This blog is a collection of daily drabbles inspired by Ishida Sui's Tokyo Ghoul 2016 Calendar. See Tags for drabbles associated with particular characters, ships, aus, etc. Updated Daily. Thank you.
It's 110% fine that this huge project will take you time! I think it's so cool you're doing it period. Just do whatcha gotta do to keep it a no-stress fun project :) also, I think it's fine if you post out of order too, since the calendar is largely all over the place.
You're very kind!!Out of order, huh? I guess that would be okay considering how much I have fallen behind. T_TThank you so much for your support, though.I'm embarrassed, but at the same time, I feel like being a high school teacher is a very good excuse to be busy! Haha! Thank you! I hope I can find the time to continue soon!
My apologies! Many apologies! I have fallen behind completely. I had good intentions, but unfortunately, mostly due to my job, I am unable to keep up with this. I am not giving up. I will be able to complete all drabbles over time (certainly the summer if it comes to waiting that long), but they won't be posted (obviously) on the correct day. Again, I'm sorry for not being able to accomplish this. I knew it would be a lot of work, though enjoyable, but unfortunately, I am unable to post on the appropriate days.
Title: Coming of Age Day
Date: January 11th
Characters and Pairings: Sasaki Haise, Arima Kishou
Genre: Angst
Rating: General
Word Count: 374
Summary: Sasaki decides not to celebrate Coming of Age Day.
Since @purpleswans1 wrote something for Touka, I decided to do a thing for Haise. Post V14. Finally, I got to sneak in some angst.
“Happy Coming of Age Day.” Arima handed the boy in the hospital bed a mug of coffee.
“I’m twenty now?” the white haired boy asked curiously, his head tilting to the side curiously. Having no recollection of anything concerning his life prior to the hospital room he was currently in, it was enlightening to hear anything about himself- even the simple fact of how old he was.
“From what we know, you are likely around that age.” Arima was careful with his words. Centipede. Eyepatch. Kaneki Ken. They had all been erased. He wasn’t supposed to know what he did, and, no matter the circumstances, he wasn’t supposed to tell.
“Oh. You don’t know my birthday?” The amnesiac sipped at the coffee in his hands and waited. He knew the answer that was coming, but he asked Arima anyway. For some reason, he respected Arima, but he didn’t fear him. It was wrong. He knew he should fear him, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so.
“No, I know only what I’ve told you, Haise.”
His name. That was it.
Haise knew that Arima knew more, but he couldn’t force anyone to say, least of all him. He’d just have to accept that this was his life and that the past was in the past. It didn’t matter anymore. “I don’t want to celebrate this year.”
The reaper sat quietly at his bedside and hid his expression behind rectangular frames.
Sasaki clarified, “That’s something you celebrate with friends, right?” Haise had no friends. Maybe he did in the past, but they weren’t here now. What was the point, really? It wasn’t as if he could get up and walk out, anyway. In a way, Arima’s words had been a bit cruel.
“That’s right.” Arima had celebrated his alone. He remembered attending the ceremony out of curiosity. He hadn't dressed for the occasion or anything. He’d spent the rest of the day reading in the park.
“Next year.” Surely, by then, Sasaki would have made friends, right?
Title: Coming of Age
Date: January 11th
Characters and Pairings: Touken, Kirishima Touka, Kaneki Ken, Yomo Renji
Genre: Angst
Rating: General
Word Count: 299
Summary: Touka is celebrating coming of age, and can’t help but think of someone who did get to celebrate for his year.
I hope you don’t mind that I submitted something, I saw the picture for this day and had the extreme urge to write something (though it’s actually a day late…) I apologize for any errors that might come up from my ignorance about the holiday. – @purpleswans1
Touka looked at herself in the mirror. she was wearing her furisode and zori sandals. Although they weren’t what she was used to wearing everyday, she had to admit that the traditional clothes looked very elegant on her. She had rented them specifically for the event and had to admit that it was a worthwhile investment.
She was kind of glad that Yomo had talked her into this.
“Are you ready to go?” Yomo asked from behind her.
Touka nodded. “To the government office?”
“That’s where the ceremony with be.”
“What exactly happens at the ceremony, Yomo?” Touka asked.
Yomo thought about it. “I honestly don’t know. I wasn’t able to attend one when it was my time. Do you know of anyone who did it previously that you can ask?”
Touka shook her head. Most ghouls weren’t able to participate in public events, so that knocked off a ton of people she knew. Yoriko was doing it with her this year. She was pretty sure Nishiki wouldn’t have done it. The only other person left who might have gone was…
“Yomo, do you think Kaneki might have participated in this event?” she asked.
Yomo frowned. “Ken… Wasn’t he 19 when he started working at Anteiku?”
Touka froze. “Oh, I guess you’re right…”
“The time he would have participated was shortly after that incident in the 11th ward.”
Touka looked away. “I guess… He probably didn’t participate either.”
Yomo was silent.
Touka quickly faked a smile to try and hind her thoughts. “Well, I guess I better enjoy my time so I can tell him all about it when he gets back! And rub it in his face that he missed his chance.”
Yomo didn’t make any further coments, but Touka knew that he could see through her act.
Title: Candy
Date: January 10th
Characters and Pairings: Take Hirako, Itou Kuramoto
Genre: Humor
Rating: General
Word Count: 163
Summary: Kuramoto asks for a treat on his very special day.
/takes place before ch 32
“Guess what?”
Hirako finished the sentence in the report he was writing concerning Serpent and looked up to see his subordinate, Kuramoto Itou, smiling happily, “What?”
“Today is January 10th! I-tou! It’s “Itou’s Day!” Kuramoto pointed to his nose happily. It was like having a second birthday.
Hirako’s expression remained unchanged.
“Sooo, treat me something nice!” the Rank 1 Investigator had clearly made the rounds already. His request nearly sounded rehearsed and when he asked, he even had his hands up and wiggled his ‘spirit fingers’.
Hirako motioned for Kuramoto to come closer. Itou opened his palms eagerly and his superior produced something from his pocket and placed it in his waiting hands. “Candy.”
“It’s candy!” Kuramoto struck a pose, holding the prize up to the light.
Hirako looked back at his desk to continue his work, “Shouldn’t you be-”
“Lychee flavor?! Boorinnng.” Still, the candy was already in his mouth as he turned to walk away. He didn’t even question why Hirako might be carrying around candy in his pocket.
“You’re supposed to say thank you . . .” Take continued writing his report.
Title: Google It
Date: January 9th
Characters and Pairings: Naki, Hooguro, Shousei
Genre: Humor
Rating: General
Word Count: 300
Summary: Naki tests whether or not you can hear music through your nostrils.
Human au, because I want the kids to all be alive- all the kids, even Yamori.
“Hey, it doesn’t work!” Naki, who currently had earbuds hanging from his nostrils, stared nervously at the screen of the MP3 player to make sure the volume was all the way up.
“Of course it doesn’t work. They go in your ears.” Hooguro removed his own headphones in time to see that Shousei had been listening behind him.
Naki argued immediately, “Yeah, but Yamori-san can breathe through his eyes!”
“What does that have to do with it?” Hooguro walked over and pulled the earbuds from Naki’s nostrils. “Can you smell through your ears?”
“Well, no- at least, I’ve never tried.” Nakei rubbed at his nose
“We could just ‘Google’ this.” Shousei offered.
“You got a phone, right?” Hooguro looked to Naki.
“Yeah.” Naki produced the phone from the pocket of his white slacks.
The three white suits stood around the smart phone and Naki turned it on. There were so many little squares with pictures on them. Which one would tell them if you could hear through your nose or smell through your ears?
“Ughhh! I don’t know how to use it! I only know that one’s for calling and that one’s for texting! Damn it!” Naki threw it on the floor before either of the others could stop him and then he proceeded to stomp on it. The damn thing didn’t actually break though; it was like a brick.
Shousei crouched down and picked up the phone from the cement below and watched Naki leave, “You really should just let Eyepatch give you lessons, Big Bro.”
Hooguro smiled, “then you could teach us, too!”
“Ehhhh, I’ll think about it.” he waved behind him as he disappeared to find Yamori. He could learn to read, or, when he had a question, he could just ask Yamori and he would know.
Title: Anime Music (aka ‘You thought, Urie.’)
Date: January 8th
Characters and Pairings: Urie Kuki, Mutsuki Tooru, Yonebashi Saiko
Genre: Humor
Rating: General
Word Count: 584
Summary: Saiko proves that all Urie listens to is anime music.
Much love to Ko Ootani, Yuki Kajiura, and the prolific, Yoko Kanno. Bless~!
Mutsuki looked to Saiko with curiosity in his eyes, “What is Urie always listening to?” The Quinx in question was on his tablet sitting on the couch. It was part of his daily routine while he read news articles in order to keep track of any suspicious activity.
Saiko beamed at the green-haired Quinx from across the dining room table, “Anime music! Anime music!”
“Really?” Mutsuki wasn’t so sure, but Urie at least . . . he appeared to be the mysterious type, even if Tooru didn’t really think he was mysterious at all. It wasn’t impossible.
Saiko swung her legs in the chair as she poked at her flan, “Maybe. He’s not saying anything probably because I’m right.”
Urie removed an earbud and shot her a threatening look, “You’re wrong.”
The blue-haired Quinx only laughed. His threats would always be lost on her; he wouldn’t hurt a hair on her head; she was certain. With her elbows on the table, she pointed a finger in the air as though stating a fact, “He denied it because he is embarrassed.” She nodded her head knowingly towards Mutsuki to which he only smiled awkwardly. He was sitting between them, so he had to be careful.
“I’m listening to . . . Kalafina.”
“Ohhh, all of their music is composed by Yuki Kajiura, who is, in fact, a very famous composer of anime and game soundtracks.” Saiko’s smile only widened.
“What?” Urie looked like he didn’t believe her.
Mutsuki inched his chair over so that he at least wouldn’t be interrupting their line of vision.
“I’m surprised you didn’t know. Kalafina does a lot of anime music, too.” She took another bite of her desert.
Mutsuki admitted quietly, “I actually knew that one . . . haha-”
“Fine, I changed the song. There. I’m listening to ‘Ailes Grises’. It’s just some quiet in-”
“Ko Ootani’s Ailes Grises?” Saiko purposefully interrupted, because this game was getting good and with victory in sight, she was getting impatient.
Urie’s expression matched his annoyed tone, “Yes?”
“You mean the famous composer responsible for over fifty anime and video game soundtracks?” she pointed her spoon in his direction and Mutsuki inched further away.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“What else you got on there, Urieku?” Her voice had now taken on a sing-song quality. She could see the finish line.
“Don’t call me that. . . . And, I don’t know; I just listen to noise to block out all of you people’s bullshit.” He clicked his MP3 player to move to the next song, Farewell Blues, “The Seatbelts.”
The victory was just too sweet. She narrowed her eyes quite nearly mirroring Urie’s typical stony expression, but as she spoke, she couldn’t suppress her victory grin, “The band led by one of the most well-known composers to come from Japan- Yoko Kanno? Responsible for everything from Hana no Saru to the Glico theme-like, name a major corporation that hasn’t hired her. And she has composed a countless number of other film, video game, and anime soundtracks. Yoko Kanno has composed for over thirty idols including SMAP and Hajime Chitose and Megumi Nakajima and-”
Urie moved suddenly to grab at Saiko. He was envisioning picking her up by the twin tails and throwing her across the room, but she ducked under the table immediately.
“Muuchan! Save me!” she squealed through her laughter.
Mutsuki stood up suddenly, knocking down his chair in the process, “I have nothing to do with this!”
Title: Porridge
Date: January 7th
Characters and Pairings: Mougan Tanakamaru, Ui Koori, Hirako Take
Genre: Humor
Rating: General
Word Count: 342
Summary: Mougan only wants to be sure his coworkers are in good health.
Spotted. Tanakamaru was beside the other Special Class investigator in a second with a bowl of some kind of odious concoction, “Ui-boy, the seventh of January is the day for nanakusa-gayu.” There was even a twinkle in his eye as he shared his knowledge that was clearly only leading up to the explanation of the foul smelling food.
Ui Koori didn’t even look up from the report that he was reading. In fact, he even turned the page and continued reading for several seconds before finally recognizing the other’s presence, “So?” Didn’t Tanakamaru have some kind of work he could be doing? Were things going so well in the 2nd Ward?
Happy he wasn’t being ignored but by no means recognizing Koori’s annoyance, Mougan moved the bowl between Koori and his reports right beneath the investigator’s nose so that he could fully inhale the enticing scents of the seven herbs, “For this day, I have prepared a seven herb porridge bursting with 7 herbs guaranteed to prevent illness and prevent inflammations!”
Ui threw up his hands in annoyance before he could think twice about it and shouted with equal fervor, “Only ghosts would eat that!” The younger of the two gasped suddenly at his own actions. The two Special Class investigators watched as the bowl of porridge went flying through the air, the contents of which slid out and fell right on top of a nearby investigator's head.
Koori visibly blushed in embarrassment for his behavior while Mougan lamented the loss of the porridge that was now sliding down the victim’s face and hiding his identity.
The man reached into his pocket to retrieve a handkerchief and wiped carefully at his face.
“Nanakusa-gayu?” he licked his lips free of food.
Ui and Tanakamaru sighed in relief when they realized who it was.
“It’s only Hirako.” Ui handed him his own handkerchief and then went back to reading his report.
The first class investigator blinked and continued to clean off his face as Tanakamaru asked him how it tasted. Hirako didn’t ask questions.
Title: Patience
Date: January 6th
Characters and Pairings: Kaneki Ken, Kirishima Touka
Genre: General
Rating: General
Word Count: 655
Summary: Kaneki tries to teach Touka how to play Go.
Please reblog if you enjoy~! I do read your tags~!
(Sorry I am a day late. I will be able to write two tomorrow to catch up.)
“Touka, do you want to play Go?” Kaneki had found it upstairs. He hadn’t played in some time, and he thought it might be fun to try again. Anteiku was already closed, but since it was a Sunday, it was still early enough to start a game.
“Go?” Touka looked up from the magazine she’d been flipping through that had been given to her by Yoriko. She watched as the half-ghoul clumsily balanced the large wooden board and the two containers in his hand, but she made no move to help him. Instead, she stood up to rinse out her coffee cup.
As she shuffled about, the eye-patched half-ghoul spoke to her back nervously, “It’s a game like Jintori where you try to capture the other person’s territory. Hide was really good at it!”
Touka frowned. Kaneki was always, always talking about Hide. Did he have any idea how much me talked about him? Was there really no one else in his life? No, was there really nothing else that was interesting in his life? She sighed.
Touka sat down and Kaneki placed the board on the table along with two containers filled with game pieces- one with white stones and one with black stones. Yeah, she’d seen this before, but she’d never actually played it. She had a feeling this was one of those “old people games that tried your patience”, but she was feeling generous today, so she’d give Kaneki the benefit of the doubt.
Kaneki placed a white stone on the board and then four black stones around it, “You move the pieces like this to take the territory.” He continued to explain the steps and was very patient with her as she asked questions, but after several minutes had passed, he offered, “Why don’t we just learn by practicing as we play?”
“Oh, okay. I’ll give it a go.” Touka liked learning by doing; that was more her style. The ghoul leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms as her co-worker moved the stones back into their respective containers and cleared the board for them to play.
“I’ll start,” he offered a genuine smile as he picked up the black stone and placed it near to one of the corners of the board. She noticed that when he held the stone, it was between his index and middle finger. For a split second, he looked kind of cool, but as soon as he’d made his move, he was smiling stupidly again. It was almost as if he was enjoying her company or something. What an idiot.
The minutes dragged on as Touka attempted to remember the rules. Her placement of stones on the board were often met with Kaneki’s polite fretting over her illegal moves.
“Ahh, that’s, you can’t put that piece there.”
“ . . . You can’t take it from that far away either.”
“That move made it too easy for me to take your pieces here, see? Maybe you could try-”
Touka tried not to become annoyed, but the half-ghoul had a special way of being so damn irritating.
“See how I just put my piece here?” he offered kindly.
It was the last straw. She grabbed two of the stones suddenly, stood up, and reached over to shove them into his eyes, “This is pissing me off!”
“Ahhh!” Kaneki jumped back suddenly and the pieces fell to the floor. She hadn’t been pressing them in hard enough to actually hurt him, but he was catching his breath from the shock alone. He should have just been happy that she didn't flip the damn table.
“I-I take it you don’t like Go.”
“I’m going to sleep. See you tomorrow.” She really was tired. He should have known this wouldn’t be her kind of thing, anyway. He should have been happy that she’d attempted it in the first place.
Kaneki put his hand to his chin with a smile, “G-Goodnight, Touka.”
Title: Go
Date: January 5th
Characters and Pairings: Yonebashi Saiko, Shirazu Ginshi, Mutsuki Tooru, Sasaki Haise
Genre: General
Rating: General
Word Count: 900
Summary: Shirazu and Saiko avoid cleaning the chateau by playing Go.
Please reblog if you enjoy~! Thank you~!
“Hey, Saiko! Let’s play Go!” Shirazu brought the board and the two containers of the black and white stones into the living room.
“Bring it on!” Saiko grinned at her teammate. She loved games, and she loved a good challenge provided it involved a game, of course.
Shirazu set the board on the floor in front of the couch and pushed the coffee table aside. Saiko rolled onto the rug from the couch and asked lazily, “You buy it?”
Shirazu handed her a container full of white stones and took the container of black stones for himself, “Nah, Sasan’s been cleaning all day, and so he went through the closet upstairs in the back and he found it. Must of belonged to the previous owners . . . ”
Saiko swayed as she said in a sing-song voice, “Oosouji~! Oosouji~!*”
Shirazu scratched at the back of his head, “Yeah, Mutsuki’s helping him. I was, too, but then he found this board and he wanted me to show you.”
“So, let’s play!”
“Yeah!” That hadn’t been the original intent, but Ginshi needed a break. It didn’t help that Saiko hadn’t helped at all. Just being in her presence made one feel carefree . . . and lazy. “So, how do we play this?”
Saiko sunk her hand into the bowl of white stones and pulled it out, the beads clicking together as she dropped a few from her hand, “I do not know.”
“I think it has something to do with like capturing your enemy’s pieces and strategy and all that-?”
“And you play it like marbles!” she exclaimed triumphantly. Shirazu watched as Saiko set up the stones on the board and used her thumb to flick one at the other.
The squad leader raised an eyebrow, “Marbles?”
<><><><><>
Mutsuki came down from upstairs more than a half hour later, “Hey, Shirazu, weren’t you just going to-”
“Oh shit!”
The green-haired Quinx looked over the couch to see that Ginshi and Saiko were seated on the floor around a game board, “What are you two playing?” Mutsuki had seen the board before but had never played it. His mother didn’t really encourage the Japanese culture in their household and his father didn’t push it.
“Go.” The squad leader, sitting cross-legged, watched in awe as Saiko used one white stone to knock three of his black stones off the board.
“Three bullets! Haha, how far can you go with only two fighters?” Saiko collected Shirazu’s black stones and placed them in a pile beside her bowl of white.
Mutsuki smiled, “Saiko, I’m pretty sure that’s not how you play. Maybe Sensei could show you later?”
The otaku grinned from ear to ear, “Maman can play?” Playing like this was fun, but playing with Sasaki would be even more fun. She’d admit that learning the actual rules would be nice, too.
“Maybe?” Mutsuki had the best intentions.
“Probably.” Shirazu offered them as well.
Just then, Sasaki appeared at the foot of the stairs. Saiko looked up and cheered from her spot on the floor, “Maman!”
Sasaki mirrored her mirth, “Oh, Saiko! Good, I need your help dusting these things in the guest room. My fingers aren’t small enough to-There you are, Shirazu! Oh, great! Now, you can both help!”
Saiko realized he meant cleaning, and so she suddenly fell dramatically to the floor, “Maman, no, the Igo shadow creatures have come to get meee!” She reached up towards him as though she were drowning in quicksand, “I’m being pulled away into the abysssss! Go on without meeee!”
Sasaki smiled warmly at Saiko’s desperate outstretched hand and over the top dramatics, “While I appreciate the pun, isn’t it Ico**?”
Saiko straightened immediately, “Ehh, how do you know?” and she actually blushed, “Ah, I think you’re right!” She hadn’t played since she was younger; it was an old game. How had her Maman gotten the reference?
Sasaki rubbed at his chin and laughed as a light blush appeared on his own cheeks, “Haha, I’m not sure. I feel like I remember seeing it though- maybe in a dream?”
“Maman, you were an otaku!” That’s what he’d been doing during that time he couldn’t remember!
“Erm, Saiko-chan, I really don’t think that was the case . . .”
She stood up and wrapped her arms around his waist with a pout, “How come you won’t watch Binan KouKou Chikyuu Bouei-bu LOVE*** with me?”
“What?” Haise stared down at the blue-haired youth, confused, and Mutsuki and Shirazu held similar expressions. Then, Sasaki’s lips spread into a smile as he patted her head, “Oh look, Saiko-chan has been freed from the shadow monsters.”
“What? Nooo!” she melted and Sasaki picked her up until she was on her feet.
With a gentle push up the stairs, he encouraged her to take part in their New Year’s cleaning, “Igo! Igo!****”
A/N:
* Oosouji- "Big cleaning" - In Japan, they have their biggest "cleaning" of their household around New Year's.
** A beautiful game released in 2001 for the PS2 that has a small cult-like following. I like to imagine that a young Hide would play it while a young Kaneki watched.
*** Y'know, magical boys. Why won't Haise watch magical boys if he is a super otaku, okay? :p Saiko logic.
**** "Igo" is the Japanese pronunciation of the game, Go, and it sounds similar to "ikou" which, in Japanese, means "Let's go." (Ico's Japanese name is "Ikou". Make sense, now?)
Title: Kites
Date: January 4th
Characters and Pairings: Kaneki Ken, Yamori
Genre: General
Rating: General
Word Count: 796
Summary: Kaneki and Yamori fly kites together in the park. Yes, really.
Human Au~
Kaneki frowned, and his solemn expression appeared as gray as the ashy sky above as he walked up to the only other person in the park flying a kite. The large man stood out in the middle of the field that was bordered with a sidewalk and large sakura trees. The twenty-year-old scanned the area with his eyes. They were alone.
“Why is it just you?” He had no reason to be polite to the guy. They were only acquaintances really; he knew him through Naki whom he'd met through Ayato. Anyone could see that Yakumo Oomori, or Yamori, as he had introduced himself, was a member of the yakuza. Kaneki was a bit of a troublemaker himself which was why he had little problem being around ‘Jason’, Yamori's alias known throughout the Japanese crime world, but he still made an effort to appear as strong and confident as possible in his presence anyway.
Yamori turned and observed the small white-haired man with mild interest, “The others,” meaning the rest of the ‘White Suit’ gang, “got lost on the way, but should be coming soon.”
Kaneki looked up to see the oddly shaped kite flying in the sky. Was that suppossed to be him? Really? It sort of looked like Naki what with the giant smile. Kaneki offerd why he was alone as well, “Anteiku backed out, but Tsukiyama-san and a few others said they were coming.” Just then, his cell phone began to ring with ‘Counting Bodies Like Sheep’ blaring through the speakers of the smart phone.
“Hello? … Why? … Ok… . No… . No… . Yeah, bye.”
Kaneki slipped his phone back into his pocket and rubbed at the eye that wasn’t covered in a black leather eyepatch. “Nevermind.” Why was he so unlucky?
The large man in the white suit tugged on the string of his kite to pull it against the wind. Round gray clouds were rolling in beyond it.
Kaneki held his kite, which looked like the black mask he wore on the streets with large white teeth and red gums, and sighed. Tsukiyama and Hinami had worked pretty hard on it; it would be a waste to not at least try and fly it. He could take a photo of it. Hinami would like that, at least. “Hey.”
“What?”
“Help me get it up in the air.”
“What will you give me in return?” The man in the white suit smirked.
“Tch.” Kaneki turned his nose at that. Like hell he would be giving Yamori anything. He’d heard enough rumors about him. Not all of them may be true but the variety certainly showed a particular trend. The guy was a sadist. “I’ll do it myself.” The younger of the two began to unwind the white string of his kite until there was enough that it could hopefully catch the wind and take flight.
He just stood there a moment. “You got it up alone?”
“Yeah,” the yakuza member grinned eerily. He was watching Kaneki now, and Kaneki didn't like it.
Ken looked away. Fucking weirdo. He gave the kite another once over. If he didn’t get this on the first try, he was going to look completely ridiculous in front of this guy.
“Aren’t you going to fly it?”
“Shut up.”
Kaneki looked away again. Seriously, it looked like Yamori actually cared for a second. It was disgusting, because what he cared about was a complete mystery.
Kaneki held the kite up above his head and waited until a huge gust of wind rolled over them. He would try for Hinami. She worked so hard on it. He let go just in time, and, in a second, the kite was flying just over his head. Success. Ken scratched beneath his black eyepatch as he unwound the white string with his other hand. Soon enough, it was flying beside Yamori’s kite.
A long moment of silence passed between them as they watched the kites floating in the wind. Yamori spoke up, “Yours is nice. Let me fly it.”
“No.”
Yamori frowned but otherwise didn't react. After a few more minutes, Kaneki took out his phone and snapped a photo of the kite for Hinami. It was impossible to pull his away from Yamori's because of the wind, so the white-suited blonde man flying up in the sky ended up in the photo as well. Touka wasn't going to let him live this down if she saw it. Kaneki tugged at the kite string and his mask swung suddenly in a circle. He hoped that celebrating New Year’s with this tradition in particular with the head of the White Suits wasn’t some kind of bad omen for how the rest of his year would go.
Ah, over 100 Followers! Thank you all so much! I read all of your tags, and you are all so kind!
Please forgive me if I miss a day! I will work hard!
Please remember that you may submit if you feel so inclined! :D
@studiotiptop, thank you for your kindness and the cute drawing!! :D
Title: Faith
Date: January 3rd
Characters and Pairings: Sasaki Haise
Genre: General
Rating: General
Word Count: 512
Summary: Sasaki fixes Ginshi’s kakizome and considers the future of the Quinx Squad.
Please spread the word if you are enjoying this~! Many thanks!
After the photo, Haise gathered the papers and the Quinx headed back to the main room. Truly, he should have had Saiko make another one, but it couldn’t be helped. Haise had read her file, and he knew of her situation. She didn’t want to be there with the Quinx and working for the CCG; she didn’t want to fight. He couldn’t blame her for it, even if it was the position she was in now and therefore her new responsibility. He knew he needed to be stricter with her. Their missions were simple for the most part now, but they would be trusted with more vicious ghouls later, and even now, anything could happen. A C rank could be identified later as an A rank or worse. He berated himself for allowing this to go on, but the fact of the matter was that he’d already allowed for this attitude to manifest itself. It would take quite a bit of effort to teach her otherwise; it would be best for her to learn on her own. No matter how many times he told her, “Please take this seriously, Saiko,” it wouldn’t happen until she decided for herself that it was something worth her time and attention. As much as he wanted to, he could not cure her apathy. He’d been with the Quinx Squad months now, and at times, he was still questioning why Akira, Arima, and the Director had chosen him.
Haise stepped back and observed the four papers he had put up on the mirrored glass of the training room wall. There was one left- Shriazu’s. He stared for several seconds before realizing exactly what Shriazu was attempting to write.
“One more stroke for ‘faith’.” He sat down to fix the kanji.
Faith.
He couldn’t help but to smile to himself. Ginshi had genuinely considered his goals, and it certainly showed through how terribly earnest his choice was. Even though it hadn’t been written correctly, Ginshi had decided that the key to improving his skills and abilities wasn’t through exercises or sparring. He’d decided what was most important was having faith. It was clear that Shirazu had faith in Sasaki himself. Shirazu’s trust in him proved to Sasaki that he was at least doing something right. The respect that he held for his mentor did not go unnoticed. But Sasaki hoped that Shirazu was thinking of his team, and, first and foremost, himself.
The importance of having faith between the Quinx Squad members was a daily battle for Sasaki. The success of the team didn’t solely rest on one person’s shoulders, though. Shirazu’s own success did, however. Shirazu needed to have more faith in himself.
Once the ink was dry, Sasaki hung the last kakizome up and observed the papers together. His squad needed work, but they had already come a long way in a short amount of time. Sasaki sighed. He just hoped it would be enough. They were young and inexperienced. He was inexperienced himself as a mentor and teacher.
Title: Goals
Date: January 2nd
Characters and Pairings: Sasaki Haise, Quinx Squad, Urie Kuki, Yonebashi Saiko, Shirazu Ginshi, Mutsuki Tooru
Genre: General
Rating: General
Word Count: 634
Summary: Sasaki asks the Quinx Squad to write their New Year’s goals as their kakizome (first writings) of the New Year.
Please reblog if you enjoy~! Thank you for following~!
“I don’t see the point in this.” Urie stared at the training room floor where Sasaki had laid out five sheets of two-ply sized rice paper with brushes and ink beside each one.
Sasaki was prepared for Urie’s attitude. He assumed that anything new he brought to the table would be met with opposition, particularly from the promotion obsessed Rank 2, “Our team needs to be more goal-oriented.”
Mutsuki smiled nervously. He’d go along with it, of course, but he did feel like he was in grade-school. Sasaki was appearing a bit too eager what with the supplies he’d provided and what-not. Writing kakizome was usually for those in grade school or for families that enjoyed traditions. Is that what Sasaki was trying to really do here? Establish a tradition between them?
Saiko had already seated herself on the floor in front of the giant rice paper, “This will be so much fun, Maman. Saiko loves you.” She immediately began doodling on the paper. At least the Rank 1 investigator had prepared with plenty of paper.
Shirazu sat down beside Yonebashi, eager to please his mentor. He’d done this a couple of times in school, and he’d done them with Haru a few times at home as well. He understood it was supposed to be a sort of meditative technique, anyway. Haru was more talented with the brush strokes, and she always made fun of his work.
Sasaki sat down at his own paper and faced them. He prepared the ink, picked up the brush, and checked that each of them had begun their task. Mutsuki was currently seated awkwardly at the end, holding the brush so that the ink was about to trickle down to his hand. He was hunched over the paper with a knit brow and frown. Sasaki set down his brush.
“It’s not easy.” Haise moved to sit beside Mutsuki and placed his hand gently over Tooru’s and guided his brush, “But for a small calligrap-fee, I’ll help you.” Tooru had flinched from the physical contact, but as soon as the pun had fallen from his mentor’s lips, he relaxed. He should have just asked for Sasaki’s help. Mutsuki was lucky that he was able to work with his teacher from the academy so closely now; he needed to accept that he would be supported here. Mutsuki tried again.
After giving a wink and giving a gesture of ‘okay’ with his hands, Sasaki returned to complete his own kakizome.
Less than twenty minutes later and they had all finished their goals for the new year. Sasaki insisted they gather together so that he could take a photo. He noticed Shirazu’s mistake first, but he wouldn’t say anything here. He noticed Yonebashi’s second, and saying something was unavoidable.
“Mochi?”
“In the zoni soup, please!” Saiko was practically glowing.
Sasaki sighed. “This is for your ambitions for this year- not tonight’s dinner.” She was using this exercise to encourage him to make zoni soup for dinner? When would Yonebashi ever take this job seriously?
As soon as the photo was taken, Urie mumbled something and headed out of the training room. Sasaki didn’t bother calling after him; he’d at least completed the task, however simple it was, so in Sasaki’s book, this would be a win.
“Maman, what did you write?”
Sasaki’s light-hearted laughter fluttered from his lips as he blushed slightly, holding up the paper for them to read.
Shirazu squinted his eyes, “Dirty laundry?”
“Cohesion.” He tried to remain serious, but the meaning behind the word was quite important to him on many levels involving both his team and himself, and so he only ended up blushing even more deeply.
The three Quinx still remaining smiled at their mentor. For all the betrayal and abuse they had thus far suffered in their lives, at least they had one blessing they could count on to always be on their side.
Title: Trust
Date: January 1st
Characters and Pairings: Mado Akira, Arima Kishou, Sasaki Haise
Genre: General
Rating: General
Word Count: 994
Summary: Akira, Arima, and Haise represent the CCG in a community mochi making contest.
Please reblog if you enjoy~! Let’s enjoy each day~!
“A mochitsuki contest?” Arima had called Akira on the phone; he hadn’t even bothered to tell her in person. He was assuming she’d agree without a hitch.
“Yes, the CCG always sends a team each year but Nakarai, Mikage, and Tamaki had to back out quite suddenly.” Arima himself had never participated or represented the CCG publicly, but he didn’t have a choice in the matter due to the time crunch.
“So you signed us up?” she questioned with a sigh. Leave it to Arima to make light of what was clearly a large favor considering its peculiarity and limited notice.
“The Director requested I come up with a team.” It wasn’t as if Arima had been given fair warning either, but Kishou wasn’t one to turn down a challenge, especially one so interesting.
“He left the decision to you, and you picked Sasaki and I?” Akira was surprised, but not because the reaper had picked Haise. Those two were very close. She was surprised that Arima chose her. Why not Ui or Take or someone else from his squad?
“Yes.” What he didn’t say was the order in which he’d chosen his team. Haise needed more experience with others outside of the CCG, and on top that, he needed to learn that he could and should experience life outside of the CCG- at least to an extent. So, from there, he was left to choose the only person he could think that Haise trusted, aside from himself, of course. Akira wasn’t just the best choice; she was the only choice. He added with a smile that could barely be heard in his voice, “It could be fun, Akira.”
“Fun?” She smiled, too, “Okay.”
<><><><>
None of them had tried anything like this before and yet, they worked together quite smoothly.
“Hai!” “Hai!” ”Hai!” “Hai!” “Hai!” “Hai!”
They were graded on speed and taste. Akira and Arima each held a mallet while Haise crouched low to move his hand quickly between the bowl of water and the mochi to continually moisten and fold it as it was pounded. Being the one most at risk of being hurt, Haise set the pace for the three of them. In seconds, he picked up the pace, and his mentors followed suit.
Haise trusted Arima. Not only could he depend on Arima’s inhuman precision and skill, even at something he’d never actually participated in before, but he could also depend on his desire to win. Haise knew Arima would never commit to an action without purpose, too, so he trusted that Arima wouldn’t hurt him; he supported him in too many ways both on the battlefield and off for Haise to depend on anything other than his continued support.
“Hai!” “Hai!” ”Hai!” “Hai!” “Hai!” “Hai!”
Haise trusted Akira. She was also someone who never committed to an action meaninglessly. They had not been working together long, but they had known each other for several months now. He’d learned that Akira was someone who was very kind, but was able to set aside her feelings in order to do what was right. He admired her for her strengths- strengths that were rather quite different from what Arima had taught him thus far.
“Hai!” “Hai!” ”Hai!” “Hai!” “Hai!” “Hai!”
Haise wasn’t thinking about his actions any longer. Trusting the other two completely, he focused on his task alone without even watching the mallets pound away or hearing the shouts of the crowd.
“Hai!” “Hai!” ”Hai!” “Hai!” “Hai!” “Hai!”
It was several seconds before the three had realized that time was up. The crowd that had gathered for the contest had erupted in shouts and applause. Had their performance really been so impressive? Sasaki realized how fast his heart had been pounding in his chest and he looked up to see that Akira was visibly out of breath as well. Arima returned the mallet, turning away before anyone could notice if the challenge had affected him similarly. They stood in waiting as someone took the mochi and strung it out before feeding it into a machine that produced little round beads of the sweet treat. They were handed to the judges, eaten, and scored.
“Yes!” Haise nearly jumped from the excitement. The crowd appeared equally pleased. There were still several teams that were in line to compete, but the CCG’s Mado, Arima, and Sasaki currently held the highest score.
<><><><><><>
“Haise, what’s that in your hand?”
After the competition, the team of three had been handed a piece each of mochi to sample while the rest was given freely to the crowd. Arima watched as Haise stepped ahead and turned his back to him, “Nothing!”
Akira gave a smirk at how terribly obvious he was being, “Sasaki, I wouldn’t eat that if I were you.” She knew. It hardly ever came up in conversation, but she knew very well.
Arima’s approach was quite different. His tone was stiff, “Don’t make yourself sick, Haise.”
Without another word, Sasaki tossed the whole piece into his mouth and swallowed, coughing a little as the powder filled his sinuses and the taste nearly choked him.
“Haise-”
He turned back around to face them. Smiling wide, he spoke earnestly with his eyes glassy with unshed tears, “It’s something we made together.”
Akira could see that merely eating it had brought Haise pain, but she tried smiling back, her eyes somewhat sympathetic, “You’re probably going to regret that.”
Arima was already on it, and before Haise could protest, the reaper was pushing him in the direction of the restroom. He said nothing of Haise’s behavior, but the urgency with which he led him away was enough to tell Sasaki he was concerned.
From the experience, Sasaki learned that he could depend on Akira to understand his heart and Arima to understand his body. Either way, he could trust each of them with a part of himself; he’d never forget their place in his life as allies.
The first day of the calendar features something very exciting- mochitsuki (also known as “mochi pounding”. Traditionally, Japanese families make mochi together over the New Year’s holiday. Usually, it is not done to this extent with the large mallets and wooden bowl, but it is very cute to see Haise and his CCG parents, Akira and Arima, making it together with him.
The video here was taken by me in Nara, and it features a shop that is known for their speed at making mochi and its taste. I hope you can enjoy the video and imagine Akira, Arima, and Haise sharing in this tradition together. I think it’s particularly special that Ishida chose these characters to work together like this as it does take a large amount of trust between them. Haise is placing himself in harm’s way, but he is not concerned that Arima and Akira will hit him because he trusts them. Also, it’s worth noting their excellent focus and teamwork.
If I am familiar with anything else culture-wise in the calendar, I will try to include information and photos. I hope you can enjoy these things along with the drabbles; I very much enjoy sharing them. Thank you in advance!
Note: I ate the mochi! I was very excited because of how warm and fresh it was, but I didn’t like it at all. T-T In the year that I spent in Japan, it was the only thing I could not finish. Usually, even if I didn’t like something, which was rare, I would force myself to eat it out of politeness, but I couldn’t handle this yomogimochi.
