L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.
Arata is a sweetheart who’s training just as hard as Chihaya to achieve his dream of becoming Meijin, he’s come really far and managed to recover after his grandfather’s death! His desire to compete in team matches again also makes me genuinely happy :’)
The ship is my: My childhood otp;; It’s a ship I’m still very fond of even tho now as an adult I can see it’s not exactly ideal. Plus it’s been doomed from the start but well I knew that as a kid already…It’s just that back when Aoyama actually bothered writing these characters, their interactions were the most interesting to me, and I think they both really grew a lot as ppl after meeting each other.
I consider this ship’s feelings: Mutual | Mixed | Strange | Awkward | Platonic | Sibling-like | One-sided | They don’t really like each other |
It’s not really the case anymore but Ai definitely did have one-sided feelings for Conan. Now that she got over her crush I read their relationship as platonic, but I think their feelings for each other are still mixed cos there’s so much they’re keeping from each other.
I’d consider the relationship: Healthy | Awkward | Abusive | Doesn’t work properly | They’d never get together |
A relationship in which both ppl are hiding so much from each other could never work properly! I can’t even blame them too much for it cos Ai has legitimate reasons to think it’s better to keep quiet about what she knows, while Conan goes from Actual Asshole to Caring Friend depending on what Aoyama feels like writing lmao
Children: No | Yes | They’d think about it
Naaahhhhh in some au where they met in different circumstances and got together Ai is a super busy scientist and Conan is his usual detective nerd self. They’re just too married to their work to have kids
General Opinion: Their dynamic is so great! Ai teasing Conan mercilessly is My Jam and their early interactions used to be so charged and complex that I just couldn’t help but ship it. Now obviously I don’t want it to happen in canon anymore cos Ai deserves better and it’d make no sense for Conan to suddenly Not Be In Love With Ran, but I still enjoy their rs immensely :’) I also tend to get pissed at people shitting on it constantly when most Ai ships are /SO/ much worse than Aicon could ever be, but w/e
well weeell merry christmas to my favourite salad!! see, toujou is still alive and kicking this time, i behaved. <33 hope you enjoy your present tons, love ya!
"Join the karuta club with me!” Sawamura stands tall in front of his desk, voice too loud, no respect for the early spring morning still lingering in the air. “You still haven’t joined anything, right?”
Kanemaru doesn’t even look up (his glares stopped working after their first middle school year together), just rubs at the bridge of his nose.
"Give me one good reason and I’ll think about it,” he states, pencil tapping against paper, smudges of pink twirling out of the window. He still hasn’t joined any club, still doesn’t want to. Spring waltzes on.
"Well, you’ve got good reflexes! And a good memory! And the stamina!"
"That’s too generic and not even heartfelt, you two-timer."
Sawamura is flailing by now, cheeks puffed with stifled yelling, but Kanemaru doesn’t budge, only lets out a sigh when their teacher comes in and Sawamura has to go sit down across the room.
Kanemaru can feel him staring for the whole class, and the next one, and then again till it’s time to go home.
.
On his tenth day of high school a kid lands on his lap. He falls from a cherry tree and all of Kanemaru’s good reflexes can’t save them from hitting the ground.
"Ah! Sorry!" There are golden eyes staring at him, gentle eyes, and hands brushing the dust from his clothes, legs scrambling to get up. "I’m really sorry, I found this baby bird and I had to put it back into its nest but then I lost my balance and…”
"Hey." A stranger just fell on him from a tree he had climbed to save a bird and Kanemaru can’t seem to feel angry, not even a tiny bit upset, not even when his back sends a twinge of sheer pain straight to his brain. "It’s okay, really. That was, uh, noble of you."
The kid lights up but it’s quiet, soft the way candles are when they dance. He helps Kanemaru back on his feet, bows, flashes a smile that nearly sends him back down. “I’m Toujou Hideaki, nice to meet you.”
Kanemaru smiles back.
.
"You didn’t have to do this," he says, takes a bite from the sandwich anyway. "Really."
Toujou waves a hand, a quiet chuckle poking at his lips. “I literally fell on you from a tree, buying you lunch is the least I could do.”
Kanemaru shakes his head but doesn’t reply (if years of being friends with Sawamura Eijun have taught him anything is that talking with a mouthful of food rarely ends well) so they stay silent for a while, birds flying over their heads.
"Have you joined a club yet?" he asks, because spring keeps slipping through his fingers and because he kind of wants to know something, know more.
Toujou perks up, nearly chokes on his juice as he nods so fast it catches Kanemaru off guard, a gust of stray wind.
"Yeah!" Clear voice, scrunched up nose, pink at his cheek bones. "The karuta club!”
.
He lets Toujou drag him to practice. Lets Sawamura yell, then cackle, then introduce him to all of the other club members, tries his best not to haul either him or himself out of the window.
When practice starts Kanemaru sits down and watches as everything becomes quiet and the eyes of the people around him narrow, grace made out of electric sparks flowing to their hands, their fingers, a single voice erasing the rest of the world outside of the room.
He joins the Seidou karuta club the next day, tastes awe and defeat for the first time when Takashima sensei challenges him to his first match.
.
"I lost again today." They’re lying on the school roof, backs against cool concrete, eyes against bright blue, and Kanemaru groans, flexes his legs trying to ease the stiffness out of his knees.
Toujou laughs, stretches his arms towards the sky. “You managed to get a few cards out of Miyuki-senpai, that’s already something! Especially considering Kuramochi-senpai was on reading duty today.”
Kanemaru groans again, then flashes Toujou a grin (finds him grinning back, he always does).
"I know right, those two know each other’s voices way too well!"
He wonders if it will ever be like that for them, has to look away when Toujou’s eyes go soft.
.
"Do you ever dream of being meijin?”
Toujou looks up at him from his chocolate bar, eyes still kind of dazed but there, ready to burn right through him.
"Well, of course I do," he says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. "Who doesn’t."
He tilts his head and takes another bite of chocolate; Kanemaru waits for the rest, misures the distance between them, the space between their shoulders.
"But that’s not what makes my love for karuta, you know.”
There are slices of sunset sliding into the room like waves, pooling around their ankles, dancing on Toujou’s face as he speaks. “The poetry, the history behind each card. That’s what pushes me forward.”
"What’s your favourite card?" Kanemaru asks, distance closing, bumping legs. Toujou tells him, tells about forgotten things that have always been in plain sight and so much more, until it’s dark and there’s magic lingering on their lips.
.
They’re at thirty three wins for Toujou and nineteen for Kanemaru, long sleeves going short, countless lunches on the roof as countless clouds roll above their heads.
On Kanemaru’s twentieth victory Toujou kisses him on the lips, whispers his congratulations right against his skin and buys him lunch again. When Toujou wins against a senpai for the first time Kanemaru picks him up and spins the both of them around, asks if he wants to go the cinema together, grins so wide his cheeks hurt when Toujou agrees.
They talk about poetry and about the club, spend summer afternoons at the beach searching for sea shells, throw watermelon seeds at each other and Toujou laughs till he’s got tears in his eyes.
Kanemaru finds his favourite card and a new spring.
