i present to you all: "Social Media's Dark Side"

'Tis a sunny day. At Hazawa Café, Pastel*Palettes are enjoying some morning beverages.

Each girl, seated at a table near the back of the shop, is scrolling through their phone. "You were right, Aya-chan--it's incredible to how supportive fans are on a regular basis."

Aya's head shoots up from her phone and she beams after hearing Chisato's words. "Isn't it? I check these messages every day!"

"Instagram in particular has so many kind souls," Eve says, wiping a tear away. "I truly feel the spirit of Bushido when I read their words!"

"Huhehe, it makes me dizzy to imagine the tens of thousands of people liking our posts, watching our videos..."

Hina, with her phone nowhere in sight, has just finished downing her coffee. "Hey, speaking of videos, has anyone checked our Youtube channel lately?"

Aya gulps. "Oh, I... don't check the channel too much, o-or at least I try not to--Youtube is--"

Hina raises an eyebrow and laughs. "I knew you were a weirdo, but this is a new high, even for you! Aya is scared of Youtube, who would've thought?"

"It's just that... well, our managers have advised me to stay off of Youtube. They say to never participate in a comment thread, or I'll become swallowed by rage and bitterness, and say so many evil things that I'll lose myself."

The girls pause at Aya's explanation. Chisato stands up and brushes the matter off with a short giggle. "As interesting as that sounds... well, excuse me, ladies; I'll be but a moment in the restroom." The girls wave her off and enjoy their coffee for a little while.

"...So, do people on Youtube argue a lot, or something?" Hina's question breaks up the silence.

"I'd say so," Maya chimes in. "You see, Youtube's social media aspect allows for an extreme amount of anonymity, particularly when compared to other internet platforms where the social aspect is more pronounced."

"Ah, that makes sense! You're so knowledgable, Maya-san!" Eve clutches her fists in awe.

"Huhehe, thanks, but Youtube is pretty mainstream and basic in regards to websites. Anyways, the anonymity makes it easy for people to say things that they might not say as boldly in person."

"So basically, the arguing people on Youtube are a bunch of cowards?" Hina's inquiry comes as she's digging through the creamy remains of her coffee cup.

Maya laughs as a sort of filler mechanism. "I-I think that's a bit of a strong conclusion, Hina-chan..."

Aya begins looking around. "Hmm... Chisato-chan's been gone for a while, hasn't she? Do you all think she's okay?"

Hina jumps at the invitation for action and is the first to head towards the bathroom. "Yeah! Follow after me," She shouts.

All four girls go into the bathroom, but the bathroom lights have gone out. Aya turns her phone's flashlight on.

"Um, does anyone else hear that sound...?" After Eve's question, they all quiet down. A whisper sounding more like fire than intelligible words can be heard. Like instinct, the girls all gather close.

"M-maybe someone else is in here, and Chisato-chan left already... C-Chisato-chan?" Aya calls out, and the whispering intensifies.

Hina begins pulling the girls towards the bathroom stalls. "I-if that's her, then she needs our help!" No-one is quite disagreeing, but Hina has to keep dragging the other three before they are close enough to the stalls.

Eve steps forward and looks back at the other three. "The spirit of Bushido compels me forward... I shall make sure it's safe for us all, and then we will rescue Chisato-chan!" Aya hands Eve her phone.

With a "flashlight" in hand, Eve braves the journey of cracking open, and peeking inside, the stall containing the whispers.

Eve falls over in a motionless slump towards the door, opening it all the way. The three remaining girls come rushing over, but--

"...C-Chisato-chan?!" They all scream.

There, huddled against the toilet, is Chisato. She is half of her original size, and her skin has become green, cracked, and rock-esque due to severely protruding bones. Her hands, more talon than fingers, slice away at the keyboard of her phone. Between her slobbering, she half-speaks and half-screeches what she is typing:

"You... cockroach-licking incel... capitalism is the disease of mankind... lol... hahaha... I bet you are a 50 year old virgin... and a simp... keep eating soy you betacuck lmao... I am an alpha female... might as well stop arguing with me... making yourself look bad... lmao I'm not even mad..."

Aya falls to her knees, screaming in denial and beating her chest. Maya weeps.

"Huh," comes Hina's response, and she puts a finger to her chin. "Is this why that one person commented about Chisato being a gremlin?"

GUyS I MADE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL (mayhaps support me on instagram cuz I might open commissions soon)

SHUWA SHUWA

I’m spontaneously posting this bc I suddenly got hit with feelings for this girl so yes I love Touko Kirigaya and maybe I’m also posting this bc she’s the least popular girl on this site (which of course is bound to change after Morfonica comes to EN . . . hopefully) and I wanna yell about her. I too had her as my least favourite in her band at first but I’ve seen the light

Okay so here’s the deal Touko may look like Lisa 2.0 but she is such a child. She’s careless and irresponsible and doesn’t take things seriously, wanting nothing more than to enjoy herself and keep up with trends for social media likes, and people love her! She’s so cute and charismatic that people flock to her and let her get away with things

[Etude of Flight spoilers?]

But then she joins Morfonica. And Morfonica’s whole Thing is change. Touko gets slapped in the face with the reality that she’s not good enough to get a solo, ie the part that would make her look the coolest on stage, and bc she is proud and stubborn she goes “Screw you I AM good enough” and works her butt off just to prove she is. In doing so she realises how much effort it takes to earn the spotlight she’s used to having outside of music and the fact that she’s willing to double down and take this seriously for once. This new serious Touko is someone she wants to be. She’s still childish, still tardy, still complains at having to practise without seeing immediate results, but she’s found something meaningful to strive towards and if her motivation is to look cool then I say more power to her!

Heya Bandori!! I've been dead for a bit so I wanted to give yall artists and AAside fans a open free collab!! I made this Genderbent Ryo (best AAside boi) and I spent a couple days on this collab drawing!! You can remove the huge circle where you can do whatever pose and do whatever things you can do on how you will see your best boi as a female! please do not edit Ryo or anything about him, I worked super hard on him!

Much would be appreciated if I could see your finished drawings on Discord! My tags are 「🍭🌸n o z i🌸🍭」#0002 Thank you!!!

" Happy Birthday Himari ^^!! , you are one of my favorite girls, here's your gift :) "
Hope you all like it ^^

Arisa baby girl I love you and your dumb face and your dumb hair that you probably spend 3874 hours styling. Pls don't ask me why her expression is basically and completely unintentionally the one in my profile pic or why she's channelling her inner Disney princess bc I don't KNOW and I shouldn't draw at 4am

Also pls look at this have I mentioned that I love her seiyuu

And Ayasa crying over her bday 4-koma and going "I'm glad she met PoPiPa" my heart hhh

Arisa's birthday is super close to mine and that makes it extra special so. Happy birthday you dork <333

edit: what a blessed room

happy birthday, touko!! idk much about her character but she’s my favorite morfonica girl design-wise

this wasn't what I was supposed to draw. but. take Nayuren

Several of you said PAREO was fun to draw in response to my last post . . . and of course you were absolutely right,, she's so cute hh

The moment I saw baby Hikawas I dropped everything to write uh. This thing. Idk

Her hair looked like Hina’s.

Sayo slammed the photo frame face down before she could think. Wood cracked against wood like the strike of a cane. She flinched, eyes wide, just like in the photo, except there was no regret in the eyes of her younger self.

Quickly she lifted the frame to check for damage (not to look at the picture again, just to check). There was none.

Her eyes slid over the smooth glass. (Not to look at the picture—there might be a telltale crack she’d missed. Though she could easily blame such an accident on Hina if she wanted. It had been Hina who’d so carelessly left the photo here, she was sure.)

Two little girls, identical but for the parting of their hair and a slight downward turn in the eyes of one. And in that slight difference was everything.

Matching earmuffs, matching gloves. Matching smiles, one bigger than the other. Matching capes, one brighter.

Even though Sayo had picked hers out first.

Inconsequential, you would think, being just a little duller, slower, less remarkable. Always almost, never there, a shadow of greatness.

By the time they were in primary school Sayo’s hair hung past her shoulders. She started braiding it to keep it out of her face on windy days. Braiding was methodical work, and Sayo did it with skill and care and pride.

Then Hina tried it. Fat, messy braids that sprang up with life. Smaller ones, and smaller, and still smaller, her face lit with delight as if the challenge didn’t faze her at all, until there were colourful ribbons all over her head and the adults marvelled at the dexterity of her tiny chubby fingers.

The years sharpened their differences. Sayo grew taller and her hair grew to her waist. She’d stopped braiding it long ago. Hina kept her braids, just two little ones behind her ears, keeping each other company, as identical as she could make them.

“Ah, Onee-chan! I found that the other day! Why did you put it away?”

She’d been lost in her thoughts for too long. “It’s none of your concern! Leave me alone.”

That Christmas she forgot. The next Christmas she remembers.

“Onee-chan, what’s that you’ve got there?”

Sayo jumps, bells jangling and tinsel rustling as she knocks into PVC branches. “Nothing.”

Hina breezily plucks the wooden frame from the pile of decorations, turning it over with interest. “Ohh!”

“H-Hina!”

“It’s this picture of us! My favourite one! Look at you, all fluffy and bouncy …”

Hina beams fondly at their fluffy, bouncy younger counterparts and Sayo sighs.

“I was planning to put it on the shelf here, but I suppose that’s not happening now.”

“Eh? Nooo, Onee-chaaan!! It’s happening, it’s totally happening!”

“Then I’ll have it back, please.”

Hina hands it to her with a meek smile. Sayo returns the smile, and when wood touches wood this time it’s with the quiet clunk of a piece falling into place.