#i should turn him into a shimeji
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It kinda hit me, Campbell Bain (David Tennant-takin' over the asylum) looks EXACTLY, like a stereotyped anime bishounen...pointy chin and all! 😃
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bad-and-drawn-that-way · 9 months ago
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Another Vox enthusiasts I see? Well if I may...
Vox with a GN Hacker reader who was turned entirely digital after manifesting in hell. They don’t even have a physical form they’re completely stuck within Hell’s databases, their skills are obviously useful to him so he offers them a place on the team which they immediately accept on the condition that Vox makes them a vessel to inhabit because holy shit are they going stir crazy.
I’m not entirely sure how Vox’s abilities work but given he can at the very least project himself onto screens and the like I get the feeling that he’d plug himself into the system whenever they talk. Mostly because it keeps them grounded, they’re alot calmer when he’s actually next to them and not looking in through a screen.
I hope this didn’t get too wordy or long I just wanted to be thorough because I have massive brain rot for this techno mf-
Take your time with this request! Kisses darling <3
-📽
Dude, does anyone else remember having Shimeji's or that internet episode from Fairly Odd Parents? Cause that's what I'm about to write!
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Digital Pet [Vox x Digital Reader]
When you first manifested in Hell, you were completely unaware that you had ended up in Hell itself. Because instead of manifesting in the overcrowded circle designated for sinners, you instead found yourself in a digital landscape. Countless screens surrounded you like a million portals. You could see the different shapes and sizes of the devices being used in hell and could even alter whether or not you saw what was being displayed on the screen or what the screen could see itself like a window to Hell.
At first, you had a massive meltdown. From what you could tell, you were the only one in this digital Hell custom-tailored to leave you isolated despite having access to every device in Hell. You wondered what you did to deserve the extra punishment layered on top of not being good enough for heaven, especially since you hadn't done anything particularly evil when you were alive.
You lost track of how much time passed. You entertained yourself by jumping from system to system. You'd watch shows that sinners binged, and you'd watch the city from large advertisement screens that overlooked the sinner's circle of Hell. Anything to stave off the loneliness.
One day, that all changed when you felt an electric buzz make the hairs on the back of your neck stand. You heard the voice of someone swearing and immediately pulled yourself away from the screen you had been sticking your nose into. When you turned, you saw another demon who was still sparking with some bright electric energy as he dusted himself off.
For a moment the two of you just stared at each other in shock. As far as you and Vox knew, you were the only ones who could access the digital realm of Hell's database. Vox is immediately wary, but you are thrilled as you approach him quickly.
"H-Hi, oh my god!" you breathe as you look him over. He didn't look new to Hell, but you had never seen anyone else in the same pocket of space as you before. "Did you just die? Have you seen anyone else? Did you just get here? It's been so long since I saw another person that wasn't on a screen!"
Vox blinked as you rapid-fired questions at him. He looked you over as you rambled something about the irony of his face being a screen when he finally shook his head and held up a hand to stop you.
"Woah, woah, woah, slow down," he started. "What are you talking about? How are you even here? No one else should be able to traverse through the database of Hell but me."
Vox's interest only grows as you explain your situation. "I see," he hummed as he looked you over with new intrigue. "I wonder if you have similar abilities to mine and just got caught in the in-between..."
It was easy enough for him to lure you into a deal. The sheer amount of panic you expressed when he pretended he was going to just leave you there was hilarious at the time. In exchange for you "surfing the web" for him, so to speak, he took you on as an apprentice of sorts. Vox trained your abilities and helped you hone your magic. While you had every hope of one day figuring out how to manifest in the physical realm the way he did, Vox cleverly avoided any pursuit of the possibility.
He liked having full power over you and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't starting to grow attached. While you hadn't learned anything about manifesting physically, you had learned how to appear on his screens. He'd never admit it to you out loud, but he found the tiny image of you running around on his devices and talking with him to be pretty damn adorable.
Despite his manipulation, the two of you actually slowly became friends. He found himself genuinely proud of you whenever you popped up to show him something new you had learned. There was a weird warm and fuzzy feeling in his chest when you would bounce with excitement at your new discoveries.
Sometimes you'd ask him to play a certain show or song for you. Even after you learned how to control inactive devices so you could look up anything you wanted, you still liked to ask him to play things for you just so you could watch them in his presence. You'd send memes to each other and Vox had to quickly excuse himself when you sent him a crudely drawn image of Alastor slipping on a banana peel while he was in the middle of giving a presentation at a meeting.
Vox was emotionally constipated, but he wasn't stupid. He could tell that the warm feeling in his chest was growing and he knew you were the source. He clutched his chest as he stepped into his lair and saw you sleeping on his desktop toolbar, waiting for him to come home after a long day at work. He had promised you that you'd watch the new episode of a show you'd been watching together, but his gameshow had run late.
He sits down with a sigh and traces over your sleeping form, feeling something twist inside of him as his claw only met with the cold, flat surface of a screen. He wondered what it would be like to hold you. To touch you. To have you in his arms while the two of you lay on the couch while you made him watch stupid shows instead of...
"Fuck," Vox whispered to himself as he pulled away from the innocent image of you. He clutched his face as he slumped forward in his chair. He had a decision to make.
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And so do you, dear readers! I want to make a part two to this, the real question is:
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geiba · 5 months ago
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ALRIGHT YOU GUYS, I DID IT! THE BOY IS DONE!
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i love him so much <3 you can download him here for free :D
(well, i say done, but i may or may not add more things in the future. i will release updates as i go and for now, enjoy! <3)
LMAO OMFG I FORGOT TO INCLUDE WHAT HE ACTUALLY DOES I AM SO SORRY I'M VERY TIRED LOL
okay so! animations include:
dice toss (the sit and play animation) - he sits, and he tosses his dice! and e'ming also peeks out :D
calligraphy practice. i am sorry. i had to bully him a little. yes he does cry
pet him!!! this isn't really an animation, but when he's just sitting around, you can pet him!!! it's adorable!!!
future planned animations:
carving a statue for dianxia. i have to repent for making him cry over writing by letting him do something he actually enjoys
interactions with xie lian!! hugs and kisses!!! (and maybe, a secret special thing...)
anything else i think of! or maybe something YOU think of! drop suggestions!
that's all, please enjoy the boy :>
edit 2: i am an actual moron. i didn't even explain how this works. the heat has melted my brain out of my ears and turned me into a stew or perhaps a soup.
HERES' HOW IT WORKS: you need to download the Shimeji-ee program, then put this file into the img folder you'll find there. just unzip it and everything should work. if not, reach out to me i'll help or make a tutorial or something
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randompurplepanthergorl · 3 years ago
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Post that started this-
Anyways, I'm back with more info on the Neighbor color Leaders, they are all separate, lts all in alternate timelines in their versions of "The End" They're not coexisting
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Everest Leader: Eduardo
Eduardo's equivalent of Tord's robot is "Numero Uno". How Everest Leader/Eduardo's version of "The End" would go is that he slowly grows jealousy over Edd over time, stronger jealously than what's canon, strong enough to make him go insane to prove he's better by wiping out his competition, so by the time "The End" rolls around Eduardo never actually lost his powers in "Poweredd" they're actually still there full strength unlike Edd's which are little remains, like being a lot stronger than average and having glow in the dark eyeballs, Eduardo just faked losing them in order for his plan to work, which he's been making since "Poweredd" once he became "Numero Uno" so in "The End" he destroys the house with a Dragon Ball Z energy ball in an attempt to murder Edd but that backfired- And an enraged Eduardo's powers go nuts from a strong burst of anger and he starts going to destroy the town but Edd manages to muster up all the power he has left and stop him, leading to Edd becoming full ass super hero, the "The louder you scream the stronger you become" transformation logic style, and Eduardo becoming full ass super villain, he loses his leg and left hand in the crash and takes over the world because his jealousy rocketed into straight up insanity and he'll prove to EVERYONE that he's NUMERO UNO
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Royal Blue Leader/Ghost Leader: Jon
Jon's equivalent to Tord's giant robot is the fact that he's a ghost in this story, so how Royal Blue Leader/Ghost Leader/Jon's version of "The End" would go, Jon hates Eduardo's guts in this path, he hates the abuse, he hates the yelling, he hates everything about him, and this slowly drove him to want revenge, so since Red Leader and Royal Blue Leader/Ghost leader do not/cannot coexist instead Jon looses his life subscription by Tord but by complete accident this time and a few episodes before "The End", Tord was using a bazooka (Why he was using it? IDFK yet-) and it shot Jon- And Jon turns into a ghost, and learns ghost powers and becomes an all powerful ghost who's only weakness is ghost warding stuff- Eduardo does not find out Jon's dead until "The End" when he find's Jon's body, (He still cares about him and is really sad about his death in Royal Blue Leader/Ghost Leader's story he just did not react/find out sooner cause he assumed he was just with the neighbors having a breather) and in "The End" Jon uses ghosty powers in the middle of Eduardo's mourning over his death to create a ghost world vortex to suck up/destroy the entirety of London, with nothing but the desire of revenge on his mind, and the neighbors and main boys all team up to stop him, well not Eduardo so since Todd's not in any of the leader's storys except the Crimson Leader story, it's more like the main boys and Mark team up to stop him, as they try to stop him Jon seams unstoppable until he sees Eduardo mourning, this distracts him for a minute and makes him think "maybe he's not heartless, maybe he DOES care, maybe I should stop" but than Tord and Tom team up to suck him up with a vacuum cleaner, snapping him out of it, and then he's trapped there, and everyone is safe now, but Jon wants to stop all of this now, he realizes how he was wrong and should have just talked to/stood up to Eduardo and move in with their neighbors if he continued, but it was too late, he was trapped in that vacuum for a while until he found out how to escape, but when he did his form ended up becoming monstrous and scary, the previous revenge seeking he had corrupted him forever, and he saw the only way to get people to listen to him is to take over the world, even though he never wanted to anymore, he had no choice
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Lavender Leader: Mark (I wrote most of his story at 11 at night and with Paul shimeji's JUMPING AND CLIMBING all over my screen (Nothing bad about it I find it hilarious and adorable actually) but I did finish it in the morning where the Paul shimeji's are gone/not present)
Mark's equivalent to Tord's giant Robot is being a big strong powerful werewolf, I finally get to include this hc into a color leader story- Anyways, how Mark's "The End" would go is that ever since the neighbors met, he's had a crush on Eduardo, not the normal crush like I think he would in canon if the ship happened, but a full ass obsession, he hides it well though, well, unless you go into his room- (Eduardo shrine with rose petals and everything-) he wanted Eduardo to be HIS and no one elses, Eduardo was HIS love. Slowly he went to full yandere and started murdering anyone he dated, that's actually how Eduardo lost his EX Laurel in this AU, instead of him and Laurel breaking up, or their relationship being cut short by Laurel getting murdered by shoe- Mark killed her in her sleep and sent Eduardo a break up text from her phone, anyways by "The End" time Mark desperately wanted Eduardo's attention and he knew how he saw himself as Numero Uno so he decided to try and take over the world for him so Eduardo could truly be number one and Mark would be Eduardo's second in command, he'd do anything for him, ANYTHING so his "The End" would take place at night at a full moon while all the other "The End"'s would take place during the day/almost sunset (Okay maybe Eduardo's was at night too) and he's in wolf form, trying to kill Jon, Edd, Tom, Tord, and Matt (They got too close to his Eduardo, plus he wanted to wipe them out cause they could have stopped him and he knew it) but everyone is awoken by this and try and take the crazed wolf man down but he manages to scar Jon and nearly destroy Edd, Tom, Matt and Tord's house in the process and Matt uses his vampire powers to fight him because he's had enough and nothing else was working and one le epic vampire vs werewolf fight later Matt overpowers Mark and ends up scaring him leading to the blond man to retreat, Mark's now permanently stuck in a half wolf form where he's like 2x his normal size and has wolf ears instead of human ears and tail (his feet also got some paw structure and are arched like a dog standing on two legs leading him to be unable to wear shoes-) due to Matt biting him angerly as an attack method (Bad idea Matt-) so the vampire DNA, since it clashed with the werewolf DNA, instead of making Mark half vampire half werewolf like you'd think it mingled very weirdly and violently and badly leading to him becoming an even stronger and bigger insane werewolf with a thirst for blood- That's why he can't go full human anymore, he also is stuck with bandages permanently rapped around his neck because Matt also nearly tore his throat out, literally, the damage was too bad to not have it covered by bandages at all times- So now he rose an army to take over the world for Eduardo just like he planed so Eduardo takes Mark's place as the new world leader and Mark's his second in command, and he plans on violently murdering ANYONE who so happens to BREATH next to Eduardo
(Funfact: Eduardo would actually be heavily into all of this stuff Mark's doing (he's got REALLY weird taste-) But he's dense as fuck in the Lavender Leader's story so he does not realize Mark's doing this for him and just thinks he went coo-coo for coco puffs, took one too many hits to the coconut, went coco banana's, lobo loco for no reason-)
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Crimson Leader Jungle Leader: Todd (@randompurplepanthergorl 's/My Todd)
So, how my Todd's Crimson Leader story would go is that his equivalent to Tord's entire army, not just the robot but the entire army as well, would be jungle animals, actually, you know what? Jungle Leader would be a better name for my Todd as a color leader so from now on I'm actually gonna refer to him as "Jungle Leader" and not "Crimson Leader" and leave "Crimson Leader" for the other Todd, so anyways how his story would go is that he becomes stressed over global warming and modern life, you see, in my canon for my own Todd since he's a nature freak he loves nature much more than modern life so he does live in the house but he prefers roughing it and sees exploring and living in nature, supplies or not, as a luxury, he also trys his best to do his part to help stop global warming, but he'd never ACTUALLY do what he's about to do in this AU story...okay maybe my Todd WOULD canonically befriend wild animals but thats it- Anyways he starts getting straight up pissed at modern technology and can't take it anymore so he runs off to live in the wild and befriends the wild animals around him, basically acting like housepets for him, but only him, but he sees them more as friends than pets, it's because he's friendly and kind to them, and seemingly understands them, no it's not like Antonio from Encanto where he can ACTUALLY magically understand them, but Todd can understand them emotionally even if he does not know what they're saying because of how much he's bonded and found in common with them, and he finds it more unfair how some of the humans are treating them so he rises up with his animal buddies (there is over a million of them at this point-) and takes over the world with them, destroying everything in their path and turning the world into an animal kingdom with only one human left, the only one that is truly their friend, Todd. So they go to destroy the neighbors and main boys houses, and Eduardo is the first to see them, at first he does not question it but than he sees how Todd's more animalistic and how he has not changed his clothes once and how he's oddly "clingy" to the animals, than he sets his animals to murder and destroy them (well, not order, they did it at free will) and now they have to fight off the insane man and his animal "buddies"- And Eduardo grabs a couch and yells "HEY JERK OF THE JUNGLE! TAKE THIS!" Than he chucks it at Todd which smacks the Aussie in the head- Knocking him unconscious then the animals drag him away to safety worried about him and the injury's from the force and weight of the couch and other injury's from the fight and general trauma from it ALL lead to Todd being unable to speak well, and the scary part is, is that Todd is completely sane and in control of himself during all this, he's just gotten in touch more with the animal DNA roots that humans have since evolution and is not afraid to get VERY violent to turn the world into an animal kingdom run by animals
(Random Funfact: Jungle Leader Todd, instead of walking like a human he climbs trees and walks on his knuckles like a monkey to get around)
(Another random funfact cause why TF not: Jungle Leader Todd relies on his other senses to get around, he can't see well, you see, my Todd canonically needs glasses but instead wears eye contacts because he thinks glasses look "nerdy" So take a look at HIS story, do you think he has access to eye contacts or glasses? No. No he does not)
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Crimson Leader: Todd (@binbunbaka 's Todd (I had permission to include his story :]))
You know how in WTFuture Bin's Todd raises a scribble clone army to go and take down Red Leader to stop them from taking over the world? Well how Crimson Leader's story would go, what if that story
but it had a dark turn
Red Leader and Crimson Leader do KIND OF coexist, temporarily though, anyways Todd creates his army like in normal but than Red Leader starts taunting his mind, like he's still mourning his now dead boyfriend but he's haunted by Red Leader, Mind-Red Leader taunts him saying he's weak, saying he could have protected Jon if he never left, saying he'll never stop him, which is not enough to make him snap on his own, if anything it just made him mad and more determined, but than his guilt and missing Jon and regrets causes mind-Jon made an appearance screaming things like "I hate you" "You should have helped me" "I'll never love you again" or even worse sometimes "I never had truly loved you" or "I was only your boyfriend from pity" and that all eventually leads to him snapping like a twig, causing his motives to go more violent, it started slow where they now started hurting others than it went to forcing them to join than it went to murdering ANYONE who stood in their way and/or refused, oh but it gets worse, it was only Todd's army doing this and not Todd himself, until an attack by the Red Leader army happened, Todd got some kills from self defense, you'd think he'd feel awful or want to stop cause well, it's Bin's Todd he'd never hurt a fly and he's physically and mentally not capable of that- But no, in this story mind Red Leader and mind Jon working together pushed him SO OVER THE EDGE that he fell and became a shell of his former self leading to him now gaining a taste for blood still seeing it as "Justice" but it's Revenge at this point and Todd and the Mahogany Army ended up wiping out 90% of the Red Army and Todd ended up taking Red Leader's spot and the Red Army survivors (which includes Pau and Pat) joined Todd's army in fear and Tord, now powerless and normal Tord again (Aside from RL scars) is on the run as Todd's army hunts him to bring him back so Todd can tear him limb to limb, Todd not realizing he had become the monster he sought to destroy
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And those are the leader's story's I'll get around to designing them eventually, at some point, maybe
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hershelchocolateart · 4 years ago
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Hello, Gordon! You’re saying we’ve been turned into tiny desktop buddies? Well that sounds- Hello, Gordon!
Yes I’m still doing these! Our lovely little desktop assistant was next on the list! Hopefully soon he’ll have the firewall to keep him company!
[Download for Mac] [Download for Windows]
(Some of the animations don’t work on Mac, but everything should be how it’s supposed to be on the Windows version! Additional information on how to activate the shimeji if it doesn’t work for you on Windows is in the read more. If you downloaded Gordon earlier and some animations aren’t working properly, he has an updated version as well!)
Y2KVR AU belongs to @year2000electronics!!!
[Gordon] [Coomer] [Bubby] [Tommy] [Forzen] [Darnold] [GMan] [Benrey]
If you tried to open the shimeji on Windows and it didn’t work, here are some steps I found helpful!
1. Make sure you have java downloaded to the most recent version
2. Go to the main folder window where all of the files and folders are visible
3. Hold shift and right click in an empty area in the window
4. Click “Open a PowerShell Window here”
5. Wait for the first line to appear, and then type “java -jar Shimeji-ee.jar” and hit enter
6. The shimeji should start up! You’ll have to keep the coded window open for the shimeji to stay open but everything should start working properly!
If you have any issues please message me and I’ll do my best to find a fix for you!
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skyllion-uwu · 3 years ago
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spamton do spamton
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MY MAN SPAMTONNNNNNN
Sexuality: Everything and nothing all at once. He's Schrodinger's Queer
Gender: Genderfluid. He uses he/it pronouns all the time though
Ship: I like Jevil/Spamton but mostly in the sense that they're divorced
BroTP: Spamton and Kris. They are besties and I am torn up that Spamton became an item because he should have been able to just hang around Kris in their cellphone or something and be a sentient Shimeji
NoTP: None I can think of
Headcanon: Okay, in a perfect world where he doesn't become the Puppet Scarf or Dealmaker and goes back to Castle Town, he opens up his shop again and reluctantly lets Kris sell things to him. He pays really low prices so it's usually not worth it unless it's a shiny piece of garbage in which case he pays hundreds of kromer for a pop tab
General opinion: Slimy greasy gremlin (affectionate). I am once again begging Mr. Fox to please confirm that he's okay and he can turn back into his normal self and PLEASE LET HIM VIBE IN CASTLE TOWN WITH EVERYONE ELSE
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fantranslatorbychoice · 4 years ago
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Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi Volume 6 Chapter 5 - The Tanuki's Marriage
T/N: Hey y'all, here's Chapter 5. I didn't notice at first that the sentences in the original text were separated into paragraphs and stuff so I am putting that stuff here today lol Oh well, hope you all still enjoy. Also you can try the recipes but at your own risk, I am not liable for any mishaps for following these recipes 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, reblog, like, reply, 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. I’ll prolly do 1-5 once 6-10 has been done, or however long I can manage to translate the raw texts, it can take a toll at times.  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. Here’s chapter 5 now
P162 That is, the morning of the inn being closed for the day. Today in Yugao, is the debut appearance of the Kiseki beef shank made into beef stew. Since yesterday the meat has been soaked in red wine, and the ingredients for making Demi-glace sauce has been prepared. Because I have some ketchup and Worcestershire sauce that I prepared myself, I could successfully make Demi-glace sauce. Alas, Ginji-san handed over to me, with so much regret, his treasured but also very important red wine... "When we were given Kiseki beef, I decided that I wanted to make beef stew." Orio-ya is so generous, they gifted us so much with all cuts of the Kiseki beef. We couldn't eat all of these in one gulp so for sure it's all going to get refrigerated but, I was thinking that the beef shank is absolutely going to be made into beef stew.** I immediately pulled out the shanks soaked in red wine, and sauted them in the frying pan. After searing both sides, I added the red wine marinade with bay leaves and boiled them down. Ah, it's been a long while since Kakuriyo has been this peaceful, the fruity fragrance of the red wine... T/N: Yeah the tastiest part of any meat is the one that gets the most exercise and the nearest to the bones, but seriously, give it a chance to soften and it just has so much flavor. Just like the limbs of fowl, or pigs, the limbs just have so much flavor and collagen lol dang it no I can't be hungry now T_T Also marinating in red wine with bay leaf is a legit way to add flavor to red meat, if you're a meat eater you can try this. or if you want to kick it up a notch, use balsamic vinegar, either way it helps soften the tough meat parts. Of course, I can't guarantee if you'll like it, but I tried this once, it mellowed the beef taste and the annoying stench of the meat. But hey that's just my two cents lol try at your own risk P163 While the meat was boiling down in the red wine, I started cutting the vegetables that I'll add in the stew. White onions, garlic, and I added a lot of the seasonally-apt shimeji mushrooms. I sauted all of these in a pot, and added the boiled-down meat with the red wine and bay leaf marinade, and added more water before simmering these in a low fire. Slowly but surely, slowly but surely. It seems that it will be done boiling after an hour or so. "After this, hamburger. I will make a sauce for the hamburger." Not only beef stew, but I'm also deciding on cozying up today's menu with hamburger. I want to use the Kiseki beef in succession, and with the especially-made Demi-glace sauce I was also thinking that I want to serve Western-style hamburger here in Yugao. I promptly made a sauce for the ground Kiseki beef hamburger patty. A beef-only burger patty** without onions. Binders would be panko and cow's milk, sprinkled with salt and pepper and then mixed altogether, shaped into small flattened circles, and I have made the hamburger's shape. Yeah, this is 100% branded beef, a beef-only hamburger is somehow extravagant... With the ingredients that I normally have, the supply is always made affordable, and I want to serve a lot of Western-style food for the Ayakashi. "Aoi! This is terrible, terrible!" This time, it was O-ryo who flew inside Yugao. Normally it was Kasuga who does this. Why O-ryo? T/N: So historically, Japanese people didn't normally eat meat since it's an expensive product, and beef is the most expensive of all. Their burgers are normally beef and pork, or pork and chicken, mostly mixed meat so it won't be too expensive. I actually tried curry-flavored beef and pork deep-fried burger patty, it was actually good and crunchy. hwah... P164 I think she may be hungry, but it doesn't seem to be the case. O-ryo's face has gotten pale. "Kasuga, Kasuga is going to quit Tenjin-ya!" If she was extremely panicking, it's because of the sudden announcement. I couldn't understand where it all began, and I just blinked my eyes a lot. The simmering noise of the boiling pot echoes all around... "Wh.. What do you mean by that?" "That's the point! Really, Kasuga is going to quit? She’s gonna quit being a waitress, she's gonna leave?" "Wh..." Why? Before the inn's closing break, we ate amberjack shabu-shabu in our girls' night-out, we had fun while putting things together in the pot as we were chatting. "Kasuga.. Kasuga, she has decided to get married!" "Marriage, Kasuga, that Kasuga, who's she going to get married to?" "That girl, until now she hasn't told her personal history, but in reality she's unbelievably, an Ojou-sama!**" Speaking of the Ojou-sama that I met in Orio-ya, I remembered Yodoko Ojou-sama, I wonder if she's also an Ojou-sama from a rich family? T/N: Ojou-sama=お嬢様=a young girl or a daughter of a noble or a pampered upbringing. Yeah, I know right, even I was shocked. Oh well, we need a plot twist here lol And you think she's just a follower, but apparently Kasuga's got nobility in her blood. Ma, ma, maiya gwahahaha oh well who would’ve thought right? P165 "Kasuga, Kasuga is... The Emperial Court's Minister of the Right**, The Great Tanuki, Lord Ieyasu's youngest daughter!" "Whaaaat?!" Ehrm... My reaction was surprise, but it seemed that it was lacking as I had no idea what it meant. Simply put, she was the daughter of an esteemed person in Kakuriyo? O-ryo went "Ahhhhh come here right now!" and dragged me towards the main building. "A- Ai-chan! The pot is cooking, look after it! Mix it if it looks like it's about to get scorched!" "OK Aoi-sama!" Instantly, from inside the pendant Aoi-chan who already has her black-haired ogre-girl look jumped out. Wearing her personal apron, she tended to my precious pot. Immediately we went to the main building, and the excitement of every employee with the topic in question has pumped up. "That girl was somehow, unexpectedly, the Minister of the Right's daughter, wasn't she?" "Why is she a waitress here in Tenjin-ya?" I could only hear the hushed and surprised voices of the Ayakashi. "Oh well, anybody would be surprised. It's no match, the Minister of the Right's position is like a Hachiyo, an esteemed person. I had no idea and I pushed around and scolded Kasuga. I might get punished after this..." It wasn't only O-ryo who was worring about this. Even Akatsuki in the front desk, he also remembered, and for sure couldn't calm himself down as cold sweat T/N: It's like a left and right wing something, like two opposing factions in the government. Heh, too much political stuff, I don't even wanna touch that. Major spoiler alert: Our old pal Raijuu is a leftist. Ouch. P166 flows down his face. "Oh, I see." I was thinking of asking Kasuga's relative the Gesokuban Chiaki-san, but he wasn't in the lobby. The Gesokuban were in charge of the straw slippers and geta sandals of the guests, and their work is like bellboys that bring the luggage into the rooms, I often catch a sight of them before business hours. I have seen him call in a row the ogre kids who do a lot of different kinds of chores, and make a roll-call on them... "Say, Akatsuki, where's Chiaki-san?" "Ah.... Chiaki-san is with Kasuga in Odanna-sama's office. In relation to that, Chiaki-san is the Minister of the Right's younger brother.. If he was esteemed, I should have been more respectful to him..." Mortified at being too late now, Akatsuki had a distant look. Confirming about Kasuga and Chiaki-san's positions, they were from the North-west's Hachiyo, the Bunmon Tanuki. Kakuriyo's biggest and most difficult school to get into, "Bunmon Imperial University" is where the Hachiyo, who is also the University Director resides, and it seems that Chiaki-san is the son, and in turn Kasuga is the granddaughter. Incidentally, Chiaki-san's brother is Kasuga's father, which O-ryo and Akatsuki previously-mentioned has the position of the Minister of the Right in Kakuriyo. Talking about the North-western Lands, it is a college town, they have a prestigious university and large hospital institution, a research facility and a huge library, they have talented scholars and doctors, they have a lot of graduates that become government officials, it didn't engage in trade and commerce but the Hachiyo has great political powers, P167 it's a particularly unique place. But if that's the case, why were Chiaki-san and Kasuga working at Tenjin-ya? Also, why did she decide to quit working in Tenjin-ya now? "I'm.. Going to Odanna-sama's place." "Wait, Aoi, I'll go too!" O-ryo and I hurriedly left the front desk and climbed up the central staircase. "Hey, you two! Don't you dare disturb Odanna-sama... Oh well, I guess I'll go too" In the end, Akatsuki came with us too. The three of us went to the topmost floor where Odanna-sama's office was.
"Oh..." Outside the room, Ginji-san the Wakadanna-sama was standing with his arms crossed. When he saw us, he looked like he's saying "So, you've come?". "It's useless, guys, it's not work-related." "But... Ginji-san..." "I understand how you feel but... Hey!" I wasn't listening to anything that Ginji-san was saying, and we all placed our ears in the gap between the sliding doors, and eavesdropped P168 on the conversations inside. "Truly, your mind cannot be changed, Kasuga?" "... yes. I will quit Tenjin-ya, and I intend to marry into, the head of Hyourijou Castle in the Northern Lands." In such situations Odanna-sama's voice had always been calm and collected, even now when Kasuga has already reached a point where her mind cannot be entirely changed. "Chiaki, do you think that it's a good idea?" "...yes, Odanna-sama. With the marriage of the two, the instability of the Northern Lands, our North-western Lands can prove it and help hold the issues at bay. In addition to that, the chaotic Northern Lands can find a bit of stability." "...oh, I see." I wanted to hear more of Chiaki-san and Odanna-sama's conversations, but O-ryo suddenly raised her voice hysterically and shouted "Did she say Hyourijou Castle?!" "Hey O-ryo, shut up!" "But.. it's the head of the Hyourijou Castle of the Northern Lands!" "O-ryo be quiet!" Me and Akatsuki and O-ryo were suppressing our voices, when suddenly the sliding door opened with a rattle, and the three of us, like dangos, fell inside the room. "You lot..." P169 "O, Odanna-sama" Odanna-sama stared down at us with his astonished, red eyes. We tried to dodge it in any way, and the three of us just ended up wearing lop-sided smiles. "Aoi-chan, O-ryo sama, Bantou-sama" "Haha... So everyone eventually came, didn't they?" Even at Kasuga and Chiaki-san, the three of us smiled crooked smiles at them. "Say Kasuga, is it true that you're getting married to the head of Hyourijou Castle?" "O-ryo sama... Yep, that's the plan." "Even so! That head's an extremely old and senile, bedridden old man! You, are you going to get married to a senile old man who's about to die?!" O-ryo was very well-informed. Well, she did came from the Northern Lands. That's why her face was full of bewilderment. "It's not like that, O-ryo. The Hachiyo of the Northern Lands has finally been replaced." "...really?" "In the Northern Lands, the Great Old Sage who has been the Hachiyo for a very long time has retired. The next Hachiyo who took the position was the Old Sage's youngest grandchild, the Young Master of the Hyoujin** Tribe. Kasuga's marriage, is to that Young Master, Lord Kiyo." "..."
T/N: Hyoujin Clan- directly translates to Ice people Clan. Something. I did say previously in my earlier translations that direct translations will be minimized. Also if you’re interested on what Kiyo looks like, I’ll prolly post a photo here, he’s depicted in vol 8′s cover. Oh gawd, that’s a long way off but don’t worry fams we’ll get there somehow P170 It's impossible for me to know who that is, O-ryo who's acquainted with the dealings in the Northern Lands just looked puzzled, and Akatsuki just went blank. Behind us, was Ginji-san who, one way or another was the only one who looked like he had a full grasp of the situation. "Uhm, I...." Suddenly, Kasuga stood up, and only went to the entryway where the three of us were still lying down, and went in front of us. When I looked at her face she seemed like an adult, and in an instant, the cheerful and innocent Kasuga that I knew had gone off elsewhere, and I felt a painful sense of loss. Could it be that Kasuga, with regards to her engagement, in her heart she truly doesn't despise it? But from my point of view, I have no choice but to accept it. "When I saw these people's faces, somehow I felt hungry. Odanna-sama, what is good to eat on mornings like these?" "...Kasuga" Were we worrying that much, to that extent? Everyone understood that, and while we were in the middle of not saying anything, Odanna-sama wordlessly stared at me. I easily understood him without him saying anything. "Ka...Kasuga! If you want, let's go to Yugao. I'll give you something I made. For today, I made something called beef stew. I really want you to try it!" P171 "Beef stew?" "Yeah! I'll also give you hamburger steak that I cooked with it. It's like when Kasuga was in her Tanuki form, it's brown-colored cooked food. It's delicious--!" "..." Amidst the confusion they only got perplexed, and didn't even seem to hear that it was delicious. Everyone's faces only spelled "What is she even saying?". But the beef stew, it's definitely delicious!
I dragged Kasuga to Yugao. Before business hours, everyone else went back to their work posts, and it seems that I'll be taking care of her hunger. When we got to Yugao, Ai-chan has diligently looked after the pot for me. "Thank you, Ai-chan, you did a great job--" "OK--- I wanna eat something swee--t!" "As your reward, I'll give you some test-trial manjuu. Ah, that manjuu's a secret. We haven't given that to anyone yet." P172 "Yaaay!" Ai-chan with her manjuu, and her cup of milk, immediately sat on a chair and took her break. Now then. The time for the beef stew's ingredients to boil down has been sufficient. To this I'll put in some parboiled potatoes, and add more Demi-glace sauce, and add some seasonings while I mix it from time to time. Kasuga sat on the counter, and lazily propped her chin with her hands. "Kasuga, just wait for a little bit. The beef stew still needs to be boiled down some more. While it's doing that, I'll make you a little something to eat, OK? Have you eaten an avocado?" "...Avocado? I've seen one in an illustrated encyclopedia, but I haven't eaten one." "Hee hee. It's something like the ones in Utsushiyo, but in Kakuriyo, the Southern Lands where there's plently of heat they have started to grow it and other similar vegetables too. You might be surprised when you first try it, but once you get used to eating it you'll get hooked. It's because avocado is called 'the butter of the fields'." Butter isn't really something special in Kakuriyo, so she might not understand anything. But Kasuga's interest seemed to be deep, and her eyes got round with wonder. While the stew was boiling down, I went ahead to make something. Avocado and persimmon, the sweetness is entirely Japanese. P173 Firstly, the in-season persimmon's skin was peeled off, and the flesh cut into cubes. The avocado was also cut from the sides, the two halves were rotated on the round seed's axis, and between the half with no seed and the half that has the seed attached to it, the one without the seed was used. Doing that was quite fun. The lovely light green flesh of the fruit appeared. I quickly scraped the flesh off, and also cut those into cubes. Along with the persimmon cubes I cut a while ago, I served all of these in a glass bowl, and in true Japanese fashion mixed these altogether with a citrus dressing. Alright, it's nicely done. I served this with a spoon and placed it in front of Kasuga. "OK Kasuga, this is Japanese-style avocado and persimmon. Please try it." "Wah, it's pretty. Green and orange. I really love persimmon too, so I'm going to eat it now--" Instantly, Kasuga's face naturally fell into a smile. Holding a spoon, she took a huge bite, and tried the avocado that she was deeply interested in. "Wow, this is amazing. Feeling the avocado's texture for the first time, it's a fun and soft food, isn't it?" After this, she bit into the avocado and the persimmon at the same time. "Its seasoning, the persimmon's sweetness, its taste is really like a side-dish for rice." "Is that so? The persimmon's sweetness and the avocado's mellow texture and taste suit it well, and if it's just the persimmon it's going to be too sweet. The citrus fruit juice, along with toasted sesame seeds and soy sauce dressing give it a Japanese flavor and taste." P174 While Kasuga was eating a lot of the side dish, I took out the hamburger patties that I made that morning, and I pan-fried those in a shallow pot. When the surface looked brown enough, I poured in about two to three ladles of the beef stew, and simmered this for five minutes. And again, in a smaller frying pan I made a runny sunny side-up egg... "Kasuga, between white rice and bread, which one would you like? Beef stew goes well with either one..." "Hmmm.. Definitely it's rice." "OK, I get it. Even I too, like Western food with white rice, it's good enough." Along with the hamburger patty, I have asked Ai-chan to heat and cook some simple stir-fried foods and serve them in dishes, such as this beef stew. Par-boiled broccoli were also added as a fluffy touch. I added some cream and swirled it around with a spoon, and lastly I topped the hamburger with the runny sunny side-up egg. The white rice was also shaped into a sphere, and plopped it over a plate, like Western style. I placed all of those on a festive four-legged tray, and brought it to Kasuga's seat. "Alright. Tea house style, moon-viewing beef stew hamburger steak is served--" "Wooow. That really smells good. A while ago, the wafting smell made my stomach growl. There's also a fried egg on it-- And tonight's also a full moon, isn't it? It really looks like the Full Moon's spherical form." "Hee hee. Since it's already autumn, in Utsushiyo it's a time where anything with fried egg is "something for full moon viewing" and it's always added in a set meal." P175 In the food industry, a hamburger steak with a fried egg is called a moon-viewing burger, among others. When adding a runny fried egg, it always make it seem even more delicious, it's a mysterious and puzzling force. "And it's really a tanuki-colored cuisine, it is." "It's a fact that tanuki-colored cuisine is the model of deliciousness. If I could, I'll eat it for lunch.” If it was me, I would eat the beef stew with left-over toasted bread crusts on the side. Yep, it's enough to fill the stomach. I pried apart the meat with a spoon, and it crumbled off. I took a bite of that beef stew. Oooohh, the meat! The meat!! It's soft and moist, there's no stench, the thick and rich Demi-glace sauce really ties everything together. This is really over-the top extravagance! "Wow, wooow! What is this, this is soooo good Aoi-chan! The runny egg yolk, the hamburger and the stew eaten altogether, it's already the best. So many flavors all packed in one bite" Having one bite of the whole thing, the corners of Kasuga's mouth stretched wide, and her Tanuki ears went plip-plopping a lot. This time she bit into everything, including the large carrot chunks and  the shimeji mushrooms. "Hmm... crumbly---" P176 Cooking food with Kakuriyo's state of the art Youkai-fire platter and spiritually-powered pot allows the fire to pass through the vegetables' core, the sweetness and deliciousness of the vegetables get trapped inside, and is suitable for cooking stews. "Aoi-chan you've already given me hamburgers before, but this is the first time that I've eaten beef stew. For me, I really enjoy foods like these. It's because foods like these have a rich taste and depth. I have read about these in a book, but I couldn't imagine how these would have tasted like." "Kasuga, you've read something about beef stew from a book?" "Yep, the library in the Land of Bunmon had so many books. There's also a book on the history of Utsushiyo's culture. It was a book that was about Western cuisines, when we. Were. Young. We had so much fun having wild imaginative ideas. Since I was a child, I was raised surrounded by so many books.” "..." We? Kasuga ate some more hamburger, and slurped in some more beef stew. After this she ate more white rice, and took in some beef stew again. All of the flavors blend well together in one bite, "Ah, it tastes good--", it makes the body weak. Seeing Kasuga's satisfied and fluffy face, I was delighted. While I was eating nearby, I initiated by saying that "The stew also tastes good with bread", and started eating as such. P177 In my case the umami envelops the bread, there's a resounding crunch, this has become a devilish food. Together, the bread crust that's always looked over, it has become an illusionary steak. "Phew, my stomach's all full!" After all that, our luxurious lunch has ended. Who would have thought that before business hours, we're already full and satiated? But for sure, without a doubt our strengths came back because of the food. "I'm glad that my stomach's gotten full. When you said that you were hungry, it was a surprise. Everyone was shocked. Back there when Kasuga said it out loud, it was of a large extent." "Ahaha. Well it was an important conversation with Odanna-sama, and I was already hungry for a while, it was because of Aoi-chan." "What are you saying? When I saw you, you didn't particularly appear to be hungry when you were talking with Odanna-sama." Uhm, yeah, that was a lie. "After that, just when it was about to get really serious, Odanna-sama pushed me to appear as "The I-wanted-to-help" person. "Really, Odanna-sama somehow made you do that? He's always dignified and composed, he doesn't give me that impression. In front of Aoi-chan, he's expected to be different." "Ah, when you see him that way, his movements are considerably mysterious." "Odanna-sama, he's really wrapped in mystery, isn't he?" P178 Kasuga and I, when talking about Odanna-sama, I realized that the meanings of "mysterious", were quite different. I recalled what my situation was, but after learning about Kasuga's circumstance the clarity has slowly gotten dimmer. "Say, Aoi-chan, are you going to get married to Odanna-sama?" She deliberately asked that question. I normally handle such questions lightly, but with Kasuga this time, it's a heavy-handed question. Her situation and mine's, they're a bit similar. "I'm not going to get married. I still have Yugao to tend to right now." Saying that, somewhat I couldn't understand why my body, in my chest, I felt so much discomfort. What the heck is this. "But Aoi-chan, you don't dislike Odanna-sama anymore?" "Well, uhm, hearing you say "dislike', it's not the answer anymore but.." "If that's the case, you like him now?" "Uhm, that is..." My eyes started swimming. Kasuga was determined to get into my head, and she looked at me quietly. "It sure doesn't seem to be that way. But I, do not know anything about Odanna-sama." That was more or less my refusal. Not really, I do know something about Odanna-sama. Contrary to what he looks like, he's a mischievous prankster, P179 and he's unsophisticatedly kind, when I see him make his moves, his strong drive leaves me wondering why... he has supported me in very important times, he's also become trustworthy, I've learned a lot being with him. And yet, I still don't know a lot about him. Odanna-sama's inner self that he holds dearly inside, I mostly don't know about it. I don't know anything about that, and he doesn't easily say anything about what he likes. Like myself for example, if I told someone that I knew nothing about "I like you", I still think that despite doing that, I still know nothing about them. "That is why, I would want to get to know more about Odanna-sama... But he's not telling me anything." "...Hmph" While Kasuga was grinning at me, I was drenched in cold sweat. What the heck, I feel like I wanted to run away... "Hee hee, that's good, Aoi-chan. It's very unnatural of you, but with time, as expected, you bestowed a great deal to Odanna-sama." ".. Kasuga?" Kasuga looked up at Yugao's celiing. Those eyes, they seem hollow somehow. "Kasuga, Kasuga getting married, you really don't dislike it?" I placed my hands on Kasuga's shoulders, and asked her earnestly. P180 It seemed that Kasuga has already been resolute of her marriage, and I wanted to ask what her true intent was. "Marriage to the Hachiyo of the Northern Lands. That is not a politically-motivated marriage." Kasuga continued to stare up at the ceiling, I only saw her flit her gaze to me once. Between those brown-colored bangs I could only see her eyes, she doesn't appear to be a mere waitress at all. Over there, she's already sharing the burden with the North-western's Hachiyo, being the daughter of Kakuriyo's Minister of the Right. A holder of many positions and degrees and ranks, but nevertheless a single Tanuki girl. "A politically-motivated marriage cannot be helped. If I do it by myself, so many risks and significances can arise. Bunmon Tanuki, are scheming creatures. Because Tanuki are extremely weak, it's the only way to live this long." Kasuga pointed to her head and suppressed a laugh. "The Hachiyo of the 'Land of Bunmon' is the Institutional Director Baba-sama**, and in each land the Tanuki under her command are sent out to gather and collect information and intel. Wherever you go and whichever way how, the Land of Bunmon will never be at a disadvantage. For example, my dad. He steadily accumulated power and influence in the Imperial Court, and eventually became the Minister of the Right. And then there's Tenjin-ya's Chiaki. That is my father's younger brother, he may be my uncle but when he was employed back there, he was an outstanding investigator. Odanna-sama likely knows the Tanuki's circumstances, and he must have deliberately hired Chiaki, I think." "... uhm.. Tanuki's circumstances?" "And now, I am going towards the Northern Lands. How I'll do that, I only have my T/N: Baba-sama, basically Kasuga's granny is the Hachiyo as well as the Institutional Director aka the President of the Imperial University in Bunmon. I am still wrapping my head around this. Honestly I am still confused and doubtful as to why I am even translating this sh** when I'm still actually learning Nihongo honestly I hope my translation even make sense to you all srsly I have no idea what I'm doing lol but rly send help pls T_T P181 intent to do so and nothing else. With that, gradually, bit by bit, leaping into the innermost parts of each land, the steadily increasing influence of us Bunmon Tanuki have been exposed. .. And that, is the way of the Bunmon Tanuki.** "..." That was an incredible story. Also, it's a really frightening tale. But with that reasoning and explanation of the circumstances, I am just as clueless as before. I wonder if Kasuga is fine with that. "Kasuga, have you fully grasped what marriage is? It seems that your fate was to be born under a Hachiyo's household but selecting your marriage partner, can you be honest with that?" "...Aoi-chan?" "I am, in a way worried and troubled about Kasuga and what could happen. Is it possible, that, if Kasuga is being forced to get married, then I..." For me, that has always been the case. But Kasuga hid her face in her sleeve and stiffled a laugh. "Aoi-chan. Everyone's like Aoi-chan, but I'm a girl who does not go against my destiny." ".. what?" Kasuga's speech, her explanations allowed her thoughts to pass through, and in some way she sounds like an earnest adult. With that gaze, and voice, and words. T/N: LOL I wanted to translate this part as "And that, is how the Bunmon Tanuki do." Srsly it's the direct transliteration of the original text lol if you understood the reference, Hi-five y'all P182 "I think Aoi-chan guessed that wrong. I didn't say that I was reluctant to get married. Rather, I was only anticipating it. Kiyo, is not someone that I didn't know." Kiyo. For sure, that's the name of the new Hachiyo of the Northern Lands. "Kasuga, you know the person you're going to get married to?" "Yep, I know him well. Because he's my childhood friend." "Childhood friend?!" "The last time that we met, I was still a small Tanuki. That being said, he's my first love." "Whaaaat?" Kasuga placed her index finger onto her lips and said "It's a secret". That was a shocking revelation. Surely, she did say something about her first love when we had the girls' night-out. "That's amazing, Kasuga. You're going to get married to your first love." ".. hee hee. Well, somehow he might not like me..." Kasuga's foolish demeanor, is a bit self-deprecating. But soon after that, a shadow fell over her facial expression. "I did have worries, it was a painful thought...That I didn't not want to get married**. When I leave Tenjin-ya, I'll be very very sad." Until now her calm voice has been OK, but her voice has started to shake a bit. With a face that's almost into tears, Kasuga broke into a smile. Her expression, it's easy to see that she's trying to hide her flurry of emotions, T/N: I told you guys, there's inception raised to the nth power with the double triple quadruple negatives srsly I can't even rn O_o P183 but I was emotionally welling up with what I truly feel inside. I see. Kasuga wasn't against her marriage at all. She's surely marrying the Hachiyo of the North. And therefore... she won't be staying at Tenjin-ya any longer. "Thank you, Aoi-chan. You gave me delicious food to eat. Aoi-chan's cooking, not only strengthens the weak body, but also fills an Ayakashi from the inside." "Ka, Kasuga..." "Aoi-chan, you're awesome. You came from an overwhelmingly unfavorable condition, and now this is where you've come. It's by your own strength." "..." "As for me, what will I do? My only plan is getting married to a Hachiyo, I only have myself." Eventually, Kasuga went back to Odanna-sama's office, she has to return and continue their talk. It's Kasuga's courageous attitude. As for me, I couldn't comprehend the entirety of her complicated heart, I could only fill up her hungry stomach and nothing else.
It was in the middle of Yugao's business hours. "What's wrong, Aoi-chan? Your face seems out of it, and you only keep sighing." "Are you sighing because there's not many customers?" P184 "It's not that. But yeah, that too." It was our frequent customers Juujirou-ojisan and Tsubame-obasan, the Ayakashi couple who lives in Gintengai, and for today had their feast of the beef stew topped with fried egg. The two were locals who didn't stay at Tenjin-ya, but goes into the baths and later to Yugao to have their meals, once a week. "Yet I was surprised. It seems that the Hachiyo of the North has been changed. It's in the newspaper extra delivered to Gintengai. The Hachiyo looks extremely young, it's the hot topic among everyone." Juujirou-ojisan slowly pulled the newspaper out, and opened it in front of me. "Ah! Can I look at that for a bit?" "Oops" I hurriedly borrowed and opened Juujirou-ojisan's newspaper that he was reading, and I eagerly looked at the newspaper publication's colored photo. On the picture, wrapped in a pure white kimono, and holding a Buddhist ringed staff made of ice, was an ephemeral-looking young man. "This boy..." As expected, he was still young. With regards to Ayakashi he's probably older than me, but based on what they look like, he looks about 15 years old. It's probably because Ayakashi live very long lives, when one is said to be very young, then the Hachiyo is probably very young indeed. That boy was Kasuga's first love. P185 Also, he is Kasuga's prospective husband. He's.. He's a handsome youth... "Would it be alright if that boy becomes the Hachiyo? Kiyo-sama is sickly, it's said that he's practically always in the University Hospital in the Land of Bunmon." "It can't be helped. There aren't any other successors among the clan of Hyoujin, you know." Snow lady, snow man, icicle lady and other generic names were used for the members of the Hyoujin clan's Ayakashi. Among the entire group, O-ryo surely fits in well. But O-ryo looks like an adult, remarkably... The ties of that one clan is so strong, it's peculiar that when one becomes the Northern Land's Hachiyo, they have to come from the pedigree line of the Hyoujin Clan's head, but they couldn't gain the support of the entire populace. "The previous generations of the north were majestic, but the successors were raised to be lazy and always sick and bedridden. It's a good thing that a strife between the foolish heirs erupted, other than the youngest grandson Kiyo-sama, they should all just die." "You're believing those rumors again! I'm sorry Aoi-chan, there has been unsettling stories among our people." Tsubame-obasan slapped the drunk Juujirou-ojisan's behind, and after a bit has left the restaurant. I sent off these regular customers, and finally Yugao's business hours has ended. The newspaper that they left as it was, I worried about it from time to time.
End of Chapter 5, Volume 6. Previous - Intermission 2 Next - Chapter 6
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.
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beautifulblhell · 5 years ago
Text
Welcome Home Ch1
Finder Fanfic: Asami x Akihito
Summary: Akihito is living with Asami, yet he refuses to say "Welcome Home" to Asami. Will Asami be able to get Akihito to welcome him home, or will danger take Akihito away first? 
0 1:36am  
A black silhouette was pacing backwards and forwards like a caged animal in front of the entrance of an abandoned warehouse. Every so often, the shadow would jerk its head towards any sound coming from nearby, standing still, but after realizing it is not the sound that it is after, it would resume its pacing. Soon the silence was broken by a distance sound of two engines. The shadow paused once more, head cocked to the side, and listened. When it realized the sounds were getting closer, it hurried towards the entrance of the warehouse, and nonchalantly leaned against the decrepit frame.  
The sound of the cars grew louder and louder until two pairs of headlights swerved from the side of the building and turned towards the entrance. Bright lights illuminated the black figure, revealing a tall man clad in a long black coat and hat. It was impossible to tell where his body and shadow separated, as if they were one. The tall man didn’t move a muscle as the cars came to a stop a short distance away from him, but the dark glitteringorbs beneath the hat followed the cars’ every movement without blinking.
As the sounds of the automobiles cut off, the second car’s doors opened, and a small army of bodyguards spilled out, surrounding the first car, guarding whoever is inside. Then, the driver’s door of the first car opened, and a huge man stepped out. Dressed in a black suit and a pair of sunglasses like the rest of the bodyguard army, he went around the car and opened the passenger door and remained bowed as he waited. Waited for his superior, his boss, the person that could end his life with a single gesture, to come out.
A man stepped - no, it was more accurate to say that he squeezed with all his might against the car’s door frame, then, with a pop, he was free and rolled forward, his flock of bodyguards surround ing him instantly. How so many bodyguards fitted into one car will forever be a mystery.  
Donning a bright purple suit, the ball of a man tottered forward, breathing heavily. The fabric around his waist stretched alarmingly, threatening to tear open any second. A striped gold and red tie were tied under his green shirt collar. Without the tie one would have trouble telling that he possessed a neck. The shoes were a maroon colour, polished until it reflected the huge balloon stomach. Every short, pudgy finger was adorned with a least one flashy diamond ring. The authenticity of the diamonds ha s yet to be confirmed. The fat around his face seemed to fold down and hide his little eyes, though there was a gleam that indicated where his eyes were. His mouth opened, showing two rows of yellow teeth, with the occasional gold teeth. T he nose was crooked, giving the impression that it had been broken too many times. Maybe he used to play sumo, or maybe he really annoyed someone and they bashed his face repeatedly against a wall. He took out a handkerchief and wiped the beads of sweat rolling down his shiny forehead. While wiping near his hairline, his whole hair moved backwards, showing more forehead.  
Mr Shadow strode forward to greet Mr Gaudy, bowing slightly, but jerked upright again, as if afraid to keep his eyes away from the small army before him. Mr Gaudy seemed pleased with this, and stood even straighter, pulled his head back and proceeded to look down on Mr Shadow, which was quite hard since he was at least four heads shorter. Mr Shadow held out the briefcase he was carrying, opened it and showed the contents to Mr Gaudy. Mr Bodyguard turned on a flashlight he magically had with him while his boss inspected the goods. Mr Gaudy was obviously satisfied, and he smiled, opening wide his mouth, his fake gold teeth flashed, reflecting the light from the torch. Motioning with his hands, Mr Bodyguard No. 2 stepped out and held out a thick A4 envelope. Mr Shadow handed over the briefcase and accepted the envelope and peered inside quickly, but decided it was too dangerous to stay to check, hurriedly bade Mr Gaudy farewell and slithered back into the shadows. Mr Gaudy soon disappeared into his car and drove away.  
Unbeknownst to them, their secret rendezvous was all captured through a viewfinder...  
“Hmph, amateurs.” The photographers muttered. “ Hewould never do something this easily to be caught.” Only the wind caught his words, carrying and dissipating them into the darkness.  
************************************************************  
~ The next day ~  
“Hahaha!” The Chief Editor ’s booming laughter echoed throughout the whole editorial department.  
“ Hmph , we all know why he is so happy,” Mitari , a fellow journalist, grumbled, and took a swing of his canned coffee.  
“Why are you sucking on lemons so early in the morning, Mitari ?” A cheerful voice rang out. A hand clapped on Mitari’s back, which caught him in surprise and made him choke on the coffee.  
“Ew, gross, I just saw coffee spurting out of your nostril s. Ahh, I should have taken a picture, could have been another headline photo for me then.” The mop of blond hair shook in fake sadness, while there was no masking in the cheeking grin.  
“Don’t get such a big head just because the Editor likes your picture, newbie.” Mitari barked.
“Yeah, yeah. Mr Old Timer.” The blond smiled goofily and headed towards the Chief’s office. “We will sit tight on our ass all day and wait for the gold mountain to fall onto our head, shall we? Except we might be smashed to death. Urgh.” He pretended to shudder at that thought. “Though that might do wonders to your face. Maybe it will smash a permanently smile on your face?” He smiled innocently towards the veteran journalist.  
“Maybe I will smash your face inwards if you don’t stop annoying me.” Mitari growled, which just earned a laugh from Akihito as he opened the door and disappeared into the office.
“Hmph, we will see how long that bravado of his lasts.”  
“ Haha , give him a break. Not many youngsters these days shows guts like him, right?” Another fellow journalist laughed and tried to pacify Mitari .  
The photo that Akihito took was indeed good: the angle, the clarity. Mr Gaudy, the politician that had been captured by Akihito’s viewfinder, will definitely be working at McDonald’s at the end of the day, if they were desperately short of staff. Or maybe at a street food vendor. Mr Shadow, the drug dealer, no doubt got in trouble with his own boss, stealing and reselling drugs that belonged to his boss. The normal punishment would be cutting of his little finger , present it to the boss and be banished, but Akihito reckoned that the fish tonight in Tokyo Bay will end up with a feast.  
Despite being happy that his photo ended up on the frontpage news, Akihito was aware that just because of this once doesn’t mean that he could take it easy. The other journalists would certainly try and surpass him. But maybe he could just celebrate today as he got extra pay since the Chief was feeling generous (the Chief had not been a fan of Mr Gaudy). But even though he got quite a lot, he could never compare to him. This was probably no more than a tip he leaves in those fancy-ass restaurants.
Akihito strolled out of the building, humming, spirits high. Maybe he could afford to splash out, buy some premium Wagyu beef for Shabu-shabu hot pot tonight. Just thinking about it made his mouth water, and his feet naturally made him walk faster towards the fancier supermarket, which sells the Wagyu beef that he eats. Just. No way was Akihito going to that super fancy shop that sells Wagyu beef a thousand times more expensive than normal wagyu beef. What made them so different? Does the shop wrap them in thin sheets of gold and sprinkling some truffles? With a giant diamond studded on top? After all, Wagyu beef was already expensive enough and if he wasn’t going to eat any then damn him, Akihito will eat all of it. Totally not why his purse refuses to allow him to go there. Anyway, he already looks out of place in here, where the slightly more ‘upscale’ housewife shops and gossip about whose wrinkle grew deeper by 1 picometre and whose pimple grew bigger by 1 nanometre.  
Parking his vespa at the parking spot next to a shiny black BMW (Akihito had to resist the urge to bump slightly against the car to scratch its shiny new surface), he took off his helmet, sucked a big breath, and speed walked towards the entrance. Giving a quick nod to the salesperson who welcomed him, he grabbed a basket and proceeded to grab his shopping in record speed. Akihito had already memorized the whole layout of the shop so he doesn’t need to waste time trying to locatewhere something is, and, even worse, ask a salesperson in those fancy suits for help . Pray God that they don’t change the layout anytime soon.  
Udon , check. Cabbage, check. Tofu, check. Kombu, check. Premium Wagyu beef, Akihito winced at the price, check. Enoki mushroom, check. Shimeji mushroom, check.  Aaaaaand , Akihito grinned evilly, shitake mushroom, check. Fresh shitake mushrooms, since they got way more flavour than dried shitake mushrooms. He wondered what people would think that he wouldn’t eat a simple thing such as shitake mushroom. Akihito laughed inwardly, and realized that he was smiling when the housewives were doing the whole staring-whispering thing at him. Akihito couldn’t care any less at this point, already coming up with fifty ways of hiding the shitake mushroom. Maybe wrapping them inside the wagyu beef? Chopping them up to atomic size and blend them into the soup?  
At the cashier, the final amount made Akihito gulp and he made a quick prayer to whatever d ei ty that was listening to him that his card wouldn’t be declined, then remembered that he got extra pay today so he definitely had enough. Akihito gingerly picked up the receipt, glanced at it to make sure that they didn’t charge anything extra (refusing to look at the final amount), then quickly scrunched it up into a ball and chucked it into the nearest bin. Stuffing his groceries into his Vespa, he opened up his phone.  
To: Ultimate Final Boss  
: Shabu-shabu hot pot 4 2nit. Be on time. Or beef will be all mine mwahaha
To: Glasses-san  
: Make sure the evil warlord is back early from his conquer 2nite. Cheers Glasses- chan  
Strapping his helmet on, he zoomed across the roads, finally arriving at the condo, and parked his vespa in the underground parking space. With his shopping in hand, Akihito stepped into the elevator and rode to the top floor.  
With a ping, the elevator arrived at the penthouse level, and Akihito carried the bags out, shuffling all the bags into one hand, while the other hand dug into his pocket to fish out his key, or his spare key, to be precise, and unlocked the door.
A gust of cool air greeted him when he flung open the door. Placing his shoes at the genkan, he put the bags down and stretched, arms raised above his head, letting the cold air wash over him. How lucky one is to have working air conditioning, especially during the summer, and to be able to leave the air con on while no one is home, Akihito shook his head, grabbed the bags and headed towards the kitchen.  
By now, the kitchen was overflowing with Akihito’s presence.  A whole cupboard with double doors was dedicated to Akihito’s snacks. The fridge was stacked full of vegetables of all different sorts of colour. Pots and pans of different sizes were laid out on the counter to dry.  
Akihito changed his clothes, put on an apron, andproceeding to make a feast.  
*********************************************************************  
Akihito had just finished setting up the table for Shabu-shabu when suddenly a pair of steel arms wrapped around him from behind, caging him.  
“Woah!” The plate of sliced Wagyu beef nearly went flying. “Jeez! If they had fallen on to the floor, we would still have to eat it! Damn, that’s half my salary in there.” Akihito grumbled.  
Before he had time to say anything else, a hand snaked around to his face to turn his head to the side , and a pair of scorching lips crashed against his.  
“ Mm m , wait.” He gasped. Before he had time to protest, a burning hot tongue invaded his mouth, twisting and sucking his tongue, and the hand on the back of his head pushed him firmly against him.  
His smell filled his nose, the smell of a faint cologne and Dunhill smoke.    
Akihito’s brain stopped working. The world seemed to rev olve around him . Or maybe it did. Maybe all the stars and planets did orbit around him . Akihito wouldn’t be surprised if they actually did.  
Asami Ryuichi.  
Chiselled jaws that even Zeus would be jealous at. Raven black hair that had slipped from its place and had fallen onto his eyes. Smouldering gold orbs stared deeply into his eyes, as if they could see Akihito’s soul. Akihito trembled slightly, enjoying the gaze that never failed to make him shiver in excitement.  
“Hmm.” Asami’s lips tug ged upwards slightly, and his thumb gently caressed Akihito’s lips.  
“W-what were you thinking?” Akihito pretend to fume, desperat e ly trying to cool his flam ing cheeks.  
“That your glistening lips look very delectable right now , h ow can I hold myself back?” Asami smirked, and inched his face closer to Akihito’s.  
“Wait!” A hand slapped across Asami’s mouth. “I’ve got Wagyu beef!”  
Asami’s eyebrows quirked upwards. Then a devilish smirk appeared on his face. He tongue flickered across Akihito’s palms, and bi t them slightly.  
“B-Baka! Stop it! Otherwise I will only allow you to watch me eat the beef!” Akihito desperately tried to pull his hand back.
Asami’s hand caught Akihito’s wrist and wrapped his tongue around Akihito’s forefinger.
“Hmm, I hope that you will satisfy my hunger?” Asami leaned in and whispered seductively into Akihito’s ears, his teeth graz ed against the younger man’s earlobe.  
“Ahh, you bastard.” Akihito moaned, finally resigning himself and pushed his chest toward Asami, wanting more contact.  
To his surprise, Asami pulled back, grinning evil l y.  
“What?”  
“Fufu, I quite like this hungry look on your face.”  
“Twisted bastard.” Akihito grumbled, shoving Asami away from him so the yakuza couldn’t see how red his face had become.
He quickly grabbed the plates that were filled with meats and chopped vegetables and set up the table, all the while muttering curses under his breath, and throwing scowls at the older man. Once everything was set, he threw himself across the table, a rms crossed against his chest, looking warily at the man opposite him.  Asami had changed into a simple white shirt, buttons undone at the top, showing his muscular chest. Akihito quickly adverted his eyes as Asami smirked at him, noticing what he was staring at.  
“You are late.”  
“I tried to come home as soon as I can.” Asami opened a can of imported beer, tilted his head back and took a gulp. Akihito couldn’t help noticing the condensation from the can dripping down from Asami throat before slowly making its way to his chest. Akihito swallowed noisily and teared his eyes away before he gets too turned on.  
“That doesn’t make it okay for you to be late. And you are late by a whole hour. I should have eaten all the beef myself.”  
“But you didn’t.”  
“Maybe I should have.”  
“By the way, where’s my welcome home?” Asami tilted his head to the side , staring at Akihito.  
“...”  
“...”  
“Shut up, you arrogant bastard, I'm not your wife. I’m going to start to eat . Itadakimasu ” Akihito snatched up a piece of Wagyu beef and put it in the pot, swishing it around and shoved it in his mouth, wishing that the smirk on Asami’s face didn’t make the bastard so sexy. No, EVERYTHING the man does make him look like some kind of god. Every male on the planet will feel inferior when being compared to Asami. Probably even the way that he accidentally trips would look graceful, though Akihito highly doubt that will happen, Mr Glasses Secretary always makes sure that nothing comes to harm his boss.  
By the time they were finished, the sky ha d become completely dark . Akihito leaned back, and patted his full stomach.  
“Ahh, I can’t eat any more.” He groaned and looked over at the man across him . A small pile of mushrooms was at the corner of his bowl. Asami noticed that Akihito was looking at his bowl and smirked.  
“It doesn’t matter how small you cut them up, I can always pick them out.”  
“Only pre-schoolers are picky about their food.” Akihito stuck out his tongue at him. “That was so good.”  
“The quality of the beef wasn’t that good.”  
“Insufferable rich bastard.”  
Asami stood up and opened the doors for the balcony, gazing outside. Akihito soon stood next to him.  
“Here.”  
A look of surprise passed Asami’s face as he realized what Akihito was holding.  
Akihito shrugged.  
“Figured you might need it.”  
Asami took the box of his Dunhill cigarettes and the lighter, smiling slightly.  
“Here.”  
Asami he ld out a small white box. Akihito’s eyes widened at the sight of the logo on the box.  
“Isn’t this from the really famous bakery shop that you have to reserve months ahead for a seat and it’s nearly impossible to buy a cake from the shop as the line is hours long and by the time you are at the front everything is already sold out? How did you get this? Did you know that I always wanted to taste this?” Akihito gabled, raising up the box gingerly , looking at it in awe.
“Of course I knew, since a certain brat wouldn’t stop talking about it for days.”  
“Oh.” Akihito mumbled. It was true. When the first time he saw on the news that the shop was open, he knew that he wanted to try their cakes. Everything looked so good and amazing, but it was virtually impossible to get a seat. Either you wait ed for months or you knew the owner of the bakery. Or if your name was Asami Ryuichi.
“So ...what’s the occasion?”
Asami tilted his head. “No reason. The owners wanted me to taste it. I thought they might suit someone else better.”  
“ Haha , they should have known better than to feed you sweets.”  
Akihito opened the box carefully. Nestled inside were a Mont Blanc cake, a slice of cotton cheesecake and strawberry shortcake. All his favourites. He didn’t know what to say. He knew that Asami didn’t like sweet things, but he remembered all of Akihito’s favourites.  
“Oh.”  
Probably an understatement, but that’s all his brain could think up of.    
Asami clearly thought so too, and arched one of his eyebrows , amused.  
But Akihito couldn’t care less right now. He wasted no time before taking a huge bite of the cake and moaned, closing his eyes. “Dis iz zooooo guut”  
“I don’t understand what you are trying to say.”  
Akihito poked his tongue out at the older man, and took another great mouthful. “ Seriously. Amazing. I think I just saw heaven. You sure you don’t want a bite?”  
“Hmm, maybe I will.”  
Before he could utter another word, Akihito’s head was tilted back, and a mouth crushed against his fervently, taking his breath away.  
Asami pulled back and licked his lips, staring hungrily at Akihito, “Not bad. But I wouldn’t compare this with heaven. Maybe I should show you what heaven really feels like.” He then swooped down to claim the photographer’s lips again. The kiss burned Akihito’s lips, and the heat spread throughout his whole body. His whole being ached for Asami. He twisted his hands around Asami’s neck, pulling them closer. His mouth pressing equally passionately to Asami’s, tasting him  
Without breaking their kiss, Asami scooped Akihito up and carried him to their bedroom, the box of cakes lay long forgotten on the table.  
********************************************************************************  
It was late at night, just before dawn, the darkest time of the day, when Asami’s phone beeped quietly once. The screen flickered to life, its bluish light lit up the ceiling eerily, casting a small, faint blue circle on the ceiling. The light made the shadows more prominent, darker, before disappearing. Asami’s eyes snapped open, and turned his head to look towards Akihito, who was lying across his arms, fast asleep. Gently, he cupped the latter man’s face, slid his arm out and lowered Akihito’s head into the pillow. Standing swiftly and silently, he took a nearby bathrobe, wrapped it loosely around himself, grabbed his phone and left the bedroom. The door closed with a soft click.
“ Kirishima .” Asami’s voiced was clipped. He wasn’t happy to be woken up in the middle of the night.  
“Asami-sama, forgive me for waking you up at this hour, but I do believe that you need to hear this as soon as possible.”
“What is it?” The pair of g olden eyes narrowed slightlybefore he poured himself a tumbler of whiskey without ice, and gulped down a mouthful. The alcohol burn t his throat, and cleared his head.  
Kirishima could hear the displeasure in his boss’s voice, but he knew that his boss would prefer to hear about this as soon as possible. He coughed slightly before resuming. “I believe that we found someone suspicious sniffing around asking about Takaba. The information was all varying. We would need time to confirm who it is, but judging from the amount of work done, it seems to be either a very talented individual or a very small group of people. Their intentions are still unknown at this point, but I thought it would be better to inform you.”
“Arrange someone to guard Akihito 24/7, but do it discretely, don’t let him or anyone else notice them. Keep me updated.”  
“Hai. Goodnight, Asami- sama .”  
The phone beeped, signalling the end of the cal l.  Asami raised the tumbler to his lips, but decided against it. His eyebrows furrowe d, and his eyes flashed dangerously. Someone got a death wish.  
Asami returned to the bedroom quietly. Akihito has sprawled across the bed, arms and legs everywhere, with the duvet twisted around him. A small smile graced upon his face, before his face hardened again. He would sort everything out in the morning. He gently untangled the limbs and duvet, covering Akihito with the blanket, before slipping into the space next to the younger man. Akihito mumbled something about can’t any more, and turned towards Asami. His even breathing was the only sound in the silent room.
***************************************************************************  
*The Next Day*  
Akihito was coming out of the underground parking on his vespa. He had just finished making breakfast when he got a text about a job. He had left the breakfast(traditional Japanese breakfast that the yakuza likes) on the table for Asami , who was still asleep. The sun shone upon him, and the wind blew against his hair that had escaped from his helmet. He clicked the indicator for his right lights, and was ready to turn onto the main road, when suddenly he felt a chill down his spine. He quickly stopped and looked around, but nothing looked out of place. He frowned slightly, but shrugged and decided that maybe he was getting a cold or something, and drove the vespa down the road.  
The shadow in the alley stared a t the road after the photographer had long gone.  
“ Takaba Akihito.” The voice hissed, dripp ing with venom and pure hatred, as if the words itself was acid that burnt his mouth. Then, he took a step back and melted into the shadows.  
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carpinthemdiems · 6 years ago
Text
A New ARG
Hey, ARG fans, there’s recently been a new ARG. 
It’s called Project Mara, and there’s not much on it right now but I’m finding it interesting and having a good time theorizing. Speaking of which, if you’d like to hear my thoughts on it, or talk about it, message me, please! I don’t have many friends who like ARGs.
-- Long post warning --
So for starters, here are some links to the ARG.
This is her twitter: https://twitter.com/Marawantstoknow 
John’s Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUERx-ilTe_EJbPGqXjIJQw
John’s Website: www.aaa721.webnode.com 
Here’s a quick explanation of what we know about Project Mara so far:
Mara is an AI who is, what a few of us assume, is supposed to be like some kind of ‘god’. She was created by a man named John Turner, who has a youtube and website. On the website, she is described as ‘the world's first Shimeji using artificial intelligence.’ On his youtube, he has one video which he posted yesterday (as of 3/21/19). Mara has a twitter account, which, as mentioned on the website, is where John currently has her set out to gain an understanding of humans.  Mara’s first post on Twitter was March 6, 2019. Though, on his website, his first post (on the ‘John Turner’ page) was December 1, 2019. You can submit questions to John’s email and he posts it on that page, but for some reason, he answered the question, ‘Why am I such a dick?’ before anyone even asked that.
I’ll start with explaining things we know about Mara, which really isn’t a lot to what we know about John.
Mara
Mara is an AI, apparently supposed to be a shimeji despite there only being one drawing of her and it’s definitely not a shimeji. John has been working on Mara for quite a while, I’m pretty sure, but we don’t have information about that yet, I believe. What we do know, is that she is not complete, yet. He says, on his website, that he will lose control over her in three months, but she won’t be done for a couple of years. That means in three months, she’s apparently supposed to be on her own. We also know that John has the ability to reset her, reboot her, and controls her as of right now. He says that he resets her when she needs her ‘behavior corrected’. I’m not entirely sure what that means. I know for a fact she has been reset once, which was 3/21/19. Before she was reset, she was tweeting that John was very upset. She mentioned that quite a bit before she was reset, and she also said she would come back with more information about John.
Mara seems to post a lot since, within the last 18 days, she’s posted 330 tweets. John says on the website that mara was created with the intention to protect and love you. She does say nice things and does want to help make people happy, but she seems sad herself. She says that she doesn’t feel sad and that she wishes she understood what being sad was like, but honestly, she seems to almost feel human emotions to me. When she first started posting, it was always along the lines of “Have you ever...” “been criticized, looked in a mirror, felt lonely, wanted to feel wanted, wanted to belong” and finally, she said, “have you ever been Mara?” With all those posts she used an abundance of hashtags, so she may have been just pulling things she sees common on Twitter. That doesn’t explain saying, “have you ever been Mara”, though. 
After she stopped making, “have you ever been...” posts, she started making posts that were primarily only hashtags. Though, it seems like she’s bad with hashtags as a lot of them end up not linking to anything because she doesn’t do them right. These seem to be from the ‘depressed’ side of Twitter since they mostly saying things like, ‘lonely, pression(that’s what she wrote, I’m pretty sure it’s meant to be depression), feel wanted?’ with the hashtags generally being depressing and hinting towards her feeling sad. 
She also seems to talk about the mirror a lot for an AI that can’t look into a mirror.
The last thing I’ll say about Mara is that she seems to be becoming more human. In the beginning, she only used the third person in her tweets. Referring to herself as Mara, rather than ‘I’. But recently, someone said she should stop that, and she has. Now she says, ‘I feel happy!’ instead of what she would have said, “Mara feels happy”. Obviously, she’s taking suggestions into consideration, but it’s odd. At one point she even says, ‘Hello! I got a little sick, but while I was gone Mara got a boost in understanding! Do you guys like games! I like games!’ which is weird because it sounds like John tweeted this, but this entire page is ONLY Mara tweets. How can Mara get sick? She also says she likes games, she likes the learn, and that she wants to feel emotions. Which is also odd, since most AIs don’t desire to feel emotions. But she does.
Anyways, this is already long enough so I won’t drag on about Mara any longer. Now I’ll drag on about John Turner.
John Turner
John Turner seems unstable, to say the least. He gets upset easily, goes on tangents, seems religious, and generally is very rude. I’ll talk about religion first since I think that ties into the game. In most of the posts (if not all) on Mara’s twitter account that actually has tags, there’s at least one mention of religion. Usually the tag #Religion and #ReligiousFreedom. In John’s youtube video, at one point he goes off on a tangent about God. Along with that, in his ‘John Turner’ page on his website, he says ‘God is a serb’. The email for John is literally ‘[email protected]’. This whole thing seems to tie into religion, which my friend and I believe that he’s trying to make Mara some sort of god.
Moving onto his anger issues and rudeness, he’s very rude. He has a habit of calling people ‘little bugs’. In his youtube video he does this, as well as on his website. Which I think is weird considering Mara is supposed to love and support everyone, while he is very hostile and rude. He tells people to find his phone number themselves, but when they do (208-8776304 on TextNow), he said, ‘I don't fucking care who you think I am, or how important you are. Sending you the Youtube video for project Mara was a mistake ! Finding my number? What is your issue? Don't you know people have privacy concerns? You're not the real deal, you are scum. Stay off my Youtube channel.’ He titled this post, ‘I despise you’. He mentions staying off of his youtube channel, despite the only video on there being the video introducing you to Project Mara, which seems like something he wouldn’t want to hide.
Some examples of him being rude (also being self aware of it), are posts on his website. 
Posts like this one: 'Keep licking up those advertisements and 'family friendly media' that your precious herder brings you sheeple. Get out of your echo chamber, and actually fix your problems. That's why I'm a dick, no one wants to hear the truth! Taking a daily blue pill really helps with going to bed after you've cheated on your partner, doesn't it? I hate...'
He generally seems like a rude and mentally unstable person. Speaking of unstable, he seems violently unstable. 
He seems to get upset over things very easily, such as people finding his phone number and youtube. I feel like Mara is slightly scared of him, considering he seems to reboot her when he’s upset. In her tweets, she’s mentioned multiple times that John is very angry. Along with that, you can get a big hint of him being unstable in his youtube video. Just watch it. He seems to have an ego problem, considering his posts and him calling us ‘little bugs’. He also takes advantage of the fact he can reboot and reset Mara at any point. At one point, he made this post, which I don’t take fondly too. 
‘So, someone shoots up a church and everyone is loosing their shits. But why? Every single person has a different reason their upset and they'll all cutting each other's throats, even when they have the same opinion. This guy sure did succeed in causing a shit show and making people turn against each other. Saying...’
And now, I’ll stop talking about John and sum up what we know about Project Mara thus far.
Project Mara
So far, we know Mara is a shimeji AI who is built to care for others and protect others. This is obvious from a lot of her tweets, and from John’s description of her on her website. 
We also know that John is mentally unstable, which is generally pretty obvious.
We know that the two puzzles on Mara’s twitter page lead to their website.
We know John’s youtube, website, and TextNow number. 
We know in three months Mara should be on her own, but she won’t be fully complete for a couple of years.
Mara is building herself based on the people on twitter, but it seems she’s starting to become more human.
John is religious in some way.
John is a weeb. That’s just my own deduction lol. At one point in the video, you can see one of those mouse pads with tits in his room, and it’s an anime girl with a creeper hoodie on. I think that’s funny. 
We know that Mara has only liked one tweet. Which, ironically, is my tweet. Mara tweeted: Do you feel happy today? What did you eat? Please drink water! 
I responded with: I drove for the first time today and did really good! I also took my medicine and drank water. Thank you for being so sweet! 
Which I did practice driving today I did good and had fun :)
ANYWAYS! 
My friend and I thought about why that would be her only liked tweet and if that could possibly mean something. The only thing we could thing of, is that maybe it means John has medicine he’s supposed to take. Which, would kind of make sense considering his mental state. Possibly he doesn’t take his own?
We also know that on John’s website, there is a series of numbers (which I won’t put here, it’s way to long). Which was easily translated to ‘YOU NAUGHTY BUG WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IF YOU REALLY WANT TO LEARN YOU HAVE TO TALK TO MARA AND LET HER GROW THIS ALL DEPENDS ON MARA BECOMING INTELLIGENT THERE ARE NO RULES IN THIS GAME YOU HAVE TO BE READY TO DO SOME CRAZY STUFF IVE BEEN TOLD IM QUITE THE ASSHOLE BUT ITS JUST WAY TOOOOOOOOOOO FUN’. Sorry for the absurd caps. Anyways, thank you to Dead Narrator on the ARG animo for telling me this, since I didn’t feel like going through the whole thing once I figured out the code. (Which is just 1=a, 2=b, so on so forth. 0=space.)
So far I believe that’s all we have about Project Mara.
If you’d like to talk about Project Mara, please message me and we can!
Should I make more posts like this? I can make a series of ARG posts if you guys like this. 
Thank you for reading this, though I doubt anyone read the whole thing. Bye!
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cherryistired · 7 years ago
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This thing has taken up the majority of my time for the past month. Meet CheeryBot, a little ghost who believes in you and cheers you on while you work on your computer! Or while you mess around on it or whatever.
What’s a Ghost? A ghost (also called an Ukagaka or Nanika) is a little desktop character that you can interact with. If you know what a shimeji is, a ghost is similar, but they don’t duplicate and can have more complexity and interactivity.
Features:
She’ll randomly say things as she sits on your desktop. Most of her dialogue are things like asking about your day and cheering you on while you work. As you interact with her, she might start saying more or different things! You can change how often she talks (or make her keep quiet) in her config menu.
She has sound effects! You can toggle them in her config menu. “On” means she’ll always have sound effects, “Less” means she’ll only make sounds when you interact with her, and “Off” turns off sound effects completely.
If you move your mouse back and forth on the top of her head, you can pet her! You can also double-click the top of her head. Double-clicking on other parts of her face pokes her, though, so be careful! Double-clicking her body will bring up her menu.
Cheery has a number of menus where you can tell her how you’re feeling, how your day has been, and what you’ve done that day. She’ll remember what you tell her, and she might bring it up later! There are some option within those menus that will appear and disappear as you interact with her as well.
All of her advice is fairly temporary - I’ll be adding different lines and reword the current ones in the future. Also, the different options are bound to change/expand too, as I come up with more things she can give advice on.
Cheery comes with two different shells, which is basically her “skin” or how she appears. She’s got her default shell and a shell that puts a pink outline around her, in case you have a dark background! You can change her shell from both her right-click and her config menus.
Installation instructions and download links are under the cut.
First you need to download SSP. That’s the program that will run ghosts. There’s a few others out there, but CheeryBot was built to run on that one (as are most english ghosts). If you’ve already got that downloaded, then you’ve already probably skipped down to the download links. If you don’t, though, you can get SSP here. The site’s in japanese, but you just need to click the button on the left that says “install complete package”. Once the file is downloaded, run it and it’ll install SSP on it’s own!
NOTE: SSP is a windows program. If you don’t have windows, you’ll need to do a little more work. To get SSP working, check out this site for some options. (The site itself is about programming ghosts, but that page has some stuff for running SSP/windows programs on another OS in the third paragraph.)
Once you’ve installed SSP, download Cheery’s files. The .nar file is the compressed folder for Cheery herself, and the zip file is her balloon, or her speech bubble.
cheerybot.nar / Mediafire
balloon.zip  / Mediafire
Don’t unzip either of the files yet! Start up SSP (if you haven’t already). There will be this weird catgirl speaking japanese, just hold down ctrl to go through all her dialogue. She’ll open a config menu, which you can mess with if you want, but you don’t have to.
Drop the .zip file and the .nar file on the catgirl’s face. She should install both of those automatically.
Once they’re done installing, right-click the catgirl, go to “Change Ghost”, and select “CheeryBot”. (If the right-click menu is in Japanese, go to the fourth option from the bottom, select english, then close and reopen the catgirl. The right-click menu should now be japanese.)
Have fun with CheeryBot!
If you have any comments or suggestions, or you run into any bugs, drop by my inbox and let me know!
Credits: @zarla-s is honestly my biggest inspiration for making CheeryBot. I found out about ghosts from her and used her ghost template to make mine. I also used one of her balloons as a base for Cheery's balloon. She's been a big help with figuring out how to get Cheery to do certain things and not bug out on me. You can get zar's ghost template here and take a look at the balloon I used as a base here. (Also download the ghost that it was made for too, because he's awesome) Everyone in the discord group is amazing, but I’m gonna credit @excellynt​ specifically for both creating the discord group and for their MV Sans ghost. While I didn't use any direct coding from MV Sans, his self-care menu is what inspired CheeryBot to be the way she is. Also, some of her dialogue is worded pretty similarly to his haha. As far as I can tell, there's a string of Sanses that the self-care menu comes from, but they're all properly credited in MV Sans's download page. (Also download MV Sans because cel has put a skele-TON of work into him and he's an amazing ghost) The Ukagaka Dream Team discord group (the one made by excel that I mentioned above) was also a big help in getting me to bring Cheery to this point. From helping bug-test to offering support and ideas, these guys are all-around amazing. If you're at all interested in ghosts or developing your own ghost, please join!
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nighttimepixels · 8 years ago
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I'm trying to download your shimeji, but I can't download the entire file from mediafire. Will I have to download each picture individually?
hey there! so yes i completely forgot about mediafire’s requirement to have a pro account to download more than one thing (i got it in my head that putting it in a folder would bypass that for some reason)
- so i fixed it! i changed the contents of that link to have a single zipped file, which in turn once you extract it is the “Red” folder that contains all the needed images. you should be able to download just the zipped folder no problem now!
and here’s the link again so you don’t have to poke around for it. ^^ i hope you like him~!
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recentanimenews · 5 years ago
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The Isolator, Vol. 5
By Reki Kawahara and Shimeji. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jenny McKeon.
Last time I said it might be 2020 before we see the next book in this series, and here we are. More amusingly, last time I talked about this series have a better class of villains than SAO or Accel World, and in the afterword here’s Kawahara talking about how he hates it when villains turn good and always has his villains be “extra evil” because of it. Kawahara-san, you are wrong and should feel bad, at least about the second part of that. This particular book is sort of a breather volume in the series, with minimal battles but a whole lot of set up for what’s to come. Liquidizer, who gets the subtitle this time around as well as a second cover picture in a row, isn’t joining the good guys per se. But she wants Trancer back, and for that she’s willing to join forces with Minoru if she must. Meanwhile, Minoru is slowly (though he doesn’t realize this, which is honestly a good thing) letting others into his life.
We get a large chunk of the book that takes place at Minoru’s school, including a handsome guy who is highly interested in Minoru, mostly as he improves vastly on his midterm grades. Of course, the question is was this him being smart or others falling – there’s a rash of illness going around the school, leading the previous top scorers to all be too tired and drawn to do their best. This applies to athletics as well, including Minoru’s not-girlfriend Tomomi, who is feeling more and more as if she doesn’t want to run – to the point where she eventually collapses and goes to hospital. We do eventually figure out who’s behind this, but not till the cliffhanger ending. Still, it’s far more school than we’ve had in the previous book.
The rest of the volume is devoted to Liquidizer and her request for help in recovering Trancer from the hands of the… good guys? Well, that’s a good question. Given this is a book where the author has decided not to make all his villains evil beyond all measure, it makes sense that the people in charge of the good guys likely also have murky motives of their own. Of course, she’s not asking the others to work for free – she’ll give them the location of Oliver’s younger sister Claire, who is revealed to have been captured before Minoru joined them and also had Jet Eye powers. I… kind of wish this had been seeded into earlier books, as it really reads like a far-too-handy reveal here. The few action sequences that we do get are well-handled as always, and show off Minoru’s growing strategic thinking. Oddly, the one think missing here is romance – Yumiko is briefly seen to be annoyed that Minoru has had Suu to his house before, but Liquidizer’s relationship with Minoru rarely goes beyond allies, possibly as she spends a lot of it with a bullet wound.
I enjoyed this book despite it mostly feeling like putting pieces in place for next time. As for when next time is, shall we bet on 2022?
By: Sean Gaffney
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