#something takeru would actually say

[lxmelle]

Sometimes people interpret Gojo’s “chasing after Geto” and the theme of “love” adopted from Yorozu as signs of Gojo trying to find love with Sukuna.

It is true they had fun and Gojo had an all-out battle, I think it was more of Gojo being true to Gojo: It was an extension of chasing Geto.

I say this with moderately reserved conviction because his Character Book pretty much confirms that there is no one particularly significant besides Geto. There is literally Geto everywhere. Everywhere. Some people on X were joking that Geto’s position in the relationship chart is comparable to a “wife’s position” and asking, “is this a Geto Suguru character book?”

In terms of preferences, too:

Even the preference for dogs - seems to point towards being due to Geto. Not a dog from Megumi’s ten shadows’ divine dogs. The picture shown was a dog Gojo never even canonically met. Linked to a person he also did not canonically meet.

I was probably slow on the uptake, but I only recently realised that Takeru (the dog) in that scene was actually Geto - mistakenly assumed by the old man, leading to his easy defeat.

What sorcery it was, we have no idea. The only best friend thing also seemed like a Gojo & Geto parallel.

Anyway. In this sense, Geto was Gojo’s Takeru. Seeing Geto got him sealed in the prison realm. Uhm, yeah. And it’s true that Gojo is said by Gege to seem more cat-like, being “pretty” and a little solitary, but is someone who likely prefers dogs, Gege thinks, so we can see how he has changed to become more of a dog person - even in characteristics, after Geto’s influence who had lived for others rather than for itself (as what a cat might do). Or, it could be that he just prefers dogs because Geto was once mistaken as a dog. Lol.

The beach - this is also something related to Geto. (The sheltered Gojo probably didn’t have much time to do leisurely stuff. We end up liking places based on experiences we had, and the best experiences he had were with Geto. Naturally, he loves the beach due to Okinawa.)

And the last Q pictured in the image above says Gojo changed after Geto left in that he became more responsible for the next generation. Killing the higher-ups was also related especially after what happened during his time in the prison realm. Not killing them before was related to Geto - he had committed to not killing without a strong meaning/purpose. So when strategy and meaning/purpose aligned, Gojo “chased after” Geto who had “left him behind” because he couldn’t afford to walk that moral path any longer - for the future generation of sorcerers that he and Geto fought so hard to protect with their literal blood sweat and tears. And Gojo never had a real moral issue with killing.

So yes. Doesn’t it just make sense that Gojo approached Sukuna’s fight with two motives - one for himself and one for Geto? To have an all out brawl that his monstrous side desires (I’ve said it before: it would be soooo unfulfilling to never ever find someone you can go all out with. Like, forced to walk when you were born to sprint?!?) and to reach him with compassion/empathy as was shown to him by no other than Geto (who was very much a part of him)? Gojo was far too single-minded to want a new lover. C’mon. Give the yearner some credit. Gojo really was loyal to the core… he felt left behind for years and the character song for Geto was literally Gojo saying he wanted Geto to return to him somehow before it was too late.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again... the place of a partner, cannot be replaced by that of others who are in the category of children, students, or even friends - especially if you have shared a connection so deep that you consider that person a special, “one and only” irreplaceable being.

Megumi has also mutually not placed Gojo as someone particularly special to him. It is really a relationship that is not more than their sensei. I’d be highly disturbed if my sensei or teacher of any capacity loved me to the degree of some of the headcanons out there. Sorry to say. If that is your fantasy, or a form of an AU - that’s ok - I just see it as not canon. That is all. The facts, signs and evidence just … plain & simply are not there. Gojo cared in the capacity of being a teacher. That is it. Some of the unfinished business he had in 236 was carried over from the HI arc and regarding his personal philosophy over death.

So yes, Gojo understood Sukuna as a monster who knew strength & isolation. But his battle and other desire to teach / reach him was another extension of catching up.

So, rather than trying to find a new “love” with Sukuna, I see it as an ultimate form of growth & character development for Gojo - he was changed and felt the empathy that Geto showed him & tried to teach it to someone else who was similarly, stronger than him (as Gojo was to Geto).

And of course Gojo did get a kick out of the battle and to be acknowledged by a peer (as a monster). Imagine you’re Serena Williams and you have to accept just being fulfilled by your husband and never play tennis? Some things are just separate. The fulfilment Gojo gained was not necessarily related to Geto. Just like how following his principles down his dark path had to be done on his own for Geto. It had no bearing on his love for Gojo. And vice versa.

Nevertheless, it seems apt that it was within Gojo to find the desire to resolve two halves of himself through the battle. His loneliness wasn’t quite the same as Sukuna’s I think. Especially since Gojo knew love and companionship.

I think Gojo matured rather well. Or at least, I headcanon that Geto would say so.

The lesson that Sukuna needed to learn is not comparable to that between Gojo & Geto, therefore it wasn’t something Gojo could teach alone. Sukuna had no backstory tied to Gojo and it wasn’t like Gojo was trying to do that with him. Otherwise Gojo would have that afterlife “talk” with Sukuna, rather than his soul heading straight for Geto. Even if it was a delusion, are you telling me that him dreaming of Geto to comfort himself isn’t significant enough to tell us something? Sob 😭

The rest is for Yuji & everyone to forge the revision of the jujutsu world. Yuji is the one with the relationship with both Sukuna and his vessel, Megumi.

Keep calm and carry on the good work, Yuji... Hang in there Megumi.

[kr-han]

HiGH&LOW Random Fun Facts That You May Not Know

Disclaimer: SWORD only and the list is so random, so bear with me.

Cobra loves cupcakes, he probably has sweet tooth.

Cobra styles his hair according to his mood (not like bad or good but more like he's fired up enough or not).

Cobra has A LOT of red clothing. His real name is Hino Junpei (緋野盾兵) and the first character which is 緋 can also be read as aka which means red or scarlet.

He loves Antonio Inoki (a pro-wrestler) so much and make it his whole personality (including his red scarf).

When Cobra is drunk, he would shout, "Inoki-san, genki desuka!?". In MUGEN era, he would do it with Kohaku for the rest of the night.

Cobra admires Kohaku so much because he thinks Kohaku resembles Antonio Inoki.

Cobra has small appetite not even 1/10 of Yamato's. But he eats cupcakes.

Cobra can't draw.

Cobra didn't use sticker on LINE (the messanger).

Cobra and Yamato can't speak English. They're probably the type who'd say, "We're Japanese we don't need English!"

Yamato is afraid of cats. The reason is cat can get long.

Yamato's insult never sounds like one.

Noboru favorite food is sea cucumber. He's sea cucumber maniac.

According to Cobra Noboru type is a girl with glasses.

Dan on the other hand, can draw well. But he can't draw woman.

Rocky is a little clumsy, he forgot small things like key.

Hyuga always sleeps whenever there's no fighting nor something exciting to do.

Murayama loves corndog.

Murayama dislikes sharing his food.

G-SWORD's leaders alcohol tolerance: Cobra is rather low, Rocky is rather high, Murayama prefer to eat than drink (but according to Nakazono, Murayama didn't make any different when he's drinking or not), Hyuga prefer to sleep than anything else, and Smoky can't.

According to Kizzy, Rocky becomes a foolish/idiotic old man when he's drunk. Kizzy also said, "When he's drunk, he got no dignity whatsoever."

Murayama's favorite alcohol beverage is ryokucha-hai (which a combination of green tea and shochu. Might be wrong though, you can search: 緑茶ハイ).

Hyuga's favorite alcohol beverage is shochu.

When Oya part timer go to karaoke, they sing girl idols' songs.

Masaki do all the house chores in Amamiya's households from cleaning up to cooking.

Hiroto's favorite food is curry.

When Hiroto cooks, he only cooks curry.

Takeru is forgetful. Masaki has to remind him all the time. Hiroto? He waits to be petted by his aniki.

Kaito and Kizzy have a couple ring and they use it as necklace.

In HiGH&LOW The Movie, Kaito and Kizzy joined the fight but there's no single footage of them fighting. But they appeared before the fight and after the fight with some bruises.

From End of Sky to Final Mission, Cobra didn't wear his red scarf anymore.

Despite using his red scarf as a personality, Cobra didn't use it to fight beside for his character introduction scene in episode 1.

Ichigo Milk has been inviting Naomi to join them, but Naomi refuses due to Itokan. She wants to take care what's left by her brother.

Naomi can actually beat dudes.

Murayama keeps the strawberry bag from Oshiage and he uses it as a pillow.

Ice gave Sarah a teddy bear (and a necklace).

Ice can cook and according to Mighty Warriors' member, Ice's curry tasted like seafood when he uses zero seafood ingredients. Apparently, it matched the actor's fun fact: Elly's curry always tasted like he put seafood in it even when he's not.

There was once, Seki dressed up in sailor uniform for karaoke. Of course, they sing girl idols' songs.

Toutetsu brothers cook for Hyuga, but he sleeps almost all day long, so Katou needs to wake him up just to eat.

Ukyou cooks better than Sakyou.

Ukyou needs to separate Daruma's income into envelopes and hide them because if not, Hyuga would splurge the income into zero. Hyuga can't manage money.

Lala reads books for the kids in Mumeigai, and they literally have reading time with Lala.

Furuya has truck driver's license.

Murayama durability is top notch and it resemble his given name which is Yoshiki. His full name written like this 村山良樹 and Yoshiki (良樹) is consist of characters that mean good or skilled, and trees or wood. He's a skilled trees or wood, or whatever but that clearly means that his durability is on another level. That's why he could bear the 100 punches challenge and still fight back after that.

Hiroto and Smoky loves cat.

Murayama talked to a cat. (He's cat, but also puppy; whatever he's cute).

Murayama introduced Todoroki to Cobra in person.

Murayama has 4 vans' shoes and a pair of converse. (Haven't count how many jackets he has though, might count it when I rewatch).

At least, Tsukumo has been hit by the car twice. He should avoid getting near cars. No cars near him, please.

White Rascals' outfit are all white and it's hard to keep it clean. The visual line (Shimura, Bito, Aizawa, and Enari) has a hard time because they spend so much money for laundry and cleaning. Little did they know, Rocky actually could paid 80% of their cleaning cost. But Rocky didn't say it to them because he knows that they would be worried about how to pay Rocky back. (Rocky is so sweet). Probably the only guys that use this privilege only Koo and Kaito.

Rocky paid 100% of the girls' laundry and cleaning cost (including Kizzy).

Rocky's surname, Mutsugi, is actually a word play. It's written as 六ツ木 in Japanese. Which the character 六 can be read as mutsu (mu for short) or roku (ro for short) and it means six; ツ is a katakana for tsu and in hiragana it's written like this つ. When tsu is written small in between characters (it's called sokuon) like っ/ッ it purposes is to geminate the next character; and 木 is ki and it means tree. If we put them together and make the tsu as sokuon, we'll get 六ッ木 which read as ろっき in hiragana and ロッキ in katakana (both are rokki) we got his name, Rocky (ロッキー).

Source: rewatching the series and the movies over and over again so I can get into the useful but also useless facts, and the g-sword manga by CLAMP. If you want to read HiGH&LOW g-sword manga by CLAMP you can read HERE for English translation or DI SINI untuk translasi Bahasa Indonesia. Note: Might add more if I find or remember more. Also, I'm sorry there's too much Cobra, can't help though, I love him a little bit too much.

MORE OF IT

[shihalyfie]

I've alluded to tri. having some very troubled production behind the scenes, and among everything that apparently went on back there, there seem to have been at least two major bottlenecks: 1) the fact that the director (who, based on his own statements about deliberately not consulting source material, most likely didn't even watch Adventure to begin with) kept asking everyone to make things more "mature" without being clear on what that actually meant, and 2) the fact they ran out of budget and had to rewrite the entire plot halfway into it. Even the most brilliant of creators probably wouldn't be able to work at their best under such conditions.

But conversely, this also means that there were some excellent people involved in production whose efforts probably haven't been as appreciated as they should be! So I want to take a moment to spotlight some people I want to give props to:

Ayana Yuniko and Nakanishi Yasuhiro: These two scriptwriters were childhood Digimon fans who were thrilled to be on the project, and their enthusiasm clearly shows in every interview they were in. Ayana even made keen observations like noticing that the Adventure kids aren't as super-tight as people tend to make them out to be (something I've pointed out myself, and something that generally only tends to crop up among fans who have studied the series closely), and Nakanishi stated that she would slip him detailed notes about the characters and their relationships.

Both of them stated they were trying to portray the Adventure characters in a character-accurate way but kept getting their scripts rejected for not being "mature" enough, leaving them unsure about what they were supposed to do. Their roles on the series were also limited; Ayana was on parts 1, 2, and 4 while Nakanishi was on part 4 only, and they were sharing the scriptwriter role with multiple others (even within a single movie). But if I were asked to pick who on the staff list I would want to see come back for another Digimon work, it would absolutely be these two.

Kakikara Yuuko: The one in charge of overall writing for the series. tri. had a total of five scriptwriters and could have up to four(!) on a given movie, so because of that, her statements on the series and its story direction have been a bit difficult to tell whether it was her idea personally or whether she was delivering the writing room's discussion result. But one of her final statements on the series basically amounted to "I'm grateful if you even came to watch it to the end at all," and she was quite humble about saying she felt things could have been done differently; considering it sounds like she had a hard time keeping everyone and everything in order, I can only imagine she went through a lot trying to make sure everything ended safely. Incidentally, her writing portfolio is also quite respectable (and even includes kids' shows).

Suzuki Takaaki: The person with the job of "setting researcher", i.e. the one with the job of looking into the lore. Sadly, it seems like most of his ideas didn't make it into the final series (possibly because of the budget loss-induced rewrite), but his one solo interview indicates that he put quite a bit of conscientious thought into how Digital World lore works, including the idea of an EMP weapon that would affect Digimon easily but not humans (an idea that doesn't pop up among fans as often as you'd think, and took up until last year to make it into actual Adventure material via Takeru's 02TB in-universe fanfic).

Sakabe Gou: The person in charge of the series BGM. We haven't heard a lot from him, but the little we have indicates that although he also had difficulty understanding what the director was asking for when he wanted "mature" music of some kind, he himself put some very thorough thought put into the composition. In particular, he went into detail regarding the music used at the beginning of part 4, which seems to be a fan-favorite track from what I've seen (it's also my favorite too!). Sakabe also has an extensive and respectable portfolio outside Digimon; in particular, he's very highly regarded in Kamen Rider circles, so if you have a friend who's a fan, it might be a good idea to ask them about it!

[ran-orimoto]

Who would the Frontier kids meet and hang with from other series?

Since yesterday it was Odaiba day, I will finally reply to an ask from this Anon, whose identity I know because @teclajellymon isn’t skilled at hiding secrets lmaoooooo. She wanted to only ask about Izumi and Junpei but she had to act like a chameleon, you know ahahahha.

Happy Odaiba ( in late *flops* ) !!!

• Takuya: I mean, you’d think a googlehead should be placed by the side of another one. And I do understand that, the official did the same as well, but can I change the rules a bit? I want to see Takuya and Sora interacting, because Sora reminds me of Rin from Yes!5 and Rin from Yes!5 is voiced by the same woman voicing Takuya, who also said she wished Takuya was a girl like Ri-

OK. I just think they’d share they football passion together and it would be cute? Besides the fact aesthetically they would look really pleasant together, they both also are fire themed. I’d like to see them playing together and if Taichi wants to join, why couldn’t he?

Still, among the googleheads, I think the one I would like to see interacting with Takuya is Marcus…? I want them to kill each other, yes?

Kouji: He’s kinda easy, because I really like that Cd cover where he stared at Yamato playing his harmonica, dreamy eyed. I know it’s kinda lame Kouji is being put with a loner wolf, so I’m taking a safe route, but I honestly can’t get rid of that image printed in my head. Hmmm someone else, someone else, idk. Help. Maybe he could meet Takeru? If he met Yamato, he would meet Takeru as well and Takeru has got a Patamon. Since Kouji was often seen getting Patamon’s attention in the original season, Takeru’s would bring him memories.

• Izumi: Of course, when it comes to your favs you have got ton of ideas. Ton. Let’s say I will write a little bonus down here for Junpei and Izumi, so, for now, I’ll just temporise ahhahah. Many pair Izumi with Miyako, but I would honestly be curious to see how a meeting between Ruki and Izumi would play. Once a friend of mine drew Izumi and Ruki collaborating in modelling together (Ruki was the photographer, Izumi was the model of the photoshoot), but I want to picture them together more because Seki Producer liked saying Izumi “is actually more similar to Ruki than Mimi”. How? At what extent? What did you mean, SekiP? We will never know imo, but maybe if Ruki and Izumi got to know each other…

• Junpei: OF COURSE, same identical tale as old as time like when it comes to Izumi. So many ideas for my boy, I’d make him even meet Taichi and I think they’d go along. During my Adventure 01 “rewatch”, I truly found myself spotting a piece of Junpei in so many characters ahaha. Taichi has got a scene in which he drives some kind of crane in a factory and Frontier’s episode 5, the one in which Junpei drives one as well, blatantly is a homage to that. Needless to say, Junpei has also got something in common with Jyou, whom he met in an official comic (during which Junpei doesn’t miss the chance to compliment Izumi in front of strangers and in her absence lmaoooo); moreover, in the first Frontier ending, Junpei reading his homework on the stairs is another clear homage to 01, to a scene focusing on Jyou, though I can’t recall which episode it was and I apologize.

Still, and I’ve already said it, I ABSOLUTELY want Junpei to meet Ruri. I want him to become envious of her little detective life and bugging her by sticking his nose in whatever digital mystery she’s on. The Great Detective Shibayama meets the fantastic Ririrun! I need to draw them *wants to explode*. Maybe Junpei could affect Ruri with his fantasies about owning a series, who knows.

Junpei would also so funny with Miyako, I swear. The 02 x Frontier pic did place them in a mirroring position and I just adore it lol. They can eat together while talking about their crush, even if Miyako does yell much more than Junpei lmao. Bingo. I think Junpei would admire her technological skills and would evolve in Bolgmon to gain maths intelligence lmao x 2.

• Tomoki: I have played the Takeru card and I don’t really care? Because I want Tonoki to join the Tamers younger kids for once, though we know nothing about Ai and Mako, and unfortunately about Shaochung as well. But ehy, we can come up with headcanons and make these babies have fun. If Impmon acts as a bully like usual, Tomoki will have someone to deal with, though…

• Kouichi: He doesn’t give me any problem like his twin (good boy, Kouichi). Thanks to some people from this fandom, I have jumped on the boat of Kouichi and Hikari, not necessarily on a shipping level. I can see it. I can see Juri boarding as well, but Juri is way too hyperactive to Kouichi’s tastes imo. Hikari is a bit quieter and more considerate. He would put him at ease just like his twin does www.

• Bonus: Koumi x Junzumi

And here I can say : aren’t shippings ending with umi so beautiful at this point ?

Talking again about my 01 rewatch, I can confirm to myself early Mimi does remind me of Junpei a lot, which is a sacrilege but, ehm, seriously…???? I don’t blame some dude playing in their stories about Junpei being a Jyoumi son, because he’s really a mix of them. People usually like connecting Junpei with Koushiro (and I do too lol) because of the electric/thunder bug theme, but I also adore creating scenarios for Junpei and Mimi ahahah, two spoiled kids coming from rich families always complaining about needing to eat, sleep, getting disgusted so easily….Two needles stuck up your butt, speaking bluntly ahahha.

I have got a lot of ideas about Junzumi x Koumi . In my hcs Izumi will open a restaurant someday and I do believe Mimi would love visiting it. Then, she would invite Izumi to her cooking tv show and Junpei would stop underlining how wife is much better than this Mimi Tachikawa who has come from who knows where. Do you know my wife won two contests, is Gambero Rosso’s favourite guest, her restaurant received compliments from both Terramadre and Slowfood-

Junpei, shut up and let the girls play.

[bagerfluff]

Angel

Older Takaishi Takeru x Male Reader

Day 2 - Prompt - 30 Prompt Challenge - Pet names

“Hey Takeru!”

You yelled from under the umbrella.

Takeru caught the volleyball that was over his head and turned his head towards you. “Yeah!” Takeru yelled back, much to the dismay of Daisuke who wished Takeru had just walked away instead of stopping the game.

“Where'd you put the sunscreen!” You yelled back, hand still digging through the bag. “It’s on the side!” Takeru yelled back, “Thank you!” You said before walking away from the back with sunscreen in your hand.

“You’re welcome Y/n!” Takeru yelled before serving the ball over the net. “Finally”, Daisuke said, hitting the ball. “I was dying of boredom” “you were not”, Ken said after Daisuke’s incorrect statement.

Daisuke rolled his eyes before going back to the game. Meanwhile you were sitting next to Hikari and Miyako watching the other guys play.

“You know”, Hikari said, getting both yours and Miyako’s attention. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you call Takeru a pet name and vice versa”, Hikari said.

“You’re right!” Miyako said.

Leaning up from her suntanning to sit in front of you and Hikari. “You never do, why?” Miyako said. Your brows furrowed, you and Takeru never did now that you think about it.

No nicknames, no pet names.

Just your actual names.

“I don’t know, I don’t really mind and neither does Takeru”, you said. “But why?” Miyako said again, “There’s nothing better than being called a cute name by the one you love”, Miyako said with a dreamy look on her face.

Miyako started to talk to Hikari while you just looked over at Takeru. He was playing volleyball with Ken, Daisuke and Lori. While it was a one off statement from Hikari and a question from Miyako you couldn’t shake the thought.

Why don’t you and Takeru use pet names or nicknames?

It never popped into your brain too, Takeru had a name and you liked it. You saw no reason to change it or shorten it. Something other people in the friend group do.

Daisuke calls Takeru ‘TK’ because he says he can’t bother himself to say Takeru’s full name and that stuck. Other people call Takeru TK, just not you.

Takeru doesn’t call you nick or pet names either. He’s never, not even once. You didn’t get your nickname n/n from Takeru, it was from a childhood friend that your friends use now.

Another thought ran through your brain, if you were going to use a pet name, which one would you use? Which one fits Takeru? You tried to think about one when you noticed Takeru sitting under yours and his umbrella.

You stood up and walked over to him to sit next to him. “Hey Y/n”, Takeru said while wiping the sweat off his face. You nodded, focusing on Takeru.

His hair was slightly sticking to his forehead, until Takeru dyed his hair with the towel. Sweat was dripping down his chest and neck, his skin was redder than normal.

You tried to think of something that could be used to describe Takeru. You did typical pet names first. Honey? No. Sweetie? Maybe. Handsome?

No, just no. None of them seemed to fit. “You good Y/n?” Takeru asked, putting the towel down and looking at you. This is when you realized something.

Takeru looked like an angel.

The sun was bright and it wasn’t really shining behind Takeru but it still looked perfect. It was high lighting Takeru’s face with a nice glow. Making Takeru look like he was the sun.

His hair was fluffy, the same way he looks after an hour or two out of the shower. It looked so soft. His eyes too, his light blue eyes that looked like the sky.

It was like looking at diamonds when you looked at Takeru’s eyes. You could almost imagen angel wings behind Takeru as you stared at him. Takeru also acted like an angel.

He was sweet, caring, kind, yet powerful and always defended the innocent and stopped evil. Takeru was an angel. “Everything alright Y/n?”

Takeru asked, now fully turned towards you with a look of worry on his face. You turned to face him as well. Now that you could see Takeru from a front view it was even more obvious.

Takeru was an angel, your angel.

“Yeah, I’m fine”, you leaned forward and kissed Takeru. “Angel”, you said when you pulled away, breath ghosting over Takeru’s lips. Takeru blushed, face and ears getting red.

“W-what”, Takeru stuttered. “Where did that come from?” Takeru asked. You smiled, Takeru’s face and ears were red, it was adorable. “I like it, you’re an angel”, you leaned forward and whispered in Takeru’s ear.

“My angel”, you said.

Takeru stuttered out something unintelligible before shoving you away. “Stop”, Takeru mumbled out, turning his head away from you. It did nothing to hide the blush on his face.

“You like it too, don’t you, angel?” Takeru turned to glare at you, just to see that you had a smirk on your face. Takeru’s face was really red, and he couldn’t deny what you were saying.

Takeru did like it, it made his heart beat faster and butterflies swarm in his stomach. Takeru felt a little giddy hearing you calling him an angel. He wanted to hear it again.

“Right? Angel?” You said again, at this point you just liked the look on Takeru’s face every time you called him that. The blush got red and spread too, it was really cute.

“Stop”, Takeru whined out, leaning forward and burying his face in your chest. “But, where did this come from?” Takeru asked, tilting his head up to look at you.

You smiled and leaned back, wrapping one of your arms around Takeru’s waist. “Hikari mentioned that we don’t use pet names, Miyako asked me why and I couldn’t really think of a reason. So I wanted to find one that I thought would fit you”, you explained.

Takeru nodded, wrapping his arms around your chest. “Now I have to find one”, Takeru said. You let out a laugh, “sure, angel”, you said. Takeru blushed and buried his face in your chest again. You smiled and kissed Takeru’s head. You’d have to thank Hikari and Miyako.

Your angel looks so cute when he blushes this much.

[curedigiqueen]

Why I think Ryo is the Ken of Survive.

Obviously, all the Survive kids are meant to reflect one of the 8 original Adventure kids. However, the characters aren't completely one to one, as each of the characters are in fact, unique characters in their own right. (Most evident I think is in the fact I'd assign basically every character except for Miyuki a different crest from their adventure counterpart). But they do echo the basic archetype of the role each adventure character played in the series. For the most part this is self explanatory, some more than others.

Takuma is Taichi Minoru is Koshiro (Less obvious but that's a separate point) Aoi is Sora Shuuji is Joe Saki is Mimi Kaito is Yamato Miu is Takeru Miyuki is Hikari

However, Survive has 10 important human/digimon partnerships.

The sole adult of the group, the professor, even bares some resemblance to a rather important "old man" of adventure, Gennai. An old man who knows a lot of their situation, was involved in the "inciting incident" looks after the kids to a certain extent, but is rather unreliable and has amnesia regarding some very important things he should know. Of course original Gennai isn't even really human, and therefore doesn't have a digimon partner, (Jijimon also takes on some Gennai traits imo) but Akiharu I would still say parallels Gennai.

However, Ryo doesn't match any of the original adventure cast. But I think it is fair to say he resembles Ken. Ryo has a worm digimon. Ryo has a family member whose death deeply affected him. Ryo is grumpy and aggressive, while hiding a secretly gentler and hurting side. Ryo is self-destructive, at the cost of his partner.

Ryo can't be Adventure Ken really, because Adventure Ken doesn't really exist. But Ken isn't exactly an 02 kid in the way Daisuke, Iori and Miyako are. A reoccurring theme in 02 is the difference in outlook between the Adventure kids, the Adventure and 02 kids, and the 02 exclusive kids. And so Ken is in no way one of the original Adventure kids, but there is something to be said of the fact that his (executive meddling hellscape) backstory reflects experiences of Takeru, Hikari, more than it does the other 02 original kids. He even has an associated crest. In many ways, Ken is a retroactive Adventure character, without actually being an Adventure character. Ken in the context of digimon Adventure 02 is very much so an example if a character like Takeru had been driven to the darkness, who then had to be rehabilitated by a set of characters with an outside perspective. Really that is what all of 02s Jogresses is really, the new kids helping the more experienced kids deal with their unprocessed issues. Miyako helps Hikari look out for herself, Iori helps Takeru stop lashing out in anger from keeping his emotions hidden, and Daisuke helps Ken see value in his own continued existence.

Which is why I think Ryo is a homage to Ken. It's not the "Adventure Ken" that theoretically exists, the little boy wondering around the digital world with Wonderswan Ryo or whatever did or did not happen in that unreliable backstory, but 02 Ken, the Ken after the trauma, who needs SOMEONE to connect with him to help save him. He's the sole character who is taken from 02 era rather than the first Adventure era. And 02's themes are in this character. Ryo dies in part due to hopelessness and depression. He is unsavable the first playthrough. Unsavable in the initial adventure context. The original context where the focus is on survival and connection with your own digimon. Wormmon couldn't Save Ken alone. just as Kunemon couldn't. Both Wormmon and Kunemon die in desperate attempts to try and save their partners (really from themselves). But Ryo is saved from death when you can manage to become friends with him. When you connect with him, not unlike how Daisuke managed to save Ken. And from there, Ryo manages to save other people (Shuuji) from falling into that same despair, not unlike how Ken tried to reach out to the dark spore kids. It's noteworthy that of the 3 initial endings, the moral route is the closest to the truthful route, but aside from Ryo and Shuuji has one key difference. It ends like the original Adventure did, the kids and their partners separating, while the truthful route has the kids and their partners living together, invoking the 02 ending. While the Harmony and Wrathful routes do also bear a resemblance to 02's ending, just relatively less optimistically, Harmony and Wrathful routes involve the failings of personal connections. The failure to understand each other. Ultimately the truthful route resolves peacefully, even the big bad reconciling with his sister, no longer feeling the need to lash out at others. Ryo is the factor that takes this adventure and adds a bit of 02 to it, 02 in this context being the importance of connection. 02 being what makes the happy ending.

It's not a 1 to 1, after all, all of the characters are different from their adventure counterpart, and take pieces from one another. For example, its Minoru that has the parental divorce backstory, and Miyuki is a protective older sister to the professor, not a younger sister to Takuma, and the Professor is the most curious about the digital world's nature, and is the one with the digimon partner Gabumon. Saki is the one hesitating the most about going home at all rather than being the one to bring it up the most. I'd say Ryo also has elements of Joe in his fear of his partner and for being an unreliable older kid, and Shuuji has elements of Ken in his cruelty of Lopmon, and insistence on authority and desire to measure up against an older brother with whom he has a flawed relationship. Really none of these kids match up one to one with the adventure kids, and that's great, but I think it is fair to say that as far as analogies go, Ryo does draw from Ken.

02 is an extension of Adventure, and despite their differences in plot, theme and character arcs, no discussion of Adventure will ever be truly complete without discussing certain elements of 02 in relation to that, particularly 02s epilogue and what it means thematically. Ryo is a reflection of Ken, and how his story and needs were a reflection of the themes of 02, and how those themes were built off of the themes of Adventure. How Ken needed something that was not as prevalent in Adventure. Naturally, I think the "truthful" story of survive, would have to be a route that includes elements of 02 no matter how faithful it is to other Adventure themes otherwise.

[seventeenlovesthree]

@izumikoushiroweek: Day 2 - What are your Koushirou headcanons?

I probably have way too many headcanons for him to count, so I thought I'd be talking about 12, relating to each of the other Chosen Children and his Digimon partner.

Tentomon: As implied in this art, Tentomon has to remind Koushirou to not only use his PC set-up for work at times, but to get in touch with the outside world as well, including calling his parents. They maintain having a very loving bond and Koushirou actually enjoys talking to his family, even if he has that tendency to get lost in Chosen Children duty, thus pulling way too many allnighters in his office. Tentomon helps practicing to "talk about feelings" and such and since he was always integrated in almost all of Koushirou's activities as emotional support or "personal assistant" (aside from occasionally getting back into the server realm or Digital World to "recharge"), their bond has never vanished. (Practicing also includes hugs. Tentomon loves them dearly. Koushirou does too.)

Taichi: I probably have a million different headcanons when it comes to their bond, but I think one of the things I am particularly fond of is the idea that Taichi easily picked up on Koushirou's quirks and habits over the years - and that's why he notices stuff others don't realize that quickly. He is very particular about what exact brands of oolong tea Koushirou likes, that he cannot stand coffee or doesn't take alcohol very well. They also have tons of insiders and catchphrases other people just give them weird looks over. They're basically on each other's speed dial, especially considering they're working together as adults. And, last but not least, I think Taichi would be the very first human friend who learns about Koushirou's adoption history, being incredibly supportive about it. (One time, Yuuko probably said something along the lines of "If I could, I would already have adopted Koushirou-kun into our family" and Taichi almost flipped because of the wording, but Koushirou told him it was fine, since he knew she meant it well. They both get along with each other's moms very well by the way.)

Yamato: After they returned from the Digital World for the first time, Yamato actually fulfilled his (PSP game only) promise and showed Koushirou how to cook a few easy recipes (besides how to boil the perfect egg). While Koushirou will probably never be a master cook and prefers stuff that is easy to make/get and eat - and while working -, food is actually something they occasionally bond over. They may not be as passionate about it as Mimi and Daisuke, but they'd absolutely surprise the others with their very own curry creations.

Sora: I've probably mentioned this a million times already, but in my mind, they're destined to become "fashion (and texting) buddies". Takeru - as well as Mimi or Miyako - may be a hundred times more comfortable in being experimental, but these two definitely have to figure themselves out first and foremost, breaking some gender stereotypes in the meantime and would 100% be there for each other (while moping and bonding over Taichi's and Yamato's antics). Let Sora help Koushirou to find his own personal wardrobe while he would support her in getting her designs going digitally - once the time is right.

Mimi: Since Mimi slowly but steadily becomes more acquainted with technology through the years, it shouldn't be surprising that they're becoming "calling buddies". Mimi always preferred calling over typing and since Koushirou is helping her to set up her online business, they also end up chatting for hours without end about literally everything - and they absolutely suck at ending their calls. Mimi keeps telling Koushirou to rest, but she's terrible at just saying "Bye then!". Time zone differences make this even more of an issue and it often happens that one of them just falls asleep while the other rambles.

Jyou: Gomamon and Tentomon forced them to become "coffee shop buddies". I'm not kidding. They were so fed up with them burying themselves in uni/regular work that they ended up making them have "Go outside for a change, let's grab something to eat!!!" meetings once a month (at minimum, since Gomamon was done with cooking and wanted to get treats too and Tentomon loved the idea; occasionally they pull Sora and/or Taichi with them too). Since Jyou never felt intimidated by Koushirou's intellect but knows his struggles with "keeping his mental health together", they have an easy time blowing off some steam.

Takeru: Koushirou and Takeru actually grew closer with each other during "transition years" between middle and high school. With Taichi, Yamato and Sora facing high school entrance exams and eventually leaving middle school, Koushirou was more likely to spend time after school with "the 02 squad" for a while (and the two of them and Hikari would definitely have study sessions together at this point in time). Takeru is also among those who's more skilled with computers, which is why he's easily third admin of the Chosen Children network (with Miyako being second), but also likes to ask Koushirou for advice - who happily rambles along (and they're also "meme buddies", sending each other random stuff in the middle of the night they came across and thought the other would find interesting). Takeru will also be among the first who gets to hear about his adoption history in more detail and he'll absolutely feel more attached to Koushirou because of it.

Hikari: Aside from me being convinced that he is archiving all the photos she's been taking in the Digital World for years (while also helping her to set up her own digital photobooks), one of my favourite headcanons is that Hikari's the main reason why Koushirou turned out to be "a cat person"; he has been around the Yagami residence way too many times in his life and probably thought he couldn't really "get along" with cats in general. But Miko, after having been reluctant at first, warmed up to him rather quickly after Hikari kept her around in the same room as them. So the cat would just end up resting next to him while he was typing away on his laptop. (Sometimes he watches Tentomon curling into a ball when falling asleep next to him and Koushirou cannot help but feel reminded of a cat as well and he finds it adorable.)

Daisuke: Despite Ken being the closest person to him overall, Daisuke has had a hard time talking to Koushirou for YEARS, still having a tendency of wanting to appear extra smart in front of him. It was a lot easier when Taichi, Ken or Mimi were around, he could talk normally then, but even worse when Takeru was there too, because he felt double-intimidated. Koushirou noted that behaviour, didn't get it though, so Taichi had to explain it to him in a sense of "Imagine being the new kid in football club that thinks he can't kick a ball if the ace striker is watching him", to which Koushirou just nodded. They absolutely met for a football match a few days later - and that's how Koushirou ended up in goal, Daisuke, who scored numerous goals against him, started to act a lot less tense afterwards.

Ken: Imagining a scenario in which Menoa gets redeemed (and maybe after they find a way to get their partners back), I could see Koushirou and Ken being very keen to make her realize that she should also rather invest her intellect in improving the infrastructure between the worlds instead of harbouring feelings of vengeance and bitterness... They're all smart muffins with bug babies after all. (And Koushirou would definitely be interested in figuring out why both Ken and Menoa were so prone to "getting corrupted" while he himself was mostly spared... They're not exactly prone to trauma dumping, Ken in particular struggles with it a lot, but that's another case of "once he knows Koushirou's back story, it gets easier to open up.")

Miyako: Miyako pretends that she's bothered by Chosen Children Network duty a lot, and it maaaay be a bit bothersome at times, but the truth is that she felt intimidated by all the effort Koushirou put into it. Aside from Iori, she always looked up to him as senpai the most and didn't want to appear incapable in comparison. If Koushirou didn't know he could entrust it to her, he would have given it to Takeru first, but despite her spunky, sometimes unpredictable nature, he trusted in her judgement and communicative skills from the start without a doubt.

Iori: By the start of his uni life, Iori really values the privacy of Koushirou's office to use it as study space - especially because he's getting resources there for law school he wouldn't easily get access to without spending horrendous amounts of money. And because they just enjoy each other's company, being a lot more grounded than the rest of their friends. Just like in middle school, they end up having study sessions, often joined by Takeru, but also occasionally by Ken, going through several of their study subjects - sometimes they even go for outside activities (because Koushirou is most likely not used to those anymore and needs to keep up on physical training too - when they get the opportunity, they take Jyou with them too).

[daidonzo]

Just a little rush, babe, to feel dizzy

part 1 │ part 2 │ part 3

'Hatter took away my bed.'

'He did what?'

'He just told me to tell Mori-chan he's welcome, who the fuck is that guy?'

You were fuming. At first, Aguni had found it almost funny, to see you pacing up and down the corridor followed by a soft-speaking Kuina that was undoubtedly trying to calm you down. Your arms were raised and wide open, you were screaming and cussing and hissing, hair messy, all over your face. It suited you, somehow, to be so passionate.

But that was until he had learned the reason why you were angry.

Takeru, I'm going to murder you, Aguni thought to himself. He felt his own skull throbbing, pounding, the pressure of sudden anger threatening to pop his eyes out of his head. He took some long, slow breaths, feeling the sudden emotion slowly subsiding, being relegated to a low, faint, pulsing sensation somewhere in his chest.

'That's me.' Aguni muttered, unclenching his jaw.

You stared at him, coming to a halt so suddenly Kuina almost crashed into you.

'What's you?'

'Mori-chan.'

'Can you explain to me why the hell would Hatter take away my bed for you?' 

Kuina looked to her right, then to her left, as if she was searching for a way out. 'I think I can hear Chishiya calling...' It was a lie, of course. But you were not paying attention to your friend any longer, your big, slanted eyes focused only on Aguni. Shooting daggers at him. She used that excuse to run away, leaving the two of you to stand in the corridor, facing each other.

You had your arms crossed firmly over your chest, your expression tight, your skin pale from the tension.

'Hatter and I... We are friends.'

'You're friends? I thought you despised one another.'

'That's just... Look, can we speak somewhere else?'

'No.'

Aguni sighed. You were so difficult at times, and yet he could not keep himself away from you. He very much preferred when your annoyance was not directed at him. He hoped, that, by explaining, he could at least get on your good side.

'He and I were friends back in the real world, we have been since we were kids. We came here together, and... Long story short, he decided to create The Beach to try and give hope to those who had fallen into despair. We pretend not to get along because it is becoming increasingly hard to control Niragi and the others, and it is a way for him to put me and by extension, them, in place. Establish dominance.' He paused, waiting for a group of people to pass out of earshot. 'I didn't ask him to do this. I swear.'

He was avoiding your inquisitive eyes, instead looking down at his shoes but he could almost hear your eyebrows being raised. You took a few seconds to answer, thinking carefully about the information you just received.

'I have never heard you say that many words. Fair enough, I believe you.' You declared, but Aguni knew this was not over. You always had more questions, no matter the topic. 'Why does he want us to sleep together?'

'I don't think that was his intention...'

'He took my bed.'

'Well... we met yesterday and I might have told him...'

'Yes?'

'He asked about you. I might have told him I liked you.'

───⋆☆─────────────

'Mori-chan! Long time no see!'

Takeru gave his friend a big bear hug, Aguni corresponding by awkwardly patting his back.

'We never meet anymore. You could at least pretend to be happy to see me.' 

Aguni was happy to see him. But you had just passed by his room to nonchalantly ask if he wanted to grab something to eat with you, pouting adorably when he had said he couldn't, an actual spark of disappointment in your eyes, blowing him a kiss before you left. And part of him was still stuck in that moment.

'I'm sorry, Takeru. I have been busy.'

'Oh, I know.' The man let himself dramatically fall on the couch, serving some amber-colored liquor in two glasses and indicating his friend with a head nod to sit, as well. 'I've heard there is a new person in your life.'

'Not really.' Aguni shrugged, shifting uncomfortably, grabbing his glass and finishing it in one long gulp. You were his secret. A shouted one, but a secret, nonetheless. Takeru lived in this room, hardly ever coming out unless it was to give his little speeches or to choose which was the next girl, or boy, to join him in his bed. They never lasted long.

He couldn't have heard of you, could he?

'Ah, no? So you don't know anyone who smiles like this?' His lips stretched into a lopsided smile, much like your own. 'A fiery woman, that one. They are starting to call her Aguni's girl.'

'Who does?'

'Ah, but my friend...' Takeru leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. 'You're not asking the right questions! And honestly, I don't know why I would even answer, I'm offended you didn't tell me first you were falling for someone.' He pressed a hand to his chest, right where his heart was, grimacing, as if it really, really hurt him.

'I'm not falling for her.'

'Oh, of course not! You've already fallen! I can see it all over your face.' Takeru pointed at him, making circles with his index finger. Had he always been this exuberant or had it only gotten worse with time?

Aguni closed his mouth, tensing his muscles, teeth grinding, nostrils flaring. He did not like how this situation was going.

'So... Have you already kissed?' Takeru asked. He, like you, never gave up when there was something he wanted to know. 'Have you already...' He lowered his voice, and giggled theatrically, covering his mouth with his hand. '...you know, sealed the deal? Had sex?'

'No.'

'How come?'

'I... haven't said anything to her about my feelings.' Aguni ended up confessing. It was stupid, trying to hide anything from Takeru. He wouldn't have it. And the sooner they talked about this, the sooner they could move on to other topics.

'Why?' Takeru's mouth was in the shape of a perfect o.

'There hasn't been time?'

'Oh, Mori!' Takeru run his fingers through his hair, shaking his head and clicking his tongue, obviously disappointed. 'And when are you going to tell her? When she dies in a game? When you die in a game? We could die at any moment, what's the point in waiting?'

Aguni didn't answer. He poured himself another drink, without asking, much more generous this time, and once again, he swallowed the contents of the glass at once. 'I really don't see the point in speaking about this.'

'Okay, can I at least tell you she's pretty? Praise your taste in women?'

'Takeru...'

'Fine. Let's talk about something boring, then.' He rolled his eyes until only white was showing. 'How are the militants doing?'

───⋆☆─────────────

'Did you just say that you like me?'

'I do.'

'And why didn't you tell me?'

You were not mad now, that much was obvious. But Aguni had trouble pinpointing exactly what it was that you were feeling. You were chewing on your lower lip, contemplative, making him think he wouldn't mind having a small bite either. 

'I... don't know?'

Why were you asking him this? Did you feel the same way? Did you not?

Why did you have to be so hard to read?

You scoffed. 'Please, Mori-chan, don't give me so much information at once. I might not be able to handle it.' You grinned immediately after, rubbing your chin. Aguni was almost afraid to ask what you were thinking about. 'How did he know I would go to sleep in your room?'

'Hm?'

'Yeah, how did Hatter know I wouldn't go sleep with Kuina, or Chishiya, or someone else?'

'Ah... I don't know.' Just the thought of you sleeping with another person was unpleasant.

'I guess it doesn't matter since I was going to ask you, either way. Although I kind of don't want to now, if only to spite that little man. Care to walk me to my new resting place?' And without waiting for a response, you grabbed Aguni's arm, staring at him with those eyes of yours.

He nodded, and started walking, head straight. He, however, also kept stealing side glances at you. He had just confessed his feelings, and he didn't know how to interpret your reaction. Maybe, you also didn't know how to feel. You were distractedly humming some unknown song, seemingly still lost in thought.

When you finally arrived, you opened the door and entered without any ceremony. You had never actually been inside of Aguni's room, but you had waited by it many mornings, afternoons and nights.

'My bedroom was like the broom's closet compared to this.' You whistled, pleasantly surprised. You gazed at the man. 'If you wanted me to immediately believe you were close with Hatter, you only needed to show me this.'

It was a suite, one of the biggest and nicest from the resort. Aguni didn't particularly care for it, but he had to admit that it was comfortable, spacious and well-decorated, and that he liked how impressed it made you.

'Is this the best room this hotel has to offer?'

'No, Takeru... Hatter, has the biggest. He's next door.'

The room could only keep you entertained so much, because after snooping around for a bit and opening a few drawers, your eyes were back on him. 'This liking me thing. When did it start?'

You were standing near, getting close without him even noticing, which was a thing you knew how to do that he had yet to discover the trick to. He could smell your hair, he could see the beauty spots on your jawline, on your long neck, on your chest.

'I liked you from the beginning.' If he didn't lie to Takeru, why would he lie to you?

'Is it a 'I want to have sex with you' kind of thing or is it a 'I actually have feelings for you' thing?'

'Eh... The second.'

'Cool. We are on the same page, then.'

'What do you mean?'

'I like you as well.'

Aguni worked his lips, as if trying to find the right words. 

But he discovered there were better things to do with them, when you lifted your head and pressed your mouth against his, one of your hands sliding round the back of his neck, the other wrapping the fabric of his t-shirt in a fist, bringing him closer to you, until there was nothing, not even air, between your bodies. A soft grunt was already forming in your throat.

He took a second to react, but then he was kissing back, with the same intensity if not more, catching his breath. His face sideways on to yours, locked together. One of his hands working through your hair, the other already travelling down your back.

───⋆☆─────────────

Your head was resting on Aguni's chest, your fingers drawing shapes lazily on his skin.

He was playing with a strand of your hair, bewitched, stamping every detail of your face into his mind. Including your half grin when you caught him staring at you.

'Like what you see?' You purred, moving your face closer to his, so that your lips brushed his when you spoke.

'I do.' 

'Hm? Ready to go a second time, tiger?'

'With you? And a third, and a fourth...'

'Uh oh. Poor Hatter. Wasn't he next door? We are not going to let him sleep.' Your voice was full of pity, but your eyes told a different story. There was something playful in them.

'I don't care. Damn him, he deserves it. He was right, and I will have to thank him. But he deserves it...'

Aguni's words trailed off, you already biting, and kissing, and sucking on his neck, chuckling while doing it.

He grabbed your hips, putting you on top him, ready to get lost in you once more.

[hyugaruma]

Re: Who's the strongest among the HiLO characters: Amamiya Takeru is definitely one of the strongest if not the strongest character within the franchise. Remember how Tatsuya told the Sannoh kids that even though Hiroto and Masaki are strong that Takeru is fighting on a whole other level. Meanwhile, Masaki and Kohaku are more or less a draw, while Hiroto and Cobra (and Yamato) are also a draw (though I do think that Hiroto is stronger than them). Hiroto and Ice are pretty much also a draw for that matter.

Going by The Live and the fight they had, Ryu is on equal footing with Genji (but only because Ryu uses a sword, while Genji is a terminator even without a weapon). Meanwhile it takes both Amamiya bros to beat Genji, while Kohaku and Genji are kinda a draw I guess (which is actually insane if you think about the fighting power).

Rocky is stronger than Ranmaru, but somehow weaker than Jesse, though that could've been because Jesse caught Rocky off guard. Jesse and Cobra are a draw in my books because their fight was interrupted.

Now Smokey... I do believe given the altercation between Daruma and Rude Boys (+Yamato's involvement in that fight), that Rude is holding back in their fighting. Like, the only reason things looks so bad for them in the Doubt fight was because Doubt used a dirty trick with the broken bottles. And while we don't have confirmation on who was the one handing the finishing blow that killed Smokey, we can say that it was not Nikaido with his sword because they were "only" bruises on Smokey's body. I mean, the only person with a name who would have all the reason to finish Smokey off to gain something from it is Kirinji. Not saying that it was him (because it was most likely a group effort), but we do know that the other Dragons consider the Iemura guys as people who do the dirty work and are not afraid to get their hands dirty.

Cobra, Murayama and Hyuga are more or less on equal footing, though I guess Murayama would be held back by his crush on Cobra, while Hyuga has gone a lil soft since he saw the light.

As for the new kids, Raoh is #1, than Sachio, Fujio is in third place, then Ryo, and Todoroki is very close behind (I would pay good money to see a fight with him and any of the other guys).

I guess Odajima is stronger than Jinkawa (he is quick on his feet which gives him a certain edge), but only because we haven't really seen a proper fight of Jinkawa.

Someone I can't place for the life of me is Amagai. He seems to know how to throw a punch, but Tsukasa is definitely stronger than him.

Also, while we're at it, Binzo is an absolute wildcard and someone I would compare with Hyuga and Murayama in terms of always getting back to his feet. I mean, Odajima did say that Binzo is apparently the second strongest after Raoh within Suzuran (while implying that he's probably as strong as Todoroki).

Before I forget it, the Ichigo Milk girls all agree that Naomi is a stronger fighter than any of them, which doesn't say much, but considering that she grew up with both Tatsuya and Kohaku, I will say that she is strong, especially since she was ready to throw hands with both Rocky and Doubt.

I will not comment on The Sengoku stage since it both contains spoilers, but also given that twist/reveal, it could very much change certain power rankings (if you wish to know, I can reveal the twist which while it doesn't spoil the stage, it does impact something else in relation to the modern day HiLO characters).

!! Definitely agree on the Amamiya bros, Ice, Kohaku, and Genji being up there. Those are the ones I would have put at the top of my list

It’s hard to say with Ryu because I feel like we’d need to see him fight without the sword

I’d also need to see Jesse fight more. One interrupted battle between him and Cobra isn’t really enough to tell, but, he was strong enough to become the top in the worst prison, sooo that has to account for something

I’m sure Amagai is strong but technically we never even got to see him in a one-on-one fight (rolling my eyes he’s such a little baby). We literally only see him beat people who have already been beaten down

Totally unrelated side note that has nothing to do with the strongest characters but I would love to see Hyuga, Murayama, and Binzo all hangout (or fight); they would have such a good dynamic

[devinescribe]

Plants

Aguni Morizono x Reader

HE IS SO TORTURED AND IT MAKES ME SAD

Pre-borderlands, Hatter playing matchmaker , cursing i think that's it

You owned a flower shop. That was really all that needed to be said.

You had always loved plants from a yound age, always taking care of your garden.

Next door to you there was a hatter. He was rather excentric and always said hello to you.

"Goodmorning (Y/N)!" He chirped, walking through the door with a smile. "Goodmorning Takeru," you said, placing some of your rose bushes out into the greenhouse area. He followed behind you.

"So... if my friend needed desperate help with one of his house plants... would it be a bother if he came to ask you for help?" He asked suddenly. "A friend?" You asked, opening up a bag of soil, adding some of your compost into it,, mixing it around. "Yes! A friend, uhm he.. has this plant and it is just not doing well. No matter what he does with it," he explained. "Ahh... I see. Well, you can tell him I'd be more than happy to help," you said with a smile. "Thank you! I'll be sure to send him in later,"he said, leaving you to your work.

You sighed, wiping your forehead from the sweat. There was dirt on your hands, and you heard the bell for the door chime. You sighed, walking up to the front part of the building.

"Hello, how can i-"

"(Y/N) I brought my friend!" The man said excitedly.

You looked shocked at his outburst.

"Alright calm down Jesus... (L/N) (Y/N)," you introduced to the tall man.

"Morizono Aguni... it's a pleasure to meet you. Takeru won't shut up actually," he muttered.

You giggled. He swore that his heart must have been beating at the speed of light when he finally took a good look at you.

You were gorgeous. Your (h/l) (h/c) hair put into (H/S). And your beautiful (e/c) eyes. Your skin was glowing, as if you wore glitter, but he knew it was probably from the exptensive care you took of it. Especially since you worked out in the sun most days. There was dirt smudged on your face and on the cute overalls you had on.

"So, you gonna keep staring or actually talk to her?" Takeru whispered to his hest friend. The stoic man looked away shyly.

He had seen you around obviously. If you closed early you'd help Takeru. If not, you two would close at the same time everyday. Many days he passed by to talk to his friend and watched you lovingly take care of each and every plant.

He remembered watching you cry over a vase that a kid had broken. Not while they were in the store, but you cried over it. Maybe it was about the plant and not the vase, but still.

You smiled. "Morizono, Takeru here told me you needed help with a plant, yes?"

He nodded. Why would his his friend lie to her about that. There was really an easier way to do this, like just say he wanted to meet you. But his friend oh so into theatrics had to lie.

"So what kind is it?"

Fuck.

"Hydrangea."

"Ugh, they are so picky," you mumbled, grabbing some different things around your shop.

He watched you mumble to yourself, grabbing things and putting them back. Then he noticed his friend had left.

He felt bad that you were frazzled running around the store for a plant that he most definitely did not have.

“(L/N), it’s ok you don’t have to do all that,” he said.

“Oh? But your-,”

“Doesn’t exist. Made it up because I wanted to talk to you… just didn’t know how to start conversation,” he explained, a bit embarrassed.

You blushed.

“Oh… well… in that case, would you like to go get dinner or something tonight? Get to know me?” You asked with a bright smile.

He smiled back and nodded.

“I’d like that.”

Takeru watched from the outside shop window and jumped in glee. Finally you two would stop being cowards and just talk.

“Another job well done by me if I do say so myself.”

So sorry for the short chapter!

[cursedvibes]

Kusakabe for the character ask! (I personally don’t like him lol but am interested in hearing your thoughts!)

Hah, I can understand why you feel that way, I think Gege isn't doing him any favours lately

favourite thing about them

I didn't pay much attention to him in Shibuya, he was just kinda there, but I did come to like him a bit more when we learned more about him at the beginning of the Culling Game. Honestly, when we focus more on him as a person, his bonds and convictions, I quite like him. Unfortunately, we don't really get much of that for the most part. For example, I love his interactions with Yaga and I'd like to know more about his sister. His thoughts about why he fights shortly before Sukuna knocked him out were quite touching too and honestly were more meaningful and did more for his character than Mei Mei, Nanami and Gojo explaining his character to us. Nice that they think he's a good person, but do they even know him? I'm not sure we've ever seen him interact with Nanami or Gojo. Nothing on all three that would make me believe he's anything more personal than a colleague. I would've loved to hear from Miwa, Yaga or his sister in their place. Y'know, the people who he actually thought of when gathering his courage to fight Sukuna. So I like that side of him, the rest is...eh difficult.

least favourite thing about them

He gets used way too much for exposition. It's basically his only role since he met up with the students. You don't really get much of his character in these instances because he's too busy being a mouthpiece for Gege infodumping on us. Also, I get he's bad at expressing his emotions, but I really don't like how he looks down on and berates Yuuji and Maki at times for example. He knows they need their strength and appreciates them for that, but also calls them stupid because Gojo failed to teach them something. He does care about all students in a broader sense (Miwa is clearly his favourite though), but I still get the strong impression that he sees Yuuji as merely Sukuna's vessel.

favourite line

"He isn't even here anymore. I guess it's precisely because he isn't here anymore...A dead man won't be saying much. All I can do is think of what he would say to me were he alive. I doubt he'd get on to me if I avoided putting my life on the line and didn't fight. He wouldn't stop me from seeing my little sister and Takeru, either. He might look a little sad though...not because I didn't put my life on the line, but because he and I wouldn't be able to fight at each other's side."

brOTP

Hm, idk he doesn't seem to have many people he's that chummy with. Mei Mei, I guess? At least they actually hang out sometimes and seem to get along quite well. They think in similar ways (but Kusakabe isn't a pedophile/groomer).

OTP

Yaga. Pretty much the only real ship I have with him. I liked their little scene in ch 147 already, but his last moments when facing Sukuna have made me actually consider them as a ship. What he says about Yaga and how he wishes he was there with him to give him advice or fight by his side was quite touching. I also like the little nod of Kusakabe getting the same injury that killed Yaga (I think Kusakabe will survive it though). I wish there was more about these two and the way Kusakabe cares about other people in his life. Hearing Yaga talk about Kusakabe during his fight and then have Kusakabe wonder what Yaga would say if he was still alive would have been really touching and much more fitting than those disjointed "interviews" (yes I'm still upset about that lol). But I mean generally, a couple that raises the dead together, stays together. They both have to work through the death of a child or children they were close to, so it doesn't surprise me that they got along so well. Yaga also manages to bring out the more vulnerable side of Kusakabe, which is what I'm really interested in. I wonder how their relationship started out exactly. There must've been something that made Yaga trust Kusakabe so much that he showed him the other autonomous corpses and told him at least a little bit about how they work. Was it the incident with Kusakabe's sister? Was Yaga involved or was he just trying to cheer him up afterwards and that got them talking about the respective people/children they lost? I think this is definitely the most interesting aspect of Kusakabe's character.

nOTP

Don't have one, although there are a couple of ships I don't really see the appeal in like Kusakabe/Takaba. Why would they be interested in each other? But it's nothing I can't stand at all.

random headcanon

Usami is his sister and she used to be a sorcerer who at some point got traumatized to the point of being catatonic during a mission, where she also lost her son. It's also why he tries to tell himself that he won't risk his life for others anymore because he has seen what happens if you fail and he is scared of seeing other people he's close to die. So he emotionally distances himself and tries to not get too close with others or for others to develop an attachment to him.

unpopular opinion

He doesn't come off as a "cool guy" to me, just bitter and repressed. Also people shouldn't take everything he says as Word of God.

song i associate with them

Can't really think of one.

favourite picture of them

[yuri-is-online]

Just finished Sinostra's chapter myself.... I gotta say though, was a little underwhelming compared to other chapters.... Honestly the entire thing felt like a one-man show by Ritsu + some sexual tension between Taiga and Romeo whenever they interact lol. MC has never felt more like a spectator than she did in this chapter, I was waiting for her to do absolutely *anything* but she really was just... there lmao. Not even hand-holding this time!

Even the Like Dove showed up AFTER mc left, when it was just Taiga and Romeo in the room, and then later again when Romeo barges into Taiga's room - this time mc was there but, just barely lol, the whole focus was on Taiga and Romeo's almost shoot-off, and Taiga's line saying "You really could shoot through my heart"?? And the fact that he sensed Romeo approaching before he even saw him, and so far is the only person who he clearly remembers and freely gives compliments to lol, Lulu is a cute nickname tho.

Regardless, Taiga's strange response to the Like Dove could possibly mean Kaito's explanation about it might not be true after all, since anomalies are still a mystery, wouldn't be strange for false rumors to make the rounds.

And I while I don't hate Ritsu - I appreciate he's a hard worker and tries to make the best of any situation he's put in - I dislike how he really just one-sidedly handled everything in this chapter and only ever explains after they're done lol. The case didn't feel like an investigation at all, Ritsu just pulls some numbers out of the air and acts on them (where is he getting all that data??) and in the end they won against it because it had to prevent a paradox from happening...? lmao idk overall just felt so underwhelming.

Also we never find out what the deal was about the girl in the tower?? Why even mention that detail if they're not gonna do anything with it... An anomaly that was born from the negative emotions gathering in a casino replaces people's memories with a girl in a tower.... My guess is it wanted enough people to "remember" her so she could come into existence? Like Takeru's ghost. I wonder what for though... Will they revisit this or not.....

You could pluck out MC from this chapter and absolutely nothing would change imo because Ritsu was doing everything anyways, only name-dropped mc when mentioning it was an investigation, that's it. While I don't necessarily need her to be the star or a hero, having 0 influence on the chapter is not great writing imo.

Kaito and his silly antics were the highlight for me. And I found it hilarious how him being stripped down and locked up in Romeo's "private office" feels like the setting of any self-indulgent "dark romance" fiction between a rich CEO and helpless debtor who has to cater to the captor's whims lol.

Finally Hotarubi is next, I've been curious about it since I got sorted into it, and want to see more of Haku. I agree he's sus, his dialogue in the prologue if you choose him only highlights the fact. But something about him really compels me

Sorry for the long ask, I have a thousand thoughts twirling around in my mind about TD, it should probably cool down between the entire month that's left before next story update.... but also there's new games coming out next month so hopefully I don't forget about TD completely either lol....

There is no shame in long asks. I'm always impressed at the amount of thoughts my dear anons manage to fit inside the ask box ♡

I also felt like the content was a bit lacking to the point I went and checked Jabberwock's chapter count and was surprised to find it's actually a tad shorter than Sinostra's. I think the main reason it felt so short to me was because I wasn't locked out of progressing this time around, but the case progression also felt much much quicker. If I'm sitting back and evaluating it as a writer, I think that's probably because of the setting being confined to the school and dorm. Sure, a lot happens, but you don't actually go anywhere, unlike in the previous three books.

Our MC has a very laid-back personality, which I don't mind. BUT the game really should allow for the chance for her to work things out on her own, even if she's too afraid of the other characters to verbalize it and keeps them to herself. There are several times in the book when she tries to point out inconsistencies in Ritsu's logic or other evidence she notices, but she's talked over pretty much every single time. It's what made me really hate Ritsu since you did not see that with Ren, Haru, or Towa, but i get that it's sort of tricky when writing more domineering characters to balance not making them overshadow the more laid back ones but still keeping them true to their personalities. I don't think Ritsu would have paid attention to Kaito if MC wasn't there, nor do I think Taiga would have paid attention to Ritsu, but that's just me speculating because the story doesn't clearly communicate it. This book was poorly written, a lot of the problems people have with MC could be fixed with a few additional lines where she's shown wanting to do something but reminding herself she has to play nice with the ghouls otherwise they won't break her curse. Her personality makes sense to me, but her writing does not.

Now. I disagree about the no real moments this chapter but ah. Well. You see. There is something deeply wrong with me so I completely get if this did nothing but disturb you but when Taiga has MC strapped to the torture chair 👉👈

Look I know potentially getting a hicky from a guy that strapped you to a torture chair and just shot you (for the second time) isn't everyone's thing but it is mine I was so well fed this chapter from that alone ( ; ω ; ) AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON HOW HE CALLS HER KITTEN AND EATS THE FUCKING LIKE DOVE??? RAW??? ROMEO ROMEO WHY FOR ART THOU INTERRUPING ROMEO I WANTED TO SEE WHAT HE WAS GONNA DO- forgive me anon I'm afraid I'm most unwell.

Speaking of the Like dove and the memories of the tower. The Tower thing reminds me of rapunzel, especially because she's out alone in the woods, but it feels super out of left field, no? If the anomaly is born from the Casino, which Taiga states "is him," then I wonder if the girl in the tower is representative of something he's forgotten? The chapter places an emphasis on how anomalies can affect memory, so it's not too big of an assumption to make that something must have happened to Taiga to make his memory this bad. As for the like dove... Romeo seems very surprised to see it, almost suggesting he never has before, which can you imagine how funny it would be if it showed up for him and Taiga. They've been friends and business partners for at least two years, I refuse to believe the dove would only just show up now. The image of him just never seeing it because everyone is too polite/afraid of him to point it out is too funny. The dove shows up twice this chapter, both times it sort of read to me like it had been there for a bit before it was noticed and in both cases Taiga reacts to it negatively. Given how paranoid he seems to be, I think it's probably because the idea of him caring/having someone care about him scares him due to the unpredictability of it and the potential for betrayal. He seems to think people only want to use him, so that's probably part of it too. I'm constantly doing way too many lines of copium, so to me the dove seemed triggered by Taiga's interactions with MC but I also see where you're coming with Romeo. Their friendship is much less adversarial than it was implied to be in their little blurbs, and I quite like that a lot. You know even if Taiga seems to think Romeo is always taking away his fun. And what's up with his constant want to eat anomalies, is Romeo not feeding him enough?

Slight correction, Taiga does seem to remember who Haru is, Harry and Lulu are both derivative of their names, so maybe he can only remember people in his year clearly? Or does it also include second years? He sounds very surprised at the concept of a "first year ghoul" in his house so maybe his memories are cutting off everything other than the previous two years...

I also have a bunch more thoughts but I'll cut myself off here ×-× gotta let some of them simmer before I make too much of a fool of myself (I already have)

[redthreadoffate]

the gift of communication

happy holidays to you, dear @citrus-cactus. i was your secret santa and i am very sorry this is so late. i was supposed to post this after one more check once i arrived but my parents told me that there was no need to bring my laptop, so here i am posting it using my ipad and i hope it still looks okay!

anyways, backstory aside, i do hope you enjoy this little thing i wrote! and i'm really sorry if this isn't what you had in mind. i had to re-watch some hurricane touchdown scenes to get wallace's character as good as i could, i would've watched the movie if i had the time so i super apologize if this isn't to your liking. i had a lot of fun writing it and i would really love to know your thoughts if you get the chance to give them :)

just a few notes in case you want to run ; editing mistakes here or there [there better not be…] // timeline is more on adventure 02 in between the ending and epilogue // this is not set in the same world as my other fics due to inspiration reasons // i will post this on ao3 soon // i tried my best to give the digimon feel and i think I achieved it, so…

…without further ado, i present to you this little fic. enjoy! have a merry christmas and a happy new year! 🥰

the gift of communication | main characters ; wallace, terriermon, lopmon, daisuke motomiya | pairings ; slight wallace x daisuke (if you squint), mentioned takeru x hikari, mentioned taichi x sora, mentioned yamato x mimi | genre ; friendship | word count ; 3,598 | rating ; g

Terriermon and Lopmon were enjoying the company of their fellow digimons. They told each other stories, laughed, and even played a little. At some point, they fell asleep next to each other after consuming most of the food and drinks that Miyako had brought for them for the day. Terriermon had his head rested against Chibimon who was snoring softly while Lopmon was a few inches away from them.

The Chosen Children were gathered around in a circle, sans Ken who had told them that he would be late but promised to come as soon as he could. He mentioned something about helping his mom with some gift-giving in an orphanage.

“So, Wallace,” Daisuke started, his head turned to him. “Since when did you like coming here to Japan?” It made him suspicious as he remembered that Wallace had kissed Hikari once. He kissed her cheek, and Miyako’s as well, but it was still a kiss. “Are you here for anyone in particular?” But Daisuke also knew he was in denial about the fact that Hikari and Takeru had had some sort of unspoken romantic feelings for one another. “I heard there are more women in New York.” 

Wallace shrugged, simply ignoring Daisuke’s obvious accusations. “It’s a nice place to be in during the holidays. The spirit of Christmas is really taken seriously. Back in New York, people tend to be busy and get caught up with one another.”

“Looks like New York isn’t as cool as people say it is,” Iori said. “I’ve always thought it was a white Christmas there.”

Wallace nodded. “It sounds nice and it looks nice when you see it on tv and the movies but it isn’t spectacular or anything.”

“Nothing for you is ever spectacular,” Daisuke muttered. This made Hikari nudge him without much force and in turn made Takeru chuckle. “Either way, I’m glad you're here, Wallace. It’s been a while and I actually do miss you.”

Wallace’s eyes widened and his eyebrows raised. “You miss me?” he echoed. For him, that was a first for someone. “You. Miss me? You?”

“Am I not allowed to?” Daisuke raised an eyebrow.

Wallace smirked.

Daisuke narrowed his eyes. “Don’t push it.”

Miyako laughed. “Don’t mind him, Daisuke. It’s just Wallace being Wallace.”

“You don’t know much about me,” the American-raised boy defended. It was an absolute surprise to hear that from someone he had not had much interaction with in a while. “How could you say that?”

“We know enough,” Takeru spoke. “Like how you consider us as your friends. After all, you accepted our invitation to this gathering.”

Wallace did not reply. His mind was wondering how this group of friends suddenly thought that they were somehow close. It was not as if he did not like the group, he liked them a lot, especially after they helped him with Kokomon. But he needed to figure out how to handle this.

Hikari smiled at him. “Onee-san is throwing a surprise birthday party for Sora-san the day after tomorrow. You should go, it’d be really fun. We’ll be there, and I’m sure Terriermon and Lopmon would enjoy the company of being with more of their friends.”

“I’ll think about it,” he replied, still a little lost in thought. This invitation to her future sister-in-law’s surprise birthday party was, for him, a big step. He had not known much about them, yet they were thinking highly of him here.

What went into his head when he called Daisuke Motomiya yesterday to tell him that he was in the country, visiting for the holiday and seeing the sights with his mom.

He had called his home’s telephone, which made him feel anxious because he was not so sure what to say if it had been someone else who would answer. Luckily, it was Daisuke who took the call right away.

Was it because he was indebted? Because they helped him get Kokomon back? He did not think so, it could be more than that.

Just then, the door of Daisuke’s room opened and Ken appeared with Wormmom beside him. “I’m sorry for being late,” he said, bowing.

“Ken!” Miyako grinned. “The food’s almost gone, help yourself to what’s left, Wormmon.”

Ken chuckled nervously. “I’m sorry, Wormmon. I’m sure there’s still some good food somewhere there.”

“Of course! I always choose the best of the best,” Miyako said proudly.

Wallace watched as Ken walked from the door and sat down in between Miyako and Iori. They had briefed him of the former Digimon Kaiser. He felt the anger boil inside him as they told him the story, how could someone do that to digimons?

But they had assured him that Ken had changed and was very much on their side. He was a little skeptical, and truth be told he still was, but he told himself to watch out for Ken before he could make his final judgment.

“Hello,” Ken greeted. “You must be Wallace.”

He nodded. “Yeah. And you’re Ken, right? Ken Ichijouji?”

Ken nodded. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said, raising his hand.

Wallace blinked a few times before shaking his hand. “And it’s great to finally meet you.”

“Ken!” Wormmom called him. “This is Terriermon and Lopmon!”

The group all turned back. Ken had a smile on his face. “I hope Wormmon treats you well.”

“Hey!”

Everyone laughed.

Iori said, “Try the new chocolate drink, Wormmon. I told Armadimon to hide one for you.”

“Here it is!” Armadimon held up the box.

“Thank you, Iori and Armadimon,” Wormmon said happily as he began to consume the drink.

Wallace watched as they looked at the worm-like digimon drink. Despite what had happened before, they welcomed Ken with open arms. It might take a while but he hoped he would fully forgive Ken and replace the thought of the poor digimons with happier faces. It sounded easier in thought but perhaps interacting with him more will be good for them both.

“This is so good, Miyako!” Wormmon exclaimed. He then dug into some snacks. “It's a good thing I didn’t eat before coming here.”

Wallace laughed. “That’s true, the food you brought really did make me feel full.”

Miyako grinned again. “I told you all! Wallace does like Japanese food.”

“Then I’m sure you’ll like the food that will be prepared for the party,” Hikari stated, smiling. “Please come.”

“I’ll think about it,” he repeated. But to be honest, he was very keen on going. “I’ll have to ask Terriermon and Lopmon first,” he added. “And my mom, of course.”

“Yes!” Terriermon and Lopmon shouted at the same time.

Hikari giggled. “I hope your mom says yes, Wallace.”

‘I hope so, too,’ he thought. He smiled at them. “Yeah, let’s see.” 

On the way back to the hotel, Wallace carried Lopmon as Terriermon sat on his favorite spot, Wallace’s head. Wallace had not spoken to either of them as they walked. This did not go unnoticed by his digimon partners.

Both Terriermon and Lopmon were looking at their human partner, then they would look at each other, then back at Wallace, and then make eye contact again, and the cycle repeated a few more times before both sighed.

“What’s got you thinking?” Lopmon asked, looking up at his partner. He touched his cheek and patted it a few times. “You’ve been quiet since we left Daisuke’s house.” He tilted his head. “Don’t tell me you didn’t have fun, Wallace. I know you did, everyone could see it.”

Wallace sighed and looked down at the brown digimon. “I’m just wondering about the party they invited me to. Invited us to.”

“What about it?” Terriermon questioned. “You want to go, don’t you? I saw the way you smiled, you seem excited about it.”

“I do,” he admitted. “I do want to go and it does seem pretty exciting.” But as they left the Motomiya residence, he had a sudden reflection about the other Chosen Children. “But what about the others? I don’t know much about them, they don’t know much about me. I’ll feel left out.” He was never really scared of being alone, but he found this situation different. Maybe because they all had something in common. “I don’t think it’d be fun if that was the case.”

Terriermon and Lopmon looked at each other.

“We’re sure Daisuke won’t leave you alone,” Terriermon said. “And neither will the others.”

“You can’t be sure,” Wallace said.

“Sure we’re sure,” Lopmon said. “They like you, Wallace. They won’t let you feel left out. I’m sure they’ll even introduce you to the others.”

Wallace bit his bottom lip. “I’ll ask Mom if we can go. It won’t be until the day after tomorrow, I don’t think it’ll be too sudden.”

“And besides, your mom will be happy you have friends here,” Lopmon added and Terriermon nodded in agreement.

That made Wallace smile. “Yeah, I think she will be.”

“Cheer up, Wallace.” Terriermon smiled. “I’m sure everyone will be glad if you go.”

He nodded. “Let’s go ask Mom then.”

Both Terriermon and Lopmon grinned. “Yay!” they exclaimed.

“You two do seem so excited about this,” Wallace said, chuckling.

“We want to see you happy,” Lopmon told him. “And we’re glad that you have friends here.”

Wallace smiled and nodded. Then, it dawned on him that in a few days, before Christmas day, he would have to leave the country and head back to New York. He had not told them this—they had not asked—but he would have to soon and it made him feel sad knowing that he would leave them behind. “Just when things were brightening up,” he murmured.

“What was that?” the two digimons asked in unison. “What did you say?”

Wallace shook his head. “It’s not something I want to talk about right now, and I don’t want to think about it yet either. Let’s just enjoy the rest of our stay here while we can. Japan is a nice place, let’s not ruin the vacation. Okay?”

The two digimons looked at each other for a few seconds before nodding as they shifted their eyes to Wallace. “Okay.”

As Wallace and the twins expected, his mother was very happy that he had made friends. “I didn’t expect this,” she admitted.

“They’re the same friends I told you about before,” he said. “I…missed them.”

“Is that why you wanted to come here for the holiday?”

Wallace nodded slowly.

His mother grinned. “I’m glad you’re finally letting yourself out there.” Then she tilted her head. “But how did you find them?”

“I asked for help from Mimi-san,” he answered. “You remember her.”

“Oh yes, that pretty girl you met back home.” She smiled.

“She’s in a relationship,” he immediately said, knowing where that smile was headed.

She giggled. “Alright then. When is the party again?”

“The day after tomorrow,” he replied. “A lot of people will be there. My friends and their older brothers and their friends as well. And Terriermon and Lopmon’s friends, too.”

“My, isn’t that a big party,” his mother said. “And you don’t know the others?” Wallace shook his head. “You won’t feel out of place?” Again, he shook his head. “You won’t be in the corner alone?” He let out a soft chuckle before shaking his head once more. He was suddenly so sure, surprisingly, that he would not be left alone by the group. Terriermon and Lopmon really do have an effect on him. “But you’ll have fun, won’t you?”

“I will,” he assured. “I know I will.” He knew very well that he would have a lot of fun. ‘I know I will,’ he repeated in his head. ‘I know I will.’

“That’s good. That’s all I needed to hear.” His mom grinned. “So what’s the theme? What will you wear? We’ll need to make a good impression on them. I know how you can be, Wallace.”

He rolled his eyes. “It’s like you have no faith in me.” His mother frowned. “I don’t know much. I’ll call Daisuke and ask for more information.”

“Okay. But remember to just tell me if you need anything. Anything at all.”

“Yes, Mom.” He smiled.”You’re just as excited as Terriermon and Lopmon.”

“We’re just very happy for you, Wallace.” His mother leaned to kiss his forehead. “My sweet boy, I’m really happy for you.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

When she straightened her body, she added, “I would very much like to meet your friends one day. Maybe invite them after the party. Perhaps the next day or the day after that?”

Wallace nodded. “Yeah, I’ll ask them. Will you be cooking?” He had always loved his mom’s cooking and was very proud of how others liked them as well.

“Of course, I need to make a good impression on them, too.”

They both laughed.

The day of the party had arrived and Wallace was quite nervous about it. He had kept himself composed and ready for the event the past day but he did not think about what would happen as he was on the way to the Takenouchi residence.

“Aren’t you excited?” Terriermon asked cheerily.

“I am!” Lopmon answered. “What about you, Wallace?”

Wallace put on a smile. “I am. I am excited. But I’m a little nervous, but I guess that’s a normal thing to feel when you’re about to meet a bunch of new people.”

Lopmon nodded. “Don’t worry, you’ve got us. We can leave anytime you want.”

“Thanks, guys.”

They continued to walk and then finally arrived at the condominium. As they entered, having made sure that Terriermon and Lopmon had returned to playing as stuffed animals, he walked to the receptionist and informed them that he was there for the surprise party in the apartment of the Takenouchis.

Just as the receptionist gave him the floor and room number, an unfamiliar voice called his name. “Wallace?”

He turned around and recognized the man in front of him. “Koushiro.”

The redhead smiled at him, his digimon partner in his arms. “That’s me.” He walked closer to Wallace and stopped just a few inches away from him. “Takeru-kun said you would come.”

“I was a little hesitant,” he lied, not wanting to sound too eager. “But I thought it would be fun to make new friends and, you know, hang out with them.”

“I’m glad you think so. I’m sure Taichi-san and the others would love to meet you. Mimi-chan is here already. I know you two are acquainted with one another.”

“Yes,” he said. “We met in New York one time, she recognized my partners.”

Koushiro nodded. “This is Tentomon.” Then he paused. “Let’s get going,” he said as he looked around the lobby. There were not many people but they still had to be careful.

The two, with their partners, rode the elevator going up. Wallace was getting a little more nervous now. He got a warm welcome from Koushiro, yes, but what about the others?

‘What’s got you hot and bothered by this, Wallace?’ he questioned himself. ‘This shouldn’t keep you on your toes.’

“They’re really nice,” Koushiro said, as if reading his mind. “My friends are really nice. You don’t have to worry about them. Not even Yamato-san can ruin your mood.”

“What do you mean?”

Koushiro smiled. “He’s been a handful before, but he’s become very mellow over the past few years. He smiles a lot more, too, ever since he started dating Mimi-chan.”

Wallace looked at him.

“I didn’t read your mind, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Koushiro added with a soft chuckle. “I just saw it in your body language.”

Wallace raised his eyebrows. He was always so calm, not once had he shown people his true thoughts and feelings. How did Koushiro know about this?

“I was like you before, back when I was young. Even before I met Taichi-san and the others. I hid myself behind my laptop, not once showing emotions. But when I started hanging out with them…it felt good, it felt nice. I felt like I belonged. That’s how great they are.” Koushiro looked at him. “Chosen Child or not, they’re nothing to be afraid of.”

Wallace grinned. “Thank you.”

They reached their floor and they quickly walked to the apartment. Not everyone was there yet but when Daisuke saw that Wallace had arrived, he grinned and walked over to him. “You came! You’re here!” 

Terriermon and Lopmon grinned as well. “Are the others here, too?” Terriermon asked.

“Of course,” Daisuke answered. “They’re at the back.”

Terriermon and Lopmon leaped from Wallace’s arms and ran down the hallway.

“They’re excited,” Koushiro said as he let Tentomon fly away. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

Wallace gave him a nod while Daisuke’s eyes followed Koushiro’s steps. When he was in the kitchen, Daisuke grabbed Wallace’s wrist and dragged him to the living room. “You have to meet Taichi-san!”

Wallace’s heartbeat raced. He was about to meet the highly talked about Taichi Yagami.

They stopped in front of a young man whom Wallace knew all too well just basing it on pictures. “Taichi-san!” Daisuke greeted. Taichi looked back and gave Daisuke a questioning look before looking at Wallace. “Taichi-san, this is Wallace.”

“Oh, so you’re the Wallace Hikari-chan talked about.” He raised his hand and said, “Taichi.”

“It’s so great to finally meet you.”

Meanwhile, in the background, they ignored Daisuke’s question about Hikari talking about Wallace to her older brother.

“Sora will be here soon, I suggest you find a place to hide. Daisuke can lead you around. I’ll get to know you more later, alright?”

Wallace nodded. “Okay.”

Daisuke narrowed his eyes. “Hikari-chan talks about you.”

Wallace could not help but laugh. “Let’s find a place now. As Taichi said, Sora will be here soon.”

The surprise party was a success. Sora arrived with her mom and was shocked to see her friends surrounding her and shouting “happy birthday”.

Sora’s eyes teared up but she was smiling from ear to ear. “And I wonder who came up with the idea,” she said, giggling.

Taichi went up to her and intertwined his fingers with hers. “Take a wild guess.”

She giggled some more and gave her fiancé a kiss and everyone clapped. Then, Sora went over to hug and thank everyone in the room, including Wallace.

“It’s very nice to meet you,” she said when she stopped over to hug and thank him. “I’ve heard good things about you.”

For some reason, that made Wallace’s cheek turn pink. “I hope so.”

Sora smiled.

The party was still in full swing—that is, everyone was chatting with each other and the food and drinks needed refilling—when Wallace headed over to the balcony for some fresh air. He was just overwhelmed with how friendly the others were, how they welcomed him with open arms, and how comfortable he was with them. He hated that he would be leaving soon.

He has instructed Terriermon and Lopmon to play with the other digimons as he wanted to be alone for a while. The twin digimons seemed to have sensed it as they did not object to the request.

Just then, someone stood beside him, holding up two drinks, and offering one to him. Wallace did not bother to look up as he took the cup, he was actually thirsty but was not yet ready to go back inside. “Thank you.”

“If you just want to stay silent that’s fine with me, but let me stay here with you for a bit.”

Wallace nodded. “The party’s a success.” He looked back at the gathering behind him and then back to the horizon. “Taichi really loves her.”

“He does,” Daisuke said. “They’re in love.”

“How are you and Hikari?”

Daisuke sighed. “I’ll give up soon enough. She and Takeru have a lot of stuff going on, going around each and all. They have a history. They have the present. And,” he paused. Wallace could see how heartbroken Daisuke was about this. “And they have a future.”

Wallace pursed his lips. “There’s someone else out for you, I promise.” He placed a hand on Daisuke’s shoulder and rubbed it. “I know it.”

Daisuke smiled. “Thanks, Wallace. You’re a good friend, you know that?” He raised his hand and rubbed Wallace’s shoulder. “I know Mimi-san is missing a lot.”

Wallace shook his head. “Why does everyone think I’m into Mimi?”

“Uh, because it’s obvious? The way you keep looking at her? The way Yamato-san looks as if he’s about to start a fight soon.”

Wallace felt like he was shrinking. “I didn’t notice.”

Daisuke laughed. “Anyway.” He regained his composure. “I don’t want to ask but it’s bound to happen. When are you leaving?”

“Three days from now,” he answered, his head bowed down. “I don’t wanna leave,” he admitted. “I’m…having a good time.”

Daisuke nodded. “Yeah, I know you are.”

They stayed quiet until Daisuke ended it by asking, “What do you want for Christmas?”

Wallace cocked his head to the side. “What?”

“What do you want for Christmas?” Daisuke repeated. “You’re leaving three days before Christmas Day and I want to give you something before we part ways.”

Wallace was silent. Then, he took out his phone and handed it over to the man in front of him. “Can you give me your email?”

“My email?” Daisuke echoed.

“Yeah,” Wallace nodded, “I’d really like it if we talked some more. Even when I’m back in the US, I want to be able to communicate with you guys properly.”

Daisuke grinned. “You read my mind.”

[shihalyfie]

Shihanne's 02TB FAQ

Here's a 02TB version of the Kizuna FAQ I made earlier, where I answer questions to things you may be curious about regarding the movie while trying to stay as spoiler-free as possible! This is, again, not a post made to convince anyone towards or against watching the movie, but rather just something to provide assistance for people who might be on the fence about watching the movie or want to know certain things before going in.

Like with the last post, I will be organizing this post in such a way that the story references to what happens in it will get more and more extensive as the post goes on. The more you read, the less "blind" you'll be going in, or the more there may be risk of you being able to figure out what happens in it. So if you want to stay fresh to a certain extent, you should just stick to reading the first few questions! (However, also as with before, I won't be including any major story beats in here, just generic allusions.)

What do I need to have seen beforehand in order to watch this movie? Are tri. and/or Kizuna necessary to understand it?

Perhaps surprisingly, I personally think you can still enjoy this movie even if you've never seen a Digimon thing in your life before (something I would not say about either tri. or Kizuna!). However, I do think you should at least know:

the basic concept of what a Digimon partner is

the context that the 02 group has known each other since they were in elementary school and overcome a lot of things together

the context of the proliferating Chosen Children all around the world and the epilogue it's going to be leading up to

...but other than that, you'd probably be fine even if you have no idea about anything else. Still, the movie will definitely be greatly improved if you've seen 02, because you'll have better surrounding context of what these characters are like, what they'd done together in the past, and what little things here and there are referencing.

Even then, the 02 main TV series (and possibly the second movie, Diablomon Strikes Back) is really the part that could be said to be most relevant. Adventure is largely relevant only for (very mild) context behind Takeru and Hikari's characterizations, and there are virtually no substantial references to Kizuna. tri. is actually downright contradicted by this movie's contents, to the point where the official timeline leading up to it straight-up omits it. So even if you've never seen anything past 02, you're still perfectly good to go.

(If you do see someone reporting that they referenced tri. by using the name "Homeostasis" at one point, note that the name was used in an Adventure novel from 2001; it doesn't actually originate from tri., and the way the name is used is compliant with Adventure lore.)

How 02-referential/fanservice-loaded is this movie?

Very little. Despite what the advertising might suggest, there really aren't a lot of references to things that were in the 02 TV series, other than the fact it has its characters and is obviously set in a point in timeline after it. (Of course, there's still the evolution sequences and all, but that goes without saying.) In fact, most of the "references" to 02 are vague and not explicitly stated, so it's a very "if you know, you Know" affair -- for instance, the Kaiser is not mentioned even once in the entire movie, but Ken and Wormmon's lines are very obviously written with that background in mind, and if you know what happened, their words carry much more weight.

The main character of this movie is Rui, and the story of the movie is about him (official media has been open about this), so you can think of it as a mostly original story that happens to be rather 02-flavored. Or to put it a different way, it's more like 02 episode 51 than it is a 02 tribute; it builds on 02's themes and characters, but more in terms of building on top of them rather than referencing past stuff.

How much of a role do the 02 characters play in the plot?

Since Rui is really the main character of the movie in practice, the 02 characters are "support characters", similar to the way they supported Wallace in Hurricane Touchdown. This is a good thing, and in fact most hardcore 02 fans I personally know agree that this is for the better; the 02 cast has a specialty in supporting others, and the best way to show off their character development is to show off how good they've gotten at reaching out to others like Rui.

Moreover, the movie also goes out of its way to portray the 02 group as a solid group that bounces off of each other, so it's less about each individual character getting any super-impressive moments and more about the way they interact and how deeply they know each other. The movie itself is also about relationships and connection, so it's thematically appropriate, both for the movie and for 02 itself.

Is the 02 epilogue retconned?

Hell no. The movie is very obviously building up to it (even more so than Kizuna was).

How are Takeru and Hikari portrayed in relation to the rest of the group?

They're regular members of the group, and there's no real separation between them and the rest of the group at all.

Does the movie resolve Kizuna's lingering question regarding partnership dissolution?

For better or for worse, no. It's a completely self-contained story, and its only connections to Kizuna are the fact it takes a lot of elements from the worldbuilding/setting it added. (For the record, I'm of the opinion that there's no need for anything new to answer Kizuna's question, but that's a digression.) The movie does give you more lore about Digimon partnerships that you could potentially apply to figuring out the situation in Kizuna, but it leaves the question untouched.

The movie prioritizes its own integrity as a standalone story first and foremost, so (again, for better or for worse) it doesn't have too many connections to other things.

How much of a role do the Adventure characters play in the plot?

Taichi and Koushirou have an extremely short background cameo in the beginning of the movie, and they're also briefly namedropped. There's a quick scene depicting a flashback/past representation of young Taichi and Hikari, but it has no plot relevance (the PVs were probably overselling this a bit...). Koushirou is namedropped later in the movie. Other than that, there's nothing relevant to the Adventure characters (sans Takeru and Hikari, naturally) at all.

Is there time travel in the movie?

No, or at least nothing that would be outside the range of what's effectively a vision/flashback. The PVs probably suggested that more aggressively than what had actually happened, and it seems to be a common misconception about the events of the movie, but there are more than enough context clues in the story that indicate that the "past" shown in the movie is more of a representational space than literal time travel.

Is it true that some really messed up stuff happens in this movie?

There are two major content warnings I would give the movie: one for a clear depiction of child abuse, and one for mild body horror (not super-graphically depicted, but definitely something that's very uncomfortable to think about). Neither depiction is particularly unusual for Digimon standards, and if you've played some of the video games like Cyber Sleuth or Survive, it's not even remotely near that level. (And besides, 02 itself certainly had its fair share of psychological horror, even if it was comparatively more subtle in order to accommodate for kids' show network restrictions.) Still, it may be something you want to know about before going in.

There is also a mild amount of blood in one scene, but it's not any worse than the equivalent scene in Kizuna, and in fact, the animation framing is clearly trying to prevent it from getting too graphic; the blood is mainly there in a "with that kind of injury, it'd be weird if there weren't blood" sense, so it's definitely not trying to come off as a violence fest or anything.

For all it's worth, despite the above factors, and despite the fact the middle of the movie definitely starts getting into some serious psychological horror territory, I would say that overall, this is actually a very sentimental, feel-good movie. There's nothing that feels like it's there for shock value, and in fact, there aren't even any real surprising or shocking plot twists or anything; the main core of the story is about talking about relationships and what's important for a good one, and it takes that theme and commits itself fully to it.

Why is there a new version of Target when the opening is the original version?

So, you know how Target also happened to be the evolution insert song for Imperialdramon...

How much of a lore retcon is in this movie?

There are definitely things that seem contradictory to anyone who has a passing casual knowledge of Adventure lore, but in fact, if you know it deeply, there isn't really a hard contradiction at all.

It's actually a plot point that the 02 group isn't sure what to believe is the right lore, and that they're making their best guess as they go along. The new things they learn in the movie ostensibly seem to be contrary to what they'd learned earlier about how partnerships work, but this contradiction is directly pointed out in the movie itself, and there's a very clear sense of uncertainty as to how everything works and what the true mechanics are behind everything.

For what it's worth, even in the original series, entities like Homeostasis and the Holy Beasts were not portrayed as all-powerful, and were depicted as also trying to figure out this whole thing as they went along. So while the new introductions to lore are probably outside what Kakudou would have liked (yeah, this has been getting kind of awkward...), just speaking from a detached perspective, there's nothing strictly contradictory.

On the other hand, the entire existence of Rui as the first Chosen Child from 1996 makes tri.'s plot pretty much entirely impossible, so that's probably why the aforementioned official timeline actually omitted it. That said, Wallace has a cameo, so even if the part about him meeting Chocomon and Gumimon in 1995 doesn't work anymore, he's definitely still canon. (Note that Mochizuki Meiko appeared in Kizuna, and one of the novels explicitly describes her as having met the Adventure kids in high school, so just because tri. isn't in the timeline as-is doesn't mean it's as simple as "the series isn't canon anymore".)

Are there romance depictions in the movie?

Nothing overt, but there's definitely something that's practically the absolute embodiment of "if you know, you Know."

[bagerfluff]

Holding Hands With My Guardian Angel

Older Takaishi Takeru x Male Reader

Prompt - Prompt #1090 from @creativepromptsforwriting

It was nice to be safe.

With all that could happen it’s better to be safe than sorry. You’ve had your fair share of troubles, near death experiences, you’ve even been in the ER once or twice.

Your parents also told you to always be safe, it was better than not. Better than dying or spending millions to make sure you don’t die. So, safe to say, you would rather be safe.

But, why did your guardian angel have to hold your hand?

Everyone had a guardian angel, someone that watches over them. Most of the time they're out of sight, just off in a corner. Only appearing when their humans needs them.

Then disappearing off into the sky, to wait when they were needed again. Not yours though.

Your angel, Takeru, always floated next to you, holding your nondominant hand with his nondominant hand.

Ever since you were born, to now, in college. Sometimes you loved it, when you were a child it was fun to have a friend right next to you. In middle school is when you started to hate it, you were the weird one.

The one with the angel that never left his side. Then in high school, during a time you almost died, you realized that you were lucky. You realized something else too.

That you actually liked Takeru, you had a crush on your guardian angel. You’ve never heard of that before and it scared you. Plus, what was the chance of a angel like guys? Could angels be queer?

Anyway.

Why did Takeru always have to hold your hand?

You glanced away from your work, looking at Takeru. Takeru was looking at the wall, where pictures hang. He was slowly swaying his hand, and yours, back and forth.

His wings were folded behind him, fluttering every once and a while. Takeru had said nothing when you started working, he knew that was a bad idea.

You know you should be studying but you kept thinking about something. This question first appeared in your mind in high school.

Why did Takeru always hold your hand?

A guardian angel doesn't need to be near their human to protect them. They can fly pretty fast, they can’t get more than a mile from their human, and they know why their human is about to get hurt.

Takeru doesn’t need to hold your hand, so why does he? You’ve tried asking but Takeru always shuts you down, changing the subject.

You really wanted to know why Takeru always held your hand, part of it was curiosity, part was the hope that Takeru liked you back.

“Hey Takeru”, you said, getting Takeru’s attention. “Yes Y/n”, Takeru said back to you. You gripped Takeru’s hand tighter, “Why do you always hold my hand?”

You asked, hoping this time was different. Takeru started sweating and you could see him squirm in his seat. “Well”, Takeru stopped talking to look away. His wings folding closer to his body.

“I just do”, Takeru said, lying. “No, stop lying”, you sneered. You were getting a bit angry, why couldn’t Takeru just tell you? “I’m not”, Takeru said, turning back to face you.

His wings unfolded from around him but folded up behind him. You looked into Takeru’s eyes. They were full of fear and something else that you couldn’t place.

You could tell that Takeru was nervous about something, but why? “Yes you are, you always do this”, you said while standing up.

Dropping Takeru’s hand. “You never tell me why, you’ve been holding my hand since I was born, why”, you sneered.

You were glaring at Takeru at this point. Takeru looked away from you and put his hands in his lap. “Well, you see”, Takeru took a deep breath. “Angels reincarnate", Takeru took another breath.

"When one dies it is reborn, then the reborn angel remembers something great that happened in their past life. When I was older, about a teenager, by your worlds laws, I remembered what happened in my past life”, Takeru’s voice wavered at this point.

“In my past life I didn’t save my human because I was lazy, I thought they would live and they didn’t. I remember the pain that I felt at that time”. You sat back down next to Takeru.

You noticed tears brimming Takeru’s eyes, his fingers were fidgeting with his pants. “I made a promise to myself to never have that happen again. So that’s why I hold your hand”, Takeru looked up at you.

“To make sure that the past doesn’t repeat itself”.

You stared at Takeru as tears slowly went down his face. Wings slightly folding around him as a form of comfort. You never thought that would be the reason Takeru always held your hand.

You were surprised and a little sad. Sad because of what happened, and sad that Takeru didn’t like you back. But you couldn’t focus on that. Takeru was crying right in front of you and you were only focused on yourself and your stupid feelings.

“And”, Takeru said. You looked at Takeru, silently asking him to continue. “And it’s because I care about you, I like you”, Takeru said. You might be more shocked than you were when Takeru first confessed.

You stared at Takeru with wide eyes. Nothing was said and everything was said. You smiled and leaned forward. You reached your hands out and held Takeru’s face in your hands.

You wiped away Takeru’s tears. Takeru’s wings stretched out and folded around you as best they could. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing I like you too”, you said, shocking Takeru.

“You do?” Takeru asked with a little head tilt. You smiled, Takeru was cute. “Yeah”, you leaned forward and pressed a kiss on Takeru’s nose.

“I like you”, you said.

Takeru smiled and looked at you. “And about the other thing”, you leaned back and let go of Takeru’s head. You reached into Takeru’s lap and held one of his hands.

Linking your fingers together. “You’re a great guardian angel”. Takeru blushed and looked away, but you felt him hold your hand tighter.

You could see Takeru wrap one of his wings around you, kinda like a hug. You turned away and started your work again.

Holding Takeru’s hand with as much love as he held yours.

[pocketsonny]

oo... 14 and 18 maybe 👉👈

blossoming romance writing prompts for takeryo (still accepting!)

THANK YOU CARO >:3

14 - looking at their lips as they talk 

Ryoken’s explaining something. Something about how he easily accessed a company’s files through their unsecured printer. 

“You would think after cyber terrorists attacked Link VRAINS, companies would take better security measures,” Ryoken snorts sardonically and Takeru follows the upward tug to his lips with his gaze.

“Uh-huh,” Takeru nods appropriately but he’s only half listening. He’s—distracted. His eyes flicker between Ryoken’s face to his hand idly typing on his laptop until they fix again on Ryoken’s mouth. He doesn’t mean to stare (again, because it’s not that first time) but there’s something…something…

“...Were I still interested, I could dismantle them overnight. It’s…”

Thin lips with a shiny coat over them. When Ryoken pauses to sip his drink, a faint smudge is left on the rim.

Oh, Takeru thinks belatedly, he’s wearing lip balm today too.

He tugs at his own bottom lip, which is chapped from dryness. Ryoken’s seem so soft all the time. Probably because he actually takes care of them—Takeru, on the other hand, keeps tugging at the dry skin and making his lip bleed and Ryoken chastises him for it.

“...ridiculous, wouldn’t you agree?”

He’s even offered his lip balm to him, but Takeru doesn’t know if that sort of thing would look good on him or if he’d like the feeling of it. It looks good on Ryoken though. The glossy sheen over his lips as he speaks, shimmering slightly with the movement.

“...keru…”

Lips that Ryoken nibbles on unconsciously when he thinks, or presses together in displeasure, or that spread in that infuriating smirk of his—or…or in a little honest smile that makes Takeru feel weird. Like soda bubbles fizzing in his stomach.

Pink, glossy lips—maybe it’s cherry balm. Would Ryoken’s mouth taste like cherries? Would he offer to share it with a—

“Takeru.”

At the firm call of his name, Takeru jolts to attention and his gaze snaps to Ryoken’s. Blue peers into lavender with a mix of confusion and entertainment, one bushy eyebrow curved in question.

“Yeah,” Takeru blurts out and the heat curls over the back of his neck and spreads over his whole body—was he caught blatantly staring at Ryoken’s lips?

“So you agree.”

“Uh—” Takeru blinks quickly, “Yeah, totally.”

“Excellent,” Ryoken nods seriously, “Then, Thursday, three am.”

“Huh?”

“Bring a shovel.”

“Wait, wait, what are we doing?!”

Ryoken blinks innocently at him, “Robbing a grave.”

Takeru jumps from his seat, “NO, what the fuck?! Why would we rob a grave?!”

“To get a thumbdrive someone was buried with,” as though it’s nothing, “I’m quite curious about what it contains.”

“Stop, stop, we are NOT—I mean YOU are not robbing any graves, you can’t change criminal professions that fast—”

Ryoken’s lovely lips curve in a smirk and Takeru clasps his mouth shut. He scowls at him.

“You’re fucking with me.”

“And you weren’t listening to me.”

Takeru ruffles his hair and huffs, “I was—distracted, sorry.”

“By…?”

Ryoken cups his chin and his thumb idly brushes his bottom lip and Takeru’s eyes focus there—his face heats up and he snaps his gaze upward.

“Nothing!”

18- hello/goodbye hugs that linger

Takeru’s pretending he’s not sulking next to him as they stand on the pier. The morning air is cold and salty, the ocean lapping at the platform while seagulls cry out in the distance. Ryoken’s yacht awaits him, ready to go, and any other time he’d have climbed on board and left but with every visit he grows more reluctant to depart.

Truly, how soft has he become? To patter down his rising irritation, he pulls at Takeru’s cheek to wipe this gloomy look off his face. It earns him a squeak and a hand batting at him.

“Quit that!”

“You can stop moping, as well.”

“I’m not—!” Takeru jumps on the defensive. He huffs, crossing his arms, “Ugh, just leave already.”

“So quick to get rid of me?” Ryoken says, just to prolong this a beat more, “Don’t miss me too much.”

Takeru shoves him but it’s playful, mouth tilted in a grin, “Who’d miss you?”

Once upon a time, Ryoken hadn’t even questioned that. Because there would be no one. But plans had failed and towers had crumbled, and now he visits Takeru whenever he can or Takeru will pop up unannounced, and time will pass too quickly in those moments and the months in between much too slow. Exchanging messages or patrolling Link VRAINS together doesn’t feel like enough anymore.

Soft, soft sentimentalist he’s become. He has to leave before he does something embarrassing.

He snorts softly and turns around to go.

“Farewell, Takeru.”

As he’s about to hoist himself up into the ladder leading to the deck,

“—Wait!”

he turns back around and Takeru pulls him in, strong arms wrapped around Ryoken’s waist and his face hidden on Ryoken’s shoulder. Suddenly, the morning isn’t so cold anymore; Takeru’s warmth radiates from every point they’re touching and Ryoken stumbles back a step from the force of his embrace. 

Slowly, he brings his uselessly hanging arms around Takeru, too, hesitant at first, but when Takeru squeezes him, Ryoken squeezes back with fervor. He bends his head and Takeru’s hair trickles his nose. The salty ocean breeze mixes with Takeru’s lavender scent—the soap, it’s the soap, but by now it’s something so inherently his that Ryoken thinks of him at the first notes of the flower—and his shampoo, and Ryoken want to bury his face in his hair and hoard his warmth for himself, greedy and selfish, maybe bring him with him back to Den City so they don’t have to think about visits or distance anymore.

Ryoken clutches the back of Takeru’s hoodie and Takeru holds him a little tighter, too, sighs against the side of his neck.

“...Come back soon, idiot,” he mumbles, and is still not letting go, is still holding on. Ryoken hides his smile in his hair.

“Or you could come find me first,” he says and Takeru chuckles.

“Maybe I will. You’ll get lonely without me.”

“Who would miss you?” he counters and it’s light, it’s a lie and it’s the truth, a question with an answer so obvious it might as well be written all over Ryoken’s face.

They linger a beat, two, far longer than a farewell hug would be expected to last. When they let go it’s reluctant, almost, and they don’t meet each other’s eyes until their palms are brushing, a last point of contact before separating entirely.

Takeru’s smiling as he stuffs his hands in his pockets, cheeks pink from the biting wind.

“See you, Ryoken.”