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relialin · 6 years ago

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TRICKSTER AGE vol. 32, 2016/10/15 Toshiya’s Creativity VOL.01 -The Five Senses-

Translated by DIR EN GREY - Italia

Please DO NOT repost or use any parts of the translation without permission.

Toshiya, bassist of DIR EN GREY, the rock band that achieves an overwhelming support all around the world and, of course, in Japan. He currently conducts the production of the apparel brand he launched by himself, “DIRT 100% Natural Dirty / DIRT 100% Dissolutive Dirty” and he started a series in this magazine. This time, as a kickoff memento, we must look for his interests and preferences, as he’s doing well in both music and apparel, so we did an interview having the five senses as theme; sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch.

SIGHT

What are the things Toshiya has been seeing until now? The things that left an impression on him were many during his boyhood, as he’s curious about many different hobbies. That influence still goes on now…

“Sight”

Movies, Gundam, manga: childhood memories.

I haven’t watched any movie recently, but if I have to tell a movie that left an impression on me, that’s “E.T.”. It’s the very first movie I watched in a theatre since I was born. That time, since we were expecting my brother or sister to be born, I went to the theatre with my father, just the two of us, for the first time to watch that movie. Even if I was a child, I remember being greatly impressed by it. I said “Won’t he [E.T.] come to our house?” (laughs). I wanted to become his friend, I wanted to play the famous scene when they put their index fingers together.

I’ve been telling this since before, but I started liking Gundam when I was at the elementary school. The one that had an impact on me was “Mobile Suit Z Gundam”. The contents were clear, in the end the protagonist turns into a vegetative state and while watching those inappropriate things for a children I was like “what the hell is that?” (laughs). It was very different from the things about robots and heroes I’ve been knowing since that moment. I didn’t even understand the plot properly at that time, but to some extent, ever since I can remember, when I watched it I thought that it was a surprisingly deep story. I think it’s a story not suitable for children in which the good are rewarded and the bad are punished, in which there are opinions on both sides and each side fights for the things they must protect. I guess I liked it also because of that. Even if I started watching it in real time starting from “Z”, my favourite mobile suit was Qubeley. The robots I knew had an angular shape but, since Qubeley had a round shape, that streamlined feature was innovative.

I also went buying the gunpla with the pocked money I received. The first one I bought was a Char’s Zaku and, just in half of his body, you could expose the mechanics it had inside. Then there were supposed to be some kind of miniature bulb you had to insert where its eyes were so they could shine properly. That’s why I felt like it was more a thing to display instead of a thing to play with. But it was too difficult and I couldn’t build it well, so I remember asking my father to build it for me. Last year I went to the “Gunpla Expo Worldtour Japan” and there was a modeler named NAOKI who I became acquainted with, but that person is amazing. Recently, when I made a temporary store for my fashion brand, I was given a Qubeley gunpla as a present and I was so happy about that.

The mangaka I like is Morohoshi Daijiro. When I was in elementary school or so I went to play at one of my relatives’ place and at that time he had the Weekly Shonen Jump volume in which “Ankoku Shinwa” was serialized. I started to like the atmosphere of the pictures and the contents a lot since I read it. As for the plot, its basis were ethnology and archaeology and it also had quite a SF atmosphere… Besides, having the mystery factor, it was a worthwhile reading. Also, the unique design was good too. In addition to this, I also liked sports manga, a little bit of everything, I read pretty much everything.

HEARING

“Hearing”: something you can’t miss being an artist. According to Toshiya, it’s a valuable sensation that shakes many different emotions and also makes childhood memories come back alive.

“Hearing”

A sound in which one feels comfort, and then music.

I guess a sound in which I feel comfort is the sound of public baths. I hear it when I use the baths, the voices and the sound of daily existence echoing make me feel good. But this good feeling I get by using the baths may be just a bit deceiving. Talking about public baths, lately [the number of] stylish health centers has increased, isn’t it? Somehow health centers have a mechanical image. Like, they are way too beautiful… Getting into the bath and then eat one thing after another, it seems like a task that just leads to mere sleep. I feel like that’s completely different from public baths, they have an heart-warming aspect, I feel like they’re somehow close to onsen. Well, it doesn’t necessarily means that I hate health centers because I said so. When I go to other regions because of the lives, I go [to health centers] with the staff. There I get my body scrubbed. But, to my surprise, it happened I got it done by young girls and therefore I was a bit in panic (bitter smile).

The sound I hate is the noise of road construction in the middle of the night. When to that sound when I’m just about to fall asleep while lying down willing to sleep, I end up waking up bothered by it. Because of that my drowsiness disappears and I can’t sleep at all even if I’m willing to. I really want it to stop once for all.

I’m totally fine with high frequency sounds that are often labeled as detestable like the one you get when you scratch on a blackboard. Everyone around me was just like “Argh!” and seemed they hated it, but I was fine.

I was born in a rural area in Nagano and, since the mountains were close to where I was, I prefer the sound of nature instead of the peacefulness of the town. Even the sound of the frogs in the summertime could calm me down (laughs). As there were rice fields all around, you could hear them croaking the whole time. That reminds me that in the past I have a feeling there were some kind of Notostraca in the fields, but lately I can’t really see them. Even if it’s something that I recalled by chance. It’s not like I look in the fields all the time (laughs). I look at them when I stare out of the shinkansen windows while travelling to another region or when I go back home to my family. Then, I can’t see fireflies anymore. When I was a child, they often used to come to rest on the window screen and shine. I strayed a bit from the topic, but when I think about sounds, memories of a long time ago come back to my mind like this. I guess it’s because the things I felt from my childhood still remain just like this.

Talking about music, I can listen to everything. Or, in a better way, I listen to a wide range [of genres]. I listen to pop music and enka as well. When I was a child, my mother liked Sawada Kenji and Anzen Chitai and their music was often playing in the house. Then there was Yamaguchi Momoe, I think. I remember listening to her along with the others. That’s why, instead of pop being a recent thing, it’s more a thing of long ago… I tend to feel like listening to nostalgic things. Talking about really old song, I think I can know their melody too.

SMELL

“Smell” and “scent”. The one that impacts Toshiya the most is the former one. He says he hasn’t a very sensitive sense of smell. He doesn’t even have a good nose.

“Smell”

Food and places… smells that linger together with memories.

[The smell] I like… well, I think that probably you’ll understand me if you’re Japanese, but isn’t it the smell of the curry you have on Saturdays? (laughs) Like, when I came home from school and walked down the street, I could sense that peculiar smell of people preparing dinner coming from every house around. I really liked it.

Then, I also like the smell of rain a lot. I can’t compare it well with anything, but I like that wet smell that I can’t even express. Or rather the peculiar smell of soil and asphalt. I feel like my heart calms down. Besides I think that the smell of historical buildings feel somehow familiar to me. When we travel to different regions while on tour, I occasionally go to visit castles and so on, but I can sense a familiar smell when I go to my grandma’s place in the countryside. It rather feels quite humid. When I recall that scent, which was a smell to me during my childhood, all the time anywhere I am I’d connect it to my memories. Then, even the scent of museums and libraries is soothing, even though it’s not like I always go there. I like the characteristic scent and the silence. Lately I also enjoy entering cafés etc. and relaxing in there. I have a luxurious time [in there].

Among the smells I hate, the very first one to come to my mind is the one of stinky tofu. It’s eaten all over Asia and it’s made by fermented tofu and it’s a food similar to Japanese natto or kusaya, popular among foreigners. Again, its smell is just way too strong. I think we were probably touring somewhere around Shanghai or Taiwan and, as I wandered around the streets with all the members, there was a smell far from being the one of udon. It was so bad to that point of saying “I guess people’s dying somewhere because of this?!” (laughs) Actually I don’t know if that smell killed people. But its smell is so strong to the extent you pinch your nose. Since I was feeling uneasy about it, I asked the local people “What smell is it?” and they answered me “It’s the smell of food”. I thought “It can’t be true!” but people say that, even if it smelled so bad, once you eat it, you get into it. It’s horrible if you just take a smell of it, but I heard it’s delicious if you can manage to put it in your mouth. Even if I was told those things, it was absolutely impossible for me. I can’t eat it. Or perhaps I should say I can’t take it to my mouth (laughs).

I wasn’t really joking when I told that I pinch my nose. Either speaking of it, I think I’m an insensitive person. Sometimes there’s people who perceive something like “It doesn’t feel good” and who have a fine ability for sensing things. But I feel like women are definitely more sensitive about that.

TASTE

Toshiya, the one who isn’t picky about food, so far. As he said “I’m not that sensitive to taste, but I end up overreacting to hot and spicy food”.

“Taste”

He’s not really picky, but in fact he has a sweet tooth.

When we travel to different regions while touring, I look forward to eating those regions specialties. Even if I say so, I’m not even the type who’s a picky eater. It may sound unexpected, but I like sweet things. I like both japanese-style sweets and western-style sweets. I buy pretty much sweets of the konbini. After having breakfast, I drop in at the konbini and while thinking “Mhh…” I’m already reaching out for them (laughs). It’s hard to say what’s my favourite sweet thing. It fairly depends on the mood I’m in that very day. Mh, maybe it’s the moon cake (laughs). When I see it, I often feel like grabbing it. Some drinks to accompany it are hot green tea, soy milk or cow milk. The chemistry between those three and the moon cake is the best. I also like alcohol, so I drink it too while eating sweet things. Even moon cake and sake are absolutely perfect!

I don’t think there are things I can’t eat, but I don’t like spicy foods. Red things like chili are definitely out of discussion, and I don’t really like pepper as well. But for some reason, I’m fine only with wasabi. Since I’ve never eaten anything that stimulated me since I was young, I guess I haven’t that much immunity against hot food. Even the curry at my parents’ home wasn’t hot. In the past, when I used to go to play to at my friends’ home, I usually had curry. I remember being astounded after eating by its excessive hotness. Like “Is curry this hot?!”.

Then, I thing I still can eat but I don’t really like is coriander. I guess I prefer not to eat it. The ones who like it seems to appreciate it very much, but I can’t believe it. Lately on TV I saw many shops specializing in coriander, many all-you-can-eat coriander restaurants and so on and I thought that isn’t a thing I would eat like that. I heard there are many women who likes coriander, although I think that sweet things are suitable for women, but I can’t understand coriander.

There’s one more thing I hate. When we were on tour overseas, I really hate the pizza we used to have on the bus. It was more a matter of quantity than a metter of taste. It didn’t feel like japanese delivery pizza, a single slice was already too huge. We ate it all together, but it was… (bitter smile). I can’t like it. The pizza we ate in Italy was delicious, so it’s not like I hate pizza. That catering pizza we had overseas was awful.

Speaking of food, I used to cook often before. But lately I don’t do it that much. I used to make hamburger and cabbage rolls. When I cook, I may pay particular attention to it. Before I tried to cook thinking that if I cooked using incredibly expensive ingredients, it would have been super delicious, but it wasn’t really like that (bitter smile). I guess I didn’t like it because I wasn’t raised in a bourgeois family.

TOUCH

It feels that “touching” leads to many different sensations and behaviuor. It’s also something that’s connected to one’s interests and likings and that becomes an important factor to determine one’s appearance. How’s Toshiya’s touch being surrounded?

“Touch”

Painting, developing, building up.

It’s not really a hobby, but from long ago, around the time I went to Art school, I liked drawing. When I was a child, since in my neighbourhood there were more girls than boys, I often played with girls. But I started hating being rallied for playing house and from that time on I started drawing at home by myself. Since crayons stained, I draw a lot using pencils. Speaking of what I used to draw… I feel that I used to draw a lot of robots, as expected. I also draw the character of a picture book I liked called “Memementama” all the time. Like, it was this kind of cute ghost with just one red eye and a black body, a bit round. This mementama liked red things, so it would eat all red things. The story is a bit grotesque because the point of it is that when it finds out its own eye is red, it ends up eating it.

Then lately I’m interested in Rolex. In the past I used to think that Rolex were somehow too royal, but since I had the chance to hold in my hand one that was made in the same year I was born, I changed my mind and thought that good things are fine. From that time, whenever I tried to look for many different things about them, it was more interesting than expected. The Rolex company itself became a sort of secret society and the whole thing didn’t become evident. Maybe that’s because the brand image is firmly encircled. Because of that, nearly every information coming from Rolex comes like something that an employee leaked. Now I know things like that model was made around that time, but that’s a leaked information as well. Even that model and the newest one will change and I’ll seem like not knowing it anymore, but surely in a few years won’t anybody leak anything once again? That kind of hidden side is also intriguing.

Speaking of touch, I’m also interested in how a body is made. Meaning that I like to touch my body by myself. I’m turning training into an habit. When I say training, no matter how effort I put in doing it, but when I lost my concentration even for a bit, it loses all its meaning. That’s why I have to keep doing it every day. When I first started doing it it was fun, but the fatigue piles up little by little and doing it every day is tiresome. There are also times in which I’m too tired to do it. However, when neglecting it like that, my muscles disappear immediately. When I do it, I gain them on the part I trained, but when I don’t, they will degenerate two times faster… I think that kind of simple cycle became interesting. From that I learned again that I have to keep on doing anything.

“In conclusion”

About his current interests, roots and serialization.

This time, as a commemoration of the very first column of the series, we had to investigate Toshiya’s interests and likings by interviewing him about the five senses and, lastly, we tried to ask him about the things he’s interested in right now.

“Let me think… maybe it’s the long drama called “Maguromaru” (laughs). It’s the most interesting among these days’ dramas. Until now it was “Aibou”.”

In the entry of Smell the word “castle” popped up too, and it seems like he likes historical things very much.

“When I was a child, during Tango no Sekku [the festival that later became Kodomo no Hi, children’s day] I used to wear a paper helmet and an armour and, instead of having my name written on them, they had like “1Xth generation”. After having asked to my grandmother many things about that, somehow it felt like my family was a line of warriors. In my hometown Nagano once ruled the Takeda family, but there were the twenty-four generals of Takeda Shinken and it feels like my family was a descendant of one of them. That’s why, considering that, I may somehow feel fascinated.”

Toshiya is active in many fields like being a musician and making apparels but, does he assimilate various data from daily things in order to create anything?

“As far as the things I’m interested in are concerned, I think I’ll try to look into it them some extent, but I’m a lazy person (bitter smile). Because of that I guess it’s a fifty-fifty. I think it’s okay not to know in particular those things that I may be interested in, but I’m also fine not knowing. So, I’m the type who don’t really think he will create something from himself. But I cherish the connection with this.

It seems that the attitude of reaching out as much as possible for things he’s interested in didn’t change since he was a child.

“In fact I’m spoiled. I’m the type who gets anything he wants, but as I grew old I realised that there are also things I can’t get. So I learned that maybe I have to reach a good compromise with myself (laughs). But if there’s any chance, I tend to reach out for it. That’s because otherwise I won’t be able to grasp it.”

In this time serialization, we’re planning on having his creative part as a feature. As the one in charge of editing says, it seems that there are already a many different projects, but perhaps even showing his other aspect, the one that’s different from the usual one of him playing the bass on stage, would be great.

“I wonder how will it be. As far as personal things are concerned, I guess I’ll refrain a bit from telling them because I want to keep them for myself. That’s why I’m a bit afraid of telling the truth (laughs).”

This series, which will dig into Toshiya from various points of view, will start for real in the next issue. Don’t miss it!

#direngrey #dir en grey #toshiya #translation #toshiya's creativity

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sambart93 · 6 years ago

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2018.10.26 and 29 Teito Tantei Kitan Zigomar [Review]

Official Website here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4

CAST and CHARACTERS

Hiroya as Z (Zigomar / Jigoma) Hattori Takeo as Mikasa Yumenosuke (Private Detective) Ebihara Yuka as Mutou Yuuko (Kidnapped by Zigoma) Hanaoka Meika as Hanasaki Mayuko (Mikasa's Assistant) Kadono Sho as Kitamiko Saburo (Chief Policeman) Tanaka Hiroki as Sumi Arata (Newbie Policeman) Oda Toshiki as Hira Tarou (Journalist)

Adachi Yuna as Tokage (meaning 'lizard' - Phantom Theif) Sawada Maria as Ando Ayako (Opera Singer)

Umehara Saeri as Aikawa Tamako (Tetsujiro's Girlfriend/Wife) Kuroki Kiko as Doi Shiori (Adopted Sister?) Tatsuya Yuu as Kobayashi Tetsujiro (Saved by Mikasa. Admires Mikasa.)

Working For Zigomar:

Hinagata Ui as Tsukishiro Tei Ogura Eriko as Sunaga Tokiko

Working for Fukiya:

Maruyama Raiden* as Gondawara Kouzou Odagiri Masayo as Harukara Meiko Souji Masato as Hitomi Hirosuke Kamidochi Kanki as Naoki Osamu

Terumi as Fukiya Kiyoshi

W Cast:

Kai Chiaru / Oota Saki as Saito Kanoko (Yuuko's Maid) Ashikaga Itaru / Oda Shunpei as Mifune Saburo (Powerful Politician, Yuuko's Husband) Ihara Yu / Umeda Shohei as Tsujioka Fumisuke (Works for Zigomar)

*DAMN that's a REALLY good name!

NON-SPOILER REVIEW Overall: My expectations for ASSH are always high and they ALWAYS met! They always make such amazing stages that are pleasing in so many ways! This stage was just as high quality as their previous ones; great in-depth amazing story with characters that you just want to know personally and in-depth - seriously, every single one of them I got very attached and/or interested in ! -, the darkness and the themes of the story was great, they always have a message that leaves you thinking, the costumes were well made and the theme was super interesting; and as per usual I was left wanting more, wanting another installment! I loved the messaged for this play which was very much 'how do we decide whether a character is good or bad?' because every character in this stage is flawed, every character in this has their reasons as to why their actions are justified, each character has a charming point that makes you believe their motives are the right ones. I just love that ASSH always poses such questions in their stages and has these types of characters. In true ASSH style, it is not a happy ending. They keep it partially raw and real and dark! The characters that stood out to me the most were obviously Zigomar and Mikasa, but I also got super invested in Hanasaki, Hirosuke, Naoki, Gonda and Kitamiko! I wanted to know so much more about them and their character scenes and arcs are great. Espeically for Gonda and Hirosuke; their arcs were GOLD. I was so invested and so affected by their storylines. I really hope we get a next installment, especially with the random mind-blowing reveal we get at the end of the play, and I am sure they'll find a way to kind of 'undo' what happens at the end so they can make a second stage out of this. It seriously deserves one and I seriously want one! Thank you ASSH for consistently producing and giving me great, solid stages! Rating: 9/10

SPOILER REVIEW

I have no idea where to start with this, as per bloody usual, but I shall try!

Aesthetics

First I loved the visuals of this stage; I love how the stage looked, I loved the costumes (and how all of them except Zigoma had words on parts of their costumes which were lines from the script); I loved the ending where letters dropped from the ceiling and onto the floor; it was very visually appealing. Although ONE actress did have boots on and at the beginning they were not equal length and OCD me found it very annoying xD but she soon fixed them by the next time she came back on stage.

Story

The Main Plot is: A guy who calls himself Zigoma is running around killing politicians and the police force want to know why and want to stop him before he kills anymore. Also during his first political kill, the kidnaps the wife of the politician and a private detective has been hired to find and save this now-widow. But what is unveiled is so much more...

This show actually had two versions; the Detectives Side and the Bad Guys Side which means there should be a scene change or two between the two shows.

I really enjoyed the story; I loved the discussion and themes of ‘who is right?’ and ‘Is everyone’s individual motive justifiable?’. And we had the mystery of ‘who is Zigoma?’ and ‘why is he doing it?’ and ‘why does he do it?’ which gave some really great punches and revelations. Also the plot twists and the shocker ending were just perfect! I did not see some of them coming and that ending really was a great cherry on the top of the cake! But I won’t spoil it too much right now.

One question/theme that runs throughout the play is whether Zigoma’s motives are justifiable or not. And we get to one part of the play where Mikasa comments ‘I think he’s just doing it for fun. Just because he can.’ but later one Zigoma expresses his desire to change the political climate, to change those in power, almost like a Guy Fawkes (info here) type of character. But then right at the end, when all hope for Zigoma escaping is gone, he cracks. He starts to laugh insanely and then yells at Mikasa ‘you were right! You saw right through me! All along I was doing it just because it’s fun!’. This somewhat internally breaks Mikasa because he didn’t want to be right; he wanted a more logical reason as to why Zigoma did what he did. It’s such a good moment and it really makes the audience think: was Zigoma lying in this moment of insanity? Was he killing off politicians because they were simply shitty, corrupt politicians? Or was he really just doing it because he could? Also, it makes you think, if he was doing it because those in power were corrupt, doesn’t that then make him a hero and not a villain? This theme really messed with my brain and really made me think and I LOVED IT!

There is another scene in the play, that also makes you question Zigoma’s motives. Right at the beginning there is the very first murder of a politician (Mifune Saburo) which everyone thinks Zigoma did because the body discovered was covered in a towel that had the mark ‘Z’ on it. But then at about the mid-point of the story, we learn that in fact the maid of the house had killed the politician because he was not only abusing his wife but was also raping the maid, and she has finally had enough and killed him. However, that night Zigoma had actually come with the intention of killing him anyway so he tells the maid to tell everyone ‘this was my kill!’ and so left the flag on the body. We also find out later that the reason why Zigoma kidnapped Mifune’s wife (Mutou Yuuko) after the murder, is because they actually were original betrothed to each other before she got forced into her marriage with Mifune, which is just like ‘he saved her?! he protected her?! He still loves her?!’ so again, it creates all these questions and such in your brain that you just have to think through and make a decision on. Also once Yuuko realises who Zigoma is, she takes his side completely and helps him out, so she too still has feelings for him! Just waaaahhh?! But then in another twist of fate, right at the end he kills her anyway!! To which I was like ‘waaaahhh?!’ even more!

I adore the ending so much; not the fact that everyone dies at the end, but how it’s visually shown. They die due to a bomb going off, destroying the building they’re in (again, very Guy Fawkes like!), and just as they all drop dead, letters from the ceiling fall down onto their bodies, and the flags at the back of the stage drop down too. I absolutely loved this visual touch! It was amazing and beautiful.

Another plot twist that had me like ‘HOLY HELL! WHAT?!’ was at the very last scene. But first, some back story: the very first scene of the stage is the actor for Hira Tarou, explaining the backstory and setting of the story. Then IN the story, we meet Tarou who is a very good journalist who just happens to know that Mikasa and co. are trying to stop Zigoma. Because Tarou has some inside sources, they let him join their adventure and story. So we don’t really suspect him for the most part, but we do have one moment in the play where Mikasa asks ‘how do you know all this (secret) stuff?’ and Tarou simply replies ‘well I have informants in the police’ and they just brush it off. But right at the very end, when everyone else is dead, on the floor, on the stage, Tarou comes to the center to finish the narration of the story; he reveals (right at the end!!) that he is in fact Edogawa Ranpo, shuts the book in his hand, black out, stage finishes. I was like ‘wait... he’s.... EDOGAWA RANPO!?!?’ again, MIND BLOWN! I did not see that coming at all! And it was such a good, juicy and powerful reveal! It was so good!

Characters

I really liked how everyone got involved in the main story, and I loved all the different ‘factions’ within the story too! We had about six different groups within the story. We had the Detective and his sidekick alongside the police; Zigoma and his posse of followers; bystanders who get super nosey in the Detective’s business; A trio friendship between Meiko, Hirosuke and Naoki; An ambitious opera singer and a Phantom Thief who somehow get caught up in it all without meaning to; Kiyoshi and his clan of servants. I think those are the six main groups. So you can see the big dynamic difference between some and the similarities between others.

The richness and depth of these characters you get from them even though we barely spend two hours with them on stage is just amazing. I fell for some characters so quickly and so hard! I was completely invested in every single one of them! I seriously don’t understand how ASSH consistently makes big casts, but still manages to make every character so rich and different! I don’t understand how we haven’t had a mass crossover of character traits yet in any of their stages! It is just amazing! Characters that I automatically loved just because I love the actors were: Zigoma and Arata. Characters who completely won my heart over throughout the play were: Tokage, Hirosuke, Mikasa, Kitamiko and Hanasaki! I loved all the characters to be honest but the MVP, the one who I ended up completely loving and rooting for and took a lot of my attention was Hirosuke! I don’t know why; maybe because he was visually pleasing, but also his character development was so great! I also loved his relationship with some of the characters! Just... I need to go into spoilers to flail about this boy! So are you ready?

So the main story with Hirosuke is that he and his two close/best friends (Meiko and Naoki) decided to work for Fukiya so that they could have a better and less poor life. But it turns out Fukiya is the worst, and Fukiya orders Meiko and Hirosuke to murder Naoki because he discovers that Naoki is trying to trick and betray him. So while Meiko begs him not to kill Naoki, Hirosuke does it anyway. This obviously breaks his heart and tears him apart. Later on we see Meiko asking Hirosuke to stop following Fukiya, to leave with her and it get away from all this but Hirosuke follows orders, ‘this is for the better’ and shoots her dead. This obviously destroys him too and after killing her. I loved seeing the internal struggle that he had within himself; does he follow his boss? does he follow his heart? does he follow his friends? does he put power over friendship first. I love how we see it eat him from the inside! And that is why he is my favourite! I also love the little scene he has with Tokage at the beginning; she’s the phantom thief who’s being stealing things for Fukiya, but she has never shown her face - she always has him at gun point or knife point, forcing him to look the other way and never see her face. And the beginning of this play, he says ‘just once, could I see your face?’, but it’s not until right at the very end when all the characters have gathered together, that he finally gets to see her, and you can see how happy he is! I love the friendship/slight-romance we have between these two.

Relating to those three, there is a butler, Gondawara, who works alongside Hirosuke and Meiko, and also tries to protect them (and others) many times. I absolutely adored him. He had such a short role but I love how he protected Saito Kanoko and then persuades her to eventually tell the truth about Mifune’s death. He was also the one who stood in the way of Hirosuke and Tei, trying to get Hirosuke to come to his senses and giving him a chance to run away but this ultimately leads to Gonda’s death. He was such a sweet character and I’m so sad he died, and so quickly too!

Gonda’s death is thanks to Tei who has a short but very interesting story line! The girl is addicted to Opium. And once on the opium, she becomes absolutely obsessed with killing. So much so that she attacked and killed Gonda. The cops also try to stop her by shooting her in the leg but because of the drugs, she doesn’t feel it and instead just starts dragging herself across the floor. She finally drags herself back to Zigoma and her crew, but Zigoma deems her insane and that she has lost the real reason why they are killing people, so Zigoma kills her.

Of course, I can’t talk about the characters without talking about our young, new detective Arata, who also goes by the nickname of ‘Suspender-kun’ because he always wears suspenders! He was adorable! He was a fresh, raring to go new detective and I absolutely loved his relationship with his boss, Saburo! They were such a hilarious comedy duo! And Hiroki/Arata on his own did a damn good job being funny and hilarious too! Also Saburo himself was hilarious as a solo artist!

Let me tell you about their ridiculousness: In the very first scene where they introduce themselves, Saburo is completely over the top and takes off his jacket and just drops it on the floor, then later on Arata throws it back to him but he lets it drop. The timing was absolutely perfect and was absolutely hilarious! Another scene is when Arata decides he’s going to seriously help and Saburo finally calls him ‘Arata’ instead of ‘suspender-kun’, so he gets really happy and really dramatic and holds himself against a wall, and Saburo comes over and comments ‘you idiot’ before slapping him on the butt xD

Another character I enjoyed was the Tantei’s assistant: Hanasaki Mayuko. She was an adorable dork!! I absolutely adored her! And she really shone during her adlibbed comedy scenes! Not only did she get the crowd laughing, but even Mikasa’s actor Hattori was having a hard time keeping a straight face at times xD She was so cute and funny and sweet and adorable! I really liked her! One scene that stood out to me for her: Hanasaki and the Youkan (a thick, jellied Japanese dessert made of red bean paste, agar, and sugar)! Kanoko brings Youkan to the detective as a thanks for saving her and for all their hard work on trying to find Yuuko. But turns out Hanasaki LOVES youkan so she tries to eat all of it through various ways, either offering to Mikasa (who she knows will say no), and quickly trying to eat another piece straight after. But because of this, natural comedy came out where she was trying to say her lines while her mouth was full of food xD also trying to be like ‘oh Mikasa doesn’t like youkan. DO YOU? No you don’t! Didn’t think so! More for me!!’ which was so cute.

Speaking of Mikasa, about part-way through the play, there’s a flashback-slash-fever dream where Mikasa is talking to Zigoma, and Zigoma is like ‘what’s the real reason you became a private detective instead of a policemen? You know deep down the real reason why!’ so that makes me think maybe his father had died on the job and that’s why he became a mysterious private detective instead? Or was his father corrupt as well as the police force at the time? So many questions!

One plot twist that I really enjoyed was the reveal that Tokage and Ando Ayako were actually sisters!! When Ayako starts yelling ‘Onee-san // Big Sister’ at one point, I was like “OMG THEY ARE SISTERS?!?!?!’. I totally didn’t see it coming! Especially because, for most of the play Ayako is horrible towards Tokage and is very cold, almost as if they had never met and just got off on the wrong foot straight away! But later on we learn that they do care for each other and they had to pretend not to know each other, in case Tokage ever got caught because she didn’t want to endanger her little sister. I was MIND BLOWN.

There is another twist where Aikawa actually betrays everyone and was working for Zigoma the whole time. Unfortunately I had already cottoned on a few scenes before hand that she was secretly in on it. I don’t know how I knew but I just felt like ‘there must be some other reason why this family of three are in the story’ and there are scenes where she’s left to protect Shioro at time, and Shiori is DUMB AS FUCK, so I wouldn’t put it past Shiori to not notice what Aikawa was up to and too dumb to realise when Aikawa had gone off to plot or make something. So I naturally figured either Shiori was pretending to be this dumb, stupid sister, or Aikawa was a secret mastermind or Tesujiro was pretending to admire Mikasa so he could set him up. I knew something was going on with those three.

Other Notable Moments/Scenes

In true ASSH style we had the whole cast dancing during the opening song. Luckily, Hiroki on the far left when the dance opening song starts.

There is a slow motion fighting scene which I thought was so cool!!! I really enjoyed the slow-mo moment. Also we got live singing! Ando Ayako’s actress Sawada Maria actually sang the opera songs live to us and she also sings the ending song live which is amazing! Her voice is very, very good!!

I really loved how Saburo and Mikasa decide to team up at the end even though they had some differences throughout the play, but for the greater good (!) they team up in the finale!

Some things that specifically happened during my First Show (Detective Version):

I was first row and on the very last seat to the left. The gap between my feet and the stage was practically 0.1cm! So I was super duper close to all the actors! Which was for the most part absolutely terrifying (especially during the fight scenes). However, it did have it’s good moment which I will list right here: towards the end of the show, Hiroki gets into a fight which causes him to get thrown and pinned against a wall. That wall was RIGHT in front of me and my head was at the perfect level for Hiroki’s waist, which means that his butt was right in front of me!!!! Also he smelt really nice xD another moment was the final showdown between Tantei Mikasa and Zigoma, they were fighting and again, they slammed against the wall right next to me!! I was parts freaking out and parts overwhelmed and overjoyed xD

We had a double curtain call, and the ending aisatsu was by Hanasaki who was totally cute and she got very shy and couldn’t remember what she wanted to say. But everyone was giggling at her adorableness xD She was stood next to Hiroki and they were both so cute alongside each other!

Of course it was filming day!! When do I never go on filming day?! xD I am ALWAYS at filming day!!! xD

Second Show (Bad Guy Version):

I went to the senshuuraku (the finale) of this show! They really went all out on the comedy in this final show! Hiroki got hit so hard by Saburo that he started laughing to the side of the stage. Then later Saburo went to pull and release his suspenders and pretended to it the first time, but on the second time he actually let go and it was really hard. Hiroki was rubbing his chest in pain.

Maybe I just didn’t notice in the first show but I feel like in this show, the three people working for Zigoma got their moment of explaining what they wanted and why they joined Zigoma. Maybe this was the scene especially created for this version of the show, or maybe I just missed it the first time round. But I loved getting to know where they came from, their backgrounds and why they joined him.

Another Higawari (daily change) was Gonda saying an Acrostic Poem for Ji-Go-Ma. In the second show, he got a huge round of applause after his Ji-Go-Ma poem because it was just too funny and very good. Unfortunately, I do no remember it *cries*

I also noticed in this second show that there is a moment where Arata and Hanasaki fall in love for a moment after she accidentally touches his arm and that motivates him to help Mikasa on his case some more xD

While in the first show we had Saburo just complete miss catching his jacket through his own lack of calculations, this time it was through Hiroki’s fault; Saburo couldn’t reach far enough to grab his jacket from Hiroki’s throw, it was hilarious.

Another higawari is when Saburo is trying to talk to Arata but Arata get’s super angry straight away: Saburo: Let’s go brat. Arata: *super angry* What did you say?!?! Saburo: Let’s go you brat! Arata: *calms down* Ohh I didn’t hear you! Saburo: *shock* IS THAT WHY YOU GOT MAD?! The scene ends with Hiroki asking Saburo to slap his arm, and they did this wave with their arms before walking off stage xD

In both shows, when Zigoma first appears in front of Yuuko in her house before kidnapping her, he walks in with brandy in a brandy glass and drinks it. In every other show the glass has been half full so it was easy for him to drink. BUT, in this final show Zigoma walked on stage with a GLASS FULL of brandy, and it took him a while to finish it. It was obvious who’d seen the show before because we were the ones cracking up as soon as he walked on stage! So as you can tell, they really went all out on the comedy in this final show! It wasn’t being filmed, they might as well do ridiculous shit and have fun xD

Just before the youkan scene, Hanasaki is in the kitchen making a mess, but then walks on stage and she uses a crashing noise to her advantage. She kept replaying the crash music as Mikasa tried to talk. She tried so hard to get Mikasa’s actor to burst out in laughter but didn’t work; we (the audience) were all dying though.

It was a triple curtain call where we got an announcement for the next stage (the next installment of KimiSaga - review here)!! In March!!! I was (and am!) so excited!!

GOODS

And that’s everything! Sorry it took so damn long to get these reviews out (and I’m still a shit ton behind!) but bare with me xD

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enami17 · 7 years ago

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Cast and characters for some BSP plays

in chronological order

BSP「壬生狼」

“Miburo” / “The Wolves of Mibu” (2014.1)

Info: site, DVD, PV

CAST:

Matsuda Gaku - Hijikata Toshizou Tabuchi Noriaki - Okita Souji Aoki Takeshi - Kondou Isami Tokura Yuuki - Serizawa Kamo Kanegae Kou - Yamanami Keisuke Yamamoto Masahiro - Saitou Hajime Tanaka Naoki - Toudou Heisuke Kitaguchi Shouhei - Harada Sanosuke Hirayama Shou - Nagakura Shinpachi Yamasaki Touma - Tachikawa Chikara Umebayashi Ryouta - Katsura Kogorou Yamamoto Kenji - Sakamoto Ryouma, etc.

Director: Ootsuka Masashi Music: Wada Shunsuke, Matoda Hideya Choreography: Kakitani Yui

BSP「幸村」－真田戦記－

“YUKIMURA - Sanada Senki” / “YUKIMURA - Sanada’s War History” (2015.3,5)

Info: site, DVD, PV

CAST:

Matsuda Gaku - Sanada Nobushige (a.k.a. Yukimura) Tabuchi Noriaki - Tokugawa Ieyasu, Yodo-dono Tanaka Naoki - Sarutobi Sasuke Umebayashi Ryouta - Mouri Katsunaga Aoki Takeshi - Gotou Matabei Ishida Naoya - Toyotomi Hideyori Yamamoto Masahiro - Chousokabe Morichika Kanegae Kou - Akashi Teruzumi Yamamoto Kenji - Oono Harunaga Kitaguchi Shouhei - Tokugawa Hidetada Kuroda Yousuke - Kirigakure Saizou Nakauchi Tenma - Sanada Daisuke Ogawa Katsuya - Sanada Nobuyuki, etc.

Director: Ootsuka Masashi Music: Wada Shunsuke Choreography: Kakitani Yui

Theme Song: "Glorious Death" Lyrics: Ootsuka Masashi; music: Wada Shunsuke; vocal: Niira Etsuko

BSP「雪の女王」（BSP版）

“Yuki no Joou” / “The Snow Queen” (BSP edition) (2015.9-11)

Info: site, DVD, PV

CAST:

Hanafusa Chika - Karen Terashita Remi - Anna Matsuda Gaku - Chris Aoki Takeshi - Carl Umebayashi Ryouta - Gert Ishida Naoya - Abel Hara Kouki - Elmer Tabuchi Noriaki - Chris' Shadow Yamamoto Masahiro - Carl's Shadow Tanaka Naoki - Gert's Shadow Harada Kenji - Abel's Shadow Shin Masatoshi - Elmer's Shadow Yamamoto Kenji - the nonexistent

Director: Ootsuka Masashi Music: Matoda Hideya Choreography: Kakitani Yui

BSP「真田幸村」

“Sanada Yukimura” (2016.3-4)

Info: site, DVD, PV

CAST:

Matsuda Gaku - Sanada Nobushige, Takeda Shingen Tabuchi Noriaki - Tokugawa Ieyasu, Yodo-dono Umebayashi Ryouta - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Sanada Nobuyuki Tanaka Naoki - Sarutobi Sasuke, Sanada Daisuke Ishida Naoya - Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Sen-hime Aoki Takeshi - Gotou Matabei, Miyoshi Seikai Nyuudou Kanegae Kou - Oda Nobunaga, Mochizuki Chiyome Yamamoto Masahiro - Toyotomi Hideyori, Kirigakure Saizou Kuroda Yousuke - Nezu Jinpachi, Chousokabe Morichika Ogawa Katsuya - Mochizuki Rokurou, Mouri Katsunaga Yamamoto Kenji - Sanada Masayuki, Tokugawa Hidetada Tokura Yuuki - Hattori Hanzou, Oono Harunaga, etc.

Director: Ootsuka Masashi Music: Wada Shunsuke Choreography: Kakitani Yui

BSP「龍の羅針盤」 “Ryuu no Rashinban” / “Dragon Compass”

第一部幕末死闘篇 (2016.11-12) Part 1 - Bakumatsu shitou hen / Bakumatsu death battle 第二部維新回天篇 (2017.2) Part 2 - Ishin kaiten hen / The changing world of the [Meiji] Restoration

Info: site, DVD1, DVD2, PV, OP dance part 1, part 2

CAST:

Matsuda Gaku - Sakamoto Ryouma Tabuchi Noriaki - Thomas Blake Glover Umebayashi Ryouta - Katsu Kaishuu Ishida Naoya - Iwasaki Yatarou Aoki Takeshi - Takechi Hanpeita, Ookubo Toshimichi Yamamoto Masahiro - Takasugi Shinsaku Kuroda Yousuke - Saitou Hajime Ikenoue Yoritsugu - Gotou Shoujirou Nakauchi Tenma - Itou Hirobumi Shin Masatoshi - Kondou Choujirou Fujita Kyouhei - Mochizuki Kameyata Sawada Makoto - Murata Shinpachi Yamamoto Kenji - Saigou Takamori Part 2 only: Tanaka Naoki - Nakaoka Shintarou Kanegae Kou - Katsura Kogorou Tokura Yuuki - Tokugawa Yoshinobu

Director: Ootsuka Masashi Music: Wada Shunsuke, Matoda Hideya, Toyoda Kensuke Choreography: Kakitani Yui

Theme Songs: Part 1: "Tasogare no Umi no Ryuu" 「黄昏の海の龍」 Lyrics: Ootsuka Masashi; music: Wada Shunsuke; vocal: Niira Etsuko Part 2: "Suiheisen ni Kieta Rashinban" 「水平線に消えた羅針盤」 Lyrics: Ootsuka Masashi; music: Toyoda Kensuke; vocal: Niira Etsuko

#Matsuda Gaku #cast list #BSP Yuki no Joou #BSP Sanada Yukimura #BSP Yukimura Sanada Senki #BSP Miburo #BSP Ryuu no Rashinban

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ledesaid · 6 years ago

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Ella es Nana, la esposa del mayordomo de los Karasuma (Naoki Sawada XD)

Fanfic: Click

#conan #asilo #fanfic #la mentira que trajo consigo la tragedia #nana #sawada

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jpf-sydney · 5 years ago

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Jidai shōsetsu za besuto. 2018

New item:

Shelf: 913.68 JID 2018 Jidai shōsetsu za besuto. 2018. edited by Nihon Bungeika Kyōkai. Tōkyō : Shūeisha, 2018. 471 pages ; 16 cm. (Shūeisha bunko) Text in Japanese. ISBN: 978-4-08-745761-2

Table of contents:

Kosute uba / Nakajima Takashi.

Kiyotsune no tsuma / Sawada Tōko.

Tsuwamono no onna / Nagai Sayako.

Kaisō Ekei / Kinoshita Masaki.

Oni no kettō / Amano Sumiki.

Musō-bara / Ueda Hideto.

Kumo no awai / Muraki Ran.

Uijin Unnokuchi / Takahashi Naoki.

Kawanakajima o, mō ichido / Minowa Ryō.

Fushime no Sekigahara / Tōgō Ryū.

#historical fiction #short stories #new 2019 09

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geidaicomposition · 6 years ago

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Thursday Concert 2018 by Geïdaï Students - Department of Composition -

Date: Thursday, November 15. 14:00-

Venue: Sogakudo of the former Tokyo Music School

Ticket: JPY500 (sold only on the day of performance)

Program:

1. Kento Ishikawa, Antiphona for Brass Quintet and 2 Percussion Players

Cond. Kento Ishikawa Trp.I Akari Hirayama Trp.Ⅱ Saaya Arima Trb.I Rinnosuke Iwase Trb.Ⅱ Kazuya Kubota Perc.I Kana Narita Perc.Ⅱ Kimiya Kobayashi

2. Yujiro Ariyoshi, Swingin’ Jam for 6 players

Cond. Keina Yamagishi E.Guit. Yujiro Ariyoshi Trp. Saaya Arima Alto Sax. Kazuya Mon Ten. Sax. Hiromu Ito Trb. Kazuya Kubota Pf. Marika Murata

3. Takuto Muromoto, Merzbau for String Sextet

Cond. Taichi Hiratsuka Vn.I Yoshiki Yamamoto Vn.Ⅱ Ayano Shigematsu Va. Hikari Katsurada Vc.I Mano Shimojima Vc.Ⅱ Yuri Kubota Cb. Naoki Minagawa

4. Noel Hiyamizu, Obsessive Perversion for Shamisen and 5players

Cond. Taichi Hiratsuka Fl. Yuta Ozaki Perc. Mikihito Sano Sham. Amane Sakaguchi 17 Str. Koto Azusa Mori Pf. Ryota Kubo Vn. Ayano Shigematsu

5. Habuki Lisa, Color Nep for 6players

Cond. Taichi Hiratsuka Fl. Yuka Izumino Perc. Tomomi Kitajima Vn.I Yoshiki Yamamoto Vn.Ⅱ Ayano Shigematsu Va. Hikari Katsurada Vc. Mano Shimojima

6. Hikari Sawada, Sterilized Petals for 6 players

Cond. Taichi Hiratsuka Fl. Yuta Ozaki Cl. Tatsuyoshi Mikai Perc.I Mariko Okada Perc.Ⅱ Kana Funayama Va. Akari Komuro Vc. Mano Shimojima

Note: the order, the program and players are subjetc to change.

Organized by Art&Culture Foundation Of Taito, Fuculty of Music, Tokyo University of the Arts.

#concertenglish #2018english #educationalenglish

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sparklecryptid · 4 years ago

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blood on the water

i MEANT to post this here too but forgot. anyway here's the first chapter of blood on the water. warning for temporary character death and timoteo eating a kids flames and being a general asshole.

also on ao3 here

Naoki is a sick child. He hurts and hurts and is clumsy enough that he has broken and dislocated more bones than a child his age should have.

Naoki is a sick child; but he knows that his mother loves him, he knows that his brother loves him. That Tsuna brings him treats when Naoki can’t go to school and Tsuna holds his hand when the doctor comes toward them with something scary. Tsuna is his brother.

And Tsuna has swore to protect him. Naoki believes him, believes that Tsuna will protect him. Believes that with his whole heart but when he sees a man reach toward Tsuna with a hand full of fire Naoki runs and jumps in front of the old man that their father brought home.

Something is Naoki screams to him that his man is bad, that he is terrible and no good and that he needs to grab Tsuna and run.

The man is faster, he takes his hand and places it on Naoki’s belly, the fire that the man wields (almost like his and Tsuna’s but the man’s fire seems dark and scary) reaches into Naoki and latches onto the warmth that Naoki holds close to him. The warm that brings the fire he and Tsuna play with and Naoki wants to scream but he can’t. His scream dies in his throat, he’s being torn apart, his fire is being taken and taken and he’s being eaten alive and he can’t do anything. The old man is eating him and gorging himself on the fire Naoki has and Naoki can’t do anything.

He wants to scream for Tsuna but he can’t, behind him his brother is frozen. Shocked and still and Naoki loves him. Naoki loves his brother. Naoki loves his brother and will not let anyone like this old man hurt Tsuna.

He refuses.

Naoki doesn’t scream or run because that would mean the old man would target Tsuna and Naoki will not let that happen.

It seems like it lasts for hours. It lasts for less than three minutes and Naoki falls to the ground.

The truth of things is that death comes for everyone. It is a consuming thing, a thing that takes and takes and takes. Death cannot be stopped or halted, merely postponed, and to a man such a Timoteo the idea of being conquered, of being consumed by such a thing is preposterous.

Timoteo has torn lives apart, has bathed himself in blood and gore until all that he touches is stained red. Timoteo is the type of man who regrets little, and as he stays into the bright orange eyes of the Sawada Naoki - the boy who had told Timoteo no - he is consumed by a terrible hunger.

‘You could take him,’ A voice, dark and terrible whispers to Timoteo, ‘Take him and feast on his Flames until he has nothing else to give.’ Because the twins Flames are strong, and only one would be needed to give Timoteo the strength he needs to continue, only one would be needed to extend Timoteo’s reign by another few decades and then the other could be used.

Iemitsu only needs one child, to fulfill his urge to be parental, and it would be a waste to let one man’s desire for a family ruin everything Timoteo has worked so hard for.

There is no regret when he consumes the child’s Flames. No regret when the child falls limp and broken in front of him, there is no regret when Naoki eyes go dull with the mask of death and when Timoteo looks at Tsuna the other boys eyes are bright and glowing and the child launches himself at Timoteo, as though he knows that Timoteo had done something terrible.

It takes no time at all to seal away Tsuna’s Flames, to put the boys together under a tree and wait for Tsuna to wake and realize that Naoki had passed away in his sleep.

Naoki was always a sickly child after all, it should be no surprise that he died.

Tsuna wakes up. He wakes up to his brother lying limp at his side and Tsuna wakes to a world that is grey. Everything seems muted, as though he’s watching the world through dirty glass and he hates it because it’s wrong. He turns to his brother, to ask Naoki what happened only to see his brother staring at him with dead eyes.

“Naoki?” Tsuna asks, moving away from his brother only to watch Naoki fall into the space Tsuna was in previously, “Naoki!” Tsuna scrambles toward his brother, slipping on nothing and landing on his brothers chest and Naoki doesn’t move.

Doesn’t wake.

Doesn’t breathe.

And Tsuna can feel his own heart rate pick up, can remember all the doctors visits he went with mom and Naoki too and Tsuna does not know death but he knows that death exists. That Naoki was always sickly and hurting and that sometimes mom clung to him and cried because she was hurting because what if Naoki disappeared? What if her baby died?

Tsuna knows that death means that something is gone, that they disappear and his eyes hurt with tears as he stares at his little brother. As he stares at his twin who he promised that he would protect no matter what and Naoki doesn’t move.

Tsuna screams, and the adults come running.

Death is a thing that should only happen to someone once.

Should is the keyword here. When Naoki dies, determined and regretful he finds himself in a dark space full of stars. The black of the area around covered in nebulae and constellations. The sight of a star going supernova burns his eyes and he blinks rapidly to clear the spots in his vision as the light of the supernova dies and he finds himself blinking at an adult who looks like him but older.

The man has a cane by his side. The cane has lavender and wisteria burned into it and then the flowers are painted in their respective hues. His skin is a light brown and his hair is the same. The man’s eyes are the only part of the man that looks different than Naoki. Rather than the brilliant orange that Naoki himself sees when he looks in the mirror the man has eyes that are a shocking shade of indigo.

“Are we related?” Naoki asks, looking up at the man who seems as confused as he is.

“I-“ the man stops, and stares at Naoki, taking in the similarities between them and then blinking like he’s seen a ghost. Naoki supposes that that part is true at least, Naoki is dead after all.

“I don’t know?” The man finishes awkwardly.

“Oh.” There’s silence between them for a moment before Naoki makes a choice. “I’m Naoki.”

“Huh,” the man says, “That’s my name too.”

Naoki beams at older Naoki. “That’s great! We are name twins!” Older Naoki watches as Naoki falters at the last word.

“Did you have a twin?” Older Naoki asks, his voice painfully gentle as he sits on the nothingness that suspends them in the starlit sky. Naoki sits next to him.

“Yes.” I died for him, Naoki doesn’t say but Older Naoki seems to know that regardless as sorrow enters his gaze.

“That sucks,” Older Naoki tells him, his indigo gaze softening as he looks at Naoki. “So do you know why we’re here?”

“We died.”

“Well yes,” Older Naoki says, “I know that. But what do we do now?”

Naoki pauses. “Could we go back?”

Older Naoki looks as though he’s just seen the sun dawning.

“I think we might be able to,” Older Naoki says, “Do you want to try?”

Naoki reaches out into the sky with his flames, brilliant and orange, searching for confirmation that they could go back and Older Naoki’s flames, indigo and rolling like mist are pulled out and into the search as well.

“What-“ Older Naoki looks down at himself, glowing indigo and then at Naoki who is glowing orange with fire.

Above them the stars dim and Naoki looks at Older Naoki and knows the man in front of him as himself.

“We’re dead.”

“Died at the same time,” this facet of him agrees and hands Naoki his cane. “Live for us?”

“The old man ate too much.”

“Yes, but we’re the same aren’t we? I don’t see why we can be one.”

“I want to go back,” Naoki says, as the last of the stars vanished, “I want my brother.”

Naoki wakes up not to the blue sky that sings to him but to the sight of the wooden lid of a coffin.

He sighs. He knows that his family is mourning, that he’s been dead for a while but did they have to bury him?

Of course they did, a part of him whispers, They love us.

“Yes,” Naoki says to himself as he uses the smokeless flame of his Sky to burn away pieces of the lid, “They do.”

Doesn’t mean that he appreciates having to dig himself out of his own grave. But he does, because he’s alive again, because he has a brother to protect, because the Older Naoki is also Naoki now and he might be weak and small and a child but he still needs to get out of this grave.

So he digs.

And digs.

And pull on the Mist to make it his body believe that there is more air in there than there is.

And he digs some more, and breaks through the surface in the middle of the night gasping for breath as they let their illusion fade. Naoki pulls himself out of the grave, his shoulders sore and aching and he hopes that he didn’t pull or dislocate something again.

He closes his eyes, to rest just for a moment, but a shadow falls over him and he opens his eyes to see a man with white hair staring at him.

Naoki waves.

The man looks mildly amused but mostly irked, as though something has happened that was unexpected.

“Hello,” Naoki says, “Do you have any water?”

The man takes him in. His name is Kawahira and he says that Naoki can’t go back to his family. Naoki bristles at that, bristles at the implication that his family doesn’t need or want him.

He opens his mouth to protest but Kawahira reminds him that Timoteo is still out there.

Timoteo.

The beast of a man. That man that had taken Naoki’s Sky and killed him. The reason why Naoki’s Flames now have jagged and sharp edges, the reason why his Sky and Mist are stitched together by death and the reason why Naoki remembers.

There was a life where Naoki was a Mist. Where Naoki wandered and stole and killed. Where he stayed out of Mafia business as much as he could and just as he was planning on retiring he had been killed. Caught in the crossfire between the Vongola and another family.

And now that Naoki is him, and he is that Naoki, and together they are one person with a shared past and Flames that will never be as beautiful or while as they once were.

Naoki knows his Mist is small compared to others, that his Sky despite being vast is broken and missing pieces. Naoki knows no one will want him as a Guardian or a Sky and that he will have to protect himself in order to protect his family.

That he cannot let his family know that he is alive lest they get caught in the crossfire.

He will also admit that a part of him is scared, terrified of being found by Timoteo again. Terrified that Timoteo will take and take and take. That the old man will consume Naoki until there is nothing left and as much as he yearns for his family he thinks that perhaps he is more terrified of Timoteo.

“What do I do then?” Naoki asks, a pleading note in his voice, “What can I do?”

“Become someone else,” Kawahira says, “Isn’t that what Mists are known for after all?”

Sawada Naoki is dead. He is dead and buried. Thrown into a grave and left to rot.

Sawada Naoki is dead, but Tanaka Naoki is still alive.

#blood on the water verse #mayb....comment? leave ask? talk about with moose?

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