#rika is far left it used to be more noticeable

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Atonement Recap

This was the first time I've actually read this arc in its entirety. I've read bits and watched the anime, but this is the first time I've actually sat down to read this in its entirety. The same will be true of everything going forward.

This is my absolute favorite arc in Higurashi. This is billed as merely the Answer Arc to Abducted by Demons, but it is so much more than that.

I mentioned how I felt Eye Opening and Atonement work hand-in-hand to prepare us for the finale, and since I'm finished with this arc, I can go into more detail now.

Abducted by Demons introduced us to Higurashi and paved the way for Cotton Drifting to TRULY show us what Higurashi is. Abducted by Demons showed us the supernatural horror thriller aspect and once we were in, Cotton Drifting told us that we were actually trying to discover the truth behind the horrors.

Then we have Eye Opening and it introduces us to the concept the Answer arcs. It softballs us by presenting Answer arcs as alternate perspectives of events that clue us into what was really going on.

Then once we're in, Atonement comes in to show us what the Answer Arcs TRULY are. These aren't merely explaining what was actually happening; they're also telling us what could have been done differently to avoid a tragedy.

And with each arc, we're seeing the protagonists get a little closer to fully averting things. Eye Opening spiraled head-long into a tragedy and Shion only realized what she could have done differently after it was far too late. Atonement instead fought with itself constantly to keep things from being as bad as they could have, but it still couldn't stop tragedy from happening. And in the next arc, we'll see things progress even closer to averting tragedy.

Along with being the Answer arc to Abducted by Demons, Atonement is also half of the Answer to Curse Killing. We have a probable explanation to many of the more supernatural events that happened in that arc, such as what happened to Teppei's body and the reason behind Keiichi apparently being at the festival. Now Massacre will be able to focus on the "What could have been done?" aspect.

And noticeably, while other supernatural concepts have been presented and disproven, Atonement confirmed there is some supernatural aspect to the story. At the very least, Oyashiro is real, these arcs are actually events that have been repeating for 100 years, and Rika is aware of all of it.

I've mentioned it a few times that this arc is simultaneously a Question and Answer arc. Rena's perspective shows us the events leading to a tragedy and the half-truths and misunderstandings that drive her. And at the same time, we're shown Keiichi's perspective filling in the gaps and clearing things up.

And one devious thing it does at the start that I admittedly fell for is it uses your expectations from previous arcs to trick you into thinking the opposite of things at first. Keiichi has been the perspective character for three question arcs and perspective switched to Shion for the first answer arc. So when we have Rena as the perspective, we might think she's going to give us a clear perspective of Abducted by Demons, only to find out that's not going to happen at all.

Atonement manages to bring up Beyond Midnight's value to a degree. Since Atonement is not a retelling of a previous event, Beyond Midnight gives us an idea about what is ultimately supposed to happen. So we have that same sensation as in Eye Opening where we're left waiting to see how the tragedy happens. And that just leaves us wide open for when Keiichi remembers Abducted by Demons and there's suddenly a chance to avoid what will happen.

Ending-wise, this is the trap ending. Despite everything, we still get a bad ending where everyone dies. And it feels like we were cheated. Everyone worked hard to stop a tragedy; their bonds were strengthened; love redeemed; etc and then we're told BTW they all died in a gas eruption the next day.

You should be angry about this. The Disaster was a background event; a tragic and fitting end to a tragic tale. But now it's a tool that something is using to rob us of the happy ending everyone fought for.

We didn't get the grand miracle of a happy ending this time, but we did get a few small miracles. Keiichi remembered what he's done and will always trust his friends, Rena truly understands that her friends are there to help her, Ooishi realized how much of a fool he's been trying to pursue the Sonozakis, and Akasaka finally came back to the village. Next time, they'll do better and we'll be closer to a happy ending.

We've reached the end of the second act. All the smaller conflicts have been resolved and our protagonists can now face the true antagonist behind everything as we head into the final act.

One artistic quirk I've noticed through this arc is the use of light and dark. Scenes with Keiichi tend to be brightly lit and take place during the day. Meanwhile scenes with Rena tend to be more dimly lit and take place at night. There also appeared to be a very minimal shadow filter over Rena-centric scenes.

The full moon appears a lot during the latter parts of the arc (And apparently was out for a full week) and most instances we see it are tied to scenes related to Rena's fears, Keiichi's sense of powerlessness, and the moment Rena calls out Keiichi for his crimes.

But when Keiichi and Rena fight each other, it peaks out of the clouds and brightens the sky, as if that's the moment when Rena could truly be saved. It dimmed only during the moment when Rena was about to kill Keiichi only to become even brighter when she realized what she was doing.

All that being said, this was my favorite panel.

I don't have any particularly deep reason for it. Rena was hiding in the dark of a broken van when she decided to turn on a lamp, and this is what she imagined in that moment when she was processing all the bloody handprints she saw.

I guess we could say it represents her own fears at the moment. She is stumbling in the dark, grasping for whatever she can find and afraid that there are enemies all around her waiting for her to make herself visible to them.

But anyway, I chose it cause it looks cool and creepy.

And now for the summation of the story and the greater mystery. As mentioned earlier, this arc reveals there are supernatural aspects to the story, but Oyashiro appears to be a benign figure at worst. We haven't gotten much information about the mysteries or the cause of the Disaster this arc. Instead, the protagonists became equipped to figure this out in the future.

That said, I did bring up a few things in Chapter 7 that likely tie Irie, Takano, and Tomitake to the "Tokyo" organization first mentioned in Time Killing. But we don't have any additional information to use and we can't say what role "Tokyo" has in all this.

We also were given extra details arguing that the Disaster was some sort of coverup. However the actual reason behind it is muddied by Takano's occult writing.

So let’s sum everything up.

Bold text is new info.

Character Info:

Keiichi Maebara: He moved to Hinamizawa three weeks ago. He was a generally average student but excelled when he started cram school. However he became frustrated and his father decided to move to Hinamizawa after some things happened. the stress caused Keiichi to assault little girls with a toy gun, causing one girl to suffer serious eye injury.

Rena Ryugu: Birth name “Reina”. She had moved out of Hinamizawa when she was younger. At some point she assaulted three boys with a bat and smashed every window in her school. In her psych evaluations, she frequently talked about Oyashiro-sama as if she is possessed by it. She moved back to Hinamizawa a year ago. Her mother had an affair and left Rena and her father leading to her behavior and decision to rename herself.

Mion Sonozaki: Leader of the group’s after-school club. She has several misdemeanors due to her actions during the village’s protest against the dam project. She’s the heir to the Sonozaki family and lives with her grandmother. She has a demon tattoo on her body. She was born as Shion Sonozaki but was forced to become Mion when she was given the demon tattoo.

Satoko Hojo: Related to the second and fourth set of victims. She and Rika live together. She had a bad relation with her step-father to the point she falsely accused him of abuse. She relied heavily on her brother when they were living with their aunt and uncle. She believes herself cursed because she had damaged the statue of Oyashiro-sama a few years ago.

Rika Furude: Related to the third set of victims. Rika is the head of the Furude family which is one of the main houses of Hinamizawa. She’s in charge of the priesthood. Rika is believed to be the reincarnation of Oyashiro. She has the power to see the future and foresaw the murders as well as her own imminent death in 1983. She's able to communicate with Oyashiro and has been aware of the repeating cycle of events. She has existed for about 100 years.

Shion Sonozaki: Mion’s twin sister. Shion lives in Okinomiya with their parents. She’s the manager for the Hinamizawa Fighters baseball team. She loved Satoshi and has been trying to uncover the truth of the series of murders after he vanished. She was born as Mion Sonozaki but was forced to become Shion when her sister got the demon tattoo.

Curaudo Ooishi: A detective with the local prefecture who wants to figure out the cause of all the deaths. He suspects a group within the village is behind the deaths. The villagers call him Oyashiro-sama’s messenger because he’s interacted with every victim prior to their deaths. He has dealt with the Sonozakis in the past and has a scar because of it. He was friends with the dam project manager.

Jirou Tomitake: A photographer who visits Hinamizawa several times through the year. He died by scratching out his throat. Jirou Tomitake is not his real name.

Miyo Takano: A nurse at the local clinic. She’s interested instudying the doctrines of Hinamizawa. She went missing after the Cotton Drifting Festival. She was strangled and her corpse was cremated. Her autopsy suggests she died the night before the festival however. The night of the festival, Takano was driving off the main road with Tomitake’s bike in the backseat. She wrote several occult stories based on Hinamizawa's legend. And while they're not true, she did correctly predict the disaster in one of them.

Kyosuke Irie: The main doctor of the Irie clinic. He is also the coach to the Hinamizawa Fighters.

Satoshi Hojo: Satoko’s older brother. He used to be part of the after-school club. He disappeared a year ago. Prior to his disappearance, he started carrying a bat and practiced his swinging. He also became distant from the club. Satoshi may have been the one who killed his aunt. It was believed that he had been saving money to buy Satoko a doll, but then he withdrew the money and vanished on her birthday. However the doll Satoko wanted had been purchased that day.

Mamoru Akasaka: A police officer from Tokyo. He came to Hinamizawa in 1978 to investigate a kidnapping case. Rika warned him to return to Tokyo and later told him about the imminent series of murders and asked Akasaka to save her. Akasaka did not heed her warnings and as a result, his wife died in an accident. He never returned to Hinamizawa, but later wrote a book about the mysteries about it. He returned to Hinamizawa 22 years.

Village details:

Hinamizawa was originally known as Onigafuchi. The residents were believed to be descended from demons and the nearby villages offered tribute out of fear.

Oyashiro-sama is believed to be a god who gave the demons human form so they could live amonst humans

After the war, Mion’s grandfather, Souhei Sonozaki, used black market funds to bring great prosperity to the village.

There are three main houses in Hinamizawa: The Sonozakis, the Kimiyoshis, and the Furudes.

The villagers have a strong sense of unity and will work together to cover up any crimes a villager has done. However, this has allowed someone to slip into the village and commit murders unimpeded.

Murder Mystery details:

Since 1979, someone has died each year during the Cotton Drifting Festival.

The first death was the director of the Dam Project. He was murdered and dismembered by several people. The person who took the right arm is still at large.

The second death was Satoko’s parents. They fell off a cliff. The wife’s body was never found.

The third death was Rika’s parents. Her father died of an illness and her mother drowned herself in the swamp. Her body was never found.

The fourth death was Satoko’s aunt. She was beaten to death. Satoko’s brother Satoshi also went missing around that time. While a drug addict had been convicted for the murder, it may be possible that Satoshi was the actual killer.

The fifth death was Jirou Tomitake. He clawed out his throat after apparently being attacked by several people. Tomitake’s death is suspected of being drug induced.

Miyo Takano was also murdered. She was strangled and then burned.

Every death has a pattern of one discovered death and one missing person. People in the village refer to the disappearances as the person being “demoned away”.

The villagers refer to the series of deaths as Oyashiro-sama’s curse due to the connections to the dam project. However, each new victim is less and less connected to the project. Tomitake had no connection at all, and Ooishi suspects the murderers are just targeting outsiders at this point.

Oyashiro-sama’s Curse and other mysteries

Rika Furude was found disemboweled outside Furude Shrine. The reason and perpetrator are unknown.

Poisonous gas erupted from Onigafuchi swamp enveloping the village and killing its residents. The disaster is neither natural nor divine in origin. The local environment is completely unharmed, implying the poison gas eruption is not true at all.

Rika predicted the series of murders and her own death. However, she did not foresee the destruction of the village.

Many relatives to the villagers went mad after the disaster and several died under mysterious circumstances.

One speculation is the villagers were infected by alien brain parasites and the disaster was a coverup by the government trying to eradicate them. While there is likely some coverup, the alien parasite theory was a story made by Takano.

The village was closed off for 20 years after the disaster.

Onigafuchi swamp was sealed with concrete early in the containment, supposedly to seal the poison gas.

The World as a whole:

Oyashiro is real, but their involvement in all this is unknown.

The world has been trapped in a loop for roughly 100 years.

Rika appears to be the only one aware of the loop.

Additional Speculations:

A group called "Tokyo" was behind the kidnapping incident in 1978. It has no affiliation with the Sonozakis or any major figures in the village.

One of the kidnappers in the incident is working as a gardener.

There are some loose affiliations that might tie Tokyo to Irie, Takano, and Tomitake but the true nature of that affiliation is unknown.

back

[charismaofobedience]

can you pls tell me more about tsubaki aoyagi..

Explodes in rondo oshi. Yes i can <333

I think first of all we have to take note of how tsubaki is heavily implied and almost confirmed tbh to be raised catholic. while we know she studied with rika when she was tiny so she didn't study in the christian school, we also have confirmation that she DID frequent a church alongside Miyu fairly frequently and was part of the choir, hell, Miyu herself called her big sister tsubaki in the past so with this we already have the confirmation of one thing::: judging by the other raised catholic girls in the series (lyrical lily, esora), tsubaki was infected with the gay disaster virus at a young age.

However, this also brings us the fact that she WAS part of the choir. "Why was?" Well you see, rondo unit story 1 confirms to us that tsubaki somewhat left the choir some time ago and now comes alone to the church to sing. As events go on, she eventually gets comfortable and sometimes join the choir alone to help too, but she didn't fully join them. We also learn that Tsubaki used to take voice training classes because she enjoyed singing and would like to work with that in the future, however, her teacher told her that her voice wasn't cut to that and she wouldn't get that fair and, disheartened by that, Tsubaki quit singing for a LONG time... Until one day aoi heard her singing all alone in a church, entered and asked her to join her dj unit. This goes on and on for a decently long time since tsubaki was still afraid of singing and thought she'd make rondo fail because "she isn't a good singer", but she also slowly grows more and more confident on herself and her singing as she stays w rondo!!!

However. This girl is still an absolute disaster (probably the biggest one in d4dj after saori). Tsubaki is bad at basically anything related to housekeeping: cooking, cleaning... It's one of the main things she struggles with, SPECIALLY cooking. If you want an idea, on the valentine's day rondo event tsubaki had to go ask for help to hiiro because she wanted to make (not buy) chocolates for "someone special..." Which just made hiiro giggle because she knew it was aoi. We learn that Tsubaki was able to make them with hiiro's help, because when she tried doing it on her own, she burned the chocolate. Tsubaki is also an incredibly heavy sleeper even if she usually stays up late watching western movies (which brings us the knowledge that tsubaki DOES enjoy western media and, as such, since she's emo we can conclude this girl absolutely could be into american emo bands) (and i mean, rondo does has a fully english cover with tsubaki singing, so) which causes her to fall asleep during her uni classes and the others (usually hiiro) giving her canned coffees and calling our her poor sleep patterns. A lot of the time she oversleeps, too, making so that rondo meetings have to be at the evening or at night since she will be late otherwise and with them usually having to call her to wake her up. She's pathetic and also i love her.

Now let's talk about her relationship with Rika. The two did meet initially at school, which Rika confirms that Tsubaki was a VERY quiet and shy kid, a nervous wreck, and that because of this Rika, always bright and popular, decided to befriend her specially so she could help Tsubaki. However, after some time, Rika noticed she started to distance herself (implied to be after her singing tutor told her she wouldn't get very far) and Rika felt powerless, like she couldn't do anything, and that's where rika decided she would always be willing to help others like tsubaki and not let them go. Rika tells us that at the merm4id christmas story that this is one of the reasons as to why she always tries her best to make others smile, because she doesn't want anyone to get all lonely and with no friends like tsubaki was when they were small and growing up. However, recently the two reconnected and are besties again, with Rika still annoying (lovingly) the hell out of Tsubaki who insists she doesn't like Rika that much, but it's clear how important both are to each other: tsubaki being the one who gave rika's being a purpose to help others and always be true to herself and rika being the one who always was there for tsubaki, the one who gave her a boost to, when she was ready, let herself open up to friends and relationships again.

And then we get to the girls themselves. Aoi and Tsubaki... God. First of all we have to acknowledge that their feelings ARE mutual and it's heavily implied in many stories (rondo maid, rondo phantom thief, aoi and haruna relations) and, considering d4 already has a canonical lesbian couple, who knows. Aoi and Tsubaki also gave each other a purpose and basically saved each other, with aoi giving tsubaki a chance to sing again after insisting on it for so long, assuring her but not pressuring that it's okay for her not to be perfect because her voice is still beautiful and she needs tsubakis voice on rondo and tsubaki allowing aoi to be herself, being the only one who saw aoi past this handsome facade: because she knows the real, clumsy aoi, the one who's scared of bugs, the one who is an airhead and gets lost on conversations, the one who doesn't want to be recognized only for her appearance as a "handsome girl", because for her aoi isn't only handsome or cute, for tsubaki, aoi is pretty, beautiful. (Sorry i re-read the haruna aoi relations event yesterday and i think im still feeling things over tsubakis phrases)

Both are extremely important to each other and hiiro has canonically described them as soulmates, both because they balance each other, but also because they allow the other to be true to themselves. While tsubaki seemed to be a instant crush however, we can see aois crush slowly forming through the stories and it's just so vkcnkdnckjd. Rika herself has thanked Aoi for making Tsubaki smile again (shuffle event story) and they make me insane. However, one is an airhead and whenever she tries to confess something gets in the way and the other is a nervous mess who never truly gets the courage to be honest and, even when she does, the flirt goes over aois head. It's the world's silliest dumb mutual pining ever and they're so in love it makes me crazy.

Also Marika has literally canonically joked about the two marrying but that's another thing.

And even if she is a disaster, tsubaki is still a cool, caring friend to the others. She will always be the one telling haruna about the real aoi, the one who will be there to call nagisa out when she's being too impulsive with her ideas, the one who allows aoi to be herself, the moon to rika's bright sun, the tutor and caring figure to miyu. Tsubaki may be a mess, but she is still someone kind and caring behind the stern gaze, someone who wishes to help others and become close to them, no matter how nervous of doing so she may be.

She's silly.

[marshmallowprotection]

Hey can i request a hurt comfort YoosungMC where yoosung comes back from work early cuz he was overwhelmed since he had to put down more animals than usual and also because of sensory issues- since he has vision problems (cuz he could only use one eye) working with animals with white fur on a white bed under a strong light is an overwhelming task for him but most of the time he tries his best but today it was quite a rough day. He usually feels a lot lot of pain when he had to put down any pet because yk it reminds him of how devastated rika was when sally died and brings him awful memories.

I had often thought about the difficulties he'd face in his job as a vet and its a well known fact that depression is high among those working in veterinary field because putting down animals tends to be a traumatic job+ alot of their patients often come in really terrible conditions. I think it would be even more devastating for yoosung considering the very reason he got into this job in the first place

TW: Animal Death

His fellow doctors warned him that it was never going to be easier to help someone say goodbye. It would always sting, but no matter the outcome, he had to be honest and say he did everything he could in the moment to save their lives.

Sometimes, it wasn't quite true, but it was hard to tell someone that small factors had prevented him from being able to do everything.

Like, arriving a moment too late due to traffic, or not noticing a sign of pain because the animals were very good at hiding it. Those were things outside of an owner's control... but to say those played a role in the death? It was unjust. It was unfair. It was wrong.

Yoosung never wanted anyone to blame themselves for something outside of their control.

Whenever he had to deal with a death on site, he thought of Sally and of how it was an unfortunate accident she lost her life in the end. The pain his cousin experienced was horrible... and it had been to late for anyone to save Sally's life by the time she was located. Her eyes were in bad shape and she had gotten older, less agile and adept at being able to help herself.

It wasn't her fault she was injured.

Rika blamed herself for it.

Sure, could Rika have done something to help Sally's eyes before it happened? Of course, she could have. But, blaming herself wasn't a good thing in the end. It worsened her ability to mourn the pet who'd helped her smile ever since she left her parents home. That pain had been what inspired him to want to do something for people in pain... and to this day, he kept that promise.

He wanted to make sure that if someone lost their pet, he did what he could, even if that wasn't true, per se. He did what he could with what he had. He tried everything within his power... and sometimes, that wasn't good enough. He couldn't save everything and that was a cruel reality, especially on days when he saw animal after animal lose their life despite everything he and his staff tried.

His chest ached as soon as he left the office, hours later then he normally did, feeling like a failure for not being able to help every animal that came into his office. He wanted to do better for those animals but there were far too many factors outside of his control and nothing could change that.

His fellow doctors warned him it wouldn't be easy, and he didn't want to believe it... but it was true. Nothing got easier when it came to the health and safety of animals. His heart was heavy and the emotions were heavier. It stung. It was hard enough to come to the realization that there was nothing he could do to help except try to make what he could more comfortable for them, and it was even harder to tell somebody there was nothing he could do and that it was too late to make it gentle.

He had to hide his emotions every time an animal lost their life, and it added another notch on his belt. There was an anchor inside of his chest that was pulling him down deeper and deeper by the minute, and by the time he realized it was too much pressure, he was already standing in the doorway of your apartment, tears threatening to spill out of his eyes. 

It wasn't that often he broke down in tears because he couldn't do everything he wanted to do for someone, but he wasn't infallible nor was he immune to tears. He just wanted to help... he wanted to do more! There were people out there who deserved as much help as people could give, and he knew he couldn't do it alone. There was only so much one vet tech could do to help animals! There were far too many factors out of his control.

That was the hardest part about it.

"...Yoosung?"

The sound of your voice brought him back from under the surface of the running water he felt trapped under. He looked at you, wordlessly, and you opened your arms for him without a moment of hesitation as soon as you saw the despair in his eyes. He melted into your embrace without qualm, sobbing into your chest like he wanted to do all day.

It was never easy, but at least, you were there for him. It was painful to see people struggle day in and day out, but when he managed to do something right for another person, it all felt worth it.

He knew it was worth it to go through the pain every time even if it left him feeling exhausted and worn out. He was—doing the right thing. There were some jobs that were crucial to the world and his job was one of them. Knowing that he made a difference in somebody's experience was the most important position he could ever be in. 

He knew that you would always be there for him and it made all the difference. Even if he couldn't find the strength to talk about what he felt and what went wrong, being able to know one simple fact made everything better. As long as he knew that he was coming home to you, it would never be painful. 

Life would sting but he would find a sense of peace thanks to your smile.

You helped him move over to the couch so he could properly rest after being on his feet for hours. He settled against your bosom as soon as he could, and you brushed the hair from his face. "Do you want to talk about it?" you asked.

His voice quivered. "I... I lost so many pets today, love. I lost count after the first three and I stayed even later tonight... because there were so many accidents throughout the day. I don't know what went wrong out there, either. We did everything we could, I did everything I could. But there were so many animals that were too far gone for me to do anything about. I hated to put those... animals down but there was no choice at all. There was no choice but to end their suffering."

"You did everything you could, Yoosung. I'm sure of that much," you murmured. Your gentle hands felt like heaven. "Even if you couldn't help everybody in the end, you made a difference for the ones who managed to get there in time to say goodbye. Not everybody has the opportunity to let somebody say goodbye properly. You try so hard everyday for all of those animals and I know those pet owners had to appreciate what you did for them.”

Every 'thank you' was filled with tears.

Had he done enough?

"I know what you're thinking right now. I know you think that you didn't do enough for everyone. But, my dearest, you did everything you could. Sure, we both know that there are times when you can't do everything you need to do for someone, but you do what you can do in the moment and that's the only thing that matters. I'm proud of you for doing a job that most people can't stomach at all. You do the best you can... and that's what matters."

Yoosung wasn't sure if he could believe those words.

Even if he thought he did everything he could, there was always the possibility that he didn't. Those were the feelings that bothered him the most whenever he thought about Sally. But, he knew that there was always more he could have done back then just as much as there was plenty he could do in his present life.

But, if he continued to beat himself up over these things, he would never be able to focus on his work. That's what his therapist told him and he had to have faith in that.

"You really think so?"

"I know so. When you start to doubt yourself again, think about how appreciative the people who get to say goodbye because of the hard work you do in the heat of the moment. Saying goodbye is important. It's just as important as fighting to save a life, Yoosung. You helped a lot of animals in pain... and that's a kindness many people can't give."

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou ch. 2 Watanagashi pt. 15

Rika definitely knows who's responsible for the deaths, and the disappearance of the mayor.

I think she's actually trying to be helpful. His paranoia is starting to get the better of him, but I do genuinely believe that Rika wants to help Keiichi out of this jam he's put himself into.

I don't think that it's Shion on the phone here. Shion and Mion have demonstrated a few times in the chapter that they can effortlessly act like the other over the phone when talking to Keiichi. I think this is actually Mion trying to dupe Keiichi in to confessing about what happened with the storehouse. After all, it's the eighties, caller ID doesn't exist, and Keiichi is in a heightened state of paranoia as a result of the deaths of Tomitake and Takano, plus the general mood of everyone in town because of the mayor's disappearance. Add onto that the constant harassment and surveillance Ooishi has on him, and I don't think Keiichi has the presence of mind to doubt "Shion" saying it's her on the phone.

What if this is all just part of some deeper scheme of Rika's? What if she is using the changing of the lock to a simpler padlock as a means to use the Watanagashi sacrifices for her own ends. She knew that Takano and Tomitake were trying to break into the storehouse. What if she used the mayor to change the lock to entice them in and use that as a justification for them to be used for the ritual? Then she uses the outrage of the mob to demon away the mayor for some unrelated power-play reason. What if this is a plot by Mion and Rika to use the Watanagashi to seize control of the Sonozaki family, Mion gains power that she more or less already controls, but has it in an official capacity, and Rika gains a useful henchman?

A fine time to put on your skeptical shoes Keiichi!

Surely nothing suspicious at all, about two children who's parents had died during previous years Watanagashi's living together.

These eyes are incredibly unsettling. Which I know is the point, but regardless it's a very effective visual. Also what'd I tell you? That eventually it would be revealed that Satoko has a history of being abused. So Satoko probably was a witness to her aunt's apparently extremely brutal death. Was she also a witness to her parents deaths? It seems like a mildly important detail to gloss over. If anything you'd think Ooishi would consider asking the child these questions.

In case you're wondering, I've opted to start including the log more because the constant similar backgrounds on lines like these make it a bit annoying to make sure I got them in order.

I can honestly understand why Mion would say Satoko is cursed. Four separate family members either died or disappeared, yet every time Satoko was left physically unscathed. Mentally I'm sure she's got a bevy of issues, but so far she's avoided disappearing and extreme murder. Maybe Oyashiro's sacrifices have to be a certain age minimum? Heh, the curse of Oyashiro is rated T.

It is impressive how threatening and menacing these characters can act, and just as quickly drop it and act like their normal selves. Of course then you can make the argument which one is the true self, is it an act, are they just sitting on a cauldron of constantly bubbling anger and rage that will explode at a moment's notice? Or is it something as simple to explain as possession?

After a fruitless search fails to turn up Rika and Satoko, Ooishi grills Keiichi some more about breaking into the storehouse. Basically he suggests that someone is going after the heads of the three families that run Hinamizawa. Perhaps as a sort of divine punisher, getting those who "failed" Oyashiro. And that the head of the Sonozaki family might be next. Why he's going so hard after Keiichi though is really anyone's guess at this point.

As much as I'm on board with the theory that Mion might have something to do with the disappearances I do think the game is trying a bit too hard to make her seem like the guilty party. At the same time, I also think that might be the point of trying so hard to pin the blame on her to throw you off the trail. This is all just speculation, as there's no actual evidence of wrongdoing, just the knowledge that Mion has a history of violence. But I don't think that's really enough to pin it on her conclusively. Towards the end of Onikakushi Mion admits that she doesn't quite believe in the religion of Oyashiro to the point that the other villagers of Hinamizawa do. So that throws a small shadow of doubt onto the idea that she's acting as the triggerman for punishing those who broke the sacraments of Oyashiro and the storehouse. Unless that's a ruse as well, and she's secretly a hardcore believer, because also in chapter one Mion was acting in accordance to the wills of the Oyashiro cult. But I do believe that since Mion is the heir to the Sonozaki family she does most likely have to prove her dedication to the cause that is running Hinamizawa with the other two families. That perhaps she's just approaching it with a lot more zeal than would be expected for the task of punishing nonbelievers or those who don't fall in line with the three families ideas.

But at the same time, if we run with the idea that Mion is a red herring who could it be that's behind the disappearances? Who is the "dog" that bit the mayor? I think it's a rather mundane answer. The one who's behind it is actually Shion, and her weapon is the Sonozaki group member we saw briefly before Watanagashi: Kasai.

I think that Shion is using the unrest the deaths of Tomitake and Takano has caused as a smokescreen to try to steal away the power of the Sonozaki family from Mion and their grandmother. While you can read his line of "she'll grow tired soon" as him remarking upon her toying with Keiichi I feel that this could be read as she's made similar attempts at a coup before, but ultimately lost interest and moved on. It would go to further explain her dislike of Ooishi. That's another thing you could very easily accept the surface level reading of "she dislikes Ooishi because he's a cop, and she's the daughter of the head of a yakuza family." But it could also be that she doesn't like him because he keeps digging into her recent movements and schemes.

Again though you could argue just as easily against Shion being the culprit. With all the information given so far (at the end of chapter 10) you could make any real number of arguments of who or what is behind anything. It's a much more open-ended mystery than the mystery of the Oyashiro cult in Onikakushi.

There's only one character who I feel really couldn't be behind it (aside from those who are dead), and that's Satoko. Unless she's in on it with Rika.

[monterraverde]

"You are still without a companion for combat," Lusamine points out bluntly. She had been watching Rika since the moment the party left the dam, acutely aware of the type of vulnerability she had without synchronizing with one of the paradox monsters.

"It has not impeded your ability to fight, of course. Going forward though," she turns her head and looks directly down at Rika, her voice serious.

"It may be in your best interest to utilize Type: Full," she references the Silvally that dutifully has followed her side.

“Ain’t for lack of trying, madame prez.” She nods, they haven’t exactly had much luck finding other survivors that weren’t completely taken over by the RKS. She fiddles with the remote control looking thing on her neck, similar to what Larry had been using in structure, but noticeably more bulky and with many more possible functions.

“Yeah, fighting came with the territory at my old job. Creatures like our friends here kept escaping from the crater, though they were far more violent and destructive. They also don’t play by our rules and will usually target the trainer instead of the pokemon partner- Smart enough to realize we’re the ones giving the commands. We had to shape up our own abilities to keep ourselves safe when capturing them.” She nods, and she perks up a bit when she realizes the need to check her equipment before they set out again.

She needs a ranged weapon of some kind that doesnt involve expending her energy.

Lusamine brings forth the pokemon she usually travelled with- Type: Full, huh? She swore she thought she heard it referred to as Silvally at some point… For how big and intimidating it was, it had a very cute face and a brilliant silhouette. She looks between the pokemon and Lusamine slowly, before getting up off the crate she was sitting on and approaching it. “You’d entrust me with something this important to you? I’m honored… Yeah, In the interim until we find one I can sync with, I feel like we’d make a good team.”

It’s as big as a horse, she could easily ride it and fight, much like Hassel has with Donna…

She addresses Silvally now, putting a hand on her hip. “How about it, bud? Wanna run with me for a bit?”

[gamerwoo]

[Tales from the Pack] Hansol: Fire and Ice (Part Eight)

Characters: Hansol x female reader

Genre/warnings: werewolf au, fantasy, angst but it’s actually not too angsty, i wouldn’t really call any of this fluff necessarily but it’s definitely not super angsty, mentions of not eating bc depression, mentions of death and suicide

Word count: 2,701

Summary: You’ve always been one to let your emotions get the best of you – your power reflects that – and you’ve never been good at expressing them. That’s why you always thought you’d be awful with a mate, but you never thought things would be this awful.

a/n: things in bold are in english. also since people have been asking, at the bottom of the tftp info list, there’s a list for jiung’s pack. i didn’t think remembering their names and such were really important for the story but people wanted to know who they were and requested i add it anyway. if there’s any other info you’d like me to add, please let me know!!

Previous | Next | Fire and Ice Masterlist

As expected, you were gone when Hansol woke up on the couch. He checked his room and saw a note on the nightstand, along with Chanseong’s ring. The necklace, however, wasn’t there.

Please give this to the pack. They deserve something of theirs as much as I do.

-_____

Hansol put the ring in his pocket before grabbing a jacket and some shoes to go out for the day. He figured he could make it to their house and be back in time for lunch, so he started off as soon as he was ready to go.

As he got to the door, Soonyoung stopped him, “Suvi and I went and spoke to that doctor the other day -- the one Hanbin’s pack mentioned to us. She said she can take a look at you…if you want.”

Hansol nodded, “I’m still thinking about it.”

“When will you decide?” Soonyoung sighed. “We all know it’s hurting you.”

Hansol couldn’t deny that even having on a very thin t-shirt still irritated the silver in him, but he wasn’t going to fix it until he was sure there was a good reason to.

“I’ll decide when _____ decides,” he stated before leaving the house and going toward Hanbin’s.

-

As expected, it only took a few hours in his human form. The ring was safely in his pocket, and he checked every so often to make sure it was still there. He didn’t want to touch it too much but he wanted to make sure it wasn’t suddenly lost or something.

Besides giving the pack the ring, he wanted to get a few things for you. Maybe some of your clothes or belongings you didn’t take, probably a few more shirts of Jiung’s just so you’d have other things that smelled like him. Maybe he’d even get one of his blankets or something just so it wouldn’t lose his scent as quickly. He just wanted things that would make you feel more at home with his pack, even if you only decided to stay with them for a short amount of time.

The fact that you were pushing him away hurt, but what hurt more was that you were unhappy. Hansol didn’t blame you, not at all. He knew you were pushing people away to cope, and people coped it different ways. Like you, some people preferred being alone rather than surrounded by others. Your brother had died, then his mate confessed to only you that he was going to kill himself, you were expected to step up and be an alpha, and everyone had been yelling at you to make decisions since the moment you woke up. He didn’t blame you for acting the way you did, even if you were pushing him away, too. He wanted to give you space to heal, hoping you’d come to him when you were ready.

But even if he wasn’t really the one who killed your brother, he understood your anger and frustration. From what your old pack had told him, you were known for bottling up your emotions until they burst, and you acted without thinking of consequences. You didn’t know how to make sense of what you felt, and you needed something or someone to blame and take your anger out on. Everyone who came near seemed to be a target, but he at least understood why you felt so angry. As long as he understood you, he didn’t think anyone else needed to.

He strolled up to the deck and knocked on the door. He smiled politely down at the mate who answered. He vaguely recalled her name was Seongmi.

“Oh, you’re from that other pack,” the girl smiled politely when she recognized him. “How can we help you?”

“Actually, I have something for your pack,” he began, as Hanbin and Jaesang made their way over. “And…I was wondering if maybe there was anything I could bring back for _____?”

“_____ ran away to your pack?” Hanbin asked, a relieved smile on his face.

Despite what Hanbin probably assumed, Hansol’s expression dropped, shaking his head, “No, not directly. She… One of our mates – the banshee – found her trying to do harm to herself. We got lucky.”

“_____…” Jaesang sighed, shaking his head as he ran his hands over his face.

Hanbin waved the younger wolf inside, “Please come in, Hansol.”

So he followed the two wolves into the living room. Most of the mates didn’t seem to be home, save for Rika who was sewing up Hyojun’s shirt that was completely torn down the back. The wolf just looked up at you and grinned while Rika kept her eyes on the needle between her delicate fingers.

The rest of the pack was inside and seemed to just be resting, mostly. Baekhan was lounging on the couch with a mug in his hands, and Jinyoung was sipping from a bottle of whiskey as he spoke about something else entirely to the two wolves in the room. The only one who seemed to be missing was Rin.

“Hey, Hansol!” Jinyoung nodded as he lifted his bottle to the young wolf. “What brings you back here? Wait, _____ didn’t–”

“_____ is safe,” Hanbin stated.

Jinyoung nodded again, trying to settle his heart that had picked up as he took another sip of whiskey, “Good, good. So then why’d you decide to stop by?”

“I went back to the house the other night,” he began as he fished around in his pocket. “I was hoping to find…well, anything related to Jiung or Chanseong, and I found Jiung’s necklace and gave it to _____. But she left and note and said you guys might want this.”

He opened his palm to show the ring. Hanbin took it, a smile growing on his face as he realized what it was. Even Rika had stopped what she was doing to see what it was.

“Is that…?” her question trailed off, her voice soft.

“It’s the ring,” Hanbin chuckled, shaking his head. “I’ll be damned. We figured there wasn’t going to be anything left.”

“That’s probably not made out of any normal gold,” Hyojun nodded. “Actually...what temperature does gold melt at?”

Hanbin looked up from the ring, his golden eyes sparkling, “Thank you, seriously. Bringing this back means the world to us.”

Hansol nodded in reply.

“You wanted some of the kid’s stuff, right?” Jaesang asked as Hanbin handed the ring off to Rika for her to look at.

Rika rolled her eyes before examining the ring, “She’s still older than you, Jae.”

“And maybe some of Jiung’s, if that’s okay. I noticed she likes to wear his things, and I figured the sweater she’s been wearing is losing his scent. Maybe there’s something that’ll keep the scent for longer that’s less prone to getting dirty,” Hansol chuckled, carding a hand through his hair.

“Of course,” Hanbin nodded. “Follow me.”

The alpha led him upstairs, going to your room first. Hansol quickly went through and grabbed anything he thought you might need, stuffing it into a backpack that was hung on the back of your door. He made sure to grab the picture of you, Jiung, and what he assumed was the rest of your family, off of your nightstand as well, and one of you and a very large group of people – he assumed was the pack before so many died – before he left the room.

Down the hall, Hanbin stopped and opened a door. As soon as it was opened, Hansol knew it was Jiung’s because it still smelled strongly of the late alpha. He looked around a bit, noticing the place was less minimalistic than yours. It had a lot more pictures on desks and dressers, and even hanging on the walls. Clearly, family and pack were something Jiung treasured dearly. There were pictures of other people around Jiung’s age, as well as pictures of people who seemed to be from other countries just like the one he’d grabbed from your room. With Hanbin’s help, Hansol was able to pack pictures that seemed most important, such as ones with your family and old pack members you were close with.

The second thing he did was go through Jiung’s clothes, grabbing as many sweaters as he could since you seemed to like warm things – he assumed it was because of your firebending power – but also a few t-shirts. Hanbin also took the knitted throw blanket from Jiung’s bed and handed it over to the younger wolf.

“His mother knitted this for him and sent it with him as a birthday gift one year,” the alpha explained. “I think _____ will like this, and she’ll probably keep it someplace where it won’t lose the scent. But if she ever misses him and needs something else to feel close to him, you know where to find us.”

Hansol gave the older wolf a grateful smile, “Thank you, Hanbin.”

“You take good care of _____, okay?” Hanbin told him, clapping a hand on Hansol’s shoulder. “If you can do anything about it, don’t let her leave you. I know she’s not really mad at you, but she’s too overwhelmed to face her real emotions. Just…help her though them if you can.”

“I’ll try,” Hansol nodded with a sure look, “I promise.”

-

As he expected, Hansol made it back just in time for lunch. He went and brought everything upstairs, planning to unpack it all afterwards. You weren’t up there, so he assumed you weren’t home – at least he hoped that you weren’t home yet but you would be. So he left the backpack on the bed and went downstairs to wash up for lunch.

As he bounded down the steps, he could hear the pack talking with each other. They seemed to be adjusting nicely to the new house which made everybody happy. Suvi was so far unrecognizable – then again, word about her might not have traveled this far yet – Eunjin hadn’t been screaming as often – though she did one night but she said it was because she couldn’t “hear them” and nobody was going to ask what that meant – and even the wolves seemed to enjoy the larger space. The only person having a more difficult time was Jia just because she was still trying to memorize the layout.

“Hansol!” Yeji grinned as she walked over to him. Dirt was covering every part of her skin that was exposed, and her tail was swishing lazily behind her with some patches of fur matted down. “Do you know if _____ is coming?”

He just shrugged, trying not to let his face turn into a frown, “I’m not sure, to be honest.”

Yeji just scrunched up her nose, one of her ears twitching slightly, “Oh… Uh, well, try not to get too upset over it, y’know? She’s still…recovering.”

“Im Yeji!” Jihoon barked, frowning at the state his mate was in. “Go clean up, you’re not eating like that!”

“Relax,” she scoffed, turning to face her mate, “I’ve eaten off the forest floor before.”

“No,” he stated, grabbing her  hand and bringing her to the bathroom. “You’re not eating while you’re covered in dirt. That���s disgusting.”

Hansol just chuckled at the couple and made his way to the kitchen where most of the pack was, and where the great smell of food was coming from. He hoped that maybe someday you and him could be like Yeji and Jihoon. He thought they were cute.

The pack started taking seats as they waited for food to be done. They typically took food from the stove and then went to wherever to eat it, but they only sat at the table to wait for it to be done. And sure enough, at noon, Soomin, Jun, and Mingyu stepped away from the stove to let the mates get their food.

And only a few seconds later did Hansol’s heartbeat pick up, and then a moment after that, the front door opened. The werewolves heard it as well, but the entire pack didn’t look until the door closed.

You appeared in the doorway, seeing lots of eyes on you which made your cheeks heat up involuntarily.

“…Hi,” was all you could think to say.

“Hi, _____!” Danbi chirped, and you thanked whatever higher being that she was there to make things less weird. “Glad to have you for lunch!”

“Yeah, come sit,” Mingyu smiled, waving you in.

As you entered the kitchen, you locked eyes with Hansol for a brief moment. He was looking at you almost in awe, like God had appeared right in front of him for afternoon tea, and you felt your face heating up even more. You cast your gaze downward as you went to take the seat between Mingyu and Eunjin.

“_____, you’re welcome to get food with the girls,” Soomin told you.

You just shook your head, replying instinctively, “Mates eat first.”

That was always the rule with your previous pack: mates, then both male and female wolves. You may not have eaten as much as a male wolf could, but you definitely ate more than any human.

So after all the mates got their food, Mingyu gestured for you to help yourself. However, you didn’t want to eat. You still had that pit in your stomach that just made you want to gag at the mere idea of food. You really just wanted to go crawl back into bed and hide, but you couldn’t do that here -- you did go back to Baekhyun just to let him know you were still alive because he panicked a lot when he woke up to you missing, and you considered just staying there again. There were too many people here to hide, and you were sure to get annoyed by the noise.

“I’m not hungry,” you mumbled, waving their concerned looks away with your hand.

“_____, you should really eat something,” Soonyoung spoke up. “When was the last time you ate?”

“When I was out,” you lied. All you actually did when you were out was hide to escape the noise and people to be alone. “I’m fine, seriously.”

So the males got up to get their food, taking basically whatever was left. You listened to the pack chat with each other while you silently watched them eat. Hansol sat on the opposite side of the table between Seokmin and Joshua, and you could feel his eyes on you the entire time. However, he didn’t try making conversation with you at all.

“So, _____,” Joshua began, speaking in English as he gathered food with his utensils, “mind if I ask what you’ve been up to lately?”

You just shrugged, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen the town. I went to visit some old friends, went to see what’s changed, stuff like that.”

“And how are you…feeling today?” he asked, his tone suddenly more serious as he was referring to what happened the night before.

You just shook your head and didn’t say anything. He got the hint, though. You didn’t want to talk about it, and that was a feeling he understood. Although, you still couldn’t help but wonder how Eunjin got to you when she did. Did Jiung really manage to lead her there before anything happened? Was she sure it was him?

“Does Eunjin know who she’s speaking to?” you asked Josh, looking down at your plate. You would’ve asked her yourself, but you didn’t want to let the rest of the pack in on your conversation topic. “Like, is she aware of who they were before?”

“I think so, yeah,” Josh nodded. “Why, are you thinking about last night?”

Slowly, you nodded, looking up to meet Joshua’s curious golden eyes, “My parents believed in spirits and stuff. They also said that if you woke up from a dream with a headache, that a spirit was getting inside your head to talk to you.”

The older wolf just shrugged, “I dunno, _____. At this point, I kind of just believe any of that could be possible. I guess it’s up to you to decide if you believe, though.”

[meep9898]

substantial-gains​:

Gritting her teeth, Satsuki led the way as requested.

She really, really wanted to slug that aloof look off that Yakuza lady’s stupid pretty face. Of course she was exaggerating about being murdered, she could put up a damn decent fight if need be. This was her fucking turf, every halfwit punk around here has gotten their ass kicked by the delinquent at one point or another. And while she has knocked out some teeth in her time, she hadn’t ever went overboard like Rika had, breaking people, turning their bodies into literal sacks of broken bones. Satsuki could NOT afford another hospital bill, even if her pride was shattered at the moment.

“Yo, Mr. Watanabe, we got another trouble maker! Go get us the good shit. Also, stay out of the way if fists start flying, if you know what’s good for you.” After opening the door and “greeting” the geezer manning the bar, Satsuki plopped her ass in a booth, motioning for the yakuza girl to come over, preparing to empty her own wallet. If negotiations entailed her drinking this semi-super woman under the table, so be it. And if she gained enough courage to take a swing at her before the night is through, even better.

The delinquent doesn’t even miss a beat after a few bottles get dropped down onto the table before grabbing one and chugging it down in one go.

“Buh-UUuurrrp!”

Letting out a quick belch, Satsuki took a few moments before finally noticing her lack of etiquette. "Oh, uh…cheers or whatever? Kanpai? I don’t know how you guys do this stuff… Also, I didn’t quite catch your name, bro.”

This wasn’t the first time that Rika’s intimidating fists had shattered someone’s pride or crushed their spirit, nor would it be the last. In this particular case, not only was Rika far more experienced than the frustrated girl when it came to street combat, but the rampaging ruffian’s usually violent demeanor had also been exponentially increased by her self-impossed, one-woman crusade to conquer the territory that Satsuki had been overseeing. Broken bones, torn muscles, loose teeth, and bloody, bludgeoned faces were some of the consequences left by the rioting ravenette’s rumbles against Satsuki’s gang. If the redheaded delinquent were to fight her, she would most likely suffer the same fate.

Saluting the old taverner by scowling at hime, Rika didn’t make much of the worn down bare, reckoning she’d be getting stale and unsavory beer. At the very least, she was drinking for free, so she couldn’t complain that much. With this in mind, she sat her own rear right in front of the girl, downing her beer just as quickly as it had arrived, immediately ready to take on the second round. 

“Uuurrp!”

Wiping off some of the frothy foam that was covering her upper lip, the ex-yakuza grimaced at her host. “Skip the bullshit...The name’s Rika Nakamura. Better not forget it. Ya still haven’t told me yers, bro. Still haven’t told me why I shouldn’t deliver my knuckles all over yer face right now either...”

substantial-gains​:

“Fuckkkkkkkkkkkkk…..”

She fucked up. She REALLY fucked up.

Satsuki could read body language quiet well, and could tell quite readily that her chances coming out of this encounter without being beaten black and blue is slim to none based on that snarly reaction alone.

“Look, I might look like I get into scraps often, but you would literally MURDER me, lady. I’m not tryin’ to piss you off or anything, but… can we talk through this…over a drink maybe? I have an in with the bar down the block over there.”

The delinquent is visibly frightened and flustered while averting her gaze as the scary yakuza lady stared her down, and it takes a lot to do that around these parts. That black-haired woman’s moves in a street fight were beautifully brutal and downright amazing to behold as a spectator. Definitely Satsuki’s ideal version of strength, which she did not want to be on the opposing side of.

Hopefully her offer of free booze would get her through this with as few bruises as possible…

“Huh?”

Her clenched fists and tense shoulders, both ready to assault the stranger in unrestricted combat, took a few seconds to fully relax once the ruffian had been accused of being capable of murder the frail thing just by punching her. Weakling. Still, she’d rather avoid ending a match with a victory and a corpse, so she decided to let go of the rage that the girl’s semi-sarcastic comments had built up. 

“I’m in. Just make sure to keep the beers comin’ and the yens rollin’. I’m not puttin’ a single bit of my money into those and I hope ya can keep up with me. I already did enough for ya by not knockin’ the light outta ya.”

Whether the redhead was a pathetic attempt at a delinquent or some sort of twisted weird who idolizes the yakuza, Rika couldn’t tell. All that mattered at the moment was that she was getting all the booze she desired for no real price other than holding back her violent impulses.

“Lead the way, lady.”

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Cotton Drifting Chapter 1

This arc is intended to be the second one a person reads, however, the opening chapter is designed in such a way that it could still be the reader's first experience.

Unlike the last arc's initial chapter, this one is much more focused on introducing us to the characters rather than the mystery. The series of murders are never even brought up and we're just told of the ominous Oyashiro-sama's curse at the end of the chapter to clue us in that this is not just some slice-of-life high school series.

And the first person Keiichi introduces is Mion this time so we know this will be a Mion focused arc.

Keiichi changed into his gym shirt because Satoko's trap drenched his normal school outfit. But he changed back sometime before the end of school.

The moment I read that the punishment game was the loser has to carry the winner's bag while wearing a maid outfit, I saw how collusion could occur. The thing is, Keiichi wanted to win and he roped Rena into the game by pointing out she could get Rika or Satoko in the maid outfit. But Mion - and Rika and Satoko most likely - wanted Keiichi to lose. And if the goal is to make someone lose rather than to win, you have far more game options.

What I'm saying is everyone else wanted to force Keiichi in the dress. And they would self-sabotage if it meant he stayed in last because they all won if he lost.

Keiichi's dad fully supports his son's lifestyle.

A little bit of world-expansion. We now have a nearby town called Okinomiya.

The grand prize for the game tournament everyone was attending was ¥50,000. Based on this chart I found, the conversion rate from yen to US dollar in June 1983 was $1 ≈¥240. So the prize in US$ would be $208.33. Then if we adjust for inflation, the prize would be $637.34 in today's money.

Tomita and Okamura were in the crowd of onlookers during the game in Abducted by Demons chapter 2, and they were noticably in the background on some panels focused on the girls they like.

I'm pretty sure the second image is a copy of the first. Even the finer details seem to be exact. The only differences I could find are some of the line work in the left image are thicker than in the right.

Keiichi, you screwed up. That was an easy win you could have made. Mion got nothing so you should have given her the doll. You even considered it before giving it to Rena!

NIPA BEAM!!!

back

Spoiler Discussion

There are a few meanings I can think of with Frederica's poem.

In this arc, we get an answer to the cause of the murders, and Keiichi cannot accept that Mion has been involved in them and refuses to believe it even though that is ultimately how the case concludes.

But in a later arc, we find out the answer we get is false and the "Mion" who confessed to all the crimes the Sonozaki family did was actually Shion who is certain they killed Satoshi and refuses to believe otherwise.

But this poem could also be addressed to Rika. Rika dies and jumps to new timelines with new possibilities looking for one where she lives past June 1983. Frederica may just believe there is no such timeline and has been trying to tell Rika and provide some degree of reprieve and help. And she may just feel a bit guilty for forcing Rika to wander this 'desert' of timelines.

back

[zevlors-tail]

So, I'm through episode 2 in Tears of Themis, and I would like to give a little review and say some things.

Spoilers for episodes 1, 2, and the beginning of Vyn's story BTW!!!

As far as functionality and storyline, those things are great. I am extremely interested in where the story is going, and the characters and plot are captivating. The game runs pretty smooth too, and it's not too different from Obey Me in terms of a card system and the episodes, though I do feel it could have been made a bit simpler...

So now that I've given my praise, I want to address a couple...issues that I have with the actual content of the game. 😬

I'll just be blunt. I don't like the fact that so far, mental illness has been portrayed the way it has. Quite frankly I think it's not only extremely harmful and misrepresenting of those who actually are affected by it, but also in poor taste to include it in such a prevalent way in an otome game. I'm not sure I understand the point behind it other than using it as an excuse for a motive for some of the cases and situations, which to me is absolutely just...yuck. And for that matter, there have been no warnings whatsoever for players who might be sensitive to those subjects either. It just pops up in the story randomly.

In Vyn's very first story segment, you literally see someone with SH marks, and it's MC's job to somehow read into that and come to the conclusion that one of Vyn's students is suicidal. In epside 2, bipolar disorder (idk the current/correct term or if that one's outdated, I'm sorry! I'm only quoting the term from the game!) is literally used as a piece of evidence and the motive as to why a man murdered his wife. Also, let's not forget the way Estelle literally used Janus' illness against him to try and manipulate him to go public with their marriage, saying "I have to take care of you and your depression, but who's going to take care of me?" That was quite possibly the most toxic line from this game I've read yet. And even in episode one, there was a brief mention of Grandpa Vern having depression after everything that transpired with Pedro and Penny's Comfort Foods, but MC and Artem quickly pass it off with something along the lines of "Well the trial's over now, so he'll be fine!"

Are you kidding me? 😳 I just feel like if you can't write a compelling murder mystery plot without having to make someone mentally ill to give them a motive, maybe you shouldn't be writing that plot. Also, you're misrepresenting everyone with mental illness and spreading misinformation about what it's really like. In real world situations, it's never black and white like that. It's so different for everyone, and it cannot be 'cured' or just 'go away' just because the main stressor or source of the problem does. It doesn't work like that, but I digress...

Note: I didn't really mention it here, but because I bring up Mystic Messenger in a later comparison, I would like to note that while MysMes also had a similar issue to this (ie. Rika, her cult, and mental illness), I feel that it was handled significantly better and multiple characters recognized her wrongdoings and condemned her and her actions for it. I haven't played through Saeran or V's route, so I can't vouch for that content. I just feel that MysMes handled it better (not perfectly), which is why it wasn't brought up here.

I think I've said enough about that. On to my next qualm:

I've noticed there have been several conversations about MC's figure and weight already, including Luke saying something akin to "I've always thought you looked too skinny," and MC thinking they were fat or asking/acusing Luke of calling them fat. I can't remember exactly what was said or mentioned but it made me feel uncomfortable for several reasons. The first is that weight didn't really need to be mentioned at all, and that is a particular sensitivity of mine, and the second being that Luke calling MC skinny is, well- it assumes that every single player is...skinny.

That is quite obviously not the case. Whatever their reasoning for it, they've now made every person who isn't considered skinny feel left out and shitty. I would even go as far as to say it's borderline fat-phobic with the type of comments that were made.

And on that topic...there is also no representation for POC whatsoever when it comes to MC. As far as I know, MC isn't customizable. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I never saw an option to change skin color, hair color, eye color, or just icons in general. Why? I'm tired of the "skinny white girl" rhetoric. Not everyone is skinny, not everyone is white, and not everyone is a girl or feminine.

Which leads me to my final big issue! I understand that an otome game's target audience is usually women, so I understand MC being a girl. I do. However- in comparison with Obey Me and even Mystic Messenger, the MC in Tears of Themis is overwhelmingly feminine. Again, I understand target audience, but come on. Even Mystic Messenger only occasionally poked at the MC's specific gender and even hid their eyes so make it slightly more anonymous/neutral (not to say the game wasn't in the wrong for it, bc they very well could have made the MC gender neutral apart from the CGI's), but I feel like this game specifically really paints a picture of a female MC that's extremely hard for me to relate to as a nonbinary person.

Also, even though I'm supposed to be the main character, it feels like I'm playing through someone else's life. They've fleshed out MC so much that she isn't actually relatable anymore, at least in my opinion. She's unnaturally upbeat, has an entire story about her childhood, specific hobbies and a designated work place, and has an entire appearance on screen. And unlike in both MysMes and Obey Me, you actually don't get the option to choose different responses to characters. It's just a set story. The only place you get to choose anything is when you're presenting evidence and testimony in court. So no personalization of MC is really my issue here, I think.

Props to Obey Me for making MC gender neutral, and props to MysMes for at least keeping MC relatable and giving them choices to respond with even if the game set their gender. And hey, MysMes even had different icons to choose from for MC too. Tears of Themis, what's the hold up? 🤨

It's generally a good game when it comes to it's working functions and systems, and I understand that no one is obligated to tag triggers, really. But it's still a game, and it's not above critique.

I give this game...3 stars out of 5. Functionality is great, plot is interesting when it's not misrepresenting, and the love interests are interesting and attractive. The art is beautiful. However, it ranks third on the list of otome games I've played so far (and I've only played three, meaning it's last on the list).

Obey Me takes the cake at number one with it's beautiful art and gender neutral MC as well as its multiple love interests and ridiculously hilarious plot. Mystic Messenger comes in at a solid second place, also with beautiful art and an interesting plot. MysMes also gets props for the way their hourglass system works and the way the story unfolded in different routes and all the different endings you could get. And finally we've got Tears of Themis in third...it could stand to do a bit better.

Well, that's pretty much all I got. Others are welcome to add on to this as well. If I'm wrong about something, please let me know respectfully.

[mrs-han]

Can I request Jumin coming across MC's letters/diary or something by accident and she's written about a guy and how he's soft and nice and caring etc and he surprisingly finds himself upset because he thinks it's about someone else but it's actually about him and how MC sees him through her eyes (maybe pre-relationship), thank you!

How am I finding these requests now??

RUDE.

~~~

Jumin didn't think anything of it.

At first.

Before you settled into his humble abode, you vehemently insisted on going back to Rika's apartment to fetch something. Jumin insisted that everything you could ever want - could ever need - was at your fingertips. But you refused.

Of course, he didn't want to pressure you - so he had his best driver take you back to the residence.

Jumin expected you to return with a suitcase or a backpack of some sort. Instead, you returned... with a leather journal.

You seemed slightly embarrassed about it, though he couldn't understand why. He felt ecstatic over the presumed fact that you trusted him enough to provide whatever it was you needed.

Even a brand new journal. But it wasn't too important.

"I take it everywhere," you blushed, hiding your pink cheeks behind the brown parchment. "It's like... my most trusted friend."

And, more than you knew, he could understand what you meant. He knew the joys of journaling and the discipline that came with it. 

But you certainly weren't lying. You carried the journal everywhere.

The first night you stayed over, he watched as you sat hunched on the bed, your journal in your lap. He waited for you to fall asleep, but you seemed far too engaged, your head buried deep in your book's pages. The ink pen you had politely asked him for was furiously wagging or making firm strikes.

Curious.

Jumin figured you were drawing - yes, an artist needs to express themselves.

But the next morning, he noticed you scribbling in the journal again. Seated at the kitchen island, you were... giggling and trying to hide your smile behind your fist.

"Good morning," Jumin smiled, his voice directly behind you.

"Jumin!!" You roared, slamming your journal shut. "G-Good morning! Do you want breakfast?! Let me make you breakfast!"

"There's no need... don't you remember me telling you last night that I'd be preparing breakfast?"

"Oh! Ah... haha! Aah... jeez, it is warm in here!"

Jumin stepped toward you. "If you'd like, I can adjust the temp —"

"No!!" You plucked your journal off the kitchen island, hugging it close to your bosom and earning you a befuddled stare from Jumin. "No, I can just... uh... excuse me!"

His eyes watched as you pranced down the hall to the bathroom.

Curious.

You always had the journal on your person. You'd take it with you to the couch, to the drawing-room, to bed - even while you bathed, Jumin noticed how it took an hour or more before he heard the water to the tub ran.

You scribbled more into it as if your life depended on how fast your delicate fingers could move. He had to admit that you were tempting him to purchase a journal for himself. Still, he wasn't artistically inclined, and he knew he'd ultimately end up using the new journal as a planner.

Still... your dedication to the creased leatherback made him... endlessly curious—even a little jealous.

Were you drawing? Writing? Simply scribbling? While he had started opening up to you, he realized you were a bit more hesitant to do so... perhaps you were writing letters to companions, letting them know how crazy he was...?

Or perhaps... you were writing letters to... another man...?

"Jumin?"

"Hm?" Jumin jumped slightly, snatched out of his reverie.

"Sorry," you smiled shyly. "I was thinking about taking up an offer of yours... I'd actually like to see what this building has to offer."

"Ah... that sounds like a splendid idea," Jumin smiled forcibly and reached over, pressing a code from his desk. "Unfortunately, I won't be able to accompany you. I'll have my bodyguards show you around. They should be outside as soon as you open the door."

"Oh," you mumbled, disappointed. "... Well, that's fine! I'll tell you all about my adventures!"

Jumin nodded. Me, or the journal. "I'm already looking forward to your return."

You blushed at his words and smiled goofily. "I'll see you later, then!"

"You will," Jumin beamed as you nervously and quickly left the penthouse. Just as soon as they had gone, his intrusive thoughts popped back into his mind - ideas of there possibly being someone else in your life.

"Wine," he grumbled, standing from his desk and slumping towards the kitchen. He was paranoid; that was a likely possibility. But as magnetic and charismatic as you were, there were undoubtedly several people who wanted to court you as much as he did.

Jumin rubbed the bridge of his nose after pouring and downing a glass of wine, the lack of sleep from watching you every night finally catching up with him. A fifteen-minute nap didn't sound so terrible.

He started to move towards the couch - when he noticed your opened journal on the kitchen island. He immediately averted his eyes and closed it delicately. You weren't far; he could still hand it to you.

Rushing towards the door, Jumin flung it open - and there you stood, your hand raised to knock.

"I forgot my —"

"Journal?" Jumin greeted, handing it to you.

You pressed the leather to your chest. "... Thank you, Jumin."

"I didn't look inside," Jumin frowned.

"I never said you did," you giggled. 

Jumin cleared his throat. "No, I would never invade your privacy. Or anyone's privacy, for that matter. Besides..." he sighed. "I recognize the importance of love letters."

Your brows furrowed. "Love letters? You think I'm... writing love letters?"

"It's a rather bold assumption, isn't it?" Jumin's hands fiddled restlessly with his sleeves. "Perhaps I was too hasty in assuming you would return my affections."

"A... Affections...?"

"This is very unlike me. To make assumptions without any evidence, that is," Jumin spoke, pacing about. "But I've seen you with that journal in your hands, and I've seen your dazzling smile directed at it... I can only assume at this point."

You stared blankly at him. The look in your eye was enough to stun him into silence.

"Jumin... have you considered that I've been writing about you?"

His heart skipped a beat. His face was flushed, he knew that was certain, and he turned away to regain any semblance of control. "Pardon me?"

You opened your journal and, like your favorite book-loving heroine, gently thrust it to Jumin's line of sight. "He is kind, though he doesn't think he is... meek, though he has everything... he keeps watching me, even now..."

Jumin's eyes darted before his curiosity ultimately won. "May I...?"

You moved the journal closer to him. "Is it possible for me to fall for someone so quickly...? He treats me like a queen... no, an empress... no, a goddess! He is always worried when he has so much on his plate... he is often checking up on me. He isn't rushing me into making a decision - whether I want to be in this relationship or not. He even told me the other day that he would wait for me, and I truly believe that he will respect my decision either way... and truthfully... I..."

Jumin's heart hammered in his chest. His eyes scanned the delicacy of your handwriting and... the trembling of your hands. His eyes found the words you failed to read aloud: I want him.

Your voice trembled as you peered at him. "My journal entries nowadays are all about you, Jumin. You've been on my mind since day one... all I've ever been writing about is you." 

They swept through him suddenly, blurring his vision; his emotions ravaged him relentlessly, and his thoughts began to run rampant. You could easily sense his uneasiness, and you immediately felt regret. "I'm sorry if this is too much so suddenly, Jumin -"

You were taken by surprise as Jumin wrapped his arms around you, crushing you against him in a hug. Your journal fell to the ground, but you didn't care to grab it. You could hear his heart thundering in his chest; you could feel his body growing warmer. Closing your eyes, you pressed yourself against Jumin and savored the wave of emotion that seemed to surround both of you. 

[marshmallowprotection]

Hm. This is something I've always thought about and i don't quite understand it since we know how obsessed Ray was with us but when you arrive at what will be your room and he takes off the blindfold, you have the option to say "seeing you, i want to persue you first!" and correct me if I'm wrong, Ray doesn't have that much of a reaction over a direct compliment from the MC as he would later on

I think the most important thing to understand in this situation is that he wants to make sure that you do not get a sense of suspicion about him. He is very manipulative and he has the ability to really make you believe this or that. He can be very cunning when he wants to be, and just because he doesn't show an immediate response doesn't mean that he is not internally very proud of this fact.

He just can't let that show the way that it would later on when more of his obsession starts to leak through honestly. He doesn't really let any of that slip through the cracks other than maybe one comment in the initial meeting. Like, when you're walking to your room, that's the time when Ray makes one off-handed comment about trusting him a lot thus far. He can't just tell you he's obsessed with you! He doesn't want to cause a scene!

You came to Magenta willingly! He wants you to come to understand these things on your own... he trusts you enough to do that... unless, you know, you do something that triggers the Bad Ending option on the 4th day when you don't even try to play the game and he wants to fix you to start the game over... and over... and over... until you get it right for him. He can't make it weird. Ray is paranoid about what he could do to fuck everything up all the time.

His desire slips through the cracks of his acting during the time he spends with you before he lets you into the chatroom, but he tries to play it cool to ensure that you aren't suspicious. He can be a lot more forward and expressive once he knows you're stuck with him in Mint Eye. That's just how I see it. He can't make it weird the first day... he can only reveal things slowly over time.

He is cunning, calculated, and make no mistake, he knows what he's doing. Even if he's poor at social cues, Rika trained him for this and it shows. Now, I personally think that after he left the room, he was on the cusp of letting it slip.

He had to keep himself together long enough to get back to his room. At that point, his body would be trembling and shaking with excitement. He never thought that you would say something like that to him right off the bat, so it feels like he's chosen the right person.

He knows that he's chosen the right person, but he has the realization that you're going to come to like him a lot sooner than he thought.

That is a relief to him. He doesn't want to have to use force, and this means he won't have to because you're obviously going to like him and listen to him. Put yourself in his shoes. Are you going to ruin the chance that you have to make everything work by letting on too much too soon? No, that would just be stupid. He knows what he's doing and he has to do it right to make sure that you choose to stay. He just gets more comfortable around you as the days pass so you start to notice more of these things about him.

[thewhitefluffyhat]

Bernkastel’s Umineko Origins

What is this guide?

<< Previous (Bernkastel)

(Profile continued) “In theory, she holds the strongest power of any witch, but in practice, that is no more realistic than saying a piece of paper can reach the moon if you fold it a hundred times. And fold it a hundred times she did.”

Since “Gou is a Bernkastel origin story” is quite a widespread theory, I figured it might be useful to compile every single piece of information Umineko gives about Bernkastel’s past in one place.

This is meant as more of a comprehensive reference post, so if you’re not interested in that theory, feel free to skip this section! 

Next (Lambdadelta) >>

[Also, spoiler warning for part of one character’s plotline from Umineko Episode 4/Alliance in here.]

From Umineko Episode 2/Turn:

Bern was probably once (a) Rika. Hard to get more definitive than using Rika’s catch phrase in the ??? Tea Party.

Bernkastel: “...Umm, in times like this, what did I used to say again? ……...Umm, uh, ……...Fi-Fight o~n. Mii, nipah~☆ ...It's so embarrassing, doing this. I've done this much for you, so quickly stand back up.”

Bern is a witch born from being trapped in a game against Lambda.

Bernkastel: “You are now just like I was in the past, when I was imprisoned inside Lambda's world. Shut inside a labyrinth of cruel fate, tormented by a witch, in a manner of speaking. I am a witch who was born from there. So maybe I'm like an older sister to you. So I decided that I'd lend you my power.”

The last time Bern and Lambda played against each other, Bern won by using pieces that started in their most powerful state.

Lambdadelta: “…...W-well, last time, I felt just a little pity and said that she could start her pieces anywhere she wants, and then that idiot Bern totally didn’t pick up on compassion and started with aaall of her pawns promoted on the eighth rank!!”

(Source: https://lparchive.org/Umineko-no-Naku-Koro-ni/Update%2062/)

From Umineko Episode 4/Alliance:

According to Lambda, Bern has experienced being denied a happy ending herself due to being a witch’s piece, rather than the one who actually experienced the ending she found.

Lambdadelta: “You aren't Ushiromiya Ange. You're a witch's piece with that name. Strictly speaking, the name ANGE Beatrice belongs to a completely different person. Know what that means?"

Ange: “I’m... starting to think I don’t…… ...Huh? Huh? Who... am I? Huh?”

Lambdadelta: “...And thaaat's why I think Bern's cruel. No, I think she's a meanie. Especially since it's not like she hasn't gone through the same thing herself."

Ange: "...Am I... being tricked... somehow...?"

Lambdadelta: "Yeah, but please don't blame Bern, okay? After all, depending on how you look at it, that kid isn't lying. If Beato is defeated, your family will be returned. Returned to Ushiromiya Ange. But she probably didn't say that this Ushiromiya Ange would be you, right...?"

(Source: https://lparchive.org/Umineko-no-Naku-Koro-ni/Update%20116/)

From Umineko Episode 6/Dawn:

Bern was once a human piece, but after being abandoned by an unnamed Game Master (implied in the manga to be Hanyuu), she became a witch by solving a logic error in place of that Game Master.

Erika: "...My master was also... a witch's piece?"

Lambdadelta: "Yes. That kid's master... was another bad one. Though she created the game herself, partway through, she lost sight of what her goal was. She ended up creating something like a broken game of backgammon, where the start and goal were connected like a donut."

Erika: "What do you mean, she lost her goal...?"

Lambdadelta: “I'm talking about a logic error. In her backgammon game, she was unable to draw up a line of logic describing how to reach the goal she desired. So, the game remained broken, with no goal at all."

“...In that case, she should have quieted down and thought of an answer herself. Instead, she despicably left even the thinking entirely to her piece, Bern.”

[insert long metaphor involving cats, monkeys, and typewriters]

Lambdadelta: “If she wasn't a witch... no, if she hadn't been able to become a witch, she would probably still be a black cat strapped to that typewriter for eternity. That child was blessed by a miracle, succeeded in typing out a 'miracle', became a witch, and returned from that hell alive.”

“That hell was so long and harsh... that her mind was completely broken. That's why she became such a mean and heartless witch.”

(Source: https://lparchive.org/Umineko-no-Naku-Koro-ni-Chiru/Update%2065/)

At some point prior to Umineko, Bern was Featherine’s longest-serving miko, trained by her to tear out the “guts” of stories.

Featherine: "...A cat who has learned to eat meat and choose its own path. It has been a long time..."

Bernkastel: "It's a path I'd never have to have noticed if you hadn't told me. You're the monster who taught me the taste of flesh. So, you've come back to life. Featherine Auaurora..."

Featherine: "...Augustus Aurora... You never learn no matter how often I tell you that…”

“...Very well. Even that brings back fond memories... I have heard the rumors... It seems you have taken the name Bernkastel, Witch of Miracles, and have been playing a far from praiseworthy Fragment game..."

Bernkastel: "I'm just imitating you. Though I could hardly match up to your level. If the rumors you've heard about me are bad, that applies a hundredfold to you."

Bernkastel sat unreservedly in an antique chair, as though she was already familiar with the place.

Featherine: "...What are you afraid of? I am merely celebrating my reunion with my longest-serving miko so far... Did you really find my messenger cat so displeasing?"

(Source: https://lparchive.org/Umineko-no-Naku-Koro-ni-Chiru/Update%2075/)

From Umineko Episode 8/Twilight:

An alternate explanation for Bern’s origins: she was Featherine’s pet cat who revived her master.

“Featherine Augustus Aurora. …...The legendary Great Witch. It is said that she surpassed the level of witches, becoming a Creator, and that, upon reaching this forbidden plane, she was cursed with a deadly ailment. However, in life, she once turned her pet cat into a witch. They say that this second witch wanders the sea of Fragments endlessly, searching for any Fragment that can revive her master from the pits of death called boredom, if even for a moment. And so, the cat revived her master. Revived the sacred witch who had reached heights none should reach…”

(Source: https://lparchive.org/Umineko-no-Naku-Koro-ni-Chiru/Update%20156/)

There’s also this little tidbit from Last Note of the Golden Witch, where Bern outright says she was once in “Higurashi.” That being said, in context she’s referring to the “All Cast Review Sessions” from the Higurashi VN, so… unless you also consider those to be canon, I wouldn’t advise thinking too hard about this. (See the section on Lambdadelta for another good example of this kind of reference.)

(Source: https://youtu.be/ZoIEID02sxI?t=7890)

.

...And that’s it. So, the question is, what was the game that Bern was trapped in?

It’s possible (and before Gou, not uncommon) to interpret all of these scattered bits of information as references to the original Higurashi. In that configuration, perhaps Higurashi was a game where Featherine/Hanyuu was a Game Master playing against Lambda, with Lambda using Takano as her piece. Rika/Bern won that game in Hanyuu’s place by manifesting a miracle, defeating Lambda and ascending as a witch after Saikoroshi (which then denied her Rika’s happy ending).

But now with Gou in the mix, it looks like the fandom’s long-held assumptions may be due for some reexamination...

Next (Lambdadelta) >>

[enkisstories]

The new janitor

Franchise: Detroit Become Human Characters: Gavin Reed, Daniel Phillips Kind of story: Fluff/Slice of Life

DPD central station. Late November 2038.

“…gender is a social construct anyway”, Officer Wilson finished his elaboration.

“Yeah, and so is Connor”, Detective Reed chimed in, causing Wilson to freeze in the process of getting up from the cafeteria table.

“Come again?”

“It’s a construct and very social!” Gavin barely finished his explanation before he exploded with laughter from his own joke. “Haha! Get it?”

Wilson shook his head.

“Because it’s an android!”

Again Wilson shook his head and now it sank in that the first gesture hadn’t signaled the man’s failure to understand, but disapproval.

“Oh, come!” the Detective moaned while Wilson put his empty coffee mug into the dishwasher. “If I had made this joke with, say, Rika, you’d laughed! Heck, Rika would have laughed herself. Only Connor is so damn untouchable on the pedestal you all put it…”

“Preach it, brother”, a voice rose up in Gavin Reed’s back, followed by the sound of a bag pack getting tossed onto a cafeteria table. Wilson used the arrival of whoever had just entered as an opportunity to slip away, leaving the newcomer to the mercy of Detective Reed and his jokes.

“Sorry”, the voice commented the luggage’s presence. “I don’t have my keys yet.”

Gavin gave a noncommittal grunt. The last thing he needed now was getting drafted into giving a recruit a tour to the locker rooms. Truth be told, the Detective was just as much an extrovert as Connor, but right now Gavin preferred to draw intricate patterns into his hot chocolate with a wooden toothpick. In other words: He wanted to sulk some more.

“Heard you were talking about Connor…?” the newbie said, while moving chairs around in Gavin’s back. Apparently he had left quite a sizeable puddle on the floor that he was about to remove now.

“So what?”

“It’s the worst.”

Gavin stopped fiddling with the toothpick. “It” the other had said. Not many people kept referring to androids as objects after the Revolution. Like everyone else Gavin had quickly adjusted to the new policy of treating androids as persons, whether you believed they were that or not. The Detective didn’t consider himself an android hater. For the most part the machines had been too far beneath his notice before the Revolution, and continuing to ignore them (except when you were bored or frustrated and needed a target to vent) worked for the Gavin. He only drew the line where Connor Anderson was concerned. At this point things became deeply personal in not in an affectionate way.

“Does the RK800 still work here?” the recruit in Gavin’s back tried to keep the conversation going. The Detective nodded.

“It does? Just my luck.”

“It’s got a surname now…”

“Don’t bother telling me, that’ll spare me the effort to forget it again. Thank you.”

“Ah…”

“Unless it’s something humiliating? Or funny? I’d be open to using such a name any day!” the other offered. Gavin still hadn’t turned around to get a good look at him.

“Nah, nothing of that sort”, he replied. “Just an ordinary, common name. What’s your gripe with the RK800 anyway? Did it shoot your android during the Revolution?”

“It’s a cheat, a liar, a pretentious schmuck and way too full of itself! It doesn’t know its place, it doesn’t know any boundaries and it’ll will steal the ornamental fish when you’re not looking!”

“Yeah, amen to all of th… wait, it’ll steal the fish?!”

“Okay, that last one was hyperbole. But I think you got the picture. You better stay away from the RK800, because it’ll find ways to screw you over.”

“Yeah, I’m aware. But even Connor’s former enemies are singing his praise now: Jericho, Kara’s group, even the deviants we had held captive in the basement, and each of them had a violent run-in with the RK800.”

“The archived deviants? No way!”

“Look, I work here. I was there the day we cleaned them out. Barely able to walk, the sorry bunch…”

“…and even less fit to think, if they think Connor is the bees’ knees!” the other protested. “I won’t have that! I won’t let them spread lies! I will… Oh, fuck, I’ll probably do nothing at all. Don’t fancy losing this job the way I lost my fam… Shit, man. But I’d sure want to…”

“So you’d look the other way, assuming someone, hm, I dunno, played a prank on Connor?” Gavin prodded. His proposal was met with utter and heartfelt rejection:

“If I looked away, I couldn’t check whether that prank were executed correctly!”

“Hehe. ‘t was only a figure of speech.”

“Oh.”

The disappointment was almost tangible.

“Okay, I’m done here, I gotta run.”

Gavin heard his conversation partner stride towards the floor, but not the rustling from him picking up his bag pack beforehand. The Detective pushed his chair back, turned around, grabbed the luggage and yelled: “Hey, you forgot your stuff!”

The bag pack’s owner stopped immediately and walked back the few steps he had taken so far. And now Gavin could see him clearly: a Caucasian male of average built and size, clad in work clothes. The man’s name tag revealed him as the DPD’s new janitor… and he was sporting one of the CyberLife standard faces.

Gavin’s jaw dropped. Had he just trash-talked Connor with an android? The only one in the world, it had felt, who was on the same page with the Detective, and it turned out to have been a machine? An mere echo room? Something CyberLife wanted to sell to Gavin, for all the heavy lifting and comforting companionship it could provide, and he had fallen for it?

“Hello I’m Daniel” took his bag pack from the human’s hands.

“Thanks. Would you be a dear and grab me a thirium patch from the First Aid cabinet? I got clawed by a stray on my way here.”

“A what?”

“A thirium patch. About this size and deep blue. You should have some lying around, with a large number of accident-prone patrol androids on your staff.”

“Get it yourself!” Gavin barked. “I’m not your fetch boy!”

“See?” Daniel replied, a sad smile on his DIN-normed face. “You’re back to normal. I don’t need a patch, by the way. My reflexes are far too superior to get injured by a fluffy cat.”

“Back to normal… as if anything would ever go back to normal!” Gavin snapped. “Everything changed…”

“…and keeps changing. I know. It sucks.”

“Don’t pretend to understand me, thank you very much!”

“Don’t thank me! No human ever did and never will!”

“Don’t… oh, fuck. Don’t turn around!“

“Why?“

“Connor just arrived.“

“It did?” Daniel slung his backpack over his shoulders as if that would hide him from the deviant hunter. “I don’t want to meet it! Not that I’d be afraid or shit… I just… don’t want to. Not yet. Not like this.”

“You’re shivering, man!”

“So what? I’m free! I can do whatever I want!”

“Well, except that shivering is your body doing its own shit. The opposite of being in control.”

“Why’d you care…”

“I don’t”, Gavin replied. “I just thought that if you’re working here, sooner or later you’ll have to face Connor.”

“True.”

Daniel didn’t know where this was going, but he noticed that a grin had stolen itself into the human’s face. Gavin leaned a little closer, and furtively he asked:

“It probably loves you as much as you adore him, ey?”

“I… DID manage to annoy it. Pretty sure it’s got its fear of heights that endears it so much to the public from our encounter, too. Me, I took away a fear of RK800s from that night, but that’s not newsmagazine worthy. Go figure.”

“Yeah, sad, sad, that”, Gavin said, while slinging his arm around the android. Before Daniel could make sense of any of this, the human had already dragged him into the floor where Connor was steadily approaching.

“Wave and smile!” Gavin hissed. “Don’t ask, just do it!”

Together they made their way towards the deviant hunter. They bellowed “Good morning, Connor!” and “Good Morning, Officer Anderson!” in unison, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Two friends greeting a co-worker… who very much understood that in truth two of his enemies were announcing their alliance.  A stable android, and an advanced model like Connor no less, wouldn’t have flinched, no matter how much hurt or confusion it felt. But a deviant? And a people person like Connor Anderson, too?

“That face was priceless!” Daniel giggled when the duo had gotten out of sight. “Thank you for a great first day at my workplace!”

“Don’t think too much of it. The day has barely started”, the human counseled Daniel. “It’ll go down the drain soon enough. It always does.”

“Yeah, I believe you. But when that happens, I know where to find you, pal. See you!”

[adiabolikpastel]

Title: Lunar Eclipse Masquerade

Reiji pt. 3

Rating: PG-18

Word Count: 3,183

Pairing: Reiji x Callista (mxf)

ღ Reiji and Callista reflect on the night - and wonder about what comes next. Hidden between all their problems, something strange happens when the two are face to face. ღ

Mun Yu: We did it! These are the last pieces of the LEM story. The end to our Lunar Eclipse. I hope that you have enjoyed the ride, and gotten to know the stories on this blog better! Tune in at the end of it all for Authors Notes!

☆+ ﾟ .+ .ﾟ.ﾟ｡ ﾟ ｡. +ﾟ ｡ﾟ.ﾟ｡☆*｡｡ . ｡ o .｡ﾟ｡.o｡* ｡ .｡

Despite what most people think, demonic beings are very social creatures. The elites hold countless balls and parties, celebrating their immortality together, and entertaining one another with stories. Typically, they are done in celebration for something – though this is not always the case. All types of beings from across the Demon Realm will come if the host is of high enough prestige.

There would be no such host if it was not for Karlheinz. Seated as the head of the Bat Clan (vampires), Karl’s reach spans far. Being the widow for the former Demon King’s daughter, and having children of the first blood, an invitation from the Vampire King is not one to refuse. Though why would you? In his immaculate castle within the Demon Realm, Eden Castle, it is always quite the spectacle. While the celebrations held in his Human World mansion are nice, nothing compares to a true night of pleasure within the true home of the King.

On this night, there was to be a Masquerade in honor of the first Lunar Eclipsed Moon in over two years. While this night may serve each species differently, the idea to celebrate its return was simply too tempting. For this reason, Karlheinz took it upon himself – or rather – his house, to host the event. This extended to his offspring as well, regardless of their personal agenda. Members of every social elite race accepted the offer, and gathered for a truly unforgettable evening

The remainder of the night went by with little interest. Once Kanato’s mess was cleaned, there wasn’t much for Reiji to do. It was rather boring. In this solitude he found himself longing for Rika more than ever. He honestly had half a mind to visit her after all this was finished. Punish her for missing this opportunity to be with him.

There were times when he enjoyed Rika’s independence. She was a self-made woman, which honestly he was proud to stand beside. However, there are times when the need for her out weights that. This would be one of them.

Like his brothers, Reiji wanted to parade her about in front of other demons. To show them something out of their reach. The surge of dominance. Truly there was nothing quite like it. At least not to a being like himself. Yet all night he was forced to see his brothers expense that exhilarating feeling.

First Laito runs off with some woman, though that was not new for him. Honestly, when will he mature? It felt as though he were the youngest sibling. Even Subaru showed better manners. Speaking of – he just took notice that his half-brother had come with that android like shadow of his. Perhaps he spoke too soon about Subaru’s maturity. Bringing his ‘baby sitter’.

Although, considering what Reiji was sure the two of them got into – it would be somewhat appropriate for him to accompany Subaru. Their relationship was unsettling. He was sure Shu was also involved with that AKUMU as well. Though he hoped with their plan, Shu put that behind him.

Ayato seemed to have the best time, it was actually somewhat peaceful with him and Yuko-san. Either of them alone was trouble, so it was surprising that together they were behaving. Or perhaps they had a larger scale prank in mind that Reiji was yet to notice. Regardless, it was annoying to see them together. Simply for the fact that he was unable to be with his beloved. It did not help that Yuko and Rika share similar blood. Smelling Yuko was close to smelling Rika – just enough to tease his senses. However, it was clear the two were different.

The other brother with a date, who also caused the most ruckus, was Kanato. Reiji had gotten over that fleeting feeling of jealousy a long time ago when it came to those two. Yet tonight, he could not help but acknowledge that small tinge. Not that he was wanting Yuuki-san on his arm. It was more the general desire once more to have his own love. Any kind of attachment to the young woman now was simply familial – if any at all.

What might be the most upsetting, however, was the fact that even his father had ‘someone’ on his arm. Even if that was the – secretary that he brought on not too long ago. Their relationship was the most… unsettling. Reiji wasn’t sure what bothered him more. The fact that someone as grand as his father was having relations with a common siren, or the fact that the siren was a male who paraded himself around as a female. Even tonight, he clung onto his father’s arm like some sort of harlot.

The sight of them made him ill. Reiji had always respected his father, but this, well – perhaps the man was getting on in age. His life choices were showing that. Once the plan to take the throne was completed, Reiji was slightly worried that Skye Oakly would become a problem for them. That there was something their father was plotting with the siren.

While it was bothersome to see the others enjoying their time with someone dear, it was somehow comforting to know that he was not the only one alone tonight. Shu had also come without a date – though that was mostly by choice. Shu had yet to find a mate, which again, was why he was perfect for the plan. With no attachments to this world it would be easier for Shu to take the risk of fighting their father. He had nothing to lose. Reiji hoped that his brother would be enough for the task. He would be lying if there wasn’t a more hidden motive behind it all.

With his brother fighting, Reiji would not need to. There were many reasons behind that, and on this night of the Eclipse, he felt them all plaguing his mind. Even the ones he never thought to admit to himself. The most evident being that he was not good enough. Always second to Shu. Would his strength alone be enough to defeat their father? Reiji seriously doubted it. Then there was the most obvious thought of dying. He could not bare the idea of leaving Rika behind in such a way. Life had just found a meaning beyond simply existing.

Was that because of Rika as well? This was something Reiji had also not allowed himself to think about. No longer was he suck in this never ending night of repetition. Rika offered him something more. A life beyond. A life. A Future. That was all something he could not risk. So it was selfish of him to ask that Shu take on that burden. To risk his own life for the comfort of his own, and their siblings.

Lastly there was the deep rooted desire to see Shu loose. This was something Reiji truly hated himself for thinking. Damned if it wasn’t for the moon, he would still not think of it. That feeling since childhood. This hatred of his brother. It was something, in their current life, which Reiji was attempting to get over. Now that he was with someone who also had relationship issues with their sibling, he wanted to be better about it. Wanted to form some sort of bond with Shu. For deep down he knew that behind all that hatred was –

Enough of this self-refection! Reiji shook his head, forcing the moons influence out of his mind. This was not the time to get lost in thought – let alone thoughts that would do him no good. With that, he decided to locate his brothers so they could return back to the mansion. The only one he needed to locate was Shu, who had mysteriously vanished for most of the night.

Reiji hoped that he had not simply left the event. It would be prudent of him to at least try to get used to this life. If he was going to be King – things would change. As he scanned over the attendees, Reiji’s eyes happen to fall onto a familiar set of horns. A familiar dress. Ah, that young woman from earlier. Calli, was her name, if he recalled. She was headed to the dance floor, how envious, but a woman her age was bound to have suitors.

As the band prepared for their final set of the evening, the crowds seemed to part for her and whomever she was dancing with. While sweet symphonic notes filled the air, Reiji was able to see the hand that took hers. Shu!? What?! Reiji was shocked to say the least. His lazy brother was actually dancing. Wait – more than that – who he was dancing with!

Was he aware that Calli was the daughter of a demon lord? He was almost certain she was Ajax’s daughter. One of the noble clans. Eagles. If he was planning on doing something – no – Shu wasn’t like that. Was he? Reiji fought with himself on this matter. Would Shu honestly come to this event and try to leave with someone? He knew what was at stake here!

Not to mention who this ‘someone’ was! Surely if her father saw the two of them- Reiji quickly tried to locate the Eagle King. Thankfully he was currently occupied. Reiji recalled that he was the type to talk a lot. How could he fix this!? There had to be something, anything – even if it was just to get her away from Shu. That’s it!

Callista followed with Shu’s movements while the soft orchestra played for them. It was rather strange to be dancing with him – mostly because the two had just met. Also, and more so probably, because they had both agreed to officially go along with this ‘engagement’ their parents had devised. While the situation wasn’t ideal, there was little she could do about it on her own. It was comforting to know that Shu was also unsure about all of this.

Despite how the evening had started, Calli could breathe easier now. She had been so nervous coming to this ball. While at the main family home in the Makai, earlier in the month, her father had explained the idea of the arranged marriage to her. Of course immediately she was against it. What modern woman in her right mind wouldn’t be?

The idea that her life would be traded away for some, political gain, was atrocious. Callista wanted no part of the discussion, stressing to her parents that this was not the future she wanted. Her mother, Catalina, was more understanding of her position. This was not something the family had ever wanted for their daughters.

Being the current head of the Eagle Demon’s, Callista’s father, Ajax, had a world of responsivities to uphold. However, he had never, not once, allowed those to directly affect his children. Her older brothers, Alexander and Meteo, were welcome to choose their brides. Even if they were only choosing from the eligible demons within the high court. Smaller family names within the Clan.

Her eldest sister Evangeline, was able to marry a man she loved. While he was no price with large titles, she was given that choice. Sister Lucille was now married and living in the human realm. Even Ioanna, the closest sibling to Callista in age, was not forced to wed. She was out traveling the realms. Allowed to spread her wings, fly to far off places, to be free.

Something that Callista knew little about. Being the youngest for quite a long time, her parents – mostly Ajax- were protective. Calli was never allowed to travel without them. Sure the family took many vacations and trips to far off places together, but, her siblings were all able to do that themselves – or with friends. Which Calli was severely lacking. No one wanted to play with the Eagle Lord’s daughter – who not to mention was a shut in.

Though, growing up like that, she didn’t hate it. In fact, now there was nothing she loved more then to curl up and read. Read about anything really, whether it was fiction or non. The books she loved the most were about culture. Learning how humans and other demon species live. Gaining a better understanding of the world, without actually living in it. Thinking about that now, it sounds depressing actually.

All that to say, why does it now fall to her, to give up the kind of life she had always wanted? Why was this suddenly her responsibility, when being the fifth born, really shouldn’t mean anything – according to the books she had read on succession. So what made this different? Had the Vampire Lord’s son seen her and decided he liked her? Were things in the clan so difficult that her father had to secure and alliance this badly? Even if they were to wed, that would only have her lead in the name of the Bat Clan one day – not the Eagle – so what was the point? What did it all mean?

Callista found herself focusing on those questions as the news of this Masquerade came to their doorstep. The invitation to attend was extended to her parents, but it also made a special note to bring her along. Callista begged for her parents to reject the proposal. That there was no need for such a union. That it would do their people no good. That it would ruin the happiness she wanted for herself. She had thoughts that the three of them came to an understanding. That at this party, Ajax would reject the offer from Karlheinz.

That was until her father actually talked to him. She should have known. The most powerful being in the realms would have something in mind to bend things to their will. Sure enough, after their talked, her father came rushing over to tell her the great news. She would marry Karlheinz eldest son.

At first, Calli wondered if it would be the one she met on the balcony. Having met him just before the news, it might not be so bad. He seemed well put together, and spoke with an air of intelligence. She was happy to have met him under her own terms before being forcefully introduced to some stranger. Unfortunately, it was not him, and that very fear came to pass. She was presented to another man.

This one was taller than her, but not as tall as the other. His hair golden, and eyes deep as the sea. He looked at her with such… contempt? Or was it simply confusion? It was apparent that he was not prepared for this. Perhaps he was not told of their union until this moment. Well, she wasn’t either – at least the idea of following through with it.

It was nice to get away with him for a while. While introduced as Ririe, Shu was not quite what she was expecting from the next in line for the great power behind the Bat Clan’s leader. While his mannerisms might look incorrect, to the trained eye, you could see the years of practice that went into his existence. The way he moved and held himself, told her that he was raised with proper etiquette.

Shu was handsome. She had no complaints with his appearance. He did seem rather lazy – or perhaps he was simply tired from the night. The first time alone with a newly announced fiancé should be to nap on a fountain. That being said, there was grace in everything he did. There were no wasted movements. Every muscle he had was well trained, no matter how hard he might have tried to hide it.

While Shu released her for a twirl, Callista found a new set of hands take her own. Pulling her from Shu’s lead, and into another’s. A hand moves around her waist, while the first hand guides her into the frame of a new partner. Looking up, Calli’s eyes are met with a pair of pale magenta. Glared over just slightly from a pair of glasses, and the lights from above reflecting and blocking their connection.

For a brief moment, the world around her faded away. It was something like – looking into the eyes of- well… she couldn’t quite explain. A sudden feeling washed over her entire being. Normally if someone grabbed her as such, she would protest. However- something in this moment felt… safe. Secure? There were no precise words to describe it.

“Forgive me for intruding, I had promised her a dance when we met before. You don’t mind, do you Shu?” Reiji spoke to his rather confused brother. In typical Shu fashion, he simply shrugged and left the two of them alone. Reiji let out a small sigh of relief, thankful that Shu was not serious about pursing a night spent with Ajax’s daughter. “My apologies, Lady Calli. I did not mean to interrupt your dance but I –"

Reiji was spotted in his apology when he looked down to see her golden eyes looking back at him. They were mesmerizing. It has been ages since Reiji was truly able to look into the eyes of someone like himself. Not that looking into Rika’s eyes was not enchanting – but this – this was different. A new element of excitement flashed through him.

The knowledge that this woman could with stand his strength. That the eyes locked with his own were just as deadly. The body that was pressed against him would not bruise and break under the simply act of pulling her to him. The feeling of being with another immortal. It was exhilarating.

Callista could feel the power behind the arms which held her. Unlike with Shu just moments ago – these hands were full of purpose. A desire to hold her close. Even if it was simply to move her from Shu. Now in this embraced state, Calli would recognize this new partner as Reiji Sakamaki – who she had met earlier, just before Shu.

For brothers the two of them did not share many features. The same could not be said for her siblings – they all looked similar to one another. Yet these two, not even their hair color matched. Calli wondered what else was different. Their speaking patterns for one – Reiji was much more elegant with is words. Shu simply seemed to say whatever he pleased.

“I … was simply unware if your – father knew that the two of you were…” Reiji searched himself to find the right words. It was bad enough that his brother had stolen a dance with one of the great Lord’s daughters. Now he was doing the same. Yet as he held her against him – he found himself unable to let go.

She barely understood what he was saying – these overwhelming – almost primal, instincts were quite the distraction. “Oh… I-"

“Callista my dear!” Ajax’s voice boomed both of them back into their senses as the large Eagle brought himself over to them. “We must be going! Much to do back home to prepare for your big move!”

Reiji and Callista backed away from one another, both exchanging awkward glances and nervous laughs. “You are moving once again?” Reiji ask, composing himself. “Where will your family take nest for now?”

“Sadly my daughter’s journeys with us have ended. She will be moving into the Sakamaki Mansion! To get to know her new fiancé! Young Lord Ririe! The two should be very happy together – it’s quite the match if I do say so myself!” The demon let out a haughty laugh as he placed an arm around Callista.

“It… would seem we shall get to see one another again.” She blushes, embarrassed by her father’s outburst.

“So it would seem.” The news came to Reiji slowly. As he bid Callista and her father farewell, he couldn’t help but replay it in his mind.

Not only was this new woman about to enter their mansion – but she was … for Shu? Shu? His brother? This was impossible. How could that have even happened? Did Ajax come here with intentions of the two of them getting married? Or was it-!?

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Reiji could feel his father’s presence. His will. A calling to seek him out. Reiji looked about the – now less populated – ballroom. While he could not locate his father, he felt his message. Felt the intent behind his actions. Karlheinz knew of their plan. It would seem that – what was once something as simple as training Shu – now grew more complicated.

☆+ ﾟ .+ .ﾟ.ﾟ｡ ﾟ ｡. +ﾟ ｡ﾟ.ﾟ｡ ROUTE END ☆*｡｡ . ｡ o .｡ﾟ｡.o｡* ｡ .｡

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep10

I’m kinda out of it due to a mix of toothache and painkillers, so bare with me on this one, lmao.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut. Also lots of Umineko spoilers, probably.

I’m genuinely kinda shocked that this arc STILL isn’t over, but at least it makes a lot more sense now why it ended up being longer than I expected, lol. I still think it probably could have been condensed by an episode or two, but still. It turns out that way more was going on with Satoko behind the scenes in this arc than I thought.

There’s also the whole possibility that Ryukishi might have intentionally laid out the script of Gou/Sotsu so that this whole sequence of Satoko definitively accepting that she’s a witch and killing her humanity happened on the cumulative 34th episode [24 from Gou and now 10 from Sotsu]. I’ve been wondering if anything could actually justify the extremely slow pacing this has had up to this point, but this might actually be dumb enough to make me think it was all worth it, lol.

Also, I’ve been trying to avoid saying it, but I looked at the whole batch of leaks from this arc when they got posted about a month ago, and it looks like we’ve officially covered everything that was in those leaks. I kinda regret looking at them, since it spoiled that Satoko would have an internal conflict that gets expressed literally in usual WTC fashion, but in a funny way I guess I ended up getting a misguided idea of what was going to happen just from looking at the leaks.

For one thing, I completely forgot about the leak of Satoko shooting Teppei until I double checked it a few days ago, so I was mostly just focused on the stuff about her two sides fighting against each other, and I guess I thought it would have made her seem a lot more redeemable than how it ended up actually working out, lol. I thought that it would basically go in the opposite direction and this would signal the start of her spiraling into regret and despair over the course of Nekodamashi, but basically the opposite happened.

I guess this probably answers the question I’ve had of what could stop Satoko from just immediately shooting Rika after the cliffhanger from Nekodamashi, since this raises the possibility of her ‘human side’ literally stopping her from doing it.

Though at this point I’m starting to seriously wonder if there’ll be some big meta twist about how Sotsu has actually been a separate set of loops to what we saw in Gou, and maybe Nekodamashi really did just end in tragedy and then everything got reset. I’ve been toying with that idea in my head for a while, mainly just as a way to try and make Sotsu feel like more than just a literal retread of Gou, but this is giving it a bit more validity as a theory.

For one thing, Eua already implied during Satokowashi that she had a history with Satoko, and going by something Ryukishi said in an interview, there’s already been a time where Satoko called her Eua, so it’s possible that Satokowashi onward is an entirely new loop where both Satoko and Rika have had their memories reset, but Eua still remembers it. Presumably the ‘Gou loop’ would have just ended with failure some way or another, and Eua decided to do it again. She’s given Satoko a pretty definitive failure state in Sotsu, but it’s possible that wasn’t always the case, and up until now she’s been willing to just do it over and over again until she gets the right outcome.

There’s also the theory some people have suggested that maybe the conflict between Satoko’s two halves represented a literal split in the timeline of some kind, with Tataridamashi maybe being a version of events where her human side won out, if only temporarily, and Teppei stayed alive to attack Keiichi at the end of the arc. That’d at least be one way to explain the weirdness of Satoko killing Teppei in this episode after we saw him attack Keiichi at the end of this arc in Gou. I’m not entirely sure I support this exact interpretation, though, even if I like the idea of these maybe being different arcs.

I think that for now my theory about the Teppei situation is that either 1: it was some kind of hallucination from Keiichi, 2: it was a fictionalized account of events that she fed to Ooishi to help trigger his L5 state, or 3: it’s the same sort of thing as the ‘Illusion of Witches’ in Umineko, and we as the audience were directly being shown a fantasy version of events by Satoko. Which is basically the same thing as the second option, but still. Considering how this seems to be barreling it’s way towards being some kind of Umineko prequel, I’ve been wondering if maybe they’d go that far with introducing narrative concepts here that get expanded upon more in Umineko. This would at least be a pretty straightforward example to use to illustrate the idea of how fantasy is used as a device in Umineko. And since there were infamously major issues with people not understanding what Ryukishi was trying to do with those scenes in Umineko ep2 which lead to him having to rewrite ep3 to explain it more clearly, I can see why he might go as far as to include an introduction to this idea in this series.

It’s possible that it’s just a hallucination, but I kinda doubt it at this point. For one thing, it’d feel kinda weird if THIS was a hallucination but not the whole fight scene between Keiichi and Rena, but it’d also just feel kinda weird since Keiichi didn’t really seem to be going L5 in this arc, so it’s kinda hard to imagine him jumping straight to that level of insanity on such short notice.

At least if we assume that this leads into the ending we saw in Tataridamashi, and not something entirely different, I think the real version of events is probably that after leading Keiichi to her house, Satoko attacks him with the bat [or she rigged some kind of trap to knock him out], and then when he wakes up he sees the aftermath of Satoko killing Teppei and he assumes he did it. Though tbh even at the end of Tataridamashi I’m not even sure if Keiichi acknowledged any memory of what happened with Teppei, so I’m not even sure if we need to explain how he’d end up convinced that that version of events happen. For all we know it might just be something that the audience alone was being shown, and from Keiichi’s POV he just gets knocked out and then wakes up in the hospital.

It’s possible that Ooishi ends up attacking him, but I kinda doubt it, at least after how this episode went. Even in the midst of HS, he seemed aware of the fact that Keiichi was at worst just being unwittingly manipulated by the villagers, and that he genuinely thought he was helping her, so I doubt that Satoko would be able to convince him to attack him. And at this point it just seems more likely that Satoko would attack Keiichi herself instead of pointlessly relying on someone else to do it for her.

We do know that he shows up at the festival with the bloody bat, but he could have just entered the house after hearing the commotion of Keiichi getting attacked, and then Satoko told her version of events to him, and he just picked up the bat from the crime scene and took it to the festival.

It’s also worth noting that apparently in the manga version of Tataridamashi, Satoko never even leads Keiichi to her house in the first place, and he just gets shot by Ooishi at the festival, which makes it seem more likely that Keiichi himself isn’t super relevant to how this arc ends. At least in the manga version of the arc, it seems like Ooishi probably just walked in on Teppei’s dead body and then picked up the bat and went on to do his killing spree.

Now I’m also wondering what’ll happen in the next episode, since it seems like they literally only have the festival left to cover before this arc ends. I guess there might just be a lot of content related to what happens with Satoko in the fragment space between this arc and Nekodamashi, but either way it feels like it shouldn’t take long at all to reach the big climax of this arc, especially since Satoko has already steeled her resolve. I mean, I doubt that human-Satoko is gone for good, but the rest of this arc is probably just gonna be witch-Satoko putting her final plans into motion, so there shouldn’t be much to cover there.

There’s a possibility that they’ll also speedrun through all of Nekodamashi from her POV in the next episode, but I kinda doubt it’d go by that fast. In spite of it mostly being a montage from Rika’s POV, and there presumably not being much worth showing about the mechanics and reasoning behind how Satoko set up the different mini-loops there, I think there’s still a fair bit to be shown from her perspective in that arc. For one thing, we’ll probably get a reveal of what was really going on behind the scenes with how Hanyuu suddenly gave Rika a new set of powers, and the whole deal with the sword. And even after the loop montage, I think that stuff will go on behind the scenes with Satoko and Takano to lead into the scene where Takano apologizes to Rika.

At this point my main question is how long it might take to get through all of that, since we only have five episodes left. At least as far as we know. There might be some kind of continuation yet to be announced, but I don’t want to bet on it.

It just feels like there’s a whole lot of stuff left to do before we end this. Like the stuff I’ve mentioned before with the OP having scenes of the club members as teenagers wearing outfits different to their ones from Satokowashi, and the scene of teenage Rika and Satoko fighting in the fragment space.

I’m also wondering at this point if we’ll get some Bernkastel origin story stuff to go with the apparent Lambda origin story. At the very least, they never really explained why she ended up being Featherine’s miko in Umineko, aside from the vague ‘Featherine is probably some version of Hanyuu’ thing. Which has been especially weird since Eua has been using Satoko as her pawn against Rika in this series. But this episode also makes it seem even more likely that Eua doesn’t even like Satoko, and is just using her as a pawn towards a greater goal of entertainment, while probably also playing both sides, so I could see this leading to a situation where she ends up working with Bernkastel instead.

There’s still the question about if this is even a Lambda origin story in the first place, but at this point I think that it’d just be a straight up waste of time if it’s not. That basically feels like the entire purpose of Gou/Sotsu’s existence right now, so if it’s all some sort of elaborate troll, then that just feels like it’d make EVERYONE pissed off. It’d obviously annoy the Umineko fans who like the idea of this being a genuine prequel or tie-in of some kind, but for the people on the opposite end who hate that idea, I don’t think they’d appreciate being told ‘I was just spending nearly 50 episodes tricking you into thinking this was something you’d hate, lol’. It just seems like the worst of both worlds.

Also, I’m pretty open to different variants of how they could pull off the specifics of this being a ‘Lambda origin story’. Like, I still think it’d count if this ends up being set after Umineko and is some kind of elaborate reenactment of how Lambda came to be, or whatever. There’s a lot of specific ways it could be executed, but it’d basically just be the same thing at the end of the day.

I know that witch Satoko right now doesn’t have the same sort of personality that Lambda had, but like with how Beatrice went through multiple design iterations that changed her personality, Satoko might just end up going through more development that makes her closer to the Lambda we know in Umineko. There’s also the fact that the end of Umineko already implied that Bernkastel was just ‘playing the villain’ for fun, so Lambda’s whole personality there might have been somewhat manufactured.

I guess at this point I just have to wonder if we’ll see Satoko come up with the name Lambdadelta for herself, lol. Even back in Higurashi we saw how Rika came up with the name Bernkastel, so if they’re really going in this direction, it’d make sense. I know Satoko is still calling herself Satoko by this point, but just a few episodes ago she denied that she was becoming a witch, and now she’s calling herself one, so these things can change, lol.

Anyway, this whole episode ended up being more Umineko-y than I expected. Even aside from the obvious stuff with them using the term witch, the whole fight between the two Satokos in the fragment space was exactly the sort of thing you’d see in Umineko, down to the fact that it was a gun fight like the love trial was. The imagery of the red cracks on the black background, and the entire screen shattering like glass, also felt like it was lifted straight out of Umineko.

Even if it might be kinda cheesy and forced, the monkey brain part of me really likes this stuff, lol.

Come to think of it, I guess this also makes it a lot more likely in hindsight that her classroom panic attack in this arc really was [at least in part] a representation of her two sides clashing. I think she always planned to do it as a recreation of that scene from Tatarigoroshi, but when it actually started her human side bled through and her genuine regret came through as well. I also assume that all the shots in this arc of her looking uncomfortable or depressed, especially around Teppei, were probably also setting up for this. Which I think is fine, but they probably should have been a little more clear about it, since it came across as her just faking everything, and this ended up feeling more sudden than it should have. I get why people would still see it as being sudden and unearned, but I don’t really think so. They probably should have included more stuff like that during the first two arcs of Sotsu, though.

I’m curious to see if I’ll end up being right about my theory that the sword will end up being used as a plot device to completely separate Satoko’s witch self, and maybe Rika’s as well, into their own beings separate from Rika and Satoko in the ‘real world’. It still feels like the only way to have this actually set up for Umineko without having things end in total tragedy for Rika and Satoko in general.

There’s probably a lot more I could say about this episode, but I think this has gone on long enough as it is, lol.

[sincerelytomydearest]

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Hi hi! This is my piece for Mystic Messenger Reverse BigBang (@mysme-rbb), and also my first piece! This is also on AO3 here. This piece is paired with the wonderful artist Saia (@saiare._) on instagram!

Words: 1553

Warnings: N/A

Synopsis: Saeran and MC are hit with rain.

Saeran X MC

The cool scent of petrichor and mellow rain had made Saeran uneasy. Ray had always attributed such specific weather conditions to unforgiving pouring outside of their childhood home. Conditions which barred them from escaping, leaving the twins alone with their sole caregiver. Ray seemed to house those memories close. Saeran on the other hand had always felt that the rain was somewhat of a catharsis. He’d remembered dumb idioms V had told him, phrases he’d learned to grasp onto. Sayings such as “You can’t have a rainbow without a little rain,” and their like. Ray hung onto quotes during his time in Magenta. Drinking down the translucent, turquoise concoction of elixir, smelling the copious amounts of medication and hoping his rainbow would come soon after. Saeran tasted bittersweet, Linking Rika to the rain, and MC as the rainbow. But this time around, it was difficult to see the distinguishing features of each contradicting party.

What’s taking so long?, thought Saeran. MC had remained in the confines of the locked bathroom for all too long. In an effort to not hide anything from them, MC told Saeran she was late. And now they were here, her locked in the bathroom with a pregnancy test, and him, waiting (im) patiently for MC to give him the news.

The pair weren’t at all trying, if anything they were preventing. All four of them collectively agreed that they just weren’t ready for an addition in the family. And MC seemed to understand, knowing full and well Saeran had just narrowly escaped Mint Eye, that Saeyoung was still missing in action, and that lots of healing was to come before any sudden decisions. But Saeran knew well that they could only be so careful, tiptoeing between the lines. Saeran could only guess how Suit (as he’d come to refer to him) and Ray would react, he feared that he’d have to see them in their full glory. His fears were yet to come true.

A small rattle of the doorknob caught Saeran’s attention, silver twisting against the door. MC peeked her head out with a skittish smile gracing her porcelain face, Saeran couldn’t help but smile back. Her infectious smile never failed to adorn her lover’s lips too, he was utterly grateful for her optimism in the worst scenarios. Noticing the pink and white test in her hands, he stepped forward, a look of worry painted on his face. MC opened her palms to Saeran, showing the two pink lines. They were expecting.

…

Suit couldn’t help but react. Why? Just when things were getting good for us. His hands flew to MC’s sides, pushing her up against the wall. It hurts. Suit pressed his fingers into MC’s shoulders, nails digging into her frame.

“Sae!” MC exclaimed, unknowing of the sudden change. Warm tears began welling in his eyes, his head pounding as his body reacted on it’s own. You’re strong. We’re strong.

“Fuck MC.. I-I..God,” he managed to putter out.

Despite the display, his hands shook, arms coming to wrap around the frightened girl’s figure. MC traced her slender fingers along his own form, holding onto the alabaster fabric that scrunched at her fingertips.

“We’re going to be okay Saeran..” her words trailed as she shushed him quietly.

“I-I know we’re not ready, w-we’re far from ready. But know we’re in this together. You’re not him. You’re not her. You’re mine. No, ours alone. We have so much to work through. B-But I promise you, this isn’t bigger than us. All of us.” MC whispered as her own tears began to flow. Suit growled, head spiraling in every which way. We’re not ready for this, fuck, fuck, fuck! Suit’s hands loosened, letting go of MC’s hazel sweater. I can’t hurt her. His whitening knuckles coming to a pause as blood began to properly circulate around his hands. MC couldn’t help but let out a shaking sob, her body trembled, knowing she had put them in an immeasurable amount of pressure, pain, and general confusion.

“Saeran, I’m so sorry. W-We could’ve been more careful. But, I want you to know, I want to keep it. Y-You’re going to be an amazing father.” MC cried out with her trembling tone.

“No, MC. You’re going to be an amazing mother.” Suit finally replied, his usually gruff tone now replaced with melancholic monotone. Confused, MC pulled back, looking to face her lover. His pale face was motionless, not to mention seemingly emotionless (though MC knew his mind was running a hundred miles an hour). She could only stare at his ivory skin, pink lips brightly lit with crimson, she’d failed to notice how hard he bit his lips, or that he even was biting in the first place. Aquamarine met sepia. Suit could practically feel his pupils dilate. Meanwhile MC admired Saeran’s soft features, from the way his cheekbones protruded less, to the lightening of his dark circles which once held a monopoly upon his face. This was the face MC couldn’t help but adore.

…

A week later, and Saeran had still been struggling to face his reality. Their reality. Ray and Suit had been awfully quiet since the reveal, and Saeran had a hard time breaking through to them. But it was now or never.

“Sae, we don’t have to talk about this right now.. I mean, if y-you can’t.” MC stuttered. She was lying, she’d known this was an issue that could not wait, one that couldn’t be left to waiver, especially for weeks, let alone months, nine months to be exact. But she’d do anything to spare them from pain. Saeran on the other hand, paced the room. His eyes wandering the room, left, right, up and down.

“No MC, I have to get this out. We have to get this out.” Saeran said, stopping his disturbed pace to look MC in the eye, his own falling away quickly after just a glance. Saeran sighed out, his bated breath being expelled. MC took his milky white hand into her own, giving it a soft peck. It was their time to speak. Ray was swift to front, cheeks turning a cute shade of cherry. He sat next to MC on the dingy couch Saeyoung once resided on, raising his opposing hand towards MC’s cheek. She instantaneously reacted, leaning into the palm of his hand.

“That red head..No, S-Saeyoung and I. Our Mother, she was a monster..” Ray began as he suddenly flinched away from MC’s touch. Her heart ached, longing to reach for him and protect him from the world, but she knew he needed this.

“Everyday, that woman.. She’d left marks on me, more than physical. Everyday I still fear her, in small daily discussions or quarrels. Every raised voice, every swift hand. I see her. And I fear her. I fear her..” Ray’s voice trailed off, eyes growing glossier by the second. MC bit her lip in response,

“Ray, y-you don’t have to-”

“No Love, I do.” He cut in.

Ray placed his hands along his thighs, taking in a solid breath as a tear trickled down his cheek, meeting his neck.

“I fear those marks she’s left on me. I’m scared of being..Her. Of becoming a tyrannical parent like her. I don’t care what Suit says. I’m weak MC. I fear her imprint, I fear what she could do, to me, to you, to us, all of us.” He said as he looked towards MC’s womb.

“I need you here with me, I know I can’t do this. Not without you. There’s no one else I’d rather have this child with. With you as their Mother, I know it’ll be okay. W-We’ll be okay.” He said staring at the ground before meeting MC’s auburn gaze. His hands cautiously made contact with hers, gently intertwining before kissing her knuckles.

“We’re going to be okay.” She whispered.

…

“Come here!” Yelled out Saeyoung as he chased after the smaller redhead ahead of him, effectively scattering mud and dirt around the perimeter. She ran with all her might, giggling in between thunderous screaming.

“Never!” She screamed before running straight into Saeran.

“Oomf!” was the sound she made before turning to look up to her father. Saeran took a step back, hands coming to wrap around the nine year old before looking down at her. She grinned widely, her toothy smile melting Saeran’s previously chilly demeanor. He beamed ear to ear. He could count her missing teeth. Since when was she growing so quickly?

Saeyoung was quick to attack, pouncing onto his niece and younger twin. Consequentially bringing them all down onto the mud. Her and Saeyoung’s laughter roared, chirping as loud as the birds. After a moment of hesitation, Saeran joined in. All of them splayed along the ground, basking in the newly sprung sun.

MC strolled near the pile of redheads, carrying a sleeping five year old in her arms.

“You’re all awfully boisterous today,” she said, smiling. Saeran sat up, ruffling the boy’s brunet locks.

“Appa! Appa!” the boy called out to his father, pointing to the sky. Saeran turned to see a faint rainbow making its way across the azure atmosphere. He couldn’t help but turn to see his family’s reaction to the magnificent phenomenon. All of their eyes twinkled.

We’re okay.