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lilac-5ky · 1 year

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Roommates from Hell, pt.1 (Toji x Fem!Reader)

Chapter 1: Stolen Fries taste best

(pic from loving yamada at lvl999, adorable manga, recommend)

Chapter 2 | Story Masterlist | Masterlist

Plot: Out of all the women that come and go in Toji's life, you're the only one he calls his friend. But when he suddenly forces his way into your apartment, the feelings you've kept from him are put to the test.

Setting: Pre Hidden Inventory Arc. Toji and reader are both in their late twenties, no Megumi in picture... yet :p

Themes: Cohabitation, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers

Warning: Slight sexual content minus the actual smut.

A/N at the bottom

“You’re late. Again.”

The small silver bell at the top of the glass door notified you of a man’s arrival, his heavy steps refusing to wipe themselves upon entry, spreading mud all over the now-blotted checkered tiles of the dimly lit diner. You’d been expecting the owner of those shoes for the past six hours, his untimely arrival coming as a bitter aftertaste to an afternoon full of childish joy and mayhem— popped balloons, colorful confetti, and half-eaten pieces of cakes swept into one big pile at the room’s southernmost corner by yours truly.

“I never said I was coming,” the voice retorted, its defiant sound overshadowed by the gruesome screech of a metallic chair. “Not interested in celebrating some brat’s b-day, ‘specially if it ain’t mine.”

“How many helpless children must have spent their birthdays without their no-good father, I wonder,” you wiped your hands against your cherry-red apron, pushing the broom back into place. “If your goal is to repopulate Japan, I’m certain you’ll succeed.”

Hefty fingers mindlessly combed through a head of obsidian black, little spikes forming and then settling back down. “None, as far as I’m concerned,” sarcasm dripped from his tongue.

“Well, I find that hard to believe,” you mumbled under your breath, circling through the room to ensure everything was dealt with: leftovers in the fridge, gift wrappings in the bin, and the large aforementioned pile of garbage waiting to be scooped up. “You’ve known Kenzo since birth. Even if this ain’t your thing, the least you could’ve done was make an appearance. He kept asking about his favorite uncle all night long.”

“Except I’m not his uncle. Don’t mix me in with your sister’s family, I ride solo.”

Sigh.

“My sister’s family might as well be your family, Toji. You know how much Hinata and her kids adore you.”

“Good for them, I suppose.”

Another sigh.

“Can you at least tell me what was so important for you to not even pick the goddamn phone up?”

As if the device had grown sentient, a generic tune began tooting from the back pocket of his sweatpants, eradicating your final hope that it’d simply run out of battery.

Without budging from his seat, Toji twisted an arm around his back to pull his flip-phone out, the silver-tinted lid slamming shut as soon as he’d peered at the caller’s number, his next immediate move being to drown the sound in a glass of leftover Coke, fizzy bubbles playing the device’s final requiem.

You didn’t need to ask to know it was a woman, and he didn’t need to answer that she, whatever the name of his latest conquest was, happened to also be the reason for his being unfashionably late.

It was always like that. He was always like that. He went out with one girl after the other; from women of extreme beauty and poise to mindless bimbos who couldn’t tell tea leaves and coffee beans apart. He’d spend some cash to butter them up with expensive meals at overpriced restaurants, or VIP entrance at the hottest club, or even pay for the name tag on their designer clothes, but come next morning, he was either caught stealing straight out of their pockets or checking whether the tag was still attached to the dress for him to return it to the store—at which point, the vast majority gave up, except for those few poor souls who earnestly believed they could fix him, though they never would.

If there were two things in this world that remained unfaltering and resolute throughout the eons, then that was the earth’s orbiting the sun, and Zen’in Toji’s being the bastard of a man you knew and loved— special intonation of that last part.

It was quite the oxymoron. To know him as an irredeemable scumbag with no intention of changing, and to love him for all he was; a sentence as contradictory and controversial as the man before you. What was there to love? He never gave two shits about the people around him dying, and if he could encourage or partake in their deaths then he certainly would. He gambled every cent of cash in his hands away, and his every attachment ended with the disposal of his used-up condom. He was vulgar, cynical, and brass, and he possessed a great charisma of making people dislike him at first glance. His only saving grace was his good looks and even those he managed to scrape on a daily basis.

So, really, what was there to love about a man whose place fitted best among the pile of garbage in the corner? What was the point in all that?

He never answered your question, and when you realized he wasn’t planning to, you dragged a second chair to his side, propping your elbows first and then your chin over the vinyl backrest, feet landing at each side. You took in his expression— sour and undeniably agitated, with a frown tugging at the scarred corner of his lower lip, and a glare too icy to be meant for the wall of American-styled neon billboards he mercilessly studied. Something definitely bothered him, and as a huff stiffened his chin, the reason became evident enough for you to point at it.

“Woman or work?” you gestured at the blood that dribbled below his ear and down his neck.

He followed your forefinger with his eyes, thumb scrubbing where the gush began. He seemed oblivious to his injury, though it wasn’t as if his becoming aware changed a thing.

“So it is a woman,” you gladly seized the chance to rub salt into his wound, drawing a frustrated grumble from him.“What did you do this time? Stole her car and crashed it into a tree? Blew all her savings on cockfight betting?”

“Horse races,” he had the nerve to correct.

“Or… did you by any chance bring an uncalled ménage à trois to her bed?”

“What kind of man you take me for?” Toji protested.

“A very, very, veeeery bad man,” you smirked, and he returned it. You knew him like the back of your hand. There was no need to pretend otherwise after well over a decade’s worth of friendship.

“If a very bad man is what I am, then why’d ya let me in?” he asked. “A young unprotected woman all by herself in the middle of the night letting such scum in never ends well. Thought you were smarter than this.”

“If I was smarter, then I wouldn’t be calling you my friend, would I?”

His grimace turned into a full-blown devilish grin, the kind that secretly had your heart buzzing against the frail set of bones of your chest. He always looked so dazzling when he smiled, that sometimes you couldn’t find fault in those women wanting to believe in his pretty lies, because you, too, wanted to. You hoped that whatever the price for those smiles was, you would one day be able to afford it and gain ownership of his heart, no matter how wretched or blackened it was.

“You are a real idiot to mix it up with me,” he conceded. “Though, you are a greater idiot for letting that term define us. I bet your nights serving meals at some kiddie place get rather lonely. But I could help. I could make you feel really good, Y/N. So good that you’d risk some prick getting in, lest he is me.”

His tongue poked out his mouth, giving his bottom lip a brief lick while he peered at you through half-lidded eyes. He had this way of turning things sexual in the blink of an eye, selling himself so well that your refusal to buy seemed commendable— despite the unmistakable affection you held for his face. Little did he know how much you longed to push that chair to the side and rip his cocky expression along his black-sleeved shirt off his body, making it so that neither of you had a place to hide from the other.

Now, that’d feel good.

“My nights are fine as they are, thank you very much,” you countered your instincts much to his disappointment. “And if I ever needed myself a helping hand, know that you’d be the last I’d call!” Not as if you’d pick up, anyway, you mentally added.

His gust of interest fizzled out as soon as it surged, your rejection forcing him to rock back and forth between the chair’s legs. He wasn’t interested in continuing this. It was enough for him to take in the dusty pink shading of your ears and smile to himself, knowing you were still the kind of woman affected by his charms. Yes, that certainly was enough, for now.

“I’ll clean you up,” you declared, getting off your spot in haste and strolling through the bar in search of a clean towel.

Once you found it, you let it soak under the faucet and brought it back to him, rubbing against his skin regardless of his petty attempt at gritting his teeth. You placed one hand on his shoulder and another at his jaw, pushing them apart to no avail. Every muscle in his body was stronger than your entire bodily force combined, and he was awfully willing to flex that difference between you, just as he was at letting you straddle his hips and climb all over his body like some sort of feral monkey in heat.

A string of profanities that ranged from “bastard” to “shit-eating-asshole-shithead” poured out your mouth while Toji smirked, and smiled, and grinned, and didn’t even try to stop you from knocking the two of you onto the ground, palms barely managing to stable your head over his face. Your pleated skirt had risen, or rather flipped, over your panties, revealing the strawberry pattern panties you were wearing to his greedy hands as they hiked up your flesh without an ounce of shame.

“Wh-What are you doing?!”

“What do you think I’m doing?” he cooed, burying his calloused fingers under the elastic waistband of your underwear.

You felt him trace the inward of your thighs in languid strokes, the fabric stretching the further his hand dipped— closer, and closer to your now-pulsing core, but never so close as to make actual contact. His hot breath tingled your lips, smelling of nothing in particular, but a sweaty tang of a woman’s deodorant that still lingered in his clothes. Had he fucked her before making it here, you wondered, heart tightening at the thought.

Your legs wiggled shut, unable to fully repel his hand, and for a brief moment, you considered letting him go through with this— whatever this was. Even if you came to be another conquest won, you didn’t care. All you needed was for him to hush all logic from your brain, and fuck you senselessly against the checkered tile floor of the “kiddie food place” you served meals at.

“Toji…” you begged, uncertain what you were begging him for until you felt the warmth in your thighs subside.

“Makin’ sure to preserve your maiden’s dignity,” he said as he fixed your skirt in place. “Wouldn’t want some perv catching sight of your cute little ass, would we?”

His condescending tone made you want to throw a slap across his face and then yours; for thinking that maybe this wasn’t a mistake, that you could really move past the pretense of friendship and aim at what you really sought. But he’d been right once before. You were stupid, stupider than all those girls combined, considering you knew and still wouldn’t mind being dragged down with him one bit.

“Fucking asshole,” you blurted as you pushed yourself off him, dumping the cloth on his smug face.

Your lip quivered as you stepped onto your feet, unable to quite shake the feeling of incompletion from your core, walls pathetically clenching around nothingness. You refused to look at him, lest you caved in a second time, and thus you paced around the booths, stopping before the one window whose blinds didn’t block the magnificent parking lot view. Only a black SUV was left— most likely his newest rental.

Following a beep, you watched the lights flicker white, his reflection in the window lifting the chair back up. You crossed your arms over your chest and waited, your impatience and frustration churning into a dangerous mix within your guts, as the asshole whose name wasn’t worth saying moved past you and walked straight to the door, not a single word or goodbye said.

“What about your phone?” you asked, at last paying him a look of spite.

“I’ll text ya my new number.”

“We both know you won’t.”

He glanced over his shoulder and showed you his pearly white canines, his expression not polished enough to be called a smile. You rolled your eyes in the opposite direction, spotting his old device blinking a variety of different lights, refusing to die just like its bastard of an owner.

“What should I do with this?”

“How the hell should I know?” Toji shrugged. “Get rid of it, or toss it in some burger. I’m sure no one will be able to tell the difference. Later,” the bell chimed as the door collided with the frame, chiming a second time as his head popped in a moment later. “Loved the raspberries.”

“They were strawberries, you scatterbrained swine,” you cursed, but he’d heard none of it. The car was gone, and so was he, and it was for the best that he didn’t get to witness the strawberry-colored shadow that loomed over both your cheeks.

Fanning some of that heat away, you returned to the table, surprised to find a white envelope with the name Kenzo hastily written on the front. Cash. Lots of cash. Enough cash to keep a low-end apartment afloat for at least a couple of months. An excuse and simultaneously the answer to all your previous questions.

“You fucking bastard,” you hummed, the term switching to one of utter endearment.

When the first instance of a wintry breeze came charging at the semi-exposed features of your face—a scarf’s fluff tucked right below your nose— you knew that walking all the way to the location where the unknown ID claiming to be Zen’in Toji ordered you to meet up was probably a bad idea.

For starters, you’d turn into an icicle long before making it back to your workplace. Not to mention you had no foolproof way of guaranteeing the person you were about to meet wasn’t some random impersonating psychopath. But when you finally spotted the yellow curvy “M” upon the rectangular red sign that spelled the fast food chain’s name, you narrowed down the psychopaths to that one cheapskate you happened to know.

Walking into the nearly vacant dining area —only the first two booths near the door occupying a family of four each— you detected him almost immediately. He was the only one seated in his wing. Head slightly tilted to look past the window, golden highlights showering the curve of a nose as it arched into thin eyebrows, calm eyes glinting with subtle emerald, and fingers that absentmindedly tapped away onto one of the two paper-covered trays. He had the decency to wait for you before getting into his food, though that didn’t stop him from munching on the occasional fry.

You tugged the handbag off your shoulder and slowly approached him, hesitating to enter his field of view, if just for a moment. He seemed so peaceful and serene, that if you had the guts, you’d snap a picture of him right then and there and make it into your phone’s wallpaper. But you didn’t. You’d never be able to explain it to him in a non-humiliating way, should he catch you in the act, and so, you shook the notion off and marched in his direction, his eyes lighting up in recognition.

“What’s the point of calling me out here for lunch if we are gonna have burgers?” you dropped your bag at the far end of the table. “Why not eat at our place?”

“I like the fries here better,” he bit onto one as if to affirm his claim, licking the salty essence off his fingers. “You should be glad I got you some, too,” he nodded toward the closed dome-shaped box that lay in front of you. “Nuggets over burgers, right? Didn’t know what toy ya wanted though. Cashier girl told me bunnies are quite popular with girls your age, so I went with that.”

Ignoring, or rather postponing your answer to his outrageous suggestion, you peered through the contents of your meal’s box, spotting the wrapped-in-plastic purple-colored bunny key chain right at the bottom between the small portion of deluxe potatoes and even smaller portion of chicken nuggets that still steamed hot air. You were surprised he remembered everything about your order, down to your preference for milkshake over other beverages, and perhaps you would have shown your gratitude if it wasn’t for that last comment of his gnawing at your pride.

“How old did you tell the cashier I was, again?” you gritted, trying to suppress the toy’s cuteness within your fist.

“Didn’t. Just said it’s for some kid I know. Probably thought it was for my daughter or something.”

A pair of googly eyes popped out from their sockets, the bunny’s head in serious danger of coming right off.

“Stop acting like an old man,” you muttered in embarrassment. “A nine-month head start in life doesn’t make you old enough to be my father.”

“Still older than you, kid,” said Toji, his fingers latching onto his wrapped-up burger. “Now eat up. Didn’t pay ya lunch for it to go cold.”

Annoyed by his remarks, but oh-so terribly starved, you decided to let things slide, the two of you lunching in a period of temporal truce. He went through his burger in big bites, clearing it out before you even finished your portion of nuggets. You mildly wondered why he’d held off if he was this hungry, but didn’t press on the reason behind his invitation until after his tray was half-emptied.

“So… why’d you wanna meet up? Got something to tell me?”

“Mhm, I actually do. How would you like us to be room—Nah, that doesn’t sound too right,” Toji shook his head off, dusting the excess salt off his fingers. “I decided I’m moving in with you.”

“You, what?!?” You shrieked, eyes wide with shock, resembling those of your newly acquired key chain.

“What I just said. I’m moving in,” he repeated as if you hadn’t heard him the first time around. “Got everything right here. I’ll pop by later so you can show me my room.”

You glanced down at what he tapped as “here”, spotting a large black duffel bag that rested on his feet. He wasn’t joking, you panicked. He was being 100% serious about this. Directing your milkshake to your mouth, you took a nervous sip, nearly choking on the plastic straw between your teeth, while Toji kept staring at you, awaiting no answer in particular. After all, he wasn’t asking. He was proclaiming.

“Why would you want that?” you asked once you regained the ability to think rationally. “Weren’t you the one who said you ride solo?”

“Numerous reasons,” he stated, drawing his forefinger forth as if to recount. “For starters, rental prices going up, gas too. Inflation in the market and all that crap. Your place is also closer to work, and” he leaned closer, “wasn’t your neighborhood the one on the news recently? You know, those serial break-and-enter cases? As far as I’m aware, the culprit’s still running loose, could be a cursed spirit or something. You can’t see ‘em, but I can. I’ll keep ya safe. Wouldn’t you want that? Sounds like a fair deal to me, at least.”

The repetitive pattern of a catchy pop song blasting from the speakers served as a backdrop to your thoughts, eyes flickering between the table and his face. He wasn’t exactly wrong about what he said. The girl next door was the robber’s last victim, and from what you’d gathered, it seemed like the ones targeted were exclusively single women in their twenties. Curse or not, that was the intruder’s type, and you just so happened to tick both of those boxes.

From a standpoint of reason, his suggestion sounded fair alright, but this was Toji we were talking about. The man whose name was your first thought in the morning and the final afterthought in the night. The man you were coincidentally in love with.

Living with him would entail being around him a lot more than you could handle. Waking and sleeping and eating in the same house as him, spending your days off together, bickering about bills, take-out, and the TV remote’s ownership, doing things that only couples got to do, and of course, sharing a bathroom, which on its own meant seeing him parade through the cramped little space of your apartment in nothing but a soggy towel, hair slick and teeth beaming as he’d be asking if you’d like to join him in the shower—

You hit the break on these thoughts and pressed your forehead flat against both palms, feeling the heat exuding through your fingers. You were only able to keep this relationship platonic because of the distance he put between you. If he were to suddenly close it, what would come of you? How on earth would you be able to hold back?

“Don’t you want me?”

“Huh?” you bit at the straw again, snapping it in half.

“I said, you hate the idea of living with me that much?”

Toji certainly didn’t mince his words, but the way he was looking at you, brows furrowing and lips quivering into a frown despite the edge in his tone, almost made it seem as if hearing your rejection out loud would hurt him, and because of that, you had no choice, but to shake your head in denial. You wanted this. More than words could express, you wanted to be with him like that, even if you refrained from disclosing that truth.

You wanted him.

“What about your girlfriends? Wouldn’t they be against you living with some woman?”

“Nah, I’m done with that. Done with all of ‘em.”

“But my apartment is too small. I don’t think it’d suit you—”

“I’ll manage,” he cut you off.

“I don’t even have a second bed-”

“We can always share,” he smirked, letting out a light-hearted chuckle as he watched color paint your cheeks. “Couch is fine, too. So, whaddya say, roomie?”

“…Fine,” you conceded, very well knowing you’d come to regret this decision. “But we need to set some ground rules! No trashing the apartment, no throwing your ‘work tools’ all over the place, no smoking, no drinking, no loud music, and no bringing in random women. No starting fights either! You’ll help around and pay half of what’s needed, so no gambling your money away. Those are my terms.”

“You drive a hard bargain, roomie,” Toji said, balancing his chin atop his elbow. “Fine by me. Told you I’m done with half those things anyway, and I don’t mind helping you with anything. I mean that.”

But I could help. I could make you feel really good, Y/N.

His words from that night still lingered in your mind like an unfulfilled promise, and when he phrased it like that, you couldn’t help but be reminded of how good his hands felt that night, creeping all over your skin as if he owned it— as if he owned you.

“G-good!” you said, picking up a fry off his tray and tossing it in your mouth, lest you said something stupid.

“No one taught you stealing other people’s food is rude?” Toji shot you a glare unequal to your crime.

“It’s not stealing if you are done with it!” you protested. “You haven’t touched your fries in over ten minutes now.”

His tongue clicked against his mouth’s roof, producing a series of “tsk” sounds while he shook his head in disapproval. “Didn’t take ya for such a brat, Y/N. Disrespecting me in my face right after we came to an agreement? That’s some bad business ethics.”

You rolled your eyes at his comment, barely keeping yourself from groaning. “I’m so terribly sorry, sir. I shouldn’t have stolen your esteemed fries, sir. Won’t ever happen again, sir. Please allow me to express my profound remorse, sir.”

Although Toji knew you only addressed him as such to get on his nerves, he was still pleased enough to grace with you an unsuspecting smile, seconds before you shoved a ketchup-covered potato against his mouth, smudging the left corner of his lips in a way akin to that of his right corner scar. He blinked, clouds of fury gathering in the bleakness of his eyes and cheeks puffing up, painting the most adorable expression you’d ever seen him wear.

“So cute,” you gushed, unable to suppress a hearty laughter that agitated him even more, red blooming across his cheeks— most likely by the lack of oxygen, you interpreted.

“Fucking brat,” he hissed, dipping the last of his fries in ketchup and then stuffing your mouth with it before you could even react. “I’ll show ya how it’s done!” he declared, your lips puckering against his fingers, condiment spreading all over like lipstick. His other hand forced your head in place, stilling your chin for him to work on his masterpiece, making a much bigger mess out of you than you had made of him.

“Hmphmmph!” you hummed while Toji laughed, a deep sound that reverberated straight from his guts, his eyes glinting along with his teeth in sheer joy that convinced you to give up so as to not spoil his fun. It was rare to see him genuinely happy.

“That should teach ya to behave,” he spat, smugness in every aspect of his features as he pressed his thumb onto his mouth, cleaning the ketchup off with a lick. “But you did address me properly, so you’ve earned the right to choose. Napkin or my lips? Which one?”

Stupefied as you were, you didn’t understand the full context of his question until you felt the sudden warmth of his mouth flutter over your skin, the tip of his tongue sloppily gathering the leftover ketchup off your right cheek. Your jaw popped open, a small gasp escaping as a result of his action.

“Too slow,” Toji whispered, hooded green eyes peering right into yours. “I’ll ask again. Napkin or my lips? What’s it gonna be, doll?”

“N-n-n-napkin!” you must have stuttered at least a thousand times before forming a comprehensible answer. He was so close that if he tilted his head any closer your lips were sure to touch. “P-please get me a napkin.”

“Please?” he chuckled, acting as if was really going to kiss you and then pulling away. “Be right back.”

Even after Toji let go, you could still feel the weight of his thumb holding you down, your eyes zeroing in on his black sweater as he set off for the other side of the room where the napkin and condiments stand was located. You heard a few whispers coming from beside your table, catching three pairs of eyes shooting daggers right at your back.

“Don’t they have a home?” a woman’s voice echoed first.

“Kids these days…” a man added.

“Honey, don’t look at their sinfulness, it’s the devil’s work.” A second woman concluded.

You were on the verge of experiencing a cardiac arrest, and you were pretty darn sure you would have if Toji hadn’t returned with the napkins in time, his hand snatched by yours as you forcefully dragged him out of the place, spelling frantic apologies at whoever was listening.

Once you’d made it outside, you sighed in relief, winter’s viciousness coming as a much-needed slap across your face. You took in a few breaths, letting go of his hand and padding a few steps away from the store’s windows, afraid you were still the focus of their attention. Toji followed, one hand stuffed inside his jeans pocket, while the other held the duffel bag over his shoulder in a lazy manner.

“Can you give me a lift to work?” you managed to ask, dodging his stare even as he stepped to the front.

“I would, but I can’t. Gave the car away.”

“You did what?”

Nothing about your reaction was funny in any shape or form, but he seemed amused enough to break into a soft chuckle, his eyes, too, softening ever so slightly.

“Planning to walk around town like a bloodsucker?” he asked, bringing a napkin to wipe your lips with greater care than you’d think. “How dirty,” he cooed, gently tapping at the center. “Next time, I won’t ask for permission to kiss you, roomie. Let’s go.”

“W-Where?” your voice came out so frail that you doubted he’d heard your question, his bag bouncing over his taut body with every step he took outside the parking lot.

“You asked for a ride, didn’t ya? Come.”

A/N: Launching a new series because I have so many feelings bottled up that I'm in danger of farting hearts and rainbows and shit. Decided to take the time off and write this fic for myself cause I needed it, but then I thought why not share it with the world? First time writing for Jujutsu Kaisen and Toji in particular, so hopefully it's received well!

527 notes · View notes

gojuo · 1 year

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Gojo has his head. In season 2 he tells toji he failed to kill him because he didn't cut off his head. Sukuna didn't cut off his head. He can still heal his body.

Plus we see Nanami tell gojo that there are two paths. One to change you or one to stay who you are. Gojo says goodbye to his dead friends and we see him walk away showing he's taking the second path. We also see a lotus then.

Which symbols strength and renewal.

Gojo is not dying. He may be gone a few chapters but everything his hunting he will heal his body and be back.

Gojo will live.

i wish i had your hopium but i gotta correct a few things here ... 1) it was said by i think kashimo (i dont even remember) that cursed energy comes from the gut, and gojo has been split into two from his stomach. toji never bisected him, even if he managed to stab him through the cranium. 2) gojo didn't say goodbye to his friends in the afterlife, that was a mistranslation. 3) he's not walking away from anything either ?? 4) the chapter title is called "going south" bruh...

listen. i so badly want him to come back. i really fucking do. i read jjk 0 when it came out in jump giga in 2017 and when it wasn't called jjk yet (it was called tokyo metropolitan curse technical school btw). i've been with gojo since mfing 2017... 2017!!! i've loved him for over 6 years now i can't even believe it's been so long.. i never expected that silly oneshot manga to become this popular 🥹 kinda makes me happy how loved jjk is currently :')))) but the fact of the matter is that gege has stated numerous times that he wants to finish jjk soon. he actually stated in late 2022 that he was planning on finishing it in 2023. gege's editor has come out and said that the manga will not be ending this year though, so my guess is somewhere around spring 2024 everything will be wrapped and and be donezo so that gege can move on to that goddamn idol manga he's been yapping about for a while now. so what am i trying to say with this tangent? i'm saying that jjk is ending soon and that gege has stated multiple times how difficult it was for him to write around the powerhouse that is gojo (which is just an admission of his own shitty writing/planning because mf YOU 🫵 are the writer like you are the one that created him!!! learn how to plan out your story and how to utilize the characters you yourself have created for it you stupid fucking cat i swear to god....). this all just screams to me that it's over. it's finished. gojo already died once and came back enlightened, he's not gonna have it a second time. not this close to the end. not after having been removed from the narrative for over a hundred chapters. not after seeing sukuna back at full health in his heian era form, something gege didn't even have gojo force out of him. like gege really got him out of the box so that he could be done with him unarguably and conclude his character arc because he wants to finish jjk.

gojo is dead, nobara is for sure dead, megumi is basically done for (we'll see him once more within the mind once yuuji does his soul cursed technique whatever bullshit on sukuna to have a talk but he's not coming back no more), and yuuji, the kid whose execution started this story, will be the only one left alive. gege said in an interview a while ago that he wanted to end jjk with either 1 of the main 4 dead, or only 1 of the main 4 alive. i think it's pretty obvious that person is supposed to be yuuji. "die surrounded by your friends" from the first chapter is going to turn into "all your dead friends will surround you". i am wholeheartedly convinced of this. i'm sorry, but after 3 years of having to sit through that worthless culling game arc leading to absolutely nowhere for our heroes, after realizing that there will never be a pay off for the last 100+ chapters because the whole point of the arc is now fucking dead just like that, i do not have it in me to have any faith nor hope in gege's writing skills. it's become painfully clear to me how mid that guy is at writing and how hard he is rushing towards the end. i have lost all faith and goodwill i used to hold for gege.

#of course if the enlightenment 2.0 theories come true ... i will kiss and worship the ground gege walks on. but i just don't have faith #anymore. i have lost it all post-shibuya arc #it is what it is #jjk #jjk 236 #gojo #anonymous #answered

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nanaosaki3940 · 1 year

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Touya [The Crimson Butterfly]

Synopsis: It wasn’t until he met her for the first time that their encounter made him believe that the world is just as beautiful as her. She was brighter than the summer sun, prettier than the spring flowers, kinder than the winter moon & warmer than his blue flames. She was his first and only love, his life, his biggest fan, his supporter, his playmate, his healer, his everything... Even after his supposed ‘death’.

|| My Hero Academia ft. Tokyo Ghoul || (Follows the canon storyline of MHA & is up-to-date with the manga.)

Pairing: Touya Todoroki X OC/Reader X Shoto Todoroki

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Angst.

Note: Shoto and my OC are of the same age (16 yrs old) and Dabi/Touya is 8 yrs older than them (24 yrs old) - Just like how it is in the manga.

(A snippet of my MHA fanfic "The Crimson Butterfly". I know this is an xOC fic, but you can read it as a self-insert if you like.)

Nana’s POV (The fateful day: The beginning of the 2nd War)

Around 10 AM this morning, Midoriya and I made our way towards an abandoned city outside UA to meet up with Aoyama. When we finally reached the designated spot, we found our blonde friend standing alone in the middle of a huge parking lot in front of a shopping mall.

"Thank you for coming..." Aoyama greeted us in a quiet yet monotone voice with a dull look in his eyes as Midoriya and I flew down from the sky and landed just a few feet away from him on the ground.

"Why are you out here, Aoyama? Weren’t you being detained?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"My parents’ lawyer got me released..." Aoyama replied and this brought a big smile to Midoriya's face.

"We gotta tell everyone!" Midoriya stated in relief, turning around to leave. "We can rejoin the search effort and-"

"Wait..." Aoyama spoke up again, causing Midoriya to halt on his spot while I stared at the blonde boy with a skeptical look. "I’d like to speak to you two. It’s almost funny… That courts and the illegal system still exist despite Japan being in ruins. With society as it is now, would the old ways of living really get you anywhere?"

"What do you mean Aoyama?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Let me tell you All For One’s real goal..." Aoyama continued and this got our full attention. "With the state Japan's in... do you know what’s become of the rest of the world? The sudden crash in the value of the Yen… forced Japanese corporations into bankruptcy. That, plus the coordinated uprisings of villains caused the damage to spread worldwide. Now the world faces a crisis much like the Great Depression or the period around the advent of quirks. Record unemployment, loss of faith in currencies… an era of total chaos."

"What are you talking about, Aoyama?" Midoriya asked, getting a bit uncomfortable with this talk.

"Lacking the strength to implement long-term policies, Japan's society devolves into one scrambling for short-term safety. While the nations who have abandoned Japan prioritize their own stability. In such a world imagine a country lacking potable water. Imagine if a quirk capable of producing that water were to suddenly appear. Or electricity or gas. Or strength. As the world is plunged into this state of chaotic decline, we suddenly have an arena ripe for a certain remarkable individual to take the initiative. he would become the world's arbiter; its very own Demon Lord. He only had to rock that balance somewhere. It didn’t matter how." Aoyama added.

AFO's ultimate plan is... Capitalism... To become a World Bank?!

Like seriously?! You gotta be fucking kidding me!!

"I don’t think so… The world would never go along with that." I countered back in a strong tone.

"Nana-chan's right. Besides the world still has us!" Midoriya added.

"True. Which is why it all has to end here." Aoyama stated with a saddened face and teary eyes, his voice cracking in the end as a certain someone emerged from behind him. "I’m sorry. Alas, I had to protect Mama and Papa."

"All For One!!" Midoriya and I gasped out in unison, shocked, our eyes widened in the process.

"Splendidly done, Yuga Aoyama." AFO stated, clapping his hands who was in formal attire with a black skull mask covering his whole head. "How terrifying it must have been to turn on your friends like this. How heartrending, to betray someone who put their faith in you. But you overcame the fear and pain! And that speech about my ultimate goal? Wonderful! Wrong in some of the details but that's fine. Did your parents explain it all to you?"

"Yes..." Aoyama replied in a trembling tone with tears rolling down his cheeks as he held a remorseful look on his face. "They said you promised us a blessed existence in your new world."

"Aoyama, did you really betray us again?!" I yelled out through my gritted teeth, clenching my fists in anger and frustration. "How could you?!"

"We believed in you dammit!!" Midoriya cried out, panicking.

"My pain cannot be measured…" Aoyama trailed off before suddenly he turned around and blasted AFO with his Navel Laser. "By that singular word 'uncle'!!"

And right on cue, Midoriya immediately let out a large amount of his smokescreen to block AFO's view, and taking the chance, Aoyama quickly moved away from his previous spot and hid behind me for protection. AFO was caught off guard by the sudden attack before he figured out what just happened. It was just all a fake play to lure out the Demon Lord from his hideout.

"Ungrateful little…" AFO grumbled out through his gritted teeth.

"That was such a believable performance, Aoyama!" Midoriya praised the blonde boy.

"Yeah, excellent job!" I added with a wide smirk on my face, coming out from my previous facade as I stood protectively in front of him. "You're gonna win an Oscar for this Aoyama!"

"I had no choice! Otherwise, we could not have lured him here!" Aoyama cried out from behind me, still trembling in fear. "And I must say, both of your actings were tour-de-force as well!"

"We couldn’t help it once your tears started flowing." Midoriya chuckled out as he and I got into our fighting stance once the smokescreen started to dissipate away.

"The tears are real! I truly am scared! In fact, I think I may have wet myself!" Aoyama cried again.

"You did great, Aoyama!" I reassured him once again, my eyes now locked on the floating form of AFO.

"This is for Mama and Papa! For all of my friends and for myself! I shall fight AFO!" Aoyama declared with all his determination.

"Disappointing." AFO sighed in annoyance before taking off his coat and just then using his Warping quirk, he began to summon the League of Villains, Paranormal Liberation Front, and Nomus all at the same time which included Touya, Tenko, and Toga. "Trap or not, Ghoul and One for all is here within reach. The Search quirk tells the user the location and weaknesses of those they see. And heroes Tomura saw in the previous conflict are deployed and dispersed across the country. They will not make it in time to assist you. They didn’t happen to notice that my people were drawing near! And now I’m afraid they are entirely too late!!"

My heart skipped a beat when I locked my eyes with Touya who just walked out of the gooey warp gate and landed on the ground.

He's here... Touya's here... He's finally here...

His beautiful bluish-turquoise eyes went wide open a bit upon noticing my presence while his instant sorrowful expression didn't go overlooked by me when we gazed at each other from afar before he decided to turn his head away from me and break the eye contact. As I continued to stare at Touya with hope and yearning, I noticed the new outfit he was wearing at that moment; a tattered overcoat, boots, and pants all colored white, with bracers on the sleeves and a belt on his waist. His new outfit also lacked a shirt underneath which caused him to expose his chest.

"What act of sluttery is he wearing?" I mumbled to myself, a small blush appearing on my cheeks as I scanned Touya from head to toe, trying hard not to facepalm. "Did he seriously decide to walk into this war like a whore?"

Although my words didn't go unheard by Midoriya and the poor green-haired boy tried his best not to burst out into a fit of laughter. I also noticed Tenko looking the same, not to mention even worse; completely topless, in a pair of black pants, his traditional red shoes, and a long ragged-looking cape hanging on his shoulders.

What the hell is up with these villains and their fashion sense these days...?

"Mama and Papa told me something else…" Aoyama spoke up again, causing me to snap out of my trance. "They told me what it is you fear most, AFO. You fear the world learning that Japan isn’t finished yet. You feel the light and hope that will come with recovery. And you fear Japan inspiring the world to unite once more. So today is the day and this is the place where you fall!!"

And just then AFO got alerted when he suddenly noticed a black mist appearing behind Midoriya which happened to be Kurogiri's quirk, confusing the Demon Lord to no end and soon realized who it actually was; it was none other than Monoma from Class 1-B who copied the misty warping gate quirk and now using it to bring out the heroes from our side.

"Didn't see that coming, huh AFO?! Suck, doesn't it?!" I taunted him as Endeavor, Mirko, Fat Gum, Edgeshot, Tamaki senpai, Nejire senpai, Gang Orca and the others appeared by our side.

And so the rumbling begins!!!

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!! The man behind the curtain!!" Monoma laughed hysterically, being all full of himself like always, as he brought out more and more heroes from the warp gate.

"Just as expected, he's brought his army along!" Detective Tsukauchi stated out through the comms from the headquarters (The Central Hospital). "All squads, take action!"

"If he steals Ghoul and OFA, he'll have no need to run and hide ever again! They'll attempt to bring it all to an end right now!" All Might pointed out from beside Tsukauchi.

As we the Heroes and Villains all charged toward each other, Tenko touched the ground, only to notice something peculiar, so commanded Touya to attack.

"Dabi..." Tenko called out.

"You ain’t the boss of me, leader!" Touya shouted back before he dashed straight toward Endeavor, his hands already ignited with his blue flames. "Fancy running into you here, dear old dad!! Come to watch your pals get cremated?!"

Touya was prepared to burn everyone with his fire and as soon as he shot out a huge gush of his flames toward the heroes, a large explosion of ice appeared from the misty warp gate and canceled out his fire; emerging from another warp gate, Shoto and our whole Class 1-A just joined the battle.

"Not on my watch, Baka Aniki!!" Shoto yelled out.

"Shoto!!" Touya yelled back in excitement, getting all pumped up.

"Like cockroaches…" AFO groaned out in annoyance and just then, among the sea of villains, I noticed the ones I needed to go up against; Shuu Tsukiyama and Rize Kamishiro, all decked up and ready to fight like always.

"It's been a while, Nana-kun!!" Tsukiyama shouted out with a huge grin on his face as he and Rize dashed their way toward me.

"How many years now?! Almost 3 years, right?!" Rize added, unleashing her Rinkaku kagune from her back.

"Oh, how I've been itching all these many years just to finish you guys off!" I taunted back and immediately unleashed both of my Rinkaku and Ukaku kagune while bringing out my scythe. "Time for payback for what you guys did to me 3 years back!!"

"Operation Troy-Tempt and Trap!! Activate!!" All Might commanded through the comms.

Upon his commands, suddenly, the ground beneath us started to shake violently before cages emerged from beneath the battlefield, surrounding all the villains in individual metal containers and as soon as the villains were being trapped in those metal cages, Monoma began to summon several more warp gates around the cages while we the Heroes prepared ourselves to shove them all in, to split up the villains.

"Cages? They can’t be serious!" Touya commented before getting trapped into one of the cages.

"I’m pulling these strings!! Everyone now! Shove them in!!" Monoma ordered us before looking over at me. "Osaki!! Use your repulsive force now!!"

"Roger!!" I replied and started to use the Repulsive force technique of my Gravity Manipulation quirk to push the metal cages into their respective warp gates.

"This cage is moving?! They really think this tin can is gonna hold us?!" one of the villains cried out.

"Break it open! Quickly!" Toga screamed out from inside her cage.

As I continued to push the cages into the warp gates, Touya suddenly used his flames to melt down the metallic container he was trapped in before trying to get out from there.

"Your pathetic cages didn’t even last three whole seconds!" Touya mocked and just then Shoto and his gang appeared in front of him to push him into their respective warp gate.

"3 seconds is all we needed!" Shoto countered back as the two brothers began to attack each other with their flames while submerging into the gate.

"Lock them down for an instant! Break them into smaller groups! Seize the slightest advantage! All of this to shove you into those warp gates all at once and split you up without fail!!" All Might continued through the comms once again.

"Deku!" Bakugo called out to Midoriya as he headed towards Tenko.

"Yep!" Midoriya responded and began to follow the explosive blonde.

"Ahahahahaha! I’m the mover and shaker!!" Monoma continued to laugh while still keeping Kurogiri's quirk activated.

Among us heroes, Uraraka and Tsuyu headed towards Toga's direction while Kaneki and Ayato joined by my side a few seconds later to go after Rize and Tsukiyama. Just as we all were about to enter our respective warp gates, an unusual occurrence happened. From two different warp gates, two whips came out and grabbed me and Midoriya individually by our wrists. And before we could even realize what was happening, we were being pulled away from our respective comrades.

"What the?!" I gasped out in shock.

"Huh?!" Midoriya gasped out as well in confusion.

"Nana!!" Kaneki called out in worry as he tried to reach out and grab me but failed.

"Nana-Nee!!" Ayato called out as well in concern.

"Huh?! Oi, Deku!!" Bakugo called out to the green-haired boy but it was already too late.

Both Midoriya and I were pulled into two separate warp gates which we weren't supposed to enter. After entering the unknown scene, I immediately landed on the ground as soon as I passed through the gate and began to look around to see where I actually was; Ground Zero in Kamino Ward.

What?! Ground Zero?! Why am I here?! Shit!!

I was supposed to be on the other side of the Kamino City with Ken and Ayato, facing off against Rize and Tsukiyama!!

"They are divided! Now we shift to phase two!" All Might commanded through the comms again.

"Nana?!" familiar voices called out my name in shock, causing me to turn around and face them; it was Shoto, Iida, and Endeavor's sidekicks (Burnin, Kido, and Onima).

"What are you doing here?" Shoto asked in surprise. "Weren't you suppose to be with Kaneki and Ayato?"

"I was, but..." I trailed off in confusion before looking down at the wrist where the whip was still wrapped around.

"Sorry, Babydoll." a familiar deep masculine voice spoke up from just a few feet away from us and we all looked over at the man himself; Touya, smirking down at me while firmly holding the other end of the whip. "Couldn't let you go so easily, you know... You're just too precious."

"Touya... but how?" I asked in confusion, furrowing my eyebrows a bit.

"That crazy woman gave it to me, said it might come in handy. Hate to admit it, but she was right." Touya replied, referring to Toga as 'the crazy woman', causing me to click my tongue in frustration as I unwrapped my wrist from his whip before the news was sent to us by Tsukauchi through the comms that Midoriya was warped to an aquarium, alongside Gang Orca, Uraraka and Tsuyu by Toga using her whip.

"So, Izuku isn't with Katsuki and Jeanist at the UA High right now, huh? That sucks." I stated in a calming tone though I was kinda panicking from the inside before I looked back at Touya and locked gazes with him. "Looks like I'm stuck here with you, for now, Touya."

This wasn't supposed to happen...

I wasn't supposed to fight Touya...

What should I do now?!

"Indeed, Doll-face..." Touya agreed in a mocking tone as he climbed up on the All Might victory statue before unleashing his blue flames around us, causing us to get into our fighting stance at once. "So, now... where were we?"

Fuck!! This is bad!! This is really, really bad!!

Right now, Shoto, Iida, and I were at Ground Zero in Kamino Ward, where Touya was completely burning everyone down in a fire tornado while being accompanied by a spiky Near High-End Nomu, dwindling down our accompanying heroes.

"There are already so few heroes left and you are losing more by the minute..." Touya stated in a calming tone, glancing around with a bored look in his eyes while hanging onto the All Might victory statue as he began to reminiscence on the current event being similar to the Hosu Incident. "Let’s see, we have got a Nomu in a raging sea of fire. This is really bringing back memories even if it wasn't that long ago. Seeing that battle in Hosu spurred me to take action, you know?"

"Nana! Shoto!" Iida yelled out in concern from outside the ring of Touya's fire tornado as he couldn't get any closer to us or else the fire would damage his engines.

While Shoto and the others could resist the fire and the heat, I, on the other hand, was using the Repulsive Force of my Gravity Manipulation quirk to push back the flames away from me. Using this repulsive force as a defense, I could repel nearby opponents or attacks without breaking a sweat like for example I could use this force to disperse flame attacks which could also strike the user back. But in this case, I wasn't doing that because my intention was not to attack or hurt Touya. It was just to protect myself from his flames.

"The sheer heat! It's extraordinary!" I commented in surprise yet amazement while Endeavor's sidekicks used their quirks to absorb Touya's hot flames as much as they could for now.

"Oops, sorry. Just yapping away to myself." Touya stated, letting out a sigh as he propelled himself up into the air by shooting out flames from under his feet. "Once again, he won't pay me any attention. It really bums me out that all I get is his third son and his three merry helpers. Is that really his answer to me?"

"You keep back, Kido. Your body's got no way to withstand the heat." Onima stated, looking back at his comrade.

"I’m good. You know I can alter the trajectory of anything so I have just gotta make all that heat air swerve around me. Nothing new for me. Keep a cool head and go about it logically. That’s how I have done it for a whole decade. Just like always. I’m here to follow our main man’s orders because I want to." Kido replied while doing his job.

"His family drama may be a can of worms, but Endeavor shows up and gets the job done, even if he does stink like an old fart!" Burnin commented, frowning up at Touya before looking back at me and Shoto. "And that includes today! And now he has handed off us three junior stinkers to you! So you have got our full support, kid! You too, Nana-chan!"

"Thanks for that Burnin." Shoto responded back, his gaze locked onto Touya.

"No thanks needed! Save your energy!" Burnin joked with her signature laugh.

"Touya… Dabi…" Shoto carefully called out, furrowing his eyebrows in the process. "You have got it all wrong. I’m not here on anyone’s orders. I’m standing here now because I made the decision to stop you."

"Stellar job, being the perfect little pawn Dad always dreamed of." Touya mocked his little brother as smoke came out of his mouth.

And this caused me to get worried even more. Months ago, back at our fight in Jaku City, Touya wasn't covered with as many burns marks as he was covered right now. As I carefully observed his new scars and burn marks in concern, I realized that his body was burning away even more as he continued to use his quirk wildly. My chest tightened and my heart hammered hard against my chest in concern. In concern for his wellbeing.

"If I ignored you and kept trying to be a hero anyway that just might be true..." Shoto replied in a strong tone.

"Hey, fair enough…" Touya stated casually with a shrug. "This war is all about the people involved. It’s not the mindless soldiers following orders who are the real movers and shakers. This is what happens when everyone's got feelings and urges that start firing off. Some wanna change the world they live in. Or destroy… The warped imbalances built up over time that we all just came to accept. Behold, the limitations of a superpowered society. That's me. That’s all of us."

"Touya..." I called out in a soft tone with small tears forming in the corner of my eyes, causing him to look over at me. "Please stop this. You're burning yourself alive."

"I don't care anymore, Babydoll. I just really don't care..." he replied in a monotone voice with no trace of emotion in his voice, aching my heart even more and this frustrated me to no end.

"Why are you being so stubborn like this, huh? Though, to be fair, you had always been a stubborn guy. But, that raises my question... You survived back then… So, why didn’t you come back home?" I asked, frowning at him and Touya let out a chuckle in amusement.

"You really wanna know, Doll? Fine. Happy to share. Rotten or not, I’m still your Touya." Touya replied with a grin as his already burned flesh around the right side of his face began to crumble and fall off, leaving him horribly disfigured while a portion of his jaw and teeth, as well as muscles and tendons, were now visible and his burns continued to spread around his face, leaving me shocked and concerned. "Here is the story of how I became Dabi… and the reason I’m still alive and kicking to tell the tale… Even when I never stopped burning hotter than you, Shoto, his masterpiece!"

~~~~~

Flashback (11 years earlier, at Sekoto peak)

'Hot! It’s so hot!!' a 13-year-old Touya thought to himself in pain and agony as he continued to burn himself to a crisp on top of Mt. Sekoto while burning everything else around him to ashes. 'No, no, no! I don’t wanna die!! I still haven’t… I still haven’t shown him anything! And Nana-chan?! Oh, Nana-chan! I can't leave her behind just like this!! I wanna live a long life with her!!'

Desperate while on the verge of death, Touya frantically began to run around in the midst of the ocean of his own flames to find any source of water to extinguish the fire on his body before finding a lake nearby and jumping into it to quell the flames. And soon after when Touya lost consciousness and laid there in the water all burned and crisped, almost turned into charcoal, his charred body was later discovered on the very spot by the Demon Lord himself, AFO.

After this, three whole years passed by before the white-haired Todoroki boy finally woke up from his long comatose. A 16-year-old Touya let out a gasp before snapping his eyes wide open and the first thing that came to his view was a white ceiling. Shocked and confused, he immediately sat up and looked around at his surrounding while trying to figure out what was happening right now. He found himself laying on a bed and with all these childish decorations around him, he realized that he was in a nursery school.

'Where am I? I’m alive…?' he thought to himself as he walked down the hallway before entering a room full of kids younger than him.

"Oh! he’s awake!" A young girl with short hair stated gleefully, causing the others to shift their attention towards him while Touya stared at them in pure confusion.

"Sleepyhead is awake!" another little girl with long hair added with a bright smile on her face.

"Where are we?" Touya finally spoke up before halting himself from speaking any further.

'Was that really my voice?' he thought in shock, realizing how deep and manly he sounded just now.

"This is where we live, silly!" the short-haired girl replied with a giggle while the long-haired girl rushed towards the other room to fetch their sensei. "It’s um… three years, sleepyhead! You were asleep for three whole years! At least that’s what sensei told me… since I haven’t been here all that long!"

Touya immediately went rigid on the spot upon hearing those words, his eyes went wide open in shock and disbelief.

'Three years? How? What happened? What’s going on? I was on Sekoto peak and then… I burned up and… I have to get home!'

"We can’t have that now can we, sunny?" the sensei (creepy-looking dude with a sunflower head and a buffed body) stated with a bright smile as he and Touya were now in an office room, talking about the situation.

"Why not?!" Touya asked in confusion.

"From now on you live here with everyone!" the sensei replied, still with a smiling face. "Your very own place under the sun! They're your new family! You'll come to love it, as sure as the sun does rise!"

"Huh? That can't be!" Touya argued back in desperation, tears forming in his eyes as his voice began to tremble. "I gotta get home! I bet that Dad… was just too busy with work to come see me, right? Probably? Yeah, he must be really worried! Those were some awful things I did and said. I should apologize to Mom and everyone. And Dad still needs to see what I can do. And above all, Nana-chan is waiting for me! I need to go and see Nana-chan!"

And just then a very deep yet eerie masculine voice spoke up from a computer on a table beside them. It was AFO.

"Sadly your hope is in vain." AFO stated and Touya looked at the screen of the computer in confusion. "Restoring your burnt and broken body was a monumental task. Your missing pieces had to be replaced via regenerative tissue. You’re a changed man with that burnt rictus look on your face and yet you survived."

"I’m changed? I don't get… what you're saying…" Touya trailed off as he put a hand on his throat, suddenly getting worried.

"You’ll never exhibit the power you once did. Every organ was damaged. Your senses, your ability to feel pain, all dulled. Your body is debilitated. And you will never be the same again." AFO replied, causing Touya to put a hand over his own mouth, horrified. "But alas, despite our best efforts, we wanted to welcome you in at your full strength… We failed."

And the word 'failure' caused Touya to fall into even more despair, breaking and crumbling his soul and spirit into pieces as he began to recall what Enji used to call him back then over and over again; a failure.

"You must be suffering, you poor thing." AFO continued, using his sympathetic voice to lure Touya. "But, I must just be able to restore your flames at their full glory! Well, what do you say? Will you join our family and allow me to raise you?"

"Shut up…" Touya hissed out through his gritted teeth, looking down at the ground while covering his face with a hand as he viciously denied the Demon Lord.

"Hmm?" AFO hummed out in confusion before the white-haired Todoroki boy looked up at the computer with fury and hatred in his eyes.

"No way am I getting trained by anyone else." Touya added with finality in his voice, showcasing his unhealthy obsession with his father Enji Todoroki aka Endeavor.

And with that Touya somehow managed to escape from the nursery school after burning the whole place down with his own blue flames. Later he did go back home, and even though his body was weaker and he didn't have anything to look forward to anymore, he wanted to see if anything changed. However, seeing his butsudan (funeral altar) in his old bedroom, and Endeavor's continued abuse toward Shoto, reminded him of his purpose as a failed creation, and his family had already left him behind.

Flashback ended

~~~~~

3rd Person's POV (At a prison)

"I suppose, the big day has begun then?" Dr. Kyudai Garaki (aka Dr. Ujiko) spoke up in a tired tone from inside his cell causing a gorilla police officer who was standing down the hallway to frown at his words.

"Be quiet." the cop ordered.

"You are light on guards today. So it’s pretty obvious." Garaki pointed out. "All to prepare for today. That's why we sought out twisted raw material born into this world. Warped seeds that could serve as his vessel. That one too was born with some cracks in him. No, maybe, from the very start, it wasn’t just cracks... Maybe that boy was born with everything."

And with that, the doctor began to tell the exact same story of Touya Todoroki to the police officer.

"He had already been too molded by his upbringing for us to lead him astray. He was already festering away inside. Even the man who had known absolute control far and wide couldn't exploit the boy’s obsession with his father. Those kids were our spares, in case anything happened to Tomura Shigaraki. A seedbed of ferocity and hatred. One full of vessels for the demon king. Dabi as one of those spares was a failed experiment." Garaki went on.

"How despicable!" The cop grumbled in disgust. "No, never mind! What are you even trying to say?! More crap about how AFO had everything planned out from the start?"

"I’m saying they'd better watch out. ‘Cause that one boy never did buy what we were selling. Nah, we gave up on Dabi and let him run loose cause after his body came back to life and he was up and about, he wasn't supposed to live for more than a month. What a surprise, when the broker Giran brought him back to our doorstep. Why had he come back? How was he still alive? I had to know what Dabi was really thinking, so I arranged a moment when we would be alone just the two of us..." Garaki continued as he referred to their meeting where he and Touya went to meet the Near High-End Nomu, Hood in one of their hideouts; the same Nomu that was taken down by Nana, Endeavor, and Hawks back at Kyushu.

"Ujiko-san, you're the one who kept me alive right?" Touya asked as he stared down at Hood in front of him.

"Why I’m tickled pink that you realized!" Garaki chuckled. "Now tell me, what's been keeping you kicking?"

"Seeing this walking corpse here gives me a decent idea of what you people were planning to do with me. And I’m back now… because this seemed like the perfect place for my funeral." Touya stated before looking back at Garaki over his shoulder with a murderous glare in his eyes, sending a strong shiver down the doctor's spine.

"That one glimpse told me everything. He had kept his dying body tethered to this world through a pure blazing grudge." Garaki stated. "Heat is energy born of living things as they move and thrive. AFO who seeks to live forever had no use for that mad heat, rushing headlong toward death. The Demon Lord himself had to abandon that frenzied flame of death."

Nana's POV (Back at Ground Zero)

I stared at Touya with wide eyes and a dropped jaw upon hearing the story from him.

AFO saved Touya and recovered him to almost full health?!

Touya was in a coma for three years?!

Touya was a replacement in case Tenko couldn't become the next successor of AFO?!

But they saw him as a failure because of his quirk and his body, so they wanted to use him in their Nomu program instead?!

Thank God Touya ran away from there before anything bad happened to him...

'Cause for sure that the potato-headed bastard would've used him and turned him into a Nomu...

"Nana, Shoto, I did come home actually..." Touya spoke up again as his fire started to grow even more in comparison to size, strength, and temperature. "Even though I was weaker than ever and there was no way that what I was hoping for was there. I still just wanted to be seen… but then… but I was sure something must have changed… that’s all I wanted to see. Instead, I was shown once more… after three years away, I witnessed that old familiar scene. The reason I was born. The fact is, as a failed creation, my life had been pointless. this family had left me behind in their past."

Touya started to fly higher and higher into the sky and began to emit larger flames from his whole arms, burning his skin even more.

"When you surpass your limits… it’s like everything you have built up is flipped around upside down. I focused on honing my flames so I won’t be so weak when next we met. This body of mine kept peeling away and falling to pieces but I never felt a thing. You want battle moves? I have seen them all, over and over." Touya went on and my eyes widened in concern, seeing him burning himself up even more.

"Kids! Listen, I think-" Onima shouted out worriedly.

"Yeah, he has been prepared to die from the start!" Shoto added with a frowned face through his gritted teeth, getting ready to counterattack.

"Touya!! Please just stop already!!" I cried out in desperation, but all my words fell deaf in his ears.

"Every time that thing saved the city, every time that thing got a boost in popularity, my heart kept pounding away!! Ever since the day that Touya died and Dabi was born!!" Touya continued, getting ready to launch an attack called 'Flashfire Heatfist' as he stomped over All Might's statue, melting it down in the process. "Once I have burned away all that that thing holds near and dear, that will be the mark I have left on this world!!"

"Like I said, Baka Aniki, not on my watch!!" Shoto responded back, putting his hands together to create an attack.

Ultimate move, Flash Firefist; it builds up internal heat to the maximum threshold before unleashing it as an attack. It’s the peak manifestation of fire achieved by a young Endeavor. When Endeavor mastered this move in his quest for power, he came to understand his own limitations and that fire produced a shimmering heat haze that warped and distorted all that he gazed upon.

"All right! That little chat has got me pumped for this! Thanks for listening to my tale!" Touya yelled out, getting all pumped up before looking over at me for a split second. "Now Babydoll, step aside! This battle here is between me and my little brother!"

Touya doesn't wanna fight me...?

Also, he’s faster than Shoto at raising his temperature! There is no hint of hesitation!

A huge ocean of blue flames surrounded us while Touya standing on top of a melting All Might statue was looking like a walking, talking inferno.

"Now that I’m thinking about it with a cool head, even if Dad ain’t here, you’ll make for some prime kindling all the same, little brother!" Touya stated as he continued to shoot more and more fire around us, trapping us inside a firey tsunami.

"I’m the one who'll stop you!" Shoto yelled back, still controlling his fire and ice sides.

"Hey, now, don't get the wrong idea! I’ve got some legit thoughts about you too, Shoto!" Touya countered back, ready to finally launch his attack. "It began when I worked on boosting weakened flames. Turning up the firepower was all I knew. 'Your potential surpasses my own'; that's what he had said. That encouraged me. The numbing of my body stripped away my limitations which was ideal, following his lead with max output."

"Nana, get away from here!!" Shoto and Burning shouted out, pushing me behind them.

"Flashfire Fist: Hell Spider!!" Touya unleashed his attack, sending a wide array of fire spirals all outside the tornado. "Are you a fan of All Might, Shoto?!"

Touya's Hell Spider attack was similar to what Endeavor once used on the Nomu called Hood back at Kyushu, but his flames were rawer and more intense. Touya's firepower and the heat were so strong, just the sheer strength of his quirk overwhelmed me to no end, leaving me completely stunned and speechless. I always knew Touya had the potential to surpass his own father, but I had never imagined that he would grow this powerful and strong, and that amazed yet scared me all at the same time.

"Incoming!!" Burnin and the others announced, getting ready to stop Touya's attack.

"Hot! Hot! Is that Endeavor's move?!" heroes who were fighting that big spiky Nomu yelled out.

"So much thicker though… and so haphazard!" someone else added.

"Ready yet, Shoto?!" Burnin asked.

"I am!" Shoto replied, ready to launch his attack.

But just then with the help of my Ghoul quirk sensing ability, I sensed Touya's speed blitzing and slid behind Shoto with the help of his flames in a matter of seconds, almost melting the ground with his fire in the process, before the bi-color-haired boy could even do anything as a counterattack.

So fast! The Hell Spider was a smokescreen!!

"Shoto, behind you!! Watch out!!" I shouted out as a warning but it was already too late.

"One thing I just gotta ask, Shoto. What was the look on your face..." Touya yelled out before launching a firey punch on Shoto and hitting him right on the face, causing Shoto to fly way back from where he originally was. "While you were holed up at UA with all those scared little civilians?!"

Touya then immediately dashed forward and continued his assault on Shoto by throwing a series of fiery punches and kicks at his little brother with no sign or intention of stopping or whatsoever.

"Son of Endeavor, brother of Dabi… Calamity incarnate, concentrated down into a boy-sized package!! A worthless mix of fire and ice!! Awful brazen of ya, Shoto!! Have you no shame at all?!" Touya asked as blue flames started to come out of his mouth like a dragon while he continued to mock Shoto even more.

"Shoto!!" Burnin yelled out in concern. "That’s more firepower than even Endeavor can boast! But if he keeps the heat dialed up like that…"

"Blessed with the ideal body and ushered into a place where you could shine bright, but still, you depend on everyone else!! The boy born with everything! But you sure don't capitalize on it!! Can't even man enough to own it!! No one's willing to say it to your face, so allow me!! You're a feckless, half-baked puppet!! You’ll never make a damn thing of yourself!!" Touya continued as he unleashed a beam-looking Jet Burn attack like a strong fiery punch that blasted Shoto up in the air and launched him directly into a building; an attack so strong that the whole building shook and slightly bend back after Shoto crashed into it.

"Oh my god, Shoto!" I cried out in concern.

At that moment, I was amazed and scared all at once. It was a very weird feeling, something that I couldn't explain to myself. Amazed because Touya had grown really strong and I was proud of his improvement. Scared because of the fight that was going on right now in front of my eyes and how Touya was beating up Shoto while burning himself up with his own flames even more.

If Touya doesn't stop, he's gonna burn himself to death!!

"You're not wrong about me…" Shoto finally spoke up from the building he crashed into with scratches, small burn marks, and blood all over his body but didn't look like Touya's attack damaged him that much. "I took a long way around… A half-baked dummy. That’s me. And was full of doubts all the while…"

He neutralized Touya's heat?!

"Here I thought you were only focusing on Dad! But, no, you were nice enough to take a close look at me too. Glad to know it." Shoto stated and Touya frowned at him in fury and hatred. "I stumbled onto this… while working on that old move in the hope of keeping pace with the others. I turned Flashfire into something more. Now it’s a move made to stop you. I may be your half-baked little brother, but let me say this… Dad was a madman! Our family was screwed up! But when you burned all those people to death, that was your choice! You're not taking any more innocent lives!!"

And with that Shoto jumped off that building and headed straight towards Touya to launch his new ultimate attack.

"You damn golden boy!!" Touya snarled out vigorously, also dashing towards Shoto to fight back.

"Just aim all your rage at us!! Flashfire fist: Phosphor!!" Shoto added before unleashing his ultimate Super Move, Flashfire Fist: Phosphor on Touya.

Phosphor allowed Shoto to channel both halves of his quirk throughout his body via his circulatory system, using his heart as a generator to circulate the chilled and hot blood around his entire body, merging the two halves of his Quirk into a single ability. The move granted Shoto an incredible defensive and offensive advantage against most opponents, especially those wielding pyrokinetic quirks. The flames created by the technique were described as being a 'Cold Fire' of sorts, allowing him to both burn and freeze his opponents. This move was first developed during a training session between members of Class 1-A in the UA courtyard before this war started. It was described by Shoto as his body coming together 'as one', as well as creating 'a body even Touya can't burn'. The move usually took a certain amount of concentration and focus to build up, so if he lost control, he had to build it back up again, and thus because of that, it took Shoto this much of a time to launch the attack on Touya.

"Icebound crash: Coldflame's Pale Blade!!" Shoto launched another firey-icy attack on Touya as soon as Phosphor hit his older brother, sending the white-haired older Todoroki flying back. "Maybe this is the way to cool your head!!"

So he's got himself a body that can withstand Touya's scorching heat and he found the power to chill Touya's inferno…

"Aren't you the perfect man for this job, huh?!" Touya taunted him, recovering from the attack by using his own fire as he jumped backward and landed on the ground. "What a wonderful sense of morality you have, brother! You go on and on about right and wrong choices. But I knew it! We might share the same blood, but we ended up real different!! Once you stray from the right path, there’s no turning back! A warped rail can never mingle with a straight and narrow one! The limitations of a super-powered society! That's us! You hear me?! Running in parallel but forever apart!!"

Shoto ended up losing control of his Phosphor and needed to switch it back on. But just then, right an instant, Touya touched the ground beneath him and pushed his fire into it, unleashing gigantic volcanic eruptions all over the battlefield. The whole ground of the battlefield shook violently beneath us and was now breaking apart with enormous splashes of bluish magma and lava gushing out from it, shooting high up in the air and smoldering anything and everything it touched within its vicinity.

"Now burn to ash! Die for our sake!!" Touya shouted out as he continued to burn himself up even more than before which was ultimately leading him to lose his already burned skin and flesh as both of his arms began to burn to the bones, skin melting off his face; his whole body was now engulfed with his own blue flames, making him almost look like a character called Johnny Blaze from the Ghost Rider movie.

"Touya, please stop!!" I cried out in concern and desperation, immediately using my Gravity Manipulation quirk on us before lifting myself and the others (excluding Touya) high up into the air to avoid Touya's volcanic eruption that was coming out from the ground before looking over at Shoto with a pleading look, my anxiety level had already crossed its limiting point. "Shoto, please do something!! Stop him from killing himself!! Please!!"

"Shoto… you couldn't be more right!" Burnin groaned out in pain as she and the others already took the brunt of the damage to protect me and Shoto.

"I’m sorry, you guys!" Shoto cried out, getting ready to unleash another attack.

"Quit it. Save your energy!" Burning chuckled out.

"Thank you!" Shoto added and looked over at me once again, getting all ready with his new attack. "Nana! Put me back down on the ground! I'm ready!"

"Promise me you'll stop him?!" I asked him with tears forming in my eyes, causing Shoto to soften his gaze on me.

"I promise!!" he reassured me in a gentle yet firm tone.

Right on cue, I immediately put Shoto back on the ground who using his quirk split blitzed, and went up in front of Touya before putting a hand on Touya's chest. He was so fast that Touya couldn't even realize what just happened to respond back immediately to the situation.

"There is always turning back, even if it is by force..." Shoto stated and Touya's eyes went wide open upon hearing those words. "We're gonna mingle, whether you like it or not. So please, just stop already, at least for Nana's sake..."

And with that Shoto unleashed his final ultimate move on Touya, Great Glacial Aegir: Arctic Tsunami, a gigantic wave of cold fire that shot directly through his older brother's chest, and the fire all over Kamino were later immediately frozen over by his ice as he grabbed ahold of an unconscious and alive Touya in his arms. The intensity of the fiery battle between the two Todoroki brothers overwhelmed me so much that my heart stopped beating for a few seconds and I was trying to register the situation in front of me right now.

Shoto Todoroki had won the fight and stood as the final victor on the battlefield.

It took me a moment to finally realize that Touya was really taken down and was also unconscious before I put down myself and the others back on the now icy ground. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I immediately dashed forward at lightning-fast speed toward the Todoroki brothers and pulled both of them into a warm bear hug. Proper words wouldn't come out of my mouth in joy and relief as I held the brothers dearly into my chest with tears continued to roll down my cheeks like a waterfall and I couldn't just stop sobbing. The fight was over and both of the Todoroki brothers were alive in my arms, breathing. I was happy, I was relieved. That was enough for me.

"I-I kept my promise, Nana..." Shoto coughed out, moving a bit away from me, all beaten and bruised up as he kneeled down on the ground beside me, his lips curled up into a small smile. "I promised you that I'll bring Touya-Nii back into your arms..."

I couldn't help but smile back at Shoto as I slightly nodded my head in response and wrapped both of my arms around Touya's unconscious body, pulling him even closer to my chest before burying my face into his spiky yet soft snow-white hair; his body was burning, sizzling hot and he smelled like smoke, dust, and burned flesh, but I didn't care any of that. I was so happy and relieved that I didn't care about anything anymore at this very moment. I was just simply happy by the fact that I could touch Touya again, I could feel him, sense him and inhale his scent like the old times once again. Finally, Touya was back in my arms and this time I won't let him go ever again.

"Thank you, Shoto..." I sobbed out, tightening my grip around Touya even more. "Thank you..."

After Shoto’s overwhelming victory followed by Touya’s defeat and arrest, I carefully handed over Touya’s unconscious body to Onima (one of Endeavor’s side-kicks) before making my way back to Shoto and Iida to see how the former was doing. Iida had Shoto by his side kneeling on the ground, just a few feet away from Touya and Onima, as the bi-color-haired boy huffed and puffed from exhaustion, bruises and burn marks were evident on his body.

“Your engines stalled, right? Sorry…” Shoto apologized to Iida in a soft yet gruff tone.

“You have nothing to apologize for!” Iida immediately assured the injured boy, draping an arm around his shoulders.

This interaction caused me to smile at them before I spoke up.

“Shoto…” I called out softly, causing the said boy to look up at me. “Thank you…”

Shoto’s bi-colored eyes widened in shock in response while I continue to speak up.

“Thank you for everything, Shoto… I know I asked a lot from you and I have been selfish-“ I blabbered out before Shoto immediately cut me off.

“It was nothing, Nana, really.” He stated with a smile that warmed my heart. “Compared to whatever you have done for me and my family up until now, this was nothing… also, Touya-Nii is my brother, there’s no way I can ignore him. This is something I have to do and I’m glad it’s over now…”

Hearing that, I smiled back at Shoto in response. Shoto did everything he could do to stop his older brother and I hoped his words really did reach Touya at some level. I really hoped Touya had calmed down now. And just when I was thinking about Touya and Shoto’s earlier interactions, I heard Onima suddenly speak up to himself and his mumbling voice reached my ears.

“How is he still alive in this state…?” Onima mumbled while holding an unconscious Touya captive.

At that moment, I noticed something strange about Touya. I looked closely from where I was standing with the boys and noticed a spark igniting in Touya’s stomach. And seeing this, my eyes widened a bit in confusion.

“Shoto… what’s that?” I asked, pointing at Touya, and in response, Shoto looked over at his older brother. “That spark in Touya’s stomach…”

Both Shoto and Iida also looked at the older Todoroki in confusion and for some reason, I didn’t know why, I started to feel anxious again.

“Shoto, this isn’t good. Something’s happening to Touya.” I stated in concern, furrowing my eyebrows as I sensed Touya’s breathing was getting heavier with the passage of every second. “Touya’s regaining his consciousness again…”

Onima and Kido also might have noticed the change in Touya and they were about to do something about it when suddenly, something horrific happened right in front of our eyes. Within mere seconds, large spirals of blue flames erupted out of Touya’s charred body and the said boy immediately attacked the two side-kicks with his flames. Touya was quick with his moves and attacks which threw Onima and Kido off guard in shock and his blue flames were so hot and so destructive that it was too much for the other two to handle.

Shoto, Iida, and I watched the whole scene in shock and horror when Touya finally regained his consciousness, watching him burn off Onima and Kido with a devilish grin on his face. At that moment, Touya looked nothing like how he did before. He looked like a walking, talking mummy in an inferno now and his facial expression was so demonic that it literally scared me. Touya wasn't looking human anymore at that point.

“Touya, what the fuck?! Stop this already!!” I screamed out in concern and frustration but unfortunately, the said boy didn’t pay any attention to my words.

“Given how this worked out… it’s actually great that I fought you first…” Touya stated to Shoto with a grin before he started laughing while holding a burning Onima by the neck with his left hand. “Ha, ha! Experiencing something yourself just hits differently! Intuition helps when getting the idea of how it works… Right before you put me on ice, I took a chance and mimicked your big move!!”

“Run, Nana, Shoto!!” Burnin yelled at us.

“Am I doing it right, Shoto?!” Touya asked as we noticed a crossed blue flame in the middle of his chest.

“Touya copied Shoto’s Phosphor move?!” I gasped in shock.

I always knew Touya was smart and intellectual…

But I never thought that he was this smart…!!

“Onima-san, no!!!” Shoto screamed out in concern as Touya tossed a burned-up Onima away from him.

“It isn’t just sheer firepower, Shoto. This whole time, Touya has studied and trained his quirk on his own! Your brother’s honed instincts are bolstered by his hard work and obsession!” I pointed out, frowning at Touya who was now creating a huge sea of blue flames around us.

“You’re right…” Shoto agreed with me through gritted teeth, frowning as well.

Touya's inferno started to endlessly increase and consume the city once again and against all odds, he was still standing in front of us. It felt as if we weren’t standing on the hard ground anymore; it was as if we were standing on an ocean of raging blue flames. The flames literally consumed the ground beneath us, causing me to levitate myself and the others a few feet up from the ground with the help of my Gravity Manipulation quirk. Touya’s flames were so hot and ferocious that it was preventing us from even going near him. I then started using my Repulsive force as a defense around me and the boys to protect ourselves from the wild wrathful flames of Touya.

“Skeptic!!” Touya suddenly yelled out at the High-End Nomu which was going up against the other heroes in Kamino.

“Ahem, I’m busy! Don’t pester me, Mr. Daddy Issues!!” Skeptic’s voice yelled back at Touya from a micro-device that was on the back of the Nomu. “You want Endeavor? He is trading blows with AFO at the Gunga Villa ruins!!”

“Talk about firepower!!” Burnin gasped at Touya who was erupting even more of his blue flames from wherever he could.

“Touya, please stop this nonsense!” I yelled out again, frustrated, as tears started to roll down my cheeks and I was about to walk towards Touya.

“Nana, wait!” Shoto called, immediately grabbing my wrist to prevent me from moving any further.

“Even you were burned by that, Todoroki-kun! You must not engage him again!” Iida stated in concern, all of our eyes were locked on Touya who was now using the flames from his feet as jets to fly high up in the sky. “You have already hit your limit with your phosphor move!”

“We have all hit our limits and then some!” Shoto snapped, his frown deepening even more. “We gave it everything! And yet he is the only one still standing! He's trying to fly over to our father!”

“This goes way beyond powering through with that sheer will he has inherited! It does not make sense! I thought his body was not made for heat?! How the hell is he not falling to pieces?!” I added in confusion but also in concern.

“Get back here, Touya-Nii!! I’m still on my feet!!” Shoto yelled out at his older brother. “You wanna kill me right?! Looks like you are the half-baked one now!!”

But just then Skeptic’s voice spoke up again through that device on the Nomu.

“Ahem, Mr. Daddy Issues! I know I said no pestering, But I have fantastic news! Apparently, you’ll get to travel free of charge!” Skeptic informed.

And right on cue, all of a sudden out of nowhere, Kurogiri’s misty portal appeared before Touya and immediately sucked him in, teleporting him to the Gunga Villa Ruins.

“Touya!” I gasped, calling out to him in desperation but he had already left without even looking back at me once.

Touya seriously left… he left to fight Enji-san… And he didn’t even look back at me for once… Also, I didn't do anything to stop him... Did I seriously just stand there and watch Touya leave?

And with that, Touya left for Gunga Villa Ruins and as soon as he left, the blue flames got extinguished from the scene on its own.

“Not yet! It's not over yet!” Shoto gritted out through his teeth in pain, frustrated as well while Iida tried to help him stand up from the ground.

“You’re still feeling the blowback from your phosphor move, Todoroki-kun!” Iida pointed out, extremely worried.

“I said I’m fine! They are saying AFO will reach Midoriya! But I’m still on my feet! I must do whatever I can…” Shoto stated.

“The thoughts of your brother must weigh heavily on you…” Iida added, softening his facial expression. “I can only imagine the feelings that drove you to stand against him like that. The suffering you have borne… You’re the kind of soul who made me to never forget who I want to become. Why is this your emotional burden to bear?”

I also started to worry about how to stop Touya. Not only we needed to stop Touya from burning himself alive, potentially killing himself as well, but also I needed to go and stop AFO and Tenko. I needed to face and go up against AFO and get my own revenge for my parent’s death. But here I was, wasting my time like this. At that point in time, I was getting frustrated at myself.

This isn’t who I am!! This isn’t someone I want to become!! Why am I wasting my time like this, standing here and doing nothing?! I need to go to AFO as quickly as possible and fight him!! I need to confront Tenko as well!!

“Ah, ah… there!! I got through!! You three!! You're still with us, right?!” a familiar masculine voice spoke up from the comms in our ears and we immediately realized who it was – All Might.

“Toshi-chan?!” I gasped out in surprise upon hearing his voice through the comms.

“Every moment counts, so I’ll make this quick!” he started, addressing me, Shoto, and Iida. “You need to run over to Gunga right now! Dabi is on the verge of exploding and a stalled evacuation block is in the blast radius! Endeavor is keeping an eye on Dabi right now. But his quirk can't do a thing to stop the explosion!”

My eyes widened in shock when I heard those words. My heart dropped and it felt like my pulse died down for a moment. The whole world around me went completely silent, deadly silent which was literally suffocating me now.

Touya’s gonna explode…?!?! Did Toshi-chan say Touya’s gonna explode like a nuclear bomb?!?!

“Nana-chan, you know how to fly fast, right?” All Might asked me, pulling me out of my trance. “And Todoroki, kid… The body and mind are two halves of the whole. You know that better than anyone, with the inner turmoil you have carried.”

“But All Might… AFO, he is…” Shoto was about to say something but All Might cut him off.

“Fear not!” All Might replied in a gleeful tone and I could feel him smiling on the other side of the comms. “You have still got a mighty ally waiting in your wings! Battling on won’t bring you victory if you carry doubts. But I have got the utmost respect for youngsters full of doubt who nonetheless honor whatever it is that drives them. Put a stop to Touya-kun! Make everyone feel safe again, so you can be your best self. Now if anyone can do a darn thing about the impending crisis at Gunga, it would be a dynamic duo… with Ghoul, Gravity Manipulation, and half-cold-half-hot. You’re their only hope! You’ve got this!”

And with that, All Might cut off the line, saying his farewell, and the other side of the line went silent again.

“He wants you to fly fast like a jet plane?” Shoto asked in confusion, looking over at me with furrowed eyebrows. “I know you can fly fast, Nana, but the distance… Does he realize how far it is Gunga Ruins?”

“Tch! Doesn’t matter, Shoto.” I stated, clicking my tongue in frustration before grabbing Shoto by his wrist. “We need to stop Touya from killing himself as quickly as possible. And after that, I need to go and confront AFO and Tenko. I wasted enough of my time here already!”

And wasting no time, I immediately flew up into the sky while holding onto Shoto before we zoomed through the air like a fighter jet plane, making our way towards the Gunga Villa Ruins to stop Touya from exploding while leaving Iida, Burnin, and the others all behind at the Kamino Ward.

3rd Person’s POV (Back at the Gunga Villa Ruins)

Right at that moment, before Endeavor, Hawks, and the other heroes who were all now injured and battered, a young healthy AFO was standing there on the ground with a gleeful smile on his face, satisfied with the outcome of what went down with Skeptic and the heroes at the Central Hospital where Kurogiri was kept locked up.

“You kept Kurogiri in the dark, so to help him take immediate action, I planted a micro-device in one of Nana Shimura’s hands. Yes, Iguchi-kun played his part!” AFO stated calmly to the tired injured heroes in front of him, referring to Skeptic’s actions. “What’s more…”

AFO then trailed off when suddenly a number of Kurogiri’s misty portals appeared and opened up behind Endeavor and Hawks. Endeavor looked back and noticed Touya coming out from one of those portals.

“Heya, Dad!!” Touya greeted him with a grin and Endeavor’s eyes widened a bit in shock upon his son’s current burned skeletal appearance.

And just beside Touya, a number of Twice clones started to appear from the other portals, indicating that Toga had used Twice’s blood, which Touya gave her a few days ago. And seeing those Twice clones left Hawks in utter shock.

“Oh, Hawwwwks!!” the Twice clones greeted the man as they were coming out of the portal and Hawks was left stunned at the sight.

“The death of that sad, sad man gave rise to rancor in a young woman’s heart. The man who would overrun the world to make good on his grudges gave that femme fatale just the tool she needed to bring ruin to all.” AFO stated, referring to Touya giving Twice’s blood to Toga. “Now you have got a front-row seat, Takami-kun. Time to learn how it might have turned out if you had not made his death your top priority back then.”

And hearing that, Hawks immediately yelled out an order to his fellow heroes at the battleground.

“Kill them!! Right now!!” Hawks yelled, referring to the Twice clones before them.

Through those portals, Uraraka and Asui also suddenly arrived at the scene as they both followed Toga there and then started to help Jiro and Tokoyami to fight back the Twice clones. Hawks was now facing off against AFO who was trying to escape from the scene to reunite with Tomura, bickering and taunting back and forth to each other, and meanwhile, on the other hand, Endeavor was getting himself ready to confront Touya.

“Those flames on his chest… Is that the phosphor move Shoto mentioned…?” Endeavor mumbled to himself before speaking up loud at Touya. “Touya… what would you do to Shoto?”

“I was hoping to bring you his head, but he was a tough cookie…” Touya replied, flying up in the air above his father while looking down at him with raging turquoise eyes. “Now my grand dream will never come true… but at the very least I will take as much as I can. Whatever you hold dear! Whatever you try to protect!”

“Endeavor-san!” Hawks yelled out while facing off AFO, stopping the Demon Lord from leaving the scene. “The divide-and-conquer plan is a bust! Our allies can't battle in this nasty heat! And if we fall here, the villains are gonna converge on Deku, Nana-chan, and Tomura!! Please, put a stop to Touya-kun!!”

Hearing that, Endeavor looked back at his son with determination who was now dashing toward him at full speed.

Duties… This time around… I’m really seeing you, Touya…

Another big fight then suddenly broke out between AFO and the remaining heroes as more and more help from the hero’s side (Inasa, Camie, the Pussy Cats, etc.) started to appear in the scene. Gigantomachia also later arrived there after a minute or two with Mt. Lady, Shinso, Kirishima, Mina, and Mineta following his trail from the Jaku Hospital Ruins to the Gunga Villa Ruins. While this was all happening, Endeavor was running away from the said battlefield with Touya following him from behind so that he could confront and talk to his son without any hindrance or anyone disturbing them.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the Counter-Force continued to report on the evacuation blocks' movement and AFO's location. Detective Tsukauchi asked if there was anyone left to stop him, but the officers said that almost all the remaining heroes from each of the battlefields were out of commission. Another officer freaked out when he recognized Touya's heat signature in Gunga, telling them that ever since his initial defeat, he had been internally compressing thermal energy and that in about ten minutes, his body would explode and cremate everything within 5 kilometers. Tsukauchi and former criminal La Brava realized that while most were back online, some of the evacuation blocks that stopped in between UA and Shiketsu were still underneath Gunga, meaning that they would be directly within the estimated blast zone. Meanwhile said civilians, including the rest of the Todoroki Family, proceeded to quickly evacuate to the surface as the shelter continued to crumble apart. Another officer reported that AFO was speeding up and was almost in range of Tomura to use his Warping Quirk, knowing that if they reunited, they were done for.

Meanwhile, in one of the prison lockups, prisoner Geten was speaking to his neighbor, prisoner Mr. Compress, about how the Himura blood ran thick within their blood vessels. He explained how in the past, the Himuras were village leaders that maintained their wealth and pride by creating branch families, however, the rise of Meta Abilities led to their downfall, as they didn't want to dilute their bloodline. Compress then remarked on what Spinner would say hearing about a "snobbish bloodline prejudiced against heteromorphs". Geten continued that this resulted in many marriages between the branch families and their distant relatives, however by insulating themselves it led to the Himura clan dwindling over time. Once the head of the family started selling off the children into marriages, it marked the end of the line, resulting in the remaining families scattering, with Geten revealing he was one of them until Re-Destro recruited him. He stated how Meta Abilities would grow more complex with each generation, with new powers lying dormant in the user's body, while people's hearts never managed to evolve, wondering what changes they would witness. Geten then concluded his speech with a smile asking Compress if he heard anything from the police force or heroes since there was nothing left to do but kill time until the final war was over.

Back to Endeavor’s situation, he was now facing Touya, far away from AFO and the others, and through the comms, he learned from the Counter-Force about Touya’s impending explosion.

“An explosion you say?!” Endeavor exclaimed in shock and concern after hearing this.

Touya was now literally like the burning sun, cremating away the trees and almost everything within and beyond his reach.

“It’s not just the evacuation block that’s in danger… but also Pixie Bob’s group which is fighting back against Toga's doubles!!” Endeavor said to himself, huffing and puffing, as he kept luring Touya away. “Dammit! Fighting AFO did a number on my legs! I’m not sure how much longer I can keep luring Touya away…”

“D… Da… D-Dad!!” Touya yelled out in a cracked tone, charging at his father again, engaging in a combat with Endeavor. “Watch me!! Watch meee!!!”

As the combusting Touya manically screamed out for his dad to watch him, Endeavor began to see the young Touya in his eyes before the current adult Touya unleashed a devastating Vanishing Fist, even bigger and more powerful than Endeavor’s, that completely enveloped the older man while decimating the ground he was standing on. Losing his right arm after unleashing that attack, Touya then grabbed ahold of him as Endeavor desperately tried to convince his son to put out his flames, and that he didn't want to watch him die, but Touya continued to repeat the same things over and over with his mind long gone.

“Come on, Touya!! Put out those flames!!” Endeavor yelled, holding onto Touya. “I don’t want to watch you die!!”

“Watch meee!!!” Touya screamed out again with an incoherent mind. “Natsu-kun! Let's play?!?!”

And hearing that, Endeavor’s eyes went wide open in shock.

His mind is gone long! This fire is hot enough to burn even me… So how is it possible that he can still hold himself together?! Touya, what is it about you?!

Endeavor then reached out to Touya’s chest when suddenly he realized something absolutely shocking and baffling.

That visceral sense of danger, when facing death, sometimes a near-death experience can trigger a quirk to awaken. On the other hand, people can also summon absurd power in a crisis when it's do-or-die. That's different from a quirk awakening. That power only manifests as the Reaper draws near…

As Endeavor thought about how when someone had a near-death experience, it might cause their quirk to awaken or summon an absurd power in a crisis, and unlike a quirk awakening, this latter power only manifested when they were truly at death's door, he then slowly realized that within Touya's Phosphor, he recognized Rei's ice quirk which was indicating that Touya had manifested the ice power within his flame quirk, meaning he always had that ice quick within himself all along, this entire time.

While envisioning a hellish dance with his son in hell, Endeavor’s life began to flash before his own eyes and he started to wonder what he had done in his life. He envied All Might and produced these designer children to surpass the former No.1 hero, he did everything he could to have a child like Shoto when in reality Touya had always been that prodigy child he truly wanted and craved, someone who would inherit his fire quirk stronger than him while also would inherit his wife’s ice quirk at the same time. It was like a slap on Endeavor’s face when he realized what he had done to Touya and the rest of his family.

Endeavor then began to recall back the words he said to AFO earlier.

I’ll win today and keep my eyes on Touya!!

“I take full responsibility… I swore to bear that burden and live my life atoning for it all. However, you have been watching me all this time. While I couldn’t be there to watch you… You were someone I especially needed to do right by…” Endeavor said to himself before hugging a combusting Touya in his arms and starting to fly up in the sky.

It’s always the same dream…

My whole family is there but not me…

“No, I can’t let you meet your end alone!!” Endeavor yelled out. “But I won’t let anyone else get caught up in our tragedy!!”

Endeavor grabbed ahold of his son, and was preparing to use his son’s blue firepower to propel the both of them into the sky, to explode together but however before he could get too far, as Touya’s body continued to crack, Rei suddenly appeared before the two of them out of nowhere and started using her ice to stop them.

“Rei?!?!” Endeavor exclaimed in shock and confusion.

The reason why and how Rei even got there was when after the heroes managed to take out AFO's subordinates within the evacuation center, Kendo of Class 1-B called out to the civilians that the foundations of the system were sabotaged, ordering a retreat to the surface. They made their way out, with the U.A. robots being there to let the civilians evacuate to wherever they wanted to go. However, just outside, they all had to witness the immense heat and destruction caused by Touya's Blue flames, noticing the gigantic sphere of a fireball that literally looked like the sun was about to explode like a nuclear bomb anytime soon. Seeing this, Rei rushed away from her children toward a robot, telling it to take her to the center of the storm, to which the robot responded they exist to serve humans' desires.

And now Rei was there and was using her ice quirk to attempt to shield herself from the heat, while also trying to cool Touya off, calling out to him.

“Touya!!!” Rei screamed out at her son.

“No!! Why are you here, Rei?!” Endeavor yelled back, burning away with Touya in his arms.

Are you trying to cool him down, Rei?! You must have coated yourself with a layer of ice to get even this close…

“Get away now!! Or you will burn to death!!” Endeavor added.

“You mean the way… You and Touya are about to die?!” Rei snapped back and that’s when Touya turned his attention to his mother.

“M-M-Mom…?!” he called out and that broke Rei’s heart.

“Oh, Touya…!! I’m so sorry!!!” Rei screamed out.

“Natsu-kun…!! Fuyumi-chan…!!” Touya added and Rei looked behind her, realizing that her other children had followed her, using their ice quirks to protect themselves from the heat.

“No, don’t!!” Rei warned, shaking her head.

“I can’t!! I can’t take any more loss!!” Fuyumi cried out before looking over at her older brother. “Touya-Nii, please!! Don't take everyone down with you!! I can’t bear to lose anyone else!!”

Natsuo then started to think about the old times from their childhood and wondered if he just had listened to his older brother’s ranting and complaints about their father like how Nana did instead of turning away and ignoring him. Unlike him, Nana was always there for Touya and listened to his words and complaints. She selflessly shared her moments and time with Touya giving him the attention he needed which Natsuo couldn’t do despite him being his younger brother.

“Cut it out already, man!!” Natsuo screamed out with a frowning face. “Quit causing trouble, Baka Aniki!!!”

As the Todorokis continued shooting their ice toward Touya, Endeavor could only beg his son to not let anyone else die and he should be enough. In response, all Touya could let out was a couple of muffled laughs, while having a vision of him and his family being happy again.

Meanwhile, at the Counter-Force center, they reported on how the rising temperature of Touya's inferno was slowing down, thanks to the intervention of the Todoroki Family. However, despite this, the temperature was not dropping, meaning the explosion was inevitable.

Back at the center of the impending blast, Rei, Fuyumi, and Natuso, now all burned and bruised up, continued to unleash their Frost quirks to try and cool Touya down. While he cackled to himself, Touya thought about how everyone was finally watching him, and looking at Endeavor, realized this was what it was like, thinking about if it was so simple, why it didn't happen sooner.

‘Everyone is watching me…’ Touya thought to himself while on the verge of exploding any time soon. ‘So this is what it's like…? If it was so simple a thing, then why…? Why not sooner…? It’s like everything is flipped around upside down. My origin as Touya and Dabi… if it was so simple a thing… if only we had butted heads like this sooner… there are still arguments I wanna have and things I still wanna say!!’

And just then something unexpected happened. When everything seemed lost, when it felt like there was no hope, two familiar individuals zoomed in and appeared on the scene like the heroes they were meant to be – they were none other than Nana Osaki and Shoto Todoroki.

Nana’s POV (Now at the Gunga Villa Ruins)

Zooming into the vicinity of the Todoroki family where Touya was about to explode, Shoto and I just flew there, dashing at the speed of light with the help of my combined quirks (Ghoul and Gravity Manipulation), while Shoto began to prepare his attack which he would unleash on Touya to extinguish those raging blue flames.

“You ready, Shoto?!” I called out, tightening my grip on him.

“Ready when you are, Nana!!” Shoto yelled back.

And right on cue, just within mere seconds of anything bad happening, Shoto released all of his power and unleashed Great Glacial Aegir once again on Touya, completely consuming the inferno in his ice, as the fire began to dissipate and burn out. The collision of Touya’s fire and Shoto’s ice move had a huge impact on the area which caused me and Shoto to wait for a bit before I noticed Touya and Endeavor who got hit by that ice move were now falling towards the ground from the sky. I immediately let go of Shoto and quickly dashed forward, eventually catching the injured father-son duo in my arms in mid-air. I slowly landed on the ground and safely placed Endeavor by the side while still holding Touya in my arms, close to my chest.

I looked down at a crisped, partially frozen Touya and noticed how he was looking way worse than just a few minutes ago. He had lost his right arm, similar to his father, and his whole body was now charred with no skin left. There was even a crack across his face which was an indication of his previous impending explosion. Then my eyes traveled down to his scorched chest where I finally noticed ice coming out from it, leaving me in shock and confusion.

Wait, what…?! Ice on Touya’s chest…? It doesn’t seem like Shoto’s ice… Don’t tell me this is Touya’s ice…? Touya had ice power?! Since when?!

I then looked over at the other Todorokis and noticed that almost everyone was burned and scarred, but their situation wasn’t as bad as Touya’s. Endeavor also lost his right arm and was all burned up too, but he was somehow still alive. Rei, Fuyumi, and Natsuo were also injured and burned but nothing major or serious. Shoto had a few burns and scars from his previous fight with Touya at Kamino but other than that, there wasn’t anything much on his body as I kept him protected from the other attacks with the help of my Repulsive Force.

I then looked back at Touya once again and my eyes started to tear up at the sight of his charred body while my heart ached for his well-being. At least he was still alive and breathing and that mattered to me the most at that moment.

“T-Touya… you fucking idiot…” I let out a muffled cry, holding him close to me so gently as if he was this delicate precious being and would shatter into millions of pieces if I didn’t handle him well and carefully.

“Our whole family… is here…?” Shoto huffed and puffed, letting out heavy sighs in exhaustion as he stood a few feet away from us, just beside his mother and his other siblings. “Well, not great… But… Maybe it's for the best… Cause my Great Glacial Aegis alone might not have been enough to stop this… Ever since round one back there, Touya-Nii’s fire just kept growing… He reached uncharted territory where I can’t tread. Maybe I was never actually the masterpiece creation…”

My face softened at Shoto’s words. While Endeavor chased after All Might his whole life, engaging in a quirk marriage with Rei and creating designed children to surpass All Might, eventually having Shoto while thinking that he could be that masterpiece Endeavor always wanted and there was Shoto, who was standing in front of his whole family now, acknowledging the power and strength of Touya that he could never have or even reach to that level, the same Touya whom Endeavor thought as a failure years ago. What a pitiful situation it was really.

“You all… die already…” Touya suddenly spoke up as I kept on holding him in my arms, his voice sounded hoarse and cracked as if he was crying at that moment, and hearing the sound of his voice broke my heart once again for him. “Dad, you scum… Just die… You all and me too… Drop dead…”

“Please, don’t say such bad things, Touya… Please…” I sobbed alongside him, noticing how he was freezing from the inside out.

“N-Nana…” Touya mumbled in a shaky tone and in response, I leaned down and pressed a soft kiss on his burned forehead.

“I’m here with you, Touya. Don’t worry.” I reassured him, sniffling a bit while tightening my grip on him in a secure way.

“Well? What now? All that awaits us is pure hell…” Natsuo spoke up with a frowning face from beside his mother and his sister.

“Touya!!” Endeavor suddenly spoke up from where I placed him on the ground and crawled up to us before placing his left hand on Touya’s frozen chest. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry I never made it to Sekoto Peak!!”

And that threw Touya completely off guard. He never expected an apology from his whole family nonetheless from his once abusive father. I noticed the shocked look on his face as Touya’s body quivered a bit in my hold. At first, I got a bit concerned for a second but then realized that Touya was trying to hold himself back from breaking down in front of his whole family.

“Hate you all…” Touya sobbed out again, his voice choked as he spoke, and seeing him like this made my eyes teary once again. “Hate you, Dad!! The whole family too!!”

“Go on… Really. Let me have it! Keep it coming!” Endeavor stated as he also started sobbing. “Rei, I’m sorry for pushing you to the breaking point. Fuyumi, I’m sorry for leaving you to pick up the pieces! Natsuo, I’m sorry for neglecting you like I did! And Shoto… I’m sorry!”

The whole situation was overwhelming for me. Despite not being a part of their family, I was still close to the Todorokis simply because of their connection with my parents. Touya, Shoto, Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Rei, all of them were dear to me and I cared about them as if they were my own family. Even Endeavor as well, though my relationship with him wasn’t as smooth after Touya’s disappearance 11 years ago.

But right now, the concerning matter for me was, had Touya finally calmed down after getting the apologies from his family which he truly deserved? Had Endeavor’s apologies and Shoto’s acknowledgment finally reached him?

Read the entire fanfic on Quotev and Wattpad.

Links for other MHA fanfic snippets - Link 1, Link 2, Link 3

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pinktie · 7 days

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So let's assume Corbeau was just his Mother and the guy she mentioned that she met in Vegas wasn't his presumed dead Father. I can see how Corbeau would be to deal with the Pandora hunt internationally and use her criminal connections to avenge her husband. I can also see how people like Vermouth means he has to get used to the people he loves being used against him, though I assume he is aware of that experiencing it is different so a controlled test run could be beneficial and it's very possible to figure out Kid's identity or just mimic the previous one from records on a lucky guess. Kaito burned himself because he didn't figure out a solution against the cold in time for the heist, maybe his Dad could be more flexible with when he did heists, I can see why she'd be worried (too little too late but still better than nothing). They've talked like penpals rather than parent and child and then she shows up just to criticise him, he calls her 'Chikage-san'. She mentions him moving to Vegas and letting her and her assistants handle everything. Would he be going under a fake identity? Are you sure he speaks the language well enough to move so suddenly? What would he tell the Nakamoris? What about his legally mandated education? What about the Kid Cave of evidence in their house? Wouldn't the timing of Kid/Kaito leaving Japan and Corbeau/Chikage arriving be a red flag to anyone that didn't suspect you both? Are the family doves coming? Is it even possible for him to separate from criminality if he lives with her contacts? Rather than an offer of respite it feels like trading one lie for another, Kaito doesn't know these assistants and doesn't like how his Mother has handled something his Father gave him to make his own. He would also have to give up everything familiar to him and totally sacrifice the few things that gave him joy, surrendering all control of his life to his rather absent Mother who recently traumatised him. The reveal that it was a test of his resolve to be a Phantom Thief not just a magician makes it seem that she wasn't at all serious about believing he shouldn't be doing something so dangerous and her stepping in was needed as the Parent in the situation, like it was 'prove you are capable' not 'me and your father made a terrible mistake giving you this responsibility, I have to make it right'. Her telling Aoko to use his 'weakness' for fish because he was teasing her too much, knowing he had a crippling phobia is awful. Her not telling him that the guys who initially forced her into hiding are still out there and may come after him and Aoko, was not a laughing matter. Even more present stay-at-home mother manga-Chikage is awful, she stopped Aoko from checking on Kaito because she knew he fell in the criminal lair his Father attached to his bedroom and she didn't intervene then or when she knew Kaito had become Kid himself despite her husband and her knowing full well how dangerous it is.

About the first part when you said that Corbeau was Chisake. For the longest embarrassing amount of time, I thought it was, until they reviewed that Toichi was still alive.

Phantom Lady, a woman of 20 faces, disguised herself as another thief who disguised himself as her late husband, is the next level of double life. Or at least it could have been.

As for him moving to Vegas, I don't think there would be a problem. He's Kaito, he can make it work. Except that it will affect his relationship with Aoko.

Now, despite how much I've bad-mouthing the Mr & Mrs Kuroba. I don't see them as bad people, canonically. I just like to see them that way for fun.

But yeah, Chikage's relationship with her son feels more like a friend than family. Which is weird because that's her son.

Good angsty ideas.

#dcmk #kuroba chikage #answering asks

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mha-quotes-and-such · 10 months

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That's exactly it! In the entirety of BNHA there has been what, 3 deaths? And none of them have been students? You're really telling me these full grown adult villains who have been training their quirks for YEARS can't take out 15/16 year olds that haven't even had a year of proper training? Miss me with that. There are NO stakes, so even when students get really hurt, I know they're going to be fine so I just don't care at all.

I'd have a character like Kirishima killed. I love that boy SO much but can you imagine the absolute heartbreak for every single character if Kirishima died? That's the good shit there. Or Uraraka is another good one to have die. A driving force for Midoriya. Or really any of the main students.

Or Aizawa.

I think characters like All Might and Endeavour are cop-outs for death. I want good characters that are loved to die. Like, Midnight and Nighteye(?) were sad, sure, but neither of them had enough screentime to really hurt. And while I won't say spoilers for the manga, let's just say the current arc for two characters has PISSED me off big time for cop out survival.

Honestly I think thats one of my biggest problems with media with young protagonists. Sure, if a villain was ganged up on by a bunch of kids that might be a problem, which the series does ok at points, but like. One on one combat these kids should not be winning so decisively?? Like you said, theyre 15/16 fighting people who have dedicated their entire lives to their craft, how are they handling this with little to no repercussions? Thats something I could go on about forever, but I digress

Those are all really interesting choices! Aizawa in particular is really intriguing, and I think could work well. I think killing off students, while it would absolutely be effective, could very easily become an issue of turning a beloved character into nothing more than a plot device if done poorly. Aizawa on the other hand I think is close enough to the students to work effectively, loved enough by the fandom to be a blow, but removed enough where he wont act as a super heavy crutch to aid the story if that makes any sense? My only fear with Kirishima or Uraraka is that if its not done right it could become something thats relied on too heavily while developing Bakugou/Midoriya respectively. Although @thelittlegirlinwonderland made a good point here that having a student die would emphasize that they are just children, which could definitely help with the realism of it

I definitely agree with you on All Might and Endeavor, especially the latter as I feel he would be a very fan-servicey kill (as odd as that sounds). However I do think All Might will die before the series ends. Personally it seems theyre heading in the direction of a very coming-of-age-finding-yourself plot for Midoriya that I think will require All Might dying. I guess we’ll just have to see, but it would align with their trend of less risky kills

#not a quote #ask #hopefully this is understandable #storybuilding choices like this are so cool imo #also i hope you dont mind me @ing you!#tw death

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sunflowerwilds · 11 months

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i had a realization today while walking my dog. if you know me, you'll know that i am incredibly squeamish around blood and gore in real life settings. getting my blood drawn? live actions movies where the effects (practical or cgi) look real enough? i cant stomach it- it makes me so queasy. but blood and gore in artwork or other forms of media has always fascinated me. i find it can be incredibly beautiful- some of my favourite pieces of media are incredibly bloody! my favourite manga/anime series, parasyte, is super gorey and i love it!! i love drawing bloody images- i don't do it super often but the rare chance i actually do i have a really fun time with it. but then i realized. i've always had this strange fascination with blood. my dad used to let me watch him play fps games when i was a kid. i was definitely too young to being seeing those types of games but oh well. i turned out fine lmao. he would tell me that i always asked to "see more red" whenever he played them. hell, my name is even red. i got it from an image of a blood moon i saw when i was like 11. the correlations keep lining up. i have a vivid memory that's stuck with me all these years. i own the zelda collector's edition for the gamecube and in the manual the little blurb for The Adventure of Link states: "...Link embarked on his most challenging quest yet, unaware that evil forces were hunting him in the hopes of sacrificing Link and using his blood to revive the evil Ganon." I remember reading this and being in awe. I don't know what it was about this particular line but it's stuck with me... and it's bled (pun unintended) into my writing for all these years. an old OC of mine, who is now in the possession of my bestie @seaside-sapphy, leon- his whole original plot revolved around his blood being a part of a prophecy to gain access to an old god's power. this of course isn't how the story goes now by any means but then like now i have ASHES. where the whole story revolves around and has blood as a central plot point and theme. the blooddrinkers. hone's blood being coveted by proxy of being the phoenix??? hello?? it's wild to me that this has been a seed sown so long ago.... and while it's sprouted a few leaves here and there is now coming full circle and finally coming to fruition. it's always been there. it's just manifested itself in another way and it's so strange to think about. writing is cool. writing is fun. go write your stories!! maybe you'll have a sudden realization about yourself in the process too a;lksjdf.

#red rambles

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themusedump · 1 year

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

The following is a collection of quotes from Vinland Saga. These are taken from the manga. Chapter 1 - 54, the series prologue which is covered in season 1 of the anime. Feel free to change as needed. Warning for violence, slavery, and other dark themes.

---

"Oh geez. The attackers just retreated."

"Idiots performing a full frontal attack on a fortress..."

"I'm not looking for some cheap reward."

"Your warfare is pitiful and I can't bear to watch."

"We will pave your way to victory."

"Guarantee a reward for me."

"Ooh. You're so scary."

"I saw no deception in his eyes."

"We've got to get over this mountain before the moon rises."

"Just as I thought. They're powerless to resist."

"You're a tough kid, know that? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"That was the deal. I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Can it wait right now?! We need to get out of here!"

"Look at all the treasure."

"You'd be dead in three days, you klutz."

"Bring out some good liquor."

"Do you really love gold that much?"

"So anyway... Can you be a witness for me?"

"There is a different way to correctly control any person."

"Hey, isn't he kind of cute?"

"... You've grown, haven't you? How old are you now?"

"Things don't come back to you as fast when you get old."

"This isn't some big mistake inside your head, is it?

"Oh right. Now I remember! He was the fool who gave in life in exchange for his kid's!"

"Can't get emotional in battle."

"He is bound by his pride and past."

"If I had to live without pride, I'd kill myself."

"What a pitiful sight!"

"Every man alive is a slave to something."

"I suppose it would be a waste of breath to tell you not to get back at them."

"Are you a slave too?"

"For some reason, you remind me of myself."

"I wouldn't know how it feels to be a slave."

"I couldn't... kill."

"Enjoy your life as a slave then. You deserve it."

"I can't afford to be optimistic."

"That looks painful. What is it? Whips?"

"He's a slave on the run."

"But I don't have anywhere else to go..."

"He's stopped breathing!"

"A chain is the only necklace suitable for a man."

"Only steel chains around the neck will turn a man into something useful."

"Don't make me chain you."

"I shall not stand for those who make light of the law."

"Only by chains can an outlaw join the ranks of good humans."

"Do you really think you have removed his chains?"

"You will be joining us in this battle."

"A long time ago, I made a living by killing men. But one day, I came to hate it."

"I grew tired of killing. Tired of death."

"The time has come for me to pay the price of all my actions."

"The sword is a tool to kill others."

"Who are you going to kill with this?"

"Who is your enemy?"

"You have no enemies. No one in the world is your enemy."

"There is no one you need to hurt."

"Does that mean he's going into battle alone?"

"As usual, your men have no class."

"They just don't like the Christians."

"I'm just in it for the money. Consider the job taken."

"I didn't realize you were strong enough to jest with me so."

"Tell me about your heroics, man!"

"Do you think they'll let us go if we surrender?"

"He's more than a monster..."

"Aha! Very perceptive!"

"I like guys with a good brain in their head."

"Forgive me. I cannot spare you the brunt of my might."

"You're a strong man. Strong enough to lead an army."

"The only reason I am forced to rely on this sword at all... Is because I am immature."

"A true warrior needs no blade."

"Learn to treasure your life a little."

"Men are all talk."

"Run."

"Why did you come here?! Didn't I tell you to run away?!"

"I don't fight for money. I fight for the killing."

"If we want to stand out, this is the place to do it."

"... Promise me a reward."

"Only those that work on the battlefield get what they want. That's the way of the warrior."

"My life won't come cheap."

"This lovely fool is mine!!"

"I'm willing to indulge this boy's wild suicide mission."

"Uhg. What a mess."

"Looks like they left you behind."

"Poor guy. And you tried so hard too."

"Ooh? Dead already?"

"Still got your will to fight, eh?"

"Oh dear... There he goes."

"My shoulder is dislocated. My right ankle sprained... And a few ribs broken, I'd say..."

"Blast him. Damned crazy madman!"

"If you can't walk, we're just going to leave you here."

"Insane rat-bastards...! What's so fun about all this battle stuff!?"

"I want you to forget about revenge."

"Do you think that will make me happy?"

"You're up early. The sun has yet to rise."

"Too noisy for you to sleep, eh?"

"...... Don't talk to me."

"Are you getting the wrong idea? I'm not one of you."

"You might think you're so clever, manipulating me. I'll let you keep thinking that way. Until the day I slit your throat."

"Hmph! Very scary."

"Time is on your side."

"You will grow older and I will grow old. One day, you will beat me."

"... This is a tedious story. What's your point?"

"So impatient, we are!"

"You ought to listen to this old man's words of wisdom."

"The world of man is slowly but surely... Growing elderly."

"Look, one of the great ironies. Dawn of the age of twilight."

"It's the twilight of all time. No use in letting it pass without a fight."

"They're madmen. Fools drunk on battle."

"I'm here to rescue you. I'll guide you out."

"A man's faster on his feet when he's unnerved."

"Love is the thing that gives all other things value."

"Pathetic. Are you really the same age as me?"

"What? Are you sulking? A big lump like you?"

"Say what it is you've got to say with your own mouth. Your tongue ain't cut out, is it?"

"I am not keeping my silence because I am a coward! I... I am being cautious, I must be cautious!"

"I... I'm different from you lot."

"I am a prince. I have my status to think of."

"Hpmh. Not bad for an excuse."

"I have never seen such an impudent knave!"

"Nobody has ever spoken to me like that!"

"Then it's a fine new experience, ain't it?"

"Shut up and sit down."

"Bah... It's started to snow."

"I can't do anything about the weather no matter how much you complain."

"I'll free you from your worries."

"If only the whole world was always at war."

"There is... No father that does not love his son."

"Do you always eat alone?

"Looks like the battle is over."

"Hmph... The stew's gone cold."

"Unhand me, you knaves! You dare defy my commands?!"

"I can tell what a man's like just by looking at his face."

"I have hated every single one of you. You're worth less than swine."

"Not bad, you whoresons."

"You can't die until I kill you!"

"Lay a single finger on him and I'll kill you!"

"Touch him and I'll kill you!"

"Your courage ain't bad."

"I don't know if you'll be in any condition to talk once I'm done teaching you your lesson."

"Are you telling me to live in this world alone?"

"Do you truly think I can survive?"

"Don't go... I love you."

"Now nobody who loved me remains on this earth."

"Death is that which completes man."

"Is there no love in the heart of man?"

"It seems that the battle has come to an end."

"I grow tired of this."

"I do not wish to see any more fruitless struggle."

"This fight has no meaning. Do not die for nothing."

"Didn't ask for your help. Look after your own wounds."

"Get away from me! Don't touch it!"

"Good. The sentries have gone away. Let's go."

"Damn it... How pathetic."

"Fuck off. I'll kill you, you bastard."

"I was hoping that you'd show a bit more guts."

"Are you wounded?! Are you alright?!"

"Are you in position to fight?"

"Are you shittin' me?! Do you have a death wish!?"

"You've grown to be quite the smartass in a short amount of time, haven't you?"

"God is probably watching us right now, as we speak."

"We will take back what has been taken from us."

"You had me scared shitless back there."

"I had to change. And now I have to change everything."

"If I ever see you on the battlefield, I'll kill you. Ally or not."

"You're smart and strong. I admire you."

"Aren't you lonely?"

"I wanted... to be your friend."

"Aye. You're my... only friend."

"Do you understand what I'm saying? The fight is over."

"Someone had to save her. Not a god. Not a hero. But somebody."

"After spending all that time in the middle of those bastards, I'd have happily killed all of them."

"I can't let that debt go unsettled."

"Bah... Bastard making me chase after him..."

"You're alive..! What a relief!"

"So... you are seeking revenge..."

"Everybody's obsessed with conspiracy bullshit."

"You're disgusting,"

"That's not the face of a true king."

"....? Screams...?"

"Is this the first time you've ever stabbed someone?"

"..... Well done."

"Stand up straight. This is a crucial moment."

"How could you act so stupidly reckless and get yourself stabbed, you idiot!?"

"Come on! Get up! We can get you fixed up later!"

"Cone closer so I can talk to you..."

"Just kill me."

"So kill me. After all, aren't we enemies?"

"Are you really going... to... die...? You're lying, right?"

".... Still looking down on me, you bastard..."

"I'll never forgive you! How dare you die on me like this!"

"What will you do with your life?"

"That's enough. It's time to move on."

#sentence meme #sentence starters #Rp meme #Inbox meme #Askbox meme #Ask Meme #Prompts #roleplay meme #/// long post

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prismanga · 1 year

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buckle in kids, it's time for prismaeya reads one piece

much like jojo, i guess to read it online in full you have to go with the color version, so that's what i'll be doing.

let's go!

he didn't fucking say "one piece." i'm so fucking out

you know, for years i said i couldnt get into one piece because the art style made me batty, but this artwork is too cute. i can't tell if i was just being ignorant or i've grown endeared to it or what. it's hard to explain what i'm thinking here, but i have an admiration for art that feels very "to the point" and focuses on BIG details... I dunno. I dunno. More on that later probably.

me after any minor inconvenience tbh

you're already drinking in front of the tiny child so like, you know, fuck it

how old is luffy here, anyway?

this would happen to me.

learn how to swim, stupid!

hey man, i swore to be open minded to the art style so you gotta do it too.

i should probably have something better to say about the sequence of events following that, but all i wanna say is i like the guy in the black t-shirt, he looks like he accidentally turned up in the wrong manga.

so this is how they reveal it... lol

(today i learned スタスタ is onomatopoeia 'brisk walking'... i didn't know that)

first they didn't title namedrop, now i'm being forced to read the phrase "rubber rubber fruit"? come the fuck on

ok, i'm really derailing now, but why not translate the onomatopoeia if you clearly have room... "gamigamigami" is "nag nag nag"...

don't you hate when this happens?

i can't unsee tiny hand

oh man, we really in a shonen manga now!

i guess it's true what they say about redheads and pain tolerance.

LOOK, HE DID THE THING

the shonen manga is shonen manga-ing.........

one piece is fucking mickey mouse in japan so i'm inclined to agree

scrabble shirt

i wish i was that confident in my friend making ability that i was like "well, i'll find some friends soon"

good first chapter! :D i'm looking forward to more...

#prisma_piece #hopefully this tag is good enough #i dont want my blog to pop up and annoy people in the tags for this series LOL

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hyohaehyuk · 3 months

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It's Pride Month and i want to post this before the month ends 🙃 Almost a year ago i found an old OOR interview where Taka might had come out as bi.

Now about Takeru i found some interesting interview that make me wondering if he is not gay/queer too.

Actor Takeru Sato (30) appeared on the TBS variety show "Sakurai Ariyoshi THE Yakai" broadcast on January 23rd, 2020. Looking back on his first date, he revealed how shy he was when he was a student.

According to information provided by a friend from junior high school, Sato was always at the top of his class and had outstanding athletic ability. However, he was "terrible at love." On his first date, while riding his bike to the date's destination, he started pedaling at full speed for some reason. He left the girl behind and went home.

Looking back on that time, Sato explained, "I just couldn't bear being alone with a woman in the city... I'm really sorry, but I ran away. I was so embarrassed," and apologized, "I'm so sorry that I caused her so much trauma."

Sato continued, "I never fell in love or got carried away with love during my school days. My romantic feelings for women were all directed towards the two-dimensional world." When Wakako Shimazaki asked, "What do you like about the two-dimensional world? It's not human," Sato reflexively turned around and said, "Eh, but!" The studio was filled with laughter at Sato's unexpected reaction.

On the show, Sato said, "I didn't think that the object of my heart's desire had to be a human," and introduced Amatsuka Megumi, the heroine of the manga "Tenshi na konamaiki" (Cheeky Angel) as his "favorite woman" from his school days. As the crowd exclaimed, "Eh?", Sato revealed that he was crazy about her, saying, "Even though it was my first love..."

Besides the fact that he run away from a date with a girl (lol) the interesting thing here is that, according with wiki (bc i didn't read the manga) Amatsuka Megumi is tomboy that always get into fights and have a secret: she used to be a boy."

From other place "Megumi is a nine-year old kid who, after saving a sorceror from getting beat-up by some punks, as thanks was given a magic book with a demon inside. His wish to become the "manliest man on Earth" is misinterpretted as the "womanliest woman on Earth" and he is transformed into a girl. Out of fury she throws the book into a river. Six years later, Megumi may still have the body of a girl but behaves like a guy and is only interested in fighting and martial arts. Megumi dreamed of the day when she can return to being a man by finding the book again."

I dont know if she turned back into a boy tho.

Even Takeru views about marriage are weird. It really feels that he is forced himself into that idea to fit in society norms rather than him really wanting to get married

From this video around 8:33 (transcriptions from here)

"I've been saying this for a long time, but marriage isn't something you do alone, it's something you do together, so do you have the desire to get married when you don't have a partner? Even if you ask me that, there is no way to answer.

If you keep saying things like that, you'll never get married. I think that if I don't decide to get married at some point, I won't, or rather, won't be able to do it even when I'm 40 or 50, and that's becoming a reality. So now I've declared that I'll get married by 35. I really want to do that. I'll try my best.

On the other hand, if I can't do it by 35, I probably won't be able to do it for a while until I'm 45 or something"

He even uses a fortune teller to telling me when he should get married like he mentioned in the Bokura no Jidai interview. At least here he is acknowledging that marriage is a thing made by 2 people (him and his partner, not him and the fortune teller)

Still on topic of marriage there is interesting convo in the Miura Shohei, Shirota yu, Takeru Sato and Taka youtube live.

Around 51:24, Miura says that Takeru, Taka and Yu are all equality the most difficult to get married. Taka and Yu are unbeliever at that and Taka even say that Takeru is the most difficulted one. Takeru says that he believes Yu is the one cabable of doing it but him and Taka cant.

Taka complains but then says "can't we do it?"

Takeru: "No, it's impossible"

Then Miura mentioned that Taka said before to him that he would when all OOR members got married and now that Toru is married he could do it anytime. Taka said "if there is the right person" and then Takeru start laughing and Taka asked why he is laughing. Then the convo start to be about Takeru.

Taka: Takeru is the most special among the four of us. Unlike us, maybe it will develop in other directions...

Takeru: Everyone is different

Taka: Although everyone is different...

Takeru: I think the next one it will be Yu.

(proceeds to talk about why he think Yu should get married and that he is suitable to start a family)

Takeru: This person (Taka) case is a little different (from Yu case). He have such a strong personality.

Miura: He values his music more/this is music is the most important.

Taka: No, No. That's not truth. I think my own life is more important than anything else.

#sato takeru #takeru satoh

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thequietmanno1 · 1 year

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Thelreads, MHA 272, Replies Part 1

1) “Let`s see how many heroes will bite the dust, on Chapter 272: Good Morning!

Ha, fucking, ha, Horikoshi.”- Let’s see how many heroes will be the dust! Certainly going to be hard to sift them out from the rubble. 2) “Oh boy I have a feeling this town is in for a makeover…”- First the town, then the country. Tomorrow, the world! 3) “Oh boy, been a while since we last saw this batch of kids. Glad to see Bakugo continues to be an ass, I was worried he could`ve changed while I wasn`t looking.

Now, being rude is understandable, but refusing a chocolate bun? Unforgivable. I hope Shigaraki teaches you a leason, I hope he kicks your ass for that sin”- Bakugou’s here to do his job, not to accept charity. He’s at least dialling the assholishness down a little from the licence exam. 4) “massive oofs in the chat for this poor writer, I have a feeling he is about to have a bad time.

Don`t worry man, they are just going to dust the place a bit while you`re gone…”-Hopefully he saved a copy of it to the cloud… 5) “I see that manga boy from class 1-B is there as well… “-Koji’s Quirk at least gives hope of the animals in the area being evacuated, though whether they ran far enough once the crumbling started is another matter… 6) “And now back to the ominous warning.

But alas, none of them know the End approaches. They are oblivious to their doom, blissfully unaware of the horrors that this way come.

He`s coming

And no one will be able to stop him.”- If only Izuku had had more time to train, but alas, AFO and Tomura aren’t interested in waiting for a strong opponent to crush beneath their heels, they want to get started now… 7) “Yeah, sure thing number one, now if only you could tell him how the fuck to do that, because holy shit, I think that`s a bit of a tall order, even All Might on his prime wouldn`t be able to do anything.”- Decay was already a dangerous power for All Might to face in a fight back when Tomura was starting out with a weakened, slower version of it. One Touch, and his mighty muscles would start to break apart. It wasn’t an issue because of how fast All Might was, and his ability to create air gusts, but that was before Tomura modified himself to a level comparable to All Might, with a stronger version of Decay backing him up, and the original AFO Quirk pre-loaded into him, along with all its accumulated and varied powers. The only way Izuku has a chance now is if he can somehow unlock all the remaining Quirks of OFA and utilise the full power of the Quirk safely without tearing himself apart in the next 5 minutes, before Tomura tears him to pieces anyway. By the same token though, there really isn’t anything or anybody else on the heroes’ side who has a realistic chance of stopping Tomura but Izuku, precisely because of the immense full power of OFA he possesses. Even if he’s far away from the hospital right now, Tomura can steamroll any opposition in the way until they finally throw down. 8) “Yeah, trust me, it won`t be long before you guys are hit full force. And Shigaraki won`t even be nearby, his power is just gonna reach you from this distance.

There`s no escaping the End”- His hatred is all-consuming, and now it literally consumes everything around him. 9) “Why are you talking like goddamn Dormin from Shadow of the Colossus?”- Tomura wanted the power to strike even the godlike AllMight from the earth. Now that he’s gained it, he’s become something….other than human in the process. 10) “…

Shit, that was actually chilling, no pun intended.

God, things are about to get fucked, aren`t them?”-Tomura didn’t even kill him because he was a threat or could warn the heroes, he killed him to steal his cloak to warm himself up. The mentality of ‘destroying everything’ around you understandably would result in a lot of death, but now human lives matter let to Tomura than getting small creature comforts, which is arguably a final insult to X-less, that he died for so petty a reason. 11) “Oh boy, I think Gran Torino already saw something. He seems to be the one that realized that something bad is approaching.”- Speedy reflexes are only useful if you can sense the encroaching danger in time to use them before it’s too late. Gran Torino didn’t get that old by not being able to tell when it’s time to book it. 12) “THE END HAS ARRIVED

RUIN COURSES THROUGH THE EARTH ONCE AGAIN

RUNNING IS FUTILE

THE END HAS ARRIVED”- This moment genuinely feels like something out of a horror film, like an unstoppable force of nature has been unleashed upon the world, akin to a curse from a deceased ruler buried in a tomb from long ago bringing a plague upon the lands to torment the living, a plague that cannot be fought, only endured and, maybe, survived. 13) “OH YEAH, I THINK IT`S TIME WE START RUNNING”- Unless you’re Iida, Tensei or Koichi, I genuinely doubt the average hero has a hope of being un outrun the flow of Decay upon the ground. That wave was unleashed from the Hospital and reached the city in under 3 minutes or less – that’s just too fast for most people to escape from even with a motor vehicle. Tomua said he wanted to be sure to obliterate everything with his amped-up Decay, and now, nothing that walks upon the Earth. can escape him. 14) “WELP, SEEMS LIKE THE OL` DOC GOT WHAT HE WISHED FOR

HE HELPED BRING RUIN TO THE WORLD

AND AS A REWARD, RUIN SHALL GIVE HIM ITS

BLESSING

…”- His goal has been achieved, the genie is out of the bottle, and now there’s nothing the heroes can do to thwart it anymore. He’s lived twice the lifespan of a normal man solely to achieve AFO’s ambitions, and if those ambitions involved tearing down everything the heroes have created and he gets caught in that? A fair price to pay, to his twisted mind. @thelreads

#bnha #my hero academia #thelreads #chapter replies #mha 272

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allyium-inserts · 2 years

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Okay my first idea that live rent free

Also I wrote this as a stream of consciousness so like it might seem all over the place. I do apologize for that but like Naruto is living in my head 24/7 especially since I finished the manga!

I don’t know why, but I always have this idea of Naruto having a mother figure reader who is Minato’s younger sister or super close to Minato or Kushina. I could go forever and write about this nonstop

📍So like when Naruto is born, the reader is like 14 years old. The reader doesn’t immediately take him in cuz she has the villager mindset for a bit of being like this little kid killed her precious big brother. So she wants nothing to do with him until she older and more mature.

📍When she is like 18-19, you kinda realizes that it isn’t Naruto’s fault and so you decide to like secretly watch over him until he’s like 6 and go to The Hokage stating that you were gonna take of him. And he reluctantly agreed as long as the reader doesn’t tell Naruto about his parents

📍ofc Naruto is a little wary. This random person comes up and is like I’m gonna take care of you. The reader doesn’t force Naruto to live with her but is around him more often. This villagers start to talk about her like “why would she take him in” and “she must me a monster like his mother” and that ofc strikes a cord cuz as far as you knew the villagers never had any strife against Kushina being a jinchuriki

📍 anyways time moves on and Naruto goes to the academy. And then the one filler episode where child naruto goes into the backwood and gets attacked by ninja. You were away on a mission when this happens and when you come back and hear what happens. You go berserk because who would tell a child to go into an enemy territory knowingly that they could get killed.

📍 you storms in Naruto’s classroom still in your mission gear. Looks around the room and instantly hugs Naruto. Naruto is so confused with what’s going on because he thought you would be back home tomorrow not today! He’s like “Ma! Why are here?” Poor baby is so confused

📍you pull away and starts to look over for injuries. You tell him how you heard what happened and need to see for yourself that he was okay. Poor Iruka is like “(y/n)-San…” cuz you literally interrupted class. You apologize to Iruka and leave slightly embarrassed, but before you leave you make sure thanks him for protecting Naruto cuz you already lost too many people in your life

📍 time skip to when he tries the graduation test for the third time. You were once again away on a mission and comeback in the midst of the whole Naruto steals the secret scroll. You are confused because you thought you raised him better and he may cause a lot mischief but he’s not a theif. You arrive to the hokage and profusely apologize for Naruto’s behavior.

📍 the hokage reassures you that Naruto is not in trouble and was merely manipulated. You look back at him confused and he explains how Mizuki manipulated Naruto into doing his dirty work. By the time he finished the story, you are already rushing towards the forest to find Naruto. You meet him and Iruka at the gate and rush to Naruto.

📍you ingulf him in a tight hug and cover him in kisses because you were so worried for his safety. You actually shed a few tears as you examine him for injury. You completely ignore the leaf shinobi I headband he’s wearing until he’s says something about it. “Hey Ma! Notice anything different??”

📍 you are so proud of him and you start to cry again but for a different reason and you hug Naruto again. You finally turn to Iruka and do a full bow thanking him for once again saving Naruto. He’s so embarrassed by you doing that he literally stutters and tells you not to thank him. You don’t care and start taking out your wallet to give him money as a thank you. He ofc stops you and is like don’t give me money

📍you decide to take Iruka out to ramen as a thank you and bring Naruto along as a celebration! You say you would treat but you Iruka are literally arguing about who is covering the bill and Naruto is eating like his 10th bowl of ramen looking between the two of you

I’m just saying that I could go on for days and hours on this trope of Mother-Figure! Reader to Naruto and I am very sad that there is not a lot of inserts. I would say this lives rent free in my head 24/7. Like I said I could go-on and this is already so long and I’m not even close to done covering this😩😭

#naruto #naruto x reader #iruka umino #iruka x reader #mother-figure reader #child!naruto #iruka x y/n #minato namizake #reader insert #naruto x y/n #naruto uzumaki #naruto reader insert #y/n #mom!reader x naruto #Naruto's Mother Figure #anime x reader #anime reader insert

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 3 years

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IOTA Reviews: Penalteam

You know, I spent a while mentally preparing myself for this episode, because basically every episode involving Chloe has had exceptionally bad writing, and given the fact that she's getting arguably the most focus since “Queen Banana”, I felt like I needed to be ready. When I actually watched the episode, I was surprised at how Chloe was written... mainly because I was more pissed off by aspects of the writing that had nothing to do with her. Yeah, this is going to be a rough one, in case you can't tell.

Let's get into the twenty-fourth (Chronologically the twenty-fourth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Penalteam

We start off with Marinette and Adrien's class in gym getting ready for a soccer game in the local stadium. Oh yeah, I remember when my gym class got to play basketball at TD Garden. Apparently, it's so the class can develop “team spirit”, or something like that, even though everyone is mostly on good terms with each other, with a single exception. In addition, because this is Season 4, there's no way the animators can afford new models of these characters in gym clothes, so the first act of the episode is going to feature these kids running around in jeans and long-sleeved shirts, which will most likely lead to everyone suffering from some kind of chafing.

Someone else is there to help them learn “team spirit”, famous French sports journalist, Didier Roustan, who actually voices himself in the French dub. At least, I think it is. It's kind of vague if he is the same person as he is in real life, as some dialogue implies he's the real deal, as he references real events, but they don't really do much to establish him to the audience. On my first viewing of the episode, I thought he was just another teacher with the same name (think when Gene Schalit voiced Gene Scallop in SpongeBob SquarePants) until the next scene explained he was a legend in French sports broadcasting, sort of like what John Madden was for American sports.

While everyone is choosing teams, the shy artist of the class, Nathaniel, isn't interested, preferring to work on his comic with his friend (who will most likely be written off next season), Marc. It turns out that Marc is a huge fan of soccer, and knows a lot of tricks, saying that “it's full of exciting twists and turns, like a good manga!” Because for some reason, the episode really needs to remind the audience that these two are the artists who love comic books and manga. Granted, Marc being into soccer got about as much buildup as Commander Chakotay being into boxing was, almost as if the writers just threw it in to make the episode work instead of focusing on the established jock characters like Kim or Alix. Nathaniel still wants nothing to do with the class, and begs Marc to come up with an excuse. Nobody ever calls out Nathaniel for this, and believe me, I'm going to get back to it later.

The next scene is just of the kids playing soccer, with all of the predictable jokes you've come to expect from these writers. Sabrina gets bossed around by Chloe, Marinette screws up because she's physically incapable of doing anything when Adrien is around, and Chloe doesn't even try to play the game because the writers really don't get how the constant attempts to force the audience to hate Chloe says more about them than Chloe as a character. In addition, we learn Adrien doesn't know how to play soccer. Again, I'll get to it later.

Hell, even the writers can't make their minds up on why we should hate Chloe today. She's clearly shown to not care about playing the game (as if not wanting to play sports in gym is a terrible viewpoint to have), yet she also goes on about winning and not wanting to be on a team of “losers”, as if she was actually passionate about the game. Regardless of how you feel on the character, I think we can all agree Chloe shouldn't have been the main antagonist of the episode, because like Marc, her connection to soccer is only there to make the plot go forward. If the writers really needed a sport-themed Akuma, why not make it someone who actually knows how to play soccer and has a passion for the sport? I get why it can't be Kim, but why not give Alix more focus here as the Akuma, or better yet, make it an entirely original character, like a student from another class?

If you absolutely had to make Chloe the main threat in the episode, and if you want to do something to make the audience hate her in a way shows off her ego in a way that's actually entertaining, have her appoint herself as team captain. That way, she can bark out orders to her team while doing the bare minimum, saying she knows a lot because she used to be Queen Bee, and the other players wouldn't understand how smart she is. If her team loses, all she has to do is blame the others for not being as awesome as her. Bonus points if her team is all temp heroes like Zoe, so they all glare at how arrogant she is.

Sabrina offers to take Chloe's place as the goalie on the other team, but that means the other team doesn't have one, and because Ms. Bustier refuses to let Chloe sit down so they can avoid this headache and focus on the damn game, Didier asks the kids to come up with a way to include her in the game while still keeping it fair and fun. Because I guess simply putting Chloe in charge of keeping score didn't come to anyone's mind.

(Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good copy of the French dub with English subtitles, so I'm going to have to rely the English dub again, so no screenshots with subtitles.)

Marinette: Well…Chloe could switch teams with every goal. The team that wins will be the one that did the best with his handicap. *Chloe looks at Marinette in shock and anger* Uh... I mean having Chloe as their goalie.

youtube

While I didn't bring it up that much in “Gabriel Agreste”, I really don't get why so many Chloe-centric episodes this season have the characters insult her while never being called out for it. Yes, she's bad, and the writers say you're not supposed to like her, and I don't think the characters should be blamed for everything when Chloe was still the aggressor, but there are times where they make fun of her just for being in the room. When Chloe was spying on Marinette and her friends in “Gabriel Agreste”, some of them proceeded to throw a couple fairy tale-themed insults at her instead of just yelling at her for violating their privacy. Because that's a great lesson to teach people of all ages: “If someone is mean to you, this show says it's okay to be mean back, because being the bigger person is for losers”. Actually, considering who the creator of this show is, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the actual lesson we're supposed to take away from this episode.

Of course, this was all pointless, as rather than have the akumatization come from Chloe being a sore loser, we don't even get to see the rest of the game, because Chloe decided not to use her father to get out of gym class for the year, and instead, waits for Shadowmoth to akumatize her into Penalty.

Penalty's design is okay, but anything's a step up from Queen Banana. Like Queen Banana, her Queen Bee model is reused (mainly the legs), but the black and yellow soccer uniform looks pretty decent, and the soccer ball tattoos on her face are a nice touch. I also like the idea of her having the ability to clone herself (referring to the group as “Penalteam”), as it symbolizes how narcissistic she is. Granted, her powers are confusing, as aside from being able to alter the area around her like a stadium and imprison people without even making a penalty box joke, they mostly amount to... being good at soccer. Yeah, despite the whole reason she accepted an Akuma from Shadowmoth was because she didn't want to play soccer, her powers are all about playing soccer. You see what I mean when I say Chloe shouldn't have been the Akuma of the episode?

And once again, I need to point out how pointless the Magical Charms were this season. If the whole idea of the Megakumas breaking the Magical Charms was so the writers had an excuse to make Shadowmoth look cooler and akumatize Chloe more, why did they have to show it off for the girl who already worked with her and didn't even want the Charm in the first place? If the writers wanted to show Chloe was in leagues with Shadowmoth, why not have her simply throw the charm away as she willingly accepts the Akuma?

After trapping the entire stadium in an energy dome and hiding away the object with their Akuma, Penalteam sets up a soccer match, where if she wins, nobody will be able to play soccer again. The only reason the stakes are even remotely tense is because they've trapped Alya, Alix, Ms. Bustier, and Didier (who's in charge of commentary for the match) in tiny balls that will shrink the more goals they score, implying she's willing to kill them over not wanting to play soccer.

Now this honestly could have worked if it said more about how far Chloe had fallen as a character, but nobody really says anything about how morbid this is. As selfish and immature as Justin Hammer was in Iron Man: Armored Adventures, not only did he have the technology to back up his threats and ego, he was shown to be very unhinged, and only got worse as the show went on. When he killed Mr. Fix and turned him into an AI as punishment for his constant failures while still using him to work on his projects, the other villains were horrified at what he did, and later episodes ramped up how insane he could get, and showed he was just as threatening as Iron Monger or the Mandarin. Here, Penalteam's actions are just treated like another Akuma, and spoiler alert, they gets taken about as seriously as Queen Banana.

Marinette and Adrien sneak off to transform into Ladybug and Cat Noir respectively, and of course, the one time Ladybug boasts about how strong their partnership is (which is worse when you remember that this is right after “Kuro Neko” chronologically), that's when Cat Noir has to embarrass Ladybug by saying he doesn't know squat about soccer.

Ladybug: Nice scare tactics, but it's not gonna work. Cat Noir and I are the best at soccer!

Cat Noir: *whispering to Ladybug* I don't know a thing about soccer my lady. Maybe it's time to call the real team? *Ladybug gains a shocked look on her face*

Ladybug: Oh. Well, uh... Cat Noir will attend the goals while I get the rest of our team.

Penalteam: *laughs* I guess you're not that confident after all Ladybug! Let's see what you're made of kitty cat!

Didier Roustan, Voiceover: From the look on his face, not champion material, I'm afraid.

Don't you just love how after almost an entire season of him whining about Ladybug doing the unspeakable and relying on other heroes instead of him, the one time she actually thinks just the two of them can deal with this Akuma, now he's the one to beg for help? We don't even get a scene where Ladybug sees how bad he is and decides to go off and recruit the other heroes on her own, because why should she get to make a decision that isn't the result of being humiliated or proven wrong by her partner, am I right?

Naturally, you might be saying to yourself, “What about 'Furious Fu'? Didn't Cat Noir play soccer with the Miracle Ball there?” Well, someone asked Astruc that, and despite kicking the Miracle Ball around like a soccer ball, passing it to Ladybug with his feet like you do with a soccer ball, and literally kicked it through a goalpost while screaming “GOOOOAL!”, that somehow didn't count as playing soccer.

How the hell was that not considered soccer? How was Cat Noir even capable of doing so well with the Miracle Ball if he supposedly sucks at soccer? That's like saying that one scene from Batman and Robin doesn't count as hockey because the “puck” was a diamond Mr. Freeze was after. Either way, hockey was still played. This episode just goes out of its way to retcon previous events just for the sake of the plot, even more than even the worst episodes this season.

As usual, while Cat Noir does his best to not die, Ladybug goes around and brings in every temp hero available. While I can understand how it was easy for her to find Nino, Max, Mylene, Kim, Juleka, Rose, and Zoe and give them all their Miraculous, how the hell did Ladybug find Luka and Kagami to give them their Miraculous? Wasn't the stadium trapped under Penalteam's dome? But that's nothing compared to what happens next. Even though the Penalteam is composed of eleven clones, which means all Ladybug needs to match them is to bring in all nine current temp heroes with herself and Cat Noir, for some reason, this requires her to bring not just one, but four other temp heroes. Somehow, this situation is that desperate.

Ladybug goes to Sabrina, Marc, Nathaniel, and Ivan to give them the Dog Miraculous, Rooster Miraculous, Goat Miraculous, and Ox Miraculous respectively, leading to, surprise, surprise, a rushed and poorly paced scene. This show can't even pull off episodes with two separate Akumas (Antibug, Felix, Ephemeral), and now the writers think they can throw in FOUR NEW HEROES and properly integrate them into the story?!

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And while we're spared from four separate transformation sequences eating up the runtime even more than it already is, we still get the cliche “I can't be a hero because of personal reasons!” moment to make it seem like these characters are super deep. These speeches sort of make sense for the characters because of their personalities, but all of them somehow manage to make Zoe's brief moment of self-doubt in “Queen Banana” seem emotionally investing by comparison. I should also mention that all of this happens in less than two minutes.

First, I don't know what was going through her head, but Ladybug decided to give Sabrina a Miraculous, even though she's only girl with blind loyalty to Chloe, someone who betrayed Ladybug in the past, and has still been willing to go along with her plans and bullying behavior no matter what (Origins, Mr. Pigeon, The Evillustrator, Darkblade, Reflekta, Sole Crusher, Queen Banana). The writers have spent several episodes this season reminding the audience how terrible Chloe is and why she doesn't deserve a Miraculous, yet Sabrina gets one anyway? Just because she wasn't calling the shots doesn't mean she wasn't fully cognizant of her actions. But, of course, the show just glosses over all the bad things Sabrina has done helping Chloe... IN AN EPISODE WHERE CHLOE IS THE AKUMA.

Would it have killed the writers to give us a single episode where she tries to break away from Chloe's toxic influence and try to make up for her past actions? If we can't get a heroic Chloe, can we at least give Sabrina some form of a redemption arc? And like we all feared, the whole reason Sabrina is hesitant to use the Dog Miraculous is because “She can't do that to Chloe”, but she gets convinced to become a hero solely for the sake of saving Chloe, someone who willingly accepted an Akuma for the second time. So basically, anyone who likes Chloe is a complete idiot, yet Sabrina's entire motivation for becoming a superhero being to save Chloe is perfectly fine? You're really not making things clear on how we're supposed to feel about this, Astruc.

Thankfully, the next three aren't as contradictory, but still eye-rolling nonetheless. Marc is too nervous because even though he knows a lot about soccer, he thinks he isn't good enough, but all it takes to get his head in the game and accept the Rooster Miraculous is for Ladybug to say that “he's more talented than he realizes”. As for Nathaniel, he's somehow under the belief that he's not comfortable being in a team, only for Ladybug to point out that every scene he's had for the past three seasons has been working on comics with Marc, which is enough for Nathaniel to accept the Goat Miraculous.

And then we get Ivan's.

Ivan: What if I hurt someone using my superpowers?

Ladybug: It's good to be careful, Ivan, but remember, you'll be on a team of superheroes facing supervillains! No one can be hurt.

Because I guess since half a dozen episodes have already been retconned for the sake of this episode's plot, we might as well ignore what happened to Aeon in the New York Special or when Cat Noir tried to Cataclysm Scarabella in “Hack-San”. I said that these motivational speech scenes weren't as contradictory, okay?

Ladybug heads back into the stadium with the thirteen temp heroes, including Carapace, Viperion, Ryuko, Pegasus, King Monkey, the super amazing Vesperia, along with Pigella, Purple Tigress, and Polymouse, as well as the new recruits, Miss Hound, Rooster Bold, Caprikid, and Minotaurox.

Minotaurox (far left) has a very ridiculous design, and is easily the weakest of the four. I guess the character designers were trying to highlight how tough he is, but he looks like a combination of the Michelin Man and Oushi Black.

I like the look of the horns on his head, but the mask barely does anything to hide Ivan's face, even by the standards of this show.

In contrast, I think Rooster Bold (center left) has a really nice design. I love the pattern of the jacket with the sleeves that look like a rooster's feet, the coattails are a nice addition that doesn't interfere with mobility, and the red mohawk just looks really cool. What I don't get is the name. Yes, I get that the original French name Coq Courage, couldn't fly with American broadcasters, but if you wanted to give him a name to signify how brave Marc's hero identity is, why name him after Booster Gold, one of the most egotistical superheroes DC has to offer?

I have mixed feelings on the design of Miss Tracker (center right). I like the beret and color scheme, but the shorts and white boots just don't really go with the outfit that much. In addition, with the way the mask is designed, it looks like she always has a devious look in her eyes, which is ironic when you consider what she does in her civilian life.

But then there's Caprikid (far right). I think the fluffy vest is nice, and the color scheme is visually appealing, but there are just some, uh... bad implications here. A few years ago, Astruc sort of confirmed that Nathaniel was Jewish, as his last name was a reference to Jacob Kurtzberg, the birth name of comic book legend, Jack Kirby, who was also Jewish.

And yeah, while the show has never explicitly confirmed this either, the problem still lies in the fact that Nathaniel got the Goat Miraculous... when a common, anti-semetic portrayal of Jews is to give them devil horns and cloven, hoof-like feet. Granted, like the many, many portrayals of different ethnicity and cultures on this show, I highly doubt it was intentional, but I'm not Jewish, so I'm not certain if this is really as bad as it sounds. If there's anyone who knows more about Jewish culture or religious text, don't be afraid to correct me on this.

So the soccer game against Penalteam finally begins, and then Viperion is almost immediately taken out by a Penalty. After a brief skirmish leading to the destruction of Team Miraculous' goal, Penalteam changes the field to all of Paris. Ryuko tries to get the ball, but gets tagged out as well. Cat Noir manages to get the ball and scores a goal... on his own team. Because this episode is determined to make Cat Noir out to be a total liability. After some failed attempts to stop Penalteam like Carapace using his Shelter and Purple Tigress using her Clout, the first half of the game ends, with Penalteam winning. Ladybug tells the other heroes to not use their superpowers for some reason, but then has a very quick change of heart after they all recharge.

Ladybug: I'm sorry, I've been a bad captain. I played a solo game, I forgot we're a team. I'm gonna need all of you now, more than ever.

Yes, because she didn't pass the ball to Ryuko (even though she was going to be tagged anyway), Ladybug is the one who needs to learn a lesson about teamwork. Nevermind the fact that all season, she's relied on the help on other heroes, and just reassured Cat Noir that he is irreplaceable. It's obvious that Ladybug is the one who needs to step up her game, not the idiot who scored a goal on his own team.

The second half begins, and Ladybug gives orders to the other heroes. When the Penalteam tries to gang up on Minotaurox, he uses his power, Resistance, to blow them all away. After turning things around and winning the game, Penalteam decides to extend the game. For some reason, Cat Noir is surprised at how unfair things are, and Penalteam outright says she's a villain who's making the rules of the game. I'm honestly surprised we didn't get something more along the lines of this:

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Like clockwork, Cat Noir is incapacitated by the Penalteam, so the other heroes only have five minutes to save him. And I'm not making this up when I say that rejecting Akumas has become so common this season (Gang of Secrets, Rocketear, Qilin), that's what Ladybug plans to do to beat Penalteam, have them reject the Akuma entirely. Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, an easel to draw out her strategy with. She comes up with a plan to essentially pull a Doctor Strange and annoy Penalteam into surrendering. How does she do it?

Caprikid's power, Genesis, is to create any object he wants, making it a superior version of the Lucky Charm. Okay, why can't the Ladybug do that? Lucky Charm is completely random, yet the lower tier Miraculous can create any object? How is that any different from creation? Why can't he get a power that isn't just a blatant copy of Lucky Charm? Are there any limits to this power? Could Ladybug use it to create another Miraculous? If Gabriel got it, could he create a magic pill to wake Emilie up from her coma? But believe me, it gets dumber.

Using Genesis, Caprikid creates a toy magic wand, claiming his power lets him remove all time limits for the other heroes, obviously bothering Penalteam. Miss Hound then uses her power, Fetch, to teleport the ball to Rooster Bold, who uses his power.

Rooster Bold: Sublimation!

Penalteam: *laughs* Sublimation? You have the power to make yourself less ugly?

Rooster Bold: Actually my power is to choose a super ability, and I choose to score a ball anytime I shoot. *shoots the ball, and it goes into the goal after flying around the Penalteam clones* And that's how it's gonna be every time I get the ball!

Let me get this straight. Rooster Bold's power... is to have any superpower he wants? You're telling me that of all the powers the writers could come up with, they gave him the power to do whatever the hell he wants? THEN WHAT'S THE POINT OF USING LITERALLY ANY OTHER MIRACULOUS?! Why does Ladybug even need to hand out any Miraculous when all she can do is use the Rooster to give herself the power she needs to save the day? Why can't she just give herself the power to find Shadowmoth's lair? Why does Shadowmoth even need to recreate the world if he can just grab the Rooster and give himself the power to save Emilie? Well, some people on Twitter asked Astruc these kind of questions, and it was apparently enough for him to end his brief exodus from responding to fan questions.

THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY MEAN, AND YOU KNOW IT, ASTRUC! What they're asking is why can't the Rooster be used in a way to figure out someone's secret identity other than “Because the plot said so”. Your team said the Rooster had no limits, didn't they? What's stopping Ladybug from using the Rooster to give herself the power to track Akumas back to Shadowmoth's lair? How about the power of telepathy to read into the minds of Akuma victims and get an idea of who Shadowmoth is through the mental bond? Why not the power to be able to detect anyone who has used a Miraculous at any time in the past to figure out who Shadowmoth is? They could have given the Rooster other powers like healing or the power to reinvigorate exhausted heroes, but instead, the writers just gave up, and literally gave Rooster Bold the power to do whatever the plot needs him to do. They couldn't even make the power unpredictable like the Lucky Charm to justify the incredibly specific circumstances when this Miraculous is used.

So the heroes do what they really should have done from the beginning instead of wasting time on this soccer game, barrage Penalteam with their powers. Vesperia uses Venom to stun a clone, Pegasus uses Voyage to teleport the ball into the goal, and King Monkey uses Uproar to screw up Penalteam's powers. After her clones start bickering with each other, Penalteam rejects the Akuma, because the writers are determined to make rejecting Akumas the least impressive thing on the show.

Ladybug de-evilizes the Akuma, the heroes celebrate, and even though she was vilified for not wanting to play soccer, the kids decide to let Chloe have what she wants, while Nathaniel comes in to play, never getting called out for wanting to skip class in the first place. After telling Sabrina to play soccer with the others, our episode ends with Chloe sitting down next to a familiar face.

Lila: Welcome to the bench.

Chloe: What's your name again?

Lila: It's not my name that matters, but who I hate. And I think we have a lot in common on that front.

That's right. Now they're hinting at a Chloe and Lila team-up... in the penultimate episode of the season. I just have one question to ask...

WHY THE FUCK DID IT TAKE THE WRITERS THIS LONG TO SET THIS UP?!

This was literally the first thing Lila has said all season, and after Chloe has been the most recurring antagonist this season besides Shadowmoth, you're choosing now to reestablish Lila as a threat? Why did it take her this long to do anything? Why is she choosing now to team up with Chloe? Why didn't she say anything to Chloe after she betrayed Ladybug? Did she just realize Chloe hates Marinette for some reason? Where the hell was Lila all season? It's stuff like this that makes me not believe a second of Astruc's claims that Chloe's betrayal was planned from the start, because if it really was, this would have more focus and buildup instead of being shoved into the end of the season.

I feel like I jumped the gun with calling “Queen Banana” the worst episode of the show, mainly because it got to me personally, because of my feeling for Chloe as a character, but this episode? Yeah, its biggest problems came from parts that had nothing to do with Chloe, and not only do I think that this is the worst episode of the season, but also of the entire series, and I mean it for real.

This episode just went out of its way to retcon previous events, and threw in new character motivations, and for what? A filler episode where all the heroes do is play soccer? If Astruc wanted Chloe to become an Akuma again, why did it be one with a motif and powers that had nothing to do with her personality? Again, why not use Alix, since she hasn't become a hero yet? Why did the heroes even go along with the soccer game in the first place, much less act like Chloe, someone who has betrayed the team in the past and has said she hates Ladybug, was going to play fair? Why couldn't Pegasus and Polymouse split up to search for the Akuma while the other heroes played the game?

And then there's the whole thing where they made Cat Noir into a complete buffoon? All season, the writers keep trying to convince the audience that Cat Noir is a valuable asset to the team, and is worthy of being Ladybug's partner, but then we get episodes like these that make him out to be more of a liability than anything else, all to justify the baker's dozen's worth of temp heroes appearing in the episode and doing more to save the day, all while having to bail him out of an Akuma's trap. After “Lies”, “Mr. Pigeon 72”, “Mega Leech”, “Guiltrip”, “Sentibubbler”, and “Wishmaker”, this is the SEVENTH TIME this season where Cat Noir has been incapacitated by an Akuma in some way that forced Ladybug to rely on other heroes to save the day. If the writers keep trying to prove Cat Noir is a useful hero this season, they're not doing a good job at it. If they needed to portray a hero as inept at soccer for comedy, why not Carapace, Viperion, Pegasus, Vesperia, Pigella, Purple Tigress, Polymouse, Caprikid or Minotaurox? None of them were established to be athletes or skilled at soccer, unlike Ryuko, King Monkey, Miss Tracker, or Rooster Bold. The writers had options, but still chose to make Cat Noir a complete weakling for the sake of this flimsy plot.

And then we get Chloe. If Astruc's team absolutely had to make her the Akuma of this soccer episode, would it have killed them to give her a consistent motivation for getting akumatized? One minute, she doesn't want to play soccer, the next minute, she acts like she hates being dragged down by a team, and then she gets akumatized because she doesn't want to play soccer... and decides to play soccer with the heroes to decide the fate of people playing soccer across the world. Did the writers skip a page in the script? What the hell is happening? Why couldn't Ladybug make a deal with Penalteam to see if Paris can play soccer instead? It would be entirely in-character for Chloe to act like she's the best at the game, so have Ladybug exploit her ego to warrant the soccer game. Instead, the writers made her skilled at soccer, even though she was akumatized because she hates soccer, and didn't even try to call her father to get out of having to do this.

It's even worse when you remember what Nathaniel did earlier in the episode. Why was Chloe in the wrong for not wanting to play soccer with the class when Nathaniel tried to get out of playing soccer in the first place, and never got called out for it? What was even the point of showing Nathaniel's hesitance to play soccer when the whole reason he didn't want to be a hero at first was because of that “Not wanting to be on a team” crap?

Even the actual soccer game the episode desperately wanted to show off was boring. Most of the temp heroes didn't get to do much, and it was just a regular game of soccer for most of the episode until everyone realized they had superpowers. Sure, they tried to make it seem like it was dangerous, but that was because Penalteam's kicks are like shooting a soccer ball out of a cannon. If anything, they should have opened with using their powers to even the playing field the second it was made clear Penalteam wasn't going to play fair. What was even the point of bringing in Ryuko, Viperion, and Pigella if they couldn't even use their powers? The former two barely got to do anything before being captured by Penalteam!

Obviously, the debut of the last four temp heroes was rushed as all hell. There were plenty of episodes that could have been cut this season to facilitate at least one or two temp heroes so they didn't have to introduce four in a single episode, but no! “Mr. Pigeon 72”, “Psycomedian”, “Glaciator 2”, and “Simpleman” were just too important to leave on the cutting room floor, so there was no other choice but to cram four new heroes into an episode that already has way too many heroes to keep track of. The actual development these characters got was so surface level. With Vesperia, Pigella, Purple Tigress, and Polymouse, there was clearly effort to flesh out their characters and give them more focus than usual, but here? Why should I care about these characters getting Miraculous if there's little fanfare to it? You could have had a really good episode where Sabrina gets the Dog Miraculous after standing up to Chloe, but instead, the writers rushed through it and gave her the Dog because she wanted to save Chloe, because every time Sabrina gets focus, she has to be screwed over in some way. Spoiler alert for the finale, but she gets screwed over there too.

This episode had screw-up after screw-up trying to cram everything it wanted to into its twenty-three minute runtime, and it just failed miserably as a result. Even “Felix” and “Queen Banana” were more coherently written than this episode. It's just a complete mess of an episode from start to finish.

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