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Better times, wish we could be there again. 😭

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I’m really a Nacht-fangirl

What should I say, when my best friend gifted me to go to a porcelain cafe together, I told myself that I want to have a plate with something related to Black Clover this time. Today we finally made it to the cafe.

I’m not good at drawing or painting at all, but luckily there are tools to help getting this done and I’m pretty proud with the outcome. I just hope it still looks good when they have fired and glazed the plate.

And then I can have dinner from a Nacht-plate. 🤣

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Heyyyyyy! 7, 26, and 27 26 for the writing ask if you will? Thanks!

Hey there. 😊 Thank you for the ask! You really got me with one of those questions. 😄

7. What fic are you the proudest of? I told @just-a-little-fan-1793 it’s probably “Embrace of Darkness” if I had to choose one. But I’m using this chance to say that I feel already incredibly proud of “Eclipse” as well although there are only four chapters so far. But this story is a little challenge for myself and I put so much work and time of research into it already and I like the way it turns out and gives me the chance to also write about characters we didn’t see that much of yet.

26. What is your favorite part about writing? The creativity. My brain is permanently working and imagining new scenes for my stories gives me comfort. By writing I can give those pictures from my mind a way to show themselves. Writing can make people feel with the characters, they can laugh and cry, maybe they even find comfort themselves in those words. We can explore different worlds and escape reality for some time. And somehow it’s also some kind of therapy. I don’t know, I feel especially connected to Nacht and writing about him slowly healing from his past also leaves me with a positive feeling. Plus, I really like interacting with readers and other writers. 😊

27. What is a question that you never get asked about your fics that you really want to answer? Haha, to be honest, when I found those questions and decided to reblog I was actually hoping to not get this question. 🙈 Because I really don’t have an answer to this. I’m quite open about answering questions, so if anyone wants to know something they can just ask me. At this point I can only say what kind of question I prefer to not receive, and that is about when to update my stories. 😅 I feel absolutely blessed when someone really is engaged and wants to know how a story continues, but sometimes there is not enough time for the things I love to do and it just takes longer for me to update. I already pressure myself too much and this just adds some more pressure to the pile. 🙈

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So, for the ask game... How about 3, 5, 6, 19, 24, 25 and 38, please?

Also, thank you for making me ship Nacht x Ichika <3

Thank you for the ask! 🥰 And I'm glad you now ship Nacht and Ichika! We need more love for them. 😍 By the way, I love this GIF, Nacht's smile in that scene is beautiful and I'm still thinking about getting this panel as a tattoo. 😅

3. What was the last thing you looked up for a fic? I currently read a magazine about Japanese culture and mythology to get some inspiration for “Eclipse”; that way I hopefully can also transfer information about specific traditions into the story. The Black Clover wiki is also my best friend at the moment as I just can’t remember the names of all the spells and there I get a great overview to be able to write training fights. 😅

5. Where do you get your title inspiration from? To be honest, I think titles are one of my greatest weaknesses when it comes to writing. I somehow try to think about something related to the story and make it sound a bit more…poetic? Like, with Yami and Nacht darkness and shadows are related topics, that’s how “Embrace of Darkness” came to life. “Virgo”, on the other hand, came from Yami as he mentions his sign of zodiac and it’s also a good summary of the story. “Eclipse” is supposed to relate to the story itself, as it takes mostly place in The Land of the Sun, but some things might happen that darken the sun there. So, yeah, basically that’s it, I think.

6. Do you listen to anything while you write? Or do you prefer silence? It somehow depends on my mood. Most of the time I prefer silence, but there are times the words flow better with quiet music in the background. But then not everything works for me, I need something like Japanese Lo-Fi, and currently music from Fujii Kaze also helps me to concentrate.

19. Do you work on multiple fics at once or only one at a time? I told myself that I only want to work on one fic at once and end this before starting something new, but then “Eclipse” came and screwed it all. So, right now I’m working on two stories and if there is an idea for a one shot, I write this down as well.

24. Do you have any writing goals? (Word counts, chapters, finishing fics, trying something new?) I had a New Year’s resolution: Writing 500 words per day. Do I mange to get them done?—No. There is just too much going on in my life, but I hope I will have the chance to pick up that goal again. Another goal is really finishing every work I started. And with writing from Mereoleona and Yosuga’s POV I also wanted to challenge myself and get a bit out of my comfort zone.

25. Is there a scene you are dreading writing? (Want to share what it is?) Fighting scenes frighten me. 🙈 It's really difficult to write them, in my opinion, and this takes a long time for me to get done. And, to be honest, I’m not ashamed to write some explicit scenes, but I already feel completely embarrassed of the smut I’m going to write for Mereoleona and Yosuga. 😀

38. Fic idea you're most excited to get to? I’ve got specific scenes in mind for “Embrace of Brightness” and “Eclipse” I’m already so excited to write. I don’t want to say too much about this to not spoil anything, but for one of those scenes I want to bring Charlotte into a situation where Yami makes her feel completely overwhelmed. 😆

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2, 7, 20 and 40 for the ask game 🥰

Oh, this is exciting, thank you for the ask! 😊🥰

2. Do you prefer oneshots or longfics? It actually depends on what I plan to write, but I think I prefer longfics because I tend to write a lot anyway and with a longfic I can give my imagination enough room. 

7. What fic are you the proudest of? That’s difficult. I think every author is proud of their works, we all put so much time into it and for me it feels like I’m bringing something of my inner self into this world. If I had to choose one story, though, I think it’s “Embrace of Darkness” as this fic brought back my love for writing and it’s the first time I wrote such a long story and actually ended it. Plus, it was the first time I wrote something in English. So, yeah, I feel pretty proud of this one. 😊

20. What made you start writing? I kind of always liked creative writing and wrote my first fic when I was 13, if I remember correctly. Sometimes, when you’re reading a book or watching a series, there are scenes that make you think “What if…?” Or, when it comes to me, I wasn’t very patient to see my favourite ship to sail, if there was a chance for them to begin with, so I wanted to write them starting a relationship. And when it comes to Black Clover, there weren’t enough stories about Yami and Charlotte for my taste, and at that moment none at all about Ichika and Nacht, and as there were some ideas in my head I started writing.

40. Happy Endings or Sad Endings? Always Happy Endings!

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Giving it a try, first time doing this.

Fanfic Author Asks!

(I love these things so much, I thought I would do my own lol)

How many WIPS do you currently have?

Do you prefer oneshots or longfics?

What was the last thing you looked up for a fic?

Do you save your 'cut scenes' from your fics? (Want to share one?)

Where do you get your title inspiration from?

Do you listen to anything while you write? Or do you prefer silence?

What fic are you the proudest of?

Has anyone ever drawn fanart for one of your fics before?

What time do you prefer to write? (Day, night, etc.?)

How much do you write before you post?

Do you outline your fics before writing them?

Have you ever made a moodboard for a fic? (Do you want to share it?)

Have you ever made a playlist for a fic? (Share?)

What is something you really like about your work(s)?

Do you look at comments right away? Or save them for later?

How do you write your fics? (Handwritten, google docs, word, etc)

Do you regularly discuss your fics, or do you keep most of the info to yourself before you start posting?

How do you decide what POV to write in?

Do you work on multiple fics at once or only one at a time?

What made you start writing?

What is something that no one has caught about one of your fics?

What is one of your favorite tropes to write?

Do you post your fics on a schedule?

Do you have any writing goals? (Word counts, chapters, finishing fics, trying something new?)

Is there a scene you are dreading writing? (Want to share what it is?)

What is your favorite part about writing?

What is a question that you never get asked about your fics that you really want to answer?

Do you prefer canon compliant fics or AUs?

What fic are you the least proud of?

Is there something you would go back and change about a fic if you could?

How do you stay motivated?

Out of all your fics, what is your favorite title?

What is your favorite line from *insert fic name here*?

Have you ever done a collaboration? Would you?

Favorite review you've gotten?

Are/were you surprised by your top fic? (hits, kudos, comments, anything)

Favorite genre?

Fic idea you're most excited to get to?

Do you have a preferred writing snack/drink?

Happy Endings or Sad Endings?

Bonus: Readers, tell your fave authors something you liked about their fics/works!

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Just a heart and a star to remind you that you are wonderful 💘✨

Nawww, that’s very sweet of you!

It’s always nice to hear kind words, especially in stressful times I tend to doubt myself. 🥰��️

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It makes me so angry when I read this. Writers put so much work and heart blood in their stories. Accusing them to use AI to write is a shame!

AI destroys the world of creativity and art. It’s sad that real effort and emotions are taken away from people. It’s not only about writing. People use AI to create photos and paintings (e.g. that damn Studio Ghibli filter), they steal people’s words and art to feed their algorithm that one day we cannot tell anymore what is real and what is fake. Even voice actors fear to be replaced by AI because a robot is more affordable than real people with real emotions they express with their unique voices.

It’s scary and not just. I hope we will stand together and still find joy in our arts as we can appreciate the hard work that is put into every single story or painting or whatever we want to create.

Generative AI Accusations

I am currently upset. A mutual of mine has been accused, in the comments of one of their stories, that their stories are AI generated. Which I know is not true at all. Their first language is not English, but they translate their stories into English themselves.

What upsets me even more is that I some weeks ago also got two anon asks that accused two different mutuals of using generative AI for their stories and told me about so called tools (based on AI, by the way) that could apparently search into texts if it's based on AI or not. But not only didn't they post any links, but I learned as well that those tools are very failing and that 100% self-written texts can have a result of being "AI generated".

And why should believe some random anons, who accused my mutuals of using AI and told me about tools that "find AI" without sending me links? Maybe they were just bots, maybe not. But fact is, I won't believe anon accusations and people who trust more tools based on AI that real people and who can't even provide some real proofs. Why would I believe them and not my mutuals I know and love?

Sorry for the rant, but I had to get it out of my system. Generative AI used for fanfics is a thing I hate like every writer, but I also hate when real writer are accused of using AI for their stories. And even comment on their stories in order to accuse them! Generative AI is a problem and it makes soulless stories, but lets not accuse writers who put their heart and souls into writing, translating, creating their stories.

Let's believe people, not tools!

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“Eclipse” background information—Part II

After writing so much about how I came up with a few names and explanations about Samurai, I now want to give you some pictures to get an idea of how I imagine parts of the locations from “Eclipse”.

The old castle of the Shougun in Kyoto is Nijou Castle. I went there the day of my cousin’s birthday and we were both wearing kimono. That made the feeling of the visit even more special and I somehow felt like a little princess walking around the castle gardens. We were also inside the castle, but weren’t allowed to take photos there. But it pretty much looked like the castle we visited in Nagoya (see my travel blog for reference), however, this time the interior was mostly still original and not some replica. So, lots of gold and beautiful paintings everywhere.

In chapter 4 of “Eclipse” the guests from Clover will finally arrive in Hino. I imagined them to approach the castle through the gates like you can see on this picture, and with Hino’s representatives waiting for them in this court.

The garden looked also very nice at Nijou castle, unfortunately we had some rain then, but I enjoyed my time there nevertheless.

As the Nijou castle grounds felt a bit too small for what I had in mind, I want to throw in the park of the modern palace in Kyoto. I was there in 2023 and also liked it a lot. There really is a guest house, that’s why I want to mix those castles and areas a bit, but hopefully you get the idea here.

Around the castle everything was closed, so I only can provide pictures of a gate, a teahouse, the residence of some former official and the beautiful cherry blossoms everywhere (although the pictures of sakura are from all over Japan, but all pictures were made by me).

I like the idea that the Daimyou have those houses for the time they stay in the capital and that the Ryuuzen got provided small houses for themselves as well.

In the end there is still some room and freedom for an author to improvise or change things up the way we need it. 😄

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“Eclipse” background information—Part I

Now that chapter 4 of “Eclipse” is on the way I finally want to give some background information on how I came up with names or what inspired me from my vacations to Japan.

It was quite some work to come up with the names of the other two regions in Hino, although it doesn't look like it. We only know there are four and that Ryuu’s family rules over Goshuu while Yosuga’s family is from Koushuu. I didn’t want to use just some made-up names, but something with a meaning behind it that really relates to the original.

As Hino as a country looks very similar to Japan, I tried to find out from Tabata’s drawing where in Japan those regions could be located. So I think Goshuu is Kyuushuu, one of the biggest islands of Japan in the south. I consider small islands like Okinawa could also count to be part of Goshuu as they are part of Kyuushuu. Koushuu then has to be the southern part of the main island of Japan (Honshuu), including the Kansai area, so cities like Osaka, Kyoto and Nara. Let’s imagine for the rest of “Eclipse” that the capital of Hino is “Kyoto”, because it was like that for a long time and there are a lot of temples, shrines and castles, so I found this to be fitting. Furthermore, people in Kansai and Kyuushuu speak with a dialect that can be very hard to understand, and Ryuu definitely speaks a very hard dialect, as well as Yami. Yosuga’s dialect actually felt quite okay and Ichika speaks more formal and I write both characters without a dialect, although Yosuga should have one. Well, that’s too late. 😂

Anyway, I then tried to find out if there is any deeper meaning behind Goshuu and Koushuu, but I unfortunately failed. Goshuu is written in the kanji for “five” and “state / province”. With four regions in Hino it didn’t make any sense to have “five” in the name of one of the regions, but maybe it relates to the five-headed dragon or something like that. Koushuu uses the kanji for “wide / spacious” and “state / province”. Okay, so at least we see a pattern here for both modern Japan and Hino with all of them ending on “-shuu”. And that’s how I tried to come up with some fitting words for the other two regions.

There are two parts left of Japan, the northern half of Honshuu (including the Kanto region around Tokyo) and Hokkaidou in the north of Japan. That’s where it got complicated. I only knew that I had to concentrate on the on-reading of the kanji I wanted to use, but where to start for the first syllable of the regions then?

First I wanted to make it easy by just taking “Edo” as a reference, as this is the old name of Tokyo. But the on-readings of both kanji for “Edo” were “ko” or “kou” and we don’t need a second Koushuu. I didn’t want to drop the idea, though, and so I took another path and decided to go with the origin of “Edo” which is the Edo River. River means “kawa”, but the on-reading of the kanji is “sen”—and here we have Senshuu.

For the last one I decided to just take a part of the original Hokkaidou. It is written with the kanji for north, the sea and road, and because I like the sea and the on reading of “umi” is “kai”, we now have Kaishuu as the fourth region.

As for the names of the Daimyou and Samurai lords—these are real Samurai clans from the ancient Japan I learned about in the Samurai and Ninja Museum in Kyoto (if you have the chance to visit, I highly recommend you to go there!). I chose those of whose clan’s crests I liked the most (there are more I like than I needed names, but maybe I use the names somewhere else then as they are Samurai after all). 😄

Okay, I will now drivel about some things I learned in the museum and what I made Ichika and Fumito explain in chapter 4 of “Eclipse”.

First, the feudal system of Japan. We just ignore the emperor as there doesn’t seem to be one in Hino, or at least it isn’t mentioned. You see how the Shougun is on top, together with the Daimyou, the feudal lords and leaders of the clans. When it comes to the leaders that’s one more thing that doesn’t seem to fit into Hino’s system, at least I only have four Daimyou in the story and these are the feudal lords to the four regions of Hino.

Then come the Samurai, but all Daimyo and the Shougun are Samurai, too. I don’t think that I will make Ronin a topic of the story, maybe just mentioning them from time to time, but farmers and fishermen are interesting again, because Ninja were farmers and they were working as a spy for the Samurai. As Komari and Jouzou from the Ryuuzen are both Ninja I found it astonishing they could be actually considered commoners among all the noble Samurai.

By the way, the Samurai class was only about 10 % of the population of Japan and only them were allowed to have a last name and to carry weapons. I like to imagine that Ryuu came up with a law that gave all residents of Hino the right to have a last name after he became Shougun. It fits his character.

I already mentioned it in chapter 2 of “Eclipse”, but there were quite a lot of Samurai women. They didn’t necessarily fight with katana, but to disguise themselves and children on the battlefield so they wouldn’t be the first ones to get attacked, the Samurai armour has those moustaches. Like this all soldiers looked like grown up men.

I also find it interesting that each Samurai clan had its own colours and that the armour relates to the colour of a clan’s crest. I like the idea of the Ryuudou clan to wear deep red and forest green and the Yami clan black and purple.

Like I said, only Samurai were allowed to wear katana, and holy shit, these swords are heavier than I thought. We got a replica and then could take the katana out of its sheath. My arms felt too short and weak to pull it out with any elegance whatsoever. 😄

At this point I wanted to upload pictures of the katana of the museum, but Tumblr doesn't want me to show you. Instead you get this picture of descriptions:

Samurai were always right-handed. That was because katana had to be carried on the left side so when they sat together the katana of Samurai wouldn’t touch each other. Any contact was considered as a challenge to fight. Were children left-handed their left hand would get broken so they are made to learn how to use the right hand to avoid unwanted battles in the future.

Unfortunately I can’t remember every detail, but those were some facts that really got stuck in my mind. Thank you to our fantastic guide! He also had a good humour and the tour was lots of fun!

I also highly recommend “themetroclassic” on Instagram. He makes a lot of informative videos about Japanese traditions, terms and history. It’s incredibly interesting and that way I learned that names that include “zaemon” were very popular for Samurai, our dear Daizaemon therefore perfectly fits that trend. I also learned from them the meaning behind “seiza”, which is a topic in chapter 4 of “Eclipse”.

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This breaks my heart.

Another birthday ☺️🎁

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Writing with a nice view

What should I say, I wanted to finish the new chapter of “Eclipse” before going on vacation, but it grew longer and longer and somehow work was too exhausting.

But now I hope that I can at least do some editing and then see what I can get done on vacation.

Soooo—greetings from Norway, everyone! I’ll spoil you the title of the new chapter with this post (unfortunately the windows of the cruise ship are already very dirty). 😀

Well, the view is better without the tablet in focus. 😆

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Happy Birthday Nacht!

Today is the birthday of my favourite Shadow Daddy. Thank you, Tabata-sensei, for creating such an intriguing character.

I don’t think that Nacht likes celebrating his birthday because he knows that the day ends without him being able to celebrate his twin’s birthday the next day. It feels very sad, so I hope Yami will have some drinks with him for distraction as in my head he’s a very good friend to Nacht.

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How can this be so accurate?

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Nacht Faust

In my opinion Nacht is one of the best written characters of all time (not only Black Clover!) and I’m so intrigued by him. I just love writing from his POV as he’s so complex and I adore the thoughtfulness Tabata-sensei put into him.

As a German I find it incredibly interesting to explore the references to Germany that come with Nacht and that I sometimes stumble over things connected to him completely by chance.

First of all we have his name, of course. “Nacht” is German and means “night”. “Faust” means “fist”, but this name is mostly popular because of Goethe’s drama “Faust I + II”. It’s interesting his first name is not even a name in Germany but just the term for the dark time of the day, so when it comes to that I’m actually glad to write about him in English. (“Nacht starrte in die Nacht hinaus.” (Nacht was staring into the night.) Sounds just weird, right?!) But it’s also interesting to hear the Japanese version “Nahato” or to look at the difference in parts of South America where he is called “Natch”.

For my birthday last year I spent a few days in the National Park Harz where you can find the mountain Brocken. That region is especially famous for its witches who will go to the top of the Brocken in the Walpurgisnacht (Walpurgis Night) and dance around a fire.

Now, if the name of the event doesn’t sound familiar!

All of this is heavily connected to Nacht. Not only got the Brocken famous because of Goethe’s “Faust” (here we go again!), Nacht and Morgen were also born in the Walpurgisnacht, which takes place the night from the 30th of April to the 1st of May. Nacht’s birthday is the 30th of April while Morgen was born on the 1st of May. That really emphasizes the meaning behind their names, with them being identical twins but born on different days, with Nacht being born in the night with Shadow Magic and Morgen (= “morning” in English) after midnight, at the break of a new day and therefore gifted with Light Magic.

Furthermore, the names (or at least parts of them) of Nacht’s devils literally spell the word “Walpurgis”. To get this connection you also have to know that Nacht’s devils are inspired by a German fairytale, “Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten” (The Bremen Town Musicians), in which a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster get together and climb on each others backs to scare off a band of robbers. Let’s take a look at the devils representing the animals from the fairytale, from top to bottom in the same order as the story tells us:

Walgner (Japanese: ワルグ�� / Waruguna) (rooster)

Plumede (Japanese: プルメデ / Purumede) (cat)

Gimodelo (Japanese: ギモデロ / Gimodero) (dog)

Slotos (Japanese: スロトス / Surotosu) (donkey)

Now we put the syllables together: Waru-Puru-Gi-Su.—Boom! Gosh, I just love what Tabata-sensei did here! He really must have thought a lot about all of this.

The fairytale also seems to be quite popular in Japan, as the picture below is not from Bremen in Germany, but I found this statue surprisingly when I was in Fujikawaguchiko in Japan.

Last but not least, let’s not forget about some of the most recent chapters of Black Clover. I was very surprised to actually have two German chapter titles which describe Nacht’s inner struggles just perfectly (chapter 375—Strafe / Punishment; chapter 376—Sühne / Atonement). But moreover, the Walpurgisnacht / Walpurgis night became a topic once more by the combined spell of Yami, Ichika and Nacht—Dark x Dark x Shadow Magic: Walpurgis Night.

Loving Nacht so much I can’t look at pictures regarding “Faust” in an opera anymore without thinking about him immediately, and then I have to explain my poor mom the second year in a row why I get so excited about such little details. It’s not my fault the Semperoper in Dresden (where I spent my birthday this year) confronted me with this:

Well, it’s no surprise I took the devil Mephistopheles from Goethe’s “Faust” as an inspiration for my recent story “Eclipse”. It’s way too obvious connected to Nacht so I just cannot ignore this.

Tabata-sensei, I bow deeply before you! You’re a genius and I can’t thank you enough for such a brilliant character and your creativity when it comes to him! Now just please don’t kill him off but let him find his peace, he had enough hard times already and deserves some happiness in his life.

[kirschbluetenregen-ao3]

✨ Midnight Remedy ✨

When Charlotte resolutely refuses to rest after the big battle against Lucius the healers give her a sedative potion that is supposed to bring her the well-needed break. The Blue Rose girls still have a tough time putting their intoxicated Captain to bed, so of course it’s a very lucky coincidence it is Yami who jumps in to help them. Too bad for Charlotte that she reacts to his presence immediately and starts spilling her deepest secrets to him, right?

So, here it is—my personal birthday gift for this year. Because there is not enough fluff of Yami and Charlotte out there!

This work was inspired by silly videos of people in sedative states my Instagram algorithm kept showing me some time ago, plus my personal experiences. Last time in hospital I told everyone I passed when transported in my bed that I’m a racing car. 😄 Well…

This little story is silly and fluffy and maybe I’m going to write a second chapter or sequel for it. In a few years. When I finished the other stuff I’m writing. 😂

Here a little teaser:

Resting, however, didn’t seem to be her thing. He already experienced this with her. That’s why he thought to be prepared when he eventually reached the room the discussions were coming from, just to be surprised anyway.—Three girls at once desperately tried to put Charlotte down on a similar couch he was sitting on minutes ago and given her swaying body Yami wondered how she was still able to hold herself upright and resisting the helping hands. It almost seemed she was drunk as he remembered what she looked like after a few sips of alcohol at the Star Festival. “What the…?”

His uttered words immediately gained the attention of everyone in the room, including the cause of this chaos. “Yamiii!!”, Charlotte slurred, used the moment of distraction and broke free from the supportive grips of her brigade members. She stumbled into his direction and he instinctively made a step forward, catching her the moment she tripped over her own feet and fell right against his chest and into his arms.

It was obvious she had no real control over her body and he carefully placed his hands on her waist and back to steady her, pressing her to his body for extra support while trying to ignore once more how perfectly she seemed to fit there. That was a terrain he usually didn’t allow himself to enter. “What happened to her?”, he wanted to know and looked to the exhausted girls who still stood next to the abandoned couch.

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Sukehiro and Ichika

I think I mentioned often enough that Yami is my favourite character in Black Clover. That’s why I was overwhelmed with joy when we stranded in Hino together with Asta and learned more about his past—and that he actually has a younger sister.

Ichika joined really fast the line of my all time favourites. Even though we still don’t know much about her, I found her character very interesting from the very beginning.

When we look at the sibling’s past we have so much to explore and I threw myself into theories and character analyses quickly after getting to know Ichika.

No surprise that my first fanfiction I wrote about Black Clover included her and the broken relationship to her brother.

While writing “Embrace of Darkness” we didn’t have the reunion between Yami and Ichika in the manga yet, so it was interesting for me to explore their emotions and actions in my story.

About a year ago I thus wrote a little prequel to celebrate my birthday. In my head they always had a very strong bond and Yami was the perfect, protective older brother while they both suffered under their father’s existence. I wondered what that might felt like. We got glimpses of it, but I also wanted to have more about it, that’s why I chose to write the sibling’s first meeting with Ryu (whom I also love a lot!).

I mentioned it in the notes of the story, but the residence of Ryu’s family was inspired by a temple I visited in Japan. It’s the Kodai-ji Temple in Kyoto, and if you ever have the chance to go there I highly recommend to visit this temple.

They were passing a large garden when they followed their guide over a veranda. Ichika pointed excitedly at a huge sakura tree in the middle of the garden, its long hanging branches full of blooming pink blossoms. Sukehiro’s attention was caught by something else, though. At a stone table in the shadows of some trees was a boy sitting and apparently studying. He seemed to be around his age, maybe about twelve years old. When he noticed their small group he looked up from his scrolls and eyed them with curiosity. Sukehiro just frowned and then concentrated himself on his way again. Why should he care about this boy anyway?

It was a lot of fun writing this little story and I wish there was more love about the Yami sibling’s relationship out there.

Reading their actual reunion in November brought tears to my eyes. Their dynamics are amazing and I wish we’ll get to see more of them.

Well; and as much as I love the relationship between the siblings, I also love Yami and Charlotte together. And that’s why I’m gifting myself a little story about them for my upcoming birthday. Let’s hope we’ll see more about those two as well in the future. ❤️