#akisame

You hissed at the sudden sharp sting in your hand, bringing it quickly to your chest and holding it, pressing against it as if it would stop that hot pain searing through it. "Fuck" You whispered, pacing back and forth, trying to both calm down and stop the warm blood now prickling to the surface of the 3 slashes now decorating your hand and part of your wrist.

"Y/N!! Are you okay? I'm so sorry!" Tamao cried, he spun on his foot to face you, and rushed forward; his hands hesitated to take yours as he tried to look at the damage. "Is it bad? Let me see.." He paused your pacing and gently grabbed your hand in his, pulling it closer to his face so he could assess the damage. His soft fingers close around your forearm, carefully avoiding the damaged areas and grasp your fingers in his. He steps a little closer, fully in your personal bubble, and brings the area to his lips. His first instinct is to lap at the wound, trying to fix it himself. It's too deep to work however, his attempt is rendered useless.

Tears slowly filled your vision, blurring the room around you, before spilling over. It was an accident. Tamao was so excited by the good grade he received that he spun around in happiness, just as you were approaching him. Still, it didn't stop the pain in your hand nor the blood from oozing its way from the wound. Tamao's ears lay flat against his head, his eyebrows knit together as he bit his lip. His amber eyes glance up at you, their depths full of remorse and sadness. "I'm so sorry, Y/n...is it..are you okay? Does it hurt?" He whimpered, pulling you gently closer together and raising a hand to wipe your tears away, eyes flickering over your face. Your lip wobbles as you nod, your hand and wrist feel hot, and the wound feels as though it's pulsing against the flesh. Nyuudou stands and comes to look at the new wound. "Oh, that's pretty bad. Here, we should wash it out and visit the nurse," He says, placing a hand on your and Tamao's backs to lead you from the worried whispers of the classroom.

Tamao's tails swish behind him, tapping against your leg in an anxious tempo. "I'll be okay," You mumble, still pressing as hard as you can into your hand to quell some of the pain and try to stop the blood from dripping on the floor. Tamao is about to apologize again when you three arrive at the restrooms, "Really, I've been scratched before, this is just deeper than usual, that's all. I'll be right back." You interrupt, you notice his mouth snap shut, and he watches as you quickly disappear behind the restroom door.

You brace your back against it and take a deep breath. In--Out--In--Out I'm fine, it'll be fine. You slowly make your way to the sinks, gripping the edge of the nearest with your good hand, and take a look in the mirror hanging above them. You look pale, a little clammy, but overall alright. Your hand pulses against the sink's cold porcelain. The blood is beginning to slow, a thin red line ran to your elbow where it dripped to the floor when you were walking through the halls. Now it slips down the slope and down the drain. Its mostly dried on your hand, a slow stream remaining, stubbornly still dripping.

You begin to worry about how deep the wound appears to be. Dr. Takahashi may want to stitch you up. For a quick accidental swipe, Tamao got you real good; his claws not only sliced through your skin effortlessly like a hot knife through butter, but they also snagged in the meat where your thumb connects with the rest of your hand. The feeling flashes in your mind again, the tug as his hand was forced to stop momentarily before he turned to see what happened had forced them through the skin and out again.

Anxiety swirls its way into your chest. You have to wash out the wound; you know this. It'll help prevent infection and wash away the blood, allowing you to see the damage better. It will also hurt though. You take a deep breath and start the water, shoving your hand beneath the cold stream before you can think twice about it. You can't help the yelp that escapes you; you nearly fall to your knees, but force your hand to remain beneath the water. A long, drawn-out whine leaves your throat involuntarily, echoing off the off-white walls.

You can feel the water slipping into the wound and out over the edge of the cuts. It's an extremely unsettling feeling, an invasion to the senses. Fingers twitch as your hand slowly loses the burning feeling the cuts had introduced, the cold water gradually quelling the pain, and the bleeding begins to draw to a stop. You let out a breath you hadn't realized you were holding, chest protesting and demanding more air than you feel you can intake. knees shake as you stand again, relying on the hard porcelain sink to steady and support your weight.

Swiping a paper towel or two from the dispenser and patting the area lightly, the irritated skin growling back at you. You bump the door open with your hip and walk back to Nyuudou and Tamao's side, the taller of the two leaning patiently against the railing as Tamao paced a hole into the wooden floors. "Y/n!" Tamao runs to your side and peers over your shoulder at your hand. The freshly cleaned cut reveals 3 deep cuts, clean and for the most part straight. They wrap from 3 inches before your wrist to just before your thumb; the middle cut is especially deeper than the other two. It almost resembles a wide C shape, the cuts following Tamao's turn and your hands raising to talk, a habit you've had since childhood. Your hands like to dance as you speak, emphasising your words and driving them home. A game of charades for yourself, and anyone who cares to watch your standalone performance.

Nyuudou clears his throat. "We uh, We should get going." He comments, leading the way. Tamao falls back in line beside you, one of his tails wraps its way around your leg, and the other falls back into its anxious swaying. -ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

"Come in!" Dr. Takahashi's voice calls, a small clatter being heard from the other side of the door.

Nyuudou opens the door and ushers the three of you inside, letting the door shut behind you. Tamao is noticeably more nervous, the doctor drawing out his anxiety for every shot he's had to receive from the man, every exam.

"Ah, young Y/n, what happened to your hand?" Dr. Takahashi asks, hopping off his stool to stride closer. He pulls the limb towards himself, no regard for personal space, as usual. "Hmmmm, these are rather deep. What happened?" He asks, his eyes flicker to Tamao. He already knows, of course he does, he just wants to see what I'll say. "It was an accident, doctor." You tell him, slipping your hand from his grasp to hop onto the medical bed and crumble the nearly dry towel from the bathroom in your good hand, tossing it into the nearby trashcan.

"I see." He grins, evidently pleased with your answer. He floats around the room with practiced ease, grabbing the necessary equipment to clean and fix your wound. "Hold still young Y/n, this will hurt." Not may, will hurt. You gulp and try to prepare for the pain. You flinch in surprise when Tamao climbs onto the bed, now in his normal cat form, and curls on your lap, purring softly. He's trying to calm me down...thanks, Tamao... It's a welcome distraction, your good hand slowly petting him. You try to focus on how soft his fur is, like liquid velvet beneath the pads of your fingers. His purr vibrates against your legs and stomach, getting louder whenever you tense or flinch from Dr. Takahashi's ministrations, trying his best to distract you from what is happening.

The doctor sets to work with stitching the worst cut, the middle one, closed. It's too deep and thick to go unattended. Nyuudou has to turn away, the scene making him squeamish. The area was numbed, your hand tingling like TV static. You can feel the pressure of the needle slipping in and out of your skin, pulling the wound closed as he quickly works. While it doesn't hurt, it still makes your stomach flip, nausea settling over you.

"Done, hows that feel?" Dr. Takahashi asks, tilting his head, a grin settling in his cheeks, it doesn't reach his eyes. You rotate your wrist slowly, and it works like normal, though the stitches tug at the skin, causing you to pause. Dr. Takahashi produces a wrist brace and wraps it around you, the velcro securing it in place. "There we are, this should keep you from disturbing the stitches. I'll see you in, say, two weeks?" He asks, stretching a little. You nod, still staring at the brace. "Can I still wash my hands?" You can't help but ask, bringing the restricted limb back to you and tilting your arm to look it over. "Of course! Just be cautious and reapply the brace when you're done." Dr. Takahashi instructs you on how to slip the brace on and off.

"Don't stitches dissolve?" Nyuudou asks, finally looking after so long of facing the yellow wallpaper. Dr. Takahashi chuckles and shrugs, "I haven't been allowed to work on a human in so long, I can't help it. I'll see you in two weeks Y/n!" Your trio is promptly kicked from the nurses' office by Dr. Takahashi, the door slamming and locking behind you.

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RIIIIING

Tamao has hung around you for the rest of the day, the guilt still evident in his eyes. "Can I walk you to your dorm?" He asks, his fingers slipping between yours on your good hand. A smile brightens your face. "Of course Tama." You laugh, reaching up to ruffle his hair and scratch the spot between his ears. He leans in and begins to purr happily, tail swaying behind him, ears relaxing.

"Hold up!!" Hatanaka's voice calls from down the hall, his red scarf flowing easily behind him. "Seeing as there was an injury caused between two students, I'm afraid I'll have to make a note of it and ask a few questions." He comments, his hands rest on his hips as he leans towards the two of you. "Oh, uhm" You glance at Tamao, eyebrows knitting together "It was an accident Mr. Hatanaka, honest" You hold up the injured hand and remove the brace, revealing the stitched cut. "I got a little too close when Tamao was spinning, I talk with my hands a lot, you know, and it was kinda wrong place, wrong time." You ramble, your hands following your story, the injured one stiffly moving along. "Besides! Tamao is really sorry, and I forgave him, right Tamao?" You ask, nudging his side lightly with your elbow when Tamao is still staring at your injured hand. "Ah! Y-Yeah, it..its okay" He quietly said, his eyes drifting from Mr. Hatanaka to your hand.

"Akisame, are you okay?" Hatanaka asks, his posture shifting from stiff and authoritative to worried as he takes in his students' body language. "I...I uhm" Tamao's fists his shirt at his sides, and he looks away when tears gather in his eyes. Your breath catches in your throat as you watch your boyfriend's shoulders climb his neck and shake softly, Tamao is crying...

"Tama?" You ask quietly, slipping in front of him and carefully holding his face in your hands, the scratchy velcro bites his cheek lightly. He closes his eyes and leans into your good hand before looking past you to Hatanaka. "I really hurt them..." He breathed, his voice shivering. "I forgot how easily I could harm them, I almost didn't- didn't notice." He hangs his head, and tears drop onto the floor between you. You draw him into a crushing hug, tears of your own welling in your eyes, as the sunset becomes a swirly mess and your vision blurs. "Shhh, it's okay Tama, it's okay. I'm okay, see?" You hold his hand tightly, not letting him tug it away, not caring how sharp and hazardous his claws really are.

Hatanaka clears his throat and sighs, "I'm sure it was very scary, I know it was when it happened to me." Hatanaka injected, referring to his own scythe-like arms. "Accidents do happen, will happen, it's inevitable. What is important is handling the aftermath, Akisame." He gives Tamao's shoulder a squeeze and pat, relating to his student's troubles. "Can you just write it was an accident Mr. Hatanaka? A little snag, that's all, nothing big." You ask, eyes pleading for him to let you two go without questioning. He runs a hand through his hair and thinks for a moment before letting out another sigh and nodding, "Sure, I'll let it slide this once. You take good care of them Mr. Akisame" Hatanaka quips, a small smile on his lips. Tamao jumps lightly and nods "Of course!!" He nearly shouts, his hand squeezing yours.

(Side note about the second angle--that railing on the left was intensely frustrating. That part of the stage is Ugetsu's bedroom and Haruki's dining room (and also Uenoyama's classroom, but ah....my priority is very much the Akiharu storyline). Haruki's dining room turned out to be fine, as they are all sitting in chairs, nobody gets cut off. But Ugetsu's bedroom, they're so often just lying on the bed or sitting on the floor, and frequently the railings felt like serious obstacles during those scenes.)

The show was first announced as 2hrs 30mins with intermission, but it ended up at 2hrs 50mins, according to the official Twitter. (I think it might have in fact been closer to 3hrs, as the second time I went, they skipped intermission--more about this later, it was GREAT--and when I checked my watch as I was putting on my coat, it was already more than 2hrs 50mins past the start time.)

As per the manga, act 1 follows mainly Ritsumafu, concluding with the confession after their first live. Act 2 picks up from the two of them asking Akiharu for permission (Akihiko is crashed on Haruki's couch eavesdropping while they ask Haruki for permission to date, in this version, which worked very well imo), all the way through the confession and up to Akiharu asking Ritsumafu for permission to date. (Full circle!)

It starts like the anime. 寂しくないよ/I'm not lonely, says Mafuyu, and we see him standing alone at center stage in an orange spotlight, hugging the guitar as petals flutter down.

This orange spotlight was the depiction of Yuki throughout the play. I loved it. They did not cover the specific events of the fight, which was narrated by Hiiragi while Mafuyu acted silently opposite the spotlight. Honestly, I didn't fully appreciate how emotive they manage to make the spotlight during my first viewing. (Going into my second show, I texted @edragoon​ that I was a bit worried I wouldn't appreciate it as much a second time if I got a less good seat, because I had such a great seat the first time; and she pointed out to me that the effects and such are so much better from a seat further back. It was the Yuki spotlight that gave me the sense, of YES, I'm so glad I did get to see it again from this angle.)

The music they used was from the anime. By which I mean the music they performed, yes, but also they used the soundtrack music as the stage soundtrack as well. Whenever Uenoyama and Mafuyu were playing with their guitars, they were genuinely playing the guitars, even if they weren't necessarily hooked up to the amps. (Miming was only used for select scenes where the person playing was more or less irrelevant.)

What was fascinating was when they would hybridize a scene, and start out with the cast actually playing a piece, and then dive into a recording. They did this with the jam session--you know how Uenoyama starts with a riff, Haruki joins in, then Aki cuts in with drums and they sync up? From the drum section it switched to a recording.

The jam session was used as a kind of opening credits, where the whole cast comes out, with their names displayed on the screen at the back of the stage. Full cast was the 4 members of Given, of course, then Itaya and Ueki, Hiiragi and Shizu-chan, Take-chan, and Ugetsu. (Thank goodness Ugetsu was last, because I always got so enraptured when Ugetsu came out on stage and forgot to look anywhere else--more on this later too.)

Mafuyu's actor was astonishing. The first time I went, my friend spent intermission googling to make sure that he definitely was not the anime voice actor in any shape way or form, because his voice sounded so similar. I loved every member of the cast, but sometimes I would fall into thinking about technical details. The only characters for whom I NEVER thought about the acting aspects were Mafuyu and Ugetsu, because both of them so perfectly embodied the characters they were portraying.

As the above is a complete list of the cast, this means that they *did* cut all the girls--the classmate who shares gossip about Mafuyu with Uenoyama was replaced by a letter, and Yayoi was entirely absent. I do think that perhaps Uenoyama's character's likability suffers a little, because Yayoi's presence is what provides the counter to his usual Ue-sama mode. But as a storytelling tactic, it made a LOT of sense, and I was so grateful that they didn't cut Shizu (unlike the drama), who is absolutely necessary to the portrayal of Hiiragi.

Scenes like banter were often performed quite quickly through the start of act 1, at times as if the actors were desperately trying to rush through the show to keep the run time under 3 hours. Having said this, when time was necessary for the scene, they DID take their time. The emotional slow scenes were not rushed at all.

Itaya and Ueki act throughout act 1 as a sort of banter happening off to the side while the other actors run around getting into their new positions. Itaya's actor was, true to his character, VERY emotive and expressive. He was great, I wished for more Itaya scenes.

Take-chan is great too.

Now see, the second time I went, they didn't do an intermission. When the curtain went down, Take-chan came out on stage and introduced himself with his full name (Yatake Kouji), and explained that because his name doesn't appear anywhere in the story, he just hoped that we would remember it. He apologized for the lack of intermission, and as to the why, said, "良い子は22時には帰らなきゃいけない、とか、そんなもんですかね。まあ察してください" (rough tr. "I guess it's something like, well-behaved kids have to be home by 10pm? Or something like that, please understand.")

Then Take-chan said it would be tiring to spend 2 hours sitting down, so let's all stand up and do some stretches. So...we all stood up. The whole theater. Take-chan was very shocked and very happy. (The lights also went from middling to fully on as everybody stood up, like the person doing the lights wasn't sure either whether this should have audience lighting or not until everybody started standing up.) There was much laughter and much silliness as he guided us through stretches (one extra one because he was so happy we were all doing as he said that he asked if he could do it again). And then when he told us we could sit back down, he continued remarking with shock at the fact that EVERYBODY was standing. I was laughing so hard my eyes were tearing up, it was great.

As he bade us a reluctant farewell and returned backstage, he assured us that he would in fact be in act 2 as well. It was so fun.

Anyway, act 2.

I did NOT expect the story to go past volume 3 when I went the first time, so I was just in shock and awe that they acted out this whole story in under 3 hours.

I love Haruki spinning around stage happily sneaking photos of the sleeping Aki.

I love AkiHaru ribbing Ue throughout act 1--their synchronized 現代風のオシャンなギター！(that line about Ue's guitar will be modern style contrasted to their Showa style) line that they give Ue just before that initial jam session was PERFECT. Aki's 上ノ山のフォローよろ (that line about "you work on Uenoyama" just before he goes off to talk to Mafuyu) in Haruki's ear was WOW.

But in act 2, of course, everything gets ramped up a notch, and OH.

I think I said after my first viewing, I didn't really get the sense that Aki was so into Haruki in act 1, and I really felt the shift.

After my second viewing, I don't think this is quite the case anymore.

Aki's actor acts Aki's attachment to Ugetsu SO WELL. It's more like...Haruki is that not-quite-crush he has that he'll never REALLY make a move on because he knows he's taken.

It was heartbreaking.

Ugetsu and Aki's attachment to each other was acted out to heartbreaking perfection.

The Akisame breakup scene, the second time I watched it, EVERYBODY around me was crying. It was all sniffles and people wiping their eyes.

An edit they did make was that after Akihiko delivers his "There's no point telling you" line to Haruki during The Scene from vol 4, the scene goes on a little longer, Aki diving back down to resume what he'd started, making it abundantly clear, he did NOT stop.

They kept a lot more of the little moments than I'd expected, including the dragonfly. (Which was placed on the edge of the stage right in front of me the first time I watched it, which was amazing. And also how I know they ACTUALLY had a rubber dragonfly there, it was not mimed.)

Somehow, act 2 of the stage play felt a lot less rushed than the anime movie, even though they probably total out to about the same amount of time, and the stage play covered more terrain--they still had a lot of Ritsumafu interacting (though they did skip the fight about Ue's jealousy), and the summer festival meeting with Shizuragi.

They kept the confession scene more or less the same as the manga, and ohhh it shot straight to my heart.

Aki's hands were even shaking....which I know even though I was never at an angle where I could totally see this. The first time, I was at an angle where I couldn't see his hands, but I saw his arms moving, and the way Haruki was looking down, and knew they were shaking. The second time, I was too far away, I could barely make out the shaking if I squinted. BUT THEY WERE SHAKING, and that's what matters.

The live music was GREAT. They performed fully in character, it was astonishing. Mafuyu's voice was audibly getting more tired as performances piled up, but the falsetto never suffered, nor did the emotion in his performances. In fact, the first time I saw the show, when Mafuyu sang, I got chills.

A friend gave me permission to buy stuff and forward them on (in addition to a DVD), so I bought a bunch of photos the second time around:

They are so cute!!! Haruki was perfect by the way. They even gave him different hairstyles throughout. (And of course he does go to Take-chan to cut his hair as in canon!)

Side note, a personal pet peeve of mine in the movie is that they reversed the order in which Take-chan sees Haruki and responds to Aki's email, making his response a deliberate lie; in the stage play, they switched the order back in accordance with the manga, so Take-chan responds to Aki that no he hasn't seen him, and then sees Haruki.

Take-chan playing with the Chashu Boys was fully mimed, unfortunately, but the actor played him SO WELL, you could get a sense from the way he played what kind of music he might be playing.