato said curtly. “I’ll be in class with you babies and doing twice the work. I’m allowed more electives to focus on my O.W.L.s subjects because they’re needed to progress to the N.E.W.T.s.”

Hiyori cut in before Yukine could retort to the ‘baby’ comment. “So, what classes are you taking?”

Yato thought for a second and slowly listed the subjects he chose. “Charms, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, History of Magic, Ancient Seals, and… Muggle Studies.”

Yukine made a face at the last one. They would be having to explain Muggle things to him again for the rest of the year. “Haven’t you chosen too much?”

Yato shrugged. “If I fail a few I have some to fall back on.” Yato reasoned. Yukine was almost surprised Yato had thought of a plan.

“We’ll be together for most classes then,” Hiyori said with a smile.

“What did you guys choose?” Yato asked. He bit into another piece of toast only to be disgusted that it was nearly cold and logged with butter.

“Charms, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, History of Magic, Transfiguration, and Herbology.” Hiyori recited.

They looked at Yukine who sighed and frowned, trying to remember what he chose. He listed his subjects even slower than Yato had. “Charms, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, and Herbology.”

“That’s four classes we all have together,” Hiyori pointed out. She rummaged in the pocket of her robes and pulled out a folded square of paper. With some rustling it came undone and Hiyori scanned the Tuesday schedule.

“We have Charms this morning, you could join us,” Hiyori suggested.

Yato nodded his approval. “Ok.”

Yato swung his legs around the bench and shouldered his bag and followed Hiyori out of the Great Hall, Yukine shuffling behind him. It would be nice to sit in a fifth-year class with Yukine and Hiyori instead of by himself. At least he wouldn’t have Nora watching his every move.

At that thought Yato stopped in his tracks and looked back at Slytherin’s table. Yukine nearly bumped into him, giving a huff and side stepping Yato to continue walking, telling him to hurry up. Yato frowned as he recalled the previous night, where all students had sat down for the start-of-term feast. It wasn’t just one person who hadn’t returned to Hogwarts.

Where was Nora?

~

Yato, Yukine and Hiyori were holed up in the library after lunch where, once again, he noticed Nora wasn’t there.

Hiyori sat at a table opposite Yukine who rocked back on the rear legs of his chair. Yato stood beside her leaning against the latticed window. After a few moments Yato voiced his observation about Nora not being present at dinner, breakfast or lunch.

“Maybe she’s avoiding you?” Hiyori suggested.

Yukine scoffed. That was hardly likely. Either way, it was better than she wasn’t around to harass Yato when their ‘Father’ was trying his best to kill or snatch Yato.

“She probably has something to do with the Sorcerer if your dad is working with him,” Yukine said.

Hiyori looked horrified. Yes, Yato and Nora shared a non-biological father, but to say that Nora was involved with the Sorcerer was a huge accusation.

“Yukine, don’t say such things!” Hiyori exclaimed.

She looked at Yato worriedly, hoping a fight didn’t break out. However, Yato only regarded Yukine with reproachful eyes, hands planted on the windowsill behind him.

“Why? The Ministry won’t do anything about it anyway.” Yukine snapped. “He should’ve left her in that lake to die.”

Yukine glared at Yato, and it suddenly clicked for Hiyori: Yukine blamed Nora for Suzuha’s death.

Father’s involvement with the Sorcerer kidnapping Yato could implicate Nora, who was known to report back about what Yato was doing at school. Hiyori could see why Yukine would want someone to blame – and to hate - for Suzuha’s death.

“You know Nora didn’t have anything to do with it, Yukine,” Yato said levelly.

Yukine fumed and slammed his chair back onto the flagstones. Without a word he roughly slung his bag over his shoulder and stormed away, knocking his chair over which startled the quiet library.

Yato sighed as he watched Yukine round the corner and vanish from sight. He walked around to the other side of the table and picked up the chair, gently pushing it back under the table. He caught Hiyori’s eye.

Hiyori swallowed thickly. She’d never seen Yukine that angry before.

“It’s been a day, Hiyori,” Yato said. He walked back around the table and placed a hand on the back of Hiyori’s chair. “Being back at Hogwarts isn’t going to be easy for him. You have to remember they were together for a long time and Suzuha never got justice.”

Hiyori nodded and let out a shaky ‘Yeah’.

“We need to keep an eye on him, ok?” Yato asked. He bent sideways slightly to look at the side of Hiyori’s face.

Hiyori turned her head and looked in his eyes, giving him a determined nod. Yukine needed them now more than ever.

~ 

They did keep an eye on Yukine, and they didn’t like what they saw.

In fourth period Yato, Yukine and Hiyori were reunited for Defence Against the Dark Arts.

The newly appointed Professor Oshi stood at the front of the class as they entered, wand in hand and in silence.  

Yato sat at a single desk besides Yukine, feeling slightly embarrassed at being in a class of fifth years. He felt eyes on him, no doubt because he’d been splashed across the front page of the Daily Prophet for months on end. Hiyori took a seat behind Yato and gave him a nod when he turned to look at her.

The slam of a book on the table made Yato jump and turn around. In front of him, and floating down the aisle to the students behind him, was a copy of Dark Arts Defence: Basics for Beginners. Yato looked down at the book and then at Yukine, who looked just as confused.

“You will be sitting O.W.L. exams this year, otherwise known as Ordinary Wizarding Level. This is the basic qualification you will need to continue this subject at N.E.W.T. level.” Professor Oshi said.

She hadn’t moved from her position, cold eyes looking over the class for the slightest hint of disobedience.

Yato flicked through the book as she spoke. There was nothing to indicate examples of spells or even incantations. It was as if the book was made for a five-year-old, not fifth years.

As if reading his mind Professor Oshi finished by saying: “This class will be non-practical, approved by the Ministry of Magic.”

There was a quiet murmur in the class. Non-practical Defence was unheard of.

“There’s nothing about spells in here,” Yukine said aloud.

Professor Oshi’s eyes snapped to look at the speaker. They narrowed as she regarded the boy’s slouched posture, unkempt hair and messy tie. “You won’t need spells in the classroom.”

“How will we learn to defend ourselves then?” Yukine shot back.

“You will learn the theory that is needed to pass the exam and that is all.” Professor Oshi replied.

“How does theory prepare us?”

“You don’t need to be prepared.”

“So, when the Sorcerer decides he wants to kill someone else the Ministry wants us to lie down and let it happen?”

The rapid exchange quickly fell into silence. The room held a bated breath.

Professor Oshi’s demeanour became even colder, calculating. After a moment she spoke in a crisp, clear voice addressing the room.

“Let me make this clear. The Sorcerer has not returned. I’m sure there’s some amongst you who believe this-,”

Yato shrunk back in his chair slightly as the professor’s gaze cast over him. He could feel an eruption coming if she said another word. Unfortunately for her, she said the worst thing she could’ve.

“- but it is all a lie.”

 Yukine slammed his book on the table and stood up, his chair toppling over from the force and clattering to the ground.

“IT’S NOT A FUCKING LIE! THE SORCERER MURDERED MY FUCKING BOYFRIEND AND THE MINISTRY IS DOING FUCK ALL TO CATCH HIM! YOU CAN’T EVEN ADMIT IT TO YOURSELF YOU FUCKING BITCH!” Yukine screamed.

His voice turned hoarse towards the end, and neither Yato nor Hiyori could tell if it was from the tirade or raw emotion.

The room was silent, all eyes on Yukine. His knuckles had turned white from gripping the edge of the table, shoulders visibly shaking and eyes as poisonous as ivy as he stared the new professor down.

“Detention.” Professor Oshi said. She was unfazed by the outburst, and Yato could have sworn he saw a smirk play on her lips. “My office.”

Yukine shoved his table, nearly toppling it and sending the book to the floor with a slap and stormed out of the classroom. Hiyori winced as the door slammed behind him with earth-shattering force.

“You will read one chapter per class and write an essay about what you have learned.” Professor Oshi stated.

For the rest of the lesson the class continued in silent reading, Professor Oshi at the front of the class in her usual stance watching over them.

Yato stared at the book but he didn’t take in any of the information, mind preoccupied with Yukine’s outburst. It wasn’t much of a secret that Yukine and Suzuha were dating. They had gone to the Yule Ball together as champion and date. Yukine was Suzuha’s treasure to save from the lake. He hadn’t even been able to see Suzuha before he went into that fucking maze.

But that was the first time Yato had heard Yukine call Suzuha his boyfriend.

And now they were being told it was an accident.

The bell rang throughout the school and the class packed up, taking their babyish defence book with them and filing out of the class with muted whispers. Yato spotted Yukine’s bag on the floor by the toppled chair, realising that Yukine had left it in his rampage. Yato picked up the fallen book and tucked it inside the bag before putting it over his shoulder alongside his own.

Yato could assume that Yukine wasn’t going to any more classes today after that. He would have to give him his bag back another time.

Hiyori stood outside the classroom waiting for Yato, arms folded and looking worried.

“What the hell was that about?” Hiyori hissed.

Yato assumed she meant Professor Oshi denying the Sorcerer had returned rather than Yukine’s outburst, but he didn’t reply. Instead he steered Hiyori down the stairs by the elbow, looking behind to see Professor Oshi watching them over the balcony.

Yato looked back at the ground, footsteps quick on the stone steps.

“Looks like the Ministry wants to make sure no one at Hogwarts believes the Sorcerer is back,” Yato said lowly. “They won’t even teach us Defence now because of it.”

“They can’t stop us from learning, we need to know how to protect ourselves!” Hiyori argued at the injustice.

Yato shook his head. “They already have.”

They reached the second floor where they had to part ways for their next classes. A few students passed them as they stood to the side, keeping their voices low.

“They can’t brainwash us into submission; we know exactly what happened!” Hiyori exclaimed.

“I know what happened,” Yato corrected her gently. “Right now, it’s my word against the Ministry, and I don’t think I’ll win.”

Hiyori huffed and looked away. She began to feel the same way Yukine did in this situation. What good was the Ministry of Magic if it didn’t protect its citizens?

Yato reached out and touched Hiyori’s arm gently. “It won’t be forever, Hiyori.”

He smiled at her when she met his gaze. He could see the concern in her eyes, a look he had become accustomed to throughout their years at Hogwarts. Things always worked out in the end.

“The Sorcerer will already be defeated once the Order finds the prophecy.”

~

Yukine did not go to the rest of his classes, as Yato predicted. Instead he had hid out in Hufflepuffs common room, cursing. The bell rang to signal the end of the school day, and although he had hardly cooled off enough, he still had detention with Professor Oshi.

Yukine knocked twice on her office door in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and waited. His chair had been rectified and stood in an orderly manner with the rest of the class, his bag missing.

The door opened by itself and Yukine stepped inside. Professor Oshi sat at her large, empty desk, hands folded and her attention on Yukine immediately. It seemed that she had been doing nothing but wait for him to arrive.

Yukine noted the small trunk in the back corner which appeared to be the only new addition to the bare office. No portraits hung on the drab walls, no belongings filling the wooden cabinets. The bookcase against the far wall was practically empty aside from a few copies of the book she had handed out earlier. The fireplace was the only ornamental piece in the room, pristinely cleaned and polished with fresh logs placed inside.

Normally offices were personalised, but it seemed she had either no possessions or no personality. Yukine decided it was the latter.

“You will be doing lines for your punishment.” Professor Oshi stated.

Her dull eyes looked behind him and Yukine turned. A small desk facing the wall stood adjacent to her desk, set up already with a piece of parchment and a black quill in an ink pot.

Yep, definitely no personality, Yukine thought.

 Yukine sunk into the seat and picked up the quill and hovered over the parchment. After a moment he looked up and he spoke, still facing the wall. “What do I write?”

Another moment passed.

“’I must not tell lies’.”

Yukine felt his face heat up, red seeping into his vision. He gripped the quill tighter, fighting the urge to turn around and stab the quill tip into her neck.

“How many times?” Yukine asked through gritted teeth.

“Until the message sinks in.”

They would be here forever then. Yukine resolved himself to write the phrase over and over until she told him to stop, even if he was there until morning.

He would not admit defeat.

Yukine scratched the quill against the paper, and the crimson ink stained against the page.

I must not tell lies.

Yukine felt a stabbing pain on top of his left hand as he wrote the phrase. He ignored it and wrote the phrase again, and again, and again.

I must not tell lies. I must not tell lies. I must not tell lies.

The pain seared to a burning ache. He wrote it again, flexing his left hand as he did so in a bid to ease the cramp.

I must not tell lies.

Yukine’s eyes flicked to his hand. He dropped the quill and stared at his hand in disbelief. He looked over his shoulder at Professor Oshi who returned his shocked look with cold-hearted contempt.

“Carry on.”

Yukine looked back at the ink that had splattered on the parchment, and he realised it was his own blood. Five words were etched in his hand as if carved there by a scalpel.

I must not tell lies.

[yatorihell]

In The Darkness Chapter 57 - O.W.L.s

Noragami x Harry Potter AU

Words: 3,987

Summary: With Tenjin gone, Headmistress Oshi reigns over Hogwarts. With O.W.L.s exams in full swing, Yato suffers another far more disturbing vision.

Also available on Yatorihell AO3

The Daily Prophet lay in heaps on the Great Halls tables the following morning, the headline ‘TENJIN FLEES HOGWARTS AFTER SORCERER HOAX’ splashed in bold letters over a sepia moving picture of him sat at his desk.

Murmurs from students rippled throughout the castle for the rest of the day, not just because Tenjin had left, but because Oshi was appointed Headmistress of Hogwarts by the Ministry of Magic.

Whilst Professor Tsuyu was a close friend of Tenjin, she was permitted to stay at Hogwarts after a short inquest found no wrongdoing on her part. However, Oshi had announced that evening that Professor Tsuyu would ‘no longer be required to fulfil her duties to the Headmaster’, and had been ‘demoted’ back to her sole role of Professor.

The entire school could see – despite Professor Tsuyu’s short head bow acknowledging this development – that she was not pleased with being belittled by a jumped-up, underqualified excuse for a teacher, but she didn’t let it show.

The Hogwarts Order of the Phoenix had been disbanded and spared expulsion as Tenjin had taken responsibility for the group, although the trio had a sneaking suspicion that Oshi wanted them gone altogether.

Yato, Yukine and Hiyori watched as Kiun perched on top of a wobbly wooden ladder, carrying yet another Educational Decree. It was May now, and it seemed Headmistress Oshi wasted no time in setting out more Educational Decrees, each more ridiculous than the last. They were banned from talking about ‘the upsetting events of last year’, which Yukine cursed at, and use of the library was restricted.

Most worrying of these decrees was the new addition being tacked to the ever-growing collection that framed the Great Halls door. Educational Decree Number Eighty-Two: Students Must Submit to Questioning about Suspected Illicit Activities.

At first they’d feared Oshi would be using her Black Quill once again to maim students, but whispered talk between students revealed that a truth potion was being used as a more humane way to extract non-existent information about illicit activities.

It seemed the Hogwarts Order was well and truly dead. Yukine let out a frustrated huff and turned on his heel away from the hall, Yato and Hiyori in tow.

The usual peace of the castle was periodically interrupted by a tannoy system that had been introduced, allowing Headmistress Oshi’s voice to ring throughout the castle and follow them wherever they went.

“Boys and girls are not permitted to be within eight inches of each other,” the squeaky tannoy rang out, and Yukine gritted his teeth.

Yato and Hiyori exchanged looks, and their gaze dropped to their sides. Yato decided that he was not eight inches away from Hiyori, but he didn’t particularly care what an old hag like Oshi thought was an ‘educational’ decree. It seemed Hiyori didn’t either as neither moved apart as they continued walking to their next class.

The only peace in the castle was the greenhouses or the dungeons where the tannoy system couldn’t reach. Thankfully, they had Potions that morning.

“What do we do about this then?” Yukine asked. His voice rang hollow as they descended into the bowels of the castle, dripping eater echoing around them in stagnant puddles.

“We’d get snitched on immediately if we tried anything,” Yato said. He knew Nora was watching somehow; she did have some sort of ‘friend group’ which they had met when Oshi found them training.

“I can’t risk telling Sakura either as they’re checking the post now, so I hope Madame Kofuku has told her what’s going on.”

The walked in silence for a moment, save for the echo of their footsteps and constant leaks that paved their way through the dungeons. The sickly smell of ingredients greeted them before they could see the classroom, a smell they had become accustomed to in their Potions class, and Hiyori interjected a ray of optimism.

“The Order must be close to getting the prophecy by now,” Hiyori said quietly, seeing a few students loitering ahead of them on the corner.

Yato hummed his agreement. That much was true, but they wouldn’t know until they would go home for the summer and be away from the Ministry prying eyes. 

They arrived outside the Potions class and were among the last few students to take their places in a cavernous alcove in front of Madame Kofuku.

Yato prayed that Sakura knew he was ok, but for now, they would have to wait.

~

When Professor Tenjin warned them about OW.L.s exams, they didn’t expect it to be this hard.

For two weeks, the fifth and sixth-year students slaved over their chosen topics, mostly regretting every decision they made. It made it no easier with the library being restricted; studying became near impossible.

The Room of Requirement may have been useful, but Yato, Hiyori nor Yukine were willing to risk getting caught in there again. Instead they made do in their common rooms (also restricted use, Merlin knows why), bedrooms, and occasionally in an abandoned classroom.

When the last day of O.W.L.s exams came upon them, a collective sigh of relief could be heard throughout the castle. For Yato, his last exam was Divination. He was sure he had failed Ancient Seals – by far his least favourite class – but he thought he did ok on the rest of them.

The sixth-year students sat in neat rows in the Great Hall as usual for their exams, the scratching of quill on parchment softly filled the room. It would have been a calm exam, akin to a Defence Against the Dark Arts class, if it weren’t for Nora in the back corner.

How she was allowed to sit the exam was beyond him, as she had only been present for one term of the year. It also seemed that she was in every exam Yato took, which couldn’t be a coincidence.

Another pair of eyes watched over him and the class; Headmistress Oshi.

She sat in Tenjin’s high-backed oak chair in the centre of the stage, looking out over the room for would-be cheats. She wore her usual white robes, something which hadn’t changed despite her change in status, and kept her hands folded on her lap throughout the entire exam.

Yato felt strange when he looked at her. It was unnatural, how such a mechanical woman could sit so still when just a few weeks ago she looked ready to commit an unforgivable curse in front of the Minister of Magic.

She must have noticed Yato’s quill not moving as she looked across the room and fixed her eyes on him. Yato winced, feeling a twinge in his head. He dispelled in with a shake and looked down at his half-written sentence with a sigh.

It felt like an eternity until he bell rang, signalling the end of the exam as well as the O.WL.s period. The parchment was collected, and the class dismissed.

Yato made his way out of the Great Hall into the hallway amongst the hustle and bustle of students asking each other what they had wrote, comparing answers and lamenting over misread questions.

He had definitely failed Divination.

Yato made his way back to Slytherin to change; the summer heat had made it far too hot to stay in uniform any longer than necessary, but the cool walls that contained the dormitories were welcome.

Yato changed, opting for the light tracksuit set Sakura had bought him for Christmas and a plain white t-shirt. He hadn’t noticed before, but a little golden crown was embroidered on the right-breast of the jacket, and Yato smiled.

Yato dawdled his way back upstairs. He was thankful that school was technically over, although they still had a few weeks before they would say goodbye to Hogwarts for the summer. His smile remained as he thought of his new life awaiting him at Grimmuald Place with Sakura. And Ebisu and Buckbeak, of course.

Daylight blinded him as he reached the top of the stairs and turned right towards the Great Hall. A few students who had managed to change just as quickly as he had roamed the castle, enjoying what was left of their school life. Hopefully, it would be back to normal when they returned in September.

“Yato!”

Yato turned to look through the windowless archways of the hallway. Surprisingly, Yukine and Hiyori were waiting for him in the courtyard, hands raised in greeting. Yato clambered through the archway and landed in the flowerbed beneath it, unmindful of the flowers Kiun had just planted as he made his way towards them.

“How did it go?” Hiyori asked.

“Not great, hard to concentrate when you have daggers being stared at you,” Yato said with a wry smile. No doubt the headache had hindered him slightly, but still, he could feel it niggling in the back of his head.

“Well, you took a lot of subjects, so you will have passed enough for your N.EW.T.s,” Hiyori reminded him.

Yato nodded but his eye winced involuntarily. It was as if thinking about the pain he had in the exam had brought it back ten times worse.

It didn’t go unnoticed; Hiyori and Yukine frowned at the sudden twitch and subsequent grimace Yato made.

“What’s wrong?” Hiyori asked.

“It’s just a headache…” Yato said, but he could see both Hiyori and Yukine looking at him concerned. “Probably just from the exa-.”

A stab went through his head, and his voice cut short. His vision began to blacken at the edges, all too familiar and gut-wrenching. The words Hiyori had spoken swam away, lost in the thick air that clogged his senses and his throat.

The last thing he saw was Yukine reaching out to him and Hiyori’s panicked expression as he keeled over, and the world vanished.

~

Yato’s eyes opened, and within a moment he knew where he was.

Thousands of milky orbs lined the shelves around him, stretching out and up forever until they pinpricked the darkness like stars. The Department of Mysteries.

Whispers were interrupted by a scream that had Yato spin around, followed by a low, cajoling voice that he couldn’t make out.

A dark figure stood in the distance facing away from him. Yato stepped forward carefully, but his footsteps made no sound. Another scream, this time nearer, and Yato’s blood ran cold.

He stepped forward again, and it seemed he had transported to the unknown man’s side. He didn’t seem to sense Yato’s presence despite him only being over his shoulder, but it gave Yato a clear view of his face.

He wore dark robes, but his hood was pulled away from his face. He could see his light brown hair parted in the centre of his forehead in two lank bangs, and the twisted smirk on his face as he stared down at his victim.

His wand moved again with a wordless spell, and another scream ripped from their throat. Yato felt bile rising in his throat, and unwillingly looked down at the victim.

He froze.

“Please, don’t, no, please, I’m sorry, PLEASE…”

A shaky arm supported her collapsed body whilst the other was raised in a pitiful defence. Her clothing had been torn at the shoulders and chest. Deep gashes leaking blood ran in rivulets down her arms and face onto the dark marble floor which reflected the pitiful scene.

“Sakura?” Yato breathed, and all too quickly everything snapped into place.

The orbs which fenced them in an endless maze, the whispers of truths untold, and the prophecy which lay in one of them that Sakura had come to collect… and the identity of the man torturing her.

Yato snapped his head back to the man, a face he should have recognised, but his vision was blackening once again.

A flick of the wand, and Sakura’s scream ripped straight through him.

“YATO!”

~

Yato startled awake. A deepening blue sky hung over his head as did Yukine’s and Hiyori’s worried faces.

Yukine and Hiyori knelt beside him, and Yato was pretty sure Yukine had been slapping his face from the sting in his cheeks. This was the first time they had witnessed Yato have a vision, and it terrified them.

He tried to push himself up but Yukine had already placed a hand on his back to sit him upright.

“What did you see?” Hiyori asked.

Yato blinked, unsure whether he was about to cry or go into a frenzy when he realised that not only had the Sorcerer got into his head, but what he was doing.

Sweat dripped underneath Yato’s shirt collar and his back felt sticky under his jacket. Regardless, Yukine’s hand stayed.

“Sakura’s.. at the… Ministry… Sorcerer… attack,” Yato’s words came in short bursts, barely able to keep his breathing under control as panic threatened to engulf him.

It was just like Daikoku, but the Sorcerer himself was the perpetrator. A nauseating question came to Yato: Was he too late?

Yukine and Hiyori exchanged looks over Yato, eyes wide.

“Yato,” Hiyori said gently. “What if this is a trap, to lure you to the Ministry?”

“No!” Yato exclaimed, taking the pair aback. He knew they had a point – as Madame Kofuku had told him that his mind could be distorted – but he couldn’t shake the image of Sakura on the floor, bleeding out, screaming his name.

“We should call Grimmuald Place first, to see if she’s there,” Yukine said in an equally gentle voice. His eyes darted to Hiyori then back to Yato. “If she isn’t then we can get Madame Kofuku to send help.”

Yato could see he would get nowhere faster by arguing – even though he had seen Sakura in the Department of Mysteries himself – and agreed.

Yato pulled himself up with Yukine’s help, supported on the shorter boy for a short distance to the nearest office, which so happened to be Professor Takemikazuchi’s.

Thankfully, it was unlocked, and Hiyori popped her head around the door to make sure the coast was clear. The three of them piled in and closed the door behind them, hoping the professor wouldn’t be back anytime soon.

The office was smaller than most of the others, perhaps because the walls were lined with large wooden shelves that contained enough bottles to rival Madame Kofuku’s collection. The stout desk was placed in front of the window facing straight at the door and a shaggy black rug carpeted the flagstone.

Yato and Hiyori wasted no time ransacking the office in search of a familiar pouch of Floo Powder, whereas Yukine had made a torch out of one of the gas lamps to light the fireplace.

A thin whisper of smoke floated through the office when Yukine blew out the torch, stoking the fireplace with a poker in a bid to make the flames grow higher.

“Here!” Hiyori exclaimed.

Yato turned and saw Hiyori stood next to one of the shelves on the far side of the room. In her raised hand she held a large black pouch dusted with green powder. She threw it and Yato caught it deftly, emptying half the contents into his hand as he approached the fireplace.

Please, be at home, Yato prayed. He drew nearer to the fireplace, hand raised to the powder into the flames.

The door slammed open.

Hiyori let out a yelp and jumped back into the shelf, knocking a few bottles onto the floor with a shatter. Yato spun and the Floo Powder flew out of his hand, but only a fragment reached its intended destination in the auburn flames.

Three figures stood in the doorway, blocking out the sunlight that filtered in through the hallway’s arches. Headmistress Oshi, Professor Takemikazuchi… and Nora.

~

After sending Professor Takemikazuchi to capture Kazuma and Bishamon – who were deemed equally guilty due to their participation in the Order –, Oshi marched the trio up to the Headmistress’ office with her wand aimed at their backs.

“You three,” Oshi hissed, “have been nothing but a thorn in my side. Spreading lies, and dissent, creating a rebellion!”

Yukine and Hiyori exchanged looks at Yato who stood between them. It seemed Oshi had completely lost her mind, drunk on power and blind to the truth just like the Minister of Magic. Now they were held hostage by a madwoman and her snitch who walked ahead of them up the spiral staircase, far away from witnesses.

But her next words would send a shiver down their spine when they realised the incident in the Muggle world was no accident.

“It was all I could do to send the Dementors to kill you before you could prove the Sorcerer has returned.”

Hiyori froze on the spot, feet on uneven steps. The group paused along with her, and Yato felt heat rise in his chest. He looked at Hiyori, who was too shocked to shed tears at the revelation, and felt guilted. It was his fault she got attacked again, all because they wanted him silenced permanently.

So the Ministry sent the Dementors? If that was the case, the Minister was as crazy as Oshi to allow such a thing, Yato thought.

His thoughts were interrupted by Oshi jamming her wand into Hiyori’s back, barking “Move!” and Yato gently pulled her by the hand. Yukine gave a sympathetic look at Hiyori as they walked the final flight of stairs in silence, and arrived at Oshi’s office.

Yato glared daggers at Nora once the door had slammed shut behind them. She stood against the wall close to Oshi, her eyes looking straight into Yato’s as Oshi took her place beside her desk. Whilst she had looked at Hiyori and Yukine in disdain before, now it was replaced by something that looked like regret when she looked over the trio.

You’re such a bitch, Yato thought bitterly, and Nora looked away.

Not too long later – whilst Oshi held her wand at the three of them – Professor Takemikazuchi knocked and entered. In front of him he herded Bishamon, Kazuma, and the Ravenclaw girl, Touma, who had been unlucky enough to have been dragged into this mess as well.

Professor Takemikazuchi guarded the door, arms folded. The students crowded in front of the desk where Oshi stood beside her chair, glaring down at the troublemakers.

“I know Tenjin is talking to you, conspiring against the Ministry,” Oshi accused. Her eyes had become a more saturated grey, madness raging behind those glassy eyes that looked down on them.  

Kazuma and Bishamon gave puzzled looks to Yato and Hiyori respectively. Yato gave an imperceptible shake of his head, willing them to remain silent. This didn’t concern Tenjin; it concerned Sakura and her whereabouts, which neither of them would know about.

Professor Takemikazuchi looked mildly comfortable, though he hid it behind a façade of grouchiness at being pulled into trivial matters.

“Headmistress, be as it may, these three broke no rules -,” he looked at the three of them pointedly, “aside than breaking into my office.”

“They were using an illicit substance to contact a traitor of the Ministry!” Oshi screeched.

Professor Takemikazuchi blinked in disbelief. Her entire personality seemed to have been replaced.

Touma wilted away at the harsh words, but this break in character had the trio as well as Kazuma and Bishamon intrigued. She was quick to react to any defiance now, yet she hadn’t batted an eyelid at Yukine’s outburst at the beginning of the year.

Working at Hogwarts seemed to have left her unhinged.

Oshi seemed to collect herself after realising the impact of her sudden outburst. Her deranged demeanour melted away, and an unnatural ambience settled in the room.

“Professor Takemikazuchi,” Oshi said, in a voice as sweet as poison, “please retrieve Veritaserum from Madame Kofuku. I have some questions for these students.”

Veritaserum, Hiyori recalled from Potions class, was a truth serum that would have the drinker tell all their secrets with only three drops. She looked at Yato worriedly, and he returned the look with pursed lips.

Yato knew exactly what Hiyori was thinking: a truth potion would reveal the real Order of the Phoenix, as well as Sakura. If she was still clinging to life, she would be sent back to Azkaban in a heartbeat, or receive the Dementors Kiss as intended.

“Certainly, Headmistress,” Professor Takemikazuchi said curtly. He gave a small and exited the room.

A moment after he had left, Oshi slowly directed her wand at the door.

“I have no intention,” the door lock clicked, “of using Veritaserum. You will tell me right here, right now, what Tenjin is doing.”

Hiyori could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand on end as Oshi directed her wand back to the group. She squeezed Yato’s hand, and he squeezed back in reassurance.  

“As this is an issue of Ministry security, you have left me no alternative.”

Hiyori looked to the door, bidding Professor Takemikazuchi or Madame Kofuku to enter, but no footsteps could be heard. It was clear that Oshi never intended to use the potion, yet there was another way to extract information from them.

“The Cruciatus Curse.”

“That’s illegal!” Bishamon cried. Kazuma placed a hand on her arm as she took a step forward, warily eyeing Oshi who flicked her wand in their direction at the outburst.

“The protection of the Ministry is of the upmost importance,” Oshi said. “Such illicit activities that threaten it must be met with force.”

Bishamon was not one to step back, but Yato stepped ahead of her.

“You can start with me then.”

Yato’s eyes flickered to Nora, who watched him wide-eyed as if she couldn’t believe what he was doing. Then again, he had changed since they were siblings. He wouldn’t let his friends get hurt.

Yato looked behind him at Hiyori and Yukine who gave him startled – no, terrified – looks, as he put himself at Oshi’s mercy. He turned back to Oshi, watching her levelly as her wand’s attention was drawn to him.

“I am the only person who has talked to Tenjin.”

Maybe Yato was stupid – something Yukine had thought since the day they met – but right now he was stupidly brave. The Cruciatus Curse was unforgiveable for a reason, and no one could withstand its effect.

“Very well,” Oshi replied, too calmly for what she was about to do. Oshi’s wand raised to Yato’s chest, and her thin pink lips parted.

“Cr-,”

“No!” Hiyori shouted. She lunged forward, and Yato found himself stumbling under the force of her arm sweeping him behind her. Her arms came to rest slightly behind her, keeping Yato covered aside from his head which was nearly a foot higher than hers.

Despite the height difference, Hiyori remained steadfast in the wands aim, breathing slightly faster than usual as she clenched a fist in Yato’s jacket.

The spell died on Oshi’s lips and the room stood in dumbfounded silence.

Oshi’s mouth twitched sporadically, and Yato worried that she would lose it altogether and ‘Crucio’ all of them. Defenceless, he slowly placed a hand on Hiyori’s back the least he could do was push her out of harm’s way should Oshi attack.

“If you won’t tell her where it is,” Hiyori addressed Yato without looking at him, “I will!”

What the hell is she talking about? Yato thought for a brief second, until he realised what she was doing; she was trying to protect him.

Hiyori looked down at the floor, but she knew all eyes were on her. Oshi’s, on the other hand, were alight in victory at the mention of an item and its whereabouts.

“Tell me where what is?” Oshi urged.

Yato’s eyes looked down at Hiyori, feeling her hand shake against him from the tightness of her grip.

He was unable to see Hiyori’s face even as she raised it to face Oshi, revealing what she would believe to be the downfall of the Ministry.

“Tenjin’s secret weapon.”