#tokyo otome restaurant

[currytantou]

male seiyuu cooking program "Tokyo Otome Restaurant" S1EP2, with full eng subs watch @ my wordpress (see faq page for password) support me on ko-fi to download HD files

[starmocha]

In a new post, list the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

I just stumbled upon this and wanted to do it for funsies. I mainly write Sess/Kag under the pseud Tsuki no Tennyo, but I haven't written anything in like 1½ year on account of my house was destroyed by a fire and I had to deal with insurance bs for one full year lmao (hello yes, I did not abandon my stories, but the Universe had abandoned me 🥲)

Also, uh, this is just some of my "interested" wips. I didn't include "active" wips on account of I want them to be surprises. Also didn't include abandoned wips on account of I'm not active in those fandoms anymore for whatever reason.

Inuyasha (all Sess/Kag)

untitled sess realizes kag is a cat person

untitled sesskag 72-hour fake relationship weekend fic thing

untitled sesskag alice in wonderland horror fantasy-esque

untitled bonded forgotten promise sesskag

untitled sesskag robbing as couple au

untitled spy assassin au

untitled sesskag shitty restaurant shift

untitled sesskag wifi stealing neighbor

untitled sesskaginu ramen sushi feud

untitled meeting in tokyo flashback fic sesskag

untitled modern au falling in love

untitled unrequited love sesskag series

untitled everything the same except kag never traveled back in time

untitled 3-part sesskag baby fic

untitled terrible uncle inu

untitled my sunshine sequel

untitled my sunshine xmas midquel

untitled sesskag otome parody

untitled slice of life conversation

Hellhound - prologue

A Full Nest

You & I

Moonlight Flower

Wisteria Memories, Moonlit Secrets

Empty Gold [yakuza au]

3-Part SessKag Past Present ish

Untitled Tactics inspired

Several Shades of Sadism

5 Times Chiaki Tries to Cockblock + 1 Time You Cockblock Him

5 Times Toma Missed Jokes + 1 Time He Understood

7H crossover

Mutsuki + Bros

Rei & brothers

Café AU

mc makes bento

guilty toma

jealous toma

Painter of the Night

Neighbors + Cat AU

the path to hell

Seungho calling Nakyum “Lord”

Doctor Who

blow a kiss, fire a gun

i will get you love drunk

we got the keys to open paradise

untitled 12clara end of time

untitled 12clara slice of lfie au

untitled twelveclara acceptance thing ish

Girl Meets World

and my life is sweet like vanilla is

red dress on, high heels off

doc, there's a hole where something was

you can tell them you are mine

we'll be looking for sunlight

untitled joshmaya forgets to breathe

[vinnybonzer]

9 mesmerizing places for anime lovers in Tokyo

Tokyo is a dream destination for anime lovers, offering an unparalleled experience for fans of the genre. From iconic landmarks that inspired anime settings to stores filled with exclusive merchandise, the city is a treasure trove of opportunities to immerse yourself in the world of Japanese animation. Whether you’re a dedicated otaku or a casual fan, these must-visit locations in Tokyo will leave you enchanted.

Akihabara: The Anime and Gaming Paradise

Known as the mecca for anime and gaming enthusiasts, Akihabara is packed with specialty stores, gaming arcades, and themed cafes. Anime fans can browse iconic shops like Animate and Mandarake for rare collectibles, DVDs, and manga. Don’t miss the chance to visit a maid café or explore multi-story arcades like SEGA for a full otaku experience in your Tokyo vlog.

Studio Ghibli Museum: A Magical Experience

Nestled in Mitaka, the Studio Ghibli Museum offers a whimsical journey into the world of Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpieces. Visitors can explore detailed exhibits, life-sized replicas, and a short exclusive Ghibli film in a cozy theater. Tickets sell out quickly, so be sure to plan ahead for this enchanting experience.

Nakano Broadway: A Retro Haven for Collectibles

Nakano Broadway is a must-visit for collectors. This shopping complex is filled with shops selling rare anime merchandise, vintage toys, and figurines. It’s an excellent alternative to Akihabara for those seeking a more nostalgic vibe while hunting for treasures.

Pokémon Center Tokyo: For Every Pokémon Fan

Located in Nihonbashi and Ikebukuro, the Pokémon Centers are a paradise for Pokémon enthusiasts. These stores feature a wide range of Pokémon merchandise, including plush toys, apparel, and limited-edition items. Don’t miss the themed cafés where you can enjoy Pokémon-inspired treats.

Odaiba: A High-Tech Anime Wonderland

Odaiba is home to attractions like DiverCity, where the life-sized Unicorn Gundam statue stands tall, thrilling fans of the iconic mecha series. Inside DiverCity, the Gundam Base Tokyo offers exclusive model kits and exhibits. For anime-themed entertainment, visit Joypolis, an indoor amusement park with anime-inspired games.

Ikebukuro’s Otome Road: The Female Otaku Hub

Ikebukuro is a haven for female anime fans, particularly along Otome Road. This area is home to Animate Ikebukuro, K-Books, and other shops specializing in BL (Boys' Love) merchandise and doujinshi. The nearby Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo and Sunshine City shopping mall make it a well-rounded destination.

Tokyo One Piece Tower: For Pirate Adventures

Located near Tokyo Tower, this theme park dedicated to the One Piece anime offers interactive exhibits, live shows, and themed restaurants. Fans can step into the world of Luffy and his crew while collecting exclusive memorabilia. Although its physical location is currently under renovation, the spirit of One Piece lives on in Tokyo through pop-ups and merchandise stores.

Animate Ikebukuro Flagship Store: A One-Stop Anime Shop

As one of the largest Animate stores in Japan, the Ikebukuro flagship is a paradise for anime fans. With eight floors dedicated to manga, DVDs, cosplay goods, and more, it’s the ultimate shopping destination for otaku culture. Check their event schedule for signings and exclusive releases.

Harajuku’s Takeshita Street: Anime Fashion Central

For those who love anime-inspired fashion, Takeshita Street in Harajuku is the place to be. The quirky boutiques and accessory shops sell items that often reflect styles seen in popular anime. It’s also a great spot to find themed cafés and street food inspired by Japanese pop culture.

[byneddiedingo]

Den Ohinata and Takeshi Sakamoto in Passing Fancy (Yasujiro Ozu, 1933)

Cast: Takeshi Sakamoto, Nobuko Fushimi, Den Ohinata, Choko Iida, Tomio Aoki, Reiko Tani, Seiichi Kato. Screenplay: Tadao Ikeda, Yasujiro Ozu. Cinematography: Hideo Shigihara, Shojiro Sugimoto. Film editing: Kazuo Ishikawa. In Passing Fancy we can see Yasujiro Ozu edging, however reluctantly, toward sound. For a silent movie it has an extraordinary number of intertitles, reflecting a stronger reliance on dialogue to carry the story and the relationships of the characters. Ozu even departs from convention on occasion to show a title card before the character has spoken the line. The film also shows more of the development of Ozu's personal style as a director than some of his silent films do: There's a greater reliance on low-angle camerawork, his so-called "tatami shots," and a more frequent use of shots of streets and buildings that don't necessarily carry information about the plot and characters but serve as something like "chapter breaks" in the narrative. But film technique aside, Passing Fancy would be remembered as one of Ozu's most charming early films. Takeshi Sakamoto plays Kihachi -- a character name the actor would retain in other films by Ozu, including A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) and An Inn in Tokyo (1935). The several characters are discrete from one another, although the Kihachi in Passing Fancy bears some resemblance to the one in An Inn in Tokyo in that they are both single parents of a son played by the marvelous child actor Tomio Aoki. (If you're not confused yet, let me also add that in Passing Fancy Aoki is billed as "Tokkan Kozo," the title of a 1929 Ozu short film based on O. Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief" in which Aoki appeared. Oh, and that in Passing Fancy, the character is named Tomio.) Anyway, Kihachi and Tomio share rundown lodgings with Jiro (Den Ohinata), who works with Kihachi in a brewery. Tomio is a good student, and he's a bit embarrassed by his illiterate and occasionally drunken father. One night, Kihachi and Jiro encounter a young woman, Harue (Nobuko Fushimi), who has just been fired from her job and is looking for a place to stay. Jiro is suspicious that Harue is "no better than she ought to be," as the saying goes, but Kihachi is smitten with her and arranges for her to live with and work for Otome (Choko Iida), a woman who owns a neighborhood bar-restaurant. Kihachi begins to spruce himself up to woo Harue, but she's more attracted to the younger and handsomer Jiro. Eventually, Otome persuades Kihachi that he's too old for Harue and that he should try to get Jiro to return her affections. Then Tomio falls ill and Kihachi is pressed to find a way to pay the medical bills. Ozu's generous humor and genuine affection for his characters suffuses the film, and the splendid rapport of Sakamoto and Aoki as actors provides a special insight into the often volatile father-son relationship. There's a wonderful scene, for example, in which Kihachi slaps Tomio once too often and the boy turns around and begins to pummel his father, who submits, resulting in a deeper understanding between them.

[lostmydestination]

[insect-empire]

Official Obey Me! Billboards~

These Billboards were hung in Japanese stations to promote the White Day campaign. The team has translated them for us^^

Post:

Billboards:

Rewritten for those who may have trouble reading the image:

Lucifer:

Osaka: I haven't got a White Day present for you but I'm grateful that you are always thinking of me and my brothers.

Satan is plotting something, so let's go and foil his plans together.

#WhereIWantToGoWithLucifer #HiddenRestaurants

Tokyo: I'm sorry my brothers are always inconveniencing you. Every day is wonderful because you're here. Since we're here in the human world today, let's go to your favorite store. Where do you want to go?

#WhereIWantToGoWithLucifer #IkebukuroFood

Mammon:

Osaka: Am I meant to make ya happy on White Day? If that's the case, the Great Mammon will show ya all his appreciation!✨ Be happy now I say! Ah, stop looking so smug!

Don't go forgettin' who was your first demon, got it?! 😈

#WhereIWantToGoWithMammon #ThankYou

Tokyo: To thank ya for always being loyal to me, I'll show you some EXTRA special appreciation 😈 Tell me what you want! I'll ask Lucifer for ya! H-Hey, what's with that disgusted look?!

#WhereIWantToGoWithMammon #OrderOnline

Leviathan:

Osaka: Osaka is home to Nipponbashi, a sacred neighborhood for all Otaku in western Japan. Ahhhh...I want to go soooo badly! Do you want to go too? You do, don't you? Right...? Please go with me!!! A-Also...thanks for always staying by my side!!!

#WhereIWantToGoWithLeviathan #Nipponbashi

Tokyo: I'd never thought I'd ever come to Ikebukuro, an otome sacred site!I'll be by your side all day, so where do you want to go? Tell me. Also, thanks.

#WhereIWantToGoWithLeviathan #SacredOtomeSite

Satan:

Osaka: Thank you for always helping me think of ways to torment Lucifer. In this region, they speak the Kansai dialect, right?

Maybe I should put a curse on him that makes him only speak that! What? You think that would be cute? *In Kansai accent* But that's no fun...😣

#WhereIWantToGoWithSatan #KansaiDialectQuiz

Tokyo: I prepared the perfect cat café itinerary for you to say thank you 🐱 Oh wait, or was I the one who wanted to go to a cat café? Hmm, maybe it was me, but you'll come with me right? 🙂

#WhereIWantToGoWithSatan #Fluffy

Asmodeus:

Osaka: To thank you for the lavish affection, I'm going to smother you in kisses of love 💕

White Day is such a great day, because the world celebrates us being together! 💋❤

#WhereIWantToGoWithAsmodeus #LoveQuotes

Tokyo: I know that the world loves me, but being loved by you makes me the happiest 💕

Be sure to show me plenty of love, kay? 💋❤

By the way, are there any Devilgrammable sweets around here?

#WhereIWantToGoWithAsmodeus #SweetsAppreciationClub

Beelzebub:

Osaka: To thank you for always bringing me snacks, I prepared you some delicious food! 🍔🎂 Takoyaki, steamed pork buns, okonomiyaki... Sorry, I couldn't help myself and before I knew it, it was all gone...😥 Let's go buy everything together again!

#WhereIWantToGoWithBeelzebub #OsakaSouvenirs

Tokyo: I picked out lots of delicious restaurants for us to go to together today so I can show my appreciation 🍔

But first, help me work out which station exit we need to go out of to get there 😥

#WhereIWantToGoWithBeelzebub #DungeonStation

Belphegor:

Osaka: To thank you for taking afternoon naps with me, I'll do something with you that you like. I recommend taking a nap in the park on a nice day. There is nothing better, right?

#WhereIWantToGoWithBelphegor #SoakUpTheSun

Tokyo: Thank you for always waking me up so I don't oversleep. The rocking of the train is so relaxing. It always makes me fall asleep. Make sure you stay by my side to wake me so we don't miss our stop.

#WhereIWantToGoWithBelphegor

#GoodMorning

These billboards were put up to advertise the White Day Campaign in both Osaka and Tokyo in Japan. Posted on 3/25/2021.

[keiko1183]

GW Dinner Show @Gundam Cafe’ Tokyo

So last night I attended the event and it was super fun!

The event heads up here at the official website

Super long post,so...

Ok first, I was so pumped for this I choose a dress that reminds me the space and did some Relena-like hair style (though I’m not the hugest fan)

I reached Akihabara ahead of time to wander around a bit. Nothing new even if it was a while since the last time I went there (just covid- depression all around!)Then finally I met with my friend and we moved to the Cafe’.

First we had a stroll in the merchandise store but I was strong and didn’t buy anything (yet)

As you enter, they give you a face shield. It really makes it hard to eat, drink and look around you during the event, but hey, these are Covid times it can’t be helped!(You can also pay an extra fee and bring it home if you want, otherwise it will be disposed at the end of the event)

Upon entrance of restaurant area there is a display of the event related goods.

You can’t take pictures and videos inside, but basically there are a bunch of tables in front of a small stage with full screen wall.

It was Tuesday night so not too crowded, maybe around 20~30 people in total. You reserve in advance a set menu with appetizer and a main dish. There are 2 options available: Heero &Wufei team’s menu or Trowa and Duo’s team menu. Luckily there were 2 of us so me and my friend had one each (I got Heero&Wufei’s). The dinner show was from 18:30 to 20 ,1.30 hours total.

The show is an interactive one with animated characters from GW series and one real actor playing the show host’s role. Animation is more like Otome game graphics, the characters just show up one by one and only move their eyes and mouth, there is a preview video that shows it better.

As you reach your seat, the animation starts and Relena welcomes the audience as we were guests at this party night she arranged at St Gabriel’s academy. She is hosting this dinner event along with the real host guy which also shows up on the stage and introduces himself. 

The welcome drink tea is served and you get your first coaster as a gift. It comes in an envelope so you can’t choose your fav character’s coaster,it comes randomly.

I opened mine and I got Trowa’s one (how lucky!!),while my friend got Quatre’s. And because she is so kind and she knows how much I like him, she gave it to me! My 3x4 heart is fulfilled! 

If you order any additional drink on the menu, you can get another random coaster. I ordered Quatre’s drink, yeah again because I like him but also the drink looked delicious: mango,grapefruits and orange juice mix. As a coaster, I got Wufei’s one.

Anyway in the coaster’s envelope you might additionally find a Win ticket. What do you win, it will be explained later. Anyway me & friend didn’t get it.

Next showing up are Quatre and Duo,then Trowa,Wufei and Heero. They all are at the party because there is a secret mission for them (plus Quatre was the only one officially invited at the event, because he is an aristocratic brat eheh)

After some reunion chats - and Trowa bullying Heero because tank top and shorts are not an outfit for a party- Relena,who appearently knows nothing about the mission, asks them to cook for the audience.

They decide to split into 2 teams (Heero&Wufei,Trowa&Duo with Quatre supporting both teams here and there) and have a cooking contest to decide who can cook the most delicious and original dish.

It follows a real funny narration of the two teams wondering what to cook and asking advices to Quatre. We can see Heero sneaking inside Trowa and Duo’s kitchen for a second, pretending no one’s seeing him. Duo actually kind of notices but decides not to argue. Meanwhile the appetizer is served to us: a dish designed by Relena dedicated to the 5 pilots.

After that, there is a digest sequence of images from Anime and OAVs, recapping to the audience the original story from each pilot point of view and also including a short heads up on the main female characters (Relena,Lady Une,Noin,Dorothy,Catherine,Hilde)

Following, main dishes are served and each team does a short presentation of it, explaining the small references - such as the soup in Trowa’s team dish is inspired by her sister’s soup and so on.

Quatre points out how both teams used peppers and that makes Duo realizes what Heero was doing in their kitchen: stealing ingredients! Heero plays dumb on this one.

It follows public interaction where we decide who’s the winner by clapping hands. Winner yesterday was Trowa and Duo’s team, and the 2 of them have a short speech to thank the audience (I guess you could see also Heero and Wufei’s one if audience response is different)

But there isn’t time to relax, at this point the mission details are revealed: according to the pilot’s resources, someone attending the party is there to kill Relena. “Someone” means literally anyone can be addressed, so the guys start accusing each other of being a potential killer and..(surprise surprise) Heero punches Duo and send him K.O.

At this point the host guy (the real actor) super suspiciously offers Heero a special soup to congratulate him for stopping the killer. Heero accepts and drink it, but nothing happens...the host was expecting him to be poisoned.

However Wufei swapped the poisoned soup with a normal one while everyone was distracted looking at how Duo gets punched. So we discover that there is a sort of “clone” of the host guy who trapped the (poor) true host guy somewhere and approached the party to try to get Relena killed.

Trowa cuts down the light and the entire restaurant falls into the dark, pilots voices ask us to use any available light (like your phone’s) and point it to the killer to block him. After the guy is caught, lights back on and the true nice host guy comes back - while Duo complains it wasn’t necessary of him getting punched again.

The final part is (personal opinion) pure fan service: Relena now understands why the 5 guys all were there and feels relived her host guy is also back, however she wonders how they did caught such information. The guys explain they got it sneaking in some different schools. This is were Relena asks them to change to school uniforms to show us around.

The host guy explains us we are allowed to take pictures of the guys as they change into uniforms. As soon as the guys appear on the screen, we got our chance. It’s time for final greetings. We can only receive farewell from 2 pilots out of 5,so the choice is up to the 2 people who got the win ticket in the coaster envelope. 

Our winners of the day choose Wufei and Duo, therefore we saw their greetings (I guess you can see others if you go on a different date)

This ended the show, but we all were thrilled by it!

Sad note: I promised myself to behave and don’t buy the goods except this bottle. 

However I found out too late that this is available only at the cafeteria next by the restaurant, which was already closed by the time the show ended. I must go back and get it!!!

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 3/10/21

SEAN: Has anyone else run out of time to read things? You’d think I’d be reading MORE in a pandemic, but…

MICHELLE: I have run out of brain to read things.

ANNA: My non-work reading and writing have suffered.

ASH: It’s strange but true.

MELINDA: What is time?

SEAN: Airship has the print debut of Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells. Also in print is the second ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!, and digital-first gives us the 2nd Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs.

Dark Horse has a 7th Deluxe Hardcover edition of Berserk.

ASH: It’s probably no surprise that I’ll be picking that up.

SEAN: Drawn & Quarterly has a biggie: the late Shigeru Mizuki’s adaptation of Tono Monogatari, a famous collection of folklore. It ran in Shogakukan’s Big Comic.

ASH: My recent brief doesn’t truly do it justice, but I love this book.

MELINDA: Ash is persuasive!

SEAN: No debuts for J-Novel Club, but a lot of new volumes of beloved series. We see Ascendance of a Bookworm 11, Bibliophile Princess 5, the 2nd manga volume of The Engagement of Marielle Clarac, Girls Kingdom 2, Infinite Dendrogram 14, the 5th manga volume of The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar, and Slayers 6.

ASH: Yay, Bookworm!

SEAN: Kaiten Books has a debut with Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant, a manga version of the light novel we’ve seen released here by Tentai Books. A strong adventurer, banished by his party, starts a restaurant, and has to deal with his customers’ varied issues.

ASH: There seems to be a surprising number of these types of restaurants.

SEAN: Kodansha has some print. There’s Grand Blue Dreaming 12, Rent-a-Girlfriend 5, Saint Young Men 5 (in hardcover omnibus), and the 14th and final Waiting for Spring.

MICHELLE: I’ve been waiting for Waiting for Spring‘s finale for ages!

ANNA: I have the first volume and I still haven’t read it!

ASH: I’ve liked what I’ve read of Waiting for Spring so far, but Saint Young Men has most of my attention from this batch.

MELINDA: Same here!

SEAN: For digital, the debut is Shaman King: Marcos, which runs in Shonen Magazine Edge, and is MORE SHAMAN KING.

Also digital: A Couple of Cuckoos 3, Ace of the Diamond 31, Peach Boy Riverside 5, Saint Young Men 10, Seven Shakespeares 15, and We Must Never Fall in Love 7.

MICHELLE: A baseball binge is in store for me!

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts. The first had an anime recently, and it’s called Super HxEros (Dokyuu Hentai HxEros). Despite the Japanese title, this isn’t quite porn, but it does run on fanservice. Aliens are sapping the world’s lust, and only superheroes who can use their own lust to power up can stop them. This runs in Jump Square, home of Blue Exorcist, believe it or not, and is 11+ volumes in Japan.

The other debut is Wonder Cat Kyuu-chan (Fushigi Neko no Kyuu-chan), a 4-koma about an office worker who finds an abandoned cat that proves to be… a wonder cat! This looks very cute.

ANNA: That does sound cute.

ASH: It does.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor 11, Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest 6 (manga), Arpeggio of Blue Steel 17, Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time 4, The Ideal Sponger Life 8 (manga), The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent 2 (manga), and We Swore to Meet in the Next Life and That’s When Things Got Weird! 2.

SuBLime gives us Caste Heaven 5 and the 2nd and final volume of Toritan – Birds of a Feather.

MICHELLE: I need to check out Toritan. Caste Heaven was not for me.

ASH: I haven’t tried Caste Heaven yet, but I really liked the first volume of Toritan. I didn’t realize it was only two volumes long.

SEAN: Tokyopop has Katakoi Lamp, a BL title from Rutile. A young man working at a coffee shop falls for a customer, but can he work up the courage to confess?

They also have the 2nd volume of Ossan Idol!.

Vertical has a 9th volume of Flying Witch and a 3rd With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day is Fun.

Viz has Tokyo Fashion: A Comic Book, an illustrated guide to building your wardrobe and looking good.

ASH: Oh, that could be interesting!

SEAN: We also have Fly Me to the Moon 4, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 8, RIN-NE 38, and Splatoon: Squid Kids Comedy Show 3.

Yen On has a debut, with The Executioner and Her Way of Life (Shokei Shoujo no Ikirumichi), about a woman whose job it is to STOP isekai protagonists – they keep bringing chaos whenever they arrive! Unfortunately, the girl she meets may be more than she can handle. Nice seeing more yuri light novels.

ASH: That is kind of a delightful and cathartic twist to the isekai deluge. And it’s yuri, too? I may have to check it out!

SEAN: Yen On also has Combatants Will Be Dispatched! 5.

Three debuts from Yen Press. I Cannot Reach You (Kimi ni wa Todokanai) is a BL series from Media Factory’s Gene Pixiv, and is a childhood friend romance sort of story. It looks sweet.

MICHELLE: I’m really looking forward to this one!

ASH: Me, too!

MELINDA: Okay, yes, THIS.

SEAN: SEAN: Play It Cool, Guys (Cool Doji Danshi) runs in Square Enix’s Gangan Pixiv, and features a bunch of cool guys who are secretly… awkward dorks! This seems more on the funny side.

ASH: Could be fun!

SEAN: Penguin Gentlemen (Penguin Shinshi) is a done-in-one hardcover about a group of penguins who run a bar. Sometimes they’re drawn as penguins… and sometimes they’re drawn as buff hot guys. This ran in Kadokawa’s Pixiv Essay.

ANNA: This sounds hilarious.

ASH: It really does, in the best sort of way.

MELINDA: This sounds amazing.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen has Happy Sugar Life 8, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years 5 (manga), Kakegurui Twin 9, and Restaurant to Another World 4.

What series are you falling more and more behind on?

MICHELLE: ALL OF THEM.

ANNA: SO MANY SERIES!

MELINDA: I REPEAT, WHAT IS TIME?

By: Sean Gaffney

[currytantou]

Picked this up over a month ago and finally done subbing the first ep of the first season!! Anyone still remember Tokyo Otome Restaurant? Basically it's a seiyuu cooking show and every featured seiyuu have their own characters (it has/had an app before). This was aired almost a decade ago in 2015, with Hanae Natsuki & Morikubo Shoutarou as main hosts. In later episode + second season, they had famous male seiyuu including tsudaken, zakki, onoyuu, egu, maenu, kennu etc... Watch HERE (free, no login but will be password locked in a week. see my blog faq to continue accessing it!) or download HERE

[emilyplaysotome]

The Game of Love - Chapter 1

Since I have a bad tendency to obsess over what I write until I give up on it, I’m posting the first chapter of something new I’ve been dabbling with. Think of it like an original Down the Voltage Rabbit Hole, without the characters you know.

Meeting someone special is hard for anyone, but more so when you’re famous.

I can’t tell you when it was that I went from being Hana to being Hana on a billboard, but it happened slowly enough that I went from eating virtually unnoticed at a restaurant to being bombarded with selfie requests during the short time I picked up my food. I suppose that being one of the youngest women to ever win a Grand Slam will force you into the spotlight, but I’ve never thought of myself as a superstar.

The goal had always been to win gold at the Olympics.

Maybe Roland Garros.

And Wimbledon.

The U.S. and Australian Open if I was lucky.

They never told me that if you win the Australian Open and then manage to win the others in the same year, the world goes mad. They never told me that Nike, Adidas, and Reebok fall all over themselves trying to get you to agree to let them put out the “Hana shoe” and you go from being a struggling journeywoman on the tour to being richer than you ever could have imagined, thanks mostly to your team who milks you for every free moment when you’re not on the court.

You learn how to wear dresses and talk on camera and carry the weight of what it means to be a champion, constantly looking over your shoulder at the younger, hungrier crowd behind you that works twice as hard and trains harder because they don’t need to be on Good Morning America when you do. Your identity becomes “Hana the Tennis Champion” and you forget who you were when you were just “Hana, the girl who loves tennis” – hitting balls after dinner with dad on the courts by your house or joking around with the girls on the junior tour.

Those girls become competition, and your friendship is forced to change despite wanting it to be the way it was when things were simpler. They are nice and you love them, but the feelings are complicated and you forget what it means to have friends who see you as you are. There is always a commitment, a show, a movie, a project, a product – even during the off season, and of course, there’s the training.

You’re grateful to be successful doing what you love, but you know it can’t last forever and one day you decide you want to go out on top and announce that you’re done with the game that up until this point has been your entire life.

And you’re only 32.

I’m only 32.

The day after I retired I woke up as Hana, for the first time in 20 years. I suppose it’s out of habit that I still wake up at 7 A.M. and go for a run, but it’s been a few months and not much has changed.

My mom suggested I get a therapist.

That this major transition would be hard on anyone, but even harder on a prodigy who has been used to a regimented training schedule since she was 11.

I laughed it off, but after a couple of weeks I could feel the unease nagging at me, mocking me, asking me, “Who is Hana if there is no tennis?”

My therapist says a lot of high achieving people struggle with their self-worth outside of their profession. She challenged me to reconnect with friends I’d made at all stages of my life and I learned that being great at one thing left little time for love, creativity, music, and hobbies.

I also learned that I didn’t make many friends in my 32 years since I was too focused, too dialed in to waste time on anything outside of the goal. To be the best in the world I had taken on the mentality that everything outside of my goal was superfluous, but now I struggle to make it through the day.

“Who is Hana if there is no tennis?”

“I am…I am…”

“What are you feeling Hana?” my therapist asks.

“Scared. Confused. Angry. Lost.”

I’d had this rosy image of retirement, where I’d leisurely wake up next to a partner and make breakfast for us. Not just any partner if I’m being honest…him.

“I wake up at 7 A.M. and run 5 miles,” I find myself saying. “Then I make a breakfast smoothie. And then I remember that I don’t have anywhere to be and the depression takes over.”

“Have you been doing interviews?”

I shrug, “Not as many. They asked me to do commentary for the U.S. Open this year and I said I’d think about it.”

“What is your hesitation?”

I pause, thinking about what it would be like to live a tournament without participating in it. To see and comment on someone’s legacy that wasn’t my own. To one day have to announce that I’d been dethroned in my achievements and smile as if it didn’t bother me, when I’d probably just wonder if I’d retired too early.

“I never wanted to be on television. And I want to be able to answer the question who Hana is if there is no tennis.”

“It sounds like this time is providing you with a beautiful gift – to explore that question and your interests without limitations.”

She’s right, and I feel guilty for pitying myself when I have the freedom to do and go wherever I want. I let out a caustic chuckle and say, “I want to live in my games.”

“The ones you used to play on the road?”

I nod, wondering how serious she thinks I am and wondering if the statement is a joke at all.

“Why do you think you like them so much?”

“It’s fun to be someone who isn’t Hana. And it’s fun to fall in love.”

“Has Hana ever been in love?”

I think for a minute and nod.

“But you knew that, didn’t you?” I ask.

She shrugs and pushes her glasses up.

“I’m asking Hana the person, not Hana the superstar.”

“But our breakup was all over the tabloids…”

“Our time together is about you, not what’s in a tabloid.”

“Superstars have to date superstars. It’s like a law,” I say laughing. “What would Instagram think if I gave them anything other than aspirational?”

I’m lying but I can’t help myself, even in therapy my pride gets in the way of being honest. Dating him was never about appearances, at least, it wasn’t for me.

“Tell me about him.”

Eight years of memories flash in my mind, 22 to 30.

“We met after I won my first major. His movie premiere had him in Australia and he got tickets to the final. We ended up at an after party together and he gave me his number. It was good until it wasn’t and then he broke up with me.”

“That’s a very condensed version.”

I shrug again, feeling bitter that he seems to have moved on just fine and I haven’t dated anyone despite the rumors that pop up from time to time. I don’t feel like talking about how I kept pushing for us to move forward, with a vision for my retirement and life with him as he kept pushing for me to stay on the road. I don’t feel like talking about how much of our time was spent apart and how I suspected he preferred things that way.

That it was better to have a girlfriend too busy to take up more than an hour of his day on a regular basis than a girlfriend who could be present the way she wanted to be when we were together.

A pleasant chime goes off and she silences the alarm, noting we’re out of time and asking if next week works.

“My schedule is free,” I joke, but I feel annoyed that there’s nothing but endless free time and nothing to do with it.

When I’m home I open the games I referenced in therapy – the ones I jokingly call “choose your anime romance adventure games” with my mom versus their proper designation of “otome” games, as they’re known with the fandom online that I’m a part of. It’s only when I’m online that I feel like I can momentarily answer the question that nags at me, and that’s because no one know I’m me.

HanaLovesOtome the tumblr user is popular because of the screenshots she posts, not because she’s one of the most celebrated athletes of a generation.

She participates in every event and has spent an ungodly amount of money on special date stories and lottery gatcha items that put her consistently in the top ten featured users of Ikemen Inc.

She’s popular because people will ask her to purchase stories and games they can’t afford, and she’ll video record herself playing or twitch live stream the sessions so everyone can get a sense of what it’s like to fall in love with Ikemen Inc.’s most exclusive bachelors.

Even when I was on tour, I loved playing otome games because for a couple of hours I could stop thinking about my life and instead lose myself in a world overseas where I get to make choices for a protagonist whose name I’ve made my own as I decide what eligible bachelor she’ll fall in love with.

I’d found the games a year before we’d broken up, mostly by chance after seeing an ad on twitter that boasted, “The Perfect Boyfriend is in your phone - meet him now!” While normally I would have continued to scroll past, something about the caption had stopped me in my tracks. Looking back it was probably because the idea of the “perfect boyfriend” being in my phone was ironic having had such a drawn out long distance relationship in which it often felt that he only existed in my life virtually.

After entering my name for the main character I would be controlling, “Decoding His Affections” thrust me into a world that consisted of a simple illustrated background, paired with a cartoon character sprite whose various expressions matched the dialogue being said in the text box where the story played out.

While the prologue of “Decoding His Affections” was free, it ended with a prompt asking me who out of the five characters I’d just met, I wanted to get to know as my Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department partner and future perfect boyfriend. For the low price of $3.99, I could purchase one of five options and determine how my protagonist would fall in love. Depending on my dialogue selections, I was either granted a “Love Ending!” or a less desired “Happy Ending!”

Throughout the course of 13 interactive chapters, Sebastian went from being my underling, to my partner, and finally, to my boyfriend. As the protagonist with my name started to fall for Sebastian, I found myself enjoying the escape from my reality with a game “self” who always met with a positive response in love.

I soon found myself lost in a world where I could be transparent with my intentions without any fear of rejection. Sebastian clearly liked my main character back, but was conflicted about falling for a woman whose time in Tokyo had an expiration date. Even though their relationship was in a grey zone for the majority of the game, he was always warm, always loving, and most importantly, had responses that gave me butterflies as I read his poetic musings from a cold hotel room after a long day of training.

Seeing as how these games were a product of Japan, in addition to the subdued romance I also found myself getting a kick out of the cultural differences that were peppered throughout the story. Simple gestures such as the time that Sebastian grabbed her hand in order to protect her from an impending explosion, resulted in a shook inner monologue where my heroine wondered if her heart was racing from the danger, or because of the physical contact. There was something sweet about this world in which men and women shared a shyness around physical touching that was unlike anything I’d ever experienced as a Western woman. Handshakes, hugs, and even kisses on the cheek were something that happened in my life on a daily basis, yet I was suddenly living in a world via my phone where every gesture was laced with romantic subtext.

It was clear that the only thing Ikemen Inc. changed in their games was the names of their clearly Japanese love interests, in order to better appeal to a western audience. Other than that, their games remained true to their point of origin.

Looking back, our relationship was already strained with me hinting towards my expiration date and him pushing me to stay on the tour. The day I’d played my first otome game we were bickering over text about it, him convinced it would be better for both of us if I refocused on my career instead of settling down with him in his Calabasas home. As I achieved Sebastian’s coveted “Love Ending!” thanks to my carefully selected dialogue choices, I surprised myself by tearing up in which I read an ending where Sebastian confessed to me, or moreover the woman I whose life I was intermittently controlling, his undying love.

I’d felt a bit foolish at the time, having fallen prey to simple plot devices and romantic tropes, however Sebastian had done something for me that my relationship could not.

He’d managed to touch that part deep in my heart that still wanted to believe that romance was possible in this world, and more importantly, was possible for me.

In the weeks to come I found myself leaning on these games more and more as it became clear that my vision for the future did not align with his, it felt like every free second I was pouring myself into my fantasy life. By the time he ended things, I’d made way through the entire Ikemen Inc. catalogue of premium games and started to make my way into the exclusives with a higher price point, more beautifully illustrated scenes (CGs), and the Ikemen Inc. community leaderboard.

I play them a lot lately.

Maybe too much.

When I log in to my tumblr I see a message from my friend KittyGirl.

OMG Hana! Did you see they released Tyler Holland?

I saw and I played and I’m posting the full vid on twitch later ;)

…

I wonder who KittyGirl is as she types, and I wonder if she ever wonders who I am. I wonder if she would care if I was Hana the superstar or if she even follows tennis.

A lot of the girls on here don’t.

A lot of the girls on here are much younger than I am.

I wonder if it’s weird I don’t have many friends my age and that the people I feel closest to at the moment are all usernames in my feed.

STOP HANA YOURE THE BEST!

I smile because it gives me a sense of purpose and I haven’t felt that for some time.

It’s really good. He might be in my top 5 boyfriends.

NO. Really!?

Really.

Sometimes I wish that the men in my phone would come to life. That one day I would wake up and Sebastian would be there in human form, not his two-dimensional anime character form. I’ve thought about what he would look like if he were real.

Not just him.

Him and all the others I’ve dated over the years.

I wonder what it’d be like to date someone you know would never leave you.

Who could be that perfect boyfriend, or husband, or father.

It’s just as I’m thinking about this again that my phone chimes, letting me know I’ve received an email. I’m surprised to see it’s from Ikemen Inc. and that HanaLovesOtome has been invited along with the four other top Ikemen community users for an all-expenses paid, one month vacation to Ikemen’s Dream Resort.

My gut reaction is to scream, “Yes!” but then I remember I’m Hana the superstar.

What would people think if they found out?

What would the tabloids write if they saw me?

I pause.

Who is Hana if there is no tennis?

Hana is HanaLovesOtome.

And so I write an email back, deciding not to loop in my management team, and let the team at Ikemen Inc. know that I would be delighted to experience the resort. The response back is immediate and includes additional details and an NDA.

I skim the details of the agreement, relieved that I am not allowed to talk about the experience as that means no one else will and my identity as Hana the superstar will most likely be off limits to the press and send it back.

It all happens quickly and before the hour is up I’ve managed to secure my spot in the Ikemen Fan 5.

In the two weeks leading up to my departure, I no longer feel depressed or as if time stretches out in a way that makes me feel small and insignificant. I have an event to look forward to and arrangements to be made.

My therapist thinks a solo trip will be good for me and encourages me to journal and continue with the homework she’s given me outside of our sessions. My mom agrees that it will be good for me to have a real vacation which is something I haven’t had in years.

I’ve seen the world through touring but I’ve never really had time for tourism.

To that point, when I get on the plane it strikes me that this is my first time on a plane without the purpose of coming from or going to a tournament. I check two large suitcases and still bring a racquet in case I need the release of losing myself in a training session or two, despite the fact my performance no longer matters.

I wear the sunglasses I always wear to obscure my identity in first class and a wig and baseball hat and n95 mask, which always does the trip. At Narita airport, I see a man holding a sign that says “HanaLovesOtome” and I follow him to a town car that takes me two hours outside of Tokyo proper. It’s only when we pull off the main road, down a long skinny isolated one that I take off my disguise and breathe a sigh of relief that I managed not to attract the attention of any photographers or fans.

In my head I always saw Ikemen Inc. as a small developer, tucked away on a floor in a nondescript office building somewhere in Toyko.

The reality of their facilities surprised me, and we drove 15 minutes through dense woodland, past another small road with a sign indicating guest and employee parking - up to a manicured property where at the center was a sleek looking high rise. My driver stopped under the porte-cochere and helped me with my suitcases, triggering the mechanism for the large glass double doors to open which caught the attention of a man inside.

“Please, allow me to be of assistance,” he said, quickly grabbing the roller’s handles and helping me in to a spacious reception area. “I’m Roman and I run the resort division of Ikemen Inc.”

“Hana.”

There was something familiar about the way that Roman talked and the way he dressed that I couldn’t quite put my finger on as he introduced me to the woman at reception and made small talk about my trip. I engaged in the idle banter until the persistent feeling that I knew him from somewhere became so overwhelming that I finally found myself asking, “Have we met before?”

“Yes,” a female voice called out behind me.

I turned to see a girl, no older than 20 approaching us with a suitcase of her own. She wore the same expression that countless fans wore upon recognizing me as they rushed up to me and asked for a selfie except she was not looking at me, but at Roman.

“He’s Roman Hinton, from Ikemen’s Paradise Palace.”

“Ah, you’ve stayed with us in Paradise I assume?” Roman asked the girl smiling.

“Oh you have no idea,” she said dreamily, and it was then that I realized my wish of dating one of the men in my phone might come true.

That’s the end of my rough first chapter. Let me know if you want to know where we go from here and I might post more. Tagging @nitelotus​ since she asked to see it 

[ignis-scientia-estrogen-brigade]

~ISEB in Japan: A Photo Journal~

If you’ve been following me on Twitter lately, you’ll know that I’ve been traveling through parts of Japan the last couple of weeks with my Ignis Play Arts Kai figure in tow. I posted a few pictures over there during the duration of my trip, but those barely scratched the surface of everything I got to do while in Japan. So I thought I’d put together a blog post of my journey while it was still fresh in my mind, featuring everyone’s favorite strategist in what I’ve been dubbing my Great Final Fantasy XV Adventure of 2019!

[Image-heavy content + commentary under the cut]

A brief backstory: I’ve wanted to go to Japan my entire adult life. For years, I’ve watched friends make the trek while I’ve been stuck at home with a severe case of FOMO. The only thing that ever stopped me from going was money (or a lack thereof), so I made the decision last summer to buckle down and sock away every dime I made to make it happen. My only concern before hopping on the plane was that I had missed the wave of FFXV popularity by about a year, but I would quickly learn that—other than not getting to eat any of Ignis’ recipes at the Square Enix Cafe—I had little to worry about.

Literally the only reason I brought my Play Arts Kai figure was so I could take this picture of Ignis at the Citadel (a.k.a. the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building), which was the very first place I stopped at on my first full day in Tokyo. The building + the surrounding plaza, while not 100% accurate, is a fairly impressive facsimile of the one in the game. It’s located in Shinjuku, which also boasts a lot of similarities to Insomnia. Having finished Episode Ardyn mere hours before jetting off on my trip, it felt like I had stepped off the plane and right into the game!

There just so happened to be an Animate right near the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, so I popped in to get a feel for what kind of FFXV merch I’d be able to find two years after the game’s release and a year after its height of popularity. Turns out, there was quite a lot of swag to be found! Truth be told, I’ve never been one to chase down official merchandise (unfortunately my job doesn’t really afford that luxury), but I gave myself special permission while on vacation to buy anything I wanted. So I did! Including everything you see above. ^^;;

The next thing I did was take the train to Ginza to meet Lyle/@landscape-gonna  (@landscape_gonna on Twitter), and I simply cannot say enough nice things about her. If you don’t know who she is, there’s a 99.9% chance you’ve seen at least one of her Ignis costumes, and they are A. M. A. Z. I. N. G. We had chatted a bit previously on Twitter before I went full-on stan mode, asking her if she'd be willing to meet up with me (a total stranger) to have lunch and talk Ignis and Final Fantasy. Not only did she say yes, but she gifted me with copies of her incredible cosplay zines and was not the least embarrassed when I busted out my Play Kai Arts figure in the middle of a busy Japanese dessert restaurant haha.

See? Zero embarrassment here.

We even did Noct’s ultimate pose! In public!

I can’t begin to articulate how special meeting Lyle was for me—being brought together from opposite sides of the world to share in our love for Ignis/FFXV is a memory I will cherish my entire life. So Lyle, if you are reading this: どうもありがとうございます ! ٩( ᐛ )( ᐖ )۶

Lyle wasn't the only friend I had in Japan. Another friend of mine, Asuka (who happens to be well-versed in anime/video game culture), volunteered to be my guide through Ikebukuro/Otome Road the next day. Quick otaku lesson: Kbooks is a chain of stores that specializes in the resale of licensed merchandise. For example, if you missed out on some of the limited availability items from the Movic and the Square Enix Cafe collaborations, you might be able to find them at a Kbooks. Otome Road in particular has something like seven different Kbook shops in a 3-block radius, each one specializing in different products (sports anime, idols, cosplay, etc). I, of course, beelined for the video game shop...

...which is where I found this fucking thing:

I’m not gonna lie, I almost bought it. I just didn’t know what I would do with it besides scare the living daylights out of people when they least expected it lol.

Yoooo Adam I found ya boi in Ikebukuro

We popped into the cosplay Kbooks shop since it was right across the street and I found an Ignis costume for sale! Please enjoy this picture of me pretending to come up with a new recipeh (since this is likely the closest I’ll ever come to cosplaying as Ignis).

One of the things Asuka introduced me to was Hanami (picnic under the cherry blossoms, basically). I had timed my trip to coincide with the blooming of the sakura, and the experience of being in Japan during that time was indescribable. I took a bajillion pictures of the sakura while I was there and unfortunately none of my photos ever quite captured the beauty and magic of them in person, but here’s a lil’ pic of a tree in bloom at Yoyogi Park (with the Movic Ignis charm I bought at Kbooks earlier that day).

Another item on my Japan checklist was to stay at a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Hakone, a town famous for its onsen/hot springs. Nothing in Hakone is cheap (at least, not during peak sakura season), and I had spent an absurd amount of money on a night at one particular ryokan with a private bath (shy husband haha). The private bath could only be reserved in 30-minute increments, and by the time we finally rolled into Hakone the bath we wanted only had one slot available for the rest of the night. So what did I do?

If you said, “Waste the first 15 minutes of your 30-minute, super-expensive onsen experience taking the perfect Ignis-in-a-hot-springs photo” then you would be absolutely correct lol.

I actually wasn’t planning on taking a bunch of photos of my Ignis figure on this trip, but after my husband tucked Ignis into my futon while I was in the bathroom, documenting my trip vicariously through Ignis ended up taking on a life of its own. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I popped back over to Tokyo after my stay in Hakone, which is when I finally got to make the Great Nerd Pilgrimage™ to the Square Enix Cafe! Had the FFXV collab been going on while I was there, I might’ve forked over the cash to eat at the cafe, but I opted to skip out on lunch so I could spend more money in their shop. They still had a small collection of FFXV merch...

...including this acrylic Ignis stand that I wanted but thought I would never own after failing to find it at Kbooks earlier in the week. Huzzah!

Also, I just feel the need to let everyone know that this is what the outside of the Square Enix Cafe in Tokyo looks like lmao.

Our next stop was Kyoto, which we arrived in on Gladio’s birthday (April 2nd). Unfortunately I didn’t have time to draw anything for his b-day, but we did stop for a Nissin Cup Noodle in honor of Gladio!

One of the most memorable moments of my trip was when this boating incident happened, and it requires a little bit of backstory. On my first full day in Kyoto, I attempted to field two of the most popular tourist destinations in Kyoto: the bamboo forest in Arashiyama, and the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Both places have their beauty and historical significance, and I suspect during the off-season are inspiring sites to behold. In my case, both places were absolutely swarming with tourists, which really put a damper on my enjoyment of them. Defeated, I followed a local canal back toward my hotel, which is where I spotted a miniature boat enthusiast controlling a boat that looked eerily similar to the Royal Vessel. I pulled my Ignis figure out with the intention of simply taking a photo of the boat in the background; when the man saw me holding my figure and fumbling with my phone, he flagged me over and gestured for me to put Ignis in the boat. I wish I had documented how it all went down a little better, but as I was literally wheezing with laughter, the above was the best I could capture.

One of the more off-the-cuff decision I made was to dress in kimono for a day while in Gion (Kyoto). As the cherry blossoms were at their height during my stay there, you couldn’t sneeze without hitting someone who was dressed traditionally for the numerous festivals that were taking place throughout the city. As a white foreigner, I initially had reservations about wearing a kimono (for fear of cultural appropriation), but I did everything I could to be as respectful and reverent whilst wearing the garb (and the rental shop was certainly happy for the patronage). It was an amazing experience and I would definitely do it again!

Speaking of being respectful, I made it a point not to take pictures of Ignis while visiting any shrines (because nothing screams ‘douchey American’ quite like whipping out an action figure on sacred grounds), hence why I don’t have pictures of any of the major shrines we visited in this post. I did, however, spot this miniature shrine arch in an alleyway, and thought it would be okay for my equally miniature strategist to pay his respects.

Literally, a tiny shrine in an alleyway. I suppose even alleys have their deities!

Osaka is about 20 minutes away from Kyoto by train, and since I had already traveled all the way out to Kyoto, I went the extra few miles to stop by the Square Enix Cafe in Osaka. They actually had a smaller selection of FFXV merch than the one in Tokyo and I didn’t end up buying anything, but I would’ve never stopped wondering if I had missed out on something if I hadn’t gone and seen it for myself!

My last day in Kyoto was a week into my trip, and I still had five days left to go. After walking ~10 miles every day (no joke, I have the GPS screenshots to prove it!), I was really starting to feel the grind. I’m sure Ignis was also desperate for an Ebony after being lugged around in the bottom of my purse for a week lol.

Back on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo!

Weeeeeee (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

Said hi to Fuji-san!

Stopped for a delicious matcha parfait! (Shout-out to my husband who never once got annoyed with me whenever I busted out my figure in public spaces lol)

This was without a doubt the craziest and most unexpected find of any of my merch runs. I had gone to the video game Kbooks in Ikebukuro earlier in the week and had sifted through all their Ignis merch with a fine-toothed comb. This particular Movic charm was one I had been on the lookout for, but it was a rare pull even when they were readily available a year ago, and the only Ignis charm I came across in my first trip to Kbooks was the normal Ignis one (see my Hanami pic). I had no real reason to return to Ikebukuro after I got back from Kyoto, but on a whim I went one last time and BAM—this guy was hanging out there in his lil’ baggie, just waiting for me to get my grubby little hands on him. Jackpot!

All in all, I spent way too much money and I couldn’t be happier for it. The only thing I couldn’t find for the life of me was the Ignis cologne by Movic, but after searching through several Animates and Kbooks, I began to suspect it might be an online-exclusive item that wasn’t available in stores. (Which was probably a good thing for me cause I was already stretching my budget to the limit by this point haha.)

On my last night in Japan, I went back to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building—only this time I went at night when it was all lit up! I also went up to the observation deck on the 45th floor (something I didn’t know you could do the first time I was there) and enjoyed a fantastic view of nighttime Insomnia Tokyo. It was the perfect bookend to a perfect trip, and my heart is absolutely overflowing right now with love for both Japan and Final Fantasy XV!

[heartofsnark]

Black Market Wonderland (Chapter Three): The beginning is the end.

Notes:  Once again thanks so much to my friends who proof read this and to everyone who leaves feedback. I really appreciate it, it means a lot to me. I hope everyone continues to enjoy this shit show. 

Word Count:  10027

Warnings:  cursing, mentions of drinking, threats, that’s about all I can think of, if I missed something let me know. 

Missed the last chapter? Link here!

“You know you’re literally trying to prove your worthless, right?” Kisaki’s snide comment brings her back to reality.

“I don’t usually have to work so hard to prove it,” she grumbles under her breath.

“Aww, don’t worry princess, we’ll find plenty of uses for you.” Baba winks again and she glares at him, despite the pleasant tone his meaning is clear. He doesn’t think she has a chance of winning this bet.

“Even Eisuke might have his work cut out for him, finding value in her,” Oh jumps on the chance to demean her, but he’s smirking instead of his usual stoic expression.

“How long ya think it’s gonna take him to win?” Kishi asks them, puffing on his cigarette.

“Eh, a few days if Koro’s lucky.”

“He might let it go on longer, if he’s looking to toy with her.”

“Hmm, she might get a week if he really wants to drag it out.”

“As much as I’d love to listen to the peanut gallery, I need to finish cleaning.” She rolls her eyes as the group of men start taking bets on her bet and leaves to clean the suites.

Most of the penthouse rooms aren’t that bad, basic cleaning and maintenance needed. It seems they’re all relatively capable of cleaning up after themselves, if nothing else. Then she steps into Kishi’s suite, she knows it’s his from the stubbed out cigarettes and overflowing ashtrays scattered through it. She ends up having to open as window as she cleans through it, it smells like a smoke bomb’s gone off in the damn place. There’s still a hint of cigarettes under air freshener scents by the time she’s finished. His room took up the rest of her shift and it’s time for her to clock out.

She takes the elevator down, at least she can spend the night in her dorm. The only ordeal left for the night is introducing Kiyo to Chisato and Sakiko. She puts her cleaning cart away and files into the locker room; Chisato and Sakiko are already changing.

“How did cleaning the penthouse go?” Chisato asks.

“Fine, nothing unusual,” Tsuneko gives a vague response and busies herself with changing.

They make idle chitchat as they all change, reconfirming where they plan to meet up at to hang out. Chisato and Sakiko finish changing before her, leaving her alone. She starts gathering her things from her locker. She’ll drop her clothes from yesterday and the tupperware off at her dorm before meeting them at the restaurant. The door opens, the sound and footsteps echo in the quiet locker room. Erika walks towards her locker, she’s in casual clothes, maybe she forgot something? The head maid notices Tsuneko and groans, before opening her locker.

There’s a tension between them, despite their usual animosity towards each other, this is different. Tsuneko’s stomach twists and knots, she wants to make this better, somehow.

“Matsuda,” she calls out.

“What do you want?” Erika whips her head around to glare at Tsuneko.

“Can we talk about this?”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” She closes her locker with a clang and starts to rush towards the door, Tsuneko steps in front of her, invading her space.  

“There very clearly is.”

“Move it, Tomori, or I’ll write you up for harassment,” Erika threatens, her face is red, Tsuneko hates seeing her this angry.

“Look, I’m sorry about this whole promotion shit. You have every right to be upset, I don’t know what they’re thinking, but I’m trying to get out of it.”

“Is that suppose to make me feel better!?”

“Uh, I was hoping, at least a little.”

“I’ve dedicated five years to this hotel!”

“I know, I know and I’m sorry. I don’t how to fix this other than trying to get out of it.” That makes Erika’s face fall, anger draining as she lets out a sigh.

“You’re an idiot.”

“I don’t disagree, but can you be more specific?”

“You’re seriously going to turn down a promotion because of me?”

“Well, uh, yeah.” There’s a lot more to it than that, but she can’t think of a decent lie.

“That’s stupid, holding yourself back for others, dumbass.” Erika is still red faced as she pushes past Tsuneko, leaving the locker room. She lets out a heavy sigh, not sure how to feel about how that ended.

It’s a quiet walk to her dorm, she drops her things off, tops off Kiyo’s bowl and gives him some belly scratches before she changes into some slightly nicer clothes. While as casual enough place, she’d rather show up in something nicer than the baggy shirt and shorts she usually wears for the less than five minute walk from the dorms to the hotel.

The night air feels nice against her skin, the city lights twinkling in the dark and people meandering around her. She looks up at the sky for a moment as she walks, no stars, the light pollution from the city making it impossible to see them. Living in the city is great in many respects, a large part of her loves Tokyo and it will always be a second home to her, but little things like that makes her miss Kyushu. She shakes her head and makes her way to the restaurant.

Sakiko and Chisato are already sat at a table; they wave Tsuneko over. The place she picked is a cozy inexpensive restaurant, simple wooden furniture and warm low lighting. She plops down in a chair and orders something to drink, nothing alcoholic. She’s slowly trying to learn her lesson about getting drunk around others. Not to mention, if she forgot about Kiyo in a drunken stupor, she’d never forgive herself.

“It feels so nice to just relax.” Sakiko grins and takes a sip from her cocktail.

“‘Cause you’re so serious during work, “ Tsuneko teases.

“I swear to god, if you invited us out just to nag me, I’m going to kill you.”

“You’re about as threatening as a cupcake.”

“Says the chubby cheeked munchkin.” Sakiko pinches and squishes Tsuneko’s cheeks from across the table.

“Wah er ya doin?” Tsuneko tries to ask and grabs Sakiko’s wrist, prying her hands off. Chisato is cracks up, laughing at the two of them.

“Hey, maybe some of your luck will rub off on me?”

“Will you stop with that luck bullshit?”

“You have The King and Kuroba after you, I can’t even get a boyfriend.” Sakiko sighs.

“Don’t forget Erika,” Chisato chimes in and sips from her beer.

“No one is after me!”

“Fine, whatever you say, we’ll stop teasing you, for now.” Chisato shows some measure of mercy.

“For now she says, speaking of love lives, how are things going with you and Itsuki?” She’s never met Chisato’s girlfriend herself, but she’s seen her in passing and has heard about her plenty.

“It’s been great,” Chisato beams, “she’s working tonight, but we’re going out on a date tomorrow.”

“Ugh,” Sakiko puts her head in her hands, “I’m gonna die alone while you two live happily ever after.”

“Nah, I plan on dying alone too,” Tsuneko offers.

“Not helping.”

“Wasn’t trying to.”

“Wanna know who my great love is right now?” Sakiko asks, her expression still grim.

“Should I be concerned?” Tsuneko raises an eyebrow, her mind immediately jumps to the gutter, a vibe and toy filled one.

“It’s a game she’s been playing,” Chisato squashes her concerns as Sakiko pulls her phone out.

“What were you thinking?”

“Nothing good,” Tsuneko admits and grins despite her flushing cheeks.

“Pervert, here look at my love.” Sakiko shows her an otome cg on her phone, a shirtless guy with what look like wolf ears, “Kazuro, he’s so gorgeous.”

“So, it’s a furry game?” Tsuneko can’t resist teasing.

“He’s a demon, it’s different,” Sakiko defends, “it’s called Monster Lovers, it’s freemium, but it doesn’t drain your wallet too much and the stories are so good.”

Their food comes and Tsuneko stuffs her face as Sakiko prattles on about the game. She’s apparently already conned Chisato into downloading it for the female love interests. And Tsuneko has to make a promise to check it out so Sakiko will take a breath, that she uses to inhale her food now that her passionate fangirling has ended.

They continue making idle conversation and eat. There’s a sense of ease to the evening, every topic is light and easy. This aspect of friendship is always easy, anything deeper makes Tsuneko squeamish, but she already knows what she needs to put some trust in these two. To maybe take the work qualifier off their roles as work friends. The two of them drink a bit through the meal, a soft flush to their cheeks, while Tsuneko sticks to sobriety. They’re not drunk, just on the verge of tipsy if she ventured to guess. Which means, she hopes, they’ll be a bit more open to accepting her fluffy noodle boy.

The meal finishes up and Tsuneko pays for them, despite being told she doesn’t have to. A part of her feels manipulative; inviting them out and being extra kind, all with the ulterior motive of making them befriend a ferret. She’s done worse things, she tries to remind herself. Kiyo is without a doubt the most worthy cause she’s ever had for doing shady things.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tsuneko tells them again, “hey, I still have some cake I got from Larme, do you guys wanna come eat some?”

“Oooh, I never turn down cake,” Sakiko agrees.

“That’s the smartest thing you’ve ever said,” Tsuneko teases.

“I could go for some sweets,” Chisato tells her as they leave the restaurant.

The two of them walk in front of Tsuneko, the sidewalk not wide enough for all three to be side by side. It’s a small thing, but watching them chat while she trails just a bit behind reinforces how much closer they are to each other than her. She knows it’s a silly feeling and she hates how sensitive she can be, but she always seems to be so disconnected. She’s heard so much about those kind of friends who confide everything in each other, those deep bonds that don’t break. Her relationships have never been like that. Whether it’s romantic or platonic, she can’t let it get deeper than surface level. It’s like a panic alarm is set off in her head any time someone tries to get closer. The closest relationship she has is Shinobu and that’s-

“You alright there Tsuneko?” Sakiko’s chirpy voice cuts off her thoughts. They’re standing outside the dorms. Tsuneko can’t even remember the walk.

“Uh, yeah, sorry. I’m fine.”

“You looked kinda sad,” Chisato comments.

“Nah, I was just lost in thought, don’t worry it,” Tsuneko cuts off any further questions. She’s not about to get sappy and melancholic with them. No one needs to know every sad little thought that pops into her head.

She leads them up to her dorm and unlocks the door. Kiyo’s cage is tucked away from sight when someone first comes in. She doesn’t want someone to accidentally see him when she’s leaving or entering and in this case it allows her to ease them into seeing him. Jumping right to ‘Hey, here’s my illegal ferret’ isn’t exactly a smart move.

“Sorry, my dorm’s a little messy,” she apologizes as they enter and she shuts the door behind them.

“This is messy to you?” Chisato asks, looking at the little pile of yesterday’s clothes on the floor. She was in a bit of a hurry when she dropped everything off.

“Yeah, I was in a rush.”

“This is literally one of the cleanest places I’ve ever seen and oh my god, that’s so cute,” Sakiko’s train of thought derails as she notices some of the plushies Tsuneko has on a shelf. She picks up a Cinnamoroll one and gives it a squeeze.

“He’s one of my favorite characters,” Tsuneko admits as she gets out the cake for them all, “do you guys want anything to drink?”

They ask for some coffee and Tsuneko plays hostess, getting it all together. They sit down on her kinda small cream colored couch, more of a loveseat in all honesty, and she ends up sitting on the floor. She shoves a  bite of cake in her mouth and can’t help making a noise of pleasure, the rich sweet flavor hitting her. Tsuneko is finishing up her piece when she decides it’s time to confront the elephant in the room or ferret as it may be in this case.

“Can I ask you guys something?”

“Sure, what’s up?” They look at her expectantly.

“If I theoretically, was doing something against the hotel rules, would you report me?”

“What did you do?” Chisato asks, all humor or mirth drains from her expression.

“It’s nothing dangerous or awful, I just wanted to know.”

“It would depend on what it is,” Sakiko tells her, her eyes narrowed in concern.

“I’m just gonna have to show you, aren’t you?”

“Show us?” Chisato and Sakiko share a curious look.

“Close your eyes,” Tsuneko tells them and doesn’t step away until they do. She goes to Kiyo’s cage, he blinks a few times, he must just be waking up. He makes soft dooking noises as she takes him out and brings him close to her chest, scratching over his fur. They didn’t make any promises to keep him secret and she knows she can’t expect them too. She gives him a kiss on the head, she doesn’t want to lose him.

“What’s that sound?” Sakiko asks as Tsuneko brings Kiyo into the room. If someone isn’t use to it dooking noises can sounds weird, something between a chatter and almost clucking sound. Tsuneko puts away the dessert plates before sitting down with him in front of the coffee table.

“Open your eyes.” She can’t help the waver in her voice, worry coloring her tone.

“Oh my god,” Sakiko speaks first, her brown eyes are bright and wide.

“His name is Kiyohito, Kiyo for short,” she introduces as he excitedly wriggles in her arms. Sakiko moves to sit at the table on the floor, letting her get closer.

“He’s so cute,” she reaches out then pauses, “can I pet him?”

“He sometimes nips, but he doesn’t mean anything by it. If he gets to rough just give him a boop on the nose and he’ll stop.”

Sakiko scratches the top of his head; Kiyo sniffs and licks at her fingers. Chisato mimics Sakiko’s position shift and gets closer, she still hasn’t spoken.

“When did you get him?” Sakiko asks.

“A few days after I started working here, I know pets aren’t allowed. But, he was so cute and I-” Tsuneko stops herself, ‘was lonely’ is the rest of that sentence. Those words die in her throat. Hell will freeze before anyone hears her say something so pathetic.

“It’s not hurting anyone,” Chisato speaks up, her fingers scratching over Kiyo’s back.

“I never really got the pet rule, some guests bring pets, and as long as you care for them who cares,” Sakiko grumbles.

“So, neither of you wanna tell on me?”

“Of course not,” Sakiko answers and Chisato nods in agreement.

“Thank you both so much,” Tsuneko bows her head, “I promise if anyone ever finds out about him, I won’t tell that you both knew, I won’t let it effect either of you.”

“We know you wouldn’t,” Chisato’s hand moves from Kiyo’s head to Tsuneko’s, ruffling her hair. Tsuneko’s face flushes and she has to resist the urge to lean into the touch. Why are head pats so damn nice?

“Hey, pet the ferret, not me!” Tsuneko yells and sits ups straight, batting away Chisato’s hand. She doesn’t need her weakness for head pats exposed. Her denial must not be as smooth as she was hoping, Chisato and Sakiko laugh at her. Kiyo squirms out of her hands and plops onto the table, showing his belly. Tsuneko scratches at his tummy; he loves belly scratches.

“Is this what you were all stressed about?” Sakiko asks, joining in on scratching his soft tum.

“Well, it’s not just that, I wanted to ask you both a favor,” they look at her curiously, “if I ever cant for whatever reason, would you guys mind stopping in and taking care of him?”

“I don’t mind, ferret cuddles and I get to raid your fridge, sounds good to me.” Sakiko shrugs.

“I don’t mind either, I’m not sure what to do though,” Chisato adds.

“I’ll explain all of that, thank you both. I just, after I had to go get patched up last night, I was worried that if anything happened no one would be able to care for him. This is such a relief for me, you have no idea.”

“You really care about him, don’t you?” Chisato asks.

“I do, I don’t want anything bad to happen to him.”

“Don’t worry, all you need to do is ask and one of us will take care of him.”

Tsuneko thanks them over and over again, it’s  like a weight lifted off her shoulders. They insist she doesn’t need to be so grateful, but that just makes her feel more indebted. She’s done nothing to deserve their kindness; Sakiko and Chisato are really good people.

After the hundreth thanks, she shows them how to take care of Kiyo when she’s away. They don’t seem bothered in the slightest and play with him the entire time. He’s bouncing and flopping around, excited to have two new friends. She even shows them how to play tag, touching him and then running off for him to chase after.

The night goes easy enough, everything winding down until it’s they decide they need to go home and get some sleep for the work day tomorrow. The door shuts behind them and Tsuneko can’t help the big smile on her face as she turns to Kiyo.

“That went a thousand times better than I expected,” she scoops him up , “you did such a good job, sweetie.”

He makes a soft noise; his eyes are drifting shut and his tongue sticking out. He’s ready for sleep. She cleans his cage out, refills his water, and puts some treats in his bowl, before tucking him in his favorite hammock. She busies herself with changing into some lazy clothes, laundry and cleaning up her dorm. Once all of that is done, she’s ready to focus on the more pressing matter.

She plops on her bed and puts her phone on charge, letting her mind wander. How likely is it that Ichinomiya is going to win this bet? That’s the question she keeps coming back to. She feels pretty confident that she’ll win. As risky a move as the bet is, it’s hard for her to think of a way he could win this. She meant every word she said. The truth of the matter is she just doesn’t have any skill that could benefit him, at least nothing special to her. She’s too cautious to say she will for sure win, but she can’t see a situation in which she loses.

Now, the next question is, what is she going to do if she wins? The idea of staying at the hotel is not at all enticing. The knowledge of how dangerous it is and what her boss is like has ruined the already limited appeal of the hotel. Not to mention, there’s no guarantee that Ichinomiya won’t just fire her if he doesn’t get his way.

She was expelled from the University of Tokyo and every attempt to repeal it has gotten her no where. She’s applied to a few other prestigious universities after, but once most find out about her expulsion they end up not wanting anything to do with her. She can’t transfer her credits either since it was an expulsion. So, not only would she have to start over, but she’d also have to downgrade to a lesser school.

At the time, the thought of that was crushing. She got so discouraged after so many rejections, being a failure, she just gave up. Her dad still doesn’t know she was expelled. She hasn’t even talked to him in over a year.

Maybe, this is a good thing? Not actually a good thing, being sold to a bunch of assholes is never a good thing, but maybe it’s the kick in the ass she needed. If she can settle for cleaning rooms for a year than she can settle for studying at a shittier university. If she went to one in Kyushu, her dad would probably let her stay with him and work at his gym to help with money. That is if he doesn’t decide he’s done with her after all her lying and not even talking to him for a year.

She starts searching around for Universities around Kyushu, taking note of application deadlines. If she wins the bet, she can quit and get her life back on track. She saves a few pages of ones that have law programs that look decent. Once she’s got a few options, she decides to go grab a shower and take some painkillers for her hand.

Her night passes by normally for her. She stays up extremely late, finding things to entertain herself and looking more into schools. It’s around three in the morning when she makes it to sleep, usual for her.

Her nightmare that night isn’t as vivid, not as haunting. When she wakes up at five in the morning, she can’t even clearly remember all the details, just the feelings. A noose and a death rattle sound are the two things she remembers most. Those kinds of dreams are easier to deal with. She can usually shake them off and move on right away, the more vivid ones leave her in a panic. Maybe the painkillers helped numb it? That might be a habit to pick up, along with the alcohol.

She goes through her morning routine; getting ready, taking care of Kiyo, and taking care of everything she needs to. Everything is status quo as she goes into the Tres Spades; changes clothes, gets her work schedule, and starts her day. It’s about an hour before her lunch break and she’s finishing up a room when her pager goes off. Tsuneko fumbles to find the answer button and a harsh masculine voice comes through it.

“Penthouse, now.” It’s Oh’s voice, a deep harsh baritone. She’s not sure what’s worse, getting a five minute time limit or just a demand to be there in an instant.

She makes the journey to the penthouse. It’s odd, in some respects the journey is becoming too familiar, but in others it still seems unreal. Her fingers find the good luck charm in her pocket, she still hasn’t turned it in. The soft feel of the worn fabric has become a comfort for her through all of this. She plays with it in her pocket as she enters the lounge.

“I was paged.”

The lounge is a mess, far more than it was yesterday. Overflowing ashtrays, playing cards tossed around, poker chips scattered, and bottles of booze knocked over. She’s dealt with worse in all honesty, but compared to how neat it seemed yesterday, she’s caught off guard. Baba, Kisaki, and Kishi are all in the lounge.

“Princess!”

“Not my name.” Tsuneko starts cleaning. She was fairly confident Oh was the one who paged her, but he’s no where to be found.

“Koro, wanna play cards with us?”

“Also, not my name.”

“Awww, you’re not gonna pretend to be a good girl today?”

“I’m still doing my job, unless you have legitimate work for me to do, we really don’t need to talk.” Her tone is cold and deadpan. She only, hopefully, has to deal with these dumbasses for two weeks. It’s best not to let them get too far under her skin, as rage inducing as they are.

“Ugh, don’t be so boring.”

“Her seriousness is part of her charm.”

“Pfft, you’ll seriously hit on anything with a pulse, even a kid like her,” Kishi decides to join in.

“Flirting with dogs is a new low, even for you.”

They’re trying to get a rise out of her and she’s biting at her lip to hold back yelling at them. Kisaki seems to have some fascination with comparing her to a dog and to an old guy like Kishi, twenty-two probably does seem really young. She busies herself cleaning up their mess, not taking the bait.

“Woman!” Oh’s voice rings out, his tone patronizing and grating.

“Man!” She spins around to face him. He’s glaring daggers and she returns the favor.

“Memorize this,” he drops a heavy stack of papers into her hands, “it’s an item list for the next auction. You’ll be helping the Hatter present them.”

“You….want me to present on stage?” Her heart jumps into her throat. Sitting in that cage and  waiting helplessly as strangers bidded for the chance to hurt her. The memories come in a flash and she can’t breath. She doesn’t want to go on that stage again.

“Is that going to be a problem?” Oh’s tone makes it clear that this better not be a problem.

“Uhhh, I’m not much of a performer, I’d just ruin the auction.”

“You didn’t sign the confidentiality agreement, we need extra assurance you won’t talk.”

“Yeah, yeah, and if I work the auction I’ll be accessory to a crime. I get that, but I can just do behind the scenes stuff.”

“No, I’m not trusting you with anything that important, You have eleven days to memorize the list, speak with the Hatter in the tearoom for anything else.” With that Oh leaves the lounge and doesn’t give her another chance to weasel out of it. She glares at his retreating back

“Aww, are you shy in front of crowds, pretty lady?”

“Shut up,” she growls as she puts the stack of papers in her binder and starts to leave. The lounge is clean, she’ll take care of the suites and be done with the penthouse for the day.

“Koro,” Kisaki calls after her as she’s headed towards a suite. Him and Baba following after her, “it’s lunch time.”

“Do you need me to call room service for you?”

“No, we’re gonna take you out to eat, lovely lady.”

“I need to feed my pet, the old man is just lonely and pathetic.”

“I’m not interested,” Tsuneko brushes them off and starts to leave.

“Isn’t it almost time for your lunch break?”

“Yes and once I’m done cleaning I’ll take my lunch break in the employee cafeteria.”

“Aww, don’t worry I’d be honored to treat you, princess.” Baba slings an arm across her shoulders and starts guiding her towards the elevator. Tsuneko ducks under and jumps back just before he can get her in. He really can’t take a-

“Eep!” she yelps out as Kisaki pushes her forward into the elevator. Baba hits a button the second she’s in and the doors close with them all heading down to the ground floor. She glares at the two of them.

“Don’t be so grumpy Koro, you’re getting a treat.”

“That still not my name and all you’re doing is harassing me!”

“But you look just like the old Koro, it’s nice to finally get a new puppy,” Kisaki reaches out to pet her head and she ducks away, “you still need training though.”

“Comparing girls to dogs isn’t nice, Ota.”

“The first Koro was a good girl, new Koro should be happy.”

“Can you both just leave me alone and let me work?” Tsuneko groans as the elevator comes to a stop.

“C’mon, is lunch really going to kill you, pretty lady?”

“If I’m lucky,” despite her grumbles, she’d be lying if she said free food wasn’t enticing, “you two aren’t gonna stop until I just give in, are you?”

“Aww, she’s learning,” Kisaki teases as she follows the pair out of the elevator. She’s stuck with them for two weeks at the very least, an hour long lunch isn’t the end of the world. Painful, but tolerable. Kisaki puts on thick black framed glasses before they leave the hotel.

“What’s with the glasses?”

“It helps keep paparazzi from noticing me.”

“That sounds like bullshit, but alright.”

“Ota has to worry about being hounded by cameras all the time.”

“Gross.”

“Pfft, you’re not wrong, but it comes with the territory. They eat up the angelic artist shit.” Kisaki sneer and Tsuneko can’t help thinking how gross it must feel, pretending to be something you’re not.

“Where exactly are we going?” Tsuneko asks, she doesn’t want to start feeling bad for any of these men. It’s easier to distract herself.

“Don’t worry, we’ll take you somewhere nice, sunshine.”

“Do you just have a list of gross nicknames you run through?”

“You’re pretty face inspires me, every new nickname proof of my love.” Baba winks and her stomach churns. The word ‘love’ makes bile rise in her throat.

“I’m actually about to vomit.” She can’t stand people throwing that word around so easily and flippantly.

“I’ll just have to nurse you back to health with some tender loving care.”

“That’ll just make her sicker. Koro, come here, we can’t have you just wandering around,” Kisaki starts to reach for her hand, “you need a leash.”

“Touch my mangled excuse for a hand and I will throw you into traffic.” Tsuneko shoves her hand in her pocket. Hand holding is weird enough in a relationship and with an uninjured hand.

“I’m starting to think you need obedience school.” That comment makes her roll his eyes and they slow outside a cafe. Tsuneko goes to hold the door open, but Baba beats her to it.

She murmurs a thanks. Even if she doesn’t like him, he’s being nice. The cafe is surprisingly casual even if it is nicer than what she’d probably pick. She expected them to pick some fancy over the top place, given their status, but the cafe is relaxed and cute. Pops of pastel colors give it a soft cheery vibe that makes her want to smile despite her company. They slide into a booth, the leather a soft baby blue. The pair sits across from her and they start looking through the menu, the assortment of sweet parfaits draws her eye.  She picks out what she wants, making notes of the prices before putting it down. Baba and Kisaki might have talked about treating her, but she has no intentions of letting them pay. She’s an adult and more than capable of buying her own lunch.

“Seriously?” Kisaki raises an eyebrow at her after they order their food.

“What?”

“It’s cute she has a sweet tooth.” She ordered a big parfait with honey and bananas along with her meal, apparently this is interesting to them. She can’t help pouting, she’s not cute and she’s allowed to eat whatever the hell she wants.

“Aww, make sure you don’t get any chocolate,” their drinks our brought out and Kisaki takes a drink, “this tea isn’t bad.”

“Mmm,” Tsuneko makes a soft noise as she sips on rose soda, the sweet floral taste brings a soft smile to her face.

“Ota, instead of saying ‘not bad’ you should just say it tastes good.”

“Huh? Isn’t it the same?”

“We’re in the presence of a lady,” Baba nods towards Tsuneko, “you’ll ruin the mood.”

“There’s not going to be any mood at all since we’re here with an old guy,” Kisaki comments, she knows Baba is older, especially compared to her and Kisaki. But, Kisaki’s acting like he’s pushing fifty or something, he’s not even the oldest of the penthouse guys. That’d have to be Kishi, she figures.

“Ota, I think you meant to say ‘a very young man’.” Baba puts a hand on his face and looks down. They seem to be really good friends, not quite like Oh and Ichinomiya, but still close.

“Your age a touchy subject?” She asks between sips of her soda and sits up as their food is brought to them.

“Do you think I’m old? You know I have the heart of a twenty year old!”

“Like, in a jar or something?” Tsuneko teases before focusing on her food.

“You’re too cruel, darling.”

“Yeah, I’m the cruel one.” Tsuneko rolls her eyes and starts munching.

“Oh, your hand must be bothering you, I’ll feed you,” Baba scoops up a heaping spoonful of her parfait and hold it out to her, “say ahhh!”

“What am I a fucking infant?” Tsuneko grabs the spoon from his hand and feeds herself. She’ll be damn if she’s fed like a baby. Baba’s lucky she didn’t have time to smack him away from her food. She makes another noise of contentment; the sweet parfait flavors are so good,

“Pffft, careful she might bite you next time,” Kisaki laughs and she can’t say much given she has in fact bitten people multiple times in her life.

“I wouldn’t mind a few love bites.” Baba winks at her.

“I’m starting to think you just have a problem with that eye,” she comments before cramming more food in her mouth.

“That comes with age.”

“I’m choosing to believe that you both tease me out of love.”

“His minds starting to shut down too,” Tsuneko retorts, licking yogurt from her lips.

“It’s nice getting to relax and joke with you, lovely lady,” Baba says with a beaming smile.

“Yeah, don’t get use to it, I’ll be gone in two weeks remember.”

Baba covers his smile with a hand and holds back laughs. Kisaki doesn’t hold back and starts snickering at her.

“She actually thinks she’s going to win,” she throws a hunk of banana at his face, “hey!”

“It’s okay, it’s cute that you think that,” Baba tells her as Kisaki flicks the food off his face and she sucks honey off her thumb. She pulls back her leg and kicks Baba hard in the shin, “ah, are you trying to play footsie with me, now?”

“Ugh,” she yanks her legs back up into her seat under her, “you’re gonna make me puke.”

“Really, it looks like you’re trying to give us both a peepshow.” Kisaki points at her chest and she already knows what happened. Her lacy purple bra is showing through her uniform top, the button came undone again. Then a bit of yogurt drips from her spoon; cold and wet on her cleavage.

“Between that and how you’re eating, I’m starting to think you’re trying to seduce me, princess,” Baba says as she fixes the button and wipes the white yogurt off her skin. She’s not really sure what he means by how she was eating, but Baba would call anything she does provocative. His face looks just a little red, the cafe is a little hot, she figures.  

“I assure you, being a slob is not a seduction technique.”

“You know, wearing clothes that are too small ‘cause you don’t wanna size up, is just sad,” Kisaki says with a smirk.

“Ota! You don’t bother women about their size!” Baba scolds Kisaki. It’s not that she doesn’t want to size up, she knows she’s gained weight, but she keeps forgetting to order a new uniform. She flings another chunk of banana at him.

“Stop playing with your food, Koro.” Kisaki glares at her. They finish up their food and get the bill, Tsuneko gets her wallet out.

“Don’t worry about that princess, it’s my treat.”

“No,” Tsuneko says bluntly and puts down the money for her part of the bill.  

“A gentleman doesn’t let a lady pay,” Baba tells her.

“A ‘gentleman’,” she rolls her eyes at the word, “would respect my decision to pay for my own meal.”

“I guess old people really are more sexist,” Kisaki teases and Baba looks conflicted, his brows furrow like he’s thinking. He might not be used to doing that.

“I’m a feminist, you know I’m not sexist, right Tsuneko?”

“You did help buy me,” she drops her voice to a whisper for this, “y’know like an object.”

“That was a different situation,” Baba defends. He’s flustered and his eyes are wide. She has to press a hand to her mouth to keep herself from laughing.

“Well, I don’t have time to watch you struggle, I’m gonna head back to work.” She stands up and heads out the cafe, the two aren’t far behind.

They walk towards the Tres Spades, the makeshift comedy duo banter the entire time. They finally free her once they reach the lobby, the pair heading to the casino while she needs to go back and clean the penthouse suites.

“Was that Kisaki Ota?” A soft voice asks from behind her. Tsuneko turns to see Mari and Chiho, two maids who work here.

“Oh, yes, he’s one of the penthouse residents.”

“You ate lunch with penthouse guests?” Chiho asks, raising an eyebrow.

“They insisted, I paid for myself, if wasn’t anything important.” The two maid share a look at her response.

“You know a lot of girls would kill for a chance to eat with the angelic artist, right?” Chiho continues and Tsuneko fidgets with the charm in her pocket, they aren’t jealous are they?

“Sakiko’s been telling everyone how Mr. Ichinomiya must have feelings for you, but maybe it’s Kisaki?” Mari twirls a blonde curl around her finger as she talks.

“Sakiko is a dumbass, no one in the penthouse likes me like that.”

“Maybe it’s that other guy? With the fedora, I don’t know his name,” Chiho suggests, looking at Mari.

“Hmm, but he’s kinda old, I think Tsuneko would prefer a cute young guy.”

“That’s true, plus I hear he’s super sweet.”

“Shouldn’t you two be working?!” Tsuneko growls out, sick of this conversation.

“We’re going, we’re going, enjoy your time in the penthouse.” Chiho waves her off and the two go off to work. She rolls her eyes at their nonsense and ventures back up to the penthouse.

She cleans Kishi’s suite first this time, knowing full well it will take the most time. Sure enough, it’s as much of a disaster area as it was the day before. It takes her twice as long to clean his suite as it does any of the other suites. She’s sweaty and frustrated by the time she gets the last ash stain out of the carpet. He’s an old guy and he should know how to clean up after himself by now, but apparently that’s asking too much.

The rest of the suites are a breeze in comparison. She finishes cleaning up the last suite, Oh’s, when her pager buzzes. Tsuneko has finally cracked the code of where the damn answer button it.

“Lounge. Five minutes,” Ichinomiya demands and she rolls her eyes. She’s already in the penthouse, she could be there in less than a minute. He told her she was late yesterday, but he didn’t do anything. She hates when people waste her time and he seems to be the same way. Ugh, the thought they have anything in common makes her stomach churn.

She takes out her phone and decides to play on some apps. Irritating Ichinomiya makes winning a plushie in her crane app game all the more satisfying. Now might be a good time to check out the otome app that Sakiko recommended. She watches it download and plays through the intro, there’s a snake demon character who catches her eye. Six minutes pass and she’s content finally making her way to the lounge.

“You’re late.” Ichinomiya doesn’t even look up from his tablet. Oh and Kishi are both here as well.

“Happens.” She shrugs and she hears Kishi snicker while Ichinomiya glares.

“Coffee, now.”

“Would either of you like anything?”

They both tell her no and she goes to make Ichinomiya his coffee. She repeats what she did last time since he didn’t complain and seemed to like it. It seems more like milk and sugar with a hint of espresso, but given her own love of sweets she can’t truly judge. She places it down in front of him and starts to leave.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Ichinomiya questions before drinking her coffee.

“I already cleaned the lounge and suites, I’m going to finish cleaning the guest rooms.”

“No, you’re coming with me.” He puts his now empty cup down and stands up before striding out of the room. She trails behind him, confused.

“Uh, where are we going?” She asks as they step into the elevator. Surely, he hasn’t already thought up a way to win the bet. Ichinomiya doesn’t acknowledge her, continuing to work on his tablet.

“Okay,” she speaks up again, “you’ve apparently become a mute in the past five seconds.”

He looks up just to glare at her and she meets his eyes, waiting for him to say something. It’s not that hard to tell her what’s going on, she isn’t expecting the world.

“You’ll be my assistant at an event tonight,” he says with an aggravated sigh and looks back to his tablet, like talking to her is a nuisance.

“Isn’t that usually Kenzaki’s job?” She asks both out of curiosity and the need to press upon him that this task is not special to her, it doesn’t win the bet.

“I’m aware it doesn’t count for the bet,” he grins at being able to see through her, “Kenzaki has enough to worry about right now.”

“If the event isn’t until tonight, why are we going somewhere now?”

“You can’t show up in your uniform.” He looks at her like she’s stupid.

“Do I need hours to change?”

“You need clothes for the event.”

“I have clothes that can work,” she tells him. Buying clothes for one event sounds like a pain. Tsuneko still has some formal clothes from when she interned at a law firm.

“Oh and I’m sure they fit you as well as your uniform,” he stares pointedly at her chest and she fixes that damn button, not even bothering to look down, “if you can’t even manage a uniform, how can I trust you to dress yourself for an event.”

She wants to argue, but those more formal outfits are from before her weight gain. They were a little lose when she first got them, so while they might work, it’d still be a gamble. It wouldn’t exactly look good for her to show up as his assistant and have her chest popping out.

“I haven’t gotten around to ordering a size up, but I see your point,” she grumbles as the elevator comes to a stop. It’s struggle to keep up with Ichinomiya, he’s easily a foot taller than her and his legs are probably twice the length of hers. She’s practically jogging to keep up with his casual steps.

There’s a sleek black limousine in front of the Tres Spades that Ichinomiya climbs into. She follows and can’t help staring. The back of the car is more like a lounge; leather chairs more like a large couch and chilled champagne. Tsuneko sits down closet to the door and far away from Ichinomiya, taking advantage of the space. It’s uncomfortable to say the least.

To an extent working at the Tres Spades and now the penthouse has gotten her a bit more accustomed to seeing over the top extravagance. But, it still annoys her and makes her uncomfortable. Even when she was striving for a better job, something that would afford her a higher standard of living, she never wanted this kind of stuff. It’s too much. No one needs a limo and chilled champagne on stand by.

The ride is filled with an awkward tension. Ichinomiya doing work on his tablet whil she makes herself as small as possible and plays on her phone. She wins a few more plushies and gets started on snake demon’s route; his name is Tatsumi and she wants to kiss his face. There’s a few others she’s interested in, but snake man is stealing her heart.

They come to a stop and she puts her monster romance on pause to look at where they are. There’s a high end boutique, she’s heard of it and it’s pricey. She tucks her phone into her pocket and follows Ichinomiya inside. There’s several racks of clothes, lighted shoe displays, and a strong perfume scent in the store. She can feel the store trying to drain her bank account already. Online shopping is her go to with clothes in particular. She can find good deals, try them on in the leisure of her own apartment, and send back what she doesn’t need. It’s so much easier. A price tag catches her eye and she can hear her wallet crying.

Ichinomiya wastes no time and starts picking out clothes, his eyes looking between the fabric and Tsuneko. An attendant is hovering beside him as he puts clothes on her arms. He may have more experience with this stuff, but why is he picking what’s going on her body?

“You know I can pick out clothes myself, right?” She raises an eyebrow at him and crosses her arms over her chest.

“You’ll wear what I say, I can’t have you embarrassing me, remember your two options?” He reminds her of his asinine ‘yes’ or ‘okay’ line.

“Remember when I told you to fuck off?” She rolls her eyes and starts looking through clothes herself, not giving him another look. Her eyes immediately go to the darker dresses, simple and sleek would probably look best for an assistant look. She picks out a few, even though the price tags make her sad. He just looks annoyed when she comes back with her own picks.

“Go try everything on.”

“Fine,” she refuses to say ‘yes’ or ‘okay’ to him.

Tsuneko goes into the dressing room, her picks in her arms and Ichinomiya’s picks in the attendants arms. She puts all her options, there’s far too many of them, in the seat. All of them are more than she’d ever spend on clothes. She can afford a few, but it’ll mean her severely cutting her budget somewhere else. Maybe she’ll buy one for the event and return it right after? Otherwise she’ll be stuck eating nothing but rice for a couple weeks.

She decides on one of the dresses she picked, if only to irk him. It’s a dark red bodycon dress with sleeves and a modest neckline. Her work ponytail doesn’t really suit it and she takes it down. It takes her longer than she’d care to admit to pull the dress up, tight over her curves as it’s meant to be. Once it’s in place, she steps outside, showing the dress to Ichinomiya. She hates this, his eyes scan over her, like he’s taking in every detail. He’s evaluating the dress and she knows that, but it still feels disgusting and objectifying.

“Absolutely not, it’s too conservative and looks frumpy, try one of the ones I picked out, now.”

She rolls her eyes and walks back in, catching sight of herself in the mirror again. He’s not wrong, not that she’d ever tell him that, but with her curvy figure the higher up neckline looks a little frumpy. She grabs one of his picks and tugs it on. It’s more classic, black with white straps and a band around the stomach. It’s slimming despite the body-con style and shows a tasteful amount of cleavage. She sighs, it looks nice on her. He has good taste and she’s angry about it. Once she’s shown him, he gives it his approval, of course.

This impromptu fashion show continues this way; him evaluating each outfit and dress, making comments, and either approving or disapproving them. He even accepts some of her picks. She sorts them into yes and no piles as they go through this entire process. They finally get done with the last outfit.

“So, do you want me to pick one out of the yes pile or what?” She asks him and he narrows his eyes, like she just said the stupidest thing, before turning to the attendant.

“Ring up all the clothes I approved, we still need to look at shoes and accessories.”

“Wait, what,” her eyes widen, “it’s just one event, I don’t need twenty outfits.”

“Be quiet,” Ichinomiya demands, busy looking through shoes.

“I can’t afford all of this.” That earns her a disgusted look from Ichinomiya, his nose wrinkling like he’s smelled something foul.  

“Don’t be ridiculous, I’m buying them for you.” He’s apparently found the shoes and accessories because he starts making a beeline for the register, pulling out a card.

“What, no,” the number on the register display makes her head spin, “I’m not letting you spend that much on me.”

“You won’t let me,” he says the word ‘let’ like it tastes foul in his mouth and glares at her, “what makes you think the power to let me do anything?”

“Hey,” Ichinomiya reaches to hand his card to the cashier and Tsuneko throws her hand up to try to stop him, “okay, but after the event or whatever, you’ll return them and get your money back, sound good?”

“Why on earth would I return them?”

“So, you don’t waste your money.”

“Don’t waste your time by thinking about it too much, I need to make sure you don’t embarrass me,.” He hands his card over, clearly annoyed.

Tsuneko feels sick seeing the total of it all, she wishes she could pay him back, but that would take forever. Plus, if she really wanted to be a stickler about it she’d also all them all twenty-million for buying her. It is because of him that she needs these clothes, so she can excuse it away as being similar to uniforms.

Store attendants follow them out of the boutique and stack the clothes in the limo, before they leave. She plays around more in Monster Lovers until they’re back at the hotel. She’s at her first love challenge when she has to tuck her phone away and starts to get the clothes bags.

“I’ll have them taken up to the penthouse.”

“Why would you have them put in the penthouse?”

“Do you ever tire of asking ridiculous questions?”

“Do you ever tire of giving terrible answers?”

“Given your catastrophically bad taste, Ota will do your hair and makeup for the event.”

“I can do my own hair and makeup,” she groans, “can’t you let me do that much? I’m trying to compromise here.”

“I don’t compromise, go to the penthouse.”

“C’mon, I-”

“When I tell you to do something I expect you to do it within five seconds,” He cuts her off and gives her a pointed look, the staff has already started taking the clothes to the penthouse. She meets his glare and stands closer, in his personal space.

“One bunny scout,” she holds up her fingers as she counts seconds in bunny scouts, “two bunny scout, three bunny scout, four bunny scout, five bunny scout, six bunny scout.” On the sixth bunny scout she finally turns to leave. Ichinomiya scoffs from behind her and follows her up to the penthouse lounge. The entire group is there, they sit up and look up at them.

“Ota, she’s going to an event with me, do her hair and makeup.”

“Awww, I get to groom Koro,” Kisaki perks up and is already heading towards his suite, “c’mon girl.”

Tsuneko tosses her head back and groans before following him. She has a headache coming on. Kisaki is laying out clothes from the bags, there was some stuff about him being involved in the fashion industry during her search on him.

“Go take a shower, I need your face and hair clean, there’s only human products though,” Kisaki tells her without even looking up from the clothes, he looks hyper-focused. Mari is right, he really is cute, but his personality is such a train wreck, “hmm, oh do you need me to wash you, koro?”

“What!?” she jolts at his suggestion and her cheeks burn, “don’t be fucking weird!”

She scurries off to his suite bathroom, it’s huge with a large bathtub and a large shower stall. The shower stall alone is probably bigger than her dorm. And entire wall is made of window glass, showing twinkling city lights. The penthouse is too high up for anyone to be able to see up into the window, but the idea of being naked in front of it still seems strange. There’s a fluffy white bathrobe, so she guess she’ll change into that.

Tsuneko doubles check that the bathroom door is locked because she doesn’t trust Kisaki as far as she could throw him. Well, she could actually probably throw him pretty far, he doesn’t look that heavy. But, her point stands that gremlins can’t be trusted. She strips down and something just feels weird. The large open unfamiliar bathroom and having such a big clear window in front of her, she feels exposed. Her body is hot, like it’s on fire, her reflections shows how bright a pink her face is. God, she’s getting flustered and bothered  by standing naked in front of a window. She needs to get laid, this is pathetic.

She hops into the shower, after removing the bandages from her hand as well,  and starts to wash. Steaming hot water relaxes her to a degree, the products are nice and luxurious, but she prefers her own if only for the familiarity of the scents. Tsuneko washes up quickly, having to stop her hands from wandering to do dirtier things a few times. She can practically hear her treasure chest of toys calling her name from under her dorm bed.

Once she’s done washing up with no funny business, to the disdain of her hormones, she dries off and puts on her underwear with the robe over it. She’s not giving Kisaki a chance to see her bra and panties on the bathroom floor. She finds the first aid kit in the bathroom and starts to redo her bandages, making them less bulky and intrusive this time. The cuts are healing well despite her still using her hand and it doesn’t hurt as much to move it. She looks at her now makeup free face, the bruises has changed from more red hues to blues and purples. Kisaki will still have to cover them up.

Steam floats out of the bathroom as she steps out back into the suite. Kisaki has chosen her outfit for the event, laid out on the bed. It one of the ones she picked, she notes with some satisfaction.

“Sit,” Kisaki gestures towards the edge of one of beds and sits down, “now give me paw.” He holds out his hand with a cheeky grin and she smack it away, earning her a glare.

“Don’t push your luck, Kisaki,” she grumbles.

“Ugh, just call me Ota, we’re basically the same age,” he tells her as he starts looking through makeup palettes.

“Doesn’t matter,” she tells him as he starts carefully dabbing on foundation. His movements are more gentle when he starts to apply over her bruises.

“That’s from the night you were sold right?”

“Uh, yeah, my face got slammed against the floor,” she murmurs, not wanting to think about that night. Every memory of it makes her stomach churn.

“Maybe we should have reported them to PETA,” he says with a shit eating grin.

“Fuck off, Gremlin.”

“Hey, who are you calling a gremlin?” He glares at her.

“You’re way more gremliny than angelic, that’s for su-eep!” Kisaki pinches the non-bruised cheek and pulls causing a twinge of pain.

“Can you just shut up and be cute?”

“Nefuh maaged to do efer of thoves,” she responds, her speech distorted by her cheek being yanked.

Kisaki lets go and gets back her makeup, he might not need to use blush on that side now. There’s something oddly intimate  about having her makeup put on by someone else. She thinks the last time that happened was her mom letting her play with lipstick when she was three or so. It involves a lot of face touching between application and him gently moving her head as needed. His amber eyes are trained on her face the entire time with an intense focus, she find herself having to look away because it’s too much. Kisaki applies a coat of lipstick before pulling away and giving her a final longer distance look.

“Next is your fur, he says before going to the bathroom and reappearing with a blow dryer and other tools.

“Are you ever going to stop with the dog bullshit?” She asks as Kisaki plugs in the blowdryer and gets behind her on the bed.

“You didn’t even let your fur dry completely, you should have just  let me give you a bath,” he answers nothing and starts blow drying her hair.

The heat is relaxing as well as the feeling of his fingers working over her scalp and through her hair. She’s reminded of all the times she’s fallen asleep during hair washes at the salon. She leans into each touch and her eyes keep wanting to drift shut. Her cheeks are warm and she chooses to blame it on the heat from the dryer. Tsuneko will never why she’s so weak to having her hair played with.

Kisaki pulls back her hair into a bun, leaving her bangs and side locks loose. He adjusts little details, before finally leaving it be.

“There you go, you have a really fluffy coat,” he says tapping the bun on the back of her head.

“I don’t have the energy to call you out, I’m going to go change.” She sighs and takes the change of clothes to the bathroom.

She freezes when she sees herself in the mirror, she understands why Ichinomiya wanted Kisaki to do her makeup. It’s not too dramatic like part of her feared, she’s never been a fan of heavy makeup looks. Soft blush eyeshadow tones, eyeliner that’s just thick enough to bring out her eyes, foundation that can cover the bruises but not hide her freckles, contour that makes her face  a little slimmer looking, and soft berry red lipstick. It’s the perfect balance of enhancing her looks without trying to change it. She could never even dream of doing a makeup job this perfect.

Tsuneko steps into the dress and pulls it up, so she won’t risk ruining her hair or makeup. She looks at it on her and pouts. It’s one she picked out and she remembers it well, but in the store she paired it with a blazer that covered up a bit more of the neckline. Kisaki hasn’t done that, or at least he only had the dress, shoes, and a necklace laid out. The top of the dress is made of white lace with a deep v neckline that goes into a black body con dress at the waist down. She has to adjust her bra a bit so it doesn’t show. She puts on the necklace, a simple gemstone on a silver chain, and the black heels.

“Can we talk about this dress, Kisaki?” She asks as she leaves the bathroom.

“Let’s go show Eisuke, he’s probably getting impatient by now.” Kisaki doesn’t wait to hear her feedback and leaves out of the suite.

She sighs and follows after him, cursing under her breath. Tsuneko hasn’t even left and she’s already eager to get this night over and done with. And entire night of waiting on Ichinomiya and being his lackey, Oh killing her starts to sound more and more like a better alternative. The hope of escaping it all in two weeks is the only thing keeping her spirits up. She has to get away from this all.

[seiyuunotabi]

Hello, may i ask if you know where to watch Tokyo Otome Restaurant event and also the one tokuten with MaenuKenn? Thankyou in advance!!

Hi there! Sorry for the really late reply! Anyways to answer your question, I don’t have a link to the Tokyo Otome Restaurant event (I use to have a link but now that link is dead TT^TT) but I do have the link to the Tokyo Otome Restaurant Tokuten with Maeno Tomoaki and KENN here you go! 

Tokyo Otome Restaurant Tokuten with Maeno Tomoaki & KENNLink

But if anybody has any further information regarding the Tokyo Otome Restaurant event and is willing to share it publicly, please do this user and myself will be thankful towards you, thank you very much! 

[deltaengineering]

Spring Anime 2018: Lightning round

I didn’t get around to full writeups this season, but here’s the condensed version. It’s a weak season (the weakest in years) with very few surprises anyway.

3D Kanojo Real Girl

What: Otaku loser lucks into girlfriend.

+ Loser is actually a loser, and how

+ Heart seems to be in the right place

- Writing is clunky

- - some of the most amateurish production values this side of Clione no Akari and I don’t think this is made by one guy

Verdict: no

Akkun to Kanojo

What: Short. A guy is rude to his naively cute girlfriend and then stalks her.

- - Creepy, unfunny and dumb

Verdict: naw

Amanchu! Advance

What: Sequel. Ostentatious anime characters enjoy chilling on the beach.

+ Actually chill most of the time

+ looks and sounds good

+ somehow even more gay than before

- - @_@

- - 8D

Verdict: I watched the first season and enjoyed it more than not, so I might as well.

Alice or Alice

What: Short. Siscon 4koma comedy with a lot of fanservice.

- - Creepier, unfunnier and dumber

Verdict: hell naw

Butlers: Chitose Momotose Monogatari

What: Best I can say is that it’s an otome instaharem of shounen fightmen invading Marimite.

+ makes so little sense it’s sometimes funny

- makes so little sense it’s mostly just baffling

- little chance to become legit

Verdict: nope

Caligula

What: What indeed. Virtual idols overwrite reality, a Persona clone ensues.

+ Denpa stuff is actually disorientating and creepy

+ Makes somehow even less sense than Butlers and in a more funny way to boot.

- Still a bunch of nonsense that will probably not pay off in the long run

- - Protagonist spends the first episode being a Sagrada Reset-class blahmancer.

Verdict: 3 ep rule since it’s still a better Persona than the actual Persona and the dude has little time to do stoner philosophy once shit hits the fan

Comic Girls

What: Hidamari Sketch without the charm, a basic comedic Kiraralike where the joke is that the girls embody manga genres.

+ High production values, pleasant to look at

- Typical Kiraralike cast with little personality besides the blindingly obvious

- - Full of jokes that get old before the setup even starts

Verdict: Not worth it

Cutie Honey Universe

What: Ancient proto-mahou shoujo series by Go Nagai gets its fourth or so anime adaptation.

+ Some choice sakuga cuts

+ Generous helpings of Go Nagai sleaze at its finest

- Design is a weird mishmash of current and 70s

- Does not even attempt to explain anything about the show

Verdict: Mainly aimed at existing fans, of which I am not one. If it turns out to be a classic I’ll hear about it

Devils Line

What: Some Tokyo Ghoul-ish thing about the vampyr police. 

+ Probably not half a dumbass fighting shounen

+ nothing too offensive

- nothing particularly interesting either

- looks are completely bland

Verdict: I have already forgotten everything about this

Dorei-ku The Animation

What: Magical devices gives people mind control powers. Everyone’s an asshole.

+ Some actually good character writing

- Trying to be Kakegurui and failing, just too tame for its outrageous conceit

Verdict: Has potential but doesn’t appear to take advantage of it

Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory

What: Sequel to FMP and it’s still FMP.

+ More serious than basic FMP

- FMP is inherently too silly to attempt seriousness

Verdict: Fumoffu is the only acceptable FMP

Fumikiri Jikan

What: Short about couples(?) at a railroad crossing

+ Reminds me of Tsuredure Children

+ Seems a bit more clever than the usual comedy short

Verdict: At 3m/week, why not

Gegege no Kitarou

What: Truly prehistoric spoopy manga for children about kids who fight youkai.

+ Actually a little spooky

+ Nekomusume

+ Unapologetically for children, but with oldschool charm

+ Does a good job of modernizing the subject matter

Verdict: Pretty good, I’m in

Golden Kamuy

What: Taciturn Ainu girl and tough guy hang around in frozen 1900s Hokkaido to nab some gold.

+ at least sounds like it could have potential

- Does a good job of making its unique setting seem not particularly interesting

- not as bad looking as incensed manga fans allege, but certainly not a feast for the eyes

- okay, that CG bear tho

- - I’m not feeling much character chemistry, which is an absolute killer for this specific setup

Verdict: Probably not

Gurazeni

What: Mediocre baseball pro plans his retirement money

+ not actually about baseball much

- - actually about baseball finances, which is even less interesting

Verdict: Weird but not in a good way

Hinamatsuri

What: Dadfeels show about a yakuza middle manager that gets a girl with superpowers dropped on his head.

+ Nitta being a yakuza thug makes for good comedy

+ Seems way less wish-fulfilmenty than most shows of this type

- Yeah speaking of which, could lose itself in Maidragon-style sameyness

Verdict: I’m feeling it for now

Hisone to Masotan

What: Air Force clerk becomes dragon pilot/emergency food supply. Yeah, the Japanese Air Force secretly has a dragon squad masquerading as F-15s.

++ Psychedelically unhinged dragon vore bonanza

++ Looks really great

+ Secretly a mecha show, but without mecha baggage; Kawamori is involved and it shows.

+ Mari Okada writing means strong characters

- Mari Okada writing means high chance of eventually going into the weeds

Verdict: Either way this is going to be a ride

Isekai Izakaya - Koto Aitheria no Izakaya Nobu

What: Another anime about a Japanese restaurant that connects to a fantasy world.

- Less interested in worldbuilding than Shokudou, and yes I actually enjoyed that aspect

- 100% about Japanese barfood instead

- Weak to nonexistant characters

- - styled like Japanese daytime television, hope you enjoy text plastered all over the screen

Verdict: Isekai Shokudou S2 where

Juushinki Pandora

What: Postapocalyptic robot vs. space monsters fights for the Chinese market.

- Just a bunch of anime characters doing anime things

- - truly hideous

Verdict: I’d rather watch MuvLuv and I’m not watching MuvLuv either

Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi

What: Bland girl gets transported to youkai world where she gets macked on by the boss and opens a restaurant.

- Barebones otome harem setup, though shockingly not based on a Vita game

- another fucking cooking show

- - Nothing’s romantic like possessive creepy assholes

Verdict: Nope.

Last Period - Owarinaki Rasen no Monogatari

What: Mobile RPG adaptation that advertises the game to you while making jokes how terrible gacha and grind is. Hey, Konosuba was popular right?

+ Certainly ballsy

- not really funny besides that

- - I already know mobile RPGs suck, but thanks for the heads up

Verdict: Fuck off and take your smug with you

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Die Neue These

What: Spess men playing spess chess in spess.

+ Credible and respectable

+ Makes LoGH ultrafans mad because it’s not ugly enough

- space war seems like a video game, both visually and tonally

- if it adapts the whole thing, it will take forever

Verdict: Promising, but there’s always the old one which is at least complete. No reason to watch this particular version right now.

Lupin III Part V

What: Lupin is in ur cloud, stealin ur bitcoins.

++ Classic Lupin feel

++ Ruthless modernization of the bells and whistles keeps it from feeling overly familiar like Part 4

- Comes across as desperate occasionally

- Action is extra unexciting for some reason

- Looks nowhere near as good as Part 4

Verdict: It’s entertaining, so why not

Mahou Shoujo Ore

What: Comedy about a bad wannabe idol that works as a buff male mahou shoujo for the yakuza.

+ Core idea is amusing

- - spends most of the time on anything but the core idea, such as hilariously pointing out how it is indeed a cartoon

Verdict: I’ve tried and not picked up much better mahou shoujo parodies

Mahou Shoujo Site

What: Girl is bullied all day at school and beaten up all night at home, becomes a magical school shooter

+ Certainly effective at setting a, um, “particular” mood

- - relentlessly mean and nasty

- - simply no fun at all, with little reason to believe that that’s going to pay off

Verdict: Not looking for a bad time right now.

Megalo Box

What: Classic underdog sports story about a boxing jobber looking for the big break, now with more cyborgs.

++ looks amazing

++ cinematic-level direction and storyboarding

+ doesn’t reinvent the wheel as far as story goes, but it’s classic for a reason

- Overreliance on dog metaphors is already getting out of hand

Verdict: Would be stupid not to watch this

Nil Admirari no Tenbin - Teito Genwaku Kitan

What: Actual PS Vita otome harem about a bland girl with the power to see evil books, which impresses a bunch of handsome combat librarians.

- takes itself far too seriously

- not a looker

- I can’t remember a single character

- - pacing is criminally turgid

Verdict: I know better otome harems.

Omae wa Mada Gunma wo Shiranai

What: 4koma short about how Gunma is weird and Gunma people are even weirder.

+ It’s like a bizarre perversion of a tourism anime

- 4koma jokes

Verdict: Mmmmmmmaybe?

Persona 5 the Animation

What: High school kid finds himself in a weird woke fever dream. It’s P5, you know what it be.

+ Kawakami

- P5 is too known and too long to make a good anime

- serious issues don’t work with the residual Persona silliness

- Not very well made

Verdict: I’d rather watch a LP (or Caligula)

Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori

What: Chill boys run a chill cafe

+ very chill indeed, totally works as iyashikei

+ characters are all likeable, even brings the moe in an ikemen show

+ Suwabe! With glasses!

- Iyashikei always has potential to drift into boring sludge

Verdict: I’ll take that chance

Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryuu to Odoru

What: JRPG dudes fight monsters and argue about payment

+ Opening narration is so stupid it made me laugh

+ No seriously, “we changed the Planck constant and now there’s fucking dragons everywhere”

+ a few decent buddy cop moments

- - Rest of the show is just as stupid, but the laughter went away

Verdict: Durr hurr

Souten no Ken Re-Genesis

What: CG men with no neck make frowny faces at each other

- story is vague and hard to follow while at the same time just being an excuse for poses and fights

- - looks like an absolute butt

Verdict: stay far away

Steins Gate 0

What: Sequel. Okabe is sad that Chris is dead.

+ Epic twists will be coming... eventually.

+ Punished Okabe is a better character than he ever was before

- - Rest of the cast is still a bunch of hateable wankers, and even Okabe will be going back to his catchphrase eventually

- - nothing happens in the first two episodes besides establishing that Chris is a Tamagotchi now

Verdict: Possibly a hatewatch but seems to be too dull for even that.

Sword Art Online Alternative - Gun Gale Online

What: Catgirl with pink P90 totally puts serious operators in the PWN ZONE.

+ Main character’s IRL identity seems funny

+ evades most of the memetic SAO failings

- adds a lot of failings of its own

- egregious gun- & tacticool wank

- - boring as shit

Verdict: yeah, guess

Tachibanakan To Lie Angle

What: Unimaginative fanservice 4koma short, but this time it’s yuri so that makes it okay.

- - no, it doesn’t

Verdict: *snore*

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai

What: Regular Anime Dude™ chances upon a weeaboo princess from Europe and her weeaboo bodyguard.

+ Looks real nice, Doga Kobo delivers

+ anime original, so there’s a chance of it ever going anywhere

- Just about the least interesting setup ever

- - comic relief guy friend is tremendously annoying

Verdict: Nozaki-kun was better.

Uchuu Senkan Tiramisu

What: Short. Some sort of mecha parody.

+ Gundamian masterpiece names like “Vulgar Hummer” and “Pubic Hair”

- not actually funny beyond that

- - at all

Verdict: Seems totally pointless, but what do I know about anime comedy

Uma Musume - Pretty Derby

What: School sports show about horse girls that are also idols

+ Premium production by PA Works

+ Lively and colorful

- awful, overwrought gacha game character designs

- characters are as generic as they come

- the setup is just Kancolle again, but without the “escort” pun

- something this wacky shouldn’t be so predictable and boring

Verdict: 3 ep rule, but 3 eps have passed and it didn’t grab me. So no.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii

What: Adult otaku meet at work, fail powerlevel stealth check, fall in love.

+ Well written characters once you look past their gimmick

+ Much more respectable than most shows with this exact idea

+ Doesn’t lean on references

- Will have to put in some hard work to make it last

Verdict: I don’t want to like it, but I do. At least so far.

[24-nishi-kanjasmine]

Just wondering if anyone’s interested in ENSEMBLE STAR DREAM LIVE 1ST MORNING TOUR. I just just the DVD from my seller and got it ripped yesterday.

And i also have Tokyo Otome Restaurant vol2 and Storm Lover 2nd LUCKY SUMMER VACATION. Havent rip them yet, but if anyone’s interested, i could rip them.

Though ill be hoping for a lil donation for the file.

[angevon]

Travel Report Part 2

In which we gain a party member and then visit Ikebukuro and Akihabara

(long post with pictures!)

[part 1]

The next day we woke up bright and early with plans to meet @disco-agidyne aka Grumbles. I’d never met her before but it was like “I’m going to Japan. You live in Japan. Let’s meet!” so we did haha (I mean it wasn’t as easy as that because she doesn’t live anywhere near Tokyo but let’s just pretend it was). 

Fortunately she was familiar with the hotel so she could meet us there. When I got down to the lobby there was a whole tour group standing around and I was like “ahhh how am I ever gonna find her?” but I turned my head and she was already standing up to greet me. We’d sent each other pics ahead of time so we knew what each other looked like. Also, she was wearing a Persona shirt which narrowed things down hehehe

(I’d have taken a picture of our meeting but neither of us really like taking selfies all that much so just imagine a blue sunfish meeting ara mitama and there you go :P)

Anyway we got a crash course on the Tokyo Metro with Grumbles’s help. If you plan to travel around Tokyo I highly recommend purchasing an IC card at the station. You put money on the card and just scan it to go through the entrance gate. You don’t have to worry about figuring out how to buy the right ticket for where you wanna go etc. It subtracts from the balance on the card once you pass the exit gate at your destination. It’s incredibly convenient and saves you the hassle of messing with the ticket counter every time. The card cost approx. $5 but it’s totally worth it.

Tokyo Station is like a sprawling city of its own. It has stores and restaurants and tons of people. We had lunch at Ramen Street. My phone did not want to take pictures at this time, sadly. The ramen was all right but it tasted vaguely of seafood which is a no-go for me OTL I knew this would be a problem when I came to Japan so I just had to deal with it. 

Character Street is right next door to Ramen Street so we visited the NHK, Jump, and Pokemon stores for fun. It was hard to resist buying Pokemerch. 

But I did get a crushed penny souvenir!

After that, we went to Ikebukuro, and, of course, Otome Road. But first we went to Book Off there and found Tartarus Theater volume 2 on clearance.

I totally bought it :)

While we were walking down the street, we noticed there were lots of cosplayers around. It turns out there was a cosplay meetup at a nearby park. We met a nice Futaba and Akira (they noticed Grumbles’s Persona shirt, it was really cute), but most of the others were fandoms we didn’t recognize. Photos were not permitted unless you were part of the event so I guess you’ll just have to trust me that this really happened haha.

Anyway after that we visited the Mandarake, which is a second-hand shop. I bought a bunch of souyo doujins because at ~$2 each how could you not buy them? 

It was really fun to sift through the selection with Grumbles. She’s read some of them before and she’s familiar with the different circles, so I got some good recommendations from her. For the most part, I mostly looked for stuff that had cute covers and was not R-18. 

I also picked up a cutie at one of the K-Books. They also had a Zen charm with his name spelled ZHN, it was really funny. They had a Jiraiya shirt and a Kuma shirt but unfortunately they were expensive and yellow (not my fave color).

When we were done with Otome Road, we headed back to the train station. A cafe called Spazio was advertising some awesome-looking desserts outside the entrance. We vowed to return tomorrow and have brunch there.

Then we went to Akihabara’s Electric Town. It’s very hard to describe this place. It’s like going to an anime convention except instead of booths it’s entire buildings full of merch. And the buildings have several floors.

We went to a few places, mostly the Lashinbang where we resisted the temptation to buy a P3hero figure and where we found an NSFW Akihiko doujin that we joked about because we know someone who would want it haha. We also hit up the Mandarake here, which, unlike the one in Ikebukuro, also has a section aimed at men.

Some cars were on display for some reason in front of some office building.

Pokemon boxer briefs

Funny Zelda merch at the Super Potato.

The Super Potato has a lot of retro games for sale. The top floor is also a retro arcade, but unfortunately smoking is allowed in there so I didn’t really like being there OTL

The Lawson across from the Mandarake is advertising Dragon Quest in its banner.

We went to Coco’s for dinner. They’re a family-style restaurant. My boring American butt ordered a pair of chicken quesadillas. Honestly? They were delicious and totally worth it.

Grumbles had a taco salad which she described as okay but lacking meat.

We also ordered dessert (but I only took a photo of mine whoops). 

And we called it a night not long after that. Well, sort of. I suddenly came down with a case of “that time of the month.” Grumbles is a true friend (tm) for helping me find stuff to deal with that at the local Family Mart. I probably would’ve been lost without her haha...

Tomorrow’s plans: go to Spazio and then visit a Square Enix cafe!