So... Kako's Been Promoting Child Labor For A Long Time Then...

once again thinking about kou snatching hanako’s line here. aidairo how about next time you give us a timeline where they get along

nne.. green..

this is a silly question sorry if you already answered it but why do you ship aoinene? any canon material you especially like that make you ship them? i like to hear (in this case, read) people talk about their (fav?) ship and see their reasoning ^_^

Omg hi!!!! Thank you for this question, I love talking about this kind of stuff. I know I’ve made a few posts on TikTok about it but I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it on here. So let’s get right into it!

The first reason is a little silly so I’ll go ahead and get it out of the way. I have a major femslash bias. This doesn’t mean femslash ships are always going to be my favorites (I have plenty of favorite mlm and het ships as well), but it’s very hard for me to dislike a wlw pairing or to flat out not care about it. Take Bungou Stray Dogs for example, when I was writing for that fandom I was heavily invested in Dazai and all his ships, but Higuchi x Gin (a wlw couple) still ended up being my second most written for pairing in the fandom. And so before I even watched TBHK, when my sister told me Aoi and Nene were best friends and that people shipped them, I knew I was going to be a fan of the ship. However, I never expected it to become my favorite

I had quite a journey with what I deemed to be my “favorite” TBHK ship. At first I was saving that spot for Mitsukou, but the anime made me really adore HanaNene. It was also Sakuhiko for like a day, and I briefly anticipated AoiAoi would take the throne. It’s a little funny to me that before I got into Aoinene, I was so fascinated with their main rival ships. Aoinene became my favorite purely by accident, because of the femslash bias. This is how I accidentally get invested in many sapphic pairings that don’t have much basis in canon, lesbian content is a huge comfort for me and so I end up seeking it out the most in fandoms. Even before Aoinene became my favorite, it was the main ship I was reading fan fiction for. I was also searching up edits and fan art for them far more often than any other ship

Don’t laugh, but I do think it was the fanfics that solidified Aoinene as my favorite. Which is funny to me because nowadays I have a lot of problems with the way they’re typically written. But I still have such fond memories of fall of last year, staying up late every night and burning a candle whilst reading Beecalm’s Aoinene fics. It was one of those times in my life when everything felt right, and so I associate the ship with a lot of positive things

But fanon isn’t the only reason I like Aoinene, far from it!! I have plenty to yap abt with canon Aoinene as well

My favorite ship trope ever is friends to enemies, and though Aoinene only had that arc briefly, it’s still my favorite part of the manga (not just Aoinene, Grim Reaper arc as a whole!). I love the built up resentment between them, how they both hide so much from each other. Aoi wants to tell Nene who she really is, and Nene wants Aoi to talk more about herself, and yet they’re both too conflict-avoidant to realize they want the same thing!

That brand of friends to lovers has always been my favorite, when there’s so much unresolved tension between them wrapped up in a history that both of them feel tied to. They can’t walk away from each other, but they can’t quite stay together unless they talk about things. It puts them at a standstill. Many fans use this as a reason to hate Aoinene but for me it only makes me love them more, that miscommunication is so delicious to me. When it happens with Aoi and Akane we get a little bit of resolution as soon as Aoi lets it all out, whereas with Aoinene that resolution is dragged out more (and their development is expressed through smaller details). Don’t get me wrong, I love Aoi and Akane’s development too, but the subtlety of Aoinene’s conflict makes it sm more interesting to me. Like c’mon, don’t be shy. Tell me moooooooooooore

I also strongly feel that their type of conflict is unique to female friendships. I have had so many relationships like theirs, where you share a whole life together yet you know nothing about each other beyond a surface level. It’s interesting to me how women can just sorta cling together like that, how willing we are to fake it ‘til we make it just to keep our best friends in our lives. I like to joke that some female friendships act like old married couples who are bored of each other but don’t want to divorce. It’s very codependent by nature which is an element I love to see in ships (for the toxicity ofc, if I like a ship for its healthiness I don’t want to see them that way). And female friendships are so layered, the line between platonic and romantic is very blurred. There are women who have fully made out with their female friends and still identify as straight because that was nothing serious or romantic to them. On the other end, there are women who never got o kiss or hold their female friends but were still deeply in love with them. A woman might say her best friend is like a sister to her and then later realize she was misplacing the root of that intimacy. I have had friends go from “she’s like a sister to me” to “we’re best friends” to “when did she get so pretty??”. And that kind of complexity is exactly what draws me to sapphic ships like Aoinene

I like that Aoi so desperately wants to open up to Nene about her true personality, and in fact she makes multiple attempts to throughout the manga. But she’s so terrified of Nene hating her that she can’t bring herself to fully do it. Similarly, Nene does notice that something is going on with Aoi, but she brushes it off because she’s too overwhelmed with her own problems to pay too much attention to what her friends are doing. She also has a highly romanticized view of the world that causes her to see everyone in an idealized light. Aside from Aoi she also does this with Kou, Teru, Akane, and Mitsuba (briefly). There are times when she empathizes with certain characters- she saw right through Yako and Sumire, showed a deep care for Mei, and makes an active effort to understand Hanako. So her selfishness is a lot more nuanced than people think. But when it comes to the people she’s familiar with in her every day life, they become part of a routine. It’s easy for her to develop expectations for how they behave because she spends more time with them. Whereas with Yako, Sumire, Mei, and Hanako, she doesn’t really know what to expect from them. This allows her to approach their problems with a more unbiased view and- okay now I’m rambling

After the Grim Realer arc, Aoi and Nene are still lying to each other. Nene still hasn’t told Aoi about her lifespan, Aoi hadn’t told Nene about her hand. It’s likely Aoi hasn’t told Nene the extent of her problems either, tho they seem more comfortable around each other after their chat in the firework chapter. It seems to me like they’re working through things bit by bit, but they still have a long way to go. Their combined character flaws (Aoi hiding her true self vs. Nene being blind to other people’s true selves) make a recipe for disaster. And as much as I really want to see them struggle with that, I also want to see them overcome their problems together and develop a stronger friendship

I also want to add that I love how Nene interacts with new timeline Aoi. This is an Aoi that doesn’t hide herself; she’s forward about what she wants and her attentiveness towards Nene seems very genuine in comparison to OG Aoi’s fakeness. What makes me hopeful is that Nene really seems to like this version of Aoi!! She looks at her with interest and indulges her clinginess by going to the festival with her, giving her the kind of reassurance OG Aoi needs (actually OG Aoi needs wayyyyy more reassurance but it’s a good start). They seem to be much closer in this timeline than they were in the OG so I am very excited to see where their relationship goes from here. I’m hoping this leads to development for OG Aoinene

One of my favorite things about Aoinene is how they fall into the hero x damsel in distress trope. Nene has had to watch Aoi die so many times, it’s insane. First the Misaki Stairs, then the Picture Perfect arc, then the Grim Reaper arc where Aoi actually was fully dead for a while, and she had to grieve her in the Ghost Hotel au too. I understand why a manga with so much going on doesn’t have time to unpack all of that but I do wish we had a few more scenes addressing the trauma Nene is sure to have from watching her best friend die over and over again (MadoHomu core?). From the way she reacts to seeing Aoi again after watching her die, it’s clear those memories do impact her. And I love love love how protective she is over Aoi as a result. Nvm my favorite parts of the manga are when Aoi gets kidnapped by a supernatural and Nene sets out to find her. They are so classic fairy tale coded (yes I do have a fic about this…technically two…technically three…)

That makes it even more interesting when their hero x damsel trope turns into hero x villain. Ughhhhh the panel of Aoi throwing Nene into the pit is so famous to me, I really wish antagonist Aoi had lasted longer. Her fakeness leading up to the betrayal!!! The ultimate act of her faking her personality, and Nene still doesn’t notice because she never noticed before!!! Rahhhhhhhh they make me ill. There is a reason the Grim Reaper arc is my favorite and admittedly a lot of it is of Aoinene (other elements too tho, I love everything about it). I did not know the “damsel becomes the villain” plot line was something I need it but reading it in TBHK was so mwah mwah mwah, 5 stars I need to see that a million times again

Another thing I like about Aoinene is all the cute details we have about their friendship in the manga. Their character designs complement each other so well, I can’t help but feel that was intentional (like Gojo and Geto). There are so many official arts of them in matching outfits or just doing cute things together. They canonically go to the beach together every summer. They canonically do karaoke together. Aoi canonically buys snacks to share with Nene at school. They are at the forefront of so many AUs, namely HKOM where Aoi tells Nene she loves her. They have been friends since middle school. Aoi initiates physical affection with Nene a lot which often makes Nene stunned or flustered. Aoi shares all her rumors and ghost stories with Nene. We’ve seen Aoi cry in front of Nene and Nene comfort her. I like how panicked Nene gets when she’s trying to comfort Aoi, it’s clear she’s not good at that sort of thing but still makes an effort. I like that Aoi can be passive-aggressive with Nene at times. I just like. Man. I love every single thing about them

Given the Hanako possession scene, I would say the yuri fan service with them is intentional (that scene as gross but it was still very much fan service). The fact that AidaIro have thought of their relationship that way makes me so giddy…I just wish they could fan service them in a way that wasn’t lesbian fetishization and SA but ig beggars can’t be choosers. Ultimately tho idc if this ship has implied moments, as I said it’s just fan service and it’s never going to be canon. It does seem to me like Aoi might have been intended to have a crush on Nene at the start of the manga with the whole “I missed my chance to tell her” thing, but if that plot line was ever considered it’s clearly been scrapped. I don’t need my pairings to be canon in order to be happy, the fun of shipping is getting to make shit up!! And I have so much fun reading into their friendship and fleshing things out. These two have become one of my favorite ships of all time. Possibly my favorite. I am so unwell about them

Anyways, sorry this took me months to answer. I had typed out part of it and then got lazy and let it collect dust in my drafts for far too long. It feels good to finally be replying, I’ve been looking forward to posting this one. Hope this response satisfies your curiosity!!

Funny how Hanako believed(believes?) that Nene could just eventually forget him if she got the chance to age and that she'd be able to grow up and lead a normal life and marry some normal guy and have kids.

I think that boat sailed a long time ago. I'm sure Nene still has those desires, to find love and get married and wear that pretty white dress and have a family—but I don't think she wants those things unless there's the possibility she could have all those things with Hanako. Which isn't possible, because as of right now, he's dead as a doornail and can't leave the school grounds, and he's been like that for over 50 years give or take. She can't have those things with him; he shouldn't even be an option for her to fall in love with but he is and she has.

So priorities shift, she becomes a little more honest with herself, and Nene seems quite willing to throw away those wistful dreams of a young teenage girl, as long as it means getting to stay with Hanako.

She found love, and maybe it's imperfect and maybe he's definitely not Mr. Perfect, but she loves him. Enough to accept the fact he has blood on his hands; that he's dead; he can be selfish, and insensitive, and possessive, and closed off. We've yet to see the breaking point of Nene's infinite patience and love for Hanako.

So her getting to have a normal life and grow up and become this average woman who goes on dates and gets married to some guy isn't exactly for her anymore. If she can't have that with Hanako, then I don't think Nene wants it at all. Remember, Nene wanted to go to the moon with Hanako; she wants to have the impossible and she wants to have it not just granted by Hanako, but have it with him, too.

The only reason she went to "the moon" by herself is because he essentially forced her to go without him. Hanako still thinks Nene wants to have that future of hers, even if it costs him, even if she ends up hating him, or forgetting about him.

But Nene first and foremost wants to know if Hanako feels the same way she does about him: she loves him. The rest can be figured out, but all she knows right now is that she loves Hanako and that's all that really matters. Even her impending death has taken a backseat to her feelings for him.

First Mermay piece!

Hanako is a Black ghost knife fish and Nene is a betta fish!!

Day 1: Alive

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Amane's Mindset & Love

Amane's Mindset

Amane lived his life being fully human. So he stuck with human moral convictions and emotions. I think that Akane, Teru and Kou (to some extent), which are all humans, represent what deep down Amane thinks about himself. Amane doesn't justify his wrong actions morally. He does them for the sake of his loved ones, but he never has thought that it's morally right to do them. He acknowledges it when he's doing something wrong.

Akane and Teru always remind him of what he did, that the murder was something that marked his existence forever, that he's evil because of it and even if he's fulfilling his duty, there's no way he could ever atone for his sins. Also, from Teru's perspective, the fact that he's a supernatural proves he's evil. "There's no such thing as a good supernatural because they could attack anyone at any moment".

That's why despite what he did, he never justified his wrong actions and actually likes it when people reminds him of them. He likes people who have a strong sense of morality because deep down, he sees himself as evil, as a muderer. That's part of the reason why he decided to give up on his future and killed himself after he killed Tsukasa.

In contrast, there’s Nene and Kou. At first, when Kou fought with Hanako, his perspective was like Teru's. He believed that Hanako must be exorcised because "he's the evil spirit of a murderer".

During this fight, Hanako told Kou that god would erase his guilt if he fulfilled his duty so he couldn't let Kou exorcise him. However, at the end of their fight, Hanako agreed with what Kou thought of him and he told Kou that he was looking forward to the day he was going to be exorcised by him.

After this fight, Kou started to see other side of Hanako. His gentler side. Kou decided he wasn't going to exorcise Hanako and he tried to justify the murder committed by Hanako. But Hanako reminded him that there's no justifiable reason to ever kill someone.

Even though Hanako reacted violently at that moment, entering a state in which he reenacted his past actions and poured out all the guilt he couldn't longer contain, Kou still doesn't deep down believe that Hanako is "just some evil spirit".

Now, in Nene's case, she became attached to him and saw him as a friend, despite Kou revealing his secret—that he was a murderer. But again, Amane reminded her "I'm a murderer. How can you see me as a friend?" Amane didn't feel that he was worthy or deserving of forgiveness, bonds, love or anything good after what he did.

After Tsukasa appeared, the guilt he feels for what he did, was very evident. He can't forgive himself for what he did in the past.

Hanako has a white and black view of morals, even thought he's a morally gray character. To him, his thoughts, his actions are "black", bad. He feels bad because of the way he is because he's capable of the worst in his own POV.

Now, his black-and-white mindset is more evident when he talks about supernaturals and humans. Amane thinks that there should be limits between humans and supernaturals because supernaturals are very different from humans.

Humans are different from supernaturals, but Amane takes it to the point of him believing that when a human becomes a supernatural, they stop being themselves, completely. To him when someone is born as a human, it's the only real part of themselves.

He thinks that once humans dies, it's over. There's no continuation of life and dead have no future. Not even if they wander the near shore. In his perspective, there's no hope once a human is dead no matter what they do.

So, Amane views humans and supernaturals in a very black-and-white spectrum. For example, one of the reasons he may want Nene to keep on living is that he thinks that after dying, she must go to the far shore to still be herself, because if she wants to stay in the near shore she must become a supernatural and if she does so, she'll "get all jumbled up" to the point that her identity will change completely because she would become an entirely different being, that "she wouldn't be Yashiro Nene anymore".

Amane's Love

Amane always keeps his feelings locked up in his heart and he has always had a hard time expressing himself since he was a little kid. For example, when Tsukasa asked Amane if he loved him, Amane didn't straight up said that he loved him too, but rather "Of course I do!" more in the sense of "isn't that obvious?" He never expressed his love in a straightforward way, unlike Tsukasa.

However, I think he was more open to expressing himself when he was a little kid, because when Nene traveled to the past and she met 8 year old Amane, he straight up expressed his attraction towards her. He wasn't as shy as when he was in middle school and he was kinda cheerful.

But when he started middle school, he began to repress what he liked and how he was feeling. I think he started to be like this because of the bullying he was suffering by his classmates (Probably), or maybe because of his parents. I don't think Tsukasa was the one hurting him because when they were younger, Tsukasa didn't show any sign of violence towards Amane and these signs of violence began to appear in the first year of middle school. Also, they were close to each other.

Amane doesn't show his love through words, but through actions. Even though he has a hard time expressing himself and seems like he doesn't care, he really does. Most of the evidence of his love shown in the story so far is with Nene. He wants the wellbeing of his loved ones and to do what's best for them from his perspective, but here's the issue: he doesn't take their feelings into account. For example, Nene wanted to escape the Picture Perfect world, but Amane didn't let her at first because he wanted her to keep on living.

Also, he was going to sacrifice Aoi in order to keep Nene alive even thought she didn't want any of it. Nene even told him that he "always decides things by himself without telling anyone".

So, he never takes into account what his loved ones are feeling or what they want. He just does what he thinks it's best for them. He wants to take control over their fates, over their choices and that crosses into "possessiveness" territory. For example, when Nene and Hanako reunited after the severance, he said to her that he "needed to breathe life into her by his own hands". So he needed to have control over the way her lifespan would be extended. He didn't want Kou or others interfering in it. He felt the need to show Nene his love in some way or other. He couldn't bear the thought of others taking his place, so he needed to do something by his own hands. Even Nene interpreted this as he wanting "to have her to himself".

However, there's also other aspect of his love, and it's that, he doesn't care if he has to sacrifice his life, existence or his future. He's willing to throw it away for the sake of his loved ones. He even gave up on going to the moon because of his brother and also after the severance, he didn't care if he was going to be exorcised by Teru. He just wanted Nene to keep on living and he got angry at her because she didn't stay in the human world.

After Amane killed his brother and himself, it's later revealed that Amane loved his brother so much, that Tsukasa became his yorishiro. Perhaps the murder and suicide were acts of Amane's love for his brother because he wanted to protect him, but in a selfish way. Even when Sakura was talking about the yorishiros, it implies that Tsukasa was "The most important thing he wanted to protect".

Conclusion

Amane's set of morals and his point of view on supernaturals and humans are black-and-white, because he adhered to human's morals and emotions as he was fully human when he was alive. Despite this, he's a morally gray character. He also thinks that once a human becomes a supernatural, they cease to be themselves and become something entirely different. Due to his perspective of morals and supernaturals, he views himself as evil and irredeemable. Teru, Akane and Kou (in the beginning) remind him of this.

Regarding the nature of his love, the way he loves is selfish in the sense that it's possessive and he does what he thinks it's best for his loved ones without regarding what they actually want, yet it's selfless at the same time because he's willing to sacrifice his future or existence to protect them. His morally gray actions stem from his deep, possessive, overprotective love.

redid an older drawing ! hello amane

Terukaneaoi sirens & sea stuff AU where Teru's the heir of the Minamoto household, a noble family whose business focuses on maritime trades with overseas lands. The Minamotos have the ability to see and slay supernatural sea creatures and a secret duty to fight them off to protect civilians since ancient times. But the Minamoto siblings are affected with a condition inherited from their mother, that make their blood especially attractive to supernaturals and weaken their capacities to fight them. As their father's also partially lost his combat abilities because of a previous hunt he took part in, severe restrictions were put onto the siblings to forbid them from ever approaching the sea.

But as time goes on, the condition that translates itself by a mark on part of their body weakens for Kou and Tiara and worsens for Teru, which reinforces the supervision put onto him.

He shows himself particularly good at business though, and as his parents often go away on affair trips, he's left with most of the administrative work and kinda drowns under responsibilities, to avoid them being put onto his siblings shoulders. Slowly but surely, he makes a name for himself and people recognize him everywhere, expect lots from him and make him busier and busier, so much he doesn't have time for himself anymore. He longs for a simple life he doesn't get and freedom he can't reach.

One day though, the entire city gets attacked and the Minamotos are forced to escape by sea. His mother gets stabbed on the ship and a sea creature attacks it. They're in the middle of the ocean when she gets killed and Teru's separated from his father and siblings by the creature he somehow manages to escape from. When he miraculously survives, he makes it his goal to find his siblings back, having no idea where they went or if they were even safe after the accident. He severely resents supernatural creatures for ever touching his family.

Akane is a citizen from a coast village of another land that got into a sea accident and lost his best friend, Aoi, two years ago. He's convinced she's still alive though, trapped by the siren hoard that attacked them and cursed him to turn into one too when he touches water. His one and only goal since the accident is to find her again, losing himself in his frantic search. He stays all day at home, lost in research papers and piles of documents, only periodically going out to experiment or patrol on abandoned beaches. As fails keep piling up, he becomes a shadow of himself.

Aoi is Akane's childhood bestfriend. Of curious nature, she had taken interest in supernatural tales since young, especially those of sea creatures. She gets turned into a siren after getting caught in an accident where she manages to save Akane before her human consciousness fades away. Since then, she wanders in the deep seas, regretting things she doesn't remember and longing hard for a boy she had forgotten long ago.

She survives by enchanting sailors who can't see her with her voice, trapping their boats and draining their energy off them.

When Teru's ships crashes, she's attracted by the smell of the particular blood hidden amongst liters and liters of regular ones. When she finds the unconscious boy she at first mistakes for another siren, her curiosity is appealed and she pulls him underwater to drain off his life as she sings him a melody. But the boy seems to see her, and when she touches the mark on his neck, she can sense an electric pulse that only screams danger to her senses. But because his blood tastes delicious, because the energy she drains off him feels particularly good and because his mesmerized eyes carry a look she hadn't seen since two years ago, she doesn't kill him right away. She instead marks him as her prey and carries him to the nearest piece land, saving him for her own entertainment.

On one of his outings, Akane sees Teru's figure floating on a wooden board near a rock, miles away from the coast. Despite having gone kinda insane since his childhood friend's loss, he doesn't think twice before jumping in the water to rescue the stranger. When he makes it back to the beach, he tries to get the unconscious boy to breath again.

After he finally comes awake, Akane discovers Teru got attacked by a sea creature, surprised to meet another survivor after years. He also recognizes what he learned in his searches was a siren's prey mark on his wrist. Akane had been looking for any siren for so long, even resorting to use his own voice he hated with all his might to attract one. So when he sees Teru, hope that dimmed after months and months of failure sparks again, and he is certain that he'll find and save Aoi with this new asset. But Teru is in really bad shape, having spent weeks completely unconscious in the ocean, traveling from a land to another by the bare force of a siren that drained his already lacking energy throught the mark on his wrist.

He spends a few months resting at Akane's house, recovering slower than he would like. He doesn't manage to find any clue on what happened to his siblings, only that the connections with his kingdom had been completely severed. After the first few weeks, Teru manages to vaguely learn about what Akane is always working on, discovering that he's looking for someone. They kinda bond over that ; Teru tells Akane about his siblings and gets him to open up, although reluctantly at first, about Aoi. They also share their aversion for supernatural creatures, though Akane never actually tells Teru about his curse. Teru learns to appreciate Akane's presence, his casualness, so different from what he was accustomed to back home. He sees a shift in Akane's behavior, slowly relaxing around him, less on edge and not entirely consumed by his research anymore.

Curiosity slowly grows about the girl he tells him about; he wishes he can meet her someday. Curiosity also grows about the siren that saved him, the beautiful creature that left a mark on his wrist, as faint memories come back. He wants to find her and thank her for saving his life, see her breathtaking eyes once more before never talking to her ever again, as she's one of the beings he swore he wouldn't forgive and did leave an annoying prey mark on him that made him take so long to recover.

Teru also thinks about his family. The thoughts make him unable to fully appreciate the rest he gets at Akane's he had longed for for years, he stays up at night remembering his mother, hallucinating his siblings telling him they'll never meet again.

As soon as Teru gets back on feet, Akane leads the two of them to a clandestine ship heading to Teru's land, as its official communication ways were abruptly closed right before their meeting on the beach. Akane plans on luring the siren who marked Teru out with said guy and do whatever it takes to make them lead him to Aoi. As a bonus, he gets to see genuine excitement on the face of the boy he had kinda grew fond of.

After all, Teru gets to be on a ship and travel for himself for once, he gets to discover freedom in normal conditions and has what could be akin to a friend by his side. If his neck slightly buzzes and his mind flashes tentacles and blinding red as he gets onto the ship, he doesn't mention it.

When the trip that is planned to last about a month is well into its second week and there's still no sign of any siren being nearby, Akane's excitement considerably dims. He doesn't loose hope though, refusing to believe he had spent the past month on a false hope. And so, the lack of results and things to do make him turn to the one distraction he has. He inevitably grows closer to Teru. He feels himself being more and more like, well, himself, before the accident. His washed out personality eventually becomes vibrant again, the dullness Aoi's loss had instaured slowly washing itself away. He thinks it's for the best, Aoi wouldn't have even recognized him if he met her again like that. He cuts his hair, and decides to take control on his life back, for her.

Teru slightly changes too, a personality he never really got to express emerging along his newfound freedom. When he finds his siblings, he promises himself to take them on trips like these. He wants to experience freedom alongside them this time. He doesn't know if they'll ever want to step on a ship again though.

The both of them fall into a casual dynamic, light banter coming along their true colors. Akane learns that the calm and always preoccupied guy whose seemingly only interest was his siblings is actually insufferable and a total weirdo. He can tell him about the entire history of his land and study its economic data from the past 20 years while at the same time not knowing the rules of rock paper scissors. He can't help but find it cute.

At some point, they start to share late night conversations. Teru confesses his past struggles to someone else for the first time, opening up about pressure and expectations, how much he had wanted simplicity and freedom. And something about his smile, or the way he looks at him pulls Akane in, pushes him to grab Teru's shoulder one night and lean closer to him. He's about to kiss him when his hand touches the back of Teru's neck, and he gets zapped. His cursed senses go wild, and that takes him out of the moment, makes him realize just what he was about to do. He feels guilty. He feels like he insulted Aoi by trying to, do something, with another person. The accident makes him distance himself from Teru for a while. Teru's left confused as hell. He doesn't get to think much of it tho, as he quickly gets exhausted after unclenching the zap. Letting out this kind of energy makes him weaker, and attracts one particular siren...

Aoi finds her way back to Teru thanks to the energy he let out she recognizes. An evening, she sings the melody she sang when she rescued him to lure him out. Unsurprisingly, he comes to meet her, the prey mark on his wrist probably making him way more sensitive to her presence than anyone else. But he isn't immediately enchanted by her voice as she expects. Although, he doesn't look exactly in control of himself either, instead looking at her absentely from the boat. He's seemingly still asleep, but his body makes a point not to jump in the water. Shouldn't he be a little more grateful to someone who saved his life? How arrogant and disrespectful, to refuse her call like that. She changes the tune she sings, and this time, Teru can't resist. When he sinks, Teru awakens. He's met with Aoi's face and her angelic voice, and despite swearing not to interact with her ever again after thanking her, he can't pull his eyes off her. With no high and tiredness from a fight, weakened and marked prey this time, he gets enchanted by her voice, falling hard for her. Seeing her success, Aoi starts draining his energy, planning to turn this human with a special blood into a siren all to herself. And so, the following days, she lures him at night to drain him, taste his blood, taking the time to prepare for the transformation as she's not powerful enough to complete it quickly.

Teru gets stuck into a constant state of hypnosis. He forgets about his siblings and his goals, only seeing Aoi, wanting to be by her side, waiting for her beautiful voice to call on him. His physical condition gets even weaker, worse than when he first got found by Akane. He barely goes out of his cabinet anymore.

Days pass like that, and Akane who had completely distanced himself from Teru notices the changement in his behavior. He doesn't actually go check up on him though, too preoccupied by his guilt to confront him. He spirals all over again in his thoughts.

But one night, he remembers about his actual goal - finding a siren - and, as he didn't check for days now, he resorts to sing a siren tune, hoping to attract the one who marked Teru. What he attracts isn't what he expects tho, as it's the prey himself who comes out of his cabinet a few minutes into his melody. Akane's surprised at first, the tune only made to be heard by sirens, then he comes to the realization. He's sure Teru somehow caught on on his true nature and expects to get yelled at, or straight up attacked (fear had kinda grown towards Teru since he got zapped), knowing the boy's resentment towards sea creatures. He does none of that though. He instead throws himself in the water. Akane doesn't understand at first, but follows him anyway.

Akane despises his siren form, but he's grateful it allows him to breath underwater, as Teru swims during a long time, towards no particular goal. But when he sees his wrist glowing, he's practically sure the siren is nearby, and he picks up the pace.

Then he sees her.

Akane Aoi. The very one girl he had been looking for for so long. She's as breathtaking as he remembers, but the human glint in her eyes is gone. Akane is devastated as he finds out she became a complete siren. No way to revert back, no, he had learnt that over the past two years.

When Teru swims into her arms, he seems oddly at peace, almost drugged. Aoi's caressing the boys hair, holding his wrist and lightly piercing it. The wrist's glowing. Akane can't believe she was the siren who marked Teru.

Then he gets hit again with the realization that it is Aoi, the one he had been looking for for years, the girl he had promised himself to save. (He was too late, and oh so wrong about her fate).

And so, he bursts in, dives straight towards Aoi and locks eyes with hers, inhuman jade pupils staring into even less human aquamarines, in hopes she would remember him somehow (it is impossible). Her eyes do widen a bit seeing him, and she even reaches out to cup his face. At that, Akane freezes. Sirens don't usually do this right? When her hand touches him, he forgets everything. Forgets about Teru, about his curse, about how a full siren can't revert back to human and can't gain their memories back either, ever. Irrational, desperate, hope grows within him, hope that she does remember, that there is still part of her that's human, that there is still something for him to save, to wish for, that she isn't lost yet. He needs to believe that he can do something, even if it costs his life to bring her back.

His human part gets mesmerized by her eyes, and tears of joy - or total madness - roll of his own. The sanity he had managed to regain the past few months slips away in a go - he's completely overwhelmed by the relief of reuniting with Aoi, the birth of a new, completely insane goal, and the terrifying look in her beautiful irises, taking the shape of rows and rows of circles, akin to hypnosis spirals. Akane's getting enchanted, and his only half-siren body can't resist it, especially not since it comes from Aoi. She herself doesn't seem conscious of what she's doing, the look on her face becoming more and more confused, almost on the verge of crashing out, tumult boiling behind her eyes. The sight of this anormal siren is setting her senses ablaze, contradicting everything she is, trying to pull out a side of her that doesn't exist anymore.

A year ago, Akane skips a passage of a book. "If sirens are confronted with the deepest regret they didn't let go of , they remember, and they..."

Her nails dig into his skin but her hold somehow stays gentle. She's about to pull him even closer when they're interrupted by a flash of bright light, coming from Teru. Akane only gains the slightest hint of a clear mind when he turns away from Aoi's wide eyes to see the mark on Teru's wrist glowing dark red. His nearby veins bursts open. Akane's smells the delicious scent of a very special blood but also something akin to poison mixed in it. The blood is black. Like his. Like the siren's from two years ago. Gears of his hypnotized mind switch up. Why Teru heard the tune he was humming on the boat. Why he was loosing his energy all of sudden, just like he did himself when he got cursed. Why he is here.

He doesn't dare to take a closer look at the mark, already knowing it isn't that of a prey anymore, that it had transformed into the same he had on his torso, but complete. He can't believe he hasn't seen this coming. His friend getting transformed right under his eyes. Aoi lets go of him, but doesn't go to Teru either. Instable energy boils up in her, and she starts shaking hard. Akane is torn between staying for her or saving his friend. He fights off Aoi's hypnosis and his own mind screaming at him to stay and swims to Teru. Because Teru's still part human as of now, and he can't stand the idea of failing him again, after letting all the clues past his nose. But the blood starts forming a cage around Teru, pushing Akane away, and then his whole body starts glowing. He understands that he's witnessing the final step of a transformation. And that he can't do anything. He can't save a person dear to him, again. The only thing he can do is to wait for it to be over and hope Teru's kept a bit of his humanity. (Deep within, he knows it's too late anyway. It's impossible to turn a siren back, even with signs of humanity like Aoi. He refuses to acknowledge it.)

Aoi's shaking gets worse. Her eyes become pitch black. Seeing the siren getting away from her, weirdly makes her head ache. Her chest glows dark near her heart and her voice lets out loud, incoherent screeches to call him back.

Akane, agitated, comes back to her, and when she meets his eyes again, she remembers. Aoi Akane, her childhood bestfriend. The most important person in her life. The light glows even brighter, dark blood coming out of her eyes. The arteries flowing to her unbeating heart implode. Her hypnosis abruptly stops.

Remembering is the most dangerous thing to a siren. Never, ever, remember. You can't remember. (You can, but don't)

She finally sees him, this time unclouded, completely himself. His eyes shine in horror, and on his face is plastered an expression that has already been addressed to her once before on a certain ship. She notices he's holding her in his arms. His gloved hands aren't as warm nor as steady as she remembers.

"...They die."

That's not how she wanted their reunion to be. Two years ago, she had promised herself to revert back to human, to find Akane and tell him all the things she didn't get the chance to say to him. Two years ago, she had also forgotten who she was.

Aoi feels the energy she needs to survive leave her body as the core of the siren part of herself breaks into pieces. Akane's eyes are blown wide. Shakily, she cups his cheek again.

"Akane-kun...I..remember now.." she manages to say. Yeah, it hits her full force now. The blurred face she had unconsciously been looking for for the past two years, the regrets she had, it was all Akane. Now, she's herself again, and they could live happily ever after... But of course not. What a shame it has to end like that.

She thinks of that other boy, the human that was turning into a siren at the moment. She had enjoyed his presence. Even if he didn't remember, he had been nice to her when she brought him to safety. He probably has people important to him, family, maybe friends. One look at Akane earlier, at his eyes that were way more tired than before but just as beautiful worriedly staring at him made her understand the boy meant a lot him. She'd prefer for Akane to think only about her in what she knows are her last moments, but she can't resolve herself to condemn Minamoto Teru. So, in a whisper, as blood pools up her mouth, she tells Akane to help him, as a last wish.

It would've been better if he had given up two years ago. Then, he wouldn't have had to wear such a shattered expression on his face. But, selfish as it is, even if it hurts Akane, she can't help but be grateful to have gotten the chance to see him once more, before dying as herself and not anyone else. She doesn't say anything, but the last smile she adresses Akane is enough to tell him everything she's had on her heart since the day they parted and all the way before. No regrets anymore. She loves him.

Silently, as her eyes finally become humane again, I love you. Just like that, her lids close and she goes as the water slowly darkens.

Akane's underwater breath hitches, and he looses it. She died because of him, that was sure. She died. Aoi died. Aoi. Died. Dead. His hold on her tightens as her physical body dissipates. At some point, he's left alone with a single scale that stayed behind and grabs it as a lifeline. His hands clench it tight. Salty tears mix in the ocean water. Without Aoi, he doesn't know what to do anymore (he doesn't even know if he wants to keep on living).

Then he hears a loud thump. It is Teru's cage. The transformation shouldn't be done so soon. He remembers Aoi telling him to help him. He should do that.

Akane slowly swims to Teru's cage. He sees it dissipating, revealing an unconscious boy inside. Teru is buzzing from electricity, his skin burnt, his body electrified. His Minamoto blood combined with his condition refused the siren transformation, the opposition between the two damaging his body instead. Teru isn't breathing. His eyes don't open either.

Akane gently takes him away from the cage, into his arms, to inspect him. No response to anything he does. His face, at least, looks at peace. Akane can't believe it. He shakily buries his head into his chest. How could this happen..?

In the end, the last thing he did with him was this unnecessary kiss attempt, probably leaving him confused, then the whole ignoring thing. Teru's not going to see his siblings he loved so much again. He isn't going to live a long and free life either. It's all because of Akane. He..he should've given up on Aoi. He shouldn't have ever dragged Teru onto the boat knowing full well how dangerous a prey mark is. She wouldn't have died. He would've found a way to live, eventually. He stripped their lives away from them.

Akane stays there for hours, empty and filled with void, an unresponsive boy in his arms and the only thing left from a girl he looked for for years clutched tight in his hand.

Days pass, and he decides to bring Teru's body back to his brother. Maybe Aoi would like the travel. He wants to build her a proper tomb after that, bury her like she deserves to.

It takes years for him to find Kou. With no information aside from Teru's descriptions, it is not an easy task. He wanders across the world, a casket on his back, a necklace holding a scale in a small box on his neck. When he dives into sea, he never once meets another siren. Sea creatures avoid him, sensing the energy of a fallen comrade and the intense aura of a dead Minamoto from him. It's fine. He doesn't want to ever interact with any of them anyway.

His journey comes to an end when he finally recognizes a mop of blond hair with a red earring, radiating a familiar electric energy. He's in a city then, one that has clearly been through a lot, but is already in the middle of being reconstructed. The boy's praying to a monument for the fallen. In the entrance, three people, likely his friends and a younger girl he can't think of any name for but Tiara. Teru would've been happy with how good they came out as grown ups. Akane clutches his necklace, then slowly approches the kneeling figure.

"...Kou, is it?"

---

Yup that's it! Here are the sketches that inspired ts (I kinda strayed a lot from the original idea as you can kinda see)

Then these came after

Well huuuh thanks for reading :D

(OG draft)

Mokke drew today this!