What Would Happen if Tomie and Intersection’s Pretty Boy Met?
A hypothetical (AKA me basically writing fanfiction) on what would happen if they interacted, because I desperately need Junji Ito to invest it making a crossover manga with these two.
WARNING: mentions of suicide and murder. It is also incredibly wordy and long. Sorry it is 11 pm
First of all, both characters would be completely unfazed by the other’s abilities. It just doesn’t seem right that Tomie or Pretty Boy would fall victim to the typical obsession that others have to them. That being said, this doesn’t mean they’d take no peculiar interest in each other.
Throughout the story of Tomie, we see at multiple points that Tomie likes a challenge (e.g. Umehara in the “Gathering” chapter, the youngest son in the “Little Finger” chapter, etc.). She always seems to take interest in going for the ones that don’t show any infatuation towards her. As I said, I don’t think Pretty Boy would have any sort of infatuation towards her. He wouldn’t be at her feet fighting for her love, rather he’d tell her some devastating fortune, and walk away like she’s any regular girl. This, of course, would peak her interest. A mysterious ghostly handsome boy who’s so nonchalant he barely spares her a glance? She needs to study him under a microscope and make herself his only thought immediately.
On the other hand, Tomie does stand out to Pretty Boy amongst all the girls that beg for his fortunes, but only after a while. That being, she never stops showing up at the crossroads. His interest is peaked when he realizes she won’t kill herself in despair like all the other girls he tells horrible fortunes to.
On her end, Tomie would be persistent. She shows up to the crossroads every night, waiting for the Pretty Boy to tell her something like “nobody will ever truly love you.” (which, honestly, probably gets her a bit pissed off, to which she tells him off and he doesn’t respond), and even gets some of her fanboys to track him down (which never works) to either kidnap him or harm him, depending on how mad his fortune made her that night.
On his end, he goes about like normal, telling these girls their fortunes, watching the utter bewilderment at his presence and despair after their fortune is told, and walking with an increased amusement at the sight of Tomie standing there once again. Being completely unaware of her power (curse) to make everyone around her completely obsessed with her, he assumes she is a devoted admirer of him. The difference between her and all his other admirers is that she will never just finally kill herself due to his fortunes. That gets him a bit peeved, and so he is also persistent in succeeding.
Of course, this whole situation does not just affect these two. Everyone around them gets involved. Meaning, all of Tomie’s fanboys get incredibly envious of all the attention she’s giving this mysterious crossroad’s boy, and the same goes for all of his fangirls (“with her otherworldly beauty, surely he’ll fall for her and not me!!”They say). Of course, this causes a lot of discourse amongst the student population in this town.
One person who is definitely affected, especially near the end of the story, is Ryuusuke. If Tomie believes all the gossip that Ryuusuke is the Pretty Boy like everyone says starting around chapter 3 or so, he’ll never be left alone by her. I think, though, she’d realize soon enough Ryuusuke simply does not look or act like the Pretty Boy enough to be him. Maybe in a case where Tomie is involved the rumour would die fast, meaning a lot of the events of chapter 4 and 5 wouldn’t happen the same way they do. Much to think about…
Anyway, as I said before, her interest in the Pretty Boy gets her fanboys extremely envious. As mentioned, Tomie probably tries to get them to hunt down the boy, but this definitely would never work. He is a presence that shows up only to do what he does best (devastating fortunes).
Their envy would build up more and more until eventually, when they need to take it out on someone, that person of course ends up being Tomie. In the typical Tomie manga fashion, she is murdered.
The question is, would this put an end to everything? Well, Tomie would probably just come back. In some cases she’d probably just move and find a new town to terrorize, but Nanchou-Shi is just too peculiar of a town for her to give up. And since Pretty Boy is (most likely) a spirit of some sort, these two have all the time in the world to continue this terrible dynamic.
TL;DR, Tomie and Pretty Boy would have an awfully entertaining and everlasting wild goose chase trying to figure out exactly “what the hell is wrong with this weirdo??”
On a different note I think they should just become best friends and queen out. Make everyone’s lives absolutely hell. Yas.
(My rewrite of Lovesick Dead. The original work was written and illustrated by Junji Ito. I'm not claiming anything from my writing to be an original idea.)
Category: M/M
Love Interest: The Crossroad's Pretty Boy
Warning: blood and gore, mention of suicide, non canon-compliant, slow burn, no proofreading we all must suffer like Junji Ito's protagonists
Word: 750+
Legend said that the first person to pass by you at a crossroads could tell you your fortune.
The first I heard of it, I was so young, but even then, I didn't believe it as anything more than a fictitious tale believed to be true. A housewives’ tale, if you will.
Some might wonder then why an ardent disbeliever such as myself, suddenly believes in it.
I'll tell you why.
Right from the very beginning down to its macabre end.
⸸
I don't have many memories of my past. But the ones I do remember, they lingered in my mind like fog on a dreary day.
And a dreary day that was.
"Little boy."
I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard her. It was a voice so rasp, I thought I had mistaken the rustling of leaves in the wind for the whisper of a ghost. But when I finally saw her peeking from behind the corner, I began to wonder then if she really was a ghost.
"Little boy, would you be so kind as to tell me my fortune?"
Terrified, I could only stand still as she walked closer. This near, she easily loomed over me, but she was no tall person by any means. Rather, it was her presence. There must have been a sickness to her to make her sallow skin such an unearthly shade of brown. I looked down if only to avoid her feverish gaze, but that only subjected me to seeing her bulging belly. It looked so grotesquely swollen on her emaciated body as it stretched the fabric of her white dress thin.
I remember taking a step back in horror. Though it is a blur in my memory now, I swear I remember there being green and silver lines marbling her skin.
"As you can see, I am with a child." By dint of showing, she ran a hand down her tummy. "I love the father so much. So, so much. I would die for him. I would hurt for him. There is nothing in this world I wouldn't do to prove my love. But..."
"There is another woman. And her child. But I don't believe he loves them for even a second! Otherwise, why would he have done such a thing to me? Come look! Feel!"
That was when she grabbed my wrist and placed my palm on her belly with a force that shouldn't be natural from a woman so frail like her.
"You can feel it, can't you? The proof of his love? You can feel our child within me, yes?"
I kicked and struggled to get her hand off me. But her bone-thin fingers only clenched harder, deeper into the flesh of my wrist. I cried out; "What are you even talking about?"
Genuinely, I was confused. Being the little child that I was, I understood nothing she spoke of. A child? With what might have been a married man?
But more than confused, I was frightened—no, deeply terrified of the woman with the swollen belly and vice-like grip.
"Then, let me make it much simpler for you, boy. Will he and I live happily ever after...or not?"
Before I write my answer, I must explain first that it was said in the spur of the moment. Had I been older, more experienced, more compassionate about this woman's deteriorated mind and the precarious situation she found herself in, I would have done my best to prevent the tragedies that would follow after.
But as it was, I was only a six-year-old boy, confused and afraid. By now, I had accepted that I couldn’t possibly have the answer to such a heavily loaded question.
"No!”
With all my might, I was able to free myself of her hold. Still, I continued to snarl even though I could see the first cracks in the dam holding her up.
“Are you stupid? No one would love a crazy woman like you! No one!"
And just like that, I ran away, never bothering to look back.
The very next day, I came back to find police officers. Yellow tape that read ‘DO NOT CROSS’ closed off the area of the crossroad where I last saw her, in the same white dress. Except now, it was stained red from the blood that gushed out of her slit throat.
The perpetrator?
Only herself and her little box cutter.
⸸
From that moment on, something was born.
An entity that knows no love, rejects it even, yet craves it as though starved.
I sometimes wonder if there was a chance I could have met him earlier. By the time he had let himself be known, it was years after I returned.
It was almost as if he had been waiting for me.
~ ~ ~ End ~ ~ ~
This is the first part of my Lovesickness fanfic. New year, new me, and that includes the many prompts I want to write.
