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shihalyfie · 3 years

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A meta on Mimi and her character

Today’s spotlight character is Mimi! While the Adventure characters are all written to subvert character stereotypes (no, really), I feel this is particularly enhanced for Mimi, whose surface demeanor and the first impression you get from her suggest an almost opposite character to whom she actually is.

Disclaimer before we continue: While not to the same extent as Daisuke, Mimi’s disposition and personality have some significant differences in the American English dub compared to the original Japanese. As usual, this is not meant to be any particular comment about the dub’s changes, but simply that if you’ve only seen that dub, are reading this post, and are thinking “that doesn’t seem right?” that would probably be why.

Mimi’s family background and attitude prior to Adventure

Like with any of the other Adventure characters, understanding Mimi’s personality and why she acts the way she does is most easily done by starting with her family background.

We first meet Mimi’s family in Adventure episode 35.

There is a lot to unpack with only this scene alone, so let’s get started!

Mimi’s family is quite well-to-do. They’re not filthy rich or anything, but they’re well-to-do enough for Mimi’s father to work freelancer (he works in music). This means that Mimi grew up with a fairly “comfortable” life, probably getting pretty much anything she asked for -- in other words, she’s spoiled. It also explains why she’s actually pretty impeccably polite to everyone -- she adheres very firmly to honorifics when speaking to both elders and younger people, and never, ever speaks roughly or aggressively, because her parents have basically been raising her like a “lady of the house” (ojousama) or princess. (She does use casual-form Japanese, but she never lets up on the honorifics.)

They’re very open-minded. We learn in this episode that Mimi’s bizarre food tastes in liking natto on her eggs with sugar (from Adventure episode 6) most likely come from her mother, Satoe, cooking things like kimchi fried rice with whipped cream and strawberries. In other words, the family is very into the idea of “unconventional and strange” and has no qualms about it.

While Mimi in 02 is portrayed as liking practically any kind of fashion aesthetic imaginable, both her room and the overall decor of the apartment suggest that “in-your-face cute” is the generally favored one.

Mimi’s family is also extremely affectionate. They smother each other in lovey-dovey words, her father actively likes Satoe’s weird cooking ideas, and it’s a household where everyone seems to dote on and mutually love and support each other (Mimi’s parents are almost embarrassingly lovey-dovey) without restraint.

The result is that Mimi ends up “spoiled sweet” -- she’s pampered and used to a comfortable life where everyone dotes on her, but because of the family dynamic being so built on “affection” and “open-mindedness”, she also never develops a streak towards condescension or malice.

What does that mean, you might ask?

Mimi in Adventure

A lot of people remember Mimi by the fact that she was “whining a lot” in the early stages of Adventure, and the fact that she’s a “girly-girl” with some of the associated stereotypes. As a result, one may be surprised to hear that her behavior is actually supposed to be mostly representative of an average child in her situation, and she’s often described in press materials as “someone who can befriend anyone” or “someone who can get along with anyone”. Even her official website profile talks about how pretty much everyone considers her likeable.

This may seem difficult to believe at first, but you might actually notice a pattern when it comes to her “complaining” -- it pretty much always boils down to one of the following, or something along these lines:

I’m scared

I’m tired

I don’t like this/I don’t want that

I want a bath/bed/food/(some other home comfort)

I want to go home

In other words, Mimi is basically reacting like an average child would when thrown into another world out of nowhere! All of her complaints are out of low tolerance and high sensitivity -- all of these scary and uncomfortable things around her are making her feel bad, and she’s not hesitating to make that clear with her words.

However -- and this is very important -- these are all things she’s saying specifically because she’s now in a dangerous, unfamiliar situation in another world. All of these things are things she says defensively, because she’s sensitive to being uncomfortable or hurt, but she is also never aggressive towards others. In completely normal situations -- ones where all she’s doing is socializing at school -- it’s not hard to believe that she would actually be one of the nicest and most considerate people on the planet and that she would be instantly likeable to anyone she meets. Why? Because she lacks condescension or malice. She’s a very nice person who, if not for being under heavy stress, would never step on anyone’s toes. Even during those early episodes of Adventure, whenever there’s “down time” and they’re not in an uncomfortable situation or being chased by something, she goes back to being polite and respectful of others (remember: she’s one of the most adherent to honorifics among the cast), and is perfectly kind and agreeable with them.

As much as she may sometimes get demanding during the early episodes of Adventure, she also doesn’t expect her peers to cater to her nor does she look down on them. One of the biggest examples comes from the Adventure novel:

Mi–chan was pointing at the front of the bus, where a boy wearing a long–sleeved orange shirt was about to get off. Even Mimi knew who he was. They hardly ever talked together, but he was her classmate, Koushiro Izumi. Mi–chan wanted them to look at what Koushiro was carrying on his back – a wireless laptop. “Isn’t he so weird for bringing that all the way to camp?” Mi–chan sneered with mocking laughter, but Mimi didn’t laugh. She simply didn’t find any reason to.

In a situation where people are mocking this weirdo kid for bringing his laptop to camp, Mimi “sees no reason” to look down on him. To her, what’s the point? It’s not fun to be malicious towards others, and she sees no benefit in dunking on him. Hence, because she’s actually very polite and open-minded towards others, and doesn’t see any reason to be mean, she’s not mean, and so you can see why everyone would like her -- after all, she’s not only bright and cheerful, she’s also polite and kind! Who wouldn’t like such a nice person?

Mimi’s first “focus episode” is Adventure episode 6, and we already see a lot of these traits in action. Mimi gets to see the other kids making absolute fools of themselves under Monzaemon’s brainwashing, but the most she has to say is just observing that they seem to not be having fun, and being worried about their well-being. Once she finds out the truth behind what he did to them, she gets extremely angry on her friends’ behalf -- she actually calls them her “friends”, despite them barely knowing each other at this point!

And then when the Numemon step in to fight for her, despite her initially having been turned off by them (mainly because they make her uncomfortable, both by indulging in literal poop around her presence and by invading her personal space by flirting with her), she actually almost breaks down in tears over them!

What this all means is that Mimi’s “high sensitivity” also translates to something else: Mimi has extremely high empathy for others. In terms of being “sensitive”, she’s also sensitive to how other people feel. She worries about others’ welfare constantly, even when they’re poop-throwing slime monsters who had just flirted with her, or near-stranger classmates who just happen to have been thrown onto this adventure with her whom she barely knows. That’s why she’s so nice to other people -- she feels for them, and she constantly empathizes with others’ emotions, so that’s why she’s never rude to others nor does she step on their toes.

It’s also why, even after Koushirou rubs her the wrong way and momentarily causes her to lash out at him for being insensitive about her feelings in Adventure episode 10, she also never seems to hold a grudge against him thereafter (especially since, for as much as he was acting pretty frustrating, she understands he was doing it out of good intentions). In fact, Mimi is pretty much incapable of holding a grudge at all. (More on this later!)

Mimi’s most famous incident of “succumbing to her vices” is Adventure episode 25, when she ends up letting the Geckomon and Otamamon pamper her while stringing along and refusing to do the job they’d needed her for in the first place (singing to wake TonosamaGeckomon). Let’s go over what led to Mimi getting in this situation:

Mimi was basically at her limit. She had been in the Digital World for what had been implied to be months. Going that long without her bath or soft bed or comfort, it’s understandable that she finally let stress overcome her and succumbed to her vices in full. This is basically Mimi at one of her worst possible breaking points, not her most of the time.

Taichi, Jou, and their partners never gave her a very good reason why they should leave (Taichi never explained the problems going on in the real world, nor that he’d even taken a pit stop there) and now, for all she knows, they’re trapped in the Digital World forever, so when she sees an offer to make it all stop hurting, she naturally takes it -- especially when the people telling her to leave aren’t giving her any reason why except that she should.

Even despite all that, Mimi has a complete mental breakdown after her tantrum ends up throwing everyone in jail, dreaming about how everyone must hate her now and how even the Geckomon and Otamamon are tiring of her (the fact this pops up in her dream implies that she’d had a feeling this was coming for a while now). Sora comes to give her a little encouragement, but even she says that Mimi already really knows what she should be doing now. Mimi ends up bringing everyone out to apologize to them and fulfill her duty before the night is even over.

So let’s recap: Mimi is so empathetic and worried about other people’s feelings and what they think of her that, even in arguably one of the worst mental health crashes we’ve ever seen her have on screen, she still breaks down at the prospect of disappointing everyone and making them hate her to the point she immediately recognizes how far she’s fallen and takes it back before the night’s even over. That is how much other people, ranging from Taichi to a crowd of Digimon she’s only vaguely acquainted with, matter to her.

The full “payoff” for this episode in terms of the light of the Crest of Purity glowing and achieving Lilimon evolution does not happen until Adventure episode 35.

It is interesting for a lot of reasons, mainly because it involves all of the events happening in response to things that don’t sound very virtuous on their face (early in the episode, Mimi insensitively comments on Palmon being “bad taste”, and later in the episode she starts considering the Digimon tormenting others unforgivable).

The “Crest of Purity” (sometimes “Innocence”) is something that’s often been difficult to translate, mainly because the easiest words that come to mind often have other unwanted implications, but the real point of it is that, again, Mimi is lacking in malice. The way she talks to Palmon at the beginning of the episode indicates she really didn’t think Palmon would take it seriously (she even urges her to “not think too much into it”), only to find out at the end of the episode that she sort of kind of did. (Trust me, she’s very sorry about it.) The other thing is that, when she starts protesting at the Digimon at the end of the episode, she’s doing this specifically because she’s weeping on behalf of all of the tormented civilians (including her family) that are being caught in the crossfire. She’s so constantly empathetic towards other people that seeing other people hurt, regardless of how well she knows them, just eats her inside. So for her, those who cause that kind of suffering are unforgivable, because they’re inflicting that pain on others.

This is also what leads to her breakdown near the three-quarters mark of the series. Like with how she eventually came to empathize with the Numemon who fought on her behalf, Mimi holds no grudge against Scumon and Chuumon despite them having flirted with her earlier, and Chuumon taking a hit for her hurts her the deepest among all of the other kids. Because Mimi is so empathetic towards others, every death starts tearing away further until she finally can’t take it anymore.

Mimi is fundamentally the kind of person who hates fighting, and even from day one she’d never liked it -- her way of “encouraging” fighting was more like hoping that Palmon (or her evolved forms) could survive. If she wanted to win, it was in the sense of wanting everyone to Not Die; she was never belligerent. But now that the actual body count of people she considers friends is rising, she associates fighting so deeply with that body count that the pain gets to her, and the last straw breaks in Adventure episode 45 in the form of two people she considers friends, Taichi and Yamato, getting in a fight. Everyone around her is hurt. Everyone around her is pain. The naturally empathetic Mimi feels all of this, and she thus decides to pull back from the fighting.

Mimi being such a firm pacifist does have its benefits -- not only does it mean that she holds no grudge against Ogremon in Adventure episode 46 and bid for treating his wounds even though Jou (understandably!) is initially more skeptical because of how he’d initially tried to kill them, she also creates a major dent in Ogremon’s “fated rival” philosophy towards Leomon by forcing him to question: so what if you do defeat your rival? Then what? What’s the point of fighting? Does it actually make you feel better to try and prove your strength this way? (Even Leomon, for all he’s portrayed as noble, is still shown to have a petty investment in his conflict with Ogremon in the following episode.) Ogremon tries not to think too hard about it, but Mimi questioning “what he would do if Leomon were gone” becomes a question he really does have to confront when Leomon dies in the next episode...

...which is also an important learning lesson for Mimi herself as well: fighting may cause collateral damage, but not fighting doesn’t help things either, because when less-than-virtuous forces are at work, casualties will happen either way. In fact, it’s even worse to be a sitting duck, because now you’re just doing nothing when people die right in front of you. Which is a lesson that Jou had wanted to tell her earlier, but didn’t know how to describe to her in words because of his own complicated feelings:

What he wanted to tell her was this: that he didn’t see any likelihood of co-existing with the Dark Masters, and that they had no other choice but to fight them. Even a neutral country like Switzerland had a military. They would be invaded by enemy countries without one. It would be nice and ideal if they used the nonviolent resistance approach as Ghandi did. But that didn’t mean it was okay to just be killed without lifting a finger… But not even he could find a good answer.

However, Mimi is still a pacifist. Even if she finally understands that fighting is necessary, that should not mean that she should now force herself to become someone gung-ho and enthusiastic about it. This is why, in Adventure episode 50, Jou contemplates different ways they can productively contribute to the fight -- because Mimi should not be obligated to personally fight herself when it’s not in her fundamental nature, and Jou personally does not feel that he’s very good at it. But Jou, having put some thought into “one’s own path”, realizes that literal physical violence fighting isn’t the only way to be “part of the fight” -- and so while Jou starts to realize that his unique role is becoming someone who can be a capable healer and doctor for those who are wounded, Mimi has her own talents that she can use to bring Digimon and other allies together. Because Mimi is a kind and charismatic person whom everyone finds likeable and would be willing to come along with, and since she holds no grudges against anyone, nobody would hold any grudges against her, so she’s perfect for the role of “bringing people together for the sake of what they want to protect”.

And she does. Adventure being a series that respects the contributions of those who don’t necessarily participate by direct fighting, Mimi’s rallying together of the Digimon becomes key to saving everyone in Adventure episode 52, and the fact that everyone’s together in the end makes for a great group photo.

Speaking of the final episode, in case the point hadn’t been driven home enough that Mimi’s the most empathetic and emotionally sensitive of the entire cast, the series famously ends on her very emotionally compromised farewell with Palmon. Of course, Palmon’s the one who kind of initiated it (she’s the one who initially refuses to see Mimi because she’s too emotionally compromised), but, after all, the series ends on Mimi being so frazzled about it that she loses her hat.

Mimi in 02 and beyond

As with the other Adventure kids, Mimi’s character arc continues in 02, and we learn a lot about her before she even makes her first personal appearance!

Firstly, we learn that Mimi’s moved to America. The in-universe reason is that it’s for her father’s work...or, at least, ostensibly so, because 02 episode 40 implies that the actual reason was that her parents wanted them to be away from Digimon incidents. (Which, of course, didn’t last very long.) The meta reason for Mimi moving, however, very likely has to do with the fact that 02 involves a subplot of Chosen Children appearing all over the world, and Mimi’s character involves an innate talent for bringing people together.

We learn in Two-and-a-Half Year Break that Mimi moved in 2001, only one year before 02′s events, and eventually got caught in the 9/11 incident -- where she met a number of other American Chosen Children in New York and, now much stronger of heart since the events of Adventure, was able to help them in the recovery efforts, despite there being a language barrier. With this, and the fact she’s shown at a huge party in 02 episode 14: they’re not kidding when they say Mimi can become friends with pretty much anyone. Even going to an entirely different country and dealing with a language and cultural barrier, Mimi is such a naturally kind and compassionate person that she immediately doesn’t have any problem fitting in. (Because, really, someone that level of kind and friendly is hard to dislike.) And in a world where international solidarity between Chosen Children is getting more and more important, that is a very valuable role to have.

The other thing we find out early about Mimi in 02 episode 2 is that Sora catches on that Miyako is a lot like Mimi, based on the fact that Miyako also is empathetic and has an aversion to fighting. And Sora’s completely right, because when Mimi does come into the picture, the similarities -- and differences -- between her and Miyako say a lot about both characters.

When Mimi arrives in Japan in 02 episode 6 (for her cousin’s wedding), she and Miyako immediately get along with each other, and Miyako instantly role-models her, to the point of claiming her as an honorary older sister (despite already having older sisters herself!). It’s not surprising; Mimi and Miyako are both very bright and cheerful people, and Miyako even shares the background of being slightly pampered by her family (although presumably more due to her being the youngest of several siblings). Mimi, for her part, continues her trend of being likeable and fond of pretty much everything (including even her beloved tuna-mayo onigiri that she hadn’t had for so long), and is perfectly happy to be tight with Miyako.

The Digitamamon incident in 02 episode 14, however, adds an extra layer into why Miyako idolizes Mimi so much besides Mimi just being cool in general: Mimi is kind, forgiving, mature, and incapable of holding a grudge -- to the point her pacifistic tendencies kick in even when Digitamamon gets hit by a Evil Spiral and she refuses to fight him, despite him literally starting to beat her up. Again, Mimi came to understand the inevitability of having to fight back in Adventure, but Digitamamon is, to her, a friend who was trying his hardest to turn over a new leaf -- so, naturally, she tries to see if she can appeal to his heart instead. Miyako, on the other hand, is on the opposite extreme -- she’s so judgmental about her poor first impression with Digitamamon that, despite fully knowing well that Evil Spirals cause their victims to lose their ability to have reason, keeps trying to use it as evidence that Digitamamon was a traitor from the get-go.

Considering that the “secondary Digimentals” arc is largely about Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori coming to terms with their deficiencies in their respective traits and aspiring to do better, Miyako unfavorably compares herself to Mimi because Mimi is everything she wants to be and currently isn’t. Unlike Mimi, Miyako is aggressive, in-your-face, occasionally judgmental, belligerent, sometimes insensitive (not by choice), and often shallow, which she fully admits to in this episode. Of course, the reason Miyako gets the Digimental of Purity (Mimi’s trait) is because she hates this about herself -- even in 02 episode 31, she gives herself no shortage of grief for her foot-in-mouth syndrome and the fact she’s not as “kind” of a person she wants to be, and she herself is also fundamentally devoid of malice, just quick to jump to conclusions and a bit sidetracked by first impressions. (After all, Mimi was guilty of being accidentally insensitive when she called Palmon lacking in taste back in Adventure; the point is that when both of them do it, they really don’t mean badly, and end up sorry for it later.)

But that’s a story for another post about Miyako; more importantly, the reason Miyako is harsh on herself about this in this episode is that, in many ways, she’s everything Mimi is not, because Mimi is empathetic and mature and polite and never steps on anyone’s toes.

02 episode 25 gives us more to work with; first of all, she’s depicted in yet another completely different hair and fashion style (which she brings up another of during the winter season), and her drastic shifts in style indicate more of her “open-mindedness”; she’s open to trying out tons of new things and is willing to like just about anything. More importantly, however, she turns out to be completely open-minded about recruiting Ken to help out, even though she’s well aware of what he’d done as the Kaiser (and, again, Miyako sees her ability to be forgiving as something to look up to). Because, again, Mimi doesn’t hold a grudge; she doesn’t send anything accusatory or forceful to Ken, but simply believes that he should be given the chance to know what’s going on and help out if he so chooses, which becomes key to Miyako herself also choosing to accept Ken at the end of the episode.

Given that Mimi is portrayed as so open-minded towards trying all sorts of things, it’s probably no surprise that her “career” in Kizuna is so different from what we eventually know she’ll be doing in the epilogue -- instead of her cooking show, we see her running an online shopping business. After all, with her being so open-minded about wanting to do potentially anything, it’s very like her to "dabble” in a few different experimental things before (or perhaps “without”!) settling for something. What we know about this business is also quite on brand for her; her business specializes in “cute” (her preferred aesthetic, which she also shamelessly dresses in), and she’s established as setting up business all over the world to the point she has to constantly travel. Presumably, her natural charisma made it easy for her to set up connections.

Interestingly, her website profile also omits any discussion of any kind of university or other post-secondary education, implying that, unlike the others, she chose to dive directly into her career after high school. Again, it’s quite like her to find something she wanted to do and pursue it the moment it was in front of her -- no matter what it is, as long as it’s interesting.

Mimi’s largest amount of focus in regards to the movie is in To Sora, where she’s seen checking in on Sora after noticing she hasn’t been in the group chat in a while -- again, as someone constantly empathetic to how her friends are doing, it’s natural that she’s the one who catches on and decides she needs to check in. As someone who loves uplifting and supporting her friends first and foremost, she happens to be fully aware of what everyone’s currently up to (compare how Taichi had to be actively updated on Sora and Takeru’s status from Yamato in the movie proper), and also provides nothing but positive supportiveness to Sora’s troubles during their conversation -- as usual, always respectful and polite, and never condescending.

And, of course, she naturally empathizes with Sora having hesitation about fighting -- both because she’s been busy herself, but also because she, of course, understands exactly how it feels for fighting to be emotionally taxing -- and declares that she’ll support Sora with whatever she does, just like how she found her own path back in Adventure by choosing to contribute by bringing people together instead of fighting. She makes do on this promise as well, considering that she keeps up with supporting Sora during her exhibition.

By the time of the 02 epilogue, Mimi has decided to change tracks entirely and go for cooking, which, while being very different, is also very on-brand. This time, the part about “cooking” is something that comes from her family, since, after all, experimental cooking (...of some kind) was something Satoe got the whole family to embrace. The exact nature of her job is literally “culinary researcher”, which is a Japanese catch-all to refer to the sort of “food critic” who experiments with food and writes extensively (or, in this case, runs a TV show) about different ways you can enjoy and put together food, which also goes in mind with her streak of “open-mindedness”. The common point is, really, that everything Mimi does comes out of positivity, supportiveness, and love.

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #digimon adventure last evolution kizuna #tachikawa mimi #mimi tachikawa #kizuna spoilers #shihameta

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digitaldreams0801 · 4 years

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Digimon Adventure x Fire Emblem Three Houses AU

AKA the AU in which I plop the cast of Digimon Adventure in to Three Houses and watch what happens. Neat.

First of all, shoutout to my pal Ashley who schemed this whole thing up with me one night when we got bored. She proceeded to watch the entirety of Tri. with me in under twenty-six hours, so she’s one of the real ones.

Second of all, none of the parents are in this. Why? Three Houses relies on parental angst, and all of the Digimon parents are too good to be involved with shit like that (yes I know we don’t know Jou, Daisuke, or Miyako’s parents shh it still applies). The exception to this rule is Hiroki (Iori’s father).

Third of all, I’m adding daggers to this AU. Why? Because I said so.

With that said, let’s get into this.

First House: Crimson Lizards

The first house of this universe replaces the Black Eagles. It covers the region on the southern area of the continent known as the Adrestian Empire. Its leading family is the Yagami line.

Taichi Yagami - House Leader - Minor Crest of Seiros Taichi is an axe fighter with a Crest of Seiros. He’s the leader of the Crimson Leaders and the future ruler of the Empire. He’s confident and optimistic, easily earning the respect of those around him thanks to his natural charm. However, this hides a few dark secrets involving the Yagami line. Taichi’s courage is unmatched, and he fights with a bold battle style to prove this. He relies on axes and gauntlets as his main weapons. He has an advantage in both as well as authority. Meanwhile, his skills with faith and reason magic are poor, and he’s not great when it comes to flying either. He has the potential to be good at armor as well when trained. Taichi is fast with high strength, able to obliterate most of his foes easily, though he suffers from poor magical resistance. Taichi was one of many children born between the emperor and his many consorts. He had a variety of older and younger siblings, but he was the only one born with a Crest, prompting him to be named as heir to the house. One by one, the rest of his siblings disappeared, and none of them resurfaced saved for his younger half sister, Hikari. He has grown incredibly protective of her as a result. Taichi also grew up as a close companion of Sora, and the two are close friends even years later.

Sora Takenouchi - Noble Student - Minor Crest of Cichol Sora is Taichi’s childhood friend and heir to House Takenouchi, a powerful house within the Empire. One day, she will grow up to become the prime minister of the Empire, but she is far from being a typical noble given her personality. She’s Taichi’s primary confidant as well since they grew up together. Sora is a mercenary, fighting with swords and gauntlets a good chunk of the time. She is also good with lances, and she has a budding talent in both faith magic and flying. However, Sora struggles when it comes to heavy armor or horseback riding, and she’s poor with daggers as well. She relies primarily on skill and speed when fighting, though her strength and defense are also strong. She’s well-rounded, but she fails to excel in a given area. Sora grew up with the expectations of the world on her shoulders, and she grew to loathe the way others ignored her feelings in favor of their own opinions. Taichi was the main person to listen to her when they were growing up, and the two became mutually supportive of one another. Despite this, Sora could sense that Taichi was struggling with other things, prompting her to start bottling her emotions from a young age. She has become so numb to her own suffering that she believes herself to be incapable of love.

Koushiro Izumi - Commoner Student - No Crest Koushiro is the adopted son of two merchants within Adrestia, and he is the only commoner student in the Black Eagles this year. He is known for being incredibly inquisitive and curious when it comes to Crests. Koushiro admires all of his classmates, wanting to become closer to them after years of struggling to reach out to others. Koushiro’s class is wyvern rider, meaning he has strengths in lances, axes, and flying. He’s not as strong in dagger, gauntlet, or horseback riding, but he does have potential in archery. Koushiro is a tankier member of the group, maintaining strong defenses and incredible strength. He is on the slower side though, and he is far from being strong in magic. Koushiro’s birth parents were Crest researchers who stumbled upon a few things they shouldn’t have shortly after his birth. As such, they were killed by unknown figures who would later be revealed to have ties to the church. Koushiro was taken in by a few distant relatives, too young to remember his birth parents. He remained curious on the subject of Crests like his parents were, and he still tries to find out more about them despite not knowing of his true heritage.

Hikari Yagami - Noble Student - Major Crest of Fraldarius Hikari is the younger of the two surviving Yagami children, though she is not set to inherit the Empire like her brother. She is on the shy side, but she is still known for her empathy and kindness. Hikari lived a rather sheltered life, so she is simultaneously curious about and afraid of the world at large. She hates the dark greatly due to her past. Hikari acts as the healer of the class, specializing in faith and reason magic. Her skills with a bow aren’t bad either. However, she is poor in the categories of heavy armor, axes, and gauntlets, leaving her as the opposite of her brother. Hikari’s weaker constitution contributes to her being stronger in the magical fields, and she’s highly lucky as well, but her defense from physical attacks is very low. Hikari was born without a Crest as a child of the emperor and one of his consorts. As the years passed by, her siblings started to go missing, and Hikari was one victim of such. She was taken away from the palace where she was experimented on by Crest researchers involved with the Church of Seiros. Hikari was the only person to survive the horrors, and she wound up with a Major Crest of Fraldarius despite not being great with physical weapons. Only Taichi is aware of the truth behind what happened to her, as he was the only one she told after returning from the experimentation. Hikari tends to avoid using physical weapons most of the time, claiming instead that she doesn’t have a Crest unless she is forced to reveal the truth.

Second House: Azure Wolves

The second house is known as the Azure Wolves, and it consists of students from the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. The ruling family of Faerghus is the Ishida line.

Yamato Ishida - House Leader - Minor Crest of Blaiddyd Yamato is the somewhat stony and closed-off leader of the Azure Wolves. He isn’t a bad person in the slightest, instead being an incredible person to rely on when he gets to know someone, but he fears reaching out to others. Yamato is very defensive of his younger brother, Takeru, and such can drive him to extreme lengths at times. Yamato’s class is soldier, meaning he is skilled with lances. He is strong with swords and authority as well, but he is far from being a mage, possessing poor skills in faith and reason magic. Yamato also suffers when it comes to flying, but he does show potential with daggers. He has high strength, speed, skill, and defense, but his luck and resistance are far from being the best. Yamato’s life began with him living alongside his brother, Takeru, in the palace of Faerghus. This all came crashing down when his parents split in a bloody divide. His mother and Takeru moved away, and the two brothers didn’t see each other again for years. Yamato made friends with one of his guards, a young man named Kyukichi. Yamato found himself falling in love with Kyukichi, and the two became incredibly close over the years. However, Kyukichi was defeated in battle, leaving Yamato paranoid about reaching out to others in case they died as a result. Shortly after Kyukichi’s death, news reached the Ishida household of a tragedy in a nearby territory: Yamato’s mother had been assassinated, and Takeru was gravely injured in the attack. This was the first time the brothers saw each other after their family split, and Yamato was far from being happy. Yamato was dragged back to the palace without Takeru, but his concern for his brother only grew. The two were apart until they came to attend classes at the Officers Academy together a few months later.

Mimi Tachikawa - Noble Student - Minor Crest of Daphnel Mimi is a kind, empathetic young woman with a strong distaste for violence. She is a firm pacifist even in the face of bloodshed, never wanting anyone around her to get hurt. She is prone to being overwhelmed by her emotions, causing occasional outbursts on her end, but she has good intentions. She is set to lead a noble family upon coming of age. Mimi’s class is the pegasus knight. She is strong in lances, flying, and faith magic with a budding talent in reason magic. She isn’t anywhere near as strong where axes, horseback riding, or armor are concerned though. Her fighting style is reliant on skill and speed in particular, but she is otherwise rather well-rounded. Mimi grew up in a life of danger, always fearing what could lurk around the corner. She knew that she was set to inherit a noble house, and the dangers of such became apparent to her from a young age. Many guards of her family’s estate were forced to sacrifice their lives for Mimi, and in some cases, she witnessed their demises. She grew to detest violence, wishing that she could give up her status if it would stop people from giving up their lives for her. She only fights because she knows that there is no other option. Unlike how Sora grew up as friends with Taichi, Mimi and Yamato were separated throughout their early lives since neither wished to reach out.

Jou Kido - Commoner Student - No Crest Jou acts as the somewhat anxious over thinker of the Azure Wolves, always trying to think seven steps ahead. He can get panicky at times, allowing his fear to control him, and he is far from being a social butterfly. Jou still attempts to take responsibility as the oldest member of the house despite this. He comes from a family of merchants. Jou is an archer. He has strengths in bows, faith magic, and daggers. He lacks prowess in heavy armor, flying, and authority, though he does have potential in lances. Jou is a bit of a glass cannon, relying on high critical chances and speed rather than his defenses. In particular, he is vulnerable to attacks from enemy mages. Jou’s family is known for being a prominent line of merchants in Faerghus, but since Jou has older siblings (Shin and Shuu) to take up the family business, his parents wanted him to become a knight. Jou didn’t want this path for himself in the slightest though, instead wanting to heal others. He kept this idea private though, not wanting to let anyone down if he diverged from the path set before him. Jou takes up faith magic in private, and he secretly brews medical potions, though not even his fellow classmates are aware of such. Mimi is the first one to find out, but he swears her to secrecy.

Takeru Takaishi - Noble Student - Major Crest of Dominic Takeru is Yamato’s younger brother and a noble of Faerghus. He grew up apart from his brother, explaining the difference between them. Where Yamato is dark and quiet, Takeru is optimistic and hopeful, making friends easily. He’s a bit of a flirt as well, though he primarily uses his skills on Hikari, Daisuke, and Ken. Much like Sora though, he has a nasty habit of bottling his emotions. Takeru is a mage, and he has strengths in faith magic, reason magic, and lances. He’s weaker in the departments of heavy armor, gauntlets, and axes. He has budding talents in both bows and daggers. He has high magic, skill, speed, and resistance, but his physical strength, defense, and luck are rather poor to contrast such. Takeru, much like Yamato, was born to the king of Faerghus and a noble of a nearby house. Following a sudden divorce, Takeru went to live with his mother, who chose to use her maiden surname. He began to develop attachment issues, not wanting to lose anybody the way that he lost contact with his father and brother. These came to a head shortly after the death of Kyukichi when an assassin snuck into the Takaishi estate. Takeru witnessed the murder of his mother before being attacked himself. He received an awful wound to his stomach, leaving him struggling to get by for quite some time. Yamato visited briefly, and the two vowed to become close since they never had the chance to beforehand. Yamato was forced to return to Ishida lands, leaving Takeru alone to recover for the next few weeks. When the two met up at the Officers Academy a few months after the assassination, they were practically inseparable. Takeru’s unhealthy issues with losing people have remained though, and he would do anything to defend the newfound connections he has formed with both Yamato and the other ten students.

Third House: Golden Dragons

The third and final house is the Golden Dragons. It consists of students from the Leicester Alliance. The Alliance itself is led by the Motomiya family, and the house’s leader is Daisuke.

Daisuke Motomiya - House Leader - Minor Crest of Riegan Daisuke acts as the eternally loyal and upbeat house leader of the Golden Dragons. He is kind almost to a fault, believing everyone has good within them somewhere. He has a special way of drawing people out of their shells with his infectious nature. Daisuke greatly admires Taichi and Yamato from afar, though the former is the primary subject of his affection. Daisuke is a brawler, fighting primarily with gauntlets and axes. He is strong with authority as well, and he has a budding talent in sword usage. On the other hand, he is poor with lances, reason magic, and faith magic. Daisuke relies on high critical chances and his overwhelming natural strength, but his defenses are poor, especially where magic is concerned. Daisuke is the younger of two siblings within the Motomiya household. His older sister, Jun, was not born with a Crest, meaning he was left as the heir to the family. Jun married another nobleman within the Alliance, so the two didn’t interact much and as such have a rather rocky relationship. Daisuke’s father was from Almyra, so both Daisuke and Jun are half Almyran. Daisuke has suffered under common misconceptions regarding Almyran people throughout his life, leading to him hiding his heritage. He doesn’t wish to be abandoned or left alone by those who he would otherwise be friends with, so he keeps the secret close to his chest always.

Miyako Inoue - Commoner Student - No Crest Miyako is a passionate spirit from Leicester, one of the few commoners at the academy for the year. She is talkative and open, always loyal to herself above all else. She can get a bit carried away at times, not thinking before she speaks in her worst of moments. Miyako comes from a prominent merchant family within the Alliance, but much like Jou, she is not set to inherit much of anything. Miyako’s class is the thief, leaving her strong with swords and daggers. However, she has a strength in reason magic as well, contributing to her ability to become a dancer further down the line. She isn’t the best in faith magic, horseback riding, or axes, but she does have potential to get better in faith. Miyako has high resistance, skill, and speed, but she suffers from poor defense and being squishy where HP is concerned. Miyako is the youngest of four children within her family, and she has always been regarded as the black sheep of the group, never quite living up to the expectations of others. Since there was never enough inherent trust for her to decide her future on her own, she was pushed into becoming a knight for the Motomiya family against her will. Miyako hates that her future has already been determined for her and longs to take back a sense of agency. Some find her to be abrasive and blunt, but this is truly a defense mechanism she uses to keep people from controlling her. Luckily for her, Daisuke has no wishes to completely manipulate her, leaving Miyako feeling most open and home around the other Golden Dragons.

Iori Hida - Commoner Student - No Crest Iori is the quiet, introverted son of a knight from Leicester. His father was a fighter for the Motomiya family, but following his death, the Hida family was left feeling somewhat empty. Iori is distant and perceives most situations to be black and white. He is rather stoic as well, keeping to himself unless he is otherwise called upon. Iori is a cavalier with strengths in lances, swords, and horseback riding. He has a budding talent in axes, but he lacks aptitude in daggers, faith magic, and flying. Iori is well-rounded with an inclination towards skill and strength. He never misses his target and is known to critical hit rather often, but his luck is somewhat on the lacking side. Iori’s father was once a renowned knight for Daisuke’s father, but he lost his life when defending the archduke of the Alliance. Grief came to be too much for the family, and Iori’s mother and grandfather moved far from the capital as a result. This string of events caused Iori to become somewhat distanced from his emotions for better or for worse. Daisuke’s family offered Iori a place at the Officers Academy as a way of paying back the Hida family for the sacrifice of Iori’s father, and he accepted it. He wishes to become a fighter for the sake of defending the weak. Iori can unfortunately be prone to polarized thinking, believing that all things are either good or bad with no middle ground.

Ken Ichijouji - Noble Student - Major Crest of Gloucester Ken is the son of a prominent family within Leicester, and his line is second only to the Motomiya family as far as power is concerned. Ken is kind and caring, putting the wellbeing of all others above himself. He is endlessly empathetic, but he can tend to keep his feelings inside at times. Ken is shy and requires patience to get to know, but he is a great supportive voice when he gets close with others. Ken is a dark mage, possessing primarily dark magic spells rather than elemental ones. He’s talented with daggers, reason magic, and authority with a budding talent in faith. He struggles with horseback riding and heavy armor, and he’s not great with gauntlets either. Ken is a glass cannon with high offensive stats, but he can easily be defeated between his lack of evasion and low defenses. Ken is in truth the younger of two children within the Ichijouji family. His older brother, Osamu, had a Minor Crest of Gloucester and was regarded as a genius by many. Ken felt neglected when compared to Osamu, and the only thing he really had over his brother was having a Major Crest. Osamu gained renown as a knight, but he was defeated in battle after an unfortunate accident. Ken blamed himself immediately, feeling that somehow his inferiority issues had manifested in Osamu’s fall. When his parents were overcome with grief, Ken began to mold himself to be more like Osamu as a way of becoming the person his parents truly longed for. They didn’t notice a difference in his behavior, instead applauding the shift. Ken began to feel insecure in his true nature since he thought it wasn’t enough to be thought of as worthy by his family and people, and until he went to the academy, he made attempts to shove his true personality aside on multiple occasions.

Church of Seiros

The church is the primary religious institution of the continent, and it is led by an archbishop. There are teachers at the church as well, and they are meant to preside over each individual class.

Homeostasis - Archbishop - Major Crest of Seiros Homeostasis is the archbishop of the church, and she is known for being a kind, benevolent figure cared for by all. Her sweet nature is beloved by everyone. In truth, she is a child of Sothis and partially a dragon as a result. Homeostasis has ruled over the continent from afar for generations and has gained a perfect reputation over the decades. She has changed in recent years, becoming far darker because of the influences of...

Yggdrasil - ??? - Major Crest of Seiros Yggdrasil was once the ruler of the continent through the church, but he was forcefully usurped by Homeostasis nearly a thousand years before the current year at the academy. He spent countless decades attempting to regain his footing before getting rid of Homeostasis entirely. Thanks to his special abilities, he was able to seamlessly place himself in Homeostasis’ position, changing his appearance to match hers. In truth, Yggdrasil is Homeostasis’ sibling and one of the children of the goddess, Sothis. Yggdrasil took over after the death of the goddess, but he was a corrupt ruler. Homeostasis took over after usurping him from power, leaving him alive as an act of mercy. Yggdrasil took this as a chance to scheme for the future when he would return, and that time has finally come.

Gennai - Archbishop’s Assistant - Major Crest of Seiros Gennai is an artificial being who was created by Homeostasis to act as her assistant in keeping the peace. He shares her blood since she crafted him. Gennai has kept the truth of his heritage secret for countless years, and as far as any history books are aware, he simply appeared from nowhere one day and has been serving Homeostasis ever since. He has grown nervous around Homeostasis as of late though, recognizing that something is wrong but not realizing it is Yggdrasil.

Daigo Nishijima - Crimson Lizards Teacher - Minor Crest of Indech Daigo is the teacher of the Crimson Leaders. He was once a noble of a house within the Empire, but he stepped down after seeing how corrupted the system of nobles had become over the years. He is relaxed and laid back, caring greatly for his students. In particular, he has a close relationship with Taichi, who comes to him for advice whenever he is feeling nervous or unsteady. Daigo is an armored knight with strengths in axes, gauntlets, and heavy armor. He has a budding talent in authority while he struggles in flying, horseback riding, and faith magic. He isn’t too fast, but his strength, skill, and defense more than make up for such a weakness. Daigo was raised to be a noble for most of his life, but all of that came crumbling down shortly after he graduated from the Officers Academy himself. He realized after entering the world of nobility how corrupt the system was and knew that he couldn’t contribute to such in good conscience. He stepped away from his post and became a teacher. Daigo has grown increasingly suspicious of Homeostasis (now replaced by Yggdrasil), knowing that something has changed within her.

Maki Himekawa - Azure Wolves Teacher - Minor Crest of Lamine Maki is the Azure Wolves teacher who hails from Faerghus. She was born as the youngest of many children, and she was not given the chance to rule over her house. She went to the academy alongside Daigo and wound up following him in becoming a professor at the monastery. She is known for being blunt and somewhat harsh, but Maki does ultimately care for those around her in her own way. Maki is a myrmidon, known for her speed and skill. She has immense strength with swords and daggers along with authority. However, she is lacking in faith magic, axes, and heavy armor. Maki has potential in gauntlets. She is difficult to hit and often criticals between her high strength and evasion, but she suffers from poor defenses as well. Maki was once Daigo’s classmate at the Officers Academy, but seeing the horrors of war firsthand caused her to grow dark and pragmatic. She wasn’t sure of what to do with her life, not wanting to fight but not having a noble title to take up either. In the end, she followed Daigo back to the monastery to become a teacher. She and Daigo have a positive relationship, though the true depths of how close they are remains unknown.

Yukio Oikawa - Golden Dragons Teacher - No Crest Yukio acts as the teacher of the Golden Dragons. He is a longtime friend of the Hida family, having once acted as a knight alongside Hiroki. He comes off as rather kind and positive, but he hides a secret dark side. All others know Yukio as a rather bright individual looking to the future in the name of progress, unaware of how scarily accurate this is. Yukio is a dark mage much like Ken, having benefits in reason magic, daggers, and bows while struggling in heavy armor, axes, and swords. He has potential to get better in swords. He deals heavy damage but is rather slow and at risk of dying if he takes too many hits, especially from physical weapons. Yukio was close with Hiroki leading up to his death, as the two attended classes at the Officers Academy years before Maki and Daigo did the same. They became knights for the Motomiya line together, but Hiroki fell while doing his job. This started to push Yukio off the edge when he couldn’t move past his grief, and he became obsessed with the idea of resurrecting Hiroki somehow. Yukio turned to dark magic, and he was eventually noticed by Yggdrasil, who said that such was possible if Yukio joined forces with him. Out of desperation, Yukio followed him, unaware that Yggdrasil had lied in order to manipulate him. Yggdrasil promoted Yukio to professor of the Golden Dragons as soon as he managed to take the place of Homeostasis.

Meiko Mochizuki - Monastery Assistant - Minor Crest of Cethleann Meiko is an assistant at the monastery who has taken shelter at Garreg Mach ever since a tragic incident left her an orphan. She is introverted and shy, hesitating to reach out to others due to her own awkwardness and paranoia. Meiko hates feeling alone despite her aversion to reaching out to others, leaving her a bit of an anxious wreck a strong majority of the time. Meiko’s class is the dark knight. She has strengths with reason magic, faith magic, and horseback riding with budding talents in lances and swords. She is weaker in authority, heavy armor, and dagger usage. Meiko boasts high resistance, skill, and magic, but she can be rather slow and suffers from poor physical stats. Meiko’s parents were killed in what seems to be a tragic accident at face value. In truth, they were killed by agents of Yggdrasil who were trying to get at her. Meiko was taken in by the church after the incident with Homeostasis treating her kindly. However, this was all a mask, as Yggdrasil had already replaced his sister as the archbishop. Meiko was essentially gaslit into staying at the monastery by Yggdrasil, who said that nobody would believe her if she spoke out. Gennai took particular interest in her, taking her under his wing unofficially. In truth, Yggdrasil was planning on using her for her skills with magic. She showed signs of being a prodigy from a young age, and Yggdrasil was planning on shifting such to fit his plans. However, Meiko wound up turning against Yggdrasil at the encouragement of Gennai when the moment of fate came.

Other

Yggdrasil’s Crimes Yggdrasil was responsible for the deaths of Koushiro’s parents. They were getting too close to realizing the truth behind his plans, so he had them killed and covered it up as an accident. In that way, Koushiro is rather similar to Meiko. Yggdrasil was also the one who sent the assassin to kill Yamato and Takeru’s mother. The plan was also to kill Takeru along the way, but he never got the chance to do so when Takeru unexpectedly survived the attack. Security was too high in the months afterwards for him to make any further attempts. He also had the Crest experimentation performed on the Yagami children aside from Taichi. He spared Taichi only since he already had a Crest. Hikari was never meant to be rescued, and she was instead planned to be yet another powerful soldier as Meiko was. Empire soldiers saved her before she could fall to such a fate though. Osamu did not die in battle as was explained initially. Instead, Yggdrasil kidnapped him and reached out, intending to use Osamu for his own purposes. However, Osamu lashed out and attempted to escape, prompting Yukio to kill him. At the time, Yukio was already under Yggdrasil’s thumb and willing to do his bidding. The truth behind Osamu’s death was covered up immediately under the guise of an accident during combat.

Kyukichi Kyukichi did not die as was once expected. In truth, he was born to a few firm followers of Yggdrasil, causing him to be raised under the idea that Yggdrasil had to rule the world. He was told to become Yamato’s friend to eventually stab him in the back, but Kyukichi was given orders to retreat before the full betrayal could play out, prompting his death to be faked as Yamato fell into despair. Kyukichi continued to work for Yggdrasil afterwards, though his faith began to waver after his next mission. He was told to infiltrate the Takaishi household as an assassin, meaning he was the one who killed Yamato and Takeru’s mother. After he nearly killed Takeru, he began to grow unsteady in his confidence, but he hid such for a while longer. Kyukichi acts as a figure similar to the Flame Emperor, appearing somewhat often throughout the Academy Phase as an enemy before being unmasked shortly before the War Phase begins. He escapes only to return after time skip.

Plot

Academy Phase

Throughout the Academy Phase, the students do things that walk the fine line between helpful and harmful to Yggdrasil, not doing any serious harm to either Homeostasis or Yggdrasil to not draw too much attention to Yggdrasil while not damaging his schemes. Kyukichi appears a few times as a masked figure who seems to be neither friend nor foe, but he does cause some serious harm later on when given instructions to finish his previous mission of killing Takeru. While he doesn’t succeed in killing Takeru, the boy is once again horribly hurt. Yamato finds him soon after, and Kyukichi is unmasked in the struggle. Yamato goes into shock as Kyukichi escapes and Hikari heals Takeru’s injuries. Taichi wonders how Kyukichi was able to invade the monastery, and Yukio reveals his betrayal as well. Soon after, Yggdrasil arrives and reveals his true plans to the group, prompting them to scatter and go into hiding. The three nations are told their heirs are dead shortly before Yggdrasil’s forces lead a widespread invasion of the continent.

War Phase It isn’t until five years later that Daigo and Maki bring the students back together alongside Gennai and Meiko with plans of defeating Yggdrasil once and for all. The twelve students come together after spending years running from Yggdrasil’s forces and decide to help Homeostasis. In the end, they succeed, and Homeostasis is once again honored as the archbishop. Yggdrasil and Yukio are killed in battle, and Kyukichi is defeated at Yamato’s hands as well. Peace reigns over Fodlan at long last, and the lost heirs take over their thrones at long last. The rest of the students stand by them as well. Meiko and Gennai work with Homeostasis to properly reform the church with the former becoming the professor of the Golden Dragons in Yukio’s stead.

Ending Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed this big old tangent from me! If you’d like more from this AU, feel free to say so, and I can try to whip up a solid plot structure for it in the future! Now, I’m going to sleep since it’s 4:30 AM. I hope you liked this mess of a rant!

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lightchildofthespring · 3 years

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The fantastic adventures of Takeru Takaishi

Chapter 4: Old friend

Summary: with no news from his henchmen, who had gone up the hill after the revolutionaries, the lord of Turtle Island has a conversation with the monk. The mysterious cleric sounds like a young man, but doesn’t act like one. The Goddess, the Devil, the Angel of Death, the Light stealer... the mystery behind Koushiro’s curse begins to be unveiled by his oldest friend.

Shigeo Yamanaka was very surprised by the visit of a member of the Order of the Nameless Monks that morning. They were the highest order in the hierarchy of the Church, having only the High Priestess above them, and they were said to be the most skilled warriors in the world. The one who entered his house unceremoniously had the voice of a young man, but something in his way of talking denounced more age and experience than that person should have.

The monk told him that the Goddess herself had given him the mission of helping Yamanaka destroy the revolutionaries on that island. Yamanaka wasn't sure he could trust that man, but to oppose a nameless monk could bring grave repercussions, such as losing his title of Lord of Turtle Island. Besides, sending his armed henchmen up the hill to hunt down the rebels would probably not cause too many losses, considering that the revolutionaries usually ran from battles they couldn't win. What caused him apprehension, though, was to be left alone in the mansion with that cleric who, not satisfied in sending away his henchmen, also ordered Yamanaka's employees to leave the place for the rest of the day.

Hours passed and the night fell. The smoke that had been seen on the hill earlier had already dissipated. Yet, there was no sign of anyone returning from that place. His men largely outnumbered the rebels, there should be no possibility that they could have lost. The noble kept telling himself that, attempting to remain calm. His men couldn't have been defeated! It was impossible!

But what if it wasn't? It became too hard to divert his mind from that possibility. He sent everybody there! Everybody! If the revolutionaries, by some miracle, killed them all, Yamanaka would be left without enforcers! Who would collect the taxes? Who would punish the insolent and ungrateful peasants? What about the servants? Who would keep them under control?

Then, a different and more visceral fear emerged. In the off chance that he lost all his henchmen, who would keep the Lord of Turtle Island safe? Those ignorant peasants would invade his property and steal his valuable possessions! Those brutes would threaten his life in exchange for richness they didn't deserve! The Yamanaka house had served the Empire for almost one thousand years, which was the same as serving the Goddess! How could he accept that the blessings received by his family, a true reward for their hard work and loyalty, could be tainted by simple-minded commoners who didn't know their place?

Yamanaka took a deep breath. There was nothing good at letting his imagination get wild. That cleric, a true messenger of the Goddess, had assured him that things would work out fine. Weren't the nameless monks known for being undefeatable? The noble had nothing to fear when a carrier of divine grace had vowed to protect him. Nevertheless, he was still standing in front of the large window of his living room, trying to spot anything suspicious in the dark. Without Yamanaka noticing it, the monk took the liberty to take two glasses of wine from a cabinet. He approached Yamanaka and offered him one of the glasses while taking a sip from the other.

“I thought monks weren't allowed to drink alcohol,” Yamanaka commented, astonished at the audacity of that man, who was treating himself to such expensive wine.

Shouldn't monks be frugal? Shouldn't they avoid earthly pleasures? That man was certainly a disgrace to the Church! Yamanaka wished he could see the other's face, which remained mostly covered by the cloak's hood, so that he could give the description to one of his friends in the court, who would certainly alert the High Priestess about the inadequacy of having such a disrespectful man as part of the Church's highest order!

The monk smirked, confusing Yamanaka. He couldn't imagine how anything he had said could have been perceived as funny.

“You seem like someone very knowledgeable on the matters of religion” the cleric told him. “How about I put that to a test? It'd help to pass the time, don't you agree?”

Yamanaka's annoyance dissolved as terror took over his being. He had heard stories about the ways the nameless monks tested people's faith through the centuries. In all those stories, he didn't remember about someone who had passed the test. The punishment for failing, as everybody knew, was excommunication. Was that monk really such a petty person, did that man have such a low soul, that he would get revenge over an innocent remark about wine? Especially when that cleric was the one in fault while Shigeo Yamanaka had never done anything wrong in his entire existence?

“Let's see...” the monk said. The amusement in his voice was undeniable, “what can you tell me about Justine the Great?”

Yamanaka relaxed. That should be the easiest question in the world. Maybe that cleric really just wanted to pass the time. Why did his imagination have to be that much of a burden?

“The first Empress was the mightiest warrior to ever live. She never lost a battle and conquered the entire Old Continent by the time she was 34 years old,” Yamanaka spoke with absolute confidence. “When she died, right after giving birth to her son Marius, it is said that pure white light rose from her body, marking her ascension to the Heavens. That consolidated the already popular belief that Justine was never an ordinary human, but a goddess incarnated. The only Goddess to ever bless our world!”

The monk laughed. Yamanaka was perplexed at the reaction. In the good old days, that lack of respect for the Goddess would demand death by fire!

“Such passion! Such faith! You remind me of myself when I was younger,” the monk told him.

“I am older than you!” Yamanaka stated. “In my very long life, I had never met anyone nearly as blasphemous as you, monk!”

“Is that so? How lucky must you be...” the cleric's voice suddenly became cold and low. Nervous, Yamanaka drank some of the wine that he had been offered.

“I had a blasphemous friend, once...” the monk said, gazing out of the window. “My sister and I rescued him from the sea, I remember he was too terrified to speak. We arranged a place for him at the Izumi farm, which was close to ours. Mr. and Mrs. Izumi were old and needed help... he said that he wanted to help people... back then, I believed in everything he said...”

“Why are you telling me about a random friend of yours?” Yamanaka inquired.

“Oh, my apologies...” the monk had irony in his voice, “is there something else you wish to discuss?”

“As a matter of fact, there is!” Yamanaka stated. “For instance, why hasn't any of my henchmen returned yet? How long could it take for them to hunt those damn rebels? You told me it would be an easy victory!”

“Your henchmen saw the Devil and ran away,” the monk informed. “They won't come to this place, but the revolutionaries will.”

“What did you just say?” Yamanaka believed that the other man had a strange sense of humor.

“You remind me of the Lord of Turtle Island we had when I was growing up, Shigeo...”

“Don't call me by my first name, young man!” Yamanaka scolded the other. “Does your insolence know no limits! This is definitely not the behavior I expect from a holy man!”

“When the plague came, that man didn't care about the people who were dying,” the monk continued his story, ignoring the other. “He hid behind the walls of his castle, praying that he could be spared...” his tone became increasingly darker, which sent chills down Yamanaka's spine, “I've always wondered what would have happened if at least he had tried to help... my parents... my sister... maybe they could've been saved. But that lord was a selfish pig who only had contempt for the people who served him. Just like you...”

“Now, that's enough!” Yamanaka roared. “I don't care about your rank! I'll denounce you to the Emperor himself! And the Emperor shall have the High Priestess excommunicate you! I'm from an important noble family and won't tolerate anyone disrespect-”

The monk took out a sword that had been concealed under his cloak and pointed it to the noble's direction. Yamanaka fell on his back. He hadn't let go of the glass of wine he had been holding, which had broken and was now cutting the palm of his hand.

Was he going to die? He had never seriously considered that anyone would have the nerve to spill the blood of a noble man like him. That was inconceivable! To kill a noble was to insult the Emperor! It was an insult to the Goddess herself! As a cleric, that man should know that better than anyone! Or did he think that, for being a nameless monk, he was entitled to disrupt the natural order of the world?

The monk approached him and put the tip of the sword on the old man's neck, who was shaking from the top of his head to his toes. He wanted to protest against the ignominy of it all. But, disgracefully, his self-preservation instinct seemed to have proven itself as stronger than his honor. Therefore, he begged:

“P-Please, don't k-kill me... I-I didn't mean to offend you in a-any way... I'll give you a-anything you w-want... I'll do a-anything...”

“Do you know what would be fun? What about we continue with our little test?” the assailant proposed in low voice. “Tell me about the Devil, Shigeo.”

Yamanaka knew that his life depended on him answering that right. Unfortunately, that knowledge only made him more anxious. All the things that he had learned about the subject were escaping his mind in great speed. Desperate, he tried to answer before he forgot what the question even was.

“T-The stealer of L-Light...” Yamanaka stuttered, “h-he t-tried to s-steal a s-soul from H-Heaven and g-got p-p-punished... c-cursed w-with i-infinite d-deaths...”

“That's the basic version of the story,” the monk commented. “The soul he tried to steal belonged to the kindest and sweetest person who had ever lived. When she was taken by the plague, I thought my life was over... but my friend...” he trembled, “he promised that he would help her... the next thing I knew, Justine herself was in front of me, and she told me...” a single tear was visible rolling down his cheek, “... she told me that my friend's sins had been so grave that it wasn't enough to just curse him. My sister, the one he had tried to rescue, was sent to the deepest dungeon in Hell. And the Goddess gave me the mission of purging Koushiro's soul until it's completely purified... I was to kill my best friend again and again, until his soul was saved... only then, she would release her... to save my sister, I have become the Angel of Death.”

At that point, Yamanaka was completely convinced that the cleric was out of his mind and lost hope that he could be able to reason with him.

“I believe the revolutionaries have arrived,” the monk announced, turning to the door of the living room. A muscular blond man and a woman with orange hair kicked the door open and entered the room, accompanied by five other people. They all were pointing their guns at Yamanaka, who was still on the floor, lying on his back. The blond man shot the monk twice. The bullets, however, stopped in midair. They turned incandescent and melted, never reaching their target.

“He really is invulnerable... just like Koushiro said...” the redhead woman murmured.

“I-Impossible!” another woman, with purple hair, exclaimed. She had a disturbed look on her face.

“What a lovely group you are,” the monk commented, bemused. “I don't feel like killing you tonight. It would be better to get out of my way.”

“You promised you would protect me!” Yamanaka shouted, desperate. “I did everything you told me to do, monk! You can't just leave me with those bandits!”

“Are you really that dense, Shigeo?” the monk asked, annoyed. “Were you paying attention to anything I said? I never intended to protect you! I simply used you to lure my friend to this place!”

The glass window behind the cleric and the noble was broken as six bullets, in sequence, were shot from the outside. The bullets were stopped by an invisible field surrounding the monk and, in a matter of seconds, they melted.

Astonished, Yamanaka watched as that strange man turned to the broken window, beaming. The monk took his hood off, allowing the wind to mess his large brown hair.

At the garden, outside the window, a man drenched in blood stood, still holding the shotgun.

“How many times did you die on your way here, Koushiro?” the monk inquired, jumping to the garden. “Honestly, you embarrass me at times. What was the big idea, anyway? You know you can't hurt me. Not physically, at least.”

“I was simply trying to get your attention,” Koushiro informed. “Sometimes, you can be so easily distracted...”

“You should know by now that nothing can distract me from you,” the other said, pointing his blade at Koushiro's direction. “Shall we dance, old friend?”

Koushiro looked at him with sadness and replied:

“What other choice do I have, Taichi?”

#the fantastic adventures of takeru takaishi #digimon #digimon adventure #au fic #koushiro izumi #I hope you guys like friends to enemies trope #izumi koushiro #yagami taichi #taichi yagami #sadly Takeru doesn't appear in this chapter #sort of #taishiro

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koushirouizumi · 5 years

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Digimon Adventure(s) Taishiro(u) songfic/parody: REPEAT?_ + Koushiro’s Theory of HAPPINESS

Title: KOUSHIRO’S T h e o r y of HAPPINESS Fandom: Digimon Adventure(s) Character(s): Koushiro Izumi, Yoshie Izumi, Izumi Family (mentioned); hints of the Chosen Children (end & in endnotes) Pairing(s): Taichi Yagami x Koushirou Izumi [Taishiro(u)] (implied throughout) [especially Taishiro(u) in the fic, throughout] Parodied from: K@gerou//Project (w/slashes removed) lyrics mostly (C) Jin Notes: It’s something of an extended parody for my Taishiro ficverse REPEAT?_ Warnings: PLEASE read ANY AND ALL WARNINGS/NOTES for the ficverse first before reading this! This songfic of sorts minimally spoils at least up to the 3rd chapter of the story. However, this song parody/songfic of sorts could also be seen as something like an alternative “introduction”... ... ... (I’M. SORRY) [ you can also click the ‘read more’ and jump first to the end of the page + then scroll up a bit to see additional warning for this particular installment! ]

“ What I THOUGHT BACK on was, AGAIN, MY FAMILY ; ” [ " This is YOUR HOME, so make yourself comfortable, KOUSHIRO ! " ]

THIS is the vocal version of the cover that inspired me! THIS is the piano arrangement cover version I was listening when editing this. If you pagebottom to the end of the post, a different piano cover with the Kage//pro video is linked as well (this second piano cover mentioned keeps the main lyric’s melody line in tact, though it is also a bit faster too.) here is a version actually sung by THE COMPOSER OF THE SERIES ( he may not be the best singer but it’s the creator of the series pls respect him ok HE TRIES ) (PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS ABOVE IT IF YOU WATCH HOWEVER)

[ AND, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO ... ]

ORIGINAL VIDEO/SONG LINK: HERE + at bottom of post

KOUSHIRO’S T h e o r y of HAPPINESS

What I THOUGHT BACK on was, AGAIN, MY FAMILY ; [ " This is YOUR HOME, so make yourself comfortable, Koushiro ! " ] In [a LITTLE PLACE] with [red?] [brick?] walls, He mutters to himself, as if making SECRET PLANS In the [ PURE BLACK EYES ] BROUGHT HERE Lies a past he has HIDDEN FROM A D U L T S With [ embarrassment ? ] F E A R in HIS EYES, he [ mutters ] SAYS CRIES " I'M SCARED " [" I'm JUST A MONSTER ! "] So I TELL HIM, " DON’T BE ! " [" THAT’S NOT TRUE AT ALL !!! "] " RED is THE COLOR OF A H E R O, so there's no need to be afraid ! " [ " YELLOW is THE COLOR OF THE SUN'S RAYS, so YOU'LL DEFINITELY BE OKAY !..... " ] ..Wondering what he would find fun, I am ACTING the " M O T H E R " a g a i n " Hey, LOOK ! " [ HE ? ] [ I ?? ? ] wrapped [himself?] [ m y s e l f ] in [RED?] [antics]; [RED?] [YELLOW??] [scarf?] [C A P E?] " We're like SECRET AGENTS ! " DYED in [ MADDER RED? ] , we'll B E G I N , even if we're merely P L A Y I N G H E R O E S " As long as we can manage just a little smile... " We will BE FAMILY STILL TODAY I PRAY for HAPPINESS in THE FUTURE AHEAD , so HOWEVER SAD it may be... " Now keep this A SECRET ! " The sun sets with us LAUGHING . ... The SPRING breeze blows, and the now-ADULT world Is i r r a t i o n a l l y bent, as if conspired to be The thick and faded tears of [loved ones?] [ H I M ] Go UNNOTICED BY ALL, turning B L A C K Things had GONE CRAZY, but by the time I NOTICED, I could NOT TELL A N Y O N E " No, NO, I DON’T WANT TO BE DESTROYED ! " ... There CAME A WORLD where HAPPINESS ENDS . " [ RED c o l o r ], PLEASE. N O M O R E; DON’T BRING RUIN TO ANYONE ELSE’S F U T U R E . " I thought as I CRIED again, keeping it HIDDEN WITH A SMILE " ... IF I HAD [ T H A T ... RED ? ] M Y S E L F , could I S A V E S O M E O N E ‘ S F U T U R E ? " AWKWARD and SHAMEFUL , this is my L O N E L Y P L A N ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... Now that I ‘ M G O N E , I WONDER IF [ M Y F A M I L Y ] Are S T I L L G E T T I N G A L O N G , and SMILING TOGETHER ? I ‘ M S U R E they must be UPSET WITH ME --- But I W O N D E R I F I H A V E B E C O M E /// " THEIR SON " ///

[ F A M I L Y ] ... N O W .

[ T A I C H I - S A N & MIMI-SAN ] Please try to REMEMBER THAT WORD I L O V E D;

[ C H O S E N C H I L D R E N ] " H A P P I N E S S " is a C U R I O U S T H I N G ,

[ K O U S H I R O ] SO I HOPE Y O U CAN L O V E T O M O R R O W ... ... ... ... ... ...

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...

REPEAT?_

NOTES:

- I’M SORRY - I HATE KAGE//PROS FOR DOING THIS TOO I’M SORRY - NO IT’S STILL NOT A DIRECT PARODY BUT EXTREMELY INSPIRED W/THIS ONE - if you can’t quite tell, the first verse began as Mrs./Yoshie Izumi before eventually switching to Koushiro’s POV in the second verse! - in the original video, by the second verse, Kagepro’s plot kicks in MUCH MORE IN GEAR aaand yeah STILL NOT A DIRECT PARODY - SO PLS DON’T THINK IT IS - STILL HEAVILY INSPIRED but yeah you can discount most of the second verse visual plot-wise - unless you really want to torture yourself with imagery of tiny sad!Koushiro crying alone LITERALLY WHY - DON’T WORRY THOUGH MR. IZUMI IS V. NOT INVOLVED LIKE THAT HERE - WHY IS KAGE//PROS LIKE THAT I STG

- the reason why the lyrics alternate between: [RED?] [YELLOW??] [scarf?] [C A P E?] -- is because this is more Kage//pros specific imageries and yeahh I don’t want the exact same thing for Koushiro visually in most of main REPEAT?_ BUT - MENTAL IMAGERY wise IT CAN STILL BE A THING - IN THE VARIOUS FORMS MENTIONED - BUT I WAS THINKING “CAPE” MORE BECAUSE OF A CERTAIN

^ WOW HI WHO ARE YOU H U H WOW THAT’S SOME. CAPE. CAPE - MAYBE KOUSHIRO COULD ALSO HOWEVER WRAP IT AROUND HIMSELF LIKE A SCARF - BUT V-TAMER TAICHI’S CAPE WAS YELLOW YEAH - AND I STILL DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT V-TAMER ITSELF - EXCEPT IT GETS VERY DRAMATIC TOO - BUT MAYBE KOUSHIRO IN SOME ‘VERSES COULD ALSO WRAP “IT” AS A SCARF FOR HIMSELF YEAH - ..... MAYBE EVEN A. BLACK(ISH-GREY). SCARF. - FOR REASONS - ... MAYBE IT CHANGES COLORS (IDEK)

- I’M SORRY AGAIN - FEELINGS HATE ME - however this one is kinda really hard to parody without arts skills myself besides amv making so ;; ;; probably won’t be able to make anything amv-wise for this kind of thing for a super long while.....

- STILL THOUGH I HAD TO GET THE FEELINGS OUT WHY THIS - MRS IZUMI MY LOVE YOSHIE-MAMA I LOVE YOU - KOUSHIRO VOICE YELLING ‘ I LOVE YOU ’ - I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT YOSHIE TO BECOME AYANO THOUGH N O

- ...... she probably already kinda involved herself though in some parts - ....... i’m sorry - WARNINGS (+ FOR REPEATVERSE): - IMPLIED/ATTEMPTED (KEY WORD: ATTEMPTED) SELF-SACRIFICE/’DEATH’ (ESPECIALLY IN KAGE//PROS) - HOWEVER. This is. Well. See REPEAT?_ infos too and YEAH. - IT DOESN’T WORK OUT EXACTLY AS THEY PLANNED..... - I PROMISE IT GETS BETTER ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; (I ..... PROMISE)

WARNINGS FOR THE KAGE//PROS VIDEO: - IMPLICATIONS OF past child abuse (I’M SO SORRY FOR KAGE//PROS) [ this happens for a line spanning about 10 seconds ] - blonde haired boy Kano suffered from child abuse from a past family member. - black haired boy Seto suffers from being bullied as a child by various neighborhood kids - green haired/short haired girl Kido came from a very strict family / mainly her biological father. This ‘father’ was ... neglectful/emotionally abusive in ways (I’m so sorry for Kage//pros) he eventually ends up trying to kill her + her older sister + himself in a fire. She well. (Yeah. She survives. 7TH NOVEL SPOILERS) - the one visible though is actually not the father but more like a butler/maid from the same ‘house’ according to the author in old tweets. - there is nothing more said about that and hope to god it stays that way because. yeah. yeah - basically Kage//pros has MANY warnings re ‘deaths’ PLEASE TREAD VERY CAREFULLY AND ONLY IF YOU THINK YOU CAN HANDLE PLOT-RELATED DETAILS LIKE THAT - they are not actually ‘adopted’ by the way, technically it’s ‘fostered’ (confirmed via Japanese kanji in the original version). I don’t want to debate Kage//pros here though yeah, just mentioning that quickly since it’s important to not get confused with Kage//pros plot orz (many people will debate this though and I understand why but. yeah. technically it’s not official for many maaany plot reasons and yes the official English version definitely mistranslated it orz why this) (just saying: in Japan, when adopted, your surname has to legally change to your adopted family’s surname. The kids’ surnames do not change in Kage//pros canon and the implication is that thegirls’parents’bothdied beforeitcouldhappenyeah. This was pointed out by a Japanese translator so yeah...) [plus her doing what she does at the end kinda screws a lot up y e a h] - NO THIS PART DETAILED ABOVE RE: KAGE//PROS PLOT VERY MUCH DOES NOT RELATE TO THIS STORY GOD NO - IZUMIS ARE THE GOOD ADOPTIVE PARENTS AND I’M KEEPING IT THAT WAY THANK YOU VERY MUCH - KOUSHIRO’S BIOLOGICAL PARENTS TOO - BUT YEAH THOSE WARNINGS ARE SPECIFIC TO KAGE//PROS THOUGH IF YOU WATCH THE VIDEO I’M SORRY - this is mainly in the first verse during the “brough here...” line - you can kinda cover your eyes at that part and just listen if you’d like though?? - in the second verse it’s heavily implied the girl’s own father is going mentally downhill (this is due to heavy plot spoiler reasons) - (this is a pretty initial spoiler but. his wife also dies - this is related via the second verse of the song, her photo is seen) - he basically ends up discovering plot things and - experiments ... on the girl singings’ classmates/friends ... uhhhh yeah (I’M SORRY FOR KAGE//PROS) - (IT’S NOT REALLY ‘HIM’ THOUGH.....) - this is why SHE’S TRYING TO STOP IT later on in the song - THIS ALSO VERY MUCH DOES NOT RELATE TO MY FICVERSE [BEING SERIOUS HERE]

youtube

^ an alternative piano version, albeit a bit faster!

youtube

^ this is the original video / song! (PLEASE TREAD WITH CAUTION) (BUT if you’re comfortable with such plot things) (THIS WORKS WELL FOR MAXIMUM FEELINGS) [ AND IT’S HONESTLY A GORGEOUS SONG/VIDEO ] [ AYANO’S A GORGEOUS CHARACTER TOO OK ]

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