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goldenkamuyhunting · 4 years ago

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Suicide by arson, or, basically, let’s talk about Nikaidō Kōhei

No, don’t worry, I’m not trying to guess which will be Nikaidō’s future…

But let’s go in order and start with…

A PREMISE

This is another of my analysis about how Tsurumi used a ‘perverted version of love’ which is Dante Alighieri’s way to refer to the capital vices, to manipulate men to serve him and kill for him, the first one dealing with Tsukishima Hajime and his main vice, Acedia.

In the premise for that one you might find a more detailed explanation on how I came to wonder ‘can it be to depict how Tsurumi used love to manipulate his men, Noda also took inspiration by the capital vices?’ if you’re curious about it.

So, here ends the, this time very short premise and back to Nikaidō we go, and to the vice that caused his downfall, a vice that can be compared to a consuming fire, Ira.

What’s Ira, some of you might wonder?

Well, many of you probably know it by the name of ‘wrath’ and yes, you would be, more or less, spot on.

IRA

The etymology is dubious, but Ira is fundamentally a state of uncontrolled anger, rage, and even hatred, which manifests itself in violent actions, in the wish to seek vengeance and which may persist long after the person who did another a grievous wrong is dead. So yeah, you can translate it as ‘wrath’ as the meaning is more or less the same.

Now, before we start we’ve to remember that there’s a huge difference between getting angry and indulging in the vice of Ira.

Sometimes we need to get angry, sometimes it’s even the right thing to do, we should get angry at certain things… but we shouldn’t let the anger take control of us, until it’s all we can feel.

And we should remember that what turns anger into the vice of Ira isn’t if it’s justified or not, it’s if we lose control of it or not, if we overindulge in it or not.

This point is often missed but it’s valid for all the capital vices.

Being proud, not spending money easily, feeling physical attraction, loving a special food, getting angry, thinking someone is unfairly favoured or deciding to not care about something, isn’t necessarily ALWAYS a despicable capital vice.

Those are all things one actually needs to do, things that are part of being humans, things that, if we don’t do, might produce more harm than good, but in moderate, controlled amounts, otherwise, if we lose control of it, if that’s all we can think and rules our actions… well, that’s us indulging in a capital vice and letting it consume us, and Ira is maybe the most consuming one of them all, it’s a killing thing that turns people into a beast, blind them and devours them, burns them alive and consumes everything until it’s too late.

But to better get things into perspective let’s dig into Nikaidō Kōhei, the ‘Fukushū no futago kataware’ (復讐の双子片割れ “Twin bent on revenge”) and how amazing Noda’s portray of him was.

“All I care about is killing that fucker Sugimoto Saichi as soon as humanly possible!” [Chap 45]

Whoa, calm down, let’s slow down and start from the beginning, okay?

PART 1 INTRODUCTION: THE TWIN MINIONS

The first time we see Nikaidō is in chap 15.

He’s a character who’s with us by long time, and he too, like Tsukishima, at first seems to start like a nameless minion, a mob character inserted in the story to do Tsurumi’s bidding, but with a peculiarity Tsukishima didn’t have, there’s two of him.

Nikaidō, the Nikaidō I will be talking about, is the older of a pair of twins, his name is Kōhei and his younger brother is named Yōhei, their names divided just by a kanji… but, since at the beginning the two siblings are seen as a single unit, I will talk a bit about them both.

Physically they look EXACTLY the same and, since they’re both wearing a military uniform, this makes even harder to distinguish them.

To a fan who asked how to recognize who is who among them Noda replied.

Q37: Please tell me how to distinguish between the Nikaidō twins.

Noda: At the cram school I went to there were two twin brothers as well and I couldn’t distinguish between them so I’d just ask, “hey, which one are you?”. Nikaidō twins got the same treatment by Tsurumi and Co. [Q&A section from the Golden Kamuy fanbook]

So basically, not even the people in the 7th could recognize them… which… is not nice really. After all each twin is a single person in his own rights, with his own identity, tastes and experiences. Those were other times though and maybe the twins had grown so used to be considered a single unit they didn’t even realize they’re two different people.

As long as Yōhei is alive, Noda usually will depict them together, often in the same panel, often making them also physically close, their expressions more or less mirroring each other.

They are two but, to a casual reader, they seem to be a single unit, a single body with two heads like a military version of a Dōmo-kōmo (どうもこうも), a two-headed Japanese creature with gray skin which originally was the ghost of two doctors fused together, something for which we can also blame the fact that Noda tends to depict one of the two lowered and the head of the other above him.

Yet, they’re not the same and, if we pay attention to their story we can find out a small difference in their look as they don’t dress in EXACTLY the same manner. One wears puttees (Yōhei), the other wears gaiters (Kōhei).

Which yes, at first isn’t exactly helpful because whoever look at their feet to try to recognize who’s who, especially since Noda mostly shows us their faces, not their feet, but it’s still a difference between them, something that tells us ‘hey, actually they aren’t the same person, they exist as different people even in a setting that would put on them an uniform that would make them look the same’.

This too is, in a way, a hint they are more than just mob characters and, in fact, they’ll stop being as such soon enough, Noda setting the shift from nameless minions to characters rather early in the story.

PART 2 WHEN A VILLAIN IS THE HERO IN HIS OWN STORY: KŌHEI AND YŌHEI

We are at chapter 17 and, one of the first things we’ve to notice is that, differently from many other characters, the Nikaidō brothers aren’t introduced by their surname first and only later we’ll learn their name… but we’ll learn their name first and only much later we’ll learn their surname.

Kōhei (浩平) and Yōhei (洋平).

As said before, their names differ only in a kanji, which makes sense as in Japan it seems it’s pretty common to give twins similar names.

According to Golden Kamuy Central their names ironically mean:

Kōhei (浩平): 浩 “Large, generous”, 平 “Peace, flat”

Yōhei (洋平): 洋 “Large ocean”, 平 “Peace, flat”

The twins though, are pretty far from being peaceful.

As soon as we know their names their identities become visible because it immediately turns out Yōhei is the one who hit Sugimoto’s face, so this means our Kōhei is the one who wanted to kill him right then right now.

So, if we go back and rewatch the scene with this knowledge in mind, we discover they’re also slightly different in character.

The first time they face Sugimoto, Kōhei is the first to stand after being sent on the ground, and the one who basically traps Sugimoto. What he’d like to do is just to shoot him and get it done… but he tells Sugimoto to bend down because if he’ll shoot him while standing the bullet might go through Sugimoto’s head and kill other people.

It’s a cold, yet murderous and practical type of violence, aimed SOLELY at who attacked them though. Kōhei didn’t mean to make unnecessary victims, nor cause Sugimoto unnecessary pain. What he wants to do is just to kill him and be done with him.

I think for the rest of his life Kōhei will regret not shooting Sugimoto in that moment.

Yōhei instead feels the need to vent on Sugimoto as soon as the latter is helpless. Where Kōhei would just shoot him and be done with him, Yōhei first hits Sugimoto’s legs, causing him to fall, then with the butt of his rifle hits Sugimoto’s face over and over. Where Kōhei’s anger is cold, Yōhei is burning hot. He doesn’t just want Sugimoto dead like Kōhei, he wants him to suffer first.

Overall the twins have in common the fact that, although in different ways, they’re both violent and prone to vengeance.

These traits will remain.

When they go see Sugimoto after he had been captured, Yōhei suggests cutting his guts to see if he would be healed the day after (ironic since he’ll be the one who’ll get his guts cut out) and then plans to cut his fingers to force him to talk. When they go into the room again, Yōhei is the one who wants to do the job of finishing off a tied Sugimoto. Yōhei is the younger, but he clearly wants to be the one to do those sorts of things.

Between the two he’s the most violent, the one who longs for violence.

Kōhei instead remains dismissive, colder and more rational. He doesn’t believe Sugimoto is ‘Sugimoto the immortal’, he tells his brother they can’t kill him or they won’t get info from him, and when they decide to kill him Kōhei is the one who realize they can’t use a gun or they’ll do too much noise… and have Yōhei hand him the gun because he likely doesn’t believe Yōhei would manage to control himself and not use it.

Kōhei had no idea that in this way he would let Yōhei defenceless against Sugimoto (since Sugimoto managed to steal Yōhei’s bayonet as they were talking) and this is probably another thing Kōhei will never forgive himself for.

It’s worth to note that, until now, we weren’t given a backstory for Nikaidō, we only have a bunch of extra info, like how he come from Shizuoka and how he was part of Ogata’s rebel group... and likely his brother was part of it as well.

We don’t know if they were always so violent or if war changed them the same way it changed so many soldiers.

What we know is Noda chose one of them to pose Sugimoto a question during the flashback in which Sugimoto pulls off the sledge Toraji and offers it for Tsukishima.

“Are you sure?”

I like to think the one asking it is Kōhei, who, prior to Yōhei’s death, proved not liking causing unnecessary deaths and who knows that Sugimoto’s actions mean the other soldier will die if they take his sledge.

So, overall, I don’t think Noda wanted to depict them as heartless from the start… but honestly I’m not sure we’ll get a backstory because it can be that this is all that is to Kōhei.

He was a soldier who has grown not to think too much of killing people but still didn’t relish in killing and hurting, a soldier who deeply cared for his little brother and then… he lost said little brother and his world shattered. And he changed.

So it can be there’s no flashback because we don’t need it. War might have damaged him, but Kōhei’s breaking point was Yōhei’s death, not something happening in his past. What will cause him to sink into the vice of Ira is just this. He lost his brother and went mad with grief and anger as a result. He changed and became another man, no more Kōhei but Nikaidō, a mix of himself and his brother.

But we’ll get there later.

For now let’s look at something else.

There’s something else worth mentioning in the introduction of Nikaidō and that Noda sets up well.

As soon as the twins appear on the door of the soba shop in which Sugimoto is in, asking where’s the guy looking for tattoos, Sugimoto attacks them, hitting them as hard as he can.

Both twins will get a bloody nose out of that attack.

Sugimoto will then proceed to attack another soldier, sending him on the ground and then slamming his foot on his face.

At a first glance this, for a reader, is no big deal since we were still in the mind setting they’re nameless minions of a bad guy and Sugimoto is the hero.

We’re supposed to cheer for Sugimoto and those are random minions, who cares if he maims them a little? In tales minions exist just for the hero to knock them down, it’s hard readers will stop thinking Sugimoto is doing something bad hitting them when they’re merely doing their job, after all the 7th division had previously attacked him, so why should he restrain himself?

And that’s the moment in which the Nikaidō twins start to slowly stop being minions and become characters.

Not only because, as said before, they start to show their differences in characters but also because they return what Sugimoto did to them and their companion by beating up his face in retaliation.

Normally, even when nameless minions get the upper hand for plot reasons, they don’t go for retaliation. No, that’s something characters do, because characters have characterizations, minions only have roles.

Those two retaliate and retaliate as hard as they got if not worse, setting violence as their main character trait.

They’re among the most violence prone characters of GK, longing to maim/kill their opponents.

What’s more, if we acknowledge them as characters, it’s Sugimoto who wronged them FIRST, who attacked them first (which really wasn’t a good move as it made him even more suspicious in Tsurumi’s eyes) when they merely asked where he was.

Many in the fandom normally see Nikaidō as a ‘villain’ but if “Every villain is the hero of his own story” this fist meeting set up as villain of Nikaidō’s story Sugimoto.

And what a villain Sugimoto will be for him, a villain way more terrible than Ogata for Vasily.

Noda really outdid himself in this one, escalating things so that his relationship with Sugimoto will keep on worsening till the breaking point.

In fact later, the twins will be in Tsurumi’s office, hearing Tsurumi speaking with Sugimoto. Again, they still seem nameless minions… but there’s a third man in the office and yet we don’t see his face and the characters don’t interact with him… but the same can’t be said for the twins.

They aren’t just shown laughing as Tsurumi cheerfully will confirm he’s missing a part of his brain, they will interact again with Sugimoto… and guess what? Sugimoto will remark his role as villain in their story.

Now, to Sugimoto’s credit, he has the tendency to act aggressive and confident when he’s cornered, so as not to look as such therefore he’s not really doing it for the evolz or pure sadism.

So, when Tsurumi recognizes him for ‘Sugimoto the immortal’, the one who caused Ogata to end up in a hospital and the twins stop him from leaving, punting at him their rifles and telling him to sit down again, Sugimoto attacks them verbally.

He complains about having been hit by them (completely overlooking he hit them first) and blaming them for looking the same he demands they put a mark on their forehead so he can recognize who’s who, shifting on them the blame of how people can’t recognize them.

It’s worth to mention Sugimoto didn’t say ‘assholes’ that’s added in the translation to better drive in Sugimoto’s tone. His ‘omae-ra’ is just a not polite but neither offensive “you” (plural).

‘Omae-ra sokkurida na? Jū de ore o nagutta no wa dotchida? Shirushi o tsuke toke yo o deko toka ni’

おまえらそっくりだな？銃で俺を殴ったのはどっちだ？印をつけとけよおでことかに

Lit: “You look exactly the same, right? Which one hit me with a gun? Make a mark on your forehead.”

Regardless, this is said to anger them, and it works as a charm as they swear to kill him again.

‘Koroshitayoru’

殺したよる

“I’ll kill you.”

If they didn’t like Sugimoto first, now they like him even less and from here it will only go worse. As they’re violent and vengeful, they make Sugimoto a visit as he’s held prisoner with the aim to hurt/kill him to get him to talk.

Of course, part of the visit might be because they’re in the rebel group. Maybe, like Tamai, they wanted information from him BEFORE Tsurumi would get them… and later decided it would be more convenient for their rebel group to kill him off. Maybe.

People often wonder why and how Ogata joined the rebel group but the truth is we don’t know the details about the Nikaidō brothers either, and often we don’t worry about them, so focused as we are on the main characters.

Anyway Sugimoto will manage to turn tables on them and break Yōhei’s tooth, making them now physically different and, obviously, also making them even more vengeful toward him. Honestly Sugimoto here acted in self defence, but prisoners at the time had no right to defend themselves and Sugimoto also taunt them, worsening things.

In the end Sugimoto will survive the meeting but, at this point Tsurumi himself will understand the twins must not be let near Sugimoto. Tsurumi can see where this is heading, it had gotten too personal with them, someone is going to get killed.

Can you notice the crescendo in the Ira, how they’re already showing the signs they’re into this vice?

Sugimoto hurt them, they retaliated beating him and wanting to kill him.

Sugimoto made fun of them, they went in his prison to hurt him even if their boss wouldn’t like it.

Sugimoto broke Yōhei’s tooth and made fun of them and they decide they’ll kill him even if Tsurumi forbids it.

Kōhei was, at the start, a bit colder than Yōhei, but it was Ira all along for both.

And Ira is what signs their downfall as, when attempting to murder Sugimoto, Yōhei get killed, while Kōhei is right out of the room, so close and yet unaware of what was going on until it was too late.

It’s the third thing Nikaidō probably can’t forgive himself and what, in his mind broken by the death of his brother, ultimately will cause him to see Sugimoto as THE GREATEST VILLAIN OF ALL.

Yōhei will die, Kōhei will survive and will later become the Nikaidō we know.

Of the two, we can say Yōhei had the better fate.

Still, the Nikaidō we know didn’t exactly have birth immediately after Kōhei’s death. Short after it we’ll see he’s still in Tsurumi’s army and, apparently, his mind works well enough as he faces Ushiyama.

People tend to think little of Nikaidō because he’s often used as a comic relief (it’s a bit like when people judge Shiraishi dumb when he can be rather smart) but it’s Nikaidō who manages to shoot Ushiyama’s shoulder and we’ll see this will incapacitate Ushiyama for a while.

But he’s still ‘just Kōhei’ to us, and we might not have realized Noda has set him up for more than just being a minion.

PART 3 WHAT REMAINS OF THE TWINS: PRIVATE FIRST CLASS NIKAIDŌ

We learn Kōhei’s surname, the name with whom we’ll learn to call him regularly, when Tsurumi, after having been told Ogata has disappeared from hospital, is informed that Private First Class Nikaidō Kōhei has been missing by quite a bunch of days (by the way, that flashback tells us that Kōhei, in his first apparition, was the one on top of his brother).

And then we see him, Nikaidō, with Ogata in Huci’s house. And maybe it’s Noda who forgot about it or maybe it’s deliberate, but, during the chase we’ll discover this time Nikaidō isn’t wearing anymore gaiters. He’s wearing puttees like his brother used to do.

I like to think it’s deliberate and it’s our first hint that Kōhei is somehow merging with Yōhei in his mind but honestly, I’ve no idea if that’s the case.

So let’s talk a bit about this Nikaidō.

He’s with Ogata, who’s a superior private and therefore higher in rank than him, and it’s clear Ogata is in charge and Nikaidō is taking orders from him.

We don’t know if it was Ogata’s idea for Nikaidō to give Huci a backrub, maybe, maybe not, we probably will never learn the truth.

Anyway the fact they belong to a rebel group start to take shape, that maybe it was just Ira what moved the twins actions toward Sugimoto, but maybe there was also something more.

It’s the second time Ogata leaves the division without permission, and we were told Nikaidō, who’s with him, did just the same for a bunch of days before. Although Tanigaki is clearly afraid they’re there for Sugimoto (and maybe they were), as soon as they see him their interest focus on Tamai, Noma and Okada and what had been of them. They both don’t think Tanigaki could have been saved by Sugimoto and both mistake his nervousness for him being responsible for Tamai and Co’s death and trying to cover it up.

The whole of the Ogata/Nikaidō cooperation serves to establish their characters through the contrast between their actions and reactions, as well as the reactions they get from Tanigaki despite their apparent common goal.

Tanigaki is overall submissive with Ogata, a superior officer, but doesn’t let himself be put down by Nikaidō.

Tanigaki and Nikaidō know each other, they’re of the same rank, but they clearly don’t seem to be on friendly terms.

Nikaidō shows, same as Ogata, he is capable to catch the problems in Tanigaki’s answers and don’t swallow them blindly.

Tanigaki should have delivered a message to explain the situation, the fact he didn’t do was suspicious. While Ogata acts calm and in control, Nikaidō’s remark is vaguely insulting, aimed at getting a reaction and, in a way, it gets one.

It’s also worth to note that, differently from the anime, Ogata is represented as serious though the initial part of the questioning, where Nikaidō is the one who is smiling.

Anyway Tanigaki feels danger is approaching and tells Osoma to bring Huci away, which makes things even more suspicious.

Maybe Ogata would have waited some more, seen if he could get more info from Tanigaki without compromising himself, but Nikaidō has already drawn his conclusions and he’s ready to act.

The panel shows him slipping in anger, in his vice of Ira, as he grabs painfully Huci’s shoulders and asks darkly ‘Corporal Tamai told you, didn’t he?’

Tanigaki won’t immediately connect the dots, he’ll just get angry because Nikaidō seems to be hurting Huci for no apparent reason.

Ogata takes back control, outright demanding if Tanigaki killed the others… but, differently from Nikaidō, without giving away WHY Tanigaki could have done that.

Nikaidō is set up to be smart enough to understand Tanigaki is hiding something, but Ogata is set up to be smarter than him and much more in control.

Of all the cast of Golden Kamuy, Ogata is the one who’s less prone to fall into the vice of Ira, remaining cold and collected, so it’s an interesting choice to pair him up with Nikaidō, because it generates contrast.

As Tanigaki looks at his rifle, Nikaidō aims his gun at Huci, taking advantage of his position behind her, basically threatening Tanigaki to use violence if he tries something… which is exactly what Nikaidō wants to do. In what is a call back to when he wanted to kill Sugimoto there and now in their first meeting, he’ll reveal, in some more panels, he would have liked to kill Tanigaki right there right now and not waste his time trying to do it later.

Nikaidō is changed though.

Previously Nikaidō worried not to involve others when he would shoot Sugimoto, now he doesn’t care if Huci and Osoma, an old woman and a little child, get involved.

It’s not because they’re Ainu, Nikaidō could be respectful with Inkarmat. It’s just that they’re in the way and this new Nikaidō doesn’t care about involving bystanders anymore.

After all, if he hadn’t worried and had immediately shot Sugimoto when he had met him, his brother would have still be alive.

Back to the plot, Ogata doesn’t bother aiming his rifle. He differentiates from Nikaidō as he doesn’t want to use violence right there, nor threaten Tanigaki into compliance. He has turned Tanigaki’s rifle useless by removing the stopper and wants to question Tanigaki further without compromising himself.

Although Tanigaki shows that he wants to protect Huci and Osoma by begging him not to hurt them, he doesn’t use them against him to extort information, no, he decides they’ll leave and take Nikaidō away, but first asks Tanigaki about Sugimoto. That’s ironically the only thing on which Tanigaki was ready to lie about, so, this time, he manages to do so.

When Ogata tells him to leave with him, Nikaidō obeys but it turns out from a discussion taking place short later, this wasn’t what Nikaidō wanted.

Nikaidō doesn’t care anymore about not killing innocents, like in the past he tells Ogata they should have just killed Tanigaki and be done with it, but this time didn’t care they would end up involving and having to kill Osoma and Huci.

Ogata decided against killing Tanigaki there exactly to spare them, setting up Nikaidō as someone who now is more murder prone and violent than Ogata is and that Kōhei was when they met Sugimoto.

Yes, this is the start of Nikaidō spiralling downward.

We saw Tanigaki looking down at Nikaidō, it’s possible Tanigaki never liked him or that he just didn’t like him due to the situation they were in, it’s hard to say. What we know is that Tanigaki thinks that even if he were to kill Ogata, Nikaidō wouldn’t escape.

Nikaidō is fearless. And stubborn. Two dangerous traits.

We discover also Nikaidō is in the rebel group with Ogata… but now his interest in the rebellion is fraying away. Now all he wants is to kill Sugimoto… or, in alternative, to go back home. He can’t stand Hokkaido any longer.

And even though he sounds angry as he says so, it’s clear his anger, which already was present in him, has also turned into a maladaptive copying mechanism to deal with his loss. He’s pushing all the blame for Yōhei’s death on Sugimoto. He’s probably thinking if he kills him he’ll feel better… he won’t feel guilty, he won’t feel that crushing pain for the missing Yōhei.

Killing Sugimoto is slowly becoming all he cares about.

Not the gold, not his companions.

Killing Sugimoto.

He’s still not completely lost though.

It’s Tsurumi who gives him the final push.

When Tsurumi captures him after he had been attacked by a bear, Nikaidō does not flinch as the latter cut his ear off, nor he falters as Tsurumi promises him torture.

No, what wins him over is Tsurumi’s promise he’ll be allowed to indulge in his vice of Ira and avenge his brother.

“How about I let you kill Sugimoto?”

This is all it takes to win Nikaidō’s loyalty. He immediately gives Tsurumi a name, Komiya, and goes back on being loyal to him.

Sugimoto Saichi’s death is all he wants, all he cares, it’s his obsession, his way to soothe the pain, to fill the void Yōhei’s death has caused.

As far as we know he doesn’t resent Tsurumi for what he did TO HIM or, if he does, as of now, he never tried to take revenge. No, all he cares is killing Sugimoto who murdered HIS BROTHER.

However all this also lead him into an unhealthy mindset.

Nikaidō will become more and more unhinged, carrying around the ear Tsurumi cut, claiming it’s Yōhei, talking to it as if the ear were Yōhei himself, for example saying to it he agrees that Ogata is an exceptional yet dangerous soldier but they never really liked him [Chap 58].

Later, he notices ‘Yōhei’s’ ear looks like Tsurumi’s so he asks Tsurumi to give him his ear, asking him if he doesn’t feel sorry for how Yōhei was left stuck with only one ear, causing Tsurumi to promise him he could have his ear once Tsurumi is dead (although unlikely I wonder if this originally was planned to foreshadow it).

Nikaidō is serious about this, about finding another ear for his brother, we can see him searching for one in Edogai’s house as well, although he’ll conclude only Tsurumi’s ear could match. Later Edogai will somehow sympathize with him enough he’ll make him an headgear in which Nikaidō can insert Yōhei’s ear right against his kin so that he can comfortably speak with it.

Nikaidō continues to think that killing people is the easiest way to deal with problems, in fact he suggests killing Edogai and search his house instead than just talk to him... but what’s really worth to point out though that, despite the previous betrayal and how Nikaidō now is unhinged, Tsurumi continues to use him.

However it’s not Noda involves Nikaidō in the plot just because he’s a face familiar to readers or to show Tsurumi is keeping him under control.

Nikaidō is good at close combat, in Yubari we’ll see him putting Hijikata in troubles (even though Hijikata is still more awesome than him) and in Abashiri we’ll see him putting up an impressive fight with Sugimoto, even though the latter will manage to prevail. He also cool headed enough he can direct the assault at Edogai’s house.

Nikaidō is more than a comic relief, he’s a seriously dangerous fighter with a stubborn streak.

But Nikaidō’s whole being is possessed by his wish of revenge, by the Ira he feels for Sugimoto.

We see it in chap 82, the chapter named ‘Nikaidō’ like he is.

Nikaidō was leading well that mission and, although Hijikata is amazing, Nikaidō was still managing to hold his ground, pushing him on the ground and getting above him even though Hijikata, despite being older, is somewhat stronger than him.

However, as soon as Nikaidō ears Sugimoto’s voice calling Hijikata, he loses it. Even the visual seems to represent him burning, his Ira and wish of revenge possessing him as he completely forget Hijikata and attempts to stand to go fight with Sugimoto.

And Noda shows us immediately what a huge mistake this is as it gives Hijikata the chance to attack from behind, cutting Nikaidō’s leg.

In a way it’s a cold shower for Nikaidō as this, despite the loss of his leg, allows him to focus back on Hijikata and hide before the latter could deal the finishing blow. Hijikata will be forced to retreat with Sugimoto and Ogata due to the place burning… and Nikaidō too will have to escape, leaving his leg behind.

The new mutilation harms Nikaidō’s psychological state.

Chap 94 delves in this and, although it does in a humorous way, Nikaidō’s situation is clearly serious. He begins to talk more with Yōhei’s ear and laments how YŌHEI’s leg got burned in Edogai’s house so he can’t go after Sugimoto and kill him with his leg missing.

We can see here that Nikaidō is starting to consider his own body as ‘Yōhei’s body’. He started with his own ear, which became Yōhei’s and now he’s moving to his own leg as well... but we can also see another side of Nikaidō’s Ira.

His Ira as well as his wish for revenge are copying devices to face the pain of his loss.

When he thinks he can’t kill Sugimoto anymore, is Ira turns against him. He begins to steal morphine and inject himself secretly, likely more than to cope with the physical pain, to cope with the pain of his loss.

There are bags under his eyes, a clear sign he’s not well, possibly that he has troubles sleeping.

He ‘recovers’ only when Arisaka brings him a prosthetic leg which can also shoot two bullets, giving him the idea he has again a decent chance against Sugimoto.

We see Nikaidō is again back into action in the Lighting Bandit arc, where he seems back to normal, calm, in control and ready to act (despite the slipper stairs)…

...only to lose it again in Abashiri, for the same reason as before, he hears Sugimoto’s voice. Tsukishima has to physically restrain him to stop him from going to fight Sugimoto, Nikaidō protesting that he was promised to kill him. And Nikaidō won’t let go.

As Tsurumi’s men will be attacked by the convicts Kadokura freed, Nikaidō ignores his companions and still searches for Sugimoto. He finds the passage the latter has used to escape and chases Sugimoto. Alone.

Nikaidō’s poor luck allows Sugimoto to realize he’s behind him before Nikaidō could kill him, so they fight again. Sugimoto manages to send him on the ground but Nikaidō thinks he’ll use his prosthetic leg to turn tables around. Out of sheer good luck, Sugimoto, who didn’t know the prosthetic hid weapons, moves Nikaidō’s leg away.

Nikaidō’s leg fires anyway, hitting Sugimoto’s leg, which causes Sugimoto to fall. Nikaidō rises and tries to use his leg to shoot at Sugimoto’s face but, before doing so, wastes time telling Yōhei how Sugimoto is on his way to join him.

Sugimoto catches his chance to turn Nikaidō’s leg against him, so that when it fires it blows away Nikaidō’s right hand. He then rips the prosthetic leg away and uses it to beat Nikaidō into unconsciousness.

Again, Nikaidō’s blind Ira toward Sugimoto caused him to lose a body part. The past time it was his right leg, now it’s his right hand.

PART 4 CONCLUSION: DAMNATION OR SALVATION?

At this point, Noda makes something interesting.

He has Tsurumi tell Nikaidō that Sugimoto died at Abashiri. Would, knowing Yōhei’s murderer is dead, heal Nikaidō? Would, knowing the target of his Ira doesn’t exist anymore, help him to go back live a normal life? Or would Nikaidō find another target on which to vent his Ira?

Neither.

Chap 148 shows us that, after he got the news, Nikaidō turned into an empty shell of himself who remains under the blanket and doesn’t eat anything, deep into depression and apathy.

It’s worse than before, when he lost his leg as, back then, he was at least trying to steal morphine to cope with the pain. Now he’s not even doing that, he has no purpose, he’s a void.

In order to persuade him to eat, Tsurumi tries to tempt him with morphine.

Although this get some vague attention from Nikaidō, ultimately the plan fails, as Nikaidō now is also mourning the loss of his right hand and he needs said hand to eat. Or, in Nikaidō’s mind, was it Yōhei’s hand?

This time Nikaidō doesn’t let us know to whom that hand belonged.

And all this remarks even more how Nikaidō was indulging in the vice of Ira because his Ira is what allows him to get through the day. Without it, the pain of his loss is so big he’s a shell of himself.

Still, Tsurumi has uses for him, he doesn’t want to just let him die of starvation. Again, he ropes in Arisaka, who’ll give Nikaidō a prosthetic hand.

Later we’ll find out Nikaidō is then sent with Usami at Noboribetsu to heal.

In Noboribetsu he seems more healthy than when he was in the hospital in Asahikawa and he’s still willing to be faithful to Tsurumi as he gives no info to Kikuta (though we don’t know if Nikaidō knew both Ogata and Kikuta worked for Central). He shows some interest in Inkarmat and Ienaga’s fate though, but it’s unclear if it’s out of curiosity or because they might have been connected with Ogata.

However Nikaidō’s better state is actually illusory.

In chap 223 it turns out that Arisaka has been experimenting the methamphetamine his friend Nagai invented on Nikaidō, who prior to take it was lacking in energy.

So that’s what Nikaidō has turned into when he doesn’t indulge in his vice of Ira. He copes with his pain through drugs, which is a rather modern take in a way.

Ira is a vice, but it’s also what allows Nikaidō to go on without drugs. Without it, left on his own, he’s an empty shell and to go on he needs drugs. And that’s a rather interesting message.

Like Tsukishima, Nikaidō indulges in his vice to cope with what life threw to him… but differently from Tsukishima, if he drops his vice, he just can’t march forward without the aid of drugs.

Nikaidō is trapped, with no one on his side, turned into a weapon and a guinea pig Tsurumi and Arisaka can use.

Koito doesn’t realize it’s the drugs that cause him to act in a certain way and makes fun of him by HIDING HIS PROSTHETIC HAND and then placing in it Yōkan in place of the chopsticks.

Nikaidō, differently from Tsukishima, is not a popular and beloved character, beyond loving his brother to the point of madness and being a dangerous foe he hadn’t shown characteristics that made him likable… and so fans of GK, like everyone else in the story, turn their gazes away from him.

He’s left alone, like many people who fall victims of addition and is used by others who take advantage of his addition.

It’s extremely unlikely Nikaidō could even be saved, could even drop his vice and return living like a normal person.

We see how he lapses back into his maddening Ira when he sees Sugimoto, to the point he understands nothing, that he would have even hit Asirpa, everything to kill him as killing Sugimoto is his only goal, he gets to the point not only he can’t listen to reason but Tsukishima has to restrain him.

Again Nikaidō won’t manage to carry out his revenge though, at least, this time he won’t lose any limb.

The discovery though, doesn’t help him to part ways with Tsurumi. He hands him Asirpa, though he complain he was lied at but ultimately let it slide because what Tsurumi says is true, it’s better if Sugimoto is alive for Nikaidō, the thought he might get a chance to kill him helps him to carry on.

So Nikaidō remains stuck.

Nothing can save him. Even if he were to kill Sugimoto he won’t manage to free himself from Tsurumi and the hold of drug.

His vices, Ira and drugs, are basically his extremely maladaptive copying methods, are doing nothing to solve the real problem he has to face and is refusing to deal with: his grief for his brother’s death, likely combined with his sense of guilt for not managing to protect Yōhei.

Nikaidō’s mind is, in a way, gone, desperate to keep Yōhei alive by mistaking his own body for Yōhei’s.

Being killed so that he could join again with his brother would probably feel like an act of mercy to him… and it’s terrible that Nikaidō’s destruction can yes, blamed to his vices… but also to how he lost a person he loved, wasn’t able to cope with it and ended up being used by others.

Sure, his fate has dealt to Nikaidō’s terrible cards, cards that will likely only lead him to his own self destruction.

On another note… I do wonder if Noda remembers how Nikaidō was interested in Tsurumi’s ear. There’s to wonder if, before the end of the story, Nikaidō might feel like taking it on his own. We’ll see.

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polar-stars · 2 years ago

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Random OC-Ramble Post 1/???

With things still being very, uhm, so-so in RL for me rn...My major source for solace has honestly been the work on SnKimiko and my OCs.

It kind off left me with a little, tiny desire to do some rambling & I thought that maybe I could even make this like a small, weekly thing on here? Maybe??? (If you have any suggestions on what I should talk about specifically....send me an ask maybe!)

For tonight, I wrote up the name meanings of some of my Next Gen kids and the reasons why I named them the way I did.

I actually talked a lot about this in various discords, I think but never on here (after all those YEARS). So yeah....Why not?

Note: I know that Japanese names can vary in meaning depending on the kanji used! However, I do not speak Japanese and obviously I am not acquainted with how to read kanji. All you see here is information I’ve gotten from English-speaking websites...So take it with a little grain of salt.

🍳 Kimiko (Yukihira): The name meaning I first found for “Kimiko” was “noble child” and other variations of that idea (“princess child”, “empress child”) - I picked it as reference to Erina’s position as queen back on Totsuki (that’s also the in-universe reason, as Soma picked the name). Something about this that was totally unintentional but that I really like is that her name sort-off stands in juxtaposition to her surname. According to the Shokugeki wiki, “Yukihira” translates to “blessing of the ordinary”. In a Sense, this makes Kimiko something like “a person of nobility growing up in the world of the ordinary” or “a Princess of the People” & I believe that fits.

🐰 Hiroshi (Aldini-Tadokoro): The meaning I first found for “Hiroshi” was “tolerant, generous” which is something that Hiroshi is. It’s also traits that are or value to both Megumi and Isami I feel, so yeah.

💐 Kaori (Hayama): “Kaori” means “fragrance” and well, she is Akira Hayama’s daughter…lol. Okay, but “Kaori” also has a really pretty, elegant ring to it in my ears at least. So the sound of it was also part of the reason why ended up picking it.

☀️ Mika (Aldini): I’m pretty certain that the first meaning I ever stumbled across for the Japanese name “Mika” was “beautiful increase”. But all meanings I’ve seen so far always included “beauty” for sure. Given that Mika is the offspring of two very attractive people, she equally grew into someone who is considered to be stunning by many!

🦊 Lola & ❄️ Mona (Nakiri): I’ll be honest…In this case, I hardly concerned myself with the meaning of the names ahaha. I just knew I wanted Western first names for the RyoAli kids and I picked “Lola” and “Mona” pretty intuitively because I thought they worked well as twin names (both have the same vowels at the same place). But if you want to know: “Lola” means “lady of sorrows”. Meanwhile Mona has multiple origins and therefore multiple meanings. “Noble” would be one! Which fits I suppose since Mona is a Nakiri. Another meaning I found is, interestingly enough, “Loner” or “Alone, Silence” which DEFINITELY fits Mona.

�� Takayuki (Hojo): There seem to be a lot of possible meanings for “Takayuki” but the one I remember finding first was “moving to heights”. I think my original intent was to refer to his ambitious nature, actually! But nowadays, I also take a lot of entertainment in the thought that his father Terunori named him that in hope Takayuki would grow tall ahhdhd.

🥀 Kazuo (Mimasaka): “Kazuo” can mean “harmonious, peaceful man” which fits him because despite his intimidating looks, Kazuo really is one sweet and gentle fella who wouldn’t hurt a fly. I think “Kazuo” can also mean something in the sense of “first son” actually? I’m not entirely sure about that…But it would fit as well, since he is the first son in-between his two sisters haha.

🌲 Yasu (Ibusaki): I decided on “Yasu” for my ShuYoko-kid as soon as I saw the meaning being “peace, quiet”. Not only is he very peaceful and quiet but he himself also values to have peace and quiet once in a while. He grew up in a very calm and sorta remote environment after all. I’d say it also refers to his parents in a sense (“peace” being more for Ryoko, who often felt like a peacemaker and calm regulator in Polar Star. And “quiet” being for Shun obviously)

📚 Chieko (Marui): I remember being extra picky with Chieko (as ever so often, lol). I had a whole list of possible options but none of them really did it for me yet, I think. Then I came across “Chieko” and it’s meaning which is “child blessed with wisdom” and I knew: this is it! The meaning was perfect for a daughter of Zenji’s and I loved the sound of the name as well!

🎤 Hideyoshi (Kawashima): “Hideyoshi” can combine the kanji for “excellent, outstanding” and “good, virtuous, respectable”. I could 100% picture a persona like Urara to name her child something like that, assured that her son is going to be just as brilliant as she sees herself. I think it definitely fits Hideyoshi’s haughty personality.

🎧 Daisuke (Aoki): In contrast, the name of Yua’s child is a lot more humbler I’d say as “Daisuke” can mean “big helper”. I’ll say that I picked it WAY back when he had a bit of a different role in the story (he was Kimiko’s cooking partner, so yeah “help”) but I’d say it still fits as it paints him as someone friendly which he definitely is!

🦑 Hiraku (Yukihira): The naming I first saw for “Hiraku” was “expand, open, pioneer”. I imagined Erina would name her child that, believing firmly that with parents like that…this kid would surely take “cooking” as an art-form far and beyond what was first believed to be possible! He would explore a whole new side to it! So yes…This is why.

🌿 Akio (Hayama): Much like with Hiraku, this name was given out of expectation from a parent. “Akio” means “bright, luminous man” and I imagine that Akira would name his child that in expectation for him to become a “radiant personality” within the culinary industry, so to speak. Someone who would have all eyes on him! He felt even more assured in his beliefs when he found out that Akio has inherited his sensitive nose.

🔥 Suzume (Hojo): Okay, so this is where it gets a little embarrassing. When I stumbled across the name “Suzume” and the meaning “sparrow”…I kinda forgot what a “sparrow” is (remember I am not a native speaker). But it didn’t matter to me that much (pretty sure I was like “I’ll look it up sometime later” and then never did) because I really liked the sound of “Suzume”. In my ears, there was a playful ring to it and I just thought it fit the character I had in mind.

I now know that “sparrow” is a very tiny bird. My in-universe explanation is that Terunori named her, in desperate hope she would inherit his height and not outgrow him (guess what? She outgrew him). Or maybe his favorite birds are sparrows, that could work as well ahdhdh.

💎 Shigeo (Eizan): The meaning I found first for “Shigeo” was “luxuriant man”. Well, do I really need to explain that ahdhd? It fits given his materialism and prestige, decadence n’ all that jazz is of high value for his father as well so….Yeah ahhd. [I basically just saw it and was like “I am gonna name one of Etsuya’s spawn that”]

📁 Ran (Mimasaka): I’ve always liked the name “Ran” to be honest. I connect it to a character from one of my very first mangas! It’s called “Gals!” and our local library had volume 6 of it. I remember that I kept renting and rereading it, lol (without ever knowing a way how to get my hands on all the volumes that came before it…I was pretty young at that time, okay?). The main character in that is called Ran! (Funfact: But I’ve actually read “Gals!” from the start last year after so many years. The “Ran” from “Gals!” Is actually a lot more like Suzume (a whole lot actually) than like my Ran). Anyway yes, painfully long way for me to say that I liked the name and I wanted to give it to one of my characters. And I thought it could fit the oldest Mimasaka-child. “Ran” means “orchid” by the way! My headcanon (or personal canon) is that Subaru brought deep red orchids to the hospital, because they’re Nao’s faves, and it ended up inspiring the name for their new born daughter.

🍜 Masashi (Eizan): I remember the first meaning that I found being something in the sense of “Commander, General”. This is very much the role that Masashi personally likes to play, so I thought it fits.

🌸 Kiyoko (Saito): “Kiyoko” can mean something in the sense of “pure child” but I think what I saw first was “sacred child”. The “sacred” evoked images of temples and shrines in me and since Kiyoko does have a pretty traditional side to her (and also with a deeply traditional father like Somei) I think it fits her! I think “pure” can also do for a refined, lady-like persona who stands above all, like her. Also I just really like the name “Kiyoko”, I think it’s really pretty!

🍁 Noboru (Shinomiya): I always knew that I wanted a ShinoHina-kid to be the first seat in my Next Gen fanfic. So when I finally got down to design him, I picked “Noboru” as a name because the meaning I found for it was “rise,ascend”. It’s pretty much a reference to his first seat, yes.

🐼 Moe (Saito): So, from what I know “Moe” is slang in Japanese for things that are super-duper mega cute, I think. I honestly didn’t knew that it could apparently be a name as well? The meaning I found for it is “bud, sprout”! I decided to give Moe that name because “bud, sprout” refers to her youthful looks. At the same time she’s also the epitome of “cute” and I can picture Momo naming her child exactly that.

🔍 Cho (Sotsuda-Cohen): “Cho” means “butterfly” and I simply thought it was a cute, adorable name for a very lively girl (who is just as hard to catch as a butterfly)

🎮 Kei (Eizan): “Kei” seems to have a lot of meanings going for it, but the one I saw first was “square jewel”. I picked it at first because I was entertained by the idea of Etsuya naming his child “jewel” (Nene agreeing because she understands it as “precious, valuable” in a sense)…But it does fit Kei as character really well, I think, in the sense that he can be a bit rough around the edges sometimes but he really does have a heart of gold. Another possible meaning I saw was something like “bind”…which I also like, because I think it fits the role he is taking in his family.

🍄 Ayano (Mimasaka): I honestly picked it mostly because I liked the way it sounded. The meaning for “Ayano” is “colour, design”. I can honestly picture Ayano’s parents naming her that to emphasise creativity!

🕊 Tsubame (Tsukasa): What happened was that I asked myself “I wonder if there is a name in Japanese that means ‘swallow’. That would be perfect for the EiRin daughter!” And lord and behold, there is! “Tsubame” is pretty much just the word for “swallow” I believe and since swallows played a significant role in the tale of Eishi and Rindou, I really liked the thought of them naming their daughter of that.

🎡 Shouhei (Tsukasa): Unfortunately I can’t seem to recall my exact thought process when it comes to naming Shouhei. The meaning I see listed though is “soar glide” and “level, even, peaceful”. I am pretty sure the “soar, glide”-aspect did it for me, as I connected it to flying in a sense and Shouhei is very much the travelling-type.

🏔 “Yuu” (Tsukasa): “Yuu” has “excellence, superiority, gentleness” listed as a possible meaning. He is an incredibly talented cook, for sure, who is very difficult to match in skill.

#Random OC Rambles #Shokugeki no Kimiko Stuffz

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fantranslatorbychoice · 4 years ago

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Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi Volume 6 Chapter 4 - Secret Girls' Night-out

T/N: Hi y’all, it’s me again, it took a bit longer because I did my best to beta-as much as I could, but if it’s still wonky, I apologize, it's not like I get paid to do it lol also it's rather challenging when I had to convert my brain waves from Japanese to English to my native language and however those combinations work just to spew all of these out in sufficiently passable English. So I hope you all don't mind stuff like typos or inconsistencies with the tenses srsly even the original text has that and I just literally gave up evening out the tenses, like really apparently it's no biggie to have an entire paragraph in Japanese that both has past and present tenses (they mostly don't have future tenses) but if that happened in English some would just nitpick that shit out. I mean, yeah, for sure when I do editing and get paid for it I would, but if I'm just reading fanfics from writers who don't have English as their native language I just don't give a hoot, as long as the story's good, to heck with grammar, spelling and syntax. Srsly some non-native EN speakers get turned-off or even scared when nitpickers hit on their imperfect spellings or grammar or dictions, srsly honestly just give them a break, they worked hard to learn another language. I felt this even more so when I started learning Nihongo, like srsly as long as a person gets to say what they want to say even if it's not perfect in anyway, then that's more than enough for me. srsly I am forgiving like that. Also this chapter has more notes than usual, especially regarding Nihongo and stuff, so if you don't like it you can always move along lololol Also I gave up, I'm keeping the titles and roles in Japanese i.e. Odanna-sama, Wakadanna-sama, Bantou-san, etc. I'll just stick in more notes instead lol

Also if you like this translation, you can heart it, share the link, reblog, I just respectfully ask that DO NOT REPOST ELSEWHERE. This is my contribution to the scant English content of this fandom, and I worked really hard to finish this thing, it’s not like I just copy-pasted everything. I even had to build the kanji in Jisho one by one. Try it and you’ll see what I mean.You can rave about this, rant about this, but if possible please link back to this page. If you’re unsure how to do that, just copy the web address of this page. If you’re on a blogsite just insert the web address as a hyperlink as a link back to here. Honestly if this light novel was officially-published in English, I wouldn’t even be doing this right now... And if it did, I’d take this offline to support the publishers and Yuuma-sensei. Creators support creators, is what I believe in. As previously-mentioned in earlier chapters, if you stumbled upon this one, the two seasons of the anime covered volumes 1-5, so other than the extra details, you didn’t miss much stuff. OK, with all of that out of the way, here's Chapter 4 now. P116 "Th... These are... The Southern Lands' cultured Japanese amberjack**... A bundle of Kiseki beef.. And there are so many other local products from the Southern Lands too. Ah, there's even the coconut oil that I always wanted!" So many extravagant ingredients have been hauled into Yugao, and I was flabbergasted by them all. There were also so many cans of various contents as well as dried fish and other products stuffed inside. Canned tuna and other canned stuff were considered as high-end products in Kakuriyo, and I am very grateful. Ginji-san and the Daruma gang from the kitchens delivered a box packed with so many ingredients to Yugao, and we had no idea why. "Well, the Dog said that these are their repayment to our kindness. It's because a while ago, Ranmaru came to Tenjin-ya." "Really, Ranmaru from Orio-ya?" "Hatori-san also came too, with him." In some way, Ginji-san's mood was good. For a while now, his nine fluffy tails were wagging from left to right. "It's from our head accountant Byakuya-san, Aoi-san's rewards for your achievement, and for Tenjin-ya's cooperative business venture and all sorts of other demands that were deemed justifiable, and because they wanted to give other things as a way of expressing their gratitude, they brought in many other souvenirs and products as well. They also exchanged with us various other information." T/N: This is related to tuna fish, but don't ask me how they cultured it. Probably in the open sea, like in sea cages. Yes, that's a thing, and yeah I was also in the fishing industry at some point in time, if you're wondering. Also if you're wondering why I rarely use "you" in the dialogues of the translations, it's because in polite Japanese conversations, instead of saying ANATA or OMAE= you, one's name is mentioned instead. In the original text, when people are talking to each other, rather than say "you" they say the other person's name or occupation + san instead i.e. bengoshi-san= lawyer san, Ginji-san, or if it's a username because they don't like using their true names- USERNAME-san. Because using "you" in any way, shape or form in conversations is deemed rude AF. So the next time you chat with Japanese people, please remember to address them by their name, or occupation, unless you've established rapport with them. I forgot to put this explanation in my earlier posts, but it's one of the most important stuff I learned in my Japanese classes, the Japanese folk won't care so much on grammar but more on being polite and taking care of remembering social status stratification aka just be polite by using polite terms. I actually experienced this first hand after chatting with some of them, they just told me not to use Google translate and just chat with them with whatever I know. They're very grateful when people could talk to them in their native tongue, especially when the honorifics are used. This note's long AF but I did say that I'm gonna drag you all with me in this whole learning Nihongo thing, and I'm doing just that. P117 "That friendly Ranmaru did that? Doesn't he hate Tenjin-ya?" "Hee hee. Well, don't take this too seriously, OK?" Even though saying it that way, I imagined that Ranmaru's horrible words and demeanour were probably due to his circumstances. Orio-ya sees Tenjin-ya as its rival, it's hard to imagine them having an image of humbly bringing over souvenirs. And the business dealings, I wonder what those are...? "Oh that, Ranmaru saw that you had a strong sense of duty. He wanted to particularly express his gratitude to Aoi-san." And thereupon, these ingredients from the Southern Lands. Stuff I rarely get hold of, especially something like that one round amberjack, and I unconsciously grinned. "Even so, if the circumstances allowed, he would have stopped by and said it himself** ..." "It was before Aoi-san's business hours, and Ranmaru is also busy it seems, so he had to go back immediately. Even I wanted to take our time since I thought it was fine, but it can't be helped... Because Ranmaru is the Southern Lands' Hachiyo." "Ha ha. Then what happens next is that if it's possible, Ginji-san will go to Orio-ya, won't he? Nothing's stopping you two from visiting each other now?" "Aoi-san...." Up until recently, Ginji-san and Ranmaru's long sibling feud previously ended sometime ago, and the long-standing so-called inn rivalry and clash between Orio-ya and Tenjin-ya has been cut. T/N: aisatsu=挨拶=greeting, introducing one's self, improving relations by dropping by every now and then, can also mean like popping up to say hi or whatnot. I don't know how to directly translate it since aisatsu has more of a sense of how a supervisor pops up in the work place or a teacher suddenly appears in a class just to check, it's not as informal as a neighbor dropping by the house just to have idle chitchat. Hweh. P118 But after the ceremony, the changed relationship between the two has been noticeable. "Oh, that, I see. Someday soon, I will take a break and go visit him too." "Yeah, I agree, that's great. Oh, I wonder if everyone's doing well... Hatori-san and Tokihiko-san, Hideyoshi and Nene, the cute twin chefs.. And Nobunaga." "It seems that everyone's doing fine. The twins Kai-san and Mei-san, Orio-ya profoundly realized that they're really suited to be chefs, and everyone seems to cheer them on, Hatori-san was still the same as ever, but sometimes he returns to Shumonzan. He says that he bickers with Matsuba-sama as always, but one way or another they've become in good terms with each other." Ginji-san asked Ranmaru, and he told things about Orio-ya's management staff. I see, everyone in each of their own way have been doing their best to move on forward. "Oh, and somehow Hideyoshi-san and Nene-san seems to have been engaged." "Whaaat? Why that fast?" Wait a minute. Hideyoshi knew that Nene-chan has decided, that she likes Ranmaru, wasn't it? But that's what Hideyoshi said... My astonished face must have looked funny, and Ginji-san turned away his face and giggled. "It's surely shocking, isn't it? Why, it's amazing, Hideyoshi was especially honest and manly. P119 I simply cannot..." Ginji-san let out a tiny laugh again. What is it about his old haunting grounds, being delighted at the many changes in Orio-ya? At any rate, I was surprised with Hideyoshi and Nene's engagement. Firstly, congratulations Hideyoshi. You thought that your unrequited love has been going on for so long, it was outside your thoughts early on, but now your love bore its fruit. I'm glad, as I'm rooting for you on from the sides. What the heck, behind my back, how did they get involved in that, that was surprisingly an unusual story, if I meet Nene this time I need to get information from her. "But the when the trustworthy Waka-danna** and Waka-Okami** get married, Orio-ya will surely become peaceful, and Ranmaru will also be pleased. Certainly after the marriage, their organization will grow even stronger. He'll get exhausted if it's just Ranmaru holding everything together." "Isn't Tenjin-ya also reasonably solid?" "I guess, although the position for Waka-Okami easily changes. Originally the person in that position is supposed to only resign once, but right now Kikuno-san has temporarily retired as the Young Mistress and supposed to come back. However, there have been circumstances in her family, and she immediately relinquished her seat as the Waka-Okami." "Ehh, like that?" After showing my disbelief, Ginji-san sadly nodded.

T/N: Waka-danna=young master, Waka-Okami=young mistress P120 "If it comes to that, when a new Waka-Okami doesn't hold the position for very long, we can say that there's a gifted person in Tenjin-ya, and it's only a little issue.** Likewise, during that matter with Orio-ya, we in the management staff really wanted the former Waka-Okami O-ryo san to come back and give it another go. Her abilities are very outstanding." "Even I too... I was shocked to see O-ryo completely doing her job well. Even Nene, one way or another admires her so much." "Yes, I agree. But, oh well... O-ryo-san returning to her former position, it's already a huge chance and a necessity. Right now she's drifting away from supporting her fellow waiters and waitresses, well, O-ryo-san must be intending to. To me, she seems to be enjoying having lesser responsibilities and more carefree in her current position." "Well, that's for sure..." Based on how Ginji-san talked about it, lately it seems that O-ryo has no obsession on the position of Waka-Okami. A little bit until recently, she seems, to have returned the bearing of her Waka-Okami decorum, but lately she's wholly just wanting to eat and eat, when she finally gets some free time she goes to Yugao, and lately has been persisting on going out hunting for marriage partners. However, I could say with confidence that she seems to be taking advantage of being relieved of her position as a Waka-Okami , and surely Tenjin-ya will realize that they need O-ryo's abilities. O-ryo's strength, is diligently doing her duties in that position. "Anyway, Aoi-san. I was preparing and building up the Autumn Festival here in Tenjin-ya at the end of this month, and I was thinking of using pumpkins, is it possible for Yugao to make Autumn foods and sweets for us?" T/N: Honestly double-triple negatives are a pain in the ass, srsly it's like inception to the nth power, I had trouble deciphering this line and almost this entire page in the original text so if it doesn't make sense, meh, I did my best within my current abilities. P121 "Pumpkin? Of course. It's gonna be fun, like Halloween." "Oh, right! There's a foreign festival called Halloween in Utsushiyo, but I thought it's impossible to recreate that here in in Kakuriyo, though I could imagine it to be made into a Pumpkin Festival." "Oh, not at all, we can make that same Halloween theme here because Tenjin-ya is mostly full of Ayakashi." A Japanese Halloween that doesn't use costumes... "But certainly, this year's pumpkins are delicious, so Pumpkin Festival sounds good, doesn't it? It's also a great idea to give out candies to our young guests." "We can probably decorate with paper lanterns and pumpkins too. We can place ogre-fire inside, and make them float all around Tenjin-ya." "Wow! That's very much like Utsushiyo's Halloween!" Why, the Autumn Festival goes well with the Pumpkin Event and our imaginations ran wild. "Also, Aoi-san. Pumpkins are not Odanna-sama's favorite." "..." Abruptly, the topic on Odanna-sama popped up, and I stiffened a bit. Some days ago, we came back from the orchard park date. I remembered being hugged in the airship's deck...** "How are you feeling, Aoi-san? Why is your face all red?" T/N: **insert lenny face here** You can't stop me wahahaha P122 "Hm? Oh, it's nothing, this is nothing. Odanna-sama not liking pumpkins, I wonder if I somehow asked that before..." "Oh, right. I saw that Odanna-sama often puts a lot of his boiled pumpkins in Byakuya-san's small bowl." "...really, isn't Odanna-sama unbelievable?" "Yes, he is. I don't know when Byakuya-san patience will end, but I want Odanna-sama to overcome his distaste for pumpkins." "You're right. His pickiness for food would not end... In this event I will feed Odanna-sama with the pumpkin cuisines I wanted him to try..." I haven't yet known what Odanna-sama likes, but I know what food he doesn't like. It wasn't at all regretable to make fun of Odanna-sama, but this time I got surprised. "Aoi-sama-- Manjuu-steaming has been finished!" Ai-chan's face suddenly popped out of the kitchen. She seemed to have established her affairs in Hyakumeyama, and she has changed her appearance to that which she made herself. Her time before returning to the pendant is still short, but she's working hard right now as a newly-hired employee. "You were steaming manjuu**? I thought I was smelling something good." "Yeah. Just a while ago Dr. Saraku was asked by Tenjin-ya to do some manufacturing trials for a new souvenir product.** T/N: Steamed bread with bean jam filling. They’re really good, try them when you can!

when I write souvenir product, it's translated from omiyage=お土産= something that you take home for your friends or family when you go have fun somewhere like a national park or a museum or amusement park. Like when you buy takeaways - T-shirts, food, keychains, etc. and bring them home or something. Is there an English equivalent for this? Because I don't know. In my native language we have an equivalent, well, for most Asian languages I guess. Don't know about others though.. Hm.... korewa....*inhales* O_O

P123 "We're still only in the middle of improving it, but once we're done we want Ginji-san to be the very first to try them out." "Wah, that sounds fun. When Byakuya-san saw the special products from Orio-ya, he also also saw the need for Tenjin-ya to make new specialties and other famous products, and he's going to be considerably sensitive about it." "Uhm.... But we have no confidence to meet that expectation..." If we couldn't get to sell all of the products that we made, what will we do if Tenjin-ya gets struck greatly by that? What will we do if Tenjin-ya's status and popularity crashes down? With regards to that, we had to think very hard. For Yugao as a small establishment it is a challenge, and the pressure feels a bit different. "It's alright. With regards to hit products, through time and through fads, luck always has a greater control. To me, the only thing needed by Dr. Saraku are failures no matter how many times, in his division. That is why it is important to fail when tackling new challenges." ".. Ginji-san..." "Because I think, we become stronger, don't we?" Ginji-san's relieving smile is so bright, even today it's promising. Having his support, for today as well, I will work harder for Yugao's business operations. P124 The next day, around noon. Tomorrow Tenjin-ya will be closed for a break. Since today Tenjin-ya's business operations will end and all shall check out at the same time, everyone's waiting to be free of work. Today, Yugao also has no business transactions, so tonight I was making up my mind to call all of the ladies to make hotpot. I was thinking of calling out all about to all the members who could attend, I only need to walk to the inner garden. "Oh, it's Kasuga." I noticed Kasuga first. On the other side of the log bridge, she was under the ginko tree. I was about to call out "Hey Kasuga--" but she seems to be talking to someone and I stopped. Behind the base of the ginko tree whose yellow leaves were slightly changing color, what the... Kasuga is usually cheerful but her face now weirdly has this blank expression. "Isn't that..." Beside her, it was Chiaki-san, the doorman in charge of the footwear. A Bake-Tanuki like Kasuga. Normally he doesn't get involved with her much deeply, but this time their dialogues seem to be at a crossroads. I thought that the young man was humble and modest, somehow trying his best to look cool, but somehow he is speaking to Kasuga with a harsh expression, the atmosphere doesn't seem good in there, the impression is very different from the usual funny and light. What is up with those two. These two were different from how I knew them. "Oh, Aoi-chan." P125 From far away, Kasuga noticed me, her Tanuki ears popped up, and rushed towards me. "Aoi-chan, are you going to the main building?" "Ehhhrm, yeah. That was weird, seeing the two of you." "You think so? Chiaki is my relative you know. We were just talking." "Oh, I see..." I don't understand but, I wonder what's normal for those two. "Speaking of, Kasuga, tonight, uhm, won't you come to Yugao after work?" "To Yugao? To make me eat food?" "Yeah. I was thinking of actually holding a ladies-only hotpot banquet. I'll set up the kotatsu, and there's also mountain apple liquor. Let's have a girls' night-out once in a while." "Girls night-out..." Kasuga said "That sounds so much fun" with a wicked Tanuki face. I wonder if she's recalling amusing stories she got out of everyone. "I was thinking of calling O-ryo and Shizuna-chan too. I'm going out to meet them now." "If you say so, I'll go tell them. I'm roommates with Shizuna-chan, and I'm assigned to the banquet hall with O-ryo sama." P126 "Oh, is it OK to ask? Sorry about that." "It's fine, it's like the usual running of errands." Smiling like a beast, Kasuga nimbly dashed away. Under the deep autumn air that feels cold, her fluffy Tanuki tail swings left to right. "..." Looking back at the ginko tree, Chiaki-san the chief doorman wasn't there anymore. I wonder what the two talked about. He seemed to have casually listened to the girls night-out plan. The strong mountain apple liquor, lend me your strength... "Aoi-dono" "Wah, Sasuke-kun!" Without warning, Sasuke-kun the O-niwaban fell down beside me. He has a long scarf hanging down his neck, ninja-style from sunrise to sunset. Normally, during the day he usually wears a monk's robe as he sweeps the garden. "What's up? Something happened during work?" "I am patrolling around. Lately, there has been some disturbances." "Well, tomorrow the inn will have its break, it must be difficult. Are you hungry?" "Ah, my stomach is..." P127 Grrrrrmmmmm. Sasuke-kun's hungry stomach made some noise. "My stomach is probably hungry..." "Hee hee. When your duties are done, while on break come to Yugao. We received a lot from Orio-ya, blessings from the sea. The Southern Lands were also grateful to Sasuke-kun, would you want anything?" "Is that true?" Sasuke-kun always had a cool expression, but when it comes to food his eyes sparkle with joy, like a child's. Realizing that he's let out his enthusiasm, he cleared his throat and hid his mouth with the scarf while saying "Well then, until later," and he disappeared into the wind. Sasuke-kun is just as always very earnest, it's adorable. "Nevertheless, some disturbance..." I heard about that by accident, recently. The disturbance, it's shady, things don't look good, among other things. I was working and doing my best in Yugao, and whatever lurks up in my surroundings I don't notice anything at all. But, at the moment I don't know about the things that have started happening, and I got more anxious and worried. P128 Today is a secret girls; night-out, no guys allowed. It's going to happen after Yugao's working hours, a hotpot party will be opened for the ladies of Tenjin-ya. Today it's not at Yugao, the venue will be at my room at the back, and I will bring out the kotatsu. Tonight's dinner will be amberjack shabu-shabu. We'll make a light konbu/kelp dashi amberjack shabu-shabu from the many seafoods from Orio-ya. "We'll use the top shelf kelp to make the konbu dashi for the seafoods of the Southern Lands. It's a hotpot filled with crunchy mustard greens and thinly-sliced daikon, Welsh onions and enoki mushrooms, I'm going to fill it with amberjack as much as I want." "OK--- Let's eat!" Despite it being after work, the ladies' eyes will get fired up. I wonder if that's the case when they get hungry after working hours. I immediately placed in the fatty slices of amberjack in the hotpot's boiled konbu dashi, and let it cook. I will add in here some ponzu for that single tingly flavor.** "Ahhh, what is this luxury. It's been a while since I had amberjack shabu-shabu..." "O-ryo sama, eat the vegetables too. Adding the thinly-sliced daikon makes this a shabu-shabu." "Alright, I get it..." O-ryo just ate only the amberjack, and Kasuga sneakily added in the vegetables. She also placed some of the boiled enoki, and placed a lot of the dashi along with the fish slices, placing all of these together she took a bite. T/N: Sour-tasting soups are best with fatty meats and fish, so I'd get that Aoi would do this to cut the fat and make the shabu-shabu taste even better and also to cut the fat and greasy feels. P129 The two closed their eyes in contentment. Certainly, when the raw amberjack was cooked over a flame, the entire flavor of the fish changes. Instantly the soft slices of amberjack became tough, and over that ponzu was added, this was entirely different when eaten as sashimi or with pickles, it can be an enjoyable, extravagant yet healthy food. Well, not really, it's just the season to eat hotpot deliciously. "Speaking of, what time is Shizuna-chan coming?" "The bath hours haven't ended yet, I think she'll come over after fixing and cleaning up the bath houses. She's the only one from the management staff, and she has to stay in her working area up until the end of business hours." "Oh, yeah. I see. Shizuna-chan is part of the management staff." I lightly glanced at O-ryo. O-ryo was a former management staff member, but she seems to be unaffected by my words. It seems that the person in question enjoys whatever working position she's in right now, and is drinking carbonated water as well as the mountain apple liquors equally. Somewhat it's like being that annoying single office-lady... "Perhaps I should say it- did you know? Orio-ya's Nene is married to their Waka-danna?" "No, aren't they just engaged? It seems like that for the time being, before getting married?" P130 Uhm, Kasuga and I looked at each other. But O-ryo wasn't listening. "Hmmph. That young girl, she'll be suffering so much marrying so young. That Waka-danna called Hideyoshi, that tiny squirt, he'll noisily scold her." "You think so? I've seen that Hideyoshi, he seems good enough. Well, he is pretty noisy. But he seems to like Nene very much, I think it's wonderful that he got his feelings through." I feel like an aunty who's earnestly chatting away about her relatives. If I could talk about it better, those two make a cute, tiny couple. "Gah! Enough chatting about a guy's love for some girl! I am not interested in the happiness of other people!" With a thud, O-ryo slapped her empty wine glass on the kotatsu. "Ahhhh, O-ryo sama don't start complaing about envying other people..." As always, Kasuga started telling her off with her "good grief!" pose. "I'm sorry I'm late--" A breath of fresh air, Shizuna-chan has joined the party.** Shizuna-chan takes care of the bath houses and bears the task of keeping them in order, and is Tenjin-ya's sole management staff for that purpose. "Shizuna, you're late! The battle has already started!" T/N: well the transliteration of the original text was "Shizuna-chan has arrived in the battlefield", but I think this has the same feel, from RPGs honestly IDK anymore lol anyways IMO food parties are always a battlefield so wth it's the same gahaha P131 "Ah, yes--? I'm sorry, ehhh, a battle?" After that, even if O-ryo was just a waitress who glared at her instantly, Shizuna-chan humbly apologized. It seemed that she had no idea what O-ryo meant with her words of choice. Shizuna-chan brought a box for us, filled with so many delicious sweets.This seemed delicious to eat as dessert. "Shizuna-chan, come sit beside me. Say, do you like amberjack shabu-shabu?" Shizuna-chan rarely visits here. I did my best to take care of whatever she needs. "Well, it has been a while since I had some amberjack shabu-shabu, how nostalgic..." "Oh, right. When you were young, you were a staff at Orio-ya. During that time, did you ate a lot?" "Yes, it was my favorite. Shishou-sama** made a lot of it for me..." Talking while bashfully fidgeting, Shizuna-chan started to eat with a lot of etiquette. Suddenly, O-ryo started looking at Shizuna-chan like a sister-in-law. "I say, uhm, Shizuna? There's someone in Orio-ya like you, who's also nice and has good vibes?" "Yes? A person with good vibes?" "Hey, weren't you explicitly pursued here in Tenjin-ya? Who was it.... That guy who looks withered up, called Tokihiko. You like someone who looks bitter and glum, don't you? It's illogical and unadult-like. Don't think that somehow you're under the shadow of that guy.. *hic*" T/N: I don't know how to call the main artist or the one who takes in a lot of disciples or students or apprentices so this is the next best thing, I guess? I mean, it’s directly translated as Master=師匠-Shishou, but it can mean other stuff, not just like sensei though. P132 "Oh, uhm.. that.. Shishou-sama.... he is uhm..." Shizuna-chan's face started blushing, like she had some beer or whatnot. Once that conversation was started, she immediately got perplexed. "Wait a minute, O-ryo! Shizuna-chan just started eating, don't ask her such direct questions, her throat might block off the shabu-shabu." "You're loud Aoi! Shut up, what's more important than looks are the uses**, you crazed-cook!" "What the.." Whom on earth did she think this hotpot party was prepared for? When O-ryo drinks liquor, she always blurts out unapologetic things. "Haaahhh... Aoi may be crazy about cooking, but in the end, eventually she'll get married to Odanna-sama... He'll pick up an excessively-expensive palanquin for you, you won't understand how miserable I am..." "What the heck are you saying... I'm doing my best to avoid being his fiancee." "But Aoi-chan, didn't you and Odanna-sama went out, and you were away for more than a night?" "Hold up, Kasuga, it's a weird, story, it can't be helped. We were captured by the mountain's Kaku-zaru." "Ah, but.. Odanna-sama pulled you out of a pinch, didn't that made you have a change of heart? Or some progress?"

T/N: hanayoridango=function before looks, like buying food first before buying flowers, yeah that’s the literal meaning of the phrase. P133 "...what?" A while ago Shizuna-chan got asked the same kind of questions. Suddenly, the three girls gazed at me. What the, what's up with their eyes, those three? They look like hyenas having an eye on their prey. "I.. I didn't mean it that way! Uhmm... Odanna-sama just.. gives his all as he saves me..." Speaking of progress, what on earth is progressing right now? My first-hand experiences weren't much, and even using those as my basis, I still don't understand. In the end, somehow despite never having an idea on what occurred, the warmth I felt when I was hugged just abruptly pops back again into my mind, and ultimately my face remains blushing, as I chattered and gritted my teeth in silence. I really don't understand this, I wonder... what is this feeling? "What the heck is that..?" "Yeah, what gives? It's weird, Aoi-chan's face is so red, why is that?" I could hear Kasuga and Shizuna-chan somewhat breaking the silence with their hushed conversations. "OK--- that's enough talking about sweethearts and whatnot-- That's every last one of them--" "Yeah, I heard you, I heard you!" O-ryo had enough of the topic already, and she rolled down into the kotatsu with an angry and dead-drunk expression. She probably got one-punched...** T/N: Yeah I feel you O-ryo, when everyone has some special someone and you're the lonely third wheel I mean, I can't blame you girl, I really can't. It's worse than getting one-punched by Saitama, but... Still lol tho sry my bad P134 "O-ryo sama, with that middle-aged man attitude such as yours, you'll miss your chances of getting married." "Kasuga? With the romance that a little girl-chama like you would know, wouldn't have an idea on what love is like, there's no such thing as an immediate fated encounter. Really esteemed women like me, wouldn't have to rush in choosing.There's no leeway for mistakes--" "Yeah, yeah. But regarding myself, I have a first love..." "What, that story about when you were young? Yeah, yeah, sure, that story that smells of inexperience is good enough. Kasuga, go pour me some more.." "Y-yes... Good grief..." The esteemed woman bully lied down again. And as the junior poured more liquor for her, she drank heartily, again. "But Kasuga, speaking of that, during the day, I saw you being with the Gesokuban** Chiaki-san. What on earth were you two chatting about?" "....uhm..." I suddenly remembered it, and without thinking I asked. Kasuga's facial expression slightly changed. "Reallyyyyy?! What the, Kasuga is with that Chiaki?!" Hearing that topic, O-ryo suddenly bolted upright. She kicked her legs inside the kotatsu, and Shizuna-chan let out a tiny, pained "ouch". "What is it, O-ryo?" "Chiaki may look sloppy and gaudy, but so many waitresses are eyeing on him. Not only does his face look good,

T/N: Gesokuban=下足番= doorman in charge of the footwear, normally in Japanese inns or hotels the footwear are kept outside the halls to prevent dirt from coming in. I think elsewhere in the world this is a practice, there’s a thing called indoor and outdoor slippers or shoes. P135 but being a Gesokuban, he's pretty much a member of the management staff. If he gets married, it's easy to dominate him. That's what I understand from hearing other people. Kasuga, he's also your type?" "...what are you talking about, O-ryo sama? Chiaki is my Uncle. Simply put, my father's younger brother.**" "Whaaa... Really?" Everyone got shocked. Everyone in here seemed to be unaware of that fact. Kasuga went "Uh-oh". Her face spelled out "I shouldn't have said that." "It's probably due to this liquor.. I may have said too much..." Kasuga was scratching an itch on her temple. Taking the opportunity, Shizuna-chan suddenly seemed to have remembered something. "Speaking of that... Kasuga is taking a long vacation to go back to her parents' home, and at the same time, Chiaki-san probably won't we working too, isn't it? Could it possibly be that, he's going home with you?" Somehow, a lot of suspicions and doubts started rising up, and Kasuga started clamoring and wailing. "Geez... stop it already! What I told you is already enough! More importantly, hotpot! Look, the mustard greens and onions, and the tofu had all boiled down.The umami of the vegetables and the amberjack have already dissolved into this precious konbu dashi, and it's considerably better now. Aoi-chan, how are we going to divide this?" With dexterity, Kasuga started distributing the contents of the hotpot into smaller bowls, but I was still determined to press information out of her. This girl is pushily taking charge over the hotpot... T/N: I don't know about you guys, but in some families due to the age gaps between the siblings, some of the nieces and nephews ar more closer in age to their aunts and uncles than the aunts and uncles have to the children's parents. I was actually raised by an elder cousin, and her eldest brother was around the age of my father, so yeah, I could understand how this whole thing with Kasuga goes. P136 "Ok, with this, it's definitely udon!" "Udon!" "Yeah let's do that" Shizuna-chan gratefully put her hands together, and O-ryo's sparkling eyes were on standby. Immediately, the udon balls were brought in, and these were dunked into the deliciously-filled dashi stock. After boiling it down, we only had to wait for the noodles to absorb the flavors. "By the way, you all, what do you think of the single guys in Tenjin-ya?" "Yes?" "Do you have anything funny about them to talk about?" While O-ryo poured some newly-opened liquor, she drunkenly pushed the question at me. This woman, sets herself aside and starts gossiping about Tenjin-ya's male army. "First of, let's start with Akatsuki. That guy's the youngest male in the management staff, he may have a promising future, surely being young his composure isn't yet enough, I think. Well, in desperate times I could say that he's adorable, but he's the type that holds grudges, and it's not a good thing that he easily snaps out. For certain, I think he doesn't have a girl." "It seems that O-ryo sama has a problem with the Bantou** -sama snapping out at her words and deeds, don't you?" "Shut up Kasuga--" "Owwwww" T/N:Bantou=番頭=head clerk, or the head receptionist

P137 O-ryo pulled out Kasuga's cheeks. Kasuga's cheeks stretched out so much. "Akatsuki-san's face is a bit scary, but he is a hard-working employee, in my opinion. But, well... I'm not interested in someone younger than me..." "That's right Shizuna, you have an older guy fetish don't you?" "Yeah, the guy has been living for 500 years now, yes..." Shizuna-chan just casually blurted out that she wasn't interested in Akatsuki. She's probably a bit drunk. She's drinking the mountain apple liquor on the rocks... "Akatsuki, you say... When I met him he shouted like he was going to kill me, that guy gave me the impression that he was the worst but... Now I think he's a really good chap. One way or another way though, he's not someone who likes taking care of others. I remember her younger sister.." That child** comes here to Yugao, his eyes may look evil but he's a caring person. Surely, I think that he's concerned about troubling his younger sister Suzuran and grandpa, among others. "Oh, and by the way..." At this point, Kasuga secretly pulled out a notebook and started telling us the stuff that she wrote. What the... What the heck, that is scary. "According to my research, the Bantou-sama doesn't have a woman's touch on him. He's aloof, and he easily and earnestly gets resentful. It also seems that despite the lady waitresses asking him out to have fun, he always doesn't go with them." "As expected..." T/N: the term Yuuma-sensei used for Akatsuki is mame=マメ=bean, but can also mean a child, a little person, etc. Honestly it's not wrong, Akatsuki is an actual precious bean IMO lol protect that spider bean lelz P138 "But that guy, a little girl once invited him to play with her..." Surprisingly, I thought this was a bit rude. Most likely, Akatsuki is sneezing a lot right now. "Wah, udon, udon--" Finally, the udon has been boiled enough. Everyone started putting udon on their bowls. "Gahh... This is it. The udon to finish the hotpot."** "Cooking this in the dashi makes it yummier, doesn't it?" The udon has surely absorbed the umami and the fatty flavors of the amberjack. I added the refreshing taste of the Sudachi Ponzu in mine. This went smoothly down the throat, and this perfectly wraps up the the meal. No, I mean, this is a work of art. "Hey Aoi, you only drank one glass of the liquor? You go drink some more..." "Sorry but, I dont drink more than a cup. Previously, drinking made my eyes hurt when I look at things." A cup of that liquor tastes great. But I dread getting drunk if I drink more than my limit. But everyone was just drinking heartily, so I guess it's fine. The mountain apple liquor also has another nickname, it's called "Easy Bandit-Killer". "Well then, next is the Waka-danna sama's turn" O-ryo continued the conversation where we previously left off. "Waaat? Even Ginji-san?! But.. Isn't Ginji-san perfect? No, a perfect Youkai? I couldn't find any fault with him." T/N: Just in case you're wondering how this works, it's rather easy.. After eating all of the ingredients in the Japanese hotpot, like taking out the veggies and meat, there's a lot of soup left. It's easier to just drink the soup but in Japan, they add stuff to help it go down easy. Choices are either noodles or rice, and the young ones love putting the noodles in. It actually tastes good either way, but I prefer noodles. I think in Persona 5 they also had this same dilemma lol Also yeah Ginji is just the ball, perfect ball of fur lol but he also has this shadowy and mysterious side so if you want a dude of mystery, Ginji's your man gahahaha P139 "Eh. You don't understand, Aoi. Seeing no faults or imperfections is that person's shortcoming-" An adultish smile floating up her face, O-ryo started spinning her glass around. "Waka-danna sama is, well, fanstastic. When you look at him he's handsome, he is well-mannered, and is skillful at his job." "Yeah I get that. He's very sweet, and he always lends a hand... But for sure, Ginji-san seems to have no interests in romantic relationships..." Even I haven't unraveled the reasons to why Ginji-san is still single. But I'm not surprised that he's well-liked. "Oh, well, based on what O-ryo-san was saying, Ginji-sama has no chink in his armor, doesn't he? When a little girl couldn't get any confidence from everyone and has to hold it together by herself, when that perfect Ginji-sama sees that person, his voice would probably not break so easily." "The Waka-danna sama isn't a greedy type, but look, what Aoi-chan is saying is that the Waka-danna seems to have no hobbies or interests. Aoi-chan doesn't understand how, but among the employees he seems to be the type that only admires one person. In that case, his attraction for this one girl could unfortunately end. And she won't be pursued relentlessly." Oh, I get it... Shizuna-chan and Kasuga pointed this out, and I could understand it better. "But after that thing with Orio-ya, somehow the air around the Waka-danna sama has changed, didn't it? T/N: OK I just translated from Japanese what I'd say if I was fan-girling over Ginji, srsly arrrghhh does a guy like this exist? I'd want the extra tails and the transformation powers but I'm OK without those as long as he's into romantic stuff.. Does he? Does he not? I don't know yet lol are there any Ginji fan-fams here too lololol P140 I heard it from the lady waitresses that aren't easy to talk to. That person, he has undoubtedly became likeable. And then, the Waka-danna sama, didn't he take care of you in your condition?" "..." With a wicked face, O-ryo was testing me with her words. But to me, up until now I think that Ginji-san is likeable, and in that case it's not even a joke. He hardly comes to Yugao now, and because of that it's gotten lonely... "On another point, among the Waka-danna sama's nine tails, the third one below, from the right seems to be the most unique.That is somehow a weak spot." "Kasuga, how did you know such information?" It's scary... Kasuga's information is creepy. Even though she's drunk the power of her research skills scared all of us. "Well then... Choubachou** Byakuya-sama--" "O-ryo, don't you dare take another step over there--" We suddenly exercised caution with Byakuya-san. If we speak rudely of him, we feel like we're going to get cursed.** "I honestly couldn't remember a time when he got angry..." "Me either..." "Me too..." T/N: OK so my bad, Byakuya’s supposed position ranges from accounting to reception, but I just previously translated his position as head accountant because it’s what I got before. But he’s more or less the chief of management operations, which includes accounting. Anyway... Hey, I mean, if Byakuya can kick Raijuu's ass then it's justifiable that Byakuya is always in a sour mood, and it's bad to talk about him rudely. Raijuu's a pain in the ass for sure. Arrrgh P141 In the end, this girls' group had nothing more to say. We shuddered when we remembered stuff, and inside the kotatsu we all curled up. Though we were only just talking about him, his pressure on us made us feel defeated even in here. "H.. However, Byakuya-sama stealthily spoils the pipe cats living at the back of the mountain..." "Kasuga, nobody knows about that yet. Don't talk about it, if that gets leaked out we'll get killed." Well, in short, Byakuya-sama pours all of his love to the pipe cats. "Geez, we've wrapped out heads too much on these puzzles, and my hands have lost all feeling. Like Odanna-sama, he also exists above the clouds." "That's because Byakuya-sama is Odanna-sama's good old wife." O-ryo and Kasuga opened the box that Shizuna-chan brought for us, and while munching on these they were sloppily chatting. "Good old wife?" Isn't Byakuya-san a guy? as I tilted my head. "Since long ago, he has assisted in the running of Tenjin-ya. Odanna-sama is able to go here and there freely for work, and Byakuya-sama was staying in Tenjin-ya and presides over it. He has long been in good terms with Odanna-sama, and Byakuya-sama could readily and frankly give out his opinions to him." Come to think of it, before Odanna-sama and I went out, him and Byakuya-san were talking about something one way or the other. P142 In that case, other than the other employess and executives, nobody sees it like an older wife giving encouragement to her husband. "And for sure, when the Oo-Okami** sama isn't here, Byakuya-sama also takes in that role as well, doesn't he?" "Oo-Okami?" Shizuna-chan was drinking the last drop of the sweet liquor, she was reminded of her old home and started talking. "Ougondouji-sama is currently residing in Orio-ya. Previously, Ougondouji-sama was asked to be the Oo-Okami. She holds the same position and rank as Odanna-sama, therefore ever since Ougondouji-sama left Tenjin-ya,the position has been vacant." "Oh, I see... If that's so, with regards to that old tale, I have asked Ginji-san about that." And with that, Byakuya-san also holds the position of Oo-Okami. "Haaaahhh... That weird chat about the Oo-Okami has been a bit too much already." "O-ryo sama, didn't you tell me back then that you'd focus intently on becoming Oo-Okami ,once upon a time?" "Shut up Kasuga! It's a harsh fact that I have to live with!" With O-ryo and Kasuga's conversation, my ears grew eager to listen. "But isn't that.. O-ryo already has no interest with the Waka-Okami position?" "Whaaat? Aoi, you're asking that question? Did't I tell you that I won't get into the position of Waka-Okami again?" T/N: Oo-Okami, Mistress of the House, or something, like the big lady boss.

P143 "R..Really?" "It's fine, really it is. My enthusiastic, indomitable personality is dead. I want to enjoy living a carefree life. I plan to marry a rich guy, then immediately stop working--" "..." Somehow, the atmosphere became tense. Could it be possible that, among all the people in here right now, we're all thinking that O-ryo didn't really want to give up that position? Especially Kasuga, she was shell-shocked, and her face looked troubled. I felt that the mood has changed, so I tapped my fist in my hand. "Oh, right, right. I brought some large-sized grapes from the fruit orchard park, and I made some grape tarts. Let's eat some? I added a lot of grapes on it, it's a custard cream dessert." "Kasstard? OK OK let's eat--" It seems that nobody understood what I meant, but everybody nodded their heads excitedly. Grape tart. I made the crust with the coconut oil from Orio-ya and baked it, and by adding the large grapes called Daishisui that I gathered with Odanna-sama yesterday, the tart looks like a sparkly jewelry box. On top of the crust, I laid down an easily-made custard cream made of Cassowary egg and some wheat flour, with cow's milk and a bit of sugar, P144 and these buried the grapes cut in halves, which I later baked in the oven. After baking this for a while, I topped everything with raw grapes and pure cream. These were arranged as such because the tightly-packed grapes beneath this layer cannot be seen. "Woooooow!" Those dynamic-seeing eyes, everyone's eyes were sparkling. I sliced the large tart in front of everyone, and when the neatly-arranged grapes were cut through, Shizuna-chan let out a regretful-sounding "Awww".** There wasn't any fork, we used kuromoji, special wooden chopsticks** normally used for Japanese sweets or just ate them using our bare hands. "Uwahhh this is juicy-- What is this, I thought this food has raw grapes, but this tastes is like it was meant to be a baked dessert!" "This is the first time I ate something that tastes like this, but the grapes' sweetness stands out, it's really delicious--" O-ryo eating with her hands and Shizuna-chan using a kuromoji, they fell into a trance like typical ladies who love sweets. "This is generally called a fruit tart, and with the rich taste of the eggs in the custard cream, it blends well with the sweet and sour freshness of the fruits, and together these really bring about the best-tasting combination. The sweetness gets reduced, and the sourness becomes mild." As I was explaining how the mild taste came about, Kasuga haven't taken a single bite of the grape tart, and while propping her chin with her hand, she was observing it quietly. T/N: Lol I feel you Shizuna-chan, I feel the same when a freshly-bought ice cream tub looks so neat I don't wanna cut through it lol that's why ASMR of perfectly arranged anything are famous bahaha

Kuromoji=黒文字= Japanese sweets are eaten traditionally by using tiny wooden chopsticks, to cut and skewer them. You can check them out via search engine or smth P145 "What is it, Kasuga? Don't tell me, you don't like grapes?" "Hmm? No, it's not like that.. I really love grapes. That dessert you called tart, I was thinking of something." Kasuga ate held tart like it was a hard cookie, and bit on it heartily despite doubting what it was, before chewing on it. She filled her cheeks with the grapes, the custard, and the fragrant crust. "Mmmm, I wanted to eat some more. The grapes are heavy, and they burst in my mouth." Just a while ago we were enjoying some amberjack shabu-shabu, but we still had room for dessert, and all of the girls ate as much of the grape tart to their hearts' content. "Aoi-dono--" In that moment, came a boy's voice that can be heard from inside Yugao. "It's Sasuke-kun. I told him that I was going to give him something to eat after his working hours." The three ladies around me went "It's.. Sasuke-kun?", and they looked at me from the side. "Say, Aoi, tell Sasuke-kun to come here too." "Really? Even if today's a no-guys-allowed girls' night-out, it's OK to call him in?" "Yes, it's totally OK. Sasuke-kun is an adorable and good boy." "..." Even though there was a nagging feeling, I went outside of Yugao and called out to Sasuke-kun. "Sasuke-kun, thank you for your hard work. We were just having a hotpot party inside but, P146 I'll also add something for you, OK?" "Hotpot, is it? Is it because it has already gotten a bit cold?" "Come in. Everyone's waiting for you. I'll go and prep up." "I understand." Sasuke-kun unknowingly trudged toward the innermost room, and opened the door. "?!" No sooner than opening the door. Sasuke-kun the ninja couldn't react fast enough, and he was dragged into the room. "Gyaaaaahhh! Aoi-dono, Aoi-dono---" Sasuke-kun, the innocent and sweet Sasuke-kun, he was preyed upon by the ladies starved of men. "I- I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. I'll make you a delicious hotpot, OK?" I feel guilty that he gets harassed, and using another earthen pot I added dashi stock, vegetables and the amberjack slices, and hurriedly went towards the innermost room. Please, please let Sasuke-kun be OK! "..." Sasuke-kun was already pestered by the drunken ladies, here and there he was grumbling being urged to drink liquor, P147 his hair has been tousled and his scarf stretched out, it was horrible, but he was being coddled and spoiled. "Aoi-dono--" Poor Sasuke-kun, he was crying out of fear. He was unprotected, and the swarming girls were getting their fill, it was another shabu-shabu over the kotatsu setting. They're feeding him too much. While he's eating delicious food, I will protect Sasuke-kun.

Despite the determination of that bunch, just like turning off a lamp, the girls suddenly collapsed.

Zzzz.... The effects of the mountain liquor came at last, and the intense sleepiness has struck. "Aoi-dono.. What on earth, were you doing here?" "Hmm? It's a secret girls' night-out, Sasuke-kun." "Secret girls' night-out..."

It's really too much to handle drunkeness. The true intents and personalities of the girls, were hidden and unseen, in this empty room these must not get out. Everything that they spewed out, they'll probably forget in the morning. And that was the so-called, girls' night-out.

End of Chapter 4, Volume 6. Previous - Intermission 1 Next - Intermission 2

References:

Wonderful site for the youkai references

Other stuff I used to do this: Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary (you can buy here, I’m not sponsored btw). I was about to buy the older edition but then the newer one came out 2013 so I bought that instead. Worth buying since I was able to find nearly all of the words I needed just by stroke pattern alone.

Merriam-Webster's Japanese-English Dictionary (the red-covered 1996 version is apparently out of print right now). This is what I have been using for a very long time, I bought it when I was still a fetus (yes I am old so what lol), and after so many years, when compared to newer editions, I still prefer this one since its entirety is Japanese-English, the English to Japanese gloss are just 16 pages tops, so you get more Japanese words for your buck. But that’s just my opinion, maybe other people prefer the Jap-En x En-Jap IDEK.

Basic online dictionary, Jisho. Knowledge of verb conjugations and other words are necessary since not all have entries.

If you can read Japanese, you can buy the whole set in Amazon Japan, they’re shipping worldwide now, I think.

#kakuriyo no yadomeshi #kakuriyo no yadomeshi light novel #kakuriyo no yadomeshi english fan translation #kakuriyo no yadomeshi volume 6 chapter 4 #kakuriyo no yadomeshi volume 6 chapter 4 english fan translation

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midnightluck · 5 years ago

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Here's an ask! Can you tell me more about the idioglossia *cough*idiotglossia*cough* and development of Ace and Sabo? （・ω・)

oh boy, can i.

Okay! So! Who’s ready for more thoughts about the really unhealthy way these boys spent their developmental years!

tl;dr:

Sabo is self-taught and Ace has no formal schooling whatsoever

They had very limited resources and relied on each other

Language only has the meaning we give it

Ace and Sabo met at or before 5, apparently–we see them at ten saying they’ve been saving for their ship for 5 years. At some point, Sabo ran away from home and, as Ace spent little time with the bandits, they grew up mostly by themselves in the woods and Grey Terminal for somewhere like 3-5 years.

Which, can we say wow? Like, the incredible determination and, honestly probably suicidal willingness to run away before the age of 10 and make it stick is…terrifying, really. Sabo must have been very principled or very desperate.

Because of this, I also have to assume that Sabo is heavily autodidactic. One does not get morality from nowhere, after all, and if Sabo had known enough to disagree with his parents at such a young age (even if he didn’t fully run away until 7 or 8 or even 9), he must have been self-studying a lot. Most kids learn to read around 5-7, and even if we assume he’s with the most advanced group (edging on 4), he wouldn’t have the vocabulary for a lot of concepts yet.

(Side note: I’m assuming language in canon is structured more on the Western alphabets that are shown being used; kanji and character writings systems are a whole lot of nothing I want to get into–I recommend bugging @touchmycoat about the intricacies and depth of languages with character alphabets.)

Anyway, because of all this, I am extrapolating that he and Ace spent a lot of their developmental years together, discovering concepts that they do not have names for. There’s all kinds of vocabulary 5-10 year olds don’t have, especially two kids without formal schooling during those years. Why would they know an isthmus from a peninsula? A vale from a holler? The different types of clouds? A rainstorm versus a hurricane versus a typhoon?

But they would need to be able to distinguish these things, because they relied on the land and each other to survive. They hunted together successfully, which means that they were able to communicate, quickly and efficiently.

This is why, in my mind anyway, they would have developed their own words for concepts. They would have assigned meanings to clusters of sounds, have hand gestures and non-verbal cues because you can’t be loud on hunts. They simply could not have had the vocabulary they would have needed to survive the way they did, so I assume they made it up and found ways to convey what they needed to convey.

And the thing about creating words for very specific concepts is that I bet they never truly bothered to unlearn them. I bet Ace still uses two different made-up words for ‘cliff-that-is-safe-to-jump-off-of’ and ‘cliff-that-is-dangerous-to-fall-off-of’, because that is something they would have needed to be able to communicate quickly. I bet Sabo still unconsciously would use a made-up word for ‘food-found-while-foraging-that-we-have-not-tried-yet-and-do-not-know-if-it-is-safe,’ if he ever had to. But these are all terms that they would not have to use so much in their grown-up daily lives, so it’s entirely possible they don’t even realize they aren’t actual words other people would recognize.

This was my thought process behind that throwaway bit in Wish by Spirit, where they use the same gesture that has an established meaning to them to communicate a concept they both recognized. It’s also why I write their body language and their reactions to each other’s the way I do; when your life is in the hands of someone else for that long, you damn well learn how to read them, especially if they’re your hunting partner. They have built themselves a language; they had to have.

Now, idioglossia is usually a twins phenomenon, I know, but! That’s in our relatively safe, relatively developed modern age, where most children do not grow up alone or unsafe. I think, in this particular instance, it would stretch this far.

Anyway! Those are some thoughts on Sabo and Ace and idioglossia. I don’t think Luffy would have been as involved in it, because Luffy came late to the party and had less than a year with Sabo. Also, he’s just not very, hmm, absorbing? of his surroundings? I bet Ace, especially, learned to speak to him instead of expecting Luffy to pick up how he and Sabo spoke.

And the other thing about idioglossia, especially between twins? Once the other person’s gone? You have no reason to ever speak it again.

#Portgas D. Ace #sabo the revolutionary #i will keep talking about this as long as you let me really i will #Character Essays #i need a better asks tag

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foundouthatdabiistouyatodoroki · 5 years ago

Text

Explaining Dabi’s Bio

To be honest I wasn’t actually expecting anything relating to Dabi to come I thought was Horikoshi is going to skip Dabi like he does with the other times when ever Dabi appeared in the manga. But when volume 25 came around we got his bio, I was completely ecstatic to receive Dabi’s profile though there was little info on his bio It didn’t disappoint. Finding out even a little bit about Dabi helps to learn about his character.

We didn’t get to learn Dabi’s age and real name we didn’t learn anything about Dabi other than his birthday and height. My hunch on this is this can all harken back to him being Touya Todoroki. His age and real name would reveal Dabi being Touya, the older brother of Shoto and the oldest Todoroki sibling.

I am going to go over Dabi’s profile and what it has to do with him in this post.

Dabi’s birthday is January 18, Dabi is born seven days away from Shoto. This puts a damper to the entire twin theory but wait! Look!

The 18th in Japanese is written 十八日 If broken apart in japanese it goes like this “To,(十)” being 10 and “ya,(八)” being 8. If you read the kanji with the same kun spelling its written like this

When read like this it's pronounced “Touya.” This is a possible hint to his true identity being Touya.

Another thing to mention: Dabi born in the month of January which makes him a Capricorn. Despite knowing very little about Dabi (since his motives are left in the air), he has several traits relating to Capricorns. If you take an in-depth analysis of the Capricorn in Dabi’s character, there's a lot that matches Dabi’s personality.

Let’s go over with the star sign Capricorn and what it has to do with Dabi:

Capricorns are winter signs. They are... cold, serious, practical, grounded with unbreakable convictions. Capricorns are the most level headed of the star signs. They keep their cool in a crisis they rarely panic in drastic situations. Capricorns are traditional. They care more about the rules, have a set of values and principles they follow and are intolerant to others when they don’t. They are patient and plan things step by step very carefully. Capricorns plan long term goals and wait. Capricorns are cautious not reckless are careful and won’t take risks unless they know the pros and cons before they take action. Capricorns are focused individuals and really serious out all the signs are ambitiousness and completely passionate to reach their ambition when it comes to their convictions. Capricorns do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. They don’t care about the means on how they do it as long as it gets them closer to the success of achieving it. Capricorns will not share their true thoughts easily unless they have to. They are closed mouth when it comes to sharing info and withheld important information to themselves from others for their own gain. They are very resourceful. They work with the tools that are given to them. They are hardworking when it comes to reach that ambition to the point. They're considered workaholics which caused them to be detached from their surroundings. Capricorns keep their distance from others to complete their convictions. Though they appear cold on the surface that is merely an image they project: deep down they have a tender sentimental heart kept hidden under a harsh exterior. Capricorns put up walls around themselves to guard their tender hearts from other people. They may seem unemotional on the surface, but underneath they are driven and determined to set out to complete their goals. They are introverts seen as a wallflower in larger groups, in which they feel that they are out of their element. One thing Capricorns are is that they are loyal. Capricorns are family-oriented: they love being around people they love and are incredibly loyal to them they are willing to happily bend over backwards for the people they love this trait is what makes them great friends and family members. They will distance themselves from said family if a member is perceived to be violent and harmful. A negative trait a Capricorn has its that they are unforgiving. They are serious about grudges to the point of vengeance. If you cross one you would never make it back to a Cawpricorn’s good side. They will hold grudges on others behalf (this part shows just how loyal they are to their loved ones). There’s no changing a Capricorn's mind once it’s made up.

Dabi is cool,serious and aloof. He’s the most serious minded out of all of the LOV, as seen in his deamanor in the missions that are given and the LOV activities in Smash. He’s grounded when he’s dealing with the LOV shenanigans and gets exasperated at their antics in Smash. Dabi may not have ambitions, but he has unbendable convictions. He's very determined to set out to complete his goals no matter the cost; he's so focused on completing his objectives that he has detached from other people to complete his goals.

That's something I noticed in Dabi’s character: that he has a conviction that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to achieve. Dabi working for a villain organization is proof of that the didn’t care about what the means are as long as he completed his objective.

Dabi’s cool headed whenever he’s in drastic situations you can argue that he’s indifferent to his surroundings but he’s acutely really calm whenever there's a crisis. You rarely see him panic in a given situation.

Dabi looks indifferent and crude however he follows a set of principles and values the LOV don’t. Dabi uses Stain’s ideals as a foundation he follows to bring down false heroes and wielding power with conviction.

Dabi is incredibly intolerant of other people: he insults those who don’t have any principles or values. Dabi insults Himiko, questions if the LOV follow a just cause, and wonders why the LOV don’t have any principles in the game Ones justice Dabi burns the back alley thugs calls them trash just because they wield power have no ambition in their bodies.

Dabi’s patient and preserving he plans things accordingly and waits for the next move. He was put in charge of the Vanguard action squad by Tomura himself. Dabi is cautious and doesn’t act too recklessly. In the beginning of the raid he tells the members to wait not act just yet. He uses his flames to hide the location of the meeting place when they complete their objectives; despite three casualties he successfully completed the mission in capturing Katsuki. Hawks and Dabi planned the High-End Nomu attack on the city After Endeavor defeated High End, he appeared and said “this isn’t what I planned,” which meant he didn’t think endeavor would defeat High End.

Dabi is careful when he uses his quirk. He knows its weaknesses fairly well and is careful in how he uses it the reason why he was absent in the LOV fight with Gigiatitinmachina for a month is because he’s well aware of the weakness his quirk processes and knows if he uses it too long his flames burn the skin off his body.

Dabi is cautious when it comes to people, as seen when he doubts whether the LOV follow the cause after Himiko’s introduction and didn’t trust Hawks during their partnership.

Dabi is detached to anything in his surroundings to focus on himself and his goals. Dabi is closed mouthed when it comes to sharing info especially details about himself. Capricorns are known for putting a lid on their feelings from others; Dabi keeps things to himself most of the time. He’s tight lipped whenever it comes to details about himself, he brushes off Tomura’s question about his real name, he didn’t share other details about the Nomu to Hawks.

Dabi’s rude and derisive demeanor keeps others at a distance so he would focus on his objective but also puts walls around himself from other people to guard his heart with his cold unemotional sarcastic and detached facade; underneath all that he hides his sentimental side. Dabi’s emotional side that keeps hidden by heavily guarding his heart is seen when he never opens up to the LOV even after he joined. Dabi still put up a distance with them and doesn’t share his true thoughts that easily he keeps himself.

When Dabi remembers Snatch’s words regarding family, he laughs about it while wiping blood from his seam below his eye says with this line “overthought things and kinda snapped there!” When he thinks about Snatch’s words on family some of his emotions flooded out this is where you see a glimpse on his tender heart. We see a personal side of Dabi that he usually keeps hidden.

Even after he joined the LOV, Dabi is seen in the background quietly observing his surroundings with empty eyes though it may seem like he is still being distant with them actually like a capricorn he's not into large groups of people he feels that it’s out of his element he has more a wallflower persona he not someone who prefers large groups of people his introverted nature shows through here.

One thing I read about Capricorns is that their loyalty: but what does loyalty half to do with Dabi?

Dabi might seem loyal to the LOV’s motives but if you look at it differently Dabi uses the LOV for his own gain to complete his goals, much like he does with Hawks. He's loyal to his own interests. Dabi wouldn’t work unless there's something in it for him based on his cooperation is based on those self interests alone. I mentioned before he's using the LOV and Hawks to achieve his own ends even says so to Tomura in Ujiko’s lab that he’s looking out for himself.

Though Dabi has a set of principles based around Stain that he uses in his own set of values. Saying that he's loyal to Stain’s ideals sound no more than an excuse to hide his personal motives. His actions are more personal than what he seems to do.

I believe the part about loyalty has a lot to do with family. If Dabi is Touya this might have more to do with his goal since its related to family. Capricorns are family oriented signs: you can see this similar trait in Ochaco and Shoto, both of whom have motives in becoming heroes linked to their own families. Ochaco wants to become a hero to financially support her parents ; Shoto’s mother is one of his driving forces in becoming a hero during an All Might interview he watched. Just like Ochaco and Shoto, Dabi’s motives are driven by family. Dabi caring about his family is seen as Touya, he played with his siblings and he was close to Natsuo when he was younger.

Capricorns are unforgiving when someone has wronged them. Once you get on their bad side it's impossible to make it back in their favor this will go to the point of vengefulness. Capricorns will hold grudges on others behalf showing how loyal they are to their loved ones. As I previously talked about, Dabi’s own actions are stemmed from hatred which meant that Dabi’s real objective is to get revenge on Endeavor for abusing him and the rest of his family. Dabi is Touya getting revenge on Endeavor would go hand in hand with the vengeful aspect of the Capricorn. Dabi if Touya doesn’t just only want to get revenge on Endeavor for his suffering but the suffering he put the rest of his family through.

Capricorns are winter signs, which might hint that Dabi if Touya has a fire quirk but an ice body.

Another thing I noticed when I was reaching is that this star sign is very complex and contradictory this part would reference Dabi’s entire character in the series. The capricorn having the goat’s torso and the fish tale being both emotional and rational, which says all about Dabi’s character in a nutshell. He claims he is going to fulfill the hero killers will but in reality it's the more in it for himself. Dabi acts cold and logical at the surface but deep down he is emotional and driven. That is what Dabi’s star sign, Capricorn, represents.

Next is Dabi’s height being 176cm. His height bears a striking resemblance to Shoto’s height in his bio.

Dabi and Shoto are foils seen in their bios: their birthdays in the same month with both being capricorn’s, similar height

All this info references Dabi being Shoto’s a villainess parallel, and further hinting at the connection between them.

Last but certainly not least Dabi’s favorite thing is put under as unknown. In MHA, the characters likes in their bios say something about their personality, quirk, and role in the story. Shoto for example his favorite thing is Soba noodles (the kind that aren’t hot).

Soba noodles comes in both hot and cold reference to his quirk half hot half cold. Shoto only liking them it cold referenced on how he favors using the ice side of his quirk, and soba being a traditional Japanese food also refers to Shoto being a traditional Japanese character in design.

Dabi’s favorite things are put under as unknown this further exemplified the mystery of Dabi’s character and further correlates to the mystery he has and his essence being hard to grasp for the audience.

What do you think of Dabi bio does it match with his character? Is there anything I left out?Something I forgot to mention in this post? If you think feel free to put here in the post.

#dabi is a todoroki #Dabi #my meta #meta #touya todoroki #the whole star sign thing took the longest to write #I had to go through pages in order to write ti #but the capricorn star sign matches dabi well #star sign #my last meta of the year

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kaibutsushidousha · 5 years ago

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What do you mean by ridiculous names ? Is there puns or the name very unusual with fancy kanji/unusual readings for them ?

All of the above. Using older kanji makes sense since the story is set in Taishou, but most names are either unsubtle puns or relatively direct descriptors of the characters, like Gyokko meaning “jade vase”. Unusual readings don’t often all that often, but a great example is 不死川 being spelled as Shinazugawa instead of the more obvious Fujigawa (same kanji as Killer Killer’s Fujigawa btw).

Not only that, but there also a few examples of names that are straight up regular words with no twist to them whatsoever: Muzan (cruelty), Giyuu (heroism) and Agatsuma (my wife).

Kamado means “furnace gate”, because the Kamado family sells charcoal. It’s an outdated kanji for furnace (竃) to keep that Taishou flavor. Now, Tanjirou is a much more competent and interesting name, one of my favorites in the manga. Depending on whether you interpret its 治 as the 治 in 治す or the 治 in 退治, the meaning of his name could be either “healing son of charcoal” or “demon-slaying son of charcoal”, fitting perfectly with how Tanjirou’s goals involve both killing demons and getting a cure for his sister’s predicament. Not mention a lot of Heian mythology associating slaying oni with curing illness. And the charcoal part is because Tanjirou, of the Furnace family who sells charcoal, sells charcoal. By the did I mention Tanjirou sells charcoal? But anyways, there’s even another layer to this name and which it’s why it’s one of my favorites: it can be sort of a namefication of the verb 歎じる(tanjiru), which means to mourn, reflect Tanjirou’s main trait of sparing sympathy for pretty much every demon he kills.

Nezuko means “shrine bean girl”. Specifically Heian era shrines, so it’s maybe this kanji is too old even for the Taishou era (so old that a lot of people on the internet don’t know to type it or don’t bother the conversion takes too long). But it fits the character since Heian is when we got most of the oni related mythology this series is mostly about. The “bean girl” part is probably there only to sound cute.

Agatsuma, as mentioned earlier, means “my wife”. I already considered one of the funniest I’ve ever seen before I even started the manga and it only better after actually seeing Zen’itsu’s character. Zen’itsu has a cool double meaning like Tanjirou, with 逸 potentially being from 逸する or 逸物, so his name means either “goodness missed” or “goodness at its best”, which fits how Zen’itsu is normally an absolutely terrible person in every aspect but shows himself to be ultimately caring and competent when pushes come to the shove (even if through the power of stress napping most of the time).

Hashibira means “beak flattened”. A rare name I have no idea how it connects to the character. Inosuke’s kanji mean “helper of the elegant” but the intent is clearly a pun on inoshishi (boar). Besides, looking at the meaning feels like a moot point because everyone is “the elegant” compared to Inosuke.

Both Kanawo’s names are antiquated as heck, mainly there for the series Taishou era flavor. Tsuyuri is one of Japan’s most notoriously unusual ateji names (yeah, there are only 3 instances of the manga using real people names and one of them is the name known for being weird), with it’s kanji meaning “chestnut flower falling” and the kana means “rainy season starting”, because chestnut flowers fall in early May, signaling the start of the rainy season. Kanawo’s “birthday” is in May btw. Anyways, the name was probably chosen for her specifically because of flower kanji in the middle and her Breath of Flowers. Kanawo is a katakana name, so no proper meaning, but it overall feels very old because it’s a name that uses “wo” instead of “o”. Taishou flavor, as I mentioned.

I’m skipping Gen’ya to his brother’s section because their names are matching.

Ubuyashiki means “childbirth grounds”. Kagaya had 5 children so it checks. Besides, with their family curse, pretty much all the Ubuyashikis can do is give birth to the next generation as much as they can before they kick the bucket. Kagaya means “radiant!”. Yes, the exclamation mark is part of the name’s meaning. I’m sure it’s a name all pillar agree with.

Tomioka means “wealth hill” it’s a rare instance of a real people name in this series, so I assume it must a reference to some one, but I have no idea who. Giyuu, as already mentioned, is just the regular word for heroism. Military volunteers are actually called “giyuu soldiers” in Japanese even.

Similarly, Kochou is the regular word for butterfly (although not the most commonly used). Shinobu is a hiragana name, so no proper meaning (much like Kanae and Kanawo’s katakana names), but name Shinobu is normally written with 忍 (the shinobi kanji) or 偲 (remembering, but most often in the context of remembering a dead person). The latter has obvious meaning in Shinobu’s relationship with Kanae, but the former might also have an interesting meaning behind it. The shinobi kanji is made with the heart kanji under the blade kanji (insert Monogatari reference here), so a huge cliche in ninja-themed literature is the saying “a shinobi without a heart is just a blade” (surprisingly never mentioned once in Naruto, as far as I can remember). I believe this thematically connects to Shinobu’s central character trait of wanting to have Kanae’s kindness but not being able to bring herself to be that empathetic to demons. She tries to be Shinobu but can’t force herself to retain the heart she lost, so she ends up just being a blade.

Rengoku is the regular word for purgatory, as you probably know from it being also the name of his ninth kata. Kyoujurou means “congratulating son of apricorns”, with father Shinjurou being “congratulating son of yew plum pine” and his brother Senjurou being “congratulating son of thousand”. The pun here is probably with 享受(kyouju; happily accepting something) vs 信受 (shinju; accepting a fact, in a somewhat resignated way). Another possibility less related to the conflicted with his character is 教授(kyouju; professor) since he’s a mentor character.

Uzui means “roof marrow”, but real pun is with uzu uzu, the gitaigo for impatience, a character trait fitting for a character completely centered around rejecting shinobi philosophies. Also reflects how his very first sympathetic moment was him honestly admiting that his impatience to save his wives caused him to make a few bad moves. Tengen is the Japanese reading for Tianyuan, which is the heaven’s energy which composes everything according to some ancient Chinese traditions. You may have heard of it as the “celestial unknown” or the “heavenly element”. Don’t know what it has to do with Tengen’s character though.

Kanroji means “nectar temple” and Mitsuri means “honey lazuli”. The “temple” and “lazuli” part are kanji commonly used in names, so that’s a pretty much just thrown in there to make her name sound more like a name. The real keywords here nectar and honey, since those are two words that can be used as horny words in a very subtle way, but suddenly look a lot less subtle when they are about the Love Pillar.

Himejima means “scream island”, but specifically the sad, crying kind of scream, matching with how Himejima is pretty much always crying out of compassion for others. Also, archaic kanji for “island” because Taishou. Gyoumei means “carita afterlife”. Carita is an umbrella term for all forms of spiritual training in Buddhism. It includes a lot of things we see associated with him in the manga, like sitting under waterfalls, reciting chants, etc.

Tokitou means “time transparent”. Possibly a clever amnesia reference (in the sense of how his past time was invisible to him)? Muichirou means “first son of no”, in a ridiculous match with his twin Yuichirou (”first son of yes”). Yuichirou references that multiple times in his backstory, saying it’s supposed to mean “no worth” or “no point”, only to then say it’s supposed to mean “no limits” in the climax of the flashback.

Iguro means “elegant black”. It’s an obvious anagram on guroi (gorey). Now, Obanai is easily the most incomprehensible name in the series. It means “small banana inside”, which is nonsensical enough for me to know for sure there’s a hidden pun involved, but I can’t find it for the life of me. The closest I can get is a pun with the English word “overnight” (OBAaNAIto), but I still don’t know Iguro’s character enough to know what “overnight” has to do with him.

不死川 would mean “immortal river“ as Fujigawa, but due to ateji it be comes more like “river of not dying“. Like with Kanroji’s names, the river kanji is only there to make the name look more like a real name (note: it’s not working) and the “not dying“ part is what really matters. Sanemi is introduced showing off his chest covered in scars and having Kanroji commenting on how he’s got a new scar in his last mission, immediately conveying to the audience that he’s a dude that’s not dying despite injuring himself a lot. Now Sanemi is a much more complicated name because 実 has dozens of meanings and I had no way of knowing which one is supposed to apply to him until Gen’ya finally came into play. Looking at them as paired names, Sanemi means “more reality“ and Gen’ya means “more illusion“. Can’t say why Sanemi is supposed to represent truth or Gen’ya is supposed represent lies, though. Could be something about how Sanemi knows the truth about how he felt about his brother while was fed Sanemi’s lies in their reencounter, could be about how Sanemi is a true breath user while Gen’ya is a fraud who needs to rely on Breath of Gun or going Kirby on the demons to fight, who knows. On a semi-related note, all of their other siblings had generic unrelated names. I guess their parents didn’t think of going with “more half-truth“ or “more ommision“ names before dropping the naming pattern.

Kyougai means “echoing fanfare”. Two sound related words for the drum guy. Pretty basic.

Rui is a regular word for bad influence, fitting of how he forced others into his abusive family play. It’s written with the radical for thread, so I that’s one of the ones I find more clever than ridiculous.

Enmu, on the other hand, means “nightmare dream”. And if that wasn’t redundant enough, it’s also an anagram for nemu(sleep).

Kaigaku means “sly peaks”. The peaks part is common surname kanji, so only the “sly” part matters. Obvious traitor name, which must be why he was unnamed in Zen’itsu’s first flashback.

Nakime means “sounding woman”. Very self-explanatory, she’s a woman who plays a biwa.

Daki means “fallen princess”, which is already meaningful enough for her character, but more importantly, it sounds very close to Dakki, the Japanese for the Daji, a famous Chinese monster disguised as an imperial courtesan. Giyuutarou is a name used for courtesan assistants, as already explained in the manga itself. Daki’s human name Ume is plum.

Gyokko means “jade vase”, as I said in the intro paragraph. Competing hard with Nakime for the title of most to-the-poing name in the series.

Hantengu means “half tengu”, because his ability is to split in halves and the tengu is the youkai species he’s themed after. Kinda weird how all oni in Kimetsu are themed after classic Japanese monster but only Daki, Hantengu and Douma get to be named after the ones they represent, I wish that was done more often. Anyways, his emotion bodies all have the kanji for their respective emotion in their names.

Akaza has my favorite name in the series, which makes sense considering everything else about him is also great. His human name is Hakuji, meaning “lion-dog healer” (yes, same ji in Tanjirou, but “demon-slaying” can’t be considered as a possibility for him for obvious reasons). As explained during his backstory, he’s named after lion-dog statues often seen guarding temple entrances. He’s someone who is supposed to be there to protect others. The healer part of his name also fits with how his spent half of his human life nursing his loved ones. And then Muzan turned him into Akaza. Due to its outdated kanji, even Japanese fans find his name a bit hard to interpret, but Akaza is generally agreed to mean “castrated dog sitting on a pit”. Delightfully humialiating name with delicious irony. In the chapter “The Useless Lion-dog”, Muzan turns the lion-dog who failed to guard its two families into a castrated dog sitting on a pit. All his nobility was neutered and he was left sitting still in a pit as he has no home to guard. Before this becomes a full Akaza meta on how he’s a full anti-thesis of what Hakuji swore to be, let’s get back to talk about names. His wife Koyuki’s name mean “love snow”. The love part represents how she’s a love interest of Hakuji and the snow part reflects she always a snowflakes hairpin and how Akaza projects the image of a snowflake on the floor when he activates his compass ability.

Douma means “child exhausted”, fitting his childish nature, especially in how he’s portrayed as a child who still hasn’t developed empathy at the age of 20, and with how his backstory is all about him being exhausted by human emotions after listening to hours of worshippers narrating their own tragedies. But most importantly, he named after Doumahoushi aka Ashiya Douman, the mythological villain he’s themed after. I like how he’s the only oni themed after a human villain rather than an actual oni or youkai like all the rest, but he might be the one oni who understands humans the least.

Kokushibou means “black death pupils”. Pupils as in eye pupil, not students, of course. He has no students, but he sure has a lot of pupils. Also eyes are often used as symbol for envy, which is the main theme of his backstory. Lastly, his name is a pun on kokushibyou aka the black plague, the disease that killed the most people in the world, just like he’s the oni who killed the most people. The 3 Upper Moons all have pretty unironically good names, all things considered. His human family name means “successor country”, probably in reference to how his brother passed down his hinomaru (symbol of Japan, the country) earrings to his next generation all the way down to Tanjirou. His name Michikatsu means “rock winner”. The winner part is obvious but I don’t know the (outdated) rock kanji was picked. His brother is Yoriichi meaning “fated one”, which probably on feeds Kokushibou’s complex harder.

Lastly and most ridiculously, Muzan Kibutsuji. Kibutsuji means “demon dance road”. Yes, the oni kanji is right there on his name, same demon kanji as the demons everyone faces. And as mentioned in the opener, the name Muzan is literally just the regular word cruelty. I’m commenting stuff with a friend as I read and we semi-consistently refer to Muzan as Meanie Demonbroadway because that’s just how stupid his name is. I really love it. Thank you anon for this opportunity to talk about Meanie Demonbroadway in a public space.

#kimetsu no yaiba

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ryuukia · 5 years ago

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[Translation] Tsukihana Kagura Cast Presentation: Asahanada (QUELL)

This is probably the last unit I post in person, the rest (VazzRock and infinit0) will be drafted and scheduled for automatic posting while I’ll be suffering through the hell named ‘final exams’. So officially, I’ll be going in hiatus for somewhere between 2-4 weeks (the first two weeks will be for the actual exams, the third will be free, the 4th for make-up exams if any).

After I’m done with tsukihana kagura, prepare to see SolidS CDs on your timelines. Anyway, many thanks to Ryota for helping me proof this.

Please don’t repost/retranslate/reuse my translations. Likes and reblogs are appreciated.

Nation: the affiliated country’s name Flower name: the name as a dancer Dance technique: the name of each person’s characteristic dance Dance props: the name of the tool used while dancing (there are cases when none are used)

Izumi Shu

“From a land that is as pure as water, the origin of Asahanada’s dance is an offering to the Dragon God.”

Nation: Asahanada ※chief

Flower name: Suika (Fire and Water)

Dance technique: Saikau (Spring Rain)

Dance props: Folding Fan / Inscription: [Kiryu] (Dragon’s Prayer)

This young man was born into a family whose members have been priests for generations. His country’s object of worship is a Dragon God whom they’ve been guarding in nature.

On the day he was born, the country was blessed with a sunshower, considered to be good omen, and subsequently a rainbow covered the sky. As everyone was convinced he was ‘the child of the Dragon God’, Shu was raised with great care.

During his journeys throughout the continent, which were part of his training as priest, he met Shiki from ‘Akane’, Takaaki from ‘Kikyo’, and Rei and Roa from ‘Mokuran’ and have been inseparable since then.

His dance is a prayer and a wish. Today, he sings and dances once more with wishes from different people enveloped in the music.

Horimiya Eichi

“Let’s pray and dance for our benign Dragon God! May this peace also continue from now on and forever!”

Nation: Asahanada

Flower name: Mizuhara (Flowing Water)

Dance technique: Suiten Ippeki (Blue Horizon*)

Dance props: Fox Mask / Inscription: [Shinko] (Dragon Fox)

As his job required him to live in the residence of the priests, coincidentally Shu’s house too, it was discovered by accident that his dance and Shu’s dance have good affinity, and, thus, the two were designated to perform together for the Dragon God since then.

Due to his unconstrained dance’s peculiar qualities, he was allowed to select any noble weapon that appeased him. That’s how he became the master of the fox mask ‘Shinko’.

Since Issei and Ichiru’s appearance in his life, his days became even more lively and fun.

Interview with Izumi Shu (QUELL)

Q. Please tell us about the highlights of this stage play and your impressions or story behind your partnered dance.

We come from a religious nation. Eichi and I discuss what sort of expressions we should make so as to portray a solemn atmosphere without adding too much realism.

Eichi’s always expressive so seeing him make a blank expression and show intensity is something to look forward to. Of course, I know because I dance beside him. … Oh, it seems like I just raised the hurdle higher for him, huh? (laughs)

Q. In Tsukihana, all 12 nations have their own specialties, but if you could come up with a new specialty for your own country, what would it be?

A super premium sake made out of nothing but rice. We’ll name it ‘Asahanada’.

Q. Lastly, leave a short message for the fans.

Although it doesn’t last for long, there’s a conversation scene in the play part featuring Ren from SOARA, Ayumu from ROCK DOWN and me. Quite the unusual combination if you ask me (laughs). These unusual combinations are one of its charm points. Please look forward to it.

Interview with Horimiya Eichi (QUELL)

Q. Please tell us about the highlights of this stage play and your impressions or story behind your partnered dance.

The choreography dedicated to the Dragon God is not that different from the choreography for the ‘Tsukihana Festival’, so check both of them out, you might find them interesting. While the Dragon God’s dance feels like dancing to the sky, through the ‘Tsukihana Festival’s dance it seems we’re giving praise to the flowers blooming on the ground. May this dance filled with prayers and wishes reach you!

Q. In Tsukihana, all 12 nations have their own specialties, but if you could come up with a new specialty for your own country, what would it be?

All sorts of onigiri

Asahanada is the country of rice!

Q. Lastly, leave a short message for the fans.

The drama part, the action, and then the dancing. There are so many things to do, half of my head feels like it’s about to burst (laughs), and I work in the practice room every day to the point my sweat is running on the skin. I’ll give it my all!

Kuga Issei

“Asahanada’s first flower shall dance now. ”

Nation: Asahanada

Flower name: Miboshi (Water Star*)

Dance technique: Suikou Setten (Moonglade)

Dance props: No props

He’s the oldest of the twins, with his mother being a musician and his father a ‘Flower Dancer’. The two of them have been aiming to become ‘Flower Dancers’ ever since they were little.

He is someone who intends to look for the meaning behind the natural phenomena that occur in Asahanada since it is a nation that is deeply religious and devoted to the Dragon God.

He and his younger brother, Ichiru, have aimed to become Flower Dancers and then they were given the opportunity to join Shu's group. Because of that, he thinks of rainy days as a wonderful blessing that lead to them meeting Shu and Eichi.

Soon after, he intruded on Shu and Eichi's ritual dance after being so fascinated, and was invited to come to Shu's estate.

Kuga Ichiru

“Asahanada’s second flower, ready to dance!”

Nation: Asahanada

Flower name: Mizuru (Water Current*)

Dance technique: Suiten Houfutsu (Dim Horizon*)

Dance props: No props

He’s a young boy whose dream is to become a ‘Flower Dance’ together with his older twin, Issei.

In order to become candidates and be part of Asahanada's ‘Flower Dancers’, he had to pass a highly specialized test first.

However, while praying to get a passing score, he and his brother were caught in a shower.

In this country, it represents a symbol of luck. As a consequence, they moved into Shu's residence for work, and ever since have been practicing there every day.

Issei’s dance is graceful and beautiful. His is vigorous and resolute. When the two of them dance, the view is nothing but breathtaking.

Interview with Kuga Issei (QUELL)

Q. Please tell us about the highlights of this stage play and your impressions or story behind your partnered dance.

When the two of us are dancing, we can see Shu and Eichi giving us these looong looks in the mirror and they’re close to bursting out laughing. Seriously, we’re not children anymore.

Instead, we want everyone to look back on our triumphs as we enjoy ourselves in rehearsals, too.

Q. In Tsukihana, all 12 nations have their own specialties, but if you could come up with a new specialty for your own country, what would it be?

Rice crackers, Japanese sake.

Q. Lastly, leave a short message for the fans.

‘Tsukihana Kagura’, the story of the twelve countries. Have you already listened to our theme song? I try to listen to one song every day before going to sleep. I guess I want everyone to hurry and meet the people in this story, too? We'll be in your care.

Interview with Kuga Ichiru (QUELL)

Q. Please tell us about the highlights of this stage play and your impressions or story behind your partnered dance.

The performance is getting closer! "I'll study!" I say, but I really do learn while watching the others dance!

There are people who are good at doing turns, people who are good at using their props, and all that.

I've been talking with Issei about how much we've been learning, too. It's good that we get to see people who we rarely interact with dance on top of a joint stage. Shun from Procella and his dancing, for example! It was really pretty! I wanna see him dance more~

Q. In Tsukihana, all 12 nations have their own specialties, but if you could come up with a new specialty for your own country, what would it be?

A ramen dish with local flavours

Q. Lastly, leave a short message for the fans.

There are as many units as there are countries, but our nation is No.1! …… As you can tell, we’re training very hard! There’s just a little left until the performance! I’m looking forward to meeting everyone!

T/N: (this one really needs some explanations)

Eichi’s dance technique is titled “水天一碧 (Suiten Ippeki)”. Suiten means ‘water and sky’ and Ippeki is... hard to explain, you could call it ‘the farthest place your eyes can distinguish, and it’s blue all over’. Ryota and me tried to keep all these names short (max 3 words). So we shortened ‘ippeki’ to ‘blue horizon’, but keep in mind it’s a sea horizon because of the ‘suiten’ part.

Issei’s flower name is “水星 (Miboshi)”. While the kanji can also mean ‘Mercury’ (the planet), we decided to go for a literal translation (’Water Star’) because tsukipro decided, for some reason, to reference Issei’s name a bit (壱星/Issei, with 壱=one and 星=star) //you can see ‘star’ in both names

Same goes for Ichiru’s flower name, “水流 (Mizuru)”. The word does indeed mean ‘water current’, but they’re again hinting towards the kanji used in Ichiru’s name, 壱=one and 流=current

Ichiru’s dance technique is titled “水天彷彿 (Suiten Houfutsu)“. Suiten means ‘water and sky’ and Houfutsu is ‘shade’ or ‘dim’. We combined them and got ‘dim horizon’ (again, keep in mind this is a sea horizon)

I didn’t mark that in the post, but Issei’s dance technique also gave us a bit of a headache. “水光接天 (Suikou Setten)“. Suikou means ‘water and light’, meanwhile Setsu means ‘touch/contact’ and Ten is ‘sky/heaven’. According to dictionaries, the entire thing means ‘The reflection of the moonlight, which shines on a river surface and spreads until the sky’. [Here’s a picture]. Anyway, apparently English calls that verbosity ‘moonglade’. We learn new words with tsukipro.... and apparently Chinese too.

If you like my work and you want to support me, you can now buy me a coffee by clicking right [here]. I also started taking commissions, more details are right [here]. Thank you~

#tsukihana kagura #tsukipro #quell #english translation #pamphlet translation #agf 2019 #izumi shu #horimiya eichi #kuga issei #kuga ichiru #for the record quell got a pretty theme song in thkg #my favourites are 1. procella 2. quell 3. gravi

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sparklyjojos · 5 years ago

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THE SAIMON FAMILY CASE recaps [10/13]

In which we meet a young wordician and the detectives finally stumble upon a breakthrough in the case.

PART 7

Three days before August 19th, a few other detectives from Nihon Tantei Club propose they can help with the Saimon Family Case. Ajiro might take them on their word if the next incident doesn’t clear anything up. However, he’s afraid to mix anyone else into this, seeing as a single case stretching for so long is already pulling their attention away from other cases.

In fact, Ajiro reveals to everyone that he’s considering withdrawing from the Club entirely; he’s grateful to everyone who would hate to see him go (especially tearful Kirigirisu), but he still has his pride as a detective. If no progress in the case is made soon, he will be forced to make that decision. Two young detectives, Raiouji and Mikuruma, outright declare that they will quit too if push comes to shove.

Three days later Ajiro and Kirigirisu are faced with a new incident in the Saimon Family Case when Kyuuzou dies from a hornet sting.

On the same day, Raiouji and Mikuruma are killed when a reckless truck driver hits them on their usual bike ride.

As soon as they get the news, Ajiro and Kirigirisu stop their investigation in Tsuwano and return to Kyoto to learn more about what happened. Witnesses testify that the truck driver (who also died in the crash) didn’t even attempt to brake before hitting the two young detectives. The police finds stimulant drugs in the truck’s cabin, states that the man was probably using them, and files the case away as a normal traffic accident.

Raiouji’s and Mikuruma’s joint funeral ceremony is held a day after Fujita Kyuuzou’s wake, and unexpectedly a few Saimons decide to go to Kyoto to attend it: Soga Tensui with Miku, Taishi with his wife Yurine, Hyousen with his son Hyousai, a few members of Fujita-gumi, even shy Takayoshi.

Miku says that they wanted to bring Juku along at first, but decided against it, as him wearing sunglasses throughout the entire ceremony could be seen as rude by other people. It’s still unknown just what made the boy so strangely beautiful after his brother’s death.

(Kirigirisu has had some very outlandish theories about it come to his mind. If we define the twins’ previous beauty as being “90% perfect” for each one, then maybe after one died, the other one now somehow counted for two, and the accumulated value tipped over the point of ��100% perfection”… This sort of ridiculous theories. Kirigirisu has no idea why he even thought about it.)

As they talk with the family, Hyousen mentions that he saw Ajiro’s grandfather Soujin yesterday in Tsuwano, showing up in the Fujita household once everyone else left after Kyuuzou’s wake. Hyousen acts quite friendly towards them, what with his late father and Soujin having been sworn brothers and all. There is some uneasiness in Hyousen’s behavior that wasn't there before, but one can expect it from a son who just lost his father... from someone who keeps losing his family every month. He says that his wife Shima couldn't show up, as she's been feeling sick lately.

Takayoshi exchanges a word or two with the detectives, but leaves in a hurry once his brother Taishi approaches (unsurprising reaction, considering the two's past). Taishi isn't as friendly as everyone else and claims that he's only here because he has another business in the prefecture anyway.

"The other Kotensui lives in Kyoto," Taishi says. "That is, the kid that provided Kotensui's voice, Ryuuguu Jounosuke. We have something to do at his house."

Ajiro seems to know the name Ryuuguu. Or rather, he knows about Ryuuguujou, the family’s palace so splendid it’s often called one of the two great mansions of Northern Kyoto (the other being a place called Geneijo). So this strangely named Ryuuguu Jounosuke has to be a young noble. Apparently when his ancestor Yatsutarou was designing the palace grounds, he took inspiration from the Saimon family’s garden, which led to him becoming friends with Saimon Taishin.

The Ryuuguus offered the Circus financial help many times, but the Saimons always refused to take any money from them. However, Taishi can tell that the Circus is pretty much over now with so many performers dead, and wants to ask the Ryuuguus for help—not even asking for money, but for a few of their koi so he can repopulate the depressingly empty pond.

It feels like Taishi’s sense of loss is connected less to their fish, and more to Akio; perhaps his sudden desire to get the pond back to normal comes from subconsciously wanting his brother back.

The bright spot in despair is that Taishi's and Tensui’s relations are getting better lately. Taishi states that if anyone will be able to keep the Circus going in the future, it will be the three child geniuses: Yomiko, Juku, and Jounosuke.

“That boy is a true wordician,” he says of Jounosuke. “A magician of words.”

Apparently Jounosuke has been travelling all over the world with his parents since he was born, which contributed to his knowledge of an astounding number of languages. He likes words so much he even named some of the buildings belonging to the Saimons, like Sanasou and Shakuya. For some reason he also likes to call Tensui yossha no ojisan (well, Tensui kind of is an "alrighty guy", but it's still a strange way to address him).

That last innocuous fact seems to pique Ajiro’s curiosity and he wants to have a word with Jounosuke.

And so, on August 22nd, Ajiro and Kirigirisu ride to Ryuuguujou together with Taishi and Yurine. It’s easy to see how rich the Ryuuguus are; their private grounds could probably fit an entire Disneyland, and a sleek limousine takes the guests to the palace, a giant black building with a tall tower in the middle. Ryuuguujou is surrounded by a western-style garden on one side and an eastern-style one on the other. In fact, the entire building was designed to resemble an European castle on one side and a Japanese keep on the other, down to the internal decor.

A butler shows them inside, where they meet Mr. and Mrs. Ryuuguu—Kintarou and Kaguya—who dress like they just got here in a time machine from 18th century France. They welcome the guests in a pretty exalted manner, both seeming constantly cheerful. They are without a doubt the weirdest people Kirigirisu has ever met, and that’s counting all the strange detectives he works with. Maybe that’s just how people living in palaces are.

Apparently Kintarou and Kaguya don’t always dress like this, but choose between many outfits from different eras on a whim (and even invite the detectives to borrow costumes and join their dress-up game if they like). They travel abroad for most of the year and because of that take special care to keep their friendships going whenever they're back in Japan. They like to consider anyone they meet as a potential great companion.

Their endless chatter is a bit exhausting, so even if the couple is extremely friendly, Ajiro and Kirigirisu are glad they can leave for the eastern garden to search for Jounosuke. Kirigirisu is actually a little worried for Mr. and Mrs. Ryuuguu; they seem so trusting and ready to help everyone around that maybe someone could easily abuse their friendship for nefarious purposes.

The detectives find Jounosuke feeding koi in the garden. Even in the summer the boy is wearing all black, including an elegant hat, gloves, and a long cape (but at least the shirt under that cape is sleeveless). He looks at them with curious big eyes, a happy smile on his face.

“Oh, so Mother and Father have made new friends,” he says when they introduce themselves.

Ajiro makes a comment that as expected from someone called a wordician, his speech sounds very intelligent, then asks about his age.

“Ryuuguu is now ten, in fourth grade at school," Jounosuke answers in third person. "Are you friends with yossha no ojisan? You called Ryuuguu a wordician, which means you know people from the Circus, and the one who knows the most about Ryuuguu there is yossha no ojisan, so you probably came to talk with Ryuuguu on his request.”

“This child is quite a detective,” Ajiro comments in amused surprise. “Maybe we should employ him in the future, huh, Kirigirisu?”

“Are you detectives?” Jounosuke puts two and two together quickly.

“Yes, we are detectives. We’re investigating a case and we would like you to help us with something.”

“You want to know yossha no ojisan’s secret? Um… but Ryuuguu promised he wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“I see. Then I won’t ask about it. You were the one who named Sanasou (山鴉荘) and Shakuya (杓屋), right? Could you tell us the origin of these names?”

“Oh! Sanasou has the kanji for raven (鴉) trapped in the word for a mountain villa (山荘), but it should actually be written differently. In the word for sake kasu (酒糟), there's this kasu (糟) that can also be read as sou. And by looking at Sanasou and changing sou to kasu you get Sanakasu (山鴉糟), which sounds like Saakasu—“Circus”! “And Shakuya is where they keep sharks, so it’s a shark room, shaaku-room, shaaku-ya.”

These are… quite the wordplays. Ajiro seems intrigued by the last one.

“I don’t know if you did that on purpose, Jounosuke… but that kanji for shaku (杓) means a dipper. I think the shaku in Shakuya may mean a constellation called the Big Dipper… and it refers to one other thing too, doesn’t it?”

“Um, that one is a secret.”

Ajiro gives Kirigirisu a conspiratory wink. Jounosuke may be smart, but he's still a child, so Ajiro can try and get the secret out of him in a roundabout way, by checking what topics the boy doesn't want to talk about.

“By the way,” Ajiro says, “in the aviary at Sanasou there’s a big dove figure called Onikaru-sama. Was that name also created by you?”

“No, Ryuuguu thinks it’s been called that since a long time ago.”

“Do you know that name’s origin?”

“Ryuuguu knows… and won’t tell.”

“I think that Onikaru-sama is not quite its actual name. Instead of O-ni-ka-ru it should be pronounced On-i-ka-ru, right?”

Kirigirisu has no idea what the difference is, but Jounosuke makes a troubled face. The boy’s not a very good liar, that for sure. Even if he stays quiet, Ajiro is pelting questions at him and presumably reading out satisfying answers between the lines.

“Tell me, did yossha no ojisan tell you anything about the word juuku?”

“Juuku… that’s the name of yossha no ojisan’s son, who’s a few years younger than Ryuuguu. Actually, Ryuuguu has never met him before.”

“Certainly, juuku written like the number nineteen is also Saimon Juku’s first name. But have you perhaps heard something else about juuku?”

“Huh? Ryuuguu doesn’t understand…” This time Jounosuke seems honestly confused.

“Then… have you heard of Golgo 13?” Ajiro for some reason names a manga series about an assassin for hire. What does that have to do with anything?

“Um, no… when Ryuuguu thinks of the shape of the word juuku (十九), the only thing he's reminded of is Senmaru (千丸)...”

That last word sends a cold shiver down Kirigirisu's spine.

Senmaru is a common nickname for the crossing at Senbon Maruta, the same place where Raiouji and Mikuruma were killed in an accident mere days ago. This has to be just a coincidence… right?

Kirigirisu doesn’t really understand what this entire conversation meant, but Ajiro looks completely satisfied and thanks Jounosuke for the help.

“Can Ryuuguu show you an illusion to end with?” the boy asks. “It’s the best, even yossha no ojisan was surprised! Is it okay if it breaks your watch?”

“It’s alright,” Ajiro says presenting the arm with his watch. “What gets broken can be fixed. It’s only fair to help you show us an illusion, considering how much you helped us today.”

Jounosuke reaches forward with one gloved finger, lightly pokes Ajiro’s watch—and it instantly stops working, the hands freezing in their tracks.

“I see…” Ajiro seems strangely satisfied for having his watch broken. “You’re like the opposite of Uri Geller, making clocks stop instead of restoring their function…”

“Jounosuke!” shouts a new voice. A teen girl in a white dress is walking their way with a stern face. “How many times did I tell you not to break other people’s things? I am deeply sorry, we will cover the cost of repairs …”

“No, it’s alright. My watch was already acting strangely and I wanted to repair it anyway. You must be Jounosuke’s older sister?”

“Ah, yes. My name is Ryuuguu Otohime. I’m sorry if my parents and brother were bothering you…” She sounds quite mature and like the only normal person in this family. Well, they do say that children either end up highly similar to their parents or become their complete opposite. “I’m not sure how to explain it, but what Jounosuke just did wasn’t an illusion. He has a strange power that lets him break every mechanical device he touches. It just suddenly showed up last year, around the same time when he started wearing all black.”

“It’s still a kind of magic,” Ajiro states. “As long as one acts like there is a secret method behind the performance, even a supernatural power is illusion. I think it’s wonderful to have abilities that other people don’t have.”

Soon, Kirigirisu and Ajiro prepare to leave against the wishes of Kintarou, Kaguya, and especially Jounosuke, who would love for them to stay and hang out all night. (Taishi and his wife do spend the night, since they live in another prefecture).

The detectives get a taxi back to the city. The slightly bizarre frenzied atmosphere from before turns into grim silence as they approach the crossing of Senmaru.

A class of small children is following their teacher through the crossing, and for a short moment Kirigirisu is sure he spotted Juku and Joukei among them—but that can’t be, Joukei is not around anymore. He takes another look. The two children he saw are actually a pair of a boy and a girl, perhaps also twins, both their backpacks having the name TAMEI written on them. [Which implies these two are Dakushoin and his sister from the other JDC books. What a nice little cameo.]

“Boys, be ambitious,” Ajiro says suddenly.

Huh? The popular phrase shounen yo, taishi wo idake? Ajiro doesn't elaborate what he means by it, instead adding another non-sequitur.

“We are the ambassadors solving the mystery of the magic show.” [Ore-tachi wa, kijutsu shou no nazo wo toku taishi nanda.]

Ambassadors? Kirigirisu truly has no idea what Ajiro means by those strange phrases, but has a feeling they aren’t just random gibberish.

Ajiro and Kirigirisu return to Nihon Tantei Club’s office, where everyone else (except Shiranui and always wandering Soujin) is waiting for them. Some of the detectives, especially Shiranui’s group, seem fed up with Ajiro doing things on his own and relegating responsibilities of the representative to others; even if he still gets cases solved, he falls behind as a team leader. Arito Tarou points out that Raiouji and Mikuruma were likely killed because of the Saimon Family Case, so Ajiro should at least tell everyone what’s really going on.

Ajiro can’t deny that those two deaths could be connected to the Case; if that’s the truth, he’s taking full responsibility. Even if it was just an accident, Ajiro admits he has to either abandon the Saimon Family Case and go back to his duties, or pursue the Case and abandon his position instead. He decides that if he doesn’t solve the Case until the end of September 19th, or if the deaths of Raiouji and Mikuruma turn out to really be connected to the Case, Ajiro will quit the Club.

Kirigirisu immediately announces that if Ajiro’s going to turn in his resignation, then he’s quitting too.

Soon everyone except for our two main detectives leaves the office for the night. Kirigirisu walks to the nearby Lawson to buy them something to eat. When he comes back, he notices a gorgeous white car parked under the building, then meets its owner on the stairs inside. Short and thin, with a white suit and the atmosphere of the Godfather—it’s Ajiro’s grandfather Soujin, who hasn’t shown up around for over a year. As always, his presence is overwhelming, making it obvious why the man was once called “Ajiro the God”. Soujin is happy to see Kirigirisu, but apparently is so busy he already has to leave.

Back in the office, Kirigirisu discovers that another old detective showed up in his absence, Shiranui Zenzou. Apparently Soujin gave him a lift here. Did the two Ajiros and Shiranui talk about the Case?

“We did,” Ajiro answers. "The Saimon Family Case that’s been confusing us for a year took grandpa all of three seconds to figure out. Well, it’s not that he solved it, but he gave us an important hint. The truth behind the Case that boils down to a single word.”

Shiranui interrupts him, saying that he doesn’t really know what’s going on, and his own method of reasoning (basically “doubting every single detail”) is still focused on whether Kyuuzou was actually stung by a hornet or not. Ajiro explains that while a stinger really was found in the victim’s body, the hornet itself may have not existed; anyone skilled enough in voice mimicry could emit a convincing buzzing noise. It’s possible that the murderer used a prepared stinger to kill the victim, making it look like an unfortunate accident.

Someone skilled in illusion and voice mimicry… Soga Tensui is apparently pretty good at both.

“If we were to guess the truth based on all the data we have gathered, everything would point to Tensui being the culprit,” Ajiro says. “However, a single word from grandpa forced us to abandon our previous theories and go back to the drawing board. This word is kuroyashi. Yashi may refer to the merchants and peddlers of a tekiya yakuza group, such as Fujita-gumi. Kuroyashi would mean “a black peddler”. And if you switch black and white around, what do you get?”

That would be shiroyashi… which sounds suspiciously close to Shiroyasha, the masked murderer.

The Case is finally one step closer to being solved.

[>>>NEXT PART>>>]

#sparkly reads the saimon family case #maijo and jdc stuff #jounosuke i love you

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sage-nebula · 5 years ago

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Astral Chain - Howard Twins Headcanons

As I usually do when I play video games, I came up with headcanons and fleshed out the narrative / scenes in my head as I played through Astral Chain. I’m thinking about putting all of those ideas into a fic that’s something of a novelization of the story (albeit with some canon divergences, deeper explorations of relationships, and lots of flashbacks to the past), but until I do that, I figured I’d jot down some headcanons I have for the twins that would absolutely play into anything I decided to write for them, both serious and trivial.

With that said . . .

- - -

Their names are Maki and Akira. Maki is the girl, Akira is the boy.

Max is the one who named them, because their father was nowhere to be seen when he found them, and their mother redshifted into an aberration minutes after they were born. That said, it took him a while to come up with names for them; for the first week and a half he referred to them as “Girl Baby” and “Boy Baby” respectively.

That said, he did put legitimate thought into their names. When he got a chance he went through baby name sites to try to find Japanese names, and ultimately picked their names based on what they (the twins) meant to him. He chose “Akira” because the site he found said it meant “shining; bright.” He chose “Maki” because the site he found said it meant “truth; hope.” He later learned that Japanese names can mean many different things depending on the kanji chosen for them (and that he hadn’t chosen any kanji at all because he couldn’t read it), but he decided to keep the names anyway because he liked the sound of them, particularly since they subtly matched (Maki, Akira).

He actually doesn’t know which one was born first, but just decided it was Maki after being asked one too many times by strangers and flipping a coin to decide on an answer.

Maki’s hair is naturally light bluish-silver, and her eyes are naturally purple. No one knows if this is due to genes on one parent’s side or another, or if this is due to the red matter she and Akira soaked up while in the womb. Max would rather smash skulls than let scientists find out.

Maki is also naturally near-sighted, which gives way to needing vision correction. She usually wears glasses, but does have a pair of brown contacts---the same color as Akira’s---that she uses sometimes as well. She used these and black hair dye when she took the police academy entrance exams to make a better impression on those testing her, not wanting to be looked upon as a delinquent and have that affect her scores. Once accepted, she went back to her natural hair color / showed her natural eye color, knowing they couldn’t (or rather, wouldn’t) exactly boot her out so long as she kept her performance up.

Akira’s eyesight is perfect, as are his other senses. Darker hair and eyes also speak to dominant genes. These things always made Akira subconsciously think he was stronger than his sister, which is part of what caused such a shock to his system when she could fully control her Legion while he lost control of his.

On a lighter note, Maki and Akira have always considered the other to be their best friend, and were always open and unashamed about this fact. Obviously, things took a turn for the very strained and bad once they both came to Neuron.

That said, when they fought, they fought; neither has ever held anything back from each other and shouting matches could get intense. They always forgave each other, but there were times when Max had to separate them for his own sanity and eardrums.

Like most people, Akira cried when he was born. Maki did not. In his defense, Akira was also nearly killed by his aberration mother shortly after being born, so.

To that end, Akira has always been something of an easy crier, as well as loudly expressive of his emotions. Maki cries less easily, and is quieter about how she feels, though no less expressive if you look at her (and even with how quiet she is, she can be pushed---see the reference to the shouting matches above).

Akira is more impulsive, whereas Maki takes more time to think. However, Akira places far more importance in following rules and regulations, whereas Maki prefers to ask forgiveness rather than permission (and even then, does not always ask forgiveness if she doesn’t care whether the other person forgives her or not; this is the case with Yoseph after everything in Zone 09 and how she’s thrown in jail, for instance).

To that end, while Maki does look up to and respect Max a great deal, she didn’t feel it was strictly necessary to become a cop to save people, and signed up partially because Akira was signing up and she wanted to watch out for him as his partner on the field. This is why she goes along with things like trying to fight a chimera even though Max said not to (because she doesn’t want Akira to get hurt / killed), and also why she doesn’t really mind being a fugitive once Yoseph declares her one.

Maki’s favorite colors are blue and purple; Akira’s favorite color is red; and Max’s favorite color is green.

Maki is asexual with an ambiguous romantic orientation; she doesn’t think gender really plays a part in who she develops feelings for at all, but she does develop feelings for Hal and he’s a cyborg who interacts with her through a drone 99.9% of the time, so. There’s that.

Akira is gay, but he’s been so laser-focused on becoming an officer for so long that he’s never realized / recognized his attraction to anyone before, much less thought about a relationship. When he does develop a crush on someone, he’s caught so off-guard and becomes so flustered that he’s more likely to pull a “get out of my precinct” than anything else. When Maki notices, she tries to help him be less of a disaster about it (and when he realizes that’s what she’s doing, he points out that she’s dating a cyborg who interacts with her primarily through drone and so she’s not exactly an expert on this, which is when she points out that he just told his crush to get out of HQ via handwritten note, which is when Olive overhears this and decides to give both of the disasters some guidance (”or,” she says, “at least Akira, because at least he’s got better taste than Hal”).

While Akira is more impulsive, Maki is the one more likely to jump to practical violence faster, e.g. knocking out guards instead of trying to sneak past them, punching someone in the face for making fun of her brother when they were younger, et cetera. Part of this can be seen in how Akira prefers to fight from a distance with ammunition, whereas Maki prefers to get up close and personal to hit things.

Once they became officers, Alicia made a comment along the lines of, “Guess your sister prefers the short staff because of her eyesight, huh?” to Akira, to which he replied, “I think she just likes to hit things and get it over with.” Later, when Alicia brought up her theory to Maki (saying she’d mentioned it to Akira), Maki shrugged and said, “Eh, I just like to hit things and get it over with.” Akira’s grin was so smug.

Maki loves ice cream; it’s a huge vice and weakness. Akira prefers cake, and keeps little snack cakes in his locker at HQ.

Consequently, their birthday cakes were always ice cream cakes.

Although they’re not identical and couldn’t pass for one another, they used to always swap and wear each other’s clothes growing up, and even now that they’re adults Maki still has no qualms about “borrowing” one of Akira’s sweatshirts or jackets (and he really doesn’t care if she does).

Max took extra care to never make one of them think the other was the favorite. Whenever he praised one for something, he found something else to praise the other for, and so forth. Any time it seemed like there might be a hint of competition for his attention or affection between them, he shut it down real quick by giving attention and affection to both at the same time.

Akira was always quietly envious of Maki’s ability to seemingly always remain cool and level-headed in tense situations; Maki was always quietly envious of Akira’s ability to quickly be open with and befriend strangers.

Akira is very ticklish in his sides and whenever he would get too wrapped up in trying to appear mature and Definitely Ready to Save the World, Maki would tickle him there to bring him back down to earth. Obviously, it wasn’t really possible to fix things this way once they got to Neuron.

When they were kids and Max had them out shopping or for errands and they’d get too rambunctious, he’d tell them, “stealth mode, eyes up.” Thinking this was part of Hero Training™, they’d serious up very quick and be much more manageable for the rest of the trip.

“Eyes up” is the Howard way of saying, “stay safe; take care” whenever separating.

Maki tries to keep Akira out of (life-threatening) danger; Akira tries to keep Maki out of (serious) trouble. As demonstrated by everything that happens once they join Neuron, both tend to be rather bad at their self-appointed tasks.

While Maki would punch those who teased Akira in the face when they were children, Akira took a more passive-aggressive approach to dealing with those who would tease Maki. He would stand up for her in person, generally, telling the other kid to back off---but then he’d also pay close attention to them so that the moment they did something wrong, he’d get them caught by the teacher (or principal, or whoever) so they’d get in trouble.

They shared a room for many years growing up. Max got a bigger place so they could have separate rooms once they hit their teenage years, but on nights when Max would be out very late working, both twins would end up sleeping on opposite ends of the couch together anyway, Maki’s legs up over the back while Akira’s were spread out across the coffee table, both because they’d tried to wait up for him, and because they felt less anxious about his safety if they were near each other.

Once they were old enough to use things like the microwave, stove, or even oven without burning the house down, Akira and Maki worked together took cook dinner (or breakfast, or whatever) for Max on his birthday. On Father’s Day, they always pooled their allowances to get him a mutual gift. (They would hand make him cards, and Max saved each and every one in a photo album.)

Each year on their birthday, they played a game of trying to guess what the other got them. By the time they hit Neuron, their scores are about even.

When they were in school, if one of them got detention, the other would do something wrong so they’d be in detention together after school. For instance, once Maki got detention for pouring her soup over a boy who was harassing another girl in the lunch room, so Akira landed himself in the same detention by looking a teacher straight in the eye as he knocked their coffee mug off their desk and onto the floor, and then not even saying sorry after. (He bought them a new mug two days later.)

Akira is a horrible liar, and he doesn’t make a habit of trying, but he’d often try to if it meant covering for his sister, which would usually go something like: “I think your sister did [this wrong thing].” “I don’t know, I don’t know her.” “You don’t know your sister??” Maki is only slightly better because she usually shuts her mouth and refuses to talk at all.

One time when Jin was babysitting he took the twins out for a day of fun, and at one point they decided (without asking) to play hide-and-seek with him. At first their hiding spaces were pretty obvious to him, though he pretneded they weren’t, but then somehow they managed to slip away and he, however briefly, lost them and panicked because he knew that he’d be dead before he had a chance to make a will if Max found out. Fortunately, he found the twins before then.

Another time when they were kids, they decided to give each other haircuts. When Max saw them, he laughed so hard he cried, and took pictures. The twins, fortunately, were too young to be embarrassed.

#astral chain #maximilian howard #akira howard #maki howard #astral chain spoilers #ac spoilers #ok that's enough for now #i'm so sad at the ending this family got THEY DESERVED HAPPINESS #maybe if i novelize it i can do something slightly better #because that clone bit . . . it's too sad for words #but anyway Akira has lying skills on par with Miles Morales and you will pry that from my cold dead hands

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tsukikokiyomizu · 5 years ago

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//So, Blessed Name AU.

That’s my Umineko ripoff favorite AU. The basic concept is, both Tsukihiko and Tsukiko are Enbizou’s bastard children, and are thrown into orphanages before they’re old enough to walk. Eventually, they both end in the same orphanage — and everyone started joking that they were twins, because of how similar they look. …And they actually are twins in this AU.

The orphanage has a special program, that allows the children to be picked as servants of their most prominent backers, the Hashimoto family. If you get chosen by them, you’re set for life — it’s a hard job, and it’s a lot of competition, but once you do you’ll have enough money to enter mainstream society in less than four years. Those who are chosen receive a “professional” name, or a “blessed name”, which takes a kanji from their own name and put it together with the kanji for on/ne. Tsune and Tsukion are, of course, Tsukiko and Tsukihiko respectively.

They were chosen by the Hashimoto family when Tsukiko was 10, and Tsukihiko was nearly 11. They are some of the youngest servants of the family, and were often bullied by the older servants from the orphanage because of how they managed to be picked even though they were far younger and less experienced than their seniors.

Yuki, the Hashimoto family’s butler, always instructed them to be “like furniture”: serve loyally and obediently, with no emotions. …With Tsukiko’s secret condition, which I won’t mention yet, she takes that to heart and believes herself to be less than human — sure, she may look human and act human, but she is incapable of love. Therefore, she’s furniture.

Her brother, though because of another reason entirely, also believes himself to be less than human. Unlike Tsukiko, who accepts that as her only fate, he wants to “become human”.

…and that’s the gist of it!

#tsune — the blessed name #tsukion — the blessed name #sister mun — bow down before the golden writer!#headcanon — and this is my conclusion!

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redstringsofhate · 5 years ago

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broken brooms. [1]

orig. posted on ao3

The Mahoutokoro School of Magic is known for its formidable Quidditch players, and 6th year student Kobayashi Arisu wants her playing time.

[ oikawa tooru x f. oc ]

[akaashi keiji x f. oc ]

Kobayashi Arisu hates Transfiguration.

"You look like shit." Nishinoya Yuu wasn't helping.

"Thanks." Arisu rips out another page from the notebook, her pens flying astray.

The Toppou common room's fire crackles next to the two students. Aside from a few second year boys playing Wizard's Chess (who even has time for that?) in the corner, Arisu and Nishinoya were probably the only ones awake.

"This is due tomorrow and I have a good," Arisu silently reads her work, "five sentences."

Nishinoya slouches down the couch, messing his hair even further. Ever since meeting him - and actually talking - last year, Arisu has always questioned the boy's (seemingly random) blond streak. In the dim lighting, it's like a sun against his otherwise darker feautures.

"You shouldn't've waited until the night before."

"You haven't even started writing yours," Arisu looks back up from her essay. She takes off her glasses to rub her eyes. Nishinoya's moved down another foot. The coffee table covers his entire face, save for the blond streak and his annoyingly clear forehead. "At least have some manners for Ono-sensei."

Nishinoya moves back up to scowl at her. "I told you, I had much better things to do! Quidditch tryouts are in two days!"

"Don't remind me." Arisu groans, enough to catch the attention of a second year.

"Stop it," Nishinoya says, "You can do it this year, Ari, you've improved so much over the summer and I bet Tanaka's flat ass you'll make it as a starting Chaser."

Arisu almost grins at the comment. "I'd be lucky if they chose me as a bench warmer."

"Oikawa-san's a dick," Nishinoya agrees, "but he knows good players."

Arisu vaguely remembers the name. "Oikawa Hayate?"

Nishinoya looks at her as if she scored a hundred on her Transfiguration essay. "No, Ari, who the fuck is Oikawa Hayate? Damn, I knew you were bad at names, but not this bad."

"He's in my Potions class," Arisu says. She drops her pen on the table, massaging her hand. "Is there another one? Are they related? Twins?"

"Doubt it," Nishinoya says, "It's Oikawa Tooru. The guy's probably had sex with at least half of the seventh year girls. Crazy good at Quidditch."

"You probably wish you were him." Arisu lets out a yawn. "I never saw him last year, though, I thought Iwaizumi was the captain?"

"You must've tried out the second day, after he sprained his knee," Nishinoya says, "I heard he still has it. Must've gotten it from badgering all of the members or showing off. Iwaizumi's vice captain."

Arisu scrunches her face as she writes the next sentence. "I hope Iwaizumi's not there - he had that you're a fucking idiot face the entire time I was trying out."

"That's better than Oikawa," Nishinoya says, "Trust me."

Arisu finishes her essay just as Minaha Ono walks into the classroom. Their professor must have gotten a haircut over the weekend.

"Good morning, class," Ono-sensei greets them cheerily, "Today we will be going over the basics of the Hardening Charm."

A spell of laughter erupts from the back of class. Arisu looks behind to see Nishinoya sharing grins with Ryuunosuke Tanaka, a sixth year Beater in Shunrai. Arisu has never talked to him, but she's frequently seen Nishinoya sneaking out of Toppou's dorms during ungodly hours to meet up with with his friend. Ono-sensei pretends not to hear their snickers, and flicks her wand to write the kanji characters on the board.

Arisu always sits in the middle row of the room, not too close to be affiliated with the best students, but she sure as hell wasn't going to Nishinoya's level. She hands in her Transfiguration essay to Ono-sensei before splitting up with her classmates to practice the spell.

Terushima Yuji places himself right next to Arisu, smiling from eye to eye. Arisu catches a brief whiff of cigarette smoke off of him. It was a surprise he managed to get more - Arisu clearly remembers the boy complaining last Saturday about his last pack of Marlboro and how he ran out of pocket money.

"Arisu-chan," Terushima announces, "I have an idea."

"You're so loud, Terushima," Ito Hikari hisses. She was another student in Toppou. Pretty. Arisu didn't talk to her often. They never got to after Arisu forgot to work on their project together fourth year - turns out Ito likes to hold grudges.

Terushima shoots a grin at Ito before speaking anyways. "Listen, I heard Atsumu got something new the other night - "

"I don't want to talk to him," Arisu cuts him off. A quick fling during the spring of fifth year, recent mentions Atsumu Miya made her want to punch someone and hide beneath her covers simultaneously.

"Oh." Terushima fiddles with his parchment paper. He almost looks sheepish. "Sorry."

Ito ignores the two and continues transfiguring all of their objects into stone. By the end of class, Arisu and Terushima had a collective three rocks while Ito proudly holds out her ten for Ono-sensei.

"Marvelous work, Ito-chan," Ono-sensei remarks. "Ten points to Toppou."

Although it was her house, Arisu had to hold herself from hexing her. Ito passes by her with an almost forgetful glance, as if they didn't share the same Transfiguration class for three years in a row.

"C'mon." Terushima drags Arisu along. "I'm starving and they have udon today."

The Dining Hall bustles with students coming from morning classes. A problem that came with having a school on a fucking mountain : there were no nearby towns to visit for food.

But the udon was delicious. The only time she's fine with her glasses fogging up is while eating udon.

Terushima had finished his third bowl by the time Saito Fumi comes along. Fumi has her brown hair in a haphazard braid, her green Toppou uniform barely covers the Beatles t-shirt she always wore proudly. Arisu met her in second year, after both girls realized first year friends were shitty and unpredictable. Fumi had been a day student before boarding, but all of her friends remained commuters, and Arisu found Fumi lying in a pile of ripped paper and a broken left hand just before fall semester ended.

Terushima joining in third year was equally sudden, in his I'm a new boarder and I'm better than you aura (a rare reaction from a day student), but Arisu was split between being too unmotivated to find a better group and actually enjoying their company.

"Terushima," Fumi was looking at his empty bowls in disgust. "What the fuck. You're an actual pig."

"You've had five bowls at once," Terushima defends himself. He points his chopsticks at her with raised eyebrows. "While stoned."

Arisu chokes on her water.

"Asshole, you were the one that got me like that." When Fumi sits down, a few fifth years turn to their direction. Fumi always got the attention of people, in the attractive sense and how her general presence had a way of garnering eyes.

"It's not my fault!" Terushima almost gets up. "You were the one that threatened to hex me if I didn't let you have a try of - how did you say it? - Kuroo-senpai's weed."

"That's so nasty, Fumi." Arisu drops her chopsticks.

Fumi hides behind her bangs. "He is our senpai!"

"Yeah, and he acts like an idiot half of the time," Arisu comments, "Even Terushima doesn't do half of the shit he does with Bokuto."

"Terushima is too much of a loser to hang out with them." Fumi shifts back into her previous demeanor. She takes a slurp of the udon noodles, pouring in more hot oil. "He's in Shunrai, but he can't even sit with Bokuto-senpai."

"Maybe it's because I want to hang out with you guys!" Terushima points out. He finishes the third bowl. "I'm just a good friend."

Arisu smiles wickedly at him. Seeing Terushima flustered always brought her entertainment. "You know, Yuji, Fumi thought you had a thing for her since you never left."

"Fuck off!"

"Oh, how you wish, Yuji-kun." Fumi cackles into her bowl.

Arisu wants to be back in her dorm room. Mahoutokoro usually has bad weather, but it was freezing outside.

Nishinoya had promised to meet her for pre-tryout practice, but a last minute note with the words Kiyoko-senpai~ meant that he wasn't going to come anytime soon. Arisu pulls on her gloves and examines her broom, an old-fashioned Cleansweep Seven. With or without that girl-obsessed boy, it was better to get some practice than none.

After taking a brief look around her, Arisu kicks off into the windy air. Only a few other players were in the air with her, allowing Arisu decent room to practice her speed and coordination. Especially speed.

Her teeth stop chattering after a few rounds around the field. Arisu's black hair maintains itself, with only a couple strands sticking out. The students around her turn into gray and blue bobs.

Arisu finds the balancing part simple - it was like riding a bike during her blissfully ignorant muggle days. Although she was slower at picking it up, almost embarrassingly so, Arisu found too much entertainment in riding her bike outside her mother's bakery. The learning process for the broom was significantly longer, but Arisu's insistence on riding over breaks did help her in the past years.

Arisu tightens her grip on the broom, attempting a backwards turn in the air. She closes her eyes for a second, blocking out the gusts of wind attacking her face.

God, she wants to be a Chaser.

The back of her broom almost responds, and Arisu has two seconds to register a crack in her broom's precious wood. A web-like pattern grows around and beneath her gloves. Arisu hears a ringing.

She has no time to scream before her body plummets towards the field below, the breeze rushing up to her again, enveloping her body in its depths. Blood shoots through her arms, numbing her fingertips, and Arisu wants to vomit.

"Shit! Shit!" a voice from above yells. Without her glasses Arisu makes out the blurry face of a boy, though she doubts she could've seen better with them on. He reaches out his hand for her, getting nearer, but Arisu instinctively moves her arm away, attempting to ease the impact.

A dumb move.

Arisu didn't have the energy to strangle whoever threw a Quaffle at her broom as the medics levitate her towards the Hospital Wing.

"A broken radius and ulna, kiddo," Fuse Himari clicks her tongue. She recently joined the health department at the school, fresh out of Mahoukotoro only a few years prior. Arisu recognizes her signature blue nails tapping against the bed frame. "At least it's not your dominant one."

Arisu hasn't been back in the Hospital Wing (as a patient, at least) in ages. The last time was from a flu half the school had contracted. The white walls were peeling in every direction possible, and the light above flickers at least twenty times before Arisu attempts to move in her bed.

"I wouldn't move if I were you." Fuse eyes Arisu's arm. "Even with magic, it'll take a few days to heal completely."

"I don't have a few days," Arisu says, fishing around for her glasses which were, luckily, repaired. "Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow, Himari-san."

"That can wait," Fuse says, almost anticipating the response. "But your arm needs time to heal, or else you won't be able to play any sport again."

Arisu knows Fuse doesn't ever take a negative response. As a student, Fuse would always drag out the Toppou lowerclassmen to dinners, refusing to compensate for their anxious, eleven year-old, worries. "You know I've been wanting to do this since fourth year."

Fuse responds by gently patting her head. "I know you do, girlie, that's why you have to trust me on this."

"What do you - "

The creaking door hurts her ears. Arisu makes out curly hair poking out from behind the door, and she watches Fuse as she leaves her spot to let the person in.

"He's been out there for a while," Fuse says over her shoulder. "I'll let you two talk."

A tall boy replaces Fuse's seat, holding a bouquet of flowers. He must be the guy who broke her arm, so why the fuck was he smiling so much?

"Kobayashi-san, I'm truly sorry for what happened." The boy places the bouquet next to her. He has a nice voice, but Arisu's sudden urge to scream at him for ruining her chances of making the Quidditch team ruins any attraction. "I, uh, was practicing with my team, and the Quaffle seemed to have a mind of its own."

"That's nice," was her response. The sooner he leaves, the less likely Arisu will ruin any of their future interactions with each other. "Thanks for the flowers. They look nice."

The boy's smile widens even further. He has really pretty teeth. "That's good to hear! I was picking some out from the Herbology gardens. I thought they would brighten your room a bit while you were staying here and all."

Silence. Arisu doesn't bother with continuing the small talk. The ringing starts again.

"I hope we see each other again," he beams. "I'm Oikawa, by the way, Oikawa Tooru."

Arisu takes a minute to register the sentence before remembering her conversation with Nishinoya.

"I was going to try out for Toppou's team." The words come out before Arisu has a chance to rethink her decisions.

Oikawa pales, and Arisu almost feels sorry for him. Too bad the anger got to her sooner. "Yeah, looks like my chances are doomed now, huh?"

Oikawa's gaze dashes around, barely, but it was enough for Arisu to notice his tactic. His back immediately straightens and he lets out a slight chuckle. He must have too much experience with these situations. "I'm sure there's another chance for you later," he says. In any other moment, Arisu would have found his words comforting, but it just sounds so condescending. "It was difficult for us to tell if there were other people practicing, I had assumed everyone else was just playing for fun, which I apologize - "

"Excuse me?"

Oikawa maintains his annoying smile the entire time, his eyes crinkling up at the edges. "No, no." He chuckles for what seems like the fiftieth time. "That's nothing against your flying abilities, I assure you, it was just the way the broom went - "

"Look." Arisu feels her ears burn. "I've been working my ass off for the longest time just to get my bones broken by the Toppou team captain, and now he's here criticizing me on my flying abilities when he can't even handle a Quaffle properly."

Oikawa shifts in the wooden chair. "I really am sorry, Kobayashi-san." He sounds genuine this time. Arisu pushes up her glasses to see him watching her. His eyes were too brown against his pale skin.

"I can help pay for a new broomstick," he offers.

"Thanks," Arisu says, "but it's fine." She brushes her left arm absentmindedly.

The door opens again to reveal a Fuse with potion bottles, walking past them in a hurry.

Oikawa coughs. "Just let me know if you need anything, Kobayashi-san. I'll come by later this afternoon - I heard the Dining Hall's going to serve this delicious crepe cake."

"It's fine, really." Arisu rubs her eye. There was no point in yelling at him when he was being this nice to her; sure, it was a shallow and fake nice meant to calm her down, but nice nonetheless. "And, uh, sorry for my outburst."

"That's totally understandable!" Oikawa tries for another smile before getting up. "It's great seeing your enthusiasm for Quidditch!" Of course it is.

His brown curls cover most of his forehead now, and Arisu notices the slight stubble around his chin. "I'll see you later, Kobayashi-san."

He bows to her, and Arisu could smell the Quidditch field.

When the door clicks shut, Arisu was certain that Fuse didn't have a shift tomorrow.

#haikyuu!!#oikawa torū #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu fanfic #nishinoya yuu #yūji terushima #oikawa tooru

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