#[I think when mikado hit her the first time she would have been ready to forgive it]
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Do you ever think about the fact that even if Otome and Dice would never see eye to eye, even if they're as distant as possible because Otome prioritized safety at the expense of freedom and a proper relationship with Dice and Dice prioritized freedom and fun at the expense of the safe but lonely situation that Otome put him in, Otome still loves Dice enough to have a picture of his teen self on her desk. And the only reason she put his picture face down on her desk is because Rei, notorious for being a Totally Good Parent, commented on it? Which implies that before then she might have had it on her desk ever since she took over the government.
When she asked Mikado to turn himself in for his crimes she didn't ask him to do it for her sake. It's for Dice's sake. Their son, who she at one point wholly believed that his birth had been the whole purpose of her life. She said that to Mikado, who even though they had an arranged marriage they seemed to genuinely love each other before Otome's dad ruined things. If she didn't send Dice away for his safety, that would have been literally her only positive relationship in her life which is so so sad. Chuuoku's walls barring out men is both Chuuoku and her own tbh.
#imperial maiden of chuuoku (otome)#cold femme fatale <otome hcs>#[I think when mikado hit her the first time she would have been ready to forgive it]#[after all mikado seemed to have been stressed so even if he's never done it before maybe it was just a mistake]#[but her heart truly broke when mikado told her that he didn't ask for her input. damn woman]#[bc up until then they had an equal relationship. ask and receive and mutual love and understanding]#[but it became unbalanced in mikado's favor due to otome's dad's influence...]#[and with her agency denied by her own husband she had no option left but the one rei gave her]#[she no longer believes mikado loves her even tho she still does love him so she asks him for dice's sake and future]#[and then denied herself a future of happiness with her son for the sake of his safety]#[relationship trauma </3]
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Chapter 3 The Four Teaser :D
Celty shivers, phone gripped in her hand like a lifeline.
“Hey. It really is okay,” Shinra soothes, “we know this isn’t you.” Research for the upcoming event (which Anri insisted they say instead of saying ‘research to stop the apocalypse’ because Mikado almost threw up the first time Shinra phrased it the first way) was not going well.
“If you talk about Crom Dubh, one more time...” Celty types furiously. She pauses, before resuming at a fast pace “I’m a nice, respectful Dullahan! I’m a good girl!”
“Minus working in the underground for gang leaders...” Izaya snickers under his breath. Shinra gives him an eerie smile.
“Pot meet kettle, much? What my beloved is trying to say is, that she feels uncomfortable being portrayed as a mean monster who collects souls, She’d rather be portrayed as the beautiful and other-wordly monster who would like to make good money transporting for....ahh!”
Celty had only thrown the TV remote, but her aim was true, and it hits Shinra square in his forehead.
Mikado looks quietly nervous. Anri sighs and excuses herself to make tea.
Shizuo laughs as Shinra rubs his forehead and tries to make up with Celty.
“Come on Celty! Don’t be upset, this is just background research, and like I said, after Christianity came to Ireland in the... the...”
“Sixth centrury.” Izaya supplies, most likely off the top of his head.
“Yeah! After that there were no more human sacrifices! Be a lamb, and come back! We were just about to make real progress, so don’t lose your hea…”
Celty pauses quietly, dangerously. She types.
“Lose my… what now? Were you about to say… what I think you were?”
Izaya laughs like a hyena, which of course irritates Shizuo who in turn cause Mikado to sigh quietly under his breath the same thing he’s been saying for hours which is “Why was I cast as a Greek woman when I am a Japanese man?”
Celty is still gesturing furiously, angry puffs of smoke coming out of her neck as Anri comes into the living room with a tray, looking slightly confused by the sight she sees.
“Ummm? Let’s have tea? I heated the water, and brought the packets, we have peppermint, lemon, pomegranate, black and...” Anri gives pause at the look Mikado is giving her.
Mikado sighs and says “I’m not taking any food from you. No offense. I don’t think I’m ready to get dragged to the underworld just yet.”
“Yeah! Regular dogs are plenty bad enough, but big ones with three heads…” Izaya shudders theatrically.
Anri blinks, then giggles in discomfort as she responds to Mikado, “fair enough.”
#durarara#alternate universe#fantasy and mythology#shizaya#shinra x celty#anri x mikado#this story will be funny#and also spooky#and oh boy the references!
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You’re pretty nuts too.
Nrgh...!
*As Kaede and Shuichi rush at him, Kokichi runs to a ladder and climbs to the level above him. From his vantage point, he aims his gun down at them.
Ah! Move!
Wah!
*They dodge out the way. After firing, Kokichi continues running. Shuichi stops for a second to examine the bullets.
These are non-lethal rounds, just like mine...
He’s not trying to kill us. He’s just trying to slow us down.
Kaede, there’s some stairs that way. Take them, I’ll go up the ladder!
Got it!
*Shuichi and Kaede split up. Shuichi climbs the ladder to the second level, cornering Kokichi on a balcony.
Ah...
...
Ahaha...I guess I really am just supposed to be an Evil Supreme Leader...
After all, every time I genuinely try to do something nice, YOU always get in the way! It’s like you’re trying to make me the villain of the story!
You’re doing that to yourself!
You always have the right thing in mind Kokichi, but you always choose the worst possible method! People get hurt, and some even die because of what you do!
Mikado is too important to Tsumugi and Zetsubou. Eliminating him will deal a swift blow of justice to the Organization!
This has nothing to do with “justice!” You’re just bearing a grudge!
Tch...I don’t know why I didn’t see it sooner...
Trying to do things the right way...was a mistake! It’s always a mistake!
Mercy has always been the wrong way out of things!
What, and murder is the right way!?
Gah...!
*In the time it takes for Shuichi to confront Kokichi, Kaede makes it to the second floor.
Murder is never the answer! I-It never should be!
No matter how bad a person is, you shouldn’t take their life just because you don’t like them!
...Tell that to Rantaro, wherever he’s ended up...
I didn’t kill Rantaro!
So what!? You TRIED to, and that’s what mattered!
See this Shuichi? How can you criticize me, when a would be murderer is teaming up with you right now!? Are these really the people you’re trying to protect!?
...
Kaede! Don’t listen! He’s trying to guilt trip you!
You want to sacrifice yourself for Keebo?
GO AHEAD!
*BANG!*
UGHG!
KAEDE!
*Kokichi aims his gun at Kaede, and pulls the trigger. Instinctively, Kaede raises her hands, as if to stop the bullet or catch it. The rubber bullet hits her in her right palm, and she yelps in pain, clutching her bleeding bruise.
Nrgh!
HAP!
*BANG!*
Nrgh!
*Kokichi tries to fire another round at her, but Shuichi leaps over the railing and jumps in the way. The bullet grazes his shoulder.
Murder is wrong...Trust the system...Violence isn’t the answer...
Everyone picks and chooses what they believe!
Well, this is MY belief!
Ragh!
UGH!
*While he’s distracted, Kaede jumps out from behind Shuichi, as Kokichi aims at him. She rushes and charges into Kokichi, sending him falling off the railing.
Wah! WAAAH!
OH NO!
KOKICHI!
*Kaede very nearly knocks Kokichi into the lava vat, but she and Shuichi run and grab both his legs before he can fall.
Nrgh...dammit...
Hah!
*BANG!*
AAAH!
ACK! Yrghh!
*Kokichi aims and fire’s a rogue bullet at Shuichi, that just misses his face. It fatigues him, and he stumbles back and lets go. Kaede is supporting his whole body weight, with one brutally injured hand. Unable to hold him, she lets go.
Ragh!
*Thankfully, before Kokichi can fall into the vat, he grabs an iron pipe jutting out from the wall and swings off it. He safely lands on the first level.
Kaede, are you ok?
I’ll be alright, just don’t let him get away!
Got it!
*After ensuring she’ll be alright, Shuichi leaps off the second floor and drops and rolls to safety.
Hahaha! See ya, sucker!
Think again bitch!
Huh!?
Hoyah!
UGH!
*Before Kokichi can make it to the exit, Miu and Mii-Yu get in his way. Mii-Yu hits him back and Miu shoots him with an electro-gun.
Grgrghrghrhrh!
Phew...Thanks Miu...
No problem...
*She stands over the Ultimate Supreme Leader.
I’ve been waitin’ a long time for this, you piece of dogshit...Karma wants it’s debts paid, and I’m here to collect...
...
Shuichi...after everything we’ve been through together...This is how it ends?
It’s not over Kokichi...I won’t let you come to harm. I won’t let anything bad happen to you...
But for the love of god, please, just stop this! We can fight Mikado together, we can end things together!
...I believed in you...Like I’ve never believed in anything before...
But now...I have no more room for that...I HATE BEING LIED TOOO!!!
Huh!?
MIU! MOVE!
RAGH!
HGUH!
MIUUUUU!!
*Without a word of warning, Kokichi pulls a knife out of his pocket and stabs Miu in the shoulder!
YOU-!
RAGAGHAGHA!
Nrgh! Ugh! Ack!
*Wasting no time, Kokichi grabs a metal pipe, rips it out of place, and proceeds to beat Mii-Yu’s head in with it. The robot girl eventually recoils.
Shit! M-Mii-Yu! UGH!
*Clutching her wound, Miu crawls towards Mii-Yu, only for Kokichi to step on her hand.
Stay down Miu...I’d hate to have to “kill” you twice...ehehehe...
Hehehehehehehe...HAHAHA!
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAAAHAHAAAA!!!
...
HRAGH!
*BANG!*
*Steeling himself, Shuichi yanks his gun out of the holster and aims at Kokichi. He swiftly pulls the trigger, and the bullet soars towards him, but Kokichi raises his own gun and deflects it.
Eat this!
*BANG!*
*The exact same scene happens, except Shuichi blocks Kokichi’s bullet this time. The two keep firing bullets at each other, not making contact, until they are within range...
HYAH!
Hugh!
*Kokichi whips out his dagger, and tries to slice Shuichi, but Shuichi blocks with his baton.
Huh?
I learned this one from Tenko!
*Shuichi grabs Kokichi’s scarf and belt, and using all his strength, he throws him over his shoulder, slamming him face first into the ground.
Ehehehehe...HAHAHAHAHA!
Huh?
Ah!
*Unbeknownst to Kokichi, while this whole spat is going on, Kaede is hurridly trying to move Keebo from his place above the vat.
Bitch!
*Kokichi lurches up and leaps over the railings, making a charge headfirst for Kaede...
(He’s not trying to leave...? Of course he’s not...he can’t just leave Keebo here...)
Shuichi! Grab this!
Huh?
*Clutching her wound, Miu throws an object to Shuichi. After catching it, he finds out that it’s a grappling hook.
Thanks! Are you ok?
We have medkits this time, and Mii-Yu’s injuries aren’t bad! I can fix them!
*Aiming for the second layer, Shuichi firs the grappling hook and soars up!
Waaah!
Nrgh!
HAAH!
*BANG!*
Nrgh...
Huh?
Nrgh...!
*There is a loud bang, and Kaede braces for impact. However, the bullets aren’t fired from Kokichi’s gun. While airborne, Shuichi aims and shoots Kokichi’s hand as he aims.
Dammit! Take this!
*BANG!*
AAAH!
*Kokichi recovers and whirls around, shooting the line of Shuichi’s grappling hook. Shuichi falls down, thankfully missing any of the lava vats, but severely wounds his shins as he lands.
Ugh!
Shuichi!
You’re next!
Grgh!
*With rage built up inside her, Kaede defiantly runs towards Kokichi. He aims and fires at her again, but she moves out of the bullet path, and after flipping off the ledge, she kicks the gun out of his hand.
No!
*Before Kokichi can grab the gun, it tumbles into the lava vat.
Nrgh!
Hoof!
Ack! Ugh!
*Kokichi, trembling with anger, swings at Kaede, who blocks his attack. She then grabs his and slams him into the railing. With the wind knocked out of him, Kaede throws him into the parallel railing and tries to punch him out.
Nrgh!
Grr!
Nragh!
AH!
*Kokichi blocks her swing, and then grabs her by the vest collar. He thrusts her into the railing, and tries to smash her head in.
Yah!
Nrgh!
*CLANG!*
OOGH!
HIYAAAAH!
ARGCHK!
*Kaede moves out of the way, Kokichi strongly hitting the bar instead of her. Shaken off, Kaede grabs him by the back of the head and slams his face into the railing. After he’s fatiqued from that blow, Kaede delivers the strongest uppercut she can directly to his jaw. Kokichi lands in a crumped mess on the railing, just above the lava vat.
NihihihihihiHAHAHAHAHA!
Gotta say...For someone who’s never fought before, you sure know how to throw a punch...
I’m just lucky my opponent isn’t that strong...
Ooh...Low blow girl...
*Kokichi suddenly lurches up after his chuckle, and throws Kaede into the railing. He then whips out his dagger and stabs her in the lower back.
UGH!
Hahahahahahah!
*Kokichi performs a hit and run, and after removing his dagger, he beelines it for the factory control room. Kaede clutches her wound and chases him.
What the heck...?
*As soon as she steps into the room, she stumbles back, as she notices that there’s a matress, and a board with tacks stuck in it, holding up several pictures of the killing game.
...
...What? You thought I lived in the cabaret?
I’ve been planning this since Tsumugi first woke me up, you know? As soon as I found out she had an AI companion, I conspired this...
That girl put me and the rest of us through so much shit...There’s no way we could ever be friends...
...Kokichi...
You know Kaede, I’m honestly kind of envious...
Shuichi didn’t stop even after you died...He upheld his promise to you to the very end...
I spent so long looking after him...admiring him...I wanted to be like him...To be LOVED like him...
I...lost myself...
*He turns around and readies his dagger.
But now...It’s all for nothing...!
*He lunges at Kaede and swings at her a few times. She keeps dodging, and then punches Kokichi round the face.
Ugh! ehehehehe....
Kokichi, stop this! We can get you help!
Help? What, you gonna send me to a mental asylum!?
That’s not what I said! I-
Ah!
*Before Kaede can explain herself, Kokichi lurches back up and tries to attack her again. Kaede dodges and then whips out her electric taser.
Hup!
Nrgh!
*Kokichi grabs her wrist before she can shock his neck.
Have a taste of your own medicine!
Ah! AAAAAH!
*With a surprising amount of strength, Kokichi flips on the taser, and while it’s still in Kaede’s hand, he moves her wrist and makes her shock herself in the head.
Nrgh...
*Kaede flops to the floor, and Kokichi approaches her with the dagger, cackling.
Nihihihihihihi!
RAGH!
GRAAAAAGGH!
*Kaede recovers before Kokichi has a chance to stab her, and plunges the taser straight into his stomach. He falls onto the control panel, and, unmercifully, Kaede shocks him over and over again.
I don’t want to kill you! Just stay down!
NEVER!
AAAH!
*While being shocked, Kokichi musters the strength and stabs Kaede in the thigh with his dagger.
Nrgh....HRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!
AAAH!
*Suddenly, Kaede slams Kokichi’s head into the control panel, yanks the dagger out of her thigh, and...
HAAAH!
EEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH
*...stabs Kokichi straight through his hand, pinning him to the panel! Kokichi screams in pain.
RRGGH!
YAAAH!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!
*In a last minute effort to win, Kokichi tries to swipe at Kaede with his hand, but the amnesiac pianist simply powers up her taser to the highest level, and plunges it straight into Kokichi’s chest. With that...he slumps to the floor, hand still pinned to the control panel with his own dagger.
*heavy pained breathing*
*heavy breathing...*
*THUD!*
*With no more energy, Kaede also slumps down and leans against the opposite wall.
*heavy panting* Y-You...
are nuts...!
H-Hey...I’m not the one who went trigger happy with a taser...
Well, I’M not the one who tries to cut YOU open...
Y-You know what? T-Touche...
This hurts like shit though...just letting you know...Eheheheheee. *cough* *splutter*
...I r-really...wanted to be the hero, you know?
...
But...I guess I just...can’t...
What you’re doing...it’s heroic...You’re trying to stop Zetsubou and protect people...
But the way you’re going about it...isn’t right...Surely you don’t want to throw away any chance you have of bringing Keebo back, right?
I’m pretty sure if given the choice...*cough!* He’d...gladly make the sacrifice...
I mean...he blew himself up to end the killing game, right...?
You might be...right...You’re making it really hard for me to feel good about stopping you from causing more damage...
That’s...the point...
You know, I should hate you and Shuichi for what you’re doing right now...
But...ehehe...I don’t...I’ve had so much fun with you and Shuichi since we first met...
But...hey...I have one last question...Just one...*splutter* *cough*
What?
Do you think...Shuichi ever cared about me?
Do you think...he ever saw me as a companion...? As...a friend?
...
I...I’m probably not the one you should be asking about that...but...if I were to take a guess...
...?
Without a doubt...There’s no way he would have ever abandoned you...
Even if no one else felt that way, if we were in a dire situation, he would never leave you behind...
And I mean...Never...!
...Ehehehe...Nihihihi...
See...? You see Kaede...?
...?
You’re...ehe...*cough!*
Pretty...nuts...too...
*Kokichi falls into unconsciousness...
#danganronpa survivor#danganronpa#danganronpa v3#drv3#danganronpa new world order#drnwo#kaede akamatsu#shuichi saihara#kokichi ouma#miu iruma#miiyu#m11-yu#oumasai#saimatsu#the amnesiac and the alter ego arc
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Hikaru Osari SSR
2017 ー Flower Garden [Flower Garden]
“I’ll do, I’ll do it! Leave it to me! Tsubasa-chan recommended me after all!”
Part 1
Tsubasa: ‘Everyone, we will start moving in about 10 minutes, so please prepare everything.’
Hikaru: ‘Okaーy!’
Momotaro: ‘..... Hikaru, you’re still not changed yet?’
Hikaru: ‘It’s only the hair left!’
(I wonder if Hikaru-kun is used to fixing his own hair? He’s quite skillful…..)
Hikaru: ‘Alright, all done! What do you think, Tsubasa-chan? Does it look good?’
Tsubasa: ‘Yes. Hikaru-kun, you’re skillful with your hands.���
Tsubasa: ‘The current hairdo as well, it looks good as always, very impressive.’
Hikaru: ‘Hehehe! It’s like a habit from when I was a kid, so I kind of got used to it.’
Tsubasa: ‘Since you were small?’
Hikaru: ‘Yep. I have two sisters, right? Since forever I would braid their hair or tie them up into a ponytail.’
Tsubasa: ‘I see! What a good brother.’
Hikaru: ‘Eheh! If it’s braiding, I can do it!’
Tsubasa: ‘Amazing…….!’
Hikaru: ‘Ah, I know! I will do it for Tsubasa-chan next time, too!’
Tsubasa: ‘Eeh?’
Tatsuhiro: ‘Hikaru. Don’t just talk, clean this space. You have your phone and wallet lying there.’
Hikaru: ‘Mhm~ Tatsu, you’re like a mom! I’m not a child!’
Tatsuhiro: ‘Look who’s talking, who was it again that forgot his wallet at the studio last time?’
Hikaru: ‘Ugh……!’
Momotaro: ‘Hikaru, you’re forgetting your toothbrush.’
Hikaru: ‘Eh!’
Kazuna: ‘This towel also is Hikaru’s, right?’
Hikaru: ‘O-Ooh, how weird, heh. Pi-chan, leader, thanks! I sure am loved by everyone.’
Tatsuhiro: ‘Haa….... . How troublesome.’
Tsubasa: ‘Ahaha……’
(Hikaru-kun’s hairdo really is perfect.)
Hikaru: ‘.......Okay! I’m also ready, Tsubasa-chan! Our next job is the lesson, isn’t it?’
Tsubasa: ‘Yes, it is the dance lesson for the Flower Garden opening ceremony we talked about the other day.’
Hikaru: ‘Well then, with lots of energy, let’s go~!’
Part 2
ーAfter the dance lesson.ー
Tsubasa: ‘Everyone, good job.’
Hikaru: ‘Considering that we don't have time to practice, doesn’t it feel good?’
Tsubasa: ‘I agree. Because there are many songs you are used to, it was a stable and good performance I think.’
Kazuna: ‘Yeah, hopefully, the real one will be fine.’
Tatsuhiro: ‘The stage is smaller than usual…..’
Momotaro: ‘This is the extent to how we can adjust things during rehearsals.’
Tatsuhiro: ‘Yeah, agreed.’
Hikaru: ‘I’ve never been to Flower Garden, I wonder what the stage feels like?’
Mikado: ‘Now that you speak of it, it’s a new place at Omotesandō*, yes?’
Tsubasa: ‘Yes, that’s right. You can enjoy your meal there, and it seems to be a facility even for wedding ceremonies. I only saw the stage in pictures but there are a lot of flowers, it looks like a really beautiful place.’
Hikaru: ‘Hee, now I’m looking forward to it!’
(......Oh, right. I need to consult with Hikaru-kun about that matter.)
Tsubasa: ‘Uhm, Hikaru-kun. To be honest, there is a favour about the opening ceremony I’d like to ask you…….’
Hikaru: ‘Hm, what is it?’
Tsubasa: ‘The performing artists are asked to perform a champagne opening by a representative of each one. The venue asked for this favour.’
Tsubasa: ‘There will also be the flowers of the ceremony but I was talking to Yashamaru-san and thought that the one suitable to lift the mood is Hikaru-kun…..’
Tsubasa: ‘What do you think?’
Hikaru: ‘Eeh, are you sure about it being me!?’
Tsubasa: ‘Of course. If Hikaru-kun does not mind.’
Hikaru: ‘I’ll do, I’ll do it! Leave it to me! Tsubasa-chan recommended me after all!’
Tsubasa: ‘Thank you very much! Then I will pass your reply on to the other party.’
Hikaru: ‘Do that, thanks!’
(I’m glad that he accepted. Hikaru-kun is cheerful as usual, I’m sure it will become an enjoyable performance.)
Part 3
ーThe day of the opening ceremony.ー
Tsubasa: ‘Please move efficiently when the staff will call for you for the make-up and changing.’
Kazuna: ‘Understood.’
Hikaru: ‘Like this, swinging it like this…….’
Kazuna (surprised): …...Hikaru?
Momotaro: ‘Are you fine?’
Hikaru (startled): ‘........Eh?’
Tatsuhiro: ‘You didn’t listen to what she said at all, right?’
Hikaru: ‘Ah…… Sorry! I did mental training for the champagne opening.’
Mikado: ‘Though we already finished the meeting, right?’
Hikaru: ‘Well, I did listen to the explanation but…..’
Tsubasa: ‘It was only a verbal explanation since it is a performance without rehearsal.’
Hikaru: ‘You’re right. I never opened a champagne bottle. I’m a bit nervous.’
Tatsuhiro (pensive): ‘Isn’t it enough if you just swing the bottle?’
Hikaru: ‘Uwah, that works!’
Kazuna: ‘Hikaru, remember to aim the opening of the bottle somewhere without people.’
Hikaru: ‘Okay!’
Momotaro: ‘By no means, don’t look into the opening even if the bottle is open.’
Hikaru: ‘I know that much~! I properly listened to the explanation.’
Mikado: ‘It’s impossible for us to not worry, though. Considering the many failures of Hikarun……’
Hikaru: ‘Wait a sec, Mikachi! Stop with that right before the real thing!’
Mikado (smiles): ‘Oops, that was rude of me.’
Mikado (excited): ‘If you decided for it to become wonderful then it’s going to be great! Please do your best. ♪ Kyaarun ♪’
Hikaru: ‘Uh, what’s with this pose……’
Mikado: ‘It’s Mamirin’s cheerleader pose!’
Hikaru: ‘Mikachi’s support makes me happy but…… I’d rather be told this from Tsubasa-chan if anything!’
Mikado: ‘Oho, Tsubasa-san. It seems that you were called.’
Tsubasa: ‘Eh, me? Uhm……’
Tsubasa: ‘P-Please give it your all! I am sure, if it is Hikaru-kun, it will go well!’
Hikaru: ‘Alriーght! I feel like I can do it all perfectly!!’
Mikado: ‘How rude! Mamirin’s cheerleader pose also has tremendous power!’
Tatsuhiro (smiles): ‘Well, let it pass for now.’
(I wonder how Hikaru-kun’s champagne opening will be….. I’m glad if I could cheer him up but hopefully, there will be no injuries.)
Part 4
ーAfter the end of the ceremony. Back at MooNs apartment.ー
Hikaru: ‘Aah~~~, finally home!’
Kazuna: ‘Good job. The opening ceremony came safely to an end.’
Tatsuhiro: ‘Yeah. Especially Hikaru’s champagne performance.’
Momotaro: ‘I’m relieved that the bottle cork didn’t hit my face.’
Tatsuhiro: ‘The guests were safe as well.’
Hikaru: ‘Right, right!’
Hikaru: ‘...... So, why is no one praising me!?’
Tsubasa: ‘Both Hikaru-kun’s champagne opening and the party were so much fun and a big success.’
Hikaru: ‘Tsubasa-chan thinks so, too? I was wondering as well if I could hear the cheers during the opening of the bottle!’
Tatsuhiro: ‘Even though you were so nervous before the performance and did all that mental training.’
Hikaru: ‘Wrong, I’m strong when it comes to the actual performance! As expected of an idol! Right, Tatsu?’
Tatsuhiro (sighs): ‘Aah, yes, yes. I agree.’
Hikaru (excited): ‘Say, say, Tsubasa-chan, was I cool?’
Tsubasa: ‘Yes. You were absolutely gorgeous and wonderful.’
Hikaru: ‘Really? Ehehe.’
Hikaru: ‘I was quite nervous at first. But it was like the award ceremony of the F1**! Once everyone will be able to drink alcohol, leave the opening of the champagne bottle to me!’
Hikaru: ‘Like today, I will do this flashy bang!’
Tatsuhiro: ‘Stop it. I feel like the floor will be covered with champagne.’
Kazuna (smiles worriedly): Such a flashy way is not something you can do at home. We won’t be able to drink the alcohol at all like that.’
Hikaru: ‘Ah…… True.’
(I’m very happy that the opening ceremony ended safely. ….. As soon as relief takes over, I kind of feel sleepy. I was running around the whole day to support B-PRO.)
While Tsubasa is lost in her thoughts, Hikaru notices something.
Hikaru: ‘......Ah. Tsubasa-chan, wait.’
Tsubasa: ‘Hikaru-kun…..?’
He comes closer to her.
(What could it be? Did something happen……?)
Part 5
Hikaru: ‘Tsubasa-chan, can I for a moment?’
He then comes closer to her.
Tsubasa: ‘Hikaru-kun? What’s wrong?’
Hikaru: ‘Stay like this, don’t move.’
Hikaru: ‘........ As I thought!’
Tsubasa: ‘W-What…….??’
Hikaru: ‘Tsubasa-chan, it’s disheveled here.’
Tsubasa: ‘......Eh? Ah, is it my hair?’
Hikaru (laughs): You’ve been moving around the whole day for us, thanks for that.’
Tsubasa: ‘No, I think that Hikaru-kun had a hard time as well….. Even if I am busy, my hairdo needs to be neat. I am sorry, I will correct it right away.’
Hikaru: ‘Say, won’t you let me tie your hair?’
Tsubasa: ‘No, I can do this much myself……’
Hikaru: ‘Come on! I won’t ruin it! Sit here!’
Tatsuhiro: ‘It’s the wrong choice of words, though.’
Hikaru: ‘It’s all fine! Here, take a seat!’
Tsubasa: ‘Ah, yes…….’
Hikaru: ‘I’ve always loved to touch hair, you know~’
Hikaru: ‘Tsubasa-chan has quite long hair. It reminds me of my little sister. Since everyone in MooNs has short hair, it’s not worth playing with it.’
Tsubasa: ‘..........’
(It makes you nervous somehow when your hair is touched by someone……)
He makes another discovery while she is lost in thoughts.
Hikaru: ‘Uwahh! Tsubasa-chan, your hair is super smooth! How enviable~!’
Tsubasa: ‘Eh, no, that’s……..’
Hikaru: ‘And it smells nice~! It kind of makes my heart beat faster!’
Tsubasa: ‘Eeh!?’
Mikado: ‘Wait a minute, Hikarun! What fun things are you doing there all alone! You can’t steal a march on us!’
Hikaru: ‘And I say I don’t!’
Kazuna (chuckles): ‘Hikaru, you really are used to it, huh.’
Mikado: ‘Leader, don’t be impressed by it, stop him~!’
Mikado proceeds to end it himself.
Hikaru: ‘Wait, Mikachi! Don’t get in the way!’
(Hikaru-kun, he doesn’t slow down even while he’s talking. He really is used to touching hair…..)
Hikaru: ‘...... Okay, done!’
Hikaru: ‘Here, a mirror, Tsubasa-chan! Look, look, what do you think?’
(Waah…… It’s much cleaner than when I tied it myself.)
Tsubasa: ‘T-Thank you very much! Hikaru-kun, you really are skilled.’
Hikaru: ‘Ehehe. It was my job to send off my sisters to school cutely after all!’
Tsubasa: ‘I am sure they were pleased as well.’
Hikaru: ‘If Tsubasa-chan is too, then I’m happy.’
Tsubasa: ‘Yes, it is so lovely that it is a waste to undo it.’
Hikaru: ‘I’m very happy to hear that! If you have a hard time working and your hair gets disheveled again, let me tie it up for you!’
Tsubasa: ‘Yes, at that time I will come to you.’
(It’s Hikaru-kun who is always a bit unreliable but when it’s about the hair, I also like to rely on him.)
END
___________________________
*Omotesandō: Omotesandō (表参道) is a zelkova tree-lined avenue located in Shibuya and Minato, Tokyo, stretching from the Meiji Shrine entrance to Aoyama-dōri (Aoyama Street), where Omotesandō Station can be found. Omotesandō is known as one of the foremost 'architectural showcase' streets in the world, featuring a multitude of fashion flagship stores within a short distance of each other. [Source: Wikipedia]
**F1: Formula One (Motor racing sport).
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DR Kirigiri Vol. 5 Summary Part VIII
Happy New Year everyone!
Let’s get back to that pesky Libra Academy case, shall we?
< LAST PART | NEXT PART >
Chapter 1 The Mania of Existence: Libra Girls’ Academy - Samidare Yui
For those of you reading these as I post them, here’s a quick reminder of the current stakes:
Kareobana Academy case: solved, Yadorigi last seen with Lico heading back to the others, current status unknown
Bar GOODBYE case: still unsolved, with Yaki dead
Museum of Medieval Western European Torture Devices case: Mizuiyama seems to have figured it out, but is alone after dark in the museum after having had a really eerie encounter with Lico
Twins Research Facility case: solved, though Kirigiri is currently unconscious and bound in the back of Tsutsumi’s car, ready to be used as a hostage to make Samidare let him go
Libra Girls’ Academy case: unsolved, though last time we left, Samidare had an epiphany about the trick involved
Obviously, when she announces this, Tsukiyo and Nazuna are pretty shocked and want to know what she means.
Samidare goes to the desk and starts to draw to show them, which is also helpfully supplied for the reader, since it’s kind of complicated to explain. I’ll just insert the diagram from the book, which is something I usually don’t do, but I think it’ll save us both a lot of headache.
“Libra means ‘scales’, right? What I mean is that this entire building is one huge scale.”
Both Tsukiyo and Nazuna don’t really process that, so Samidare goes on to explain that the room they’re in right now is sitting on one side of the scale, while the other small room with the coffins is on the other side. The church is the fulcrum. The beam, rather than overhead, is actually under them.
Like so.
The way there can be two different rooms in seemingly one space is that one room is inside this “box” sitting on the scale dish, while the other room’s floor is the top of the “box”. Since each side of the scale has a long vertical tower wrapping around it, the casual observer wouldn’t see any difference in the box’s static walls vs the top of the box’s non-connected walls.
I told you it’s difficult to sort out verbally.
Anyway, this explains how the culprit was able to move around and confound them so easily: they used weight to change the rooms on either side of the scale to “disappear” and “remove” the body.
This chapter takes like a good ten pages going over the exact way this trick works, and other than a few pithy quips from Tsukiyo, you aren’t losing much, so here’s the tl;dr version:
Samidare and Black Cape start in the first room with Takezaki’s body. This room is on top of the box, because those three are heavier than Tsukiyo and Nazuna together, who are trapped in coffins on top of the opposite box.
Tsukiyo notes that of course this is the case.
The reason the two girls were confined to the coffins was to keep them within the little clearance gap at the top of the vertical shaft, and also to conceal the whole scales thing.
Samidare chases Black Cape across the beam of the scale.
Black Cape enters into the box on that side, meaning that now there’s three people’s weight to one dead body on the other side, so the culprit gets into an empty room to hide, that’s then pushed down the shaft and rendered inaccessible.
The doors function like elevator doors and cannot be opened while the scale is in motion, so that’s why Samidare couldn’t get in right after Black Cape.
When she entered into the room, it meant there were four people on one side of the scale and only a dead body on the other.
Ah, I know that you, eagle-eyed reader, are probably wondering how the scale didn’t even out while the three girls were searching the church. Shouldn’t the single culprit and the single dead body weigh about the same and reset the scale?
Well sure, it would, if the culprit hadn’t counted on that.
See, you need to remember that Tsukiyo and Nazuna were handcuffed at the hands and feet, and the key was around a statue of the Virgin Mary. A statue that Samidare refused to break to take the key and instead used a conveniently placed handtruck to carry it into the room with everyone else.
Yep.
I’m impressed the culprit knew Samidare would be morally opposed to breaking a statue of the Virgin Mother--they really did their research.
So anyway, as you’d imagine, the Mary statue plus the culprit was enough to keep the box room with the corpse on top of it level with the hallway. Then the girls were tricked into trapping themselves by all going to see the body. (Which, again, was Naz’s suggestion.)
So yeah, here we are now.
The three girls are trapped, and the culprit is free.
That summed up everything that happened at Libra Girls’ Academy.
Was it possible to even make a building that worked like a scale? The Committee for the Salvation of Victims of Crime could probably do it. We were facing Shinsen Mikado and Ryuuzouji Gekka here. In fact, this is pretty much exactly what I’d expect from them.
“Wait, so the culprit gets to run away...and we’re just stuck here forever? That sucks! You solved the mystery and it didn’t get us anywhere!”
“Uh...right! Since we know there’s another room above us, couldn’t we break through the ceiling to escape?” I said, looking up at the ceiling.
It was over thirty meters high.
“It’s easy to say that, but how would we do it?”
“...Let’s try throwing a chair.”
((Ah yes, Samidare, take a page out of Nanamura’s book.))
I took the small chair beside the writing desk in my hands and tossed it above me. It clamored to the ground without even hitting the ceiling.
It would be really tough to throw something in the direct center of the ceiling. Besides, something as small as this chair probably would never reach it on its own.
“Looks like that won’t work.”
“Okay, how about this. Naz-chan, get on my shoulders.”
“Huh? Me?!”
“Yeah. Tsukiyo-chan’s got a lot of issues going on right now.”
“I appreciate your sympathy.”
I crouched down and Nazuna climbed up onto my shoulders. Careful to keep my balance and not drop her, I stood up.
“Woah, woah!”
Nazuna seemed a little worried.
“Well?”
“I c-can’t reach it. Not at all.”
I wondered if maybe I could jump and reach that spot instead.
((YES! YES, PLOT-RELEVANT SAMIDARE JUMPS!!!))
I let Nazuna down, whose face looked like a little kid who’d just been lifted up for the first time. She mumbled “high, so high” to herself.
“Hey, what did you do to Naz? Her cheeks are on fire!”
“I don’t know. I didn’t do anything weird.”
“You’ve done nothing but weird stuff since you got here!”
“That’s not what we’re supposed to be worrying about now! Help me think of a way out.”
“I don’t think breaking through the ceiling is realistic,” Nazuna said, sitting flat on the floor. “It’s probably reinforced with concrete or thick beams. We’d need serious firepower if we wanted to break through it.”
“Yeah, guess you’re right…” I said, shoulders sagging.
“Ah, I just had a great idea,” Tsukiyo said, suddenly looking up. “What if all three of us jumped at the same time, and that made this side of the scale lighter so it would go up?”
“I mean sure, if we jumped it would be lighter while we were in the air, but I doubt the scale would move in the 0.1 seconds we were airborne.”
“Well we won’t know unless we try, right?”
“I mean I guess… Should we?”
“Nah, sounds like a pain,” Tsukiyo said, quickly abandoning her own plan and flopping onto the floor, going back to her withdrawn stage.
Nazuna sat beside her, her face twisted in thought about how to escape. It didn’t seem like she was having much luck.
I picked up the chair I’d thrown at the ceiling and sat in it.
I wanted to be out of here already.
I wanted to go home, to my dorm room.
I wanted to get back to my peaceful, normal life.
Normal, huh.
I wondered if it would be possible to live a calm, normal life with Kirigiri without cases to solve. It was possible that even if we managed to establish some normalcy around us, she’d set off in search of her next case.
Was there even anywhere for us to return home to?
“I’m hungry…” Tsukiyo said, starting once again to proclaim her desires to the room.
“I wonder what time it is…” Nazuna said, understandably losing steam herself.
“Don’t worry. My friends will definitely come save us. We all decided to check in by noon, so if they don’t hear from me, someone will come.”
“How many hours away is that?”
“Uh…”
“Don’t get my hopes up like this,” Tsukiyo said coldly, only her eyes pointed in my direction.
“Hey, by the way,” I said, hoping to change the topic. “Do you guys really not have any idea who the culprit could be? Even though we unraveled the trick, we still don’t know who the killer is. Do you guys know of anyone who might want Takezaki-san dead?”
“Obviously not! We were kidnapped by some weird pervert, weren’t we? It’s not like we’d hang out with anyone like that and not tell them to take a hike!” Tsukiyo said, starting to get upset.
“So you don’t know anything about Takezaki-san? No weird rumors or anything?”
“Weird rumors?”
“Ah,” Nazuna said. “Now that you mention it, I did hear something about her. That back in middle school, she drove one of her former friends to suicide…”
“The hell? I never heard that.”
“That’s because you don’t take any interest in our classmates, Tsukiyo-san…”
“Well duh, why would I? I only have eyes for you, Naz, hehe.”
“You really should expand your horizons, Tsukiyo-san.”
“What? You’re telling me that too, Naz? You sound just like my dad.”
“Hey, so, about Takezaki-san?”
“Well, I don’t have much interest in gossip myself, so I just passively listened, but apparently, Takezaki-san was being extorted for money by a classmate back in middle school. Then one day, the bully changed targets from her to some other girl, allegedly someone Takezaki-san was once close with. Rumor says that she paid 100,000 yen ($1000 roughly) for it. In reality, it was probably closer to the bully demanding 100,000 yen in order to focus on some other target, and she just complied. Eventually, the friend ended up killing herself.”
“That’s pretty tragic…”
“Seems like there was someone who wanted to make Takezaki-san out to be worse, so they exaggerated the rumor. Said things like Takezaki-san herself was the leader of the extortion group and such. There’s no way to tell what’s true and what isn’t.”
“Certainly seems sufficient as a motive,” I muttered to myself. “Perhaps it’s a school friend, or a relative… Can you think of anyone?”
“As I mentioned before, Takezaki-san and I weren’t exactly close…”
“Right… Oh wait, can you think of any Libras?”
“Libras? I don’t really remember other people’s zodiac signs.”
“Yeah, I guess not…”
“I know Naz’s zodiac sign. She’s a Leo! It’s the same sign as me. We match! Hehehe!”
It might have just been my imagination, but it seemed like Tsukiyo was starting to lose it. Maybe we’d been shut up in here for too long, and it was starting to take a mental toll.
That or she’s just threatened by your oblivious allure, Samidare.
This subplot is fantastic and I’m going to miss it when it’s over.
Soon after this conversation, everyone starts to feel weird, and the room begins to shake. They realize that the scale is moving, which is good in that it shows that they’re going to get out, but is bad, since the only one who knows how the scale works is the culprit.
Samidare motions for Tsukiyo and Nazuna to move away from the door, and hoists the chair over her head to use as a weapon.
Then the door opens, and the person standing there is…
A man with the physique of a model, wearing an expensive suit and sunglasses.
“Ya-Yadorigi-san?” I said without thinking.
“Oh, Samidare-san,” he said back, as if we’d just bumped into each other on the street. “Good morning. Are you in the process of solving this case?”
“Huh? Uh, erm, I am, but…” What the heck was going on here? “What are you doing here, Yadorigi-san?”
“It’ll take a while to explain, so let’s chat over breakfast at a hotel or something. By the way, you aren’t hurt, are you? I know you must be exhausted.”
“I’m already tuckered out, for sure.”
“Those two behind you are connected to the case too?”
“Yeah.”
“Then have them join us for breakfast,” Yadorigi said with a smile.
Nazuna crept up behind me, whispering in my ear: “Is that man the Black Cape?”
“Huh, there’s no way…”
“You know each other?”
“We sure do, this is one of the other detectives in our group.”
“This is really strange, though. The only one who should know how to let us out is the culprit…”
“What? No!”
“Do you have something you need to discuss?” Yadorigi asked, offering an arm to escort us. “For now I think it’s best if we leave this room, no?”
“Oh right,” I said, then looked over my shoulder to whisper to the others. “We’ll be in trouble if we get trapped in here again, so let’s get out of here for now. Stay behind me.”
Nazuna and Tsukiyo nodded, and Yadorigi walked into the hallway.
The rest of us followed, finally taking a step off the dish of the scale. Despite that, I felt more confused than elated. Like there was something going on that was above my head.
((Hey, Samidare? I’m going to remind you that your Big Bad is a guy who can disguise himself real good.))
We followed down the hall, me carefully leaving thirty meters between us and Yadorigi.
Finally, the hallway ended, and Yadorigi took a step into the church. He stopped and looked over his shoulder, waiting until we closed more of the distance between us before starting to walk again.
In the next moment, I saw a black shadow jump out from the left of my peripheral vision.
It was Black Cape.
I didn’t have time to yell out.
Black Cape brought the metal pipe down on Yadorigi’s head.
Fresh blood spurted everywhere.
I couldn’t even look away.
Yadorigi crumpled on the spot, falling to the ground as if dead.
I heard Tsukiyo and Nazuna scream behind me.
Black Cape’s hood was facing me.
I’ll never forgive you…
I’ll never forgive you!
Murderer!
“I’m Samidare Yui, the detective assigned to this case! You cannot hurt me!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. “If you’re going to hurt someone, you’ll have to go through me. If you’re ready to face the consequences of breaking the rules, then come at me!”
I took a step toward Black Cape, who responded by taking a step back.
We faced off in the silent church, the smell of blood growing ever thicker.
Black Cape held up the bloody pipe in a defensive stance and began to retreat.
“Running away?”
As soon as I said it, Black Cape stopped.
They seemed unsure, as if they hadn’t considered that this would happen.
“From here I can reach you in two steps,” I said, pointing to my feet. “If you turn to run, I’ll catch you immediately. If you want to fight, I’ll face you. Don’t you get it? You’ve already lost. Give up, and put down the pipe.”
Without noticing, we’d moved to the area closest to the entrance. So they were planning on running way.
The door was on the left of where I was standing, the area where I saw Black Cape jump out to attack Yadorigi. I could see that the boards sealing up the door had already been removed. It was possible to leave.
I turned my attention there. That was likely where the culprit would try to flee.
On the other hand, the hallway leading to the coffin room was right behind them. It was equally possible that they might try to make a break for it and hide in that room like before.
“I’ve already figured out your trick. There’s nowhere to run,” I said. “All that’s left is to unmask you and make you confess.”
Black Cape’s identity…
I looked over the person before me again. Though the cape helped hide it, they were extremely small. They had to be a woman, or a child.
Who the hell?
((Samdiare…))
I couldn’t imagine a mystery where the culprit was someone who’d never been introduced before, but...I couldn’t think of anyone who it could be. Plus, the Libra Girls’ Academy case had just started, and it was possible that there were more murders planned.
Black Cape’s hood hid most of their face, but I could see their mouth.
It was smiling.
I felt as though I’d seen it somewhere before.
Mocking me, trying to taunt me.
((Samidare, come on...))
As soon as I thought that, Black Cape turned to make a break for the hallway.
“Ah!”
I was too slow!
I sprung from the floor.
I wouldn’t let them escape…
Just as I thought that, the culprit tripped and fell spectacularly. From inside the hood, a pair of glasses flew across the floor.
Glasses?
Whatever, now was my chance.
This entire time, I’d been chasing after the back of his black caped culprit, and now I was going to tackle them like I’d wanted to since the start.
As I lunged, Black Cape rolled first onto their side, then their back.
Shit!
A trap?
The hood back, our eyes met.
Black Cape grabbed my sleeve with their left hand and pulled, pressing the gun-like thing in their right hand against the left side of my chest.
“Gotcha,” she said.
It was a voice I’d heard before.
It was a face I’d seen before.
“Do you know what this is? It’s a nail gun. If I pull the trigger, it’ll stake you through the heart and turn you into a voodoo doll.”
“Why would you…”
It was one of the detectives in our group, Mizuiyama Sachi.
Ha! You thought it was Lico! But no!
The curse of Jess starting to like a seemingly unimportant character and them ending up evil strikes again!
Though still, Shinsen can disguise himself as anyone, so maybe check on Yadorigi to make sure he’s dead? Something?
But anyway hell yeah! This is the kind of shit I’m here for!
< LAST PART | NEXT PART >
#DR Kirigiri#DRK5#DRK5 summary#translations#long post#DR Kirigiri spoilers#I'll fix the images later
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Could I have Yuki liking Shinji but he is to shy to confess? Also, Hajime and Mikado are trying to ve the cupid bit it really isnt working at all.
This was a struggle, the first time I had done it didn’t save. And so, I had to redo it, but I hope you enjoy, anon! I started to ship these two because of ya. Yuki spoke quietly with Hajime in private about Shinji. The ginger-haired male was going on and on about the firefighter and it caused the boxer to sweatdropped. “I don’t think you should be telling me this, instead. You should be telling Shinji this, Yuki.” He finished with a small shrug to which the lucky student replied with a flustered expression at the thought. “I-I wouldn’t know what to s-say..! He doesn’t like me like that, Hajime..he only thinks of me as a b-brother..” He replied sadly with a slump of his shoulders. Hajime frowned for a moment through his dark shades, before a small idea popped into mind. “How about, I help you with your confession?” He suggested, which caused Yuki to look up at him with starry eyes that could rival Yuri’s. “You’ll really h-help me..?” He said softly his tone laced with happiness and gratitude as the boxer nodded his head with a small smile. “Yeah, it my job to help out others ya know? Not just with being healthy, but in general. Just be sure not to tell, Mikado..alright?”As if on cue, Mikado had appeared out of thin air. “Don’t tell Mikado what? Mr.Makuounchi?” He asked curiously as he glanced over at the two wondering what they could be talking about. “Nothing!” The two said in synchronization looking at each other with a small nod. That was a high five worthy cover-up, they figured. “Is it what Mr. Maeda has feelings for Mr. Kasai, but he’s afraid to admit them?” Yuki began to stammering since he had been figured out. “W-What?! H-how did you..k-know?!” He squeaked, astonished. Mikado thought for a moment, before smiling slightly. “It’s obvious, Mr.Maeda. We all know, aside from Mr.Kasai, of course. That and with Ms. Nijiue drawing… let us go with the creative art of you both, it would be hard not to tell. That aside, do not fret, I’m here to help you as well.” Yuki looked down, fidgeting with his fingers for a moment before slowly nodding. “T-thank you, both of you..” Yuki smiled kindly at the both of them before he waddled off. Hajime looked at Mikado skeptically, before nodding. “Let’s hope this goes well.” Mikado’s smile grew wider as he replied. “I’m certain Mr.Makuounchi, this will be quite the experience for Mr.Maeda.” Attempt No.1:Yuki was jogging alongside Shinji, but he could hardly keep up with him. He wasn’t much of an athletic person, and his clothing didn’t help with it either. But for the sake of making Shinji happy, he was more than willing to do it. “S-Shinji, can I talk t-to you for a moment..?” He said softly, as he slowed down along with Shinji who smiled nevertheless. “Sure! What did you need to talk about little bro?” Yuki glanced around Shinji for a moment, to see Hajime and Mikado hiding in the bushes and holding up signs for him to read. “I-I just wanted to say..t-that I like..your..hair..?” It sounded more like a question than an answer but nevertheless, he gently ruffled Yuki’s hair in response. “I like your hair too!”’While the two started their jog once again, Hajime glared at Shinji. “Hair?! Why that out of all things!” He hissed in angrily ready to just about punch him. To which Mikado responded with a shrug, ”I thought it would be a suitable comment.”Attempts No. 2-4 didn’t go that much better either. The attempt turned out to bring the others in, rather than gaining the confidence. Yuki was making lunch for himself in Hajime when Setsuka poked her head in with a curious expression. “What’s going on here?” Her eye seemed to have let up when she saw Yuki cooking. After Setsuka, Hibiki and Kanade came in, then Iroha and Nikei, and last but not least, Yuri. While that one didn’t go exactly as planned, he got to know his classmates more and more. Attempt three and four went hand in hand, that plan was to make Shinji fall I love in love with Yuki, and apparently, Mikado took the Cupid thing a bit to literally. Since he brought a bow and arrow and tried to shoot Shinji with it. Though Hajime stopped him, and he ended up hitting Yuki with the arrow. Needless to say, Yuki didn’t feel so well once it was all over. Yuki slowly walked up to the two with a small frown on his face. “Y-you two haven’t helped! Just..have made things worse!” He claimed and gestured at his wounded hand. Hajime did feel guilty since he wasn’t able to uphold his promise. “Yuki, I’m sorry, but I-“ Yuki had cut him off right there. “Don’t,..please. Thank you both for your help, but..I’ll does this..myself..” He said softly before turning and started to walk away. Hajime sighed, running a hand through his hair. “We really messed up this time..” He uttered, glancing over at Mikado who seemed to plan something. “What are you doing..?” In return, Mikado chuckled. “Don’t worry, this shall be our last attempt. Just follow my lead, Mr. Makuounchi.” Yuki walked down a small path holding his head down and sighed softly. Trying to figure out what he was going to do until he noticed some stringed lights. Confused, the lucky student started to make his way over to it. Where he noticed a campfire that was set up with some food and decorations all around. Going over, he took a seat on a log near the fire and stared into it, just getting lost in his thoughts. Until he heard a certain males voice, turning to look over his shoulder, he saw Shinji. “S-Shinji?!” He squeaked. Shinji just looked confused as he took a seat beside Yuki. “What’s up, little bro? You left a note on my door saying to need to talk about something urgent?” Yuki was at a small loss for words, but he sucked in a small breath before he started speaking. “I-I ..wanted to tell you t-that…I like you..! Because..you’re awesome and kind to everyone no matter what..and you always seem to be having a g-good time wherever you go..” Yuki confessed before looking away in fear of rejection. But he was soon brought into a bone crushing hug as well as a loud laugh. Yuki turned back to Shinji and smiled slightly albeit, he was nervous to do so but he did. “I’m glad you confessed! That’s something a real man does!” He exclaimed before gently setting him back down. “I..feel the same way about you, Yuki!” He grinned excitedly afterward. The two would then hug each other once more. In the nearby bushes, Hajime and Mikado fist-bumped each other. “Best Cupid’s.”
#sdra2#yuki maeda#hajime makunouchi#mikado sannoji#shinji kasai#yuri kagarin#nikei yomiuri#iroha nijiue#hibiki otonokoji#kanade otonokoji#setsuka chiebukuro#Cupid bros#take two
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Chapter 10 - Cooking With Monsters
So many characters in this chapter fjklafjkejs
Wendy arrived at the building a bit early, as did someone else, and they met in the elevator.
“Are you a friend of Celty’s?” Wendy asked, eyeing the busty highschool girl with a smile. Something felt off about her. She was...sharp? Stabby? Painful? That didn’t make sense. She pushed the feeling away for the moment.
“Y-yes! My name is Sonohara Anri.” She bowed. What is this feeling...Saika seems to hate her…
‘barrier barrier our love would be blocked, barrier shield blocked refuses our love’ The voices of the sword concealed in Anri’s body were going crazy.
“Me too! I’m Wendy.” Wendy bowed as well. “A pleasure to meet you.” They exited the elevator and knocked on Celty’s apartment door.
Shortly, Shinra answered the door. “Celty, your friends are here!” He yelled back, grinning. “Welcome, welcome. Did you two already introduce yourselves?”
“Yep.” Wendy replied, while Anri nodded. They came inside and Celty ran up, with her helmet on.
“Good to see you both again!” She typed some more and showed it to Shinra. “Shinra! Stay out of the kitchen and living room.”
“Alright, alright.” He said fending her off. “I’ve got some reading I can do anyway. Later, girls.” He headed off to his room.
“Okay, what are we cooking, Wendy-chan?”
“Tonkatsu, if that’s alright! I found a recipe. I figured we could head out and buy the groceries we need first.” Wendy proposed. Again, Anri nodded. She was a bit distracted in addition to being her usual quiet self, because of Saika’s hate...it was unusual.
“Ah well, I can’t really go shopping with you…” Celty said, slumping. “Is there anything I can start to prepare?”
Wendy nodded. “You probably have rice here, right? We’re going to need a lot of rice. Like...at least 6 cups of rice. More would be better even...”
Celty nodded. “Leave it to me.”
Wendy smiled. “Okay then, Sonohara-san, let’s go get groceries!” Wendy seemed excited.
“Y-yes.” Anri said, smiling back. “See you soon, Celty-san.”
As they entered the elevator Wendy struck up conversation.
“Um, how do you know Celty?” She asked, innocently enough.
“Um...she helped me once, when I was in trouble.” Anri said slowly, carefully. Wendy felt that there was more to the story, but opted not to push it.
“Ah, me too! I had a head injury and she brought me here for Shinra-sensei to take a look at it.” Wendy was still trying to figure out what this weird feeling. The feeling of sharpness.
“Hey, Sonohara-san...I don’t mean to be weird, but...I feel like you...are a sword? But the sword is...different than you...I’m sorry, I’m not sure what I’m...saying…” She looked at Anri, who looked extremely concerned.
“How do you know about Saika?” She whispered, looking terrified.
The elevator doors opened at that point, and they walked outside.
“Saika? Sorry, I don’t know what that is. Wait. Is it a sword?” She didn’t seem to have registered the terror on Anri’s face.
“L-let’s talk about it once we get back. Celty knows about it, so...let’s wait until then, please.” Anri bowed.
Wendy looked confused, suddenly realizing she hadn’t just been speaking nonsense. “Of course. Sorry to prod…”
They grabbed the groceries they needed and headed back.
------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- -------------
Celty answered the door and they came in.
“We’ve got everything!” Wendy said, holding up her bags as proof.
Celty looked at Anri, who seemed a bit apprehensive.
“What’s wrong, Anri-chan?”
“That’s probably related to me…” Wendy interjected, looking sheepish. “I accused her of being a sword.”
“Is the feeling the same as when you look at me and know without a doubt that I am headless?” Celty asked, tilting her head.
“Now that you mention it...it is…”
“It’s okay, Anri-chan, she knew about me right away too. It seems to be a gift of Wendy-chan’s.”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I’m sorry for prying, Anri-san.” She bowed her head in apology.
“If you already know then...I’ll explain.” Anri explained to her about Saika, with Celty occasionally jumping in as well.
“Saika...wants to love people. But...Saika says it can’t love you. It can’t love Celty either, because she isn’t human.”
Wendy frowned. “Why...can’t Saika love me? I’m...pretty sure I’m human.” She seemed nervous.
“Saika isn’t clear on that. But it says ‘barrier’ over and over.” Anri finished, looking a bit curious.
“Barrier? Wendy do you think-”
“Oh.” Wendy fell down onto the couch, realization hitting her like a train. “That barrier...was it me?” She thought back to the car accident, when she’d seen the barrier, suddenly realizing that she had done it. And this time with Shizuo, she had done it again. A huge blue barrier, sapping all of her strength.
Because she had made it.
“<Oh my god. What the hell am I?>” She muttered, gripping her head.
“<It’s okay, Wendy-chan. Do you want to talk about it now?>”
Wendy shook her head. “Sorry, that was...rude, given present company. I’m...just surprised. I’ll let you know if I want to...discuss it more...we have cooking to do.” She said, snapping herself out of her daze.
Anri blinked, looking between them, understanding English but only hearing Wendy’s side of the conversation. “Is everything okay, Wendy-san?”
Wendy nodded. “I’ll be fine. I’ll...sort it out later. Thank you for...revealing the truth to me.”
Anri wasn’t completely sure she understood, but she felt...happy, in a way, to know that there was another human about there, to some degree like her...an odd power and a feeling that your humanity was slipping…
They got to work with the cooking.
Celty couldn’t help but want to ask Wendy about the date and how things were going with Shizuo, and she hoped Wendy didn’t mind discussing it in front of Anri.
“Wendy-chan, how are things going with Shizuo?” She asked.
Wendy blushed a bit and giggled. “Well, pretty good, I’d say. Don’t tell him I told you, but he’s very affectionate.”
Anri looked surprised. “Shizuo? Heiwajima Shizuo?” She asked. Wendy nodded back at her. “Um…” She wasn’t sure what she was trying to ask.
“He and I are dating.” Wendy replied, smiling.
“Oh! I see. Um, I wish you the best.” She said very formally, smiling.
“Is he coming tonight?”
“Yeah! He helped me pick the food. Well, he chose tonkatsu and I thought it would be good to have curry too. To be honest, if it weren’t for him I would never try making tonkatsu...I hope we’re up for the challenge.” She looked a bit sheepish.
“L-let’s make tonkatsu together!” Anri said fiercely, making a fist. She giggled.
“I’m sure we can do it!”
They all laughed a bit. Wendy felt closer to them already.
“Did you see him again after Friday?” Celty asked, still wanting to probe for details.
“Mm-hm! We spent Saturday together, and this morning too.”
“Wendy-chan...has he been staying over at your place? ~<3” Celty asked, leaning close to her.
Wendy blushed furiously. “Um, I mean, yes, but...i-it’s not what you think! He just sleep overs sometimes now, that’s all!” She fended off Celty’s curiosity by putting her hands up in front of her.
“It’s only been a week! I’m surprised.” Celty said, laughing at Wendy’s embarrassment. “It’s okay, I’m just teasing you.”
“I...was surprised to hear you say Heiwajima-san was affectionate.” Anri said suddenly.
“I-is that just because of the rumors or did you meet him, Anri-san?” Wendy asked.
Anri shook her head. “I met him. I was being chased down by some gang members...and he saved me from them.” She looked thoughtful. “I think it was a coincidence more than anything else.” She smiled. “The next time we met, he seemed to have no recollection of me.” She laughed. “He just seemed...very annoyed. And aloof.”
Wendy crossed her arms. “That sounds about right.” She grinned. “But he’s...very kind, really. And sweet. Although...he can definitely be a bit dense.”
Celty actually had known that Shizuo had a bit of a gentler side to him. He seemed to be fairly comfortable with her, though clearly there was more she was missing. Well, it was good he had someone to open up to.
“So, Shinra-san and Shizuo are joining for dinner…” She turned to Anri. “Did you invite someone too?”
“Oh, yes. Um, w-we’re not dating or anything though.” She blushed a bit. Celty looked over at Wendy as if to say, ‘they should be!’
“His name is Ryuugamine Mikado-kun. He’s a classmate of mine at Raira.” She continued.
‘And the creator of the Dollars…’ Celty mentally added. He was sure to recognize Wendy, who had become a big topic for many of the Dollars.
“Well, I look forward to meeting him.” Wendy said.
------------- ------------- ------------- -------------
By the time the food was ready the three had enjoyed multiple laughs and seemed to bond well. Celty found that Anri was a little bit more open, and she guessed it was from knowing that Wendy knew her secret, and that Wendy had a similar one.
She would make sure to talk to Wendy about the barriers later. She thought it was likely a positive thing - if Wendy could control those barriers, she could protect herself.
Shortly the apartment door rang. “I’ll get it!” Shinra yelled, excited to be allowed to leave his room finally.
He opened the door to find Mikado there. “Good to see you again, Mikado-kun.”
“Likewise, Kishitani-sensei.”
“Please, call me Shinra.”
They came into the living room area. “Wow, it smells delicious!” Mikado said, smiling. He met eyes with Wendy, and quickly hid the recognition he felt. She noticed, but declined to mention it.
“Um, my name is Ryuugamine Mikado. It’s nice to meet you.” He bowed.
“Wendy. A pleasure as well.” She replied, bowing a little herself.
“If you think you recognize her, Mikado-kun, it might be because she’s dating the one and only Heiwajima Shizuo!” Shinra said, holding up a finger as he announced it. “I’m sure you heard about.”
“Shinra-sensei, be careful not to antagonize Shizuo, you know!” Wendy interjected, blushing.
“He’s not here right now, so he’s not the one I’m antagonizing, is he?” Shinra replied, winking. “You blush almost as easily as Celty when I-GURK” Shinra was cut off as Celty jabbed him with shadows, and continued jabbing.
Laughing a bit and turning away from that scene, Mikado turned to Wendy. “Ah! T-that must be it.” He smiled at Wendy. “I heard about the incident last week. I’m glad both of you are all right.”
“Thank you. It was Celty here who saved us.” Wendy said, the lie slipping out without thinking. Well, she had believed it for a bit. Celty waved it off with one hand.
“Shizuo could have handled it, but I was worried.” She replied, ceasing her attacks on Shinra, who looked relieved.
“You’re a classmate of Anri-san’s, right?” Wendy asked.
“Oh, yes.” Mikado nodded.
“Do you two do fun things after school?” Wendy continued, directing the conversation towards them as an item of sorts. She knew Anri had said they weren’t dating, but there definitely seemed to be...something.
“Ah, I think we usually just head straight home. Well, after the class rep meetings.” Mikado replied, smiling sheepishly. “It’s not terribly exciting, I’m sorry.” Anri nodded along.
The doorbell went off again. Wendy started to move, but Shinra rushed past her, giving her a look. “I’ll get it.” He said, striding down the hall. Wendy looked a bit impatiently after him.
“<Is he teasing me?>” She said in English to Celty, raising an eyebrow.
“<It seems that way.>” Celty replied, laughing a bit. Mikado and Anri blinked at them. They knew a little bit of English from their studies.
“English?” Mikado asked. Wendy and Celty both nodded.
The door opened, and Wendy lit up as she heard Shizuo’s voice responding to Shinra’s greeting.
“Everyone’s already here, Shizuo, you’re a bit late~” Shinra teased as they closed the distance to the living room.
“You sure I’m late?” He growled, looking menacingly at his friend. It was definitely a threat.
“Ah no, as it turns out, you’re right on time! Please don’t destroy anything.” Shinra pleaded, seeming to regret his attempt at needling Shizuo.
Satisfied, Shizuo walked over to Wendy using one arm to pull her into a half hug, smiling a bit. Wendy seemed thrilled, smiling wide and blushing a bit. “I’m glad you’re here!” She said, trying to ignore the fact that everyone was staring at them.
“You two are a great couple.” Celty showed her phone to Wendy and Shizuo only.
“You think so?” Shizuo asked, smiling. “Coming from you it means a lot to me.”
Celty rubbed the back of her helmet bashfully.
Shizuo squinted at Mikado and Anri. “Ryuuga...saki? Mikado?” He asked, remembering how last time they met he also failed to remember his name.
“R-Ryuugamine Mikado.” He corrected.
“Oh, sorry. And um...Sonohara…?”
“Sonohara Anri.” Anri bowed a little bit politely.
“Ah.”
Wendy poked him in the tummy lightly. “Forgetful, aren’t you?” She said, smiling. He gently poked her back.
“Now that we’re all acquainted, I’d love to try the food Celty, Wendy-chan, and Anri-chan made for us.” Shinra interrupted, beaming at Celty. “Food lovingly made by my darling-OOF!” Just one jab to the gut this time.
“Stop embarrassing me in front of our friends!”
“I’m looking forward to it as well.” Shizuo said, ignoring what just happened, looking only at Wendy.
“I hope you like it, we worked very hard.” Wendy grinned back at him. Shizuo ruffled her hair, seemingly unaware that this caused everyone in the room to stare.
‘I knew she said he was affectionate, but it’s still surprising.’ Anri thought to herself.
‘Sh-Sh-Shizuo smiling like that? Ruffling her hair? He seems so different from every other time I’ve seen him.’ Mikado thought, totally startled. ‘Ah I mean, I guess I saw on the boards, but...it’s different to see it yourself.’
“They’re too cute, Shinra!” Celty only showed Shinra her phone, looking on happily.
“Not as cute as us.” Shirna whispered back, smiling as Celty seemed embarrassed by his comment.
“A-anyway, everyone, please sit down and I’ll put together some plates.” Wendy said. Shizuo reluctantly let go of her, pushing up his sunglasses as he walked over to a seat in the living. Shinra and Mikado followed suit.
“I’ll help.” Anri said, walking over to where Wendy was.
“Me too!” Celty offered. The three of them laughed, as if sharing a joke.
“Hey, Shizuo,” Shinra started, sitting down next to him. “Do you ever wish she would cook for you in an apron? But just an apron? Just imag-EEK”
Shizuo growled at him, eyes narrowed. “Stop being so lewd.” He snarled, crushing the cup he was holding. He looked at the crushed cup, then shrugged and put it on the table. “Also, Wendy’s sitting there. So move.”
Shinra had stood up before the sentence was complete, taking in the broken cup.
“To be honest, I’m surprised you didn’t punch me.” Shinra said, smiling a bit. “Is it because Wendy’s here?”
Shizuo growled again, standing up and smacking his head into Shinra’s. “Do you want me to punch you?” He asked, hardly flinching even as Shinra was recoiling and holding his own head.
“Owwww. N-no, that was quite enough. Just curious.” He really wanted to continue his teasing, but also didn’t want to end up dead, and his head was hurting a decent amount from the last attempt at teasing. “Celty, my darling, why didn’t you save me?” He yelled dramatically, startling the women who were almost finished preparing all the plates.
Celty looked at Shizuo, who was sitting down again, and Shinra, who had developed a small bump on his head, and appeared to sigh.
“You probably deserved it.”
Shinra hung his head. “Hey, Wendy-chan, what about you? Protect me from your boyfriend!” He flailed his arms a bit.
“Um…” Wendy looked at him, not really sure what to say. “This sounds like something the two of you should sort out...maybe with like a neutral third party.” She said, going overboard with her answer.
“Mikado-kun! You seem neutral.” Shinra said.
“Eeeeh? Um, I would rather not.” He held up his hands, laughing awkwardly. Anri giggled a little, as did Wendy and Celty.
“The food’s ready, anyway.” Wendy said. She brought over two plates, Anri following suit, and Celty just bringing one for Shinra. Wendy sat next to Shizuo, who put his arm around her for a quick squeeze before turning to the food.
“It looks amazing.” He said. And it did. There was rice, and then some traditional curry with veggies over that, and fresh, crispy tonkatsu.
“Thank you. It really came out well!” Wendy replied.
“It’s amazing!” Shinra cried, having tried a bite already. Celty laughed.
“It’s really good. Like a restaurant.” Mikado said, smiling at Anri.
“Thank you, Mikado-kun…” She blushed a bit, and he did in return.
Dinner passed, with (thankfully) no more needling from Shinra. The food was excellent, and by the time the meal was over, there was no food left at all.
“We should do this again sometime. Thank you for inviting me, Celty.” Wendy said, grinning. “I’m so full now…”
“I’m glad! And I would love to.”
“Me too, Celty-san.” Anri said.
“Next time you should cook for me in only an apron- URF” Celty, jabbed Shinra with the darkness a bunch, clearly a bit embarrassed. Wendy noticed that Shizuo’s brow was twitching angrily, but snuggled up against him a bit. He put his arm over her shoulders.
“Thank you everyone for the meal. It was delicious. And to Anri-chan for inviting me.” Mikado smiled at everyone.
“It’s been very fun.” Shinra grinned. His phone started to go off. He looked at it briefly, before standing up. “I better take this, please excuse me.” He headed down the hallway to a separate room.
Shizuo watched him go but didn’t say anything, his face in it’s natural stoic expression. She wondered what Shinra said that had bothered him earlier. She had learned from Celty those two were old friends. What an odd pair, she couldn’t help but think.
Shinra came back. “Ah, sorry about this, but I’ve been called in for a last minute job, so I need to go.”
“It’s no trouble. I’ll head home as well, then.” Mikado replied, Anri saying something similar.
Wendy and Shizuo looked at each other for a moment. “Yeah, we’ll probably head out too then.” Wendy said, as if having made a decision.
Shinra was already most of the way out the door. “Sorry to run! See you later!” He yelled back.
Celty was typing something very seriously. She was careful to only show it to Wendy (well, Shizuo could see but not read it, since it was in English). “<I want to talk to you about the barriers sometime soon, okay?>”
Wendy nodded. “<Come by sometime this week, just let me know when.>” She offered. Shizuo looked at the text, then at Celty, then back to Wendy. He shrugged it off.
Everyone stood up to leave. Appropriate thank yous and good-byes were had, and everyone began walking home. Shizuo had his arm around Wendy, so she assumed this meant he was walking her home, and perhaps staying the night again.
“Hey Shizuo,” She began, once they had left Anri and Mikado as well. “What was Shinra saying that bugged you?”
“He was being lewd.” Shizuo’s mouth twitched a bit.
“Hm? Like what, though? If you don’t mind…”
“He asked if I ever thought about you wearing just an apron and cooking for me.” He mumbled, turning a bit red.
“Ah, I see. Do you?” She asked, without thinking.
He looked at her as if stricken. “N-no, of course not! I’m not...I’m not a pervert like him.” He looked away. “I mean, I hadn’t thought of it, until he said it…” He seemed embarrassed to acknowledge it.
“I...think it would be kind of hot…” Wendy admitted, grinning.
“Well, it’s different coming from you. I won’t allow him to say lewd things about you.” Shizuo huffed.
Smiling, she reached up and squeezed the hand that was draped over her shoulder. “You’re a big sweetheart, Shizuo.”
He grunted back at her, still a bit flushed.
“Are you staying over, tonight?” She asked. They were nearing her place.
“Can I?” He asked immediately, looking happy.
“Of course. But only if you’ll kiss me some more.” She wagged a finger as she laid out her demands. She looked up at him.
He kissed her, stopping both of them from walking. It was a long kiss, both of them closing their eyes. He pulled away, and she felt breathless, intoxicated.
“I didn’t mean right here, Shizuo, g-geez…” She fake protested softly, sounding entirely unconvincing.
He grinned, pleased to see her blushing again. Her hand was on his chest, the other on his shoulder, reaching. They were still just standing there.
“My bad.” He said with a wink, scooping her up into his arms. She squeaked, taken aback.
“One day I’ll stop being surprised you know!” She said, blushing.
“I’ll keep doing it anyway.”
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Day 9 of 56
It begins before I exit the house. I am already notified of its potential presence by some instinctive reticence to go out, years and years of exposure to this funny thing embedding in me an almost 6th sense as to its proximity or distance, not to say that the speed that it can cover any ground could not overturn this basic awareness of its position in a blink of an eye. I know that the culprit is not booze today, nor is this knowledge garlanded in self-denial. I know myself, I know this condition, it and me? We are old friends. I would admit freely the identity of the culprit if I were possessed of the information, I don't know the identity, I just know what it is not. Aware of the interval twixt my last Bacchanalian revelry and now, knowing that I am free of that influence today, I fortify my resolve and insist that I exit. I want to have coffee, not for coffee's sake but for the opportunity to participate in the local milieu, an environment I oft times deny myself when housebound by you know what. To prove I can do it. It is after all, only coffee, me, alone, no need even to entertain or engage with anyone, just simple coffee. I want to extend my range beyond that today and go to the library for a brief respite from my cocooned environment, my home, which is the primary backdrop to the lion share of my day, of every day. I see no reason why I cannot accomplish this ambition, heaven knows, it is a most modest ambition. I am irritated that I am struggling. I was able to execute the same task yesterday with fluid facility, and that was closer to the temporal fallout zone following cessation of my vice than is today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmpOc94s1a8
As I am walking up my road, rucksack in place, straps positioned in such a way to allow a tight tug as I walk to tense my arms and then release them, practical yoga on the go, the subtle relaxation technique concealed and hidden from any observer by the seeming authenticity of the natural purpose of pulling straps tighter on a backpack, I am aware that I may fool them, but I am not fooling me. It is definitely bad today. Damn. I will not turn back. The feeling is building and gathering momentum. But this is not the House of Commons, this is not an airport terminal, this is doable. Do I really care if people spot me struggling to walk in a straight line? Do I care if they look askance at my self-tactile behaviour as a sudden, abrupt sensation tickles my chest demanding the immediate attention of an arm to check that all is in order? Yes I care. I care very much. I am not yet ready to start jerking my head back and forth publicly, I am not yet prepared to consign myself to maniacal gestures or lend myself to hysterical vocal outbursts in public. I am sure I am not insane. Surely not. Did Aksenty Poprishchin know he had gone mad? I order my coffee, overwhelming relief that the establishment is half empty so that any unexpected and unintentional strange display as I order will be limited to the minimum number of observers, myself and the girl at the till. I go at once outside, isolated table as always, measuring my anxiety before the next phase of my expedition. Coffee. I really should avoid coffee. It is certainly not going to alleviate this sensation. But no, I think, why should I? I have tried giving up so many things, beer, sugar, companionship, I REFUSE to give up my one cup of coffee a day. Fuck that. I REFUSE to give up life in its entirety. A recurrent thought doffs its hat at me. Yes yes, maybe this does prove re-incarnation I say by way of acknowledgement, I am being punished to expiate the sins of some previous life, or lives perhaps. I smile in spite of myself. Silly sod! Drink your coffee and get on with it. I do that very thing. But as I walk towards the library, I am aware that my old friend is walking with me all the way, nice of it to take time out to keep me company. Dear friend. I stop in the Co-op. I'd rather not, but there is absolutely no reason for me not to be able to, the booze is historically distant. It cannot be that! What on earth is causing this? I collate my items, present myself at another till, another gargantuan effort, feigning all calm but fighting to suppress the screaming torrent inside. This is why I have never really put on too much weight. Such a funny thought to occur to me. Oh well, every cloud and all that.. I have bought some spicy thingamabobs, perhaps sugar levels are low, I didn't sleep well again, sugar spike or sugar degradation, I can't remember. I stopped all that research a while ago now. Eventually, the searching for a cause, an explanation, becomes too tiring, too frustrating, too disheartening and even when you think you've hit the mother load, suddenly the condition, playfully in abeyance for a while, teasing and taunting and dangling false hope, BOOOM, re-appears, wagging its finger as it whispers no, no! Not even warm, mate! Maybe being a mad Irishman would not be so bad, less effort...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DotsQoAQPoo
I eat my treats in the park adjacent to the library. I need a piss but that means crossing the bloody road. Oh ffs, more theatre, more stress but I'm not going to ask for the key to the library latrine (how alliterative is that, library latrine?). They might take pleasure in saying no today. I have no confidence in good things this Tuesday. The treats have worked, I feel better! It was a temporary sugar drop! Hurrah! I leave the park, prepare to cross the road. The treats haven't worked. Where are those damned straps? My sunglasses, they are a permanent fixture on my face, they absolutely attract attention, constantly worn all seasons as they are. Absolutely don't care about that, they stay, non negotiable. Without them I would be blinded by the unforgiving light of life. Deep breath, off I go. Misjudged. I look like a numpty as I'm suddenly running across a car-less road. Who cares? I don't care any more, nothing seems to work. Beer doesn't work either. I don't actually want a beer. No cravings at all. It's sugar. I am still quietly minded that sugar is a key issue. I make a detour to the shop to buy some Mikado chocolate sticks. After all, sugar probably isn't the issue at all. I want Mikado sticks. End of. Good price. Fifty five pence. What a palaver buying those.
I'm in the library. I'm writing this. I'm not fully focused as I am also contemplating the return leg of my fun filled jaunt. I want to go to the greengrocers. I want an avocado and eggs. Maybe I should give up all the things I eat and try a completely new diet. Oh yes, why not go to extremes again? Such resounding success resides in extremes after all. Yeah right. I wonder if I'll succeed in effecting my purchases or if I will be compelled to walk straight by, frustrated in my attempt. My old friend didn't come into the library with me. I am fairly sure it will be waiting for me at the door though. It is a good friend, it wouldn't desert me so readily. Loyal, faithful, proper pal. I am so tired. I could sleep but daytime sleeping you may as well kiss goodnight to a full night's repose. God knows I can't afford to lose any more sleep! I was fine indoors. I'm fine here, in this indoors, this library. It's the life in between that's the problem. I am beginning to think this condition is here for life. I'm not sure such thinking is helpful but after 35 years, well, perhaps I should wake up and smell the coffee. I wonder if smelling coffee is acceptable to my mate? I'll try it and see…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkwc0RSihRI
Oh, my young friend called this morning, before I left. She's still with me, but...her use of language is a concern, she's making noises I've heard and made before. Her booze brain is working hard on her. It's trying to convince her that it wasn't booze that made her feel so awful that she wanted to stop. It's telling her that something else was/is responsible. It is conveniently not telling her that the reason why she is more in control, more able to cope, is precisely because she desisted from chucking down her throat the very thing that it is suggesting, gently at the moment, that she should try again now. It is being gentle with its argument thus far, but it won't be long before it begins to shout, to scream, to DEMAND that she obeys. It is a spoilt child, it is a monster fighting for survival itself, it will not cede lightly, it will fight, it will fight hard. Is she strong enough to resist? Am I?
PS I am about to leave the library and guess what? It has begun to rain, it is pouring down! Me in shorts and summer attire, a flimsy hooded fleece my only protection against the precipitation. Everyone in the vicinity in their summer garb. Good news at last!!! The streets will be emptying, people will be taking shelter under shop canopies, the rain is my best canopy, it is my escape hatch! I will be able to run, act aberrantly under the guise of normality in the face of these unsavoury conditions! I will make it to the greengrocer now, I am in no doubt. I will be able to run across car-less streets with reason, I will be able to hide beneath a fabricated hood of pretence, I can dance in the rain if I want, no-one will mind. I LOVE the rain. Today is not the first time the rain has been my best friend. The other friend, the nasty friend, that friend won’t be able to keep pace with me on the way home. Not now. Not now the rain is here. This could be the beginning of the best day EVER!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ZYhVpdXbQ
Pps I can't wait to get home, this time I don't think I will ever go out again.
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by Mikita Mikado
If you’ve ever seen the cult classic movie “Tommy Boy,” you can probably rattle off half a dozen of the film’s most memorable quotes. “Tommy Boy” is the story of an ‘odd couple’ – Chris Farley and David Spade – who take a road trip across the Rust Belt, desperately trying to sell auto parts in order to save Farley’s deceased father’s company.
This year – if you can believe it – marks the 20th anniversary of “Tommy Boy” hitting the theaters (and that deer). And while the film is a comedy, it teaches three common-sense approaches to achieve success in sales, which still hold true today.
“Brothers Don’t Shake Hands, Brothers Gotta Hug”
In this famous scene, Chris Farley’s Tommy meets his obnoxious, soon to be step-brother (played by Rob Lowe) and the two could not be any more unlike. Similarly, for years, marketing and sales departments within many organizations have been siloed; focused on their own responsibilities and KPIs; unable to agree on anything and prone to finger-pointing when quotas aren’t met.
Many a marketing team has been known to throw so-called “qualified” leads over the fence, dust off their hands and say, “my job is done.” On the other hand, sales – who are often the ones with their “feet on the street” – do not feedback to marketing what they’re hearing from customers and prospects, and refuse to provide reference customers, not wanting anyone to “touch” their accounts. The notion of “help me to help you” just does not apply.
This paradigm desperately needs to change. Marketing teams can no longer see their job as ending at the beginning of the sales funnel. Sales teams, in turn, need to leverage their direct customer relationships to inform and strengthen marketing efforts and messages.
“Helen, we’re both in sales. Let me tell you why I SUCK as a salesman.”
A watershed “Tommy Boy” moment occurs when Tommy speaks one-on-one and gets on the same level with a waitress, ultimately convincing her to bring him chicken wings after hours, which is normally not allowed. In an “A-HA” realization, David Spade’s Richard – who’s given to ridiculing Tommy relentlessly – commends Tommy for his ability to read people, for getting inside Helen’s head and telling her what she wanted to hear when she needed to hear it. Ultimately, this led to Tommy successfully making and selling his case – getting his chicken wings.
To succeed in sales today, organizations need to get inside their customers’ heads. Today, forward-thinking organizations are using a variety of innovative methods to do just this, like Big Data and predictive analytics, which help them to better target and upsell customers at the moment of purchase.
Other capabilities, specifically document analytics, are allowing sales representatives to see their prospects’ activity with a contract. Has it been opened? What sections is the prospect focused on? Where is he/she inserting questions and comments? With this information, sales teams can be much more effective in follow-ups. In fact, analyses show that “electronic deal room” capabilities such as this can raise close rates by up to 28 percent.
In addition, marketing can also see this activity and alert sales to new collateral and materials that they may not be aware of, which may help push prospects over the finish line. Document analytics can help sales and marketing professionals gain such an intimate customer understanding that the product sells itself, just like Richard’s proverbial “ketchup popsicle.”
Mind the gaps
Traditionally, the customer “journey” – from the entry in a CRM system to marketing for qualification, and ultimately to sales and others (including finance and legal) for follow-up and closure – has been prone to disconnects and inefficiencies. A lot can be lost in translation as leads are passed along the continuum.
In this spirit, it can be a mistake to wait until the end of the sales cycle to create a contract. Organizations need to be capturing and building sales documents as the interaction with the prospect progresses, from the very beginnings in a CRM system. When it comes to sales specifically, this is important for several reasons.
First, it enables the creation of comprehensive, personalized and compelling contracts. Second, these documents can be immediately produced for prospects at the end of the sales cycle, reducing their chances of getting “cold feet.” Third, the automation of sales document creation has been shown to boost sales productivity by up to 35 percent, while saving at least one hour per quote, proposal or contract. Particularly in start-ups and small businesses, sales resources can be limited, so sales professionals’ time needs to be maximized. This means, focusing on closing instead of margins and fonts.
But perhaps most importantly for the purposes of this article, automating. Sales document creation can help eliminate the gap between marketers and sales, replacing it with seamless collaboration that drives the bottom line. It’s estimated that up to 90 percent of marketing content goes unused, representing a huge waste of marketing manpower and resources. Marketers need to be actively involved through the conclusion of the sales cycle, where their materials and collateral can have the biggest impact.
And, once the contract is built, everyone needs to be able to sign it quickly and easily, including legal, finance and, finally, customers. Ideally, salespeople – particularly the mobile field force, who are often face-to-face with customers – should be able to initiate and drive these processes, within seconds from a mobile device.
Case in point: Another amusing “Tommy Boy” scene occurs when Tommy closes his first sale, after literally chasing an extremely distracted and busy prospect around his factory floor, vying for his attention. Mere seconds after saying, “you’re out of time,” the prospect agrees to buy, and Tommy is incredulous. At that point, what would be smarter – getting the prospect to sign right then and there, or telling him it would be another week or so before the contract was ready?
Conclusion: The More Things Change, The More Things Stay the Same – Sort Of
It’s true that a lot of the lessons that “Tommy Boy” teaches us are timeless. However, there’s one major difference between 20 years ago, and today. With the explosion of social media, the internet, and mobile devices, prospects’ attention spans are more fragmented than ever. In fact, a recent Microsoft study showed that the average human attention span has dropped four seconds – from 12 seconds in 2000, to eight seconds in 2015 – and for the first time, humans are more fickle than goldfish (nine seconds).
Within this context, the sales process has become much more hyper-competitive. In each of the three lessons above, there is a common denominator – the need for better marketing and sales alignment and collaboration.
To succeed, organizations must be double-barreled and their sales and marketing groups must be solidly united in a common goal – generating qualified leads and seeing these leads through to sales. In these types of organizations, it’s not uncommon to see sales representatives analyzing social media feeds (traditionally a marketing function), or marketers playing a bigger role in creating sales contracts (traditionally a sales function). Roles are blurring, and that’s a good thing.
Sound like nirvana? Maybe. But today, there are tools available that are bringing marketing and sales closer together, and one area that stands out is sales document creation. By joining forces here, sales and marketing can leverage their collective strengths and roles to create compelling documents that inspire action and boost the bottom line.
Go to our website: www.ncmalliance.com
25 Years Later, What “Tommy Boy” Teaches Us About Sales by Mikita Mikado If you’ve ever seen the cult classic movie “Tommy Boy,” you can probably rattle off half a dozen of the film’s most memorable quotes.
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Bookshelf Briefs 11/30/19
Let us give thanks for a hearty helping of briefs!
Beastars, Vol. 2 | By Paru Itagaki | Viz Media – If there was any doubt after reading the first volume of Beastars that I would be following the series, it has been completely banished after finishing the second. The sensitive gray wolf Legoshi continues to be a major draw for me, but so is Louis, the driven red deer who becomes an even more prominent character in the second volume (in addition to being featured on the cover). The scenes that the two share together are particularly intense, their contrasting personalities clashing and complementing each other in interesting ways. In part, using the framework of herbivore versus carnivore and the seemingly natural order of things, Beastars‘ narrative explores personal identities that challenge the expectations placed on individuals by a society that tries to neatly categorize them. But people are complicated and relationships are messy, something that Itagaki captures extremely well. Beastars is a dramatic and compelling series; I’m hooked. – Ash Brown
CITY, Vol. 6 | By Keiichi Arawi | Vertical Comics – Again, I feel that Arawi is not playing to his strengths by making this story of a city try to be as broad as possible. It’s best when there’s a through plot we can enjoy, such as seeing the restaurant owner/chef suffer from his cooking being average and his restaurant failing. There’s also some chapters that succeed by showing off amusing faces, such as the one where they try to figure out if one girl is mad or not (she’s not… at first), or trying to tell two identical twins apart when they insist on doing the exact same thing despite yelling about their differences. Unfortunately, when it’s random people doing random gags, it’s merely an average title. I’d like to be able to recall the names of anyone in this the way I can for Nichijou. – Sean Gaffney
Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 7 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – This volume concentrates on fleshing out the cast and backstory, possibly at the expense of the humor—there’s been less and less each book—but it’s not unwelcome. particularly when we get Senshi’s backstory. Elsewhere, Laios may be a child of prophecy, and he and his group had better find his sister and somehow get her back or the elves will get there first and destroy the entire dungeon… which will lead to massive loss of life. That said, rest assured that there’s still some eating of delicious monsters in this book, which is one reason people started to read it. It’s just that now there’s a plot that is more important. Now that this series comes out so infrequently, each volume is even more of a treasure. – Sean Gaffney
Dr. STONE, Vol. 8 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – We’re finally leaving the village, as Senku and company decide to take the fight to Tsukasa, which involves building a car. Yes, they build a car. That said, that’s hardly the most surprising thing in this volume, as we’re reintroduced to Taiju and Yuzuriha, last seen seemingly being written out of the manga for being too boring. But now, six volumes later, they’re back, and they’re in Tsukasa’s camp. Which is good, as Chrome has been captured. There’s slightly less science and slightly more action in this volume, but that just helps remind you that this is a Jump title at heart, and it will be nice to see the original three stars back together again. Though can Taiju and Yuzuriha magically get interesting? – Sean Gaffney
Guilty, Vol. 1 | By Ai Okaue | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Sayaka and Kazu have been married for ten years, but only now has Sayaka actually told him she wants a child. Kazu does not. You’d think they’d have had this conversation over a decade ago! While he initially seems like a kind husband, readers soon learn that he is carrying on an affair with Rui, a woman who has positioned herself as Sayaka’s confidante at the bar she frequents, and is essentially keeping Sayaka trapped in a lie and denying her what she really wants. He’s utter trash, but Sayaka’s hard to sympathize with, as she is all too ready to believe his flimsy excuses. Drama involving GPS trackers, a coworker’s extramarital affair, and Sayaka’s first love ensues. I don’t really like these characters—though I have to admire how conniving Rui is—but I will probably be back for more. – Michelle Smith
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 11 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – The ‘serious’ plots here are Ishigami deciding to try and get serious about studies to woo the girl he likes, only to find out how hard that is when you’ve slacked off for so long, and the cliffhanger ending, where Shirogane reveals what he plans to do about college. There’s also some great stuff with Hayasaka having to once again pretend to be Kaguya’s butler in order to fool Fujiwara. But all that pales next to the extended chapters of rap battles we get which reminds you that when the series is trying to be as funny as possible there’s no equal. This was around when the anime was announced (there’s a chapter lampshading it), and I honestly can’t wait to see these chapters done. Still great. – Sean Gaffney
Melting Lover | By Bukuro Yamada | Kuma – This is a collection of BL short stories with a supernatural bent. In “Bottom of Heaven,” a reluctant hitman is followed by a hedonistic angel who helps his victims rest in peace. In “The Circus After Midnight,” troupe dancer Luce exposes his animal trainer roommate’s most closely held secret after said roommate fails to believe his father figure could be guilty of sexual assault. The best story of the bunch is “Melting Lover,” in which a typhoon carries a shapeshifting blob onto the balcony of Keisuke, who is obsessed with his (straight) senpai from high school. Does he fuck the blob? You bet he does. The worst is “Noisy Jungle,” in which an android tells himself it’s natural to boff his human pet, while clearly thinking of it as an animal. Ick. Overall, though, I liked these dark stories and would read more by this author. – Michelle Smith
My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 2 | By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka | Seven Seas – There’s another prose short story at the end of this second volume, which mostly just involves Katarina dreaming she’s in another universe, based on a standard shoujo private school manga, and because it lacks the “fantasy” elements her fate is… far more tolerable? As for the main manga, Katarina’s reactions to everything are the reason to get it, as it can give us all the faces that the light novel art wasn’t able to convey. She meets Maria here, who (to no one’s surprise) falls for Katarina just as hard as everyone else has, and Katarina is just as unaware of it. Still, Maria is still being bullied, so the plot of the game is still happening. A great adaptation. – Sean Gaffney
The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Vol. 6 | By Tomoko Yamashita | SuBLime (digital only) – I sometimes forget what an amazing balance Yamashita-sensei strikes between moments of romantic progress between Rihito and Mikado—like the scene where Rihito says, “I’ll help you. As long as it keeps you with me.”—and ominous reminders that Rihito has been through some terrible trauma and is a broken and dangerous person. In this volume, there are some parallels between his plight and that of Erika Hiura, who is trying to get away from the cult leader who’s compelling her to curse people. It was great seeing five to six characters in a scene together all working towards this common goal and feels like we might be heading towards a conclusion fairly soon. I hope Mikado emerges unscathed, but I do love that I am actually feeling some doubt about that. Can’t wait for the next volume! – Michelle Smith
One Piece, Vol. 92 | By Eiichiro Oda | VIZ Media – I was so worried going into this volume that Luffy was going to mess up the plans of the Wano rebels, which involve careful coordination and laying low for two weeks, neither of which he appears capable of. And, indeed, when he thinks Kaido has killed Tama, the little girl with whom he’s bonded, he picks a fight with the Emperor of the Sea. (I did appreciate seeing Luffy laid out by a single hit, though.) He ends up in a labor camp and, actually, this is for the best story-wise as it allows his more competent crewmates to help with the plan instead. It was so nice seeing Usopp distribute fliers, and Franky attempt to track down building plans for a mansion, and Robin snoop around in her geisha guise. I’ve missed those characters! This is shaping up to be a pretty fun arc! – Michelle Smith
Skip Beat!, Vol. 43 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – I can’t recall there ever being a bad volume of Skip Beat!, but this one was exceptionally good. Kyoko has been cast as Momiji, but Moko did not get the role of Chidori, so Kyoko is worrying a lot about her (and feeling guilty). It turns out, however, that another challenging role has come Moko’s way. I very much love how these friends can talk to each other about their professional setbacks and opportunities. Meanwhile, Yashiro contrives for Ren and Kyoko to spend some time together, but it backfires when Kyoko, still beliving that Ren is in love with the horrible Morizumi, gets so overwhelmed by how he makes her feel that she gets mad. Poor baffled Ren. Still, I can’t help but feel that this is the start of some real progress for them. We shall see! – Michelle Smith
Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 2 | By Honda | Yen Press – This is a fun title to read, but there’s not particularly much to review here. Honda-san walks us through more problems that Japanese bookstores have, from author signings to employee turnover and reassignments, to the difference between BL manga and gay manga. We meet wholesalers, go to a drinking party, and once again deal with a wide variety of customers, including possible yakuza and those who simply buy 90 pounds of titles and can’t carry them out the door. And there’s also the fact that Honda’s manga is now out, which means trouble when one of the prior plotlines, the customer service coaching one, annoyed the bosses. Still good, but you may want to stick to the anime. – Sean Gaffney
Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 6 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – It’s hard to top the last volume, which contains the two most famous chapters in the series to date. But this volume remains cute as a button, with an extended plotline involving a visit to a water park that shows off Nishikata’s nice side as well as his embarrassed and scheming sides, and reminds you why Takagi likes him so much. Even better is a chapter where she’s depressed (and thus not teasing him) all day, and he tries to find out why and cheer her up. Not that she’s willing to give up her place as the winner of every battle. That said, even the chapter with the eyedrops (which is another “will they try for a kiss” moment) has a tag reminding us these are still innocent middle-schoolers. Which is why this is so cute. – Sean Gaffney
By: Ash Brown
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