Notices:
A. FAQ about the Blog
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2. Do not hotlink the images!!
3. I won't upload the pictures if the photobucket album 'exploded' because of exceeding bandwidth. Just wait for a month or until it is reset by photobucket.
4. Scans are in the title links below, just click the title of the series. If it isn't there, then it isn't uploaded in public sites yet. Those that are not in public sites are usually found in BW Forum = membership required.
5. This is an old blog so no tags nor feeds. Just use the search engines provided below and hopefully, you'll find the past summary you are looking for. ^^
6. Teasers are from Jap raws, not meant to be accurate because I can't read Japanese.
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About this blog:
I usually write about the manga that I'm currently reading. At times, I write about the anime I watched. Since it is hard to share and talk my thoughts about a certain manga series when people don't know about it, I tend to summarize them from Chinese scanlations so beware, this blog is filled with spoilers and they are not 100% perfect. Feel free to point out my mistakes. ^^ Occasionally, I would blog about myself and other misc. things.

Layout Credits:
Diamond Beat pic is from Betsucomi's Official page. The quote's author is unknown. Edited in Photoshop CS2. The background is from GRSites. Fujoshi Kanojo's Yuiko is from Tuku.cc Pleinair by Takehito Harada is from JumpC. Gin and Pleinair edited and animated in Photoshop. Moyashimon germ and Rabi gif are taken from ikunlun forum. Onion is from BW forum. VBR's Ageha is scanned by Amyangel19910323. SB! gif from lynncomic in baidu and Yoru Cafe chibis are from Petit official page. Kimi ni Todoke picture in latest entries is scanned by bluemiko for BW.

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Past Dreams:
2009

01/20/03 - 02/20/03

Blog by pitas

Image hosting by Photobucket, Imageshack, and Xtupload.

Manga pics from Sky-fire, 17kk, swwdm, 89890& BW Forum.

Most of the Quotes are from
Quote Garden, ThinkExist & Our Daily Bread

To God Be the Glory!

Free Talk: Them, Lala Series
Saturday, January 9, 2010

I re-read VK 57 twice at the last part since yesterday but correct me if I misunderstood, but is Yuuki playing shinigami/Death now? Based on SGK’s scanlation, Yuuki did say that she’ll ‘carry the burden of ending the lives of those who want to die’. All sorts of amusing scenarios start popping up in my head. Hehe, well, she fits the part since her weapon is a scythe and it’s much easier to ‘kill’ those who have given up their lives than those who don’t want to die. She should have make it more ‘business-like/professional’ by handing out a calling card as to where to contact her. She could also offer the service of being ‘frozen’ courtesy of her trusty assistant, Hanabusa so that it will be as painless as possible. Wait..with Hanabusa’s power, that guy, Isaya won’t ‘age’ so he doesn’t have to complain about becoming older while sleeping. =P For female vampires who want to suicide, she can offer a ‘special service’ courtesy of Kaname..after all, she only half-heartedly loves him =P Just kidding. Anyway, I understand why she is doing this because she doesn’t want suicidal pure vampires to cause trouble like what Ouri did = mess up the meeting, blame game between vampires and hunters, and caused Sara to power-up. Maybe she ought to take some counseling/psychology courses to help the suicidal vampires. That can be more helpful than just ending their lives. Well, I’m getting myself excited for the next issue [1/23] of Lala. According to the official page, KwMS’s Usui will indeed spill the beans about his past with 50 pages. Yay! Also, according to babelfish’s translation, FtaK, it will be about their first wedding anniversary..dokidoki to the MAX?! Hehe, maybe getting a kiss on the lips would be too much to expect. ^^;; The pictures below are from the official site.

I also checked out Mishounen Produce by Ichinose Kaoru which is also published in Lala. The story is okay though needs to be polished a bit. Actually, the first chapter made me thought that it will be just an one-shot story. It is about two nerd-looking childhood friends from a province who went to the city to study. Since some people insulted Kousei [guy], Kako [girl] is determined to give him a makeover [called ‘produce’ in this series] based on her favorite old shoujo period manga which has 98 volumes. Unfortunately, it turned out too well that Kousei became so famous that she felt left out. It turns out that Kousei just wants to do what she wants in order to make her happy but since she is becoming sad about it, he decided to quit that ‘makeover’. Well, he is still famous now and tells Kako that he doesn’t want her to have a ‘makeover’. It turns out that Kako is also pretty if she fixes herself up and obviously, Kousei likes Kako, who is unfortunately clueless about his feelings. I think the ‘Lawrence’ that Kako likes in her shoujo manga is somewhat like Ouran’s Tamaki who is too flashy =P On the second chapter, it seems that Kousei will have a rival. Of course, there are the usual quarrels which are basically all about Kako being clueless to Kousei’s feelings or perhaps to her own feelings. The art is quite good and the characters are likeable. I think Kousei is an interesting lead who can be both cute and cool. I really believe that he should be an actor or something since he really knows how to charm the girls using different personas. =P Kako is the typical nice and clueless girl but she does have a mean slap =P Then, there is Roy, the typical good looking but bad personality guy who is rival to Kousei but friend to Kako. So far, I’m curious where the plot will lead..is it just making Kako realize her feelings for him? Currently, there are two chapters scanlated by Aerandria. In Chinese, it is only chapter one for now.

Word of the day:
Our tendency is to judge by appearance. But God judges by what we produce, and so should we. ~ Julie Ackerman Link from Our Daily Bread

Koibana! Koiseyo Hanabi [Chapters 48-49]
Thursday, January 7, 2010

Nanpa narrates that even if humans make mistakes, even if they aren’t honest, even if they tend to make things complicated, but when they realize it, later on, they will once again do their best. Nanpa is still looking towards the direction where Chidori and Rino went. Hanabi calls out to him to quickly come since they are going home. At a ramen store, Kareshi asks Masato why he is there because she is currently working. Kareshi’s boss tells her that it is okay since there are no customers right now. Masato looks flustered. Kareshi’s phone then rings. Yusuke tells her that they can’t find Rino. Their mother is currently looking for Rino around the area. Ryousuke has told them that he had seen Rino with a young lady. At the streets, Masato is calling someone and says that he can’t contact that person. Kareshi says that it seems that Masato has a clue who it is..could it be. Masato looks at her and says yes, it could be Chidori. Kareshi cries out how he could say that. She shouts that he’s awful for suddenly doubting the girl he likes. Kareshi is surprised-blushed when Masato shouts that the one he likes is Kareshi. He pulls her hand and shouts that they should quickly go. Kareshi is crying as she kept on calling him awful as Masato says that she’s right. They go to Chidori’s place. Masato hits the door and says that Chidori isn’t there since with the noise that they made, at least Rino ought to have made a sound. Kareshi mutters that maybe it is a situation, wherein Rino can’t make a sound. The two are flustered. Masato decides to call Chidori again. Being pessimistic, Kareshi says that Chidori definitely won’t answer it since he had called more than ten times already. To Kareshi’s surprise, Chidori did answer as Masato asks Chidori where she is right now.

At home, Hanabi learns what happened to Rino. It seems that Kareshi asks her to help them search a certain area for Rino and Chidori. Hanabi wonders what to do. She emails Chikai to ask him if he is currently taking a stroll with Cleo. Chikai replies back why she is asking that. She answers back Chikai that her friend’s younger sister is missing so if he is taking a stroll, he might have seen that little girl whose picture she had attached in the email. Hanabi’s phone rings. Chikai calls her stupid for she should have just called him [and not email him because the situation is urgent]. Soon, they meet at a corner and went to look for Rino together. Hanabi is flustered as she thinks that Chikai is here, beside her. At a park, they decide to look around at a playground. Hanabi decides to climb up the jungle gym to see if Rino is up there. She hurts her injured hand so Chikai tells her to move aside. He says that a dog should just be nice and look from below. Blushing, Hanabi shouts at Chikai, who is climbing up, that he’s a monkey. Unfortunately, Rino isn’t there. At a wooded area, Masato meets with Kareshi to tell her that Rino isn’t in the dam/dike and there is also no one around on the way there. Kareshi says that she didn’t find Rino at her side either and her mother said that she’ll join them there soon. Kareshi then asks why Masato looks so dirty and messy. Masato exclaims that it is a necessity that he finds Rino because she is the precious person of his precious person. Kareshi blushes. Masato admits that it is all his fault that this had happened. Kareshi says that he’s right but she and Chidori also did something wrong. “It’s everyone’s fault but..I also think that nobody is at fault.” Soon, Hanabi and Chikai join the other two. Kareshi thanks them for helping to find Rino. When they are about to ask each other if they find Rino, Kareshi and Masato look surprise at the side. This made Hanabi and Chikai look at where they are looking. To their surprise, it is crying Chidori. Seeing her cry has made Hanabi a bit tense.

Masato calls out to Chidori and asks her where Rino is. Still crying, Chidori points to a bench where Rino is lying down. Kareshi and Masato shout Rino’s name as they quickly go to Rino’s side. Rino is crying that she wants to sleep and she’s too tired from playing. Kareshi is relieved. She sees that Rino is covered with Chidori’s coat to keep Rino warm, surrounded by candies, food and is wearing a toy necklace. Hanabi is about to shout at Chidori for being so cruel but Kareshi stops her by thanking Hanabi and Chikai for helping them find Rino. “But, I’ll resolve the rest of the matter by myself. I’ll resolve it on my own.” Kareshi apologizes if she seems to be very unreasonable but she will not let any problem remain unresolved. Hanabi realizes that Kareshi will be happy if she is the one who’ll settle this so she tells Kareshi that she understands. Since Hanabi starts to walk away, Chikai follows her. Before they left, crying Chidori says that it’s because there is already an external gap between Masato and Kareshi but Masato’s heart is already totally filled up. “With just his girlfriend, his heart is totally filled up.” Chidori keeps on crying. After Hanabi and Chikai left, Kareshi says, “..Miss Chidori, it seems that towards Masato..I still REALLY LIKE HIM!” With that, she punches Masato really hard that he fell down. That made Chidori stop crying. Kareshi says that frankly, there is some silliness, that is truly stupidity and at times, it’s unusually relaxing. Putting Chidori’s coat on her, Kareshi says, “I totally understand your feelings of liking him. My mother is coming soon as well as some policemen. Since things have gotten to this point, what you have done, you had already done. Do not forget that.” Kareshi pushes her and tells her to quickly go. Crying and flustered, Chidori exclaims, “I’m sorry!” and left. Masato just looks at the direction where Chidori left.

Kareshi opens her bag and takes out an eyeglasses bag. She calls Masato’s name. Putting his eyeglasses on him, Kareshi says, “We have things that we should talk about.” The two blushes while Kareshi is crying. The two somewhat smiles as they kiss. To their surprise, Rino, wakes up and exclaims, ‘Ah!’ [I don’t know but] someone nervously says it feels like a good sign. The narration says about resolving things under one’s own domain should be done by oneself since it can only be done by oneself and others can’t be of much help in doing this. While walking together with Hanabi, Chikai notices that Hanabi’s bandage is loose. He mentions this to Hanabi who says that he is right. He asks her if her hand is alright. Hanabi laughs and says that it isn’t a grave injury. “Basically, it’s all because I’m too enthusiastic that this had happened.” Chikai looks at her and replies, “But regarding that, it’s for me.” This made Hanabi blush. She then exclaims that is right, there’s no mistake about it. As she starts to walk away, Chikai apologizes to her for calling her very annoying because that isn’t what he originally wanted to say. “I felt that is a bit cruel. But you are a bit troublesome.” Hanabi says that he, a guy with a venomous tongue, always say that. She thinks that she’s very irritated at this Chikai person who always says awful stuff. “I’m crying within the shadows. The light in front of me blinds my eyes and the only thing I can see is Uno Chikai there.” With tears in her eyes, Hanabi turns to face Chikai. Blushing, she shouts, “Darn it! I like you.” Chikai smiles and says that she already said that so many times. Hanabi shouts that it is he who made her say it out loud. Chikai says, “Ya. Ya.” To her surprise, Chikai holds/hugs her head and says, “Like this is okay [/will do], stupid Hanakou.” Narration: “No matter if I’m in the shadow or in the light, my feelings won’t dim. Then, I’ll be fine by just facing that thing which I can see.”

So, everything ends well. ^^ It’s pretty nice that the damage Kareshi did to Hanabi-Chikai relationship is also repaired by her. I think she deliberately called only Hanabi because this is a good way for her to ‘reunite’ those two. I mean, why didn’t she call Mii or Atsumi? I actually thought that she might call Hanabi because she has a dog but still, Hanabi didn’t get Nanpa to help out, instead, maybe as Kareshi predicted, she called Chikai. Of course, I somewhat doubt that since Kareshi is somewhat panicking right now and can she actually think of all that or is it just a coincidence? Nevertheless, it is indirectly thanks to Kareshi that those two are together again. She did say that she wanted to resolve/handle her own problems. Kareshi shows that she can be quite gutsy and forgiving. I’m surprised at how she smacked Masato. Yup, it is his fault for somehow leading Chidori on or being clueless about dealing with Chidori until she has really fallen for him. Kareshi also admitted that it is partly her fault, maybe because she let Chidori ‘steal’ him away even if she obviously still loves him. I’m not too satisfied with the slap on the wrist punishment of Chidori but I guess she came to her senses later on after seeing Rino so tired and wanted to go home. Well, at least Chidori is sincerely sorry for what she had done and voluntarily showed them where Rino is. I think this is better than those vicious girls in KKwH. I also think that the author doesn’t want to make things too complicated. Luckily for her, Kareshi is a nice girl who lets her escape before Kareshi’s mother gets her hands on Chidori for that ‘kidnapping’. It also helps that Kareshi sees that Chidori meant no harm because she’s just ‘spoiling’ Rino. I think the return of Masato’s glasses and kiss is sweet and amusingthat Rino caught them in the act =P I wonder if Chidori will quit her part-time work with Masato because she’ll be ashamed of what she had done. As for Hanabi-Chikai, it does seem unfair that Hanabi is always the one who is confessing and everything but it can’t be helped because she’s really head over heels in love with him and Chikai has a more ‘dominant/strong’ personality. I think Chikai is slowly falling for her..maybe Chikai will show more affection for Hanabi if they are officially going steady. He does seem to be quite romantic with Yukine before. Anyway, I wonder if their ‘bet’ is still on. Also, regarding the preparation they were doing for the third year students at the auditorium, I wonder if there will be a dance ^^ It will be nice if all pairs are complete and there will be some sort of souvenir picture ^^ Speaking of that, assuming that they are currently in March, maybe during second year, I’m thinking that the none couple will become couples. Scans by 草莓defer for iieye.

Quote of the day:
Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness. ~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Honey Hunt [Chapter 29]
Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Yura covers her mouth as she asks Haruka why he kissed her. While he is still thinking for an answer, Yura asks if that is just his way of comforting her. ^^; Haruka is flustered as he looks away. [I think it is] Yura asking if it is for ‘support’ and if he’s just trying to cheer her up. She tells him not to fool her around at a time like this and before, he also did that with that hug while she’s depressed. Haruka exclaims that it isn’t so and it is only the first one that is a joke. “Why I did that, you really don’t know?” Flustered and nervous, Yura says, “But..about that..” Haruka just needs to rub it in by saying that she’s really slow. Too bad for him, Qta has called Yura to apologize for suddenly leaving. Yura hopes that means Qta is coming back to see her. Just when Yura is about to say where she is, Qta tells her that he is with her father at some hotel. “Would you like to come and see your father, too?” Qta apologizes for being the one who met her daddy first. He asks if she had already left or is she still at his house where he can pick her up. Yura exerts her will by telling Qta that she doesn’t want to see her father and Qta doesn’t understand her. Qta seems puzzled over Yura’s outburst. Yura hanged up on him and seems to be in the verge of tears. While Haruka can only say, “Ah..ah..Onozuka..wait..”, Yura says that both twins are the same, for she really couldn’t comprehend them. Yura then goes out of his car and walks away. Haruka couldn’t run after her when some people had noticed him and wonders if it is Knight’s Haruka. Haruka drives away as he berates himself as stupid for he already knew he shouldn’t be impatient.

Crying, Yura heads to the company and blames everything to his father since until just now, she had always been happy. “It’s as if in a flash, the magic has been removed.” Yura sees Keiichi in front of her. Keiichi asks her what the matter is. Yura holds on Keiichi’s sleeve and says, “..thank goodness..I was still thinking what I should do if you are also at my father’s place..” Yura tells him that her father likes Qta’s music and called him away just when she really did her best to attain this break [no work day], Qta also quickly just left her. After a pause, Keiichi just says is that so. Yura asks him if he met her father and if he mentioned before about wanting to see Qta. She also asks him if her father will be taking Qta to recording until he leaves. Keiichi denies that he knows about it because her father is currently being handled by Ibukaki and it is only until recently, he learned about what happened with Qta. Keiichi says that from how he knows her father, there is a possibility for him to make an album though he couldn’t guarantee that Qta will also be recording with him since Qta is also a famous man who is also very busy thus, his schedule [regarding working with Takayuki] isn’t definite yet. Yura lets go of Keiichi as Keiichi wonders out loud which Qta will choose Yura or her father, to be with during his precious free time. While Keiichi walks away a bit, Yura looks sad. She wonders why is Keiichi and Haruka the same..everyone is.. Yura asks him why he said it in such an ill manner. Keiichi says that he only given them permission to go steady but that doesn’t mean that he’ll support them. He tells her if that love game is over, she should just use her energy to work. Yura exclaims what he meant that it is just a game. He just tells her that there will be another audition next month and she should focus her energy on getting that role. Keiichi tells her that they should head home first. He asks her to wait outside as he drives the car out. Seeing Yura cry, Keiichi turns away and thinks that this situation is what he anticipated which is why he carried out that plan, but seeing her cry, he feels like he might waver on his decision. So like that, Qta didn’t contact her again whether it’s through phone or email.

At home, Yura is depressed as she tells Nanase that it seems that everyone hates her and maybe even Qta is angry at her. “It’s all my father’s fault. It is because he’s here that things are like this..” Bringing her a cup of hot drink, Nanase tells her that if she is really bothered by it then, she doesn’t take the initiative to call. Yura thinks that Qta is probably still at her father’s place and he seems so happy on the phone. Yura then whines to Nanase that Keiichi is still angry about them going steady that he told her to focus her energy regarding work. Nanase urges her to continue talking since Keiichi won’t hear them because he’s currently taking a bath. Nanase thinks that 60% of what Keiichi said is because he’s jealous. Nanase tells Yura that Keiichi isn’t angry but he’s just concerned about her. Nanase also mentions that audition is really good for he read about it on the net and Haruka will also be in it. Since Yura is blushing really red, Nanase asks her what Haruka did. Yura tells him about not understanding what Haruka said, that it isn’t a joke. They and Keiichi taking a shower [fan service/almost didn’t recognized him with the glasses ^^;] were interrupted when there is a doorbell. Yura rushes to answer it. Nanase tells her to check first since it might be reporters. Yura says that it might also be her father. As Yura runs off, Nanase thinks that Yura is a liar for if it is her father, she won’t be rushing in a hurry to answer it. As she goes to answer the door, she doesn’t want to expect but it could be her father or even Haruka. “But..but..” She looks at the screen and it is indeed Qta. Yura goes to him at the gate. Qta tells her to wear a coat else she’ll catch a cold. She quickly hugs him as she thinks that he really came. “He chose me!” Qta hugs her tight and says that he thought she would snub him since this is the first time he has seen her get that angry. “I’m really sorry!” Yura tells him that the truth is she is still angry since that was the first time she was just discarded like that while at someone else’s place. Qta apologizes again. He then tells her that more than that, he just got something that seemed like a dream. He apologizes again to Yura and asks her to let him be stubborn [/selfish] one more time. Yura wonders if he wants her to see her father again. To her surprise, Qta tells her that he’ll be going to New York. Yura’s father has invited Qta to work with him regarding a new album. Since Qta wanted to quickly work with her father, he had already consulted with his company about this. [It’s quite blurred in this part but I think] Qta says that he will just finish off the remaining of his work go as early as he can but at most, he would go next month. Yura asks if they are going to have a long distance relationship and she won’t be able to bear that. Qta somewhat smiles and says, “So, come with me. Let’s go together to New York, Yura.”

Fufufu..the other ‘rivals’ got what they did/planned backfired at them. I begin to realize why Qta is the one who got Yura. He is direct in telling her what he feels and wants so that there is no space for misunderstandings. Of course, that is somewhat regardless of the others feelings = he can be inconsiderate. Also, I think what Qta got going is he got a very good first impression from Yura. She’ll probably forgive him for everything he might do. That kind of first impression seems to be working against Haruka. It seems that whatever he does will make her think that he’s just joking and not serious with her. With the things he is saying and doing, she still thinks that way. Haruka is indeed a bit too impatient that it ended up making Yura confused with his sudden show of affection which she couldn’t equate to something romance. As for Keiichi, he is quite secretive/clueless/in denial with his feelings. So, at this rate, it’s quite logical for Qta to ‘have’ Yura right now. Also, at first I felt sorry for Keiichi if Yura indeed goes to New York with Qta. It’s like what he did for her to build her up to what she is now will be going down the drain. I realize now why he is so against a relationship aside from the fact that he has feelings for Yura. I was wondering if she has a contract with him but then, it’s useless to sue because Qta or even her father is rich enough to compensate Keiichi financially if she breaches any existing contract between them. Well, maybe she can go for a short vacation but then, for how long does Qta need to work with her father? Based on their music session, it seems that they can easily collaborate and finish some songs. As a musician and based on his popularity, Qta can afford to be out of the limelight for a long time but not so with Yura. Given how crazy Yura can be for Qta, it is highly possible that she’ll go with him. So, where does that leave Keiichi? Hehe, I think that it is also his fault for making Qta and Takayuki meet so now, he is about to lose his talent..if not, he is going get a major headache as to adjust her schedule and such. Since Yura is still new, some other showbiz aspirants can easily take her position as the new face in showbiz if she is away for too long. Then, there is about Takayuki. I wonder if it is deliberate for him to want to work with Qta. For him, it could be two birds in one stone because he does want to work with Qta and through Qta, he’ll be able to reunite with his daughter again. If he did plotted it that way, I think he’s also selfish like Qta to not care about Yura’s current career. Actually, he did want to take her with him after high school without a care about her current career. It does seem that those two are really so alike that they need to ‘use’ someone or need a ‘mediator’ to talk things with the person they really want to talk with. Qta needs someone, in this case, Keiichi’s intervention while Takayuki needs Qta’s intervention. Also, as mentioned before, they will have no qualms about ‘using someone’ to get to the person they want to see/talk with. Since they are somewhat alike, I wonder if Yura will easily forgive her father if he gives her some valid reason why he didn’t take her into his custody before. Actually, the fact that he let his wife take Yura made me think that he is a pushover/submissive type of guy so I think he doesn’t seem to be the cunning type and all of it could just be a ‘coincidence’. Anyway, I think the author can end this quickly if she wanted to. She just make Yura go with Qta and they live happily ever after with Takayuki in New York. The end =P But curiously, she just puts it in ‘hiatus’ after the next chapter. Scans by xiuxiu/咻咻 for BW.

Quote of the day:
Say what you mean, and mean what you say, but don't say it mean! ~ Liza Johnson

At A Glance: The One [Chapter 64]
Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Leo is still reprimanding Eros regarding how he treated Lele and that Lele really likes him. Eros says that he doesn’t care and he shouldn’t be hold responsible for all the girls who truly like him and had confessed to him. To everyone’s shock, Leo slaps Eros hard. Crying, Leo shouts that he was mistaken about Eros. As Leo leaves, Eros just touches his face where Leo hit him. At home, Xiao Qui wonders what happened now. In one side is Lele on bed – fallen unconscious, while on the other side is crying Leo. Xiao Qui tries to tell Leo not to cry like that but Leo just shouts that he’s heartbroken so, can’t he even cry. Xiao Qui can’t believe that he’s also heartbroken. She sighs and thinks that she came there for a vacation but it seems that she’ll end up ‘taking care’ of these heartbroken people. She sweatdrops when she sees Lele blushing[?]. She slashes water on Lele and shouts for her to wake up and not use sleep to run away [from reality]. She drags Lele to the bathroom for her to take a bath to wake her up. Leo is surprised by this. Later on, Lele is in the bathtub while Xiao Qui washes her hair. Xiao Qui asks if she is wide awake now. Lele just says yes. Xiao Qui mentions about Lele always looking at her mother’s diary while in the room. Lele mentions about how lucky her mother is to find love whereas she.. To Lele’s shock, Xiao Qui pushes her down the water. Xiao Qui angrily shouts at her if that is what Lele has been thinking all this time. Xiao Qui exclaims that she thought Lele went to New York to become a famous model but it turns out that she’s there just to chase after a guy. Xiao Qui also shouted that since Lele is now jilted, maybe now, she can go back to Taiwan. Xiao Qui reminds her about how her mother kept on working even if she is pregnant with Lele..as a supermodel, she doesn’t let anything hinder her steps.

With that, Lele goes back to work. She apologizes to Judy for making them worried. Judy tells her that she is happy that she is fine and has returned because a lot of work is waiting for her. While thinking that Eros gave him a lot of trouble, Nicky tells Lele if she has heard it from Leo. Lele tells him that Leo only told her about some big shot wanted to see her. Nicky says that is right and just to ‘see her once in person’, Lele is going to Paris. That person is Glen* Deveraux, a famous designer who wants her to be his new ‘Deveraux girl’. [Not sure about the name because I googled and it can be that or Gaelen/Grant] Lele nervously asks if they are joking because that guy is a really famous French designer. Nicky touches her face and tells her that no one would dare joke about that using Deveraux’s name. He also tells her that it isn’t an easy job and if she accepts, she will be staying for some time in Paris to receive training. The shortest time of stay will be three months to half a year but the longest will be for a year. It will all depend on her progress. Nicky gives Lele the right to decide whether she wants to go or not. Later on, Lele is walking at the streets and thinking over this new job. She thinks that this is a good opportunity and whether it is New York or Paris, it is ‘foreign’ to her, so there isn’t much difference but still, she wonders why she is hesitating. And, the answer is in front of her eyes. She sees Eros in front of her. They are surprised to see each other. =P

Lele may not be that lucky in love but she's really lucky to have such great friends. Leo 'avenged' her for what Eros did to her and Xiao Qui steered her back to her original goal. With friends like that, Lele doesn't need any men. =P I hope she becomes strong and independent like her mother. Fufu..now, we are going to Paris soon. I was right, Lele is going around the world. How convenient that she’ll be in Europe because I think the twins will follow her there soon, thanks to their personal problems. Now that those two see each other again, I wonder what Lele would do. Snub him? Let’s just be friends? I don’t want to see your face again and thankfully, I’m going abroad for a long time? Since she has just recovered from her depression and doesn’t seem to be in ‘angry mode’, I guess their meeting will be cordial if they talk with each other. I do think that this is a crucial time because Eros can still somewhat salvage his relationship with her. If it turns out well then, he will have an easier time getting her back. Also, will Lele go alone? In New York, she has Eros to ‘take care’ of her but in Paris, she will really be alone because she doesn’t know anyone there unless of course, the other cast is currently there like Feidna, still remember her? =P I think Lele will soon become Feidna’s rival. I’m entertaining the idea of Leo accompanying her because he might be out of the job after he hit Eros. He can also be her ‘manager’. I’m sure Nick would approve of it. ^^ When the next chapter will be out isn’t indicated. Scans by whitesunnie for BW.

Quote of the day:
If someone you love hurts you, cry a river, build a bridge, and get over it. ~ Author Unknown

Hadashi de Bara wo Fume [Chapter 32] Teaser
Monday, January 4, 2010

After a 1 page recap of the plot, Sumi looks tense as Nozomu enters the bathroom. Blushing and somewhat twinkling eyes, Nozomu calls her name. Sumi is really tense that she closes her eyes regarding what he might do. To her surprise, I think Nozomu just says that he’ll bring her a change of clothes. Sumi thought that he might do some hugging like before at the company’s shogi room and she is still worried about Miu. After wearing a shirt [most probably Nozomu’s], Sumi goes out. I think Sumi tells Nozomu that she wants to go look for Soichiroh but Nozomu tells her that it’s still raining so why not have a cup of tea. I think Sumi is surprised that Nozomu can make a tea by himself. When she asks him about Miu, she learns that Nozomu is in that house all by himself. Sumi starts to become tense but it seems that she drops her guard since Nozomu is smiling sweetly and says something to her – model for me? At the brothel area, some women tried to hook up with Soichiroh who is all wet by the rain. I’m sure he told them to get lost which made the women angry that they start shouting at him. Soichiroh just walks away. Soichiroh is thinking about Sumi stuff like their ‘contact’ of no love in exchange for money and when she said that she doesn’t like him. The latter part seems to be a ‘bad shock’ for Soichiroh. Then, Natsuki appears with an umbrella. He says something to him – ‘something is nearby and playing’. Natsuki offers him his umbrella. To Natsuki’s surprise, Soichiroh just promptly leaves him. Back to Sumi, she is surprised about something. I really think he is asking her to pose for his painting. Sumi starts mentions a lot of things regarding Miu so I guess she doesn’t want to do it in respect for Miu. Sumi is totally shock that the two are now living separately. Sumi doesn’t feel good about it and it seems she wants to apologize/thank something regarding Miu. Nozomu’s mood change as he quickly grabs Sumi’s arm to stop her from leaving. I think he tells her that his marriage is just a ‘formality’ and there was never love in the first place.

Maybe it’s because of Nozomu’s cold look, and shock from learning about Nozomu also not marrying for love, Sumi lets Nozomu sit her on a chair and pose. With a smile, Nozomu takes out his precious painting and starts to paint. Sumi starts to worry about where Soichiroh is. Then, Nozomu tells her that she isn’t posing right. So he holds up her arms. Sumi blushes since he is too near. Not content, Nozomu tells her that he needs to see her naked chest area, too. ^^;; This made Sumi really shock as Nozomu starts unbuttoning the shirt. She pushes him away and says that they are married or something. Nozomu grabs her and probably says he doesn’t care about that. Sumi tries to protest but she is shock when Nozomu says that Sumi and Soichiroh’s marriage is also just a ‘formality’. Sumi wonders how Nozomu knew. Nozomu smiles and I guess, Sumi’s expression confirms it to him. Nozomu hugs her and probably says that he loves her. She pushes him away again but he holds her face and kisses her. He starts to caress her and it seems that Sumi couldn’t move as she wonders who will save her...*tada-dadah!* Keiko enters the house and ‘saves’ her from Nozomu. Well, actually, she just calls out to Sumi and says something about Sumi out in the rain alone. Sumi uses this chance to get away from Nozomu to go to Keiko. Keiko then probably seems to say some formalities to Nozomu about taking Sumi and apology for the trouble. Sumi is now dressed in a dress which Keiko probably brought. She goes out of the house together with Keiko. While walking down the stairs [not sure if it is still in the vicinity of Nozomu’s house but based on Nozomu’s house layout, it is the same], they see Soichiroh. The two call out each other’s names in surprise.

Haha..so will there be a misunderstanding coming soon since he might wonder why she is at Nozomu’s house? It depends if he will believe what she says. Seeing that painting might make him think that she did pose for Nozomu. Well, I was right about Nozomu making her pose and some of you are right that Nozomu will indeed try to pull something with her. As for Keiko saving her, does it mean she has changed for the better? It does seem to be too much of a coincidence that she is there for Sumi and Natsuki appeared in front of Soichiroh. Is it part of some plot? Or Keiko is making amends for the stuff she did before? It made me think that Natsuki told Soichiroh to go to Nozomu’s place or something..unless, it is just a coincidence for Soichiroh to be there. Anyway, I think it’s for the best if those two finally admit their feelings for each other because two are better than one with all these ‘enemies’ around. Oh ya, the series goes on a break again since the next chapter will be out around 2/20. Reminder: if yukitokaji didn’t scan it for BW, then, no teaser so we will have to wait for the Chinese scans.

Quote of the day:
Better a little caution than a great regret. ~ George Clason

Picture of the Day: Finally... ^^
Sunday, January 3, 2010

This is in chapter 65 of Akuma to Love Song and I have no idea what happened in between 61 until this chapter but then, it got me excited again. Wohoo! Shin finally made a move..after a long, long wait. I wonder if they are a couple already here because at the first page, they are holding hands while walking. Well, that’s the good news but there are two bad news in this chapter. First, Shin might study abroad to improve his piano playing skills. This has made Maria uneasy and everything especially because of bad news no. 2, she starts to see her younger self in front of her and that ‘little girl’ tends to say things which unnerve her. In short, her past is starting to haunt her. It is actually really creepy when she sees that little girl out of nowhere in front/back of her. It doesn’t help that the kid looks scary. Oh..it seems that girl appears whenever she starts to get too close to Shin. The first time she appeared is after Maria is talking with Shin on the phone, meeting after school. The second time is when she learned that Shin might go abroad. And, the third time is Shin hugging her from behind after their music session. He is saying something..according to someone in BW, it’s a confession – forget the other guys? Maria starts to become tense, little girl said something. Maria starts to freak out and shouts something which of course, led to the kiss. ^^ So, maybe Shin’s getting close to Maria is directly proportionate to the increase of Maria’s trauma surfacing. I guess Shin’s fear before is justified but now, he decided to be face it head on and be active rather than be passive like before. Hopefully, Shin will stay until Maria recovers from that trauma or just take her with him. ^^ Scan by yukitokaji for BW.

At A Glance: 5-ji kara 9-ji made [Chapter 1*]
Saturday, January 2, 2010

[Okay, the deal is I’ll wait this weekend for HH 30, if it isn’t out by then, I’ll just put up chapter 29. In the meantime, here is a preview of Miki Aihara’s new series. It started out as a one shot. Since it will be continued in the January issue of Cheese!, I’ll assume that this is the *first chapter. The title means, ‘From 5 to 9’. I think that means ‘overwork’ because the title means time of work =P This is a complete departure from Honey Hunt because it is like josei and the lead girl isn’t that crazy about love. But then, she can’t give up on the reverse harem type of series =P Scans by xiuxiu/咻咻 for BW]

The lead is Junko, a workaholic 26 year old English teacher who doesn’t want to settle down yet because she plans to work overseas. She has turned down a monk during ‘matchmaking’ but the monk is still interested in her that he takes private English lessons from her even if the university [Tokyo University] he studied in is obviously higher than hers. The monk is the black haired guy. Just like Qta, he would rather she give up her dream and just marry. The glasses guy is her very good friend since both can talk about their love lives to each other over some glasses of drinks. He seems to be a workaholic, too. She thinks that he’ll be good hubby material and he did offer to accompany her on her 27 birthday which is coming on that week’s Friday. The blond guy seems to be her co-worker and he is a foreigner. He also offered to accompany her on her birthday upon hearing from her that ‘date’ with glasses friend isn’t particularly important. He claims that he just happen to have two free tickets to a concert. Our lead begins to become really flattered over the offers she had on her birthday. In class, she is teaching a couple of teens – boy and girl. The girl is somewhat friendly with her and would want to email her regarding questions. She learned about Junko’s birthday so she invites her to a get together with some friend and they will turn it into a birthday party. To her shock, her male student says that those girls will just chatter so how about both of them go leave to some other place and as thanks to her, he’ll give Junko a special gift. She asks if he isn’t going steady with that other girl. Her student says that she’s more of his type than that female student. Junko starts to freak out over all of this. The monk overheard this and starts to lecture her about not giving hopes to the high school kid. This irritated her so she told him not to come Friday because she’s going out with someone on her birthday.

On the day before her birthday, Mishima, glasses guy seems to want to buy some jewelry for Junko but thinks that a ring is too intimate and she isn’t his girlfriend. Junko’s female co-worker [red haired female in the picture. She seems to be a secretary in the school while the short black haired female seems to be also a teacher. Like Junko, the latter doesn’t have a boyfriend] sees him and starts to tell him about Junko’s offers on her birthday. She also tells him that he’s quite nice to give a gift when their ‘date’ is cancelled. Mishima asks her to bring him to the school. There, he meets with Junko and that monk. To Junko’s surprise, Mishima tell her that since she will be with someone on her birthday, he isn’t going to be with her anymore. Before Junko can explain things, her female co-worker asks Mishima if she can be Junko’s replacement drinking buddy on Friday. She also asks Junko if she can. [By the way, that girl is itching to get married] Junko and Mishima just nervously glance at each other since they can’t say no. Junko finally says that it is okay. After they left, Junko tells herself that at her age and being not a special person, it is no problem if she spends her birthday alone but stupid Mishima just has to say that in front of Hoshikawa, the monk. To her surprise, Hoshikawa pulls her away and takes her some place outside. He sits her on one of those chairs for outdoor dining of a cafe/restaurant. He asks her to please wait for her there for him. Hoshikawa leaves as Junko wonders what’s up with that monk. Alone, with a drink, Junko begins to berate herself for being depressed over a small thing and why she is being nice to wait there for a monk. When she begins to wonder for how long he is going to make her wait, he re-appeared with a huge bouquet of roses and greets her a happy birthday. He has changed his clothes to normal ones. He says that it is one hour before her birthday but he wants to be the first one to greet her. He also bought new clothes because he feels that his monk outfit isn’t suitable. He apologizes and is about to say something but to his surprise, she kisses him on the lips. It seems she is infatuated with Hoshikawa’s voice. Anyway, she took the initiative to drag him to a motel and they slept together. The next day, Hoshikawa wakes up to find a note from Junko. She wrote that she has some sort of appointment so she had left early. She thanked him for the flowers and it felt great last night. But, since she can’t reject him twice, so that hotel is enough. [I think she paid for the hotel] In the last scene, Junko takes her flowers and says in English, “Ok! Let’s get refreshed and go for another day! I will have a date with Mr. Arthur [foreigner co-teacher] in the evening...” Narration: “The sky [/day] when I’m 27 is somewhat better than I was 26. A 27 year old woman is very strong.”

So..does she mean that playing around with guys make her a strong woman? ^^;; I guess she goes by the ‘collect and select’ philosophy. I don’t like Junko and I feel sorry for Hoshikawa. It just really sucks to wake up to a piece of paper after sex. It really feels like he is just being used since she is ‘lonely/depressed’. I’m actually amused that for a monk, he’s quite a romantic but unfortunately for him, he has fallen for a workaholic and ‘wants to play the field’ woman. This is why I thought the author is fed up with Honey Hunt. Junko is the opposite of Yura. Hehe, so what’s the motive to read about in this series? Well, for me, just like in her other series, it’s the good looking guys and art =P Since there are three other women around = two women in the cover + Junko’s female student on that lower colored pic, I’m guessing that by the end, they will all be paired up. So, tell me what you think of her new series. ^^

Word of the day:
The world is filled with so much good that brings us joy and pleasure, But true fulfillment only comes when Christ we love and treasure. ~ Sper from Our Daily Bread

Free Talk: FYI about Summaries
Friday, January 1, 2010

Anoh..I’m way behind schedule and ‘chinese scans dump’ is starting because Hapi Mari 12 and Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu 52-53 are already out in BW. Regarding Hapi Mari 12, it seems that Hokuto does love her already but she still don’t get it since she still wants him to love her first before 'having her'. ^^; That is what they talked about at the end. Regarding schedule, since I’m going by the ‘special poll summary schedule’, I plan to continue with that to be fair to the others. So, if the series I’m summarizing has a new chapter for that month, I’ll add that. For example, I’m summarizing Koibana! then chapter 50 is out. So, it will be Koibana! 48-50. Okay? *utter shock* I’m summarizing Honey Hunt and started writing a bit about 5-ji kara 9-ji made (the author’s new series which was a one shot before), when I saw from the list of chinese scans that Honey Hunt has ended. I thought, ‘what-- Is that it..she will just go to *beep* with him and that’s it?!’ I had a feeling that the author is getting really, really bored with Honey Hunt that is why she wrote that new series wherein it seems to be a josei, the lead is somewhat different from her usual female leads and it has a colored spread. But then, I checked baka manga and it says that Honey Hunt is on a hiatus. I think it’s doomed to be put on a shelf for a long, long time. So, now I wonder if I should just wait for that ‘last’ chapter so that we can say ‘goodbye’ to Honey Hunt since after all, I’m doing an intro for her new series. Hm..oh well, will just see if it’s out by the time I’m finished with the summary. But out of curiosity, what do you, Honey Hunt readers, think? Should I wait for it?

New Year Greetings
Thursday, December 31, 2009

Bokutachi wa Shitte Shimatta [Chapter 32]
Thursday, December 31, 2009

Looking at Keigo, Kotori realizes that he is the one who gave her that note before. Blushing Kotori looks down while blushing Keigo looks at the side. Kotori wonders what she should do because she had just put that note aside and she also hasn’t replied to him yet. Kotori’s co-workers greet Keigo and ask what’s up, does he plan to work there again. Keigo says no but rather, he just dropped by to see how they are doing since he has some business nearby. Upon seeing the others looking at him with doggy eyes and blushing, Keigo asks what’s up with that look. They tell him that he’s very talented and he came at the right time. Keigo is a bit speechless. Later on, Keigo is dressed up in their uniform. Someone informs the others that, six months ago, Keigo has been working there so for today, he’s going to help them temporarily until that busy hours are over. Keigo greets everyone and says that he came so sudden and he’ll be under their care. This surprises Kotori. She looks somewhat depressed since she won’t dare look at him. Yukito looks a bit flustered. Haruna says that she’ll leave the cashier jobs to Kotori and Keigo and if they can’t cope, they can just call for help in the kitchen for someone who is not that busy. “Everyone, gambatte!” At the cashier counter, Kotori is still flustered since she is wondering what could Keigo be thinking since she had just ignored his note and she fears that she might press the wrong button (for the menu) at the cashier. Keigo says, “..Miss Kaji..right?” Kotori quickly exclaims, “yes..YES!” Keigo giggle-smile and says that it seems that she is too nervous. “I heard that you had just come to work here.” Kotori says that is true. He tells her that he used to work there as a cashier so he’s quite experienced and there is no need for her to be anxious. “Just leave most of the customers to me. You only need to courteously accept the customers. Okay?” Kotori exclaims okay. Keigo says that’s good. After exchanging some more polite greetings, Kotori tells herself that now isn’t the time to think too much, for right now, she should just do her best in work and.. She touches the bracelet that Yukito gave her. She closes her eyes then becomes energized. “Okay! Gambatte!” Keigo smiles while looking at her.

Later on, after the peak hours, the others thank Keigo for his big help and he can leave the rest to them. Keigo bids them goodbye as well as Kotori. She wasn’t able to talk much with him because she has a customer who orders meal A. Afterwards, Kotori stands outside the door. She thinks that Keigo has helped her and yet, she wasn’t able to thank him. She thinks that he didn’t mention about the note and he treated her normally. “Could it be that he didn’t recognize that it is me? Is that how it is? I feel a bit at ease yet a bit sad..such complex feelings.” She wonders if Yukito has recognized Keigo. The door suddenly opens as Yukito says that he’s going to go out that way. Yukito apologizes to Kotori and walks away. Kotori sadly thinks that she wanted to go home with him but is it okay for her to take the initiative. “Forget it, even if he made the first move before, it will just give me expect too much. If there is no alibi, it’s very hard to say it..” She notices the bracelet that Yukito gave her. She quickly calls out to Yukito but Yukito has already turned towards her and asks if she’s going home, and if she doesn’t hurry, he’ll leave her. While walking together, Kotori blushes as she looks at him. Kotori thinks that compared to the usual, it feels more natural when they talk now. Yukito then asks her what she is looking at for she’s glancing around. Kotori just tells him that it’s great that the peak hours at the restaurant are finally over. Yukito just says that she’s right. After a pause, Yukito says, “That guy is..” When Kotori asks huh, Yukito just smiles and says that it is nothing. Changing the topic, Yukito says that she’s becoming really good at her job because she seems more calm. Kotori says that she’s happy to hear that. The two laugh and agree that it is a good thing that Yamagami isn’t there else she will be messing things up. Holding her hand up to show the bracelet, Kotori says, “..but, it is possible that it is also because of this..from Yukito, I got courage..” Yukito looks surprised to see Kotori smiling and blushing while she looks at the bracelet. Kotori apologizes and says that she’ll return it to him. Before she can take it off, he touches her hand and tells her, “There’s no need..you can wear it.” Kotori is puzzled as Yukito seems to be lost in thought. He snaps out of it when Kotori calls out to him..his surname. He quickly looks away and says that he doesn’t need it so she can have it. Kotori tries to protest but Yukito says that if she doesn’t want it then she can throw it away. Kotori replies how could she.

Yukito changes the topic again by asking where her house is. Kotori says that it is that side. She apologizes for it would seem that he is walking her home. Yukito says no, but rather, he’s other job is nearby so this is convenient/by chance. Kotori says, is that so. She becomes a bit sad because it is ‘by chance’ again. She then says that is okay for him to walk her until there so goodbye. Yukito also bids her goodbye. They parted ways. As Kotori goes into her house, Yukito is watching her from the corner. He says that’s good, she already went in. He sighs then he looks at his watch. He exclaims that he’s going to be late for work. He thinks that if they continue to be together, things will be bad and he had started to think of all sorts of things. While running to his work, he wonders what he is thinking for he almost said, ‘Every time you looked at it, you’ll remember me’. “Ah! Abnormal? Am I abnormal? Is that what it is?! No! No! My motive is purely just to work to earn money, get a motorcycle driving licence, and then, be with that girl again..” He remembers Abe’s warning about the possibility of some other guy stealing away Kotori during the summer break. Flustered and angry, Yukito shouts, “I know! Geez, why did that girl suddenly become that cute!” The scene changes to Kotori going in the staff room and asking Haruna what she’s looking at. Haruna holds up a poster and says that it is a fireworks display. She asks if Kotori wants to go. It will be held at the beach tomorrow. Haruna says that those who don’t have work afterwards will be going. “Would you want to go?” Kotori asks if she can. Haruna says but of course, because the more people went, the more fun it will be. She also says that it will be a good opportunity for them, co-workers, to improve their relationship. Kotori looks at the poster and thinks that since the summer break, all she did is take extra classes at school and work so she hasn’t gone to such events. Since she didn’t have any plans in joining such events in summer, this is good news for her. “If I have a boyfriend, then I’ll really anticipate it..” She blushes and becomes shock when she imagines herself almost kissing with Yukito as fireworks lit at the background.

She wonders what it is Yukito. “That’s right..lately..we haven’t kissed..I really want..to kiss..” She then mopes at the corner. “*shock* Darn..what am I thinking..we have already broken up! I’ve already dumped Yukito, so why am I still thinking such things? Ah, what is the meaning of this? Am I longing?! Is that it? I’m a lewd girl?! Lewd girl?! I’m starting to hate myself.” Harana asks if Kotori is okay because she was beet red earlier, then she looks greenish now. Kotori just says, ah..ah then she is really embarrassed. “Will Yukito be going..if he’ll also go, then I’ll be very happy..” Her heart beats loud when Haruna calls out to Yukito. Haruna asks Yukito if he’ll also go to watch the fireworks display. Kotori happily thinks that Haruna did well. Yukito says that he wanted to go but he has another work elsewhere. He just tells her that if there are any other events, then she can just ask him again. Kotori looks a bit disappointed. After Yukito left, Haruna talks with a co-worker about Yukito having another job. The male co-worker says that it seems that Yukito wants to buy a motorcycle for he said that he will try to get a motorcycle driving licence. Haruna comments that Yukito is really working hard. To Kotori’s surprise, the co-worker says that Yukito told him that after buying the motorcycle, he would get the girl he likes to ride behind him. Haruna asks if Yukito has a girlfriend. The co-worker says that regarding the motorcycle thing is like a dream so he thinks that it is a one-sided love. Haruna says that is quite unexpected because Yukito is very simple [naive/ pure] and very cute. Kotori begins to think that Yukito already has someone whom he likes and the specific goal for buying that motorcycle is this – to ride with the girl he likes. “Could it be that wish bracelet is also..” She remembers Yukito saying that he doesn’t need it anymore so Kotori thinks that the meaning behind it is that he already got his wish. Kotori looks flustered. [Before she can become depressed..], she is surprised when Keigo enters the staff room and greets everybody. Haruna exclaims that they were all waiting for him. Keigo says that from today on, he’ll be once again under their care. Kotori glances at their direction and thinks, “Eh?” Later on, as Keigo is walking with some co-workers, they say that things are really different if experienced Keigo is there since everything went smoothly today. Keigo asks if that is true and he’s really happy for them to say that. He stops midway when he glances at the side to see Yamagami reprimanding Kotori.

Yamagami is reprimanding Kotori as to what’s wrong with her today since she’s always lost in thought. He said that he has already told her that she should concentrate in doing her best at work. Kotori apologizes. Yamagami tells her that she usually make mistakes when she does that but it’s a good thing that she didn’t make a mistake today. “But..the total amount of time you were lost in thought is is 15 minutes and 29 seconds.” Someone exclaims, “Huh? How accurate!” Yamagami glares at Keigo. Keigo tensely thinks, “Ah. Uh-oh.” Soon, Yamagami is lecturing both Kotori and Keigo. Later on, Kotori apologizes to Keigo that she got him also reprimanded. Keigo says that it is alright and it is his fault. “It’s also Yamagami’s. Reprimanding newbies in that tone of voice, anyone would be nervous, right?” Kotori says that she’s going to get off work. Kotori is surprised when Keigo suddenly calls out to her. Blushing, he says, “That..about that note..it might not be appropriate for me to ask about it now..but since you didn’t reply back, is that your answer?” The two are blushing. Kotori apologizes and explains that it’s her first time to get a note like that. “I don’t know what to do about it, that I always just put it aside..” Keigo then says, “Ah..but, you already have a boyfriend, right? I didn’t expect that you’ll be working together with your boyfriend, I was a bit surprised..if that is so, then you’ll definitely do not want to email some other guy, right?” Kotori blushes and thinks how she should answer this. “I’m no longer going steady with Yukito and all of the other co-workers know about this. It will also be strange if I’ve lied to him. During this time, I should clearly explain things to him clearly..” Kotori tells Keigo, “We’ve already broken up..when I received your note, we have already broken up. But..right now, I’m not in the mood to think about such things, I’m sorry..” Keigo says, “..really..but, that’s good..I thought that you had totally snubbed me. But since you said it that way, then I have something to look forward to. I’ll do my best..” Kotori blushes as she asks, how could that be. “We don’t even know each other yet, not one bit. How could you say that..” He then holds her shoulder and with a determined expression, Keigo says, “Then, go ahead and know, know me. I’ll also know more about you. If you are going to reject me, then I want you to decide on it after you get to know me.” Walking home, Kotori wonders what she should do now. “I didn’t expect him to answer that way. I don’t know how I’m going to face him tomorrow. I don’t have confidence that I can still look at him like how I do normally. Why? I want to see Yukito..I want to see him soon..” She looks up and is surprised to see Masaya. She calls out to him. Masaya says that he’s surprised to see her. He asks her why she is there. Kotori tells him that she just got off work. She asks what about him. Holding a bag, serious looking Masaya says, “Me? I came to tease someone. Just joking, I’m just giving someone some comfort [food].” Kotori wonders what he meant earlier about teasing. She asks if it is for Yukito. Masaya says yes and he is working on two jobs and salary is much higher for night jobs. “He really wants to earn money quick that he also didn’t eat dinner last night. That guy..for whom he is working hard for?” Kotori looks flustered. She then laughs and says that Yukito is working near her house so she’ll just bring that lunch to him.

To her surprise, Masaya tells her that the place where Yukito is working is at the opposite direction of her house. Kotori begins to wonder if she heard wrong when Yukito said that his work is near her house. Smiling, Masaya says that the two of them [Kaij-s] are pretty foolish. “I think it is for the best for you, Kotori to bring this to him. Can I ask this of you? I still have other things to do. Here.” He gives the bag to her. Seeing Masaya smiling, Kotori wonders if Masaya is worried about her. After a pause, Kotori says that he is very nice. With a deadpan expression, Masaya says, “Of course.” Kotori sweatdrops. At a construction site, Yukito is working as a traffic diverter. [Ah, the one who waves a light stick to tell motorists that there is a construction there so drive at the side] Seeing Kotori, Yukito asks her why she is there. Holding the bag, Kotori nervously tells him that his brother told her to bring that to him. Holding the bag, Yukito nervously grumbles what Masaya is thinking. He says that he’s going off work soon so there is no need to bring that there. Yukito apologizes to Kotori for his brother being meddlesome since he made her bring it. He tells her to wait for a moment and he’ll walk her home. Yukito is puzzled when Kotori mutters that it isn’t meddlesome. Kotori just somewhat smiles and tells him if he could accompany her afterwards. Later on, the two are playing with fireworks. Kotori says that it’s very beautiful. Clueless Yukito just had to ask if Kotori likes playing with fireworks and why would she want to play it so suddenly. Kotori informs him that it is because he won’t be at the fireworks display tomorrow so she thought of this idea. She apologizes for making him accompany her. She thinks that she just wants to be with him for more time today. She says, “Because..I want to be with you..in watching the fireworks..” Blushing, Yukito asks what she meant by that and she shouldn’t say that easily else she’ll be misunderstood. Kotori asks what he means by easily misunderstood. Yukito blushes as he tells her not to emphasize that. After a pause, Yukito says that it has been a long time since he played with such fireworks. Kotori looks at him and thinks that the truth is, there are a lot of things that she wanted to ask him regarding the wish bracelet, his part time work, and the person he likes. “It’s so obvious that I’m uneasy that is why I wanted to see him because I don’t feel good about all of this..” Kotori is lost in thought as Yukito tells her that her fireworks have already died out. He suddenly pulls her to him as he exclaims that she is standing too near the candle and it’s dangerous. “It’s no joke if you get burned!” He blushes as Kotori holds on to him tightly. He wasn’t able to stop himself that he ends up hugging her.

And, I’m scrambling to think again why this two break up in the first place. Well, the reason for their break up hasn’t been appearing for a few chapters now. I guess it is more on Yukito’s pride and not being truthful. He feels that he has to ‘show off’ something to her and that is of course, the motorcycle stuff. Unfortunately for him, he told it to the others and Kotori has overheard about it. This made Kotori think that he likes someone else already. Yukito seems to become scared of showing affection. That could be partly because of Kotori telling him that she doesn’t feel anything with him at times. Since he is acting too normal, Kotori confuse this as he is just being nice and friendly as ex-lovers. Kotori doesn’t want to be imposing or keep her hopes up so she couldn’t take too many initiatives. I think aside from wanting to see Yukito, she went there with the intention of knowing the answers to those questions in order to make a better decision regarding Keigo. If Yukito doesn’t have feelings for her anymore, then, she could take Keigo’s proposal more seriously. I think she also doesn’t want to give Keigo some false hope. Yukito is too focused about getting that motorcycle before courting her again and that could make things problematic for him later on. Just like Abe warned, there might be other guys who’ll court Kotori while he’s busy getting that motorcycle. He doesn’t have the luxury of time. Hasn’t he thought of the possibility that Kotori might be with Keigo in that fireworks display? To me, being with her at the fireworks display seems more important than earning money since he can still earn it later on but that special time/opportunity to be with Kotori with a spectacular display of fireworks would be gone forever. Haha, what are the chances of Kotori wearing a cute yukata? =P Maybe they can take a picture and make Yukito die of regret. Back to Keigo, so far, he seems to be a cute, nice guy. A formidable rival for Yukito and since they are not friends or blood related, the two can go all out to win Kotori’s heart even if well, Yukito already has an edge..he just doesn’t know it. ^^;; I also think that it’s good that the author showed us that Keigo likes Kotori even before her makeover. It shows that he is genuinely interested in her and he does have courage to give that note to her even if he knew that she has a boyfriend. He also knows how to grab opportunities since I believe that the reason why he is working there again is because of Kotori. One last thing, I find it amusing that the cover page is human Keshikeshi. Is he a main character, too?! I’m still a bit confused if he’s a real dog or not. ^^;; Scans by 草莓defer for iieye and 豆芽豆芽 for BW.

Quote of the day:
The best things in life are unexpected - because there were no expectations. ~ Eli Khamarov

At A Glance: Akatsuki no Yona [Chapters 1-2]
Wednesday, December 30, 2009

This series is also called Yona of the Dawn. It is serialized in Hana to Yume and the mangaka is Kusanagi Mizuho of NG Life. I haven’t read that series. It seems that Which scanlation group is going to scanlate this series. Our heroine is named Yona. She’s red haired. From that and the title, I really thought that this series is copying Reimei no Arcana. ^^; The first chapter starts with Yona holding a sword and looking serious. Her retainer says that it’s time to go. She says okay and it’s still very cold there. Her retainer replied that it is because they are at the mountains. Then, she remembers the her before who would have gone stiff because she isn’t used to the coldness outside the palace…Past: The king dots on her as he tells her that her red hair isn’t that strange. Can you guess which of the two guys in the picture she likes? If you guessed the light haired guy, Suwon, then you are correct. He’s a childhood friend who is always there for her. I think he’s her cousin. Then, she has another childhood friend, Haku who likes to tease her. He has become a general. Both guys are 18 and she is 15 years old, going 16 on her birthday. During an outing with Suwon, Yona claims that she’s going to marry someone like Haku. The two know that it is a lie but much to Yona’s dismay, Suwon doesn’t seem to know that he congratulated her. Later on, Yona learns that his father doesn’t approve of giving her hand in marriage to Suwon for some reason which I think is related to some family matters. It also seems that Yona’s mother is killed/murdered. Then, elsewhere, while Yona is thinking of this, she is chased by some stalker. She can’t see his face because it’s a stormy night. She hides in a room but someone is there who turns out to be Suwon. They talk a bit and Yona tries to confess to him and say that she isn’t going to marry Haku but Suwon just mentions that the rain has stopped and he’ll walk her to her room. There is a short talk about what Suwon thinks of her..as a girl or a younger sister. Then, it is Yona’s 16th birthday. Suwon gives her a hair pin and says that he likes her hair which is like the color red of dawn. Haku interrupts the two to tell Yona that her father is looking for her. After she left, Haku seems to encourage Suwon to keep it up and Yona will definitely get her father’s approval. Suwon just says that he seems to be mistaken about it. Haku then says that he feels something is odd around the palace and he’ll go investigate. Later on, Yona decides to try to convince her father about Suwon. She goes to her father’s room only to witness someone is stabbing her father through the heart. Yona screams for her father and looks up to see the murderer. It is Suwon who says, “You’re not sleeping yet, Princess Yona.” Okay, so her crush and childhood friend just killed off her beloved father. It’s very traumatic and well, that night is her birthday, right?

Then, outside, Haku and some other soldier are standing guard. His subordinate says that he should be guarding the princess. Haku says that he feels odd that night and there is no worry since she’s with Suwon. He says that he had always been watching those two and he hopes that the two will be happy. At the king’s room, stunned Yona tells Suwon to call the doctor but Suwon says that the king’s eyes won’t open again since he did kill the king. Suwon’s alibi seems to be that his father who is a military type guy was suppose to be the one who’ll become king but their father chose Yona’s father instead who is peace-loving. Suwon resents the fact that his father took care of Yona’s father and Yona’s father is a pacifist yet Yona’s father caused his father’s death using a sword, I think, because of some disagreement. The public announcement is that it is an accident. So, from ten years, he is living for revenge and to gain what is rightfully his, the throne. Yona begins to think that she must be in some sort of nightmare and where is that nice Suwon who gave her that pin. Suwon asks her what she is there so late at night. While holding her father, crying Yona tells him that she came to tell her father that she can’t just forget about him [Suwon]. Suwon seems to be surprised. Some soldiers enter and notice that Yona had witness it. An adviser said to get rid of her. When Suwon starts to point his sword at her, Yona quickly escapes. Suwon orders his soldiers to run after her. While running, Yona wonders who that guy [Suwon] is. The soldier who is about to kill her tells her to understand that, this is to make their country great. Yona starts to wonder if she has always been hated and she thinks that she didn’t expect much but she just wants to see Suwon smiling. Then, Haku promptly saves her. He says that he wanted for them [Yona and Suwon] to have some time with each other but then, why are all the soldiers there. Haku apologizes to Yona for leaving her side. The adviser tells Haku to bow down since he is standing before the king who is Suwon. When Haku asked about Yona’s father, Suwon says that he had sent him to hell. Haku tells him to quit joking around but Suwon tells him to ask Yona about it since she saw it with her own eyes. Haku attacks Suwon who blocks Haku’s halberd with a sword. Some soldiers want to help him but Suwon turns it down since Haku is pretty strong and renowned for his fighting skills. When Haku asks him why he killed a peace-loving king, Suwon just says that their kingdom doesn’t need a weak king. The two fights with each other and Haku manages to wound Suwon. Haku stopped when Yona told him to but that made the other soldiers point their spears at Haku - cornered. Haku asks if the Suwon he knew is just an illusion and he once thought that if it is Suwon, he can entrust Yona to him in marriage. Suwon tells them that the Suwon they knew never existed and if there is anyone, no matter who that person is, tries to hinder his path, he won’t hesitate to eradicate them. Crying and blank-looking Yona thinks that she doesn’t want to listen to this anymore. Someone shoots an arrow on the floor and Haku uses this chance to take Yona with him to escape. Suwon looks thoughtful as he remembers crying Yona. It was Haku’s subordinate who helped them. He tells them that he’ll be a diversion while they escape since all of their country’s troops have allied with Suwon. Haku realizes that if they are caught, they will be killed. Yona asks where they will go. She mutters that at the banquet her father is crying happily and she hasn’t thanked him and where would she go when this is her father’s palace. Haku hugs her and tells her, anywhere as long as she lives and that is the best ‘thanks’ she can give to her father. Haku’s subordinate shows them the gate where they can escape to the mountains. The subordinate wishes Yona to be safe. And the last scene, the subordinate is found by the other soldiers and shot dead at the back with an arrow. [Not sure if Yona saw it since] she is outside with Haku and looking at the direction of the city.

And, well, chapter 3 isn’t up yet but chapter 4 and some others are but it seems that Yona is still recovering from the shock and they will be hiding in some village, it seems to be Haku’s hometown. Though, she seems to have snapped out of it in chapter 8. I just browsed through it because I want to read this in chronological order. So far, it’s quite interesting and it seems like Yona will become a strong woman warrior later on. I wonder if she would want to claim her kingdom again and she will be going against her former first love. Actually, reading the first chapter, I had a hunch that she will end up with Haku since he is quite playful with her but then, I didn’t expect Suwon to kill her father. Hehe..I thought it will be a love triangle ^^; Well, Suwon just ‘out’ himself because of what he did. I still wonder though if he really ‘faked’ it with his childhood friends. I think he is just caught up with things and would have probably protected her if the others weren’t there. Somehow, I don’t feel that Suwon is that a capable of a leader. I feel that the others are just using him or well, they are using each other for their common goals. I wonder though if they will spread the news that it is Haku who killed the king and he eloped with Yona. That will be very hard to prove unless someone in Suwon’s group told the truth. So, I thought it is either re-claim her kingdom or she will form her own kingdom or ally with another kingdom who also wanted peace. Anyway, I’m hoping for Yona to make the transformation of weak princess to a strong woman. Hope that sword isn’t just some decoration to look cool. And of course, unlike Saiunkoku Monogatari, there is a high chance she’ll end up with the ‘bodyguard’ =P After all, he has to be rewarded for his loyalty. Scans by filion for BW. There are raw scans of chapters 6-8 at mangahelpers if you want to check it out.

Quote of the day:
The ones closest to you are the ones who hurt you the deepest. ~ Hilary Day

Skip Beat! [Chapter 151] Teaser
Tuesday, December 29, 2009

It’s a new arc but then, it seems to be love theme as in, Lory is going to teach his ‘apprentices’ about love. =P It starts with Kyouko going to the company. Upon seeing Kanae, she greeted Kanae a bit too excitedly that she got hit on the forehead by Kanae. ^^; Or maybe she went towards Kanae in full throttle that Kanae stops her with her hand hence the hand print =P Kyouko asks her about how Hiou liked the chocolates. To Kyouko’s disappointment, he accepted with a so-so expression. Kanae then asks about the people she gave chocolates to. Kyouko says that they are very happy. But when Kanae asked about Ren, Kyouko seems to be lost in thought. Kanae begins to wonder if she didn’t give any to Ren. Kyouko tells her that she did and that Ren has accepted it happily but perhaps, it is troublesome for him. She becomes gloomy then goes on a long rant about learning about that ‘thanks’ and how it can ruin ‘world peace’ and something about protecting the Japanese [women?]. Since Kyouko starts making a scene with the other people there, Kanae drags her away. The two are talking about lovers and friends as they head to Love Me section. Just when they are busy shouting something – Kyouko crying with puppy eyes mentions something and Kanae turning her down, they stop at the door when they hear some lovey-dovey talk. Chiori is gloomily watching some romantic movies while writing things on a paper her poisonous thoughts about it. It seems Kanae doesn’t know Chiori so Chiori introduces herself. They talk about what Chiori is doing. It seems to be something that Lory had told her to do. Kanae seems to be freaking out over something regarding ‘lover’ and probably what Chiori is doing is related to being a member of Love Me. They then freak out over seeing a snake that Lory had on him. =P He had come to check on his Love Me members. After the snake is taken away, Lory seems to be asking them about Valentine’s Day with those who ‘like’ them because Kyouko and Kanae remember the jerks on V-day = Reino and that actor who bugs Kanae, respectively. They also remember what those jerks did. Of course, Kyouko also remembers Ren’s kiss. I think Lory asks them about such a day happening again but unfortunately, the two start screaming about it being a nightmare, society’s most baffling/confusing holiday, etc. ^^;

Later on, I think those other two are made to watch those romantic movies with Chiori ^^; They talk a bit about the romance movies, probably cliche stuff about such movies. It seems that Chiori also answered that way to Lory about V-day and she said that it is the vilest of all days in her life. Soon, Kanae and Chiori are talking about some stuff regarding acting (of the actor/actress in the romance movies?) as Kyouko turns left and right in regards to who is talking. I think it is mostly complaints that Kyouko freaks out upon seeing Lory standing behind them and he’s looking really scary. Lory starts to lecture both Kyouko and Kanae about being in Love Me for a year already and still can’t quite love yet. He takes out three envelopes with their names on it and tells them about a new assignment, I think. There is also a theme at the side. Kyouko is ‘danger’, Kanae is ‘restraint/moral’ and Chiori is ‘happy’. The two girls freak out since Chiori happily takes the envelope with her name. I guess they are thinking that she doesn’t know of the dangers. After reading it, Chiori trembles and tries to return it to Lory and probably begs him that she absolutely doesn’t want to do that. Lory just quickly walks away as Chiori goes after him. As the two other girls wonder what could it be and probably, they are okay since Lory left. Kanae freaks out as she looks behind Kyouko. Kyouko looks where she is looking and she sees her envelope put behind her collar. Kanae turns around and sees that hers is put behind her on her belt. I think that last part is a scream. ^^; I’m curious what Lory will make them do. Hm..will the author show all three or just focus on Kyouko’s ‘adventure’. I was hoping that Kyouko’s will be Ren related. Hehe, after all, Lory also wants to help Ren get over his past. I really hope so and well, Ren is ‘dangerous’ for Kyouko =P Of course, her other two ‘admirers’ are also ‘dangerous’. Hehe, this chapter has a lot of ‘freaking out’ and chibi Lory is cute =P I hope I’m guessing most of this right. The author will be taking a break so the next chapter will be out around 2/5. Oh wait..what’s Ren’s gift?! Maybe the author will tell us around 2/14 to coincide with the real V-day ^^;; Scans by raw-paradise.

Quote of the day:
Life is a celebration of awakenings, of new beginnings, and wonderful surprises that enlighten the soul.~ Cielo

Teasers: Hapi Mari 12, Black Bird 38 and Dengeki Daisy 31
Monday, December 28, 2009

Additional notes to Hapi Mari 11, the stalker is Chiwa’s former client when she used to be a hostess. The man claims to be Chiwa’s boyfriend but of course, Hokuto just says he’s the husband and that made the stalker scurrying away. =P Hokuto is there because he is concerned about the guy following Chiwa. When Taeko told him that it isn’t an investigator she had sent to check on Chiwa, Hokuto quickly left his office to look for her. [Why not just call?] The new character is indeed Hokuto’s father who suddenly came home because of some reasons and among which is to meet Hokuto’s new wife. It’s obvious that Hokuto’s relationship with his father isn’t that good since he won’t meet his father if he hasn’t set an appointment with him. As for the gift, Hokuto confessed that he took the gift because he gave it to her without even knowing more about her yet. It’s just something that would make any girl happy and he had guessed the reason why she didn’t open it yet. The two admitted that they haven’t bought each other a Christmas gift because they still don’t know each other very much nor know what the other likes. Chiwa is embarrassed that Hokuto wasn’t able to ask her about it because every time he tried to ask Chiwa about it, she would run away -> because she doesn’t want him to ask about the birthday gift she lost = what is in it. Well, Chiwa is already happy that Hokuto started thinking more about her and both of them were thinking of the same thing for a few days. Hokuto promises to give her something next Christmas which will really surprise her and make her happy. “So, don’t cry anymore. Come, stand up. You should be smiling on Christmas day.” Chiwa smiles and stands up as she hold on his hand. She is happy and satisfied that even if there is no cake [the one she bought was ruined when the stalker chased her] and no gifts, but the person she likes is beside her. “I wish that next year, the year after and forever, we will greet this day together.”

While Chiwa is cooking, Hokuto asks her as basis, what does she want for a gift. Chiwa wants Hokuto’s heart but she couldn’t say it since she thinks it will just be a burden to him so she says that she wants pots and pans because there aren’t enough in his kitchen. She asks him what he wants and he hugs her. Hokuto says that she said that she would rather die if that stalker did something to her so that means she doesn’t want to do it with someone she doesn’t like. Chiwa says of course because she never done it with anyone yet. Hokuto asks if that means that she won’t like to do it with him if she hasn’t truly loved him yet. He admits that he doesn’t have any experience of doing his best to make a girl like him. “Then, what should I do? I don’t know..what to do to make you like me..” Chiwa blushes and becomes nervous as she realizes that it seems that Hokuto wants her for Christmas and he has finally looked at him as a woman. Seeing her cry and saying ‘no’, Hokuto stops his lovey-dovey and says that if she’s afraid then, he won’t force her. He tells her that he will first think of ways to make her like him. Chiwa thinks that isn’t true for whatever Hokuto wanted to do, she would have allowed him because her heart already belonged to him. “But this isn’t what I wanted. If he has a little bit of love for me, if that is how it is then, I won’t hesitate in going to his embrace on my own.” Chiwa blushes while watching Hokuto eat. She then asks what was inside the gift he gave her before. To her shock, it is a two carat diamond necklace. So, Chiwa wants to make sure that Hokuto really loves her before they do it. She is pretty idealistic for a former hostess. Hehe, she’s really different to what Hokuto thought of her before. Well, it’s one step at a time for Hokuto and at least now, he does think of her as a woman =P I guess Hokuto is really clueless about love because it is super obvious that Chiwa has fallen for him. But then, it’s good that he still thinks that she hasn’t so that he would still ‘court’ her. Oh, contrary to what he’s thinking, Chiwa is waiting for him to really like her. =P

Hapi Mari 12: A part of this summary is based on shuro’s summary. The last chapter is Christmas and in this chapter, it is New year. It is a tradition for the Mamiya family to have a reunion on January. This year, it is January 2 and Hokuto brings Chiwa with him for the reunion. Poor Chiwa is being chased by a couple of Dobermans but she is saved by Hokuto who called and calmed the dogs down. [I suddenly thought of Ouran ^^;] Chiwa is embarrassed and angry but she ends up remembering what happened that Christmas night as he fixes her hair. They were happily greeted by grandpa at the entrance. Grandpa says that he can’t wait to see his grandson’s product of love with Yuuko’s = Chiwa and Hokuto’s child. [Ah, I think Yuuko is Chiwa’s grandma.] This surprised the two. While Hokuto’s expression is shown, Chiwa seems to think that isn’t possible yet because Hokuto still has his own goals that he wants to fulfill. Inside the mansion, Chiwa seems to think that it’s quite huge. At first, Chiwa thought that it is just a small family gathering but it turned out to be a reunion of the whole clan. At the hall, Hokuto’s cousins look down on Chiwa and thinks she is a gold digger. [I think that is said by his cousin, Seki, whom they met at the hallway] A huge part of Hokuto’s relatives snubs Hokuto because he is just the son of a mistress and they find him unsuitable for the Mamiya clan. Only Hokuto’s cousin (from the female/mother side), Ri[?] and his wife, Saori were friendly as they welcome the couple. But, Ri is the most excellent/superior among the cousins so Hokuto thinks of him as a rival and that’s the reason why he won’t open his heart to Ri. Chiwa had asked him about that when they are alone because Chiwa noticed Hokuto’s fake smile while greeting Ri and Saori. Chiwa goes to the toilet and thinks of the kind of family Hokuto has. She got lost after she came out. Then, she bumps into Hokuto’s father. Chiwa greets him and seems to think of him as a good man. Hokuto’s father offers to walk Chiwa back to the living room. At the living room, Hokuto realizes that Chiwa might have gotten lost so he goes out to look for her. He is surprised to overhear Chiwa talking to someone about being overseas. He is really disgusted that Chiwa is with his father. He pulls Chiwa away from his father. His father says something but Hokuto seems to just apologize and says that it’s time to eat so he doesn’t want to chit-chat. When alone, Chiwa asks Hokuto why he is acting that way towards his father. Hokuto tells her that man caused his mother’s death. It turns out that Hokuto believes that his mother was lead to her death because his father forcibly wants to take Hokuto and bring him to the main house. So from then on, Hokuto decided to get everything that belongs to Mamiya.

When the family is eating together, someone is talking to Ri and Saori. Chiwa was listening when she careless spilled some food on Hokuto/she burned herself with the soup. She is about to tell this to Hokuto but Hokuto just calmly continues to eat and says something. Chiwa seems aghast when Seki starts to ridicule Hokuto. Hokuto’s father is just quiet while Ri and Saori seem to be a bit tense. But, Chiwa has had enough that she can no longer bear how they are treating Hokuto so she launches her counter attack by splashing wine on Seki. She says a lot of things but a part of it seems to say like what’s so different about Mamiya from the rest of the people of the world, they are acting like kids on New Year and something about Mamiya bloodline. But basically, it’s, “I will not allow anyone to slander the person I like!” And, she is the only one who can criticize him. What she said pretty much made Hokuto’s eyes open wide. =P Everyone is shock and scandalized by her behavior. Seki shouts for someone to take Chiwa out but Chiwa shouted back that she’ll leave by herself. She also sticks out her tongue before she leaves. I think Seki is shouting something to his grandfather but Hokuto’s father notices that his father is smiling (like an old fox) and said that Chiwa is very much like Yuuko. Then, Hokuto stands up and somewhat smiles to apologize and says he can't just leave his wife be. I think he said that he’s going to talk to her. As Hokuto leaves, Seki is irritated, Saori seems happy for them, Ri’s expression not shown, and Hokuto’s father looks thoughtful or displeased. Outside, Chiwa is crying as she realizes that what she did is very rude to Hokuto. Hokuto hugs her from behind and it seems that Hokuto isn’t going to hold a grudge on that because he is very happy since he finally realized that Chiwa had already liked him. Chiwa tries to escape but Hokuto holds on to her tightly and kisses her. At the last part, he said that he will make her his because of what she said during Christmas. Chiwa insists that he must truly love her. Hokuto mutters that it seems he still can't enter even after opening the door to her heart. Hokuto says that even if he reaped what he sow, she still don't understand it. This puzzles Chiwa. Anyway, so Hokuto knows and shuro wrote that Hokuto might intensify his ‘attacks’ on Chiwa =P Well, with a family like that, no wonder Hokuto can’t easily trust and like people. Because of his belief as to what happened to his mother, it turns out that he wants everything that Mamiya has, as revenge. Actually, that dirty tombstone which he visits every year is a reminder to him as to how his father treated and caused his mother’s death. Since Chiwa isn’t afraid to stand up for him as compared to his father or the others, and even openly declare her love for him, I think that has also made him fall for her even more. From the looks of it, it does seem that Hokuto’s grandfather wanted things to turn out that way. Hm..I do wonder if that cousin will try to get back at the two for being humiliated like that. Anyway, if the author is going by the month, I wonder if we will have a Valentine day chapter or it will be skipped to focus more on Hokuto’s family? Also, this series will be going on a break. The next chapter is a side story then there will be no chapter after that. The series will resume on March.

Black Bird 38 starts with Misao sitting together with Kyo and others. I think she has told everyone about what Kyo’s father told her regarding what really happened to Kyo’s mother and Sou being alive. [I’ll continue using Sou because it seems that Kyo’s brother has two names, Sou and Sojo. They use the ‘Sou’ so..] Kyo just looks thoughtful and says something. He then tells Misao to calm down the crying kids who were very sad about what happened to Kyo’s parents. Then, they discussed about Sou. They were interrupted when Houki, Buzen and Zenki arrive with grave injuries. The kids go to get some medicine. When Kyo asked what attacked them, they seem to be a bit hesitant to tell him. They said that it’s a Nue [according to wiki, legendary creature found in Japanese folklore. It is described as having the head of a monkey, the body of a raccoon dog, the legs of a tiger, and a snake as a tail.] When he heard about it, Jirou drops the basin he’s carrying and he seems to be afraid of Nue. It seems Misao wanted to help Houki but he refuses and he said some reason which seems to be that if they tasted her blood once, they won’t be able to control themselves anymore. They also probably said they are just Kyo’s servants and she should have more confidence on them that they’ll be able to survive this. The kids help treat the wounds and Misao seems to look very helpless. That night, Sagami talks with Kyo about the Nue. I think it’s a strong clan and there is a mention of Sou so maybe, it’s about having a lot of problems right now? It seems that Kyo is worried about Misao’s safety. They were mentioning about some person named 琅 [lang in Chinese] being dead. Kyo’s father is eavesdropping on them. Outside the house, Misao is thinking about the things regarding what Houki said while he’s bleeding and remembering Sou saving her from the collapsing house by pushing her away, also that smile of his. Her imagination starts to go wild that she even mistaken Kyo for Sou. Seeing her worried, Kyo seems to tell her about their plan to return to his village and he’ll make up some excuse regarding school. Kyo mentions about the upcoming fight between the Nue and it is not an easy one. He says that it will take about half a year or a year..but it will be a long time. Misao starts crying again about the possibility of being separated for a long time. Then, it turns out to be just a joke. ^^;; Or was it because Misao is crying and protests that he changed his mind and said it’s a joke?

Whatever, they started doing some lovey-dovey but it is interrupted by Tarou who said that Houki is awake. Being lewd, Kyo shouted that his Tengu is also awake. ^^;; Outside the house, Misao is very embarrassed about what happened. She meets Kyo’s father who seems to approve of what Kyo is doing. Aghast, Misao wonders if being lewd is part of Tengu’s DNA =P She is surprised when it seems that Yo is bidding her goodbye. That night, Yo prepares to leave and seems worried about the Nue. He sees Kyo. Yo seems to happily greet him but Kyo approaches him. He grabs his father and slams him on the wall. It turns out that he is measuring his father to his own height which is etched on the wooden wall. Kyo is really happy that he is now the winner by 1 cm. ^^;; They had a short talk and seems that they made up because his father left with a smile. That night, Kyo’s father muses about something while looking up the starry night. It seems that Yo is actually a good father since he wanted to finish off their enemies, the Nue by himself but unfortunately, someone else had beaten him to it. He arrives at a village and looks shock. Soon, Kyo learns about the news that the whole of clan of Nue has been exterminated. It’s nice that Kyo has made up with his father regarding that misunderstanding. I wonder if it will be the same with the father-son problem in Hapi Mari. Kyo can actually be amusing at times..he’s really too concerned about surpassing his father in height. I guess that is a good icebreaker between them. I think the one who exterminated the Nue might be Sou. Even if I think he should just wait for the Nue to give enough problems for Kyo, but maybe Sou is just testing his powers or just finish off any other enemies of the Tengu. Actually, just by doing that, he might get the admiration of the other Tengu-s to show off how powerful he is and worthy to be the head. If that is so, Kyo will have to work doubly hard because he cannot afford to lose else his title and Misao might be taken away from him. Anyway, they will really have a difficult time if they will have to fight whoever/clan that had somehow easily finished off the Nue. And, I hope I’m not making any major mistakes here since I just based some of the summary on some of the comments in BW ^^;

Before I started with Dengeki Daisy 31, it seems that Souichiro’s lookalike is the man behind the fake Daisy incident before. He also blackmailed Arai to kidnap Teru before else he’ll hurt Rena. I think the goal was to learn who Daisy really is but unfortunately, whatever his goal is, he is pissing off Kurosaki indirectly by doing something to Teru. For this chapter, it’s autumn and Kurosaki goes to visit a grave. He brush away the dead leaves and I think he said that since it is in the mountains, people don’t mind it much. He asks if he’s the first one to visit. He puts a small bouquet of flowers on the grave. He calls the person, “Professor”. On the grave is the character, 绿 [which means green or Midori in Japanese so it’s not Souichiro’s grave]. At the bus station, I think Teru narrated that Kurosaki took half the day off to go somewhere. Kiyoshi makes a small talk with Teru..about the weather today? Teru only just agreed to whatever he said. Teru then notices a hooded guy also standing in line. The guy is playing with a yoyo. She recognizes him as the guy she met before at the street. As they board the bus, she talks with the hooded guy. The guy pats her bag and says something to her. He didn’t ride on the bus with them. The guy smiles and waves her goodbye. This made Teru wave at him. Kiyoshi is asking her who that guy is. Little did Teru know, the hooded guy has stolen her wallet when he patted her bag. At the hospital, Andou [director of the school who is also part of Souichiro’s group before; he’s the thin glasses M[asochist] guy] and Kurosaki try to draw what this fake Daisy look like based on Arai’s description. They talk a bit but in the end, Kurosaki failed at drawing because he drew a monster looking creature with a hood jacket and he has a scooter. At school, Teru is sad about her missing wallet which has 2000 yen. They were interrupted when Teru’s girl friends mention about a love fortune telling on the cellphone/net regarding blood type. Another girl start telling the story about how she got her first kiss but since Kiyoshi and another girl are protesting, maybe it’s just an imagination or they are jealous.

Anyway, the idea is now planted in Teru’s brain that she imagines seeing Kurosaki lips pouting just as he is about to smoke. Blushing, Teru bids them goodbye and seems to ask Kiyoshi to tell Kurosaki that she won’t be coming. I think it’s because Teru isn’t confident that she can keep herself calm when she’s with him. She keeps on thinking about kissing Kurosaki that she kept on tripping. ^^;; Outside school, Kiyoshi overhears Kurosaki and Onizuka talking. He decides to eavesdrop. Onizuka mentions about Kurosaki going to the hospital with Andou. She asks where he went before that. Kurosaki said that he went to Prof. Midorikawa’s grave. Kiyoshi seems to know the name of the person and he looks at the book he’s carrying. Just as Kurosaki is about to give his awful drawing of the culprit based on Arai’s description to Onizuka, they notice that Kiyoshi is there because he made a sound. Onizuka leaves as Kiyoshi seems to apologize for eavesdropping. I think Kurosaki asks if Teru used Kiyoshi for an errand that is why Kiyoshi is a bit angry about that. Then, it turns out that the children book that Kiyoshi is carrying is authored by Midorikawa Hideo. The title is, “Secret signal Entrance door” or “Introduction to Secret codes”. The picture is of a robot and a child. I think Kiyoshi is asking if he knows the author. It seems that Kurosaki told him that something happened to Hideo three years ago and he died. While Kurosaki is browsing through the book, Kiyoshi is thinking about something when Kurosaki asks him about something concerning Teru. Kiyoshi seems to mention about riding a bus to find her lost wallet and about that man at the bus stop. At the bus stop, Teru has once again tripped and she looks up to see hooded guy playing yoyo. I think she mentioned about the wallet that is why she is there again when hooded guy takes out the wallet. Teru happily holds out her hand for him to give it back but he doesn’t want to. He wants something in return. She tries to look in her bag for something which she can give him, or get a calculator to know how much is him 20% of her 2000 yen or just give him 400 yen. I think he said that he doesn’t want something that money can buy. This surprises Teru. The man probably said that he wants ‘love’. To her shock, the man pulls her to him and kisses her. [If the CPR isn’t counted as a kiss, then, this guy just stole her first kiss.] Teru slaps the man hard. She is teary eyed and disgusted [like she just kissed a toad]. The guy says something + giggles. I think he said something about first..so I assume he’s asking if that is her first kiss. The guy looks really creepy. This made Teru run away as the guy calls out that she forgot her wallet. I’m not sure if he called her name but the kanji of her name is mentioned. Later on, Kurosaki is talking with Onizuka at the door. Onizuka seems to have informed her about the kiss with some guy at the bus stop. I think Onizuka informed him that Teru doesn’t want to eat and has locked herself up in her room. Kurosaki seems to somewhat belittle it but Onizuka told him about a girl’s heart. He said something about a guy’s heart. Onizuka looks depressed.

Lying in her bed and still in her uniform, Teru receives an email from Daisy. I wish I know what he said but whatever it is, it made Teru blush and somehow forget the kissing incident. Then, Daisy emails again probably mentioned it’s a lie or something. Then, Kurosaki looks really tense and embarrassed for sending that first email. It seems he is cursing and plans to kill the bastard who caused this incident. The next day, the two meet again and they are very awkward with each other probably because of whatever Kurosaki/Daisy emailed her. Well, the two are obviously angry at that hooded guy. In the last part, a man asked Onizuka where Midorikawa’s grave is. Onizuka points it to him. The man mentions something which leaves Onizuka surprised and looks back at the man - the hooded man who is smiling as if he’s Bel of Reborn. So, who is this guy? I’m making up all sorts of theory if he is Souichiro and if he isn’t. If he is, maybe he has gone crazy that Teru doesn’t recognize him anymore. If he’s not, then maybe it’s just a guy who had plastic surgery to look like Souichiro or something. Anyway, maybe Kurosaki will recognize him if he sees him. That guy seems to also know Hideo. About the stolen kiss, it reminded me of Skip Beat! I begin to wonder if it will become a trend in shoujo wherein first kiss will be stolen by other guys ^^; I’m really curious what he wrote to make her forget. Whatever it is, it made Kurosaki seem stupid, which is a comment by someone in BW. I wonder if that will make Kurosaki hasten things with him and Teru =P Also, Kurosaki needs to step up his protection of Teru since that guy seems to be stalking her and that guy might become dangerous later on. Oh, since Onizuka saw that man, maybe if she looks at the drawing of Kurosaki, they will know that he’s the ‘enemy’ and warn the others especially Teru about it. Scans in this entry are by flavia and shuro for BW and, 草莓defer for iieye. Edit: For those who want to know what Kurosaki wrote to Teru, go *here*, voxxa has translated it ^^ Hehe, Kurosaki kept on taking back what he said but I think Teru knows that the second part of his message is his true feelings =P

Quote of the day:
Words are the voice of the heart ~ Confucius

Faster Than A Kiss [Chapter 30]
Saturday, December 26, 2009

[Yes! I’ve made it in time for this week. *v-sign* Ah..too many distractions and I haven’t even read the WSJ series yet ^^; Anyway, about Hadashi de Bara wo Fume, I’ve checked the official page and it seems that it will resume in the next issue of Margaret which will be published on January 4. Below is a ‘screencap’ of the site. I ‘babelfish-ed’ the little plot and it said, “What will happen to Sumi after she came out of the bath without any clothes in Nozomu’s residence.. What did Nozomu said that is so shocking?! The story is headed towards an unexpected direction..!!” Anyway, let’s hope there will be raws so that we will have teasers else, we might as well wait for another month or so for the Chinese scans. I’ll do Hapi Mari, Black Bird and Dengeki Daisy teasers next, then resume again the scheduled summaries. ^^]

Fumino wonders about this Maeda-sensei who has collapsed. Sensing that it is an important phone call, Fumino whispers to Teppei to come down from Kazuma’s back so that he won’t disturb Kazuma. Kazuma just replies, “...Ah, really, okay. –no, I won’t visit. I currently still can’t go, if there’s no huge problem with sensei then that’s good...thank you. Goodbye.” Fumino looks somewhat surprised at Kazuma’s somewhat sad look. She thinks, “It will be a year soon since we got married...yet, I still don’t know much about sensei’s past.” Carrying Teppei, Fumino asks Kazuma about that call just now. Kazuma tells her that it is his homeroom teacher from high school has collapsed but it isn’t life threatening so it’s okay. Fumino asks why he doesn’t want to visit and what he meant by ‘currently still can’t go now’. Blushing, Kazuma looks away and says, “Ah, that, there’s..just some other reasons..” Fumino is stunned and thinks, “This situation is..” Kazuma then tells them to take a bath first and today is Teppei’s favorite shower gel. While shampooing Teppei’s hair, Fumino imagines that it is some sort of forbidden love between Kazuma and his beautiful sexy female homeroom high school teacher who taught him all sorts of things. At first, she thought that it must be an old person after hearing his sensei has collapsed but then, the only reason why Kazuma wouldn’t want to see his sensei is probably because of his past. “If that is true, then those two doesn’t have a ‘sensei-student’ hindrance anymore...buuut, even if that is so, his current wife is me!”

After Kazuma has taken a bath, Fumino holds his shoulder. While Kazuma is about to say that she hasn’t slept yet, Fumino darkly says, “Visit..” “What?” “Isn’t it okay for you to go visit?” “Fumino, that hurts..” “Even if I don’t know how long has it been since you’ve seen each other, but if you want to visit, then just go ahead..” “Fumino? Wait..” Crying, Fumino exclaims, “You should definitely come back...because, I’m sensei’s wife.” Kazuma tells her to calm down. He asks if she was thinking that Maeda-sensei is a woman. Fumino just cries in acknowledgement. To her embarrassment, Kazuma smiles and tells her, “He’s a guy. Were you jealous?” There’s probably some thrashing sound. A note says that Teppei is sleeping very soundly that no matter how loud the sound is, he won’t wake up. Fumino is furious as she starts throwing books at Kazuma. She shouts that it is his entire fault because he never told her about his past. Kazuma apologizes and says that it is because he considers his high school days as his dark past. Fuming Fumino stomps away as she exclaims that for her that is important but then, forget it if he wants to act cool. As she keeps on calling him stupid, Kazuma looks thoughtful. Fumino stops walking midway when Kazuma says, “.. Sorry, okay already! – Then, sit here.” He gestures for her to sit beside him. He tells her that he’ll be frustrated [-> it’s unfair] if he is the only one who’s embarrassed. “So if Fumino sits here, then I’ll tell you about it ♡ COME ON! Ha ha ha” Fumino is shock and embarrassed. Kazuma is surprised when blushing Fumino suddenly sits in front of him – face to face and exclaims for him to tell her. Blushing Kazuma asks her, “About that, if it’s okay with you, please turn your back towards me...” Kazuma is thinking that she leans on him so that they can snuggle. Freaking out and embarrassed, Fumino shouts that Kazuma obviously knew that the way she thinks is very straight-forward. Kazuma laughs and says, “Okay okay! I’m sorry...” He grabs Fumino before she runs away and pulls her to him. He tells her that he always helpless with her. [Ah, like can’t help but do what she wants.] Blushing Fumino calls him and says that whichever pose it is, it is very embarrassing. Kazuma says yes. “It’s the same with Maeda-sensei..just like this, he suddenly intruded into my life.”

Narration: “The change in my life happened on my third year high school during spring.” Flashback to eight years ago: Young Kazuma has just kicked away another student. A guy asked what’s happening. An onlooker explained that a first year student who didn’t know the inside story suddenly picked a fight with ‘Ma-kun’. The guy said that it is stupid for trying to fight with no. 1 ‘Ojiro Kazuma’. Narration: “After junior high, I no longer want to pretend to be a good kid for my parents..” While walking with Kazuma, Ryuu commented that there are some stupid kids who should consider themselves lucky if Kazuma didn’t fight them since absolutely nobody would dare to pick a fight with Kazuma. [By the way, Ryuu’s hair then is dyed into a lighter color and of course, Kazuma’s hair is longer..he actually looks like a girl at times ^^; Reminds me of the Ruirui in Code Breaker] Kazuma called him then threw two letters of challenge and told Ryuu to go in his place. Ryuu is no. 2. Ryuu can only complain as Kazuma walked ahead. Narration: “Because of my menacing glare and the luck of being healthy and strong [I think the side note said that it is because he hasn’t lost in a fight yet..can’t quite read it], by the time I noticed it, I had already gained a reputation of being a ‘delinquent’. But, I felt very empty inside that there is nothing that will make my everyday meaningful-” In class, a teacher came in and tells them to sit down. The students started to wonder who that is for they haven’t seen him before. An overly happy glasses teacher introduced himself as Maeda-sensei who’ll start teaching in that school this year. To everyone’s shock, he asked which one is No. 1 Ojiro Kazuma. To Kazuma’s shock, Ryuu held up his hand and said that it is him. Everyone is shocked when Maeda offers his hand to Kazuma [to shake his hand]. Maeda said, “So it’s you..you’re cuter than I imagined. I’ll be under your care!” A note said that from then on, Maeda is called KY Maeda since he is an inconsiderate* person. [* ah, it’s like he can’t feel the mood or can’t judge other people or clueless =P] Maeda flashes v-signs. Narration: “Suddenly like a hurricane, this guy appeared before my sight..”

While walking at the hallway, everyone is surprised again as Maeda happily called out to Kazuma. Walking behind him, Maeda said that it is a clear and bright morning so where is Kazuma going. Kazuma continued to walk and told him, “Mind your own business.” Maeda happily told him that the first period is his English class and Kazuma is walking the opposite direction. Kazuma angrily told him that he’s going to skip class. Maeda exclaimed that is too bad because Kazuma’s grades sucked ‘only in English’ so Kazuma probably just wants to run away. Hehe, that made Kazuma turn around [and probably to to class =P]. Later on, Maeda kept on bugging Kazuma and Kazuma always try to escape whenever he can. Narration: “He would always suddenly appear and keep on bugging me. He’s picking only me. It’s quite apparent that all the other teachers are afraid of me that they won’t appear at my sight at all- The truth is, this is very irritating.” At the roof, Kazuma angrily shouted what is the meaning of that. Ryuu asked what the matter is and what’s with that diary. “Let me see--” Kazuma angrily said that it is ‘exchange diary’. “And, he [Maeda] said that, ‘if I feel agitated then try to translate it’, it’s really bewildering...” Ryuu leafed through the diary and told Kazuma that even if he doesn’t understand it, but it seemed to be about cussing Kazuma using English words. Kazuma is totally shock that he planned to use a dictionary to translate it. Just then, Retsu appeared. He is carrying a bat and a beaten up student. Retsu said that he heard that Yamaneko High’s No. 1 was made to cry by a teacher. [Sorry, I made a typo in the last chapter, it’s Yamaneko [leopard; mountain cat] not just Yama [mountain] ^^;; The university where Fumino seems to plan to go. Since it also has a teaching course, Kazuma probably studied there, too.] Someone exclaimed that it’s Inukawa High’s Retsu and he’s a fool for suddenly going into enemy territory. Retsu dropped the beaten up student and told the guy to shut up for he only came for Kazuma. Swinging his bat towards Kazuma, Retsu shouted that they should decide things between them today. Before the bat could hit, Maeda shouted, “Danger, Ojiro-kun!” and pushed Kazuma a bit too hard that Kazuma slammed into the floor and half of his face is bleeding. ^^;;

Holding his bleeding face, Kazuma told Retsu that [injury] is not counted. Retsu said it’s fine by him. Kazuma called Mae-chan [Mae from Maeda] to please not meddle during a fight. Maeda exclaimed, “But, my cute student is in trouble!” Kazuma shouted that it is because of Maeda that he got injured. Maeda apologized to him. Narration: “I’ve become very anxious whenever he interferes too much.” When Maeda tried to help Kazuma, Kazuma shouted for him to not touch him. “Why is it me, I don’t want you to mind me..!” Maeda said, “I can’t do that..Because you are Yamaneko High No. 1 guy! If your behavior can become good, then, everyone around you can also become good!” Retsu happily said that he knows the concept and it’s called, ‘Getting to the heart of the problem*’. [*Can also be, ‘Defeating the enemy by capturing the king’] Maeda happily said, “Exactly!” Someone shouted that their relationship seemed to be quite good. [It is either him or Retsu] Narration: “I really don’t understand, where did his enthusiasm for this kind of work come from? But..” Kazuma gave his exchange diary to Maeda. To Kazuma’s shock, Maeda said that he really didn’t expected Kazuma to answer back. “Ah, wait wait, Ah—this is great! Your English is very good!” Kazuma is surprised by that especially when Maeda patted his head and said, “You really did your best! Well done, well done!” Kazuma became embarrassed when some students muttered that Kazuma has become a good kid. Kazuma quickly waves away Maeda’s hand and shouted for him not to touch him as he pleases and not to write cuss words to him again. Narration: “[But..] to my frozen heart, it is a very uncomfortable warmth--” At teddy bear gas station where Kazuma works, his boss told him that he can get off work early because it’s going to rain soon. Narration: “When I got in high school, I had run away from home. I’ve rented a very small apartment and started living alone.” Walking home, Kazuma thinks that even if it is just a diary, he still feels vexed if he wasn’t able to answer back so he’ll go buy an English reference book at a bookstore. His thoughts were interrupted when someone called out, “Young master Kazuma..” Narration: “Although occasionally, my family would still send someone to check on me.” Kazuma replied, “It’s been a long time. Working as a secretary is still quite hard work, Sasa but no matter how many times you’ve come, I still won’t change my mind, and regarding the money that they’ve sent--” Sasa interrupts, “Ah—about that, starting next month, your father will not be sending any money to you ever again. ..Ojiro family has already decided to make the second son, young master Shoma, as the heir. That also means that from today on, they have severed their ties with you. This is the ‘freedom’ that you hoped for, so please take care of yourself..”

Kazuma is stunned by the news. Soon, he is walking in the heavy rain. Narration: “What I hoped for..is what? With no mother, and only having a famous father whom I practically never see, I always hoped that I’ll be the heir even if he never sees me and even if he made a new family. Infinite emptiness, this so-called ‘freedom’..in the end, where am I headed..” His thoughts were interrupted when Maeda shouted his name and holds an umbrella to Kazuma. “Hey! Ojiro-kun! What are you doing, you’ll be cold and wet all over!” Kazuma looked surprised to see him. While Kazuma is still stunned and holding the umbrella, Maeda pulls Kazuma with him as Maeda shouted that Kazuma will catch a cold like that so Kazuma should come with him. “If you don’t have an umbrella then, I’ll lend you mine but first, go to my house! It’s not far from here!” At Maeda’s house, Kazuma had a shower but since he has no change of clothes, he’s only covered himself with a towel. He is now sitting in front of a table with some food. Maeda told him to eat first while his clothes are being dried. As Maeda served him a bowl of rice, Kazuma asked, “Why..why is sensei so nice to me when I’m not even part of your family.” Maeda replied that even if they aren’t family but he will still treat him kindly because Kazuma is his student. Narration: “I’m not used to this kind of kindness..an unconditional kindness..really incompatible with me--” Kazuma answered back, “..so you’re saying, it’s only because I’m the strongest at school that is why you were fussy with me, right? But, I’m sorry, I won’t be able to repay you..I don’t have anything, nothing at all-” Maeda flicked a rubber band on Kazuma’s forehead. Holding his forehead, Kazuma angrily shouted, “Why you..” Maeda happily tells surprised Kazuma, “Not easily getting into a fight, not harming teachers, not wanting to concede defeat, frank, and at the same time, there is some loneliness..I really like those sides of you and there’s nothing bad about having nothing at all.”

Putting a rice bowl on surprised Kazuma’s hand, Maeda smiled and told him, “You’re 17 years old. Later on, you’ll still meet a lot of people whom you’ll smile and cry with, and create a family of your own. When that time comes, your heart will definitely have a lot of important things in it. And, among those numerous important things, are the advices that I as a sensei, gave to you. That will be my honor [/glory]. So, you should fill your stomach first in order to regain your strength.” Kazuma is slightly flustered as he thought, “Those simple and direct words that were directed only to me.” Kazuma thanked for the food and started to eat. Maeda noticed something that he quickly stood up and said that he’ll go to the other room to work so just call him after he finish eating. It turns out that Kazuma is crying. Kazuma muttered, “Darn it..it’s delicious.” Narration: “Crying while eating, creates a hard to express delicious taste and, I really need energy.. For tomorrow’s totally new me, it is necessary for me to have energy to move forward.” Later on, at the roof, some other guys are talking about Kazuma avoiding fights and lately, ‘Hell’s Ma-kun’ haven’t fought anymore since he’s busy studying and taking tests. The scene changes to Kazuma giving a notebook to Maeda. Kazuma told Maeda to give him more difficult questions because lately, it’s quite easy. Maeda just said, is that so. Blushing while looking away, Kazuma told Maeda to please do that else he won’t pass the exam. Maeda is really happy about this. Narration: “But...it’s not easy to just change one’s route and go perfectly straight since what I did before, also demands a price.” At Inukawa High, Retsu learned about Kazuma taking a test and wondered if it is some kind of joke. At the library where Kazuma is studying, someone is loudly calling out his name. Kazuma angrily told the guy to keep quiet else he’ll beat him to a pulp. The guy shouted why Kazuma is still studying when there a huge grave incident that has happened. Kazuma angrily carries the guy and told him to get out. Kazuma is surprised when the guy shouted that some underlings from Inukawa High had kidnapped Maeda-sensei. “-Retsu said that if you wanted to get him back then, you should have a duel with him to determine who’s the winner--” There is a scene of Maeda tied to a chair. Narration: “Yes, I got the most important person to me, involved into this--” End flashback. Kazuma tightly hugs blushing Fumino and exclaims that time is up. “Just wait for the next chapter [for the continuation] ♡” Fumino screams, “Huh? Ah...it just ends like this?! Hey, sensei--”

So, that’s the first half of his story. It’s quite an inspiring story on how Maeda molded Kazuma to what he is now and gave him a goal in this life. The situation is like passing the torch so Kazuma knows how to handle Fumino’s situation then – from how he took her in to inspiring her to study English further as a career using the exchange diary. I actually thought that Kazuma learned English because he studied overseas before like Shoma ^^; Maeda’s little speech to Kazuma is pretty good and that’s probably what every model teacher wishes to instill in the students. I wonder though to what extent did Kazuma emulate Maeda. His goofy personality as a teacher does seem to be copied from Maeda including the glasses. I guess the time when he looks serious like during the spring field trip and looking crazed when he’s going to beat up someone is the Kazuma from the past. That made me think before that there is something more awful about his past but then, this is a feel good series so I guess it is understandable that it won’t be that bad as I imagined it to be. Maeda’s concern does seem to border to being meddlesome but in the end, his perseverance has melted Kazuma’s heart especially when Maeda is there when he was disowned by his father. I think Kazuma’s father has misinterpreted what Kazuma is doing. He thought that Kazuma wanted ‘freedom’ that is why he is rebelling but from my point of view, it seems like Kazuma is just craving for attention. His father doesn’t seem to care much about him and already has a new family. It does seem that all that studying and being a good kid is useless so he rebelled so that his father would pay attention to him, too but unfortunately, it backfired and he ended up with no family. So, with that ‘freedom’, he learned real loneliness and that is the reason why Kazuma really treasures his new family no matter what, because he doesn’t want to lose it again. About the cuss words in the diary, I find that amusing because honestly, in learning a new language, I’ve observed that it is usually the cuss words that one learns first before everything else. =P Hehe, it turns out that Retsu was a former rival and I guess because of Maeda’s influence, those two, later on, became friends. Scans by filion for BW and 草莓defer for iieye.

Word of the day:
May we influence others in such a way that they will take heart and say, "I want to go higher!" ~ Richard De Haan from Our Daily Bread

Christmas Greeting
Friday, December 25, 2009

At A Glance: Strobe Edge [Chapters 22½ - 27]
Thursday, December 24, 2009

[Instead of teasers which are based on raws and free talk which are random things = not summaries, in this new category, I’ll put quickie summaries which are based on Chinese scans. They may or may not be regularly summarized though since they are just ‘fillers’ while I’m working on the other series. Maybe I’ll put some other series here if they cease to interest me. =P Anyway, I think Strobe Edge needs no introduction since it seems to be quite popular. If not, just google it =P The full chapter scans by filion can ONLY be found in BW forum. Hopefully, I can upload FtaK by tomorrow or at most this week ^^]

So, what’s happening in Strobe Edge in between chapters 22½ and 27? Nothing much but things are picking up on chapter 27. I have skipped some chapters but I recall seeing a scene wherein Ninako has already rejected Andou but it seems ever persistent Andou isn’t giving up yet. So from chapter 22«, it’s a new school year and I feel that the author is out to make Ren x Ninako by the end of their second year. It started with Ninako removing a sakura petal off Ren’s hair. Not to be out done, Andou puts a lot of petals on his hair to make Ninako remove them =P Ren ends up blowing them off his head. ^^; Then, to Andou’s disappointment, they all ended up in the same classroom. Everyone is pretty much in the same class except for Daiki. There is also a new student, Yutaro. [The guy with Manabu in the colored spread] And of course, a new kouhai, Andou’s ex-girlfriend who seems to have deliberately went to that high school. Andou seems assured that she didn’t go there for him but for Ren. It seems that Yutaro also knows Sayuri. Then, there is a grouping for a field trip. Ren is the only one out of the couple grouping and before any other girl could get him, he chose to partner with Ninako. Then, Sayuri starts to notice a girl who kept on clinging on her Daiki. Then, I smelled a conspiracy since every time Andou tries to get near Ninako during the field trip, the others kept on dragging him away. ^^; In case you don’t know, I like Andou and yes, it sucks if one likes the ‘other guy’. Later on, Ninako got ‘attacked’ by a Chihuahua so Ren lends his sweater to her because her clothes got dirtied. Ninako looks cute on Ren’s clothes that to Andou’s shock, Ren blushes over it. The others sense the mood so they took Andou away (second time) as they made Ren and Ninako wait for Sayuri and Yutaro. Of course, this gives Ren and Ninako some sweet time – see Ren blushing. It turns out that Sayuri went to check on Daiki with that other girl and Yutaro is Sayuri’s ex-boyfriend, who regretted breaking up with her. Later on, to Andou’s delight, they managed to meet up again with the other group. While Andou and others are goofing around while taking a picture, Yutaro and Ren had a conversation about ex-girlfriends. While they were walking, they see that clinging girl rubbing her eyes and pulling Daiki’s arm. Then, Daiki leans over as if it is a kiss. Seeing that Sayuri quickly tries to leave but Yutaro stopped her. After everyone caught up, they try to convince her that girl must have something in her eye and Daiki just blows it. Sayuri seems to have some fear over fighting for the guy she likes. When her friend is exclaiming that it’s all her ex-boyfriend’s fault. They are surprised when Yutaro told them that he is that ex-boyfriend and yes, it could have something do to with him.

Back at school, everyone is trying to help patch things up with Sayuri who still couldn’t confront Daiki about what happened. In the end, it is Yutaro who talked with her. It turned out that Sayuri thought Yutaro had two-timed her but it turns out that other girl just confessed to him and nothing more happened between them until after they (Sayuri and Yutaro) broke up. It seems Sayuri thought otherwise because someone has told her that he is going with some other girl. Yutaro says that maybe if they talked with each other before about this then they wouldn’t have broken up. Sayuri tells him not to talk about that anymore since that is in the past. Yutaro decides to be a good guy and tells Sayuri that she shouldn’t let the same thing happen again and she should go to her boyfriend and clear things out with him before she jumps into conclusion. With that, Sayuri talks with Daiki and asks if he kissed that other girl. Then, that other [clinging] girl arrives. They explain that an insect went in the girl’s eye so Daiki just helped her blow it off. Sayuri starts crying and says that’s great. He hugs her and they made up. The other girl keeps patting Daiki’s shoulder to apologize for that situation. With her newfound courage, Sayuri tells off that girl to not touch her Daiki =P And, everyone sees that those two are okay now. Walking home, Yutaro seems content about what happened and that now, his romantic relationship with Sayuri has really ended well in good terms. This made Ren thoughtful and that night, Mayuka called him up and wants to meet up with him. At the train station, Ren meets up with Mayuka who returned some CDs that she borrowed before. They parted ways in a friendlier manner as Ren tells her, “Mayuka, I’m sorry, thank you and goodbye.” Then, later on, at school, Ninako returns Ren’s sweater and gets to have some sweet time with him on the way home. Funny scene - some love letters fall down his shoe locker. Ninako comments that he’s popular but he just says that they just don’t know the real him. Ninako comments that he is cool and Ren answers that he isn’t cool nor like an adult. Ninako apologizes and says that she never thought of him as an adult =P Then, there is a scene of Manabu asking Andou if he likes someone while they change clothes at their part time job. Andou says yes but it seems that he really won’t have any chance. Manabu asks him who that person is. Andou refuses to say because it will just trouble him. This made Manabu think that Andou likes him ^^;; The next day, at the shoe lockers, Ninako has noticed Andou’s ex-gf but her friend called her away. Andou comes in and sees his ex-gf. She seems to be looking at him with slight blushing-doggy look eyes. Andou tells her that his relationship with Ren isn’t the same as before anymore so it isn’t advantageous for her to get close to him. He also tells her not to do ‘that’ again and asks couldn’t she attack upfront [not using other people to get what she wants]. His ex-gf looks sad with head bow but Andou tells her that even if she shows that kind of expression, he isn’t going to be deceived by it. She looks up to him and says, “Really. Too bad.” Andou is surprised as she leaves. Then, he becomes irritated. Ren arrives and greets him. Andou calls him stupid and pats his shoulder to say, “Hey, you should really be extra careful.” When Ren asks about what, Andou waves and says that he won’t tell him. Then, ex-girlfriend is looking at the two.

Another day, another sweet moment between Ren and Ninako at the shoe lockers as Ren made her listen to some music on his earphones. Then, they got too close to each other. After Ren left, ex-girlfriend appears and asks Ninako if she likes Ren. Ninako becomes nervous and couldn’t think of a way to answer but Andou goes in between them and happily tells Ninako to go ahead for he has to talk with that other girl. After Ninako left, Andou drops his smile and tells his ex-gf that he doesn’t know what she is thinking but if she does anything to Ninako, he isn’t going to let her off easily. Blushing a bit, ex-gf asks if Andou likes Ninako. Andou just says, so what. His ex-gf says that girl likes Ren. Andou slams the locker and says that it has nothing to do with her. He leaves. In the classroom, Ninako is wondering why that girl talked with her then she begins to wonder if she is too obvious about liking Ren. She tries to make it not too obvious but she just can’t help it so after a talk with her friends, she doesn’t want to maintain that kind of relationship with Ren since she wants to be his girlfriend. Her friends encourage her. Then, a loud sempai enters and wants to get people to volunteer for ōendan [cheerleading] but no one wants to. He tried to get Andou to join in accordance to number/alphabetical number [? Because his surname starts with A] but Andou pretends to be someone else. Ninako remembers that she forgot to record her favorite show and tries to send contact her mother about it. The sempai caught her using her cellphone so she is forced to join. Of course, Andou promptly admits that he is Andou =P Andou is in a high as he tells Ninako for them to do their best after school. But, Ren decides to be a killjoy by getting him behind the building to tell him that he likes Ninako. Flustered, Andou asks why Ren is telling him this when it is too obvious already. Ren says that it’s because it’s Andou so he doesn’t want to deceive him. Ex-gf has eavesdropped on their conversation. Ren leaves and Andou looks utterly shock over this since Ren has told. Poor guy..his one digit chance to get Ninako has become zero. But even if the odds are against him, Andou still couldn’t give up. The next day, Andou flashes a v-sign to Ren and greets him. After a pause, Ren greets him. Andou asks why he hesitated. Ren says no but rather he couldn’t believe Andou’s reaction after what he told Andou yesterday. Andou just smiles and says that he should hate Ren but, “this is what’s left of my competitiveness, stupid Ren.” Ren smiles as he goes back to reading his book. During the practice of ōendan, the trio (it seems that Ren also joined) is surprised to see ex-girlfriend there. The guys and girls are separated. Ren asks Andou if he knew about this earlier. Andou tells him that is why he told him to be extra careful. Andou sees his ex-gf talking with Ninako to apologize for saying those weird things to Ninako. Andou couldn’t do anything as the sempai shouts for him to face front, not look elsewhere. Ren has also seen the ex-gf talking with Ninako. Ex-gf asks Ninako if she knows about her from Andou. Ninako says a bit. Ex-gf confesses that the guys’ relationship became like ‘ordinary friends’ when they used to be the ‘very best of friends’ because of her, who used Andou to get close to Ren. Ninako looks surprised as she looks at the two guys.

So, I really feel sorry for Andou. I think if I were him, I would stay far away from Ren since the girls that he really loves has a tendency to fall for Ren. He really has such a rotten luck since Ren always ‘takes’ the girls he likes whether deliberate or not. He must have felt he is having a bad deja vu when Ren said that and this time, Ren also likes the girl. I like how he handled this and still remain cordial with Ren but not too friendly to make him like a hypocrite. So with this, I’m hoping for a great happy ending for Andou and I hope he finds a great girl later on since I think there is almost no chance with Ninako especially since Ninako and Ren are always on the covers. Hehe, of course, that means, I don’t want Andou to end up with his thick-faced ex-girlfriend because he deserves better. =P Yutaro is a pretty good guy, too so I hope he also finds that special girl for him. Anyway, I’m curious as to how Ninako will react to this news. Will she feel pity for Andou and not confess to Ren? But then, I don’t think Andou wants her pity. I’m still wondering what the motive of the ex-gf is to tell her this. Is it a plan to break Ren and her up or she is repentant that she wants to fix the friendship of those two? Well, the damage is done and it seems unlikely for the two to be as good friends as before. I wonder if Andou will have a phobia/trauma wherein he’ll be thinking at the back of his mind – will this girl whom I fallen in love end up falling for Ren?

Quote of the day:
Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one ~ Hans Selye

Kaichou wa Maid-sama! [Chapter 45] Teaser
Wednesday, December 23, 2009

It’s out..well, some scans of it in 鏡花水月’s blog. Based on that entry, the one in the cover is Maria’s fiance. His name is Kamimura Shinji. It seems Usui comes from a family clan and Maria seems to be Usui’s distant relative. Shinji has a lot of connections/high social status. I think Usui catches Misaki eavesdropping. During their conversation, it seems that Usui is telling Misaki how to ‘protect’ herself from Maria. Then, during work, while Misaki is wearing a period butler costume, Maria drops by. On the way home, at the park, Maria starts ‘attacking’ Misaki. Misaki is blushing as Maria thinks she’s so cute. They also talk about Usui. I think she remembered Usui’s warning if the two of them are alone. There is more talk about Usui which surprises Misaki – she will be hurt and the relationship won’t last? I think Usui’s surname isn’t real because Maria said Usui’s whole name in quotes. She said it in quotes as she wants Misaki to pretend that she is 'Takumi Usui'. But in the end, Misaki stops Maria’s advances as she pins Maria’s arm and drags her away. I think blushing Misaki is telling her that is not how a teacher should act. Last part, Misaki tells Usui about Maria’s advances which seems to be slightly freaking Usui out. Misaki asks about the past..regarding Maria and probably some unhappy past of Usui? This surprises Usui but Misaki is a bit angry that Usui still won’t tell her. So, for the climax, she pushed him down [probably] and gives him a kiss on the cheek =P Nice kissing scene ^^ In the end, that, some punches + another kiss have finally loosen his lips because I think at the end, he’ll tell her all about him. It is also keeping his promise that he’ll tell her if she kissed him ^^ So, finally, what we are all be waiting for is going to be probably revealed next chapter. ^^ Haha..and I hope I’m not raising hopes here (I’m not mistaken) since after all, I can’t read Japanese ^^;;; miha_bara says, he said, "I'll tell you about it..properly." so yay, finally ^^ Scans by maid-sama.com

Quote of the day:
Don't wait for your ship to come in; swim out to it. ~ Author Unknown

Kimi ni Todoke [Chapter 42]
Monday, December 21, 2009

It’s morning. Sawako wakes up and sees a huge note on the back of her chair, “It isn’t a dream.” She looks at her table and it also has a note with a picture of a girl and a hand with the word ‘love’. The note says, “It isn’t a dream, go look at your diary.” Then on her diary, there is a note, “Look.” With beating heart, Sawako opens her diary and reads it. She blushes. In the diary, it said, “Attention: Furthermore, this diary isn’t a figment of your imagination.” Sawako looks up and nervously thinks that apparently, it wasn’t a dream. Then, she goes into the bathroom and looks at the mirror with a note, “It’s real.” She thinks that it really seems like a dream but seeing the notes she wrote before sleeping, it is real. Her father nervously looks at Sawako. She recollects everything from Shouta confessing to ‘let’s go steady’. She feels really happy and all of it is true. At school, her girl friends greet her. Sawako exclaims in shock that it is such a coincidence that all three of them to meet together. Chizuru calls her stupid and says that they were waiting for her. With sparkles, Sawako asks if they were specially waiting for her. Still smiling, her friends say that they pretty much are. Their smiles froze when Sawako asks why. Then, they nervously laugh that it is nothing, no reason at all. Sawako is oblivious about it and says that she’s really happy. She takes her shoes from the shoe lockers and notices that her friends are staring at it. She asks them what it is. They say that it is nothing. As Sawako goes to wear her shoes, the two are whispering that it isn’t the same as they imagined wherein Sawako will be bullied. Ayane imagined Sawako’s school shoes to be filled with dirt and ‘stupid’ is written on it. They are relieved that no one is giving Sawako trouble that her desk is also clean as it were before and there’s no trouble as she walks the hallway. Then, they notice a long queue of girls lining up to Sawako as they tell each other that there will be no cutting of lines. A girl asks Sawako about lending her guardian angel or shikigami to her but Sawako says that both of those couldn’t be lend to others. Her friends go in front of the line as the others complain if they are cutting the line. Chizuru asks Sawako what this is all about and if they are bullying her. This surprises Sawako as to why Chizuru calls it bullying when they are just consulting her.

Just when Ayane is about to ask Sawako what they are consulting about, someone shouts that Sawako used black magic on Shouta since during the confession, they heard that Shouta’s eyes turned red. Everyone is freaking out about that scary story as the three girls are nervous-surprised to hear that. Then, the others notice that Sawako has heard them. One says that he thought that it’s only a rumor about Sawako having ‘spiritual powers’ but it turns out to be true. Chizuru turns around and asks the other girls why they are all lining up for and what are they waiting around for. One of the girls say that they heard that the girls, who consulted Sawako regarding black magic and did as told, were all successful in their confession. The girls are shock about this. Chizuru tells Sawako that those girls adore and revere her like a god. [It’s too small but I think] Ayane says that Sawako can earn a living like that. Sawako is shock-dizzy that it feels like she is a cheat yet she really doesn’t have any special powers. Chizuru tells Ayane that it is because of that, Sawako isn’t bullied. Ayane comments that if Sawako did have that special power then, the two of them should have great boyfriends already. Chizuru agrees for they are only surrounded by monks, useless guys and some idiots. Sawako then exclaims if Shouta also believes that she has this kind of power and he might be disappointed that she doesn’t have it. Chizuru can’t believe that Sawako is still being like that when she’s already at this stage. Ayane says that she already doesn’t feel like puking. They arrive in section 2-D to see Shouta telling others that it isn’t like that but rather, he had always liked Sawako. It turns out that they are busy interrogating Shouta who kept on insisting that it is for real, not some spoof nor act and it isn’t true his eyes turned red but he refuses to tell them details like when he has fallen for Sawako. Someone points at the door and exclaims, “Speaking of the devil, she’s here!” Shouta turns around to see blushing Sawako with her friends who were also smiling in a teasing way at Shouta. The two lovebirds look at each other. They blush and stutters as they greet each other a good morning.

The two blushes when Chizuru exclaims, “You see, Shouta here, in fact, has always liked only Sawako!” Shouta tells her to wait/stop but someone shouts that is right for he said that it’s like a dream. Shouta angrily shouts, hey and what do they know about him. Chizuru tells him that she is just being nice in helping him inform all of their other classmates. [A bit small but I think she also said that is why she doesn’t like overly nervous guys] Ayane says that they already knew about it [he likes Sawako] way before. As everyone, including from other classes, go in and asks what’s happening and is it true or not, Ayane points at Sawako and dares Shouta to have guts and tell it clearly to everyone so that there won’t be a misunderstanding anymore. “What is Sawako to you!! Say it!!” Sawako is tense and blushing. After a pause, Shouta exclaims, “..[my] girlfriend!” Sawako and the other guys are blushing and surprised by that. Someone exclaims that it must be true since what Shouta said feels true. Blushing, Shouta covers his face with his hand and says, “Geez...I did as you wished..surely, you guys are already very satisfied [with that]..so, don’t mind me anymore.” The two lovebirds are shock when a girl [looks like Chigusa] drew their situation on the board and asks if that is how it is. Strawberry time: “Shouta always likes Sawako. Sawako wants to posses him. Both were dreaming – as if it’s a dream. I like you. There are words ‘Boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’ under the two drawings.” Ayane exclaims that is right. Chizuru shouts for everyone to spread this important news around. Shouta angrily shouts that he just said that they don’t mind him anymore. Sawako has already turned into stone. Someone says that it is a normal romance. Another says that it is also like this during their victory celebration, especially Shouta. Somebody asks if the reason why Shouta is always around Sawako is because he likes her. Then, there are some people asking if it is true or not and why is it ‘Sadako’. Kent says, “That’s true, but-- but for us to realize this only now, why didn’t we notice it from the start? That those two are quite suitable for each other.” The others ask, really, they didn’t thought so, etc. Kent smiles as he looks at the couple and thinks that it’s true since Sawako smiles so naturally [at Shouta]. Then some of the guys are talking about Sawako smiling and some have seen it before, etc. Kent looks at the side of the hallway and notices Ume walking away. Kent remembers being slapped by Ume and Ume looking at the couple at the beach. He thinks that no one has thought that Ume has lost to her love rival who is unexpectedly, is Sadako-chan.

The news spread throughout the school to the girls who can’t quite believe it. There are some girls in the toilet who are talking that it might be just a misunderstanding but a girl says that Shouta himself said it. A girl is crying that Shouta already has someone he likes and got a girlfriend when she was the one who first paid attention to him. [It’s an unwritten rule for girls in Japan, according to shoujo, wherein who ‘notice’ a guy first has priority to confess and be a girlfriend] Another girl comforts her by saying that those two will definitely break up soon. The crying girl protests that Shouta’s responsibility/commitment is very strong. A girl tells her that it doesn’t matter for Shouta also just wants to find a girlfriend and if that time comes, she should just confess because right now, no one still knows what the outcome [of Shouta x Sawako] is, so ‘gambatte’. They didn’t notice that there is someone inside one of the cubicles. Elsewhere, everyone is busy cleaning after the school festival. Sawako is surprised and puzzled when Shouta asks if she’s okay. Shouta asks it’s regarding telling everyone about it. Sawako then becomes surprised when Shouta tries to get one of the filled trash bags she is carrying. Sawako doesn’t seem to want to let go. Shouta laughs and tells her to give it to him because, this is a boyfriend’s ‘special right’. Sawako blushes and instinctively let go as she thinks, ‘Boyfriend!!’ Shouta laughs and says, okay, he got it. Sawako exclaims in shock again and apologizes that she wasn’t careful. Sawako is saying about ‘special right’ when he is just helping her. Shouta smiles and exclaims that helping her is his ‘special right’. He then asks her to give him the other trash bag. Sawako blushes but she declines and says that she would want to hold the other one so that they can throw the trash together. Shouta looks surprised then blushes-smiles. As they walk together, Shouta apologizes for being like that in front of everyone. “I don’t want to hide it. I feel that evading the issue [isn’t good] to the point that the rumors come out and [I] still weren’t able to tell them clearly that I..like you..and..I’m going steady with you! I already do not want to be distraught with anxiety again because of a hard-to-explain misunderstanding. So..ah..anyway, speaking of before, I had also confessed to you in front of everyone, even if I had didn’t deliberately planned on it...sorry, for embarrassing you!” Sawako exclaims no, he didn’t and thanks him. “I’m very happy.” Sawako thinks that she wants to be like him who can convey his feelings, for her to hear, and for everyone to hear. Shouta smiles and says that’s good.

The two freak out when they see Pin looking stunned at them. Pin waves away their ‘mood’ as he asks if they are making romantic memories when they are just throwing garbage and they are too satisfied with such a situation. He grabs Shouta and shouts for him to go with him and he’ll give him some hygienic errands after school. Shouta shouts why while Sawako calls out to Shouta. Pin tells Sawako not to come else it would be meaningless. He also shouts to remind them that if there is happiness in this world, there is also unhappiness that will definitely follow. Shouta shouts why is the one giving him unhappiness is Pin and is he god. Pin doesn’t care as he drags Shouta down the stairs. Shouta can only apologize to Sawako. Sawako just waves goodbye to him. Some girls have seen the scene and mutters that the two were together just now and the rumors must be true. She grips her fist and thinks, “The current situation..my feelings.” At section 2-D, Sawako’s friends are sweeping the floor. Ayane comments that this way, Shouta and Sawako are now publicly recognized. Chizuru is a bit angry at Shouta because now, it feels a bit lonely [without Sawako]. Ayane says that Shouta is very popular and it’s good that there are no attacks yet. Chizuru agrees and says that it is quite unexpected because normally, after spreading that rumor, there will be a group of girls who will bother Sawako. [She probably meant those girls before during the first few chapters before they became friends] Chizuru and Ayane are assured that Sawako has them around [so it will be alright]. Thinking of Ume, Ayane says that there is still someone who is probably crying in some place where no one is around. Chizuru says that she knows what that feels like. They were surprised when they turn around to see Sawako. They nervously tells Sawako not to misunderstand for they are not saying that Sawako did something wrong and that kind of thing is inevitable. Sawako says no, they are right. She thinks that just like in her dream, aside from Shouta’s face appearing, there is also that of another person..Ume. It seems that it is Sawako who is in the toilet when those girls are comforting that other girl. She also knows what that felt because she had that feeling [when Kent told her that Shouta likes some girl] but she also acknowledges that it is thanks to Ume (who told her that even if she is dumped, she still had confessed to Shouta and they are rivals) that things lead to her own confession. Sawako says that she’s going away for a moment. Chizuru shouts where she is going. Ayane tells her to let Sawako go because she is going to find Ume.

Chizuru calls out to her and says that she knows what Sawako feels but in this case, there is really no alternative. “You didn’t do anything wrong! You should absolutely remember that!” Sawako nods and leaves. Chizuru starts crying and says that restraint is very important. Ayane thinks that is Chizuru’s favorite catchword. Sawako goes to section 2-C and asks Chigusa about Ume. Chigusa says that Ume is probably at the hallway at the first floor, doing some school duty. Sawako thanks her and left. Chigusa says that it’s alright. She thinks that Sawako makes one worried about her and it would be interesting when she’s bullied. [<- I might have translated that wrong ^^; But maybe Chigusa is a S(adist) person though she didn’t mean Sawako harm] At the hallway, some girls gather together and exclaim about that girlfriend issue is true. They say – ‘Shouta said it so himself’, ‘there are no rumors before when Shouta confessed’, ‘what they couldn’t believe is that, the other person is ‘Sadako’’ and ‘they couldn’t be suitable’. A girl says that if she knew earlier then she ought to give ‘Sadako’ a piece of her mind. Another asks if they should do it right now. A girl says no because ‘Sadako’ has Chizuru around. The other girl protests that surely there are times when ‘Sadako’ is alone. A girl passes by them and giggles. They look at the girl and ask, “What’s so funny, Ume?” Ume turns around and says, “Because you’re that kind of person, that is why Shouta won’t like you.” The jealous girl is flustered and shock. Ume says that they were talking about ‘that Sadako’ [in a degrading way] but then, what’s so good about them. This irked jealous girl that she shouts if Ume is looking for a fight. She then says that didn’t the rumor about ‘Sadako’ [before? Chizuru-Ayane stuff] came from Ume’s mouth and was she just using them. Ume admits it by saying yes. She says that for them [those girls and Ume] to continue on ‘living at ease’ [not pay for what they did] it would be good if this is kept just between them. “You obviously didn’t have courage to confess to Shouta so basically, that is why you hate Sawako.” Jealous girl is taken aback by that comment. She denies it and exclaims isn’t Ume the same. Looking serious, Ume admits that they are the same. “Other than Sawako, all the others are the same.” Just then Sawako arrives. Ume turns around to face Sawako who thinks, “..Kurumizawa-chan”

Yes, Sawako, it isn’t a dream..everything that has happened is real. I want to give Sawako the benefit of the doubt but that scene when Shouta has to tell everyone what she is to him. It made me think that because of it, Sawako finally realizes what her ‘new’ relationship with Shouta is. How clueless can she be..anyway, I hope I just misunderstood it and I hope there won’t be any misunderstanding again because I’m starting to feel bad for Shouta that he has to be embarrassed a lot of times publicly like that for her sake. Fortunately, Shouta has a long patience and he’s in love. Actually, part of the problem is also on Shouta’s side because of his popularity. If he is a normal guy then everyone especially fangirls won’t make such a fuss about it. Hehe..well, I guess it is also because of their perception about Sawako. They don’t really know her enough that they think they aren’t suitable. I think beside from fangirls, the couple would also have to deal with Pin who is obviously jealous of Shouta who already found a ‘lover’ and yet Pin still hasn’t find that person. Maybe later on, Shouta and others will get Pin with someone so that he won’t keep on bothering them =P As for Ume, it seems that even if she is a rival and everything, she still ‘loves’ Shouta in a way that she doesn’t want him to get hurt. I guess she came to realize this after realizing what she has done which lead to the major misunderstanding that made Shouta think he was rejected. She doesn’t want that to happen anymore so she is somewhat defending Sawako and ‘picking a fight’ with those girls. Actually, it can also be interpreted as an unsolicited advice by Ume that if they bully Sawako, Shouta will really not like them. I think this is part of the reason why Ume wanted to keep what they did before hush-hush. Anyway, I guess the next chapter will be a girl-to-girl talk between the winner and loser for Shouta’s heart. Honestly, is it really needed? Sawako has to be careful what she tells Ume because it might end up with rubbing salt on her wounds. That would also depend how much Sawako heard from their conversation. Scans by jiezhishou.cn group

Quote of the day:
If you give your life as a wholehearted response to love, then love will wholeheartedly respond to you. ~ Marianne Williamson

Teasers: Vampire Knight 57 and Ouran High Host Club 77
Sunday, December 20, 2009

Raws for Vampire Knight 57 and Ouran High Host Club 77 are already out in raws paradise. Colored page is Kaname x Zero playing chess. VK partial plot summary is by sakura0916 from BW: At the start, Kaname kisses Yuuki. (It feels more like they are a married couple.) Kaname gives her Artemis and it represents = he is giving her ‘independence/freedom’ [to kill him]. Kaname left. Yuuki remembers Kaname telling her that if he wants to leave him, she should personally use the Artemis to kill him. Yuuki’s mental thoughts, while she is taking Artemis from the box, aren’t translated. [She doesn't want to kill anyone] Afterwards, Yuuki wants to go out. Taking Artemis with her, she goes out and of course, Hanabusa also follows her and tells her to stop. (sakura0916 thinks that Hanabusa has become like a manager/babysitter or like a brother) Just as they go out, they see a black wolf outside. Hanabusa shouts for her not to go near because it might be dangerous but tries to tell her something about the wolf but Yuuki shouts, ‘How cute!’ and promptly hugs the black wolf. [Then, she got eaten..the end. =P ] Then, they discovered that it is Kaname’s doppelganger [or in ninja term, clone] as it turned into bats. The bats try to hinder Yuuki’s path. Yuuki uses a cute expression and say[?] for her husband to play catch with her. Soon, it becomes a huge bat and envelops Yuuki. Hanabusa proudly praises that Kaname [doppelganger] is really great. Yuuki apologizes to Kaname and punches the bat. In the end, to Hanabusa's shock, Yuuki manages to escape into the mountains. At a meeting, Kaname smiles as he seemed to have enjoyed playing around with Yuuki. (sakura0916 thinks that it’s a long distance flirting ^^;) So, they head down the mountain. Hanabusa reminds her about the danger and making Kaname worried but Yuuki says she won't die easily because there are two ways to kill a pureblood. She then asks him how to buy a train ticket. Hanabusa finally agrees in the condition that she tell him what she plans to do. On the way, Hanabusa seems to wonder what Kaname and Zero likes about Yuuki and assumes that Yuuki’s kindness is very strong/very cute (<- sakura0916 laughs and thinks that she might have misunderstood so don’t believe that statement too much.) The next scene is Zero and Kaito’s conversation (but sakura0916 wrote, ‘please forgive me since I’m skipping that because there isn’t much shocking progress there’.) In the end, Yuuki and Hanabusa arrive at a house which is related to Ouri. She then reveals Artemis to a guy who came out to greet her. She said something about not wanting to sacrifice oneself for another (which is like what she said at the end of the last chapter) So, basically, Yuuki wants to use her own strength to discover some things. (sakura0916 said that usually, Yuuki wasn’t able to finish what she started) Vampire Knight will take a break and will resume on 2/24.

Hehe..I’m thinking what are the chances wherein Yuuki and Hanabusa would end up together if they continue on being together for a long time? But then, the other two guys’ edge is that they have been with Yuuki for a longer time since childhood. I’m guess at this rate, Hanabusa would indeed be like a manager or bodyguard of some sort..maybe a butler because Yuuki will never listen or just ignore whatever Hanabusa says especially if he warns her of some danger. I can be interpreted as either she is headstrong or she is ‘naive of probable dangers’. Anyway, I hope that this time, she will be able to do something productive and not get herself in danger that her ‘lovers’ would have to come and rescue her. I’m not keeping my hopes up though since Yuuki has disappointed me time and time again though hopefully, this time won’t be the norm. About Kaname, is that really just teasing or just part of his overprotective nature? I think maybe it is both or he is testing her. At first, I thought he was training her or something ^^;; Well, it can’t be helped because Kaname is probably stuck in some boring meeting and he just wants some entertainment. As for Zero and Kaito, from the kanji, they seem to be talking/quarreling about pureblood vampires, gun under the pillow and there is probably some Yuuki related issues. Okay, I can’t comment much if I don’t know what they are talking about so let’s just wait for the scanlation for the details. As for OHHC 77, too complicated..too many words and I think they discovered something important regarding Tamaki’s family or his mother’s situation which is related to some pharmaceutical company. I think Tamaki’s father is going against his mother so Haruhi is worried about Tamaki’s dream for his family to be whole again. It is also related to Kyouya’s father in way, I think. Tamaki seems to have also read the news. Oh well, I’ll just wait for the scanlation.

Word of the day:
You don't need to know where you're going if you let God do the leading. ~ Our Daily Bread

Free Talk: WSJ Series' Reaction
Saturday, December 19, 2009

Bleach [c. 386]: Tousen as a fly is very ugly that I thought that he is really ‘blind’ to even call Komamura ugly because he’s way uglier. For girls, I think foxes are a better choice than flies. I can’t say for guys =P I guess the form shows his true self. With that talk between Tousen and Komamura, I suddenly thought, ‘Am I reading Naruto?’ Tousen, the fallen friend and Komamura wanted to be his true friend. It made me wonder if Naruto-Sasuke will end up like this. Someone else finishing off Sasuke since Naruto couldn’t. Of course, Hisagi redeemed himself for being unable to deal the final blow before. I think it’s a big mistake for Tousen to ‘power up’ because he can see alright but he has gotten too arrogant and focuses too much on what he sees that he became weak. He should stay ‘blind’ because that he is more used to fighting that way. Now, I have mixed feelings about Tousen dead..if he is dead. Does this mean that Bleach will end soon? Or, Aizen will just find a replacement for Tousen? Oh, like Wonderweiss =P He did stay alive for quite a long time. I’m still wondering why Aizen kept Tousen around for so long when he doesn’t seem to be that strong. Maybe Aizen just prioritize Tousen’s loyalty. Well, I’m also glad that’s over but it just seem too easy, right after he powered up. ^^; So, maybe we’ll finally get to see Aizen vs Shinji next chapter. Hm..how come Gin isn’t shown since he acted Hiyori? Back-up for Aizen? Naruto [c. 476]: We all know who the ‘big boss’ is because that person is just watching on the sidelines while his ‘pawn’, yes, it’s Sasuke, do the dirty work. Even if Sasuke doesn’t want to but Sasuke does seem to be ‘conned/manipulated’ like crashing in that meeting and now, finish off an ex-hokage. I think Madara only had to goad Sasuke about ‘it’s everyone’s fault why his brother ended up that way’ and Sasuke will probably kill everyone. It’s a good ‘revenge’ in a way since Madara will also have successfully ruin Konoha’s reputation through Sasuke, after all, he was trained there. As for Naruto, I don’t think it’s a time to hyperventilate. It gave me an impression that he’s quite weak that I wondered if he will really become a hokage..just dealing with seemingly minor things can make him that anxious to hyperventilate, what more if he had more complex problems as hokage. Is it because this is very personal? Shouldn’t he be more decisive? Maybe, it is because he is more emo guy than thinking guy. I’m curious what you think of this. Anyway, I did thought that Danzou seems too weak to be ‘killed’ that easily = one chapter but then, since we are into illusions, I think this might be a long fight.

One Piece [c. 568]: Still fighting and Luffy still want to fight. Contrary to what I thought, because of what everyone is doing for him, I guess Ace would want to live because they all ‘treasure/value’ him even if he doesn’t value himself. Luffy usually pulls through when everything seems hopeless which is right about now, so hopefully, he’ll finally be able to save Ace/create a miracle by next chapter. Since Buggy is okay now, I hope he can help, too like getting a camera and show everyone how Luffy is going to save Ace from the marines, right in their base. ^^ It will be a real embarrassment for the marines. Beelzebub [c. 42]: This seems to be a long arc as they try to find a way to get back to the human world. It’s very convenient that Alain delon died when they need him so that they will be trapped in that place. I guess Oga and others will probably spend the time either running away or punching aliens/akumas who are in their way. Hm..I’m curious how Alain delon’s daughter looks like. It either goes wherein she’s pretty or looks just like him as a joke. Since the author is sadistic with Furuichi maybe Alain delon got him engaged in some way with his daughter who’s probably ugly =P It seems that Baby BL isn’t afraid of huge ugly birds but is afraid of insects like cicadas =P Katekyo Hitman Reborn! [c. 271]: I really like Fran. He’s pretty cute and funny. The guy is really good that he can get away with such remarks like pineapple hair =P Maybe he is a M(asochist) because with all those things that he said, the others would just like to poke him with their weapons. I’m really curious where Mukuro found him. I didn’t get what Chrome mentioned about M.M. Did M.M appear before? Obviously, there is a ‘love triangle’ of sorts there. So now, a naked man/ghost has appeared. ^^; It’s like the cliffhanger alternates with ‘new character’ from Varia or Millefiore. Maybe in the next chapter, Takeshi and others are now there. And the next, will be Byakuran. =P

Word of the day:
The powers of darkness have blinded the race, closing our eyes to the glories of grace; But faith in the Savior brings healing and sight, flooding our soul with His truth and His light. ~ DJD from Our Daily Bread

Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu [Chapters 50-51]
Thursday, December 17, 2009

In section 2-3, the teacher tells them that they are now going to decide about the second day’s activity as to which outlying islands in Okinawa would they want to visit. Tsubaki looks at the form which has descriptions of the different islands. According to what’s written on the blackboard, it seems that there are 10 people who will go on each island. Tsubaki wonders which island she should choose. Miho goes to her desk and asks if Tsubaki has already decided which island, she would go with Kyouta because she [Miho] hasn’t decided yet. Tsubaki says that she hasn’t decided yet but why hasn’t Miho chosen yet. Miho says that this is the only group activity and of course, one would want to go to the same island as one’s boyfriend. Tsubaki admits that she hasn’t thought of that. Miho calls on her cellphone to ask Keito [her boyfriend]. The teacher sees her and shouts that she cannot use the phone during class. Miho protests that she hasn’t called yet. While Miho is trying to take her phone back from the teacher who tries to confiscate it, Tsubaki notices something on the flyer and tells Miho that she chose that island. At the library, Tsubaki is studying while Kyouta is sitting beside her with feet on top of the table. He is reading a book/magazine about food in Ishigaki island. He comments out loud that it looks delicious and he’ll definitely try eating it. Tsubaki tells him that if he isn’t going to study, would he please leave. Kyouta says that it can’t be helped because she is always studying like a bookworm that he is bored [during the time] before he goes to [his] work. Tsubaki says that there are term exams after they return from the school trip and this is the only time when she can properly study since she wasn’t able to study because of the school festival. Kyouta sits up properly and says that they shouldn’t talk about that first, but regarding the class meeting a while ago. “Did you choose the island that I emailed you about?” Tsubaki replies, “It’s a school rule that one should shut off one’s cellphone during class.” Kyouta angrily screams, “What?! Then, what is your cellphone for! If you do that, then it is really useless!”

Soon, the two find themselves outside the library. Tsubaki gestures why she is also kicked out of the library. While Tsubaki takes out her cellphone and checks out what Kyouta emailed, she tells him what could he have emailed and since their classroom is near, it would be alright if he just come over and tell her. Tsubaki then looks surprised at what Kyouta emailed her. She asks Kyouta if he chose Hateruma island. Kyouta is grumpily saying that he won’t email her again. He is surprised when Tsubaki happily says, “Just as I thought..! I knew that you are going to choose that place! I have seen it in the constellation book and it is said that it is only at Hateruma island where one can see some constellation. [That would be the Southern Cross] So, I thought that maybe Tsubaki-kun will also like...in the end, I unconsciously chose that place. But, we are going to Hateruma island during daytime so we still won’t be able to see the stars..” Kyouta starts laughing and says that is why he said she is such a bookworm. Tsubaki is hit by an imaginary arrow of being a bookworm. Still laughing, Kyouta hugs her and says, “What I’m saying is..it’s all alright.” At a department store, Miho can’t decide between two bikinis. She looks at Tsubaki’s direction and asks if she is finished choosing. Miho is shock to see her choosing more conservative swimsuits = more covered tops. Miho angrily shouts that those swimsuits are rejected. “We are going to Okinawa! It’s Hateruma! It’s at southern most of Japan! How can you not break your routine [/what you usually do]!” Tsubaki says that it is so embarrassing since it looks like an undergarment. She decides to buy one which has an undershirt-looking top. Before she can rush to buy it, she freezes when Miho says that Kyouta will be disappointed. Tsubaki turns around to see Miho looking sly as she holds up two bikinis and says, “If you are going to buy this kind, he’ll absolutely will be very happy--” Ka-ching, the cashier thanks them for their patronage. Holding her shopping bag, Tsubaki couldn’t believe that she just bought that kind of swimsuit. Miho happily says, “With that, we are all set! Tsubaki, that swimsuit really suits you. You just wait and see Kyouta’s shock expression! I really excited about the school trip!” Tsubaki blushes and smiles as she says, “..Yup!”

At the airport, the teacher is telling everyone to look at their itinerary. While Tsubaki is reading through the itinerary book, someone points to the 22:00 schedule when it’s lights out (no one should go out of their rooms) on the book. He tells her if she can go out for a while during that time. Tsubaki turns to see that it is Kyouta. Whispering, Tsubaki asks how he could suggest that and why he is there when this isn’t his section. Kyouta says that it is because he said that he won’t email her again so he went there to tell her. “I want to show you something really awesome tonight.” Just as he is about to tell her where they will meet in the hotel, Tsubaki exclaims that she won’t go because if they are discovered, she couldn’t get a recommendation. Kyouta is surprised. Then, he tells her that their high school simply couldn’t recommend her to the elite university that she wants to go. Tsubaki says that is an extra guarantee because during university entrance exams. “Because during the real exams, I might be act abnormal like during high school entrance exams since I’m really pressured.” Tsubaki is happy when Kyouta says, “Okay, I understand.” Holding a thumbs up sign, Kyouta says, “I first think of a way wherein we will absolutely not be discovered.” Tsubaki is shock that he totally didn’t understand what she meant. A bit flustered, Kyouta says that tonight is their only opportunity. Tsubaki protests that she doesn’t want to because what she worked so hard for, might just vanish because of this one night. “I do not want an incident during the school trip and if I lose that recommendation, I won’t be able to face my parents..so I beg of you, please do not hinder me..!” This displeased Kyouta that he said that’s right, for she isn’t the type of person who’ll be interested in this kind of invitation. “But I didn’t know that before..that you think of me as someone who would hinder you to that extent. I won’t obstruct you anymore, so I won’t take the initiative to get close to you again. When it’s convenient for you, just come and look for me.” With that, Kyouta walks away, leaving a stunned Tsubaki. She thinks, “But..I really felt troubled [about it]. Though, I should pay attention on my choice of words.”

Soon, the airplane flies and arrives in Okinawa. At the beach, holding the sand, Miho exclaims that it’s really white like snow. Carrying her shoes and wading into the water, Miho shouts what Tsubaki is doing. Miho urgers her to quickly remove her shoes and go barefoot since it feels nice. Tsubaki did as told but she thinks that even if it’s her first time to see white sand or the blue sea, she couldn’t get excited about it since everything looks dark to her. She is surprised when Miho exclaims that Kyouta is there and it seems his class is also there. Miho called out to him and says that she’ll take his and Tsubaki’s picture together. Miho quickly tells Tsubaki to go to her for the picture but Tsubaki seems to want to say/explain something to Miho. Kyouta notices this that he turns around and walks away. This made Tsubaki more flustered and stunned. Miho angrily starts shouting for Kyouta not to snub her. Tsubaki tells her that is inevitable because they had a quarrel this morning. Miho is surprised to learn about it and asks what it is about. Later on, Miho tells her to wait tomorrow when she is wearing that swimsuit because Kyouta’s mood will definitely change, after all, he’s a guy. Tsubaki thinks that she is right for tomorrow is the only opportunity when she can be with Kyouta who isn’t in the same class as her. That night, it’s already 23:07. Tsubaki wakes up and goes out of the room. She thinks that this is a rare school trip and she doesn’t want it [trip] to end with their relationship like that. She tries to look for room 426 then sees a couple of teachers heading her way. She hides behind a plant and luckily she wasn’t seen. She plans to apologize to him regarding the harsh things she said this morning and regarding why she didn’t accept his invitation, she hopes that since it’s Kyouta, he’ll definitely understand her. She finally reaches the hallway where Kyouta’s room is but she is surprised to see him outside his room, at the door, with a couple of girls. Kyouta notices her and he quickly pushes the girls inside his room. This puzzled Tsubaki as to why he let them in his room. Kyouta looks at her then shouts, “What are you doing here, quickly go back to your room!” Tsubaki is about to call him but he has already slammed the door. Tsubaki is stunned.

The next day, a teacher is reprimanding some students. He calls them stupid for being stubborn so from then on, the school trip is cancelled [I think that’s wrong but rather, they can’t go to the rest of the trip as punishment]. Miho tells Tsubaki that those students were caught drinking alcohol in the guys’ room last night. She then asks half-asleep/dead Tsubaki if she is alright. Tsubaki tells her that she wasn’t able to sleep at night. Miho asks Tsubaki if she is the type of person who can’t sleep because the pillow is different. Tsubaki says that she isn’t. She didn’t tell Miho that it is because she couldn’t get the incident of seeing Kyouta with those girls out of her mind. A teacher then calls everyone to board on the ferry boat. Before Tsubaki can go on board, Kyouta calls out to her. He is about to explain about what happened yesterday but Tsubaki bows and apologizes to him about yesterday. This surprise-puzzles Kyouta. Tsubaki apologizes for the harsh things she said at the airport and since she wanted to apologize yesterday, she went to his room. Kyouta tries to explain about it but Tsubaki happily says that it’s alright, because she knows that there is definitely some reason to it. She also tells him that she is very happy that he is able to mention it even after what had happened. After looking somewhat surprised, Kyouta smiles and says he understands. Soon, they arrive at Hateruma. After the students disembark, Kyouta notices that Tsubaki is bending over with Miho trying to help her. He goes to them and asks if it is sea sickness and is the physique of a bookworm that weak. Miho says that it is because Tsubaki wasn’t able to sleep last night that is why she is easily got seasick. Seeing Tsubaki feeling ill and nauseous, Kyouta instinctively hold her head to him. He tells Miho to go ahead and he’ll accompany Tsubaki. Miho is more than willing to let him do so. Miho then runs off to tell the teacher that Tsubaki isn’t feeling well.

They look out the harbor as Tsubaki rests her head on Kyouta’s shoulder. Kyouta worriedly asks if it is because [of him/incident] that she wasn’t able to sleep last night. Tsubaki says that it’s very embarrassing because she knew that there is a reason [why he is with those girls] but no matter how she tries to console herself, her brain kept on imagining some awful scenes [of Kyouta flirting around with the girls]. “I had already decided not to doubt you again. I..really couldn’t..” She thinks that when her trust is tested, she had realized that in order to trust the other, she has to have self confidence. “It’s inevitable that he’ll leave me one day, if I still keep on having this way of thinking.” Kyouta pinches her cheek and tells her that is natural because even if it’s him, he’ll also get mad because of that situation. Smiling, he tells her that if she wants to trust or not should be decided after he told her everything about what had happened. He asks her if she has seen those people, who were scolded for drinking alcohol, before they board the ship. Tsubaki asks if those girls were among those people. Kyouta says that they are the ones who were in front of his door yesterday. Flashback: The two girls showed him cans of beer in a plastic bag and told Kyouta that they should go drinking the whole night. Kyouta declined by saying that he has to think of his girlfriend though he will accept if it’s just drinking. While the girls are whining, he noticed Tsubaki at the corner, looking at his direction. He quickly pushed the other girls in his room because if they had seen Tsubaki, they might also drag Tsubaki into that situation. Kyouta then shouted to Tsubaki to go back to her room. Inside, the girls have already opened some cans and happily telling Kyouta to drink, too. A bit angry, Kyouta told them that he just said that he couldn’t so they should all go out. The girls are promptly tossed out of the room. They were puzzled but decided to bring their little party somewhere else. [= not sure since I can’t barely read what they are saying ^^;] End flashback. He tells Tsubaki that is what happened and does she think he’s lying. Tsubaki smiles and says no. She thanks him for telling her. She is surprised when Kyouta smiles and leans to kiss her but they were interrupted by the teacher who shouts that if Tsubaki is okay now, they should head to the beach.

At the beach, while holding a beach ball, Miho exclaims that they play beach volleyball. Holding on to Keito, she happily asks if it’s okay if they pair up with their lovers so she and Keito are one team. Nishiki complains that he isn’t in the same year as Sakura. Miho tells the others that the loser will treat everyone some drinks. Kyouta looks at Tsubaki’s direction and asks if she doesn’t plan on winning since Tsubaki is using a towel to cover herself [= can’t play like that]. Tsubaki says that she’s really embarrassed with her swimsuit. Kyouta tells her that she is just overly conscious and no one will pay attention to her. Kyouta is thinking that Tsubaki is wearing some old fashioned 1920s swimsuit. Tsubaki is shock by Kyouta’s comment. Taking off the towel, Tsubaki says that maybe he is right. Kyouta’s eyes widen when he sees Tsubaki wearing a cute bikini with ribbons. Some guys are saying that she looks really cute. A girlfriend of one of the guys has to pinch the ear of her boyfriend since he is happily praising Tsubaki. Positioning to serve, Tsubaki says that it is her first time to play beach volleyball so please forgive her if they are last. She is surprised when Kyouta puts a huge swim tube on her. While dragging puzzled Tsubaki to the beach, Kyouta shouts that they are withdrawing from the game. Miho giggles at Kyouta’s reaction. In the waters, Tsubaki asks what happened that he suddenly did that. Kyouta exclaims what kind of joke it is for her to unexpectedly wear that kind of swimsuit. Tsubaki gloomily asks if it is so weird. She is surprised when he tells her that she shouldn’t let others see her dress up like that if he hasn’t seen it yet. Kyouta is blushing. He says, “Ah--, geez, I never thought a day would come when I’ll say this. The ever clueless Tsubaki asks what he meant. Kyouta somewhat pulls her down and gives her a kiss. “What I’m saying is, it really suits you.”

Soon, it’s time to board back into the ferry boat. Tsubaki and Kyouta are sitting behind the van, away from view. Kyouta leans at Tsubaki’s shoulder and complains that they should have watched the stars together last night. Tsubaki asks if what he mentioned at the airport about wanting to show her something are the stars. Kyouta says that it is and he looked at the stars by himself last night. “There are a lot of them, the stars here.” Tsubaki is flustered and apologizes that she should have slipped out during lights out since she won’t have [another chance] again. Kyouta says that it’s alright and there also wasn’t any opportunity to invite her. Tsubaki looks surprised. Looking at her, Kyouta smiles and says, “I planned to continue on staying here in Hateruma today..” Tsubaki is stunned and asks, “Ha?” [Not too sure but] Kyouta says that after tomorrow, the homeroom teacher might tensely stare [at him?] the whole day [because the teacher will suspect he skipped?] Tsubaki asks if he is joking. Kyouta says that he isn’t joking and he has already told her this at the airport [about that night as the only opportunity]. “I’ve already asked Haru to cover for me.” At the harbor, Haru smiles and tells the homeroom teacher that Kyouta has already gone onboard. The teacher takes his word for it and draws a circle near Kyouta’s name that he is already account for. To Haru’s disappointment, the teacher then tells Haru that he can’t bring the lamb that he’s carrying, with him. Someone is saying that this is the last boat ride and if one doesn’t ride it, then, one can’t return back today. Miho seems surprised and looks around. Haru asks her what the matter is. She asks him if he has seen Tsubaki. Haru is speechless as he somewhat smiles and blushes. The scene changes to Tsubaki trying to pull Kyouta up but Kyouta is staying put. Tsubaki shouts that for him to stay alone there by himself is really reckless. “We are going to board that boat together!” Kyouta tells her to let go since he is already in Hateruma, how could he not look at those stars a few more times. “It will be a total waste! I couldn’t endure it! I’m alright. I’m not the same as you. I don’t need a recommendation.” This surprises flustered Tsubaki. Kyouta tells her that the boat will leave soon. Tsubaki shouts, “Who cares about that recommendation, it’s not important right now! I’m only worried about you...!” Kyouta looks surprised and says, “..really..that’s great..that recommendation doesn’t matter..” Tsubaki is surprised as she tries to explain that isn’t what she meant. Pointing towards the pier, Kyouta exclaims, “Ha? But the boat is already leaving.” Yes, the boat is leaving with smiling Haru doing a ‘secret/shh hand sign’ that he also helped cover for Tsubaki. And that was the last boat ride. Holding on to shock-aghast Tsubaki, Kyouta says, “Since it’s like that, we will be together until tomorrow morning.” Tsubaki can only motion for the boat to stop and think, “No way-!!!”

And, I guess that is how Haru is going to make it up for the two lovebirds regarding what he did before. He is really such a nice friend and it does seem that Rika really just corrupted him, well, helped by Kyouta’s withholding the truth. It seems that Haru ‘loves’ animals or is a ‘magnet’ for animals so I think that if Tsubaki will be a hairstylist and Kyouta is going to be an astronaut, then, maybe Haru would become a veterinarian or zoo keeper =P I still can’t think of something regarding Miho..maybe fashion stylist or counseling. =P Speaking of Miho, I do find it a bit strange as to why the author didn’t draw her boyfriend’s face clearly. It made me wonder of the possibilities of Miho and Haru becoming a couple in the next arc and the two leads are going to ‘support’ them. Hehe, that is somewhat farfetched. As for the main couple, I think they need to improve their communication. Tsubaki has a knack for saying things emotionally without consideration that Kyouta tends to misinterpret what she really means. It’s obvious that she is really scared of playing truant because she is the typical really ‘good girl’ and being caught can stain her perfect record. Given the pressure she has to undergo to just get into some top university, I can understand how she feels. Of course, the downside is she would miss the fun and memories during her high school. Actually, if looking at from the teachers and parents point of view, Kyouta would be a bad influence. ^^; I wonder why they didn’t just ask the teachers if they can see the stars at night. It would have been a memorable experience for students and the teachers would have agreed especially since they are already there in Hateruma which is famous for viewing that star constellation. Because of the way Tsubaki says things, Kyouta seems to have a tendency to do what she wants but it tend to be extreme like not emailing her on the phone since she doesn’t use the cellphone during class or going near her just because she said he’s a hindrance. It just seems like he is making her see his point in a drastic way or maybe he just want to show that he’s willing to do what she wants though in the end, Tsubaki has a tendency to blame herself for it, as if it’s her fault because that is what she wanted. Anyway, in the end, Tsubaki still went to see him to apologize. I wonder what the point is of not wanting to go with him that night because of that recommendation, when she just ended up doing just that. ^^; Luckily for her, she didn’t get caught. As for Kyouta, I think it would have been better if he lessen meeting with other girls so that Tsubaki won’t keep on having misunderstandings this. Because of what happened before, Tsubaki is suppressing her jealousy and doubt. I think it would be best if she just keeps that in moderation because what if Kyouta is really messing around with some other girls later on. It doesn’t seem fair for her to keep on ‘believing’ and not be jealous when she just saw him push the girls in his room while he easily gets jealous when some guys sees her in a cute bikini. Well, Kyouta did tell her that he would also be angry given that situation which is pretty much saying that depending on the situation, it’s okay to react naturally and not pretend that everything is fine with her. So, everything turns out okay since she apologized for saying those harsh words and he explained everything. Everything is okay again and of course, time for some lovey-dovey in the island together until the next day =P Scans by 豆芽豆芽 and Amyangel19910323 for BW, and 草莓defer for iieye.

Quote of the day:
It is not whether your words or actions are tough or gentle; it is the spirit behind your actions and words that announces your inner state. ~ Chin-Ning Chu

Hadashi de Bara wo Fume Status, Pic of the Day and Skip Beat! [Chapter 150] Teaser
Wednesday, December 16, 2009

I knew I should have checked that post in BW earlier. Anyway, according to yukitokaji, Hadashi de Bara wo Fume will resume on January 20th. That is in Japan, of course. I will not be writing summaries for this series anymore because it is already updated in English scanlations. At most, I might just write teaser summaries for it.

While waiting for the next chapter of Skip Beat!, here’s a cute picture of the three ^^ I think it’s a New Year greeting card from the author. Of course, it’s ‘tiger/cats-themed’ since it is the year of the tiger next year. Scanned by chinglan1987.

Edit: Okay, it turns out that chapter 150 is already out in raw paradise. ^^;; I don’t know if there is a hidden message on the cover since it is roses and Ren + bloodied hand. Precursor to Ren’s past? Hopefully..please..^^ After a shouting match with that other guy, Kanae leaves with Hiou. Kanae gives him the chocolates and she has an almost plastic smiling face when she gave it to him. It seems that his heart is cracked but has mended later on and he is blushing a bit. They talked about what that jerk said and I think Kanae is using some tree analogy about Hiou and his parents. It seems that Kanae also knows that there is some pain within Hiou or his acting talent because of how he cried during his scene in the drama. She says something that made Hiou blush really red. He looks like a little Kyouko there ^^; And soon, they hold hands as like a clasped hi-five as if they are buddies as they strive to become better actor/actress. At the set, Yashiro is busy reprimanding Ren. Ren excuses himself then Yashiro freaks out over something. Then, there are some thoughts from Ren regarding probably why he did what he did to erase that other kissing memory. It seems that he did wanted a lips to lips but probably decided otherwise..why is there a bloody scene there? He blames his selfishness for confusing her. Then, he finds Kyouko still going nuts over the kiss. That’s an understatement from that hilarious scene. She’s literary like going crazy by going round and round trying to forget. He calls out to her that made her shock and embarrassed. He says a lot of stuff = damage control that ‘stab’ through Kyouko and she becomes miffed in a funny way like when she’s teased by Ren about much ado about nothing over a kiss for her to cause trouble for others. There is also a mention about Ren being from a foreign country and I think playing with a girl’s heart. Soon, Kyouko is okay as they are back in their ‘he said she said’ type of scene regarding Ren being a playboy or not. Yashiro is surprised that Kyouko is back to normal as she goes to apologize to the others for the trouble she caused. Then, she sees a vase of roses. She remembers Ren and blushes. Next chapter Jan 4. And, I can’t wait to read the stuff that Ren told Kyouko. It seems like it has been such a long, long, long time since we have a scene like that – the two talking together and Ren ‘brainwashing/pep talk’ Kyouko. So many hints about the possibility of Ren’s past to be tackled soon like Hiou’s arc here, roses = beautiful + pain, fairy-themed covers before and Ren being a foreigner. But then, first things first, what is his birthday gift?! With all the roses lately, I wonder if it is rose-themed, too. Will the author finally let us know in the next chapter?

Quote of the day:
If you just communicate you can get by. But if you skillfully communicate, you can work miracles. ~ Jim Rohn

Stardust★Wink [Chapters 10-11]
Monday, December 14, 2009

[Chapter 10]: Each day, Anna makes one Teru teru bozu doll [wish for no rain charm but if hanged upside down, it’s wish for rain.] and hang it on the window. She hopes and prays that it rains on sports day. But, the sun is shining ever so brightly. At the art room, Mochiduki happily says that the weather is really good these days and it will definitely be a good day on sports day. “It’s also not normal for us to have a good weather for the entire week. It’s really great, right— Koshiro-classmate.” Anna looks really gloomy as she just lamely agrees. Mochiduki happily says that it isn’t easy to finish that painting so it’s really great that the weather is good. Anna thinks that in a flash, it is now one day before the sports day. Based on the wrongly send message of Mochiduki to someone named Mari, it seems that Mochiduki is going to confess tomorrow and she’s really afraid that Mochiduki will find out about her mistake of sending that message to her. Mochiduki then happily tells Anna that her braided hair today is really cute. Anna just smiles as she wonders what she should do since Mochiduki is acting really natural. “Will she really confess tomorrow? She would..and it would be like this..” Anna’s imagination: At the roof, Mochiduki exclaims, “I, I like Tokura-kun! This feelings of mine might perhaps trouble you, but since the first time I saw you, I always..” Mochiduki blushes. Hinata touches her face and says, “It’s no trouble at all! Because our feelings are the same..” They hugged. End imagination. Holding her paintbrush tight, Anna is teary-eyed and aghast as she thinks, “No No! I absolutely don’t want that to happen! I couldn’t support them but I also couldn’t hinder Mochiduki-classmate. So, it would be best if there is no sports day. Unpredictably, I even made Teru teru bozu dolls, it’s so strange. When did I start to think of Hinata this way..” She looks at Hinata’s direction to see him lying down on the floor while holding a brush. This made Anna and Mochiduki scream out his name. Hinata wakes up and asks if he has fallen asleep. Anna screams why he is saying that he has fallen asleep when it is obvious that he has fainted. She shouts that his face is also too pale. Mochiduki asks if he isn’t feeling well and it’s better for him to go home early. Hinata says that it’s just a little cold so it’s no big deal and they will be able to finish the paining in a little bit. Mochiduki continues to protest but Hinata says that it is alright until he faints again. The girls are freaking out as Anna calls for the teacher.

Later on, Sou is surprised to learn from Anna that Hinata has fainted. Anna says that he has a 38C fever and he just went home accompanied by his mother. Sou says it that so, and Hinata did seem more expressionless today than usual. Sou asks about the painting, if they can finish it without Hinata. The teacher happily says that what’s left is just coloring it and it will be alright if Mochiduki helps in leading others how to do it. Mochiduki is surprised by this and she isn’t quite confident that she can do it. Anna is worried about Hinata because it is quite rare for Hinata to have a fever. She plans to check on him after she goes home. Sou says out loud that since Hinata got sick during this time, would he be absent tomorrow on sports day. Sou is surprised when Anna shouts, “That’s right!” She thinks that if Hinata is absent and since the sports day couldn’t be stopped, then Mochiduki couldn’t confess to Hinata. “There will also be no progress between the two of them! Then, there’s no problem at all!” With glittering eyes, she happily tells Mochiduki that what’s left is the painting job so they should do their best. Mochiduki tries to protest but Anna excitedly tells her that it’s alright because she is also great since she is part of the art club. She asks the teacher if she is right. The teacher agrees and says that Mochiduki should be more confident. Anna happily tells Mochiduki that she will also do her best to help Mochiduki. Mochiduki smiles and says, “..okay..thank you, Koshiro-classmate.” Anna’s smile freezes as an imaginary arrow hits her. Feeling guilty, Anna thinks, “I’m sorry, I’m such a selfish brat. (cry)” Pepped up, Mochiduki exclaims that Anna is right for she won’t know unless she tries and together with everyone she’ll do her best. With teary eyed, Anna thinks that Mochiduki doesn’t know what she is thinking and Mochiduki is really such a nice girl. “Frank..no matter what she does, she’ll do her best..also very cute. I’m sure Hinata has also noticed these things. So, if Mochiduki-classmate confessed to him, Hinata’s answer will definitely be..”

Soon, they have finished the dragon painting. The teacher tells them to gather at 730am for them to post up the painting. Mochiduki happily tells Anna, ‘Good work’. Surprised, Anna just says, yes. Mochiduki laughs and says that she didn’t expect to finish the painting so soon. She feels sad that Hinata might not be able to come when he worked really hard to make that painting. Anna feels a bit guilty as she tells herself that it isn’t her fault that Hinata had a cold. The teacher then happily tells Mochiduki to visit Hinata on the way home. The two girls are in shock. The teacher says that Hinata would definitely want to see the finished painting so she should take a picture of it. Anna is totally aghast as to how come the teacher would suggest that and if Mochiduki visited Hinata, the two of them will be alone in Hinata’s room  opportunity to confess. Mochiduki seems nervous about taking the picture within school. Anna exclaims that the teacher should obey school regulations. The teacher says that it is just this a little thing so there’s no need to be too good. The teacher tells her that she’ll keep this a secret and pretend that she isn’t there. Mochiduki says, “Ah, okay..thanks, Mari.” As Mochiduki tries to take a picture using her cellphone, Anna is stunned that the teacher’s name is Mari..the one whom Mochiduki emailed. They were surprised when Anna exclaims, “Huh?! Sensei is called ‘Mari’?!” Mochiduki says that’s right. Mari confirms it and says that her whole name is Kobayashi Mari. Mochiduki explains that Mari is their club’s adviser and since the members are few, their relationship is very good. Anna says that it must be really good that they exchange emails. Mochiduki says that it is because no matter what it is, she can consult Mari about it so that gradually lead for them to exchange emails. “But about that..have I told this to you before?” Anna covers her mouth and thinks, “I’m such an idiot!” Anna tries to tell Mochiduki that the truth is, she is also quite distress that she doesn’t know how to tell her about it. Anna then whispers to Mochiduki. Mochiduki is surprised and asks her if she is joking around. Anna says that she isn’t and regrettably, she wasn’t careful and she read it so she’s sorry. After a pause, Mochiduki screams out loud that surprises both Anna and Mari.

Walking together, Anna tells Mochiduki who is still stunned about her mistake that even if she said it that way, she hopes for Mochiduki to cheer up a bit and she didn’t tell anyone about it. Mochiduki smiles and says okay. She thanks Anna and says that she is really nice. Looking nervous, Anna tells her that isn’t true and she isn’t like what Mochiduki is implying. Mochiduki says that Anna is indeed really nice since she is still concerned about her until now. “Even if you said that there’s no need to mind it, I still can’t help it..but, I’m really sorry!” Laughing, Anna asks why Mochiduki is apologizing to her. Mochiduki replies, “Because..perhaps, it’s just that I felt..Koshiro-classmate, also likes Tokura-kun, right?” This surprises Anna. Grabbing Mochiduki’s arms, Anna exclaims why she thought that way. Mochiduki says that maybe she is just mistaken. Anna insists that it is alright so tell her. Mochiduki says that it is because she feels that every time she is with Hinata, Anna seems very unhappy including the time when they are in the library doing research. Anna is really aghast. She thinks, “No way, could it be my thoughts are too obvious? Too obvious that a recently acquainted classmate would have notice it? It’s too embarrassing!” Blushing, Anna denies it and says that Hinata is her childhood friend so it is absolutely impossible for him to become a prospective lover. She also tells Mochiduki that Hinata is like a family to her so there is no need for her to apologize to her. “There’s no need for apprehensions, you should take courage and confess to Hinata. I think that if it’s you then there will be no problem! Ah, if you want to go visit Hinata then I’ll accompany you. He is my neighbor.” Anna thinks, “What am I saying...I obviously do not want to say those things..” Mochiduki smiles and says, “There’s no need. I think that he’s not feeling well right now so even if I go, it’s also useless. Regarding visiting him, I’ll leave it all up to you.” Mochiduki waves goodbye as Anna blankly holds up her hand to bid her goodbye. Anna looks sad as she thinks that she is really such an embarrassment.

On the sports day, with sparkles, Hinata looks at the painting that is hanged up and says that the painting turned out pretty good. Sou asks if he is really okay now. Hinata says yes because he is totally well after sleeping the whole night. Sou says that it is such a miraculous recovery. Hinata notices Mochiduki so he apologizes and says that he’ll go there first. Mochiduki asks Hinata if he is well already and Hinata says he is. Anna looks towards them. Anna’s friends then call her and say that it’s their turn in the next competition. Soon, Anna is in some track race contest. Sou is doing some cheerleading. Anna thinks that this is karma. “Today, the weather is very good and the fever has left Hinata that it made me think that God is definitely supporting Mochiduki-classmate. Because, Mochiduki-classmate has been doing her very best while I..I..” Soon, the sports day is over. On the way home, Sou complains that it is such boring sports day. Anna asks what he meant by that when they were first place in both painting and cheerleading. Sou exclaims that if they aren’t number one overall then it’s boring and he would rather go to sleep when they get home. Hinata tells them to go ahead because he has something to do. Anna turns to look at him as Sou asks Hinata what it is. Hinata says that he isn’t that sure, but it seems that Mochiduki has something to tell him. “I wonder, what could it be?” Sou thinks, “You really don’t know..no matter how one thinks of it..it’s obviously a confession.” Anna turns around and says that she’ll go ahead. Hinata bids them goodbye. Sou is surprised as he looks concern at Anna’s direction. Running off, Anna thinks, “The me who is totally dominate by such hateful feelings..God will definitely not stand by my side.”

Anna is indeed conflicted whether to be a hindrance or be of help. I think she is naturally nice that is why she is having such a guilt trip over doing things with ulterior motives and why she is saying those things even if she didn’t really mean it. It must be instinct or something. It is really indeed hard for Anna to do those things especially since Mochiduki is really such a nice girl. It also seems that Mochiduki is very observant, too. She easily knows that Anna doesn’t like her being with Hinata. I think when Anna invites her to see Hinata, she somehow knows that Anna isn’t really too happy about it that is why she declined. She must have felt that Anna is ‘way too nice’ and forceful, also Anna’s expressions might have also gave her away. I think the painting is really good. It made me think that it is Shenlong of Dragon Ball Z. Hehe..it seems that Hinata is also a clueless type. Sou is obviously more experienced with love than his childhood friends. I think he should have already realized what’s happening with Anna regarding Hinata. Interestingly, Hinata seems oblivious about this..is it because it’s about love? I thought for him to faint like that is pretty funny. =P He’s really such a strange yet charming person. I wonder if what Anna dreads will really happen.

[Chapter 11]: Narration: “If there is one word which can describe my current situation, it is ‘things have reached a dead end’.” As the three childhood friends walk to school, Hinata comments that it is still a bit cold in June yet they are already wearing their summer uniform. Anna lamely says that since it is summer, of course, one has that feeling of wanting to wear summer uniforms. Hinata says that even if it’s June, there are times when it feels somewhat cold. Sou then says about if today-- Anna looks at Hinata and thinks that he seems normal like before with nothing has changed. She wonders how he answered Mochiduki’s confession and those two guys aren’t talking about it. “Ahahah..What is he thinking? To ask or not ask...it might seem strange if I’ll ask..” Sou notices Anna in turmoil so he asks Hinata what did that Mochiduki told him, is it a confession. Half of Anna is shock at how direct Sou is asking this to Hinata while the other half is praising Sou for asking and he did a good job. While she is nervous and confused, Hinata says, “Oh..about that, she just said some stuff like, ‘Why chipmunks as pets aren’t that popular? They are so cute that it’s a sin. Although chipmunks are mainstream, but Japanese chipmunks are also messengers from heaven.’ She also hopes that one day having chipmunks as pets will become popular.” Hinata walks ahead as his two friends are stunned that they couldn’t walk. Anna wonders what that is and is that the so-called confession. While Sou looks at her, Anna starts laughing and thinks, “What, I’m getting all carried away by myself! I’m such an idiot! Let me say..That’s not right! This isn’t the time to be happy.”

During art class, Mari has told the students to choose whatever picture they would like to draw as basis. Anna looks at Mochiduki’s direction. She thinks that Mochiduki is also the same as before – she isn’t in high spirits nor depressed. Princess asks Anna what’s the outcome of Mochiduki’s confession. Anna replies that she also really want to know. She then freaks out why her friends know about it. They say that they saw Hinata and Mochiduki together on their way home after the sports day. “It’s very obvious that it has the mood of a confession.” Someone probably Anna nervously says that Mochiduki chose such an eye-catching place to confess and she’s really such an innocent girl. Ryuu asks Anna if she has something to tell them. Anna is puzzled. Princess reminds her by saying, “Yes, yes, like, ‘I’m finally aware that I like Hinata’ kind of line. ♪” Anna blushes really red and is speechless as Ryuu reprimands Princess for saying it so bluntly. Covering her face with her sketchbook, Anna admits that it seems that she likes Hinata. Her friends are happy that she finally acknowledged it. Anna apologizes for being stubborn about ‘childhood friends cannot become lovers’ that it is very hard to say it out. One of her friends tells her to forget about that for what’s important is the outcome of the confession but they couldn’t ask the persons themselves. Someone suggests about depending on people who might heard about it like someone who has a good relationship with Mochiduki. While Mochiduki is talking with Mari, Anna sees them and realizes that there is one she can ask. She is going to depend on Mari. As Mari is walking at the hallway, Anna calls out to her. Mari asks what it is and if she wants to ask something about school work. Anna says that she does want to ask something but it isn’t about school work. Anna thinks that maybe the reason why Mochiduki is close with Mari and calls her ‘Mari’ because she is the art club’s adviser. “It also seems that she is the one who suggested Mochiduki-classmate to confess is also sensei, so surely, sensei also knows something about the outcome of the confession! I’m going to ask now, without hesitation!” Anna says, “About, Mochiduki-classmate--...why is your relationship with her very good?”

Mari smiles and asks why she is suddenly asking that. In angst, Anna thinks, “I couldn’t! I still couldn’t ask it! Because I felt that it is violating of rules.” [Asking personal questions?] Mari says that perhaps it is because of the club activity since there are only Hinata and Mochiduki in the club but she thinks that those two get along really well unlike in other clubs. Anna is stunned and asks, “Only two persons?” Mari happily says that even if there are only two people, it’s really fun that everyday she eagerly anticipate it after school. Anna is shock that the club only has two members so that means those two are always together and are always in ‘their own little world’. “Ah no no..there is also sensei...” Mari happily says that today though she is only going to show up and quickly end the ‘meeting of the club’. Anna asks why, is she recruiting members and she should be responsible for this until the end. Mari says that if she is there, then she will just be a hindrance. “Their sections aren’t the same, so the only time when they are together is during club activity. “This is the first club activity after the sports day ended, so I’ll definitely do not want to disturb those two.” Anna has realized something, “Could it be...” Mari smiles and asks if Anna has also heard about those two. After school, Anna walks in the school. Anna thinks that she couldn’t ask Mari anymore regarding what Hinata answered and what is those two’s current relationship. “It seems..I still need to see it with my own eyes in order to believe.” Anna is standing in front of the art club. She hears some people talking inside and realizes that the two are still inside. As she is about to open the door, she overhears Hinata saying, “I also like..” She is stunned as she opens the door to see Mochiduki looking up to Hinata. Then Mochiduki blushes and smiles. I think the door creaked that Hinata notices her. He calls out to her and asks why she is here at this time. It is then Anna wonders what the heck she is doing. Looking a bit tense and looking away, Anna thinks of an alibi then says that she is looking for something which she can’t seem to find. “Because today I had art class, I was thinking that maybe I left it here. But, it seems that it isn’t there!” Anna thinks that sounded so unnatural that it will be too obvious she is just making an alibi. Mochiduki is looking at her. Anna stutters as she tries to say that she is going ahead. She thinks, “But, forget it, it doesn’t matter anymore. I only wanted to quickly leave this place.” She turns around to leave but Hinata calls out to her and asks what she is doing for. “If you are still looking for it, I’ll help you find it.” Not turning around, Anna replies, “There’s no need, I might not be able to find it anymore.”

Looking up the sky while standing outside their apartment, Sou says that it’s such a beautiful red sky. He starts singing when Anna bumps him hard behind his back. Sou looks back and says that it hurts and it’s Anna. He asks her what she is doing that she bumped his back so suddenly. He is surprised to see her crying. He asks her why she is crying. Anna denies that she is crying. Anna is too embarrassed as and wonders why she is crying. “It’s really awful to be seen by someone like this, but, I can’t control my tears that kept on falling down.” While remembering Hinata asking what she couldn’t find a while ago, Anna repeats in her mind that she couldn’t find it, she really couldn’t find it anymore. Sou asks her if she is really so sad just because having a chipmunk as a pet isn’t a mainstream fad. Anna is puzzled that she asks him what he is saying. Looking away, Sou says, “Originally, there’s nothing to be sad about. The things that you are thinking right now, all of it are just a product of your wild imagination. You are totally wrong. There’s originally no reason to cry.” This surprises Anna. While looking at him, she asks if he knows why she is crying. Sou turns away again and says, “The truth is I do not want to know.” Anna is puzzled again and asks what he meant by what he said just now. They were interrupted when Mochiduki arrives and shouts Anna’s name. She is breathing hard so it seems she ran all the way there. Mochiduki apologizes for suddenly rushing to her house but there is something she has to tell Anna, no matter what. Anna looks tense as she asks what does she want to say but right now, she doesn’t want to hear it. Before she can finish what she’s saying, Sou calls her an idiot and tells her to listen carefully to what Mochiduki wanted to say.

At the playground, Mochiduki apologizes for it seems that Anna doesn’t want to talk with her right now. Anna lamely says that it isn’t true. Mochiduki says that it is alright and Anna doesn’t have to force herself. “But, that is just your misunderstanding. I was rejected by Toruka-kun.” This surprises Anna that she shouts that Mochiduki is lying and it’s really alright for her to tell her the truth since Mari said that she doesn’t want to disturb the two of them and she also knew that Hinata said ‘I also like’ to Mochiduki. Mochiduki laughs and says that she knew it, that Anna is mistaken. “On that sports day, I had confessed to Tokura-kun and told him, ‘Please tell me your answer on Monday’, so Mari created an opportunity for us to be alone. Later on, just now, Tokura-kun told me, ‘I couldn’t return your feelings.’” Flashback: Hinata said, “I’m sorry.. I’m happy about your feeling..but..” Mochiduki replied that there’s no need for that and she apologizes for confessing so suddenly. Hinata apologized for giving her trouble. Mochiduki started to cry that Hinata is speechless on how to comfort her. Hinata suggested that maybe it is best for him not to join the art club afterwards. Mochiduki exclaimed for him not to do that because she likes his drawings. “Even if I’ve been rejected, regarding this, it won’t change a bit!” Hinata smiled and said, “I also like Mochiduki’s drawings. It’s both serene and openly sincere that it feels like this drawing is the same as you.” End flashback. Mochiduki smiles and says, “Even if my confession is a failure, but I think it’s good that I was able to tell my true feelings to Tokura-kun. But of course, it will be a lie if I said that it didn’t hurt.” Anna is speechless then asks her why she is telling her all of this. Mochiduki said that Anna mentioned before that a childhood friend couldn’t be a prospective lover. Anna tries to answer that but Mochiduki continued to say, “But, no, I think you should tell Tokura-kun what you truly feel. Doing that, is good for you and also for Tokura-kun.” Flashback: Before they leave, Mochiduki asked, “Tokura-kun, do you like someone?” Hinata said that he does. Mochiduki happily asked, “What kind of person is she? Could it be that it’s already mutual?” Hinata replied, “No, it’s not mutual. I don’t even dare think of it, because I’m basically not her prospective as a lover.” Of course, that person is none other than Anna..it seems because the last scene is Anna's back.

So, it’s finally confirmed that Hinata does like Anna but then, her insistence of childhood friend ≠ lover has made Hinata not actively pursue her. I guess it is typically of his laidback nature and he does seem to be quite submissive to Anna’s stronger personality that is why he just respects whatever Anna wants. That is of course, in contrast of Sou who also has a strong personality and that is probably why those two always clash. I do wonder if part of the reason why Hinata hangs around in the art club is because he doesn’t want to be with Anna because he fears that he might find himself deeper in love with her and he might end up with what happened to Sou. I wonder though why he didn’t tell them about the confession when asked. Is it because it’s a private matter and none of their business or he just doesn’t want them to know else it would be embarrassing for Mochiduki? I guess it is a wise decision since he doesn’t want Anna to know why he would reject a nice girl like Mochiduki. That will reveal whom he really likes. As for Sou, I think he does know. He couldn’t look at clueless Anna but deep down, I think he won’t hinder since he even encouraged Anna to talk with Mochiduki. It can’t be helped, too since Sou doesn’t want to see Anna crying and the least he can do is give her hints and made her talk with Mochiduki. Sou is such a nice friend and Mochiduki is such a nice girl. She also seems to want the guy she likes to be happy so she is also giving hints to clueless Anna. It’s really with good intention that she is saying that to Anna. I do think it takes courage for her to even tell someone whom she just recently know that she was rejected. I hope that Mochiduki would find a nice guy who will love her later on. She really deserves it. She even successfully made Anna looks bad if compared to her. So, what now..with almost no obstacle except for Anna herself, those two might be together soon and I wonder if this series will end when they become a couple or there will be some ‘after we become a couple’ plot like some other shoujo. Scans by 草莓defer for iieye.

Quote of the day:
It's motive alone which gives character to the actions of men. ~ Jean de la Bruyere

Free Talk: WSJ Reactions and Special Poll
Saturday, December 12, 2009

Bleach [c. 385]: So-so, I don’t care for Tousen and his ‘justice’ stance. Hopefully, his fight and even 2 captains vs Yammy battle will be over soon because I’m more interested in Shinji vs Aizen. Naruto [c. 475]: I wonder what is the limit of Madara’s powers. I mean since he can ‘suck’ people so why don’t he just suck in all the troublesome people and change the world before sucking them out again = too late to do anything. He wouldn’t be hurt if he just got Sasuke and Karin out already for them to fight those two underlings. Anyway, if Sasuke kills Danzou, I wonder if Naruto and others will count it as a crime. Yes, they hate Danzou for the things he has done and is currently doing but still, he is was the Hokage. Will they still build a ‘statue’ of him later on if he died or they will just think that he never became a Hokage in the first place and just erased it from the history books? One Piece [c. 567]: They are still trying to save Ace. I wonder if there will be some people who’ll actually die in that ‘war’. Beelzebub [c. 41]: Fufufu..I knew it. It is indeed a matter of time for them to end up in the demon world. I actually thought that it would be more than just the two of them. Also, based on the last two chapters, Oga seems to be, more or less, paired off with Aoi ^^ Katekyo Hitman Reborn! [c. 270]: Kufufu..I knew it was you. I’m not worried about Hibari since Ryohei is there for healing. Varia underlings are no big worry since they are from the future. But when, Xanxus is easily defeated like that. I thought, ah..it got to be an illusion. Well, it seems everyone is gathered now. What’s left is Takeshi and others to rejoin the group and Byakuran to join for the final battle.

Since it’s Christmas, as a special service to YOU, my readers, I’ll let you decide what I’ll summarize next. ^^ I’ll leave the poll open until I upload Stardust★Wink. I will use it as basis as to which series I’ll summarize next, not including teasers. You can choose multiple series ^^ By the way, the ones with [*] aren’t out yet but it will have priority when it’s out. The ones with [?], well, I don’t know what will happen next.

Edit 1: If it's a tie then, I'll be the one to choose which one to summarize first. Ah, choose your favorites! Else, it might end up all tied in first place ^^;

Edit 2: For clarification, all of the series below will be summarized. The highest votes will be summarized first to the least votes which will be summarized last.

Edit 3: And, these are the winners so expect these series to come out soon ^^ Thanks for voting ^^

Quote of the day:
Consider new ways to give yourself to the Lord and to those in need. It's a meaningful way to thank God for "His indescribable gift" of salvation through His Son. ~ Anne Cetas from Our Daily Bread

Reimei no Arcana -Dawn of the Arcana- [Chapters 9-10]
Friday, December 11, 2009

[Sorry, for the wait. Aside from the other uncontrollable circumstances that I mentioned before, I just got myself sick. Great..but then, it’s mild and I'm on my way to recovery so hopefully I’ll be totally well soon for more frequent updates. ^^ Maybe I’ll just write some short free talks as ‘fillers’ while finishing up some summary =P Scans by xiuxiu/咻咻 for BW and 草莓defer for iieye.]

Chapter 9:After bumping on an Arabian-looking boy, Nakaba wonders if this is the emissary of the allied country. As Nakaba struggles to say something, the boy offers his hand to help her up. He holds her hand and then, the boy suddenly felt a chill. To Nakaba’s surprise, he quickly looks right and left to exclaim, “What’s happening?! Is there a girl around?!” Nakaba says, “About that..” The boy looks at her and says, “Huh? Ah ah, sorry about that, boy.” This has somewhat surprised Nakaba and Loki since she was mistaken for a boy. Blushing a bit, Nakaba tries to explain when she is surprised again when the boy bends down to stare at her face a bit too closely. He sees part of her outfit inside the cape. He then looks at Loki and comments that there is a half-human knight within the palace. “Is there also a change within Belquat?” The boy says, “Ah..ah” as if thinking then he bids them goodbye. Nakaba sweatdrops that the boy is letting them go. She mutters out loud that person is really strange. Nakaba asks Loki if Ritanaire can only be reached through sea from Belquat. Loki confirms that is true. It is a place hotter than either Belquat or Senan. A huge portion of the country’s territory is mostly deserts but they also have many but rare mineral/s which are available only in the desert so their economy is very prosperous. This is the reason why it has allied itself with Belquat. Nakaba just blankly says, ‘okay’. Loki then looks thoughtful. The [Arabian] boy then also looks thoughtful and seems to recognize Nakaba’s outfit.

At the royal court, King Cain tells the bowing emissaries of Ritanaire that there is no need for such courtesy. The four people stand up and thank the king. Lito is busy serving the guests with drinks. Caesar and Belias are also there. The emissaries congratulate the Royal couple for taking a bride from Senan as the result of the peace treaty to end the war. Gesturing towards a woman who is holding some clothes, a man tells them that are only a portion but they have brought congratulatory gifts for Prince Caesar. Caesar politely mentions about the trouble they went just to pay them visit since they are from a faraway place. [It seems that Caesar thinks that they came only for that purpose or it’s just being polite.] Looking around, the man asks where his wife is. Caesar’s mother apologizes and arrogantly says that Caesar’s wife isn’t suitable..her hair. Louise seems tense or something while Cain holds her shoulder. Caesar looks dark as he looks at his mother’s direction. Someone interrupts by saying that the war this time has been exceptionally fierce. To a long haired man who approaches him, the Ritanaire man asks, what he just said. The man says that he meant is if they of Belquat would be suppressed by Senan. Louise worriedly mutters, ‘father’ -> long haired man. The Ritanaire man replies, “It isn’t so, general, but..it seems that your country imports our country’s ore a lot more times than usual, I think it’s used for [your country’s] recovery. That ore is very hard stone..if I’m not mistaken, in the end, it will be used for..” Cain asks if there is something wrong about giving out food from a rich country’s crop, in accordance, to those who lacks it. The emissary stutters as he tries to say that isn’t what he meant. Lito overhears them. Caesar asks Belias what they are talking about. Belias seems a bit nervous before talking about it.

Outside Nakaba’s room, Loki thanks Lito for that report since it is a great help. Loki is surprised when Caesar comes and calls out to ask what they are doing. Loki asks instead if he wants something from Nakaba. Caesar says yes. Loki tells him that it’s best for him to just wait there and not be a hindrance. Caesar didn’t listen and opens the door. Loki tries to stop him but it’s futile. Inside, Caesar sees Nakaba naked as she is about to dress up. Nakaba freaks out and quickly covers herself with the blanket. Embarrassed, Caesar apologizes and turns around. Nakaba is also embarrassed. Caesar then thinks, “Wait a minute, I, why am I flustered? It’s only a naked body and..and we are husband and wife. Is it because I’m not used to seeing a female naked body? I should act like a married man..” He turns around and says, “Ah..” He sees a furious Nakaba who has just worn her nightgown. Caesar sweatdrops and apologizes again. Nakaba asks him what’s up. She blushes when Caesar is touching her hair near her neck. She asks what he is doing. Caesar sadly apologizes that her hair has become short and he wasn’t able to protect her. He is surprised when she turns around and smile. She tells him that it doesn’t bother her anymore because he treasured it instead of her. Caesar blushes as he thinks that she smiled and showed that kind of expression at him. Seeing him blush, Nakaba also blushes. She is surprised when he pushes her down on the bed. Before she can ask what he is doing, Caesar kisses her. After he kissed her, he says, “I will become king, to bring you happiness, so become mine.” As she stares at his eye, her eyes seem to react to what Caesar said about wanting to become king. She sees some dazzling light but it vanishes when Caesar kisses her again. She is puzzled about it. She remembers Caesar telling her about making her happy. “Ah, Caesar, regarding what you’ve just said now, for me who is always been held with contempt all my life, it absolutely...made me feel so happy..so happy...happy till I want to cry.”

Seeing her cry, Caesar has misunderstood it that he quickly sits up. He apologizes and tells her not to cry. While Caesar is tense, the two are interrupted by Loki who put his sword at Caesar’s throat and asks him what he did to Nakaba. Nakaba looks surprised as Loki looks at her intently. Nakaba then notices that her shoulder is exposed [collar pulled down]. She quickly pulls it up and runs off, leaving the two guys dumbfound. Caesar mutters that she ran away. While running, Nakaba thinks that she still couldn’t accept Caesar’s feelings. “This isn’t the time for me to sink deep into happiness, it has no meaning if I’m the only one who found happiness. I’m really an idiot..I can forget it.” She then notices some soldiers patrolling so in order to avoid them, she quickly goes into a room. She finds herself in a library where the [Arabian] boy whom she met earlier is. Nakaba looks surprised as the boy seems to be equally surprised that he drops some books. Looking aghast, the boy says that she’s a girl. Nakaba approaches him and asks what he is doing. Crawling away from her, he screams for her not to come near him because he really hates girls. Nakaba sweatdrops and is speechless. The boy looks at her again as her collar falls down again. [It must be a big dress ^^;] He glances at her and tells her to come near. She did as told then he tells her to stop. He quickly tosses a cloth/cloak on her and shouts that girls shouldn’t expose their skin like that so she should wear that. Putting the cloak on herself, Nakaba says the texture of the cloth is quite nice. He tells her that the clothes, which she wore in the daytime [when they met], are strange. This surprises Nakaba. The boy says, “Those clothes belong to an extinct clan. Yes, that clan, lived in a village that is located deep within the mountains at the border side of Senan in order to hide themselves. And, they live together with half-humans whose eyes are colored black. The style of the clothes you were wearing is from that village...obviously has some position as evident on one’s body. [← not sure if he means her clothes or Loki’s tattoo under the eye shows that one has a position within the village] Because that village has almost no contact with the outside world, so it is common for that clan to intermarry. That way, they can preserve their lineage. And, they also possess ‘Time’s Arcana’.”

Nakaba looks aghast and tense. “You, who are you..” The boy says that even if it is just a legend and even if there is such a clan, it is still extremely rare for someone to possess that ‘power’.” Nakaba looks somewhat relieved as she just says, “Really..” While the boy is saying that it is just a legend, he cuts his finger on a book. Nakaba asks what happened. The boy says that it is nothing and he only got a paper cut. His finger starts bleeding and a drop of blood fell on the book. She stares at the blood and her pupils change. She ‘sees’ her village and her young self running around. She quickly snaps out of it. She thinks that it is the arcana and she hopes the boy didn’t notice it. The boy is glancing at her and says, “Do you know? The pupils of a person, who uses the ‘Time’s Arcana’, will change into the color red.” [So, the eye change = red colored eyes ^^; iirc, VK anime ^^;;] The boy touches her face and looks at her eyes. “Normally, it is colored green but when one uses this kind of power, the eyes changes to blood colored red.” Nakaba looks aghast-shock as she thinks that she didn’t know that. “So when I see blood, there is a contradiction, there is dizziness. My..” [I think this part also meant that the sight of blood triggers the Aracana] The boy notices that his finger is bleeding again so he licks it. Nakaba closes her eyes. She then remembers Loki telling her that her mother is killed because someone fears that power so she shouldn’t let anyone know about it. Nakaba looks tense. She backs away from the boy and quickly turns around to run away. Before she could open the door, the boy has pushes the door [so that she can’t open it] and corners her. The boy says, “Lend me your power. I never thought..never thought that I would unexpectedly find the ‘Time’s Arcana’ here..this is really incredible, no, this is fate. Perhaps, you are already part of Belquat?” The other door of the twin door opens. With sword drawn, Caesar comes in and says, “That girl is mine.” He puts his sword between them and says, “What I’m saying is she is my wife. What are you doing? Quickly get away from her.” Nakaba is surprised when the boy kept on shouting, “Ah- Ah- Ah- The Belquat prince got himself a red-haired wife. Ah- Ah- Ah- then, did the two of you did it already?” This made the two ‘spit/puke’ in shock. The two blushes and says, “What..” Nakaba exclaims that they didn’t do anything. Caesar calls her stupid. The boy thinks, “Ah- If that is the case, then there is no problem.” Gesturing to Nakaba, the boy says, “Princess, come to my country.” Caesar points his sword at the boy’s throat and asks who he is. Nakaba looks tense. The boy uses the back of his hand to move the sword away. “I am Ritanaire’s fifth prince, Ajilu*” [* Another invented name. It is either that or ‘Agila’ but in Chinese it is, ‘ah-ji-lu’. I haven’t seen the raws so I can’t make a more accurate guess.]

Hehe..and this series is building a reverse harem, too. Well, it isn’t surprising since the author’s previous works are based on that theme. I actually like it when characters are introduced slowly rather than all at a same time so that I would get to know more about the character – personality, motives etc rather than for the characters to just be there when convenient. If Caesar has the ‘status’ and Loki has the ‘brawn’ then, Ajilu is the ‘brains’ especially it seems that he is a bookworm type. Ah, Lito is the mascot + helper ^^; Hehe, it’s good that Nakaba is somehow going to acquire allies and probably travel around the world ^^ It is indeed hard to change the world if there are only three/four of them. Ajilu can provide the ‘money’ and ‘knowledge’. I guess Ajilu is really lucky that he came at a time with Nakaba looking like a boy so he isn’t that allergic to her. Of course, knowing that she has the arcana, he is also ‘cured’ from his phobia of women. =P He’s actually cute in his own way – the way he realizes things and his outfit seems too large for him. Could it be a hand-me-down from his older brothers? So, if Senan is stupid and clueless about the arcana which is within their territory and Belquat feared it enough to want to destroy it, this time around Ritanaire wants to use it. I guess that is why Ajilu is quite smart. The way Ritanaire thinks is much more practical by using rather than ‘not using’ or ‘destroying’ it. Maybe they will withdraw their support from Belquat when they get Nakaba. I think they are treated at a ‘disadvantage’ by Belquat. I find it really amusing that Loki and Belias know more about what’s happening around the world rather than Nakaba and Ceasar. I was thinking that maybe they aren’t paying attention to their lessons before or maybe because those two escorts always follow them around and they are older, so they are the ones who learned from those lessons =P I do think that Belquat people can be stupid, too. Why are they making Lito serve them and at the royal court?! Didn’t they think he’s a spy or maybe they just dismiss him as a mere half-human who can’t do anything even if he knows what’s going on. Or maybe, they have a shortage of servants. ^^; As usual, Nakaba and Caesar scenes together are fun ^^

Chapter 10: The two are surprised that he is a prince. Ajilu shrugs and says that basically he couldn’t inherit the kingdom since he is, after all, the fifth prince. He tells them that he came there with the status of a student to study the fertile land of Belquat. “..Even if that is so, you still can’t just behead and kill a prince, right?” Caesar is speechless. Turning around to Nakaba, Ajilu asks, “That’s right, red haired princess, what is your name?” Nakaba says, “My name is Na..” Caesar holds Nakaba tight from behind and asks why she has to tell him. Pause. When Nakaba tries to say again, “Na..”, Caesar says, “Won’t tell you.” Ajilu sighs and turns to leave. “..forget it, goodbye, overly jealous prince and red haired princess.” After he left, Caesar turns Nakaba around for her to face him. While Nakaba is trying to say, “About that...”, Caesar tells her not to go near that guy. Nakaba asks if that guy is a prince of Ritanaire. Caesar just looks away and angrily mutters, “And in the end..” A bit impatient, he turns to look at Nakaba and holds her shoulder. He tells her that he’ll bring her back to her room since she is forbidden to go out. He asks her why she went inside the library. Then, the two are surprised as they remembered the incident that leads to that  on the bed together. Caesar lets go of her and both are speechless. An arrow points that Caesar made her ran away and Nakaba is the one who ran away. Caesar apologizes for doing that earlier. He walks ahead when Nakaba tries to explain that it isn’t that, she did run away but it isn’t because she detests it. “But, temporarily, I still can’t. Caesar..”  reply to his, ‘become mine’. She thinks, “I couldn’t speak out my feelings, I also couldn’t return your kindness, but I couldn’t let go, but being indecisive like this..” As she is about to apologize to him, she is surprised when Caesar holds her shoulders and happily exclaims, “Really, you ‘temporarily’ can’t! Yes, it’s ‘temporarily’. Right!” Nakaba is still surprised as Caesar walks ahead. He turns around and asks, “..it isn’t because you hate, right?” Nakaba is startled then she just nods repeatedly. Caesar smiles and says, “I understand, then I’ll wait for you...don’t make me wait a long time though...I’m not that patient.” Caesar then walks her back to her room.

Later on, Nakaba peeks out the door. Since no one is there, she runs out. Even if she was told not to go near Ajilu but she can’t help it because he already knows everything. She feels that she has to think of a way to keep Ajilu’s mouth shut about her Arcana ability. She arrives at the library. Before she could enter, Ajilu calls out to her from behind and asks if she is looking for him. He asks her if she wants to go to his country. Nakaba says no but rather she came to ask a favor from him. “Regarding my ability to use the arcana, please don’t tell it to anyone.” Ajilu asks, “Anyone? Including the prince?” Nakaba says that’s right, including Caesar. Ajilu laughs and says that it is more convenient if no one knows about it. He doesn’t plan to let others know about it and that kind of power is a miracle. Nakaba didn’t reply. Ajilu asks what is it, he only just want her to peek into his country’s future. Nakaba is puzzled as she asks, ‘only’ and if she can do that. Inside the library, Ajilu asks if her power has just awakened and could it be that the power is still quite weak. He has heard that a strong power enables one to see the things that one would want to see near the place [/in front of him/her] but it will be like a dream for one who has a weak power. “But during very urgent [/stressful], one can occasionally see it.” Nakaba tells him that she learned about it not too long ago so she still doesn’t know much about it. “It seems that you know it in detail.” She thinks that even Loki didn’t tell her about the power in detail. Ajilu proposes that compared to reading all those books for research, it would be faster for her to just ask him questions. Nakaba smiles and says, “..really, you’re really amazing.” Ajilu stares at her and says, “You really have such a sincere personality. But thanks to your monkey-like hair, you made me forget that I hate girls.” Touching her hair, she says that it seems to be a good thing. Ajilu asks which one does she belong to – strong power or weak one. “I still want you to help me see Ritanaire’s future.” The two look at each other when Loki suddenly opens the door and shouts for Nakaba. He is apparently looking for her.

Loki quickly goes in front of Nakaba and asks her why she is in that place and with this person. Caesar also appears and says that it seems that she is there. He quickly grabs her hand and pulls her. He says that they are going back. Before they leave, Ajilu says, “Ah..—Princess..if there is something else you want to know, just come and ask me.” He starts saying this trademark ‘ah-ah’ when Caesar and Loki are glaring at him. Nakaba thinks that she does want to know more about her power. In her room, the two guys confronted her about what she did. Nakaba apologizes and says that there are just some things that she wanted to ask Ajilu. Caesar looks away then angrily pouts. He turns toward her and asks her if she plans to go to that guy’s country and that is why she told him ‘temporarily’ [/wait]. Nakaba tries to protest that isn’t true and she was serious about it. To her surprise, Caesar kisses her. After the kiss, she exclaims what he is doing. Caesar tells her that he already told her not to go near Ajilu. Loki just quietly looks at them. Caesar turns around and addresses Loki as a slave to take his leave. This surprises Nakaba. [I guess she forgot he was there, too or regarding how Caesar addressed Loki.] Loki just tells Caesar that he couldn’t leave Nakaba’s side. Caesar tells Loki to take good care of Nakaba for he needs to leave the castle for a while. Pointing at Loki, Caesar says, “You better take good care of Nakaba.” Loki just replies, “I don’t need to be ordered by you.” Before leaving, Caesar says that he’ll come back tomorrow. Loki somewhat smiles and asks Nakaba if she wants some tea. Loki serves her tea then he says that he heard that boy is a prince of Ritanaire and what does she want to ask that person. Taking her cup of tea, she apologizes to him and says that Ajilu knows that she can use the ‘Time’s Arcana’. “And it seems that he is quite knowledgeable about it, so I..” Nakaba thinks that she wants to know more about how to use that power. Loki says that it is unnecessary. Nakaba looks surprised at Loki who turns his back on her and walks away. She stands up and exclaims why, for it is such a great power and surely, it will be of some help. Loki tries to tell her something about that power but looking at Nakaba’s flustered face, he turns away and says that she’ll definitely regret it. [with Caesar or asking Ajilu or using the Arcana?] Nakaba asks what he meant by that and if Loki told her about it then she won’t go and ask Ajilu about it anymore.

Nakaba calls out to Loki again. Loki then asks her what she talked about with Caesar. This made Nakaba surprised. Loki turns around and asks about that ‘temporarily’ meant and what does that time limit refer to. He also asks if she still has feelings.. Flustered, Nakaba shouts his name to make him stop talking. Nakaba asks, “Why..why do things turned out this way..became like this?! When I’m with Loki, it causes me great pain! Loki..I don’t understand.” Nakaba feels that he’s quite far from her. Loki glances at her and looks away. He says, “So that’s what it is, I also couldn’t leave Princess Nakaba’s side,..but..” Gesturing to his chest, with a sad look, he says, “I’m the same, too.” (-also hurting..) Nakaba is stunned-sad by this. She realizes that what she just said had hurt him when Loki was obviously, always following her and staying close to her compared to anyone else. She apologizes to him. Loki hears the door creak so he turns around to see Nakaba heading out the room. She thinks that when he said it was ‘unnecessary’ and turned his back on her, it seems like a refusal that had severely shocked her. Loki follows her as Nakaba is walking at the hallway. Loki grabs her arm and tells her to wait. “You shouldn’t go out, if the soldiers find you..let’s go back!” They were surprised when someone exclaims. They turn around to see Louise with her attendants. Nakaba recognizes Louise. Louise asks, “Princess, shouldn’t you be in confinement? Such a shabby-looking hair.” Nakaba and Loki look displeased with her comment. Louise continues, “It’s because of you..that Caesar’s perfectly black hair has become short..if only you aren’t here..” Nakaba replies, “Caesar..he himself was the one who cut his hair.” This flustered Louise that she exclaims that she totally hasn’t reflected [about what had happened]! Quickly call the soldiers, lock her up in prison!” Soon, the two are escorted away by the soldiers. Ajilu is watching them from behind the pillar. The soldiers push Nakaba down in the prison along with Loki. Louise says that Caesar, who has an official business today, isn’t here until night fall so until then, she can just wait in the prison and do some reflection. “..you’re the one at fault..because you stole away, Caesar-sama..”

After they left, Nakaba apologizes to Loki since it is because of her [that they are locked up]. Loki tries to comfort her by saying that isn’t true, because before, he doesn’t want her to encounter such thing but right now, since she is locked up here, it will be best to be good and just wait there. “..but, it smells moldy here, is it okay?” Nakaba thinks that at this time, Loki is still nice as before. “I wish to return to that time when I don’t know anything..” She looks at her hand and notices that she is wounded by a stone [when she was pushed down]. Her eyes start to react upon seeing blood. She sees her mother handling a pendant/necklace to young Loki and told him to bring it along as they go to the castle at the capital to see the king where her father is. Flashback: At the cave, young Loki tried to tell Nakaba about what happened to her mother but he ended up crying out loud. After Loki has calmed down, he takes Nakaba and did as Titania told him. They headed to the capital. Older Nakaba felt pain and sorrow. She wonders if it is Loki’s feelings. At the castle, a soldier called out to young Loki and asked what he, a half-human, doing at the castle. Surprised, Loki showed him the pendant. The soldier asked what it is and it’s a good-looking toy. Holding the pendant, the soldier asked if it is a tribute. Loki asked him to give it to the king. The soldier just said okay as he headed in the castle. Loki shouted for him to please tell the king that Titania’s child has come back. At the royal throne room, Loki prostrated down to the king. The king asked if that child is Titania’s child. Loki said yes. The king looked at young Nakaba. He said that it is totally like that man’s red hair. “But..I never thought that she would be unexpectedly killed by Belquat’s army troops. In fact, I had told her that it is unlucky to be with that man..” Later on, the two are escorted by the soldiers. Loki overheard some maids are gossiping about Nakaba as the child of Titania and some man after she eloped ten years ago. “..It’s really red hair..” Sad Loki held Nakaba tight and covered her ears. The soldiers led them to a room and told them that from today on, they will be staying there. They cannot just go out of the room without permission and if they need anything, they are to inform the servants. Loki is surprised to see that the room is small – has only one window, one bed and one chair. The place is really dusty and the furnishing is totally different from a dignified castle. “It’s like a concealed room. From now on, this child will be brought up this way..that king won’t love this child, right?” Young Nakaba happily held out her hand and asked, “Loki?” Teary eyed, Loki thought that she is warm like the sun, like her mother. Holding her tight, Loki exclaimed, “Then, I’ll come and love you. Cute and pitiful, my princess. I will protect you!” End flashback. Nakaba wakes up to find herself crying and lying down on the ground. Holding her face, Loki asks her if it is the arcana and if she is alright. Loki slightly smiles at her. While sitting up, Nakaba thinks, “Loki should also be lonely. Then, how much loneliness and pressure had he bore at such a young age? But nevertheless, he always still dotes on me.” Loki is surprised when Nakaba starts calling his name repeatedly.

It seems that Nakaba has a bad habit of rushing things that she ends up into more trouble than she bargained for. I guess it is because she wants to be of help immediately and in order to do this, she needs to learn to use her power. She isn’t lucky the third time she left the room. It turns out that Louise has an ax to grind against Nakaba. She looks down at Nakaba and ends up being told like that by Nakaba. Hm..not sure if it is wise to speak up like that or it’s better to just be quiet so that there will be no trouble. I think it is also because she is jealous of Nakaba that Caesar loves her to the point of cutting his black hair, which symbolizes his status, just for Nakaba. Louise can’t blame Nakaba because after all, she did plan to two-time with Caesar but then, Caesar doesn’t seem to want to play second-fiddle to his brother. I wonder if she also looks down at Cain because his hair isn’t black. Also, Caesar told Nakaba that he can wait but not very long so probably, he is tired of waiting for Louise. But then, it is useless to threaten that to Nakaba because she will always have Loki by her side. Hehe, Caesar is something to kiss Nakaba in front of Loki. I guess Loki doesn’t threaten him that much anymore after what happened in the hair-cutting incident. I think both guys know that they are rivals for Nakaba. I can feel the tension when they confront each other about protecting Nakaba. I’m still unsure if Loki loves Nakaba romantically. He does seem to be very protective of Nakaba especially against Caesar or royalty which I think is because of the past. He discriminates them for the hardships that Nakaba has experienced and probably everything else. I wonder if deep down inside, he regretted bringing her to the castle. That could be part of the reason why he swore to be the one who’ll love and protect her. It is true that they seem to be drifting apart because Nakaba has fallen in love with the ‘enemy’. Of course, Nakaba has a hard time telling everything to Loki because she knows that Loki hates royalty. She is also conflicted since she doesn’t want to be ungrateful towards Loki who had brought her up. I’m thinking that if it isn’t romantic love, Loki could be like a ‘brother’ who disapproves of his ‘sister’s suitor =P What he is doing seems to be just like what Nakaba’s grandfather has done with her mother before. Hm..it is indeed hard to decide whether to follow the wishes of the one who brought one up or to follow one’s heart. For her to see that past, I guess she will more appreciative of what Loki has done for her all this time and no matter what, he’ll be the one who will be there for her since he has already ‘proven and tested’. I’m curious why Loki didn’t consider using Nakaba’s power for his rebellion. Is it because he doesn’t want to use her and get her into trouble? I wonder though if there is some ‘backlash’ if one uses the arcana that Loki doesn’t want to inform Nakaba about it. Well, if there is one, he should have told her so I’m guessing that the reason why he said it is unnecessary is probably because he doesn’t trust humans especially royalty. Ajilu does have an ulterior motive. So, what will happen next? I wonder if Nakaba will agree with Ajilu’s proposal of knowledge in exchange for her help. Will they runaway to his country? If so, will Caesar be with them or it will be a case of Caesar always chasing after them? I think if Caesar knows what Louise did, Louise will really regret it. Oh, I wonder if Caesar going to an official business is related to what he learned about the trade between his country and Ritanaire. Since he wanted to become king now, he does need to know more about what’s going on in his country.

Quote of the day:
Preconceived notions are the locks on the door to wisdom. ~ Merry Browne

Kurobara Alice [Chapters 6-7]
Monday, December 7, 2009

[Sorry, change of plans regarding ‘schedule of summaries’ that I mentioned earlier but I got to get this out of my head. ^^; (Edit: Ah..tentative schedule: Reimei no Aracana 9-10 and Stardust★Wink 10-11. Double chapters to make it up to those who were waiting for these series ^^ I hope to at least finish these two series for the week.)]

I checked out a series that spi684 of BW has been uploading in a marathon-ish way. The title is Kurobara/Black Rose Alice. It seems to be an interesting period drama based on the first chapter. Then, I read that it is about vampires but my Chinese reading ‘powers’ is limited when it comes to more difficult genre especially with foreign terms so I just checked if there is an English scanlation of it. =P Luckily, there is one ^^ It turns out to be really good though it can be a bit gory at times in somewhat the level of Bleach or Kuroshitsuji though and mature themed. The story is about an upcoming famous singer, Dimitri who can’t have the girl he likes because of his status and well, she is the fiancee of his ‘best friend’/‘brother’. Then, his life changed when he turned into a vampire. And, everything spiraled down and ended in a tragedy. That is the first arc. Here, he somewhat reminds me of Angus from The One since he is ‘used/sold’ by his family, he’s talented, ladies’ man, etc. Of course, he also somewhat reminded me of Zero from Vampire Knight. Hehe, since it is somewhat like a love triangle so I just imagine that this is like Vampire Knight Afterwards, wherein that series ended tragically and Zero lives on. =P As for the second arc, it is about a high school teacher in modern day Japan who plays the piano and has a ‘forbidden’ love too because she likes her student who has fallen hard for her. Because of an accident, Azusa made a deal with Dimitri to give her soul to him. He will use her soul to ‘revive’ the lifeless body of the woman he loves and in exchange, he will ‘revive’ her student lover. I think there are a lot of similarities and ‘coincidences’ between Dimitri and Azusa that I’m curious how will things turn out between those two -> when they become a couple especially since he sings and she plays the piano, for her to think he’s an angel, they are really ‘desperate’ when the one they love are in danger, etc. At first, I thought it was some sort of reincarnation ^^;

The art is pretty good and I like the theme of the plot which attracted me to the series. The characters are quite likeable and I think that Azusa will find herself in a ‘reverse harem’ situation. =P I find the author’s idea of a vampire quite interesting since instead of bats and wolves, it is more on insects. Even the bite mark is like a butterfly tattoo. The way how one sucks blood is also different. My slight problems with the series are 1.) I find the ‘breeding’ stuff somewhat boring and odd but then, I guess that is for the ‘tragic, angst, sad’ stuff = how a vampire dies and death if one makes love. Acutally, when it was all explained to Dimitri, it seems quite boring in chapter 2. ^^; I get to appreciate it later on as to how it will contribute to the story. 2.) The pacing is somewhat slow. I find some scenes between Azusa and her lover to be quite unnecessary like, okay, I know they love each other already and she’s trying to hid her feelings since she’s an ‘adult’ so wake her up already =P Good thing that I found this series at this time to see that part. Anyway, I love Dimitri’s reaction after she finally woke up. It’s really heart wrenching. It made me wonder if it will be a love triangle later on with Dimitri, Azusa, and Kyoya wherein Dimitri likes the ‘body’ while Kyoya likes the soul =P Whatever and however things will turn out will be very interesting. I made a mistake of reading this at night because I can’t get it off my mind and I kept on thinking, “Where’s the rest..where’s the rest of the chapters?!” Lol Well, I recommend this to people who like vampire stories and toss in with the angst which usually goes along with it thought there are some mature content and it is quite dark. Of course, you might need some patience since this is scanlated in English by the volumes instead of monthly updated chapters. Scans by動漫花園S組

Chapter 6: Based on ‘browsing’ [not really detailed reading] the available Chinese scans, Azusa is totally shock by her new appearance. While the guys are talking and Dimitri assuring the others that Azusa can quickly adapt to the situation since she isn’t stupid, Azusa comes out to greet them. Hehe, even Dimitri looks surprise at how cute she looks in an outfit that Leo chose. ^^ They introduce themselves and Dimitri briefs her about what happened to her original body and what happened before she is in that ‘new’ body. They aren’t intent on telling her just yet why she is there. Dimitri tells her to rest first to calm herself down. Azusa refuses to eat and leaves..only to return afterwards because she forgot how to go back to her room =P [Hehe, she’s cute in a certain way] Leo walks her back but she is still quite ‘antisocial’ with him. In the room, she regrets for her lack of manners for all the things they did – preparing food, clothes and bringing her cat. Then, a long talk between the guys how to deal with the situation but they decided to act according to the situation later on. The next day, Azusa still can’t believe that her body has become so ‘beautiful’ and that is her ‘real’ body. She goes out the room to see spiders and ants walking in a room. She is shock to see the insects going in the twins’ mouth. Before she could scream, Leo covers her mouth. He tells her about not screaming nor start to avoid the twins else they will be very hurt even if they aren’t humans. Dimitri passes by and decides to explain everything to her about being vampires, the insects, and the need to breed using a female human body. Smiling, Dimitri says that they need her help on this. The twins are all there, too by now. Azusa looks terribly frightened but she asks to see Kouya first before finally doing as they had agreed. Dimitri looks displeased at first but then, he obliges with her request. He tells her to wear something warmer first since it is cold outside. When she left, Leo isn’t keen on this but Dimitri assures him that it will be fine since he could also use Kouya as hostage and this can make Azusa realize that this is all reality.

Chapter 7:So after dressing up, Dimitri accompanies Azusa outside. She passes by the gate and sees the name plate, ‘Izumi Koji’ which I think the name Dimitri uses while in Japan. Azusa seems surprised that they are in Shibuya since that house seems quite ‘old country type’. Dimitri led her to a restaurant where Azusa drinks tea/coffee. She seems uneasy that Dimitri keeps on looking at her so she asks him if that body is his lover. Dimitri denies it and asks why she asked. She says that it is nothing but she thinks that it is because he looks at her in a special way. Dimitri tells her that her body belongs to a princess from Vienna, his childhood friend and his best friend’s fiancee. She asks if she is also a vampire. He says she isn’t but rather because of the seed inside her, she has become ‘immortal and young’. Looking somewhat sad, he tells her that he has already lived a 100 years that he’s currently 126 years old. He is 10 years older than Agnieska and something about their distant feelings. Azusa asks about the ‘rose’ ring on her left ring finger, if it is an engagement ring and she can’t remove it. Dimitri says that ring came out of her body when it could be proof of being ‘engaged’ to the ‘vampires’. He comments that it is a pity that she is scared of them since insects live inside them for them to exist. He is taken aback when she asks him for how long is he living in Japan since his Japanese is very smooth especially how he says things. Dimitri blushes a bit then tells her that he lived there for 28 years and most of it is self-taught though it is through the use of ‘other means/methods’. Azusa asks if that is how he saved Kouya. He tells her about how the insects revived Kouya. Azusa becomes tense. While Dimitri is somewhat threatening her to fulfill her promise else Kouya will get it, Azusa has looked out the window. There she sees Kouya walking with a girl. The girl is trying to comfort Kouya and tells him to stop being gloomy else Azusa won’t be happy because of it, and everyone are worried about him. Kouya has a ‘dead’ look on his face. Azusa calls out his name as he passes by the overpass with the other girl chasing after him, trying to talk some sense to him. Azusa then cries. Dimitri is about to touch her to comfort her but he stops when Azusa says that she will do whatever they say as their agreement since Kouya continues to live, he will find happiness with someone else when he grows up and she’s satisfied with that.

At home, the guys are totally shock when Azusa asks what happens next, when they are going to start and isn’t she going to make love to make children. “After all, you guys saved Kouya, and what’s the big deal of making love with a corpse. Okay, who’s first?!” [Lol, that’s a good one, Azusa] The twins were shock by what she just said. Leo nervously tries to tell her that isn’t so. Dimitri says that he is happy that she is quite enthusiastic about this but she has misunderstood things. Azusa is furious and embarrassed since they seem to have implied that before. She imagines them as wolves and she is the lone Red Riding Hood. Dimitri explains that if she makes love, both she and her mate will die so she will make love with only one person. Dimitri wants her to do it with the one, among them, whom she really likes. Azusa asks if she can do that since the one she chose will die. The other three seems okay with it thought they are seem nervous. She asks them why they are okay with it when she’s a complete stranger and is it because she’s beautiful, they are only attracted by her outside appearance. The guys are stunned again. Azusa then exclaims she didn’t mean her but that body. Dimitri looks really amused as he says that if she doesn’t really like any of them then she doesn’t need that right to choose and she can live on with that beautiful attitude of hers. [Not too sure about that line] The guys are stunned again when Azusa declares, “Then, I choose you, Dimitri. I’ve decided to choose you since you did save Kouya.” Azusa is shock when Dimitri declines. “!! One can also refuse?” Dimitri explains that isn’t what he meant but he doesn’t want her to choose based on that reason and he really wants her to choose carefully among them whom she thinks is the best vampire and would be the best to carry on the heir since there aren’t many of them anymore. Dimitri is giving her ‘power’ as the queen of this ‘nest’. They are there to serve her. [If you know your insect kingdom, it basically seems like a bee, termite, or ant society.] Azusa asks if they did all that nice things for that reason. Dimitri tries to say that he didn’t do anything but Leo says that he brought the cat. She then thanks them and apologizes for her behavior earlier. Dimitri asserts to her the importance of love because if there is loath and hatred, the race will just self-destruct. If she doesn’t deeply love that vampire, she won’t be pregnant with a fine breed/offspring and that won’t be good. With a smile, Dimitri tells her that this will need a lot of time so there is no need for her to hurry and until she decides, they will wait for her. He says that it might be troublesome for her since she regards them as strange creatures.

Azusa tells them that she can get used to the insects and she understands this important responsibility so she will do her best to help them. Everyone is pleased to hear that. She says that because they told her that she can order them, so this is her first wish. “I want you guys to help give me a name. I can’t use Azusa anymore because I would start my life anew so I want a new name.” They mentioned that the owner of the body is named Agnieska and since her cat is named Cheshire, they decided to call her Alice. Azusa likes the name and thanks them. That night, Dimitri is looking out the window and remembers crying Agnieska. Dimitri comes down and is surprise to see that Leo is preparing to cut Alice’s hair. Leo tells him that they are only going to cut the bangs. Seeing Dimitri looking somewhat stunned, Leo asks if they can’t cut it. Dimitri says that it’s okay. Dimitri looks as the scissors are poised to cut but he turns away when the hair is finally cut. Then, Alice narrates her situation as queen of these four vampires [plant/tree in Chinese]. She observes and probes them every day to choose the best male until the time she finally loves one of them but she thinks that perhaps, she doesn’t want to fall in love again. In some room, Dimitri and Leo are talking. Leo is relieved that Alice has accepted everything. Dimitri admits that he plans to threaten to kill Kouya in case she refuses but it’s good that he doesn’t have to do that. He did plan to act as the bad guy. Leo says that if he threatened her, Alice would have hated vampires. Dimitri tells him that she will hate only him since he is the only one who has the power to easily kill people. He’ll leave it to the three of them for them to gain Alice’s trust and love. After a pause, Leo asks if Dimitri still couldn’t forget Agnieska and it is because he treasures her that he still ‘won’t touch her’ and it’s also because that he deeply loves Agnieska. Dimitri denies it by saying that it is absurd since that incident happened 100 years ago. He adds that even if what Leo said is true, he [Dimitri] also doesn’t have the qualification to love her. Dimitri changes the topic by asking how his progress of ‘taking Alice’s heart’ is going. Leo says that he finds her interesting and cute for showing all sorts of expressions when she used to just sleep before. Leo says that it seems that Dimitri couldn’t forget Agnieska but contrary to what he thinks, Dimitri might come to like Alice more and doesn’t he start to feel regret that he gave Alice to them. Dimitri asks if Leo is trying to provoke him. He pulls open Leo’s shirt then let go. Leo looks tense as he pulls his shirt close. [Something from Leo’s past? Whatever is on his chest?] Dimitri says that he wrote half of this play for him and he [Dimitri] will be quite troubled if Leo didn’t perform well to attain their wish. After a pause, Dimitri says, “I understand..”

I guess that ends the prologue of this series and it is finally known why the title mentioned ‘Alice’. It confirms to me that this is a indeed a ‘reverse harem’ story wherein the lead goes into a ‘wonderland of good looking guys’ and she gets to choose one guy =P Everything is very different here to give a sense of ‘something new’. I’m actually not looking forward to the ‘end’ because it would mean ‘death’. I do hope there would be some sort of miracle for them to enjoy their lives happily ever after forever but then, everything seems to be dark and tragic so it seems unlikely. The author balances it well with the occasional funny stuff. I do like the heart wrenching scenes since I really feel pain about what the characters are going through. Hehe..Azusa is very observant since she realizes that Dimitri loves that 'body'. Dimitri is actually just evading the question and too bad Azusa didn't pick it up that even as he narrate the owner of that body, she might not be his lover but then, he loves her =P It seems that there is no need to threaten Azusa regarding 'killing' Kouya if she doesn't agree to the breeding. She is a woman of her word. Given her wish that he can move on especially since he is still young, it is inevitable that she will keep her promise. I think Azusa has no qualms about dying though, after all, she is satisfied with the fact that Kouya is alive and will probably move on. They are totally nice with her though I also tend to think that Dimitri is just giving Alice a false sense of security and ‘be at ease’ by making her ‘queen’ because after all, he is the one who controls everything. It's also amusing that she chose Dimitri and he refused because of his trauma regarding what happened before. He doesn't seem to want to fall in love again and probably just by looking at that body reminds him of his sins. He does say it in a nice way wherein she can choose anyone of them and love before breeding for a 'good seed'. I think it's for the good of the others and Azusa since at least the feelings are mutual and they can die happy. It does seem that Dimitri is going to carry his burden till eternity because if he let her choose him, then, it will be finally be over..his suffering, etc.

Even if it seems that Leo is provoking Dimitri, I think he is just concerned about Dimitri who can't move on regarding his first love. Hm..it made me wonder if Kouya will also become like Dimitri but then, Dimitri's trauma is much graver..suicide rather than have H with him can be quite a blow for him. I guess that is part of the reason why is partly denying that he ever loved that woman. Too bad, Leo is 'forcing it too much' that it made Dimitri angry. Dimitri is trying to deny things to himself but if Leo tries to pry too much, it backfired on him. I wonder why opening his shirt had frightened Leo too much. Good thinking for the author to keep the readers curious about it = cliffhanger. It also does seem that Dimitri and others are still hiding something. Hm..they seemed desperate to breed earlier but now, they are making her take her time to choose, love and breed. I guess they are more concerned about the lifeforce and time they had 'wasted' if she disagrees to their proposition. I think time will indeed make Dimitri break down his 'defense' since one way or the other, that 'living body' as well as Azusa's likeable personality will arouse the emotions that he is trying to suppress. It also seems that Dimitri hasn't moved on with his past while hasn't Azusa but then, maybe Azusa hasn't really because she doesn't seem inclined to fall in love again. Maybe the rest of the story is also how they are 'healed' each other and move on but then, it isn't comforting that if they do fall in love, it will eventually lead to death ^^; Somehow, I hoped that there would be some sort of miracle wherein they can breed and not die -> live happily together forever. Anyway, I’m curious where the series will lead to afterwards and hopefully, the Chinese scans would update this more regularly because based on the scans, that chapter 7 is from March issue of Princess magazine. ^^;

Quote of the day:
Life is about making the right decisions and moving on. ~ Josh