#sumida park

[aishiteru-kenshin]

Sumida Park Cherry Blossom Festival

March 15th — Early April

Over 600 cherry trees blossom in Sumida Park towards the end of March. The riverside park is one of the most famous hanami spots in the city, and many come armed with picnics and mats to sit under the trees and enjoy the season with friends. If you want to enjoy the cherry blossoms against the backdrop of Tokyo Skytree, there really is only one place!

[nobu11051991]

Tokyo 1 day tour, Shibuya crossing, Meiji Shrine, Lunch,Takeshita street, Togo shrine, Fender guitar shop,Asakusa Sensoji temple, Sumida park,Tokyo Skytree, Ochanomizu guitar town!!

Tokyo 1 day tour, Shibuya crossing, Meiji Shrine, Lunch,Takeshita street, Togo shrine, Fender guitar shop,Asakusa Sensoji temple, Sumida park,Tokyo Skytree, Ochanomizu guitar town!! Hi I’m Nobu, I like traveling overseas and in Japan, visited 26 countries! I’m a National Government Licensed Guide Interpreter of English for 10 years. For the people who are interested in and planning trip to…

[elleofakind]

Tokyo's Blossoming Beauty: Best Hanami Spots for Cherry Blossom Delight

In Tokyo, the arrival of cherry blossoms marks a breathtaking transformation, turning the city into a sea of delicate white and pink hues. As spring unfolds, locals and visitors alike eagerly anticipate hanami, the cherished tradition of admiring cherry blossoms. Let’s discover the top hanami spots in Tokyo, where nature’s beauty and cultural richness intertwine, offering an unforgettable…

[tokyowalking]

Kinshi Park in Kinshicho, Sumida-ku, Tokyo

Kinshi Park Cherry Blossom Festival

Cherry blossom viewing was also a lot of fun!

The cherry blossoms will be at their best from now on in Tokyo, and we are looking forward to seeing them in full bloom!

東京都墨田区錦糸町の錦糸公園

錦糸公園さくら祭り

桜を見ながらの花見も盛り上がっていました！

東京はこれからが桜が見頃、満開が楽しみですね！

[blueepink07]

Yuno MV locations from the first three dates

Beginning with yellow Yuno, we have the Hachiko statue - Tokyo, Shibuya ward

Story

"Professor Eizaburo Ueno of Tokyo University adopted Hachiko in Akita prefecture in the early 1920s. The two were inseparable, with Hachiko accompanying his master to Shibuya Station each day when the professor would head off to work at Tokyo's Imperial University. The faithful pup would come back to the station each afternoon at 3pm to greet Ueno upon his return. Unfortunately, the professor died in 1925 while at the university and never returned for a final goodbye with his pet. However, the loyal Hachiko continued to visit the station daily until his own death nearly 10 years later. His own death made headlines, and he was cremated and buried next to his beloved owner."

Message

Next, we have the karaoke where Yuno goes after!

On the karaoke machine it can be seen the word "Joesound" written. Although there isn't a place or a company named like this, I had found a karaoke place near Hachiko statue and Shibuya scramble crossing (since Yuno seems to remember some landmarks from Tokyo she had visited) named JOYSOUND.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the room where Yuno stayed, however the machine and TV look similar with the one from the MV.

Also, a fun thing to note for the reason why they might have chosen to write Joesound instead!

"The closest sounding kanji name to "joe" is 常 (Jō). It is pronounced "Jō" with two syllables. The kanji means "constant" or "always"."

I think the meaning is similar with what the lyrics of Stickybug imply. To be always by your lover side (like a stickybug) until the day you die.

"If I’m lucky, we’ll stay like this till the day we’re covered in wrinkles

Since I’ll surely be just as smitten with you on the day I die

I want to make all your dreams come true

As for my dream, it’s to be that stickybug right by your side"

Going back to the Hachiko statue, the message of the story has similar connotations. Hachiko never actually stopped from loving the professor, always coming back to the station, until the day he died too...

Continuing with green Yuno! These where the easiest to find and I don't think there is much to say about them...

Tokyo Skytree - Sumida city ward

From the shape of the window structure, it looks like Yuno was on the tembo galleria.

No wonder Yuno has dressed herself up so elegant! The client definitely has a lot of money, considering the price to visit just the Tokyo Skytree is 6800 yen for both of them (45,37 $)

During night, however, the scenery changes and Yuno is now in Tokyo tower - Minato ward. They seem to be in an expensive restaurant!

Assuming that they also visited the Tokyo Tower, depending on which deck they went, the prices still seem to be somewhat high!

If they visited the main deck, in total the price should be 2200 yen (14,68 $). For the top deck tour, in total the price should be 5400 yen (36,02 $) (online reservation) or 5800 yen (38,69 $).

Next we have purple Yuno!

Yokohama Cosmo World - Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture

(I would be happy if someone can read the hour on the clock...!)

"Yokohama Cosmoworld is an amusement park in Yokohama’s bayside Minato Mirai district. Although it occupies a rather compact area, it has a variety of rides and attractions which are suitable for either family outings, days out with friends, or romantic dates."

What is interesting about this amusement park is that there is no entrance charge!

However, a single ride can cost between 300 (1,98 $) - 900 yen (5,95 $).

Since the Ferris wheel seems to be the main attraction in Yuno's MV:

"Yokohama Cosmoworld is dominated by a giant Ferris wheel, called Cosmo Clock 21, which has a large digital clock at its center. Standing 112.5 meters high with a 100 meter diameter, this was the world’s tallest Ferris wheel until 1992, and it still holds the record as the world’s biggest Ferris wheel with a clock. Cosmo Clock 21 is one of the characteristic features of the Yokohama Bay skyline and is especially beautiful at night when it is illuminated with an LED light show of constantly changing colors."

"The wheel has 60 gondolas which can each carry eight passengers and it takes 15 minutes to complete a full turn of the wheel. A ride on Cosmo Clock 21 costs 900 yen."

It seems that this image takes place during day, most likely when Yuno and the client where on their way to the Yokohama Cosmo World. Considering that they don't get back home until night, they probably spent all the day until closing in the amusement park. (Cosmo world is open from 11.00 to 20.00)

The client definitely spent a lot of money, taking into consideration that they probably tried many rides!

Since I tried to estimate how much money some of these clients spent, I want to point out the client which appears with Grey Yuno in the second MV. Grey Yuno seems to be the happiest with him and even shows his hand (hands seem to be very important in Milgram, Amane's second MV is a good example for this, the hand representing her mother, an important character for her story) which at some point in time gave her warmth. The places where they go on a date don't seem to be some important landmarks as the others, so the money the client payed shouldn’t be as much. He also only gives 3000 yen (19,82 $) to grey Yuno, which quite pales in comparison with the money some of the other clients spent .

To round off I will add some pictures to visualize better the places where Yuno went!

[thekimonogallery]

rows of cherry blossom trees in Sumida Park. From Asahi Graph 1933, Japan

[taehosjk]

Smithereens

PARK JIMIN IMAGINE - part 1

tô sumida? estou!

mas sempre estou por aqui!! kkkk

Tentando ser o mais silenciosa possível, deitei meu corpo cansado sobre o gigantesco colchão de minha cama.

Meu marido estava virado de costas para mim, sua respiração calma indicava o seu sono profundo.

Senti uma lágrima escorrer por minha bochecha direita e cair delicadamente sobre o travesseiro branco. Levantei a mão e num relapso de loucura, tentei tocar seus fios de cabelos sedosos, mas me lembrei que eu não podia.

Não podia tocá-lo.

Há alguns meses, nosso casamento vem desmoronando, e mesmo que até um tempo atrás fingíamos que nada vinha acontecendo entre a gente, quando deitamos nossas cabeças nos travesseiros macios, sabemos que tudo está estremecido.

Um suspiro longo saiu entre os lábios de Jimin, nesse instante sequei as lágrimas dolorosas que insistiam em sair de meus olhos.

Virei meu corpo em outra direção, dando as costas ao homem que jurei amar por toda a eternidade.

Encarei a janela de vidro do quarto e observei as poucas estrelas no céu escuro, sentindo um breve momento de paz ao admirar tamanha beleza e imensidão.

Perdida em pensamentos, me senti observada. Senti o corpo de Jimin se aproximar delicadamente do meu, e instantaneamente me distanciei; fechei os olhos e rezei para que o sono viesse o mais rápido possível.

E no meio de pensamentos tristes e deprimentes, acabei dormindo ao lado do meu amado marido.

Que estava tão distante de mim.

...

Alguns feixes de luz atravessavam o vidro da janela e batiam diretamente em meu rosto. Abri os olhos lentamente e senti uma leve pontada em minha cabeça, provavelmente pelo choro de ontem.

Me levantei devagar tentando não piorar a dor. Jimin não estava mais na cama, e lembranças nossas de momentos matinais pairam sobre minha cabeça. Momentos felizes de amor e paixão que hoje parecem ter acontecido em outra realidade.

Tentando afastar esses pensamentos, fui me preparar para encarar mais um dia de mentiras e falsos sorrisos.

...

"Bom dia, ____" Ouvi a voz rouca soar por toda a cozinha. Meu coração falhou por um mísero instante.

"Bom dia, Jimin." Respondi.

Perdemos até isso.

Me pergunto em que momento os apelidos amorosos sumiram de nosso vocabulário diário. Não vou negar que ouvir meu nome sair por seus lábios de maneira tão indiferente, faz com que o meu coração entristeça.

Quando foi que meu casamento se tornou esse relacionamento frio e indiferente? Sinto meu casamento escorregar entre meus dedos, e cair no chão se estilhaçando em milhões de pedacinhos. E mesmo que eu tente recuperar o que éramos, colando seus caquinhos, por que lutar sozinha?

Jimin já não faz questão da minha presença, ignora meus anseios de reconciliação e é totalmente indiferente com a situação.

Depois de perceber isso, parei de lutar. Parei de esperar sua presença no jantar, deixei de vestir minhas camisolas sensuais, não o espero na cama, não falo sobre o meu dia e não pergunto sobre o dele. Deixei de ser a esposa perfeita.

Segurei o envelope marrom com força, e delicadamente o coloquei sobre a mesa, de frente para o meu marido.

"Eu pretendia te entregar isso ontem, mas você já estava dormindo quando eu cheguei." Tentei controlar minha voz, para que ela não falhasse por nenhum segundo. "Imagino que você já saiba do que se trata."

Jimin me encarou confuso, e com seus olhos brilhosos abriu o envelope. "O que é isso, _____?" Sua voz estava mais baixa do que o normal.

"São os papéis do nosso divórcio." Tentei soar o mais indiferente possível, mesmo que eu já não conseguisse sentir minhas pernas.

"O que!? Mas, eu.- mas, nós... como vo-" Levantei o dedo indicador para contar sua fala.

"Não fique tão surpreso, nós dois sabíamos que isso viria a acontecer, só não sabíamos quem teria coragem que dar o primeiro passo."

"Fizemos promessas em cima daquele altar." Jimin respirou fundo e fechou os olhos. "Não vou me divorciar por puro capricho seu!" Apontou o dedo em minha direção.

Meu marido parecia levemente alterado.

"Promessas essas que você não cumpriu! Quem pensa que é para jogar algo na minha cara!?"

"Juramos ficar juntos para o resto de nossas vidas." Jimin soltou o envelope, que caiu rapidamente no chão.

"Já lutei demais por esse casamento." Olhei diretamente dentro de seus olhos, queria que ele sentisse toda a minha angústia. "Lutei sozinha por um amor que jurei que você também sentia."

Todo o sofrimento que guardei com o passar desses meses.

"Não fale assim, _____..." Jimin tentou se aproximar, mas me afastei deixando a mesa entre nossos corpos. "Eu também tentei, caralho!"

Uma risada sem humor saiu por meus lábios.

"Mas como eu iria lutar por você, se não permite que eu me aproxime!? Foge de mim o tempo todo, me ignora e, agora quer jogar a responsabilidade em cima de mim?" Passei a mão por meu rosto, tentando não chorar.

Eu sabia que seria um momento difícil. Jurei que estaria preparada para isso, mas aqui frente a frente com o amor da minha vida, percebo que sou fraca.

Não tenho forças para lutar.

"Jimin, não torne as coisas mais difíceis para nós, por favor." Supliquei.

"Eu tenho direito de contestar isso! Eu amo você e não quero me divorciar."

"É tarde demais, Jimin." Suspirei. "Demorei tanto para optar pela separação, e você decide simplesmente que não quer!?" Minha voz subiu alguns tons. "Me ama tanto que só quer lutar por mim, quando percebeu que me perdeu."

"Perdi você?" O olhar que Jimin jogou em minha direção conseguiu destruir o meu coração. "Você não me ama mais? Hum?"

Respirei 1, 2 e até 3 vezes.

Eu sabia a resposta.

Com toda a certeza do mundo eu amava Park Jimin. Porra, ele é o homem da minha vida! Mas o que adiantaria falar isso agora? Dar a esperança que podemos contornar essa situação, e nos machucar um pouco mais quando percebermos que não temos mais jeito.

"Quando foi a última vez que você me procurou como mulher? Que me desejou? Que fizemos amor, ou, que nos entregamos um ao outro como se não houvesse amanhã!?"

"Então o problema aqui é a falta de sexo? Caralho, _____! Você é inacreditável!" O suspiro cansado que saiu por seus lábios chamou minha atenção. "Estou atolado de trabalho e mal tenho tempo para respirar, e você quer se divorciar porquê não chego em casa e te jogo em cima dessa mesa e te fodo? É isso?"

"O sexo foi o primeiro ponto." Tentei controlar meus pensamentos. "Depois tudo desandou." Uma lágrima escorreu por minha bochecha. "Você tem outra mulher, Park? Por favor, me diga agora!" Encarei seus olhos amuados.

Só de pensar nessa possibilidade sinto que tudo a minha volta pode desmoronar.

Não sei se aguentaria uma traição por parte de Jimin.

"O que? _____, porra, está se ouvindo!? Você não me conhece?"

Me surpreendi com a indignação do meu marido.

"Eu achei que te conhecia, mas a cada dia você vem se mostrando uma pessoa diferente do que era antes."

"Você me ofendeu de uma maneira, _____..." Mordi os lábios ao ouvir suas palavras. "Sei que não fui o melhor marido para você nesses últimos dias, mas você também não é perfeita. Temos nos erros, mas eu nunca te acusaria de algo assim! Me mato todos os dias para te dar a vida que te prometi, e conquistar nossos sonhos. Sei que não é desculpa para negligenciar nosso casamento, mas quem você pensa que é para simplesmente apontar o dedo para mim?" Jimin estava bastante exaltado, não queria que as coisas tivessem tomado esse rumo.

"Sei que não sou a melhor esposa, mas lutei todos os dias para ser melhor para você!"

Ouvimos um pigarro e voltamos nossa atenção para a porta da cozinha.

"Desculpe atrapalhar vocês, perdão." Minha empregada estava nos observando. "Mas tem um senhor esperando por vocês na sala." Sua voz saiu um pouco mais baixa. "Eu disse que os senhores estavam ocupados, mas ele insistiu em entrar." Suas bochechas levemente rosadas indicavam que ela havia escutado nossa discussão.

"Nós já vamos, Minhee! Um minuto." Peguei um copo de água gelada e bebi em alguns segundos, torcendo para que minha tristeza passasse junto com minha sede.

Jimin me observou a todo instante.

"Você primeiro, querida." O apelido saiu de maneira bem sarcástica por seus lábios, ignorei a pontada que senti.

Não queria que estivéssemos assim, nesse ponto de estarmos jogando cinismos um para outro.

"Obrigado, amor." Passei em sua frente entrando em minha sala alguns passos depois.

Identifiquei a imagem do homem sentando em meu sofá branco. O analisei por alguns segundos, mas não me recordava se o conhecia.

"Em que podemos te ajudar, senhor? Creio que a sua visita tenha um motivo muito importante." Jimin foi direto. Não tão educado como costuma ser normalmente. "Não sei se posso te atender por muito tempo, então se puder ser direto no que deseja..."

"Desculpe aparecer assim tão de repente, sou Bang Jae!" Estendeu a mão em nossas direções. "Tenho uma notícias pata vocês." Ajeitou delicadamente o tecido de seu paletó escuro. "Sua avó, senhor Park, faleceu há alguns meses, como já deve saber." Meu marido concordou rapidamente. "Vocês estão no testamento de Park Chohee, e preciso que comparação a leitura do testamento amanhã."

"É necessário advogado ou algo assim?" Jimin perguntou.

"Só se você preferir." Bang se levantou e nos encarou sorridente. "Aqui estão todas as informações que precisam-" Nos entregou uma folha de papel. "Até amanhã." Se curvou.

"Obrigado pela presença." Tentei ser o mais simpática possível.

"A propósito-" Voltei a minha atenção ao homem engravatado. "Conhecem a senhorita Minji?"

"A garotinha que minha avó adotou como neta?" Jimin perguntou confuso.

"Exatamente." Bang pegou outros papéis em sua pasta. "Aqui estão os papéis de adoção."

"Que adoção?" A confusão deveria estar estampada em minha cara.

"Já está quase tudo pronto para vocês receberam a guarda da pequena Minji. Aguardamos apenas a decisão de vocês."

Meu queixo quase caiu de meu rosto.

"Sua vó me implorou para que cuidasse disso pessoalmente, ela deseja que vocês cuidem da garota." Bang parecia tranquilo enquanto jogava essa bomba em nós.

Meu marido parecia tão perplexo quanto eu.

Eu adoro Minji, desde quando a conheci. Uma garotinha de 3 anos adorável, que infelizmente foi abandonada pelos pais logo quando nasceu. Viveu um tempo em abrigos, até Chohee encontrá-la e adotá-la.

Mas adotar a garota? Isso nunca se passou pela minha cabeça.

"Imagino que vocês saibam que não há mais ninguém na fila de adoção. Caso haja a negativa por parte de vocês, Minji irá diretamente para um orfanato."

"Mas e os outros parentes da vovó!?" Jimin parecia tão nervoso que a veia em sua testa poderia explodir a qualquer momento.

"Todos já foram avisados sobre a possível adoção, caso houvesse a negativa de vocês, mas já fui informado que eles não tem interesse nessa situação."

"Onde ela está agora?" Questionei aflita.

"Com a assistência social."

Ficamos em silêncio por alguns minutos.

"Não quero mais tomar o tempo de vocês." Bang Jae se aproximou um pouco. "Até amanhã."

"O que vamos fazer?" Jimin perguntou assim que o homem saiu pela porta da sala.

"Não sei, Jimin. Sinceramente não sei."

[lovngyjm]

icy - kwangya skaters

sinopse Minjeong é uma patinadora artística que possuí um ódio indescritível pelos jogadores de Hockey, principalmente a capitã do time, Yoo Jimin, que sempre se evitam; Mas não terão como fugir uma da outra depois que ambas são obrigadas a compartilhar o mesmo rinque.

masterlist | eng ver

kwangya skaters - perfil

KIM MINJEONG — 19 anos, Vencedora da competição de patinação, seu par é o Sunghoon mas as vezes compete solo, todo seu grupo é formado por amigos de infância e sua melhor amiga é a Ning, ela odeia com toda sua vida o time de hockey especialmente a Jimin que mais irrita ela; Minjeong é bem reservada quando não está com os amigos.

NING YIZHUO — 19 anos e compete solo e em pares, seu par é o Jisung, Ning é melhor amiga da Minjeong e também sabe tudo, ela gosta de fofocar por aí; Provavelmente está te julgando silenciosamente, não gosta do time de hockey mas ela ganha como maior hater da Aeri por motivos desconhecidos.

PARK SUNGHOON — 19 anos, é a pessoa mais sã do grupo e sempre precisa lidar com as ideias estranhas das meninas, às vezes é referido como pinguim porque ele ama eles, Sunghoon e Minjeong eram shippados como casal pelos seus pais; Não gosta do Wonbin por conta de uma situação de quando eram crianças e porque ele o irrita.

NAKAMURA KAZUHA — 18 anos, ela é muito bobinha e engraçada, bastante popular e tenta dar atenção a todo mundo por isso as vezes fica sumida do grupo e fica perdida nos assuntos, ela é a mais nova então muitas vezes é tratada como uma criancinha, faz patinação solo e não liga pro time de hockey.

taglist [aberta] @thefckghost

[city-cost]

What you can't see is the chaos of hanami goers sitting around the trees. People were out in force for what looks to have been the final weekend for hanami in Tokyo. Kinshi Park, Sumida Ward, Sunday.

[brasideios]

A few of my favourite works of Hiroshige from 100 Views of Edo. (1856)

The Dyer’s Quarter || Inside Kameido Tenjin Shrine

The Grove at the Suijin Shrine and Massaki on the Sumida River || Plum Park in Kameido

[jasonbehrs]

🍬 corollary 🍬

by airauralintensity (aka me, jasonbehrs!)

If you lose your food-obsessed fiance in a crowd, here’s how to find her in three tries or less.

fandom: incurable case of love, koi wa tsuzuku yo doko made mo characters: sakura nanase, tendo kairi ship: sakurendo genres: romance themes: introspective, character study, tendo focus, post-canon word count: 3.3k+ book: 2/2 rating: T

read it on ffnet, aff, wattpad, ao3, or below!

~~~

A/N (7.26.2023): "Another Sakura-Nanase-loves-food fanfic from airauralintensity? What gives?" Listen, there are so many plot points in the show that are driven by Nanase's love of food. More fan content needs to acknowledge that if she had to choose between a falling patient and a falling plate… well, she would still choose the patient, but she would hesitate.

If you happen to be reading this fresh off of finishing the show, I'm ignoring the timeline of Episode 10. This fic is set after she returns but before they're married, which isn't a very long time period according to canon.

This isn't a sequel to 'a delicious conspiracy of love' in the consequential narrative sense, but they're still heavily related, so I encourage you to read that one first. I named this fic 'corollary' not just because it suits the plot but because this fic builds off of themes from the first one.

~~~

Sometimes, Kairi still needs to offer Nanase a hand.

He doesn't just mean pulling her to the side so that she doesn't accidentally run into a tourist because she's too busy window shopping to pay attention to her surroundings (though that does happen with an alarming frequency), but he also means literally.

In the times when she is too conscious of him, she won't hold his hand herself.

Despite the many professional advantages her year of community nursing abroad has brought, one of the personal disadvantages was that it also sort of reset their relationship, at least where Nanase was concerned. She didn't break off their engagement or anything, but there is a certain composure present where there was none previously.

They kept in regular contact during their time apart, which did a lot to ease the longing and keep their relationship feeling like a relationship, but he supposes a year's worth of conversational intimacy doesn't immediately nor necessarily translate into physical intimacy, even one as simple as this.

She has never been shy around him—as her blatant overtures for his affection back when she really was just a rock in his way made abundantly clear—but they were the actions of a woman on a mission. All years considered, she has spent more time pining for him than actually having him, and the relationship habits they were building before she left didn't have time to truly settle in.

All this to say: when she returned, she still treated him like he wasn't completely and irrevocably hers.

Kairi has enjoyed reminding her (oh, has he enjoyed reminding her), but now he thinks he needs to work harder.

He will. Once he finds her.

The Sumida Park Farmers' Market isn't that new, but it's new to them. It started up while Nanase was gone, and Kairi didn't have a reason to visit until she came back. It's also in the half of the park that isn't on their side of the river, so neither of them were that familiar with its layout even without the influx of people and vehicles and vendors.

Unfortunately, these are not as good excuses as he wants them to be. He ends up losing her in any given crowd nine times out of ten. She's always bouncing back and forth, admiring the wares and sampling the goods and talking to anyone who makes eye contact with her like the extrovert she is—which wouldn't be such a problem if only she would hold his goddamn hand.

But like he intimated, this happens pretty often; and he wouldn't be the man he is today if he didn't learn from his mistakes the first time. When a quick 360 doesn't immediately reveal his favourite smile or the sound of excessive cooing over someone's baby, he doesn't panic. He just closes his eyes and focuses on his breathing.

More specifically, the scents he's breathing.

If you lose your food-obsessed fiance in a crowd, here's how to find her in three tries or less: identify the smell of cooking then follow your nose to the closest food stall. It hasn't steered him wrong to date.

Nanase is always so surprised to be found, mostly because she's always surprised that she's lost in the first place. "How did Sensei know how to find me?" she would ask. He never tells, though, instead affecting a burdened air and moving forward with their date, lest he accidentally sully the sanctity of his trick.

The scent of friend dough catches Kairi's attention first. He follows the lead to a baby castella stall. There is no sign of his fiance, but he does buy a basket for her and dusts it with powdered sugar.

Repeating the process brings to his attention a smell that reminds him of the sea on a hot summer day. The takoyaki stall he comes upon also has no Nanase, but he buys a half-dozen anyway and prepares it the way she likes: topped liberally with pickled ginger and accompanied by a dollop of mayonnaise on the side.

Finally, he smells fried vegetables with an undercurrent of something sweet. It takes him to a crepe stall, and he's finally run out of hands and composure. Nanase is still nowhere to be seen.

He stands in the middle of the path and forces the flow of people to go around him as he furiously thinks of what to do now. This strategy has never failed him before. Besides, what good are two handfuls of warm food when there isn't a fiance with a never-ending appetite around to eat them?

Kairi spins in a circle, looking for a place to sit and set down his prandial burdens but mostly hoping that Nanase would still appear and validate his methodology. He needs to be right about this.

It was his job to be right about things like this.

.

An enthusiastic "Tendo-sensei!" was the first thing Kairi heard when he answered the phone.

Nanase picked a good time to call. He had already eaten breakfast, and it's easier to talk when he isn't concentrating on not overcooking his food.

They realised pretty early on that her night shift ended just in time for his day shift to begin. This sweet spot when she's getting ready for bed and he's getting ready to go became the obvious choice for any video calls. They couldn't call every day; but when they could, it happened around now.

He chuckled as he set the phone on a stand he bought for this specific purpose. "You can start calling me Kairi, you know. Isn't it weird to call your fiance by his last name and an honourific? I'm not even your attending physician anymore."

"You still call me Sakura sometimes!" By the echo, he could tell she was in her bathroom too, and something about being in a similar place at the same time made the distance feel smaller.

"But I call you Nanase the other times."

"Awww." The pitying sound made him glance over from the mirror to see a cute little pout on his fiance's face. "I miss the sound of my name."

He leaned in closer so she could see his incredulity. "What do they call you over there if not by your name?"

"No, no! They do call me Nanase. It's just, with the accent, it sounds more like… Nan-ase? I don't know. I feel bad saying this because it's not like I get all their names right all the time either, but…"

"Nanase."

"Hm?"

He turned away from the camera to reach for a towel with the added benefit of hiding his smile. He didn't say her name to get her attention, but he could pivot. Flexibility was a strength of his. "Not too tired from the night shift?"

"Not too tired to talk to Sensei~ Besides, I had coffee in the second half of my shift. I'll be good until after the call ends!"

He stopped what he was doing and looked back at her. "Since when did you start drinking coffee?" He worked alongside her for over four months and never even saw her drinking matcha.

"It's recent! It actually surprised my coworkers that I wasn't drinking any. Besides the long shifts, Berlin has a huge coffee culture. I wanted to fit in, so I started ordering some from the cafes that my coworkers recommended in town. I like it! I think. There's a lot of variety, at least. They even have matcha over here!"

Kairi let her elaborate on her journey of discovering coffee and tried not to overthink. Sakura Nanase, more energetic than a fully-charged battery and sweeter than Japan's finest wagashi, was not the sort of person he associated with coffee. It wasn't something he thought she'd enjoy.

It's not that he was against her drinking coffee. It's not about the coffee at all. It's the fact that there could be things about her that he couldn't predict. Considering he fell in love with her for her transparency, the discovery unnerved him.

Kairi was a man who prided himself on accurate deductions. From the moment he received a patient's echocardiogram, he could map out their entire recovery journey in his mind's eye. Of course, when the facts changed, he changed his mind; but anticipating and addressing viable changes in condition were the cornerstones of his entire career, and he was only capable of such astute assessments because he was an expert on cardiology. He didn't become one of the most successful heart surgeons in the country by wasting mental or temporal resources on understanding things that didn't matter to him. Heart health mattered to him.

Sakura Nanase also mattered to him.

He knew exactly how much rain it took to dissuade her from her outdoor plans. He knew the earliest she could wake up given her bedtime the night before. He could narrow down to the minute the point at which she needs a snack to boost her blood sugar.

Nanase wasn't predictable, necessarily, but humans were creatures of habit; and he observed and studied hers to the point of expertise.

If he wasn't an expert on the things he loved, what was he?

This was why he wasn't nearly as worried about her study abroad as she was. The distance was immaterial. Whether she was right next to him or on the opposite side of the world, he remained the foremost, citable, preeminent authority on all things Sakura Nanase.

"Does this mean I'll have to start sharing my coffee supply with you when you come back?"

"Maybe!" She giggled. "I like sharing things with you."

But mastery wasn't a checkpoint. It was a lifelong endeavour, and his chosen field of expertise had a similarly lifelong intention to keep growing, evolving, maturing. He reminded himself that this was actually exciting, and he was actually lucky. He got to witness those changes in real time; he got to remain the expert.

Especially in circumstances like these, he needed that assurance. Their time apart wouldn't matter because when she came back to him, she wouldn't be a stranger.

"I'm running a little behind, but do me a favour before I go?"

He directed his full attention to the phone, as he always did for the last few minutes of their calls. She shuffled closer so that her whole face took up his screen, and he refrained from mentioning that he took a screenshot of it. "You name it!"

"What's the name of your hospital, again? I forgot."

The sight of her fond eye roll did more to wake him up than his own cup of coffee did. "You didn't forget, Sensei. You just like to hear me butcher German."

He shrugged. "I forgot how much I like hearing you butcher German."

"Fine, fine. I'll say it so you won't be late." She cleared her throat. "Ge-ma-i-n-sha-fu-su-ka-n-ke-n-ha-u-su Ha-fu-hu-u."

"Oh, that's why it's so small? It's half of a real hospital?"

"One day, that joke will stop being funny," but the smile on her face said otherwise.

.

"Kairi! There you are, I've been looking all over for you."

He whirls around, barely keeping the food in their containers as he does. "What. No, you weren't. I was looking for you."

Nanase tilts her head. "Couldn't we have been looking for each other, then?"

He doesn't have an answer for that, still hung up on how his three-tries-or-less strategy failed him. "Where were you?" he asks instead.

"Oh! Here, have some." She opens her mouth, encourages him to mimic her, then plops something smooth and sweet onto his tongue. "Isn't it so good?"

Hard candy. She was buying hard candy. Hard candy does not emit an odour.

He doesn't know if he's annoyed that his strategy doesn't account for things like this or pleased that it still has merit under most but specific parameters.

"I saw a family back there holding a bag of something colourful," she continues, "so I asked them where they got it."

He follows her pointed finger to find that the hard candy vendor is literally right behind the castella stand, which is only a few stalls down from when he noticed he lost her.

He makes up his mind: he's definitely annoyed.

"Can I have some?" she asks about the food he forgot he is holding.

He offers both of his hands to her, looking down at the food both literally and figuratively. "They're for you," he grumbles.

Her eyes light up at the prospect of eating, and it says something that that alone isn't enough to lift his mood.

She points out a seating area with picnic tables a little ways away from where they're standing—which Kairi probably would have seen sooner if he were actually looking for those instead of blatantly focused on looking for Nanase instead—and he follows her lead. There appear to be no places for them to sit together, but a pointed glare at a pair of teenagers who are done eating rectifies that problem very quickly.

"Ah! I love pickled ginger with my takoyaki!" she effuses once they're seated side by side.

He waits until she takes her first bite—"It's the perfect temperature, too!"—before he brings up his concern: "Nanase, you need to hold my hand more often when we're in public."

"Really?"

"Yes…?" He meant to say that definitively, but the absolute delight and obvious relief on her face puzzle him. "That isn't a problem?"

"Not for me! I thought it would be for Sensei, though."

He ignores the reversion to an honourific. "What possibly gave you that idea?"

She does a quick, breezy shrug, more focused on preparing the next takoyaki ball for her consumption. "I didn't think you were happy to hold my hand when we're in public. You always looked burdened. I thought, 'Ah, he doesn't like it,' so I stopped," she explains casually, like she didn't just shatter his entire perception of their relationship in the ten seconds it took her to say that.

He, unfortunately, knows exactly what she's talking about; but the burden is fake!

Moreover: "That never stopped you before," he accuses. If there's one thing he understands about Sakura Nanase, it's that she chases after the things she wants without abandon or shame, even in the times when it would behoove her to exhibit more abandon or shame.

"Yeah, but I was pretty single-minded before, wasn't I?" she says plainly. This self-reflection is evidently not new to her. Where was he when she decided these things about herself? "I did and said so many things just because I wanted you to keep looking at me, even if it was in annoyance… which it usually was. You didn't like it even back then."

Sure, but that was back then.

"I was able to calm down in Germany, though," she reminisces. "Not getting to see you every day made me treasure the times I do have your attention, so it became easier to respect your boundaries."

"I don't have those!" he blurts out.

"Eh?"

He doesn't even know where to start. He was so misunderstood. He misunderstood so much. He's spiralling.

"I love it when you hold my hand. I love holding your hand. Hold my hand all the time."

"O-okay," she agrees with wide-eyes and an offered palm, thinking the directive started now.

He stares at her waiting hand, suddenly feeling like he doesn't deserve to hold it, but ultimately grasps it like a desperate man.

He is pretty desperate. He's spiralling, but her touch is a tether. "You're not a burden. You haven't been for a while, and I thought you knew that."

Her smile is brilliant. "Yeah, I worked hard to become an asset in the ward—"

"—With me, too," he interrupts. "It's an act; it always has been. I can't be straightforward about my affection; it feels weird. I'd rather be subtle about it,"— he gestures to the food—"but that only worked because I thought you knew to look past my pretense."

"I definitely thought it was real," she admits sheepishly. "Or at least coming from a real place. I just was willing to ignore it."

She didn't even know he was acting. He relied on the notion that she knew he was acting. Does he know anything about her, about this relationship?

"I thought you had become self-conscious," he confesses like a man who gambled everything he had and lost it all.

"I-I sort of did!" she gets out in a rush, a misinformed attempt to uplift her dour fiance. "I became conscious of how my past self behaved when I was pining after you and realised that I didn't need to do that anymore because I actually have you now," she ends optimistically.

He misunderstood so much. "What else don't I know about you?" he asks in all seriousness.

"Huh?" She chuckles in confusion. "What are you talking about? You know everything about me."

"Evidently not."

"Of course you do!" She holds up her half-finished takoyaki. "You remembered the mayonnaise!"

"Nanase, this is important!" he groans. "Just because I supplied mayonnaise for your takoyaki doesn't mean I know everything about you."

"And just because you misunderstood this one little thing about me doesn't mean you don't."

She doesn't get it. It's not just the hand-holding. It's the illusion of transparency, it's about inaccurate deductions, it's because she matters—

Nanase tugs his mouth open and puts in a baby castella. "Here."

For a split second, he considers spitting it out on principle before realising spitting it out would be disgusting. "I got those for you," he reproves once he's done chewing.

"And I'm letting you have some. I'm not the only one between the two of us who likes sweet bread, right?" she argues as she holds up another one to his mouth.

Kairi acquiesces on sharing the food, but he doesn't let her feed him. "See, you do have a limit on public displays of affection," she points out when he eats a castella of his own volition. "I just misjudged where that limit was."

He looks at her incredulously. "We're already holding hands," he retorts, covering the sight of his half-chewed food with one hand while the other waves their joined ones for emphasis. "Additional intimate interactions are superfluous."

"I would certainly appreciate 'additional interactions'."

"Appreciate what you have," he snarks on habit before remembering himself. He checks her reaction out of the corner of his eye. Will she start looking past his pretense?

Her exaggerated, coquettish blinks are answer enough. "So you won't hug me?"

He maintains a beleaguered veneer through the relief. "Hugging and hand-holding are mutually exclusive activities. One must replace the other; therefore neither will surpass my quotient for ardent displays."

She immediately releases their grasped hands and sticks her arms out in a low invitation. "How about now?"

He knows—he knows—his heart is not physically swelling from overwhelming fondness. His syncopated heartbeat is not arrhythmia. He requires no medical attention… but the sight of his adorable fiance and her cheeky but earnest ploys for his affection wreaks just so much havoc on his constitution.

He can't smile, or blush, or do something else with his face to betray that affection, but he doesn't have to. That isn't what she's asking for.

He wraps her up in intentional, unhurried movements, and he's rewarded with the squeeze of her arms around him. It's as grounding and reassuring as it always has been.

"I can't say I fully understand what you're worried about," she murmurs right below his ear, "but I can say I'm just as in love with you now as I was six years ago. I can also say that I know you love me, too."

He does. He doesn't say it nearly as often or as easily as she does, but he loves her.

"So how about this," she continues. "I show you love the way I know how, and you show me love the way you know how, and we can make up for the difference with honesty." It is framed like a proposal, but she speaks like she already knows how he'll respond.

Maybe she does.

"I can agree to those terms," he says as a formality, and she hugs him tighter.

Maybe she is the foremost, citable, preeminent authority on all things Tendo Kairi.

~~~

A/N (7.26.2023): Believe it or not, this was only supposed to be around 500 words…

The location I picked for Nanase's community nursing study abroad program is Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Havelhöhe (Havelhöhe Community Hospital) in Germany, which is a small academic teaching hospital in a very suburban area of Berlin and actually practises community nursing. It's associated with Charité, one of Europe's biggest university hospitals and the primary hospital in Berlin, which makes it even more likely to actually host a study abroad nursing program. (It does not in real life, though. The Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Havelhöhe mostly trains doctors, not nurses.)

Kairi's joke about it being half of a hospital is because the first two syllables of the neighbourhood it's located in, Havelhöhe (hæ-fu-heu-eh), is pronounced like how the English word 'half' is pronounced in Japanese.

[jake-richmond]

We're happy to announce Yeldplay!, an ongoing Yeld TTRPG actual play podcast. The first episode is available now! The podcast is run by Emmavoid and Arcin, who have been handling the Yeld twitter for a few years now.  Here's what they have to say: "We, the social media people at The Magical Land of Yeld have a special long coming announcement for you all. Mainly the publication of our Yeldplay podcast! allowing for those interested in the game to see what playing the game is like! We will be releasing episodes on a bi weekly schedule and episode one will be released TOMORROW at Noon EST (9 am PST) with our first 1ish hour episode "A Door Where Doors Should Be."  

Our cast includes Myself (Maia de Laria) as Zoey (3rd to the right with the nunchucks) @emmavoid (Emma Quartz) as Avery (2nd to the right in the pink hat) @Asa (Asa Sumida) as Nao (first on the left with a plastic knife) And our friend not on this Discord, Alexis as Maria  

You can grab our episodes here at https://shows.acast.com/yeldplay/episodes or at various places podcasts are published including Spotify Amazon Music Samsung Podchaser JioSaavn Deezer Apple OIdcasts iHeartRadio Google Podcasts AND Stitcher!  So hello to you all and welcome to our new ongoing project.

Art, of course, by the amazing @jake.

And finally, credit to @Wynnie Freeze (she/they) who created the song "The Door Is Open" which will be featured in tomorrow's episode. Thank you so much for keeping this secret for so long Wynnie and thank you especially for letting us use your beautiful music.  

Other music featured includes Intro: "For Everyone You've Ever" from "touched or been touched by" by Twinkle Park- https://twinklepark.bandcamp.com/track/for-everyone-youve-ever-2 and  Outro: "Something To Hold On To" from "As Much As I Forget" by Twinkle Park- https://popspirit.bandcamp.com/track/something-to-hold-on-to Thanks for reading. It's going to be a wild ride."

The first episode is available today! Check it out here! Also check out the cast art.

[seekers-who-are-lovers]

Note: An emotional episode 3 of “Buddy Daddies” came out last night. So yes, here I am again trying this out based on a head canon I have. Thank you @flashfictionfridayofficial for this prompt: Fine by me.

Fandom: Buddy Daddies

Relationship: Kazuki Kurusu & Rei Suwa, Kazuki Kurusu/OC female

Rating: Teen up

Words: 756

Kazuki was too wild to feel shame. Rei posited. His friend didn’t have any qualms hopping into bed with potential female targets as easy as 1-2-3 to obtain information. As it turned out Rei dared not to imagine it at all.

“Someone has to do it. Besides, it is only part of the job. It is called acting. Two birds in one stone,” Kazuki once said. “What? Wouldn’t you?” He heard Rei scoff in disbelief. There were still so many things he didn’t know about his friend.

“I am not that desperate. Also you are one of the worse actors I’ve ever known,” Rei quipped.

The dark-haired man couldn’t imagine having sex with a person he barely knew. Let alone when there was no previous connection at all. If he were honest with himself, the conversation irritated him. His friend irritated him. With this stance. With this predicament he brought with him in. One way or another, one had to do it. And the only one who was willing to do it was Kazuki. He remained stoic for the rest of the day focusing on his video game. Like he always had been. His left fingers quickly interchanged when touching the Nintendo buttons as his right hand wiggled the joystick. Cigarette smoke permeated the luxurious living room. Kazuki sighed. He didn’t exchange a single word with his friend on that day anymore.

When Kazuki left the loft at eight in the evening, Rei immediately zipped up his blue jacket, put his pair of sturdy black leather Italian shoes on and closed the door. No need to ride on his motorcycle. Stealthily, he trailed behind Kazuki and the woman, who were walking along the Sumida River promenade hand in hand. The contact person, an assistant manager of the department whose boss they were targeting, had a Sehnsucht on a romantic escapade. Rei hated to admit it but he couldn’t blame the woman. She was a bit older than his friend. It was first and foremost Kazuki’s charm that draw Rei to him. He was a Sonny boy. His manners were impeccable for an assassin. His love for domestic life belied his true nature: ruthless and a stickler for meticulous planning and strategies when contracting a deadly assignment. Apart from that his above-average hand-to-hand combat was commendable. If he was determined, he could easily shoot the target earning them the wound of a lifetime or a hole six feet underground.

Rei saw them stop in front of the Italian BBQ restaurant Land_a very close to the park facing the river. The formidable Tokyo Skytree can be seen from where Rei was standing. He could see the earnest face of his friend as if he was enjoying wooing the woman whose name Rei never bothered to remember. They were at the terrace choosing a table away from the rest of the customers. He could see them cajole, play footsies with each other. Kazuki felt at home with the woman as if he’d known her for years. He was touching her luxuriant long black hair, sniffing the strands like a Victorian gentleman. The woman couldn’t stop smiling.

———

A few hours ago.

“Your dinner is inside the fridge. Remember to warm it up in the microwave. Best to add some water to make the meat more tender.” Kazuki felt like he was speaking to a wall. Rei was so closed off he almost lost his patience. There were days he didn’t see the point of cooking good food and cleaning the loft when he felt under appreciated. So better to leave him alone. Closing the doors, he shouted to no one in particular.

“Don’t wait up!” Tonight was the night.

———

Rei couldn’t take it anymore. He walked back toward the old district of Asakusa choosing the narrow backstreets to avoid the crowd.

If Kazuki would see him right now he’d probably laugh at his face. He was deep in thought when he heard mournful cries from a cat attempting to escape its tattered huge box that disturbed his rumination. He came nearer and the calico kitten caught his eye.

Abandoned animals. How many were there hovering around in the metropolis Tokyo? Unknown, uncared for. The creature was docile despite being born on the street. He didn’t have a shopping bag with him so he placed the animal inside his jacket. It did not struggle and quickly found a home inside it. It was a beautiful creature. The fur was smooth if not a bit dusty. He could clean it up, remove the crusty buildup around its eyes, make the cat new. He felt his heart beat faster. He wanted to care for this cat. He wanted to care period. Whatever this setup with Kazuki was, it was fine by him. He traced the steps back home.

[tokyowalking]

Oyokogawa Water Park is located in Kinshicho, Sumida-ku, Tokyo.

Located along the Sobu Line, visitors can take a walk while viewing the Sobu Line trains and Tokyo Sky Tree.

The park also has walking trails and fishing spots.

東京都墨田区錦糸町にある大横川親水公園。

総武線沿線にあり、総武線の電車と東京スカイツリーを見ながらの散策が出来ます。

散歩道、釣りスポットもある公園です。

[japanskalekt]

Asakusa is a charming district in Tokyo, with  historic sites, traditional atmosphere, and modern entertainment. The area is known for the famous Senso-ji Temple, a Buddhist temple with a towering red lantern and a bustling shopping street, Nakamise-dori, filled with traditional snacks and souvenirs. Visitors can also enjoy a river cruise along the Sumida River, witness the thrilling performances of the Asakusa Geisha, or explore the nearby amusement park, Hanayashiki. Asakusa offers a glimpse into Japan's past and present