#i watched shibuya arc & had to draw this

[jollycryptid]

🔥開 Fūga🔥

#i watched shibuya arc & had to draw this #jolly's art #oc: chazz #jjk #digital art #spotted hyena #furry #hyena #furry art #artists on tumblr #sfw furry #fursona #oc #illustration #artwork #drawing #art #sketch #weirdfur #krita

[voidcat]

— for a moment, i parry

characters: gojo satoru, you

wc - genre: 4.2k & kind of slice of life + fluff, angst if you squint, gojo being the bane of your existence and all. — part 2

notes: sorcerer mc (a part of the inumaki family, any questions you have regarding their technique i can answer in detail), suggestive content at times (decided not to write it but gojo is nasty as always), gojo is one year senior of mc, implied discrimination in jujutsu world, this fic takes place a little before Shibuya Arc

a/n: I had planned this fic so long ago but it took me longer and more difficult than I imagined to write it all out. Hence some bits may feel toned out or… lacking. Again, if you have any questions I’d be more than happy to answer them and even answer to the best of my ability what else I originally planned to write and so on.

i. the night slips right out of your hands

The gentle breeze of Tokyo brushes over you as you wait by the gate. No matter how many years has passed, jujutsu high still feels as familiar as well– mostly from the never changing looks of the place no matter the heavy damage it has faced over the years, you suppose.

Glancing down at your phone, you tap your foot as you wait.

And soon the familiar gray head makes its appearance, along with three extra heads following him.

You opt to ignore the curious gazes and the bickering which turns into whispering, then bickering again, then elbowing one another as you and Toge share a hug, a ‘kelp’ leaving his mouth in greeting.

Eyes closing in an instant as you ruffle his hair, you can hear the other kids blinking at you, why they have decided to follow Toge is a mystery to you.

Yuuji, Nobara and Fushiguro watch Inumaki and the mysterious person as they exchange nods back and forth, Inumaki occasionally replying in his usual fashion. More often than not, ‘salmon’ can be heard, along with a few grunts and a noise that can only be in agreement with your silent statement.

Appearing content with his replies, you nod with eyes closed then make a set of motions with your hands. Another nod from Toge, as the kids stare.

“It seemed like sign language.” the boy with black hair speaks, face scrunched up as if he is trying to decode what it meant.

Seeing the looks on their faces, the person lets out a sigh, and brings their hands to their face; from the middle of the lips, index fingers trace outwards, like a too wide smile, then up to the eyes, drawing vertical lines above and under the eyes.

The pink haired boy’s frown only deepens, to which the person just makes a motion with their hand as if honking something around their nose, brows shot upwards, as if saying “how about now?” and open your hand to the side as if presenting something.

“Here you are!” the voice of one excited Gojo fills the air, appearing on the empty spot your hand seemed to present.

“Oh, and look who is here.” despite the words, he doesn’t sound surprised one bit.

“Clown!” the girl yells in a sudden, slamming a fist against her palm, “that’s what they were trying to explain.” 

The others nod in thoughtful hums and agreement as you and Toge seem rather pleasant they seemed to catch on.

“Wait…” the pink one seems deep in thought, “this doesn’t explain who they are though.”

Curious gazes now all diverted towards Gojo, he flashes his usual smile, slightly tilting his body to your direction and placing a hand on your shoulder– only for you to step away at the last second, avoiding him with crossed arms.

“This one here, is my dear kouhai, a relative of Inumaki Toge’s and my date for the night.” At the last claim you roll your eyes with a huff.

“Is that why they don’t talk then?” “But I don’t see the signature signs of snake eyes and fangs,” “Is their technique something similar to Inumaki’s?” the questions fill the air in an instant, to all of which, you nod, then unclasp one hand to make a ‘so-so’ motion, your expressions and body language making it a tad easier to understand you.

After yours, Gojo introduces each of the students. Nobara Kugisaki, the girl to pick up on your jab at Gojo first, Fushiguro Megumi, the infamous Zen’in kid you’ve heard of before and Itadori Yuuji, who seems most confused out of the lot of them.

As Gojo keeps talking, Toge signals that he’ll leave for now, offering a small wave at you.

Gojo makes a physical display of affection, similar to the one he attempted with you, with Fushiguro, mentioning how he was the one to raise him. For what it’s worth, he seems to have survived thus far, you can only assume he has the patience of iron.

The kids however, feel rather conflicted at how your face turns when you hear Gojo is your teacher this year– your expression that can only be interpreted as ‘pity’ and ‘offering condolences’ only dampening their moods.

Leaning towards them in a swift motion, you give them a lookover, and a pat on the shoulder, as if offering your support for the tough times they’ll have to endure.

And pull back as swiftly as you leaned in as your hand makes contact with Yuuji’s shoulder, though your motions resembling more of a cat jerking back, eyes wide open, feeling threatened.

It is only then Nobara takes notice of the cat by your feet, the animal in a state mirroring you.

Yuuji can only blink and look at all directions in confusion, only for his movements to come to a halt when he hears your fingers snap in front of Megumi, then hand pointing at Yuuji, in a motion that seems to say ‘elaborate’.

So you could tell something is different with Yuuji.

Gojo stands awfully quiet as Megumi summarizes the situation for you blunt, and a little reluctantly.

From start to end your face takes all type of reactions, specifically displeased ones when Gojo’s name is in the passing, then a concerned frown at the mention of Sukuna’s finger and it unravels from there.

As Megumi concludes that Yuuji is Sukuna’s vessel, and that he has died and returned, and that his revival was kept a secret for a while, you gape.

Then stare.

At Yuuji, then at Gojo, then gaze returning to Yuuji and back at Gojo, eyes darting back and forth as your mouth opens, only to close, whimpers of sounds barely leaving your lips, your index hanging in the air.

Maybe you’d enjoy watching tennis matches, Gojo cannot help but muse.

“I-” the sound leaves your mouth, then tilting your head down slightly, you close your eyes in slow motion as if swallowing something heavy.

“If you could excuse me for a moment. I’m afraid I need to find words that will not result in requiring …damage control.” each word leaves your mouth one by one and rather heavy.

And with it, you turn and walk away, muttering something about a swift wind, and disappear faster than a regular walking pace should get you.

Four sets of eyes on where they last coil spot you, it is Yuuji’s voice that cuts through the silence first.

“So they could talk this whole time?!” he exclaims loudly, even more confused than before.

Gojo’s demeanor about the whole exchange doesn’t seem to help one bit and Megumi decides it’s for the best to ignore the blunt sounds of hitting and a sudden yell in the distance reaching his ears.

With a chuckle, Gojo spares his students the confusion.

“Yes and no. Though their technique is something similar to Toge’s, their limitation of their speech is to further utilize their use of it. Something they’ve been working on ever since we were students. Actually you witnessed them use it just now–”

“You mean as they made their escape from you?” Nobara cuts in, one hand resting on her hip.

“Well, yes,” Gojo answers, his voice annoyed at Nobara’s words. 

“They even spoke only in quotes of songs, literature and the likes for a while, but that also had the risk of activating their technique, though not as effective as when their words are original.” an emphasis on the last word, they can hear the hints of something different in his voice, though unsure what.

As they walk, Gojo explains, that yes, it is still embedding words with cursed energy, but no, not as quick as Toge’s and its drawbacks not exactly like his either.

Lines of black scrabbled on white, the kids are met with a notepad right before their faces, it seems you’ve returned and caught up with them already.

‘It’s effectiveness depends on my mood and if the quote I’ve picked matches it or not.’ it reads on the page.

Following their eyes reaching the end of the sentence, you pull the notepad back and write something else as Gojo’s voice fills the air in the background, no one exactly paying attention to his blabber.

‘I’m here for an assignment. Only agreed to this idiot’s offer because the event happens to be the next day.’ it reads on the paper now.

“That, and you owe me a favor.” Gojo chimes in from the side with a sheepish expression, souring your face. Whatever it is he seems to be implying, you do not seem the least happy about it, nor exactly agree with his claim, but it’s too late for it already.

Drawing the notepad to you again, and scribbling on it again, you continue to ignore Gojo.

‘And I do not trust those dinosaurs when it comes to shaping our world, or my cousin’s educational life.’ 

“Aw, who knew you still had a heart?” he coos, his hands over his cheeks, only for his gesture to be followed by a punch, which is met with his infinity in an instant.

Of course he has it on at all times. So you do the next most logical thing and bring out your phone, searching through your messages.

“So how about a little observation class for today?” he says to the kids, then turns to you, “What d’you say?”

At least he has the decency to ask, even if just for display.

The kids however seem interested at the idea– or maybe they just want to get away from him for a day, you cannot blame them for it exactly.

Closing and pocketing your phone, you eye him from the side, let out an exasperated sigh and shrug and close your eyes. ‘Why not?’ your body language reads.

Eyes locked on where the morgue should be, you spot the approaching form of Shoko, quickly making your way to her.

“So we will see you the- Hey!” you can hear Gojo yell from beyond you, realizing you have already left his side.

“Don’t drink too much.” he then retorts, making you roll your eyes and flip him off without even turning as you keep walking.

Before he can get another word, a sudden guttural voice from below draws his, and the kids attention, the same cat from earlier, apparently not a stray who just took a liking to you as far as they can tell from how it vomits on Gojo’s shoe.

His whiny “I just got this pair!” is the last thing you hear as you leave the school grounds with Shoko, a giggle leaving your lips at the pout you’re sure he has on his face already.

–

The location is a renowned theater, more so in the jujutsu world, though it’s more preferred for its policy of holding more traditional plays, shows and the likes.

Since their arrival, the kids watch your every step.

Deciding to be useful for once, you assume, Gojo takes it over himself to create the curtain.

Looking over the area, you walk through the entrance, pass the hall and enter the main venue.

The stage awaits, empty and an eerie air to it, vacant seats, few stage lights lit and lifeless.

Following where your finger points, they spot a balcony area overlooking the stage.

One gesture at the balcony and another at them, the kids and Gojo take their hint and head up, watching as you look around the space, grabbing a few items they can make out to be props of sorts.

Taping your foot here and placing something down there… you go around making what they can hope to be investigation, observation or provokation. 

Whatever you were doing seems to have worked as they can feel a form of concentrated cursed energy from the distance, by the back of the stage.

The manifested curse seems to be glaring at you.

The curse starts out quick, without waiting for a moment of breath, yet you don’t seem unfazed by it.

Dodging its long distance attacks like they’re flies you're swatting,  and giving it a lookover, the attacks themselves do not seem all that powerful.

Your way of dodging catches the attention of the kids easily, looking more elegant than it should be, flowing so effortlessly, as if you are a part of the stage, performing a one-man musical.

Dashing to the side, your hand reaches out to something, bringing it over to your head.

And in an instant, music starts playing. Yuuji takes notice of the items you've placed earlier to be speakers of some sort.

Your hand above tilts off the hat you’re holding there, a greeting.

With each sound of the piano, you follow along to the rhythm, getting further away from the curse as if waiting to meet a certain requirement.

Few centimeters away from the edge of the stage, the cursed energy radiating from it accelerates and in a flash, there are duplicates spread.

With the tune rising, your feet follow in cue– dodging next and right, still looking effortless as before yet with music added to the background, it truly looks like a show.

“Isn’t it exhausting to move at such a speed and sing?” Megumi voices what the others think, your moving mouth not escaping anyone’s attention.

Gojo merely chuckles.

“Ah, that? It’s something they’ve been doing since we were students. Long enough their body has gotten adjusted to the required energy and movement style.”

“So they have an increased amount of stamina…” one of them murmurs.

“Yep!” He confirms joyfully, “Their stamina built over time should’ve gotten only better. Wonder if I could get a chance to test it out myself.”

He is only met with disgusted expressions of Kugisaki and Megumi, and yours, as Yuuji can see, his attention still focused on you.

Your mouth stops moving, only a smile residing in its place, as does the lyrics, the sound of the saxophone is loud and clear as you draw near.

Hat tossed to the side a while ago, now something else in your hand, your lips move again, your singing loud enough to fill the scene.

“Kept walking on the wide side…” Long strides for each pair of words, what once seemed like fighting, now you make it clear you were on the defensive as a ruse all along.

Swinging what you were holding, you hit the nearest duplicate with cursed energy, sending it and the cane flying.

Then in a swift motion you turn to the other, hand reached out in half a fist, index and middle finger sticking out, your forearm shoots back in an instant, fingers pointing at the ceiling as if you’ve fired a gun.

The duplicate right by the line of your hand collapses to the ground.

They barely catch something about a ‘James Bond’ from what you were saying.

Your speed only accelerates as does the fight, the momentum adjusting to you, one by one the duplicates go down, their every attempt at drawing near you only become a part of your movements.

The saxophone and the edgy sounding singing in the song returns.

Raising your hand in the air, the other in front of your torso as if holding onto the end of something, you seem to be swinging something in the air– now tossed at one duplicate before you and with a powerful yank, you tug it.

The duplicate unable to resist the tug enhanced with cursed energy vanishes.

Surely, it was a coincidence you seemed to sing something like ‘sometimes in a buffalo style’.

As the vanished one comes your direction, you dart forwards toward the next one, hands easily grabbing onto its shoulders and propping yourself up.

Legs wrapped around its head, in one twist of your body, the snap echoes through the entire stage.

Back on your feet, taking out the last one, the curse stares at you from its position in fear.

Chest heaving with each breath you take and let out, an expression they have never seen on you painted all over your features, you murmur along the last bit and hold.

The trumpet and saxophone descend like thunder in a sudden, paving the way, preparing the stage for the main act.

“It is wonderful my life,” you quickly move forward with quick arm gestures, “Please could you kiss my name?” halting for a second with your hand reaching forward, asking for a dance. 

Maybe it is the sudden shift of melody, or how quickly you’ve changed the tone of the fight, from the very start holding the ropes in your hands yet you sound different.

Voice filling the space sweetly and radiating off every surface, it sounds dreamy.

The curse does its best to stumble and try to scatter away, but to no avail, unable to escape from your grasping hands holding its, pulling it for a dance and starting to move in circles.

“Turn off light!” your voice rings loud with emphasis, and the lights go shut on command.

It was such a sweet time. 

Could you pray for me, my friend? 

It’s starting over time..

Darkness ahead but they can hear you singing, your feet moving with grace on the stage, the curse tries as it may to yelp, on the side they can hear Gojo snicker in amusement.

Taking over the night, Taking over blue time! If you heard that screaming shout in your mind! 

Is the sound of joy sourced from the song or from your singing, the kids cannot tell– all they do is to stand there and listen stunned, try squinting their eyes just to catch a glimpse of you in action.

Taking over shine, Taking over shooting star.

It ends in a blur, just as it has begun.

Just as they hear you sing the word ‘music’, the lights are back on in a flash, few stage lights pointed directly on where you are.

You stand in a bow, one hand in the air, other folded over your stomach, feet crossed, bowing for the audience, collecting the applause.

The curse that has been intervening with plays and going after actors for the past few weeks already exorcised, not a residue of its cursed energy left behind.

The song ends and all that remains is the sound of Gojo’s clapping hands as you straighten and walk off the stage.

—

The chill of the night air bites into your skin.

Nothing screams drawing attention to yourself like arriving late to an event attended by all the important families and faces of the jujutsu world.

Except… maybe showing up in a suit and button down shirt, when everyone else dons a traditional wear of some sort.

And add being the plus one of the one and only Gojo Satoru to the mix… you’ll consider yourself lucky if you survive the night sober, sane or without any charges of assault or murder– or all of the above.

When you sit down by Gojo, all you receive is side glances from few, and a scrunched up nose from none other than Naoya Zenin himself– not visible, but it is there alright.

As boring and soul sucking as Gojo had said and tedious as you had feared, the night refuses to pass.

Men drink their sake, the food still nowhere in sight and when will the fake pleasantries come to a stop, stop pretending, each one of you hates at least half the heads in this room, everybody knows you’d jump at that man’s throat in a heartbeat, were there not any consequences awaiting you after his final brea–

A snap of fingers right in front of you cuts through you.

“Ah, there they are!” Gojo exclaims giddily, the look of curiosity and wide eyes open a moment ago now vanished.

And just as expected, the night passes in a dullness– save for the few jabs at you, your choice of work methods and whatnot.

Glass after glass going down, some faces start to appear more tempting than ever, begging to be punched.

The rumors of Naoya Zenin’s most recent unfortunate meeting with yet another woman did not go missing from the ears of many. That poor woman– those poor women, you cannot help, having to sit in a room with such a man for who knows how long, endure his enormous ego– probably the only big thing to him– the thought makes you chuckle as you reach for your glass.

“I see the rumors of a crippling mental state were correct. Wouldn’t expect anything less from a family keeping ties with those who cannot even see curses.”

“Bold words coming from a man who cannot even court possible marriage candidates without the power he holds, threats and ultimatums.”

You can picture Zenin squinting his eyes at you in distaste, offense and surprise. And maybe a hint of more, you cannot help but wonder if what lies under all his toxicity can be brought to an end one by one if someone were to just put him in his place– if all of this is just one sick defense mechanism.

You decide to keep this interaction in your head. It won’t do anyone any favors to pick up a squabble with him.

The glass already touching your lips, you down the remains of it and look for the waiter to order a new bottle– all the while Gojo watches you with an amused smile.

Moving your hand, palm facing down, you give him a reply: ‘so-so’

Deciding to take a sip instead of a shot every time you muster up another possible interaction you could have going on at this table was a good idea, the stakes of suffering from alcohol poisoning too high for the former.

You hear the voice of Zenin in the background however, not paying much attention to him when Gojo looks at you like he is telling you something in silence, drawing circles against your calf with a hand, away from prying eyes.

When the squealing of the man becomes unbearable however, you grumble under your breath “Uno, track #4” and take the bottle from the waiter’s hands before he can ever pour it for you.

Sudden loss of contact, you can see from your side view Gojo seems to look up what you’ve said, and barks into laughter, drawing everyone else’s attention on the two of you– all the while uncaring and shedding off a fake tear.

Fake tears, fake smiles, fake acts of courtesy and diplomacy, all folded up, wrapped in the shape of peace and harmony.

Nothing that has occurred thus far is worth taking note, and you doubt it’ll change any time soon. Getting up from your place without a word abruptly, and drawing everyone’s attention on you in the process, again, you make leave for the door you know will lead to a small garden area.

You don’t think Gojo requires even an explanation, for all his foolery and the clown mask he likes to wear so much, he often knows what is happening– and much to your chargin, he knows how to read you, though you’d never admit this.

Still, you make a quick gesture of bringing your fingers to your lips and you know before you even exit that he will be following soon enough, and within a breath’s moment, one of you will have the other pinned against a wall, hands roaming like it’s your last day on earth together, like this is now or never, and he would be damned if he missed this opportunity of his lifetime’s.

In a blink, your vision is clouded by Gojo, as do your senses. Gojo Satoru in your field of vision, Gojo Satoru on your skin, underneath your skin, Satoru on your tongue, Satoru' breath by your ear, his lips by your neck, hands all over your being–

And with a snap of fingers, the two of you stumbling at his place, the back of your knees hitting the edge of the bed.

Satoru, Satoru and only Satoru, he worms his way back to your senses like all those years ago, refusing to let go, never ceasing to tail you, hover near you, desperate to even brush hands with you– though he makes sure this side of him never shows. He is Gojo Satoru after all, he has a reputation to maintain.

Morning comes with a serenity familiar to neither of you, though it's not unwelcome. Every rarity is an opportunity to be cherished, a moment to be savored, and still he finds a way to make it gross somehow, or ridiculous at the very least. This is Gojo after all, he cannot get too real, too sincere, too open. 

Arms locking you in place and whispering to your ear all his dirty reasons for you to stay the morning, as well as the mornings to come. He no longer counts all the perks of living in Tokyo, already used to your scoffs.

It feels odd, abnormal–, it feels too honest, perhaps that's where the issue lies. Both of you uncharacteristically sincere, no masks, no pretending, no false actions as a defense mechanism. A parting gift, almost.

#gojo satoru #jujutsu kaisen #gn reader #gojo x you #gojo x reader #gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru x you #jujutsu kaisen x you #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #jjk x you

[tariah23]

Genuinely curious: how bad did jujutsu kaisen get (i dropped off prettyyyy early but i thought it had potential! And i heard great things about it! But now it's like...hmmm not so good 🗿)

I wouldn’t say it’s completely BOOTY (It’s still pretty decent actually even though I do complain a lot about my grievances that I have with it!) After the Shibuya incident (the arc is fucking amazing btw. Idk how far you’d gotten but the Hidden Inventory was also sick as well!!! Two of the best arcs back to back! Gege was absolutely feeling himself when he wrote these 😭) the writing had definitely begun to noticeably take a nosedive.

I remember Gege often getting sick, resulting in him having to take multiple hiatus after finishing up with Shibuya and it had even gotten to the point where he’d put out rushed chapters (he never used to do this so whenever he’d do so, it was pretty noticeable because his writing had always been pretty entertaining and fairly good (imo) up to this point…) and even incomplete chapters…. (When I first read that very specific, incomplete chapter, I legit thought that it had been drawn that way on purpose??? Like maybe it was drawn in a sketchy way for stylistic purposes! It was pretty cool to me at the time until I’d learned that he just couldn’t finish drawing the chapter and had to put it out as is… then this is where the hiatus had began. Because he’d take a break (great! His health is more important than anything after all) and then come back with half assed chapters from time to time? (I believe all of the breaks definitely effected the momentum that he’d built up for himself tbh. But I’m glad that he put himself first regardless.)

Enemy curse users during both the Colony and the Culling Game arcs felt more like “villains of the week,” over than anything else and were just there to be defeated by the MC’s and to extract little pieces of information at a time. Most of them didn’t even stand out all too much outside of a few. Incidents that took place throughout these two arcs felt completely pointless and added nothing to the story whatsoever. Then there’d be long stretches of time in between the story where important characters like for instance: Megumi and Yuuji, would be absent from the story for unnecessarily long periods of time for no reason at all because Gege’s pacing had begun to take a toll on the writing side of things???

There would be instances where important and genuinely EXCITING things would happen only for the story to go back to feeling like a bunch of nonsense again and then this would become a sort of rinse and repeat type of thing. Don’t even get me started on the Gojo VS Sukuna fight…… both my fucking head and heart still hurts over what happened if I’m being honest because HOLY SHIT, Gege fucking sucks 😭!!! How do you do THIS to such an important character in the series bro. It still doesn’t even feel right like. What was even the fucking POINT of this 3 month long ass fight 😭😭😭!???!? Quite a few other slightly major deaths were poorly executed as well… there’s just…. SO MANY INCONSISTENCIES and plot points that felt as if they were going to MATTER in the end; become important later on, only for them to end up not mattering at all…

The plot is still unfolding but UHHH… Also, depending on how far you’d gotten into reading or watching it, things do become extremely depressing after a certain point in the story like, the characters have not had a good time ever since the students played baseball with each other in that one episode/ manga chapter before ALL of the bullshit started 😭. Everyone is a wreck! Everything is a mess! What is the point!!! JJK is definitely misery porn. It excels in it.

#I’d still rec reading and watching it tho because it really is a fun series #it’s just #I feel like gege is really trying to rush to the ending of jjk rn or some shit because he’s just been writing any damn thing now 😭… #and he is getting his rocks off I just know it!!! #when jjk is good it’s GOOD!!! #the writing has just been pretty all over the place as of lately though #the pacing goes from stagnant to fast then back to stagnant then fast then normal a lot though #but again #these are problems mainly associated with literally everything after the shibuya arc #if you gave it another go you’d see what I mean but it’s not the worst #I feel like gege needs to pace himself better idk if his editors have been getting on his ass or what because I swear to god jjk was not #written so carelessly before #I’m so serious #tkf replies #b1uetrees

[voicefromthecorner]

Shoka’s Telewarp Essay (from YouTube)

I’ve been on a bit of a TWEWY binge since beating NEO and I came across a remarkably good essay in the YouTube comment section of NicoB’s NEO Playthrough ending, linked here.

Link to the specific comment here.

The essay is about Shoka and what her character’s ‘Telewarp’ power represents. It’s a really good essay in general that massively cracks open Shoka’s perspective and experiences that I just had to share it here. YouTube’s comment sections are often justifiably called a den of snakes, but there are some gems in there that some people type out just because they can.

I’ve tried my best to screencap it at a decent size and quality but Tumblr may make mincemeat out of it so there’s a transcript below.

Fair warning beforehand, the essay delves into Shoka’s “passive suicidal ideation”:

I can honestly say that “Shoka’s Telewarp ability allowing her to take her friends to out-of-reach and usually very high up places is indicative of her lack of regard for her own life and how her sole set of values are on other people around her” was not something on my NEO TWEWY bingo card, but special thanks to thebigchungus 451 for drawing so much attention to that and the plethora of other behind-the-scenes issues that Shoka was facing that make her an even more tragic character than she always seemed on the surface.

Even after the liveblog is done and I’ve finished the main story, I have a quota of “Poor Shoka” lines to meet!

Transcript:

 43:23 This entire segment [The scene between Shoka and Rindo after Shiba reveals that Shoka is going to be erased for leaving the Reapers] is so interesting to me because it reveals so many layers to Shoka’s character. Throughout NEO, the main cast are shown to have the ability to use unique kinds of Psychs and these tie into their character traits/arcs.

Rindo is indecisive and can’t be arsed to make decisions, to the point that he couldn’t even decide what to eat before he found out about An0ther and decided to live his life by teachings without understanding what they truly meant and thus, he has the ability to time travel and redo his mistakes.

Fret is shown to have PTSD regarding his inability to prevent his best friend from committing suicide and has trouble with being genuine to his true self, so his ability is to trigger people’s thoughts and memories and on the very final day, he’s able to remind the people of Shibuya of their true selves after being subjected to Shibuya Syndrome.

Nagi is highly empathetic, sometimes dangerously so and is shown to be reluctant when it comes to trying to understand certain types of people so she has the ability to dive into people’s hearts and get a feel for their true selves.

A consistent part of Beat’s characterization is his inability to be there in time for the people he cares about most and his frustration over said inability, such as when he failed to save Rhyme multiple times in the OG and his failure in saving Neku from getting shot by Coco in A New Day, so naturally he has super speed, with said ability being tied to his desire to never again be too late to protect his loved ones.

And finally, there’s Shoka and her Telewarp ability and how this ties into a core aspect of her character: her passive suicidal ideation.

Throughout the game, it is shown that she has little-to-no regard for her own life unless it concerns the people she cares about and even then, she’ll still toss it away for them if the stakes are high enough. Ayano is possessed and is about to attack the party? Shoka throws caution to the wind, ignoring Rindo’s warnings, and almost gets herself killed. Her reaction to her inevitable Erasure at the end of the week due to her not being a Reaper anymore? She’s more concerned about how it will effect Rindo rather than how she’s going to, well, fade away from existence. Hell, when Shiba offers her a chance to become a Reaper again, she refuses, not wanting spend another moment of her unlife watching life around her pass by.

And that’s not even getting into how Telewarp has the tendency to teleport her and the others to high places/ledges or how she tells Rindo that she preferred Erasure over going back to the RG when they talk before fighting Ayano.

She has the tendency to isolate and distance herself emotionally from others, even from those she’s closest to (such as Ayano and Rindo), is painfully bored with life (or afterlife, as the case may be) to the point of losing interest in things she once found enjoyment in, such as her Reaper duties and is oftentimes cynical and pessimistic, having a hard time mustering the willpower to fight for things she believes in, which is partially why it takes her until Week 3 to stand up to Shiba and the other Shinjuku Reapers for both Rindo’s and Shibuya’s sake.

And honestly it’s no wonder why when you consider the events that happened: the small new life you've created for yourself after escaping your depressive old one implodes because your boss has seemingly lost his mind and helped blow up your city, one of your friends (Tsugumi) gets lobotomized into a robot and your boss tells you to fuck off instead of telling you why, another friend (Susukichi) gets conscripted to be a fake player all day every day, the boss's best friend (Hishima) has pulled away since he went crazy, the woman who you see as your big sister and has been taking care of you this whole time (Ayano) has to take his place instead, and then there's the creepy old guy (Kubo) you always hated.

You then have to spend every day for years on end supervising a BS game where nothing matters because your boss will just declare his own secret team the winner every time anyway and all you do is supervise the players you've been assigned to and make sure they keep marching into the meat grinder day after day by upholding the lie that they could win the game and escape. Over time, you start to realize you are complicit in the murder of probably hundreds of people all so you can blow up a city and murder millions more. You then lose faith in the mission but have to keep going along with it because no one is willing to betray their old friend even if he's nuts now. Your honeymoon phase with your powers is over because what's even the point when you can only use it on small fry players that can't challenge you at all and your friends have all been pulled away from you and so you probably spend most of your evenings alone. And her one reprieve from all of this? Talking to the one online friend she has that she met through a PokemonGo Clone and giving them advice, which is no wonder why she cares so much for Rindo and would rather get Erased than go back to being a Reaper.

Her biggest sources of conflict with leaving the Shinjuku Reapers was leaving those she cared about, such as Ayano and Susukichi. Her own existence never really mattered to her; she never questioned once whether she was willing to give up her own life for Shibuya’s sake. Ayano did—Ayano fought to have Shoka rejoin the Reapers for that very reason. But Shoka herself didn’t care very much. You even see hints at this too on Week 3 Day 2 when the wall Reaper you talk to in Dogenzaka starts to talk about how he can’t blame Ayano for freaking out over Shoka because they all know what happens to former Reapers at the end of the week and Shoka is shown to be briefly saddened by this.

And finally, there’s about how she didn’t tell Rindo the truth about her identity until she was literally on the verge of dying in the second-to-last timeline: she didn’t want Rindo to go through the heartbreak of finding out that he got to be with his best friend before she inevitably dies at the end of the week and was content to die without him ever finding out. It was only when Erasure seemed inevitable for ALL of them (which isn’t helped by how the Noise gets stronger with each time jump) that she goes “fuck it” and tells him the truth.

This is honestly a part of why I love NEO’s character writing more than the original’s (which is still very strong, mind you). All of these little details are so subtle but when you put them all together, it paints a really strong and consistent picture of the characters that helps to flesh them out beyond what you see on the surface.

#neo the world ends with you #ntwewy #twewy #shoka sakurane #essay #analysis #youtube #interesting

[mrskurono]

a/n: this is the first installment(?) of the Nori brain rot from ages ago w/a Studio Ghibli vibe, idk man this just happened word count: 2.2k tags: post!Shibuya arc, possible spoilers, blood, violence, cursing(?), heavily Hoizer inspired, kinda edited character(s): Noritoshi Kamo, fem!sorcerer reader pt ll

Curses stank. 

In a metaphorical sense yes. But also in a literal sense for you. 

These twisted beings permeated your senses like a rot that you could never rid. Unless exorcised they stuck around in your nostril for days. Each one a different smell but all of them stuck in your craw all the same. 

Beasts of rancid nature in behaviors and looks. Nothing more than to be exorcised by sorcerers. You learned quickly that exorcising the curses was no different than taking out week old trash. 

What you hadn’t planned on was someone doing more than dumping trash on the world. Whatever had happened. Suddenly you were faced with more than just dutiful tasks of keeping non sorcerers safe. A monsoon of trash had been dumped not only on you. But every human in this world. 

Your nostrils burned. And you couldn’t be rid of these things quick enough. Each one you exorcised only meant two or three popped up in their place. Never ending. You couldn’t stomach this smell though. It wouldn’t kill you before you got a breath of fresh air.

Glancing around you take a deep breath. Mountain air on the outskirts of Kyoto during this time of year always meant a refreshing break from the city stank. What you smelled wasn’t refreshing. It was that same vile smell you could clearly recall. 

A curse. One that was close too.

To thread carefully was to perhaps save your life. Every aspect of daily life ripped from you. As well of millions of others. You had done your part to try and protect those around you. Soon finding it in slight vain as you sought out some place to find your own breath of fresh air in this madness. 

‘It’s close....I feel like I’m gonna hurl.’ Thoughts toying with where the curse might have hidden itself. You keep a firm grip on your hilt with every intent to draw it the second the creature made the mistake of slipping up. 

Where you could smell it lurking. There was something else. Almost metallic in scent. You ignored it though. Nothing over powered the scent of a curse. You longed for just the sight of these things. Told over and over again how handy it was to have more than one sense open to curses. Each and every time you took a whiff of one, it made you wish nothing more than to just be able to see these creatures instead of smell them as well.

‘Wait-’ Every alarm in your body went off. Snapping around you couldn’t smell the rancid putridness of the curse anymore. That same metallic scent hung around though. You couldn’t identify it. It was something you’d never smelt before but also so familiar. 

Each hair on the back of your neck rose. This was an old deserted Buddhist temple. No one should have been here except you and the curse ransacking the place. A safe haven or so you thought. When your instinct told you to step behind one of the structural beams. You were suddenly glad you did.

Mere inches from your face, the gust of an arrow whistled past you. Weapons were not used by curses. Now you understood. That smell was human.

Quick to defend yourself, with sword drawn, you didn’t expect the same arrow to make a hard one eighty back in the direction you were. No wooden pillar to save you now. You raise your sword just quick enough to sheer the object in half. Rendering what ever power it was imbued with useless. As it had sped past you though the faint smell of iron suddenly became strong. Whatever it was from had a source. Likely human.

Not ready to give up your ideal hiding place to some interloper. You take only a second to focus on the unfamiliar smell. Faint. And not like a curse. There was something towards the back of the temple though that hinted that they were lurking where you couldn’t see them.

With an idea of where the attack would come from. When another arrow came flying by you from a faceless source, you were ready. Smacking it down before the enchanted weapon could turn on you like the first had. This time though you’d seen what angle the projectile was fired from.

‘Gotcha,’ No shortage of ways around a deteriorated temple like this. You duck down through a few broken beams and make your way up to where the attack came from. 

Expecting to have but a lowly sniper sitting with no way to guard themselves. You find no one. But the scent lingered. Scrutinizing it closer you decided maybe to use a different sense, “...Hey, I know you’re not a curse! Neither am I! Maybe if you just-” Words cut off by another arrow whizzing past you. There was nothing ruder than being interrupted. Glowering in the direction that the arrow came from now you tightened you grip on your sword, “Ok! I get it- Strangers we might not-”

Another arrow. This time too close to your head for comfort. You lost your patience with the third one. 

Recklessly charging towards the assailant was clearly enough to throw their game off track. Swinging your weapon before seeing what it was to lie before you. It was a surprise when your blade met with the dull thud of the wooden limb of a bow. 

“What the-” You attack deflected for the moment being. Your first instinct is to jump back from whoever deflected your attack. In close enough range you thought you had the upper hand to avoid the bow. But that was purely lazy thinking on your part as the cause of the stank of iron became clear.

“Slicing exorcism!” This nobody who reeked of iron shot what looked to be a shuriken made of blood at you. 

No time to be disgusted. An overwhelming scent of blood made it apparent what you’d been smelling. It wasn’t a simple metal. It was blood.

“Oh- Oh!” You raise your blade up in the nick of time to just get the splatter of cold liquid on your cheeks. Disgusted in passing you have no time to dwell as the stranger before you makes to dart away. With their head of dark hair in your line of sight, you weren’t ready to try and re-find them once again in this maze of debris.

Lurching forward you feel the upper hand stall when they stopped your attack once more with the brute of their bow. Clear view of them now. The man who’d clearly fired the arrows was all but composed when shaking off your attack. No way to not suspect another sorcerer caught up in this giant trash heap of curse attacks. You still have no time to play nice when they hurl another blood conjured weapon at you.

In such suddenness you are less lucky than you have been. This one catching your cheek and causing a sting to spread throughout the skin of your face. Fed up with this game you don’t care if he’s a sorcerer or not. This was a one for all situation now that you intended to win.

Firm foot hold found. You realize the man has cornered himself at this point. Range attacks out of the question. Undoubtedly giving you the upper hand now. With a hefty swing of your sword and the first time you’d channeled any energy into at all. You bring it down like a guillotine. Ready to strike flesh. Instead the snap of the bow is your first sign of an upper hand. 

All but trash the man throws it aside but too slowly. You’re on him before the range attacker can pull that weird blood trick again. Slight intent to kill as if he were a curse. You swipe your foot down and knock him down to the temple floor with a hard thud.

You waste no time between the moment his head hit the ground and your above him. Tip of your blade pressed to his neck. One breath too deep from him and the sharp tip would pierce his pale skin. Eyes fixated down on him you realize in the moments after your adrenaline fades that he’s staring right up at you.

Sharp tongue your words come out curt only to be interruped right away, “Who are-”

“Another sorcerer-” His eyes open from the slits they’d remained in the skirmish, “What are you doing here? How did you-”

“I get to ask the questions!” You snarl, jabbing his throat with your sword just enough to watch a crimson bead peak from under the tip of your weapon, “You attacked me, what are you doing up here? Why were you-���

“...you’re so pretty-” Suddenly his eyes open wide realizing what he said, “Wait I didn’t-”

“Shut up or I’ll cut your throat out!” Your sword pressing uncomfortably into the side of his neck now, “I asked you a question! Why are you up here!?”

“Kamo-”

“What? What are you-”

“Kamo family!” He quickly sputtered, “Head of the Kamo family!”

The name rang a bell somewhere in your frazzled brain.

“I’m the head-” He suddenly registered really the blade to his neck, “I’m looking for stragglers-”

“In an abandoned temple?” You weren’t buying it. 

“My people live just down the hill,” He spoke earnestly, “I had to keep the stragglers safe when the curses released from their seals in the keep. Some where up here but-”

“I killed them,” You glared down at him, “I killed all but the one you shot. How long were you up here? Were you following me?”

A shake of his head even as he stared at the glimmer of your sword, “No. I was looking for anyone who came up here. I didn’t expect to find another sorcerer. I felt your cursed energy and assumed you were a curse.”

Eyes narrowing you didn’t like the sound of something so simple to this pretty face, “...I don’t believe you. Give me a reason I shouldn’t kill you right now or else-”

“Noritoshi-” He blurted out, “Noritoshi Kamo. Head of the Kamo family. I can give you some place safe to stay. I don’t understand what’s going on but-”

You lift the blade from his throat. Something about the diligent tone in his voice. Like he’d introduced himself like that a million times. You could kill him but it seemed a waste. Weapon retracted but no offer to help him up. You stand above him with a confounded glare, “...do you know what’s happening?”

His head shook and your stomach dropped. Noritoshi didn’t get up. Only propping himself up slightly when he realized the back of his head was thumping from the impact, “....A special grade curse released a powerful seal in Shibuya about two weeks ago...I saw but....” His face became somber and he shook his head once again, “...I don’t know what’s been going on. I just know things are in disarray and it’s my duty to protect my people.”

Once more you were skeptical but with how little rest you’d gotten in the past few days due to the tremendous increase in curses. This man’s words seemed as solid as any other theory you’d heard. More so than the plea of non sorcerer’s you listened to day in and day out about the end of times. 

“...Has the Jujutsu elders said anything?” You step off him completely. If he was speaking the truth maybe he knew what was going on as an actual heir to one of the clans.

Noritoshi looked up at you a moment longer, “No...there’s been a wide emergency notice to do what you can but our numbers....” He grew quiet, “...as many sorcerers seem to be dying as the rest of Japan.”

Perhaps the end of times were coming. You grip your sword hilt tight and take a deep breath, “....seems a angel of death is coming then whether we like it or not.”

“You’re a sorcerer.” He began to get to his feet, “Please, come with me. If anything to stay away from here. There is a grave yard on the other side of the thicket. More curses will come. No one should be here even as a sorcerer yourself.”

First hand you’d seen the influx he spoke of. From every direction. While out of the city provided some safety you knew that this place left you as vulnerable as any other if you stayed alone. With no words to be spoken of from the elders. And an age of curses threatening to crowd out humans. Like a trash pile reaching it’s capacity. You didn’t see much choice in this one.

“...I will kill you if I find out you’re lying to me.” Voice firm without breaking eye contact with him as you sheath your sword, “I smell one curse in this safe space of yours and I’ll-”

“Kill me, yes,” Noritoshi nodded with both busted ends of his bow in his hands as he looked on at you, “I am not lying but if you see fit, I’ll accept you as my angel of death then.”

a/n: I have one wine cooler in me as I finish this. This might be a multi part if the inspiration finds me. Anyways, um, yeah! This is an old idea coming so pls let me know if you liked it!

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #kamo noritoshi #noritoshi x reader #noritoshi kamo x reader #jjk noritoshi #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader

[fonmythenmetz]

My atsuhina/msby-stan take for what happened after msby vs adlers match.

Hinata wanted to join Asas for the world championship, right.

Atsumu figured that Hinata’s ‘hunger’ was pushing him forward, to go further, to climb higher; he was frustrated and angry - same goes for Sakusa and Bokuto and the others, just maybe not as intense as in Atsumu’s case - (and he couldn’t really explain why, maybe because Hinata didn’t see them as good enough players? They all worked their hardest), so before Hinata’s departure he made another promise - something along “if you’re struggling to fight with the best and play with the best, then I’ll make this place the top of the world and you’ll come back”. That’s why his phrase in Olympic roster (2020) is “i will become number 1”. By the way, when the Japanese volleyball season started, jackals were absolute beasts (maybe they shared Atsumu’s feelings). In the olympic team interview (2021) Kageyama - who doesn’t even play in Japan anymore, he’s an international player now - says: “Results-wise, I’m still behind Atsumu-san”. Since there’re only 2 setters in the national team, there’s no one better then these two. So by 2021 Atsumu is #1 Japan setter.

Hinata is ready to go to Brazil for the second half of the season (2019/2020) with the best recommendations from Volleyball Association, but then pandemic happens.

I assume that japanese olympic team in haikyuu is formed according to generations (there was no one younger/older then them, only Hinata’s ‘generation’: previous third, second and first years), so the next olympic roster will consist of another generation; after 2021, coach Hibaridai and his colleagues saw no profit in investing in Hinata.

However, coach Foster and coach Banjou did not approve this, so they concluded a truce (for a short period of time! They’re rivals after all.

Spoiler: they grew fond of each other and want to be friends, but they’re both awkward, and coach Foster talks in his own language (a mix of English & kansai-ben & pantomime) which only msby can fully understand). Together they find a friend of a friend of the Asas’ head coach. Somehow with the help of google translate and Hinata they arrange a partnership programme between Black Jackals and Asas. Kuroo gets enthusiastic about it, so when the quarantine is over, msby flies for their first practice match with Asas São Paulo. It’s august 2020.

When they arrive, it’s late night; Atsumu locks himself in a hotel room, conflicted about how he feels - he can’t decide if he’s angry at Hinata for underestimating him and not acknowledging his life-long struggle, or happy that they will play the practice match together - well. He likes playing with Hinata. What’s wrong with that? It’s not like he missed him or anything. It’s about volleyball, alright?

Hinata has high school flashbacks; he remembers what Takeda-sensei said - “it is all about volleyball”, and he wonders where volleyball even ends. In Karasuno his closest friends were also his teammates, and all their activities were focused on volleyball. Karasuno - and rivalry with Kageyama - taught him to never look back, always look up and never slow down - because he had nothing but his jump and speed, and if he ever allowed a pause, he’d be defeated and left behind completely alone. Msby is the polar opposite of Karasuno. Sure, they stick to their diets; but on cheat days they are the main cheaters in the world and eat whatever gods send them. They are unorganized and every day with them is a blockbuster. They get into fights with neighbors’ dogs, they steal chopsticks from Osamu’s to build a miniature Skytree. They’re lazy and laid-back, they don’t do plans - it’s a principle. They have other jobs. But they’re passionate about volleyball, and when the moment comes, they always give their best shot. Hinata wonders if this, what he feels towards them, is solely about volleyball and great teamwork. Wait a minute. Maybe Karasuno was also not only for volleyball?..

Anyway, the more he thinks about this team, the more attached he feels, and it is suffocating.

He has to be free, he cannot allow to be restricted, or he’ll be left behind and forgotten. He knows that. Everybody said that - “you’re only good because of Kageyama”, “if not for your jump, you would never even sniff the ball”.

He doesn’t have to read the language of Atsumu-san’s tosses: this one is fast and close to the net - “smash them!”, a high one, drawing a beautiful arc - “play as you want”, tentative, with the warmth of his fingertips still on the leather - “let’s take it slow, their blockers are good...”, and that laser accurate, flash-fast, faster then ever - “go wild!” Everybody on the team can understand it - their ability to unite and read each other’s mind is almost paranormal, or animalistic, like they’re a pack of wolves communicating through scents and touches and small noises and grunts, on and off the court. Hinata wants them to win together, then go home and watch an episode of the Office, or do yoga, or play twister, or maybe even yoga twister (Omi-senpai always wins), then tuck his head under Inunaki-san’s elbow and beg him to caress his hair, almost feeling a pair of tall jackal’s ears atop of his own head, quivering from pleasure and support and acknowledgement, expressed in their unique inner fashion.

However, if he stays with msby, he won’t move forward. He’ll be overpowered and defeated, he’ll lose recommendations and his chance to play as many matches as he wants. Just like Karasuno, msby is a step in his development. When there’s a chance, he must go further.

So Hinata sits in the hotel lobby and thinks his strange thoughts, and there’s a delivery guy with a huge green bag waiting for someone. He’s in his early twenties and is stupidly tall, and judging by the sounds coming from his little tablet, he is watching a volleyball match. Hinata peeks at the screen and freezes: it’s a close-up of Omi-senpai. It’s a game that he doesn’t remember; well, after signing a contract with Asas he didn’t watch many of the Jackals’ games, focused more on South American League.

“Musubi Black Jackals”, - the guy explains, Japanese syllables clumsy on his tongue, noticing his awkward and almost starved glances. - “Antes do covid.”

Apparently, it’s Jackals’ last match before the quarantine. Hinata sits and silently watches. He is amazed to the core and maybe scared of them.

It’s almost five in the morning when Meian crawls out of his hotel room. There’s Oliver sprawled on the floor, futon miserably stuffed under his left knee, like a cloud that fails to cover Telamon’s body. He probably likes futons way too much for someone who can’t ask in Japanese where is the closest toilet. Meian sneaks into the street and looks for a vending machine. He remembers seeing one in the evening.

There it is. There’s also a man crouching before it, taking out his purchase. Meian politely stops several feet away and waits for his turn. The man does not move away. He looks like he’s fishing for something inside the vending machine. He’s rather tall and has an awful hairstyle.

The man looks at him, visibly irritated, and moves his hand. That is when Meian realises.

- Yer stuck? - he asks, then remembers that he is in damned Brazil where folk speaks damned Portuguese. The guy gives him a deadpan look. Meian looks up - there’s a beautiful can of cucumber flavored soda staring right at him, and he isn’t a quitter. Maybe Hirugami could quit here, but he’s a captain of Jackals and he gets his soda when he wants it. Fifteen minutes later he’s sweating like after a good game, having been waiving his hands and giving directions like a pro adjuster at Shibuya Crossing. The guy is free now. He pulls out a can of guarana drink and even smirks at him in a gesture of prickly gratitude, though it cannot fully hide the humiliation of being caught with your hand stuck in a vendine machine at five in the morning. Meian throws in money, watches his cucumber soda gracefully plop down, stuffs his arm in the drawer and tries to pull out. He’s stuck. The guy watches him from the side, leaning on the wall with his left shoulder, and Meian tries to act like he knows what he’s doing. Why hasn’t this bonehead left anyway?

After another fifteen minutes they’re both tired and both free. Meian clenches the can in his fist, refusing to look at the guy, but they simultaneously nod in a sense of solidarity before parting ways.

Later this day he wonders what kind of wicked fortune is that, standing in the centre of Asas’ main court and looking straight in the bonehead’s eyes. He’s introduced as the Asas’ captain.

Inunaki suspiciously glances at him.

- Have you two met before? - He asks with a hint of politeness, but there’s that ‘lie to me now and I’ll tell your pups that you drink cucumber soda at five in the morning” subtext. Kotarou, Omi-chan and Shouyo stand right here, so the threat is very much real.

- No, - he lies anyway, and everybody on the court knows he’s lying, including Inunaki, Kotarou, Omi-chan and Shouyo, and maybe even the Asas’ captain with his stupid blondie hairstyle.

- He drank cucumber soda at five in the morning, - Thomas says. Omi-Chan and Shouyo both snort, but Kotarou, the marvelous oldest pup, launches at him and whines: “Where did you get one??”

Asas’ players watch them from the sidelines. They’re already amazed and irritated, and Meian can’t wait for it.

Of course it doesn’t work as a one-time thing. Of course Shouyo is accepted. One day Meian walks in on Inunaki, Thomas and the Asas’ middle blockers singing Funky Town in their hotel room (outsiders are not allowed in hotel rooms. How did two guys over 6’5” even get here unnoticed?). When it’s time to leave, Asas’ captain - his name is Paulo, talk about coincidences - insults him in Portuguese for five minutes straight and tells him to get lost already.

- Let go of my sleeve then, - Meian says. Sometimes he thinks they have the same telepathy that Shouyo and Omi-chan share, because after two weeks of hunting for crabs and practicing volleyball and playing on the beach he can tell if Paulo talks shit about him. Apparently, it goes both ways.

- Release my jacket first, - Paulo says (Meian supposes he says it - he’s still not good at Portuguese, except maybe for curses). - Cucumber soda tastes like shit, - Paulo adds in a very very bad Japanese. Meian is nearly flustered, because the bonehead must have asked Jackals how to say that and then has been practicing. He grabs him in a headlock.

- Listen here, - he makes a serious face, - if Shouyo gets as much as a scratch, or complains about ya being an asshole, I personally come here to kick yer in the head. Understood?

There’s no point in worrying about Shouyo, though. He’s already made friends with everybody in Asas, especially with that tall libero boy who works in delivery. He stands there in the airport lobby with his new teammates, visibly forcing the corners of his mouth upwards. He’s clinging to Omi-chan’s sleeve like his life depends on it. Atsumu looks anywhere but at him.

- Atsumu-san, - Shouyo suddenly says, - I’m watching you. I won’t skip a single match, I promise.

Atsumu flinches and freezes in place.

- O-okay, - he declares, frowning.

- Watch us, - Bokuto corrects him, hugging his number one disciple one last time before the airport stuff snaps and shouts all of their names through speakers. That’s a brilliant departure show.

When Jackals win the championship, no one is surprised. Paulo has the decency to make an “omg, really?” face only because Meian can’t hit him through videochat. Asas are also terrifically strong. It’s late spring, Brasil Superliga is not over yet, so they fly to Rio, occupying Asas’ gym and playing on the beach and going to watch games for free. (When coach Foster and coach Preto finally met, they knocked over a trolley with suitcases running to hug each other like a pair of middle schoolers.) (So did Shouyo and the msby.)

Apparently Shouyo feels better now; he’s almost run out of sunscreen and worked on whatever complicated issues he had, so he’s ready to come back. Atsumu looks like he’s already won Olympics. So do Bokuto and Sakusa and the others, and maybe they missed him a little, or maybe they missed him very very fucking much.

One day (it’s a good day, it’s sunny and hot and there’s a wonderful fat thundercloud crawling at Copacabana from the seaside) a group of tall Spanish tourists occupy the beach courts. They argue and bicker and throw sand at each other. One of them accidentally catches a ball to the head (what the heck was he doing on this court anyway? Bokkun and Atsumu were in the middle of the game against Heitor and Carlos). Now they’re all arguing. They have no idea what the Spanish guys are saying because they don’t know Spanish, and still they somehow agree on a match. Atsumu hits five service aces, which is very sexy of him, and it seems that the Spanish setter (who hits four service aces) is not immune to a good server’s charm. After the match (Bokuatsu get 21 against 13, the Spanish wing spiker moved like a fish in the sand) he approaches the net, adjusting his flashy sunglasses, and tries to introduce himself in not-very-fluent Portuguese. His name is Oikawa and he is from Japan. Where are you guys from? - he asks. - Are you professionals or something?

This is how the whole Argentinian team Club Atletico (2020/2021 Argentinian championship silver medal - the year before covid they got first place) ends up in the Asas’ gym. Coach Blanco and coach Preto are old rivals, and they challenge each other to an arm wrestling competition, but then somebody jokes about holding hands (it was coach Foster) and they suggest volleyball instead. They schedule a practice match. It’d be impolite to leave msby outside of the party, so there’ll be three practice matches between Black Jackals (with Shouyo this time. Finally), Asas São Paulo and Club Atletico. All of them are high-ranked teams. It’d be so cool if they could get involved with each other more often, - someone says (it’s coach Foster). Nobody seems opposed to the idea, especially Shouyo, Sakusa, Bokuto, Atsumu, Oikawa and Oliver Barnes, who are already playing air hockey in the Argentinians’ hotel. How did they even get there? Anyways, Oliver wins and gets a huge hazelnut ice cream for his cheat day. In the evening, after defeating Heitor and Carlos (again) and losing to Santos and Fernandez (again), they shower in the beach stalls. The stalls don’t really have anything resembling doors, so one has to hold a big towel or something, guarding the way, while the other gets to shower. Shouyo asks Inunaki-san to hold a towel for him. “Sure”, - Inunaki-san says, and then catches Atsumu: “Sugar, could you please hold this? I want to help Adriah and Paulo with dinner”. Atsumu does not refuse - he’s not that busy and he has no idea who is inside the stall. After Inunaki-san leaves, he takes a glance over the towel.

Ten minutes later Oikawa approaches him with a huge alien-themed towel in hands.

- Are you okay? - He asks with uncharacteristic concern, because Atsumu looks like he has been simmered on the surface of this ugly beach shower stall, and - are those tears? So Oikawa calls out to whoever is showering there, assuming that Atsumu is just tired and maybe has got sunburn all over his body.

#black jackals #haikyuu!! #hinata shouyou #miya atsumu #atsuhina #msby black jackal #msby black jackals #sakusa kiyoomi #haikyuu spoilers #haikyuu 402 #bokuto kotaro #meian shūgo #inunaki shion #thomas adriah #tomas adriah #oliver barnes #samson foster #oikawa tooru

[woolishlygrim]

Winter Weebwatch #12

Man, I got it entirely wrong which series were ending this week and which weren’t. Darwin’s Game and ID: Invaded both ended this week, while Pet and In/Spectre end this coming week, and it looks like Infinite Dendrogram ends either this coming week or the week after.

That’s going to make next week’s post really easy to write, since I’ll just be doing three shows. Anyway, let’s crack on.

Darwin’s Game.

★★★★☆ (FINISHED)

This episode ... actually had legs, if I’m being honest.

Reeling from the loss of a friend, Kaname decides to abandon his moral principle of no killing and violently take down Wang and the Eighth, leaving Wang to Shuka. In the aftermath, now having control of Shibuya, Kaname institutes a new rule: Anyone playing the D-Game within Shibuya will die.

So, I saw someone describe Darwin’s Game as a superhero show with death game genre trappings, and if that’s the case, this is the episode where it stops being about superheroes and starts being about supervillains. Which, and it pains me to admit this after ragging on the show for twelve weeks, is actually a fairly interesting idea. I can go for that, and if the show gets a second season, I probably will actually watch it to see what happens.

I did also like the touch of having Shuka (see, I’m learning more of the main cast’s names) take down Wang, who’s essentially been the big bad of this arc. It’s just nice that the show remembers that Shuka is meant to be the best fighter of the group, and the fight itself (which takes up the bulk of the episode) involves some interesting use of her powers.

All in all, pretty good.

FINAL VERDICT: ★★★☆☆

ID: Invaded.

★★★☆☆ (FINISHED)

Meanwhile, ID: Invaded’s final episode is basically fine. Good, fine, ticks off all the boxes, but not amazing.

There are some nice touches, though. The fact that Narihisago and Hondomachi trick Walker by luring him into the Perforator’s Well, where everything -- including the chair for entering the Well-within-a-Well -- is deconstructed, preventing Walker from recognising it until it’s too late, is actually a pretty fun and neat twist. Momoki’s refusal to kill Kiki is quite touching, and the tension of ‘the suit he’s wearing to stop Kiki’s powers from affecting him could kill him at any moment’ builds an appropriate amount of tension.

But at the same time, it means this series ends on an oddly happy note. John Walker is defeated, Kiki is back in the Mizuhanome with the promise that she’ll eventually be saved from it, and it all ends on a very cheery ‘and the adventures continue’ note that is very at odds with the show’s tone up to this point.

So it’s fine, but it’s not great, and that’s a shame coming out of my favourite show of the season.

FINAL VERDICT: ★★★★☆

Pet.

★★★★☆

In this week’s episode, Tsukasa and Satoru manage to capture Hiroki, but Tsukasa’s plan begins to collapse around his ears as Satoru receives a message from Hayashi, who alerts him to both the truth of the Babies’ creation and to the possibility that Tsukasa may be fully on the Company’s side (which he isn’t, but details). Hoping to convince Tsukasa to escape with him and Hiroki, Satoru approaches Tsukasa, only for Tsukasa to sell him out and shoot him.

I’m still honestly fascinated to know how this series is going to turn out, and at this point, I can only see it ending tragically somehow. As is often the case with tragedies, Tsukasa has been offered his chance to get out of this peacefully, his way to get a happy ending, but his fatal flaw has seen him reject it, leaving him in a situation where it honestly looks like nobody is going to get what they want.

The episode builds tension well, ties off several plot points, and sets us up nicely for the finale next week, and I really can’t even begin to predict where that finale is going to end up going.

In/Spectre.

★★★★☆

While there’s one more episode after this (I think), the show is basically over now, as this episode wraps up the battle of wits between Kotoko and Rikka, and the corresponding battle of steel-beams-to-the-face between Kuro and Steel Girder Nanase.

This episode sees Kotoko tie her theories all together, crafting one final one that takes elements from each of the previous four, and -- more importantly -- inspiring the readers of the Steel Girder Nanase wiki to start creating their own theories as to how she’s totally not a ghost. It’s a clever way to end this particular battle of wits, culminating in Kotoko challenging Rikka to prove she’s not Nanase, and Kuro defeating the weakened Nanase at last.

This was a lot of fun, actually. The show has been getting consistently better, and the entire string of theories has been really fun to watch. The last time I remember seeing something like this in an anime, it was Zetsuen no Tempest, with three characters effectively Phoenix Wright-ing out a problem in a heated debate. As in Zetsuen no Tempest, In/Spectre’s take on the idea of a back-and-forth debate was just really engaging to watch, to the point it’s drawing up alongside ID: Invaded as one of the best anime of the season.

But there’s still one more episode, and apart from a twenty minute epilogue (which would be boring), I don’t know if there’s really much more for the story to do. I mean, it can’t start a brand new arc, there’s only one episode left.

Infinite Dendrogram.

★★★☆☆

Infinite Dendrogram continues at an absolute breakneck pace, as Rook faces off against Hugo, and Ray faces off against Franklin and their RSK monster, now revealed to be a Ray Starling Killer.

This is actually a pretty good episode, despite its rather rapid pace. We get to see Rook’s deductive skills at work, and then his ability to con people at work, in a nice reference to how he’s seemingly the son of a master detective and a con artist. Similarly, we get to see Ray actually strategise in a fight instead of just winning by pulling out a new ability that happens to suit his situation, and Franklin’s plan -- creating a monster that grows another monster inside it, which attacks through holes in the exterior monster, so that Ray can’t use his Vengeance ability -- is actually genuinely kind of brilliant.

There’s two episodes left, though, and it occurs that there are still two Dryfe Superiors who we haven’t seen yet, so either Dryfe and Franklin are going to continue being problems, or we’re due two more battles.

It’s a bit of a shame that a Battle of the Siblings seems unlikely now, though.

[sailor-cresselia]

Zi-O 38: The sun is a powerful thing

Here we go! Time to watch a show~!

Last time: Timeline snarls, the bad sort of Meteor, and worms. So many worms.

This time: … Hell bro’s if I know.

Spoilers for Zi-O 38 and Kabuto below the cut. Rest in piece, horizontal line - sections are divided by tildes now. ~

~

When last we saw our hero, he was Rocket Drilling a meteor into non-existence. And then the bigger one showed up. On the plus side, at least Sougo knows that “OH GOD THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO HIT THE EARTH.”

Also, apparently the Faiz Phone X works in space! Good to know!

~

Junichiro. That. Is not how you make emergency ration onigiri. You. You don’t need to include all the extras with them. Also, evacuate to where, exactly? It’s A METEOR.

Kudos for taking Woz’s comment about Sougo being in space in stride, though. (How much do you know, old man?!)

…Wait a minute. Does Junichiro not know Woz’s name? He didn’t use it when asking when Sougo was coming back.

Uncle, ffs. You’ve lost your name privileges again.

~

In the recap vault… Woz has what are presumably replicas of the three remaining watches – Drive, Kabuto, and Den-O.

(Why is Drive the last arc? Wouldn’t. Wouldn’t Den-O be more appropriate for the last Legend Rider? I mean, we’ve already gotten Yu Inaba back for the Brain special, so they could have filmed his section then, if he’s the guest appearance. But Den-O would just. Make more sense for the final watch, wouldn’t it?)

(wouldn’t it?)

~

We’ve got the Kabuto OP reference again! I really wish they had started using old musical cues sooner, as opposed to not doing so until Agito, because that would have helped make the earlier Legend arcs just a little better.

~

WOZ DID YOU DRAW THIS PLAN UP? This doodle is CUTE.

“Okay, so, you have a rocket, so get me into position, and I’ll use my Super Mode to blow up the asteroid.”

Sougo just. Goes with it. Doesn’t even ask if Woz’ll be okay. Can’t tell if that’s because he’s being dumb, if it’s because he’s preoccupied, or if it’s because he trusts that it’ll work out.

(Also, Woz having clearly made and eaten the ramen that the Hell brothers left behind with their ransom note is all sorts of hilarious.)

Sougo: “Wait, where’s Kagami?”

Woz: (shrug) “He might’ve been captured. Also, here’s this note we got from the edgelords.”

Note: (is a ransom letter)

Kagami: (IS VERY MUCH CAPTURED)

~

Geiz, no samehatting with the murdermen. Yaguruma’s “If it comes to it, I’ll be the one to take him down” is very different from your “If it comes to it, I’ll be the one to take him down.”

Also, good use of archival footage there.

Hey, does anyone know what Geiz’s ringtone is? It’s familiar, and I feel like it’s one of the belt jingles, but I can’t place it.

But anyway, Geiz hears that Kageyama’s done… something, and Yaguruma takes this opportunity to knock him down and zoom the heck out of there.

~

Cut to… oh. That’s. Fine. Kageyama has Arata chained to a post, with some suspicious piles of rocks placed nearby.

(That feel when Toei doesn’t quite hide the mortars for the explosions)

So… you guys are really just going to toss your space powers to the Worm, huh? That’s what we’re doin-

AHAHA YES

IT’S THE SUIKA SPRITE! I love that little guy’s machine gun. And then using the Search Hawk to cut the chains around Arata!

I like seeing the older gadgets and tech used again.

Also, RiderTime has decided that the jingle they’re going with for the Search Hawk is “This hawk can gawk,” which… Well, they’re not wrong!

Arata is loose, and goes straight into the cast-off version fo Gatack. Looks like he was going to go grab the watches using Clock Up, but Another Kabuto has other ideas.

He does not fair well at all, and is very quickly knocked out of this transformation.

~

At 9-to-5, we’ve got an after-fight debrief and patch-up session. Arata blames himself for not being good enough to stop the edgelord murdermen, but nobody else holds him to that.

I agree with Geiz, what are the Time Jackers thinking in contracting with this guy? I mean, not that Heure and Hora are usually thinking that far ahead in their choices, but I’d expect this one to be Swartz –

OH RIGHT. I just remembered that theory Miyuko and I came up with last week that the meteor – which is very, very red – is why 2068 is so messed up in the Oma Timeline. And since Swartz pretty clearly intends for Sougo to become Oma Zi-O…

Oh, and there’s a mention of Arata’s timeline and ‘our’ timeline getting ‘mixed up’, with a flashback to Tsukasa mentioning time and space getting distorted.

Keep in mind, Arata remembers Shibuya not exactly existing anymore, but it’s very much intact right now.

…Onore Time Travel.

~

AND IT TURNS OUT THAT HEURE IS JUST AS DISPLEASED WITH THE WHOLE METEOR THING AS THE GOOD GUYS!

“Making Hell on Earth is one thing, but we need to actually have an Earth, dude.”

Also, I love this? Heure pausing time in the rain – with a nice matching umbrella, too – is a good callback to not just the fact that TIME FREEZING IS OP, but also to Kabuto, what with the disrupting the raindrops as he moves. Which – oh man, it’s really cool to see that!

~

Heure is pissed to have to give the Fourze and Ginga watches back, but. Y’know. He’d rather not die to a giant meteor.

The thing is.

I don’t think that’s where Swartz is going with them.

~

Over to 2058, with Tsukuyomi and Tsukasa! Hooray! Lore time!

The very red 2058.

Seriously, that ‘worm meteor is what hecked up the lighting’ idea is looking more and more likely.

Looks like Tsukasa landed them outside where Tsukuyomi might have grown up. Aaaand has been cast as the chef.  

Tsukasa: “Eh. I’ve had weirder. I should tell you about the time I wound up being a salaryman the time I went to the world my husband came from. That sure was a day. And there was that time I was a head chef for BOARD. And the time I was a lawyer. And – okay, look, I have seen and done some things, kiddo.”

(My Decade watch is going well! The Kabuto arc was! Absolutely devastating! And so was Daiki’s!)

((I wonder what the odds are of the Den-O watch being as useless as the Den-O cards?))

So, once they reach the second story – a small girl in white starts questioning them.

A small girl in white, who looks an awful lot like Tsukuyomi.  

And is calling them ‘interveners’. I kind of think ‘meddler’ might be a better term here, but. Idk. She can tell they’ve traveled through time. And has an incredibly powerful Time Stop ability.

And calls a teenager in a black outfit her brother.  

An outfit that looks awfully familiar. Almost as if we’ve seen it before, in, say, 2009?

When they leave, and incidentally resume time, guess who’s coming up the stairs? Nah, not gonna make you guess, it’s our current Swartz. This is fine.

NOPE NEVER MIND THIS IS NOT FINE IN THE SLIGHTEST.

Swartz knocks Tsukasa into the yard – and that looked painful, Decade’s a veteran rider and he didn’t take that hit well – and…

Swartz… tosses the two stolen watches to Tsukuyomi, saying that without her power, they can’t stop the meteorite.

And that when hers and the god of times powers resonate, ‘a new era will arise’.  

RiderTime, I’m pretty sure he was just saying ‘king of time’, not ‘god’. But still. NOT GREAT STUFF GOING ON HERE.

Swartz what are you planning?

…

Well, at least he does not, in fact, want the meteorite to hit. Taking the watches to Tsukuyomi, as opposed to the boys, makes sure that they won’t try stopping it without her.

~

Tsukasa warps the two of them back to 2019, and OH RIGHT. They left WELL before the HUGE meteorite showed it’s ‘face’.

RUN TSUKUYOMI, RUN!

…

And. Oh.

HUH.

Tsukasa think’s he’s got what’s going on with her.

And Swartz isn’t quite certain that she’s his little sister.

Implying that his little sister disappeared, and he only suspects that she’s Tsukuyomi.

oh no.

~

And here we have Arata getting incredibly down on himself, for not having been Kabuto, for having never beaten Souji. Sougo, sweet boy that he is, asks him to protect people for him when he becomes King.

Of course, the intent was to reassure Arata, but, well. Even Souji never went the ‘king’ route, so laughter is what ensues.

~

Now, to a random rooftop, where Geiz and Woz are fighting against Another Kabuto and Punchhopper. …in their base forms.

Come on, guys. Really?

Well, at least the matched attacks knocked everyone out of their transformations, not just the good guys.

And here, some more exposition from Worm!Kageyama. Because he is a Worm, don’t forget that – and there’s a whole bunch more of them on the meteorite.

The others show up with the watches, and Sougo asks Arata if he can entrust the fight on the ground to him.

Arata: “Of course! My king!”

LIKE HE LITERALLY SAYS “OU-SAMA.”

THIS IS WHERE DEALING WITH SOUJI TENDO GETS YOU.

HE’S FINE WITH GOING WITH SOUGO’S ECCENTRICITIES.

Arata, no…

gasp.

GROUP TRANSFORMATION IS A GO!

And it’s not just a team transformation! It’s everyone, circling around the 6 combatants.

A call of ‘Henshin’ as we cycle by each in turn…

Arata starting his transformation, starting the Gatack Zecter.

Yaguruma starting his transformation, starting the Kickhopper Zecter.

Kageyama with the Punchhopper one.

Geiz going into Revive Fury.

Woz going into Ginga Finaly.

Sougo going into Fourze.

Then it keeps circling…

The Gatack armor forming, then Kickhopper, then Punchhopper. Geiz’s mask ‘label’ attaching itself. Woz. Zi-O Fourze.

Cast Off.

~

UCHUU IKUUUUU!

Ahahaha, Woz got in on the second half of that, too! Nice.

So, they’re in space now, right? And they have to drill into the meteor to get Woz in there, so he can destroy it.

So Sougo goes into Build armor.

Now, you might be thinking, “Mr. Mouri, but now he’s not in a space armor! Rider or not, that shouldn’t work!”

Except you’d be forgetting something.

We saw that Build – proper Build – can be used in Space.

Remember, Evolt warped him to another planet one time, proceeded to ‘absorb’ said planet, and Sento was breathing just fine in his armor.

So we’re actually still keeping true to the abilities of the Legend Rider’s technology.

Besides, he needs a drill.

~

YO, INSIDE THE METEOR, IS THAT THE KABUTO OP? OR AN INSERT FROM KABUTO?

I MEAN, IT’S GOTTA BE FROM KABUTO, RIGHT?

~

Okay, Rider Wiki says that Geiz’s ringtone is the standby music for Geiz Revive, but doesn’t say what the song used when Woz is switching into Sun Form is. It’s definitely not Next Level, though … did Woz just get an insert theme? Because it does sound a little like Keisuke Watanbe, now that I think about it.

~

Alright, alright, back to the episode.

FFS WE GET IT, KAGEYAMA. YOU’RE EDGY AND HATE YOURSELF.

“This is all I am...” Calm your studded tits, my dude. You got Rider Kicked once. It didn’t even knock you out of your normal transformation, you went into Another Kabuto on your own.

Oh-hohohoho niiiiiice.

Souji called himself the ‘man who walked the path of heaven’, and often, the heavens are represented by the sun.

The meteor moves past the sun, letting its rays shine down, as Arata proclaims that he’ll still fight, even though he’s just been kncked out of his transformation, and the Gatack Zecter has flown off to  where ever it is they go when they’re not in use.

A buzzing can be heard coming from the sky.

A mechanical red beetle zooms down out of the sun, flying around Arata’s head before landing in his hand.

The Kabuto Zecter.

He’s not being transformation-blocked by Souji anymore.

~

Geiz is still calling Kageyama out on his unwillingness to take Yaguruma down. The guy says ‘we will wander this earth together’… so Geiz takes matters into his own hands, and knocks Punchhopper out of his armor himself.

It takes a single Rider Kick from Arata – now finally allowed to be Kabuto – and the Another Kabuto Watch is destroyed.

~

Woz still hasn’t been able to burn through the meteor. It’s just TOO BIG. And they’re out of time.

Except that Time isn’t exactly a one way street in this season.

Time can be meddled with.

It can be stopped.

And Tsukuyomi’s already been shown to be able to stop just one thing… be it an Another Rider… or, potentially, a meteor.

With a gorgeous shower of lights, that’s exactly what she does.

And with the combination of her powers and the power of Zi-O Trinity, the meteor is shattered.

~

Yaguruma’s a mess. ‘Kageyama’ was never Kageyama, despite everyone using his name, and everyone was well aware of it. He doesn’t give Yaguruma the closure he wants.

“Please… call me aniki one more time…”

“I’m not Kageyama. I’m not your brother.”

And he goes out in green flames – having turned back to his true appearance. Having reverted to being a Worm.

…He sounded a little sad about not being Kageyama, actually, not just about his fellow Worms having all died. He sounded… resigned, almost.

Yaguruma wants them to laugh at him, for being so foolish to cling to the imitation of a dead man.

Geiz just apologizes.

He knows what it’s like to lose people. He knows that he can’t fulfill his promise of ‘if it comes down to it’, either.

This is not a person you want to be relating to, but… well, Geiz can’t really help it right now.

The Kabuto Zecter transforms into the Kabuto Ridewatch.

~

The triumphant instrumental version of Toki no Ouja plays as Arata entrusts Sougo with the ridewatch…

And as Geiz asks what Tsukuyomi and Tsukasa found out.

She doesn’t answer – says that they didn’t find anything.

That’s fair.

Of course, the music cuts out as we find out that Uncle got a little carried away with his onigiri. To the point of making 16 each.

Sir. Sir, please.

A train whistle sounds.

Sougo recognizes it.

Sounds like HeiGen Forever’s canon, after all.

~

The preview… has arrived!

As has Momo!Geiz!

Man, Momotaros doesn’t even have to change anything about Geiz’s appearance other than the hair, does he?

RYUUTAROS GET OUT OF UNCLE. YOU ARE A CHILD. HE IS AN OLD MAN.

…The Another Den-O suit is back.

Which, well, it makes sense – we usually need to have the Another Rider present to make the ridewatch, and we already knew that different people can be turned into pre-existing Another Riders. (Thanks, Another Zi-O. Whatever happened to that watch that refused to break?) But it’s still unsettling.

We’ve got both the Core Four Imajin and the Yuuto and Deneb team!

Nice.

They’re here to stop the Worst Future.

Sougo’s not letting someone stop something.

AND GRAND IS THE MOST GAUDY FUCKING THING. THAT WATCH IS APPALLING.

~

GRAND IS A MESS. MAYBE I’LL LIKE IT BETTER IN MOTION. MAYBE I WON’T.

(I probably won’t.)

#kamen rider zi o #sailorcressy says

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 050: Hunting Down Villains

Previously on BnHA: Deku and Gran Torino had a fierce fucking fight, during which Deku successfully utilized One for All LIKE A MAN, bouncing all over the damn place and increasing his body’s strength and speed. It was very badass, and he even managed to graze Torino’s cheek, although he was tired out afterward. Over at the Villain Bar, Stain rassled with Tomura and lightly stabbed him a bit to test his mettle, and apparently he was impressed enough to hold off on killing him for now. Then he headed back to Hosu, presumably to fuck up Iida’s shit ffffff.

Today on BnHA: Deku and Gran Torino hop on a bullet train trip to do some training in the city. Iida’s field training mentor Manual warns him not to try anything stupid like hunting down the guy who maimed his brother. Stain and Tomura arrive in Hosu. Tomura is annoyed and craving some mayhem, so he goes and summons THREE FUCKING NOUMUS to go wreck some shit. Deku and Gran’s train is attacked by one and Gran flies off to fight it. Iida spots Stain about to kill a dude in an alley and ignores everything Manual said and goes to confront him, announcing that he’s the hero who’s come to take down Stain in his brother’s stead: Ingenium.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 123 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

apparently we’re already on day 3 of the internship! we’re also just about a quarter of the way through the whole series now which is also cool!

this chapter is titled “Kill ‘Em Dead” so. that promises to be fun

looks like Deku has gotten his ass kicked again. but he wants to keep going!

“time for phase two... the actual internship!” oh yeah, that. I was wondering if he was ever going to actually do something hero-related. he hasn’t gotten much in the way of practical day-to-day experience thus far

off they go to hunt down some villains

bad villains, really bad villains, talkative villains, mysterious villains, fabulous villains, lame villains, surprise villains, tragic villains... there are a lot

Deku doesn’t think his heart is ready for this. even though he already fought like three of the worst ones out there

even Gran points that out, and says this won’t even come close to how bad that was. well, good

(ETA: this just goes to show that YOU CAN’T SEE THE FUCKING FUTURE, GRAN TORINO)

apparently there isn’t enough crime in this quiet neighborhood, so they’re taking a taxi and then the bullet train

there’s a whole map explaining where they are in Japan, and I’m ashamed that I don’t know enough about the geography of Japan for it to mean much to me. I do know that Shibuya, where they’re headed, is basically the Times Square of Tokyo, though

apparently they’ll be passing through Hosu on their way, which gets Deku thinking about Iida again

he’s thinking to himself that maybe he’ll get in touch with him later, so clearly something terrible is about to happen

“meanwhile in Hosu City” oh lord. bracing myself

the guy Iida’s interning with is apologizing that things aren’t more exciting. but Iida says it’s better that way

because this guy was not, in fact, born yesterday, he finally asks Iida if he’s after the Hero Killer. since it’s pretty obvious that this kid, who recently tied for third place in the sports festival and is the younger brother of a bigshot like Ingenium, probably had a few more exciting prospects than his little agency

he’s telling Iida not to be motivated by personal grudges. I’m sure Iida will take all this to heart and drop the whole thing immediately

actually that’s interesting to hear that they don’t have authority to make arrests. basically they just capture the bad guys and then let the cops and the courts deal with it from there

(ETA: although the way this rule is applied at the end of this arc is frankly mind-boggling to me. it should have been “thank you, children, for apprehending this serial killer who’s been terrorizing the country, and for saving Apache Chief’s life. we’re incredibly grateful to you and so very sorry that we fucked up so badly our own selves so as to make your actions necessary to begin with.” but nooooo, they get chewed out for having the fucking gall to take action in a life or death situation. and they’re told their actions can’t ever be made public or else they’d have to be punished since they broke! the! rules!! oh gosh. really the cops just didn’t want to deal with this on top of everything else and this was the laziest way they could sweep it under the rug.

sorry for that impromptu rant lol.)

Iida says he appreciates the warning. like I said,this gives me a ton of confidence that he’ll just go ahead and let this go

he is staring off into the sunset and clenching his fist

this kid got bitten by the vengeance bug real bad

now we’re back on top of that water tower where Kurogiri first met up with Stain

for whatever reason, Tomura has decided to tag along

“sacrifices” oh lord

Stain says the title of “hero” should be reserved for only the truly great, and that too many of them are just in it for the money and are undeserving

(ETA: Stain’s Annoying Rant Counter: 4)

now he’s jumping off, presumably to go kill some more of those money-grubbing heroes

as soon as he’s out of earshot Tomura immediately starts dissing him

(ETA: it’s amazing how much I sympathize with Tomura in this arc)

but Kuro says the other cities Stain has appeared in have actually seen drops in their crime rate, and that it seems to tie in with “an increase in hero awareness”

Tomura’s like, great, isn’t that the exact opposite of what we, the evil villains, are shooting for

and he wants Kuro to bring out Noumu so they can go on their own rampage

wtf. Noumu who’s supposed to be in police custody right now?

yeep

oh my god, fuck you and your s-less plurals you stupid misleading sneaky Japanese language

so these guys just have Noumus by the barrel, just lying in wait ready to be used at a moment’s notice, then??

THREE FUCKING NOUMUS

one of the Noumus has FOUR FUCKING EYES because WHY NOT

so basically these guys are their fucking Sentinels

back to Deku and Gran on the train!

it’s going to be nighttime by the time they make it to Shibuya. awesome. Gran is happy because there should be more crime to put a stop to now

oh my god Deku is waiting for Iida to reply to his text. omg. I’m having a “millennial reads a gen z manga for the first time” moment once again

FIRST OF ALL, I didn’t post the panel right before this, but basically Gran is like, “ON YOUR PHONE AGAIN?! KIDS THESE DAYS,” and OH MY GOD. GRAN IS LITERALLY NINETY PERCENT OF ALL BABY BOOMERS I’VE EVER MET

SECOND, DEKU HAS HIS READ RECEIPTS ON BECAUSE HE DOESN’T TRUST HIS FLAKY CELLULAR NETWORK

THIRD, HE HAS A PICTURE OF ALL MIGHT AS HIS OWN TEXT AVATAR, I AM FUCKING DONE. FOREVER!!

also, Iida read that shit and didn’t say a damn thing. that’s some shady fucking shit, Iida. up to no good

(ETA: I would also like to take this opportunity to complain about this translation, because in this version Deku has abbreviated the word “you” as “u” and ARE YOU KIDDING ME Deku would never)

oh shit they’re making an emergency stop

IS IT VILLAINS, IS THE TRAIN BEING ATTACKED

...okay yeah, I would say that is a yes.

yep. same

oh SHIT, it’s the Noumus. of fucking course they got those guys rather than Stain

so Deku immediately recognizes the familiar exposed-brains-and-vacant-expressions aesthetic, but before he can do anything, Gran shouts at him to stay put. and now he’s springing off into action

fucking shit. even All Might was only just barely able to beat the last Noumu, and that was with him using his full power and then some

oh shit the train hasn’t stopped yet!

shiiiiit

DAMMIT GRAN YOU SAID THIS WOULDN’T BE AS BAD AS LAST TIME

so now Deku, looking out at the city which is aflame, realizes that they’re still in Hosu, and...

and now we’re cutting back to Iida and his pal. and his pal is telling him to get a move on and that they need to head toward the scene, but all of Iida’s attention seems to have become focused on this random dark alley nearby, and now he’s taking off in that direction

(ETA: what a fucking coincidence though that Stain just happens to be in the alley right next to them though. like, come on)

and it’s Stain... he’s looking towards the explosions? presumably? and complaining to himself that “that idiot” is being too flashy

so the explosions were what was drawing the attention of Iida’s hero pal, but Iida himself probably saw this guy. and just ran over without thinking

I mean, Stain’s clearly about to end this guy though

the poor hero dude apparently can’t move. just like Kurogiri in the last chapter

and Iida’s appearing in the frame behind Stain now

oh godddd

!!

GHKHHKHFKH

LOOK AT THAT. GLASSES CAME FLYING RIGHT OFF. WHAT DID I FUCKING SAY EARLIER

now Stain is asking Iida who he is. does Stain not watch the U.A. Sports Festival broadcast along with the rest of the country

wow he’s telling Iida to leave

I left out “honorable villain” from my previous list of villain types, but this guy increasingly seems to fall under that category

(ETA: nope, already had him covered under “talkative villain”)

hoh boy Iida has his rage face on

but while he’s busy being dramatic, Stain cuts him off and points his katana right in his fucking face omg

he says he can tell from his eyes that he’s out for revenge. OH CAN YOU. YOU DON’T SAY. THOSE EYES, REALLY? THEY’RE SO FRIENDLY THOUGH

“watch your mouth or your age won’t be enough to save you”

I didn’t mention this before because I was too caught up in everything, but Stain must be the first ever person in history to look at Iida fucking Tenya and immediately think, “child”

maybe it’s the lack of glasses. if Iida still had his glasses on he’d have immediately been pegged as forty and would now be fucking dead

now Iida’s pissed off all over again because Stain doesn’t consider him a threat

look at this fucking monologue

IS HE GONNA TAKE HIS BRO’S NAME AFTER ALL OMG

HE TOOK HIS BRO’S NAME

and Stain is all “oh really? time to die then”

and the chapter ends

why are heroes so brave and stupid

BONUS:

oh cool, I think this is Iida’s hero pal and I was wondering what his name was

“Manual” omg. like manual as in training manual? instruction manual?

“favorite things: equilibrium.” favorite color: beige. favorite food: oatmeal. favorite musician: phil collins

I actually love him now and I hope we get to see him more and that he somehow manages not to become collateral damage during this arc

#bnha #boku no hero academia #makeste reads bnha #gran torino #midoriya izuku #stain (bnha) #shigaraki tomura #iida tenya #manual is the fucking best though #no pretensions to him whatsoever #just a simple guy living a simple hero life #favorite sport: golf #favorite word: the #favorite appliance: dishwasher

[it-will-not-last-the-night]

Fracture-Chapter 1 (Rough)

Fracture:

Of course a fracture and a break were essentially identical, they refered to the same thing, fracture was merely the more precise, and wider, term. Fractures could be simply hairline or severly compound, but either way they mended with time. Of course, that didn’t mean they were ever completely restored. 

Hairline Fracture: The evening of the 12th of December.

Ann let out the deepest, most contented, sigh of her young life, a noise pulled straight out of her depths and ushered into the artificial light of the Shibuya Diner she was in, as she eased herself against the leather exterior of the Diner’s seating, sliding down somewhat, stretching her arms out wide on either side as she tipped her head up to gaze at the ceiling above.

They had done it, they had well and truly done it, and Ann’s sigh communicated that sheer sense of relief in ways words might struggle to. It was the sort of expression that would be difficult for anyone to understand, anyone who had not travelled into the mind of a would-be Prime Minister of Japan to foil his nefarious schemes for political domination, that is. For, unbeknownst to it, the small Diner in Shibuya was playing host to a victory party, of sorts, the two boys, four girls and one cat (who would strenuously object to being called such a thing) celebrating their triumph.

“Feeling tired? It is getting a bit late,” Ann lazily rolled her head to her right, where Makoto sat with a soft smile, not minding Ann’s arm basically wrapped about her shoulders, as on the other side the blonde was vaguely aware of Futaba ordering yet another round of drinks for the table. In truth she felt exhausted, they all did, the combined fatigue of stress and their close call with death in the Cognitive World, when Shido’s Palace had almost collapsed on top of them, had left all of them more drained then they seemed, particularly now that the high of escaping the Palace alive had begun to ebb away. Still, though she was aware that she felt ‘tired’ she also still felt that same frenetic energy fuelling her, maybe leftover adrenaline still pumping through her body? The important part was that she still had enough in her to give Makoto a wan smile as she answered;

“Tired? After these two weeks I think I sort of forgot what tired even means, I’ll need to get a whole new definition for it, something even worse then ‘I spent two nights not sleeping cause I had to cram for the exams’ ya know?” Ann said, with a languid shrug of her shoulders, enjoying the sensation of knots unwinding in them. Makoto, in all honesty, didn’t really know, but gave a small nod, understanding where her friend was coming from at the least, as she added onto Ann’s statement; “I’m guessing you weren’t sleeping very well either then?”

“I don’t think any of us were getting as much rest as we needed, honestly,” Haru’s voice, sugary sweet as always, joined in from across the table, the brunette clearly looking for conversation from the other side of the table, as Yusuke and Futaba beside her bickered about something. It was all Makoto and Ann could manage not to chuckle at the rather comically contrasting pair; Futaba short and squatting on the seats of the Diner, Yusuke tall and elongated, folded like some elegant Praying Mantis along side her.  

“Well…we’ll have time now, after all we’re in the waiting period again,” Ann turned to her other side, to give Ren a smile, drawing her arms away from Makoto and Ren’s shoulders to instead stretch them above her head, waiting for that satisfying ‘crack’ noise to come; “You hear Joker guys! New orders are to sleep in and sleep long, so I think we should all take a leaf out of Futaba’s book and fall into one of those mini-hibernations,” Ann leaned forward, onto the table, resting her head on her arms and giving Futaba a cheeky grin, the bespectacled girl haughtily crossing her arms as she spoke;

“Sleep? Nah, I got way to much energy to do that now, ‘sides, I’ll be up all night refreshing the news sites, wanna make sure I catch it the moment they report on that asshole’s confession,” the look on Futaba’s face instantly reminded Ann that, however committed she’d been, this had still meant more to Futaba than it had to her, and the blonde straightened herself out again, even though there was really no need to.

For a moment a silence hung over the table, not out of awkwardness or anxiety, but a genuine silence of fatigue, the sound of Yusuke munching on something small and flavourless, and of Ren’s fingers doing something on his phone, the only noise in the brief vacuum.

“Well...it probably won’t happen tonight Futaba, remember there is normally quite a wait before the Change of Heart really sets in,” Makoto said, one hand rubbing at the back of her neck, trying to work the stiffness out of it.

“Indeed, in all the prior cases there has always been a d- “Yusuke tried to begin, before Futaba simply spoke over him;

“I know, but its an imprecise art, isn’t it? You can’t say for sure something won’t happen tonight, now can you? Right Morgana?” Futaba ignored the irate glare Yusuke shot her, as the scratching sound of Morgana’s head poking out was followed by his answer, bright blue eyes watching them all carefully; “Its true we can’t say for sure it can’t happen in a night but…considering its never been like that, I think we shouldn’t count on it or anything, besides, staying up all night isn’t healthy for a growing girl! Why, do you think Lady Ann achieved such beauty by not getting enough sleep? They call it beauty sleep for a rea- mppphhhffff! “

“Whatever else Morgana had intended to say was lost as Futaba quickly, and rather roughly, pushed him back down into the bag, hiding him from the waitress approaching with a platter for the table, much to the most diminutive of the Phantom Thieves’ displeasure. Once she was gone his sullen head stuck out, giving a half-hearted glare at Futaba; “You could have just warned me,” he grumbled, whilst Futaba, for her part, gave a nonchalant shrug; “Had to make a split-second decision, we aren’t exactly meant to have cats in here, remember?”

Makoto didn’t need to pay attention to know what happened next, and she turned her head away from the overdone business of Morgana protesting he was not a cat, as Futaba snickered, the strategist of the Phantom Thieves instead returning her attention back to her blonde friend, noticing Ann was looking rather distractedly at her phone;

“What’s the matter? Did you get a message from someone?” 

“No, no, I just…” Ann pocketed it, waving the question away with her hand, “…was checking something, nothing major though, don’t worry about it,” Ann certainly sounded convincing enough, and the grin she put back on her face appeared genuine to Makoto. Before she could ask anything else from her, Ann had already joined in on Futaba’s teasing, leaning over the table to waggle a finger at Morgana. It was all so familiar that Makoto would have no reason to concern herself…except for the way she now noticed Ren staring at his phone, in a different, but no less intense, manner than Ann had.

Nothing should be able to ruin tonight…so why did both Ann and Ren seem bothered?

There wasn’t really a single, firm, point he could pin down as the point at which he woke. The boundary between full consciousness, and only being half-so, was nebulous, a liminal thing, and by the time he realized it was his eyes staring out at night shrouded city, he’d already been staring for some time. 

One blink, two, and slowly thoughts reorganized themselves from simply accepting stimuli to actually formulating coherently inside his mind, bringing with them the sudden awareness that he was awake, lying against a lamppost, head propped up against it and-

*Bzzzt* a buzzing from his pocket, his phone, interrupted his thoughts, he felt it vibrating in his pocket, and instantly reached a hand for it, trying to shift up as he did so, to get up off the ground, but before he could manage anything like that…

Pain, fresh, shot through him, his leg the origin point for an arcing bolt of it, traveling through nerves and synapses, using them like a ladder, all the way up to his brain, where they delivered their white hot package. He grunted, a grimace straining his face as, instinctively, both hands shot out and gripped around the meat of his leg, the phantom spot that had once been fractured, his phone forgotten for now.

“Fuck,” Ryuji cursed, rubbing his fingers against the leg of his pants, as if he could knead the pain out of it somehow, as he slumped back again, deciding to give the pain a few seconds to work itself out.  He was, of course, far from unfamiliar to pain, particularly of this variety, but being familiar with it didn’t mean he was immune to it, and the throbbing currently taking up residence was stronger than normal. He presumed it was because of his hasty effort to get up, he’d tried to push down with just the injured leg, put all the weight on it for a moment, and then experienced the consequences of his rush.

Getting beat up certainly didn’t help, dripped bitterly in his mind, accompanied by an ugly, messy, flash of something in him, a brief feeling which made his stomach knot…

But it left as soon as it had come, leaving his brow furrowed and knuckles clenched, somewhat confused where such a vehement thought had come from. It took a few seconds of the quiet night’s near lack of sound, before he remembered what had made him stir in the first place, the blonde boy’s hand fishing out his rather outdated phone, to see who, or what, had left him a message. He clicked, the screen lighting up, there to display;

Ann: Hey? You okay? We’re at the Diner, we’ll still be here a while…

…

…

…

Relief? Well, there was definitely a sort of excitement, or, perhaps, something more like smugness? Ann being the first to contact him seemed about right, after all she’d instigated the reason he was still stuck here too, so maybe this was her way of giving an apology?

She still sucks at those then, is it really okay for her to just get away with this? He sat for a moment, staring at the message. Reasonably speaking he should have responded by now, it was the polite thing to do, after all, she was inquiring if he was alright;

If she actually cared about that would she have left me here to begin with? His finger hovered over the button, a click to get into his phone, a password away from sending a response, from letting her know he was alright, or anything else that might be in his mind and, oh, how his mind was churning right now, a frenzy of thoughts and feelings fighting for dominance. But, he knew, he should respond, he should, even if he felt angry, he should respond.

He should.

He should.

Just send a message. Just one word if he wanted. Just a Yeah. Just something. He should.

Shouldn’t he?

Ryuji wasn’t the sort of person to contemplate the meaning of words, their origins, or the difficulties their conceptual frameworks might pose but, here, now, it did occur to him that the word ‘should’ was applied a lot more liberally than it probably ought to be. How many times in his life did he do things because he felt he ‘should’, even when he, if he actually thought about it, didn’t really have to. 

But no. Ann was a friend, it was late, she was worried, he had to let her know, he should do so, it was just decent. His finger hovered over the phone;

And somewhere there was the sounds of chains rattling. 

Ann stared at it, which, in this case, was referring to the noted absence of any text message, call or audio message by Ryuji. 

What’s he doing? By the two ticks next to her message, greyed out as they were, she could tell he’d seen it, but he’d sent no message of his own, no attempt at communication. Even as she sat on the train, hunched over like so many other youth, the little image in the corner, next to his name, seemed rather out of place right now, a photo of the blonde smiling broadly, a group shot of himself with the others…

She looked up just long enough to confirm her location, she’d have to get off soon, and for some reason that idea disquieted her tonight. Ann couldn’t be sure, but she put it down to the fact that she was making the trip alone, something she used to be accustomed to but, for most of the last year, she’d almost always made this trip with someone else; Ren, Makoto, Ryuji, Yusuke or all of them even, the point was that she had grown used to having company. Already she missed the Diner and the lively conversation there, but they’d had to call it a night, make the last trains, and Sojiro would worry if Futaba was out to late-

Ren: Anything yet? 

She glanced at the message for a bit, as if waiting for Ryuji to somehow butt in just as he answered, to undermine her, but it was a silly impulse and she ignored it;

Ann: Nothing yet…he hasn’t contacted you has he?

It wasn’t exactly a dumb question, personally Ann assumed that, if Ryuji was going to contact anyone of his own volition, it’d be their fearless leader and his best friend. Of course, tonight was a bit different, Ren had…left with them.

Ren: No…

Ren: I’d tell you as soon as he did, if he did. Hmm. 

Ren and Yusuke were the only people she knew who’d actually type out ‘Hmm’. Normally she might have had a go at him over it but tonight wasn’t normal.

Ann: Can you try sending him a message, please?

Ann: I think he’ll respond to you. 

I hope he’ll respond to you…

Ren: Of course, I actually just did send one already

Ann: Do you think he’s okay?

It was a lot more frank than she’d been intending her question to sound but, in her defence, she was pretty exhausted. 

Ren: He’ll be okay Ann, he’s probably just pissed off…

Ann: Yeah

“Understandably” went unsaid between the two.

Ren: Anyway, I’ll let you know if he contacts me, but I’m sure we’ll get an earful tomorrow, so try not to worry too much, okay?

Ann: Worried? I’m not worried, just wanna make sure the idiot doesn’t get himself in trouble with his mom, if he’s out by the time she comes back, trust me, she’ll panic. 

Ren: Right, noted, let me know if his mom contacts you then as well, okay?

The stop was approaching and Ann got up, fingers typing away;

Ann: Will do, good night

Ann: Oh, and tell Morgana and Futaba I said goodnight too!

Ren: I will, if Futaba ever actually goes to sleep…

Ren: Anyway, night!

Offline, his image read, and she looked back at Ryuji, their chat log, just one last check to see if he’d responded yet.

He hadn’t.

Nothing was supposed to be able to bring them down today, they’d defeated their own arch enemy. So why was this happening?

He beat his mom home, luckily, one of the few times in his entire life he could say, with all honesty, he was glad she had to work so late. 

Shoes were kicked off unceremoniously into a pile beneath a shelf of irrelevant trophies, jacket was shrugged unto the back of a chair, and his face was buried in a pillow in a matter of moments, his phone still gripped in one hand.

He didn’t understand why he hadn’t responded, he knew he ought to of. Even when Ren had contacted he’d still just…just not done it. He’d thought to, intended to, but…but…

He sighed, giving up on yet another attempt at understanding, turning over onto his back, bringing the phone before him, its blue light sharp in the darkness of his room, hoping, somehow, swapping positions on the bed physically would change his thoughts.

It didn’t work.

His eyes blinked in the darkness, the sharp light from his phone, two notifications glaring at him from it, keeping the rest of the room from being recognizable as anything more than a series of dark blobs. He breathed in, mouth open, feeling the air rushing in…and then rushing out again as he exhaled open mouth. The tightness in his chest receded somewhat, although that just brought up the question of why his chest was tight to begin with.

One last time tonight he brought his finger up, intending to respond, it was better not to let a wound fester, better to confront it soon, better not to make one’s friends worry.

But are they your friends?

He let his arm grow slack and the phone fell to the floor beside his bed, softly, as one arm rested over his face, as if to stop his eyes looking up and he tried to let sleep take him.

That was when the real nightmare began. 

#persona 5 #p5 #phantom thieves of heart #fanfiction #rough

[mrskurono]

a/n: the second chapter! This was going to be longer but I decided to divide it up into two for ease of reading. Gege gives us no canon idea yet so who knows if any of this is right word count: 2k tags: post!Shibuya arc, takes place during this current arc in the manga, I can’t say manga spoilers bc we don’t know what’s going on, Culling Game content character(s): Noritoshi Kamo, fem!sorcerer reader pt l

No lie when you descended the mountain side from the empty temple. 

In fact you had never seen so many cots and sleeping arrangements in one place. Every piece of floor under Kamo name seemed to have a pair of feet on it. Most of them not even familiar with the grounds. Many of them found outside in this mess just like you had been. All of them proclaiming thanks to the young heir who'd shepherded them to this safe haven at least.

Displaced. And taken in without question. Noritoshi truthfully wasn't lying. At least about this.

Among those rescued were bunches of children. Someone knowing where their parents were. And some less fortunate. When a group of them who'd been seen without a parent or guardian since you came, were circled around a little girl who'd tripped. You found a moment of purpose to help when everything else was in disarray. 

Wiping clean your hands on the backs of your pants after helping get the smudge of dirt off the little girls knees. And assure the rest of the kids that there was no blood and no one was going to get them. They were put at ease and acting more like rowdy kids as they began to go their own way once again. You don't quite hear what the cluster of kids said when they run off in the opposite direction. Unaware of most things but what was right in front of them after you consoled them. 

Instead of what was right in front of you, your eyes drift up towards the same thing you had been staring at every day since descending down the hill.

"It got bigger."

More than just caught off guard. You whip around to the semi familiar voice behind you. Noritoshi, with his arms crossed under the sleeves of his robes as he leans into the side of the doorway the kids originally tripped through. He was looking exactly at what you were as well. Looming over most of the city and Kyoto countryside was an eye sore more than just a new building. 

A blotch along the skyline. 

Devoid of light and overshadowing everything else. Even at high noon it felt like days had become dimmer since that thing blossomed into existence. Just like the rank stench of a curse. Whatever that thing was left your nostrils burning and skin crawling.

Noritoshi pushed off the door frame and straightened back up, "Do you have a moment?"

"Seems that's all I have these last few days." You retort to your host. Gracious as he was. The past two days felt nothing short of cabin fever from feeling so useless amongst the uncertainty. Not as humorous about it as you seemed to be. You redact your comment and answer him, "Yeah what?"

Still facing up towards the nameless bubble that overtook much of Kyoto, Noritoshi came beside you to clear his throat and lower his voice, "I was wondering if you gave anymore thought to what I told you."

Your eyebrow arched up, "That I can kill you if you lied to me?" The Kamo family head was not amused again so you folded your arms and stiffened up a little, "That sounded like gibberish. How am I suppose to believe anything you said when communications are basically down."

"The heads of the family have always been in contact," Noritoshi drew his attention away from the looming threat and back onto you, "The clans existed before the elders even. Besides, we were allotted more direct information today."

"Ok?" 

"I'd like to that to show you."

This sounded like a favor being disguised as something else. You hold onto your breath unsure what was in the best interest of you or anyone at this point. All you really knew was everything stunk like a persistent curse and you wanted it to end.

"Why aren't the clans working together then?" You poise a real question any sane thinking human would come up with. While equipped to deal with curses you did not feel equipped to deal with the politics of it all. 

A grimace on his face unlike the one the day before, "Things are....less than ideal."

"Really?"

Noritoshi wasn't delighted with your tone.

You sigh and decide against anything to self serving at his expense, "Fine. If it means possibly keeping everyone safe then what is it?"

That caught him slightly off guard, "What about yourself?" Noritoshi asked frankly.

Of course you scowl that someone from one of the clans would ask that, "I didn't become a Jujutsu Sorcerer to keep myself safe."

Admirable. He had to nod to that. Turning away quickly when he beckoned you to follow him back towards the innards of the Kamo estate.

Unlike the last time you were invited into what could only be described as a mock situations room. That had been involving dirty stares from a handful of men you didn't know or even heard of. And your credentials as a sorcerer scrutinized even in a time of panic when you thought help would be welcomed with open arms. Apparently the clans firmly held onto the idea that those serving themselves was severing everyone around them. You objectiably had different ideas about sorcery. 

Thankfully unlike last time when you had to deal with a room full of stuffy mindsets. You were surprised but worried to find no one awaiting to tell you that you couldn't be in there. 

What was there happened to be a jumble of papers, or what could constitute as a jumble, and two chairs pulled away from the table. Something about the urgency of such a small meeting left your skin crawling seeing the mess. Unease not worn often on your exterior. You looked around at the papers on the table and no one going over them.

"What is this?" You pick up the first few on the top with what appeared to be Noritoshi's hand writing all over them. Most of it seemed like chicken scratch saved for one word you picked out of the bunch, "Culling? What? What is this?"

Somber look on his pale features left Noritoshi gathering his thoughts like he was doing to the papers strewn out, "The heads of the family received more information on what those things seem to be connected to."

"Why aren't you discussing this with your clan then?" 

A pause from the man next to you, "...it seems alliances are already being formed."

Your brows pinch together leaving you to search for more of the papers on the table for an explanation, "Alliances? Alliances of what? What does this have to do with the giant stink ball in Kyoto? Or the curses? What does this have to do with what you told me yesterday about the Shibuya incident report?"

Something unfamiliar on the Sorcerer's face. You hadn't seen it yet. Something accustomed to worry crept onto Noritoshi and he handed you one piece of paper yet to make it into your grasp, "You couldn't have any idea working independently. That's why I asked you to come look these over. I just...I need someone to tell me they're reading this like I am."

Swelling your chest with a deep breath. You snatch the paper from him with a skeptical look once over. Whatever could be conjured up to add worse news to the unleashed curses rampaging across Japan. You held your breath with your eyes scanning it over. Feeling the air in you slowly draw out. Just as you finished the last few sentences. Suddenly you understood what could have made this worse.

"...it wants us to die..." Hands clammy and grasping for another deep breath, you read over the part again about the nineteen day warning. 

No, it wasn't a warning. This was an outright threat.

You shake your head trying to count the days that had melded together in your mind since everything went haywire, "That means...well, one...two...four-"

"Every Jujutsu Sorcerer has two weeks," Noritoshi having already done the math tipped his head down to scan the table for something. He took the deep breath you just couldn't seem to get a hold of. He grabbed for a paper tucked under pens and you watch them roll and scatter away from him, "...As of yesterday I may have sent a small handful of Kamo members to check the site out."

"Before you go this information?"

Noritoshi nodded, "I got this only an hour ago." He focused on the paper in front of him, "There were five sorcerers sent....and none of them have contacted me since they left."

Rightfully so you didn't like where this was going.

"I need to go look for them...I can't leave people to die like this." Noritoshi, though most the time calm and without a crack to his facade, faced you with both his eyes open and a waiver to his tone, "Will you come with me? Please, if something is going to happen to other sorcerers I can't let them be a victim of my own faults."

Much like the confrontation when you both ran into each other in the abandoned temple. This request left you at odds with your choices. Like coming with him or staying up at the temple alone. You could go with him. Or you could tell him no.

No meant possibly saving your own hide. But thinking about what those papers said, well, saving yourself seemed to mean nothing with a countdown. Only slight extension of the inevitable.

"Who will stay here to watch the civilians then?" A real concern you saw with non sorcerers piled into one place. The buffet for a curse or two that might catch a whiff of the displaced humans.

"I have sorcerers stationed here. With a single grade two member and a handful of semi-grade two sorcerers." Noritoshi had planned straticigally even before knowing everything that came into light, "You're at least a semi-grade one I take it."

The assumption irked you as you hadn't divulged anything yet to him for the sake of keeping as many tokens stacked in your favor, "....something like that, I suppose."

"Then we should be ok for any curses if we're careful."

"And why ask me instead of one of your own?"

"Because...." Noritoshi dropped his gaze down to the mess in front of him, "...I can trust someone who has no ties to the clans." He stopped and looked at you, "You'll kill me if I'm lying, which means more people will be safe if in fact sorcerers are turning on people."

He was right. About killing him. Not once had the thought left since being on high alert during all of this. If everything you read on those notes were right then going alone was suicide. For either of you.

"...One promise," You firmly demand. Noritoshi remains silent but nods. Finally with a deep breath you find your calm, "...neither of us go in that thing until the eighteenth day. Even if your members already went into it."

He held out on your words for a moment. Either mulling them over or finding something to make you promise. Finally Noritoshi spoke up, "...what happens on the eighteenth day then?"

What would happen? You could see if this set of rules was a bluff or you could comply. Either outcome seemed grim with little control for anyone at all. Faux hope with what you said next.

"On the eighteenth day we both go in." You said somberly, "I'll go in with you and anyone else you deem trustworthy enough." 

For a second it looked like he was going to carry on about something. But there was one thing you had to remind him to see crystal clear about all this.

Stepping close to the sorcerer your voice lowers and you make him look at you, "...I will kill you if you're lying. That promise still stands. Either you're on my side or your not....culling game or not, I won't let someone rule over me. Got it?"

Maybe he was getting use to it. Or perhaps Noritoshi believed you both to be truthfully on the same side now. He gave a nod and didn't falter, "I expect nothing else from the angel of death I met on the mountain side."

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