The common misconception that Akane has no personality outside of Aoi is a sign of immaturity among many fans, in my opinion. This isn’t really their fault, seeing as the majority of the tbhk fandom is on the younger side, but it’s still something that should be noted
When people say this, they are talking about his hobbies. It’s true that every hobby Akane has is something he started to impress Aoi. I’m of the firm belief that he stayed on the Student Council because he enjoys it but that’s slightly up to interpretation (it could also be a way for Teru to keep an eye on him). However, in general, Akane doesn’t seem to have much going on outside of Aoi. His favorite food is something he imagines her baking for him, he joins clubs based on what type of guys she shows interest in, the books he reads all have a character that shares her name, and when she asks him what he enjoys, his response is “I like you, Aoi.” He’s even shown to zone out of conversations when Aoi isn’t mentioned. This is clearly unhealthy, though he does eventually learn to give her some distance which is beneficial to the both of them. But he still doesn’t seem to actively engage in hobbies that have nothing to do with Aoi
This is a consistent character flaw, but it does not mean Akane has no personality or character outside of Aoi. This is where the immaturity bit comes in, kids want to describe themselves entirely based on their interests. With the rise of fan culture and the internet, many adults do the same. It’s not just a young people problem, it’s an issue of how we identify ourselves. We like to put people into categories, understanding them based on their hobbies and careers. These are very important elements of identity, but they aren’t everything. A person with no job and no hobbies is still a person. They might struggle due to having no outlet for their creativity, but they are a person nonetheless
Fandoms notoriously love to understand characters based on their niche interests. Aoi is a gardener, Hanako loves the moon, Nene plays idol games, Teru has a very sad life. These are absolutely elements of their characters, but there’s more to them than their hobbies. They have personalities too, goals and passions outside of what they do in their free time
Akane puts his all into helping others, he takes his Student Council duties very seriously and keeps his hands full during every school event. He is a very empathetic character, able to understand characters like Aoi, Teru, and Nene without them having to tell him what they need. He’s competitive, as seen in his friendship with Teru. He’s romantic, as is the driving force of his character (and romance is a perfectly acceptable goal, marriage is one of the most common things for a person to strive towards in life). He’s violent and overprotective, striking down any man who makes Aoi uncomfortable. He’s emotional, prone to fits of joy, anger, and tears. He’s easily annoyed and carries a chip on his shoulder, but that doesn’t stop him from wanting to help people. He hates supernaturals because of how they hurt others, and despite his stance as a School Mystery, he is so painstakingly human. He can be aggressive, especially when someone he loves is trying to do something self-destructive. He cares so deeply for people, wearing his heart on his sleeve. He’d stay up all night playing video games if it made the girl he loves happy, but he won’t attack Teru for having genuine feelings for her. He’s incredibly loyal. He’s also casually bisexual so there’s that
Idk there’s just so much more to Akane’s character than people give him credit for, I didn’t even cover everything. Remember when you’re analyzing a character, it’s important to look deeper than “they enjoy this” or “this is their job.” Akane may devote so much of his life to Aoi, but he is still his own person, whether he realizes that or not
I am begging ya’ll to stop throwing the “no character outside of Aoi” allegations at this man
hello lovely people in the tbhk fandom! how are we all doing today?
"......."
Great! So in the chapter 112 leaks, we see this panel with shijima!
here she is! our favorite supernatural artist, looking perfectly alive and healthy! so pretty!
Unlike the other students, she's not wearing a uniform, or a tracksuit like Aoi is. Instead, she's dressed like an adult. I would say a teacher. (also shes lowkey buff now look at her arms) Anyways, she seems really tall, and she's holding a clipboard.
In addition, the students near her are holding up a poster they made, and they look really proud of it. You know what teacher I would show a poster I made to first? an art teacher.
Shijima died years ago, so her current age makes sense, becuase in this reset world, she probably didn't die. (thank god because shes so pretty ajwhgskajshg)
Anyways yeah Shijima is the art teacher at the school. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.
im gonna try not to talk about anything else because if i do i might start sobbing
i'm gonna commit suicide bc of this btw
SEASON 2 AND NEW ASHK TRAILER HERE!!! AAAAAAA CLOCK KEEPER ARC INCOMING AND THE GENDERBENT ASHK CHAPTERS RAHHH
It’s just full au brainrot.
Reigen fully taking in another emotionally constipated teen, being a dad without realizing it. Teruki and Saiki do NOT get along very fast. And some small Mob and Saiki sillies :3
And my first time drawing Kuriko! I love her so dearly X3
It’s just full au brainrot.
Reigen fully taking in another emotionally constipated teen, being a dad without realizing it. Teruki and Saiki do NOT get along very fast. And some small Mob and Saiki sillies :3
And my first time drawing Kuriko! I love her so dearly X3
i like akechi so much. silly little walking encyclopedia.
this part makes me so sad so so so sad
just realized akechi,kusuo,and kusuke are the only ones in the show with no spark in their eyes
one of my favourite scenes in Saiki is when you learn that one of his powers is petrification but anything in front of his eyes will stop the power
so like a respectable young man, he wears glasses so as to not randomly petrify people!
and then in the same breath you find out that literally any pair of glasses will work but Mr. I-Hate-Being-the-Centre-of-Attention chooses to wear a pair of neon green glasses
i respect his commitment to the bit 🙏
do you ever think saiki gets worried that the world will go on without him? that he spent so long in this endless timeloop that those years and years have been engraved into his brain? and once it’s all over, once he saves the world and humanity, he’s going to get left behind? he has focused himself into this eruption, into the solution, into controlling the world that when he’s done he doesn’t know what to do with himself. will his friends move on? does life really continue after this? he hasn’t felt time stretch, continue, move forward in years.
Do you think he’s going to miss being a second year?
Thinking about how Kurumi always stressed to Kusuo that he needs to only use his powers for good and be gentle and all of that, and while it’s true the reason he probably got told that was because he was always fighting with Kusuke. And yeah, Kusuo was maybe a little overzealous in defending himself but also it’s pretty hard to tell a little kid in the single digits that other people are allowed to hit him and he just has to take it because he’s stronger, and he can never defend himself.
sorry im obsessed with the saiki brothers just being normal silly brothers while also being the most insane and abnormal pair of siblings of all time
"ha! this time, kusuo, i'll finally destroy- are you wearing my sweater?"
"... no."
"GIVE ME MY SWEATER BACK? WHEN DID YOU EVEN TAKE IT-?"
-
"kusuo, can you dye my hair?"
"im not touching your greasy stem student hair."
-
"i left cheesecake in the fridge earlier, do you-"
"i ate it."
"i will end you."
Are...are you speaking from experience saiki? Be honest saiki when you were a young child did you use your powers to get lots of free popsicles so you could eat them all?
"the only reason i didnt turn into an evil mastermind is because of my mom" idk kusuo have you seen your brother
honestly one of my fav things that isn’t ever talked about with Kusuo is that he is honestly when you actually examine him, a pretty normal teenager. He’s insecure, he cares a lot about his mom and is scared of making her mad, he gets invested in other peoples drama, he dislikes PE, he hates being spoiled for things, he has an embarrassing crush that his friends judge him for, he has an awkward relationship with his dad and fights with his brother, he wants to be protected.
Like underneath all the unfamiliar stuff, he is honestly Just Some Guy.
he's a leo.
he's incredibly tidy. if his parents leave the house in a mess, he'll complain but proceed to deep-clean it anyways.
he's a stickler for other people's safety. if he notices someone's shoelace is untied, he'll tie it for them, regardless of the circumstances (ie. smack-dab in the middle of a sports game)
on another note, he seems to have a fixation with tying people's shoelaces for them.
he's weak for sweets in general, not just coffee jelly. sweet tooth saiki!
he has a huge soft spot for kids. this probably stems from his failed childhood friendship with akechi.
he's scared of bugs because he can't read their minds. this implies that powerless!saiki might be a lot shyer, more anxious, and even pricklier, since he doesn't know what anybody's thinking.
he's totally a mama's boy. he learned his moral compass from her, does whatever she wants, believes he was born an esper to protect her, etc.
also, the notorious zebra print blazer was because of his mom.
he's so much of a people-pleaser that he'll sacrifice his desire for anonymity and normalcy; he'll insert himself into situations, stalk people, and use his powers even if it means the spotlight will fall on him.
not only is he a people-pleaser, he's a drama queen. he'd rather concoct elaborate plans to avoid somebody instead of simply rejecting them.
he's a one piece fan.
his favorite arcade game used to be whack-a-mole, and he thought destroying all the moles meant he'd won. he was banned because of this.
his glasses are colored glasses from his childhood toy box. wording implies that he's been wearing this same pair his whole life.
he likes baking/cooking, mostly because he gets to eat the sweets that he made. (househusband saiki... heh.)
he smiled a lot more freely as a kid. when he wasn't wearing a dazed expression, he looked like quite the cheerful child.
he helps kaido out with classwork by simply handing him his own work.
he rarely gets sick, and when he does he can cure himself by turning his body into an inferno through pyrokinesis. however, this means he knows next to nothing about medicine.
similarly, he's tragically naïve about the internet.
he's good at singing and likes karaoke (preferably singing by himself).
like kaido, he gets seasick. however, he fervently denies this. he seems to think himself impervious of the maladies regular people suffer from.
he has a bit of a girly run.
he likes using takahashi as a joke. "it's everyone's favorite, takahashi." he also hates takahashi because of his strong resemblance to akechi's childhood bully, takashi.
he likes hot baths.
when he walks home from school, he follows this routine: he stops at the convenience store, picks up coffee jelly, puts it back on the shelf, then continues home. ...incredible. he seems incapable of not staring at any nearby coffee jelly.
he may be willing to downplay his smarts/talents to avoid trouble, but he'll get competitive when he's with akechi or kusuke.
he's hesitant to cause his friends any harm, but will freely maim toritsuka, so long as the damage is immediately reversed.
he won't hesitate with kusuke, though.
Time Travel AU where Michael goes back in time physically instead of just mentally, back before the loss of either of his siblings, and comes across his childhood self. He takes one look at this stupid, cruel, selfish little brat. The same one who let his sister die because he’d rather goof off that watch her. Who murdered his brother in cold blood. Whose terrible behavior put strain on William’s marriage. All of which contributed to William’s deteriorating mental state which ultimately stopped him from getting help with his homicidal urges (or so Mike believes). He takes one look at this kid (who is currently staring up at this moldy stranger thinking ‘why does this dude smell like roadkill’) and immediately wraps his hands around the brat’s throat. Mike strangles his past self to death right there in broad daylight.
Mike’s body is found abandoned at the side of the road. Neither hide nor hair is ever found of the murderer, almost as if he’d vanished into thin air.
@dire-kumori has an au where Scooped Mike gets time-travelled to before CC and Liz's deaths, and he's filled with such blind rage and self-loathing upon seeing his younger self that he kills young Mike over and over again in a time loop that young Mike barely even understands. Guess who wrote a one-shot for it? (I'm also tagging @serenefig and @cloudwhisper23 bc I feel like you'll be interested in reading)
word count: 3,715
“Have fun with your friends’, brats. Don’t even think about coming back until morning unless you want to spend the night outside, ‘cause I won’t bother unlocking the doors for you.”
Cold lines of metal pressed grooves into Mike’s back as he leaned against the front door threshold and waved his siblings goodbye. His voice resounded in sharp echoes across the tree line; he spoke a bit too loud considering that his little siblings were only a few feet away, but then again, that was the point.
You never knew what things were lurking in the shadows, listening and lying in wait for the moment they could get you alone. Sometimes, however, you could use that to your advantage.
Michael’s gaze roved over the tree line as his siblings turned their backs on him and walked down the driveway. The trees surrounded their entire house in a near-perfect circle; shadows crept beneath the trees’ gnarled, grasping finger-like branches. As the sun slumped further down in the sky, the shadows drew steadily closer and closer to the house like a tidal wave of darkness begging to be held back no longer.
The eldest Afton’s jaw clenched as he dug his teeth into his gum with even more ferocity. Slowly, he pulled his Foxy mask from the top of his head to cover his face.
He didn’t have to be afraid with the wicked smile and sharp teeth covering his face. It was an assurance that Michael could be strong and brave even when– no, especially when he was all on his own, just like the pirate fox he felt so much for.
If a monster wanted to chase him down, then so be it. But as long as Mike had his mask on, the monster wasn't the only dangerous thing around.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Electricity shot through every nerve ending in Michael’s body. The jolt of adrenaline made every hair stand on end, and heat roared through his veins like wildfire as Mike crouched behind the garage wall with his fingers white-knuckled and half-numb against the cool metal of his bright red bat.
Each breath passed his lips at a crawl. Everything around him seemed to blur and fade to gray as Mike focused his entire being on the harsh slam of rubber soles coming closer and closer.
A million ghostly aches, sharp and dull and stabbing and pressing aches of a million undeaths, all sparked to life with increasing intensity as the monster drew closer and closer, but Mike pushed away the memories of aches and pains assaulting his limbs.
He only needed to get one good shot in.
He smelled the bastard long before it got close. It was something like the curdled cup of milk that Mike had found in his room last week, the maggot-infested animal carcasses he and his friends would poke at when they found them on the side of the road, the stank of rotten eggs– all those putrid smells and more clinging to the bastard's skin in an eye-watering stench that made Michael’s stomach churn and his throat burn on principle.
Mike's heart hammered in his chest, almost to the same beat as the footfalls chasing him.
There was a flurry of movement as the sicko ran past Mike where he was crouched out of sight behind the wall.
The reaper's footfalls quickly slowed as though somehow aware that it had been duped, but Mike was already moving.
The decaying monster didn't even have time to turn around before Mike jumped forward and slammed his bat into the back of its head.
His years' worth of practice hitting baseballs did nothing to prepare him for the vibrations that rocketed painfully through his arms and shoulders and all the way down his back, nor for the sickening crack of a human skull shattering under his hands.
The monster went down, but Mike could only stand there even as a voice in the back of his mind screamed at him to run. Vomit burned his throat at the curdled blood and the dark red and purple slimy skin that clung to the metal of his bat before it fell to the ground with a wet plop beside the monster. Thick droplets of the creature’s ice-cold blood dribbled down Michael’s face and smeared against the teen’s lips as he stood there in shock.
Boney claws wrapped around Mike’s ankle. The sharp pain of bone digging underneath his skin jerked Michael’s mind back to awareness, and he brought his bat down on the thing's wrist just before it had time to yank him to the ground.
The fingers didn't let him go even after the impact of Mike’s bat ground the compact bones along the creature’s wrist into fine dust held together only by moldy stretches of tendon and skin.
Michael brought the bat down on the thing's arm again and again and again before its other hand finally snaked around and grabbed hold of the slippery dark red metal.
Michael yanked the bat closer, cursing himself for giving the reaper a chance to rip his weapon away. But the reaper didn’t; instead, it used the momentum of Michael’s action against him.
Mike's vision went red with pain as the handle of his bat flew back at him and slammed into his lips with enough force that Mike heard his plastic mask crack on his face.
Except Michael realized a split second later that it wasn’t just his mask that had cracked. Something sharp and coppery exploded in Mike's mouth and the teen choked on shards of his own teeth as the fractured remnants slid down the back of his throat.
The thing's fingers were still locked around his ankle, and the moldy strands of tendon and skin keeping its bony purple hand attached to the rest of the monster's body snapped apart as Michael stumbled backward with tears in his eyes and dark red blood dribbling down his chin. He was too stunned by pain to react even as the monster peeled itself off the ground with one arm; its other, handless appendage hung limply against its side in a mess of unnatural angles kept together only by thin layers of rotting skin.
Its neck snapped down to look at its obliterated arm, but somehow, the creature looked almost bored as its empty eye sockets focused on the mangled stretch of flesh and shattered bone attached to it. The monster’s remaining fingers latched around its broken arm before ripping the twisted limb from its shoulder with enough force that its entire body jerked at the motion.
The shattered lower part of the arm flopped to the ground in a pile of putrid skin, and the reaper's head snapped back up and its empty eyes focused directly on Michael with its fingers still grasping the remains of its upper arm.
"You're going to regret that,” it whispered in the grinding croak reminiscent of a bag of gravel and forks shoved down a garbage disposal.
"M-Make me."
Michael had wanted to sound stubborn and strong, but the words cracked in the air and passed his lips in nothing but a whimpering stammer as he tried not to gurgle on his own blood.
He should have ran the second he had gotten a hit in on this– this stupid son of a bitch. Things were– Everything was already going so wrong.
The creature lurched at him. Michael didn't have time to run or stumble away; he barely had time to raise his bat.
The reaper still had the upper part of its broken arm in hand, but Michael didn't notice the sharp end of broken bone protruding from the severed arm until the jagged point had already buried itself inside Mike’s shoulder.
Two pinpoints of light sparked to life in the monster’s eyes, and its gaping black eyes looked directly at him as Michael screamed.
The reaper ripped its broken arm out of Michael’s shoulder and aimed for the teen's heart.
Michael just managed to ram the end of his bat into the reaper's neck at the last second.
It was a weak blow. The monster’s close proximity didn’t give the teen enough room to maneuver the long bat and Mike's arms and wobbly legs trembled dangerously, worsening his ability to strike. But by some miracle, it was enough to make the monster stumble a few steps back, though it grabbed onto the teen's bat and ripped it from his hands as it stumbled.
Michael didn’t fight to get the bat back. He turned on his heel and ran.
The teen’s hands clawed at his own shoulder as the monster’s footfalls echoed behind him once more.
Tears stung Michael’s eyes as he remembered that bloody, grimy, disgusting bone piercing into him. God only knew what kind of germs that thing had put into his system– what if the wound got infected?
Not that an infected wound would matter if Mike didn’t keep himself alive and out of the creature’s way.
Michael forced the pain and panicked delirium away. He had to focus; this was the important part.
The reaper was just behind him, following at a pace closer to a walk than a run.
Somehow, that was so, so much worse. The monster didn't have to run to keep up with him, and it knew it. It would always catch him in the end, like a hunter casually strolling after the blood trail of a wounded deer. The creature would never tire nor stop chasing him, and it was just a matter of time before Mike got too tired to go on running from it.
‘No. No, no, no– not this time.’
The monster’s slower pace did make this more difficult, though. Michael couldn't move too fast. He needed to always be just out of the creature's reach, or he would risk the monster getting distracted or frustrated and trying to cut him off by going a different route.
This would have a way better chance of success if Mike could keep the monster right where he wanted it.
Michael dashed into the house from the garage and raced up and down hallways and from room to room. As he ran, he ducked and jumped periodically to avoid tripe wires, avoided stepping on any rugs, and danced around jagged pieces of metal and nails and blades that had been embedded into the hardwood floor.
He really couldn’t afford to mess up this part. Any wrong moves or missteps would have to be avoided at all costs. But with any luck, the monster hunting him wouldn’t be so careful.
As he raced up the steps, he made sure to skip the fifth step down. But as he reached the top, it slowly dawned on him that things had been unusually quiet. As far as Mike was aware, the monster never seemed to react much to pain, but there was a distinct lack of surprised grunts or infuriated yells, or whirring gears and mechanical parts snapping as traps were set off.
Chest heaving as he panted, Michael turned and looked down.
The reaper was standing right there at the bottom of the steps. It looked exactly the same as it had when Michael had fought it in the garage, like it hadn’t set off a single trap during the chaotic chase.
Its head was tilted back, staring at the kitchen knives and heavy hooks used to hang endoskeletons that Michael had stolen and hung from the ceiling over the steps. They were hung high enough that Mike could race up and down with no problem, but the taller monster should have gotten a nasty surprise as it came after him with that single-minded focus it always seemed to have.
Instead, the monster looked up at the trap with an annoyed expression before meeting Michael’s eye.
Keeping its head ducked low, the reaper placed its foot on the first step.
Michael’s heart leaped into his throat and he stumbled down the hallway, struggling to breathe properly through all the panting and the blood still flooding his mouth and throat.
How was that thing still walking?! Mike had set death traps up in every inch of this house; it just wasn’t possible that the reaper could have stumbled through the house without setting a single one off!
The thing on the steps was still way, way too quiet. Had it seen him skip the fifth step down?
Mike turned for a split second to see if the reaper had gotten to the top steps yet.
A sharp pain sliced through Michael’s throat.
That single second of distraction had been enough time to throw several hours of analyzing the layout of every trap he'd set up in this house out the window.
The sharp feeling wrapped around his entire throat as his own momentum forced him further into the trap. The wire tightened, and suddenly Mike’s feet left the floor entirely and he slammed against the ugly red wallpaper.
Hurricane was a small town. One where there wasn't much to do, especially when your father worked at the most interesting place in town and you had to spend nearly every day there for hours on end.
Michael and his friends had explored every nook and cranny and forgotten place there was to find in the town. Including the abandoned railroad tracks in the surrounding woods.
Those tracks were so old that the rusty spikes meant to hold them together could often be found lying on the ground around the tracks, ripe for the taking; even the ones still riveted inside the old tracks could mostly be removed with some determination, and the sharp, rusty, six-and-a-half inch long spikes were attractive prizes to a group of rowdy teens with nothing better to do.
Michael had stored a lot of them away in his closet over time.
Sticking the rivets through a slab of plywood and nailing the plywood plank into the wall upstairs with the sharp ends facing outward had been a lot of effort, just like a lot of the traps he had spent the entire day building, but Michael had deemed it a worthwhile venture because he had been certain those spikes would be able to do some damage.
And Michael had been right.
Michael had put six or seven of those spikes through the plywood, but when Mike slammed into the wall, he only felt one big blast of pain set his back on fire. He didn't even have time to scream before a gush of blood and vomit slid through his throat, staining his shattered teeth and turning his inhuman screech into a quiet gurgle.
The wire stayed wrapped around Mike's throat and cut deeper as his feet–- suspended by the railroad spikes and wire too high for the teen to reach the ground– thrashed wildly in the air.
Michael’s vision went black as the thrashing jostled the spikes, widening the holes in his back and sending the sharp, rusted rivets deeper into his flesh until some of them scraped against his ribcage.
Gasping, Michael sucked in one shaky breath after another and tried to ignore the desperate need to claw himself upward. His throat and lungs were filling with liquid, but he wasn't drowning in water. There was no surface he could rise above to make it all stop.
What a strange sensation it was to drown in your own hallway without a drop of water in sight.
Bloody fingers clawed at the wire around his throat, but he couldn't pull it away any more than he could clear his airway.
Salty tears leaked down Michael’s face in a futile attempt to clear away the blood still staining his chin. Between one blink and the next, the red wallpaper and family picture frames in front of the teen were replaced by two hollow black eyes and putrid purple flesh flecked with varying shades of green mold that peeked out of the crusty white bandages holding its splitting skin together
The monster cocked its head at him, and Michael finally got a good view of the damage he had dealt it earlier. The side of its head had caved in like deflated basketball or a sandcastle under an oncoming tide, and yellowish-white shards of bone jutted out from the jelly-like mixture of blood and decaying muscle dripping from the cracks in its head.
The white pinpoints of its eyes flashed up and down him curiously, watching the blood flow down Michael’s body and drip into an ever-widening pool under his feet. The thing's lips had long ago rotted away, but Michael realized as raspy, cracked laughter spilled between the thing's dried-out, wrinkled gums and bared yellow teeth that the monster was smiling at him.
"You bastard!" More blood dribbled down Michael’s chin and gurgled inside his throat. Mike tried to spit it all out like this was nothing more than his morning mouthwash routine. "You bastard!"
Floorboards moaned under the reaper's feet as it took another step closer. Michael flinched as it did so, and immediately bit back a cry at the white-hot pain of spikes shifting inside his back and scraping against bone and organs.
"That looks like it hurts," the reaper rasped.
Michael’s tears stung as they leaked into cuts on his face from his earlier fight with the monster. He had felt hot and sweaty before from all the running and fighting, but now his fingers were iceblocks against his neck as he struggled with the wire digging into his flesh. A frighteningly cold, bone-deep chill cut into Michael's form, and the child trembled as he struggled to breathe through the blood and the pain.
He couldn't run. Couldn't fight. The monster– the reaper– was going to kill him now.
At least the pain will stop, a voice whispered in the teen's head.
A quiet sob shook the young teen's core. He needed the pain to stop so fucking much, but he didn't want the pain to stop– he wanted to live.
But if he was going to die, at least it would be on his own terms.
"Go ahead," Michael growled. "Jus– Just g-get it over with."
The creature cocked its head at him again, like it had been too distracted watching the blood seeping from Michael's form to bother listening to what he had said.
"Just d-do it!" Michael sobbed. "K-kill me, you– you wrinkly, p-puss-filled ball-sack! Come on! Just– just– get i-it over with and kill me!"
The reaper took another step closer. "No."
Blood-shot eyes locked onto the reaper's gaping eye sockets. "Why?!"
Wasn't that the point?! Wasn't that what this– thing– had set out to do, over and over and over?!
The reaper's hand settled on Michael’s chest. Mike didn't have the energy left to flinch or be wary. He only met the reaper's eye in pained exhaustion.
But then the reaper pushed.
Michael screamed as his prized railroad spikes dug deeper into him until his bloody back was finally pressed flush against the wall.
One of the railroad spikes went all the way through Michael’s chest and stabbed into the reaper's palm, but the monster didn't seem to notice. It ripped its hand away before latching onto one of Michael’s wrists as the teen frantically tried pulling the reaper's arm away from him.
"You want to know why?" Its voice whipped against the air in a wild hiss.
The dull hallway light gleamed off the dark red liquid coating Michael’s skin as the reaper shoved the teen's blood-stained hand in front of his face before it snarled at him. "Because no matter how many ways you try to run or fight it, you will always bring this hell down on yourself with your own hands. You did this, Michael."
'You're insane,' the teen wanted to say, but there was too much blood in Mike's throat for him to talk, or even to breathe. He tried shaking his head at the thing, but the wire was starting to cut frighteningly deep inside his throat. Michael could only stare at the monster in front of him with wide-eyed horror and beg for it to just end this, like the bastard was supposed to do when it caught him.
The reaper released Michael’s wrist, and the teen's arm fell limply down to his side.
He should do something; he should fight. But his energy had been draining away with every second he spent hanging on his own death trap, and there was so little left inside him.
He couldn't even lean away as the reaper lifted its only hand, moved its fingers around the edge of his mask, and traced the curve of his head with an almost gentle touch.
The reaper's broken fingers paused on a string looping behind the teen's head. It latched onto the string and pulled, ripping the Foxy mask off of Michael’s head.
The reaper's teeth ground together as it glared down at the bloody mask before letting the plastic slip from between rotten fingers and fall to the bloody floor with a wet and heavy thunk. And without hesitation, the reaper slammed its foot down on the only thing that had ever made Michael feel strong.
Hearing the sharp crack of plastic as the monster decimated the mask and shattered Foxy's maw into pieces wrenched a hopeless sob out of the teenager's chest.
The reaper stayed still. It didn't move further away, nor did it move any closer.
It only watched as Michael struggled to free himself from the trap one last time before finally giving up.
Michael struggled to gulp down another shaky breath through his sobbing but was rewarded only with more blood in his lungs and pain searing every nerve ending until even the most minuscule movements lit every cell and nerve in his body on fire.
Through it all, the reaper stood back and watched with a smile.
Not wanting to see the monster's smug, rotten face or the blood staining his own body anymore, Michael could do nothing but close his eyes and wait for the moment when the last drop of blood would drip from his body and all the pain would finally end.
(Michael had the sinking feeling that death wouldn’t be that easy of an escape.)
Just thought of a random headcanon:
Wakko has a form of synesthesia that links sight and taste. He can taste colors and textures. To him, if something looks good enough to eat, it tastes good enough to eat.
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K but Saiki himself is just a background character. Like everything is the same except someone (who doesn’t know about psychics) is the protagonist.
But like… there’s some kid in the background with some goofy hair clips and colourful sunglasses. Sometimes you’ll see them peeking around corners. They’re in like every scene it’s weird as hell. All the other characters are obsessed with them. Who is this guy?
So, due to Saiki's manipulation, humans are stronger and more resilient than they otherwise would be. Saiki says that in his world, small people can defeat much larger opponents in physical combat, so it's not like this rule only applies to already strong characters. Kurumi is small and thin and can still effortlessly throw a table. Despite everyone's strength being multiplied, Kaidou is still incredibly weak. He can hardly throw a ball two feet and his punches feel like tickles. Would Kaidou have been even weaker if it weren't for Saiki's manipulation? His lack of stength is already significant by real world standards. Was Kaidou supposed to have chronic asthenia and/or a condition that causes weakness?
Discuss
ok but have you considered: magical girl saiki.
he's got pink hair, powers, and an alternate girl form. it's perfect
I'm surprisingly okay with powerless Saiki aus but only when he's just as much a superiority complex fueled smug bastard.
Like hes still able to do half the shit he can do, but just to a more reasonably human level. Like he could get straight 100s or a grip strength of 640 pounds. But he still does everything in his power to be as average and unnoticeable as possible while his inner monologue is "good grief all these normal humans. I'm better than them, it's not ego it's fact" just like in canon. He's also just as much "I'm not going to involve myself" but immediately secretly involves himself.
I've made a redraw of one of my old drawings and there it is! The pokemon trainer! Saiki. He does pokemon double battles with Nendou and they're basically unstoppable together! ^^
I love the adult saiki version of @oceanwithouthermoon where he's basically princess bubblegum but I just had an idea
remember the alternate universe where kusuo died and kusuke started ww3? well, another similar Au but instead of kusuo, the one who dies is kusuke and kusuo its the one who starts the war and bla bla bla
in the canon episode kusuke seems kinda "off"
he doesn't seems like his usual childish self
he looks more serious and centered, similar to his brother's personality (then he changed to his old personality again when the alternate kusuo arrived)
but the thing is that i feel that if the other die, they would switch personalities
even worse If they were the one who killed eachother (its not confirmated the reason of why kusuo died but a lot of people prefer to believe that kusuke killed him and I agree)
so what if in this au kusuke's death changed kusuo's personality to be more like kusuke's?
if you combine kusuo and kusuke's personality you will get something similar to princess bubblegum but even more fucked up so...
I had been writing a fic that it's basically this but the princess bubblegum thing opened my eyes for more ideas, I need to finish that thing aaaa
Au where when Saiki was younger, he sometimes ran into Aren's mom injured and helped her out, and he became something like an unofficial medic to her and her little group. Sometimes when Saiki was patching her up, she would vaguely talk about her kid around his age and stuff. Well, she wouldn't mention Aren by name or talk about him out loud but Saiki just reads her thoughts and so he vaguely knows about her little Hoodlum but then she and her gang moved and Saiki being a little too good at Rock Paper Scissors happened and so they got separated and drifted apart.
Only for some odd years later (Like, four or five) and Aren transfers into Saiki's class with his whole trying to be a normie spiel and how he is totally not gonna be a punk anymore. Aren doesn't really look like his parents (In the same way of how Kusuo and Kusuke don't really look like Kurumi) so Saiki doesn't really suspect anything- and neither does Aren, and they carry on. Imagine a similar situation as the street magician Chouno Uryoku and how his ex-wife did not look anything like how the dude thought of her.
Saiki never really got out of his Street Medic habits and Aren sometimes coming to school with some scrapes from gangsters either trying to pick a fight or drag him back into his past only exacerbates Saiki's medic habits. Like, he always used to carry bandages and alcohol wipes and antibiotic ointment, but had talked to just carrying bandages because a whole medkit had been annoying to carry and needless for an esper like him. Though, he had started carrying a bit more for Kaidou and Hairo when they become closer. (Saiki adds the antibiotic ointment back into his repertoire for Aren)
When they gets close enough and Aren invites them to his house is when the fun really starts. Kaidou and Nendo find Aren's baby album and look through it and everything. But Saiki spots a smaller album on the book shelf and is thinking "Better not show too many of these family albums to those two, who knows what we might see" trying not to think about the album collections documenting his parent's dates and stuff.
And when Aren comes back into the room the four are just vibing and hanging out, Aren even bought out some Coffee jelly as an offering thank you for coming ya introverted bean. So, even Saiki is in a pretty good mood. And then they hear the front door open and close with shuffling and stuff with a 'We're home, Hoodlum!' and Aren going to greet his parents like the totally good kid he is, and Saiki is like "??? That voice sounds kinda familar."
And whadduya know!
When Aren's mom turns around from putting stuff in the fridge, Saiki instanting recognizes her and its the same lady he helped all those years ago! I imagine its not a big dramatic moment but there is a "What a surprise" moment. And she's just like "Haha! Little Medic, you're friends with my brat, what a small world! I hope he's treating you and his other friends right."
And Aren is standing there after trying to introduce his friends like "What." Kaidou says "You know Saiki???? But he never leaves his house!" But Nendou is the one to be like "Wow, Aren's Mom, how do you know my buddy?"'
To which Aren's Mom says briefly that Saiki used to get discounts from the stores near her hangouts (Rough part of town, but great prices for stingy child espers) and how he used to help her and some of her girls. Aren is over here dumbfounded, and Kaidou is just like, "wouldn't he have been like, six, a decade ago??" That Saiki pointedly does not confirm.
But Saiki and Aren's mom are over here just casually talking while all the other teenagers are standing there, bewildered. Like, Aren is over here being like "Hold on, I thought Saiki was a goody-goody, He knows my mom?!?" Meanwhile:
Aren's Mom: How's that brother of yours?
Saiki: Moved to Britain and is still a sore loser.
Aren's Mom: Haha, good to know he's not bothering ya! So, how's my little hoodlum doing in class? Not being a brat is he?
Saiki in a true show of open candidness: If he was a bother, he wouldn't still be in my class.
And Kaidou and Aren are nearly shitting their pants from this being like "SAIKI?????" with it just completely flying over Nendo's head.
Then, the rest of the hang out is Aren's Mom sharing stories of tiny Aren while Saiki is eating more Coffee Jelly
Au where saiki and teruhashi swap powers
They still have the same personalities
Teruhashi with powers kinda reminded me of monika so I gave her ponytail.