#we are talking about shion from real life this time

[shi0n]

let it be known that shions favorite ice cream flavour is plain milk ice cream. no vanilla. MILK

[yokohamabeans]

When do you think Tenjiku was formed? Also how old were the haitani brothers when they were in juvie in your opinion? I thought it was after they killed that gang leader but ran had brown hair in juvie so it must be after that and they seem to already have established themselves in roppongi

Like I’m really curious about what got them in juvie I wish wakui will give us more background about the s62 😭

Hey anon!! Please accept my apologies for answering an ask from 2022 in 2023...... Nonetheless, I hope that the new year has started off splendidly for you!!

Tenjiku's Timeline & Formation

I think Tenjiku started on 3 levels: firstly in the orphanage between Izana and Kakucho when they were kids, though it's a really idealised version and probably something of a fantasy at that point. The second level is when Izana met the S-62 and they probably had a hunch they will all be in a gang together under Izana. Third is when Tenjiku officially formed and began operations.

The second level, which I consider the 'ideation' stage of Tenjiku, was in 2001 when they met in juvie (Chapter 139). That's when the S-62 were 13-14, and Kakucho was 10 (though he probably wasn't really involved then).

The third level, the official launch of Tenjiku, was mentioned to be 'new' relative to year 2006, and based on this interaction between Izana and Kisaki (who was said to have a hand in forming Tenjiku's operations) in Chapter 121...

...we can tell that Tenjiku had already been formed by 2006 (because of the uniform that Izana was already wearing), but haven't put their plans in full motion yet.

So putting all of these together (along with the Haitanis being seemingly unaffiliated as of the Valhalla arc which was October 2005), I think I can safely say that Tenjiku started as a smaller gang (with only Izana and Kakucho and some of their other guys) in 2005ish (or earlier), but only really started to build itself up in 2006 (after Kisaki's banishment from Toman at the start of January). I'm thinking something along this...

2001: Izana meets the S-62 in juvie, they all have talks about ruling Tokyo as a gang / criminal syndicate.

Before 2006: Izana is released from juvie, he and Kakucho start Tenjiku with their guys.

Early January 2006: Kisaki meets with Izana to scheme and advise how he should operate Tenjiku. Izana sends Kakucho to round up the Haitani Brothers (and presumably Mocchi and Mucho) to join their gang. I think Izana himself got Shion to join because it would've been an easy deal with their BD relationship.

Late January 2006: Tenjiku launches their attacks on Toman

22 February 2006: Kanto Incident (Toman vs Tenjiku). Izana's death and the disbandment of Tenjiku.

Haitani Brothers' Juvie Stint

As mentioned, they probably entered in 2001 (when Ran was 14, and Rindo was 13). I personally think that they entered shortly after their fight with the Max Maniacs (i.e. the Roppongi Incident), because that's a serious crime they committed. The Max Maniac VP ended up in the hospital, which was likely what led to the Haitani Brothers' arrest.

I think Ran's hair is brown in the flashback because it got shaved, so his natural hair colour (which is dark) grew out a little then! They were also already out by 2003, because Mitsuya spotted them out and about in the Azabu Juban Festival (which in real-life, typically occurs in late-August) then. So they didn't spend that much time (around 2 years) in the can.

According to this twitter thread by RanHaruchiyo, which is a summary/translation of an interview with Wakui-sensei, we were supposed to get a lot more Haitani backstory. Basically, Ran was a low-ranking member of the 'Rokusei Community' which was controlled by the Max Maniacs, and Ran stole money from their leaders, which was what sparked the Roppongi Battle of the Ashes which led to the Haitani's rise. (Unfortunately, the original interview is no longer available.... I will try to dig around and find some captures of it to get a better idea of what Wakui said in the inteview!!)

[utapri-translations-uuuu]

SHARE HOUSE LIFE - Translation

You might want to check out first ⇒ INVITATION TO "HE★VENS LOVE AFFAIR"

Translator's notes can be found at the end and are marked with an asterisk.

Please do not repost/retranslate without permission.

Nagi: Isn’t it a nice living room? It’ll be perfect for our sweet day to day life here!

Van: Indeed, it’s the kind of place where you can relax and have a good conversation.

Van: Hey, Angel, I want to have a quick chat with you so I can learn all about your preferences.

Kira: I want to hear about that too. I also want to know about the things you’re not good at. That way, we can deal with it honestly. 

Eiji: The thing I want to learn about you is your favorite flower. If the living room is decorated with the flowers you like, it’ll surely make you feel at home!

Eiichi: Then, why don’t we talk about our future together after this? Alone, of course.

Eiji: Er… I should probably try my hardest too.

Eiji: Well then, Angel, why don’t we continue our conversation in the garden? It’s incredibly beautiful and there are lots of flowers at their best time to see, you could go there many times and not get tired of it. Let’s go there together!

Nagi: If it’s to be alone together, the obvious place is the rooftop, isn’t it? It’s got a great view and you can even see a nearby lake! Nagi will show you all kinds of places. Let’s look for many date spots!

Kira: What about a break first? I’d like to offer you a moment to relax.

Kira: I’ve prepared some sweets. Everything was made by me, from the tea set and the dessert plates to the spoons and forks.

Yamato: Since you have brought up so much stuff related to pottery, I’ll do the same.

Yamato: I told you I’m a martial artist. The point is, I make a living through my strength. If you’re going to rest, isn’t it better to relax in your room? I’ll carry you there in my arms.

Yamato: Why are you so surprised? Even going up the stairs is a breeze for me.

Van: That’s not the point, they’re probably surprised and embarrassed by how forceful you were.

Van: We’re not all like that, Angel. I’ll match your pace perfectly, so don’t worry. You can say whatever comes to mind.

Shion: I am not as eloquent as the others. Rather than pronouncing myself, I am making an effort. However, our destination is an unknown place.

Shion: The reality is that I don’t have the slightest idea about what process I should follow.

Shion: Hence why I think it’s best you spend your time however you see fit. Amakusa also has decided to follow his own heart, and if we head to the same place as a result, then that is fate.

Eiichi: I see. Instead of thinking of an excuse to meet, you prefer to do nothing. That is another way of thinking about it. But don’t forget, Angel came here searching for true love.

Shion: Meaning…?

Yamato: The truth is, it would benefit us if Shion remained weak-willed like that. Because that would mean one less rival for us.

Yamato: But that wouldn’t be a real competition. That’s what Eiichi is trying to say.

Eiichi: Yes. It’s all for Angel’s sake, they need to have enough information to make their choice.

Eiichi: That is to say, each of us needs to do their best and clearly show our feelings for Angel through our words and actions.

Shion: Amakusa understands your point, but the way to show one's feelings would not be to just loudly proclaim one's love. Right now, to me, the best way is to quietly wait for our fates to intersect.

Eiji: But are you sure that Angel is okay with that? If it were me, I don’t think I’d be able to choose properly.

Kira: Shion’s policy is to not take the initiative, isn’t it?

Kira: Each of us has a different charm. I think it’s a good thing that we all have different personalities.

Kira: Do you share that opinion, Angel?

Kira: I’m glad to hear that.

Yamato: I guess the meeting’s over. Hey, Angel, let’s ditch these guys and go to your room together.

Nagi: No! Come with Nagi to the rooftop!

Eiji: Won’t you come with me to the garden?

Kira: It’s best to take a break here.

Shion: Do whatever you feel like doing.

Van: I'd like you to tell me your true feelings in secret, just the two of us.

Eiichi: I’ll escort you anywhere perfectly, if you entrust yourself to me.

(the listener mentions they feel lost)

Eiji: If you’re lost, it means there isn’t one definite candidate in your mind. It seems I'm not lagging behind everyone, I feel a little relieved.

Van: By the way, I’m the oldest here. How about going by seniority order starting with me?

Nagi: What?! We should do the opposite! Let’s start with Nagi!

Shion: The optimal way to do a comparative examination of each possibility…

Shion: Is to create, arrange, and compare materials that briefly describe the benefits of each proposal. This is the only thing that comes to mind.

Yamato: Yeah, no. I can’t do that. Let’s go with a different way of deciding.

Kira: How about a game of rock, paper, scissors?

Kira: When push comes to shove, I’ve never lost.

Eiichi: So we’re taking luck into consideration. Very well, I accept.

Van: Wait a second. It's not easy to decide by rock-paper-scissors either when there are seven of us.

Kira: Then let’s go with a game of Ghost Leg*, it’s also straightforward.

Translator's notes:

Known in Japan as 'Amidakuji', in a ghost leg lottery, one of several vertical lines is assigned to each participant, and horizontal lines, the "legs", are randomly connected between each vertical line. Everyone traces the path until the bottom. In this case, it would decide the order of who gets to be alone with Angel first.

[nerdlydelicious]

Phoenix my beloved? Feel free to rip and tear

Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Buckle up kids, we’re going for a ride.

Just gonna go ahead and say this now: Raven is a bitch and deserves no happiness, and Tai deserves better.

She had a husband that loved her, a team that was like family, and a little girl of her own. And what does she do?

She fucking runs off to go play bandit in the wilds of Mistral.

If it isn’t glaringly obvious, I despise Raven. She’s a coward that goes on and on about strength, but isn’t strong enough to be there for her family. She uses her ‘strength’ to abuse others along with her clan, robbing, pillaging, and murdering their way through Mistral, and leaving the survivors of whatever town they hit at the mercy of the Grimm that inevitably descend on them while the bandits make their get away. She is a horrible, awful person who threw away a chance at a good life with a loving family because she’s afraid of commitment, and if there’s any justice she’ll meet a violent end before RWBY is over.

Then of course there’s the fact that she helped Salem get the relic of knowledge to save her own skin, used Vernal as a decoy so no one would suspect who the real Spring Maiden, which would ultimately get Vernal killed (no great loss tho, tbh), and it is heavily implied if not outright confirmed that she murdered the previous spring maiden in cold blood to take the powers for herself.

But if the fact that Neopolitan got away scot free with everything she did (and boy do I have some thoughts about her) is anything to go by, Raven will probably be welcomed back into the fold with little to no issues because she wants to ‘make amends’ or some rot like that.

Why don’t you try making amends for Shion village you super bitch? Oh right, you can’t.

Because you and your clan murdered everyone there.

To clarify, I still find Raven an interesting character. I hate her, but in a ‘this character is really well written awful person way’ rather than a ‘this character is boring’ way. I can still find her interesting while wishing for her to die in a ditch from a gut wound, unloved and unremembered.

I know that turned into a rant about Raven, but honestly it’s the fact that she is such an awful person is why I don’t like Phoenix, or any Raven ship. She just doesn’t deserve happiness, and no one deserves to suffer by being with her (except maybe Cinder, but that’s for a different ask). She had her chance, and she threw it away.

But: I will still give the ship a 2/10 rating because A: Tai was happy with her, at least for a time, and B: we got Yang out of it. So there is at least some silver lining in these Raven dark clouds.

Also, complete side note here, but we never talk about the fact that Shion village was somewhere Jaune was familiar with. His family vacationed there in the past, he would have known people that lived there. He probably had friends there.

And now they’re dead. Because of Raven. I know it’ll never come up again, but I hope and pray we get something about that if Raven pops up in V10. Preferably just before she’s hanged for her numerous crimes against humanity.

And as another side note: this isn’t me attacking the asker. They specifically asked me to rip into Raven, and rip into her I did. I’m not gonna hate or be rude to anyone for liking a ship I don’t.

[singular-yike]

Fot the character asks, what do we know about Shion Enraku-Houlen (real legal name at this point, presumably)?

Ah it's been a while since the last one! Admittedly I've been avoiding doing one about Shion myself, since they're honestly a very straightforward character with not much to them.

Even so, there's certainly not nothing to talk about. So, here we go:

An Individual Born from the Aggregate — Shion

Name

First thing I can say, is that their name definitely isn't "Shion Enraku-Houlen" haha, it's simply Shion (シオン). This name is taken from the name of their parent-flower, the Harujion (ハルジオン).

Specifically, it's taken from the jion (ジオン) part. Though since the original word is a combination of haru (ハル) and shion (シオン), the rendaku (連濁) phenomenon which alters the voicing of shi to ji is not observed/reversed, hence Shion.

Origin: Last-minute Addition

Indeed one would quickly notice that Shion, unlike many other Len'en characters, seems rather thematically shallow, at least in terms of inspirations and references.

This is because Shion was never planned to be a major character in the first place, but is instead the logical conclusion of the presence of the Harujion in the story.

It's long been known that Fumikado was meant to be the original stage 6 boss of RMI, but was bumped down to stage 5 to make room for Shion.

While that was all we knew for the longest time, Kanae (JynX's Vtuber persona) revealed new information about the creation of Shion when asked about the creation process of Len'en characters. (Go give it a read, it's fascinating even ignoring the new Shion info.)

Kanae explains that the idea of a being born out of the Harujion had always been a character in his plans for RMI, though he never thought much about them other than being suited for stage 4 or 5.

However, as he actually worked on RMI and fleshed out the story, this "Harujion-spawn" got pushed all the way up to stage 6, and that's when the Shion we know and love started getting developed, as what Kanae describes as an "afterthought character".

Of course, that's not to say that they're a throwaway character that serves no importance to the story. JynX is nothing if not meticulous with the characters, and they earnt a spot alongside two of the protagonists of the series after all.

Rather, I think this story just goes so show that characters who were not originally meant to be that central to the story may still suddenly shoot up to prominence when the situation calls for it.

In any case, because of Shion being an "afterthought character", they're not really based on anything from real-life history or mythology, but is rather by-and-large a JynX-original creation. So, in the following parts, we can examine what this is about!

Shion, the Chimera Soul

The most important thing to note with Shion is their existence as a Chimera Soul, a conglomerate of souls that happened to fused together. This combined with the participation of the Harujion in their creation created this rather unique being.

Chimera Souls

First thing to note, is that Shion is in fact not the only chimera soul in Len'en! When the torrent of souls flooded in during RMI, many of them fused and combined to create tiny chimera souls.

This created these little guys:

They're simply called "ghosts" most of the time, cause fusion or not, that is fundamentally what they are. Souls that remain in the world of the living, hence, ghosts.

The Harujion's Participation

Shion is so unique compared to the little fellas because they're composed of many more souls, and that is thanks to the Harujion's participation in their creation.

Being a youkai flower that feeds on the life force around it grow, it also drew in the souls gathered by Fumikado and co. This allowed for a much higher number of souls to fuse together, thus creating a much more powerful being.

Shion's "Miracle of Flesh"

The Harujion's participation also caused a second anomaly, what I like to call the "miracle of flesh". Chimera souls are, by nature of their composite souls, dead, devoid of live.

Yet, thanks to the Harujion's ability to revive the dead, when Shion was created, half of these souls "came back to life" and formed a physical body, while the other half became the body's "spirit".

Good and Evil, Thrown Out of Balance

When this process was taking place, the good souls formed the body, while the bad souls formed the spirit. This should've lead to a balance, a "good" physical body containing and "evil" soul.

However, due to "the nature of the Mugenri Barrier", a majority of the souls could not firmly judge themselves to be "good". The "evil" souls of the spirit overwhelmed the "good" souls of the body, causing them to leak out into the open.

These are the purple, ghostly appendages that we see all over Shion, the torrent of evil souls that their body could not contain, overflowing into the outside world.

Below: Shion's BPoHC portrait as a playable character.

These souls take on different shapes from appearance to appearance, and all represent the myriad of souls that Shion is made up of, from animal to plant to insect to human.

Examples include the cat ear, bunch of grapes, red spider lily and butterfly wings in their original RMI appearance, and the dog ear and dragonfly wings in their BPoHC playable character appearance.

Soul-related Abilities

Shion has a number of soul-related abilities, unsurprising considering their origin, and chief among these is the ability to "absorb one's spirit and self", self here referring to the sense of self, the ego.

This of course refers to how they literally absorb and eat other souls as a form of sustenance. Additionally, they have the ability to see the colour and smell the scent of others souls, which they use to learn about a person's nature.

Shion's Ethical Dilemma

Shion is another one of those characters that are outwardly cheerful and carefree, yet upon closer inspection quite complex.

They are keenly aware of the fact that they are a composite of many souls, and firmly believes that what their souls say accurately reflects the world.

Due to the Mugenri Barrier making the souls unable to judge themselves as "good", and due to many of their voices claiming that the word is filled with malice, Shion came to firmly believe that both the word and they themself are fundamentally evil.

Because of this, and as demonstrated by their actions, it's fairly clear that Shion's moral compass points towards a rather wicked direction. Yet even so, Shion tries to do good, at least, their idea of good.

I always liked how this is demonstrated in their fight against the ??? Team in BPoHC, where the following exchange is had:

Hamee "If I erase you, I think Tsubakura-sama would be at least a little bit sad~." Shion "That's… a really twisted way of expressing love, isn't it." Hamee "Are you interested?" Shion "Shion-chan's quite fond of that way of thinking. Very well, let's fight." Hamee "That's our Shion-chan~! ♪ A cluster of malice! ♪" Shion "I'm not fond of the way you phrased that though…" Hamee "It's fine. Us malicious ones have to get along. ♪" Shion "Shion-chan might be a cluster of malice, but I'm no villain!"

It's a pretty interesting glimpse into their psyche, they relish in what is conventionally considered malicious, since malice is what they are. Yet they are unwilling to actually partake in it, to associate with people who are actively vile, like Hamee.

Admittedly, I have no clear way to reconcile this with Shion showing absolutely no remorse in eating people's souls. So I just have to concede that Shion still has a fundamentally different moral code compared to the average person.

Ending

And that's all I have! Admittedly not as much as one might've hoped, and I didn't touch on every single little thing that there is to examine, like their spell cards.

Often feel like many of us can benefit from taking a step and re-examining Shion's character and their unique existence, as well as what this means to them personally. Hopefully this was a good attempt at that.

Welp, that's the end of the end. Now that I've done this, I'll probably do one for the Harujion itself sometime in the future, so look forward to that~! As usual, I hope you enjoyed~! :)

[mxanigel]

new pinned post

Hi! I'm Ani (they/them), I'm a queer scientist, and I'm here to boost friends' creativity. Alas, I tend to panic over my own. I enjoy sending asks to support others' brainrot; I love getting asks, too. I tend to write about queer characters in my favorite universes where my blorbos can find a place they belong no matter what baggage they carry.

April 2024 update: Day Job has taken over my time (my life, really), so I'll be relatively quiet here and delayed in updating fanfic for a while.

Current fandoms: Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin), Pillars of Eternity, Umineko no Naku Koro Ni. (Forever fandoms include Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and the Legend of Heroes series.) Expect additional random content from various anime, manga, video games (like Potion Permit!), and novels. Plus lots of flailing reblogs showing off what others love. I like to ramble in the tags sometimes!

FYI, I'm making progress in Pillars of Eternity but am somehow still in Act 2 of my first BG3 run, so I am behind in my knowledge of these worlds, haha.

Main OCs I talk about here: Shion Miller (Attack on Titan), Natsuki (Pillars of Eternity), Vix Ternion (BG3), Neri Surana (Dragon Age), Lynn Shepard (Mass Effect), Winter Shepard (Mass Effect). Of these characters, I'm actively writing for Shion and Neri. I have a post to add/remove interest in being tagged for Shion's fic here. And this page offers a more detailed overview of my various OCs! This blog isn't always a positive space because real life is hard, but I strive to uplift others more often than not. My philosophy is people first: I adore seeing folx love on their favorite characters/ships/stories; I'm not here to take down real people for their tastes in fictional ones.

Ship art by the amazing @/lilithkb below~

OT3: what we have is each other (Hange/Levi/Shion, Attack on Titan)

OTP: what's unnamed still connects us (Neri/Anders, Dragon Age)

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Curse Killing Final Chapter

In the intro poem, Frederica Bernkastel talks about herself and several others being trapped in a maze. Of note, the person who knows they're in a maze but doesn't know there's no exit is referred to as "he". I guess "he" is Keiichi who's been trying for three arcs now to figure out what is causing all these terrible events.

Everyone else just lives their lives oblivious to the maze they're trapped in.

And the story as a whole has escalated from the death of a few friends to the death of several villagers to the death of the entire village.

On the one hand, shock would probably make it hard for him to process the situation even when he sees the body bags and the corpses packed into the trucks. On the other, I feel like the buildup to everything was longer than it should have been.

Like, it shouldn't have been gentle. We should have seen Mion or Rena's bodies being packed into a body bag. The story should have slapped us in the face and said 'Yes. Everyone is dead!" and then we get the shots of the hundreds of body bags and the news reports about the disaster.

And then Keiichi freaks out when he remembers that he wished for the death of Hinamizawa.

That one line from the personnel with Keiichi as he passed out "It's not okay for life to die", I don't know why, but it resonated with me.

And some things of note in the death list:

Jirou Tomitake is not his real name

Chie and Kameda (The guy from the baseball game) died in an accident in the mountains.

Teppei is still not reported dead

Shion and Kasai (Who we haven't met) died two months later at the hospital

The very last part of the chapter is like something you'd hear on a conspiracy theory true crimes podcast. A bunch of dudes would be talking about Hinamizawa and claiming it was some government conspiracy and the government killed all these people and claimed it was a gas leak cause government gonna government and this was actually to hide the aliens or something.

And then they'd bring up Keiichi and be all "There was one survivor Keiichi Maebara, who died four months later" "Of course, the government wants to keep him silent." "And he never testified about the disaster" "Oh he probably did but the government came in and stopped any testimony from getting out there." "Or so we thought cause in 2003, a tape recording believed to be an interview from November 1983 was found. Here is that recording."

I kinda want to see if it would be possible to trick an actual conspiracy podcast into thinking this was a real thing that happened.

I was going to mention this in the spoiler section until it got brought up in the chapter itself. Yeah, Keiichi should not be alive if Onigafuchi swamp released enough gas to asphyxiate an entire village. Carbon dioxide is heavier than air so it can be trapped in lower areas. And Keiichi was at the bottom of a ravine so the gas should have settled around there first.

And that reporter did not escape Keiichi's curse. It took 12 years but he drowned just as Keiichi said he would.

At this point those true crime podcasters would be freaking out and be like "Yo, this ain't aliens, it's ghosts! The governments trying to hide that they made contacts with ghosts!"

In chapter 5, Rena asked Keiichi how would he react if the village was destroyed in a volcanic eruption and he was the only survivor. She was trying to make him understand that he should cherish the fun times he has with his friends because those days will end eventually.

It's almost ironic what ended up happening though. An eruption did destroy the village, but it didn't mark the end of Keiichi's happy days. His happy days had already ended so he let the village be destroyed.

back

Spoiler Discussion

I'm making a lot of conspiracy jokes, but there is definitely one here.

Alongside what the interviewer mentioned in the chapter, I also want to bring up how Keiichi had apparently attempted suicide in August. Do you know what else happened in August? Shion committed suicide.

And isn't it interesting that Chie and Kameda died in an accident trying to evacuate from the disaster? People from the nearby area had to evacuate as well but isn't it quite the coincidence that someone from the village ended up dying in an "accident".

What I'm getting at is everyone connected to the village died. I bet Shion and Keiichi didn't attempt to kill themselves in August. Someone tried to get rid of them, but medical staff found Keiichi before he was killed.

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 5 Meakashi pt. 13

And now we're back to June 1983. An uneventful time to be had by all.

Romantic memory is doing a lot of heavy lifting. I never got the vibe at any point Shion thought Satoshi was cool.

Chekov's Stungun. Also priorities Keiichi?

I know I've railed against the silly moments in the narrative in the past, but I was genuinely happy to see them come back in this chapter. It's dumb as hell, but I thought this little speech of Keiichi's was funny.

As we all know.

Also it brought back the real heroes of the narrative: Tomita, and Okamura!

I love the fact that both Umineko and this have a line specifically calling out being confused and not fully getting the plot. Rather that it could be used in a fourth-wall breaking meta context anyway.

And so, this time around Shion and Keiichi meet because Shion knocked over the bikes and had to get saved. Shion doesn't much care for Keiichi because he's crass and more abrasive than the idealized memory of Satoshi that's crystalizing in her memory.

Shion and Mion then meet and talk about this new fella in Mion's life. And the opening part from chapter 2 gets recapped about how Keiichi hurt Mion's feelings by calling out her lack of femininity and giving the doll to Rena.

So, Shion seems to be vaguely aware that her demonic side is waking up. Probably not to justice though. Amusing as it would be I don't think Shion is Sparda. I don't think she would even be the Vergil to Mion's Dante. Boy that comparison doesn't work at all. The entire metaphor collapsed and died immediately. Sorry everyone.

I remember in Tatarigoroshi that Shion acted a bit more hostile to Keiichi when he mentioned the notion that Satoshi transferred. Not, outright swinging on the guy, but her body language implied she was a hairs breadth away from attacking Keiichi. She definitely hasn't taken Satoshi's disappearance well at all. But she seems to have just gone from zero to a hundred real quick in terms of being upset that everyone seems to have moved on or forgot about Satoshi.

One of the things I've noticed over the course of the series is that occasionally there will just be a very faint sound of jingling bells. Here, for instance it started around the sixth screenshot where she becomes aware of an extra footstep behind her. I'm trying to remember off the top of my head the other times it's happened, but I can't pinpoint any one moment. I just have a faint remembrance of them occurring throughout the chapters.

Also, as much as I dislike our current protagonist as a person, I do feel a slight bit of worry for her now that she's hearing the phantom footsteps as well. She might be a shit, but I don't think she deserves to die over it. Because, despite her hopes and dreams, I don't imagine these footsteps are going to bring her any thing good.

But still, Shion thinks that the extra footsteps means that Satoshi is with her in spirit, and so she proceeds to live with that particular delusion. I figure this part takes place a couple of days before Watanagashi 1983. Also the reason Kasai is there on that screenshot is because I was wrong about when the section break was about to happen, and so I had to take the shot with Kasai there.

Anyway, you lucky ducks, you're about to get a second Watanagashi in ONE chapter!

[olivereactsaboutgarbage]

Higurashi When They Cry - Watanagashi All-Cast Review Session

Okay so you may have noticed that my plan to post more consistently once again didn't work out.

Every time I think my life is done turning itself inside-out I end up being wrong, so: a Pologies to my Many Fans (4) because unfortunately a consistent posting schedule is forever beyond my grasp, and by extension yours

BUT! I was one post away from finishing Watanagashi. And that fact has honestly been bugging the crap out of me. So I'm just gonna write this one post real quick, after which point you'll go back to not seeing me for at least another month I suspect

So I don't really remember what happened in Watanagashi, but basically, Mion was the good guy, right? :)

Nah but in all seriousness, by which I mean in all copium, something I remember considering at the time is that like, making a green person listen to Toddlers being brutalized is only so cruel a punishment for a green person with no personal connection to those Toddlers. Like, there's a certain Cruelty Minimum there which no reasonable person would be especially inclined to exceed, but without any deep familiarity, the Cruelty Maximum can only get so high.

Anyway, Rena is once again glad I read Higurashi. Took her long enough to show a little gratitude, yeesh.

The Toddlers are pissed off again. Mion is reveling in being the center of attention. Good for her.

The Toddlers complain that this should have been a Toddler 01 arc instead of a Mion arc. Rena stares directly into the camera and says "Maybe some other time."

The Toddlers start talking about boobs. For some reason, this summons Camera. It summons Ooishi too, which is the worst tragedy in all of Higurashi.

Camera's girlfriend and Shion also show up, to up the ante from last time when there were only six guys. Keiichi doesn't show up, because he has to always be a punchline.

Toddler 02 uses her thumb to point at Camera and says "I'll have what she's having," while smirking.

Toddler 01 says "Thank god, Higurashi is solved now." Shion says "Yeah duh" Ooishi says "Yeah duh" Toddler 02 says "Haha yeah"

Rena gets increasingly uncomfortable.

Camera's girlfriend says "Y'all're dumbass bitches"

me in court

Mion says that the prior incidents definitely weren't an elaborate Sonozaki conspiracy because no crime family that smart would spontaneously get so stupid.

Rena, Toddler 01, and Ooishi say "Hooray! Team Supernatural Explanations wins!" I forgot that they had that team, but apparently they had that team.

Shion is like "Uh, NO, you dolts don't win, because, uh, it was all Me all along"

me and my friend when we're trying to drop subtle hints that we don't like someone

Everyone decides that it was an elaborate two-person scheme for Mion to make herself into an Absent Scapegoat so everyone would stop thinking about the various incidents. Toddler 02 doesn't think that's true. Camera's girlfriend is like "lol"

Everyone starts talking about how it doesn't make any sense why bad things keep happening to Keiichi.

Ooishi says that Keiichi must be the key to all of this, so Camera speedreads all of Higurashi in 0.00001 seconds to look for clues. He spots nothing.

The Toddlers say that Keiichi must be getting killed as retribution for being sexually aggressive towards Toddlers. "How enviable," says Camera. "Yeah, I wish I was him," says Ooishi.

...guys, stop...

That sounds really hard. I wouldn't bother if I were you...

Anyways that was nice. Goodbye forever

[kapisonozaki]

meakashi thoughts, part one, slide eight (+ a bit of watanagashi for context)

Of course, Shion is understandably too frightened to understand Mion’s good intentions. She’s lead to break her first nail, which she does successfully, but fails to fully complete her second nail. At this point, Shion starts freaking out because of the amount of pain and is unable to complete the rest by herself, which ultimately shows her selfish personality shining through, even when convincing herself that Satoshi would be able to remove his fingernails by himself. But more so, this is what marks her spiral into despair later on, as this event reveals to her how cruel and merciless people can be. Even when crying for her mother, Akane never once stepped in to save Shion, which is the real tragedy. From this point on, Shion isn’t the same. And yet, somehow this scene is even more tragic considering the epilogue, which will be talked about once we get there. After waking up, she revisits the toy store that she helped Satoshi preorder the bear from, but then Ooishi invites her to the station and reveals Satoshi’s status as missing. This marks the event where Shion starts to stop believing that Satoshi’s alive, as the information that Ooishi feeds her makes her slowly trust Satoshi’s return less and less, as she starts to create her own ideal of Satoshi in her own mind. It is also where she starts to create the preconception that the Sonozaki are behind the curse of Hinamizawa, and where she starts to hunt down the tragic “truth” that she created for herself out of despair, and where Mion and Shion’s beliefs on the truth really start to diverge and differentiate from each other. The irony is, she understood the truth the first time. Before becoming obsessed with the “truth,” she correctly guessed that the curses of Oyashiro were simply tragic coincidences, but only when she gave in to tragedy and believed that the truth had to be a sad one, did she lose sight of it. She lost her marble on the beach, was swept away to the mountains, and now can’t even remember what she was looking for in the first place, as the Meakashi poem aptly describes. Later on, she agrees to make a deal with Ooishi regarding info related to the case, who of course is a fellow believer in the Sonozaki culprit theory, and her paranoid mental state is far from helped by Takano’s theories and scrapbooks. After that, Mion visits Shion, and Shion refers to Mion as her alter ego, which is some very interesting foreshadowing, as it reveals how Shion is slowly, but surely, starting to dissolve the gap between her and “Mion,” as well as showing how Shion is starting to clutch on even more to her idea of being “Mion” as coping mechanism with how tragic and out-of-control the recent events in her life has been. They engage in small talk, and Shion remarks on how different Mion is now that MIon doesn’t have to torture her. Another phrase is uttered that both foreshadows Mion and Shion’s relationship as younger and older twin and shows how “Mion Sonozaki” is just a persona, albeit one that Mion takes incredibly seriously, even though Shion notes that she would’ve done the same. Mion asks about Shion’s fingernails, and Shion displays them, noting that she was sneering while doing so, which obviously shows her hatred of Mion is still far from gone. Shion decides to accept Mion’s apology, but only if she stops apologizing after this since once she starts, she never stops, also tragically foreshadowing the 1000 apologies from Mion later on. But when Mion mentions how she wonders where Satoshi could’ve disappeared to, that promise is instantly broken, with Shion still under her “truth” that the Sonozaki family is behind everything. Shion notes how they’re one in the same, and how revealing their expressions to each other meant revealing their hearts, but this is clearly a coping mechanism on Shion’s part, which stems from the loneliness she feels now that Satoshi is gone, since even Shion herself notes how obviously angry she was becoming.

[qu33nincrims0n]

My Dumb Thoughts on Higurashi- Watanagashi Part 2

a continuation of my reaction to Watanagashi. you can find part one and my Oni reaction at #dumb-thoughts-series

Ch2-6

You know a chapter's gonna be good when it starts with sad music.

Oh, wow you’re right Keiichi, that was a quick day.

STOP! Keiichi, stop it. You sound like Kaname Date. You’re doing something wrong with your life.

(in all seriousness, I don’t care too much, just finding it wild how extreme it is compared to Oni)

Full on rom- com moment.

TOMITAKE!!!!!! Oh how I’ve missed you.

*me realizing I never gave Tanako a voice* oh um uhhhh – F it, you’re British now!

Ohhhhh! I got tricked cause they swapped the opposite way from what I thought! So the key thing was likely a trick for Mion to meet him as Shion, thus giving context to how she could do the huddle thing and her talk with Ooishi. Also, super recontextualizes the who would you save discussion. (Maybe the bento was Mion too, but not super sure until they confirm it).

Yeah, I guess closed off elitists could come to be interpreted as oni by neighbors… I can tell you my neighbor is! *slaps knee*

I agree with Keiichi {{shudders}}, not sure how the kidnapping= specifically someone from Hinamizawa is the culprit. Like abstractly the Oyashiro-Sama sacrifice, sure, but that seems flimsy.

“Babe you don’t understand, they were giving me the deep lore!”

Tip on sacrifice: hmm well following that logic, it would seem some part of the murders is what’s angering Oyashiro-Sama…

Tip on ritual instruments: Ah so Tanako’s gonna steal the raft thing eh? That sounds like a good idea that can’t have any possible repercussions.

Happens to see the New Silent Hill F trailer on Twitter: Wait WHAT?!

Congrats Ryukishi07. Hope it comes out well. (also, no wonder Ciconia is taking so long)

Ch 2-7

The gang single handedly destroys and immediately saves several food vendors. Ramsey would be proud.

And just like clockwork, Keiichi has become an idiot sandwich.

That moment when you realize you’re in a secluded cabin with a person you barely know and a metric ton of torture equipment:

I know the gang’s about to jump you, but this is one of the few times you should legit be comforting Shion, like that’s not the kind of thing you can just shake off dude. Also, I give the Silver voice back as a good luck charm. (I’m gonna headcanon that the Sonozaki family has a “hedgehog” accent, but Shion has been slowly losing it)

“We haven’t found Satoko yet.”

NO Nonono you don’t get to do that game.

The minute Keiichi tries to lie to them, the gang’s like:

Police Tip: I swear if they sautéed Satoko… don’t do my kid dirty like that.

Went back to Oni to see if I missed a mistake from Rika’s performance, but instead got real uncomfortable with how much they referenced and compared food with the cotton

Ch 2-8

Mion and co. are late for school. You could say they… Gotta go fast :)

Woo! Satoko is safe and still twerp-y as ever.

Mion on the sauce!

Mion looks at you like this WDYD?

 Ah Mion came from the school of “I know you’re lying but I want you to tell me”

Mion crime family confirmed! And as the heir no less.

Tomitake and Tanako can’t catch a break, can they?

Oh, wow Keiichi you are just the worst. Coulda just asked if she wanted to run away but noooooo. It had to be about you.

Who the hells Kimiyoshi?

*Five minute later*

Oh, that’s Kimiyoshi. Honestly kinda surprised Rena and Satoko’s families weren’t part of the big three, especially since I swore Furude Was mentioned as separate earlier. (turns out it was the Furude shrine and the three fam squads.)

Sorry Keiichi, you're apparently not politically important enough to disappear.

Ch 2-9

Hey I’m with you Satoko. Pumpkins… kinda gross.

The class has started the first japan Branch of the Fight Club…. Wait a minute. That works way better than it should.

“Rika-chan… I…”

Keiichi: Who be… Scooby-Doo?

Hm, I wonder what the chances are Rena was in Mion’s street gang, since I think she still would have been in Hinamizawa then?

 Shion: having a guilt-ridden mental breakdown

Keiichi:

 Tip: Oh, so everyone already knows they’re just being polite, are they?

Ch 2-10

NO! You can’t do this again.

I had a feeling that kind of thing was going on with Satoko’s family, but it’s pretty uncool of you to say it like that Mion.

Oooo, new BGM.

Keiichi, why must you be weird even when you’re mourning?

I thought for sure this convo was going to have Rena be like “It’s not your fault Keiichi… because I killed her  🙂”

Kuma-chan: ~Ooishiiiii~ did you make someone piss themselves in your car again??

Tip about Names: *quickly goes into Oni to see if “Reina” is written with the demon character*

Permission Denied tip: oh shoot! I prepared for Oryou to have an Amy voice, but now there’s another Sonozaki I have to deal with? I guess the councilman is knuckles? Sure. (and incase anyone says anything Keiichi is unofficially Shadow so councilman Sonozaki can’t be Shadow)

Ch 2-11

*Mion not showing up for school*

Keiichi: Oh, it’s probably nothing

Keiichi, please for the love of god…

You absolute dumb-dumb

Wow Rena’s a true-blue detective.

I feel like we’re past suspecting someone from Hinamizawa Rena.

Who would they meet to go get soy sauce, and not be suspicious about food from? Well thinking about the cast the only person I can think of is Mio—

Oh no.

Oh No! Keiichi’s been infected by Rena’s repetition disease, repetition disease.

Keiichi… the phone ringing…Stop Monologuing in real time and pick it up! He is so Shadow.

Another surprisingly rad new BGM… not sure how well it fits here but I like it.

They really just hit me with a

Okay… so Shion is probably killing/disappearing the leaders one by one so they can’t make her/ Keiichi disappear, and she’s probably been Pretending to be Mion since the day after Watanagashi. That’s my guess.

Tip about tattoo: Aw excellent Now all we have to do is look at their bac-…Curses! if only they weren’t always directly facing us!

Ch 2-12

Rena, you have been surprisingly reliable this timeline. Thank you for keeping keiichi humble.

I hate how much this conversation hurts.

I’m honestly surprised how straight forward this reveal is.

The true Mion… weirdly looks like Shion. Like they clearly used one of Shion’s face sprites for this.

This is a lot of really depressing history.

So you’re saying Mion’s Grampa soylent greened a whole bunch of people either on accident or on purpose.

Worst timing on an achievement ever. * Mion tracing the horrid history of discrimination and trials of the village and her part in them*

I can’t believe so much of this is because of a freaking doll (supposedly) 

Keiichi gets to live by the power of sheer sincerity.

I can’t believe they brushed over that she killed her grandma too. Wonder what that was for.

Hey at least you got to live this time buddy… dammit.

This is straight up Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Oh, wait, not dead. Yay.

For the first time in his life, Wata Keiichi has turned down being horny… I’m so ProUD OF HIM

They even had their own secret version of the swamp. That’s dedication.

So Rika had a syringe of the magic drug, meaning she likely knew it was Mion doing this, and that she was risking her life. *Sips lemonade with suspicion*

A lotta zombies running around this joint, aren’t there. Like Mion could be explained as a mental breakdown from Shion, but Takano doesn’t have a twin as far as we know.

Oh, hey it’s a Silent Hill Regret MonsterTM. It’s in a hospital and everything!

AFTER PARTY

Satoko! You’re safe now!! I’m so happy.

“There’s probable a Satoko chapter coming up”

 *sweats looking at the next chapter*

Oh and here’s TOMITAKE!!! Ayyyy!!!

Why must the adults be so weird about the gang? Why?

“This chapter played right into what the players probably were thinking” 

That said, I did think with this being so early, it does kinda make it unlikely to be the answer at least not for everything. Mion was very careful to say she was related to every murder, but not that she did them afterall. 

God the Sonozaki twin theory is worded so weirdly, but I think I get it. The theory is that they were working together to take down the three fam squads, w/ Shion able to go off and murder while Mion was helping search. Then when the police came Mion was supposed to either hide in the well, later escaping to meet up with Shion, or die there and let the bloody history end.

Also no, he got stabbed because he was a shit to Mion, like What? Is the sin breaking a heart?

I can’t believe this over 70 hour game has the nerve to tell you to go back and read chapters again immediately after each one. (Maybe I’ll look at Oni again after I finish Chapter 4, but that’s a maybe)

I kinda hope that the killer is not only a person, but someone we’ve already met. Like even if it's set up really well, I don't want the ultimate answer to be “Got you!  The entire time it was a demon you only just met” *narrows eyes at the girl on the chapter 7 cover*

Well this was fun. I enjoy all the pieces Wata puts down, even if I missed a lot of them. 

My one question that I’m not sure the game will cover is the point of divergence for the timelines, because like how did Keiichi come to be in the club at least three days before Oni

Also I feel extremely validated by the fact Keiichi never returned the maid outfit.

[taro-ki]

Last thought of Izana Kurokawa

Writer warning: first published pls be nice🥺💀, English is not my first language pls leave my knowledge of english unspoken

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I remember from movies how people were used to see short clips from their lives,

I thought when people were dying they were dying and they didn’t have a time to think of anything otherwise then how to stay alive a bit longer, but usually they were thinking of their families or loved ones.

I think I get it now, lying on the ground I wasn’t thinking of my ,,mother,, or my family which I never met and I regret that I never actually meet them.

No. I was thinking of my friend, one and only friend, my real brother. How I miss days when I use to run to him to show some stupidest thing ever or how I get a good grade from school which doesn’t matter now or ever will, but in that time I was so proud of myself that I had to tell someone about it, because we were kids.

I remember how I was saying that I don’t care about school, that i’m gonna rule the biggest gang in whole Tokyo so school wasn’t very important to me, but some how I managed to get a good grade.

I don’t think that I regret anything in my life it was pretty short ,but maybe i should regret that I never actually thanked Kakucho for being there for me,be more grateful, when I found out that I didn’t really had a family. I constantly think that he was smarter than me.

He said that what made family is not a blood lines, and what made is love, respect and trust, in that time I remember that I didn’t wanted to listen. Deep down I knew that he is right. He repeated it that we are your family.

We? In that moment I was thinking as hard as never, who he means. Then I realized that he was talking about guys from Tenjiku. I couldn’t believe that he really was thinking that Haitanis with theirs stupid matching tattoos , weak Shion that wouldn’t win without brass knuckles , Mucho which betrayed toman and Mikey for our kingdom and Mochi that never says much, about himself just following the orders, were supposed to be my family.

That surprised me, I have never seen them as my family. More much as my soldiers, I don’t know, but king dose not care about his soldiers. He send them on war without less care. Maybe I never actually show them any care or affection, but I do care. Maybe it was the time I spend with them , in juvie and normally, it made me think that I actually have someone I can depend on, be sure of help.

I regret, I killed my sister, we weren’t related but she was my sister ,person I should protect not cause her death. I think I felt it when she died that I gone pay for this. And maybe i deserves this, but when I saw how the gun was aimed at Kaku, pulling him off the line from fire was like a reflex, i needed to do that ,even if it costed me my life.

Because if I wouldn’t it means that I totally failed as a brother. I am an arrogant person but as much as I do not want him to be dead , I want him to die with me. Dying is so lonely.

I think that if time could go back I would do a same thing

I felt like my mind is getting blurry,my eyes watering. I don’t want to die, I don’t want to leave him alone, who is going to protect him.

But I know that I will never see him again, because his hand is warm and mine is not. And I knew that his not going with me.

~Are you swear to me your loyalty and follow my orders~I giggles like a 9 years old which I was.

~till death~he smiled and make this move like soldier

Everything is slowly getting so quiet and peaceful, that I couldn’t even feel his hand on mine. My eyes were closing but not on their own.

I never feared of death, until now when I don’t see, don’t feel, don’t hear anything. I don’t want to go, I want to stay with him

Please

[rwby-redux]

Something that has always bothered me in canon. Travel in the real world is expensive. And I would assume that grimm attacks would make travel in Remnant MORE expensive. Yet Jaune’s family somehow has enough money to make regular camping trips to Shion Village a thing from wherever they lived (don’t get me started on how we have gone have way across the world and only run into one family member. Just where does his family live?) And yet he was still sheltered enough to not know what Aura is? It’s the type of thing that makes one ask questions about his home life despite how much he told us. And while I would love to believe they thought these details out, Occam’s Razor suggests that they just didn’t think about said details enough.

Anyways. I am wondering what your thoughts on this is and if you have any ideas on how to address it?

You’re completely right to think it’s weird! Because it is weird.

Aura isn’t some obscure resource exclusively used by Huntsmen—it’s a basic component of biology in this universe. That’s like not knowing what a kidney is. If Jaune grew up in a large city, then there’s an all-but-guaranteed chance he would have encountered at least one person with an unlocked Aura, just because of urban population density. If he grew up in some remote, isolated community, then there’s even less of an excuse for him not knowing what Aura is, because we’re explicitly told people who live far away from the major kingdoms need to know how to fight in order to not die. A character says as much in the second episode of Volume 2.

Blake: I was raised outside the kingdoms. If you can’t fight, you can’t survive.

No amount of hand-waving can justify him not knowing a fundamental concept of this setting. Especially one that’s non-negotiable for surviving.

Harris Brewis (Hbomberguy) talks about that issue here, and to summarize: Jaune is basically an audience surrogate character. He’s deliberately written to be ignorant, so that way, the show has an excuse to let Pyrrha explain the concept to him (and by extension, us).  

Not to go on a tangent here, but Jaune’s obliviousness really does underpin the issue with his character. If Jaune was so enamored with his family’s history of being legendary warriors, and aspired to uphold their legacy, then why does he not know the first thing about fighting? Look at Ruby and Yang—they both come from a family of skilled fighters, and wanted to undertake similar career paths. But unlike Jaune, they started preparing when they were young, and by the time they’re ready to enroll at a formal academy, they’ve been suitably trained and educated.

Jaune’s incompetence, in both combat and know-how, makes his decision to attend a Huntsman Academy seem like it was last-second. Like, why does he want to be a Huntsman? Why is living up to his family’s legacy so important? Why didn’t he try to enlist at one of the prep schools before applying to Beacon, so that way he was prepared? What are his motives?

Sorry. Jaune’s character is a sore spot for me, and it’s hard to resist taking potshots.

I know you were rhetorically asking about his family, but you might be interested to hear that I did come up with an explanation for it in the Redux. Along with an answer for why he forged his way into Beacon, and why he was so underprepared. And why Ozpin allowed it.

But to address your main question, regarding travel, infrastructure, and the feasibility of both:

The first thing I need to talk about is how I redesigned the majority of cities within the Redux. In the present day, Remnant has a global population of about 350,000,000 people, roughly distributed between 51 cities and towns. A little less than half of those cities are megacities, with populations that exceed 10 million.

While there’s a large degree of variety between them in terms of architecture and layout, functionally, most of the cities are similar to Ba Sing Se.

A thematic map of Ba Sing Se, an Earth Kingdom city in Avatar: The Last Airbender. | Source: Inkarnate.

The canon toyed with this idea back in V1, when we see Roman Torchwick studying a map of Vale’s capital. Vale is divided into various “districts”—commercial, residential, agricultural, and industrial—but the layout always felt kind of janky to me.

Like, why are the commercial and industrial districts so far away from where people live? How do people get to and from their jobs? Does the city have robust public transport—like trains and buses—in order to reduce traffic and commute times? As far as I can recall, the inner-city roads are predominantly used by cars (V2.E4). Actually, thinking back on it, I’m pretty sure that trains have only been used for intercity travel.

The SDC cargo train that passes through Forever Fall in the Black Trailer.

The subway that connects Vale’s capital and Mountain Glenn (V2.E11 - 12).

The passenger train that Oscar takes to Mistral’s capital (V4.E12).

The Argus Limited, which connects Mistral’s capital to Argus (V6.E1).

To date, the only city that has any sort of inner-city public transport is Argus. (And even then, we have no confirmation of whether or not it has to share the street with other vehicles.)

It’s just so bizarre, that in cities which are so densely populated out of necessity (due to a shortage of space not inhabited by Grimm), cars seem to be the default transport. Ba Sing Se’s layout addresses this problem by having a vast network of monorails that are free to the general public, thus freeing up the streets for people to use. (An issue which this post here does a great job discussing.)

The cities in the Redux are similar in that their layouts are optimized to make public transport efficient and accessible, while conserving space for day-to-day living. Most of the major cities have agricultural districts (just like in the canon), but they also have large parks and ecological zones that are safe for leisure and recreation. Jaune’s family wouldn’t need to travel all the way to Shion just to go camping.

Mind you, while all cities have public transport, not all public transport uses roads. Several cities in Mistral, for example, rely on airships and gondola lifts for getting around. There’s also a city in Eastern Vale called Petrichor, which is spread out across numerous islands within a lagoon. Public transport there consists primarily of waterbuses similar to the vaporetti used in Venice.

Now, as for the roads between cities, things are a little different. For starters, there aren’t a lot of them.

A (tentative) map of intercity roads across Remnant. Dark blue lines are the “main” roads; light blue lines are “minor” roads. Note: This map excludes rail lines, airship routes, and waterways.

With a handful of notable exceptions, virtually all inhabited settlements (both towns and cities) are located along these roads. The dark blue lines represent the major or “great” roads, which are directly connected to each country’s respective capital. Minor roads are depicted here in light blue, and are considered off-shoots that link out-of-the-way places to the great roads. These roads exist to primarily accommodate vehicles, although they can be traversed on foot. Why you’d want to, though, I have no idea, since these roads are technically outside of the safe zones of the settlements.

Roads are maintained by the governments of each country. Usually, the stretch of distance between settlements isn’t huge, so the roads (when broken up into individual segments) aren’t nearly as long as they look.

The main thing protecting these roads are the outposts, which are strategically placed along them. The Huntsmen stationed at outposts are trained to intercept and respond to distress signals, either from individual travelers, or (in the case of an emergency) from settlements at risk of being overwhelmed by Grimm. Without the CCTs (which made communication widespread and immediate), these outposts wouldn’t be nearly as effective.

The outposts were primarily created to give Huntsmen access to resources besides the academies. Plus, access to places where they could regroup and better coordinate themselves as needed. Part of that idea came from common sense, but the idea of them also existing to protect roads was somewhat inspired by the tambos and qullqas of the Inca road system.

On a parting note: Vale used to exclusively employ anyone with a speed Semblance as a courier. They were a lot like the chasquis of the Inca Empire.

[thewritetofreespeech]

Words: 5000+

Rating: M

Pairing: Benimaru (TSSK) x Reader

Summary: You were husband & wife in name only.

AO3

The moon was bright & crisp in the sky over Rimuru. Even without your candle light, you would probably be able to see clearly into your mirror as you brushed out your hair, preparing for bed. It had been a challenging day.

Keeping Shion and Shuna from destroying their Lord with their love was a full-time job sometimes. Being the buffer between them was sometimes more than your poor human body could take; a fact Rimuru-sama was often concerned about. You usually brushed it off with a ‘better me than you’ remark as his peril would be far more of a detriment to others than you, but appreciated his concern. Besides, neither ogre-ess would intentionally hurt you. Worst you’d ever come away with before was a good goose egg from Shion swinging around Hercules’s willy-nilly and caught you in the back of the head. It was an accident, and she could have easily crushed your head like a melon, but Shion still cried for almost 3 days after every time she saw you in apology.

You chuckle a little at the memory. How wonderfully problematic your life had become in this past year. You wouldn’t call it ‘blissful’. It had it’s challenges like most. But your life taken an interest, wonderful turn that had led you to this life you wouldn’t trade anything for. You were safe. You were loved. You were a respected person when just some months ago you were nobody and nothing. How quickly the world turns.

A knock at your door halted the comb in your tresses and you look up surprised by the sound. “Who is it?” You ask. Curious who would be at your door so late at night.

“It’s me.” Your eyes blink in surprise as you hear the familiar deep timber of Benimaru behind the frame. “May I come in?”

You stammer out a reply of ‘one moment’ as you adjust yourself to make your appearance more presentable and told him to come in. It was embarrassing to have him see you in your night clothes. But if he was coming here so late at night, it must be important. Your husband never came to your chambers this late at night.

The title of ‘husband’ was in name only. You and Benimaru were not romantically involved, nor had you chosen each other completely of your own free will. He had saved you, along with Rimuru-sama and the rest of the Kijin, when they defeated the great bandit army that had been sweeping the east. Once just thugs of human and monsters alike, they had grown into a real threat in the land taking anything they please. Money. Goods. Women. When they came to your small village, they had burned it down and had taken you with them when they left. You were their prisoner and slave for nearly two months before Rimuru-sama and his band had come along.

You still remember seeing them for the first time. Bright and regal. A peasant before being a slave, you had never seen such fine strange clothes before. Nor the impending presence of the man in front of you when he’d come upon you.

“I claim this woman as my own.” They were the first words he’d ever said to you. Then he picked you up over his shoulder and carried you away with his band while the smoldering embers of the great bandit army died out in the distance.

 At first, you thought it was all going to be the same. One capture was no different than the last; though you were a little concerned about an ogre being your master than a human. But how much worse could it be? The last human captor you had had been a true monster. Being owned by a real one could not be that different. Or at least that was what you thought at first.

The ogres and Rimuru-sama had been impossibly kind. They tended to your wounds from your long capture. Gave you a place to sleep. Clothes. Fed you, although there was some debate on which ogre-ess’s cooking would ‘best suit you’, and treated you as an equal. You were incredibly moved by their generosity. They were even willing to take you home. And when you told them “I have no home” they seemed genuinely hurt by that.

You of course explained to them what happened, and realized now that you really had no place to go. You thought you would die in the bandit camp. So the thought had never crossed your mind where you would go should your imprisonment be over. You were lost and alone in the world. No money. No home. No family. Even if you left, who was to say you wouldn’t be taken up by another group who found your helplessness easy pickings? Or worse, going to that life on your own because you had no other choices…..

“You’re staying here.” Benimaru had announced, much to the surprise of everyone. “You’re my woman now, remember? I defeated those fools and claimed you as my prize. This is your home now. You’re staying here.”

There was a loud commotion from the group as they all thought he had been joking but, apparently, he wasn’t. While the energetic group argued, you looked at Benimaru critically and realized what he was doing. He knew that if you didn’t belong to someone, you could easily be taken by another. If not the remanences of the great bandit army, but someone else; as you feared. Being his woman, letting him lay claim, offered you protection you couldn’t afford on your own. “Ok,” you’d told him. Your soft voice somehow ringing out over the crowd.

Rimuru-sama had of course forbade his general from ‘keeping’ a woman. He said if he wanted to do this, he would have to do the honorable thing and marry you. It had been surprising how quickly he agreed. Then asked if you would be alright with it and you’d said yes. You had been married the next day, and were then husband & wife, and that was the end of it.

Your married life was that of about the same as anyone else in the close group. You weren’t intimate. You didn’t share secrets or stories. You didn’t even sleep in the same quarters of the estate. Aside from a few group outings, communal meals, and when he popped in on Shuna when you were around, you honestly rarely saw your ‘husband’.

Which was why it was so surprising he was here now, at this late hour.

“What is it Benimaru-sama? Is something wrong?” You ask, looking up at him from where you’d been sitting on the floor before he sat down too. His expression was placid, so it was hard to tell if something was going on.

“The envoy from Blumund is leaving tomorrow.” His eyes fixed on the hardwood under your knees.

“Yes, I know. He told me. He’s a little hard to miss.” You reply with a soft chuckle.

The envoy in question was a nice man. Tall, lean. A little bit older than you, but still a jovial person. Rimuru-sama had set you with the important task of keeping him company and being his escort during his stay. His immediate council in the Kijin were nice, but they sometimes lack the social grace or understanding of human culture. He didn’t want to offend the man and trusted you could keep him company during his stay.

“He’s rather taken with you.” Benimaru then stated. Taking you a bit by surprise. “He wants to take you back to Blumund with him.”

Your bit of surprise turned into full blown shock. “W…What are you talking about??”

“He wants to take you back to Blumund with him.” He repeated. As if somehow that made you understand completely. “He said he thinks you’re very beautiful, and charming, and that it would be a better fit for you to live among humans, rather than here in Rimuru with none of them. He talked to Rimuru-sama about this.”

“And Rimuru-sama told you about this?”

“I was there.” Benimaru stated after he shook his head. “He asked for us to severe our bond so you could go with him. So you could marry him.”

Your eyes probably bug out of your head now. Were you being proposed to by proxy by your own husband?!?

“How could he ask such a thing?!”

“Like I said, he’s taken with you.”

“That’s not the point! How am I supposed to marry someone else when I’m already married?!”

“He knows our marriage isn’t consummated.” His eyes finally look up to catch yours.

You feel your whole body turn red. Now you have to look away to stare at the floor. It was true. Your marriage wasn’t consummated. It had been something done to offer you protection and stability. It had never been about love. So you have never laid with your husband as he wished to respect your virtue. “How crude.” You mutter. Embarrassed, more than anything, as you were sure people knew about your unclaimed marriage, but no one would dare bring it up until now.

“Do you want to go with him?”

You look up again and offer a soft noise of surprise at the question. “Do you want to go with him?” He repeated. “As you said, he’s a good man. He has fortune, and power. You’d be a respected woman among your people. You’d be among your people.” Maybe you imagined it, but you thought you saw Benimaru wince at that. “You don’t have to stay here anymore. You don’t have to stay with me. You’re established enough now to make your own choices. You can be free.”

Free? The word played over in your head for a moment. The sheer concept completely foreign to you at the moment.

You’d never been free. First you belonged to your family. Then the bandits. Then Benimaru. Though you had freedom on occasion, you had never been truly free. And now that you had it, you found the idea ironically suffocating. You could choose to leave. Leave Rimuru City and start a new life as a woman of prominence in Blumund. But what if you didn’t want to leave?

“D…Do you want me to leave?” The kijin looked up at you again with a confused expression at your soft words. “If you want me to leave I will. But…I don’t want to leave all of you. I love being here, and being with Shion, and Shura, Rimuru-sama and….you. My ‘people’ have never been kind to me, so I really don’t want to go back to them. I want to stay here. We don’t have to be married anymore, if that’s the problem. We can still break our bond, if that’s what you want. But I’d like to – “That’s not what I want!”

Your eyes flicker up. Startled by the red Kijin’s roar and the burning fire resting in his eyes. “I don’t want to break our bond! I don’t want you to go with him! Do you have any idea how hard it was not to tear that man’s head off at the table when he said that?! I wanted to gouge his eyes out for saying you were beautiful! I wanted to rip out his heart out for ever letting you rest in it! You’re my woman, and my wife, and he thinks he can just say those things to me and live! He should kiss Rimuru-sama’s feet before he leaves because he’s the only reason that wretch is still breathing!”

Silence passed between you for a moment as you were completely stunted into speechlessness by Benimaru’s words. You had never expected such a passionate response out of the man. Until now, you were sure his only feelings toward you were ambivalence and mild friendship. The way he just ‘my wife’ to you, however, let you know that he had thought of this more than just a marriage of convenience. Your body flushed hot again as your heart beat hammered in your chest. “Benimaru….sama?”

“Don’t go with him.” The kijin repeated. Calmer this time as his expression seemed to morph into sadness at the thought of you leaving. “I can’t stand the idea of you leaving with him. When we first met, and I took you as my woman & wife, I will admit that I did it out of pity for you. You lost everything, and had nothing. I know what that’s like and wished to spare you. I thought that, after a few months, you would have a good enough reputation as the former wife of the Ogre Prince, Commander of the Jura forces, that we could break our bond honorably and you could make your own path in the world without fear. But, as time went on, I became more and more attached to you. Your kindness in spite of everything you endured. Your determination. Your desire to work hard to make things better for everyone here. I grew to fall in love with you and I couldn’t let you go. I know it was selfish, and that I’m being selfish now, but please don’t go.”

Your heart was still hammering so hard in your chest that you were scared you might faint. You felt like you could swoon at any moment. “Why didn’t you ever tell me this before?”

He looked down and started to fidget. “I was afraid you wouldn’t feel the same.” His confession less confident this time. “You weren’t really given much of a choice in our marriage. I was afraid that you thought of me as just another man who had taken you. If you didn’t feel the same I could live with it, but knowing was – “That’s not true!”

It was Benimaru’s turn for his eyes to flicker up and be stunned by your confession. Apparently you had more in common than you thought. “I’ve never thought of you that way! If anything, I’ve only ever seen you as my rescuer. You saved me from a horrible existence as a slave. You gave this life that is so wonderful. With friends, and people I can’t live without anymore. I can’t begin to repay you.  Or tell you how I feel….”

All these feelings and emotions were rushing to the surface now the more you spoke. You had always been fond of Benimaru. Your strong, brave protector. You just assumed that he wanted nothing to do with you. The distance he put between you making it very clear. So you had pushed your feelings toward the back of your heart. Forgetting them until now, where they crashed to the front like a dam had burst.

“[Y/N]….” You look up into the red head’s eyes when he said your name. Whispered it, really, like it was some secret plea. His hand then reached out slowly to cup your cheek. Those battle calloused hands incredibly gentle against your skin. You really might swoon at the juxtaposition.

Those burning red orbs look at you in earnest before they flicker down to your lips. A silent request. One you eagerly receive.

The only time you had kissed your husband before this was at your wedding. To seal your bond. That, however, had been just a simple peck on the lips to meet the contract. This was a real kiss. Your lips pressing together in committed passion. Intense, but both of you still too shy it seemed to go past pressing your lips soundly together.

“[Y/N],” Benimaru said again as you press your foreheads together after your kiss. You don’t ever think you’ve heard your name sound so sweet. “Become my woman and my wife. Truly. You didn’t get a choice when we first met, but I ask you this now to make your own decision. Will you be mine?”

Your heart swelled unbearably tight in your chest before you nodded against his forehead. “Yes. Yes, I want to be your woman and your wife. Truly.”

You can feel the smile on his lips when he kissed you again. More deeply this time. His tongue snaked into your mouth against yours. The way he was kissing you making your legs feel weak to the point that you were happy you were sitting down. However, if they had buckled, your strong husband could easily pick you up in his arms. A shiver racing down your spine at the lewd thought that had just passed through you.

“Aah…I knew it. This is why I stayed away from you.” Benimaru said, finally letting you go. Your lips were kiss swollen now, and you were having a hard time understanding what he was talk about. “Every time I was near you, I wanted to claim you.” He explained. His expression looking deliriously happy as he examined his handiwork on your lips. “It was so hard to even be in the same room as you with your scent always hounding me every moment I was near. I had to stay away so I wouldn’t do anything horrible to you. But then that was its own torture as well. Near, apart. Both were an agony I couldn’t face somedays. Now that I have you though, I’ll never let you away from my side. You’ve summoned the beast in me. I hope you’re prepared.”

A loud squeak left your lips as the sneaky ogre flipped you. Instantly going from sitting on your ankles to flat on your back. Your world righted again and was filled with Benimaru as he leaned on top of you. His expression soft but heated, making you blush, before he kissed you again. His weight on top of you now making you moan wanton into the kiss this time.

Your world was filled with passionate kisses. They steal your breath away and make you squirm under your husband. You then feel his hands on your side. Touching you. Caressing your curves. You feel them fumbling around for your kimono tie, unwilling to let your lips go for even a moment to get to it properly, and place your hand on his chest.

“Benimaru, wait.”

The kijin stopped instantly and sat back off you. His eyes questing into your own to see what was wrong.

“I just….I thought I should…I mean we never…I’m not…” You stumble over the words to say to him. To explain that you weren’t the maiden he might have hoped for. The words cling in your throat as images of your former life flash across your mind. You feel unworthy. Dirty. Then his hand reached out to you brush your cheek again. Causing one of the tears that were welling up in your eyes to fall against it.

“That doesn’t matter to me.” He said with assurity and a softness that could only be described as love. “It doesn’t change how I feel about you. I love you as you are now. Not who you could be. My only regret is that I couldn’t kill those bastards 100 times more over for ever having hurt you.”

You scoff out a chuckle at the violent decree said so sweetly. You hand came up to clasp his own. “I don’t want to disappoint you.”

“You could never disappointment.” He replied, almost instantly. Then kissed your hand as he brought it to his lips once he removed it from your cheek. “Do you wish to stop? We don’t have to do this now. I can be satisfied with you declaring you want to be my woman and my wife. Well….contented.”

You chuckle again, more light hearted this time, and leaned in to initiate your kiss this time. “I meant what I said. I want to be your woman and your wife truly. I don’t want to stop.”

A sigh of relief left Benimaru. The prince willing to stop if you wanted but clearly so glad you didn’t. You giggle and let him take you in his arms.

The momentary pause in your kissing afforded Benimaru the chance to undo your kimono tie. Loosening it and letting it fall, but not pushing the thin material of your actual robe off your body yet. You reach out for him as well to undo the clasp of his overcoat. The heavy material immediately falling of his shoulders, in contrast, once the hold was released. He seemed fascinated with your work as your hands untie his under coat as well.

“Your touch is like fire.”

“Is that a joke?” You ask when Benimaru growled those words at you. Your apex quivering at the sound, but still curious if he was making a joke.

He chuckled. Another shiver at your core. “No. But I guess I can see how it would be. I mean it though. Everywhere you touch me sets a fire in me.” His hand came up to take yours and slip it under his loose top now. Guiding it over the hard planes of his chest over to his heart. “I can’t get enough of it.”

You kiss again and continue stripping. There wasn’t much to let go of for you, as just before now you were preparing for bed, so you were quickly naked in front of him. He talked about your touch being fire, but his was burning you up inside. His hands were hot. They left a lingering heat in your body everywhere he touched, to the point that you wonder if he had activated his magic. You were helpless against his soft touches. Your body aching already before he even properly touched.

Then, when he did, your body became a livewire.

Your limbs immediately went taunt when his fingers touched your core. “Please try to relax.” He whispered to you in your hair. His own long, hard body nestled beside you. Holding you close.

You try to do as he said and relax. It wasn’t difficult after the initial shock as the pleasure made it easy to succumb to him. Those hands so skilled at fighting working your body with similar expertise. “Mmmm…Benimaru….”

“Ah…say that again.” His deep voice was in your ear again. This time sounding elated, before his tongue reached out to lick the shell of it. “Say my name again. Please.”

“Benimaru…” You repeat his name over and over again. His precious name he held so dear. The name Rimuru-sama had given to him. It fell from your lips like a prayer chant as his fingers brought you closer and closer to climax. When you did, it fell from your lips again in a shout. “Benimaru!”

He continued to touch you until your walls stopped clamping around his digits. Finally setting them free. Your spent body laid against him, and you open your eyes tiredly just in time to see him cleaning your juices from his fingers. “Ah…my love tastes so sweet. I could get addicted to your flavor.”

If you body wasn’t already flushed from orgasm, you would have blushed completely. Benimaru seemed pretty proud of himself, however, before he leaned in to kiss you. You don’t think you taste sweet at all. But the taste of yourself on his lips was something you could get addicted to too. When had you become so perverted?

He let you go for a moment and shuffled around to pull out of his pants. You watched him, in the soft light. His handsome body bare to you. Not a mark on him thanks to his skill and healing. Your eyes travel down and find the proof of his love for you staring back proudly at your face. You gulp at his size. That was going to be inside you.

“Don’t worry. I know it’s a bit bigger than a human’s, but I’ll try not to hurt you.”

“I-It’s alright.” You reply back at his concern. He had mistaken your gulp for a concern about his size. How shameful he would probably find you if he found out that it wasn’t from concern, but excitement, that had caused you to gulp. Again, when had you become so perverted? “I trust you. And I want to be with you.”

“[Y/N]….” He spoke your name softly again before he leaned in to kiss you. Guiding you back down on your back. You feel his weight press on top of you. Your legs spread wide around his pelvis to let him mount you. You can feel the tip of his erection pressing against your entrance and shiver a little at the lower kiss. “Please tell me if I’m hurting you.” Benimaru urged as he started to press into you.

You let out a wordless cry at the initial invasion into your most private place. You can feel your entrance stretch to accommodate him. The sensation a duality of pleasure and pain. And it was only the first few inches. Finally, agonizingly slowly, he was fully inside you. The kijin raining kisses down over your face and neck and everywhere else his lips could get to as you held on to him. His back tight under your fingers as he was very clearly straining to wait for you. “I’m alright, Benimaru. Please. Continue.”

You felt him nod against your shoulder before his hips pull back away from yours, then forward back into you. You both moan at the initial slow thrust. The feeling indescribable and compounding with each shallow thrust. “[Y/N]….”

“Mmmm…Benimaru….” You moan back when he said your name. “You can…go faster….” Not that you weren’t enjoying this slow entanglement, one could only describe as love making, you could tell that he was holding back and it was hard for him. “I..I want you. Please….Make me your woman.”

“I did warn you.” His voice sounded hard now, in comparison to the soft words he’d whispered to you earlier, and you think you hear the sound of nails scratching against the floor mat by your head.

His hips pull back again, this time practically pulling out of you, before they slam back in. You let out a loud cry. One readily identified as one not of pain. Then all you can do is hold on. Your arms wrap tight around Benimaru’s neck as he pounded into you. Before, where you had tried to roll your hips up to meet his thrusts when they had been soft & gentle, all you can do now is lay under him and take it. And become a babbling mess it seemed.

“Ah~! B-Benimaruuu! S-So good! Don’t stop!”

“I have no intention of stopping.” His words were stern. The cool seriousness of his intention to keep claiming you made your walls quake around him. “You’re my woman now. This body is mine. I’ll remind you of it every day if I have to. You’ve possessed me to the point of madness with this love. I can never let you go.” His tongue laved at the sweat collecting on the skin of your neck. Following it up to the back of your ear before his teeth bit into the soft flesh there. You let out a yelp, and call his name again, before you were cumming. Your nails biting him back into his shoulder.

“Ah! [Y/N]! Too tight. It’s too tight. I’m gonna-!” His hard thrusts come to a staggering halt as he spilled his seed inside you. Holding there before his hips roll softly against you as his cock continued to twitch its release.

He collapsed on top of you once it was finished. Your bliss worn body not seeming to care about the extra weight as you held him against your bosom and both tried to catch your breath. Rested, but not to say recovered, the ogre lifted himself up off your body and pulled out. You wince as he did. Those hard thrusts catching up to you, and suddenly feeling at a loss without him inside you. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

You look over to Benimaru, who had apparently seen you flinch, and was looking concerned. “No. Just a little sore.” He looked a little ashamed at that and muttered an apology to you. “Don’t,” you tell him. Reaching on to touch his chest. “It’s not as if I was really complaining.”

You both blush, despite everything you’d just done, still apparently shy about intimacy, before he slid over to you. “Are you sure you’re alright? About everything?”

You nod. Both of you laying on your side to face each other. His fingers caressing your cheek before moving down to the love mark he’d nipped into your skin. “Yes. I meant what I said. I don’t regret it.” You weren’t foolish enough to think that you were going to be instantly happy as husband and wife now. You were basically starting fresh. Starting anew. Though you knew a lot about each other, you had to relearn things and uncover new things as only a spouse would know. It would take time. But you were happy enough for now to at least try to start this new chapter with Benimaru. “You’re not going to kill the envoy before he leaves tomorrow, are you?”

The man let out a boisterous laugh and wrapped his arms tight around you in a hug. “No. I would never disrespect Rimuru-sama like that. As long as he leaves, I’m satisfied. But if he touches you between now and then, I make no promise on the guarantee he will leave with all his limbs.”

“Benimaru….”

The envoy, it seemed, was clever enough to take the hint in not touching you. The murderous aura & killing intent of the red kijin seemingly always just behind you making that clear. You decline his invitation to join him in Blumund. Telling him that the only time you would come to the city to visit him was with your husband. He again took the hint and left without comment. Rimuru-sama gave Benimaru a stern talking to about scaring their allies and ambassadors to their country, but you could also see that he wasn’t very serious about it. He seemed pleased enough that things had worked out, that you were staying, and his beloved friends were happy.

Ever the wonderfully problematic life in Rimuru City.

[redxblueihateloveyou]

Am I the only one who doesn’t get why some (tw) are shitting on Haru and Rin separately just for the fact that they reciprocate each others feelings? Because it’s not the feelings they wanted them to reciprocate? Just curious because I'm new and recently entered the fandom. And since when miscommunication in between means that they don't deserve to be happy at the end? Because you're an idiot when it comes to love, doesn't mean you're a bad person. I came from chinese bl and it's weird to me.

Hehe welcome to the madness, perfect time to join! Yeah, tbh that's the thing in the fandom that always bugged me the most. The fact that some act like if you don't reciprocate someone's feelings, it makes you a bad person. I always found it incredibly cringy when ppl in real life for example make ppl feel guilty for not feeling the same way and make you feel like shit bc of it. I don't get why you have to apologize for that or feel bad, if you never ever gave him any hope or anything in the first place.

Nowdays it's thankfully a rare sight already in this fandom, bc most already grown and see perfectly what's truly healthy and unhealthy, it's just tbh only the same 3 accounts ppl keep sending me that are still on that, who also think that Haru is literally possessed in the last movie so I don't see the point of like arguing with ppl like this. It's just they're always getting extremely angry when Haru wants Rin as if it's his fault that he feels this way and always go about it like he is inconsiderate of Makoto's feelings. Implying that they're mad that he doesn't feel that way about Makoto, while Makoto does. I'm same as @tododeku-or-bust for example said here (idk what fandom brought this on, but just in general) also do not get what's appealing about this kind of relationships in the first place.

If they shipped it in terms of like it's mutual I'd get it, but they go on about how Rin or Haru are bad friends bc they're not in love with their best friends... like ?????? I didn't know you owe it to your friends to have romantic feelings for them.

In real life if you found out that your bestie feels that way for you while you don't reciprocate, it's a burden, that'll make you feel uncomfortable and at times guilty when you shouldn't technically feel that way. So putting on someone a burden of "I was pining for you all along", when you know they don't feel the same is giving me this feeling of cringe. So I personally do not get what's enjoyable at seeing it like that in Free. But to each their own kink lmao.

It's like... is Haru at fault for the fact that he was Ikuya's first love too? I do not get it really. Like he doesn't have to take responsibility for everyone who falls for him and he doesn't owe anyone to reciprocate their feelings. Even to Rin. Like if he didn't feel the same way for Rin, it wouldn't be his fault either. But since he does feel the same way for him, it's like... good, great, happy for them.

Like once again if someone believes that Makoto and Sousuke are unrequitedly in love with Rin and Haru, that's not rinharu fault. Haru literally never ever lead Makoto on EVER. He never ever did anything that would make Makoto believe that they're more than friends. He was always honest about everything. Like when Makoto thought that he went out to see him, but Haru just wanted to see the sunrise, he told him just that. He never encoraged anything, he refused to live with him and never wanted. I do not get why it's supposed to be his fault that he doesn't like his friend in that way. If Makoto has some unrequited feelings for him and decided to hang up on this, it's his own life choice in my opinion.

It's like saying that Onodera and Takano for example don't deserve to be together just because they unintentionally hurt each other and got separated for 10 years bc of misunderstanding. This argument is like typical Yokozawa life position aka "but I was there when he left you heartbroken for several years, that means you MUST pick me". As I've said before, that's just not how it fucking works. And just bc they couldn't explain things to each other normally, doesn't mean that they don't deserve be happy now. Being idiots is not a crime.

Or if you came from chinese bl, lets go "Guardian" for example. Zhu Hong also was on about how "why you love Shen Wei, not me, I always did everything for you and I was always there, I even wore heels bc you once said you liked those etc". Like he never asked her to do this, he never gave her any hope, he was beyond rude and open about the fact that he's not interested, he never did anything to make her think she had a chance since the beginning. Just bc she decided to dedicate her life to false hope that maybe one day something might change is not his fault. It was her choice. Why Yunlan should feel like shit bc of that I do not get personally.

I'm just buffled bc like Haru for example is the most caring about other ppl's pain person, but they call him selfish and rude bc of the way he is with Makoto at times, not even realising that it IS in fact what means being kind sometimes.. to not give someone a chance when you know you don't feel it. I was always saying this like since forever, being kind doesn't mean for example giving everyone second chances, loving everyone, wanting to be friends with anyone etc. In some situations it's not being kind, it's being stupid or even not being a good person. Once again... offering someone friendship after he openly dissed your friend and you see that he's not in any position to talk back is not kind. Or if someone cheats on you constantly, but you always forgive them it's also not you being kind. It's you being stupid. Sometimes you have to be harsh. It's for the greater good.

And like I saw several times stuff like someone under scenes where Rin has his eyes for Haru only, commenting like "oh great, look at Rin being inconsiderate of Sousuke's feelings again. Can't believe you guys find this romantic." I mean, if in their opinion Sousuke is in pain from being Rin's friend, he can end it, it's his choice. It's not Rin's fault that he thinks of him as just his friend. So thinking that Rin is an asshole bc each time he simply hangs out with Sousuke he's a selfish bitch is fucking insane. I'd feel extremely bad if my best friend was seeing it this way for example. It's like hella ugly.

This annoys me also bc of the fact that Rin, the person who at the age of 12 single-handedly saved his family from falling apart after his father's death, who's an amazing friend to Sousuke and did everything to make his happy after he found out about his trauma and always checks on him first and cries about his shoulder, who in the late evenings taught Rei to swim, when everyone else gave up already xD, who was looking after Nitori during his training, who pretends to walk the same road, just because he's scared to let Gou return alone in the evenings, the most amazing son and brother, is suddenly an asshole just because Haru is in love with him, but not with Makoto. I mean, thats just... huh? Like I dont mind you ship what you want to ship, it's like to each their own crayons for real. But like dissing them and call them selfish just bc they only see their friends as friends and don't want anything more is weird to me.

As for the fact that bc of the misunderstanding they don't deserve to be happy, that's just idiotic. I mean, lets punish Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan too just bc Lan Zhan couldn't voice his real feelings back then and bc WWX misunderstood him. Lets ship WWX with Wen Ning instead. Nezumi is cancelled, he doesn't deserve to be with Shion. He left him. Takano should stay with Yokozawa, Onodera is trash. Wu Xie is trash for wanting to be with Zhang Qiling too. It doesn't matter why he leaves, it only matters that he always does. I can't believe he doesn't see that Pangzi is there with him all along xD. What an ungrateful trash of a human being I can't even.

And anyways btw both Rin and Haru are not ideal human beings in any way (otherwise I wouldn't love them this much tbh xD). But their flaws are definitely not what for example mh shippers usually blame them for. You can argue about their other imperfections easily. Like being stupidly stubborn for example. I won't point fingers here, Haru lolz. Or literally anything else.

My point is you can find what to trash them for logically, if you wanna. Do it smartly tho. Otherwise you make your ship look bad.

And I once again say what wise person said about his relationships and about the fact that not being able with someone he loves hurt him and 'why is he doing this to himself' he answered: "it's not on him. my happiness and my pain is for me to handle". Everyone decides for themselves. This is why for example Haru was so broken about voicing this to Rin and didn't have any intentions to tell him that in the first place. Bc it's not right, if you're not sure that it's requited. Technically he has no right to blame Rin for making him fall in love with him and then leaving in the first place. It's not Rin's fault really, that he made him feel what he feels for him, it's ultimately Haru's problem. That's why he feels has no right to blame him in the first place. I mean, he doesn't know that Rin feels the same, that means saying to him "you break my heart each time you leave" and making him feel bad about it is technically wrong. That's why Haru to himself said "no, please, don't say such things to him". Everyone for himself decides who deserves your 5, 7, 800 or 10000 years of your pain. It's your decision. It's your life. If Haru feels like Rin is worth it, then you have no say in that matter really. The only reason we call Rin an idiot or Haru an idiot is because we know they feel the same, so we can. But blame someone else for not feeling what you're feeling is not right.

So like even if you feel like Makoto and Sousuke have feelings for their friends, blaming Haru and Rin for having feelings for each other and not for them is beyond weird. And there's nothing wrong with putting someone you love first, every bro/sis gets it. You can say bros before hoes all you want, but like Lan Zhan might just drop his bro for his hoe, if he was given a choice. Would it make him a bad person? The fact that Wu Xie chose to save Xiaoge before Pangzi makes his a bad person? My point is it's not all that easy.

I just feel like many ppl in this fandom are very weird about many things. Either because they do not get what it's like to go through some things or maybe they just do not get that no matter how cheesy this sounds love is not that simple. I mean, for example not all selfish is bad, sometimes like in Haru's case for example not being selfish is also bad. Bc if he finally asks for what he wants, he will make both himself AND Rin happy.

To be angry at Rin bc of the aftermath of his father's death and s1 I never had it in me, after knowing everything and how adults handled it. If some of Sousuke's fans bc of Yakusoku and the fact that Rin found his salvation in Haru bc he helped him to move forward after getting his family out of this hell alone and that Haru was the safe haven that made him happy in this moment of his life, want to trash Rin for the fact that he "neglected" Sousuke, its like your opinion. I personally do not get it. Rin doesn't owe Sousuke anything. It's not his fault again that Haru's existence helped him to feel better.

Just like not everyone will get why Haru in 1x12 was so happy about the fact that he could help Rin. To be that special somebody for someone who can "save" you in moments of your life like this, especially if you love them is an incredible feeling. And no, your bestie isn't always the person for this job, no. I don't see why people do not get that I guess, that's all. But we all have our own opinion on everything, so...

We same as you do not get it since forever, but its like it is what it is in this fandom. I personally just have another life position on stuff, so I'm very far from that point of view they have.

[singular-yike]

I know you've made a ton of posts about various len'en characters and concepts but what about the creator? Their drives and inspirations and such?

I know this may be a bit of a weird one since it's about a real-life person but I figured it would be fine to ask so long as the questions respected Tabinoki's privacy and were relevant to the actual creation process of the series.

This... is a very complicated question, after all this is an actual person we're talking about here, and I'm nowhere as well-versed in JynX/Kanae information as I am with Len'en lore. Even still, we do have some mentions of JynX's inspirations and creative

So, this isn't going to be anything formal and perfectly structured, but just whatever I can think of off the top of my head.

Brainstorming Ideas

Overall Story

So this is gonna be split into three bits: One about how the story and world of Len'en came about, one about the nitty gritty development of the games and stories, and finally one about JynX's inspirations.

I'll mention it right here: JynX's process of brainstorming is... difficult, to emulate. Especially cause it assumes that you've already got a robust world in your mind.

You see when it comes to creating the world of Len'en, JynX basically started out from a macro perspective and gradually zoomed into what they wanted to focus on.

What I mean is that JynX literally started with the genesis of the universe in which Len'en takes place in, picked a suitable planet for the story to take place on, picked a suitable location and zoomed further in and in. A very... grandiose way to come up with your setting, to be honest.

From there they picked out the characters he wants to be the main characters and looked for the people around them to expand a cast out of; along with a central location to the story, Mugenri.

Basically, JynX already had the entire universe of Mugenri and beyond in his head, people and everything, they just picked out Yabusame and friends to tell their story in Mugenri.

New Characters

For coming up with new characters that were not already planned, JynX takes to looking at the setting/story and seeing what needs to be there but isn't yet.

Setting-wise, one such character is Kaoru Kashiwagi, invented during BPoHC's development, in contrast to Fujiwara no Shirogane no Sanra and Ooama no Ake no Mitori, the two of which were already conceptualised before work on BPoHC even began.

JynX looked at the brand new location introduced in that half of the game: The imperial capital Devanagara. They asked themself, what organisations exist in there, and which ones are crucial to the plot this time? Crucial to letting the audience further their understanding of the place?

There they landed on the Goefu, and from there picking out the captain to be their representative character simply followed.

Story-wise, sometimes characters simply appear as a logical result of the story JynX had created. One such example would be Shion (detailed origin story here).

Plot

Here's where we get to a caveat in JynX's brainstorming process, we technically do not know how this all truly came to be in JynX's mind.

By the time JynX actually got down to developing Len'en, much of the series' setting, along with the general plots of EE to BPoHC, already existed within JynX's mind. Yes prior to even EE's development.

So we don't actually know whether JynX is really so imaginative as to be able to spontaneously come up with a living, breathing universe in their head to start fleshing out, or if these ideas have really just been in their mind for so long that their origins are, in a sense, obscured to JynX themself as well.

What we do know, is that JynX is the type to wing it along the writing and development process (actually for all things really).

Actual Development

JynX is honestly, just in general, a very secretive person. For example, only irl person in their life that knows that they work on making games is Daijin, literally no one else (at least according to JynX). So there's not a lot about their process that we know.

What I do know though, is that it's honestly kind of a mess. JynX's process seems to be:

Make a deadline

Work on the game with no particular plan, hopping around the various tasks as their fancy takes them

As the deadline closes in, rush and stumble their way to make it no matter what.

Of course, they don't always make it (one might even argue that they only make it half of the time), but that's honestly all I could've gleaned from everything that I've seen.

I won't got into the technical aspects, what programs they use, what hardware they use, etc. It's not my forte and a lot of it can be found on the wiki, either on JynX's page or in the interviews.

Inspirations

Admiration and Motivation: ZUN and Daijin

It of course goes without saying that JynX's biggest inspiration is ZUN and his Touhou Project.

They directly inspired the genre of the first four games and JynX even pays homage to the series through little references and, of course, 90% of Haiji's spell cards.

Beyond just really liking the games and their plots, JynX also seems to really admire the solo developer thing ZUN has going on (although ZUN is much more open to collaboration these days).

JynX is absolutely determined to make Len'en completely on their own, and flat out refuses all requests of collaboration in regards to the series.

However, do note that they're not opposed to collaborative game development as a whole, and in fact is rather curious about the process and would love to get the experience. BUT! Just not with Len'en, that's a solo project, and that's non-negotiable.

To get a bit more specific, JynX also really admires the way ZUN creates, designs and writes his characters. In particular, JynX actually really likes how ZUN bases his creations off of various historical and mythological characters and events, but rarely ever elaborates on them.

JynX finds the process of digging into these characters by themself and finding out how the references shaped the characters to be what they have the most fun with (outside of gameplay, I think).

And this is why Len'en is the way it is with its characters, with references so intricate that we're still discovering new bits even to this day. And why JynX so very rarely answers regarding character inspirations, they don't want to spoil the fun.

A more personal point of inspiration for JynX is Daijin, an upperclassman of theirs from university who worked on the original Len'en, Emergency Everyday.

Daijin is apparently the person who taught JynX everything they know about game production (at the time) and even after leaving game production behind is still a great source of inspiration for JynX.

Of course, we don't know much more than this. And we shouldn't pry.

Worldbuilding: History, Mythology, Culture

As for the more creative side of things, JynX bases their worldbuilding largely on history, mythology and culture, especially Japanese.

JynX is quite the big Japanese history and culture nut, it would seem. Even when studying in a science degree at university, he somehow wound up writing an essay on the Suwa Grand Shrine.

They also have several books on these topics, such as a whole book on traditional Japanese architecture (which I suspect they must've referenced heavily with Tenkai).

I won't elaborate too much on this point, since it's fairly self-explanatory. But I would like to note that JynX is very particular about this, going as far as to prefer going on-site to do his research.

Ending

And that concludes this! A bit messy and rather casual, but I still hope it has what you wanted to read!

And sorry that it took so long, it's a rather great departure from what I usually do that I ended up freezing and just leaving it for a long while. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed~! :)