#it's only when he actually starts transforming back into daisuke that anybody

[dnangelic]

this is just me but smth i like when it comes to having dark n daisuke as muses is the way that the curse and transformation ends up being such a candid tell in regards to their feelings. daisuke's heart is huge and his feelings are so big for everything and everyone, but he's also at the mercy of his own anxiety and delicate sense of shame, making the curse versatile in metaphor. sometimes it's liking or wanting to protect someone so much that your heart beats for them, but being afraid they'll hate you if you spill a certain secret, or show another side of yourself that you aren't certain they'll accept or find weird. sometimes it's loving what you're doing so much that your heart pounds, you feel alive, and you can't make it stop, but also feeling impostor syndrome, frustration and shame; the insecurity that what you're doing or what you're making isn't actually good, and therefore has no value, leading up to embarrassment. i joke about being cringe but free and really that's what daisuke, at the v least, should hear - since he's the one between himself and dark who's always worried about confessions and being truthful to himself and others.

[dnangelic]

skimmed LN vol 3 out of curiosity (no massive translation post just yet because i'd like to go back to it when i'm fresher-minded) but i do have some fun bullet points from the whole thing overall. for anybody who doesn't know the plot summary, the gist of the novel is dark and daisuke's next target is a pair of glass shoes, like cinderella's, only a cute lil girl (maho? more sugisaki-esque wordplay probably cause there's a lot of 'magic(mahou) isn't real you idiots/magic is very real you idiots' in this book) and her older brother named sagami who looks veeery similar to dark shows up and stuff starts happening.

dark trying to find a place to land so he can turn back into daisuke includes him, at one point, landing near a senior citizen area only for all of said senior citizens to turn out to be retired/ex-police officers that chase him waving around their walking sticks ready to beat and whack his ass

dark feeling a sharp, intense pain in his heart when daisuke worriedly suggests that hiwatari's methods are becoming more and more unlike himself and desperate. BUT even though he notices it, daisuke doesn't push on dark's reaction and dark too entirely ignores everything that just happened by changing the topic too to looking forward to seeing how cute riku is on the date they're supposed to head to. fucker

daisuke gives riku his shoes to wear and goes barefoot when her feet start hurting because she’s not used to wearing anything but sneakers!! riku gives in and puts them on from him because she knows he’d insist until she did.

dark tries to have a serious conversation with daisuke at one point but daisuke's only responding/talking and saying 'yeah' in his sleep until dark realizes it and YELLS AT HIM (MORONS (AFFECTIONATE))

or this part: [ 'i could carry riku myself.' sure, he might be smaller than the average boy his age but if it was for riku... 'if i were as tall and strong as dark and sagami, i'd be...' ] <- cut to dark 'maliciously laughing' and saying 'then you should've just transformed into me!' to which daisuke obviously calls a ridiculous suggestion

or this part. ['dark... i just don't want riku to feel bad because of me.' "---i'm the same way." daisuke was startled by the unexpectedly quiet voice. that's right, dark loves riku just like himself, but she hates him. i feel sorry for him, but it's weird for me to comfort him... as daisuke pondered this, dark continued. "---i want all girls to be happy." 'people hate me because of that kind of attitude!' feeling like he could see dark grinning instead of himself reflected in the glass, daisuke closed the curtains. (fucker x2)

‘you wouldn’t understand, because you’re not like other people.’ ‘naaaaturally.’ <- dark (fucker x3)

riku still has the camping picture she bought of herself and daisuke from the 2nd LN 😭!! the whole scene with her breaking the ice after daisuke's been trapped and transformed within it into dark's appearance, daisuke only regards as riku being 'desperate' and trying to save him from the 'nightmare' too. he hasn't actually brought himself to confess anything yet and still wavers in his insecurities over not being strong enough for riku and blames dark's existence for a lot of his unhappiness too in a harsh single line again, a la '[...] if dark weren't here, everything in the world would have been right'/all these problems could have been avoided

sagami 😭

sagami 😂

SAGAMI 😂😂😂

daisuke actually turns into dark at one point at school and promptly hides in a bathroom while casually being mistaken for sagami by saehara, sekimoto and risa. then when he jumps out a window and flies off they're all 'THAT WAS DARK?!?!?!'

sagami's sister is soooooo cute. she's around elementary school age and mistakes dark for a wizard (angels have gold hair and white wings, but you wear black clothes so you're a wizard!) AND dark also politely drops on a knee and treats her like a princess with complete sincerity and tenderness the whole entire time once they actually meet. the glass shoes light up different depending on whoever touches it (blue for a truth, red for a lie,) and when dark makes a straightforward promise to her about sagami's successful future the shoes light up a strong blue in response to him. ohhh i love dark so much scumbag KING

she also gives dark a surprise kiss on the cheek that 'feels like two cherry blossom petals' and fr he deserved that. all is right in the world

the next morning. 'my sister said she wanted to grow up to marry dark so now i'm getting a haircut.' SAGAMI!!!!! 😂😂😂

'i'll do my best to make sure that kaitou dark doesn't steal my work!' <- said playful statement IMMEDIATELY causing daisuke to stand up and respond without thinking 'in that case, i'll definitely go steal it.' IN FRONT OF HIS WHOLE CLASS!!

hiwatari very nearly did strangle dark and daisuke to an asphyxiated blackout if not flat out, outright, straight up death. that is a thing that happens. it does. and that was after psychic blasting wiz and dark with magic music to intense, excruciating pain already too. my god man. afterwards daisuke happily tells hiwatari good morning at school and hiwatari's described as surprised and hesitant at daisuke's greeting because yeah no kidding. fuckin. dai vc apparently: it's okay we're best friends so you try to kill me all the time!

honestly i think the second/snow queen LN is still probably my favorite holistically followed by the very first LN but this one really wasn't too bad either. the overall message is a pretty easy to digest 'just be yourself and don't run away from the potential of your future!' whether it's by trying to copy others while lacking legitimate self confidence or denying yourself/giving up by saying everything's hopeless and it's too late, and sagami isn't a bad character either for being quite literally a knockoff art-teacher dark with like, a real human life and siscon accusations. he's good burnt out college kid rep i like him, plus he actually got daisuke pissed enough to be described as looking/acting almost like dark (possessive-protective) for a page, which, nice. dark even gives sagami a whole entire little tough-love motivational spiel and simultaneously tells him to be proud of being capable of making 'good copies' and sagami grumbles about it all later too going like 'why should anybody even listen to that guy when he's a thief!!!' which like, okay, ungrateful, but funny.

in any case i'd very much like to implement the events of this LN too into my portrayal in whatever regards i can or feel like, so that's proooobably what i'll do!