Chapter two is out! I'm happy to present the latest chapter.
It can be found here!
Now that posting week for Ectoimplosion is ending, I'll be posting Daily Excerpts and Sneak Peaks relating to Passion on this blog. You can find those and information about Passion's Lore as the story goes on.
Not convinced to read just yet? Have a tidbit to enjoy!
The smell of the rotisserie hot dogs made his mouth water. Danny and his friends were milling around the inside of a certain gas station, not a mile from Fentonworks. Tucker worked the freezie nozzles in the back with a large cup in hand, trying to design his newest frozen masterpiece. Beside Danny stood Sam, crafting hotdogs together, a disapproving downturn to her lips. The station had great tofu dogs; she just hated his choice in toppings.
“Come on, Sam, you have to try it.” He waved his dressed abomination just in front of her face. It had onions and relish, classic hot dog condiments, but also hot sauce and peanut butter. He reached over to squeeze some honey mustard over the top, and her face truly scrunched up.
“Danny, you are actually going to eat that, right? That poor animal didn’t die just for you to turn it into garbage.”
He raised his eyebrows, eyes going wide in shock. “I know they say this is made of pork, Sam, but I’m pretty sure this was never an animal.”
“Maybe not one with hooves, anyway.” Tucker joined them by the hot dog station, clutching his newest freezie mixture.
“Besides, how could I not try it? I’ve done so much work to craft the best hot dog ever.” He grabbed another off the rotating grill, deciding to change up the toppings this time. Sweet and hot peppers, ketchup and honey went on this one. “You think this is good?”
“I think it needs caramelized onions.” Tucker traded places with him in front of the rotisserie grill, reaching in to grab a few deep-fried mini burritos. “Maybe try to think of what would go best with your freezie.”
“Dude, it’s like 40 degrees outside, I’m not getting a freezie.”
Proof that I am writing the second chapter for Love and Death (Occultic AU).
Though I think I want to post Deceit and Sleep’s backstories first, but we’ll see. Also thanks for being patient with me until after August 17th when I’ll be done with summer courses.
[Story Excerpt] Yukigo no Kuroko [Chapter Two Excerpt]
I had 1/3 of the chapter already written out when I posted chapter one... And I’m taking my time writing it... But, er, here’s a bit of it. Unbeta’d and probably will be changed/altered before I post the real thing though!
“What do you wanna order, Tetsu-chan?” Shige-kun asked as he all-but dragged me through the semi-crowded family restaurant known as Maji Burger on the very next day.
“A small vanilla shake.” I replied, trying not to get pushed in the lunch rush crowd. It was difficult acclimating to being invisible, and I still wondered how that even worked. As long as I have mass, and people weren’t blind, they should see me, right? At least, I figured, it was better than being Kellum from Fire Emblem Awakening - people would forget he existed while talking to him.
“Just a shake?” He frowned, disapproving of my small appetite.
I couldn’t help it though, Tetsuko had a really small stomach. Overeating would mean vomiting, and I didn’t want to develop bulimia. That being said, I didn’t want to be anorexic either.
“Fine, a small burger, too.” I sighed, knowing I could probably squeeze it in. Probably.
“Alright,” He turned to the teenage boy by the counter to order for me and himself. “I’ll have a Maji Burger Combo with a medium Cola, a small Vanilla Shake and a small burger.”
“Will that be dine in, or takeaway?” The uniformed boy asked, politely.
“Dine in, thanks.” Shige-kun answered distractedly, gripping my arm tightly to steady me when a passer-by bumped into me accidentally. Again.
“That will be 1275 yen, please.” He handed over our combined spending money to pay for the meal to the cashier. “Please wait just a moment.”
“Geez, Tetsu-chan, your lack of presence is gonna get you hurt one of these days.” He sighed, still unused to how people saw through me. “We should get you a bell, or somethin’.”
“I’d rather not, Shige-kun. I’m not a pet.” I deadpanned. “My hair is already this bright, I really don’t think there’s anything more I could do to stand out more. Besides, you just don’t want me to scare you anymore.”
“Eh, I guess that’s kinda true. But stiiiill.” He whined, grabbing the tray since my hands were full with the basketball. As we walked to one of the free tables he added, “And, you don’t scare me! You just...surprise me!”
“It amounts to the same thing.” I snorted, making a grab for my vanilla shake. Shige-kun held it away from me. I sighed through my nose. “Are we really doing this, Shige-kun?”
“Come’n, we gotta figure this mystery out!” He cajoled. “Maybe you’re like the Invisible Woman in that one comic! Think about it, a superhero!”
“No thanks,” I cut him down, wrenching my vanilla shake out of those evil hands. I take back what I thought a few days ago, Shige-kun wasn’t like Kise - he was more like Takao, which would make me Midorima, joy. “And, you mean heroine. In any case, it’s useful not being singled out... Besides, hearing you shriek warms my heart.”
“Uwah~! So mean,” He mock cried, taking a sullen bite into his burger. “You have a worrying sense of humour, Tetsu-chan.”
“I have no sense of humour,” I countered, sipping the vanilla shake held between my hands. “None whatsoever.”
“Pfft,” Shige-kun snorted into his cola. “Sure. You have grown up sense of humour! You’re lucky I learned to be this sharp from my dad, otherwise I’d think you were just weird.”
“Please do continue, your words truly make me feel better about myself.” I snarked while maintaining the Tetsuya-monotone, unwrapping my small burger.
“See! Like that, that!” He exclaimed, raising his voice.
“It’s called sarcasm, Shige-kun.” I took a bite, pausing a bit and looked around us. “And, try not to yell. You’ll annoy the people around us.”
“It’ll be fine, the people around us are noisier.” He waved a dismissive hand, speaking through a mouthful of his burger. “So, like, we should try to get to know each other better, right? I mean, you’re the only one around here that plays basketball and there’s no Mini-Basketball Club here.”
“I’m so glad our friendship lies in a shared interest I happened to pick up.” I monotoned, voice carefully neutral to not make my sarcasm obvious. It’s not like I had been looking forward to meeting the boy for two weeks or anything, of course not.
“Yeah, I know right? The girls in my old school never took to basketball!” The sarcasm went over his head. “Hmm... How about, what kind of things do you like to do?”
“That’s pretty broad,” I took a moment to ponder my answer. To answer more as Tetsuko, or as myself? Well, obviously, myself, since Tetsuko wasn’t here. “But I’d say reading books and learning magic tricks; drawing too, I guess.”
“Magic tricks?”
Yes. Or, more like, I’m interested in misdirection, a technique used in magic tricks.
Missudarekushon? He sounded out. “What is that?”
“Misdirection.” I corrected, happy that constantly speaking to myself in English had made the Japanese somewhat minimal. Somewhat. I probably should worry about the whole first-sign-of-insanity thing, but who cares. “It’s how a magician does his tricks; he guides where you look at using certain cues to draw the audience’s attention to or from an object or place.”
“What...? Uh, I kinda get it but...”
“Hm, for example, look at me.” I scrunched up my burger wrapper and tossed it between my hands a few times. Once Shige-kun had shifted his attention to the wrapper, I threw it to his left while grabbing a few of his fries on his right and popping them into my mouth.
“That,” I spoke around the fries in mouth. “... is misdirection.”
“What do you… Hey!” He pointed at me with an accusing finger. “Those were mine!”
“Yes, they were.” I agreed, the ‘but not anymore’ left unspoken.
“Mou…” He sighed, before giving an exasperated laugh. “I guess I asked for that one.”
“Yes, you did.”
“So, was there a point to that, except, you know, stealing my fries?” He asked after a moment of silence.
“Well…” I contemplated telling him, before deciding I might as well. Now, how to explain how I ‘got’ this idea? Oh, I could… “I got this idea while reading this manga about a Phantom Thief who used ‘magic’ to steal things. It got me interested in magic tricks and I wondered where else I could use it, you know? I don’t want to be like that Phantom Thief, plus he was way too flashy for my tastes. But when I saw a basketball match once, I had the idea that maybe I could use it in basketball. That’s actually why I started trying, actually.”
“Ehh?” Shige-kun’s eyes were spinning slightly, trying to process the information, before a look of understanding flashed across his face. “Oooh! I get it, so you’d be like… a phantom on the court? The Phantom of the Court?”
“Yes, something like that.” I nodded, happy with my half-excuse. I did, in fact, become interested in magic after watching Magic Kaito 1412, and while now it was just a manga, it was practically the same. The lie was that I had spent any time learning about it - I didn’t, until now, that is. The order of events were different, but it was mainly true. And, watching KuroBasu counted as ‘watching a basketball match’, right? “It’s why I’ve been focusing on passes, actually.”
“Hm? Why passes?” His brow furrowed. “I mean, if you could disappear while holding the ball, and with your ‘low presence’ thing…”
“It doesn’t work like that, Shige-kun,” I refuted. “I don’t disappear, I just escape notice. Think about it this way: what’s the one thing that everyone notices in a basketball game?”
“Uhh… The players…?” He tried. “No, no, the ball! Everyone will always watch where the ball is!”
I nodded. “Right. So, if everyone notices the ball… Even with my lack of presence, they would focus on me right away, right?”
“Right!” He hit a fist into his palm. “Oooh! I get it, now!”
I smiled, finishing my burger. He hummed, a contemplative look on his face.
“But, wow, you’re already thinking of things like this, huh?” He whistled lowly.
“Well, I probably shouldn’t be.” I admitted. “I’m not skilled enough to put any ideas into practice. And I barely know the basics of the game, so it’ll be a while before I’ll be able to play how I want to.”
“But… At least you’ve got an idea. I mean, I never thought about, you know?”
“You don’t have to worry, Shige-kun,” I reassured him. “I just… I already know I won’t be that talented at basketball. I don’t really have the stamina or build for it, and not just because I’m a girl, it’s just… I just don’t. But I don’t want to give up.”
‘Tetsuya could do it, and so can I.’ I thought resolutely, taking a sip of my vanilla shake.
“You never know, Tetsu-chan!” Shige-kun cheered. “You’ve just started, after all!”
“Shige-kun… I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve gotten pretty tired after each day we play. The very sore kind of tired.”
“Like I said, you’re just getting started!” He said adamantly. “You’ll never know if you don’t try! I was the same way when I started!”
“Ha… I think you’ve misunderstood me, Shige-kun. I’m not saying I’m giving up, just that I have to be smart about what I work on. I don’t have natural talent… To make up for that, I have to play smart.” I closed both eyes and took a satisfying slurp of the last of my shake. “Besides… Even the dinosaurs were not kings forever.”
“Ahahaha… You’re kind of scary, Tetsu-chan.” Shige-kun laughed. “I can’t believe you said that with such a flat face.”
“Thank you.” I sighed at my empty drink. “We’ve been talking about me all this time, though. So, what about you Shige-kun? What kind of things do you like to do?”
“Eh~!” He looked stumped. “Er, basketball’s a given so… I guess… Kendo? My dad makes me do it, but it’s pretty cool. Like, samurai cool!”
“Tell me all about it, then.” I smiled. “I’m all ears.”
“Oh, well, it’s really hard to do, but it’s probably why I’m so strong now, you know? I remember when I started play basketball by myself and the ball was sooo heavy, but once I did kendo for a while, it wasn’t that heavy anymore, and then…”
Shige-kun was a nice kid, and he wasn’t put off by sarcasm. (… Should I have been born as Mayuzumi, instead? As much as I was like Tetsuya in circumstance, my personality fit Mayuzumi’s snarky nature more.)
That day, I went home with my throat feeling raw and scratchy.
(Had it really been that long since I had a good, proper conversation with someone else?)
"... Human, Blisen, Elven, Shiften, and Reuary were all the races of People that lived in the Lands of Airam, Humans being the most abundant. They were generally scholars and merchants, though some also were warriors and farmers. The Blisen, however, were the heavy workers, merchants, and traders; they were strongly built and made excellent warriors. These two races lived through out the Lands, neither claiming any specific territory. The Reuary were the fish people of the Lakes of the Lands. They were covered with gills and fins, and had fish-like tails to propel them through water. They did not mingle with the other races very often and stayed in their Domains, but were brilliant when it came to trading between coastal cities. They were known, and feared, for their silver tongues in negotiating. The Shiften, the minority people of Airam, lived in the Shiften Desert behind and along the mountain range. They tended to isolated themselves from the rest of Airam and lived peaceful lives, yet were very spiritual and strong, infamous for their weapon techniques. And then, there were the Elven, people with long ears like bats; they were the dominating race. They ruled over all the land and were the high scholars and politicians, the wisest magicians and strongest warriors. The King and his guards were all Elven. Only a pure blood Elven could take the throne."
