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I usually write about the manga that I'm currently reading. At times, I write about the anime/tv shows I watched and the PS2 games I played. 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:
Vampire Knight picture is from BW. Quote is by Josh Billings. Edited in Photoshop CS2. The background is from GRSites. Gin-san of Gintama is a screecap from piyopiyo2006 in Youtube, and 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. Kanojo wa Uso wo Aishisugiteru pic in latest entries is by spi684 for BW.

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V.B. Rose

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Past Dreams:
2009

01/20/03 - 02/20/03

Blog by pitas

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Manga pics from
Sky-fire, Iibq Iieye, 17kk, hrcomic, 89890& BW Forum.

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

Akuma to Love Song [Chapters 45-49]
Wednesday, July 1, 2009

At school, Tomoyo learns about Maria and the others’ plan to have a live performance. Maria says that they really don’t have such plans but was forced to by the music teacher. Tomoyo then asks when they formed a group. Maria asks if she wants to join. [I can’t read what the two talked about but I guess Tomoyo will join but she is responsible for some unimportant thing or something] Yuusuke says that they should try out street singing for maybe that will widen Maria’s perspective/world and most probably that is what Shougo is thinking. Maria tells him that teacher isn’t as pure as him. This made Yuusuke blush. Maria says they shouldn’t have anything to do with that teacher. Tomoyo says that it is quite rare for Maria to be taking the initiative to ‘reject’ a person. Maria says no but she is just thinking that he isn’t good to deal with. Tomoyo says that her expression just now shows that she doesn’t want to have anything to do with that guy. Yuusuke says that is proof that she is really bothered by it. This surprises Maria and she starts to think. Yuusuke asks if he just make her more conscious of it. Maria remembers Shougo telling her about moving people’s heart using a technique. Maria thinks that man makes her feel afraid. Maria then goes near the stairs to ask Shin’s opinion about Shougo. Reading a book, Shin tells her that Shougo is an ordinary person. Maria asks if there is anything else like he’s scary when he gets angry. Shin says that Shougo never gets angry and he can say that if he continues on doing what he wants, Shougo will just be unhappy about it. Maria says that isn’t what she meant. Shin asks if she is interested in that guy. Maria tells him that Shougo suggested that they perform/sing at the streets. She says that she doesn’t find Shougo interesting and she doesn’t have any special feelings for him. Maria thinks that she is stupid for explaining it to Shin when he doesn’t even care about it. Shin looks a bit sad and tells her that it is best that she gives up on street singing. To Maria’s dismay, Shin doesn’t approve of it because he thinks that it is better not to do something that will attract attention and since it is against the law[?], they might be caught by the police. He says that it is dangerous and he thinks it is much better if it is a music class performance. He adds that in the streets, people will stare and what will happen if she is alone and she got into trouble. Maria asks why he is saying those negative things and not of the good things since it can help expand one’s world. She is surprised when Shin suddenly snaps that it is okay not to expand one’s world. Shin then apologizes and says that he only.. He is surprised-sad when Maria says that what he is saying is contrary to what Yuusuke said. She then apologizes for comparing the two of them but she still wants to try out street singing. She quickly leaves as Shin tries to call her. In the end, Shin can only sulk and curse.

Maria thinks about Yuusuke who likes her. He is sociable, bright, cute, etc yet she kept on thinking about how different he is from Shin that it makes her angry. At the streets, Yuusuke calls out to Maria and asks why she changed her mind and they’ll just watch street singing. Maria just says that her character is odd. Yuusuke laughs and says that she’s so honest. Yuusuke then tells Maria to look at those. Maria sees the crowd is forming around a band while at the other side, no one is listening to a solo performer. Yuusuke says that street singing’s reception can be cold like that and it enables one to know the competition’s performance [or strength to attract the crowd]. He tells her that it can’t be helped that the band has more audience because that band is singing love songs which the people like and get attracted to. Shougo is walking by and sees them. He hugs Maria and asks if she wants to go street singing. This surprises Maria that she quickly pulls away from him. With some cold sweat, Maria shouts for him to let her go. Yuusuke notices that Maria is shaking. Shougo apologizes and comments that the solo singer is pitiful since no one is listening to him and there are others who are scolding him to quit singing. He says that if Anna’s own composition is treated like that, she would have been pretty shock and from his point of view, the way for people to accept the song is.. Maria asks if he is going to say technique again. Shougo tells her not to look at him so scary like that since technique is very important. In everything, there is a kind of truth and why feelings vary also has reasons. Maria protests that from what she’s hearing, it seems that he is saying that although there is no feeling, just use some intelligence and one can also move the other person. Yuusuke tries to tell Maria that Shougo didn’t say that. Maria tells Shougo that she wants to know what technique she used during choir competition. “When everyone rushed to my side, isn’t it because my feelings were conveyed to them?” Shougo asks didn’t she realize how she conveyed those feelings. He changes the topic by saying that things are heated now because the fans of the band have thrown eggs at the solo performer. They were telling the singer to leave. Maria goes to the singer and gives him her handkerchief. The singer thanks her. He tells her that this always happened because his songs are old fashioned. He wonders out loud if he should make it ‘gorgeous’ a bit since right now, no one would listen to it. Maria asks if she can sing with him. The others are surprised. Maria says that just now, she has learned the song and she thinks that it isn’t bad.

The singer tells her she can and tries to show the music sheets to her. Maria tells Shougo that she will sing this song for the first time so there shouldn’t be any technique to it and if it is filled with feelings, surely people will come and listen. Anna has arrived and overhears this. Shougo tells her to go ahead and try it. Maria asks permission from the singer again who lets her. Maria says that if they sing together, his uneasiness and lack of confidence will decrease. “I will do my very best to convey the feelings that you would want others to hear.” This somewhat irks/darken Anna’s mood. The singer asks how Maria knew he lacks of confidence. Maria says that she knows it just from hearing his voice. Just when Maria is about to say that they will sing together, she turns around to see Anna rushing to her and quickly covering her mouth. Anna kept on doing that she already pushed Maria down on the street. Maria tries to ask her what is it and doesn’t she want her to sing. “Why? What is it? Calm down.” Anna just kept on shaking her head. Everyone is looking at the commotion and Shin who is walking by has also seen the scene. Shin approaches them and asks Yuusuke what happened. Yuusuke says that there’s something wrong with Anna. Maria exclaims to Anna to let her go since she doesn’t know what she is trying to say. Anna lets her go and quickly grabs her notebook from her bag. She starts to write. “Maria, you want to repeat that thing again? Although it’s singing, substituting someone else in conveying to the others one’s feelings, that person won’t be happy. Whose words are you going to snatch away again?” Maria and the singer look flustered. Maria apologizes and says that she won’t casually do that but she would want to hear Anna’s true words. “I want to bring out what you are thinking and tell it to everyone else.” Anna writes that she heard about it from Shin that Maria wants all of her [Anna] feelings to be brought out and using lyrics to do that. Maria is reading what she is writing. “I’ll write it okay. The title of the song is...” Anna grabs the paper and puts it in front of Maria’s face. Maria is stunned. On the paper, Anna wrote, “I want to sing!” Maria is really flustered as crying Anna ‘mouths what she says’, “Hey, sing. Weren’t you going to substitute me in singing? Quickly sing.”

Anna then cries with her face on the ground. Maria holds out her hand to touch Anna but in the end, she just pulls her hand away. Maria thinks, “Want to sing. Want to say something. Want to convey. These are the things that she definitely wants herself to be the one to do. I obviously wanted to help Anna, yet I don’t have any strength to lighten her inner heart’s burden. I can’t even support her. I can’t do anything for her.” Anna then stands up and runs away. Yuusuke shouts her name. Shin tries to call Maria’s name but stops mid-way. While some other girls are talking if Anna has a mental illness, Maria tells Shin to go and stay by Anna’s side. Shin says, “..I..right now, I want to be by your side.” After a pause, Maria says, “But right now, Anna is all alone.’ Shin tries to protest but Maria says, “Please. Please..” Shin asks if he did that, would she be at ease. Maria says yes. He turns around and nods to Yuusuke [I’ll leave it up to you] before running off. Yuusuke holds out his hand to Maria and asks if she can stand. Yuusuke apologizes to the singer and walks away with Maria. Shougo laments that Maria left without singing when it isn’t easy to find a song for Maria to like. Shougo looks at the singer’s music sheet and says that it isn’t bad and it just needs some re-arrangement at some parts. The singer says that he wants to convey it himself and perhaps right now, his singing sucks but he will practice and later on, he’ll definitely.. Shougo says that it is impossible because voice is God’s gift and he doesn’t have it. The singer asks if his singing really sucks. Shougo tells him that if he heard that girl’s [Maria] voice, he will feel that he’s an idiot with his own singing. Shougo returns the music sheet and tells him not to give up easily either. Shougo laments that he didn’t expect Anna to spoil everything when he really wanted to hear it – hear that girl [Maria] taking away the feelings of what someone else would want to convey. The singer just looks at Shougo who is holding his hands up and looking at the sky. [It made me think if Shougo is a weirdo ^^;] At the music school, Anna is playing the piano with one finger. Shin enters the room and asks if that is the 9th..no, Ode to Joy, the song that she and Maria first sang. Anna presses a key. Shin tells her to stop being stubborn for he went to St. Katria and talked with Sarah. He says that he also learned things regarding Anna from that sister Sarah, too. Anna continues to press the piano keys. Shin says that everything regarding Maria [what she did] in St. Katria had something to do with Anna. Anna has come back to her home country and stayed at St. Katria’s dorm since her first year in junior high. Living separately from her who are living abroad. The scope of her activities is just limited within St. Katria. Later on, she lost her voice then because of too much pain, she tried to commit suicide. “So, that girl took the initiative to talk in place of you as her duty so that she’ll always be with you. You..should be a bit more honest..” Anna slams the piano keys and cries.

At home, Maria looks at the paper that has ‘I want to sing’ written on it. She wonders why it is that everything she wants to do something for someone, it doesn’t go smoothly. Her cellphone rings and it is Yuusuke who called, like always, to chat with her before she goes to sleep. She thinks that if she is like Yuusuke, maybe she can make Anna happy. In school, Maria looks up and sees Shin. Shin touches her forehead and says that she looks awful and her eyes look ‘bad/evil’ so she should sleep well. Maria says that he has no right to tell her that because he should worry about himself being of thought as ‘evil’ [by others]. Leaving, Maria thinks that if she has Shin’s tolerance, maybe she can give some support to Anna. Tomoyo happily tells Maria making an outfit for Maria for their music group. Maria thinks that if she is as passionate as Tomoyo, maybe she can somehow lighten Anna’s feelings. Maria apologizes to Tomoyo since she hasn’t been going to the music class. Maria is depressed that she wasn’t of any help to Anna. Soon, it is PE class. Maria thinks she is wrong, for what she has been doing to Anna is -- she remembers Anna asking whose words Maria is going to take way. Then, Maria’s face is hit by the volleyball. Tomoyo asks if she is okay but Maria just says that she is while covering her face with her hands. Tomoyo and Yuusuke are worried about her. She goes to the roof and didn’t know that Shin is sitting behind that structure which ‘houses’ the stairs. Maria thinks that she didn’t help Anna and even stole her words. She sadly thinks that she can’t help Anna and her existence even caused pain to Anna. They were really happy when they sang together for the first time but Anna lost her voice. She starts to sing ode to joy then stops when she remembers that Anna wants to sing. She ends up crying and thinks that it is over, she can’t see Anna again. Shin is just looking sad while just watching her. Later on, Maria goes back to class and Yuusuke, together with Tomoyo, tells her that it is study music class day and they should go since it has been a long time since they went. Maria says that she isn’t going. She apologizes that the band/group has also dissolved and she is sorry for getting them involved. Yuusuke says that is okay [with him] but it is really okay [with her]. Maria says that even if she doesn’t sing, no one will also be saddened by it. She is surprised when Shin comes in and says, “I like your singing. If singing alone makes you feel lonely, I can conveniently play the accompaniment.” After Shin walks away, Maria looks at Yuusuke who smiles back at her.

They were interrupted when Tomoyo says that she just noticed that there is a pimp-looking guy downstairs. Yuusuke exclaims if that guy is trying to seduce the girls in their school. Maria tries to stop him but when Yuusuke looks out the window, it is just Shougo. They head down and Shougo is somewhat flattered to be thought of as a pimp. Tomoyo exclaims in surprised that he is the music teacher in that school. She apologizes to him. Yuusuke asks why he is there. Shougo says that it is because they aren’t going to the music school so he decided to go and check the situation. Shougo asks if Maria is feeling some sort of guilt or it is his way of teaching. Maria says that it is none of those but rather, she doesn’t want to sing so she didn’t go to the school. Shougo looks serious then breaks out to a smile, telling her that it is okay, she can go there whenever she feels like it because she can’t give up singing. Before he leaves, Maria asks him about Anna. Shougo says that Anna has already given up and he heard that she has quit school in that St. Katria. This surprises Maria that she rushes off to St. Katria and asks some girls about this. They say that it is true and Anna has also left the dorm. Maria asks where she went. The girls say they don’t know for they don’t care for people who leave like that. This made Maria frustrated that she rushes into the school while the girls are shouting that she can’t go in because she is an outsider. She goes into Anna’s room and find it empty except for a cross necklace on the bed. She picks up the necklace and says that it is the same as hers. “Anna has one, too?” So, Anna left, leaving only a necklace the same as hers. At her apartment, Maria looks at it and places it her own necklace on the table. She thinks that she doesn’t know if Anna left it deliberately or not. She doesn’t know of any way to return that necklace back to Anna.

Spring is coming soon so it is constantly raining lately. Because of the weather, Maria is also quite depressed especially things regarding Anna. In class, Yuusuke approaches her and asks what her plans today, is she going to that stall. Maria is puzzled so Yuusuke reminds her about going to that sweet bun stall that she likes so much. Maria remembers that they are going with Tomoyo there. Maria says that there is no need to go since it is raining and the seller might not be there anyway. Yuusuke says that it is okay with him even if the place is away from their houses. Maria says that there is no rush to go and according to the forecast, it will continue on raining tomorrow. Shin is just looking at them. Tomoyo happily says that they will have a marathon in the next PE class and because of the rain, it might just become a self-study session. Maria just tells her that’s regrettable since she is anticipating it. Tomoyo exclaims that she isn’t anticipating it. Maria thinks that the others must have realized that she always thinking of Anna and inside her, she kept on apologizing to Anna. After school, Maria still decided not to go so Maria bids the other two goodbye and left for home. She then reprimands herself for always making the others worried. She also wants to apologize to others for they must have hated her when she is like that. Maria checks her mailbox. She is surprised that she has a letter. She quickly flips the letter and sees that it is from Anna. Her hand is shaking as she opens the letter. She goes to her room and reads the letter. Anna wrote that she decided to disappear and never to keep in touch with her again but Maria will definitely look for her so she left something. She thought that Maria must have definitely has ‘it’ with her so she decided to write a letter. Maria realizes that Anna is talking about the cross necklace. Maria quickly opens the drawer and holds the necklace as she continues reading the letter. [‘’ are what Anna wrote in the letter] ‘Anna is now living with her parents in United States and she thought that maybe she should have done this earlier. She was undecided because she felt that if she left St. Katria, it would seem that she lost to Maria. Both of them are people who hate themselves. After Maria left the school, Sister Sarah also gave her a cross necklace.’ Maria remembers that same nun is the one who gave her that necklace, too. Flashback: Sarah gave Maria the necklace with a prayer that she can gather many people around her. Then, Maria is running in the rain. She thought that even with it, no one could like her even if it’s only Anna. She doesn’t want to believe in it. She tried to throw away her cross necklace but in the end, she didn’t. End flashback. ‘Anna thought that the sister gave it to them because she is worried that they will be all alone. Anna never wore that necklace and she thought that Maria will also not wear it but the first time, she saw Maria again, she was wearing that necklace. Maria has also become the opposite of what she thought Maria become. She is surrounded by many people. She wondered if it is her fault for not believing in it/cross. She wanted the things that Maria had. She’s envious of Maria. Anna can’t accept the current her [Anna]. She didn’t want Maria to know these kind of feelings but Maria is a bad person because in the end, Maria still made her say her true feelings.’

Maria realizes that Anna is referring to her ‘I want to sing’. ‘What Anna doesn’t want to accept is the reality that she cannot change back to what she was before and saying it to someone whom she really doesn’t want to know about it.’ “Maria is really an akuma. Thanks to you, I feel light.” This surprises Maria that she re-read the lines again. “Maria isn’t my friend and I don’t want to spend the whole day with you but..I still wanted to be ‘chained’/bonded with you. Although I’m frustrated, but I feel that Maria is a really great akuma. So, I’m going to leave the cross. Please help me keep under your care for a while. From Anna.” Maria cries and thinks that Anna has always been fighting with herself regarding what she cannot accept. Even during that rain, she is still struggling with all her strength. The next day, at the park, Maria says that it seems she is there. It is the sweet bun seller. Maria says that she is the only stall open even when it is raining. The seller answers back that she is the same since it is raining yet she is going out to buy some. She tells Maria that she is the only nice person who would do that – going there especially at this time, just to buy. In class, Maria brought the sweet buns. She tells Yuusuke and Tomoyo that she went to buy some this morning. Yuusuke cannot believe that the stall is open so early in the morning and it is raining. Maria says that she remembered that woman will be there on rainy days. Maria tells them that during a good day, that woman will close her stall if a black cat passes by her but on rainy days, although there is no single customer, she will still open her stall. And if the rain stops, she will close her stall again. Maria smiles and says, “It seems like she thought that it’s sunny now so she can be at ease and it’s time to momentarily rest. What a strange person.” Yuusuke and Tomoyo are glad that Maria is smiling again. Yuusuke says that woman is very similar with Maria. Tomoyo agrees because Maria tends to do her best more during times of adversity. Yuusuke wonders if that woman was the one who influenced Maria. “You know that she sells the buns during rainy days because you buy the buns during rainy days.” Maria didn’t reply so Yuusuke assumes he guessed right. Yuusuke and Tomoyo ask to have some of the buns. Maria smiles and thinks, “I hope that right now, Anna can also put her feelings at ease and rest for a while.” She goes to the roof and the sun is already shining. Shin goes up the stairs and sees her. He is surprised to see Maria happily singing about a nice day, the bird is singing happily in the forest. Shin blushes and smiles a bit. Narration: “And, hopefully, one day, when we meet again, I’ll give this cross back to Anna.”

In classroom, Maria is holding an eraser and nudging it on Shin’s hand. She tells him that he dropped it. Shin grabs the eraser and thanks her. Maria just looks at Shin who seems to be thinking with his eyes closed. The teacher is telling the students to sit down because the bell rang. The students are still chatting and doing their own thing. He tells them that tomorrow is the first year’s last activity – running a marathon and they shouldn’t think of skipping because it will be impossible. Maria goes to her seat then wonders when did Shin started to avoid her. While everyone is complaining about the marathon, Maria looks back at Shin. Shin notices her and ‘mouths’, “Stu-pid” before looking away from her. Maria blushes and thinks that in normal times, he will say that to her but suddenly, she felt that there is a distance between them. While the teacher is saying that if anyone wants to skip, they should have a medical certificate. Maria wonders if Shin is still bothered about rejecting her. During break, Tomoyo is complaining on Maria’s desk about not wanting to run a marathon especially with a teacher like that. Yuusuke tells her that everyone hates marathons. Maria tells her that one should just run until the end. Tomoyo asks how she could just say that. Maria says that she never ran in a marathon. This surprises Yuusuke and Tomoyo. Yuusuke says that if it’s Maria then that’s possible [that she never ran in one]. Tomoyo says that is true for it was raining before. Ayu and friends tell Maria about running together leisurely because it is quite embarrassing to reach the finish line [first place] alone. Ayu says that they only need to reach the finish line to get a grade. Ayu’s friend says position doesn’t matter. Tomoyo says if it is like that, maybe the marathon will be easier. To their shock, Maria refuses to join because what they said is contradiction. If they don’t care about the position then there is nothing embarrassing if they reached first place. “I will run with all my might.” Ayu angrily shouts that she is just saying her idea. Maria asks then why did she invite her. Ayu shouts at her for not being able to read the mood. Yuusuke plays peacemaker between the two while the other two boys join in with the conversation. Shin is just thinking while probably listening to their conversation.

At the hallway, Maria and Tomoyo are walking together when Shin calls out to Maria. Shin tells Maria not to run the marathon with all her might else she faint. Maria asks if he is worried about her. Shin tries to deny it but Maria tells him that since he is always skipping PE, maybe he’ll be the one who’ll faint. She tries to touch his shoulder but Shin uses his hand to stop her. He just tells her to be careful then he left. While eating out, Maria asks Tomoyo if it had been better if she didn’t confessed to Shin. It is only then Tomoyo realizes that Shin has rejected Maria. She says that she somewhat guessed it since there is no progress between them but looking at Maria who is still acting normal, it didn’t look like she was rejected at all. Maria says that she thinks that it is nothing and right now, it is okay to be friends. Tomoyo says, “Really, but I think, Kawai has just lied just now.” This somewhat surprises Maria that she thought about this at night before she goes to bed. She thinks that Tomoyo has always been observing her and if she is really lying. “Then, the truth, the truth is..is ‘just being friends’ okay [with me], I really never thought about that?” The next day, everyone is in their PE uniform. Yuusuke approaches Maria and tells her that it will start soon. He asks if she has seen Shin. Maria says she didn’t. Yuusuke wonders if Shin skipped it. Maria says that she can’t imagine how Shin would look like in a PE uniform. Yuusuke says that Shin never goes to PE classes so he might not come. They were interrupted when someone asks, “Who’s not coming?” They see Shin holding a bottled water. Yuusuke tells Shin that he doesn’t suit to wear PE uniform. Shin tells him to shut up. Shin drinks from the bottled water and gives it to Maria. He tells her to also drink up else she might faint. Yuusuke then calls out to Shin to go to that other side where the guys will run. Shin leaves. Tomoyo calls out to Maria and says that she is really nervous. She is happy that the distance the girls will run is only half of what the guys will run. Upon seeing that Maria is holding a bottled water, Tomoyo asks if she can drink a bit. Maria pulls the water away from her. Tomoyo asks if she doesn’t want to give her some. She then notices that Maria’s face is beet-red. While the other students are grouping together, Maria thinks that honestly, she doesn’t want to be friends only. “I want him to look at me, concerned about me. [Doing those things] Only to me. I’m really lying [to myself].”

Then, it’s time to run. To everyone’s shock, Maria has run ahead. Yuusuke tries to warn her not to run at full strength at the start. Shin is aghast and angry. Maria thinks that acting as ‘friends only’, has created a distance between them and she has been putting all the blame on Shin. Yuusuke is sweating and breathing hard when they reach Maria. He tells her that she ran too fast and now, she will have a difficult time [at the latter part]. Maria tells him to go ahead and it isn’t that easy to get first place. Yuusuke tries to protest but Maria tells him that she already said that she doesn’t want to run together. She says that she will catch up. Yuusuke finally agrees and tells her to rest if she is feeling unwell. Soon, Ayu and others pass by Maria. Then, Tomoyo passes by her but Maria tells her to go on ahead. Perspiring and breathing hard, Maria thinks that her side hurts and everyone has passed by her. She wonders when Shin will pass by her, too. She says out loud, “..Meguro..” To her surprise, Shin who is behind her asks, “What is it?” She blushes while turning around to him. Shin says that he thought she can run but it turns out, she was just being reckless. Maria asks why. Shin asks why she is asking why, he is just running normally. Maria asks if he is always behind her. Shin denies it and says that it is because she has fallen behind. Maria tries to protest but Shin tells her not to look down on him for he is just not good with endurance activities and there are many times when he is late/slower than Yuusuke. Maria thinks but he isn’t breathing hard or sweating. She remembers him telling her not to run with all her strength else she’ll faint. Shin says that he is tried so he’s going to rest for a while. “Why don’t you be my partner else, it will be quite embarrassing if I’m the only one who finishes last.” Maria thinks he’s lying. Shin sits down. To his surprise, Maria sits beside him with leans on him with her back behind his. Shin is about to say something but Maria tells him not to avoid her and leave. She says, “My side hurts. Lend me your back. There’s no other meaning to it but..but my heart is beating really fast and I’m feeling really happy.” The two are blushing. Shin says, “..Really..just like this..Haha..Isn’t it okay just like this?” This puzzles Maria and asks what he meant by that. Shin replies, “That, right now, my heart is also beating fast. If it’s my back, no matter when, I can lend it to you. Stu-pid.” Maria blushes and is about to say something but Shin says that she should just run slowly so that her side won’t hurt. Holding out her hand to him, Maria says, “Hand..lend me your hand, too for me to hold [or lead me along].” Shin blushes and says that he really can’t help it if it’s her. He holds her hand. The two are running together and soon, Maria is running ahead that Shin sweatdrops and asks if she has recovered. They passed by a junior high male student who is watching them. Maria thinks, “I will not lie to myself anymore. I like Meguro. No matter what happens, I’ll still like Meguro.”

Yay! This series is finally updated..well, in Chinese scans ^^ So, Anna has finally left. Even if I’m not quite satisfied that she left without somehow fixing things regarding how she ruined Shin X Maria, I guess what happened is okay since Anna has a lot of issues. Anna did seem to put all her frustrations, jealousy, etc on Maria as if everything is Maria’s fault. It’s nice that after mentioning her true feelings, she finally feels ‘light’ as if the burden is off her shoulders. It made her able to move on. It somewhat made her to finally admit what she really wants and probably admit that in reality, she can’t sing anymore. I was kind of expecting to know what exactly are the circumstances as to why she lost her voice and if it is really permanent. Maybe now that she is with her parents, they can somehow help recover her voice if it can still be recovered and if not, maybe if she returns, she will become the composer of their group. I’m thinking that there is a high chance of a new hairstyle for her when she returns. =P As for Maria, I think her good intentions just ended up hurting Anna and I can’t blame Anna’s resentment when Maria left her. But then, no pain, no gain..because of what happened, there is a chance that those two girls will patch things up later on. For now, they just need some time and space to think and sort their feelings. Of course, I think that somehow Shin did help a bit in all of this. Hehe, two girls who don’t like themselves and loves singing..both quite similar..has fallen for the same type of guy. ^^; Amusing. As for Shougo, I think the guy will appear again later on because he has a ‘cross’ in his name. Just like in Skip beat!, I think I mentioned this before, the author is alternating ‘singing/bullying arcs’ with ‘love arcs’. So, I think that will be after the next arc which is about love again. ^^ Maria has already made a decision to still like Shin so it’s time to get Shin moving. From the looks of things, he really did seem to ‘chicken’ out about making a move on Maria with fears that she might remember her past. It seems that he prefers to just watch over her from behind. But then, he won’t be able to keep this up especially since Maria will get herself a persistent suitor soon. =P Scans by yukitokaji, õ星空ツ泪 and zhu520/fema in BW.

Word of the day:
Truth without love is dogma that does not touch the heart. Love without truth is sentimentalism that does not challenge the will. When truth is spoken with love, God's Spirit can use it to change another's mind. ~ David H. Roper

Weekly Jump: Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Reborn, and PSYREN
Monday, June 29, 2009

In Bleach [c. 363], Starrk was wondering what Ukitake just fired at him. Ukitake is helping since Starrk and Lilyneth technically are a double team. It seems that Sensui doesn’t want to show his bankai and Ukitake would prefer Sensui doesn’t else everyone will see it. Ukitake says that his power is more suitable for this kind of fight. Sensui didn’t reply. Starrk asks Ukitake how he just used a cero. Ukitake cheerfully tells him that he’ll do it again for him to figure it out. Even if Lilyneth tries to dissuade him, Starrk wanted to get Ukitake to do it again by firing his gun at Ukitake. Ukitake used his ‘cero’ again. While Lilyneth is protesting, Starrk fires again and observes how Ukitake is doing it using his zanpaku. Starrk figures it out that Ukitake is absorbing his cero and throws it back at him. Ukitake is amazed that he realized how he does it after doing it thrice. Starrk is glad that he doesn’t just reflect back the attacks for there is still a need to absorb them. He decides to fire 1000 shots at Ukitake. Before he can fire, Sensui attacks him from behind. Starrk and Sensui accuse each other of ‘not acting like oneself’. They were interrupted when Wonderweiss came out along with some huge hollow. No, how could he interrupt the fight. Just when we are finishing the espada-s finally and hoping to see those two’s bankai-s, it seems that it will take a longer wait again. Oh, I guess the two idle captains will get to fight those two newcomers. Starrk vs Sensui + Ukitake seem a bit surreal because they don’t seem to be taking this fight seriously. I mean just from their expressions, it seems like they are just playing a game and having fun.

While in Naruto [c. 453], Sasuke and his little group are hopping towards the village only to be met by Tobi. Sasuke tells him that they quit but Tobi informs him that they didn’t finish the agreement because Killer Bee escaped. Tobi says he wants them to do something instead but Sasuke doesn’t want to so they prepare to fight Tobi. Sasuke attacks but just passes through Tobi. Tobi informs him that it is useless going to the village because it no longer exists. Zetsu appears and informs them that the new hokage is Danzo. Tobi complains that because Sasuke and Pain create a huge ruckus, the five hokage-s start to make their move. While Zetsu is busy explaining what’s happening, Karui asks again about Sasuke but Sakura starts crying when she was asked what Sasuke is to her. ^^; It seems she is breaking down because Sasuke became an akatsuki. Sai asks them why they are asking when they should have been provided information about it since there is already an order to kill off Sasuke. The two exclaim that their team leader is currently briefed about it and they want to know more information from others. When they mentioned that they don’t know how they feel about losing a master, Naruto remembers feeling the same way when Jiraiya passed away. Naruto realizes something and asks them if their master is a host. Since they confirm this, Naruto informs them that Akatsuki needs the hosts alive so they should rescue him before finding Sasuke. This gave hope to the two that Killer Bee is still alive. Naruto offers to help them find their master and tell them all about Akatsuki. Back to Sasuke, he learns that Naruto defeated Pain and is probably stronger than him now. Suigetsu asks if they should go to the meeting instead since Danzo will be there. Sasuke decides to go there but to kill all 5 hokage-s. Since this is also Tobi’s plan, Tobi got Zetsu to lead them to the meeting place. They followed half of Zetsu. Sasuke plans on using some technique if they try to pull something. After they left, it seems that Tobi is plotting some kind of operation called Moon’s eye and indeed plan to put Gedo Mazo on Sasuke. The last scene is Gaara’s group going to the meeting. Long time no see Gaara and you look the same. Since he is carrying that gourd, I guess he still has his powers. Hm..I wonder how Naruto will react if like Sasuke gravely injures Gaara and friends or even kill them. Anyway, I’m happy that Naruto will indeed get to meet with Killer Bee so hopefully, he can teach him to tap that kyuubi powers. Lots of hints of new powers so I guess they are going to power-up minus training chapters. Somewhat like copying One Piece regarding, ‘there’s something I want to try out’ when Luffy first unleashed his gear. Geez, Sasuke seems to be out to just kill anyone whom he doesn’t like or for no reason at all. ^^; As for Sakura, I don’t know why she is really crying. Because Sasuke became an akatsuki, she can’t say what she is to Sasuke or learning that Sasuke just killed someone? ^^;; It seems off and makes her look weak.

Then, in One Piece [c. 548], everyone celebrates that they got out of Impel Down. Magellan plans to pursue them because there is still a huge gate which hinders their escape. Jimbei tells everyone to keep on going straight. While they were attack and attacking the other battleships, to their surprise, the gate opens. It turns out to be BonClay’s doing who pretended to be Magellan and ordered the marines to open the gates. Luffy learns this from Jimbei. He wants to go back but Jimbei dissuades him because they can no longer afford to fight against Magellan again. Going against BonClay’s wishes, Jimbei lets Luffy talk with BonClay before their communication is no longer in range. Magellan has already discovered that BonClay has been pretending to be him yet he let BonClay talk with Luffy on the dendenmushi. Luffy exclaims what he is doing for they should go out together and yet again, BonClay is sacrificing himself for him. BonClay couldn’t answer him. Soon, Luffy and everyone else are calling out to BonClay. When they are almost out of the gates and go out of coverage, Luffy exclaims that they are going out and thanks BonClay again and again. Soon, BonClay can no longer hold his feelings that he shouts for Luffy to save his brother. The communication got cut off. Everyone shouts to BonClay as they realize what he did for them. Magellan asks BonClay if he had any last words. BonClay tells him that he has no regrets. So, Impel Down is defeated and it is its greatest disgrace but things don’t end there since Ace’s execution will happen in just four hours. Wah! I hope BonClay still lives somehow..but it seems unlikely. What he did was really, really something. I actually got teary-eyed. Hehe, One Piece is really great. I think BonClay should be somehow an honorary member of Strawhats or something. It makes me wonder if there will be more sacrifices as they save Ace. Then, cover page is Franky running away from some cyborg animals.

Since Takeshi is ready to fight Genkishi in Katekyo Hitman Reborn! [c. 247], Genkishi transforms into a ‘skeleton’ using his hell ring. He started shouting that he should have been part of the wreath instead of Torikabuto because he is stronger and he wants to serve Byakuran whom he considers as a god. Irie thinks that Genkishi is losing his mind because of the ring. Byakuran and Bluebell are just happily munching while watching what’s happening. Byakuran says that Genkishi is simple minded so he is easy to use. Genkishi exclaims his reason for losing to Tsuna because of the look on his eyes so he wasn’t in full power but now, he is. Takeshi is cool with it which infuriates Genkishi. The two fought and Genkishi didn’t realize that Takeshi has used his flames of calm to slow down his [Genkishi] attacks and movements. Then, Takeshi gives him his final blow. I wonder if Genkishi is finished. He seems to be that even Byakuran seems to not care about him. It does seem a fitting end for a traitor who gave up those who care for him and going to the ones who don’t care about him. Then, he died a sad end of not being recognized by the one whom you switched over. Takeshi has really powered up. I guess that’s good because his coolness is actually somewhat dampened with all that bandages on his face ^^; Couldn’t they get Ryohei to heal him first before sending him off? Maybe it is a ploy to get Genkishi so cocky since he is going to fight a bandaged face guy..he’ll probably think that he was the one who caused it =P Anyway, let’s get the next battle ready ^^

In PSYREN [c. 76], Kyle uses his powers to protect themselves from the attack but his shield got sliced by one of the enemies. After everyone jumps to evade the attack, Yoshina meets Usui and recognizes him. It turns out that Usui works for the government to investigate about the disappearances and that is how he learned about the card. He tells Yoshina to be happy for Nemesis Q will soon disappear. He jumps off a cliff and follows his underling to an underground passage. Yoshina tries to go after him but beast master, Okugou hinders him. Marie exclaims why they have to fight when they should just concentrate on WISE. Okugou says that it is human nature to fight when there are conflicts. Taiga, the guy with hat, informs them that they have to kill off Nemesis Q who is causing trouble and can destroy their world which Usui had created for them. Then, Okugou has a crush on Marie and plans to marry her if they win. Amamiya realizes that Usui manages to convince them that Nemesis Q is bad and with his information, he became their ruler. Yoshina decides that Amamiya and Marie go after Usui while the rest of them fight the enemies. Underground, Usui finds an institution where the government put in criminal psi-users. The government also research on them there. He goes into a room and finds a woman in a tube with a hose attached at her back. I guess she is the creator of Nemesis Q. How nice of the author to show us what Nemesis Q looks like. So, it’s a new character but since the place is for criminal psi-users, maybe she knows one of the main characters. So that she won’t send people back to the ‘present’ in order to change the future – a future wherein he is no longer a ruler, Usui probably wants to finish off Nemesis Q. I’m amused that he even remembers the time in the ‘present’ – two months- when he met Yoshina. I wonder if the next chapter has more fighting, more revelations or both.

Quote of the day:
Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls. ~ David Thomas

She Is Mine [Chapter 1]
Sunday, June 28, 2009

[This is Mimori Ao’s new series. I think some of you know this author. She is the author of B.O.D.Y. Hehe, and I haven’t read it so once again, I don’t know what to expect from this series. The art is okay but it’s the plot that draws me to like this new series. The plot is basic because it seems like a love triangle between two guys and a girl. Groaning already? =P It isn’t exactly a ‘new, fresh’ idea since it seems I have heard of it somewhere but nevertheless, this series is amusing because instead of the usual love triangle, the lead girl is ‘experienced’ while the two other guys are ‘innocent’ types. =P]

It’s spring and it’s time to go to school. Ryotaro [black haired guy] is dressing up when his mother tells him that Haru is waiting for him outside. Ryotaro didn’t know why he is there and his mother thought that they have an arrangement to meet. Ryotaro feels troubled that something not good is going to happen. He goes out and learns that Haru just wants to ride on his bicycle. Ryotaro tells him it’s okay but why don’t he just buy one for himself. Haru says that his mother won’t give him money and it seems that his bike before was stolen which was Haru’s fault. To Ryotaro’s surprise, Haru wants to play jakenpon [paper-scissors-rock game] to know who’s going to pedal. Ryotaro tries to protest but in the end, he lost and has to pedal the bicycle to school while Haru rides behind his bicycle. Murakami Haru is a 15 year old smart aleck while Sano Ryotaro is a 15 year old shy-type of guy. On the way to school, they talk about what section they are in – section 4. Haru wonders if there are cute girls. They spot a long haired girl who is walking ahead. The two are curious what she looks like. They pass by her and look at her face. The girl notices them so she looks in their way and smiles. The two guys are captivated by her that Ryotaro wasn’t looking where he is going. In front of them is an old man. They scream for the old man to move away – crash. =P Class is already starting when the two arrive in 1-4 class while blaming each other for the incident. Flashback: The old man had angrily reprimanded them that they could have killed him while the two can only apologize. End flashback. Their homeroom teacher, Noguchi Hideo tells the two that it is good to have lots of energy but they are already late. Hideo tells the two to introduce themselves. Haru tells everyone where he was from [gonaka? Five middle; probably their junior high] and the kanji of his name [‘clear’ as in clear or fine day/weather]. He says that his birthday is on 12/25 and his blood type is AB. His hobby is basketball and he used to be in a basketball club but he doesn’t plan on joining one in high school since he won’t have any free time. “Speaking of that, my ex-girlfriend told me, “I don’t like it, you’re too busy.” then she dumps me. Ah, but in the end, that girl went out with a guy in the baseball club who is busier than me. I’ve asked her why it is like that.” Hideo nervously interrupts him and tells that his introduction is too long.

Ryotaro doesn’t know what to say but his name and he is also from Gonaka. To his shock, talkative Haru tells everyone that Ryotaro never had a girlfriend in his 15 years of life. “Even if he doesn’t have much expression, his character [inner qualities] is quite good. So, basically, he is just a virgin currently looking for a girlfriend. So please girls, take care of him.” Ryotaro is totally embarrassed and shock at what Haru said. He is shaking and looking at Haru while everyone is laughing at Ryotaro and finds him pitiful. Later on, gloomy Ryotaro is sitting with his head down on the table while Haru, who is sitting in front of him, happily tells him that it’s good that they were received well. It seems that the other students are also introducing themselves. Haru says that the girl they met earlier is quite cute and he wonders if they can see her again so they/he would look for her. This topic made Ryotaro sit up and looks at the side. He remembers how the girl looks while she is walking in front of them. Then, his eyes widen when he sees a girl looking outside the window, sitting at the same row as him. Hideo says that it is the last girl’s turn. Then, Haru also noticed it. The girl near the window introduces herself as Nakagawa Mirei from Ichi Naka [One middle; former schoo?] Upon realizing that it is the same girl whom they met earlier, the two boys exclaim loudly. This made the girl and everyone else look at them. Hideo asks what it is. They say it is nothing. They tell each other that it is that girl, it is definitely her. Everyone is talking about how pretty and cute she is. Mirei tells everyone that she hopes to find a part-time job while in high school. Haru thinks that this is all set-up by fate while Ryotaro thinks that it is just a coincidence. Hideo tells everyone to quiet down. Then, he asks Mirei to continue and end it with a mind-blowing way. Mirei is speechless then she looks at the direction of the two guys. They look surprised when Mirei smiles at them. Smiling, Mirei says, “Even if I’m no longer a virgin but still, I’m under your care.” The two guys’ eyes widen like saucer plates and everyone is stunned that they wonder if she is just joking or not. Hideo nervously tells the class that since introduction is over, they should select people for the committee [class president, etc.]. The two guys just look nervous as they look at her direction while Mirei is still looking out the window.

After school is over, all the guys are looking at Mirei’s direction. They were whispering that she is cute if she doesn’t talk and who would want to talk with her first. Haru tells Ryotaro that everyone is thinking of the same thing. Finally, one of the guys brightly smiles at Mirei. He calls out her name and greets her. The two guys wonder if that guy is an acquaintance since he called Mirei by her name. The guy tells Mirei that he never thought that the day when they will become classmates has finally arrived and her introduction is really brilliant. Mirei says that it is because she doesn’t know what else to say. The guy says that is right since it is really pointless to introduce oneself. The other guys think that the conversation is quite normal so far. The guy then tells her about a certain store called 00. Mirei knows the store. The guy is about to invite her out when Mirei asks who he is. The guy is stunned that his smile is frozen on his face. The two guys are taken aback by what she said. The guy says that he is Yasushi, her classmate in cram school. Mirei says, “..Cram school? Did that happen? Sorry, although I totally can’t remember anymore but from now on, please take care of me.” Yasushi can only say okay while he is totally stunned like stone over the encounter. She then waves him goodbye. This made the other guys lose courage and decided to go home. Haru asks Ryotaro if that was deliberate or it is really just her nature. Ryotaro says that he doesn’t know but whichever it is, it is troublesome just the same. They quickly look away when Mirei approaches them. Ryotaro blushes when he notices that she is staring at him with her face so close to his. Mirei says that they met each other this morning. Ryotaro can only mutter something. Mirei says that it is at the park and the two of them are riding on a bicycle. She turns around to Haru and asks, isn’t it so. Haru mutters a yes. The two guys blush when Mirei smiles and says that they [guys] look so close that it feels very good. Haru introduces himself and Ryotaro. He tells her that she can call them in any way she wants. Mirei introduces herself and tells them that they can call her Mirei. Haru is captivated by her.

Then, Mirei’s phone is ringing. After Haru tells her to go ahead and answer it, Ryotaro grabs Haru and shakes him. He tells Haru to snap out of it and don’t be captivated by her appearance, he should look inside [character, nature]. Haru says that he knows but cuteness is a weapon. They stop when they overheard Mirei talking to someone who wants to see her now even if she is still in school. She hangs up the phone and tells Haru that it was her boyfriend. Haru goes into shock. Mirei tells them that her boyfriend is telling her to quickly go some place so she has to go. Haru thinks that Mirei is definitely the type of girl who’ll have a boyfriend. Putting her cellphone in her bag, Mirei says that her boyfriend is angry because she didn’t call him up immediately after school and he really likes to worry. Haru can only say that is very sweet. Mirei laughs and then says that she is already thinking of breaking up with her boyfriend. The two guys exclaim in surprise. Mirei says that when her boyfriend confessed, she thought he’s not bad so she answered him but after going steady with him, it seems that isn’t true. He would even call her 30 times a day. [That’s too much ^^;] Mirei says that honestly, it is becoming quite troublesome. The guys are speechless. Ryotaro tells her to go tell him herself that she wants to break up. After a pause, Mirei says that will be quite pitiful. Haru explains that it is like this, if he is her boyfriend, he will think that it is better to simply just break up rather than for her to force herself to continue on with the relationship. With glittery eyes, Mirei says, “Is that so!! I don’t know that.” The boys are speechless. Mirei asks what she should say so that her boyfriend will break up with her. She asks Ryotaro what someone would say in order to break up with him. Ryotaro says that maybe a third party, if the other person likes someone else then they should break up. Mirei says that her boyfriend can believe that. Ryotaro says that is only if her boyfriend believes that she likes someone, else if it is discovered, it will be quite messy. To Ryotaro’s surprise, Mirei asks the two of them to go with her for the meantime and she doesn’t know if she can lie smoothly to her boyfriend but if one of them pretend to be her boyfriend, maybe things will go more smoothly. Ryotaro protests why they have to do that but Haru volunteers himself and claims that he is an expert in casually lying to people. Mirei notes that he’s quite enthusiastic about it. Haru asks why kind of person is her boyfriend. Mirei says he is an ordinary high schooler. Ryotaro is aghast as Haru follows Mirei. He shouts to them to wait for that will not definitely go smoothly. He tries to stop Haru but it was useless.

Soon, they met Mirei’s boyfriend who looks like some gangster-delinquent. Her boyfriend complains that Mirei is too slow for if he tells her to quickly come, she should quickly come since he thought that she is finally coming when he can’t contact her. “Who are those two guys?” Haru and Ryotaro look aghast as they mutter to each other if they are going to get killed and is that guy an ordinary high schooler. They perk up when Mirei’s boyfriend tells them to speak up. Mirei looks back and grabs Haru’s arm. She says, “Sorry, Hiroshi. We’ve decided to go steady.” Haru is looking really nervous. This made Hiroshi angry and says, “What did you say?” Haru becomes even more nervous when Hiroshi approaches him. Haru tries to explain that they met through fate but before he can finish, Hiroshi already punches him in the face. Haru falls on the ground with Ryotaro shouting his name. Hiroshi says that no one will believe such half-hearted words. Looking at somewhat surprised Mirei, Hiroshi tells her that he doesn’t know what those two guys told her but she shouldn’t easily let herself get tricked easily. Mirei remembers someone asking if s/he would believe and then, someone replied that then, s/he should just think of a way to make him believe. [I’m not sure who are talking, maybe it is part of their conversation a while ago or it is from Mirei’s past.] Mirei exclaims that it is true. Ryotaro is still calling out to Haru when she goes to Haru and gives him a kiss on the lips. “Forget me,” Mirei thinks. This surprises Ryotaro and Hiroshi. Hiroshi calls out to Mirei. Mirei stops kissing and looks at Hiroshi. She asks, “Did you see that?” Hiroshi can only say, ha? Mirei says, “Huh? So you didn’t see it? This time, you should watch carefully.” She kisses Haru again. No reaction from Hiroshi so she kisses Haru again. Hiroshi looks aghast. Since Mirei is busy smooching Haru, Hiroshi tells Ryotaro that he feels that is enough and asks Ryotaro to be the one to tell her that it’s over between them. Mirei turns around and asks where Hiroshi is. Ryotaro tells her that he already left and he said that it’s over between them. She asks if Hiroshi believed it. Ryotaro says yes though he thinks that Hiroshi didn’t, he just had enough [of what Mirei is doing]. Mirei says that it is as what Ryotaro said, breaking up because of a third party. Ryotaro didn’t reply. Mirei asks if Haru is okay. He says yes. Mirei tells him that he really did great. Haru blushes and says, really. She smiles and says, “Thank you very much, the two of you.”

On the way home, Ryotaro says that it is quite a long day. Haru is looking up and agrees. Ryotaro warns Haru not to be captivated by Mirei. Haru asks how he knew what he is thinking. Ryotaro says that he is guessing and speaking of that, that is Mirei’s true nature and he felt that it is quite scary. Ryotaro tells him that one can’t continue a normal conversation with her. Haru says that he knows but then, as lovers, there is no need to talk, right. Ryotaro tells him to shut up. Blushing a bit, Haru asks if maybe Mirei is interested in him in a little bit. Ryotaro exclaims that she doesn’t. Haru asks if they don’t talk, will she give him a kiss like that. Ryotaro says that even if she is interested, one wouldn’t kiss like that. “Why don’t you wake up!” Haru plans to ask Mirei tomorrow about it. The next day, Mirei greets the two a good morning. Blushing Haru happily greets her. Ryotaro just lamely greets her. He tells Haru to ask if he wants to ask since Haru is looking at him. Haru says that a lot of things happened yesterday and what does she think of him. Mirei asks if she should say it there, shouldn’t he wait when the two of them are alone. Blushing, Haru says it is okay, he wants to know it now. Mirei says, okay. “Haru, you already have a girlfriend yet your kiss isn’t that great. Why don’t you practice a bit next time?” Haru is stunned speechless. The bell is ringing so Mirei smiles and says that they should go. Haru is downcast and Ryotaro just sweatdrops while looking at Mirei. So, on that fateful spring, a strange girl appeared. Hehe, so, it is quite interesting how the girl twirls the two guys with her little finger. She really has the upper hand and I wonder what other stuff they will have to deal with because of her. She does seem like a ‘man-eater’ but there is an ‘innocent’ part of her so I can’t bring myself to dislike her. Maybe the guys also think the same way. Mirei did use them to break up with her overly possessive boyfriend. Well, with a boyfriend like that, I think Mirei will have a difficult time breaking up with him if she is alone. I do wonder if the two guys will end up quarreling over her later on. I guess what happened in the end is like a little punishment for Haru with how he introduced Ryotaro in class. That is downright embarrassing but well, it made an impact that I’m sure everyone in class now remembers him and Haru because of his lengthy introduction. Of course, Haru’s reward for being punched is being kissed again and again. He fell for her and didn’t listen to Ryotaro so his heart is crushed the next day. I’m sure his ego got bruised there. ^^; Anyway, whether they like it or not, I’m sure they will end up as ‘friends’, after all, they are the only three who had such an interesting class introduction ^^; I wonder if the author can keep this up but so far, I’m pretty much entertained with this first chapter ^^ Scans by elinor for iieye.

Word of the day:
We may be very plain and ordinary on the outside—but as we allow God’s Spirit to work within us, the beauty of God’s indwelling presence will shine from our faces. ~ Our Daily Bread

Kanojo wa Uso wo Aishisugiteru [Chapter 1]
Saturday, June 27, 2009

[This series is by Aoki Kotomi. According to someone in BW, she used to write for Shocomi but moved to Cheese! I guess it is okay since it is the same publisher. Cheese! comes out once a month while Shocomi comes out twice a month. I haven’t read her series before so I’m not sure what to expect. This series has been scanlated..well, the prologue chapter. I find this series a bit complicated and mature so sorry if this isn’t as detailed like some of the series that I do. Just read the English scanlation to get the details when it comes out. I’m actually waiting for it so that I can check if I correctly understand the story. ^^; I think the little poem in the covers is quite funky – A butterfly grown on the smoky haze, will learn to sing it in a bitter phase. It doesn’t make sense though..and a small ‘logo’ of butterfly on a mushroom. It turns out that the mushroom is the girl. ^^; The art took a little time getting used to because they seem all so ‘round’. Hehe, I’m just taking a break from the usual series that’s why I summarized this chapter. ^^;;]

The story is about Aki, who is a composer for a band called Crude Play and a certain other singer, Mari. Both of those two artists are under the producer Tagaki. Aki has not revealed himself in public because it seems that he treasures his privacy and wants to live an ordinary life. Aki creates songs for Crude Play because they are his friends..well, the lead singer is his childhood friend, Shun. As for Mari, Aki loves her but then, it seems that Mari is just taking advantage of him to write songs. Mari claims that they are lovers but it seems that she just ‘repays’ him for his work through sex. Well, it also seems that his friends are also just using him. They would pamper him with a helicopter ride and expensive Dom P‚rignon but Aki isn’t really into that. After they dropped him off, they notice that something is bothering Aki and Shun knows that it is because he doesn’t want to be that famous and they think that if something is bothering Aki would make better music. They also fear that if Aki quits, their band is finished.

Why? Because their songs are very dependent on Aki’s songwriting. Yuu, the friend of our female lead, Riko, thinks that they are like some idol group because they don’t write their own songs. He is actually just trying to ‘destroy’ them since Riko is such a fan of Crude Play and she really likes Aki’s songs. It seems she belongs to a band or something because she is carrying a guitar behind her back. Since she is poor, she only listens to the cd through the sample playing in music stores. Her other friend Sato decides to buy it for her. Yuu, who likes Riko, says that Aki is weird for not showing himself in public even if he made the music for Crude Play and Mari’s albums. Riko accuses him of being jealous of Aki. While the two argue why Aki didn’t show himself, Sato tells them that according to rumors, Aki is fat. While they walk home, Riko tells the two guys that fat is okay with her for she likes fat people. After asking Sato a favor to leave them, Yuu manages to go home with Riko alone. The two talk about being classmates on their second year jr/high school. He is happy that she is happy that they are classmates until she told her that it is because she can copy his notes. He tries to confess but Riko is just looking up the building with an advertisement of Crude Play’s new album.

One day, Aki is venting his frustration while playing with a toy remote control helicopter. He is hoping that he could make Mari pregnant so that he can marry her. He crashes the helicopter and is disappointed with himself for thinking that way. Aki narrates [yes, he is the narrator of the story] that maybe meeting her was arranged by fate or perhaps there is a special feeling but he was really depressed at that time, and remembering the time when he greeted her, honestly, anyone would do even if it wasn’t her. While walking home, Aki is whistling a song and passes by Riko who is carrying a box of vegetables. The two look at each other and Aki asks, “Do you believe in love at first sight?” Riko blushes and it made Aki realizes that he just greeted a kid. Riko tells him that she believes. Aki panics and apologizes that he is only joking. He tries to make up an excuse for saying that and tells her not to easily believe when one says such strange words like that. He tries to leave but Riko grabs him and says that she has fallen for him at first sight – hearing that song he is whistling then he suddenly saying if she believes in love at first sight, maybe he is interested in her because he talked to her. Afterwards, Aki informs Shun that he has a girlfriend. Shun asks if it is Mari because her new song is obviously written by Aki. When asked what kind of girl his girlfriend is, he only says, a mushroom – Riko’s hair is like a mushroom. ^^; After hanging up the phone, Aki picks up an earring on the bed and tells Mari to give his [house] key back to him since he already has a girlfriend. Mari says that girl is pitiful but Aki tells her that it is okay for he will treasure that girl and he will really do his very best to like that girl and even if that isn’t okay, he will think of a way for that girl not to dump him. Mari tells him to quit joking around but Aki is already at his limit for he has discovered that guy, probably Takagi is also having sex with her. He tells her that she has another hickey mark at the same place where he gave her one. Aki exclaims that he has had enough for he can’t take it anymore. At school, Riko borrows Yuu’s notes and happily writes on the notes that she has a boyfriend. Yuu is stunned. Narration: “I’m sorry. From the start when we went steady, I don’t like you one bit. Everything is a lie.”

So, it’s a complicated love polygon in a music settings. Maybe we should draw a character map to understand all the relationships and stuff. =P Well, I’m not too sure if I would like a character like Aki..interesting yes but like..hm..he is being used by others and it seems that he is going to use Riko to probably help him forget his frustrations about Mari. Riko doesn’t know this and she didn’t know that her boyfriend is actually Aki who writes the songs for Crude Play. I anticipate her reaction when she learns about it but then, also anticipate what her reaction when she learns that Aki isn’t really in love with her. So far, the story is quite okay. Scans by tongyanen for iieye

Word of the day:
Our selfish ways imprison us— we cry out to be free; But if we will obey God's Word, we'll find true liberty. ~ Sper from Our Daily Bread

Free Talk: Goong + Random Stuff + Bad News about Nana
Friday, June 26, 2009

For those waiting for Goong, well, the situation is kwanning, the one who translates it from Korean to Chinese for BW has found some foreign forum posting/sharing her/his translations and 一件小馬甲’s scans without permission. Then, it seems that even her/their photobucket is also ‘robbed’ so she was really pissed off and the translations are suspended. Anyway, I did see chapter 136-137 raws. What happened based on scans are Hyo Rin had a long talk with Yul probably trying to convince him to fight for Chae Kyong. Then, Yul talks with his mommy during a meal time. She probably supports whatever Yul wanted to do..she looks like she’s comforting him. Meanwhile, Chae Kyong has finally graduated high school and going to college. She eats at the cafeteria alone. A couple of girls try to join her but she is acting weird – crazy chibi type and even imagines Shin wearing shorts only. Whatever. They left and she starts remembering what Shin said after they parted. To her shock, she looks up to see Yul sitting in front of her and greeting her. Chae Kyong wants to give him a piece of her mind but since people are watching, she can’t do much. Then, some talk between Shin’s parents and grandmother. Final part, Chae Kyong seems to be living alone in an apartment. She is cooking and probably talking to her mother on the phone. I think she is telling her mother what she has been doing – it’s that crazy chibi again. The doorbell kept on ringing so she answers it. It’s stalker Yul. She tries to close the door on him but he won’t let her. More talking and Chae Kyong tries to slap him but he hold her wrist and says something. So, there’s life after the palace and unfortunately, the reason why she is out is currently ‘stalking’ her. Wow..how thick is his face to even have the gall to show himself in front of her. It seems that Yul isn’t apologetic regarding what he did so I guess he is still after her. Well, opportunity-wise, this is the best time to do it with Shin far, far away. I wonder what Shin is doing now. Anyway, the scans are suspended since last month, too so that’s it for now, regarding Goong.

After reading the English scanlation of Vampire Knight 51, and since the spoiler is confirmed, I’m curious about something. I want to know your opinion regarding Yuuki’s ‘dilemma’ or undecided since half of her heart belongs to one of the two guys. Since Kaname is a M in regards to Yuuki, I think that situation is okay with him. But, what about you? Is it okay for the person you love and whom will probably stay together for the rest of your life – that’s practically marriage or living in – to have his/her heart not belong whole-heartedly yours? I think it is somewhat like having a mistress/lover at the side, after all, she did say that she can’t be satisfied with him only. For you, is that okay since after all, s/he is physically with you and half of his/her heart is yours? For me, I don’t think I will agree to that but would that mean that I don’t totally love the other person to accept him as he is? Obviously, I’m thinking about this rationally and as mentioned in Koibana!, if feelings are thrown it, it is different and it could be a deciding factor to let go or not. So, for discussion purposes, if you were Kaname, would Yuuki’s situation be okay with you? On a side note, I think it will be interesting if the author creates a new love rival. That will be just like what Reino is doing in Skip Beat! It is pretty much a stalemate between Ren and Sho but toss Reino in and things are messy and interesting – things are progressing, thanks to Reino’s demand to get her handmade chocolates. Those two guys aren’t going to take things sitting down. I had noticed that some authors are using this kind of love rival who is really different and peculiar though it would seem that the series are becoming a bit like ‘harem’ =P Anyway, that is going to happen in Akuma to Love Song, (lol, seems to have forced Shin into action) so I will start summarizing it (ugh..5 chapters) while waiting for Ouran High Host Club so that it will be updated by the time the new chapter comes out next month. ^^ Oh ya, it seems that Teppen! indeed has ended..quite short.

Edit: I just read a news item in BW regarding Nana. It seems that according to the official site, Yazawa Ai has fallen ill –acute sickness- so the publication has stopped. Unfortunately, she also needs a lot of time to recover from the said illness so they can’t say when exactly the series will resume its publication. Well, let’s pray for her speedy recovery.

Quote of the day:
Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach. ~ Tom Robbins

Koibana! Koiseyo Hanabi [Chapter 37]
Thursday, June 25, 2009

[For those who waiting for KWMS 39, sorry, I haven’t seen the scans. The ones who used to scan it for BW no longer scan it so I can’t give any teasers like before. The forum that has the raws is gougouzhizuozu forum. From that site, I can only see the tease ‘Usui what are you holding/touching-’ from the title of the thread for chapter 39. I’m not a member of that forum but based on babelfish – Jap teaser from the official site, there is some change and lovey-dovey. Hehe, maybe it has some lovey-dovey just like the magazine cover wherein the two are eating caramel apple. Haha, I'm just assuming that..^^; Anyway, I checked out the next chapter to that and it seems there will consist of 40 pages and Misaki’s birthday. Currently, I’m thinking if I should continue on summarizing this series because potato-otaku has caught up and they are using the raws from gougouzhizuozu forum. What I’m afraid of is I summarized it then after 1-3 days, the English scanlation is out. I felt like I wasted my time and I’m an idiot ^^; So, for now, I might just tone down the details for the next summary and observe how fast they release it. ^^ ]

Hanabi cannot believe that Mii called her a love idiot. She shouts to Mii that is too much. Mii exclaims isn’t it so for she already said it yet Hanabi still randomly think about other things so Hanabi really is a love idiot. Hanabi exclaims that Mii just said it again. Mii says that she thinks that it is better to let go off of that guy rather than for her friendship with her becomes troublesome. Hanabi innocently asks if she can let go. Hanabi remembers telling Chika that she’s going to let him go. She thinks that if it is her, she can’t. This made Mii angry since Hanabi is asking that question. Mii tells her that it isn’t zero - what she feels for Chikai is currently ‘this’ much. She gestures using her hand. Hanabi’s thoughts are confirmed but Mii tells her that she likes ‘glasses’ this much. It is bigger than Chika’s. Everyone is surprised as Mii says, “Luminasi— ‘Glasses’ can give me what I want and give me what I don’t want. That’s how it is. Geez—so troublesome!” Mii goes up the stairs and the others follow her. They didn’t notice that Luminasi Mei is eavesdropping on them. Mei mutters that there is progress. Walking at the open hallway, Mei exclaims that her fortunetelling is quite effective. She passes by Chikai and Shinichi who are walking the opposite way. Chikai comments that kind of fragrance/ makes him want to hug her. Shinichi exclaims he’s quite vulgar. [Ah, the ‘hug’ word can also mean ‘have sex’] While eating, Hanabi wonders if she really just doesn’t understand it. She wonders if she is Mii and that happened [saying wanting to let go] and the other party is Shinichi, would things be the same. She begins to feel sick as she gloomily tries to think about guys = dislike. Her brain goes blank because she cannot even imagine other guys. She wonders what’s wrong with her. She wonders if Mii chooses this easy way out because she doesn’t like trouble. She wonders if even one knows one’s feelings, one can still do it that way. Later on, Atsumi tells Hanabi that, for Hanabi, if she likes something, she likes and if she hates something, she hates. Hanabi exclaim, perhaps but then, she is wavering a bit regarding this matter. Atsumi tells her that right now, they should work since their products are going to be sold out soon. Hanabi looks ill and says yes. She is currently surrounded by guys. Hanabi freaks out as she tries to avoid the guys around her who were busy selling their products.

Finally, their products are sold out. Hanabi looks exhausted and tired that Atsumi has to ask her if she is feeling okay. She looks at Mii-Chikai’s booth and notices that they have also sold out, too. She is looking at them when Atsumi tells her that they should clean/pack things up while talking. Atsumi asks her what the size of the problem is. Then, she mentions that Kareshi’s product is quite popular. “To let go or not, also depends on the feelings at that time. No matter what happens, even if one doesn’t understand, if feelings are thrown in the situation, one would not want to let go.” Hanabi says that she knows but still..! At the fortune teller site, it turns out that the mascot of the principal is actually the principal. ^^; He tells Mei that place is really majestic yet really fun. He asks Mei if she is tired. Mei says that she’s okay. “This is her mission luminasi.” The principal says that it is really splendid including her voice. She then notices Hanabi together with Atsumi. “And it is still in progress..” Hanabi protests to Atsumi that even if it is just a small tinny-tiny moment of awareness, can it really progress to ‘like’. Atsumi says that she thinks so. Mii, together with Kareshi, says that Hanabi is still talking about that and it seems her understanding is really poor. Hanabi turns around and says that it is because she doesn’t understand. Mii says that she is the one who can’t understand why Hanabi can’t comprehend it. This shocks Hanabi. Mei is looking at them behind the bushes using her telescope. Chikai stands behind her and says, “Ami..” Mei asks what it is. Mei quickly backs away from him and exclaims how he knew. This made Hanabi and others realize that the two are there. Mei is aghast. Chikai calls her Ami again. Hanabi thinks that Chikai’s hair is all messed up because of his bandana. Then, she thinks this voice, Ami? Mei says that there is no helping it since she has been discovered. Mei finally reveals herself as Princess Ami. The girls are surprised that it is teacher Ami. Ami tells them that they didn’t realize that Luminous [Luminasi] Mei is just part of her name. [She used part of the kanji surname into English which means ‘bright’ then the other part of her name as Chinese ‘pretty’ = Mei]

Hanabi cannot believe it. Atsumi says no wonder the fortune telling is very accurate that they believed it. They ask her why she did it. Ami says that they, cute soldiers, are still at that side, chasing after love when it is so simple yet they make it so complicated. She tells them that they are still some 10+ year old brats. She asks if having some misgivings prompt them to see the truth clearly. Hanabi thinks that this is the first time she heard Ami said that. Mii says no matter if it is truth or not for there is an idiot who still don’t get it even if she told her already. Hanabi is shock and tries to protest. Ami says that it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t understand. Pointing at Mii, Ami says that she also doesn’t understand this girl. Ami screams out in pain when Mii bites her finger again. Holding her finger, Ami says that it is okay not to understand because different people have different kinds of love. “There’s no wrong [way] concerning this, for no matter if it’s tough or gentle, the point is to make the other person to like oneself. In the same way, one knows and there are some parts one still doesn’t understand, but only then one truly understands the things [affairs] in this world.” Chikai then says, “About that..” He goes to Mii then bows. “I’m sorry..” This surprises Hanabi. I’m surprised, too. What does it mean? I mean what Ami said actually made Chikai do that?! I guess he is going to close things regarding Mii as in reject her so that she won’t have thoughts about having a chance with him. I wonder what Mii’s reaction will be. I’m slightly confused with Hanabi. It seems that she is still hesitant to think that she is in love with Chikai when I thought that she already knows. Maybe it is more on hesitant to go further with him even if Mii is already telling her to go ahead. Obviously, this chapter is going to set things up as to what will happen in the teaser I mentioned in a previous entry. I’m really curious how it led to that part since I haven’t seen the raw scans for some chapters. I do wonder if they don’t think of Ami to be so nosy with their love affairs. She really does push for everyone to fall in love and experience it. I guess it is part of experience and well, she is like a cupid or rather guide to lead them the way. ^^ I guess Hanabi is really clueless in love because she didn’t thought it is really ‘like/love’ especially since Chikai is the only guy whom she can get close with and yet not ‘feels awful’ with him around. I think it goes the same for Chikai because I got the impression that Hanabi is the only one whom he can tease and be at ease like that. Scans by zhu520/fema for BW.

Quote of the day:
The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Mei-chan no Shitsuji [Chapters 64-65]
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Mei and Kanata are surprised that the butlers and student butlers have team up to finish making a baseball field. Kento happily says that it’s not bad. Mei reprimands him that it is all because of him saying about defeating a fianc‚ when Kanata isn’t even trying to be her fianc‚. Mei is puzzled when Kento says that Kanata will participate based on his sixth sense. While Kento is called away, Mei notices Kanata musing that he didn’t imagine he can stand at the pitcher’s mount again. Mei asks if he really wants to play baseball again. This prompted Kanata to tell her about his family background wherein his father passed away, her mother is sickly and they need to support a younger brother and a sister so he can’t just continue playing baseball. Mei looks a bit sad about this. Kanata assures her that nevertheless, he is very happy even as he works in a ramen store and delivers newspapers. Mei smiles and agrees with him because just by looking at him he is happy. She says that just like her father said before, doing what one likes to do and being together with the people one likes is a person’s luxury. The other ladies and butlers comment about the nice atmosphere between Kanata and Mei. Kento is shaking in anger/jealousy. They wonder why an ordinary guy like Kanata was chosen to become a fianc‚. Sister Rose comes to explain. After her butler tells them about Kanata’s family background/situation, she tells them that Kanata is Mei’s soulmate. Miruku goes to explain what a soulmate is. Kento laughs the idea off because if they are mutually attracted to each other then, they should have been together before he came. They inform him that it is because of Kento that fate used in order for them to meet. Kento is a bit stunned by this. He is about to go interrupt the two but Rihito stops him and tells him that as a butler, one mustn’t interrupt the ojou-sama’s love life. He asks Kento if he doesn’t have any consciousness about this when he is already at the last stage [before S] and a butler. Kento is surprised and becomes sad. He says, okay. Fujiko tries to cheer him up by saying that [soulmate] isn’t the same as love. Kanzaki notices Tami looking at the direction of Mei and Kanata. Kanzaki[?] comments that those are the eyes of the enemy.

In the transfer student dormitory, Kanata greets Shinnosuke and apologizes for making him participate in the contest when he is very busy. To Kanata’s surprise, Shinnosuke tells him that he has formally joined to become one of Mei’s fianc‚. He whispers to Kanata to quickly get out of that place after the contest because this is a dangerous place contrary to what one thinks. Kanata is puzzled by that and wonders why Shinnosuke joined. Chinese butler passes by and asks Kanata if he already has a ‘desire’. Kanata says that he isn’t interested in Hongo’s wealth. Chinese butler says but he knows that Kanata is worried about Mei and this is also a kind of ‘desire’. Kanata exclaims that he didn’t thought of it and also Mei is someone whom Kento likes. Chinese butler says that if Kanata wins this competition, Mei will be his and only he can save Mei. He informs Kanata that he should know that this kind of world isn’t the same as his outside world since it is filled with desires, conspiracies, jealousy and hatred. “Would a pure hearted person like Miss Mei really find happiness here? In the end, the Shibata brothers are just dogs of the Hongo family and they cannot save her from this place. But, you can do it. If you win once against Shibata--” After Kanata left, Chinese butler is giggling. In Irfan [Arabian prince; closest that I can find based on the Chinese name] room, it is filled with Mei stuff – Mei stuff toy, models in different outfits, pictures, etc in short, he is a Mei otaku. He learns about Shinnosuke joining the competition and thinks that he was probably incited to join. His ‘light’ [hair] butler wonders why there is a need to have many competitors. He says probably to get those ‘Shibata brothers’ out of the way. Irfan says about his other theories about a shortcut to all of this and wonders if a bribe would do. [Sorry, if it is a bit unclear since I can’t figure out if he meant himself or talking about Chinese butler] He says that it is easy to read those who are moving but the troublesome ones are those who aren’t moving like what that American Damien [nerd guy] is thinking. His butlers go out of the room. ‘Light’ butler comments that he really doesn’t understand what is happening to the prince’s room and he doesn’t know if he is intelligent or an idiot. ‘Dark’ [haired] butler says that he thinks that the prince is scheming something. In some place at the park, Rihito’s [don’t interfere] and the others’ words [fate; soulmate] echo in Kento’s head. Kento wonders if Rihito will deliberately lose so that Mei will be with the one whom she likes for her happiness. He is surprised to see Mei in a cheerleader outfit calling him that the game is about to start and everyone are already in the sports field. Kento exclaims why she is dressed that way. Mei asks him if she looks cute. She tells him that the girls have decided to cheer for the guys. He asks her if she is going to cheer for him. Mei thinks for a while and says if he meant a specific person, it will be for Rihito. Kento can only angrily shout, really! Mei blushes and looks at him. She tells him that Kanata really likes baseball but because of various reasons, he wasn’t able to play anymore so it seems he eagerly awaits this competition. She also tells him to do his really best with all out effort in the competition to make this a great ballgame. Kento asks if it is okay if he wins. This surprises Mei.

She exclaims that of course he should win because if he loses then she’ll have to become Kanata’s bride. “Don’t you mind that, Shibata?” Kento exclaims, “I absolutely mind that.” She smiles and tells him, “Do your very best, Mr. Butler.” This made Kento all hyped up and he doesn’t care if Kanata is her soulmate, he isn’t going to give Mei to Kanata. Soon, everyone is in the baseball uniforms. Some six year ojou-samas and foreign students are invited to watch. Mei’s friends are in cheerleading outfits. Mei thinks that the current her is no longer the same as when she was first year because now, all the strongest butlers (+ princesses) are her comrades. Kento looks at Kiba and wonders, strongest? Rika and Fujiko try to stop Izumi who wanted to replace Kiba. Kento thinks that if it is possible, he also wants Izumi to replace Kiba. The fianc‚s are all ready with ‘gold’ character on their gold uniforms because Irfan picked the most luxurious character/kanji. The butlers just have ‘butlers’ on their uniform. Mei ‘knees’ Irfan’s face when he tries to pull up her skirt. Kento sees Kanata who looks really serious. He tells Kento that they should make it a really great ballgame and he isn’t going to give Mei to Kento. This surprises Kento. Kanata throws the ball to the pitcher and everyone is amazed at how good he was. Mei starts to worry and asks Kento if it will be alright. Kento tells her not to worry because they have a S butler. He then looks around, wondering where Rihito is. Kento is surprised when Rihito asks if the game hasn’t started yet. Kento sweatdrops and asks why he hasn’t changed to a baseball uniform yet. Rihito asks why he should when this is Kento’s fight. Kento exclaims that nevertheless, they need nine players to play. Pause. Rihito then asks, “Is that so?” Everyone sweatdrops. “S butler Rihito unexpectedly turns out to be a baseball idiot!!!” Irfan thinks that they can win this.

Everyone is raving at how great Rihito looks in his baseball uniform. Mei sweatdrops and thinks that even if Rihito looks like an athlete, but the truth is..Rihito doesn’t know anything about baseball because he didn’t think it was essential to know it as a butler. Rihito asks some questions about the baseball field and Kento teaches him. Kento starts to become tense since it turns out that only him, Aoyama and Daimon really knows how to play the game. The others don’t really play the game either. Soon, the game starts. Mei wonders why Irfan is out of it – in a daze. It turns out that Sister Rose made them change their outfits to white because gold is too painful to the eyes. Rika comments that not wearing glittering outfit is so old fashioned. Irfan has heard this and before he knew it, he has strike out thrice. Mei and others happily cheer for Kento. Irfan freaks out and wants to try again but his butlers stop him. Aoyama comments that Kento is quite capable. Rihito is still busy reading the baseball manual. Soon, it is his turn to bat but then, he got strike out because he hasn’t finished reading the manual – don’t know what to do? The fianc‚s are happy since they think that there is nothing great about Rihito. Mei is getting nervous and starts imaging what it will be like for her to be with Nakata. She then tries to drive away those thoughts. Miruku is laughing that no one can escape the attraction of one’s soulmate. Kento tries to calm himself and pitches the ball but Kanata manages to hit it. Mei wonders if it is a home run but thankfully, Tami caught it. Soon, it is the 8th inning and no one has scored yet. The audience is wondering up to when someone will score and if it will last until dinner time. With thoughts of not wanting to give Mei to Kanata, Kento throws the ball and Kanata wasn’t able to hit it. The next one was hit but no one is in the outside field..Kiba falls down and girlie prince’s butler didn’t know where to go. In the end, the fianc‚s group manages to score a point. Things aren’t looking good because the opponent scored a point in the 9th inning, the next one to bat are Aoyama, Daimon and horrors, Kiba. Aoyama and Daimon seem to want to subtitute Kiba while Izumi wonders substitute him with whom.

Nakata tells Mei that after the competition, he is going to take her away from the academy. Kento shouts what foolish things Nakata is saying. He exclaims that Mei has decided to go into Hongo family and go to that school so how could she just easily quit school. Nakata exclaims about the hardships Mei has to endure by being in Hongo family and she is more suitable to a normal life. He also exclaims that surely Kento also think that way and just because Kento became a butler, has that made him change his mind. “Even if I’m not like any of the others who have money, but I know what is true happiness. You do, too, right, Mei?!” Everyone tensely wait for Mei’s answer. Mei becomes determined and jumps down the field. She shouts to Kiba that she is going to substitute him. Mei smiles at Izumi who nods and allows the substitution. Kento freaks out and tries to get Rihito to stop Mei but Rihito just asks why he has to do that since there is no reason to stop her. Nakata is surprised as Mei holds the bat. Mei apologizes to Nakata and says that she wants to stay there. Nakata asks if a rich person’s life is happier. Mei smiles and says, “Yes, it is quite fun/happy and at the same time hard but regarding that, no matter where I am and what kind of life I lived, it is all just the same to me!” Kento is surprised by this answer while Rihito just smiles. Nakata is speechless. He looks at [I think] Chinese butler then apologizes to Mei since he still wants to win. Mei looks serious and says, “..I understand.” She thinks that she doesn’t want to lose. Soon, the other ojou-samas’ are shouting at Kanata about ladies first, being seriously playing against a girl, in short, don’t bully a girl. The butlers sweatdrop. After Mei, the next one to bat is Rihito then Kento. Soon, Mei is out/scores. Sakuraba says that it is ‘visitor’s ball’. [No idea, probably Kanata did go easy on her] and Mei also has no idea what happened but she goes to the next base. The ojou-samas are happy with the outcome. Kento comments that Nakata has decided to try and win against the two of them [brothers]. Kento is a bit nervous since Rihito wasn’t able to hit a single ball yet. Rihito gets ready and shouts, “Then, Mei-ojousama, what do you want me to do? Please give the command.” Kento sweatdrops. Mei happily exclaims, “Of course, it is to send that ball flying away like lightning!” Rihito smiles and says, “Yes!” Kanata gets ready to throw the ball.

Hehe, slightly amusing that Rihito doesn’t know how to play baseball but then, is he just faking it and only decides to be serious when Mei says that she is happy where she is now? Once again, the brothers are different in their approach. Rihito just keep silent and composed – support whatever Mei decides while Kento tends to be more emotional and shows his feelings especially if it concerns love. Kento really doesn’t suit to become a butler as in how a real butler should be. Hehe, I think some of the other butlers aren’t ‘butler-like’ either ^^; It is in that last scene that I like Mei-Rihito duo. Mei orders and Rihito delivers. It seems that the Chinese butler is really the one pulling the strings behind most of the fianc‚s. Irfan seems to be just a pervert and Mei-obssessed guy and nothing else. Sorry, if I got those baseball terms wrong since I’m just relying on what I watched on anime. ^^; Scans by zhu520/fema for BW.

Quote of the day:
Happiness and sadness run parallel to each other. When one takes a rest, the other one tends to take up the slack. ~Hazelmarie Elliott (“Mattie”)

Bokutachi wa Shitte Shimatta [Chapter 26]
Tuesday, June 23, 2009

With thoughts of not wanting Yukito to hate her, Kotori kisses Yukito on the cheek. The two Kaiji-s ended up blushing. Yukito is about to hug her but Kotori backs away so he hugged thin air. [Lol, poor guy] Kotori backs away because she is really thrilled that her heart is beating really fast. She is really happy that she wasn’t afraid at all like before. She wonders if it is all just her imagination. She then goes into shock when she sees Yukito who seems to be hugging himself -> thin air. Kotori reprimands herself for doing such strange things again. Kotori apologizes and asks if she has surprised him. Yukito says maybe. Kotori is worried what she should do. Yukito looks at her and asks why she did that. “Why did you kiss me? You obviously never did that before.” This made Kotori’s eyes widen. She becomes embarrassed at the way Yukito is looking at her with those kind of eyes. He repeats his question why. She tells him that she wanted to use a different way aside from words to convey her ‘like’ feelings to him. Yukito holds her hair and would probably go for some more lovey-dovey when the bell rings. They freak out because the break will soon be over and they haven’t eaten their lunch yet. Yukito has forgotten about his bento box that he opened it. Kotori sees his ‘Doraemon’ bento and exclaims that is really something. Yukito quickly covers it and shouts for her not to look. Kotori asks if Yukito made it. Yukito exclaims that it is made by his brother and it is a prank on him. Yukito tells her that his family is cutting down on costs so they are forced to eat bento boxes. “Ah, will you make me one? A bento box--” There is no reaction from Kotori so Yukito comments that he is just saying it [don’t take him seriously]. To his shock, Kotori agrees to it. Blushing, Kotori says that she would want to make him one. She asks him if there is anything that he doesn’t like to eat. Blushing Yukito stutters while saying that there is none. Yukito thanks her. The bell rings again so they get ready to go back to class. On the way back, since Kotori seems to be thinking of something, Yukito asks her what the matter is. She says that for her, that kiss she initiated made her heart beat really fast. She asks if it is the same for him. Yukito blushes and turns around. He says, “You tell me.” Kotori thinks that it seems he is evading the question. Kotori is really happy about what the kiss she initiated since Yukito didn’t refuse her, smiled at her and even wants a bento box. Kotori blushes even more and thinks, “It seems like I’m a real girlfriend.” She then panics that she never made a bento box before.

At Yukito’s house, Masaya opens the bento box and it is empty. He wonders if Yukito ate it or threw the contents away. He wonders what kind of bento box he will make tomorrow. Yukito tells him that he doesn’t have to make him a bento box tomorrow. “Compared to that exaggerated bento box, a snack is much better.” Masaya asks what about his lunch money. Yukito smiles and says that there is a way for him not to use money and his girlfriend is going to make him a bento box so there is no need for Masaya to make one for him. Masaya looks surprised with cold looking eyes. Yukito smiles and happily goes out the room. Masaya looks a bit tense as he says that Yukito suddenly said his girlfriend will make him a bento box. At Kotori’s room, Kotori calls up Natsume to ask her what kind of bento box she has to make in order to make boyfriends happy. Natsume says that is quite difficult. Kotori looks at a bento box cookbook and thinks that she wants Yukito to become happy. Natsume suggests that she just buy those microwavable frozen bento as her dishes. Kotori asks won’t Yukito know about it. Natsume assures her that Yukito won’t realize it and it will be alright because the frozen foods are very delicious lately. She also tells Kotori that a high school guy’s taste isn’t that discriminating. Kotori sweatdrops. Natsume says that it is really good because it seems that her relationship with Yukito is quite good. Kotori says it is true. She asks Natsume if she felt that way. Natsume says she does and she actually wondered if she had done too much meddling but right now, she can relax. Since Kotori is puzzled, Natsume reminds her about setting them up to go watch the movies with Abe’s help. Kotori says that it is okay because it is thanks to them, her distance with Yukito has become closer. Natsume is glad to hear that and that even if she and Yukito aren’t the same but they are really suitable for each other. “So, gambatte [do your best] ♥” Kotori thanks her. After hanging up, Kotori blushes about Natsume saying that they are suitable but then, she has to worry about the bento box. She is shock when someone asks, “..you, already have a boyfriend?” Lying on her bed, a guy is happily smiling at her direction. Kotori shouts to her brother as to when he was there and what is he doing there. Looking at the cookbook, her brother asks her if she is planning to make a bento box. “Can you really make one? And, who is this guy whom you plan to use a bento box to make him happy? Do you really have one? He is a 2D guy, right? Is he a living guy? That guy...” Kotori angrily pushes him out and shouts, that is enough, get out, he is an ordinary guy. Her brother asks if it is a Memories of Falling in Love guy. Kotori exclaims for him not to interfere [in her affairs].

Next day at school, Yukito is quite energetic and glittering as he tells his friends that they should hurry to PE class else they will be late. His friends wonder what happened to him. Yukito then asks Abe if one will actually do that if one wants to convey ‘like/love’ using one’s body. Abe blushes and says that even if Yukito says that he likes him, he still.. Embarrassed, Yukito shouts that isn’t what he meant. Yukito says if it is really like that, inviting him to go in some narrow place then in order to convey the feeling, she would kiss him. “Is it really like that? Is she trying to tell me that she would want things to progress quickly and be..is that it?” He imagines Kotori telling him to do more than a kiss. Flustered, Yukito is asking himself if it is really like that. His two friends wonder what Yukito is trying to confirm to himself and he is really acting strange. The homeroom teacher calls out to Yukito and says that it is good that he is there. Holding a cloth-wrapped ‘flowery’ design with pig pin bento box, the teacher tells him that his brother just came to school and says that he forgot to bring it. He also tells Yukito to properly thank his brother later on. Yukito is really embarrassed as he exclaims why his brother has to specifically bring it to school. He is so embarrassed that he doesn’t want to take it especially seeing that cloth wrapping. The teacher is puzzled over what Yukito is reacting about and just tells him to get it already since it was delivered specially for him. Abe comments to gloomy Yukito that his brother really loves to tease him. Yukito opens the bento box and it is filled with potato chips. He remembers telling his brother that a snack would be better. Gloomily, he can only curse his brother. Later on, Kotori opens the bento box she made for Yukito. It is a character bento box. [I don’t know who the character is but he seems to be the typical huge guy..kind of reminds me of Goda, that big bully guy in Doraemon.] Kotori wonders if it will make Yukito happy and it seems he likes character bento so she made one for him. A chibi Yukito is exclaiming that he never said he likes character bento. Kotori is still a bit embarrassed to give it to Yukito. Just then, Abe calls out to Kotori to ask her if she has seen Yukito’s bento box which was specifically brought there by his brother and it is quite admirable. This made Kotori lose confidence that she can’t win against that kind of bento box. In the end, she gloomily lies to dismayed Yukito that she didn’t make one for him. She apologizes since she did promised him but she didn’t have enough time today. She tells him that tomorrow, (perhaps), she will definitely do her best. Yukito forces a smile and tells her that it is alright because he did suddenly just ask her to do it and he will eagerly wait for until then. Yukito with tears in his eye gloomily walks back to the classroom. Kotori wonders if it is really okay because just by looking at the bento box that Yukito’s brother made, it felt like whatever she make is a waste of time. She wonders if she can also make a cute and delicious-looking bento box. She then frantically wonders what she should make tomorrow. In the classroom, Yukito is gloomily eating the chips. His two friends say that Yukito still ate it. They give him a something from their bento boxes. Soon, the other guys also start giving him a part of their lunches because they feel sorry for him even if they don’t know the situation. Soon, he has a second bento box. Yukito is touched by what they did but then, he gets angry since most of them are suppressing their laughter – laughing at him. ^^;

In a different school, some guys are talking about going on a group date but they lack one person because one of them has to go to cram school. Masaya volunteers himself. They ask if he would really go for didn’t he say that lately, he has family matters. Masaya smiles and says that it is okay. Back at the Kaiji-s’ school, Kotori and Natsume have cleaning duty. Natsume complains that cleaning duty is troublesome especially since they have exams next week. She asks Kotori if she has already studied. Kotori says that she hasn’t. Kotori tells Natsume to just sweep a little then go since she still has work afterwards. Natsume thanks her and says that she’ll just go throw the trash then she’ll leave. Kotori tries to erase the blackboard but she can’t reach the top part. To her surprise, Yukito takes the eraser from her then erases the blackboard for her. Kotori blushes and thinks that it is the same kind of heartbeat as before. He then gives the eraser back to her. He asks if she is on cleaning duty. Kotori says that she is. Yukito sits on the chair and says that he’ll wait for her. “Occasionally, I want for the two of us to go home together.” Kotori blushes and says okay. Yukito also blushes. Yukito is imagining the two of them – while walking home, he tells her to come near him then the two kisses as Yukito tells her that they continue what happened in the afternoon. Yukito starts giggling to himself while Kotori is embarrassed since he is looking at her. At Masaya’s group date in a fastfood restaurant, the girls are saying that Masaya is really handsome and he should be quite popular especially among the girls in his school. They say that since he is popular, surely, he already has a girlfriend. Masaya says that if he had a girlfriend then he won’t be going on a group date. Masaya’s smile disappears when one of the girls mention that it seems Masaya has a younger brother according to some classmates. The other girl asks if they look alike. His younger brother should also be handsome because Masaya, the brother, is handsome. They would want to see Masaya’s younger brother’s picture and if there is a way for them to see him. Masaya mutters, “Younger brother..?” He then has a flashback: Some girls are saying that Yukito looks similar with Masaya and he is quite cute. “Masaya’s younger brother is like a mini version of Masaya. We also want one in our house.” Then a girl [ex-girlfriend?] told Masaya, “I’m sorry, Masaya. I’m very curious about your younger brother..perhaps I have fallen for him.” [Gah..poor Masaya] End flashback.

Masaya is deep in thought and looking quite gloomy that one of the girls has to call out to him before he snapped out of it. The girl tells him that she wants to know his email address, birthday and surname. Masaya wonders if he should say it. The girl insists that he tell her. Masaya says that as an alibi in order for them to see each other again, he will only answer one question. “Which one do you want to know?” The girl is about to ask something but the other girl also wants to know something from Masaya. The other girl calls the girl, Anzu, being cunning. Masaya mentally thinks that if this goes on, this month of May – those who are attracted to him will be now 28. He thinks that’s a lot. He then smiles to himself. The two guys noticing his expression think that Masaya looks quite scary when he is doing that even if they don’t know what he is thinking about. Harada passes by them. She sighs. She sadly laments, “..today, he isn’t here again..Where are you? Kaworu..” Back at school, Kotori keeps the cleaning materials in the room. Yukito asks her if she is finished. Kotori says that she is. Yukito says that her hands are full of chalk dust. Kotori says that is true. She then playfully wipes her hands on his shirt. Yukito exclaims what she is doing. Then, it seems she did it again. Soon, as they go out of the school, they are both laughing. At the gate, they notice some commotion. A guy is grabbing a girl and they are quarreling. To Kotori’s horror, the girl is Matsushima. The guy is grabbing Matsushima and tells her that they aren’t finished talking. Matsushima exclaims that it hurts and they are finished talking. She scolds the guy for being annoying. Yukito exclaims that it is Matsushima. He wonders out loud what’s happening and why they are there. Matsushima’s expression changes into a happy one upon seeing Yukito. She exclaims that it is great that he is there. She clings on him and asks for his help. She exclaims that she already broke up with that guy but he kept on bothering her. The guy calls out to her as Risa [I will be using her name instead of her surname from now on] and says that he won’t accept it since it is a one sided break up. “I want you to give me a clear explanation about it.” Risa exclaims that he’s so annoying. Pulling Yukito’s arm towards herself, Risa declares, “I’m currently going steady with him! Why don’t you just give up!” Kotori is shock and thinks, “What?!”

Yukito and Kotori are so cute and pure that I really love this couple. ^^ It really gives me a feeling that this is really their first love – the awkwardness, the sweetness, the innocence and everything. Their brothers are both the teasing types but then, Kotori’s brother seems to be much nicer. Doesn't he have any protective instinct to check out her younger sister's boyfriend? It seems that he still can’t believe that Kotori has a real boyfriend part from the 2D characters from the game. As for Masaya, I guess he will try to ruin things for Yukito because he doesn't want Yukito to be superior to him and no wonder. It is because of those fickle girls that they have a sibling rivalry. I feel sorry for both..geez, that is really traumatizing. For someone who has everything and can do everything, to be dump because the girl has fallen for his cute brother..ugh, it's very devastating to his ego. No wonder he will do whatever he can to make Yukito look bad and he has been boosting his ego by going to different group dates to attract girls. I guess to solve this kind of problem, the brothers just need to find a girlfriend who will like them for what they are and not fall for the other sibling. So far, Yukito has been lucky in that. Finally, argh..it's Risa again. I think she deliberately went to the school to set that up. She probably thinks she can get away with it because Kotori is timid. I hope Yukito will not agree just because they are friends. Kotori, fight for him! Don't let that girl take him away and get away with what she has been doing! Risa has finally shown her true motives. I hope Natsume hasn’t left the school yet. I somewhat feel sorry for Harada though. There are a lot of obstacles coming up. I wonder how they can overcome them..sweetly and funny, I hope. =P Scans by zhu520/fema for BW.

Quote of the day:
Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. ~ Robert Heinlein

Weekly Jump: Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Reborn, and PSYREN
Monday, June 22, 2009

In Bleach [c. 362], after Starrk finishes doing his pose, he quarrels with his gun, Lilyneth about not cooperating. Sensui uses this opportunity to attack. After they fought, Starrk comments that it is quite unlikely for him to do that as if he had panicked. Sensui admits that he tried to kill him with that first blow and Starrk must be really good to have evaded that. Sensui asks if Starrk can shoot other things than cero with his guns. Starrk says no. The two call each other liars. Starrk complains that since Sensui made him release, he should show him his bankai. Sensui tries to tell him that he won’t if his guns can only shoot cero. Starrk attacks with a meteor shower-like cero attack. Sensui tries to run away and exclaim that it isn’t fair. Then, Starrk got attacked by Ukitake. Starrk evades and wonders if that was a cero-attack. Yay ^^ He is joining the fight just like I wanted to ^^ I think the author is deliberately dragging this as we anticipate what their bankai-s look like. ^^; I wonder if Ukitake has also become a vizard, so that he won’t be too sickly, if that was indeed a cero. Nah, it could probably just some sort of shinigami equivalent of a cero.

While in Naruto [c. 452], since Naruto and Sakura are stunned about the news, Kakashi explains to them that killing off Sasuke as a missing nin is but natural but then, he wasn’t killed off because Tsunade is too lenient. Sakura wants to go after Danzou but Kakashi dissuades her since it won’t solve anything. Then, Naruto also wants to go and give Danzou a piece of his mind. Kakashi tells Naruto to stay calm else if he will be doing what Danzou wants – give him an alibi to keep him in the village thus not be able to look for Sasuke. Elsewhere, Danzou orders Sai to observe Naruto if he does something different. Sai asks Danzou what he plans to do with Naruto. Danzou says that he won’t do anything to Naruto because he is a hero now and if he does something bad, it might reflect on him as a hokage. He assures Sai that he is just observing Naruto because he is a host for the kyuubi. It seems that Danzou senses that Sai isn’t going to be as loyal as he was before. Some place else, Sai is a bit uneasy. Naruto and Sakura were looking for him and ask him if he can help them about Danzou. Sai’s tongue is tied because Danzou put a seal on all of the members wherein if they tell about Danzou to the others, they will be paralyzed [permanently?]. Sai explains that Danzou did a lot of bad things but nevertheless, he did it all for the village. Sakura asks him about Danzou wanting to kill off Sasuke. They were interrupted by Karui and Omoi who want to know more about Sasuke. Naruto quickly attacks them since they pointed a sword at Sakura. Soon, all five are fighting. After they break apart, Naruto and others learn that Sasuke has attacked their village, took their master and became a part of Akatsuki. They swore to avenge their master by getting permission to kill Sasuke. And, they don’t need to go far because Sasuke is going to them. I think this time around if the two meets, Naruto’s wild card would be whatever Itachi gave him to convince Sasuke to join up with them again. It seems that Kakashi will be the mentor to help Naruto to focus and not just ‘attack’ – think before acting. Hm..I wonder if Danzou will really be a villain or he only seems to be. Well, obviously the guy is keeping lots of secrets.

Then, in One Piece [c. 547], Magellan has powered up that Luffy’s attacks using Mr. 3’s wax were rendered useless. They decided to run away. Some of the prisoners were infected by the poison. Outside, Bonclay wonders how Jimbei and others are doing since they can only hear cannons firing. Bonclay is also worried about losing precious time if Jimbei and others go back to get them. The marines are busy fighting against Crocodile and Mr. 1 in the battleship. The other battleship plan to destroy the battleship that Crocodile and others have taken over but Jimbei stops them by making their gun power wet. Luffy and others finally reach Bonclay and others. Luffy shouts for everyone to run since Magellan is right behind them. Bonclay tells Luffy that they don’t have a ship yet. Ivankov uses death wink to push himself up. He had also rescued Inazuma by taking him with him. Bonclay and others are happy that they are still alive. Luffy got contacted by Jimbei that they got the ship. Jimbei tells Luffy to keep on running and jump into the sea. Even if Mr. 3 doubts Jimbei, Luffy trusts in him because he is Ace’s friend. Luffy uses third gear and punches Magellan with the help of Mr. 3’s wax. He then asks Ivankov to use his wink. They all clink on to Ivankov. Ivankov does his wink and they all land in the sea with whales waiting for them. The whales sharks are called in by Jimbei. Jimbei orders them to bring Luffy and others to them. And, that is how they got out of Impel Down. Finally..and now, to rescue Ace. The colored cover is nice and I guess that will be Luffy’s group in saving Ace. It is nice that Ivankov and Inazuma made it though how will they be cured from the poison? Injecting hormones, too? I would love to see Buggy and Mr. 3’s expression when they learn where they are going to go next. =P

In Katekyo Hitman Reborn! [c. 246], after Takeshi introduces his doggie and informs Genkishi that he also uses four swords, the two fight again. Reborn and Bianchi noted Takeshi’s improvements in battle. Squallo is just smiling, must be happy about those comments or as Takeshi’s teacher. More fighting and it has become obvious that Takeshi is outmatching whatever Genkishi uses to attack him. Genkishi ends up wounded. It turns out that Takeshi used his swallow to pinpoint where Genkishi really is while he is fighting with Takeshi’s doggie. After introducing his swallow, Takeshi is now preparing for a serious fight. Genkishi realizes that this isn’t the same weakling Takeshi he fought before. Squalo informs the others that Takeshi really is a good swordsman but he just doesn’t ‘embrace the sword’. During his talk with Takeshi in a bonfire, Takeshi mentioned that he wasn’t too focused on putting everything on it so he lost. He decided to give up baseball for the sword temporarily. Reborn comments that it is the same first rain guardian’s predicament – choosing to use swords or music. Of course, when Vongola Primo is in trouble, he sold his musical instruments for a katana and three short swords. That is what Takeshi is using now, one huge sword used with his swallow while the other three swords are his doggie. I’m amused. I read somewhere that men usually like to talk [man-to-man talk] when they are in front of a bonfire. That scene reminded me of it so I’m amused. Well, Takeshi has really powered up and I think he’ll make short work of Genkishi and finish this already. Hm..from the looks of things it seems that they are going to have a really easy time with the enemies. I wonder if Hayato will fare better since he did well the last time. It is either that or everyone will be showing us their new weapons. Lastly, first it was Tsuna and now Takeshi is compared as to being someone similar to the first generation of Vongola. It made me wonder if the rest of the members would also have something similar with Vongola Primo’s group.

Yoshina and others find a certain place which has sun and greenery in PSYREN [c. 75] . They found a hole and got in. They saw a prototype of Nemesis Q and followed it to some sort of hideout. Before they can explore it, Usui and his goons have arrived at the same place to. So, it is time for more fighting. I think a lot of ‘time’ is wasted on observing the prototype that the enemy got there already ^^; Hopefully, there will be some challenge in the fights rather than it being just one-sided. Also, if those are the most powerful men that Usui has, I guess he’ll just be a disposable character meant only for us to know about Nemesis Q’ boss. I’m sure thought after this battle, there will be more about Nemesis Q. That seems to be the trend. Fight then more revelations, so on. ^^;

Word of the day:
Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success. ~ Author Unknown

Free Talk: Blog Pic + Teasers
Sunday, June 21, 2009

Hm..I don’t know if I got lots of new readers now or someone is hotlinking my images so my album that host some of the pictures exploded. Since I’m busy hastily putting up a new layout, I’ll upload Weekly Jump tomorrow. This layout isn’t that good but oh well. ^^; I got this picture from BW. I couldn’t credit because I couldn’t find where I got it anymore. ^^; This picture is from VK Nintendo DS Game. ^^ Perhaps some of you have already seen that picture. Haha..I actually couldn’t find a descent pic that I can use so I haven’t been changing the blog pic quite frequently like before. ^^; Regarding the ‘exceed bandwidth’ signs, you see, I had already subscribed multiple accounts in photobucket because I’m using the free version. For bigger bandwidth, I have to pay. Since I’m not earning anything from maintaining this site and I don’t like to ask for donations so please bear with those signs. It will return to normal on the month when I opened that account. Since I don’t like wasting time re-posting it in the other albums again and changing the links, some of those signs will remain. Sorry, if they are annoying ^^;;

Anyway, here’s the teaser for Vampire Knight 51. Half of it is mostly about Zero and the school. Yori even made an appearance. Then, the rest is mostly about Yuuki struggling with drink her blood thing. Now, what everyone is talking about in baidu..getting angry and bashing or defending Yuuki is because of what she said in the end to Kaname. This is unconfirmed but here goes: Kaname said that a vampire can only be satisfied with the blood of the one he/she likes. Yuuki replied that is why she isn’t completely satisfied. “Until now, part of my heart which has a relation with Zero still lives on. Even so, can I still stay here? I want to stay by your side. If one is always alone [by one self] forever, it will be very lonely, Kaname-sama. I want to be by your side forever.” So, I’m not quite sure how to interpret that. Does it mean she likes both guys – ya, since she is part human and part vampire in a way? Does she just pity Kaname so she is staying with him? As someone suggested that it seems the only way for Yuuki to end up with Zero is for Kaname to die. But then, won’t the vampire side of her be unsatisfied? Is she indecisive or just a two-timer? *shrug* I don’t want to think about it anymore. Actually, that isn’t surprising because she has been like that even before..whoever guy she is with, she thinks of the other. Haha, maybe if the two guys will agree to it, they can just share Yuuki..The end. =P

Opps..I forgot that I also got a Hadashi de Bara wo Fume 31 teaser. This shouldn’t be read if you don’t have patience because of the cliffhanger and the author is going on a hiatus – maternity leave. Soichiroh starts to get jealous with the guys around Sumi. One is Nozomu. The other seems to be the new school teacher where Atari will go to. That lead to a fight and in the end, the sheep went into the tiger’s den. Sumi who is looking for Soichiroh got ‘lured’ by Nozomu to his house. She takes a shower because it was raining then and she was all wet. He stole her clothes..what will he do next? Ask her to pose for his painting? =P That is really awful..it got me checking for how long does people in Japan have a maternity leave. ^^;; For Kimi ni Todoke author, it has been months already. Oh well, that’s the bad thing about being spoiled and I actually didn’t expect that kind of cliffhanger because in that other series, Knt, the cliffhanger isn’t that bad for me to want to know what happened next.

Word of the day:
Today, we can face unexpected change because our faithful God is still in control. ~ David C. McCasland from Our Daily Bread

Hapi Mari -Happy Marriage!?- [Chapter 5] + Teasers
Saturday, June 20, 2009

It is spring and their company has a new research worker. The new guy is Yagami Hiroshi, a cute guy that the other female co-workers would have a crush on him except for our lead character, Chiwa. [He actually looks like Nozomu of Yoru Caf‚..check the chibi in between entries =P ] Alas, to the dismay and jealousy of the other workers, Chiwa was chosen to train/help him in doing research. Later on, her other two co-workers are ‘harrassing’ Chiwa about her luck that Chiwa wonders why their mood is quite foul. It turns out that there is a magazine article about a certain Kana going out with a certain company president who obviously is Hokuto even if the eyes are covered. Chiwa already knows about this because earlier in the morning, Taeko has already informed her about it. She explains that it is just eating out with some other company president’s friends. Taeko assures Chiwa that it is just part of work. Chiwa is a bit irked that Hokuto wasn’t the one who told her about it when they saw each other in the morning especially since she is his wife. The women were interrupted when Hiroshi comes back and exclaims to Chiwa that he has found the ledger she was looking for. The two women reprimand Chiwa for using Hiroshi as her errand boy. Hiroshi says that it isn’t so because everything for him is a learning experience. This made the two blush and thinks that Hiroshi is a nice kid. That night, Hokuto came home early because he can’t go out because of that magazine article. Glaring at him, Chiwa asks him if what was written in the magazine is true. Hokuto puts his arm around her and asks if she is jealous. He tells her not to worry and it is just as Taeko told her. While Hokuto is still talking, Chiwa becomes depressed and wonders why he didn’t tell her about it himself when she is his wife. She bids him good night and left. On bed, she thinks that after that kiss, she thought that things have changed but then, it seems that she is the only one who is thinking that.

The next day, Hiroshi talks with Chiwa about the many media people outside the gate again that he wonders if they are just being persistent or they got nothing to do. Chiwa sighs and says that is true but she understands since from the looks of their president, he looks like a playboy. She asks Hiroshi if he thinks the same. Hiroshi agrees with her because Hokuto is handsome and popular. Chiwa thinks that it is so easy for her to talk with Hiroshi and could it be because their age is similar. He is honest and easy to teach. Chiwa starts to ask Hiroshi about her own problem, in the pretense that it is the problem of a friend. She asks his opiniong about her friend’s ‘boyfriend’ is betraying her. She asks him why the boyfriend wasn’t the one explaining what happened and what is the context of a betrayal. Then, when Chiwa mentioned about her friend not yet having sex with the boyfriend, Hiroshi thinks that is a possible reason why the boyfriend to betray her friend. Chiwa is gloomy about this while Hiroshi is puzzled why they haven’t sex yet when that person is a good woman. Chiwa becomes even gloomier because that guy [Hokuto] didn’t think of her as a woman. Then, it is time so they left. That night, Hokuto mentions to Chiwa that the new research worker is quite useful. Chiwa is surprised that she asks Hokuto if she talked about him to Hokuto. Hokuto says that he learned it from Taeko. Chiwa tells him that Hiroshi is enthusiastic and honest so he quickly learns. Hokuto is pleased with that since they found a good worker. She seems displeased and asks if the media are still after him. Hokuto says they are so one should just bear with the situation though the media won’t be able to find anything. Chiwa thinks that it is unfair that Hokuto knows everything about her through Taeko yet she doesn’t know anything about what’s happening with him. She is unsatisfied with the short answers she gets from him. She then tells him that the new guy’s name is Hiroshi who said Hokuto is quite handsome and surely, he is a playboy. Hokuto nervously asks what they are chatting about. Chiwa tells him that she had fun while chatting with Hiroshi. Their age is similar that it feels that there is no barrier between them and there are many things that she can talk with him that she didn’t talk about with Hokuto. This surprises Hokuto. She bids him good night then goes in. Hokuto just sighs.

At the coffee/tea room [where they usually make coffee/tea for breaks or visitors at the office], Hiroshi says that the research there will be finished for tomorrow and he heard that professional research is quite hard. Chiwa says that it is true because one has to go from one place to another but then, she thinks that this kind of job suits Hiroshi. He then asks her why she won’t let her boyfriend get pass that last defense. This surprises Chiwa that she asks him if he is talking about her friend. To her surprise, Hiroshi already knows that she is using an old method of talking about her problem using the alibi that it is a friend’s problem. Hiroshi tells her that he is just a bit worried and offers to help her in any way he can. Chiwa thinks that maybe if it’s Hiroshi, she’ll get to learn something. She tells him that she really doesn’t understand about what her ‘boyfriend’ thinks of her and how he thinks. Hiroshi says that he can’t understand it because their problem is like a problem before one goes steady. Since Chiwa becomes gloomy about this [can’t tell him about the marriage], Hiroshi apologizes and tries to cheer her up. He then mentions that it seems that he still has a chance. She turns around in surprise when Hiroshi holds up her hand. He tells her that if her ‘boyfriend’ likes her then, he won’t disregard her. If he does disregard, then maybe his feelings aren’t deep enough. Maybe her boyfriend is just pretending to be calm but then, the relationship is all over if he needs to explain yet he doesn’t explain. And maybe, the truth is he doesn’t really care about her. Chiwa is in tears and tells him not to tell her anymore. Holding her chin, Hiroshi says that if it is him, he won’t hurt her like that. They were interrupted by Taeko. Taeko says that she heard that Chiwa is there so she went there. Hiroshi nervously asks if love isn’t allowed in the office. Taeko says it is allowed as long as one restrains oneself. After Taeko left, Chiwa changes the topic and just tells Hiroshi that they should make tea. She is a bit nervous that Taeko will report this to Hokuto. Later on, Taeko calls out to Chiwa. Chiwa asks if it is about what happened before but Taeko says it is something else. Chiwa rushes to Hokuto’s office. Hokuto smiles and says that she came. Chiwa exclaims why he is going to see Kana again when they are suppose to wait for the news to die down. He asks if she cares. Chiwa just blushes. Taeko then enters the room and apologizes to Chiwa. She says that Hokuto shouldn’t be doing this kind of thing. Hokuto tells Taeko to leave the office. After she left, Chiwa learns that Hokuto has no plans on seeing Kana and just as she said, he is waiting for the news to die down. When Chiwa asks why he lied to her, Hokuto says that he just wants to see that look on her face because she said some strange things a few days before and she mentioned the name of the new guy. To his surprise, Chiwa starts crying and hitting him for tricking her like that. She exclaims what does he think of her and didn’t he know that she was really jealous.

She cries what’s this about seeing her expression and she really hates what he did. Hokuto asks if she knew what she just said. Chiwa cries that that she knows and she is saying that he doesn’t think of her as his wife. Hokuto says that isn’t what he meant. He tries to tell her about being jealous but Chiwa cries that he made a fool out of her. He tries to tell her that she actually likes him but Chiwa kept on complaining and says that he just wants to get back at her because something similar happened with her and Hiroshi. Hokuto is surprised and asks what that something similar is. Chiwa is stunned as she realizes that Taeko didn’t tell him about it. To her surprise, Hokuto pushes her down on the table. He asks her what she meant before about no barrier with Hiroshi. Chiwa becomes scared yet she doesn’t understand why she still does things to make him angry. While crying, she tells him that Hiroshi told her that if her boyfriend doesn’t want to do anything with her and not even bothering to explain what he is doing behind her back, he doesn’t care about her. Hokuto looks angry as he calls her stupid for thinking that all of those things are true. Chiwa cries, what he can make her believe on when he just lied to her earlier. There is nothing she can depend on except for a piece of paper. He kisses her and says, “Perhaps it’s a piece of paper, but because it is registered, you belong to me and I belong to you. I thought that at least, you’ll know this..” To her surprise, Hokuto starts taking off her blouse. He whispers to ask where Hiroshi touched her. Chiwa exclaims that Hiroshi didn’t do that, it is just an almost kiss. While kissing her, he says that he is quite lenient with her for he thought that there won’t be many guys who would actually make a move on her. Chiwa exclaims that there is really nothing but she becomes flustered when she realizes that he is touching her under her underwear. She thinks that she hates him doing that suddenly but then..

They were startled when Hokuto’s cellphone starts ringing. He answers the phone. Chiwa thinks that she feels regretful again [they stopped] and she wonders why. Hokuto tells her to go ahead because he has an important phone call. Chiwa is surprised and tries to explain what really happened. Hokuto shouts at her not to talk anymore and just leave. He tells her that if she is like that, looking as if she is raped, is okay with her then he can continue. Chiwa looks down and is shock that her blouse is open and her bra is about to fall off. She quickly dresses up and runs away while saying that she’s leaving, goodbye. After she left, Hokuto sighs and looking a bit nervous..he is blushing a bit. He asks himself why he is so anxious and it is really embarrassing [what he did]. Going out, Chiwa is flustered as she bows to Taeko then quickly runs off. She is still freaking out about what happened when she bumps into Hiroshi. Chiwa asks why he is still there when it is already late at night. Hiroshi says that he was looking for her. He came to apologize to her regarding what happened during the day. He confesses that he was anxious because tomorrow, the research will end. Chiwa also apologizes about her feelings. Before she can finish explaining, Hiroshi tells her that he understands because even if her ‘boyfriend’ says she is no good, she still likes that coldhearted ‘boyfriend’. It is because when Hiroshi said about that stuff about her ‘boyfriend’, it seems that she is really going to cry. Chiwa is a bit confused as to how he can say that she likes her ‘boyfriend’. Hiroshi decides to explain it to her that she doesn’t want her ‘boyfriend’ to betray her because she doesn’t want him to be taken away by some other girl. He tells her that what is past is past, for tomorrow is another new day. Chiwa agrees with him. She begins to understand everything and what Hokuto is trying to tell her when he asked if she knows what she is saying. She realizes that she isn’t angry because he doesn’t treat her like a wife but rather, it is because she doesn’t want him to be taken away. She is moved by his kiss, disappointed when they stop midway..all of it is... Chiwa blushes really red. She thinks that Hiroshi didn’t know that they are married and that means she and Hokuto don’t have any hindrance. “Perhaps, if I only want, it’s okay no matter when but right now.” Chiwa says, “I like you.” “When I say it, my whole body feels hot. From tonight on, how should I face him and living together with him afterwards..” Blurb: “Finally realizes what ‘like’ is but, Hokuto’s heart is...”

Hehe, moral lesson, lack of communication between partners can cause a lot of misunderstanding. Obviously, they won’t have this little problem if they talk to each other rather than relying on someone else. Hokuto is using Taeko as her bridge to Chiwa while Chiwa is using Hiroshi to understand Hokuto. I guess Hiroshi will end up as a friend whom Chiwa can confide with. I think they really have a connection because she is at ease with him as compared to her other co-workers. I guess this is a different way of using the ‘love rival’ to make a character realizes one’s feelings for the other. In just one chapter, Hiroshi has become friend to potential lover to friend again. In other series, that can easily be dragged out in many chapters. Honestly, I don’t quite like that ‘forcing himself on Chiwa scene’ but I guess Hokuto just got uneasy/jealous, too. He must be thinking that something more has happened and he must have been really underestimating Chiwa’s ability to ‘charm’ other guys. =P I guess if they weren’t interrupted, Hokuto might not have stopped. For someone who has a reputation as a playboy, maybe it is just reputation because he really needs to work on his ways to charm Chiwa ^^; Anyway, things might be easy now since Chiwa realizes her feelings for him. I guess there will be more awkwardness. =P Scans by zhu520/fema for BW.

Teasers: Raws are out for some series in BW. ^^ Don’t read if you can’t bear cliffhangers or don’t have the patience to wait for scanlations. Teaser for the next chapter of this series: Buying sexy lingerie, almost kiss by Chiwa and dinner date which unfortunately, ends in crying because of something Chiwa overheard from the conversation between Hokuto and a friend. Skip Beat! 142 is good. Kyouko has successful made Ren suspicious that she is up to something especially seeing that chocolate with the word ‘loath’ on it. Yashiro thinks that it is for Shou. And of course, at the station, she meets up with Shou who tossed away her chocolate for Reino. Very angry and jealous..hm..that should be what Ren is doing ^^; Hana to Akuma 33 is love-love. Hana must have missed Vivi or fear that he might leave her that she runs from school just to see him. Kiss here and kiss there. Aw..is this a calm before the storm chapter? There seems to be no mention about the letter. Dengeki Daisy 26 is also love. Kurosaki must be going nuts from worry and he even brought a shovel..maybe to bury the guy who kidnapped her. There are lots of talk so I don’t understand much. It turns out that woman school doctor is behind everything. The guy teacher is wounded and is probably being threatened by that woman. She threatens to blow up the place with Teru and the teacher. Somehow, Teru manages to escape. Teru wows me when she gave that woman a cockroach instead of the usb. =P In the end, Teru even tricks the woman and pushes her down the sea. They are at the pier/docks something. The last part is of course, love + funny. Kurosaki performs mouth to mouth on Teru and she spits the water on him. According to someone, while they were hugging, in the end, Teru says, "Thank you, I love you....Daisy". So, it is already out in the open that he is Daisy, right?! Then, the author goes on a break. ^^; Flavia who scanned this says that the author tends to go on a break when things are progressing. Finally, in Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu 42, it is a short chapter. Sakura helps Tsubaki sort things out and not give up. Tsubaki decides to send Kyouta a message unfortunately, he didn’t get to read it because stupid Haru has the gall to talk with Kyouta in the park. The guy must have a death wish. He ends up being punched all bloodied and unconscious. Hopefully, he’s not dead else Kyouta has just gotten himself a criminal record because a couple of policemen are on the scene. One of them has to forcibly take Kyouta from ‘lifeless’ Haru. The next day at school, Tsubaki seems to gets to learn about it. That’s quite intense. I didn’t expect that..now, I wonder what will happen next. Then, in Koibana! 40, congratulations, Hanabi ^^ She finally got Chikai. Wow, major progress in that series.

Quote of the day:
Good communication occurs not only when we know what we want to say, but also when we know the person to whom we are speaking. ~ Our Daily Bread

Stardust★Wink [Chapter 5]
Friday, June 19, 2009

On a strawberry cake, there is a candle – 15. Anna and Hinata are clapping and singing, “Happy birthday to you-♪ Happy birthday to you-♪ Happy birthday dear Sou ♪ Happy birthday to you!” [Hinata’s bored expression is quite amusing =P] Blushing, Sou says that, this is very embarrassing. Anna tells him to quickly blow the candles before the wax drips on the cake. “Blow— ‘woo’ like that. Quick!” Sou blows the candle. Anna screams, “Yay!” Anna narrates that after all sort of things had happened, it is finally April 29th, Sou’s 15th birthday. Sou says that the cake looks delicious. Hinata agrees. The comments made Anna happy. She tells them that it is the first time she made a cake so maybe she has talent. The guys eat it. They are speechless as Anna eagerly anticipates their reaction. Sou puts on a smile and says that it is because she made it, no matter what it tastes like, sharing part of her happiness, he is already very happy. Anna asks what he meant by that. Sou asks if he can tell her the truth that it looks good but then, upon eating, it is like chewing a sponge. Anna is shock by the negative comment. Sou says that he did say that ‘it looks good’. He tells her to try it and it is really hard. Anna tastes her cake and thinks that it is really chewy. Sou continues to eat as he says that it isn’t bad for someone who made it for the first time. Anna asks Hinata, who is about to eat a strawberry, what kind of gift did he prepare for Sou. Hinata tells them that he also can’t buy a PS3 for Sou and he is quite perplexed what to give Sou. Since Anna is going to bake a cake, he decided to go the same path as she did. “I drew a picture.” It is Ash Sou holding a pok‚ ball and behind him are different Pok‚mon-s including Pikachu, Meowth, Chimchar and another one which I’m lazy/can’t find. [They are censored probably because of copyright issues.] Hinata says, “The title is ‘Sou’s get’ travel.” Sou and Anna are shock at how good the drawing was. Anna tells Hinata that his drawing is really good. She says that even if she knew that he joined some competition and won a prize but she never thought that he was this good. Sou happily thanks Hinata and tells him that he is really happy that he will put it up in his room. Hinata gives him a thumb up sign. Anna can’t believe at difference between his reaction to Hinata’s gift in comparison to her gift.

Anna’s mother tells Anna that she is going out so if Anna is going out, too, she should remember to lock the door. Anna says okay. Anna’s mother also tells her that she might be coming home late so she should remember to prepare her meal. Then, she calls out to Sou and Hinata to ask them when the results of the mock exam are going to come out. Anna is surprised and exclaims why she is asking them, not her. Her mother glares at her and says that it is because she will definitely lie to her. She tells Anna that she was serious regarding what she said before. “You just wait and see.” Anna is looking scared and tense. Someone rings the doorbell so Anna’s mother decided to go. Looking aghast, Anna mutters what was it her mother said before, based on the results of the mock exam and the mid-term exam, she will be made to go to cram school or have a home tutor. They ask her how her mock exam was. Anna just says, “I will do my best in the mid-term exam. ♥” The guys are speechless. They were interrupted when they hear loud footsteps. Someone shouts, “Sou!” It is Beni. “As expected! I thought you will be in Anna’s house!” Anna calls out to Beni and says that she is still dressed like that, that makes people not realize that she is just an elementary grade six student. Pointing at Anna, Beni exclaims that she went to Sou’s house but he isn’t there. “You’re quite cunning, Anna! You even want to be with him alone on his birthday!” Hinata tells her that he is also there. Beni didn’t listen since she is already hugging Sou. “But, it’s good that we can see each other ♥ Beni has come to give a gift to Sou ♥” [Beni seems to talk to herself as third person.] Sou just thanks her. His reaction is like he is just going with the flow but he really isn’t happy about this. “Happy birthday-♥” Sou is aghast to see a cellphone strap with a ribbon-donut-cookie on it. “Ah—it’s cute..” Beni happily exclaims in glee that it is cute that she also bought the same kind for herself. “Then, Sou will also put it on his cellphone then, they [both cellphones] will be a match ♪” Hinata and Anna feel left out since Beni is acting too familiar [not an outsider] when that is Anna’s house. Sou asks why Beni is so idle on Golden Week for shouldn’t kids go out with their parents on a trip. [April 29th is the start of Golden Week] Beni complains that they won’t bring her out because on Golden Week, her brother will return. This surprises Anna. She exclaims if Masshiro is coming back. “When will he be coming? Is it today?”

Beni backs away and asks why Anna is suddenly so excited. Hinata says that Anna likes Masshiro when she was young. [This part isn’t translate but it seems] Anna exclaims that Masshiro is her first love/crush. She happily says that Masshiro is so handsome and mature that he is like a dependable and kind brother. This gives Beni the shivers. She tells Anna that her brother isn’t like how she is describing him and he isn’t one bit nice at all. Anna tells Beni that it is because Beni is Masshiro’s younger sister so she doesn’t know her brother enough but the truth is he is really nice. [I think it is like one’s own sibling can’t see how nice the other sibling is.] Beni says, “Then, I give my brother to you and you give Sou to me.” This made Anna and Sou say, “Ha?” Beni exclaims that she knows that Anna and Sou are going steady. “I give my brother to you, you break up with Sou!” To Beni’s shock, Anna tells her that they aren’t going steady anymore. Beni then happily says, “So that’s how it is, why didn’t you say so earlier! Then, Sou go steady with Beni..” Sou flatly declines. Beni exclaims why, because she doesn’t want to accept the reason that he isn’t ‘interested in kids’. Sou sighs and says it isn’t that though (meaning it is only a part of the reason). “Because I already have someone I like.” Everyone is stunned when Beni points at Anna and asks, “Someone you like, do you mean Anna? If you like Anna, why did you two break up? Were you dumped by Anna? Doesn’t Anna like Sou? Then, why did you even went steady in the first place?!” Beni grabs Anna’s collar and shouts, “Give me a really clear explanation, Anna-!!” Anna just looks ill and tense as she just says, “I--!!?” [She seems to be looking at Sou’s direction.] Sou shouts, “Beni!” Silence. “..you better stop before you go too far. Things between me and Anna have nothing to do with you.” Hinata calls out Sou’s name [for saying such hurtful words]. Beni is in the verge of tears that she quickly goes out. Anna is a bit worried. Sou tells them not to care about Beni because she is just too opinionated [thinks she’s always right]. Anna looks displeased at Sou. Sou is feeling a bit distressed that he is in trouble because he just made Beni cry. Hinata sighs and says, “But, comparing yourself with an elementary student, Sou also doesn’t seem to be a grown-up..” This comment hits Sou for Hinata is right on target. Sou stands up and says, “I know already, I’ll go after her, okay?” He hears some chu-chu sounds of Hinata and Anna talking about him while looking at him. Hinata whispering to Anna that it is so obvious that it is Sou who is most worried about Beni. Anna agrees with him. Sou shouts, “Okay, okay, I’ll go apologize!”

Outside the building, the three friends say that it seems Beni isn’t at her house. They think that the only three places that Beni would go are the elementary school, theme park or the park. Sou will go to the school, Hinata will go to the theme park and Anna will go to the park. Hinata puts up his hand and says, “Understood--” Anna is thinking that even if she finds Beni, she knows that Beni won’t be happy to see her. Before she knew it, the two guys exclaim, “Okay, depart!” Later on, Anna is walking around and calling out to Beni. [It’s like calling a missing pet ^^;] She then spots Beni sitting on one of the swings. Anna approaches her and calls her name. Beni looks up and angrily asks why she is there. Anna is nervous because it seems Beni is angry with her. Anna forces a smile and tells her that everyone has been looking for her. She informs Beni that Sou went looking for her at the elementary school. Taking out her cellphone, she tells Beni that she is going to call Sou. She then calls Sou to tell him that she found Beni at the park. She will then wait for Sou to go there. After Anna hangs up, Beni looks a bit sad and asks if Sou is angry. Anna tells her that he isn’t because he is quite regretful for making Beni cry. “Right now, he is coming to apologize.” Anna is speechless when Beni says that it is okay even if Sou doesn’t apologize for she just hopes that he’ll go steady with her. She tells Anna that Sou has gradually starts to not care about her when Sou went to elementary then junior high earlier than her. “When obviously before, he would still play with Beni..” Beni starts crying and says, “When Sou becomes a high schooler, he will be more uncaring to Beni~~” Anna tries to cheer her up by saying that even if he becomes a high schooler, they all still live in the same apartment building. This made Beni angry that she shouts at Anna that she doesn’t understand what it is like to be not in the same school with the person one likes. “Speaking of that, even if right now, there are a lot of opportunities to see each other, wait until you graduate junior high, then Anna and Sou will..” This has surprised Anna. They were interrupted when Sou calls out to Beni. Hinata is following Sou from behind. Anna calls out to the two guys. Beni is shock that she quickly goes into a cave-thing [usually in playgrounds; I don’t know what it is called ^^;]. Sou shouts for her not to run away but she still went inside the ‘cave’. Sou peeks into the ‘cave’ and tells crying Beni, “Beni, what I said just now was quite cruel, I’m sorry.” Beni didn’t reply. Sou says, “Come out-- I'll make you see something nice.” Beni turns around in curiosity. She sees the phone strap that she gave him is on Sou’s cellphone. Sou says, “See, it’s super cute, my cellphone.” Beni blushes and quickly glomps Sou. She exclaims that she likes it. Looking to the side, Sou is thinking like ‘oh great’. While Beni kept on exclaiming her delight, Sou finally had enough that he shouts for Beni to move away from him since she is too close to him. Anna just smiles at them. Hinata is just looking at them.

Later on, while walking back to their apartment building, Beni is still clinging on to Sou. Anna and Hinata are walking behind them. Hinata sighs and says that being popular is quite tiring. Anna asks if it is also tiring for Hinata. Hinata tells her that he isn’t that popular. Anna says that he will definitely also be popular when he reaches high school- because normally during spring, girls will ask, that ‘who’s the girl who usually goes to school with those two guys?’ type of question. Hinata seems surprised and he says that he didn’t know that. Anna nervously tells him that Sou is eye-catching but Hinta is also very popular. Hinata tells her that he isn’t talking about that. “I’m saying that [we] still don’t know if the three of us can still go to school together during high school.” This surprises Anna and she remembers what Beni is trying to tell her before. She realizes that this is what Beni meant. She asks Hinata if he has already decided on the school he wants to go to. Hinata says he hasn’t decided yet. She asks him how his mock exam was. Hinata says that it was good for he was able to answer everything. Anna exclaims that Hinata is good at everything. This made Hinata ask her if she really had a hard time with the exam. Anna says that she can still get good grades in the mid-term and final exams but it seems the exams are like the mock exam then, she totally might not be able to do it. She comments that English is like some sort of incantation/spell. Anna laughs and says that in ordinary test, she usually procrastinates the day before until night then the following day, she doesn’t remember anything, not a trace. Hinata notices someone behind them. Anna is still telling him that while answering the mock exam, she already lost her fighting spirit so how could she even get to finish the exam. Anna freezes when someone says, “So, that’s the true situation..” She turns around to see her mother laughing darkly and says that it seems that there is no need for her to wait for the results. On top of their apartment, a guy with glasses looks down to see the commotion. Anna’s mother is pulling her while Anna is holding on to Hinata’s shirt. With Beni clinging on him, Sou just watches them. Anna exclaims that it isn’t true because she is just joking. Her mother angrily shouts for her not to talk and just follow her. The glasses guy says, “Everyone, didn’t change one bit.” [Hehe, he looks like an ‘evil’ version of Chocolate Cosmos’ Katsuya]

Hehe, it seems Anna has no time to think about the possible separation between her childhood friends in the future because she has her grades to worry about. But then, her grades might have a relation with the high school she is going to especially since the two guys’ grades are really good. I think she would have spared herself the trouble if she only asked the guys to tutor her though maybe that is unlikely because she tends to have a ‘competition’ against them. =P I came to like Hinata more in this chapter. The guy is really multi-talented even if he looks bored and everything. I’m really amused with his gift for Sou. I think there is already a couple of pairing here which will solve the love triangle. Even if Sou is like that, he is still nice and everything that he would even put that phone strap on his phone. I can now see why Beni has fallen for him. It does seem that Sou has a weak spot with crying girls. ^^; Too bad for him, Beni interprets that kindness as ‘love’ and well, she will be clinging on him like a leech for days to come especially since she now knows that she can get him to do it and she can somehow get away with it. It would have been easier for Sou to accept Beni’s gift if it is some ‘anime’ theme rather than a cute phone strap which seems to suit girls more. This goes to show that Beni doesn’t know much about Sou. I think there is a contrast between Anna and Beni. Even if Beni is younger, she dresses and act slightly more mature than Anna in terms of, she isn’t oblivious to love. She had put Anna in a pinch there when she was asking about Anna and Sou. I think that Sou snapped at Anna because of that because if they discuss it, they might drift apart again. Also, Beni tends to think of the future regarding relationships – fear of drifting apart while Anna tends to think of the present - enjoy what they have now. Anna also thinks the same regarding grades. She does seem like a ‘go with the flow’ person. Beni does seem to act a bit immature since she seems to be a bit too ‘clingy’ and ‘whines’ a lot. I think she can’t win Sou if she ‘attacks’ Anna instead of confronting Sou. I think Anna and Hinata make a cute pair. I find it amusing when they group together and somewhat ‘tease’ Sou. =P As usual, I totally love the chibi art of this author. They are so cute ^^ Well, Anna’s first crush is back so he’ll probably cause some trouble since he doesn’t look like a nice guy especially if he becomes her tutor. I tend to believe Beni more that her brother isn’t that nice since Anna tends to easily blinded by love. =P Haha, but then, again, Beni is also like that ^^; Scans by Amyangel19910323 for BW.

Quote of the day:
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. ~ Chili Davis

Faster Than A Kiss [Chapter 24]
Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Kazuma wakes up and goes to a room, only to find it empty. He remembers that Fumino and Teppei has already moved out yesterday. [He takes off his shirt, too = fanservice ^^] Fumino narrates that she and Teppei has left her husband and also teacher’s place. They have moved in with her uncle – Tomo’s place. [It seems that the kanji for Satoshi is the same as Tomo. So, I’ll use Tomo instead just like what sugarblossoms used.] Tomo gives Teppei a lot of onigiri-s [rice balls] and tells him that Japanese should eat lots of rice in order to become strong. Teppei happily asks if that is true. Fumino narrates that Teppei hasn’t seen Tomo before but perhaps, he knows that Tomo is their father’s younger brother so he is quite close to him. Later on, Fumino and Teppei bids him goodbye as they go out to go to school. At the building’s gate, Teppei asks Fumino when they are going back to Kazuma’s house. Realizing that Teppei still didn’t understand what is going on, Fumino explains to him that starting from that day on, their house will be Tomo’s house. Teppei is surprised by this. She also tells him that they can only see Kazuma during the weekend. Teppei asks if Fumino is alright. From the balcony, Tomo is watching them below. Fumino is about to reply that she is okay when her phone started ringing loudly. Fumino is surprised and wonders who changed her ringtone to some sort of theme song. [I think it is some anime because Teppei recognizes it.] She answers it and it is Kazuma. He greets her a good morning and apologizes for she should be busy in the morning. Teppei calls out to Kazuma. Fumino tells him that it is no bother. Kazuma tells her that he just wants to greet her a good morning. Fumino laughs and says that it should be okay to do that when they are in school. Kazuma asks her what she is saying for before they become ‘teacher-student’, she should say “Good morning, Hubby ♥” using her cute wife voice. While he is hurrying her to say it, Fumino blushes and can’t believe what she just heard because it seems that Kazuma is in S mode. Fumino is surprised when Tomo grabs the phone and says, “Good morning, Ojiro-sensei ♪” Kazuma also greets him a good morning. Tomo tells him that starting from that day on, he will be Kumaneko High’s judo coach. He ‘reminds’ Kazuma that as his cute niece’s husband, he should complying with the standard regarding his work and his student evaluation [what he is like when he was a student?]. He says that from Kazuma’s family background to his criminal record, all of it will be scrutinized and investigated to the tiniest detail. “I’m afraid if there is a tiny bit that isn’t compatible, I will use full force to separate you two. ♥” Kazuma just laughs it off as Fumino exclaims why he is laughing.

At school, Fumino calls out to Kazuma and offers to carry the notebooks he is holding. Kazuma thanks her. While walking, Fumino whispers an apology. Kazuma asks what about. She blushes a bit and tells him it is about Tomo is giving him problems. Kazuma tells her that it is but natural for someone to not easily give away a family member to some person whom one doesn’t know anything about. He says that she should know him that he won’t feel troubled by it. Kazuma winks at her and says, “Ah, help me pray, pray that I will be recognized by him ★” This must have irked Fumino. To Kazuma’s surprise, she returns the notebook to him. She wonders if it is because Kazuma is an adult [so he is unfazed about the separation]. In 2-C, Fumino and friends are surprised when Shoma sweetly and happily calls out to Fumino and asks if she can go with him for a minute. Friends are surprised because they never thought that Shoma can actually smile like that. At the roof top, Shoma claps his hand and congratulates Fumino for he heard from Ryuu who emailed him that they are now living separately. This made Fumino furious since he called her out just for that reason. Meg is also there and Fumino most probably drag her with him because a note says that Meg didn’t know why she is also brought there. [So that Meg won’t wantonly think that something is up between her and Shoma = making her jealous?] This shocks Meg that she holds a dictionary and asks Kazuma if ‘living separately’ is the same as ‘breaking up’. Shoma seriously tells her that it is true and she should remember this. Fumino shouts for Shoma not to mislead Meg. Flustered, Fumino apologizes [to disappoint him] and tells him that even if they are living separately or what, they are still ‘family’ and since Shoma and Ryuu are still communicating through email, doesn’t that show that their relationship has gotten closer. This surprises Shoma that he shouts for her to shut up. Fumino has already left when Shoma and Meg are surprised to find Tomo on top of the roof [the part which ‘houses’ the stairs]. Tomo tells them that they are talking quite loudly and even if it is a good thing or an important thing, they should be careful since it is dangerous if someone else hears it. This made Shoma cover his mouth. He is sleeping there in the afternoon before the PE. Meg exclaims that it is Fumino’s uncle. Shoma shakes his hand and introduces himself to Tomo. He thanks Tomo for driving Fumino away. Tomo greets him and asks if he is also with the opposing group. Shaping a heart with her fingers, Meg tells Shoma that weren’t Kazuma and Fumino always been in love with each other. Tomo says that there is another person who knows about it but it is alright. “That child is 16 years old, so just like this, returning back to an ordinary life will make her come to realize...if separated, then the feelings will start to change. Who will first let go, my niece or your brother? I eagerly anticipate it.” This somewhat surprises Shoma. They were interrupted by that delinquent who charges in and calling Tomo, a short wintermelon. He wants another challenge but before he can finish talking, Tomo has already throws him down on the floor again. His companion is shock. Tomo tells him that he should just join the judo club. The delinquent shouts that he won’t and he’ll remember this. It seems that Shoma has stretched out his arm to protect Meg in case the delinquent attacks her. Meg tells him that Fumino’s uncle is scary. Shoma thinks, “..But, why I am a bit pissed off?” While working on her assignment at night and Teppei is sleeping, Fumino thinks that before she and sensei have also lived separately. “I remember, that time, I cried out that I’m ‘lonely’. Even if the feeling I have now is the same as before but I must endure it. We can see each other on weekend.” Then, there are some school scenes – Fumino looking ill when Kazuma apologizes to a [delinquent?] student for bumping into him. Tomo is taking notes on what Kazuma is doing. Then, he passes by, Fumino looks back to watch him.

Then, finally, it is Friday night. Fumino is aghast when she learns from Kazuma on the phone that they can’t see each other on weekened because Kazuma is going on a business trip so he needs some time to get prepared. Fumino is totally shock that Kazuma has to ask if she is listening because she isn’t saying anything. Kazuma tells her that they can still see each other in school and she’ll just have to wait until next week for them to see each other again. This made Fumino furious because he said it in quite a relaxed way and his voice tone is totally the same like as before. Fumino shouts, “Sensei!” Kazuma is about to drink a can of beer as he asks, “Yes?” Fumino shouts, “I like you!” This made Kazuma spit out the beer then he starts choking. While choking, he tries to say her name. Fumino is blushing as she exclaims, “Wha..what is it, do you have anything to say!? Not being able to see each other makes me uneasy! So, I can only use words to say it!” Fumino is uneasy, scared and wanted to see him. She wonders if after becoming ‘lovers’, everyone also has this kind of feelings. Blushing a bit, Kazuma asks her to say it one more time. Fumino exclaims that she doesn’t want to because if she is the only one who said it, it would seem that she is an idiot. “Sensei should also say it--” Fumino is surprised when Kazuma says, “I like you. ..like [you] very much.” They greet each other good night then hang up the phone. Fumino then falls down on her futon and blushes as she thinks that this is the second time he said ‘I like you’ to her. “It’s like a magic is casted on me, being immerse by the sweetness of those words. Please do not let the magic dissipate until the time we are able to meet again--” At Kazuma’s place, Kazuma is still blushing from what he just said. The door bell rings twice. Kazuma quickly opens the door and shouts, “Fumino..”. Kazuma is surprised to see that it is Shoma who is also surprised. Disappointed, Kazuma asks, “Yes?”. Shoma becomes flustered and says that it is just a coincidence that he passes by there. Kazuma tells him that his house is at the opposite side. Shoma looks in the apartment and says that they are really not there anymore. Kazuma just says yes. Shoma gives a small bag and says that coincidentally, there is a really delicious takoyaki [octopus balls] stand nearby. At his convenience, he is giving Kazuma some and Kazuma can just eat it later on. Kazuma smiles and asks if Shoma was worried about him. This surprises Shoma. It made Shoma blush as he tries to deny it. Kazuma laughs and thanks him. Kazuma asks if he wants to come in and eat the food together. Shoma bows and says that there is no need because the car is waiting for him. Shoma then bids him goodbye. Shoma remembers Tomo telling him that when separated, the feelings will change. He wonders if it is true but, if the other party ‘can see until the limit’ then..” [I think he meant like if one can endure until the time they can meet again.]

Back at school, during lunch break, Fumino is startled when Kazuma calls out her name. Holding an envelope, Kazuma asks if he can take up her time since she has to fill up the form regarding her change of address. Fumino blushes upon recalling Kazuma telling her that he likes her. She wonders what’s wrong with her since she won’t dare face him and the ‘I like you’ is really such a powerful magic. To Kazuma’s surprise, Fumino quickly runs off. Whistling, Tomo is walking near the outside corridor when he notices a couple of delinquents talking. They notice that Kazuma chasing after Fumino at the outside corridor. Kazuma is shouting if something is the matter while Fumino is shouting for him not to come near her. The delinquents wonder what those two are doing. They then talk about someone realizing it so even if [they] provoke him to get him to a fight, he would just snub [them]. [I don’t know whom they are talking about ^^;] They wonder won’t it be troublesome since Ojiro is following the matter. They say that Fumino’s uncle is that short winter melon and Bitou from section C got into a fight with him but in the end, Bitou also got tossed down on the floor. “So, he wants to ‘change the fighting plan’ by making Fumino the target. I heard him saying, ‘the most important thing is to make that short wintermelon cry’.” This stuns Tomo that he shouts to the two if it is true. The two delinquent are shock to see Tomo. He looks up and goes into panic since Fumino isn’t at the corridor anymore. Inside the building corridor, the two are still playing tag. There is some rustling in the nearby bushes. Fumino narrates that uneasiness, fear, wanting to see the other, but only because of a sentence, one can become happy and later on, one can totally become at ease. When they are facing the windows, Kazuma asks her what’s up with her. She stops and orders him not to make any step closer – do not move. Kazuma freezes and asks again what happened. Fumino blushes and tells him not to mind her for she is just embarrassed. She says that although they moved out, he is still the same as before but it really feels.. “It feels like I’m the only one who needs sensei.” Fumino narrates that she wants him to understand her feelings because she is still not mature. They were interrupted when Tomo shouts, “Fumino, Duck!” Tomo is rushing towards Fumino. Kazuma drops the envelope he is holding. Fumino seems surprised. There is a hollow block flying towards Fumino from outside the window. Crash! Tomo is confused as he wonders what happened since he got hurt. He looks to the side to see Kazuma whose head is bleeding. With one hand, Kazuma holds Fumino close to him to protect her while the other hand is like holding up a punch position. Kazuma apologizes to Tomo for he thinks that Tomo cannot let himself be injured since he is into training that is why he pushed Tomo away. Fumino is panicking because Kazuma is bleeding. Tomo shouts for Fumino not to move because they are injured. He is going to call for help so they should just stay still. “Thank you, sensei!” After Tomo left, Fumino asks Kazuma if he is alright. Kazuma says yes. He hugs her tight. Fumino says that even if they were told not to move, but if they keep still like that, someone might see them. Kazuma didn’t reply then says, “It is I who needs you more...because compared to you, I’m an adult so I was just merely hiding it really well..” Narration: “Anyway..towards your feelings, I’m always been quite satisfied.. whether if I’m by your side.. or not my your side.” Next scene, a young girl [I think she is wearing a junior high uniform] is carrying a huge backpack that a man walking his dog is surprised. The girl asks the man if that place is Kumaneko High. Last scene, Tomo angrily thinks that Kazuma said he was pushed but from the mark on his chest, it is more like punched – not so gentle at all. [It must still hurting him. ^^;] Lao and another teacher go to the two to ask if they are alright and bring a stretcher.

I guess Kazuma is trying to act cool and composed over everything and also, understanding about what happened because he is an adult. If he weren’t, he would have probably eloped with her and thus, aggravating his ‘points’ in winning Tomo to accept him. Well, being an adult also seems to be his disadvantage because I think this is a reason for Tomo not to approve of him. He must be thinking that Kazuma has taken advantage of Fumino’s situation and probably they do not really love each other. From what Tomo said, I think separating can work both ways. It’s true that if they are separated, it can make them drift apart later on and probably realize that what they felt wasn’t really love, etc. Of course, the opposite can also happen wherein the other would come to realize how much they love and need the other. They will realize the value of that person and would miss each other terribly. In short, it can make their love for each other stronger. From the looks of things, this is what happened. Hehe, even if Fumino is a delinquent, tough and everything, just because of a ‘I like you’, she shows her ‘girl’ side. They are lucky that when they are playing tag, no other faculty especially that guidance counselor saw them, else they will surely be reprimanded. About ‘pushing’ Tomo away, I wonder if Kazuma deliberately or unconsciously ‘punch’ him for the trouble he had caused. =P I mean, he could have pushed him with open palm instead of a fist ^^; Haha, as usual, Kazuma shows that he is ‘superman’. I wonder if one day, he will really get hurt. I hope that bleeding is from the glass shards or something and not because the hollow block hit his head. ^^; It is nice that Shoma has shown his concern over his brother. I think he is slightly angry at Tomo because it seems that Tomo is belittling or rejecting his brother. This makes it unlikely for the two to team up to separate the two. As usual, the lovey-dovey scenes are nice ^^ So, in the end, another character comes out of the woodwork. Lol, I guess it is becoming the author’s trademark to do that in this series. Who is she? New transfer to the school? Another relative of either of the two? ^^; Scans by zhu520/fema for BW

Quote of the day:
Absence is to love as wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small and kindles the great. ~ Roger de Bussy-Rabutin

Weekly Jump: Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Reborn, and PSYREN
Monday, June 15, 2009

In Bleach [c. 361], Soifon blasted Barragan away. The impact was so great that Oomaeda catches Soifon after the cloth she tied around the building has ripped off. She wonders if that is enough to finish off Barragan. Elsewhere, Stark is intrigued as to what Sensui’s bankai is like so he decides to become serious. Sensing this, Sensui quickly tosses his coat at Ukitake. Stark calls Lilynette and tells the other two shinigami that he and Lilynette are actually one. He releases just as Sensui also quickly releases his zanpaku. Stark looks like some sort of cowboy guy because of his outfit and his weapon seems to be guns. I don’t recall any others having weapons which are guns so I guess Stark is unique just like some of the others are unique in some kind of way. I’m curious as to how Sensui is going to fight him. At first, I was excited over the possibility of Sensui fight with Ukitake against Stark since the two merged but then, now, it seems unlikely because I remember that this series is usually more on one on one and about the pride of not wanting others to meddle in other’s fight. Anyway, maybe if Sensui is down and out after causing major damage on Stark, Ukitake is going to take over. I have that kind of scenario with the other two espada, Harribel and Barragan. I don’t think those two are finished. Since there are still two other captains – Yamamoto and Komakura, they’ll probably do the finishing blow so that we can see all their bankai in this arc. Then, maybe when it is Aizen’s turn, Shinji and others will finally come out but that will be after Rukia and others finish off Yammy. Haha, that pic of Stark seems to screams to colorists – ‘color me’. =P

Then in Naruto [c. 451], it turns out that there is no need to worry about the village since Yamato can easily rebuild it with his technique. While Naruto and Sakura are talking about Tsunade, they met with the people from Wave Country who came to help them. When asked about Sasuke, Naruto manages to say some alibi that they had a little quarrel so he left the village to think things. Tazuna assumes that it is because of a love triangle. Naruto remembers what Sasuke told him about not being able to understand him but then with the death of Jiraiya, he can now more or less relate with Sasuke’s want for revenge. He thinks that knowing Sasuke’s pain, he can now get through Sasuke then, their team will be together again. Meanwhile, Sasuke is heading to Konoha with intent of causing pain to others so that they will understand him. Raikage’s people arrived and were informed about konoha being attacked by Akatsuki and their hokage is unconscious. Danzou arrives and informs them that he is the current hokage. They gave their message to him. Soon, Naruto and others learn from Kiba that Danzou has become hokage and he plans to eliminate Sasuke. Sasuke arriving there will be like Pain part 2 and of course, from the looks of things, it might have a happier ending. If only Yamato knew this, because, I think it would have been better to keep the village unfixed. I think it would have been a better impact for Sasuke to see the village flattened and well, make him realize that what he intends to do to the village have already been done. Also, it’s not a waste of effort on Yamato’s part. They all know about pain and well, they live to tell it with a happy ending. It does seem to set up things to become corny like everyone telling Sasuke that they know his pain, etc. ^^; And so, the main antagonists would be Danzou and Madara.

While in One Piece [c. 546], Luffy decides to fight with Mr. 3 and others while Jimbei and others get their battleship. Mr. 3 made a wax armor suit for Luffy so that he can fight against Magellan. Then, Jimbei and others head outside to find that there are no battleships around. They notice that it is hiding behind some fog. Jimbei used the door to keep the others a float as he swims to get them closer to the battleships. Jimbei uses his power to throw Crocodile and others onboard. After some fighting, it seems that the marines in that ship is stunned by Jimbei and others power. Buggy seems to have passed out. Ship secured and with Jimbei around, I’m sure they can easily head to the marines headquarters quickly. With an armor suit, I’m sure Luffy has a chance of winning against Magellan. Hehe, after this arc, I think everyone who participated in this jailbreak will have their bounties increase exponentially. Also, Robin gets help from the Revolutionary army in freeing the slaves in that island. Oh, iirc, Dragon is from that army. Would she meet him? From the looks of it, we will have two story arcs for every crew member.

Tsuna shows what he is made of when he ‘finishes’ off Torikabuto in Katekyo Hitman Reborn! [c. 245]. He then tells the others that the fight isn’t finish until they defeat the target. Tsuna wants to go to the target immediately while flying but Irie suggests that he don’t do that since there are still two other enemies and they might team up against him. Tsuna follows his suggestion to extinguish his flame and just drive his motorcycle to the target. Then, an enemy appears near Takeshi’s direction but Takeshi doesn’t see the enemy. They realize that the enemy is using an illusion so Irie lowers the decoys to get the enemy closer to Takeshi’s reach. Takeshi senses something and prepares to attack. Just as Takeshi is going to attack, a blob thing attaches on to one of the decoys and manages to grab Takeshi. Takeshi then manages to evade being stabbed just as his sword got tossed away. Saru reveals himself to be Genkishi who plans to finally finish off Takemoto. Squalo is a bit happy with this revelation. Genkishi prepares to finish him but Takemoto is ready for him now as he draws his box weapon and now has two swords while his doggie has a sword. Hehe, payback time? I think Takemoto should finish him off this time and like, while beating Genkishi up, he’ll be saying - this is for making me look like a mummy now, this is for the beating that I got from Squalo and this is for my tooth that I lost because of being beaten up by Squalo. =P Since he now has training against illusions, I think this time he can at least put up some fight against Genkishi unlike before. Oh ya, I wonder if the reason why Genkishi survived Tsuna’s attack before is just for him to have a re-match with Takemoto or he has some other purpose later on?

In PSYREN [c. 74], brain beasts guy introduce themselves as from Neo Amakusa Shiro who lead them to live in this world and taught them how to use their powers. They also plan to finish off WISE to rule the world. They want Yoshina and others to tell them where Nemesis Q is. Unfortunately, Yoshina and others easily overpowers them and defeated them. One of the brain beasts manage to escape and inform Usui what happened. Usui uses his powers to know who are their enemies and recognizes Yoshina. Usui realizes that he is near where Nemesis Q is so she had asked the others to save her. He orders that a certain Taiga and Okugou to finish off Yoshina and others before they met with Nemesis Q. Hehe, it seems that Usui’s henchmen are just appetizers for the impending battle. I do wonder if this group is just for them to know who Nemesis Q is or they will stick around and fight against WISE. That will make three groups currently living there who are trying to ‘gain’ the world – WISE, Elmore’s group and Usui’s group. It does make things more interesting rather than if it is just one group vs one group.

Quote of the day:
Power comes not from the barrel of a gun, but from one's awareness of his or her own cultural strength and the unlimited capacity to empathize with, feel for, care, and love one's brothers and sisters. ~ Addison Gayle, Jr.

Reimei no Arcana -Dawn of the Arcana- [Chapter 4]
Saturday, June 13, 2009

The scene starts with Caesar holding Nakaba and saying, “Nakaba..you’re cute, you..” Startled, Nakaba wakes up and she feels sick. Loki comes in with her breakfast. He greets her a good morning and asks what happened to her [because she probably looks pale]. Nakaba goes back to bed and says that she is just a bit tired because of a nightmare. Nakaba thinks that it is definitely because Caesar hugged her before. She wonders what up with that guy [Caesar]. She hears Ceasar saying, “--Hey.” She covers her ears and thinks that she has suddenly, imagined that guy’s voice. She then looks surprised and looks up to see Caesar standing near her by the bed. He asks if she is feeling unwell. He looks closer and says that her face is red. She quickly moves away and covers herself with a blanket. She exclaims that it is nothing, she is okay. She then turns to looks at him. She asks why he came there. Gesturing to the door, Caesar laughs and exclaims that she’ll be so happy that she’ll cry tears of joy. The door opens and some half-human kids bring in some things – a gown, shoes, some jewelry, etc. With folded arms, Caesar happily exclaims that these are his gifts for her. Blushing a bit, Caesar says that the poor her will look good a bit if she wears them. Nakaba is speechless and asks him if he did that specially for her. “Yes.” “All of it? Are they all new?” “Of course.” To Caesar’s surprise, Nakaba shouts, “Take all of those things back!” Turning around, Nakaba says that it’s a waste of money and she doesn’t need this kind of things. To Nakaba’s surprise, Caesar holds the gown then starts ripping it. He tells her that it is just so like her to totally not know the value of things. Caesar looks away with folded arms [like a kid] as Nakaba shouts that he also shouldn’t rip it. “What are you thinking..bringing those things here?” She wonders if he wants her to wear it so that he’ll laugh at her if it doesn’t suit her or he’s giving them to her so that he can make a fool out of her. “He’s such a detestable guy!”

Loki picks up the torn up gown and tells Nakaba not to be that angry. Nakaba tries to protest but Loki tells her that it is normal for a guy to give things to a girl and since it is from the royal family, it is definitely very exquisite. He takes out a needle and starts sewing the town gown. “But, a guy who wants the girl to dress up how he wants to, that is egoism.” Caesar is surprised and says, “What..” Loki finishes sewing and says, “—But, no matter what, Princess Nakaba is Princess Nakaba, [everything] definitely suits her.” He puts the gown on top of Nakaba to make her see that it suits her. Loki smiles and says, “See.” Nakaba blushes and agrees with him. She thinks that Loki is really nice to her. This made Caesar jealous that he grabs her braided hair and says that poor dress [she’s wearing] still suits her best. This made Nakaba angry that she shouts that it hurts and quit pulling her hair. She then gives him a slap on the face. She shouts that she doesn’t need the gown nor the jewelry so take them back. This surprises Caesar that he leaves her room. Belias is waiting for him outside. He asks Caesar what he is doing. Touching his slapped face, Caesar tells him to shut up. Nakaba goes to Loki and hugs him for comfort. She exclaims to him that she hates Caesar and it is quite puzzling and it is definitely because Caesar is childish. At the throne room, King Conan asks someone if he has already investigated where Nakaba grew up. The man says that just as Conan has thought, Nakaba is Senan’s first princess Titania’s illegitimate daughter. [I guessed her name ^^; In Chinese, it is ‘si-tai-ya’] Because Titania had eloped, this has been quite a scandal before so the royal family didn’t let this become publicly known. The man hasn’t finished his report but the king tells him that is enough and there’s no need to tell him more about it. The man is puzzled. Conan says, that she [Titania] has eloped with a man from that ‘tribe’ then gave birth to a girl. “This thing called fate can really trick [make fun of] people.”

Later on, Caesar wearing a cape is pulling Nakaba to come with him. Nakaba asks what is it now and where are they going. Caesar tells him that they are going street shopping. At the town square, Caesar is walking around with Nakaba to different merchant stores. He has put the hood of his cape on his head so that people won’t recognize him but his necklace + medallion is quite visible. Nakaba is surprised when a merchant calls out to her and says that a beautiful red haired girl such as her suits to wear a red embroidered outfit. Caesar asks if she wants to buy it. Nakaba says she doesn’t need it. Soon, they pass by different merchants selling her shoes, necklace, hair accessory, etc but Nakaba just kept on declining by saying that she doesn’t need them. After a while, Nakaba gloomily thinks that street shopping is too tiring. Caesar says that she declined everything so what does she want. This puzzles Nakaba. She is even more puzzled when Caesar told her that she is quite stubborn. With a slightly troubled look, Caesar asks, “Hey, what should I do..” Nakaba turns around and exclaims that she doesn’t want anything and she doesn’t want him to do anything for her. Caesar is a bit sad about this. In the carriage, the two sit a bit apart from each other in silence as they ride the way back to the castle. Nakaba looks out the window then sees something. She asks the driver to stop. She goes down and Caesar shouts from the carriage what it is. Nakaba picks up a bird [pigeon] and tells Caesar that it is injured. Caesar who is now standing behind her says that it must be caused by some animal. She looks at him and asks, “Can I bring it home?” Caesar is speechless as Nakaba looks at him with a pleading look. He looks away, slightly blushing then says, “Let me think about it, why don’t you try calling my name while asking me.” Nakaba says, “..Ha? ..although I don’t understand..then..Caesar, please.” To her surprise, he smiles and says, “Okay, [as] I promised.” Nakaba blushes a bit then bows while thanking him. Then, the pigeon coos. The two are surprised. Nakaba then smiles and thanks him again. With a bit surprised look, Caesar says, “..like that, just because of that, can actually make you happy..” This surprises Nakaba. He then turns around and says that they should go back. As they ride at the carriage, Nakaba wonders if Caesar gave her that weird outfit, and accompanied her to street shopping just to make her happy. “But, why..? I still..don’t get it.”

Nakaba returns and is greet by Loki who was worried about her since he suddenly can’t find her. He had asked the soldiers and they told him that she went out with Prince Caesar for street shopping. “Did anything happen?” Still holding the pigeon, she says that she is alright. When he asked about the bird, Nakaba tells him that it is injured so she brought it back. He left to get some medical kit just as Nakaba ordered. She goes to the table where Caesar’s gifts are left. She is surprised to notice that the gown has red embroidery. The stones on the rings are red. The color of the shoes is red. The hat is red. She felt like crying. Loki goes back in and says that he has brought the medical kit. He is surprised when Nakaba suddenly hugs him. He asks her why she is crying. Nakaba says, “Because I..it’s the first time..I received this kind of gifts.” [I think] Loki says that it should be suitable for her because those things are made just for her. Narration: “At this time, perhaps I was a bit excited [happy], so I start to forget..forget that this is the enemy’s country. Not long after, something will happen. If only I can foresee it even for a little bit..” At the hallway, Nakaba carries the bandaged pigeon and calls out Caesar’s name. Caesar is walking ahead while Loki is following behind Nakaba. Nakaba shows the bird to Caesar and tells him that it is goint to be well soon. Caesar smiles and says, “Really, that’s good.” Nakaba smiles back and says, “Yes.” Narration: “then, I won’t be doing any kind of smiling towards this person.” Nakaba is surprised when someone calls out her name. Belias is shouting to someone. It is a half-human [sheep?] kid who calls out her name. Nakaba exclaims, “Leith” [Haha, sorry, it is another guesswork name. In Chinese, it is ‘Li-te’. I checked around it is used for calling ‘lite usb’ or ‘leet’ of Fleet. Since ‘Light’ isn’t a usual name, I look at names close to ‘leet’ so it’s Leith for now. ^^;] Nakaba tries to ask why he is there. Before Leith can answer, Caesar holds him up and asks what’s with this little one. Waving his arms, Leith exclaims for him to let go. Belias tells Caesar that half-human will become Nakaba’s attendant and he was brought there from Senan. Caesar drops Leith and says, “Attedant?” Nakaba and Leith call out each other’s name. Leith says that it is because he did his very best. Narration: “This child, is going to turn the gears of fate, a link [chain]...”

I find it amusing that she considers Caesar calling her cute as a nightmare. A very good start for a chapter on how her perception of Caesar changed by the end of the chapter. I think this chapter is just the set-up of what is yet to come since that kid is now introduced = the main cast is complete. The kid is shown in the cover of the magazine before. This chapter is also a set-up of Nakaba letting her guard down and as she mentioned, she forgot that she is in enemy territory so probably what will happen in the future would take her by surprise and from the way she hinted, it seems that she will come to dislike Caesar again or maybe his family or everything about that country. It does seem that Nakaba isn’t used to people being nice to her other than Loki so she thinks that what is Caesar doing has an ulterior motive. She can’t help it since before that hugging scene, he has been teasing her and looking down on her. She didn’t realize that he has already somewhat changed because of her. It seems that she lived a secluded life because she isn’t used to shopping. Well, she isn’t into material things so declining those things one after another can be tiring. Just as Caesar thought, it seems she is hard to please but it really takes simple things to make her happy. A pet bird is enough to make her happy and it doesn’t cost Caesar a single cent. I wonder if that bird pigeon will be their means of communicating later on. =P I think his feelings for her shows through the extent that he would go out of his way just for her to shop in town after she declines his gifts. I think it somewhat shows his perseverance if he wants to achieve or do something. Just as Nakaba mentioned, he does seem to be a bit childish and I think a bit arrogant that is why Nakaba thought he is just trying to pick a fight with her. ^^; I think Caesar needs to get some tips from Loki on how to treat a girl. Loki is also a sweet talker. It seems that he is an all-around man – can fight and even do housework. Those are all his good points and his only ‘bad’ point would be probably just his race. In the last chapter, Nakaba has a change of clothes, then in this chapter, it is Caesar, who looks good in black, by the way. I hope that in the next chapter, Loki will also get a change of clothes ^^ Loki’s true feelings for Nakaba is a bit of a puzzle. Is he supporting her to be with Caesar or not? Nakaba seems to think of him as a ‘brother’ or someone whom she can cry on or tell her feelings. I still think that whom Nakaba will end up with will be the same as Boku wa Kiss de Uso wo Tsuku. This is like a continuation but a different setting. =P Then, the king has finally confirmed his theory about Nakaba. I think it isn’t good for Nakaba since not only she is somewhat whom Conan wanted to eradicate but it turns out, she is just some illegitimate daughter of the princess who eloped. It’s like Senan just gave an ‘unwanted’ princess for their truce. I guess Conan is going to think of some reason for him to kill off Nakaba and maybe, Leith is going to be use for that. It is too much of a coincidence that he is going to be sent there from the enemy country and he knows Nakaba. Also, it turns out that it is Nakaba’s father is from that tribe. It seems that his bloodline is stronger so she inherited the ‘power’ and the hair color. I guess Titania’s family didn’t care that she got killed by the enemy soldiers because she is a disgrace. I wonder if Nakaba’s father is still alive and how did she ends up in the palace if he is still alive. Anyway, if Conan starts to plot some evil machinations against Nakaba, will Caesar side with her or his family? That will be something to look forward to. ^^

Word of the day:
The riches of this world are vain, they vanish in a day; But sweet the treasures of God’s love— they never pass away! ~ Bosch from Our Daily Bread.

Hadashi de Bara wo Fume [Chapter 29]
Friday, June 12, 2009

Komai is embarrassed when Soichiroh and Sumi found him in Sumi’s home. Inside the house, sitting with tea served on a small table, Komai, with the kids, talks with Soichiroh and Sumi. Sumi asks if Komai doesn’t have any place to go. Komai bows his head and says, it isn’t like that. Soichiroh asks if he afraid of explaining to his parents that a family member of Gorou has suddenly run away from one’s master. Komai exclaims that he isn’t running away and Soichiroh should at least empathize with his feelings. Soichiroh tells him that he just abandoned his work and yet Komai is asking him to empathize with him. Eisuke arrives and says that it is quite bustling inside. Eisuke asks if everyone got gifts again and where is his gift. Sumi exclaims that he doesn’t have one. Angry, Eisuke shouts that he let this adult guy [Komai] stay there so quickly give him lodging fees. Komai is flustered and apologizes. Soichiroh shouts that they already paid for it. [Not to sure but I guess he is referring to the money they gave Eisuke before.] Sumi asks her brother that they already gave him the money for the loans and the living expense. She then realizes something. She quickly goes to the cabinet and opens the last drawer. Sumi is surprised then takes out the papers. She exclaims why there are so many IOU [loan] slips. Sumi angrily exclaims if Eisuke hasn’t quit gambling. Soichiroh looks nervous and asks Komai to calculate how much Eisuke owes. Komai writes down the numbers on a paper while Soichiroh dictates the numbers. Just when Komai is going to calculate them using an abacus, Atari tells him that the total is 3,985 yen and three cents. Komai is surprised by this but Soichiroh tells Komai to just compute the total. To their shock, Atari is right. Soichiroh asks why. Fuku tells him that Atari is good in calculating money [math]. Sumi angrily exclaims at her brother to please find some proper job. While looking away, Eisuke stubbornly tells her that no job suits him. Soichiroh asks Komai if he has found a new job. Komai says no. He tells Komai that if he wants to return, he can do so. Komai stubbornly tells him that as long as Keiko is there, he won’t return. Soichiroh shouts for him to do what he wants.

Since he is standing up, Sumi asks if they are going. He tells her no but she should just stay there for a while since he has something to talk about with Eisuke. He grabs Eisuke and goes out of the house. Outside, Soichiroh asks Eisuke why Sumi hates roses. Eisuke says that there is no special reason to it. Soichiroh doesn’t believe him and says that for Sumi to have such a disgusted expression regarding roses isn’t normal. Eisuke tells him that for people like them, there is no chance for them to even see/get roses. Soichiroh says that is right. He heads back in but Eisuke has this troubled expression [that surely he is lying]. When Sumi and Soichiroh are leaving, the kids bid her goodbye and tell her to return back. Eisuke shouts for her to buy him a gift. Sumi shouts to his brother to quickly find work. Eisuke exclaims that she is such an annoying younger sister, just go. Sumi shouts that he is such a stupid brother, always causing trouble to others. Behind a fence, Keiko has overheard everything and thinks, “So, they really are..” She goes to Kyujou residence and reports to Natsuki that old shack is indeed Sumi’s home. Her brother, Kitamura Eisuke is a playboy who likes to gamble and he is quite popular at the brothel. Blushing a bit, Keiko tells Natsuki that she has finished investigating about Sumi so now, would he let her return [to his side]. “I can no longer bear the days when I’m apart from Natsuki-sama.” To her surprise, Natsuki snubs her by turning away from her. He tells her that if she resigns after staying there for a short time, they would be suspicious of him [Natsuki]. Another maid knocks and tells Natsuki that dinner is ready. Natsuki says that he is going. To Keiko’s surprise, Natsuki tells her to temporarily not go to his place. As he leaves with the other maid, Keiko is frustrated as the other maid smiles at her [in a malicious way. Like, =P I have Natsuki and you don’t.] At Ijuin residence, Miu’s parents visit Miu who is looking quite haggard as she lies down on her bed. Her mother pities her for looking like that. Miu calls out to her mother and asks if she can divorce Nozomu. They ask why. Miu cries and says that Nozomu likes a different woman. To her shock, her father tells her, “Is it just because of that little thing?” It turns out that their family has a reputation of being from the line of a duke and if it isn’t for Ijuin’s aid, they cannot live on [or make ends meet]. He tells her that Nozomu having another woman goes to show that Nozomu has sex appeal [charismatic]. “So, do not mention this kind of talk again, Miu.” Miu still looks shock and flustered [probably can’t believe what she just heard].

A few days later, in a two-story house, Natsuki visits Nozomu’s new house. Natsuki asks if living alone is inconvenient. Nozomu tells him that there is a maid who comes in the morning and leaves night to clean the place. Natsuki somewhat smiles and asks if Nozomu suddenly separating from his wife because of what happened in Soichiroh’s get-well party. [Miu hits Sumi with a bunch of roses.] Nozomu asks Natsuki if he was the one who told Miu. Natsuki is puzzled. Nozomu says about him liking Sumi. This flustered Natsuki and he is speechless. He tries to explain but Nozomu tells him that there is nothing bad about it and it is thanks to that, he can now live on his own. [He used Miu’s actions as an excuse to move out.] In the room, there are many paintings of flowers, sceneries, etc. One of the paintings has a huge cloth covering it. Natsuki is surprised by this that he asked if Nozomu painted all of them. Nozomu says he did and in that place, he can do what he draw/paint as he pleases. Natsuki exclaims his surprise that Nozomu is actually interested in that. When he is about to take off the cloth in one of the pictures, Natsumi asks what could be this grand-scale painting. Nozomu exclaims for him not to touch it. Natsuki is surprised and he apologizes. Nozomu firmly covers the painting and tells him that he doesn’t want people to touch his unfinished work. Natsuki apologizes again and asks about those things regarding Soichiroh. Nozomu tells him that he never thought of joining up with Natsuki. Natsuki is surprised by this. Nozomu darkly tells him that he has his own way of extracting his revenge on Soichiroh. I think that scared Natsuki that he quickly says that he’ll just do his own way [against Soichiroh] and apologizes for disturbing Nozomu. Later that night, Nozomu takes a shower. [Fan service ^^;] He goes out and towels his hair. He is only wearing a towel to cover himself. He looks at the covered painting and removes the cloth. It is an unfinished painting of a woman surrounded-tied up by roses. [If you remember the colored spread of Sumi before..that’s the one but here, she seems to be naked in the painting. The face isn’t drawn yet.] He traces the other eyebrow which isn’t drawn yet with his finger. He smiles as he imagines Sumi happily smiling and calling his name. He kisses the painting and says, “Miss..Sumi..” On the second day, Sumi goes with Soichiroh at the company. Sumi explains to surprised Takemoto who asked why she is there that there is an activity in the Shogi [chess] club so she went with Soichiroh there. Soichiroh sheepishly laughs and seems to say that he feels that the Shogi club is for enjoying the afternoon until one’s head hurts [from playing]. Takemoto, who is standing with Natsuki, tells Soichiroh that there is someone who wants to talk to him. While they are walking to his office, Soichiroh asks who it is. The door opens and they see Eisuke sitting on his chair, feet on the table and whistling some song. Takemoto exclaims that is the president’s chair. Smiling Eisuke waves at them and says, “Hi!” Soichiroh and Sumi are in total shock. Sumi exclaims, “Bro..!” then covers her mouth. Soichiroh shouts what he is doing there. Eisuke stands up and happily says, “From today on, I will start working here.” Soichiroh and Sumi exclaim, “What?!” Natsuki is smiling.

Hehe, and so, Komai is probably stays at Sumi’s house while he waits for maid from hell, Keiko to leave. It is like he is temporarily on leave and he doesn’t want to go back to his family else disgracing their name because he abandoned his ‘duty’. Atari is a pleasant surprise here. He is actually good in math. It made me think that Eisuke didn’t just randomly pick these kids he adopted but maybe, he has a good eye on people that he can see their potential. Eisuke does seem to hide the reason why Sumi hates roses. Is it because it might reveal that they aren’t really blood related or is it something that he doesn’t want Sumi to remember no matter what? Since Natsuki is smiling when Eisuke declares that he will be working there, I guess he had a hand in it. I was thinking that maybe Eisuke will be good at working here like he is more of an employee type rather than an entrepreneur type because he tends to make bad investments/decisions. Also, maybe working there would give him more training for his future endeavors. Maybe he failed because he isn’t that experienced and well, maybe he didn’t get an education. I do think he is an important character because he is always in the character map. It turns out that Natsuki is just using Keiko’s feelings for him to do anything he wants then when she outlive her usefulness, he pushes her aside. It seems that Natsuki doesn’t know about ‘hell has no fury like a woman scorned’ because he better beware especially since we know what Keiko is capable of. Well, I guess what happened to Keiko is ‘you deserved it’. Hopefully, she’ll be an asset to Sumi and others later on. Then, poor Sumi..another one-sided love like the many other characters in this story. I wonder if she’ll go crazy from loneliness and being treated like that by Nozomu or she’ll be vengeful towards Sumi. She is a wild card. I can’t believe her parents would rather want her to suffer an unhappy marriage just so that they will still be ‘well-to-do’. It is like they ‘sold’ her and even told her that it is okay if Nozomu has another woman he likes as if it is like it is a normal thing, no big deal. Her plight somewhat reminds me of The One’s Angus. Hm..would she be unhappy enough to commit suicide? She does seem to be idealistic with her ideas of marriage. Then, we have our creepy with a capital c and obsessed Nozomu. I was joking when I said he’ll have pictures of Sumi as a stalker if he lives in the modern era but it is becoming true because now, it seems that Nozomu is a very good painter. I guess that is why he isn’t interested in their business. He is an art person..I guess that is why he is also ‘emotional’. I’m amused that he could actually out-dark/scary away Natsuki. He seems to be a nice guy but don’t mess with him or else. He isn’t stupid either that he easily guessed that it was Natsuki who told Miu about his feelings towards Sumi. I wonder what kind of revenge he is planning. Then, there is the shower-then-kiss the painting. Is he trying to put himself in the mood to paint or he is planning to do more than just a kiss? Thankfully, the author isn’t going to show it to us. ^^; Lastly, it seems that Soichiroh is really softening with Sumi that he would even get out of his way to ask Eisuke about Sumi’s disgust of roses. I guess he was worried about her. Scans by zhu520/fema for BW.

Quote of the day:
Passion is a positive obsession. Obsession is a negative passion. ~ Paul Carvel

Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu [Chapters 38 - 40]
Thursday, June 11, 2009

After kissing Tsubaki, Haru tells her that he will treat that as her thanks. He hugs stunned Tsubaki and says that as she wished, they are going to exchange seats. He leaves while some cats follow him. Tsubaki is stunned that she let Haru did that just when Kyouta just told her about not being alone with Haru else she’ll be kissed. Tsubaki wipes her mouth and thinks that she has no face to see Kyouta. After school dismissal, Tsubaki is in the classroom alone. She is writing a message on her cellphone to Kyouta. She is writing that she is going to reflect why her studying ability is only up to that level in the library so Kyouta can go on ahead [and go home]. She wrote something wrong so she tries to erase it but ends up pressing the wrong button so everything is gone and she is back in the original screen – polar bear wallpaper. She laments about this when she is surprised to see Kyouta kneeling near her table and asks, “What’s up?” This shocks and flusters Tsubaki. Tsubaki says that she is currently writing a message to him so he should wait a minute. Kyouta tells her to just tell him about it. Kyouta notices that she had already exchanged seats with Haru because she used to seat in the third row, but now, she is sitting on the second row. Tsubaki nervously tells him he is right for she tried talking about it with Haru and she didn’t except Haru to quickly agree. Kyouta says that is quite rare for Haru because there is no exchange. Remembering what Haru said about breaking up with Kyouta as exchange, Tsubaki asks what he meant by exchange. Kyouta tells her that Haru always have a ‘give and take’ policy so whenever one asks a favor from him, there is an exchange. Tsubaki looks nervous as she remembers Haru telling her that Kyouta stole his girlfriend. She asks Kyouta if he has been always been good friends with Haru. Before he can reply, they were interrupted when Haru exclaims that no wonder it is Kyouta for he truly understands him. Holding Tsubaki’s shoulder, Haru says, “As thanks for exchanging seats, I took Tsubaki’s kiss.” This shocks Tsubaki and exclaims in her mind why he is casually saying that. Kyouta is a bit puzzled until he sees Tsubaki looking flustered and holding her lips with both hands. Kyouta quickly grabs Haru’s collar and is about to punch him. Haru asks Kyouta why he is so angry. “Didn’t you do the same thing? To my Rika. What? Are you still going to punch me?” Tsubaki quickly holds Kyouta’s hand for him to stop and tells him that it isn’t Haru’s fault but hers because she wasn’t careful enough to defend herself from that kiss so she is quite ashamed of herself. The two boys look at her, speechless. Haru laughs and tries to tell her that even if she said it like that, at least, it shouldn’t be on the lips.. He is surprised when Kyouta kisses Tsubaki then says that like he said before, Tsubaki just gives the other too many opportunities to do that. Kyouta sticks out his tongue at Tsubaki who is covering her mouth and says, “See, it happened again, so easy that I got a kiss again. Idi-ot.” He grabs her and tells her that they are going. While going out with him, Kyouta slightly looks at Haru who is looking at him.

At the streets, Kyouta is walking ahead while Tsubaki is following him behind. Tsubaki thinks that he didn’t talk at all while they were walking. Tsubaki apologizes to him because they had made a promise and he also warned her about Haru. She closes her eyes while saying that even if it is a cultural difference but when she was suddenly kissed, she still doesn’t understand it. [She still thinks it is a cultural thing ^^;] She then bumps into Kyouta’s back since he stopped walking. Holding her face, Tsubaki exclaims why he suddenly stopped. Kyouta asks if she was shock when she was suddenly kissed. He turns around and he is blushing. Tsubaki says that she is surprised although it is really different from the one she had during the opening ceremony. [Since I browsed through the earlier chapters so I’m not sure but, I think she is referring to her first kiss which was stolen by Kyouta when they first met.] Kyouta looks at her then tells her to forget about it if it is like that. He says that there is no need for her to apologize. Tsubaki is really happy about this that she promises to him that she won’t let Haru kiss her the second time around. Kyouta looks at her lips then says that he is lying, all is not well. He quickly grabs her and pulls her to an alley. He starts kissing her hard that she wonders why he is so forceful and she can’t breathe. After he breaks away, Tsubaki exclaims that it hurts and surely he is still angry. She is surprised when Kyouta suddenly hugs her and says, “It is all my fault...I’m sorry.” Kyouta looks flustered and angry. Tsubaki wonders why Kyouta is apologizing. At the park, Haru is playing around with a cat while sitting on the bench. He is saying that it has been two years since he return again to Japan and he was thinking of him [Kyouta]. “Just like before, you still come here at the park, but you have already changed. I’ve been waiting until I got tired, Kyouta.” Kyouta is standing in front of him. Kyouta asks Haru also changed because the Haru he knows is a guy who won’t kiss a girl he doesn’t like. With a smile, Haru says that he can’t help it because of his promise with Kyouta. Flashback: Kyouta is with a girl while Haru seemed to have been crying and has this deranged look. He said, “Kyouta..I..swear to God. If one day, you find someone precious to you, I..will definitely destroy your relationship with that person.” End flashback. Haru says that because of that, he would even endured kissing like that but it seems that things aren’t progressing well so next time, maybe he should at least put in his tongue. This made Kyouta angry. He grabs Haru’s collar and shouts for him to quit saying such things. With a smile, Haru tells him that if Kyouta isn’t going to punch him, he should let go of his shirt else it will lose shape. Kyouta asks if he meant that he doesn’t have any right to punch him. Haru says that is right and if he understands that, Kyouta should let go. Kyouta shouts that he doesn’t care about that. He then socks it to Haru. Kyouta says, “If you want revenge from me, then you can go ahead. No matter what happens, my feelings for Tsubaki won’t waver.” After Kyouta left, Haru is holding his face where Kyouta punched him. He says to himself that he also knows Kyouta’s feelings won’t change. “But what about Tsubaki’s side?” He looks quite dark.

At school, Tsubaki closes her eyes and thinks, “I—Hibino Tsubaki, in accordance to a promise with Tsubaki-kun, will not let Halstead Mao get close to me.” [Edit: Thanks to am-am who has informed me that his name is Halstead Mao and his nickname is Haru. Hal can be read as Haru in Japanese.] The teacher says that the committee member has been decided and it is up to them to think what they will do for the school festival in June. He tells the two committee members that he will leave it up to them. Tsubaki thinks, “But..why did it turn out like this?” Haru smiles and tells Tsubaki, “Let us do our best, Tsubaki ♪” Next scene, Kyouta says that he didn’t except her to be someone who can’t keep a promise. Tsubaki exclaims that it isn’t like that because there are many things that led to why she is a committee member with Haru. Flashback: The teacher asked who want to be a committee member. Haru volunteered himself. He is surprised when suddenly a lot of girls also wanted to be a committee member with him. Soon, the girls are fighting among themselves. Tsubaki thought that being a committee member is a lot of hard work and she doesn’t want to go it for the second time around. Haru happily said that he is now going to choose among them as to who the other member will be. The other girls happily anticipated whom he will choose but to their and Tsubaki’s shock, Haru chose Tsubaki. “Let us do our best, Tsubaki ♪” The girls are furious that it is Tsubaki again when last year, she was with Kyouta. They thought she is quite cunning for it is Tsubaki every year. Tsubaki tried to tell them that she isn’t interested but they weren’t listening. A girl angrily exclaimed that Tsubaki is already Kyouta’s girlfriend. One of the girls calm the other girls down and told them that since Tsubaki is Kyouta’s girlfriend, then she is a good recommendation since she won’t be chasing after Haru. Soon, the girls agreed that Tsubaki should be the second committee member. End flashback. At the shoe lockers, Tsubaki gloomily tells Kyouta that she tried her best to tell everyone that she doesn’t want to do it but nobody listened to her. Holding Tsubaki’s shoulder, Haru says that is why Tsubaki can’t go home with him [Kyouta] because from now on, she will be with him [Haru] and they would have to get the things that they need for the school festival. He is holding a piece of paper wherein the materials that they need are listed. He bends near Tsubaki that Tsubaki quickly backs away and holding her hands in her face. This surprises the boys. Tsubaki happily tells Kyouta if he saw that, she can now avoid it [kiss] so Kyouta should relax. Kyouta sighs and tells her to forget it because there is nothing can be done if it is like that [committee thing], “But..instead of you, I’ll buy those stuff so you can go home, Haru.” Kyouta holds the piece of paper. The two look at each other. To Kyouta’s surprise, Haru lets go of the paper. He happily says, “Really? Then, that’s a big help. I have this television program that I really want to watch.” He hugs Kyouta and says, “I’m leaving it to you, Kyouta.” This surprises Tsubaki and she thinks that guys can even hug. After Haru left while whistling, Kyouta wonders if what Haru said before was an empty threat – giving Tsubaki at least a French kiss. He thinks, “Haru cannot do that thing. That..only someone like me could do that.”

At a store, from the note, it seems that Tsubaki’s class is going to do a Romeo and Juliet play. Kyouta is getting the things that they need while Tsubaki is just carrying the basket. When it is quite heavy for her, Kyouta helps her with it. Kyouta walks away with the basket that Tsubaki apologizes for making him carry and tells him that it is okay because the basket is heavy. Kyouta turns around and calls her stupid. “That’s why I’m going to carry it.” Tsubaki blushes. While walking at the street, Tsubaki says that Kyouta has changed a lot. While carrying some bags, Kyouta says is that so. Tsubaki is just carrying some rolled up paper which is lighter. Tsubaki says that she can’t imagine that the person whom she works with as a committee member last year is the same person as he is now. She tells him that he is quite awful before because he doesn’t care when she was carrying a lot of heavy things and would even play around with girls. Tsubaki thinks that comparing the past Kyouta with the present Kyouta, it would seem that she is saying bad things about him. She imagines Kyouta shoving the bags at her and tells her that they exchange the stuff they are carrying then shouts that she is still the same old fashioned Showa era girl. To her surprise, Kyouta just says that he is really awful and only recently, he realize that. He looks sad as he remembers Haru telling him that Haru did the same to him, too. He mutters that Haru will definitely want revenge, so Haru is making a move at his girl. Tsubaki remembers Haru telling her that Kyouta stole his girlfriend. Kyouta is startled when Tsubaki asks if he did something to Haru. Kyouta stutters as he says he didn’t do anything. He asks Tsubaki if she has heard it from Haru. Tsubaki says she did. Kyouta asks, “Really awful..huh?” Tsubaki says that honestly, she thinks it is nothing. Kyouta is surprised then becomes gloomy when Tsubaki tells him that after a lot of things he did to her based on her experience, she has seen a lot of his awful expressions but although he is awful, there is still many good points about him. “So, I ‘li’..that..and I can’t hate you.” Kyouta blushes a bit then tells her that she just said ‘like’ but only the first syllable. He tells her to say it whole but Tsubaki is already embarrassed and she won’t say it. Tsubaki thinks that she knows there are a lot of awful things about Kyouta but she still likes him so right now, even if other people say something about him, she won’t waver. Narration: “[When] I obviously decided that I won’t waver..”

They put the things in classroom 2-3. Tsubaki comments that it is quite dark already. Kyouta tells her that he has to go on ahead because he still has to go to his part-time job. Tsubaki tells him to go on ahead and asks if he is still on time. To her shock, Kyouta tells her that he is already late by 2 hours but it is okay. It is currently 18:07. Tsubaki panics about this and asks him if he asked someone to substitute for him or maybe use her as an excuse. Kyouta smiles and tells her not to worry for he was the one who choose to do that [accompany her] first. He bids her goodbye. As he is about to go out the door, Tsubaki thinks that when she became his girlfriend, she thought that she will definitely experience a lot of pain but if she didn’t go steady with him, she wouldn’t know that he can actually treasure her like that. Tsubaki runs in the hallway and catches up to Kyouta. Kyouta turns around. Tsubaki tiptoes and gives him a kiss on the lips. “I really like you,” she thinks. She goes back to the classroom to get her bag. She holds on the chair and blushes that she actually took the initiative and did that kiss yet she thinks that a kiss can easily convey the feeling that she has for him. She freezes when she hears a ‘meow’. Cat in school = Haru is in school. She can’t believe that Haru is still in school. She looks around and thinks that in order for her not to be alone with Haru, Kyouta got himself late for work. Thinking that Haru isn’t around, she quickly goes out the door to leave the school. When she opens the door, Haru is there. He says, “You’re so slow, Tsubaki. I’ve waited until I’m pretty tired.” He grabs her and takes her back to the classroom. A lone black cat is in the hallway. At the place where Kyouta works, he dropped a glass. While he is picking it up, he cut his finger. He puts his finger on his lips then remembers Tsubaki kissing him and she has told him that there are many good points about him. He blushes and smiles. A co-worker asks if something good has happened since he got himself cut yet he is smiling. Kyouta happily tells him that he was thinking of something good that has happened. Back in the classroom, Haru is on top of Tsubaki while she is on the floor. She still naively asks if that is the behavior of people from United States – kissing and hugging like that. She exclaims that he is in Japan so he should greet like how one should in Japan. Tsubaki is worried about her hair being messed up but then, her panic button gets pressed when Haru bends down to her neck and says that kissing is a form of greeting and it seems she is quite naive no matter what is the situation. To her aghast, he has licks her neck. She exclaims what he is doing. Before she knew it, her blouse is already unbuttoned. That is only when Tsubaki realizes that she is going to be violated. She exclaims what he is doing and if he is actually going to rape her. She tries to get up but Haru pushes her down by holds her wrist tightly. Haru says about his promise with Kyouta that he will be the one who’ll destroy Kyouta’s relationship with his lover. “Using the same way that Kyouta did.” Tsubaki is flustered and starts shouting for him to stop when he starts to touch her breast from underneath her bra.

Haru says, “My Rika had definitely also said the same thing but Kyouta didn’t stop.” He tells her that Rika whom he hugs tightly and really likes..his most important Rika has been..by Kyouta. Flashback: In some sort of park, resting/waiting shed, Kyouta and Rika are kissing and lying on a table. Rika’s blouse is lifted up and her legs open. [Curiously, it seems that Rika’s hand is on Kyouta’s face – holding rather than resisting.] Haru saw them and called out to Rika. The two stop. Haru exclaimed what is going on and why is she with Kyouta. “Could it be..” Rika looked flustered as she pulls down her blouse. Rika told Haru that Kyouta forced himself on her. “Although I want my first time to be with Haru..” Haru called out to Kyouta. Looking away, Kyouta sighed and said that is how it is. Haru tried to hold her but she pushed him away and kept on apologizing. Haru asked why is she apologizing when she didn’t do anything wrong. Rika told him that she can’t be with him anymore after he had seen that because she really likes Haru. Rika then ran off. End flashback. Haru tells Tsubaki that Rika blamed herself for what happened and she never returned to him. “Tsubaki, you told me before that even if you know of Kyouta’s terrible past, you will still like him. Is that true? Can you really understand [accept it]?” Tsubaki starts crying and thinking for him to stop since he starts to lick near her bra. [breast?] Tsubaki is really scared since she can’t move and escape. She is surprised when she left water drops on her abdomen. She looks up to see Haru crying. He releases his grip on her wrist and his hand is shaking. He cries, “Why..why could Kyouta do this cruel thing? I can’t do it.” He imagines Rika crying for help and calling out his name. He quickly pulls Tsubaki’s blouse close and says, “I’m sorry.” He wipes his tears then quickly leaves the classroom. Tsubaki just looks stunned then she sits up and starts buttoning her blouse. She is shaking that she can’t button her blouse properly. She hugs herself and says that she is really scared and wonders if Kyouta really did this kind of thing. “I really don’t know anything.” Next day at school, after school dismissal, Kyouta is praising Tsubaki being not like other girls for bringing an umbrella when it starts raining since everyone else didn’t have one. He holds her umbrella to her while they are walking. Tsubaki is wondering how she could face Kyouta after what happened yesterday. She is pulling her long sleeve to her wrist and she is shaking. Kyouta didn’t notice this that he pulls Tsubaki close to him. He tells her that she should be near him in order not to get wet. Tsubaki suddenly [ah..slap? it is just a sound effect] hit the umbrella away. This puzzles-surprises Kyouta. Tsubaki just says some alibi that she doesn’t want to be that romantic/lovey-dovey in front of other people. She is still shaking and she holds her fist tight. She exclaims, “Sorry, I’m going ahead!” Kyouta tries to shout to her about her umbrella but she kept on walking away. Holding her umbrella, Kyouta wonders what’s up with her. Tsubaki is breathing hard when she arrives home. Her phone is ringing and she thinks that it is definitely Kyouta who sent her some message to angrily question what she is doing. She is surprised when Kyouta wrote, “Don’t catch a cold!” She is shaking and thinks that Kyouta is really nice because he always helped her before [when some guys are troubling her] so whatever cruel things that Kyouta did in the past, it would have been best if she didn’t know about it. She pulls her sleeve and her wrist is bruised [hand marks by Haru]. At Kyouta’s work place, Kyouta is reading his cellphone then breaks another glass. The co-worker asks him what it is now, could it be some happy message from his girlfriend. Kyouta looks surprised and says, “Ha?” while looking at his cellphone. Tsubaki wrote, “I’m sorry but I think I want to maintain some distance [from you].”

There should only be 2 chapters this month but someone has fan scanlated chapter 40. If you want to see chapter 40, it is posted in baidu. In the next chapter, it will be the break up then Kyouta goes back to his ‘women’ but he’s depressed even if he tries to pretend he isn’t. So, what is the root cause of this problem? I think it is Kyouta. From that scene, my theory of what happened was Rika wasn’t really serious with Haru and is probably after Kyouta. Kyouta wouldn’t be so stupid to try to rape her in broad daylight and in public. Even if he may be awful at times before, I don’t think that stealing or rather raping one’s friend’s girlfriend is one of them. Then, since Kyouta doesn’t want Haru to also feel betrayed by a ‘woman’ like he had experienced Kyouta lied and went along with what Rika said. I guess he thought that promise is okay because he never thought that somewhere in the future, he will fall for someone. Now, if that is true, why didn’t he just explain everything? And if he did, maybe they won’t believe him. Maybe he doesn’t want Haru to know the bitter truth but then having sex, if they had done it, with his good friend’s girlfriend doesn’t make him look good either. ^^; Well, it seems Haru is just forcing himself to do those things because of his revenge. He is practically driven by his rage to get even especially since he is a ‘tit-for-tat’ guy as Kyouta mentioned -something has to have an exchange. The guy must be really crushed by what he thinks Kyouta did and well, he will probably be really crushed/traumatized if he knows that his beloved Rika is two-timing him. Even if I empathized with what he has gone through, but, guys forcing themselves [almost rape/rape] on women is a major turn-off for me, no matter what the reason is. I was actually hoping for a nice guy to make Kyouta defensive with Tsubaki but then, nice guys don’t try to cause trouble and if Tsubaki falls for him, it would seem she is fickle. So, I guess in Haru’s case, he is a nice guy turned bad is a good idea to spice the plot up. ^^; Well, The damage is done. Poor Tsubaki. She just experienced her second rape attempt because of Kyouta. If I were her, I would seriously think if this guy is worth it that I would be almost violated twice and who knows if some other jealous girl or vengeful guy would come out from the woodwork and try to get him/get back at him through me. ^^; Tsubaki does need space to think things. It seems she is more shaken/troubled by the fact that Kyouta had raped someone before rather than by what Haru tried to do to her. ^^;; I think maybe the other friends like Nishiki and Miho will help the two later on to learn what really happened. Maybe when Haru knows that Kyouta is really innocent, being a ‘give and take’ guy, he’ll help the two get back together. Anyway, that nice colored spread of the three [do you like cats] made me wonder if this will become a love triangle story later on. Lastly, I hope Kyouta don't break any more glasses because it might cost him his whole wage if those are expensive. =P Scans by zhu520/fema and Amyangel19910323 for BW.

Quote of the day:
By taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing over it, he is superior. ~ Author Unknown

Kaichou wa Maid-sama! [Chapter 38]
Tuesday, June 9, 2009

[About the new pictures on the blog, the one with ‘Do you like cats?’ is from Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu. I will be summarizing that next. The picture below each entry is from Yoru Café. I got that from the official site, Petit which is promoting a drama cd for the series. Manga dump has began so expect the usual monthly series coming up soon ^^]

The freshmen are spying on Misaki while she is in a meeting with some girls. They wonder how they can defeat someone as great as her especially since even teachers and PTA support her. At 1-7, Kanou informs his supporters at how good Misaki is and what has changed in school because of what she did. They admit that Misaki is indeed great in what she has done but they just can’t take the way how she does things. [Too strict, I guess] They decide to find her weakness. While going around the school to check things, Misaki notices that she is being followed. Some male students want to know where she goes after school. Before they knew it, Misaki quickly makes a run for it. Misaki manages to arrive at the café without being spotted. The others are still looking for her when Hinata notices them and asks what they are doing. While serving the customers, Misaki thinks that if they know about her job, it will be quite troublesome and they would most probably laugh at her but.. Then, her thoughts are disrupted when Hinata and the three idiots come in the café. Misaki sighs and smiles as to what kind of group they are. It seems that Hinata has made the others leave. Then, there is a scene of Ikuto showing some tea cup set with the maid’s pictures on each cup. It seems that he was the one who made them. The other customers are really happy about it. Satsuki mentions that the drawings in the exchange-notebook before being very good so the ‘masters’ decide to formally use them on a product. She didn’t think that it can be used that way and there is an artist among them. Satsuki says that everything is all thanks to Misaki that Ikuto can happily smile like that. Misaki notices that Hinata is staring at her. Hinata tells her that he can’t help it because she looks very cute. Misaki blushes and asks what foolish things he is saying. Hinata whispers why she doesn’t want the other guys to know about this. Misaki says that the guys will look at her as if she is a fool. Hinata asks why they would when he thinks that she is quite charming in it. Misaki tells him that they talk about it next time. Hinata tells her to forget it because he also wants to keep it a secret. “Because..such a cute Misaki..I don’t want the other guys to see you like that..” Misaki blushes. He asks if other than him, only the three idiots and Usui know about it. Misaki nods. Hinata sighs and says that is good and he’ll definitely not let any other guys know about it. Misaki looks flustered and is about to tell him something but Hinata joins the three idiots for some business discussion. Misaki just sighs as they argue.

Back at school, Sakura tells Misaki that this time around, it isn’t easy to win the guys’ votes so she has to do something to make a good impression on them. While Misaki and other girls are arguing about this, they find Kanou with rabbit hat and everyone else in suits. They are trying to impress the girls. So, Sakura and the other girls quickly grab Misaki and take her away. At the gate, the two opposing groups try to give flyers to some students who are coming in. A couple of third year students throw the paper away and think that they aren’t concerned about the election. This made the two groups angry but they can’t fight back because they are third years. The girls shout that if they are going to throw it, at least throw in the trash can. One of the third year students grabs the girl’s hand and complains that the girls are acting that way towards them is all because of that school president. Kanou’s group arrives and tries to deal with the commotion. The guy taunts Kanou that if Kanou wants to play the hero then he’ll play the villain. He also says that they don’t have a care about the elections and who wins. The other guy pushes the girls to Kanou and tells them that the princesses should cheer for the hero. Kanou is really nervous when the girls are on him. Someone from the building shouts, “So, the elections has nothing to do with you, right?! What you said is very interesting..” They are surprised to see Misaki all dressed up in a kimono with the other girls. She tells them that if she wins, she will encourage a ‘bird lift off, not dirty’ game in school. [I think that even if they left/before they leave, they will still be troubled, not sure about it] They shout who does she thinks she is. Misaki shouts, “I’m kaichou-sama!” She tells them some other stuff and they better make sure they won’t regret not participating in the election. She goes down and faces Kanou. She tells Kanou’s group that even if Kanou is a weakling, glasses-rabbit guy, they should bear the responsibility of supporting him until the end. They say yes. Inside the school, Sakura cries to Misaki why she said that for that will make all the votes go to Kanou. Misaki smiles and says that she thinks that doing that is quite meaningful.

Then, there is a speech among the candidates in the auditorium. Kanou says some stuff and ends it with wanting to represent them and become a president who will resolve everybody’s problems. Then, it’s Misaki’s turn. She slightly hits Kanou at the back and tells him that is so much his style. While Misaki is saying her speech, a couple of students wonder what would happen to them during the confrontation before with the third years if the president/she wasn’t there..they would have run away. Soon, it is voting time and the results are: Misaki wins by 272 votes while Kanou has 271 votes. I think the other positions are still the same including Yukimura as vice-president. The girls cheer while the guys are in shock. Sakura says that is great because the amount of votes is more than the amount of girls in their school. Misaki is quite stunned by the results. The guys can’t believe Kanou lost when the third year students promised to vote for Kanou. They realize that the third year students didn’t put in Kanou’s name – that freshman, glasses, that guy, etc. which disqualifies their votes. Kanou comments that their sempai hates discipline so there are a high number of votes. He never thought about joining the election and it is because of Misaki that he got that amount of votes. He says that even if it wasn’t him, the result will be the same. Misaki tries to protest but Kanou says it’s okay and perhaps this suits him. He tells her that what he felt is quite unexpected. “So, after half a year..I will definitely become a guy who can make others write my name properly.” Misaki smiles and says, “Right..” Standing that the gate, Usui smiles while looking at the direction of the students who gathered around in school, celebrating Misaki’s win and crying over Kanou’s defeat. He goes out of the gate and his smile disappears upon seeing Tora along with probably Tora’s underling student. There is a car waiting beside them. Tora looks at him then slightly smirks. While Misaki and others are rejoicing, Tora’s underling opens the door and Tora is about to get in. Usui has approached them and would probably go in the car with them.

There is a mention of half a year for Kanou to try to win again and next time, there is a high chance for him to win. That basically means, Misaki will probably not be a president anymore. What I’m getting at, this series will probably end in half a year in their time. Also, I doubt they would laugh at Misaki if she is dressed as a maid. Judging from how the other guys are going gaga over her, they might also change their impression on her as a 'devil' but then, I do think that it can hurt her role as a disciplinary president because they might not take her seriously and might even scorn her because she is a 'maid'. But then, in Japan, maid has a different kind of status among people especially anime/manga fans. ^^; I do wonder if they will know of her little secret before her term ends. Well, I guess it is good that Kanou didn’t win yet because I don’t think he is ready yet especially since he got into the election just because some freshmen are desperate. I think it’s nice that the two of them aren’t really destroying each other but they are actually ‘supporting’ each other in a way. Of course, Misaki supported Kanou more and I guess she can now be relieved that there will be someone whom she approves of who will take over after her term is over. Maybe, she can also ‘train’ him in the meantime unless of course, she will be busy with her upcoming problem with Usui. Someone in BW mentioned that maybe the letter that Usui got before is from Tora. Tora got some secret of his and he did seem quite interested in Usui..so, maybe blackmail Usui to what..transfer school or else. I think that theory is quite possible and maybe that is why Usui is mentioning about only having rare times with Misaki. It does seem quite selfless of him to sacrifice it just for Misaki to win the president position again. Hm..is that an underlying message there, which is more important, ‘career’ or ‘love’? Anyway, at least, we’ll hopefully finally know more about Usui. Also, could Misaki realize that Hinata likes her after what he said to her at the café? If Misaki can read between the lines, I’m sure she’ll guessed it but then, Hinata quickly went away so she’ll probably not be able to confirm it. I do think that Hinata’s good point is that he can blend in well with anybody. I think it’s nice that the three idiots are moving on. Now, there are hints of Ikuto being good in art. Maybe they can become a business group later on or something. It’s nice that from delinquents, they have found something productive to do. ^^ Scans by gougouzhizuozu group.

Quote of the day:
The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. ~ J. Martin Kohe

Weekly Jump: Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Reborn, and PSYREN
Monday, June 8, 2009

While Ukitake is playing with Lilyneth ‘get your sword if you can’ in Bleach [c. 360], Oomaeda is busy running and Barragan chasing after him. Oomaeda attacks him twice and of course, it is useless. When Barragan is about to give him the finishing blow, Soifon appears with a huge weapon attached to her body which is her bankai. Because of its size, Soifon doesn’t like to release her bankai. She then blasted Barragan with it. So, Ukitake is indeed playing. Lucky guy, he got a good excuse not to fight because of his health condition. Too bad, Oomaeda is as useless as he seems. As usual, I wonder if that is enough to finish of Barragan just like if Hitsugaya’s attack is enough to finish off Harribel.

In Naruto [c. 450], Naruto is walking back to the village, whatever was left of it, when Kakashi arrives and gives him a piggybank ride back. Everyone gives him a grand welcome. While they were rejoicing, Zetsu informs Tobi of what happened to Pain. An ANBU informs Shikaku of a meeting. Tobi decides to find someon to synchronize with the Gedou Mazou, soul extractor and orders Kisame to find Hachibi. The people who are to inform Konoha about Hachibi have arrived. Tsunade is in a comatose after using her power to protect the village. In a meeting between village of fire and konoha, they plan to defeat Akatsuki but Danzou is pressing for a new hokage. Shikaku quickly nominates Kakashi. Danzou tells them that misfortune happens one after another because of the Third Hokage’s teaching and he thinks that it is better to find someone who has a different philosophy in running things. In the end, Danzou becomes the 6th Hokage. I wonder if the author is playing on religious meaning of numbers. 6 is usually not good and if you know the beast’s number. I do wonder how the others will react to this. Will the village split up? I’m sure that there will be some who will agree with Danzou. I somewhat doubt that Naruto is willing to fight his co-villagers but then, there is still Sasuke who now has a good excuse to destroy Konoha..kill people. About Tsunade, I somewhat think that what she did was useless because Nagato in the end, revived everyone. Again, it’s quite ‘convenient’ that it happened so things have shaped into what it is now.

Then in One Piece [c. 545], with four and half hours remaining, Ivankov stayed behind as he told Inazuma to destroy the stairs so that Magellan can’t follow. After some fight, Ivankov and Inazuma were defeated by Magellan. While Buggy and Mr. 3 are running away from the demon guards, Luffy and others arrive and finish off the demon guards. The two are stuck by conscience when Luffy is happy that they are alright. Since Magellan appear before them, Luffy become worried about Ivankov and Inazuma but Jimbei notices something is up so he tells Luffy to hurry else, they will have bigger problems than Magellan. Mr. 3 decides to delay Magellan and urges Luffy to go. Hm..Luffy is really lucky to have all these people helping him. They practically sacrificed their comfortable living before just to help Luffy. I do wonder if he’ll feel guilty later on about this regarding Ivankov and others. Maybe they will be rescued by those who were left in their secret hideout. I do hope so. Because of the time limit and everyone urging Luffy to go, I don’t think he even has time to sit first and really think about this. Of course, it’s really nice of Mr. 3 to do that. I wonder if Buggy will help too but then, his power needs close contact against the enemy so I doubt he can delay Magellan. With leaving one by one those that he had ‘found’ to help him, I wonder if in the end, they will be all gone and Luffy will be alone then meet up with his crew again. Speaking about his crew, the cover page is now Robin’s escape. So, we are indeed going to know what’s going on with his crew while he is going to save Ace. Nice. ^^ About saving Ace, I really hope that it will be Luffy who’ll get to save him else, it would seem that he wasted his time.

There are a couple of new polls in Katekyo Hitman Reborn! [c. 244] regarding character popularity and dream match. The shocking part is reading cnet’s translation, “signed by Amano-sensei herself!!” No way?! The author is a woman! ^^; In the colored cover page, Chrome looks sexy. ^^ The Torikabuto that Tsuna attacked turned out to be an illusion. Torikabuto attacks Tsuna with sea snakes. Dino comments that it seems that he can also use both illusion and lightning. Tsuna gets trapped but he uses his box weapon, Nuts [What a name ^^;] to escape. Torikabuto then uses the snakes to stab Tsuna who came out safe because of Nuts who became a weapon on his arm with a cape which is from Vongola I. Reborn informs Dino that Vongola tampered with the boxes and made their box animals into actual weapons. My first impression of Tsuna and the cape..it’s Count Dracula. ^^;; Except for his box weapon’s form, everything looks cool about Tsuna. Really..I doubt Torikabuto can even win against Tsuna..he uses sky. If he loses, I will be very disappointed.

Gintama [c. 263] is quite amusing and fitting for the blog poll. Gin has a toothache so he went to the dentist. To his dismay, Hijitaka is also there. The two try to deny that they are actually afraid of the dentist. It doesn’t make it easier that Madao and Kondou are being made experiments by the mad dentist. Their body parts are made into toothbrushes. The other patient run away but stubborn Gin and Hijitaka won’t leave because of pride and they are not afraid of the dentist. Haha, the two went in the dentist because it is two patients at a time. I wonder if this will be continued or it ends just like that. I love chapters when those two are together since they can’t get along even if they are too similar to each other. ^^ Then in PSYREN [c. 73], Usui has made a city of his own by pretending to be some kind of prophet and he is worshipped as a ‘god’. He used his advantage of being a former psyren drifter to his advantage in order to manipulate and lord it with some naïve people. Usui has decided that Nemesis Q should die because ‘she’ has outlived her use. Meanwhile, Yoshina and others have arrive. While Marie is resting at some cave, Yoshina together with Kyle and Frederica explore the place and met with Usui’s guards called brain beasts. They thought that Yoshina and others are related to Nemesis Q. So, there is more problems than WISE in that place. I guess after the 3 vs 3, Usui will appear. I wonder what will Yoshina and Usui’s reaction when they meet each other. Since Yoshina is mentioning about powering up or improving his attack, I guess now he will have some target practice.

Quote of the day:
We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone. ~ Ronald Reagan

Hana to Akuma [Chapter 32] Teaser
Monday, June 8, 2009

Haha, I know I’ve wrote that I won’t be writing about this series anymore but this chapter is love. ^^ The duel is stopped by Gilbert who has some letter from Lucifer. Probably a different kind of duel whatever or he doesn’t want the candidates to be king kill each other because he just wants Vivi to come back. Whatever. Hana is depressed about what happened. They treat her to an Alice-in-Wonderland party. Vivi mentions about kissing him too since she kissed Moritz. I think it is for him to forgive her. She kisses him on the lips instead. =P Hehe, the highlight of the chapter ^^ And all is well between them, except of course, the thing between Moritz and that letter from the king. Scans by carolleung0808/minifrog for BW.

I was thinking if this series is the reason why Akuma to Dolce ended prematurely. Haha, it is only now I realized that the author has a new series called Kamisama Hajimemashita which is somewhat interesting. And, I was wondering where I saw the art before [and it turned out to be Akuma to Dolce author]. ^^;; I’ve started reading the English scans. The Chinese scans are way behind the English so I won’t be summarizing it. Actually, I think I ought to not summarize any other Hana To Yume series because they are always ‘hanging’ or behind in Chinese except for Skip Beat! ^^;

The One [Chapter 59]
Sunday, June 7, 2009

The door slams. Eros looks at the door speechless while Angus looks really dark and anxious. He starts muttering about how his father dare threaten to harm Eros and look at him that way when Eros is also his son. When Eros notice that Angus has been gripping his fist too tightly that it is bleeding, Eros quickly holds Angus’ wrist and calls him ‘Long’ to snap him out of it. Eros made Angus look at him as he tells Angus that he doesn’t care if their father looked at him that way or threatened him but Angus shouldn’t let that guy manipulate his [Angus] emotions. Eros hugs crying Angus and says that he will protect him and he won’t allow Angus to be returned to that family which manipulates him. He also tells him that he won’t allow Angus to do such things that will make him hurt himself. “I won’t let him get you to leave New York even by a half step.” Angus is thinking that it is too late because he will definitely make his father regret it. He wants to wildly punch his father and see that so high and proud face be humiliated, and distorted in anger. At Leo’s apartment, while eating the feast that Leo cooked, Lele comments at how could their father coldly look at his own son that way. [They just look through the telescope and didn’t know what they talked about.] Leo tells her that aristocrats are always like that especially if they are from nobility. Lele asks if just because they are from nobility, they become ‘special people’ and what is the basis that when they are born, people have to look up to them. Leo tells her that in order to know that, she has to investigate it in ancient history of royal nobility. He informs her that the current nobility’s descendants only have their titles and their worries about becoming poor are also a lot. Lele sweatdrops. Leo tells her that Casale’s family is not that bad but there are rumors that his family fortune is in the decline. After he married a super rich daughter of a baron (Angus’ stepmother), his clan manages to revive. His family is into shipping industry in Europe and it can be said to be rated either first or second. I think he said that there has been a lot of progress for the business because of being involved with the Sweden’s royal court. Lele happily asks with admiration as to how did he know all of this. Holding his laptop computer, Leo says, “Of course, with google! Stupid.” Lele sweatdrops.

After Christmas, Eros got Angus to live with him in his apartment. The two pepping tom exclaim in glee at how good they look -> Eros sitting then Angus sleeping on his lap. Lele thinks it is such a warm, happy scene. She wanted to always see that kind of scene but she didn’t know of the danger behind it [the reason why they are living together]. Eros prepares to go out. He tells Angus that starting from that day on, no matter where he goes, Angus is to inform him about it. Since the ZAC work is finished, Angus should temporarily not accept new work nor go out that much. If Angus is going out, he shouldn’t go out alone and Eros will accompany him. Angus agrees with the idea because with that, he won’t be harassed and he can also get to stick with Eros everyday. Angus asks him why it is that there has to be such forceful situations before Eros agrees to let him live with him. [The other situation is when Angus tries to commit suicide.] “Is there something that you are hiding from me?” This surprises Eros that he quickly looks away from Angus. He tells Angus how he could be hiding something. He says that he needs space to be alone to think about his work so he is just used to being alone. Angus asks why it feels that he only let him stay unless he is forced to. Angus reminds him that they are twins. They have lived together since they were babies for 12 years and although they were separated for 6 years, their feeling between them has not disappeared. Eros has told Angus that he had a hard life since he wasn’t able to eat much during those 6 years and after their mother died, he will occasionally go to Taylor who would give him food. Angus asks why Eros’ eyes would unconsciously have that sad look in them which even Marshall has noticed and that is despite the fact that Eros tries to hide his true feelings whenever Eros is in front of him. Eros didn’t answer. Angus tells him that Eros knows everything what happened to him while he was in Gustav household so doesn’t Eros think that it isn’t fair and he is quite pitiful because he knows little of what happened to Eros during those 6 years. Eros looks nervous and just tells him that he is thinking too much. Eros’ alibi is that sad look is from pressures from work and the whole world knows about his foul temper. Eros tells him that some models are waiting for him to fix them up [what to wear?] and Angus shouldn’t think such crazy thoughts. He bids him goodbye and tells him to be nice and stay at home until he returns at night, and also, he’ll bring something interesting. Angus wonders what he meant and his eyes look sad – probably because Eros isn’t telling him about his past.

At some place, Lele is really happy that ZAC’s image advertisement will be formally unveiled to the media next month and until then, it will publicize that Marshall was the one who took the pictures. Lele is really excited to see those pictures. Nick, who had a new short haircut, tells her that it is too early for her to rejoice for when that time comes, it will be like a ‘trial convention’ which is terrifying because of the critics, commentators, and magazine’s chief editors are all going to look at it and with poison tongues, they are going to comment on it. It is after that before she can truly take the first step of being a success in New York. Lele is shock to hear this. Nick reminds her that there is still about Damien. He suggests to her that she perform in accordance to what Damien wants and perhaps, she’ll manage to get a contract to become ZAC’s exclusive brand person. [Something like if they see Lele, it will be Lele = ZAC] Lele expresses her disgust about having to do that but Nick calls her foolish and tells her about how models willingly grabbing the opportunity to have publicity. He informs her that if she promotes a brand, there will be many other work opportunities that will be offered to her then, she will really be on her way to become a supermodel since New York is just a start. There are still places for her to go like London, Paris, and Milan. He tells her that should be the future goal she should be fighting for. Lele goes out and remembers that was her goal as to why she went to that place. Her goal is to go on world stage just as her aunt wished for her mother but her mother wasn’t able to fulfill it. She thinks that her stage shouldn’t just be limited to New York. She sadly thinks that the current her is still ‘zero’. While encouraging herself to work hard and not to be stubborn, she passes by Angus who greets her hi. Lele smiles and waves back as she also greets him hi. She thinks that he is currently her neighbor, too, yet there is something off about him. She shouts, “Wait a minute!” She runs in front of him. Angus asks what it is. Lele thinks that the hair and green eyes are indeed Angus but the look of his eyes and the tone of his voice. She looks at his eyes. While pointing at him, Lele shouts, “Aren’t you Yin? Why are you pretending to be your younger brother?” Eros looks surprised and comments that she can actually distinguish between them. Lele is shock that it is really Eros. Still pointing at Eros, Lele shouts for him to return her silver-eyed monster because if he is like that, it is too weird. Eros sweatdrops and asks what’s so weird about it when the two of them pretty much look the same but now, they just had the same haircut. He asks why she is talking in English all of a sudden. Holding his face[?], she then asks him why he is wearing colored contact lens. Eros sweatdrops and tells her that it is in order for people not to recognize who’s who. Eros holds her hand and tells her that it is interesting sometimes if people don’t know who’s who. He says that most twins usually make others quite perplex since they don’t know who’s who and even if they do their best, they can’t distinguish it. But he and Angus are different because of their environment, there is always something obvious about them in their appearance because of their character. He tells her that except for those who don’t really know them, their friends rarely make a mistake between the two of them. He claims that he finds it interesting when people call him ‘Long’ at times. Lele exclaims why he suddenly thought of doing this. Eros says that it is fun. Lele freaks out that he means silver-eyed monster is going to ‘disappear’ temporarily. “Then who’s going to act as my ‘fake boyfriend’?” Eros pats her head and says that ZAC work is finished already so she doesn’t need a fake boyfriend anymore. With a longing look, Lele thinks that is true for she no longer has any reason to force him to be her partner in ‘practicing love’ and she didn’t expect it to end so soon, but she.. Just as Eros is about to go, Lele says, “Yin--I like you! I really, really..like you!” Eros turns around and looks at her. After a pause, he says, “I know.” This made Lele blush. He then turns around and left. Lele thinks, “‘I know’? Is that it? So..I’m rejected--?” She remembers all the times when they are together during the ‘practice’ and wonders if he just acted out everything in order to become her ‘fake lover’.

I think Angus is both scary and pitiful. Scary in what he might do if he learns that Lele knows more about Eros's past and he might lose him to Lele. I think he is pitiful about what his father plans about him though I think his possessiveness and the possibility of the two now living together -> Eros will be taking care of him and keep watching over him..it might aggravate the possessiveness which might make him really dependent on Eros that he can't move on without him. It seems that their father is ‘using’ women for his personal gain. I mean he most probably married that woman because of her money. If he married that one first, I guess he needed a heir or something and that is how their mother got in the picture..unless of course, he got the twins’ mother pregnant and left her a single mother then his current wife can’t have kids so, he forcibly took Angus with him. Then, he needs Madam Mode for his political ambition. Oh well, I can’t really say that there are no such guys in the real world. As for Lele, it's nice that she remembered her goal, I hope to see her go around the world ^^ Interestingly, Nick mentioned countries that are in Europe ^^ And, I can't wait about the possibility of her going against Feidna. I was surprised that it was Eros. o_O I did somewhat thought why would Angus walk around like that when people are after him. It is such a great way to disguise himself as his twin to dupe the others. I totally love it when Lele knows who's who. She is like Haruhi of Ouran High. ^^ I'm slightly sad about how he responded. I guess he has many things in mind than to think of his personal happiness. Also, he must have gotten worried about Angus’ possessiveness before. Maybe he just needs to be made more jealous of other guys who'll court Lele later on. Well, Eros is known to be selfless especially if it concerns Angus. I hope Lele won't be too depressed. Wait a minute..I'm not sure I would want Eros to be thought of as Angus..what if he was kidnapped..can he resist..can he punch those guys..I wonder if his father would know. What I really fear is what if that Madam Mode would do to him..though given Eros's nature he won't easily give up..argh..I can just say, Nicky Lee is really good. I can't predict what is going to happen next. ^^ Oh..oh..I just thought since they now look the same..what are the possibilities of Eros pretending to be Angus then the two will be going out together with Lele during promotions. Ah..I hope that at least once, they can work together. ^^ Also, I'm amazed at the risk the author is doing with the drastic changes in hairstyles but then, they still look good ^^ Next chapter on 7/5. Scans by ngx for BW.

Word of the day:
Faith in Christ will keep us steady in the stormy sea of change. ~ Our Daily Bread

Skip Beat! [Chapter 141]
Saturday, June 6, 2009

Lol, Skip beat! is love. ^^ I totally love Shou’s reactions. Hehe, Shou who wasn’t able to sleep a wink last night asked his manager what the girl is thinking if she gives someone she hates handmade chocolates. Shouko tells him that maybe the so-called ‘hate’ is actually ‘like’ inside the heart. Lol..Shou imagines Kyouko and Reino dancing together. So cute. He thinks that he can’t forgive that kind of scene. He covers his ears and thinks that he doesn’t want to listen to that awful song -> he just composed a song as to what those two are singing while dancing. =P Shouko think that this is all about Kyouko but having that demon face yesterday, there is probably a different reason to it. Then, there is shower scene for Shou! Wow! Geez, he is really looking like Kyouko that I have to make a double take ^^;; Anyway, he is really unhappy that Kyouko seems to plan to give both Ren and Reino chocolates -> she mentioned Ren’s name before during his first call then, Reino later on. Somewhere else, Reino is messing things up in the kitchen and says he can’t find his pet. When the others return, he made a kekkai on the wall using small things. It is totally cool the way he throws it like a ninja. ^^ It turns out that Reino got Kyouko’s little demon. He had used it to get Kyouko to give him chocolates else, he won’t return it. Kidnapped! The other band members don’t see it except when Reino used his beads to make it visible to them. They recognize it as Kyouko's. Lol -> at their reactions of wow over Reino. How Reino got it? He just said, “hey, there’s Shou.” It came out of Kyouko. Captured. Lol..while mixing some chocolates Kyouko is totally gloomy about it especially since Reino threaten to love and protect it, even sleep with it! Kyouko and little demon freaked out over it. Then, Kanae and Kyouko put their chocolates in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes to probably harden. Kanae mentions about some lumpy chocolates but Kyouko says to leave it be. Those are for Reino. =P She then angrily remembers Reino told her that if Kyouko didn’t make them well, he won’t return her demon and he’ll kiss it. ^^; She can only angrily slam the refrigerator close.

While waiting, they have tea, Kyouko is super happy because Kanae made the tea. Kanae asks her whom she will give chocolates to. Kyouko mentions Kanae first. Kanae is surprised for she is treated like a ‘guy’ and wonders if she should give Kyouko something on White Day [gifts/chocolates for girls]. Kyouko will also give to Dark Moon people, Bridge Rock [I think], Box’R’ people, and LME people including her manager, the president and Yashiro. She then angrily thinks that she also has to make a meaningless chocolate [to Reino]. Kanae asks if she forgot to mention about Ren. Kyouko tells her that she won’t be making chocolates for Ren because she didn’t see him eat sweets and his fans gave him lots already. While they were chopping and molding the chocolates, Kanae can’t believe that Kyouko isn’t giving any to Ren. She remembers Kyouko showing the gem that came from the rose that Ren gave her along with that legend story. Kanae thinks that gem is really expensive even if she doesn’t know what it is called. Kanae knows that Ren likes Kyouko and she wonders if she should say something about it..is it really okay not to give Ren any chocolates. The next day, Kanae wakes up and can’t believe she wasn’t able to say anything about it to Kyouko. Kyouko has left a note on the table about going to work and she would have wanted them to eat breakfast together but maybe next time. She even includes a PS that Hio will be happy upon receiving her chocolates. While drinking some juice, Kanae wonders if Ren will become an akuma king because of it but then, she thinks that she is thinking too much for surely, if Ren likes Kyouko, he will be quite mature about this and won’t be angry if he is the only one who didn’t get any chocolates. That is, unless, some dangerous ‘thing’ gets involved in. Elsewhere, Shou and Shouko are heading to that Fuji station wherein Kyouko always causes a riot [iirc]..I wonder if she is also there then..^^

Haha..too much reactions in that summary. It’s a fast browse -> summary. Just check if it’s right when the English scanlation is out. Oh..so that is how Reino blackmailed her. Lol, it’s really good. That was very clever of him. I guess Kyouko can’t just abandon one of her little demons especially how Reino threatens to treat it. I hope it isn’t the antenna one which she needs to know if Ren’s angry. She will need it if ever Ren learns what’s happening with her and Reino. Wow, fan service for Shou’s fans. ^^ About being angry regarding Ren and Reino, someone mentioned that maybe it is just Shou’s over protectiveness over Kyouko as a childhood friend. He doesn’t like Kyouko two-timing the two. Well, it can be interpreted that way, I guess. If they will meet, I’m sure Shou will somehow lecture Kyouko but he shouldn’t let her know that he was the one who called her up. Will he also demand his chocolates? Will he be the one who’ll help Kyouko out of her predicament? If Shou does, Ren will be jealous once more..actually, just the thought of giving everyone chocolates except him..and probably Shou, too will make him disappointed and jealous-mad if he knows she’ll give Reino. He might think like this, “What I’m in the same level as Shou?!” I think Kyouko’s trauma is preventing her from wanting to give chocolates to Ren because it won’t be just obligation chocolates..for he, it will have a different meaning like love. =P Anyway, I think akuma king Ren can actually solve her problem..just show that face to Reino and I’m sure he’ll free the poor kidnapped demon who probably loves akuma king Ren. ^^ Oh..can’t wait for June 20th. ^^ Scans by bbs.yydm

Word of the day:
The next time you become angry, stop and prayerfully reflect for a moment. Ask God for a calm spirit and the right words to say. Remember, cooler heads prevail. ~ Dennis Fisher from Our Daily Bread