Fanfic / World as Myth

Kumagawa: 「Okay! Kumagawa and Zenkichi's excellent adventure starts right now!」

Zenkichi: "…Don't you mean Kumagawa and Zenkichi's bizarre adventure?"

Kumagawa: 「Easy there, Zenkichi-chan! We can't start busting out the Shōnen Jump references this early on in the story! 」

—Misogi Kumagawa and Zenkichi Hitoyoshi in the first chapter

World As Myth by MyosotisTeal is a For Want Of A Nail Medaka Box fic.

The nail is that Misogi Kumagawa met Zenkichi Hitoyoshi in a hospital nursery instead of Medaka Kurokami. Thirteen years later, Zenkichi and Kumagawa both attend Hakoniwa Academy, where the two get involved with one Itami Koga, another student hoping to join Medaka's Student Council...

A re-imagining of the Medaka Box story, the fic swings between Lighter and Softer and Darker and Edgier than the source material. The fic is also something of a love letter to secondary characters, with several of the lesser used characters from the original manga becoming Ascended Extras.

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Tropes found in this fanfiction:

• Absurdly Powerful Student Council: Played with. The Student Council have a lot of clout among the students, but they still have to answer to their adviser.
  • Implied by Ezumachi to be played straight at Suisou Academy.
• A-Cup Angst: It comes up rarely, but both Nabeshima and Onigase are sensitive about their chest size.
• Action Girl: Pretty much every female character introduced can hold their own in a fight. The one notable exception to this is Koga, who is more of The Heart.
• Aloof Big Brother: Kei to Koi, Maguro to Medaka. Kei has been missing for years and Koi is desperate to find him. Conversely, Maguro and Medaka are both students of Hakoniwa Academy, but Maguro is the one keeping his distance from Medaka.
• Ascended Extra: Lots. Aso and Kanoya go from minor characters to supporting characters. Koga, Ezumachi, and Yobuko become members of the Student Council.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Medaka tends to have less straightforward opponents in her fights, and usually has to figure out what they can actually do before she can defeat them. Notable examples include figuring out Ezumachi's Abnormality after he uses it on her once, and Itoshima's Abnormality after she had already fallen under its effect (something even her brother had not been able to manage).
• Ax-Crazy: Behind his Stepford smile, Hyuga is a violent narcissist with a hair-trigger temper who is not above threatening his fellow students to get what he wants.
• Badass Abnormal: In a series where anyone with superpowers is labeled Abnormal, standouts include: Medaka, Ezumachi, Hinokage, and the Thirteen Party.
• Badass Normal: In a series where anyone without superpowers is labeled Normal, standouts include: Zenkichi, the Judo Club, and the Enforcers.
• Bait-and-Switch: The Chapter 8 cliffhanger implies a battle between Zenkichi and Koi. Come Chapter 9, we have a fight between Nabeshima and Choujabaru.
• Berserk Button: Kumagawa apparently got "a bit hysterical" when Zenkichi was almost drowned in mud by Tangeshima. It Makes Sense in Context.
  • Koga getting shot sends Medaka into War God Mode.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Kumagawa terrifies Shiranui when he only threatens to "get serious" with her.
• Big Bad: So far, changes each story arc:
  • In the first arc, we have Hanhaba Shiranui, acting as The Man Behind the Man for Koi Munakata.
  • For the second arc, the Thirteen Party, led by Maguro Kurokami.
• Big Bad Friend: Hanhaba to the Broadcast Club in general, Zenkichi in particular. She outright admits to having manipulated all of them in order to advance her own goals, and is unrepentant about any danger she put them in as a result. Despite this, she genuinely likes Zenkichi, and even offers to rescue him alongside Medaka should they be unable to stop the Flask Plan.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Kanoya in the first chapter. He assembles a group of delinquents to overthrow Medaka, only for half his number to be taken down by Onigase (of the Enforcers, widely considered a joke by the students), and the other half get defeated off screen by Zenkichi. Kanoya himself gets beaten by Zenkichi with one kick, and while he gets away, is only defeated again by Kumagawa's Minus.
• Big Brother Is Watching:
  • Kumagawa's Loli-radar lets him track down lolis.
  • Hitomi's parent senses let her track down Zenkichi and Kumagawa (Kumagawa even lampshades this).
• Big Damn Heroes: Zenkichi comes to Kumagawa's rescue during his fight with War God Mode Medaka, and later Hyuga does the same.
• Boring, but Practical: Kumagawa's Minus is a giant screw. That can subdue even War God Mode Medaka.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Kumagawa recognizes when bold font and italics are used in dialogue.
  • Ajimu seems to be aware of the events of the original manga.
• Break the Cutie: Happens to Koga. She seems to be getting better.
• Brick Joke: In the first chapter, Zenkichi snaps his head around "at a speed that promised severe neck pain later on." At the start of Chapter 2, he is complaining of neck pain. See Chekhov's Gag below.
• Call-Back: Several, both to the manga and the original one-shot.
• Chekhov's Gag: At the start of Chapter 2, Zenkichi is complaining of neck pain. Come the chapter's climax, he pulls his neck so badly he loses a fight to Jounan and joins the Judo Club.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Habataki Hyuga is name-dropped in Chapter 2 and makes a brief appearance in Chapter 6, before playing a small but significant role in the first arc's climax.
  • Chekhov's Boomerang: Hyuga returns at the end of the fight with War God Mode Medaka, allowing for a narrow victory. He serves as a supporting character in the second arc.
• The Chessmaster: Hanhaba Shiranui is responsible for all of the conflict of the first arc, but never gets involved herself beyond pushing others to do her dirty work for her, either by taking advantage of existing grudges (as with Kanoya and Hyuga) or with selective misinformation (as with Koi).
• Cool Big Sis: Nabeshima to Zenkichi. She takes him on as her disciple with the expectation he will succeed her as the Judo Club captain, and is furious when she learns he has been expelled from the academy.
  • Yobuko has a similar dynamic with Onigase, at least when the former isn't being a Yaoi Fangirl.
• Damsel in Distress: Koga, multiple times. She gets chased by Kanoya's delinquents, is unwittingly threatened by Ezumachi, and is even shot by Koi Munakata.
• Darker and Edgier: Medaka in War God Mode is portrayed as much more of a berserker then in the manga, even going so far as to attack the other members of the Student Council.
• Demoted to Extra: Akune and Kikaijima are mentioned, but do not make an appearance. Hansode Shiranui and her grandfather don't even get that much.
• Distant Prologue: The prologue is split up into three parts. One kicks off the plot. One happens fifteen years before. And one happens one hundred and fifty years before.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Jounan, in just about every one of his fights. Even gets lampshaded by Nabeshima.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Every eventual member of the Student Council is introduced in the prologue.
  • The chairs of the Beautification Committee, the Diet Education Committee, and the Health Preservation Committee are all referenced much earlier then in canon.
• Ensemble Cast: The Broadcast Club, the Student Council, the Enforcers, the Judo Club, and more!
• First-Name Basis: Kumagawa calls everyone by their first name. With the honorific "chan".
• For Want Of A Nail: The whole basis of the fic is that Zenkichi met and became childhood friends with Kumagawa instead of Medaka.
• Four Is Death: Kumagawa is still considered a Minus, but instead of being assigned to Class 13 with the other Abnormals, ends up a senior of Class 4.
  • Maguro, the Big Bad of the second arc, has his lab on the fourth floor of the Flask Plan labs.
• Freudian Trio: Kumagawa (the Id), Zenkichi (the Ego), and Medaka (the Superego).
• The Gadfly: Kumagawa, while nowhere near as vicious as in canon, is still a troll before anything else, and rarely passes up on an opportunity to mess with someone, be they friend or foe. Zenkichi even notes that Kumagawa's preferred method to treat a sore point is by poking it.
• Genki Girl: Koga is usually upbeat and positive, and even after multiple scares with the school's various delinquents, is quick to bounce back before the next confrontation.
• Genre Savvy: Ajimu considers Kumagawa an Ensemble Dark Horse.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Ajimu also considers Kumagawa a boring side character, and Medaka the main character. Then again, it is Ajimu...
• Genre Shift: From Chapter 5 and onwards, the plot starts to become more serious.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Hanten outright confirms that both versions of the Flask Plan were set up to find a way to defeat Iihiko Shishime.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Zenkichi and Kumagawa have known each other since they were two and four respectively, and are so close Zenkichi's mother shows up on Kumagawa's behalf for parent-teacher conferences.
• Hive Mind: Hanhaba describes the Not Equals as a hive mind in derision, but Hanten refers to Ajimu's Not Equals as "us", implying the trope may be played straight.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Hanten makes a situation appropriate pun after each team's loss in the Inter-Club Competition.
  • After being called an oddball among six oddballs among thirteen oddballs, Itoshima labels himself an odd square.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite the changes to their pasts, (most of) the original cast from the manga still end up attending Hakoniwa Academy.
• Knight of Cerebus: Koi Munakata. Her attack on the Kendo Club marks the genre shift, and the first thing she does after making her appearance is shoot Koga.
• Large and in Charge: Hinokage "should be measured in meters rather then centimeters" is still Student Council president in this version.
• Knight Templar Parent: The Kurokami patriarch gives Hanhaba free reign to keep his daughter away from the Flask Plan. This includes putting her in the hospital until she graduates.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Hanhaba Shiranui has replaced Hansode Shiranu.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Kumagawa tells Zenkichi to do something exciting so that they can become more popular. Cue WAM's version of the genre shift.
  • Kumagawa claims that the Broadcast Club needed an entire meeting to find out Kanoya's first name to cover up a minor retcon. Specifically, Kanoya's first name had not been revealed when the fic was begun.
  • Zenkichi wonders if Koi's character was designed by a mangaka who got their start as an ero-artist.
  • Onigase asks Nabeshima if she thinks they are in a manga.
• Lighter and Softer: The humor here is much more character driven, with Zenkichi and Kumagawa taking the roles of the Straight Man and Wise Guy.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Kumagawa and Aso. Maguro and Oudo are described like this in universe.
• Logical Weakness: Ezumachi's Abnormality works by manipulating the senses though paint. If his target doesn't notice the paint, his Abnormality has no effect.
• The Man Behind the Man: Hanhaba Shiranui for Koi Munakata.
• Meaningful Name: Hinokage's successor, aside from being the title of the first arc, refers to both Medaka and the unrevealed thirteenth member of the Thirteen Party.
• The Medic: Health Preservation Committee chairwoman Aoki Aka turns up more than once.
  • Hitomi Hitoyoshi counts as well.
• My Beloved Smother: After visiting Zenkichi's school, Hitomi insists they walk home together. She also has no qualms sharing embarassing stories from his past.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Koi Munakata's Abnormality, Homicidal Instinct.
• Noodle Incident: Zenkichi and Kumagawa got up to "something" ten years ago. It involved rice pudding.
• Older Than They Look: Hitomi is forty-two years old and routinely gets mistaken for twelve. Hanhaba can successfully pass as a high school freshman, but is actually old enough to retire.
• Only Sane Man: Zenkichi, as the only Normal member of the main cast, tends to be more grounded than the people he hangs out with, and calls them out on their unusual behavior. It has gone so far as to be incorporated into his fight banter!
• The Ojou: Hanhaba is unerringly polite to everyone and never uses contractions in her speech. Played with in that she is much older than usual for the character type, though she is pretending (successfully) to be a high school freshman.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Apparently why the chairman doesn't want Kumagawa for the Flask Plan.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: Yoshinogari's fondness for dropping from the ceiling comes from the anime.
  • Suisou Academy is mentioned as being Hakoniwa's sister school; this was only true in the original one-shot for the series.
• Precision F-Strike: Used to describe how much War God Mode Medaka's punch hurts.
• Put on a Bus: Instead of converting Akune three years ago, Medaka just kept defeating him until he was run out of the school.
  • The Bus Came Back: Akune returns at the end of the Zero Sum Prestige arc.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Just about every committee chair, captain, and vice-captain introduced is able to hold their own in a fight.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The violent Unzen and the phlegmatic Choujabaru.
• Retcon: Kumagawa had a legitimate reason not to use Kanoya's first name until Chapter 6, which had nothing to do with the fact that his name had not been revealed in the manga before that point.
• Running Gag: The Broadcast Club room being impossible to find and/or mistaken for a storage room.
  • Kumagawa taking the roll call for the Broadcast Club.
• Shipper on Deck: Yobuko seems to like pairing her male classmates together as more than friends.
• Shout-Out: Oh boy, here we go. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Beelzebub, Bakuman。, Death Note, Biohazard 6, Detective Conan, Nineteen Eighty-Four, A Certain Magical Index, and Zaregoto. And that's without the shout-outs from the original manga!
  • At one point, Kumagawa compliments Medaka on her "ballistics".
  • Nabeshima uses Karen's trick from Nisemonogatari to win at rock-paper-scissors.
  • Choujabaru's project name, Ante Matter, may be a reference to Homestuck.
• Shown Their Work: Kumagawa makes references to Biohazard instead of Resident Evil.
• The Stations of the Canon: An example of the trope done right. While they are dealt with in different order and some are only alluded to, every request from the original manga still makes its way into the suggestion box.
• Stealth Pun: Hinokage mentions that Maguro thought Unknown Hero deserved analysis. Analysis is also the name of Maguro's own Abnormality.
• Story Arc: Three so far:
  • Arc One - Kuudou Hinokage's Successor
  • Arc Two - Zero Sum Prestige
  • Arc Three - Monomyth
• The Stoic: Ezumachi very rarely loses his cool.
• Title Drop: Hanhaba calls Medaka Hinokage's successor, while at the end of the Kuudou Hinokage's Successor arc, Hanten mentions Hinokage's successor in the Thirteen Party.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Zenkichi might go along with what he considers Kumagawa's nonsense, but that does not stop him from complaining about it. Likewise, while Kumagawa is more upbeat in general, he is also more subtle with his barbs, and will not hesitate to let Zenkichi get in trouble if he thinks he can get out of it.
  • Kumagawa and Kanoya seem to be developing a similar dynamic.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: While it may only be her job, Hanhaba is willing to go to extremes to protect Medaka from the Flask Plan, up to and including putting her in the hospital.

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