#kei hiwatari

[fugitivehues]

adventitious

[carebearos]

Prompt: Kosuke talks with Risa or Satoshi or Hiwapapa?? Please~ 🙇

The man had been waiting at one of the island's sea caves from way before dusk, although the time of the rendezvous was yet after sunset. They did need the cover of darkness to keep away from prying eyes, after all.

He was here upon Emiko's instructions, in a mission to take from a certain comrade some potions, supposedly to help in her extended stay on land.

"Good evening," a mellow, amicable voice greeted from behind him.

"Ah, hel--oh jumping jellyfish!" The man was startled when he turned and saw a merman with flowing black hair and a sleek black-and-white tail. He was surrounded by two sets of spines that looked like fans of swords, and his tail had a transparent, almost iridescent shine to it. He had black markings that had a turquoise, otherworldly glow that reminded him of bioluminescent plankton. This must be him, the sorcerer Kei; prince consort and Emiko's cousin-in-law.

"Jumping jellyfish, hm? I'm pretty sure they don't do that," there was a laid-back amusement in the merman's response.

"Oh no, that's just an expression; their tentacles aren't usually strong enough--Ah! Except some species of trachymedusae, which have very strong--wait, no! What am I saying?"

The man quickly switched off his built-in ocean index as soon as he caught himself in trivia mode. "Sorry, you probably knew that already, being uhm... a local, and all that! Haha..." he said, awkwardly gesturing at the merman's tail and-- well, entirety.

"Ah, and that's where you're wrong, Mister Scientist~" the merman smiled, his silky voice still carrying that relaxed cadence from earlier. "You did lose me there a little, but the nugget of knowledge was welcome. Which jellyfish were you talking about again?"

Kosuke blinked at the follow-up question. Not a lot of people indulge his ocean fanboy side. "Oh... uh, right, sorry. Uhm, we call them the crossota species..?" Kosuke glanced at the merman who was not one bit enlightened by the additional jargon. "Uhm, they're these... red jellies with thin, wispy tentacles. And they swim very fast."

"Ohh, the red propellers. I see. They are swift, yes," the man nodded, looking genuinely interested in what the marine biologist just shared. "Well, I wouldn't be surprised if those could really jump out above the surface!"

"There haven't been documented cases... but a-anyway, that's enough boring jellyfish talk!"

"Not at all~ It was amusing," the merman smiled. "Anyway, you looked quite... shaken when you saw me. Is everything all right?"

"Oh that! Oh, I really didn't mean to--it's just that... your patterns..."

"Hm?"

"Well, they are--they're breathtaking! I've always been fascinated by lionfish!"

"Mm, is that so? Well, I'm flattered. And here I was for a moment fearing that I got the wrong human and that I would have to uh..."

"To what?" Kosuke's eyes popped out of their sockets, but the merman stayed unfazed.

"Don't mind me, that doesn't matter!" Kosuke didn't know if it was the creeping shadows of the falling dusk, but there was a moment of sinister look in the eyes of his new acquaintance despite his unwavering smile. "From what she's told me and Rio, I have no doubts; you're Princess Emi's human."

Emiko's human? Kosuke thought. Well that's one way to put it. Not that he's opposed.

"And speaking of the Princess, I have the potions she requested. As well as some written instructions. And gifts from Princess Rio."

"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!" Kosuke smiled as he received the bundle in his arms.

"A pleasure to be of service to her highness!"

"Her highness..?" Kosuke was surprised that, as prince consort and future king, he would address Emiko with such reverence.

"Ah. Habits," the merman smiled. "I am marrying waaay above my station, after all."

"Oh... sorry if that was a delicate subject."

"Not at all!" The merman beamed at him; sincerely, Kosuke dared think. "So Princess Emiko didn't tell you, hm? I am the court sorcerer, interpreter of calamities and maladies... and sometimes prophecies. I just happened to be gifted with magic, but I am not noble by birth."

"So you rose to your current position by your talents? That's amazing!"

"Err, well. Talent can only do you so much~" The merman shrugged and raised himself to one of the cave's big rocks. His scales had a faint bluish-green glow in the moonlight. "Most say it's thanks to you I'm to be king."

"Oh..." Kosuke bit his lips and cast down his eyes.

"Ah, that did not sound right. Apologies," Kei cleared his throat. "I didn't say that to blame you. And besides, blame has no place where offense lies not."

"Hm?"

"I may be being presumptuous here, but you have nothing to take blame for. The former crown princess regrets nothing."

"Did she tell you that?"

"Not exactly~ but frankly, with the way she talks about you and her life here until my and Rio's ears fall off, that's not hard to guess."

"She talks about me??"

"Hmm, let's just say 'talk' does not quite cover it~" the merman chuckled. "Very well! I have to return."

"Ah, right. Thanks again!"

"My pleasure," the merman bowed, which Kosuke frantically returned. "I shall see you again soon. And quite often, I'm sure."

"Huh? What does that mean?"

The merman offered one last smile and no further explanation before diving out of sight. Kosuke saw one last glimpse of his magnificent lionfish tail shimmering in the moonlight before it disappeared in the waves.

And in the moment he was left alone, there was a sense of peace that he had at least one friend beneath the uncertain waters.

No background versions under the cut.

[fugitivehugs]

throws rocks in every direction

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

I think one of my favorite little plot twists out of D.N.Angel was that time Satoshi was given "the adoption talk", except instead of it being the "you're adopted and I never told you", it was his shitty adoptive father confessing not only that he (adoptive father) was actually a Hikari painting by Satoshi's biological mom, but also that he was Satoshi's biological father

The opposite of "Son, you're adopted" is apparently "Adoptive son, I'm your biological dad"

[crescentmoonrider]

Your St Nicolas event is so funny~ May I ask what my bae, Hiwatari Kei from DNAngel, would receive? I believe in miracles, always! That's what this series taught me best~ (Feel free to ignore, sending you love! <3)

[Saint Nicolas Time]

Hiwatari Kei gets : coals. Straight up just coals. I may not have been into DNAngel in a while, but I remember you being an asshole, and even specifically being an asshole to kids. You didn't even try, man, Saint Nicolas is so disappointed in you and not even a miracle can change that

[hkrieg]

Scene from @fugitivehues very good one-shot, “Bracelet”, from her Kosuke-themed series “Postcards”! Read it if you like DNAngel Dad Content 👀 (but be warned; spoilers for part 2 of the manga!)

[luanna801]

So, here’s a D.N.Angel crack theory (which, the more I think about it, I don’t think is even all that outlandish):

In light of Hiwatari’s seeming immortality, what if he actually is Satoshi’s biological father?

I mean, look at it this way: Both of Satoshi’s parents (presumably) died before the events of the series, but we’ve still gotten glimpses of Rio. We know her name. Satoshi mentions her. We’ve seen little hints of flashbacks. It’s not much, to be sure, but it’s there.

Heck, we even get a brief, intriguing mention of Satoshi’s grandmother. (Side note: I’ve always found it interesting that Daiki says she “disappeared” after giving birth to Rio, rather than necessarily died. It could well mean the same thing, but if so it’s unnecessarily ambiguous phrasing. I’m also interested to know what he means that “the result [of the feud] was a draw” in their day.) 

But about his father... there’s literally nothing. Absolute radio silence. No one mentions him. We never see the tiniest glimpse of a flashback. We aren’t given a single piece of information about him. (In fact, to my memory the only time anyone mentions Satoshi having had a biological father at all is in the scene I linked above, where Daiki says “I don’t know who the father is”.) As far as the story is concerned, he might as well not have existed at all. 

Now, you could argue it’s just never brought up because Satoshi’s biological father is long dead and not relevant to the story. But again, we’ve gotten brief hints about his mother and even his grandmother. And we’ve also gotten glimpses of other characters who are long gone before the story starts, like Daiki’s late wife (Daisuke’s grandmother), and Saehara’s absentee mother. Considering that Satoshi is a main character in this series, the lack of any sort of reference to his biological father is pretty striking. That doesn’t necessarily mean there’s some sort of mystery or twist involving him, but it easily could.

Now, that twist doesn’t have to be that he’s Hiwatari, obviously. But consider that there are really only two reasons we’ve gone through the series assuming Hiwatari isn’t: The fact that he was apparently too young to be (a 26-year-old couldn’t have fathered a 14-year-old, obviously), and the fact that we’re outright told he adopted Satoshi. 

If Hiwatari is in fact immortal (which he pretty obviously seems to be), neither of those are in play: Hiwatari looks 26, but not only is he old enough to be Satoshi’s father, he’s actually old enough to have known Satoshi’s distant ancestors. And of course, in light of his immortality, he’d still have to claim Satoshi was his adoptive son. People would understandably get suspicious if he claimed to have a biological son who looks only 12 years younger than him. Heck, Satoshi himself might not know the truth - Hiwatari may have “adopted” him after Rio died, and never revealed that they’re actually related by blood. 

... Also, consider this:

There are a bunch of things Hiwatari could mean by this, obviously. He could be a relative of the original Hikari ancestor who was made immortal for some reason (maybe to act as a caretaker for the family, as he seems to have for the Hikari Ancestor). Or he could be a creation of the Hikari Ancestor, who refers to the Hikaris as his “family” metaphorically (cf. Frankenstein’s Creature referring to Frankenstein as his “father”). Either of those explanations could also be true in addition to the one I’m positing here.

But if Hiwatari is Satoshi’s biological father, if he was married to or at least seriously involved with Rio, it’s very literally their family. (Not their “ancestors”, perhaps, you could argue - but then again, if Hiwatari is the same age as the Hikari Ancestor, it’s hard to see how subsequent Hikaris could have been his “ancestors” anyway. If we assume Hiwatari is immortal and the dude we’ve seen in flashbacks with the Hikari Ancestor is him, I think you have to assume he’s using “ancestors” to more generally mean “family members from the past” here.)

Do I think this is canon? Probably not. There’s a reason I referred to it as a crack theory. But I do think it’s interesting to realize that there’s objectively no reason it couldn’t be. We know absolutely nothing about Satoshi’s biological father (in contrast to other characters who are dead or gone before the start of the series)... and on the other hand, there’s the obvious father figure he’s had all along. Who we now know is (probably) actually old enough to have fathered him. Who even looks rather like him. And while it might be weird to think of Rio Hikari having been involved with some immortal dude who’s possibly not even fully human, well... 

... it’s not like the series hasn’t gone there before.

[fugitivehues]

kindling