With Great Power is an animanga superhero roleplay set in an original universe featuring a freeform and easy to learn system. We are inspired by the likes of DC Comics, Marvel Comics, My Hero Academia, One Punch Man, Tiger and Bunny and much more. The possibilities for characters and powers are almost endless and players are free to let their imaginations run wild! With such great power, what will you become?
SKYFATHER
Owner
BRAVEO
Admin
NACHOS
Moderator
STAFFER NAME
POSITION
FEATURED
Anti-Heroes and Vigilantes are our most desired member groups at the moment! Do consider making one!
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”Happy birthday,” [break][break]
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”to me…”
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It looked scrumptious. The well-adorned, strawberry flavored dessert lay ready to eat before a small table in a living room within a secluded lodge. The lodge in question was quietly nestled within the woods of Washington Park, one of the most-visited recreational areas of Wayport City. One could only wonder, with such a large and tasty-looking cake, who could have been the very special birthday girl? [break][break]
“Man… It’s really been one whole year hasn’t it, Kyoko?” [break][break]
Well, they were certainly a girl. But with a light layer of fur coating her body, soft ears poking out from her navy strands of hair, sharp claws, teeth, and a tail to match, she was definitely not of the usual human variety. [break][break]
Kyoko sighed and slumped down into her wooden dining chair, looking down at the vegan cake she’d made for herself with a look of longing and dismay. She knew she shouldn’t have made it; it would just make her feel even more terrible about being away from her friends and family for so long. Kyoko had never celebrated a birthday alone, and surely, not under these otherworldly circumstances. [break][break]
Kyoko Hamasaki, after having been enchanted by a mysterious Yokai many years ago, had finally decided to take a leap of faith and move to Wayport City a little while back to pursue her dream of becoming a registered superhero. This way, she could try to fulfil her aspiration of keeping nature safe. [break][break]
No one could have prepared her for all the changes it would mean for her daily life, though. Wayport wasn’t anything like Tokyo. She was barely lucky to even know how to speak English. Kyoko had opted away from city life, deciding to seclude herself within nature. If there was anything she felt comfortable with in this strange new land, it was getting to know the wildlife that resided here. Without friends or family, they were truly her only form of company. Thanks to Aegis, she was able to renovate this cabin and legally live here without worrying about paying anything. [break][break]
But even as she lived within the wooded trail, she still couldn’t completely hide away from real life. Every so often she’d find people wandering here past the park’s limits, either camping unsolicited or attempting to dump their trash here. Nothing made Kyoko more furious than those who didn’t care about nature. She promptly scared off these nature offenders with her powers and set up a large wooden sign etched angrily with the words “DO NOT TRESPASS” about half a mile from her cabin. [break][break]
It seemed to work for the time being, but Kyoko knew how stubborn people could be. [break][break]
”Nineteen-years-old. Man, how time flies.”
Emerald-colored eyes looked down at her cake. She’d made so much, she wouldn’t be able to finish it on her own. Perhaps she could share with her animal friends outside? [break][break]
”Well… I guess I should take a bite. Itadakimasu.” [break][break]
Kyoko cut a piece for herself and dug in. It was wonderful. But it would have been more wonderful if she were at home, in the warm and loving arms of her parents. [break][break]
Teeth clenched down tightly on her fork, Kyoko held back tears. This was a stupid idea. [break][break]
”Cake is stupid anyway.” [break][break]
Kyoko promptly stood up and took the cake with her outside her cabin. She set it down and called out for her animal friends to take some food. Not long after, squirrels, birds, and rabbits all gathered around, happily eating her baked confection and praising Kyoko for her cooking skills. She managed to crack a smile and humbly accepted their praise. [break][break]
At least they understood her. [break][break]
”Hmm?” [break][break]
Kyoko was just about to return inside when suddenly, she sensed something approaching. Something was nearing closer to these woods, and it was an unfamiliar signature. She narrowed her eyes and began to jog away from her home and down a nearby trail. She bent her knees and leapt up into a collection of trees, swiftly moving from branch to branch towards this strange feeling. [break][break]
”Hmph. Talk about a birthday present. They’re approaching closer, past the trespassing sign. What could they want?”
In truth, Ahoeitu was conflicted over this whole youth initiative thing. To Ahoeitu, it just felt like some exaggerated and long-winded lesson set up by Director Harrison to teach Ahoeitu about the importance of teamwork. Probably something orchestrated by his father, causing him to roll his eyes even harder than the last twenty times since he was told about the project yesterday. How annoying. On the bright side, the public seemed to really like superhero teams. It made them seem less like agents of Justice and more like humans doing a job for the greater good. It gave the illusion of humility, something Ahoeitu was proud to be absent of in reality. Humility was just a self-made limiter as far as he was concerned. Compared to the humble little kid scrambling to get his science fair project together, Ahoeitu had never felt better. At least, that's what he continued to tell himself as he bounded through Wayport, slamming into the ground with each jump, ignorant of the resulting damage.
His first assigned target for this recruitment was a hero by the name of Kunoichi-Chan, also known as Kyoko. Seemed that she was Japanese. They at least had that in common. Hey, maybe it'd make the whole thing work out easier. If he needed to persuade sober, that'd be the card that he'd pull to gain sympathy and understanding. They weren't even on the same team yet and he was already thinking of ways to manipulate her. Ahoeitu grinned. Such genius.
Upon finally arriving at his destination, he’d crash through a thick layer of trees in a small corner of Washington Park, branches snapping in his wake before he slammed into the dirt. Casually, the Samoan hero strutted out of the dust and debris from his landing and paused. There was no one out here. Despite the popularity and dense crowds of people that typically littered Washington Park, apparently this area managed to be secluded, cut off from the outside world. He turned to his right to see the words “DO NOT TRESPASS” violently engraved into a sign. Ahoeitu scoffed. “Scary.”, he uttered sarcastically before continuing on his way.
He walked down a winding, dark path. He was in the middle of a metropolis, walking deeper and deeper into the woods. Strange, but he’d been through stranger things. At last, he was left in front of a cabin, deeply nested in the area. It was exactly as the Aegis files had described it. “Bingo!”, the boy said to himself before walking up to the door. Any other agent would survey their surroundings at this point instead of taking the cabin at face-value. But Ahoeitu was the only threat in these woods as far as he was concerned. On his walk, he had seen the results of struggle, torn pieces of clothing and trash strewn on oddly erected branches and vines, but the absence of bodies or blood was enough to convince him that whatever happened was simply a scare, nothing more.
With complete lack of caution or fear, Ahoeitu rudely pounded on the cabin’s door. “Yo, it’s Victory, hurry up and open up!”, he called out. “Got a special project to talk to you about!”
✉ tag -- ( Kyoko Hamasaki ) ✎ 000 words ※ notes here, please keep it short.
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[attr="class","yuki-text"] Kyoko could already feel the incoming trespasser; it didn’t take much to spot them. She stopped in place atop a tree branch and hunkered down, staring down at the quickly approaching figure with green, scrutinizing eyes. He had long-flowing dark hair and-- [break][break]
Kyoko raised a brow. Pink eyes? How strange; it looked as if he were pupilless. She wasn’t quite sure who he was. [break][break]
But what she was sure of was that she already disliked him. Kyoko could feel the discomfort of the plants he’d toppled down on his careless trek through the private trial. She frowned. Not only was he trespassing, but he was leaving the place a mess and of a magnitude greater than she’d dealt with in the past. He must have had a bit of strength to move around so much brush in a span of little time. He had to be a Super. [break][break]
”Superpowered and careless? Ugh.” [break][break]
How annoying. [break][break]
What was he here for? To set up camp? To dump even more garbage? Kyoko’s ears flattened irritably against her head as she continued to follow him back to the path of her home. [break][break]
”You’ve got to be kidding me…” [break][break]
Yup. He was walking right towards her cabin! Upon hearing the approaching footsteps of the intruder, the animals that had been enjoying their small portion of the sugary dessert Kyoko left out quickly scattered. She winced as he banged on the lodge’s door indifferently. The manner in which he strode forward and tried to introduce himself was quite rude. Kyoko wanted nothing to do with this outsider. [break][break]
Eyes narrowed and fangs clenched, from her hidden position, Kyoko motioned her hands which were now glowing a bright emerald. The wooden material in which the long-haired stranger was knocking on suddenly protruded long wooden thorns, threatening to painfully poke at the boy’s hand if he hadn’t stopped soon enough. [break][break]
Following that, Kyoko decided her introduction was long overdue. The tanuki-girl reached into the pockets of her shorts and placed a few plant seeds of hers into her palms. She bent her knees and jumped from her hiding spot, throwing the seeds. [break][break]
”Germinate.” [break][break]
She mumbled her command and the seeds obliged. They morphed into chlorophyll-shurikens that had the texture and durability of any expertly crafted ninjutsu weapon. Rocketing forward at significantly high speeds, they’d fly quite close to her target -- perhaps happening to capture a bit of hair on their way to the forest ground -- but ultimately fail to injure. Kyoko was not aiming to harm but to simply frighten. [break][break]
She landed onto the ground behind the intruder. In her hand was a leaf-kunai which she pointed threateningly at this stranger. [break][break]
”I’d excuse you for not seeing the ginormous “no-trespassing” sign because of blindness,” The girl began with a hiss, her accent clearly Japanese, “but something tells me you’re not, with how easily you navigated your way here. Perhaps your blindness only applies to your sensibility. This place is off-limits; What the hell do you want?” [break][break]
Kyoko was a new hero and wasn’t quite familiar with all the faces of the Aegis agents within Wayport City. But she also didn’t care all too much about their identities either. She hadn’t much interest in the lives of her other super powered counterparts; Kyoko only wished to be able to use her powers legally and in peace. [break][break]
This man was disrupting that peace. [break][break]
”I’m not interested in moving anywhere else for some silly park expansion, either. This place is my place.”
Ahoeitu let out a peeved grunt when he found that there was no immediate answer to his announced arrival. Did she not know who he was or something? How was that even possible, he was THE Victory, teenage dynamite! When he knocks, there’s always an answer. This time, Ahoeitu slammed his fist even harder, though he was careful not to knock the door down with his vast strength.
Suddenly, he inhaled sharply, his head yanking upwards as shurikens whizzed past his cranium, becoming embedded into the door, though some of them severed pieces of his luscious hair. Time then seemed to move in reverse for the boy as the shurikens flew back to where they came from, and the lost pieces of hair returned to their rightful place. An attack from behind was coming his way, and he needed to move.
Bursting with speed, Ahoeitu would vanish from sight, the incoming shurikens hitting nothing but air. He then stood a length away from the cabin steps, this time facing the opposite direction of the door, this time looking the young heroine dead in the eyes. “I think you’d better thank whoever you believe in that I saw your little attack coming!”, he declared haughtily, bursting with sheer arrogance. “If it had done what it was intended to do, I’d be pretty pissed off right now.” He flipped his hair with a nonchalant swipe of his hand.
“Anyway, the bossman said we need to have a little chat!” He placed a hand on his knee, leveling his eyes with Kyoko’s. “You ever work with a team of superheroes before?”, he questioned with a curious brow, waiting for her verbal...or physical answer.
✉ tag -- ( Kyoko Hamasaki ) ✎ 000 words ※ notes here, please keep it short.
Kyoko clenched her teeth. She was usually a sure-shot; her shurikens hardly ever missed. Either this stranger was freakishly speedy, or Kyoko needed to retake some aiming courses back at the Aegis training house. [break][break]
And just like that, the strange, raven-haired man reappeared. This time he was closer, and facing her directly. Kyoko stood en garde, the grip around her chloro-Kunai only tightening with every passing moment. [break][break]
”Clearly, I must credit your foresight. But I think I should be the one angry here. How dare you just trespass into my property without a care in the world!” She growled back, the creases of her tanuki-mask moving along with the mean narrowing of her eyes. [break][break]
“Arrogant” was written all over this boy’s demeanor. Kyoko didn’t like it at all. But at least, he did not seem to be immediately threatening her. For all she knew, though, this could change at any moment. She didn’t wish to take any chances. [break][break]
As he drew closer, Kyoko edge forward with her blade. ”Stay back, you!” [break][break]
‘Team’? ‘Bossman’? ‘Superheroes’? [break][break]
The words themselves sounded innocent, but Kyoko didn’t know who this boy was. [break][break]
”And how do I know you’re not just some strange, superpowered impostor? What kind of hero barges in so unconventionally?” She asked, but without expecting an answer. Kyoko wasn’t looking for one. As soon as those words left her mouth, she positioned her feet slightly and deeper into the ground. Beneath the ground where this boy stood, Kyoko summoned forth an array of thick mutant-roots that jutted forward, all aimed to attempt to trap and entangle his legs and lower body. If that were successful at all, they’d pull inward to trap him inside the soil so that only his shoulder and above peaked out from the ground. [break][break]
If the initial attempt wasn’t… Well, the roots would continue after him with every which way he moved.
The Samoan hero squinted his eyes in the middle of the young woman’s declaration of disdain for him. There was one thing in particular that she said that really bothered him. So much so that he stopped listening right after she said it, waiting for the chance to speak. Once she finished, he immediately raised an up-turned hand. “What do you mean ‘stay back YOU’? I thought that dumbfounded look on your face was some stupid joke; do you actually not know who I am?” Ahoeitu groaned, rolling his eyes at the girl’s cluelessness.
Suddenly, dense roots enthralled his body, slowly pulling him closer--no, into the ground. A sigh left his maw. He had seen it coming, but he didn’t move. Not out of pity or anything, but allowing her to successfully assault him opened up a whole new door of legal possibilities. He scoffed as she complained about his intrusion. Once he was knee-deep in the ground, he decided it was time to pull up, preparing to tear himself free. “Maybe you didn't hear me when I said that the bossman gave me orders to come out here and talk to you, and I'm not blaming you, I mean you live in some rackety shack in the woods, your ears are one of the last things I expect to be all cleaned out.” He paused in order to allow his words to sink in.
“But I'll say it clearer for you this time: damn your sign! I've been authorized by the old man himself to come here, specifically to speak to you!”, and with that, using his superhuman strength, he ripped off the roots that wrapped around him and pushed up from the soil before making a fast and powerful beeline towards Kyoko, stopping just on a dime right in front of her. His tailwind was certainly enough to cause a brief, heavy breeze in the girl’s direction, but as he wasn’t using his full strength, it wasn’t anything dangerous. Nothing more than a fancy warning shot. Though, in all honesty, he had no intentions in pummelling her. He didn’t know if it was out of pity or because her love for nature reminded him of his younger self, or more importantly, his mother. It made him approach her more diplomatically than usual. “Now, you’ve attacked me twice, and I’ve 'trespassed' on your land. Let’s call it even, hm? Like I was saying, Director Harisson sent me out here to recruit you to be part of a team of teenage superheroes such as myself.” He turned to the trees that enveloped the area. “I understand that you want to protect nature, but you’re doing jack shit cooped up in a public park, doing the whole ‘solo dolo’ thing. With a team, you can do and be so much more for the planet.” Of course, he still hated working with teams, and originally he had only begun speaking with the purpose of manipulation but as he continued talking, his words became more genuine. Despite his huge ego, deep down, he still wanted to save the world. Maybe Harisson and his father were...right. Maybe teamwork really will make the dream work. Huh. But he’d NEVER tell them that. Ever. His ego had shrunk a little bit but not nearly that much. To give them the satisfaction of knowing more about something than he does, the mere thought made him cringe.
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[attr="class","yuki-text"] ”I don’t know who you are nor do I care. Even if you’re with Director Harisson, you can’t just barge over here like th-- Agh!” [break][break]
She replied -- or at least tried to, before being promptly cut off by the new development before her. As if they were nothing, the long-haired boy ripped away at her vines. Kyoko had no time to attempt to retaliate by reinforcing the grip as suddenly her enemy dashed forward. The tanuki-girl flinched. She rose an arm to shield her face when a heavy gust of wind blew through her locks of navy hair. [break][break]
Once again, this boy had found himself up in her face. [break][break]
Kyoko’s ears drew back with displeasure, but she stopped herself from immediately shouting back at this stranger. Clearly, fighting him might have been a one-sided ordeal and he didn’t seem so invested in engaging in combat anyway. [break][break]
So, instead of attacking again, the teen drew out an irritated sigh. [break][break]
”You wouldn’t have the slightest clue about the things I’ve done to help around here. I chase off criminals and illegal trappers and prevent them from further tainting the environment here. Maybe I wouldn’t want to stay here so bad if Aegis did a better job monitoring the outlets of the park,” Kyoko lowly grumbled back, crossing her arms over her bust. Her green eyes drew towards the soil below her feet. ”But I don’t expect you to understand. I can feel the terrain here, literally. I have a duty to protect what is here.” [break][break]
But that word had come up again, ‘team’. He’d said it plenty but only now had Kyoko internalized the words the followed it. [break][break]
She looked back at him. ”I hate to say it, but I guess you might have a point. A team could make it easier to do all of those things,” Kyoko considered. ”Tch, a text message would have sufficed, though. Why did they have to bring someone as rude as you?” [break][break]
Kyoko pushed past the other Hero and began to amble back towards the cabin. [break][break]
”Fine. I’ll join because Director Harisson would like me to, but on the condition you restitute the plants you've trampled on your way here by planting new ones. You broke some of the nearby trees’ branches-” [break][break]
Kyoko stared back at him for a moment before continuing on her way. [break][break]
”I hope you’re proud of yourself. Imagine losing a limb; pruned branches don’t grow back.” [break][break]
The short girl stood before her cabin’s door. Not far from it, she could see the remainder of her birthday cake. A couple of pieces neatly remained. The animals must have left some for her. Kyoko managed a smile. How kind of them. She bent down and took one of them [break][break]
”Actually,” She began with a stuffed mouth, ”One more condition. I get a birthday party when I move in. You’ve spoiled the one I was supposed to have today!”
A smile slowly crept onto Ahoeitu’s face upon hearing Kyoko agree, finally seeing things his way. His cocky persona returned in full. He opened his arms as if he were inviting the girl in for a hug, revealing the bullseye-esque insignia on the center of his suit. “Of course I’m right, and since we’re gonna be on the same team, you better get used to that!” He chuckled pompously. “I don’t tend to be wrong. Also, who sends a text to ask someone to be part of a mighty superhero team? I at least have some respect for you.” Believing his business here to now be done, he prepared to bound away as Kyoko pushed past him. But he stopped when she began to speak again.
He didn’t turn around fully, but he turned his head enough to indicate that he was definitely listening. He then turned back and looked at the branches she was referring too. Again, it wasn’t Kyoko herself that made him consider how he had messed up, rather how much she reminded him of his mother. When the girl first started talking about how she could literally hear the plants, all Ahoeitu thought to say was ’What are you, nuts?’, but he bit his tongue. She’d probably have been upset about something so small too. Not to mention, Kyoko had a point: he did kinda ruin her birthday too, even if it was unknowingly.
The teenage hero placed his fists on his hips and sighed, almost choking on his pride as he swallowed it to say: “...I’ll see what I can do.” He then turned to face forward. With that, he zipped away, making use of his tremendous speed rather than exploding into the air like he normally would. It felt kind of wrong doing that now, considering the circumstances.
✉ tag -- ( Kyoko Hamasaki ) ✎ 000 words ※ notes here, please keep it short.
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[attr="class","yuki-text"] Kyoko used the sleeve of her bright red jacket to wipe her mouth off the sweet frosting that glazed her lips. Maybe cake wasn’t stupid; perhaps she just needed to be in the right mood for it. She was about to dig in for another bite when-- [break][break]
‘I’ll see what I can do.’ [break][break]
And with that, the boy was off with a zoom, albeit much less destructive than before. Kyoko pouted and clenched her non-cake-holding fist before grumbling to herself, “Where the heck is he going off to again?” [break][break]
She wasn’t interested in a game of cat and mouse. After all, he seemed to have tamed himself a little after her protest about the trees. Perhaps she’d gotten through to him past that wall of egotism? She shrugged to herself. Time -- likely only a few minutes, given his speed -- would tell. [break][break]
”Who is he, even? I’ve never seen his face before!” [break][break]
Kyoko, after having eaten what remained in her left hand, dug into her jacket pocket and retrieved her phone. Once in her grasp, she bent her knees and leapt up onto the rooftop of the quaint cabin. She took a moment to watch the boy off before settling down on the wooden canopy cross-legged. [break][break]
”Let’s see… ‘Long, dark haired Hero. Male. Pink eyes…’” She mused, claws clacking away the the screen of her smartphone. [break][break]
Thanks to the specificities, it didn’t take long for her to get search results. It would seem that he was “Victory, teenage dynamite”. She kept herself from rolling her eyes. Corny, but frankly her own alias wasn’t any better. [break][break]
She kept searching. She found things. Interesting things. As one might expect, there were stories of his heroism and valiant feats. [break][break]
...But at Kyoko looked on, there was a surprising amount of criticism regarding this young hero. From claims of little to no damage mitigation to reckless conduct, Victory might have been victorious against his foes, but had definitely not won the hearts of citizens. [break][break]
Kyoko clenched her teeth and cringed. Things were adding up now. That holier-than-thou attitude wasn’t doing him any favors. She could only wonder: How come no one has corrected him since? [break][break]
”You may think you’re “it”, Mr. Victory, but I think you might wanna do a quick Google search!” Yelled Kyoko from afar, cupping her hands around her mouth. Even if he was far away, something told Kyoko that he’d hear her. ”A lot of people don’t like you! You conduct is pretty… ” She thought for a moment, trying to find the right words. ”Imawashī! Bad!” [break][break]
It was another question if he cared. [break][break]
Kyoko did, even if she didn’t seem to like him much. She didn’t enjoy the thought of a hero tainting their own rep.
Ahoeitu would burst back onto the scene, seemingly out of thin air with a hand behind his back as Kyoko began her “informative” speech regarding the hero’s popularity. All of it was nothing new to the Samoan hero at this point, which should’ve caused him to consider an early retirement. But Ahoeitu simply did not care. In fact, he chuckled at the young woman’s suggestion to look himself up on google and see for himself all the stuff people were saying about him. He began to calmly waltz forward, his head down as he spoke. “I don’t think I’m ‘it’, I know that I am, and I don’t need the validation of some keyboard warriors in order to be sure of that! If someone is disturbing the peace, my job is to snuff them out so they stop.” He then raised his head and puffed out his chest, locking eyes with Kyoko. ”The more time I waste worrying about making the city look perfect when I’m done or saving every single person ever, which is impossible by the way, is the longer a villain continues to frolic around, free as can be. Anyway,” he shifted the subject, not paying attention to whether or not she had a rebuttal. Quite frankly, he didn’t care.
“Otanjobiomedetogozaimasu!*”, he said as he unveiled a small, black maneki neko and tossed it to the heroine without warning. It was a popular charm in Japanese culture. “It’s supposed to keep evil spirits away according to my mom, but seeing as to how I’m pretty much unharmed, that’s probably a load of bullshit.” He took a pause, allowing his joke to process before snickering menacingly, whether Kyoko laughed with him or not. “Anyway, I’ve got a bit of a life to attend to, so I’ll let you know more about details regarding the team through text message, since apparently face to face communication causes you to have an aneurysm.” A snarky, overexaggerated reference to when she asked him why he didn’t just text her instead of showing up here. “Bye bye!” He opened and closed his fingers on a raised hand, giving pompous wave, and with that, he bounded into the night sky, satisfied with his first recruitment.
✉ tag -- ( Kyoko Hamasaki ) ✎ 000 words ※ Thread exit! // * = Happy Birthday!
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[attr="class","yuki-text"] He re-arrived as quickly as he left. Hearing his approach, Kyoko pried her eyes away from the screen of her smartphone and narrowed them at Ahoeitu. All of what he said made no sense to the ninja-heroine. [break][break]
”Ugh! Saving as many civilians as you can and salvaging your surroundings is literally your duty as a Hero-- it might as well be in the name! It’s not all about the Villains!” She argued back, visibly flustered by how obstinate ‘Victory’ was choosing to be. Who the heck decided to hire him, much less keep him on the job? ”Saving the majority of people is more than possible when you’re not some sort of arrogant knucklehead.” [break][break]
But before Kyoko could give him any more scolding (of which he was clearly ignoring), Victory exclaimed out his birthday wishes -- In Japanese. [break][break]
Taken aback, Kyoko blinked. She had a feeling he might have been of Asian descent, but did not expect him to be Japanese as well! [break][break]
The surprises didn’t stop there. Victory threw something toward Kyoko without any warning. She quickly extended her arms and caught the trinket as if she were a football player making a winning touchdown, nearly falling off the roof of her cabin in the process. [break][break]
Sitting up in place, Kyoko looked down at it and then back at the raven-haired boy. She raised a brow. A gift like this felt quite sentimental for such a sudden occasion; why would he give her something that his mom had to him? [break][break]
”I say it cause it’s efficient!-- Ugh,” Kyoko shouted back her response to the boy as he dashed off, eventually cutting herself off when she knew it would be of no use arguing back with him. [break][break]
Delicately, her fingers grazed over the glossy paint of the maneki neko charm. Red and golden paint defined the bells adoring its neck -- white, for its catty smile. Despite its size, its details had been meticulously etched onto it. Whoever had made it clearly put in effort. [break][break]
”Being on a team with him? Yare-yare, this is going to be a pain.” [break][break]
She groaned… Though she found herself smiling, anyway. [break][break]
If he’d given her this, beneath that inflated ego of his, he had to care. [break][break]
[break][break]
