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“You hear that, Ayumi-chan?” Setsuko beamed through her tears as her baby woke and started fussing in her arms. “Your father’s a hero and a god!”
THIS IS HURTING MY FEELINGS I LOVE SETSUKO SO MUCH I DIDNT WANT THIS FOR HER
why she had followed Robin like a moth to a flame. It was why Setsuko was and always would be the most beautiful woman in the world.
Why hadn’t Takeru insisted on it? How could he have left his own son to die without argument? How?
He did but imo it wasnt enough
“But he can’t.” Hiroshi’s face twisted in anger, his eyes still unfocused. “I didn’t catch up to him yet.”
it occurred to Misaki what a big piece of their world Mamoru had been. Not just a firstborn son, but a decade older than his younger brothers, he must have loomed so large to them.
Frankly, she didn’t care. He had left Mamoru to die. And for what? So he could arrive in the village just in time to try to stop Misaki from going to save Hyori?
FACTS
It was good to know that one of the men in her life cared that Mamoru was gone.
His firstborn son was dead. But the knowledge didn’t seem to affect him as he swept about the village, organizing supplies and ordering volunteers around.
I hate him tbh
Takeru nodded as if he had suspected this the whole time, as if he hadn’t slapped his son around the dojo for suggesting it.
“You were told not to speak,” Takeru said shortly. “Um—” Again, Kazu’s eyes flicked
FUCK THIS GUY FR
“Don’t be stupid, Fuyu-chan,” another teenage girl said. “It would burn your fingers off.”
It? I hope theyre talking about the hair and not the person
“Look!” Setsuko said, seemingly delighted at the opportunity to scandalize her already traumatized neighbors. “That one has really big breasts!”
IM DEAD
“You mean the blacksmith village?” “Oh, is that what it was?” Colonel Song said, with an amused quirk of his mouth
This guy… he’s not my kind of guy
“The Yammankalu are conducting an important forensic investigation for our Emperor,” Song said. “You and everyone in this village are to give them your full cooperation.”
“I understand,” Colonel Song said, “but we will need all the bodies brought to the Yammankalu at your blacksmith village—Kaigenese and Ranganese.”
Theyre gonna get rid of the bodies and claim no one died
“Are you stupid?” Misaki snapped at the translator. “He clearly knows the phrase ‘will of the Emperor.’
DAYUM
“Learn to read the situation, you moron.”
I LOVE HER SO MUCH
“That’s Mamoru,” Takeru said as Colonel Song motioned some of his men forward. “That’s my son.” There was no protest in his tone, but there was something.
Noooo
“They can’t do this! They can’t—”
“It’s good that you were at least able to keep his sword, Matsuda-dono,” Katashi was saying to Takeru. “It would have been wasteful not to,” Takeru said. “It’s an excellent weapon.”
This is INFURIATING
“You are not well,” he said. “Rest.” Then he left, as he had the day of Misaki’s first miscarriage, as he always did. She watched him go, wishing he had hit her.
His pulse remained steady, meaning he was either honest or a very good liar.
or he really believes what hes saying
Takeru had insisted that she use Kazu’s ‘proper title,’ though it still felt funny on her lips.
WHY DOES SHE LISTEN TO HIM
“Morning, Matsuda-dono,” he returned. “Your ladyship couldn’t sleep?” “Your lordship can’t mind his own business?”
LMAO
“His spirit can take it. Tell me.”
DEAD
‘We can’t marry our smart girl to a big dumb flake.’”
HAHAHS
Into it, the soldiers had thrown the hundreds of bodies they had collected over the past few days—Ranganese and Kaigenese, warriors and civilians, all piled together.
And theyre gonna light them on fire i knew it
Mamoru lay among a tangle of fonyaka corpses, his head resting against the shoulder of one of the butchered numuwu.
This makes me sick
“How dare you?” she snarled at the soldier. “Do you know who he is? He fought to protect this empire! How dare you?”
“Stand down!” Takeru commanded, his voice booming across the pit. “Ginkawa, Ameno, people of Takayubi, stand down!”
-___-
“Don’t worry about it,” the colonel said with entirely fake sympathy. “She’s been through a lot.”
There is actual steam emerging from my orfices
“Then you will see to it that these people understand one thing: no one is to speak of the Ranganese attack. If any outsider asks, the dead here were victims of another coastal storm.”
She kept her eyes open and watched Mamoru burn. It was the only defiance she could afford.
:(
“But the Emperor wouldn’t do that to us!” Katakouri Mayumi protested. “Our men protected his borders!”
Get this dumb ho outta here
“Well, it’s not your job,” Misaki pointed out. Honestly, it was Takeru’s, but he was still nowhere to be found.
“We needed you, you know?” she shouted at the Matsuda insignia on his back. “Your people needed you!” He just kept walking.
KEEP ANNOYING HIM MISAKI BREAK HIM
“They’re children of the mangrove seeds planted by the Falleke—Kiye, God of Soul and Fire and Nyaare, Goddess of Flesh and Substance,”
Then they created the first Kaigenese people from seafoam—Why are you laughing?”
Ngl i love Chulhee
you think the mother and father of everything were the gods of the ocean, not gods of earth and fire?” Chul-hee said slowly. “I guess that’s not the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Seems a lil coocoo to me, I mean mother earth snd fire as the sun seem like beginnings of life to me personally
Nagi and Nami didn’t just whip humans up out of seafoam. They made life from water long before that, beginning with the simple, wriggling creatures of prehistory.
Who else was made of seafoam? Aphrodite/Venus
“There are sixteen human ancestors.” “Oh, right. I apologize. It’s been a while since I brushed up on my heresies.”
Lmaaoo
“Where Mamoru got his what?” “With respect for his spirit, Matsuda-dono… his attitude,”
I LOV CHUL-HEE
“Yes, but that makes sense,” Chul-hee protested. “That’s well-kept orature that only goes back a few thousand years. They don’t think they’re the descendants of prehistoric god-fish.”
Sometimes he stood in one of the compound’s hallways or in the dojo, seemingly close enough to touch, but somehow out of reach.
:(
“Nii-san! Nii-san!” Nagasa whined, but when his eyes opened, he looked surprised to see Hiroshi above him. “Nii-san?” “I’m here, Naga-kun,” Hiroshi said.
:'(
“Misaki… I’m pregnant.” “What?” “I didn’t know who to tell.” “Are you sure?” Misaki asked.
Fuck as if things couldnt be more awful for her unless its her husbands
enough to protect his own family without his wife taking up arms. I guess I was wrong.”
DAYUM
“Five people were here in the house with me when the Ranganese broke down the doors, and all of them are with us now.”
ON GODDDD
“One of our sons was with you. Just one. And where is he now?”
“Where is he now, Matsuda Takeru?” she demanded savagely. “Where is he now?”
GO OFF QUEEN
