#i guess that's better than what they were doing with kirakira

[just-someone-online]

what the hell

[mahou-furbies]

☕️ transformation items in precure!

Overall I’m more tolerant for dumb designs with transformation items than in weapons so most of them get a positive or at least neutral reaction from me. However some still scream “we would never have used a design like this if it wasn’t for the toys”.

Let’s go through them all!

Futari wa Precure

Simple flip-phone like designs for the modern girl in 2004. I think these are alright enough but don’t raise a lot of emotions in me. Not a fan of the mascots transforming into items, like does the phone become a part of their body, that’s just creepy. I’d prefer if it was made clear that the phone is a separate item and the mascots just shrink to be able to fit in it. I prefer the original designs, the upgraded ones look busier.

Uhh... I got nothing on this. I guess it’s nice that the new girl gets an item that’s a bit different but also similar to the ones we already have.

Splash Star

Still got nothing, it’s the same thing again. Good that they started using different ideas from the fourth season onwards. I guess I prefer the Futari Wa ones since these somehow feel too small. Nice light? But let’s just say that while it’s just fine to use phone as a base for the transformation item, there’s quite many of them on this list and in general they are a bit boring when you can’t do anything else with them than press a few buttons in the beginning.

Yes! Precure 5

Simple design but it works, usually black is a good idea. Though it could do with some buttons because now it doesn’t look you can do much anything with this. It’s a nice detail how the henshin starts with the lid of the clock opening and ends with it closing.

Now we’re truly in the 00′s with the flip phones. I like how the henshin starts with the lid opening, and the rose button is cute. But there’s not a lot to say about this one and it’s pretty boring.

My second least favourite Precure transformation item. What is this even supposed to be? Some kind of makeup case? In that case I’d rather have the colous be actual makeup and not buttons. The handle also feels stupid.

Fresh Precure!

This doesn’t even try to pretend it’s not a phone, it even has the number buttons. Actually were the transformation items originally the Cures’ phones? Can they make regular phone calls with this? I’d like to see that. But this is cute enough, I can imagine that a real phone like this could have been popular with little girls. But maybe it could do with some extra detail to look more weird, now it feels a bit too mundane to be a magical girl item.

Heartcatch Precure!

I’m not a huge fan of beauty products in little girls’ shows, but they do make a lot of sense in a transformation sequence where you get to see the characters “apply” the magic themselves, and the fragrance bottles make for some great henshin animation and also fit a flower-themed season. I also like the white-and-gold palette, makes it look more regal than the usual shock pink.

I forgot this one even existed. I really can’t muster any emotion towards it, KiraKira did the compact mirror thing a lot better.

Suite Precure

Why are the colours pink-white-blue-purple and not yellow? I don’t have particularly strong feelings for this one in any direction, I guess on its own it’s a bit boring when it doesn’t resemble any real item I can recognise and you can’t do much else with it than press the button at the bottom, but I also think it’s fine to have an item like that every once a while. However I think the little mascot creatures that are needed to use this thing are uncute and that lowers the overall points.

Smile Precure!

Another makeup item, another chance for the characters to do the transformation themselves. I love the little tup tup! sound effect that comes from this. Otherwise great, but it’s just unacceptable that the canon Cures cover 5 of the coloured bead thingys but we don’t get a red or purple Cure. False marketing I say.

Doki doki! Precure

The mascot-items are back and I’m still not a fan of this living-creature-turns-into-hard-plastic-device thing. It’s a phone, but it’s also too bulky to comfortably feel like one. But I really like how they spell L-O-V-E with the heart, I thought that was creative.

They tried to make Ace all cool and mature and then her transformation item is the most kiddy-looking TOY makeup box ever. Even if the merch is plastic can’d she at least have actual makeup in the henshin? And what’s with the button colours, sure they’re the team colours this time, but the other Cures don’t even use this item. 

Happiness Charge Precure!

The idea that the Cures can choose different cards to insert is a super fun one, and it’s also nice that they can use it for more mundane outfit changes outside battle scenes too. The writing around the cards is atrocious though but that’s another story. As for the design of the device itself, I think it’s pretty weak, it’s somehow bulky and not very memorable.

Probably my least favourite item from this bunch. The Piano is yet another unrelated thing that is shoved into HapiCha’s confused world, there is nothing about making music in the themes of the season, or Iona as a character. I hate that this thing is the culmination of Hime and Iona’s character arcs. Also the design looks really cheap and the animation where Iona presses a couple keys to get sounds that don’t even try to hide that this is just a toy for three-year-olds wastes time.

Go! Princess Precure

Another makeup item. At least perfumes fit the princess theme... But Go!Pri has the best henshin scenes in Precure, and the Cures applying the tranformation themselves plays a part in that. I also love how they start the transformation by filling the bottle with their theme colour, and the little twist they do with the key is a nice change from the usual button presses. And like with Heartcatch white and gold makes for a good regal colour palette. I think you could get an actual pretty fragrance bottle for grownups with this design if you did it with glass rather than plastic.

Also there are the keys which I love because of course I’m going to love collectible frilly dress items. They give each transformation and attack something unique and I like the bit where all the keys show up in a chain at the end of the henshin (and thankfully otherwise hidden under frills so you don’t need to draw them every time), and it’s nice to get the lock-and-key theme to the henshin as well. So once again Go!Pri is the best Precure at something and now gets the award for Best Precure Transformation item.

(god flora is so cute in this frame)

Mahou Tsukai Precure!

My bias that ever since I was a kid I’ve never really liked teddy bears comes to play here. The idea that the Cures don’t have a distinct transformation item at all is fun and the jewel theme is nice too, but I’m just filled with negative emotions whenever I see Mofurun... I haven’t seen MahouTsukai outside the henshin scenes so who knows if she’ll turn out to be my favourite character (and not just by process of elimination from me disliking everyone else more)

Not a big fan of this one, is it supposed to be a smartphone, or do they have some kind of smart notebooks in Japan? Either way it doesn’t really fit witches or flower fairies. All the little engravings are pretty and the flowers are cute, but overall this feels just random.

Kira Kira Precure a la Mode

Mixing the attributes the character represents with a magic whisk and then transforming by covering yourself with the whipped cream is a super fun idea, and also one of the few Precure transformations where the girls apply the transformation themselves that is not based on beauty products. Or I guess this is a pocket mirror too but whatever. The item itself is fun and cute enough.

However as those who saw my Ichika fanart a few days ago I really really really don’t like that they have to fiddle with the pathetic tiny q-tip of a whisk, give them one the size of a microphone so they can put some strength into it!

Hugtto! Precure

I love how you can twist the end to make a heart, if I had one of these I’d click it back and forth while sitting at the computer and the hinges would be busted in no time. The grey things at the edge of the screen could be some other colour, now they look a bit like they’re made of rocks. I don’t think this one does anything special but it’s just so cute that I have to love it.

Star Twinkle Precure

These are fun but a bit wasted on a season that has nothing to do with art. But otherwise A+ idea, very active participation from the girls when they draw almost everything in their new look, and it’s not makeup-based. Quill and ink bottle are the most magical writing apparatus so that’s very fitting, and thanks to the space theme we get some stars too so it’s not just the usual hearts. The pink tone is a bit gaudy.

Healin’ Good Precure

And we end on a weaker note with mascot items again. And these are my least favourites since to me they come across as if they have the dead-eyed animals’ decapitated heads sticking out of them. The paws also feel somehow unbalanced, and should not be pink for the blue and yellow items. The bottles feel tacked on too.

I feel that the mascots have been treated a bit better than average in Healin’ Good so I suppose it’s not bad that they get to be involved with the fights too (It’s nice that the item is also used as a weapon) but I would really rethink the design since now I don’t think the different elements go too well together and the result feels unbalanced. 

[trashexplorer]

BLCD Review: Ookami-kun wa Kowakunai

Title: Ookami-kun wa Kowakunai (オオカミくんはこわくない)

Release Date: 2019/05/29

Author/Artist: Sakura Riko

Cast: Kumagai Kentarou x Nogami Sho

Synopsis: 

“Do people fall in love with someone on their first heat...?” The world is filled with animals that can evolve into beast men. There is a young and earnest wolf who was always mistaken for a showy person because of his flashy looks. The easily mistaken wolf has fallen for an attractive looking rabbit named Usami, whose skin is tanned. Even though Usami is very cautious of the carnivores, he would put his guard down only when he is with the easily mistaken wolf, who was a pervert that became a life saver for Usami. But what will happen to Usami on his first heat!?

Review Proper

Huh, this also wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

First of all, I do not like Sakura Riko’s works. Miss me with that problematic characters and incest bs. Their ukes also tend to be spineless and bland, so I was already biased about this from the start. I mean, Usami was a bit bland, but was certainly a great improvement from sensei’s other ukes. Doesn’t help the fact that sensei’s works can be a little—okay, well, maybe considerably poorly executed (because I still haven’t read anything other that was solid) which is why I immediately nope out of a new work when I see that it’s theirs. I’ve read Karasu no Yomeiri along with Ookami, but I finished with the former first and since it came at me with incest, I dropped Ookami. Had I known how Ookami would’ve ended, I would have finished it then and left Karasu no Yomeiri in the gutter. Also, idk if it’s just me, but even though their art is modern, their characters are so stiff that it looks like they were made back in the late 2000′s. Can I also just say that Shiba's ears makes him look like My Horse Prince?

I’m glad that it ended on a lighter note without any shitty traps whatsoever, though. It wasn’t that predictable either, which is nice. This might just be sensei’s best work yet. Ten years is definitely a long time for bad to transcend into decent, but progress is progress. 🙊 OH MY GOD FRANCESCA WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN?! I mean, it’s true. 🤷 Unpredictable as it was, it’s not like it’s a new concept. It’s very similar to Tokishiba’s Yagi to Ookami no Hatsujou Jijou and they were released around the same time even. And tbh, Yagi to Ookami is way better than this even though it’s all about sex and the plot is almost non-existent. But I guess that’s just my personal preference. I will, however, look forward to the BLCD adaptation of the sequel, Thoroughbred wa Nabikanai, which involves Shishidou and Shiba because I low-key ship them lol. Karasu? We don’t know her

Moving on to the voice acting.

My god, Kumagai Kentarou! Where did that come from?! This man will do good in anime, especially in shounen anime, I tell you. I’ve only ever heard him in his stint in Kimi to Boku no Sekai’s Phase 2 where he topped my bb Murase Ayumu, but I honestly thought that he wasn’t that notable even though he did well there. HE SOUNDS LIKE KAGAMI TAIGA I’M SCARED. I repeat; HE SOUNDS LIKE ONO YUUKI. It’s weird because he was in a lower range in Phase 2 and the difference between the tones he used in these two works is so huge! I heard it the second he spoke, but it wasn’t until he raised his voice that I confirmed it. How can you even sound like someone to that extent?! But his similarity with Ono Yuuki aside, he managed to get Shirou to move. Again, sensei’s style is a bit stiff, so I feared that their voice acting would be stiff, too. Yeah, sounds impossible, but try listening to Kimi wa Hiniku na Kirakira Boushi’s BLCD and you’ll see what I mean. I actually had no idea that it was Sakura Riko’s, but when I knew, it all clicked.

Kumagai Kentarou also voices Daichi in No Color Baby (which I’ll be listening to later), so I’m super pumped about his future endeavors.

Sadly, Nogami Sho still hasn’t done it for me. Father Fucker was forgettable and I’m glad that I’ve forgotten Oni ga Shitau. Again, since Usami’s personality was a bit bland, Nogami was bound to act blandly as well. I’ve actually even forgotten how he sounds like as I’m typing this. I do know that he acted well, so he’s got that going for him. The mattress mambos were great, too. 

As for accuracy, there were a lot of ad libs in the BLCD which is understandable and needed because they had to compensate with more dialogue explaining the movements since the manga lacked movement because of the stiffness. But you can definitely read the manga along listening the CD. I read YaoiSekai’s English trans of it, and it had some mistranslations here and there, but it does not affect the story whatsoever. 

So we had semi-generic and decent plot, great voice work and chemistry, and loyalty to the original content. I’d grade this a 7. I’d recommend listening to this because of Kumagai Kentarou’s performance and not the plot itself, but if you’re a fan of the work, or in for something light, then this could be for you. 

[techouspeaks]

Star Twinkle Precure: Final Thoughts

Just some quick final thoughts of what I thought was a fairly decent series.

First, I apologize for not doing Precuruary this year and other years I’ve skipped it. It seems like whenever February comes, I’m just either not in the mood to do full reviews of Precure stuff or I have been busy with other things or even both and this year was definitely on the both side, but more so on the busy side. I just moved to my new place and it has been one of the hardest moves we’ve ever endured. Just now did we get all of our stuff and we moved in here weeks ago, back in late January. So, I apologize greatly for not being as active in Precure. I do love Precure and I do want to keep up with Precuruary because this is the one subject besides Hazbin Hotel and Winx Club, that I have a lot of passionate theories and thoughts on. Until my passion comes in Febuary, Precuruary is gonna be a little bit late and inconsistent in the dates.

With that being said, I’m gonna be quick or try to be quick about my overall thoughts of Star Twinkle Precure. Overall, I think I enjoyed Star Twinkle more than Hugtto, even though, I do think Hugtto did a better job at morals and story, Star Twinkle has been more of an enjoyment to watch. Perhaps is because the characters are just more likable, not that Hugtto’s wasn’t, but I got more into the side characters than the main characters in Hugtto. The only Cure I really cared about in Hugtto was Cure Etoile, but the other cures did seem more of stereotypes or caricatures we’ve seen a million times. The side characters were also just more interesting than the main characters.

Star Twinkle, we do get more of variety, though I do agree that Madoka doesn’t seem any different from the soft, but firm feminine anime type. What I mean is Madoka reminds me too much of characters like Hime, Karen, (Aikatsu Stars and Aikatsu Friends) and pass cures like Cure Beauty and Cure Rhythm. She’s an elegant lady who works hard, is rich,is from a strict noble family and her out bringing changes with the help of her friends. I do rant on about using archetypes we’ve seen a million times. Like it is hard to be 100% original, but it doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of these types and unless they do something new with it, it’s really hard for me to care about said character.

(I do ADORE her design though.)

We also have another happy go lucky lead and yes, ultimately everyone grows with her, I think it would have just been nice if she was more of a nerdy shy type, with a strong passion to help and still have a great imagination. I mean, you can be helpful and be full of imagination without being the clumsy, hyper stereotype that is Hikaru. It would have actually made more sense if we had gotten a nerdy girl over Hikaru. 

Hikaru developed I think the least of the cures. She didn’t go through anything that life changing and her back story, as someone from Angryanime wrote, wasn’t that realistic or relateable. If I had a dad that went around looking supernatural creatures, instead of taking care of the family, there would definitely more family strain than just the grandfather hating him.

 Hikaru is not a bad character and she does go through some bullying, but so did many characters in the passed, including Haruka/Cure Flora. A bullied character can be fine, but they need to be interesting too and she’s just another happy go lucky character. She doesn’t necessarily have the charm as Hikaru nor the realistic, understandable back story that Nodoka/Cure Grace has. She’s just another Hana and Ichika.

The Princesses were also disappointingly dull in personality. There’s actually no excuse on it either. They could have easily based the personality of the princesses on their respective Zodiac. Like have Scorpio be moody or stern but emotional inside. Have Aries be easily angered and want things done her way. Leo a hot shot like Cure Gelato that she was obviously inspired from. Taurus like gardening and be the gentle one. That was another reason why the Zodiac was made. To understand people’s behavior and how to deal with someone that you may clash with or are more compatible with. I guess because the Cures don’t spend enough time with them, they just made them with a dull personality, but they could have. Like the Zodiac is basically not only a way to tell your fortune, but to learn from in terms of learning about yourself and others.

However, we do get characters like Lala/Cure Milky and Elena/Cure Soleil. I know people kept saying Elena was under developed and her development came way too soon. For me, personally as someone who has Autism that caused my growth to be slow. Like mentally, I’m younger than my physical age, I felt Elena’s development to be fine. Not perfect, but not everyone grows the same way, the same speed and like I said, for a while, I didn’t know what she could possibly learn being she is the most mature and responsible already. 

Compared to the development of other characters in the passed (Mirai/Cure Miracle, whom, while I relate to somewhat in that child likeness of hers, I agree I don’t think she developed as much as leaders in the passed did and most of the characters in KiraKira Precure, especially Akira and Yukari!), Elena at least developed and was the most realistic of the cures. I relate to her wanting keep others happy but hiding your own feelings and pain in doing so. I do that even now, though I do try to be more open when something is really bothering me.

Lala, by far definitely grew a lot and is my second favorite of the Star Twinkle Team. Though, I dunno, both Elena and Lala I like pretty equally. I guess I do relate to Elena just a bit more though.. I think in truth, Lala was more of the main character than Hikaru because it seemed like the creators really liked her the most. There was a lot of focus on her and she seemed to develop the most than the other girls .I guess that does give a bit of a negative feel towards her for some people, which I can see, but Lala is pretty likable enough, that I kinda let it slip like most people seem to. She’s just a real nice, likable character!

As for Cure Cosmos, I honestly don’t know how to feel about her. I like her design and character, but I can’t say I like or dislike her. Pretty much on middle ground when it comes to her. She didn’t really leave a huge impact on me, negative or positive. I love the police puppy girl, Mary Anne, that was following her and I love their overall chemistry together! XD

The story did get a bit clunky towards the end and I would even argue a bit confusing. Like, okay, these princesses gave all their power to the pens, the cures, Fuwa and the rest of the world, it kinda made it seem pointless in reviving them anyway. The Notraiders and their story was touching and I like how they did touch upon issues like racism with Kappard and his people and an example of someone being born different from others like Tenjo and her people.

I will agree though, Eyewarn was the most annoying and hard to deal with. Her voice even got on my nerves! I didn’t care if they redeemed her. Her sudden change in attitude didn’t make sense and I think they would have done us all a favor and offed her somehow. I mean shoot, they weren’t afraid to full on kill the fairy mascot, they could have done so with Eyewarn easily. Who actually cared about the cyclops Trollz reject? I sure didn’t and I know a lot of people didn’t either!

Overall, I know this is review is all over the place, but I’ll do more of proper review later but I will rate Star Twinkle 7 1/2 stars out of 10. It’s not perfect but it’s been an enjoyable ride in the spaceship. Now we’re headed back down to earth and our usual stick with Healin Good Precure!

[filliteapot]

so, what shoujo manga are your cup of tea? can you mention what you wanted to say about dessert margaret, you got me interested

First of all: I do love shoujo manga. I enjoy romance stories and see no shame in this. Also I hate when people trash on shoujo only bc it’s shojo and go with that ‘omgnoanotherstupidromanceforteengirls’ as these people won’t ever admit that such a story may show something from a different perspective and is no worse than any generic shounen they praise. But at the same time I kinda get where they are coming from - as I also appreciate when the romance isn’t an end in itself, and characters aren’t walking tropes and I can feel like they have other problems than that. Joseis are more satisfying in this regard, so now I kinda switched to them (though sometimes the diffrence is thin). Soo— when I hear ‘Margaret’ I immediately think ‘oh and now we gotta talk about ROMANCE and NOTHING ELSE’ and in my current state of mind it’s kinda too little to get me interested. I love when you can see characters grow, change their vision of the world, solving problems with friends, parents, lovers, choose their own way to live and be themselves. I love when love interests are also important friends and people who support them. I love stories that make me feel like this world is a better place than we may think when we have hard times (even if these stories have some psychologically heavy stuff - but have some hope within).

So, choosing from shoujo, I guess I’m leaning towards older stuff from Hana to yume or Lala which may be named shoujo but is mature and serious (while having flowers and romance but let’s be honest there are flowers and romance in the real world too and no one calls it unnatural). So, I’m sharing my recs or things that caught my attention but I had no time or mood to get into them yet.

(It got longer in process than I expected, even if I included only things that came into my mind right away, so I put it under the cut.)

I started wriring this post thinking about nowadays series and in process learned about oldschool series that were serialized in these magazines and wrote a bit about them too.

Hana to yume

everything by Takaya Natsuki

Please save my earth by Hiwatari Saki

Tokyo crazy Paradise (need to finish) and Skip beat (need to READ) by Nakamura Yoshiki

NG life by Kusanagi Mizuho 

LaLa:

everything by Midorikawa Yuki

Mekakushi no kuni by Tsukuba Sakura (fffave)

Ouran High School Host Club by Hatori Bisco 

Kare Kano by Masumi Tsuda (need to read it, as i liked the beginning but put it on hold)

Betsuma (Bessatsu Margaret):

Ando Yuki’s works

Kimi ni Todoke by Shiina Karuho (i got an ask about this one recently, you may check it in my knt tag)

Cat Street by Kamio Yoko (it’s been years since I read this but I remember that characters growth and dealing with traumas were major themes and the story was quite hopeful)

Mashikaku Rock and other things  by Watanabe Kana (this author mostly writes short series or oneshotes but I adore her style and… idk, how real and kind they feel)

Margaret:

Sugars by Yamamori Mika

Futsuu no Koiko-san by Nagamu Nanaji

Short Cake Cake by Morishita Suu

Some works by oldschool authors like Ikeda Ryoko (Versailles no bara) and Honda Keiko were there too. Wow.

Dessert:

Ohayou Ibarahime by Morino Megumi (i still need to finish it but it surely is not a superficial story)

Koi Wazurai no Ellie by (idk it makes me laugh)

Mairimashita Senpai by Mase Azusa (not sure where its going but enjoyable so far)

Betsucomi - I seriously had no idea Basara and Kaze Hikaru were serialized here but they were. In short, some stuff from this magazine which isnt oldschool still seem more like josei to me.

Kirakira to Yoru ni Furu by Fujio Nami (my underrated and probably not scanlated all time fave)

Joou no Hana by Kaneyoshi Izumi (still need to contnue this one and also her new series as I liked the beginning)

stories by Motomi Kyosuke (i appreciate her humour and am kinda meh about her ‘serious and heavy’ parts of the plot but i couldn’t wrtite this post and ignore her)

Haruyuki Bus by Usami Maki (oneshotes collection, has average stories as well as good ones, I enjoyedit overall)

Tsuki to Mizuumi by Ashihara Hinako (i also tried her Piece but liked this oneshot collection better, esp the first story)

Gosh betsucomi even has stuff by Hagio Moto, an oldschool author I want to check

[digiconjurer]

Secret Santa - Kirakira Tamers

I don’t own digimon or Precure. But do have a merry Christmas, @junnichiedesu. For it was I, who was your Secret Santa! 

Rika Nonaka’s day began much  like any other day normally did.

She would wake up, get dressed, and try to find something for her partner to do for the day. Unlike most days, it was a weekend, making the last task irrelevant. Of course, that didn't stop her partner from making suggestions.

“You should take me and Ryo here.” Renamon explained and held up a poster. “Sure, it’s a bit out of the way, but you said the other day you wanted to travel. So here’s your chance.”

Rika let out a deep breath. While sure, she had wanted to get out of West Shinjuku and see the other parts of Japan, this wasn’t what she had in mind.

“Isn’t this from a show that aired last year or something?” she continued and got a nod in return. “Then how the heck are we supposed to get there then?”

An answer was not given to that question. Instead, Renamon held out what looked to be a purple cat thing.

“Please~” the vulpine digimon cooed, giving a wink right after. “Outside of a kiss, I won’t ask you for anything else.”

But all that remark got her was a look.

“We both know you’re going to break that promise.” Rika answered as Ryo poked his head through a nearby window. How he even got there is a good question. Probably jumped the large fence that surrounded the Nonaka’s property. Instead of you know, going to the gate.

“I heard my name. What do you need from me?” Ryo inquired and jumped on through. “Card game? Some kind of trip? A storytime, perhaps?”

Rika shot him a glare.

“None of the above.”

Ryo’s gaze fell to the floor, not really liking that answer. But you know, life sometimes isn’t that fair. Just ask Jeri. I bet she would love to remind you of the whole D-Reaper mess.

Of course, it would seem that Ryo's focus was more on Renamon's poster rather than the shouting of the narrator.

“So you were thinking here?” he remarked and got a nod. The pulling out of the D-arc followed. “Millenniummon might know a way to get there. Though, I'm not sure what his price to get us there would be.”

Right on cue, a ball of dust floated in. Though, it didn't look all too happy at the moment. He would probably prefer to appear as the weird gold dragon thing. But then he wouldn't fit.

“Silence!” the dust ball announced and turned their attention to the trio. “What is this about using me? I am the lord of time, not someone’s playtoy.”

No one answered. Instead, they were too focused on trying to decide whether or not this was the real Millenniummon or just some weird copy that Ryo was trying to pass off as the real McCoy. Which if you ask me, seems like a whole lot of work in the grand scheme of things. Better yet, where exactly was he going to get such a thing as a dustball.

“We get it!” Rika shouted and took a deep breath. “We were hoping to go here. Can you possibly take us here?”

She then pointed to her partner's poster. Millenniummon floated on over, making a brief pit stop to give his master a stink eye. Which I guess Ryo deserves? He did try and kill him at one point. Though, that was under the orders of the sovereigns, so I guess I can give that sort of a pass.

“We don't talk about that.” the dustball remarked as he gave the poster a nudge. The poster then disappeared, leaving behind a portal of some sort. I was expecting something more along the lines of a train, maybe a trailmon/locomon. But this works too. “Ready to go then?”

Renamon and Ryo gave a nod, but Rika didn’t respond. No, she was just confused by what the fuck was going at this very moment. But eventually, she gave a nod and they were sucked on in.

On the other side, the three found themselves subjected too to a rainbow void. It reminded two of the four of that one time that they went to the digital world. Except it was less hard on the eyes and there were more of them taking the trip.

Eventually, the rainbows faded away, giving way to a world similar to the one that they had just left. Except everything was all pastel and cel-shaded.

“Okay…” Rika whispered as they looked themselves over. Sure, looking like an adult was kind of cool, if not for the racing suit she was now wearing. She wouldn’t have minded something a bit more practical, especially if this was what she was going to be walking around in. But this, felt like something for some other time.

Kohenkyo!

Carefully, Renamon put her hand on her master’s shoulder, watching the racing suit get replaced by a bigger version of her old outfit. With the outfit, came a slightly higher viewpoint and a slight bust increase.

“Better?” Renamon inquired and Rika gave a nod. After, she let her focus turn to Ryo. Who like Rika, had gotten both a clothing and height change. Except it wasn't as drastic as hers, nor did it apply to his metal arm. That can just be put back in later. During editing.

Or why Renamon was now attempting to be a human around their age. Though, with her blouse and skirt, she looked like she could possibly pass. Millenniummon on the other hand, not so much. He still looked like a ball of dust with little change. Which is a complete waste if you ask me.

But that’s beyond the point. At the moment, our heroes found themselves in a forest. Just barely, they could make out the town below. And just beyond that, the harbor. Of course, that didn’t really tell them where they actually were.

“So where is this bakery you wanted to see?” Rika remarked, only for her attention to focus elsewhere. “Wait. Do you guys hear that?” Her teammates gave a head shake, only for a nut to hit one of them.

“Who threw that?”

More nuts followed. And by nuts, I mean stuff like peanuts and pecans. Which don’t really do that much damage. Maybe they should try walnuts? I heard those hurt a whole lot more. Or why settle for nuts? There’s got to be some sort of fruit that can be thrown as well. Thankfully, their attackers did eventually stop their assault upon them. Well, long enough that our heroes could move somewhat closer.

“Are the intruders still there?” a voice announced as what looked to be a cross between a fairy and a squirrel poke its head out. “Oh I guess they are still here.” “Uh… Could you tell where we are? We’re kind of lost.” Renamon announced and got an acorn to the head. It didn’t really hurt though. So I guess that’s nice. “Biomerge time?”

“I guess?” Rika whispered, feeling her partner become a part of her. “Wait. No transformation sequence?”

It’s a quick change. Tomato, tomato.

Whatever the case, Sakuyamon and Justimon now stood guard against the onslaught of weird fairy creatures. Which is complete overkill if you ask me.

Whip Decoration!

A ball of what I hope is whipped cream shot forth, covering both Rika and Ryo. The latter also attempted to get a mouthful of, which didn’t taste good. At all. I’m not sure why he thought it would. But oh well.

“What does it taste like?”

“Magic?” Thank you for that truly helpful answer. Not. Like seriously, that tells the viewer nothing. Bad Ryo! Bad! You should be ashamed of yourself.

“I’m not sure what I did wrong here.” Ryo remarked as a pink haired girl came into view. “Uh… can we help you here?”

On closer inspection, the pink-haired girl appeared to be wearing a pinkish white dress with a dark pink bow near the middle of her chest. A pair of dark pink high heeled boots covered her feet, with little tufts of white thrown in for good measure. Short white gloves cover her hands, while what looks to be shortcake head ornament (sadly, not edible) tries to compliment a pair of bunny ears. Interesting outfit, I guess?

“Maybe.” the girl answered, her attention split between both biomerged tamers. “I am Cure Whip. What brings you two to Strawberry Hills?”

Rika shot Ryo a glance. As tempting as it would be to just out him in the hopes of getting a trip back, it would mean also having to admit that she was being a complete buzzkill. Which didn’t sound so fun. Especially since they hadn’t thought of a way back to West Shinjuku. Oops. Probably should’ve thought that through before heading through an untested portal.

“Shut up!”

“Uh… Who are you even talking too?” the girl remarked, only to be joined by an orange-haired girl. Unlike her friend, she has gone yellowish dress with white opera gloves and a yellow ribbon. Yellow socks compliment an orange set of slippers, while a pair of cherries hang from a red choker. A flan head ornament sits right in front of a pair of squirrel ears, with a tail as well to boot. Points for theming I guess? Not what I would have gone with, but this isn’t one of my calls.

Custard Illusion!

A pair of cherries appear above squirrel girl, shattering into many small balls. Which homed into our two heroes. They did look quite tasty though.

Fox Card!

In response to that, Rika flung some sort of seal towards the projectiles. While clever thinking, it wasn’t enough to prevent either of them from getting hit. Not that it really hurt all that much.

“Ow.” Ryo whispered and got helped up by his companion. “What made you think that would work?”

Rika just shrugs. Right as squirrel girl runs on over and tries to send her little squirrel thing to attack. It isn’t too effective. Which begs the question of why that was her attack. Especially since her opponent countered with a series of kicks and staff swings.

“A little help here, Whip!” squirrel girl announced as she made a hand motion. ‘Whip’ just gave a nod and made her way over. “Thanks!”

The two then pulled out what looked to be a cross between umbrella rods and a wand. And that’s just ignoring the similarities to the previous team's sticks. Not that they would really know. Or care, for that matter.

Spirit Strike!

Four fox spirits appeared and attempted to do some damage to their opponents. But all that really happened was their opponents spirit things attacking them in the hopes of stopping them.

“We're here!” a voice announced as three more girls ran up.

“Great.” Rika whispered as duo were pelted with weird flavored silly string. “Could you I don't know, leave us alone? We don't mean you any trouble.”

The fighting stopped, as the attention shifted to the ‘digimon queen’. So she took a deep breath and reverted back to her original form.

“We just got here.” Rika explained. “I'm Rika and the woman beside me is Renamon.”

After saying that, Rika gave her other companion a slight poke. Which managed to revert him back as an added bonus. Even though he didn't help Rika at all during this fight. Which was quite rude of him, I might add. But whatever his reasoning for not acting when he did, the cyborg cleared his throat.

“I'm Ryo.” he announced and pointed towards the dust ball beside him. “This is Millenniummon. Just ignore him.”

Their opponents gazes shifted towards the dust ball.

“You sexy things.” the dust ball remarked. “Any of you available?”

That remark got him a barrage of attacks. Attacks that he most definitely deserved in that moment. They finally stopped when a girl dressed in cyan approached with a girl dressed in orange following right behind. For cyan girl, she had gone for a pegasus motif. Her companion had decided that dinosaurs were more her jam. Not that there's really a wrong answer in all of this. Just a difference of opinions.

But whatever the case, rabbit girl approached our duo. Once she was close enough, she let her outfit disappear in favor of more casual clothes. Which looked to be a halter dress and shoes with strawberry socks.

“I'm Ichika. Welcome to Strawberry Hills.” she greeted, a smile on her face. “Sorry about the trouble we may have caused you.”

Yet, Rika shook her head.

“Not at all.” she answered. “Is there anyway that we can get back?”

Ichika shook her head. Though, the attention of miss dino was now squarely on Rika. Who decided that now was a good time to approach the tamers.

“You’ve sealed your fate.” dino girl remarked and took a deep breath. “Sooner or later, your powers will be changed and you’ll no longer be able to be the same as before.”

Both Rika and Ryo gave her a stare.

“Just kidding.” dino girl remarked, getting a punch to the face. Which she responded with a series of her own. They hurt a lot more too. “Do you people take everything at face value?”

Both Rika and Ryo looked away.

“Maybe?”

It’s going to be a long day, isn’t it?

Thankfully, the rest of their opponents reverted back and revealed themselves to be teenage girls as well. Which our dustball decided that now was a good time to put on a pair of 80’s shades and blow a wolf whistle.

He got his ass kicked. Again. You would think he would have learned his lesson by this point, but no.

“Fine.” the dustball muttered and floated onto his master’s head. Once there, the group headed off down the mountain. Eventually, they reached a large park.

“What’s it name?”

Strawberry Park.

“That’s a bit on the nose.” Renamon whispered as she looked the sign over.

Yeah. But it does the job nicely. You wouldn’t want the place to just be called ‘park’ or ‘greenspace’. That would be silly.

“Would you like a cupcake?” Ichika inquired and watched their guests perk up.

“That would be nice.” Rika answered as a large building came into view. It looked like a facade from an amusement park. You know, like the stuff that they used on Main Street for Disney Parks. Except here, it was an actual building. More specifically, a bakery.

“Patisserie.” squirrel girl remarked. “There’s a big difference.”

Huh.

Inside, things were decorated for the Christmas season. You know, sleds, Christmas trees and of course, snow.

“What do you guys think?” Ichika continued, cracking a slightly nervous smile. “Yukari did the decorations.”

A purple haired girl walked over to Ichika and gave her chin a slight tickle. Which resulted in the ‘bunny girl’ erupting into a giggling fit.

It also got the purple-haired girl a glance from the gal who looked as if they could pass as a guy. Probably purple haired girl’s girlfriend or something. It wouldn’t be that surprising, but you know.

Whatever the case, they headed on in.

“Could you give us a second?” one of the girls (a blue haired one) announced and the group scurried to the back, leaving our heroes to their own devices.

“Huh…” Rika answered, taking another look around. It felt almost like someone’s home, the sort that one could pack up and take with them.

When the girls finally returned, they were now clad in white apron dresses with little tints of their respective color powers. They were also carrying platters of various sweets.

“Bon Appetit.” one of them announced as they set the trays down, joining the trio at the table. What followed, was a feast of Christmas sweets. A well deserved one, at that. Maybe after that, they could find a way off of this rock.

[stellamancer]

oc interview [Kira Kurashiki]

tagged by: @joz-stankovich​ and @jylcie​

tagging: @b1a4seeyou​, @panhime​, and @cannibalisticskittles​

Rules: Pick an oc and answer the questions as they would.

What is your name?

Kira Kurashiki.

What is your real name?

Um. That is my real name...

Do you know why you were called that?

Mother always said she wanted me to shine or sparkle, hence Kira. When I was a kid a lot of people would call me “Kirakira.” Actually, Ichiro still does sometimes...

Are you single or taken?

Ah... mmm... T-taken...

Have any abilities or powers?

Not... really? My brothers insisted I learn aikido and Keita taught me a little bit of kendo. So there’s that? 

Oh! I know, I can play on the highest difficulty on every mobile rhythm game I have. That counts, right?

Stop being a Mary Sue.

A what?

What’s your eye colour?

Red. 

How about your hair colour?

Black, though in sunlight it kind of looks like a really really dark brown.

Have you any family members?

A lot! There’s my parents and my brothers and then there are a bunch of aunts and uncles and cousins... 

Oh? What about pets?

Does Saeran count as a pet? No? Uh, then none. Ahaha. 

That’s cool I guess, now tell me about something you don’t like.

Ummm. Uh.... .... .... .... ... I don’t like the heat? Sorry, I can’t think of anything better. 

Do you have any hobbies/activities you like doing?

I like to play mobile games and read web comics on my phone.... so much so that Saeran calls me a phone addict.... *grumbles a little* Other than that, I like trying new foods!

Ever hurt anyone before?

N-not that I know of.... 

Ever… killed anyone before?

What? No...

What kind of animal are you?

Um... maybe a... dog? I don’t know, I’ve never really thought about it.  

Name your worst habits.

Apparently, I’m addicted to my phone and think with my stomach. 

Do you look up to anyone at all?

My brother Ichiro! He’s living out his dream right now and I couldn’t be more happy or proud of him! He gave me the courage to try to live out my own life instead of living the lives out parents decided for us. 

Gay, straight, or bisexual?

I’m bi.

Do you go to school?

I graduated from college about a year ago with a business degree... 

Do you ever want to marry & have kids one day?

Um, maybe one day, but I haven’t really thought of it. I’m sure my parents want me to have kids though... 

Do you have any fanboys/fangirls?

According to Keita, I did in high school. That’s... kinda crazy if you ask me. 

What are you most afraid of?

Not being able to do the things I want to do. 

What do you usually wear? 

I like a lot of clothes with collars and bows and ribbons... Someone told me that my clothing style kind of reminds them of a princess. 

Do you love someone?

I... ahh... um, well, m-maybe. 

When was the last time you wet yourself?

Oh god, I don’t know. 

Well, it’s not over yet!

Oh. 

What class are you? (High/upper/middle/low)

My... family is definitely considered high class. Ahahaha... I, myself... I’m probably middle class. 

How many friends do you have?

Just a few! I’m kind of bad at keeping in contact with them though... 

What are your thoughts on pie?

Pie is pretty tasty. I just recently tried coconut cream pie. It’s so good...

Favourite drink?

Coffee milk. I also really love genmaicha (roasted brown rice tea).

What’s your favourite place?

My room, I guess. 

Are you interested in someone?

I... um, yes. 

What’s your bra cup size/how big is your willy?

UHHHH. Ahahaha.... let’s... let’s not talk about it, okay? 

Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?

None of the above, I like pools better.... 

What’s your type?

Someone who’s kind and friendly and gives really great hugs.... somehow, I ended up with someone who only matches a third of the description.

...okay, two-thirds.

Any fetishes?

I... I don’t know?

Seme or uke? Top or bottom?  Dominant or submissive?

Ummmm. You... you mean me?

Camping or Indoors?

Indoors. Though, I guess it might be fun to try cam- wait, would I have cell service?

Are you waiting for the interview to end?

Eh....

Now it’s over!

Oh! Okay! 

[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 3, Act 2: From the Diary of a Fly on the Wall

Daily Life

Kaede was feeling much better the next day at the dining hall. She felt a little bad that she hadn’t told Gonta about the flashback light Kaito and Ryoma had found, but it wouldn’t take long to explain. It wasn’t like she was really in the mood to have seen the memories either, after getting what she needed to hear out of Korekiyo, so she was glad Angie and Tenko pushed for them to wait a day.

It was really fucked up, don’t get her wrong. But assuming he was being honest, and he hardly seemed to have a reason to lie with how he kept trying to set her off to see what she’d do, she had her closure.

Not that it made seeing him any easier, as Korekiyo was still one of the first people there along with Kaito and Ryoma. It looked like they were taking over for Gonta right now, since he wasn’t here yet. Neither was Kokichi for that matter. Odd that she hadn’t seen him at all today. Unless he was trying to avoid her.

“Ey, Kaede! Bright and early again I see,” Kaito said, beaming like he normally did as he encouraged her to take a seat by Ryoma. However given his current company his chipper mood was returned with a poorly disguised facepalm by his short companion and a dark glower from his supposed ward.

Seeing such a harsh contrast Kaede couldn’t help but weakly giggle a bit as she sat in the open chair. She was pretty sure Ryoma was giving Kaito a glare, but she couldn’t really tell from this angle without making it obvious she was staring. Probably because of how close it put her to Korekiyo, and rightly so.

I mean I don’t really know how I should be reacting to this either. If they still see me shaken they might lose faith in my ability to lead or make decisions, and if I’m too openly angry or spiteful that might be considered as me being too biased against him or risk someone killing him and lead to a trial. But on the other hand if they wanted me to be more decisive about him I might be seen as too soft right now.

“I could say the same to you. Anything going on?” she asked, trying to avoid looking Korekiyo as much as she could to help keep herself calm. Which was made harder by him being the first to answer.

“You mean aside from there being a thief among us?”

“According the serial killer.” Ryoma quickly brushed him off.

“Why should that matter? Items are missing from my lab and you can’t deny that! Besides, last I checked that applies to both of us and only you earned a tabloid name for it.” (Boy he’s heated over this. Good.)

“What about “Ladykiller”?” Kaito jokingly suggested, also ignoring the possibly more serious subject.

“... That was not a request to be given one. Do try to learn some tact. You’re worse than Kibo.” With the exasperation in Korekiyo’s tone, he was probably gesturing to her to prove his point. Not that Kaede risked looking at him to know for sure.

Though as if to remind her what kind of people she was still dealing with, Korekiyo ended up derailing his own train of thought with another tabloid tangent. “Why must they all have “Killer” in them anyway? Considering our own “Killer Tennis” and how “ Kirakira ” sounds like “Killer-killer”. Though at least we aren’t misusing the word “Genocide” again, like the Genocide Jack fiasco. How could anyone  ever think that was a decent name for a possibly female murderer, given her choice of victims, is beyond me.”

“ENOUGH PLEASE! Do we know the objects being missing means they’ve been stolen? I mean if someone’s watching this game then maybe Monokuma’s meant to take away pieces of evidence so they can’t be used in later cases. You know, to keep later murders from being too similar to the others and keep things interesting?” (God I hope he buys this. I mean if stuff related to crimes is going missing and it isn’t Monokuma it’s probably Kokichi’s handiwork. Or it could just be him tormenting Korekiyo.)

“I didn’t say the relics that are no longer present were ones related to any of the murders from before.” His tone sounded like he was suspicious of how Kaede knew that. But as far as she knew she did nothing wrong so she swallowed and tried to keep her voice level as she explained herself best she could.

“Sorry, I was just guessing. I mean I saw that the katana was still missing from its sheath before and I wasn’t sure I saw that mask back in its case when I stopped by yesterday. What else is missing then?”

“You did what?” Ryoma seemed shaken by that admission. But even though the question was probably directed at her it was Korekiyo he turned to glare daggers at.

“Yes, she visited to give Gonta some more “pleasant” company. Likely to make sure I hadn’t bored him to death with my old books. Nothing you need to worry about, Ryoma.” Korekiyo lied as easily as breathing, and Kaede had no reason to want to correct him. It’d only upset Ryoma and Kaito more, she was sure. He turned to face her as he addressed her question. “Your guess was largely correct, however I’m not sure if the book I was going to use for the would-be seance murder should’ve counted as evidence in that case. However this theory does seem fairly plausible otherwise, as the syringe and other supplies related to Himiko’s death haven’t been returned to Miu’s lab either last I checked.” (KOKICHI LIVES ANOTHER DAY!)

“Aww, Gonta if you were that lonely you could have just locked Kiyo up in there and hung out with me~” Kokichi’s teasing drawl came from the hallway doors, and Gonta stood by his side, looking troubled at the group. They must have overheard, but if Kokichi picked up on Korekiyo’s lie he was content to let it slide. Gonta didn’t point it out either for whatever reason as he took to sitting on Korekiyo’s other side as Kokichi took to Kaede’s.

“Gonta sorry he late! He forget Kiyo also get up early, and Kokichi wanted to teach Gonta about-”

“Not talking to strangers in weird creepy masks!” Kokichi pointedly cut him off as he pointed at Korekiyo and gave him an exaggerated glare, getting only a skeptical look in return. But Korekiyo chose to play along with the obvious lie, as if returning the favor of Kokichi not calling his own out.

“I may be strange, but is it still right to treat me as a stranger? We all knew each other too well for that sort of false distance yes?”

“Gonta pretty sure Kokichi right if Kiyo treats bugs as candy.” (WHAT?! EW, NO! NO. NONONONO. No.)

“Reptites don’t? That’s a surprise, I’d figure they’d have at least one similar recipe considering how many “ethnic” sweets may go into such territories. But not to worry. I wouldn’t dare touch any of your beloved specimens for such a petty treat I promise. No matter how well candied crickets would go with my tea.”

“WHAT THE FUCK, I WAS LYING TO HIM! I mean, it’s not like I haven’t used licensed candies like that for some pranks, but seriously? Whyyyyyy?” Kokichi whined and flailed about, which seemed to help keep Gonta from having a clear shot at Korekiyo if the gentle giant lost his temper. But aside from some breathing exercises and tensing on his part Gonta took the news pretty well! (What a shame.)

“Beggars can’t be choosers when looking into other cultures, and as said they can be quite tasty.”

“Not when people are eating please!” Kaede complained, and possibly a bit too loudly at that.

“ARE YOU BULLYING KAEDE OVER THERE?! Kaede I’m sooo sorry, I had no idea I had left you alone with these immature ruffians!... And Gonta.” (... Did she just- Is she making an exception for Gonta? YES!)

Tenko was quick to run to Kaede’s side to give her an overblown hug as she looked at the boys as if they had done something horrible to her. Tsumugi and Angie were a ways behind her, along with a… pigeon?

It was definitely a pigeon that flew by and sat itself on Tenko’s head, and since she wasn’t overreacting to this Kaede could only assume this was some sort of normal. (One of Himiko’s doves maybe? I haven’t seen any lately. Not since the party come to think of it- ACK, that was days ago! Oh dear, are they okay?)

“Yup, yup! We’re sorry, so sorry, Angie just wanted to try swimming with Himiko’s fishies during feeding time! They enjoy Tenko’s daily blood sacrifices nearly as much as Atua does, so cute~”

“Please stop calling Himiko’s piranha “fishies” Angie, it really downplays how dangerous that could be!” Tsumugi scolded, still obviously distressed by whatever had happened in the dojo.

“It’s fine, it’s fine~ Nothing to worry about!”

“Tenko’s going to make a swear jar for you misusing that phrase at this rate.”

“Can we make one for all the third-person people too? OH, or how about catchphrases, like Ryoma’s?”

“Pretty sure your “it’s a lie” spiel should count enough too if you wanna go there kid.”

“Or it could merely be a genuine swear jar. Kaito would end up paying handsomely for that I imagine.”

“H-hey, come on dude don’t be like that. How’d you like it if we went with a purple prose penalty, huh?”

“Gonta not sure what that mean, but if it make Kiyo talk simple Gonta support it!” (Get back on topic!)

“Knock it off you guys, it’s not like money even really matters if we don’t bring it up. But I didn’t know Tenko was taking care of Himiko’s pets, why didn’t you say anything? I could help sometime if you want.”

“Didn’t I tell you? I guess that was just a student council thing, when I was asking if we could take out the pool’s chlorine thingies so Himiko’s fish could have some more room to swim around. But if you want to help there is something I was going to ask you girls! … And guys, if you agree to take things seriously.” (...I’m sorry what was that? Come on Tenko, I mean I know you can’t use the pool but why would you try to ruin that for the rest of us too?! Even if the water level looks way too low for normal swimming.)

“Kibo isn’t here and Kokichi is so I’m not sure we can honestly say we all will. But go on, shoot.” Ryoma deadpanned with a smirk, to which Kaito jokingly hit him in the shoulder in response to that verbal jab.

“This dove’s been pretty chummy with me for a while now, but I don’t really know what to name her. And before you ask yes I know for sure it’s the same bird! I even gave her a little tag on her foot, see?”

The bird in question did have a little red tie on her left leg, as she hopped from Tenko’s head to her hand at the girl’s prompting to aid in this display. As she began pecking at said tie a moment later, despite Tenko’s attempts to convince her to leave it be, it didn’t look like she was too keen on keeping it though.

“Gonta going to ask how Tenko knows it a girl bird. Birds hard to tell, if boy birds aren’t pretty colors or girl birds aren’t really big. Harder than bugs sometimes, and bugs no always have boys or girls at all.”

“What are you talking about, just look at this face! Of course she’s a girl dove!” (I don’t think that’s how this works.)

“Well what about “Himiko”? She’s probably heard the name enough to recognize it at least, right?”

“I’m not sure I’d be comfortable with that. Like maybe “Yumeno” or “Yumeko” would work, but not just “Himiko”. Not yet.”

“Right, sorry Tenko.”

“Not to worry! Thank you very much for your suggestion Kaede, it was really nice. Maybe that’d work for another bird, later. Like a… sleepy one, or something.”

“Well, if we’re starting this off with dead name suggestions why not we go with the most innocent victim of all: Hedwig!”

“Hey, watch your spoilers Kokichi! And that’s too soon…”

“Oh my god Tsumugi that was years ago, get over it already!”

“You do realize she was named for the patron saint of orphans yes? It really isn’t fitting for this at all.”

“Definitely not using it then. I don’t even know what show you all are talking about.”

“Okay, so something more light-hearted and fitting… How about “Oko-san”? I mean yeah he was a fantail, but out of everybirdie he looks the most like her and that name should be gender neutral enough.”

“I’d prefer not naming her after some degenerate bird if I can help it, but that could work! If nothing better comes up I’ll consider it. Thanks, Tsumugi!”

“If a feminine name is needed how about “Inanna”? After the Sumerian goddess of the many aspects of both love and war, due to her association with doves. I think invoking her suits you.”

“... That’s actually kinda pretty but I hate you so no.” (Thanks for that Tenko, I hope he’s disappointed.)

“Well, there was no harm in trying. You did ask for at least one of us to take your dilemma seriously.”

“H-hey we can take this seriously too! How’s about “John Coo”?”

Some distinct groans came from Tsumugi and Kokichi upon hearing it, but Kaede didn’t get the joke. Tenko did at the very least, but she also didn’t seem to appreciate Kaito’s suggestion. Ryoma however looked like he was very valiantly trying to keep himself from laughing, with the weird grin he was making.

“What, no! I just said she was a girl dove you degenerate male!”

“Um, why’s everyone groaning?”

“A bad pun I assume?”

“Seriously Kiyo? I mean a girl not getting it is one thing but what sort of man doesn’t know John Woo!?”

“And that would be?” Kaede tried to push for an actual explanation.

“That action director guy with the weird pigeon fetish!” Kokichi chimed.

“Then that would be the sort of person who doesn’t enjoy such exhausting displays of overstimulation. And here I thought such a description was limited to Tesla.”

As Kaito and Tenko were distracted arguing Gonta made a sort of chirping to get the bird to come over to him. With the small white dove perched on his finger he made another series of coos at it, to which it seemed to be responding. (I guess he really can talk to animals, huh?)

“Uh, Tenko? Birdie say she like the name John Coo.”

“Well there we have it, John Coo it is! Of course she’d like the name given to her by the Luminary of the Stars!”

“I said no!”

“Aww, I was kinda hoping that she’d at least insist on being called “Miss” John Coo or something.” Tsumugi mumbled to herself. Kaede wasn’t sure how a pigeon could really “insist” on that though.

Ryoma had apparently worked his way through his laughter for now and was the very picture of serious as he gave his two cents on the subject. “Any good pet parent would know to respect her wishes. John Coo is a lovely young lady and this should be her decision to make, not yours.”

“But it’s dumb!”

“Don’t say that in front of her Tenko, you’ll hurt her self-esteem. This is a delicate time in her life and John Coo needs you to support her right now.”

“HOW CAN YOU SAY ALL OF THIS WITH A STRAIGHT FACE RYOMA!?” (Pfft. Of course our only decent gambler has the best poker face. How can he do that over something so silly?)

“Easier for me than you I’m sure.” He replied with a wink and one of the most self-satisfied smiles Kaede has ever seen on his face. She, Tsumugi, Kiyo, and Kaito were all obviously trying to hide their laughter, as opposed to Angie and Kokichi who dissolved into a pair of giggling idiots. Gonta didn’t seem it get it.

“... You’re all horrible and Tenko wants you to know she hates you.” Tenko grumbled. (I can live with this.)

“Nyahahaha, that’s okay because John Coo still loves us! Just like Atua, John Coo is too pure to judge~”

“Only because she’s a bit... slow.”

“Just like both of her mommies!”

“I WILL END YOU KOKICHI-”

“Uh, am I interrupting something?” Kibo’s voice came from the door, looking ready to walk back out of it if the answer was “yes”. Tenko took the opportunity to gather herself and sit back down, with John Coo flitting back to her which helped calm her down.

“Nope, you just missed the christening of John Coo the lovey dovey. Say “Hi” John.” Kokichi chimed, and John did actually give a coo at the command. Or it may have been her attempt to complete her name, if that’s how a pigeon could insist on that. Tenko still seemed sour about it all as she pet the little dove.

“I… See. Sorry if you were waiting for me to use the flashback light. We are actually using it right Angie?”

“I guess… Atua still disagrees with this though.”

“Wait, no one tell Gonta flashback light found yesterday! Why no one get him or Kiyo?” (Because of me.)

“After the mess with the last video we decided to give a delay before we all see this one together again. Since not everyone thinks we should use them, but things could get difficult if we learn something big,” Kaede summed up best she could. No one appeared to have much to add to her explanation, and while Korekiyo understood why the knowledge gap could become a problem Gonta looked a bit confused.

“In case it becomes relevant the last video indicated we all may have been part of the same school, despite us all now having the uniforms from whatever highschool we attended before then. There may also be some sort of government program we tried to hide from, which was why we saw that funeral.” Korekiyo supplied, which made enough sense to Gonta that he didn’t look nearly as lost anymore. Angie and Kibo were more troubled by this information, but Tsumugi and Tenko accepted it without question.

And so, despite the concerns against it, Kaede took the light from her backpack and thumbed the switch.

Again she became nearly overwhelmed by the sense of vertigo with the world warping itself around her. But this time the onslaught of memories it unlocked within her were far from pleasant or comforting. It was like the motive videos all over again.

Meteorites had plagued the world, and led to a significant amount of damage to her hometown. The chaos and sense of end times it caused so many people to feel, as if the sky was literally falling around them. How could she have ever forgotten something this important? Or anyone else for that matter.

This explained the state her house was in though. She and her family had left it long before her kidnapping, so of course it would be a mess now. And this fit Kaito’s “natural disaster” theory from before too, for how so many people could be facing some horrible future outside of these walls at the same time.

It sounded like everyone’s experiences were a little different with this batch of memories, unlike before.

The only one who really seemed to have been in a similar situation to her own was Tsumugi, whose hometown also suffered greatly and had been faced with similar fatalistic groups causing havoc. Not that they were they were the only ones who remembered the cults with their flyers declaring that “mankind deserves damnation” and the other violent gangs that sprang out; Kaito and Kibo clearly saw those too.

As Kibo explained his it sounded like he and his professor were rather protected from the event itself, as he remembered more of the news reports and Internet buzz about them than the actual impacts. Tenko and Gonta seemed similarly disconnected, as they had also only heard about the civil unrest it caused.

Angie’s people were mostly faced with rising waters caused by the meteor impacts, which had led to her being sent to Japan as she could recall, but she couldn’t quite grasp why yet. Korekiyo offhandedly mentioned the madness everyone was facing could be part of why he could get away with killing as many girls as he did, as many people had gone missing, but when pressed he only admitted the number was greater than ninety.

He did also remember that the meteorites seemed to have been the cause of a deadly new disease that sprang up. He had encountered it in his travels rather often too, but never showed any symptoms himself. His sister wasn’t so lucky, and that was what had caused her to cough blood when they saw her film before.

It was hard to tell who was more distressed by this particular addition, Kaito or Korekiyo, but only the latter gave them an explanation for why as he tried to keep himself from having another panic attack.

Apparently her doctors couldn’t be sure if she had caught it on her own or if he unintentionally served as an asymptomatic carrier. He was confirmed to have been conventionally immune to the disease, but that was no comfort if it meant he might have been the cause of his sister’s untimely death.

Ryoma suspected a similar immunity may also have been why his prison let him out early, if only to use him as a means to help others through this calamity, considering it a form of “community service”. Tenko and her master also helped out wherever they could, but she didn’t seem as sure whether some of the “degenerates” they fought in the name of justice she remembered were parts of any larger movements.

Gonta also remembered there was a scientist who claimed that, based on a similar event happening millions of years ago, if nothing could be done all life on earth could be wiped out in an event worse than the end of the dinosaurs. Ironic considering he was raised by some of the few surviving descendants of that time.

Kaito was the first to remember the plan that was humanity’s last hope. The “Gofer Project”. With an “f”, as in the trees used for Noah’s ark, rather than the animal as Korekiyo pointed out, as it unsettled him. Like even with all the countries of the world working together they wouldn’t be able to save many from the metaphorical “flood” they were being faced with. (Of course, he’d worry more about the cultures that could be lost. Not the actual people or animals that could die or go extinct in that. The heartless bastard.)

Not that it mattered how many they were hoping to protect, if Kokichi’s memories about it “failing” somehow were true. But no one else seemed to have memories that elaborated on that.

“... What if that’s the project we were hiding from before? From the previous memory.” Ryoma asked, as no one else provided any theories for it.

“Hmm, maybe! Maybe it wasn’t really a school uniform you saw everyone in back then either.” Angie said, still smiling like she didn’t have a care in the world despite everything.

“No, it was definitely a school’s since it had an emblem on the blazers and everything. I don’t think people would waste the resources on making a uniform for this sort of thing anyway. And how else would we explain why we’re all around the same age?” Kaede replied.

“What if Angie was right before then? About why we should stay in here instead of focusing on the “outside world”. I mean this could be part of the Gofer Project right? So being here’s a good thing. Especially if we’re all here because we’re “immune”, since Kiyo hasn’t made any of us sick yet!”  As Tenko spoke about their possible immunity, Korekiyo looked over at Kaito rather specifically for some reason.

Kaede probably wouldn’t have noticed when it happened, since Korekiyo was still recovering from his panic attack, if not for how Kaito went out of his way to avoid making eye contact with him. She had no idea what this could mean though, since Kaito wasn’t acting too differently otherwise.

“Hmmm, I wouldn’t really say that. Though I suppose you missed most of the “dude eats bugs” thing.” Kokichi’s attempt at a horrible joke was enough to pull Korekiyo from his thoughts, much to Kaito’s relief.

Not that his new thoughts were better. “If you value your life I would refrain from making jest of this.”

“H-hey I thought you said you wouldn’t kill me! ‘Cause I’m a guy.”

“... True. Though it will be more difficult trying to keep things from turning fatal with our lack of medical supplies. Even when the warehouse was open Kaito was right in pointing out so many things we lack.”

“Y-yeah, which is also why this probably can’t be that government project anyway! No matter how much they had to rush they wouldn’t forget to install something that important in here, especially not with the risk of a disease mutating into something we wouldn’t be immune to anymore. Assuming we really are.” Kaito exclaimed, but Korekiyo started giving him an odd look again when the disease came up. (Why?)

“O-oh, yeah that’s a good point.” Tsumugi began, before mumbling “Didn’t really think about that,” mostly to herself again. After calming down enough to stop her stuttering she had a new thought. “But without someone who really knows about that sort of stuff would facilities like that matter anyway?”

“I dunno, I mean things are pretty high tech. Who knows what science can do if they can make Exisals. Maybe we don’t have med stuff ‘cause they injected us with nanomachines to keep us healthy. Or maybe these “flashback lights” aren’t exactly what they say on the tin.” Kokichi suggested as if trying to make the rest of us catch up to him.

“What are you talking about this time Kokichi? I will not appreciate being “trolled” by you again.” Kibo warily complained.

“Sure is convenient how none of us have ANY idea about what we “remember” with these lights before they’re triggered, huh? Kinda like how the motive videos triggered something in Kirumi and Kiyo in a way that was super convenient for keeping a killing game going for as long as they were still in it, riiiight?”

“W-well, of course, they were “motive” videos after all-” Kibo started again before Kokichi cut him off.

“And yet, both of these things came from the same source, didn’t they?”

“Atua agrees that He thinks these lights may be doing us more harm than good! Angie’s not really sure if He means brainwashing though. It could just be undoing some type of hypnosis, and if it is than it only shows us what we all had to agree to have suppressed in the first place.”

“Oh yeah, Himiko told us during our sleepover! Hypnosis only works on people who want it to work and don’t really object to what they’re being asked to do anyway. But… Does this mean we shouldn't use them anymore? I mean they still are our only clues to get out of here right? If we all still really want to.”

“Right. Besides, we can’t really prove any memories are wrong yet,” Kaede said.  “Most of them seem to line up well enough, and if this isn’t related to the Gofer Project there could be a reason for the missing medbay. These still seem to be a risk that’s worth taking for us to find out what’s going on and get out.”

Tenko seemed convinced by Kaede’s reasoning, but Angie and Tsumugi still seemed a bit wary of the idea. No one else expressed any explicit objections though, not even Kokichi who cast doubt on them at all. (Guess he’s just expressing some paranoia? Or maybe he was just lying about that for some reason?)

“It does make sense to use a place that doesn’t have any means to help save lives for a killing game, doesn’t it? No reason to base a project meant to “save humanity” on a prison school anyway. This killing game could be all this was built for, for all we know. It’d explain the death road too.” Ryoma pointed out, the unpleasant reminder never letting him forget the school’s unusual design for long. It was all too easy for the rest of them to overlook it over time, that even Kaede stopping being as aware of it at points.

“True. No sane designer of anything would make something that difficult to get through, not to mention the many codes and regulations it intentionally breaks. It’s clearly made to keep those on the inside from escaping, based on the false “Cleared” message we found. It wouldn’t read right going the other way.”  Kibo said, looking bothered but contemplative.

“So… We still no know much?”

“Well, we do maybe have a better idea of what the world’s like outside. That’s a start, ain’t it big guy? Things can’t be as bad as they looked though, since this place hasn’t felt any impacts or anything! And look at all the plants still growin’ in here, that scientist probably just exaggerated things so folks would really know to prepare for the worst. Better set positive expectations low than high right?” Kaito said to try and cheer Gonta, and everyone else, the best he could.

“I doubt the greenery we see here does genuinely reflect outdoor conditions, as the environment was made to at least support us so by extension plant-life would also be capable of thriving. We haven’t ruled out this being a sealed space yet, like an underwater facility, despite how old it seems to be.”

“Well as I doubt anything more can be gained from this I will be heading to the computer lab if anyone needs me.” Kibo excused himself, and everyone else began to part ways.

Kaede made her way to the fifth floor with Kokichi and Ryoma in tow, intending to visit Shuichi’s lab again. Tsumugi wasn’t the only other person heading that way though this time.

“Gonta going to take Kiyo to see 5th floor, since we no saw it yesterday, okay?”

“Oh, that’ll be great! I can show you my lab now, so if there’s any sort of outfit you’d like me to make you I can definitely do it now. I’m pretty sure even a plain ol’ tux would suit you, mask or no mask.”

“Huh, really? Yes, Gonta like that idea! Many gentlemen have tuxedos. And fancy hats and masks.”

“Do you want to come Kaede? I nearly finished that pair of slacks you asked for~” (As long as HE stays far away from me and keeps quiet for once in his miserable life. I can’t just say no, that’d be ungrateful.)

“Sure, I can stop by! I was just going up there anyway to look into Shuichi’s lab again.”

“For the record Gonta, under no circumstances is Kiyo allowed in that room, got it?” Ryoma glared at Korekiyo as if to emphasize his point. But it was hard to say if he was just saying that or threatening him.

“Oh? Whatever for? And I was so looking forward to seeing if it also invoked victorian era design in much the same way Kirumi’s lab did, given the proliferation of murder mystery series set in that period.” (Because murderer or not he deserves better and why the hell would any of us trust you in his lab now?!)

“Hm… It okay for Kiyo to just look in then? No need to go in room to see that, right?”

“Fineeee, I guess I’ll keep it open for that long.”

“You’ll keep it open? What do you mean?”

“Ah, right you both bailed before Monokuma gave his spiel. Apparently if a student dies before their lab is open, like Shuichi, the lab’s supposed to remain locked. Lucky for us, the way they are locked can still be picked open, so I’m your handy dandy gatekeeper now! Since I always pick it back shut to be safe.”

“What about Rantaro’s lab? Gonta thought it be up there too.”

“Maybe, if it’s behind that big ol’ door thingy, but there’s no way to open that yet. Believe me, we tried.”

Gonta looked confused again by his mistake, but quickly got sucked into Kokichi’s ramblings so it didn’t bother him for long. It was about that point that Tsumugi seemed to realize that by inviting Gonta into her lab Korekiyo would end up being with them as well, as she started nervously glancing between him and Kaede.

In an effort to help ease her mind Kaede tried racking her brain for shows she watched as a kid to find an anime Tsumugi could use as a launching point for her own rants but was coming up empty. Ryoma had better luck with “Prince of Tennis”, and having something to talk about seemed to do the trick.

Apparently he read a lot of series like that back when he still played, and Tsumugi got particularly enthralled by his admission about basing some of his moves off of ones the heroes would use in their works. “Bringing the fiction he loved to life in his own way” as she put it, much like her own passion.

But then she started talking about something called “shunpo” and lost him too, not that she noticed.

When they got to their desired floor Kokichi and Ryoma broke off to go to the Ultimate Detective’s lab like they originally planned and the rest followed Tsumugi.

Gonta and Korekiyo were taken aback by just how big it turned out to be, before Tsumugi led the entomologist to her sewing station and Korekiyo went to look into some of her established sets.

With a flourish she showed off to Kaede the “rule 63 slacks” she designed, whatever that meant. They were nice though! When Kaede tried them on in one of the changing areas they fit well, despite barely giving Tsumugi any really reliable measurements, and while they were different they still suited her.

The color wasn’t too unlike her normal skirts, but instead of music notes they had a bar of piano keys running up either side, adding a bit more black and white to the look. At closer inspection the plum color was pinstriped with the color of her socks, which Kaede tried to ignore as it reminded her of Shuichi, and the bars actually had all 88 keys, 52 white and 36 black, instead of just being a pattern for pattern’s sake.

And now I won’t need to worry about flashing anyone if I need to be more active than usual! Or just walk up stairs or ladders like what happened with Shuichi before. Wait… this means I don’t have any more training excuses either. Oh well. Maybe situps are easier than push-ups? This is gonna suuuuck.

“Thank you Tsumugi, I love it! I hope you don’t mind if I don’t wear them all the time though.”

“Not at all, I’m used to making things people may only use a handful of times! But making “original” stuff is like this is a weird feeling. But so’s my lab having a set focus over a sewing one at all, so it’s plain to see I just gotta get used to it. It’s a shame it opened so late, this would have been great for the talent show.”

“The nature of these sets also strikes me as odd, would you truly need these? The bar for example isn’t terribly unlike the one that already exists in the casino. Even the false labels on the bottles are all the same, and this is supposed to be a high school setting we are in, is it not?” (Okay, so I can leave now! I just need to keep it from being too obvious, so Tsumugi doesn’t feel offended. I need a good moment.)

“W-well, the ones I have here should be non-alcoholic so that isn’t really against any laws I think? Besides, that set there is a lot more like one of my part-time jobs so it’s kinda comforting to have.”

“Why Tsumugi work at bar?! Alcohol bad for young people! Shouldn’t let young lady in. It dangerous.”

“Cosplaying’s expensive work, especially if you want to work with the best materials. Girl’s gotta make a living somehow, you know? It’s not like I’m the only one here who may have faked an ID or two anyway. Kaito pulled something similar for his astronaut test stuff right? And who knows about Kokichi.”

“With how unkind either genetics or puberty has been to him one of those could be how he got here.” Korekiyo suggested, probably as a joke given the look in his eyes. Or at least she hoped that’s all it was.

“Hey, Kokichi looks like he could really be 15 at least.” Kaede said as Korekiyo simply chucked. “... Okay, maybe not much older than that, unless he’s a really late bloomer. Which could also fit Himiko!”

“Gonta pretty sure Kokichi older than Gonta.” Gonta said while lightly scratching at his cheek. When he noticed all the blank stares he was getting from his friends he seemed confused, but didn’t elaborate.

“... I am heavily inclined to doubt that. Though in terms of mental development I can see where this could be coming from. He is mature for his age, when he wants to be. It is odd how our profiles don’t actually list our ages, only our birth dates. I wonder if that could be relevant to our predicament at all.” Korekiyo began to theorize. (He has a point though. But no one's ever asked me about that either. Neither have I come to think of it, I’ve just assumed most of us here are my age-ish. Except Kokichi and Himiko, of course. Ryoma, Kirumi, and Korekiyo too I guess since they all feel like they could be adults.)

“I don’t think so. I mean it’s not like ages really matter in highschool right? Especially not if we can’t have any upper or lower classmen dynamics to work with.” Tsumugi spoke up, still working with Gonta through some measurements. She had to stand on a chair to do so, with how big he was, but if she hadn’t said anything Kaede would have assumed she was too focused on her work to hear them at all.

Content with what she had down she took a break as she skipped off to the working bar that started this conversation. “If anyone would like to try a cocktail I know I could make one right now if you’d like? I can make anything from a Blue Fairy to a Gut Punch! Or to a Sunshine Cloud, if we want to stay alphabetical.”

“WHY TSUMUGI PUNCH PEOPLE?!”

“It’s just the name of a drink, don’t worry. She isn’t actually threatening anyone.” Kaede comforted him, which only seemed to work a little bit since the nature of this work still worried him.

“I would have talked about a Bad Touch instead, but with that one the alcohol isn’t optional.”

“Not exactly the “classiest” bars you worked at I take it?” Korekiyo asked with what could be a grin.

“Nope, not at all. But it was fun and paid the bills!”

Kaede turned down the drinks and took the chance to catch back up with Ryoma and Kokichi. Gonta and Korekiyo didn’t make any attempts to follow her though, as Gonta still wanted to help Tsumugi where he could and Korekiyo took up her drink offer. Only after agreeing that either she or Gonta would take the first sip of her creations though, as he was still cautious around beverages after Angie’s earlier stunt.

Seemed he got to rambling about alcohol’s relevance to other cultures, reflecting drinking ages and whatnot, so Kaede was glad to be out of there. Though Tsumugi sounded like she was having some fun with it, bringing up some sort of “Shrine Maiden Saki” or something from one of her anime, and falling into her own tangent, as a Kunihimo cord from it caused her a lot of issues since the length wasn’t clear.

It was only after she got to the Detective's doors that Kaede realized how lost Gonta must feel with the way those two could talk, and the waves of guilt and regret poured in. (But there’s no saving him now.)

Shuichi’s lab felt so wrong to be in. She couldn’t put her finger on it but something about it was off, beyond how much more dangerous this lab was from some others. But as Kokichi pointed out the first time they got in it made sense for a former blackened’s lab to feel more like Moriarty than Sherlock.

Assuming Shuichi really wasn’t framed by the mastermind, so that someone would die without ending their sick game. Not that it would change the fact he was dead, and they were the ones who killed him.

Kokichi was messing around the chem cabinets as she entered, wearing the silly bowler hat they first found on the small round table instead of the hat rack. Ryoma was keeping him company and Kaede was a bit surprised Kaito hadn’t joined them yet. The tennis pro looked content though, sitting in the rocking chair by the fire with a book in his hands.

“Heey Ka-yay-de~ What can we do you fer this fine mornin’?” Kokichi asked as if he was trying to imitate some British potion seller or bartender as he pocketed another vial for who knows what.

“Depends, did you find another laxative?” Kaede had asked to see how their first experiment went in order to test if this threat could be neutralized by just getting rid of the contents, or at least the dangerous ones; Kokichi had found a “prank worthy” harmless bottle and took it to see if it would stay missing.

She chose not to ask if this stunt had any connection to Angie spiking Korekiyo’s tea earlier, as she figured no answer would really be comforting to her in this situation.

“Yup! So it really does restock everyday. It’s a real bummer, it means we can’t just smash all of these.”

“Not that we should have considered that an option anyway, since some could be air activated for all we know,” Ryoma blankly stated as he flipped another page, as if resigned to being Kokichi’s voice of reason.

“... Oh. Riiiiight. Good catch. But that’s why you were put on Kokichi-watch duty! Nee-heehee~”

“Am I being paid for this?”

“You get to keep your peace of mind, does that count?” Kokichi offered with an otherwise “innocent” grin and a gleam in his eyes.

“Eh, I’ll take it.” Ryoma said with a shrug as he put his book down to address Kaede. “So were you going to look through the files again today?”

“Yup! I mean if this isn’t the first killing game these may be related somehow. It’d make sense for the detective's lab to have clues regarding our biggest mysteries for this game right? Especially since it was meant to be sealed, if he was going to be executed regardless of whether he killed Rantaro or not.”

That didn’t narrow down which files would actually be related though. With 52 to sort through, 5 full rows of ten files with the sixth only having 2 as if waiting for more entries, they couldn’t possibly all be real and even them having drawn crime scenes or photographs wasn’t helping to narrow things down.

She initially sorted them into groups based on which had “Ultimate Detectives” leading their cases, like “Kyoko Kirigiri” from the first and third files with the help of her partner “Makoto Naegi”. But then she noticed that the third kept making reference to the second, headed by “Hajime Hinata” and his partner “Nanami Chiaki”, which also dealt a lot with missing memories and how returning them triggered a killer.

That was also a double murder in fact, but both were done by the same culprit that time. Not two parties similarly affected by memories acting during the same case period. (Almost more like the first file’s 3rd case’s double murder. And this was the 3rd case for this group too. Is this an intentional pattern? I’m not sure how anyone could control something so specific, so this may be a sign of these files just mocking us.)

As a result most of the day before had been spent reading through those connected files best she could, and then trying to find out when the files got close enough to the present that the pictures changed from anime inspired illustrations to photos. No matter which format they were in though the blood kept showing up as pink rather than red for whatever reason. Probably to stress how “fake” this all could potentially be.

She knew she couldn’t really trust these, there were way too many Ultimates and scenarios that got even more outlandish than what her group has faced yet, but there could still be some truth hidden in them. Like they were never outlandish enough for the cases themselves being unfeasible. One in the second file even involved a robot with the same emergency shut off button on the back of his neck like Kibo did, so they were all dangerous to have lying around.

These files and the various poisons was why no one was allowed to be in here alone, and why Kokichi kept it shut at all other times. And if this was how bad Shuichi’s lab was she doesn’t want to consider what Rantaro’s may be like. They didn’t even know what his talent was.

Kaede lost track of time as she poured over the notes, covering murders from monsterous to mundane. The suicides and accidents almost came as a pleasant surprise when they came up, but then there were files that barely had any cases in them. They still had the culprits and how they did it listed, but it was different. Like the person investigating wasn’t the one who caught them, and they got away with it.

At some point Kaito showed up to regroup with Ryoma, so he and Kokichi would bicker when the latter got bored sorting through which poisons had antidotes and how dangerous they were. Kaito helped her sort through the files, but he didn’t really have the stomach for reading them much like Ryoma didn’t.

The background noise was comforting in its own way, much like the sound of the fire was despite her growing urge to just throw a lot of these papers into it in disgust. Sometimes she wasn’t sure if it was because of the actual cases or at herself for not finding any leads to get out of there.

There was another knock at the door as she took something of a rage break, and she was surprised to see Kibo there instead of Gonta and Korekiyo, as she had been expecting.

He looked a lot happier than she had seen him in a while too. “Hello everyone! I have great news!”

“Well this can’t be good.” Kokichi deadpanned as he started looking at a corner again with a smirk. (Is a camera actually there? I don’t see anything, but why else would he keep doing this? What am I missing?)

“H-hey it is! Please don’t be so quick to dismiss my efforts! I finally got the last of the bugs out of the main program the computer lab was made for. So everyone can safely use it now! I’m sure you’ll all really enjoy it if you give it a chance.”

“Of course we would Kibo, I was thinking about taking a break anyway.” Kaede told him with a smile. She was a bit curious what it could possibly be, with how long its set up took, and she didn’t want to waste his efforts. No matter how potentially dangerous anything Monokuma gave them could be.

Kokichi wasn’t convinced though. “Are you sure-”

“Yeah we’re sure, don’t be a brat. Kibo’s been practically married to that thing since he got it, and it’s his first computer project too right? Of course we’ll give it a look!” Kaito urged the boy forward as he stressed how important this was for their friend, all smiles. Despite the floor it would be on.

“Do you need me to get anyone else for you while you go set things up?” Ryoma asked.

“No need, Tsumugi already offered to do so! Gonta and Kiyo should be on their way down there as we speak, so let’s go join them, shall we?”

It was hard to say no, with how happy and excited he was to show off his pet project. So they all followed the robot to see what he had in store for them.

And hopefully find some more clues to what’s going on, since my other leads are coming up empty.

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[pilot-kun]

I was tagged by @oddtape thank you amiga cheetah! (friend for life! the rhythm and each other...THAT ‘S WHAT KEEPS US TIGHT!!! sorry haha)

How tall are you?

 5′5 

What colour are your eyes?

Brown

Do you wear contacts and/or glasses? 

Nope!

Do you wear braces? 

I used to wear braces (middle school to two years into high school) I feel like I might need them again, or at least invisaline (idk how you spell that) because they’re slowly moving again sahdsfkj

 What is your fashion style? 

So I have like two sorts of styles?? When I’m out and about I like to wear comfortable and casual clothes (hoodies, t-shirts and they’re mostly dark colors), but I like to dress smart too for school (sometimes), church, or when I wanna feel like I dressed up lol

When were you born?

 January 2nd

How old are you? 

*plays IU’s ‘23′ *

Do you have any siblings? 

Two sisters and one brother; I’m the youngest. 

 What school/ college do you go to? 

I went to CSULB....I’ll be heading back in fall for my teaching license

 What kind of student are you? 

4.0 student, I did everything last minute so idk how I ended up with good grades tbh. I never really spoke unless I REALLY wanted/needed to say something. Uni was where I learned to speak up more I guess. 

What are your favorite subjects? 

 English and Chemistry; they’re both really interesting to me, and I so still remember random stuff from Chem today. English is my major so...I gotta know that stuff.  But I also found a lot of subjects interesting (except for math but I think it was because of the teacher tbh) 

What are your favorite movies? 

I love films so much!! I have a lot of favorites, but I’ll do five I guess...Moulin Rouge, Mulan, Cinderella (the one with Whitney Huston and Brandy), Sunny, and The Breakfast Club

What are your favorite pastimes?

 I like listening to music, watching films, writing , and reading. I really like taking photos (of things/people/places other than myself) 

Do you have any regrets? 

Who doesn’t?

What is your dream job?

I’d love to be a writer, but I also want to be a teacher (which is what I’m going for rn)

 Would you like to get married? 

For sure!

Do you want kids? How many? 

Not really...

How many countries have you visited? 

Five: Mexico, China, England, France, and Spain

What was your scariest dream? 

Idk if it counts as a dream, but I had sleep paralysis once, and I just saw a shadow gripping onto my arm so tightly, and I couldn’t move. I woke up sobbing. A dream dream would be the one where I was walking outside and I looked up to the window of a house for some reason, and in the window there was a female who just stood there staring at my with her mouth open in an unnaturally large ‘O’ shape. Instead of eyes, it was just her sockets, no eyelids, just all black. I couldn’t stop looking in the dream even though I could feel the fear making me tense. 

Do you have a boyfriend/ girlfriend/ significant other?

It would be nice if I did, but nope!

Put your playlist on shuffle and without skipping the first 15 songs: 

1. 나쁜 놈들 by Zion.T

2. I’m A Slave 4 You by Britney Spears

3. Open Your Eyes by Andrew Belle

4. Basic Space by The XX

5. Beautiful Liar by VIXX LR

6. Soar by Christina Aguilera 

7. Butterfly (Alt. Remix) by BTS

8. Stronger by EXO

9. Yanghwa Bridge by Zion. T

10. Stay by MBLAQ

11. But It’s Better If You Do by Panic! At The Disco

12. Apologize by One Republic

13. An Encore by SHINee

14. Clothes Off! by Gym Class Heroes

15. Learn to Be Lonely by The Phantom of The Opera Cast 

I’m tagging: @suju-bangtan @wifan @jiwoojisoo @sominbiased @bulba-suho-r @suho69 @pikayeollie @beenthroughenthusiast @kyunmyeon @chanyevol @ireffervescence @kirakira-tae @bunnyxiu @ohsehuns @starsehun @excusemehotchocolate @3jeonghan @honeyedmilks @1osecontrol

If I tagged you, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to/ been tagged already!!

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: Tokyo Treat Feb 18

Hello Cuties! Here we are with the February Tokyo Treat- but before I begin I thought I’d let you guys know that the Tokyo Treat family has recently opened up Tokyo Haul! An online shop full of items and goods found within these crates; as well as special items available in prize form, and items that haven’t appeared in the crates too; from toys to snacks to makeup

There are also several ways to earn points upon signing up and purchasing items, so if you see anything you wanna try I recommend you check there!

(As you can see, they returned to the booklet format starting with this one, but again we’ve lost our favorite Mascots DX)

Personally I can’t wait to cover the DIY item ♥ Pretty Cure is yet another series I grew up with it and I really really liked KiraKira Precure~

Okay, so first up will be the special Strawberry Shortcake Pepsi you see in that first pic. It is a special Japanese Pepsi that comes out around the winter season- as I’m sure you can tell from the package. It also has 43kcal O_O

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

With promises of tasting a real shortcake I was pretty enticed by this strange Pepsi. It’s essentially a white, stronger version of a Vanilla Pepsi, if you have ever seen or tried that before. It tastes pretty good, and I have to agree- when I picture or see a shortcake this is the taste vibe I get (•’╻’• ۶)۶

Although... I don’t essentially taste any strawberry. I taste a bit of coconut, and I can’t say it’s a drink I would want often. But it isn’t bad. I can see enjoying it during the season when it’s out.

(Sorry for the relative in the background~)

I thought I’d switch things up by starting with favorite items- and due to the romantic sweetness of the Holiday, we were limited to two. A bit of a bummer but I’m still happy regardless.

First up is this large (but don’t be fooled by the size) bag of Koikeya Sour Plum Chips by a popular brand I’ve only tried once or twice honestly. Sour plums (or Ume) and Sakura flowers go together to create a lovely motif befitting of the pink sprinkled on the chips

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

When I took my first bite I wasn’t sure what to think about these. But they’re good if you like sour things; they reminded me a lot of those Salt and Vinegar Chips- which I like but usually avoid eating, since it usually burns my lips and is overall unpleasant ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡ But the flavor of these is lighter, and I didn’t feel any sort of pain while eating them.

Our other item is this Umaibo - Shrimp Mayonnaise flavor. I love Umaibo but so far I haven’t been a fan of fish ones. For a while I was on a shrimp kick and enjoyed eating it but as of late I haven’t touched any. But I do enjoy mayonnaise and I’m always up for trying a new Umaibo :3 so...

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I’m not sure if it tastes as good as real Mayonnaise Shrimp- but this was very good; so good in fact that I think this might be my new, second favorite Umaibo!

Next is our chocolate category :D Or at least part of it. It was pretty big this month.

First we have some Strawberry Barley Puffs, which I have reviewed ages ago so I’ll just summarize my first review on them; they’re kind of strange in taste and the strawberry shell doesn’t change it too much. But they’re not bad.

Another item I’ve tried before on the right-hand side is the Chocolate Wafer, which featured One Piece last time. This time it featured a series I know nothing about called Ultimate Muscle. I remember seeing and finding it very unappealing as a young girl- no offense if you like it though. Again I’ll summarize because these chocolate wafers usually do not change.

However- this one I didn’t like nearly as much as last time. I don’t know if it’s because I got to it a few months late (which I don’t think should matter because it was sealed), or if my taste was off. It just wasn’t as good as I remembered.

Next up is this came broken item that wasn’t listed in the book, known as Chocobar-Z (I think). It’s basically a chocolate Umaibo.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It being broken hasn’t deterred me from it’s taste. It’s really good x3 It has a crispy, slightly bitter taste but it’s also a little creamy~

Our last item in the picture is not actually on the plate. I kept it in its package- and it’s like a prior item I had before as well known as the Ice Cream Lolly, this time in Strawberry. 

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

It’s basically a Strawberry Ice Cream Chupa-chups lollipop- but that isn’t bad if you like those

Now we’re onto the strawberry-chocolate! My favorite~♥

We’ll continue going in order, so first is this interesting box of Ginza Rusk in Strawberry. Rusk is essentially a dried dough or bread-like product that is usually covered in some type of flavoring or fried and coated in sugar.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ 

As much as I love strawberries, I wasn’t too crazy about this one. It’s packaging is neat, and I love it’s creamy-crunchy texture, but the flavor itself as a teensy-bit off putting to me.

I had higher hopes for this next item: Maroyaka Milk Chocolate - Strawberry Party Pack. Look how sweet they look, and look at that packaging~

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Not only do they look irresistibly kawaii and sweet, but they taste so good!! It tastes exactly like a strawberry dipped in chocolate, and while you taste strawberry chocolate, you also get the tartness from an actual strawberry. They’re also very smooth and melty; just how I like my chocolate~

Our final item is another object not in the booklet. I think this is because it was a last-second replacement for the Lotte Pie No Mi we were originally supposed to get. Something happened with it, I don’t remember the details but I got an email months ago about it .

Anyway, instead we have this really cute package of heart-shaped Strawberry Pocky. I’m not a huge pocky eater but I do love the strawberry ones, it also included these adorable illustrations of this boy I do not recognize. I wish I did though, he’s such a cutie ♡ 

The back of the box (visible above) also featured a profile on him. From what’s on the box, I guess he’s from a manga or game called Love With Pocky?? If anybody knows anything about this please let me know right away!

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I don’t really have special feelings for pocky- but how can you go wrong with the strawberry ones? Plus I adore this person, whoever he is so call me biased if you must~

Lastly are our unique items- including two cola products; my most favorite of favorites~

Our first item is a popular brand known as Sour Long Gum, a dagashi snack known for its sour take on sweet flavors.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

It tasted good, but oddly enough it wasn’t actually sour. It got sweeter after a few minutes but I did not taste anything sour. At all.

Speaking of sour, we also have a 5-pack set of Cola Gummies. I know you’re recommended to share these but who am I kidding. I’m willing to share but I will be doing most of the eating ;3

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

They taste really good, I love them! But I also like the fact that they are soft gummies.

Our final item (and probably the most unique) is this elegant box of Rose x Berry Glamatic Tablets made by Lotte. These are perfect if you’re preparing for a quick smooch or suffer from last-minute bad breath- and they just make your mouth feel nice~

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

They taste like their name, Berries and Rose. I know rose is a flavor people either like or don’t, but I’m one of the people who does generally enjoy it so these taste really nice to me. The flavoring/effect lasts a few minutes in the mouth once you chew/dissolve the tablet, and due to their small size you’ll probably want a few to make sure they actually work.

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Quality - 4 out of 5. I liked everything, although there was damage done to the choco Z-thing I got. I can’t really fault them on that though because I know damage happens. I can fault them for this continued trend of lessening items to give us a share pack set though. I mean if you actually have people to share with or like the item enough then great, but for someone like me who was drawn in due to the amount of items, it’s a little bit let down.

Content - 4 out of 5. I generally liked everything, I’d say maybe better than the prior months box. I was a bit displeased to get a handful of repeat items though.

Theme - 5 out of 5. Not only did the items fit the Valentines Day theme it went for, but they put extra effort in the booklet as well to make each item feel Valentines special~

Total Rank: 13 out of 15 Cuties. I do miss our cute toys/bonus items they would give us, which hasn’t been happening as of late unfortunately, and I’m not found out these 5-pack singular item gimmick either; but I still really love the box. I’ve never really come across one that displeased me yet.

♥ Cutie’s Scale of Yummy ♥

1. Cola Gummies - As much as I liked things, this was no contest. 

2. Strawberry Milk Chocolate thingies - They are perfect~

3. Umaibo - I didn’t know if I would like this but it ended up pleasantly surprising me :3 

4.  Sour Plum Chips - They taste good, and they make a fun prank chip for people who don’t like sour things.

5. Rose x Berry Mints - I’m used to mint-mint flavors, so I really enjoyed this. I usually don’t buy them lately so I take when I’m given.

6. Shortcake Pepsi - It was good but I wouldn’t drink it frequently, even in season.  

7. Cola Gum - It was good, but I didn’t taste the sourness and the flavor was overall lighter.

8. Choco Thingy - It was a little bitter but I like dark chocolate. I loved it’s crispy texture~

9. Ice Cream Lolly - Nothing too special. A different type of strawberry cream chupa-chups. 

10. Barley Puffs - They seemed stale; not like before...

11. Wafer - This one was skimping on something- it just wasn’t as good as I remember.  

12. Strawberry Rusk - For some reason I just did not like it much.

13. Strawberry Pocky - It’s my favorite flavor, but I was more attracted to the boy and the lovely packaging then a snack I’ve eaten a million times.

Alrighty Cuties, we’ve come to another end of another Tokyo Treat Crate! I recommend checking this brand out if you like what you see or read, and remember you can check the online stores as well for any specific items :3 next I’ll be covering the DIY product so stay Cute!

[oopsbirdficced]

Health Hazard

This entry was also for the story contest, for the prompt to write about a huge mix-up, mishap, or misunderstanding. A jam, if you will. :)

-----

“And with this last addition, my creation will be complete!” Liryakys, a small Fae decked out in alchemist’s gear, murmurs. She takes the next component, a jar of red ooze, for her brew from her Coatl assistant without looking at it, small claws busily unscrewing the lid as she gazes down into the gently bubbling mixture. She giggles madly, her goggles gleaming as she triumphantly pours it in. Nothing happens for a long moment, and her fins droop in distress. Then, with an ominous, bubbling heave, the mixture within her cauldron explodes, splattering her and her assistant with multi-colored gunk.

“No!” Liryakys shrieks, darting away from the cauldron as it emits a great black cloud of smoke, smelling of burnt strawberries. “What went wrong?” She wails. Kirakira, her adopted daughter and fellow alchemy enthusiast, picks up the discarded jar, miraculously intact and inspects it. Kos, her mate and another Fae, looks up from his book well out of the splash radius, startled. Luckily the cave is well-ventilated, and the smoke spirals up and out the hole in the ceiling, clearing out relatively quickly.

“What happened?” He asks, not bothering to rise from his cushions. His voice may be flat, but his expressive frills broadcast curiosity and concern.

“Ruined! Two weeks’ worth of work ruined!” Liryakys sulks, her fins pressed tight to her head in acute distress. “Kirakira, that wasn't red ooze! What was it?” She asks, alighting on her back and peering around her long neck. Kirakira lifts the jar, her own feathered crest flat with displeasure, a mannerism picked up from Liryakys and Kos as a hatchling. The jar’s label reads Red Ooze, but smelling the remains of the substance- well, it isn't what it says it is.

“Strawberry preserves?” Liryakys asks, sniffing, and then tasting the substance. Sweet, sugary strawberry preserves. That explanations the smell, at least. “Who labeled this batch of components from Baldwin?” She demands, stripping off her lab coat, gloves, and goggles, leaving her mostly clean. Kirakira dumps her mantle, satchels, and goggles in a heap there as well, feathers rising in distress. Kos looks worried, crest rising and falling in increasing concern.

“You think they labeled the wrong shipment?” He guesses, and puts his book aside, lifting into the air. Kirakira nods, well attuned to her parents’ moods, and runs down the hallways to the kitchens, Liryakys holding tight to pale feathers. Kos overtakes them, winging in to the big open space to see Theria, the Skydancer hatchling caretaker, busily making up some snacks for the hatchlings playing around her back paws. She pulls down a jar labeled Orange Marmalade, and Kos freaks out. Baldwin materials can be toxic if imbibed, after all, no matter how many times Liryakys insists that the particular combinations that make the soylent food supplements are safe.

“Stop!” He bellows, much louder than he ever speaks. Thesis shrieks, losing her grip on the jar in surprise. Kos watches, frozen, with his heart in his throat as the full jar falls towards the hatchlings. Then Liryakys flashes past him and snatches it from the air with admirable speed and dexterity, landing on the countertop before unscrewing the lid to take a whiff. Kos can smell it from across the room, and Theria squeaks in protest.

“Orange sludge,” Liryakys pronounces, frills displaying her deep worry. Theria presses her delicate claw to her chest, tail-tip lashing in surprise.

“What do you mean? That's a Baldwin material?” She gasps, looking frantically down at the hatchlings, to ensure she hadn't inadvertently poisoned one. They look innocently back up at her, all present and accounted for.

“Yep! Looks like someone mislabeled a batch of jams and my shipment from Baldwin. Kirakira, Kos, help me gather these up!” She calls with bizarre enthusiasm, fluttering up to open the cabinet with all their canning. Kos and Kirakira obediently start forward, though Kirakira diverts to find a large, empty crate to put them all in.

“Theria, I'll finish up making the snacks. Why done you take the hatchlings back to the nursery?” Kos says kindly, and Theria ushers the curious little ones away. “While you two do this, I'm getting Rathewynd, okay?” He says, and flutters away to do just that as Liryakys starts loading Kirakira’s crate with jars.

Kos finds his clanmate in the library, poring over some ledgers with Ninniach. The Pearlcatcher looks up shortsightedly, shoving copper half-moon spectacles up his snout, copper jewelry jangling pleasantly.

“Visitor for you, I think, Rathewynd.” Ninniach says, and his Skydancer companion glances up as well, removing his own half-moon spectacles.

“Kos, what's the matter? You're downright frantic,” he says mildly, as Ninniach wanders off to go do something else. Kos tries to calm his wingbeats, realizing that he's doing his best impression of a hummingbird.

“There's been a huge mix up, and we need some help.” He says hurriedly. “The newest batch of jam, jelly, and preserves has been labeled for Baldwin materials, and vice versa! We need to round up all the jam so no one ends up poisoned. Though why anyone would actually try to eat something that smells like what dear Liryakys was working on, I don't know.” Rathewynd huffs, rising to his paws. “I have to fetch snacks for the hatchlings- Theria was doing that when we discovered this, and she went back to the nursery to avoid any accidents. Liryakys and Kirakira are clearing the kitchen cabinets.” Kos explains. He's feeling a little more rattled than he realized.

“Do that, then, I'll speak with the Matriarch,” Rathewynd says kindly, as usual, overly formal. Liryakys was the de facto leader of the clan, but Rathewynd handled the day-to-day affairs. The Skydancer frowns. “Does this mean her project was ruined, though? The Matriarch’s, I mean.” Kos bobs his head.

“It exploded all over her and Kirakira. Smelled awful.” He chirps, and Rathewynd sighs.

“I'll have to set aside more funds, then, that was supposed to be a new spinner gene scroll.” He tuts gently, and they proceed back to the kitchens. Kos gets to finishing up the snacks, and Rathewynd goes to find Liryakys.

She and Kirakira have brought their crate of mislabeled materials down to the rotunda, where clan gatherings usually take place. It's half decorated for the upcoming Mistral Jamboree already, Rathewynd’s clanmates have been busy. Currently they're opening and sniffing jars, putting them in two separate piles. Rathewynd supposes it's useful in this instance that all alchemical ingredients tend to stink to high heaven. He's not entirely sure if Liryakys has much of a sense of smell left, but she seems to be able to identify all the jars with ease.

“Do you remember who was assigned to label these batches?” Rathewynd asks. “Also, is this all of the suspect jars?”

“No, I didn't grab the ones in my alchemy chamber yet, these are just the ones from the kitchen. Seems we had a bumper crop of fruit, and someone got ambitious. I'm not sure if anyone's taken anything from the kitchens, I left my materials to be labeled yesterday morning, took them down to the alchemy chamber yesterday night. They aren't all mislabeled, though. This one's sunbeam fig preserves, as advertised. And I think it might have been Roselia?” Liryakys squints, trying to remember. “Anyway, we're going to have to eat all this jam, quickly, before it goes bad. We've had to break the seals, after all.” Rathewynd pulls out his notebook and scribbles some notes, sitting back on his haunches.

“Thank you, Matriarch. I'll grab someone to collect all your alchemy materials and speak with Roselia. And maybe we can eat all the jam at the Mistral Jamboree? We are going to be hosting our sister clan from the Foxfire Bramble, after all. Maybe we can say it's a theme.” Rathewynd muses, scratching his chin with his pen.

“You'll get ink on your face like that.” Liryakys advised. “And I'll have a word with the cooks when we're done here.”

Rathewynd goes on his way, asking the young Spiral Glimmer to report through the whole clan on what had happened, so that no one had any nasty surprises. Glimmer, who had too much energy for his own good, shoots away, caroling about the mishap at the top of his lungs. Rathewynd simply shakes his head at the extreme enthusiasm of youth. He locates the clan warriors next, taking a well-deserved break from fighting, and asks them to clear out Liryakys’s alchemy materials, and bring them to her in the rotunda. Nebula, Tiffie, and Rue all agree quickly, amused by the whole business and clearly bored. Next he goes in search of Roselia. He finds the Coatl with his mate, a Mirror named Aven.

“Terribly sorry to bother you two, but Roselia, were you the one to label the Matriarch’s latest batch of Baldwin materials?” Rathewynd asks politely. Aven shakes his head, busy preening Roselia’s feathers- the Coatl looks half asleep from the attention.

“Hm? No, might have been one of the new younglings. Shunrei, or maybe Wisteria,” Roselia’s dozy response ends in an enormous yawn, and Rathewynd murmurs his thanks and leaves to go find the two he had mentioned.

Shunrei has no idea what he's asking about, but Wisteria mentions he might check in with Montparnasse. The Guardian is always finding new and inventive ways of shirking his duties. If Rathewynd didn't know any better he'd say Montparnasse’s Charge is shirking work, or preserving his free time. Then again, who’s to say it isn't? Rathewynd sighs and looks for the elusive shirker. He's sunning himself on a high ledge, wings spread for maximum warmth absorption. Rathewynd walks delicately to avoid stepping on him.

“Montparnasse,” he says loudly, to wake the other dragon. He's about out of patience with the runaround he's gotten. The Guardian lifts his head, yawning and combing his beard with his talons.

“Rathewynd. What is it now?” He sighs, stretching his back legs, catlike.

“Were you responsible for labeling the Matriarch’s last Baldwin shipment?” He snaps, annoyed with Montparnasse’s attitude. He blinks, and looks a bit shifty.

“Maybe,” he allows, noncommittal. Rathewynd blew out a heavy sigh.

“Yes or no.” He prompts. The Guardian sags.

“Yes, then. Why, what's wrong with it?” Montparnasse asks, irritated.

“Several jars of jam were discovered with Baldwin labels, and vice versa. The Matriarch’s latest project- an expensive one, I might add- was ruined. The hatchlings were nearly poisoned. Rathewynd ticks them off on his claws, irate. Montparnasse stumbles to his feet, eyes gratifyingly big.

“I didn't realize- okay, I might have tried to cut corners, okay? I asked the Nymphs to label them for me, I just got so bored with it!” He confesses. Rathewynd groans. The Ichor Nymph and the Electric Nymph they'd taken in recently are thick as thieves, but not terribly good at things they're asked to do. They, too, are easily bored.

“Very well. I'm relieved your actions were not malicious, and I hope you've learned a bit of a lesson in why you don't do that kind of thing. Now come down to the rotunda and help us get this mess sorted out.” Rathewynd says sternly. Montparnasse agrees with only a brief, wistful glance at his patch of sunshine, and follows Rathewynd obediently away.

[aquarterasian]

85 Questions

Rules: Answer these 85 statements and tag twenty people (However, I’m going to be a rebel and tag fewer than that!)

tagged by: @littlemissgrimrose

The last…

drink: Sprite

phone call: My mom

text message: My brother

song you listened to: The Last Day of Summer from the lightning thief musical

time you cried: A few months ago probably

dated someone twice: Never 

kissed someone and regretted it: i’ve never kissed anyone period

been cheated on: Never

lost someone special: yes

been depressed: a few weeks ago. 

gotten drunk and thrown up: I’ve never done that, I’m still underage and I never went to any parties in high school 

Three Favorite Colors

Pink

Purple

Red

in the last year have you….

made new friends: If online friends count, definitely!

fallen out of love: Never even been in love

laughed until you cried: I don’t think i ever have

found out someone was talking about you: nope

met someone who changed you: not particularly

found out who your friends are: i think so

kissed someone on your Facebook list: ew

General

how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life? I know all of them, maybe not particularly well, but i know them

do you have any pets? A have a handsome dog!

do you want to change your name? Nope! I’m quite fond of my name, in all its entirety

what did you do for your last birthday? Had some cake with my family at home

what time did you wake up? like 8:30ish?

what were you doing at midnight last night? I was asleep. 

name something you can’t wait for: The next Magnus Chase book, I think its called Ship of the Dead?

when was the last time you saw your mum: Like 10 minutes ago. 

what are you listening to right now? Nothing. 

have you ever talked to a person named tom? Yup, my uncle! (my only family on my dads side i actually like)

something that is getting on your nerves: Customers at work. 

most visited website: Tumblr 

hair color: Brown

long or short hair: I had long hair, but I recently cut it shorter and I love it. 

do you have a crush on someone? Nope

what do you like about yourself? I feel like I’m good at speaking my mind. 

piercings: I had my ears pierced, but they’ve since closed up

blood type: not a clue

nickname: Nikki, by full name is Nicole

relationship status: Single

zodiac: Cancer

pronouns: She/her

favourite tv show(s): I don’t actually watch a lot of tv. Doctor Who I guess. 

tattoos: I don’t have any, but I would love to get one some day. 

right or left handed: Right-handed

surgery: I had to get tonsillectomy. 

sport: I don’t play anymore, but volleyball

vacation: I want to go back to Japan :(

pair of trainers: i don’t really care. 

More General Questions

eating: I just ate a meatball marinara. 

drinking: Sprite

i’m about to: Play Persona 5

waiting for: me to get my life together

want: To be more motivated

get married: someday, maybe

career: I’d love to do something with video editing or something, or maybe an author

Which is better?

hugs or kisses: Hugs!!

lips or eyes: Eyes.

shorter or taller: Shorter, like me!

older or younger: It’d probably be older, but i prefer same age

nice arms or nice stomach: A nice stomach

hookup or relationship: Relationships

troublemaker or hesitant: Both, to an extent

Have You Ever…

kissed a stranger: No

drank hard liquor: not interested

lose glasses/contact lenses: nope, i do own glasses though!

turned someone down: nope

sex on the first date: Never been on a date

had your heart broken: nope

been arrested: Nope

cried when someone died: no

fallen for a friend: Nopee

Do You believe in…

yourself: Sometimes

miracles: yep

love at first sight: I don’t know, I’ve never experienced it.

santa claus: no

kiss on the first date: sure

angels: I mean, sure. 

Other…

eye color: brown

favorite movie: Wonder Woman has won my heart

I tag: @xmangochii @slightlyconfusedcinnamonbun @kirakira-precure-alamodefanatic @grazzin

[mahou-furbies]

Closing Thoughts on Star Twinkle Precure

Surprisingly I managed to marathon half of this show in a few weeks and am now ready for Healin' Good.

I really enjoyed this season, and I'd put it as the second best Precure I've seen so far (under GoPri). Mostly super likable characters, good character development, and the space topic makes it memorable.

A major thing where the show kind of stumbles is with the theme. It feels like a total waste to constantly talk about imagination and make the transformation item a pen, but not have any of the main characters be an artist or otherwise in a position where having a lot of imagination is vital. Alternatively I could accept that "Imagination" is a loan word means something else in Japanese, but in that case the show doesn't convey what it's actually supposed to mean very well. Now to me it just feels like generic enthusiasm or passion or other positive fee-fees.

The other theme that's repeated in the transformation song, "I'll draw the me that I aspire to be", works better, because the late season powerups are based on self-actualisation and finding your place and being accepted by others for what you are. However Uni's arc of learning to let go of her anger and forgive had nothing to do with that, and neither do most of the bad guys' stories particularly mirror it either. The difficulty of communicating with people from different countries or planets was also brought up sometimes. And then in the end the final confrontation is suddenly about countering the bad guy's "people's different 'imaginations' cause chaos so the universe must be destroyed" with "differences are good and fun". All this makes it harder for me to see what the show is really trying to say and how it stands out in the sea of other girl shows that are also about self-growth and friendship.

However while it was kind of a bummer that Star Twinkle wasn't as thematically cohesive as I'd hoped, at least the space motifs were great. Similar to KiraKira Precure which had a vague message but the clear focus on sweets still made it stand out, all the space stuff in Star Twinkle was definitely a major and memorable part of the experience (compare something like Fresh where the girls are named after fruits and the villains after directions and neither theme has any relevance for anything). I really liked how most importantly the Cures met aliens, went to space and the magical items were about constellations, but also there were minor elements like visiting an observatory, sci-fi movies, Armstrong quotes and such sprinkled through even the more mundane episodes.

Speaking of going to space, thank heavens the Cures left the Earth with their rocket as often they did, and sometimes for longer than one episode at a time. Precure is so formulaic that getting out of the goddamn generic townscape for once felt like the most refreshing thing I've seen the franchise do in hundreds of episodes. Unfortunately I predict that now with the upcoming season we're stuck there again, but one can hope.

Then the characters. Lala may dethrone Hime from my Best Precure spot, I love how she was more serious, responsible and practical but it wasn't presented as a flaw she had to overcome, or as some over-exaggerated character trait so that she was super serious all the time. She also had a decent character arc and the fact that she was already an adult in her society was a new and fun angle. Also she's so cute and anything resembling a green Cure is always welcome, as well as pants in a Precure form.

I also really liked Uni, even though the way her introduction was paced was just unforgivable. How about set up the space idol and phantom thief for a few episodes before the Cures meet either of them and also learn that they're the same person? But ignoring that I very much enjoyed how competent and charismatic she was as Blue Cat, and it was great that the writers had the guts to keep her pretty cynical even after she joined the other girls and most importantly kept her out of school. It's so boring when everyone has to go to the same school, but I guess that since we already did that plot point with Lala, Uni was allowed to remain independent. I do kind of question how her arc was about apologising to the person who essentially committed genocide on her home, but at least her character development of growing past her rage was good.

As for the other characters, Elena was about as good as I expected with her cheerful and confident personality, and I ended up liking Madoka a lot more than I thought because I predicted her to be a more generic polite rich lady. But unsurprisingly Hikaru ended up being the weakest link to me, but even she wasn't as unbearable as many other pink heroines because she wasn't so overbearing, the character spotlight was divided more evenly rather than the show being focused on worshipping her, and the positive impact she had on other characters was handled well. Also she was helped with Fuwa being such a hate sink next to her, my reaction to Fuwa's big sacrifice was just "I doubt this is enough to get rid of her"... But in the end Hikaru is still yet another character in the long line of "this specific personality has to be the star (pun not intended) of a magical girl show"

I also have to mention the villain mooks, it was good that they got some character development towards the end of the show and got a chance to redeem themselves. As questionable as Uni apologising to Aiwarn was, I really liked how the plotline related to their relationship spanned so many episodes, and as nice as it was how the other mooks were paired with a specific Cure, it would have been nice if that had also been set up earlier like Uni and Aiwarn's relationship.

Lastly, the Star Princesses. They suck. They all have the same personality and all they do is spew exposition in the few moments we got to see them. What a waste. Would have loved to see them be a bigger part on the story somehow and having some actual meaningful interaction with the Cures and taking a part in their character development.

But yeah, in the end this was quite a good Precure season and up there with GoPri as "if you're going to watch only one Precure season, pick one of these!" suggestions.

[inkdearie]

85 Questions

Rules: Answer these 85 statements and tag twenty people (However, I’m going to be a rebel and tag fewer than that!)

tagged by: @natsomuchartem

The last...

drink: Milk

phone call: My sister

text message: My brother 

song you listened to: “Dracula” by Ghost Town

time you cried: This morning.

dated someone twice: Never happened.

kissed someone and regretted it: That never happened either.

been cheated on: Never

lost someone special: Yes...

been depressed: June

gotten drunk and thrown up: Nope. I’m only nineteen years old at the moment, so I can’t drink.

Three Favorite Colors

Purple

Black

Pink

in the last year have you....

made new friends: If one counts the friends I’ve made online, then yes.

fallen out of love: I never fell in love in the first place.

laughed until you cried: Never. I’ve laughed until I was out of breath, though.

found out someone was talking about you: Not really.

met someone who changed you: My English professor made me more confident in my story-writing abilities as well as 

found out who your friends are: Hopefully....

kissed someone on your Facebook list: Nooope.

General

how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life? Most of my friends on my Facebook list are my family members

do you have any pets? Judging from the posts about my pets on my blog, yes. I have two dogs and one adorable little kitty!

do you want to change your name? Not really. I like my name.

what did you do for your last birthday? My family and I went to a Cheesecake Factory for my last birthday.

what time did you wake up? I think around five o’ clock or something.

what were you doing at midnight last night? I was watching a lot of anime series, like Sailor Moon Crystal and Smile Pretty Cure.

name something you can’t wait for: HALLOWEEN!

when was the last time you saw your mum: A few hours ago. 

what are you listening to right now? “Connect” by ClarIs

have you ever talked to a person named tom? Nope. Never.

something that is getting on your nerves: Not at the moment.

most visited website: Tumblr (via mobile most of the time).

hair color: Black

long or short hair: I have long hair but I would love to have it cut shorter.

do you have a crush on someone? Not really. 

what do you like about yourself? I like the fact I have a wild and creepy imagination. If only I could write it out, however!

piercings: Nope

blood type: I don’t know actually.

nickname: On this site, it’s Grim. In real life, it’s Dess.

relationship status: Single

zodiac: Virgo

pronouns: She/her

favourite tv show(s): Steven Universe, Smile PreCure, KiraKira PreCure A La Mode, Gravity Falls and Supernatural.

tattoos: None. If I had any, it would be similar to my mom’s: flowers and hearts on a vine.

right or left handed: I’m right-handed

surgery: Nope.

sport: I have never played sports in my entire life because I suck at them.

vacation: I’m actually on the last month of my summer break right now

pair of trainers: (shrugs) I think Nike’s.

More General Questions

eating: I’m about to eat some beef and rice.

drinking: I’m about to drink some orange juice.

i’m about to: draw some entries in my art journal.

waiting for: Something to break down my writers’ block.

want: The “Smile PreCure” sequel novel. Soo badly....

get married: If I meet the right person and I’ve matured emotionally by that point.

career: Horror author or a creative-writing teacher. Whichever comes first.

Which is better?

hugs or kisses: Hugs! I love giving hugs to people!

lips or eyes: Eyes.

shorter or taller:...Taller...

older or younger: Both are nice really.

nice arms or nice stomach: A nice stomach...

hookup or relationship: Relationships.

troublemaker or hesitant: Though my blog is one big mess and I have expressed interest in a certain villain, I think hesitant is better.

Have You Ever...

kissed a stranger: Nope.

drank hard liquor: Once. It was a shot Hennessy mixed with a big cup of orange soda.

lose glasses/contact lenses: Never.

turned someone down: I had to turned down a couple of friends in high school. I just wanted to stay friends with them.

sex on the first date: I never had a first date in the first place.

had your heart broken: If you count losing a close family member as this, then yes. 

been arrested: Never.

cried when someone died:..yes...

fallen for a friend: Not really...

Do You believe in...

yourself: I try to...

miracles: Yes but I also believe that they happened on rare occasions.

love at first sight: No, not really. I think it’s more of lust at first sight since you’re just seeing a potential partner’s physical appearance.

santa claus: I guess when I was really young. When I turned ten or so, I probably figured out the gifts from Santa was really from my parents.

kiss on the first date: (shrugs) 

angels: Maybe. 

Other...

eye color: Dark Brown

favorite movie: Tag (2015)

I tag: @fantasycrest, @aquarterasian, @liz-butterfly-129, @bhsdesk

[ask-kurusu-syo]

Well, I’m back. I think this was my most productive Anime Boston yet. I still didn’t go to any panels, I wanted to hit up the Sailor Moon one but I slept in. But I did get to meet Sandy Fox which was, amazing! I kind of approached her not knowing what to say though. I never met a voice actor before. And she’s been one of my favorites since I was 12! I got her autograph too. And I took a picture with her. Which holy crap! I was standing next to Sandy Fox and we were holding each other! I was dressed as Zeno at the time and Hak and Yona who were next door and Christopher Sabat’s booth came over and Yona said she liked my cosplay and Sandy said, “I know. Doesn’t she look good?” Sandy no! I almost died a little. Compliments from Sandy Fox! >w<

I also bought some junk. Still had money left over so, I’m kinda proud of me. The only thing I really ‘splurged’ on, was the Sweets Pact from KiraKira PreCure Al a Mode. Which I still need to start. But it’ll look good next to the Smile Pact. I also bought a couple hentai doujinshi bc I’m terrible. I got a Love Live! one, a Sailor Moon one, and one draw by the Neko Para artist. I got a few figures too. I got Laala in her swimsuit, Nico in that Alice-esc costume (which happens to be my main on sif), Karin from To Heart 2, Sugar, Miu from DearS, a Naru Narusegawa figure/keychain, and a KISS Hello Kitty charm. They also had Sophy’s swimsuit figure and I kinda regret not getting it. Maybe it’ll be at CTcon.

They were a lot of great cosplays this year honestly. I saw an amazing Hagrid, like he looked just like him! And when I was sitting by the panel rooms, Axel and Pooh were rocking down the hall. It was just, I’m so glad I got to witness it! Speaking of, I wanted to see Christopher Sabat but I literally just missed him, so I kinda stalked his booth for a tiny bit until he left. And he walked right by me and told the people he was with that he had to ‘pee-pee’. I fucking love this man! Bless him. So, anyway, back to the cosplay, lots of Voltron as expected. Mostly Keith and Pidge. And lot’s of pretty Love Love! cosplays. So many people Nico-Nico-Nii’d at me on Friday but I was too shy to do it back. But I really wanted to! >//x//< On Saturday when I was Zeno, I saw Yun and Shin-ah at The Cheesecake Factory. I didn’t see them again. Too bad, no one ever cosplays Yun. I wanted a picture. ;w; Actually, I didn’t take a lot of picture honestly. Aside from my own costume, I only took a picture of a Tokyo Mew Mew group. Which was surprising bc I never see anyone cosplay that and they had the entire group. I also saw Kish and Pai.

They were a quite a few people that took pictures with me. Which honestly, I like those better than taking a solo photo. 

And no, I didn’t get to Nico-Nico-Nii with Bernie. 

I guess that’s it. I had a pretty good time. Maybe I’ll come out of my shell some more next year.

[furederiko]

Don't worry, this is not an April Fools post...

I actually wanted to post a review or two for the start of April. After all, April means Spring, and Spring means time to stand up and do something good, right? Even if it's something small... Ahahahaha. But since I'm once again caught in a writer's block while being under the weather (lame excuse, huh? XD), I've decided to publish this quick post instead. Namely, sharing my WATCH-LIST PLAN for the Spring Season of 2017! Here they are in alphabetical order, with a quick (subjective) reasonings to why they are on the list:

- "Kabuki-bu!" It's a show about Kabuki, but more importantly because CLAMP is doing the character design. Those are the sole reasons, really. But perhaps my inner fondness towards Japanese culture is the actual key of interest to this ikemen-induced show. Who knows? This could end up as a pleasant surprise, much like what "Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu" series has managed to accomplish. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if that's the case, when it arrives on April 6th. - "KiraKira Precure À La Mode" Yes, years after dropping "Smile Precure", I'm finally back with the Precure series. My desire and craving for swee... I mean, pâtisserie might play a huge role in giving this season a chance. Not to mention, the character designs succeeded to impress me from the very beginning. Besides, this season somehow reminds me of "Motto! Ojamajou Doremi", whether in characterizations nor plot, which was even more obvious with the debut of "KiraKira Pâtisserie" in episode 8. The good news is, it's only 8 episodes so far, but I'm enjoying every episode, and the story starts to get more interesting as well. I'm not dropping this anytime soon! Seriously though, I think TOEI is on the roll this year.... - "Kamen Rider Amazons" Season 2 I'm not following "Kamen Rider Ex-Aid" because I still can't get over the mashup theme and design. But I'll definitely check out the 2nd season of Amazons when it premieres on April 7th. I have to admit, I'm not too keen on the new season's plot that somehow leans towards romance. But I have doubts with the previous one, and it ended up better than I expected. Beside, I'm also curious to see how the previous two Amazon Riders will play out in this story. So yeah, here's hoping it will be able to replicate similar if not better result. - "Kyoukai no Rinne" Season 3 New season is set to begin airing on April 9th! Having been a fan of the manga series, and also to certain extent the anime (1st season was quite weak, but 2nd was a major improvement), I would be crazy to be missing out on this Rumiko Takahashi story. There's an added bonus too with this season. Official localized version of the manga has only been released up to Volume 21 in my country, and I haven't even managed to read that one. Which means, yes... I will be jumping into this new season completely blind. That alone is enough to make me curious about my own response. LOL. - "Natsume Yuujinchou Roku" Roku means Six, so it's the 6th season! It's rare for me to follow a show that goes beyond 2-3 seasons, so this is one of those few exceptions. After all, when it comes to the adventure of Takashi Natsume and Nyanko-sensei, I simply unable to find any season that could be regarded as 'disappointing'. And that sentiment includes the 5th season, that for some reason came out of nowhere and abruptly ended as well. With the 5th exploring the private stories of its supporting cast, I can't help but wonder what kind of approach that the 6th will take on. All I can say, is that I can't wait for it to arrive on April 11th. - "Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon" Nope, you're not reading it wrong. Despite my initial reluctance, I DID end up following Satoshi's Alolan adventure. LOL. Sure, I'm still quite annoyed with the new character designs, and still think it should've been better. But in terms of story, this season somehow managed to impress me and made me curious to see more and more. Even if it's nothing but daily stories around the Pokemon School. It helps that the Alola region has amazing new and adorable Pokemons to begin with, but to be honest, it's Team Rocket who is stealing this season. When I ended up seeing the season, just so I can root for its supposed-antagonist character, that's saying much, right? LOL. - "Thunderbirds Are Go!" Season 2 I've been a fan of this surprisingly neat and addictive show since Season 1. Somehow, despite the series' scope and limitations, the writers were able to craft exciting and thrilling episodes. Season 2 in particular, has been generally more stellar than the previous. Right now, it is currently on a long-break after episode 13 was aired on December. This is nothing new for the ITV show, because the 1st season did exactly the same halfway through. There isn't any confirmation so far, but judging from the pattern, the second half of the season should continue airing this month. - "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" This Star Wars-themed Super Sentai-season might be last on this list, but it's definitely sitting on top of my viewing priority. Why? Because it is simply fantastic, and undeniably awesome. The theme has so many potentials, and moreso, each and every characters are easily likeable. Eventhough I gave a rather lower score for last episode, that doesn't mean my interest has begun to fade. Nope, that's mainly due to the unnecessary crossover, which of course won't happen again in future episodes. In fact, this show might be primed to get even crazier, or at least more interesting. Especially with the official debut of new Kyurangers this month! Will the balance of the already-nine-members team be affected with an expanded cast? Let's tune in and find out...

Honorable Mentions: - Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." If it wasn't for Robbie Reyes' Ghost Rider, I was so close on dropping the show. After a whole month of break, the 4th Season will proceed with its next and probably last arc, "The Framework" beginning on April 6th. It will bring back some familiar faces who have been given their swan songs in the previous seasons. So yeah, the twisted nostalgic vibe will be strong, and if this season ends up becoming the show's final (no renewal announced until May), then I hope it wraps up in a satisfying way. - Nickelodeon's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Season 5 I sort of have lost interest to this show thanks to the first half of Season 4, but with the assumption that the 5th would be the final season (though I doubt it, because Season 4 was said to be one before), I've decided to stick around for another one. Then again, whether or not it will get another renewal, this would totally be my last season. I don't know, perhaps I think it has overstayed its welcome?

Wow, who would've guessed this post would be this long. LOL. Anyway, some of the titles on this list are already airing, while the rest will begin in the upcoming days. For the record, the new ones are currently in a tentative-status. So whether I'll end up watching them or not, completely depends on the future situation. Heck, I might snatch another title to add to this list, if not replace some of them... nothing is set in stone. Then again, the point of this post is to share the PLAN after all. So putting aside future changes, my goal can be considered accomplished for now. See? Told you I'm not fooling anybody here... (^^)