#ishimaru tetsuo

Ishimaru is actually a pretty good student. He’s not like, honor student good or anything, but he passes all of his classes with the equivalent of B’s. His teacher’s don’t really notice him or call on him much in class and all of his comments on report cards from his teacher’s were all very generic – ‘pleasure to have in class’ was repeated dozens of times.

He does end up fighting with his younger siblings every now and then, mostly about stupid stuff like them barging into his room, taking his things, or who gets the last piece of fried chicken or one of them eating his pudding. Just very small arguments and fights that all siblings get into. However, he will always be very supportive of them and while he can fight with them, god help anyone else who tries to fight or bully them. While he’s largely go-with-the-flow, he’s got a strong big-brother instinct.

While his family isn’t poor or anything, where his family is so big, there’s not often a lot of money left over for special things or for the kids to get an allowance. If he wants pocket money, he has to work for it and he maintains either a part time job or works a bunch of odd jobs for that reason.

He doesn’t really think about fashion and thinks more about comfort when it comes to his clothes. He’s the type of person who would buy several pairs of the same jeans when he finds a brand or cut that he really likes the feel of, or several of the same t-shirt in different colours or patterns if they’re comfortable and fit him well.

He’s not messy but he’s not really neat either. He hits somewhere in between. There’s stuff scattered here and there or he doesn’t put things away properly, leaving them in bags in his room. But there’s no dirty dishes or old food left, he sets things so they’re out of the way, he washes his clothes regularly and does keep things mostly tidy.

He takes more after his mother in terms of attitude but more after his father in terms of interests. He enjoys this, because it means he can connect well with both his parents and he retains really good relationships with them during his entire life.

He has his favourite idol, Koda Kumi, during his high-school years and has a couple posters of her up in his room.

He finds it difficult to study just sitting or lazing around on the floor. He needs to be able to sit at a desk to properly study or do homework.

He’s actually quite artistic and creative. He likes doing crafts with his younger siblings, with his most often coming out picture perfect, and when he babysits, they all often draw or do some form of craft together. Ishimaru likes working with charcoal pencils, coloured pencils, and working in realism the best, but he also really enjoys sculpture and pottery.

He’s pure shonen trash – Shonen Jump has always been considered a necessity by him and volumes from his favourite series were the best gifts he’s gotten from his parents.

He really respects, admires, and wishes to be like Toshihiko Seko. It was watching his old Olympics performances that made Ishimaru interested in running and led him to track and field.

Ishimaru laughs when he gets really nervous or scared.

It’s based off the idea that Ishimaru and Unsui are quite similar so I’m going to request

Agon + Ishimaru with the prompt being ‘familiar’

(Certainly, love the prompt! For this meme.)

~

So what if Agon's late to the match, he'll only need a minute on the field to crush these miserable insects of an opposing team, and be back at the restaurant before his date gets to wondering where he's gone. 

As he ducks into the corridor leading to the locker rooms, he senses rather than sees Unsui coming the other way, and dumps his duffel bag on him, barking out a gruff, "Hold this," before Unsui can launch into a lecture about punctuality or respecting the spirit of the game or whatever. 

Yanking off his dress shirt, he replaces it with shoulder pads from the bag, shrugs them on right there in the hall—but as he next picks out his jersey in Shinryuuji gold, it occurs to him that the thin arms clutched around his bag are clad, not in like color, but in a taunting red.  

He slaps the bag aside to find, not his brother after all, but some random guy he's never even seen before—an unassuming, unassertive stranger who stood there for five minutes holding up Agon's stuff like a coat rack just because said stuff had been thrust upon him—who now blinks owlishly up at him, then down at the dropped bag, and actually bends to pick it up for him.

Slow grin stretching his lips, Agon pulls the jersey on, and then takes his sweet time rummaging for the next piece of gear; maybe this isn’t Unsui who’s being so resigned as always, so very accommodating—but for all he’s protesting, it might as well be.

~

(Hang on... did y'all just trick me into writing a complete fic about Ishimaru? If you read these backwards, you've got Ishimaru: 1) getting pushed around by Agon, 2) asking Unsui to help him meditate his way to assertiveness (who better to commiserate about failing to stand up to Agon?), and finally 3) recognizing how much he does matter to Hiruma. 

That's... an entire character arc... 

He really does sneak up on you, doesn't he?

The track and field guy, whatever his name, wasn't much to look at, but that was the whole point—you didn't target the thick of the herd, you picked off the stragglers already languishing at the edges, ready to turn... especially given the right incentive.

"Might as well tell us what he's planning," you said, squeezing until you drew forth another choked cry. "No sense sticking your neck out for him, when he never even notices you're there."

"That might be so," said track guy, split and swollen lip lifting into a grim smile. It was eerie how calmly he was staring back at you—no, at something just behind you, reflection in his eyes betraying a flash of blond, a hard glinting curve over your shoulder, as if the barrel of a cocked gun— "but he sure notices when I'm not."

(Of course, with apologies for the delay! Please pretend this was meant to be 2x the assignment from 2 POVs, rather than an entirely characteristic failure in conciseness. For this meme.)

~

"As the silent bell, be still— be weighty, be stable, be grounded, mass centered at your base— be hollow, yet enclosed unto yourself— be empty, yet sense the potential and capacity within you." 

When he is sure Ishimaru has settled into his seiza—or as settled as a beginner can be: breath even, eyes closed, only a hint of self-consciousness to the hunch of his shoulders—Unsui lifts the bell and gives it voice, drawing swirling patterns in the air with even, practiced turns of his wrist, motions as familiar and as innate as the mantras he delivers on the tapering tail of each tone. 

"As the speaking bell, ring out— as sound emits from its physical form, so allow your presence to emerge and expand, to the limits of hearing, to the rafters, and to the sky beyond..." 

This is hardly the first novice he’s guided through these meditations, and in the repetition, his mind begins to drift: away from the dim room, away from Ishimaru and his odd request, away to some far-off place, bright and sonorous as each crystalline chime of the bell. 

Before he knows it, his hands have stilled against his lap, the bell at rest within them: silent now, like the silent chamber of his mind, emptied but for the lingering echo of pure sound.

~

When Unsui finally opens his eyes, he seems to be coming back from a deep trance: eyes distant and utterly relaxed, his hands folded, shoulders slack, hem of his robes flared out over the floor as if to describe the sloping curve of a bell himself. 

"That was most curious," he speaks at a slow, dream-like pace; "in talking you through the meditation, I submerged into it myself, finding a focus and clarity I usually only attain when I meditate alone—except even better than that."

"More alone than being alone, huh?" Ishimaru says, sitting back and ruefully stretching out his legs, "meditating with me."

"Ah," some of the peaceful air leaves Unsui's face, regrettably, "my apologies—this exercise was intended to guide you to expand your presence, and instead..."

Fandom: Eyeshield 21

Characters: Unsui & Ishimaru (gen)

Rating: T

Words: 2.3k (complete)

Summary: When Unsui starts reaching out to old high school acquaintances, one surprises him.

Read at AO3