#I have a lot of ideas for Yuno recently!!

[blueepink07]

This scene in Umbilical is very interesting to me...

The people who are next to Yuno have facial expressions.

In Milgram the characters with a well defined face are usually important for the prisoners or for the story.

Good examples are Haruka's mother, whose face appears in the second MV, while his victim still doesn't have a face. Fuuta's supposedly friends at the arcade, Rei -> important storywise, being the victim + a possible affection Muu had for her (implied), Shidou's family (the patients don't have faces), Mahiru's boyfriend, Hanako - Kazui's wife and victim, Kotoko - the man who she steps on his stomach (victim).

So why Yuno, in the only sequence where there are people shown, actually remembers their facial expressions?

Well, I think this scene is more a representation of the society.

If we look closely, we notice a young woman, a middle-age man, a student like Yuno, a younger boy, probably in primary school, an older man.

Basically, people from all ages.

Despite that Yuno tells Es that she doesn't want to change her ways, she had to become a people pleaser. After all, why would she need to put up different facades for every client or person she is with? Why so much effort, that she is even matching clothes to fit the vibe with who she is with? Of course, she made all this with a purpose in mind, to find warmth! In Milgram, she stopped putting up a facade, because this place doesn't represent a place of interest for her anymore.

Ultimately, despite having a purpose in mind, she became, along the way, a people pleaser.

As I stated in my older analysis, Yuno is not fond of society. Because of people who like to humiliate and talk behind their peers who act different or have other perceptions, Yuno has to hide her work and her true self. For a long time, I have been thinking why Yuno makes so much effort, if she, in reality, doesn't care that much about herself...

"Yuno: Haha, we both lie, don't we? The difference is the reason for lying. Kazui-san, you lie to protect yourself, because you're important to yourself. For me, no one is particularly important. That includes myself as well."

Well, in Japan, reputation is very important! If Yuno, will show her true name and self, she might be putting her family in danger, along the way. And she will never want that, because she cares a lot about her family!

"What do you think about your family?"

If Yuno, because of a mistake, would tell her true identity, her family reputation might be at stake. Something that she will never want to happen.

That's why Yuno cares about what these people think and deems them important. She needs to be sure that her facade of a simple high schooler is perfect! To not act out of ordinary, follow the flow, be the same as everyone, so the society will accept her!

Moreover, it's important to state that these people are coloured in a lighter shade of lavender, they are not colourful as other Milgram side characters who don't have faces.

Lavender can express a feeling of dullness, it's lethargic. It could represent Yuno's views about society, how she feels like everyone is the same: judging others for their own self-esteem and pride.

This colour is also a colder one, showing Yuno's loneliness and the lack of warmth she receives from other people. This actually reminds me of a certain dialogue!

"Yuno: That’s right. You know those people who just wanna convince themselves, so they intrude in other people’s affairs even though it’s not their place—I despise them. That’s what I was saying. They only do that to make themselves feel better, don’t they? Those people don’t actually end up doing anything.

Es: Yuno…

Yuno: No matter how many chilling memories I had to go through, those people never gave me any warmth. [sigh] Hehe, I ended up going off-topic there! Um, what did I wanna say again?"

~"chilling memories" ~

The lyrics that are accompaning these visuals are stating that Yuno is feeling some kind of discomfort (her pregnancy). She can't smile anymore, more genuinely.

"I feel a little weird I’m still not used to feeling this way

I can’t get you out of my head, it’s a secret, ok?

Why are you here? You annoy me a little

I can’t smile well anymore, it’s because of you"

Her smile here looks a bit forced. Her eyes don't share the same happiness as her mouth, showing that her expression is not genuine.

Despite Yuno appearing calm about her pregnancy, she was actually a bit afraid and needed help! However, all she could see was a sea of purple, people, all the same, who would have just shamed her for her decisions and wouldn't help...

Bonus

In Teardrop, the only human we see, other than Yuno, is one of her clients. Well, see, it's an exaggeration, since he is represented by his hand which has colour. Yuno remembers him as his hand who gave her warmth, at some point in time. A cute rabbit, a sweet drink and a nice memory!

[twig-tea]

Twig's GL Recs for March-July 2024

[Here’s my rec list for GLs through to Feb 2024 ]

Fake Buddies Korean, YouTube, 7 episodes (one ep BL, one ep GL, one ep crossover, and then 2 more BL prequel eps and two more GL prequel episodes), approx 45 minutes when compiled, Apr 27-Jun 28 2024

At first this was a little three-part series in which it turns out both members of the couple are secretly in a homosexual relationship with their best friends and using the other as a beard. Lots of comedy of errors and puns (“I like lilies better than roses”) as the characters try to make each other understand the situation they’re in. The backstory prequels were really cute friends to lovers, and it was really nice to see these couples land in solidarity! This series is short and cute and pure fluff.  

To the X Who Hated Me: YunO x Jane Korean, YouTube, 3 episodes ~6 mins each, aired May 22-29 [microseries complete, X who hated me series may be ongoing]

When the previous 2-ep miniseries under this umbrella landed (which I wrote about here: ), I had no idea it was going to be a series of microseries! These are all short but good second chance romances. This one has a “reality”-show-within-a-show format, with a frustrating misunderstanding, and a good kiss. Be sure to always watch past the credits for this series! 

You Are My Star, Thai, YouTube, 1ep 37 mins (aired as 3 12-min eps and then they compiled into this one short film), May 18 [complete]

This was a cute Thai GL that I enjoyed mostly because of the very clear cribbing of specific scenes from recent BLs. It was mostly trope-y (both cuteness and drama), with good kissing. See if you can spot the BL references.

Xiao Xiang Yi Jiu, Chinese, YouTube, 7 episodes 2 mins each, May 20-June 3 [complete]

This little microseries is about a girl becoming an intern for her crush/idol. Happy ending, and they do become explicitly girlfriends! No kiss because censorship.

Lonely Girls Korean, YouTube, 4 episodes 8 minutes each (32 mins compiled) May 14 [complete]

This is about a couple that struggles with the closet, lack of communication, and how to make their relationship last in the face of uncertainty. Also there’s good kisses. SukFilm have done other series before and since, but this is my fave GL of theirs so far. 

The Two of Us Deep Night spinoff, Thai, YouTube, 6 episodes, 15 mins each, airing May 30-July 4 [complete]

I was so confused at first, because I didn’t realize this was supposed to be their story during the events of Deep Night that we didn’t get to see. I was excited about this one but bummed that we started the miniseries with a health scare and then a threat by Meiji to marry some guy just to make Freya jealous? I found it a little frustrating that two women in their 40s could not be honest with each other. The couple is so cute, but the storytelling is not, so take this rec with a grain of salt. Still, it’s so nice to see women in their 40s being super cute and in love in between the drama so I’m keeping it on this list! I am very glad to have gotten the dance sequence and the bath sequence. 

******

And of course currently airing right now so take with a grain of salt because i don’t yet know how they end, but 

Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko Japanese, 8 episodes, 25 mins, airing July 4- August 22 [ongoing]

This is a laugh-out-loud funny office comedy in which Akaya flirts desperately with her senior colleague at work, Hiorko, who then spends her evenings complaining to her friends at the lesbian bar about oblivious straights who don’t understand the meaning of what they say. I've written a little more about this show here. It is my favourite GL of the year so far and if it stays this good is on its way to being one of my favourites of all time!

The Secret of Us Thai, 8 episodes, 50 mins each, airing June 24-August 15 [ongoing]

This series starts with the cutest episode of all time and then devolves quickly into serious drama lol but it did a good job avoiding pure “noble idiocy” so I’m hopeful it will continue to hold up. As of ep3 things are happening that I did not expect, so I’m really curious how this one will go. In the meantime, it is also worth noting that these actresses are excellent kissers.

[UPDATE: I already have to retract this, they left it at a weird place last week but I was giving it the benefit of the doubt; but alas it is not holding up friends]

[moibakadesu]

Haruka’s victim of his “murder” was he himself (The suicide theory)

This is a theory that I had since t1 there have been even more points for me to work with (I just never had time/peace of mind to do so), so let’s get into it, shall we?

First of all, as should be obvious from the title, there is a cw for suicide and also one for child abuse and neglect, as well as dead animals because we can’t talk about Haruka without going into these topics.

So what we are going to talk about today is:

Haruka’s victim of his “murder” was he himself

You might wonder now: But how is he walking around in Milgram then? We are looking at a magical song prison that bends the fabric of reality, I don’t think being a sort of purgatory is that much out of the question. I am not one to think that ALL of our current prisoners are dead, but for some it seems like an option. Note Yuno asking so pointedly in her t2 VD “Am I really still alive?” which seemed like a big hint. And also (MILGRAM NOVEL 2 SPOILER) in the second novel there is a part where literally falls the statement of “of course there are people who are already dead, it would be more strange if we wouldn’t have these”. As well as there being a suicide case.

And even if we would not go into that direction, we would still have the option of a failed suicide attempt which resulted in a temporary stopped heart = on paper you can be declared dead. With Milgram’s very loose definition of “being responsible for the loss of a human life” this seems very much like it could qualify as well.

So what gave me the idea that this could be the case for Haruka? The first thing that made my interest perk up was this screen here from Undercover:

In these shots with the silhouettes from the prisoners we presumably have a location where their murder happened or is heavily connected to it. And in some cases we even have the victims present in the shots.

What differentiates the prisoners from their victims is that all prisoner silhouettes have this gray hatching on them while their victims are a solid black color (it’s a bit unclear with Kazui, because he and Hinako are pretty small in his scene).

So with that in mind what falls to attention in Haruka’s shot? Yes, he is a solid black.

And that sprung the idea of: what if Haruka is the victim?

Well, he is, in more sense than one, but we are only concentrating on his “murder” for now.

Let’s now go through his first MV Weakness with this in mind, because it is already ripe with a lot of possible suicidal imagery. We won’t go over his first VD, because … well, there are simply no real hints in that one yet.

Weakness analysis

Right away at 0:08 we start with a scene transition of Haruka sinking into water. As you are probably all aware water is a big recurring theme with him, it draws itself through his MVs as well as being present in image material and merchandise related to him. Prior to ending up in Milgram he was also living in the city Niigata, which is literally called “the city of water”. So we can assume that it is of pretty big significance to his character.

The overall imagery of drowning and suffocating also appears repeatedly with him, so my assumptions of how he might have taken his life are either by, well, drowning or by hanging himself (due to imagery we will later get to in AKAA).

At 0:41 we have Haruka pushing his younger self into a “scribble-puddle”, leading us to another transition of Haruka once again sinking into the watery depths.

I think this is both a representation of Haruka’s loathing and jealousy of his younger self which still was somewhat loved by his mother until his disabilities became too noticeable to be ignored as well as an actual stand-in for killing yourself.

At this point let’s talk a little bit about the little girl that is assumed to be Haruka’s victim, shall we?

Well, in a broad sense we can say: yes, she is his victim. But the twist is this, recently I saw a theory that made a big amount of sense to me, especially taken in account with the suicide theory. Basically, I think the little girl never existed in reality. She was just a figment of Haruka's imagination, a sort of “Imaginary friend”, his idealized version of what “Haruka” should have been. We know from his t2 interrogation questions that his mother always wanted a girl instead of a boy, going so far as to picking the name beforehand and not changing it even after she knew she was expecting a boy.

I could even imagine that his mother might have tried to raise him as a girl up to a certain age, her terrible overall parenting surely gives me the impression that she would do something that twisted.

So Haruka’s delusion of “his perfect loveable self” might have intermingled with himself taking his life. Because something that always threw me off was that in the end of AKAA when we get the split second of him strangling the girl it is clearly a grown up Haruka putting his hands on her neck. But in Weakness they are around the same age apparently. Why is this? Well, of course the “perfect little girl his mother wanted” would stay a little girl forever in his mind.

So he is fully convinced that he killed that girl, in his mind she was real after all.

This might be completely off the mark, but even if it is, I still could imagine Haruka taking his life after having committed the murder of the girl. Going over his second VD again personally I am leaning more towards the option that the girl was his little sister, with how much attention he puts on it having been a murder out of jealousy.

But the lyrics going along with him pushing the girl in Weakness could also allude to the possibility of that “imaginary girl” theory.

And right here at 1:20 down in the water we go again, directly after the scene above.

And at 2:05 we are at the well known stone smashing scene. The action in the screen is not the main point in this case though, here we have the first appearance of the lyrics of:

Haruka usually doesn’t consider the abuse received by his mother as bad, any attention received from her is good attention in his eyes, so he wouldn’t see himself as a victim for that, right?

So what could it imply?

Maybe becoming your own victim?

Because a lot more importantly, these lyrics make another reappearance right away. When?

When Haruka strangles his younger self. (Right after another “falling in water” scene at that.)

And at the end we literally have Haruka kneeling over his dead self, admitting that “it was me”.

It is also important to note that this is the only instance in the MV where he is not waking up in his bed again.

So that is all already plenty to go from, isn’t it? But don’t worry, there will be plenty more. (Or do worry, my heart cries daily for poor Haruka.)

To go chronologically let us look at his second VD:

Metamorphosis of the Weak

This will be quick, we only have to take a look at the very end here where Haruka comes up with his suicide threat. It’s his first instinct after threatening to kill Es and becoming aware again that he can’t do that. He is making that statement with astounding ease, almost as if … he went through with it before. He knows he is capable of doing it, so he is certain and confident of himself.

On that note, I am like 99,9% certain that he won’t be successful with whatever attempt he might be starting, there will be an intervention or a reason why it’s not possible of some sort. It will most likely go against Milgram’s purpose of judging these prisoners, so it won’t be allowed that somebody escapes proper judgment by putting an end to themselves. (MILGRAM NOVEL 2 SPOILERS: Jackalope in the novel also makes a point of this, saying that the prisoners there are disposable only after they have been judged.)

But I wrote a whole post about all the reason I am certain they won't kill him off in the middle of the trials, if you want feel free to read up on that as well!

So without further ado let us go to Haruka’s second MV:

All knowing and all Agony analysis

We start at 0:12 with Haruka in his solitary confinement, the room getting flooded with water.

Here we are again with the theme of him getting submerged in water.

And the next scene of him submerged in water right here at 0:35 in the mirror (btw. I love the direction of this MV, the blurred writing appearing in the mirror like it is getting drifted ashore by the water being one of the parts of this).

Now here at 1:29 we have a very interesting scene.

Sadly AKAA is riddled with a very spotty translation of the lyrics that doesn’t convey the meaning a lot of times or even leaves out some things.

This part here is the perfect example, the more fitting translation here would be: “if with the push of one button I could be reborn”

The translation exchanges the reborn with reset which doesn’t really carry the same meaning in this context, being reborn is something that you get after dying. I don’t think this is a coincidence at all. Also important detail here is that we have the frames with the butterfly specimens on the wall. The butterfly is a symbol of death and rebirth as well. This goes well with the name of Haruka’s second VD, because “metamorphosis” is the term for the transformation that a butterfly undergoes in the cocoon.

And here another important part that gets lost in translation:

In Japanese it would more correctly translate to “I don't want to die, I don’t want to die”.

Because, yes, I do think that Haruka committed suicide. Do I think that he did it because he wanted to die? No, that was not the main objective for him. In my opinion it was either, like before mentioned, to be reborn so that he can be a more loveable self in the next life or it was the last final desperate cry for attention from his mother after even killing the target of his jealousy didn't give the desired results.

It probably also ties in with his situation in Milgram, he does not want to die, to get wiped out, but his death is once again the only means to an end that he can see in this situation, in this case forcing an innocent vote for Muu with his life as the bargaining chip. (And well, we all know how well that gamble turned out for him ...)

And then at 2:09 we have the scene of Haruka standing on the chair.

You know what people often stand on chairs for? Hanging themselves. Doesn’t help that the barred up window in the back sort of alludes to the rope of a noose the way one of the bars is placed directly behind of him.

And here once more, with the infamous “dreaMu” line.

As I mentioned before, I suspect his pre-Milgram suicide was by drowning, but these images could very well allude to his threat spoken in the prison to secure Muu’s innocent vote. I personally wonder how Haruka could even be aware of this option to take his own life, because I can hardly imagine him having knowledge about this with his “sheltered” lifestyle, but who knows. 

Good luck attempting that in the prison though, as far as I am aware there are no fixtures there that would allow for it, and we are talking about a person that can’t even tie his own shoes, let alone tie a noose that would hold up his whole body weight.

Here we also have another very bad translation choice, and I’m not talking about the “dreaMu”. No, the problem is that they just didn’t include the whole second part of that line which would be “and spread my wings wide”, perfectly going along with Haruka spreading his arms like wings.

As if to take flight. This could be calling back to the butterfly symbolism as well as jumping, “taking flight”, from the chair …

And at 3:00 we reach another part of the MV where Haruka gets submerged in fluid. But this time it’s not water.

We have seen this fluid before in the MV, notably when the preserved animals started “melting”.

Preservation is the important word here, because this fluid is most likely formaldehyde (or formalin), used to preserve dead bodies. Fun fact, this is technically not the first time we see it, it might be present in Weakness as well.

This bottle here right at the beginning looks a lot like bottles that get used to store it. It is also a clear fluid before it comes into contact with what gets preserved.

As to why Haruka has knowledge about this sort of thing is, that I could imagine that his mother had to do with animal specimen preservation, either as a hobby or for work, so he is familiar with the function of it. On that note, he might even have started killing animals to bring his mother more bodies for her hobby/work and to be praised for it.

So we are closing the MV with Haruka sitting and swaying in his “formaldehyde tank”, the very substance in which dead things are preserved, repeating the lines of wanting to be reborn to be the favorite next time, in his next life basically.

(Oh my sweet boy, you don’t have to try so hard, you are already my favorite.)

And this is it, my theory that Haruka is literally a dead boy walking in this prison.

My heart bleeds for him, because for him it’s absolutely impossible to get any sort of happy end at the finale of Milgram and I think he would have deserved the world. Just a family that would have supported and understood him properly, a way more normal life, how his biggest wish is.

[junegirl06]

Milgram 3rd trial predictions! Now that the 2nd trial is officially over, and we have to wait until like September for the next trial to begin, I thought I could do some theorizing!

Haruka: Looking at the timeline, oh he's definitely planning... something, alone. He said he'd kill himself If Muu was voted guilty, and we all know she was. If he is planning to kill himself, then I don't think it's going to work, as he was voted guilty and thus will be restrained. However... as childish as he may be, I don't think he's entirely dumb. Perhaps he's looking for ways to work around the restrictions placed on him, or he's planning something else entirely. I just really hope he doesn't hurt any of the other prisoners, but that does seem pretty likely, actually. He definitely will not take the guilty vote well, and he's probably going to be pretty hostile to Es later on... Just based on these predictions, I'm not sure if I can vote him innocent in the 3rd trial. He's so obviously unstable, and maybe if he was treated better as a child he could have learned to function properly with whatever disorder he has, but the fact is he wasn't. If being voted innocent overall means being let out of the prison, then I... I'm not sure if that's an entirely good idea.

Yuno: Her reaction to her vote all depends on whether or not she takes it as people actually agreeing with her reasoning (or lack of) for abortion and her compensated dating. I'm not sure about the Japanese side of things, but at least here, a lot of people do support her even with all that. However... there are still a fair bit of people still like 'Yuno is a girl boss!' (or something along those lines) I have a feeling she'll still see it as people not seeing her for who she actually is. She's cold and rational, and so obviously fallen to the pit of nihilism. I'm not sure if there is a reason for that, but maybe that's the point of her character? Does she need a reason? Life is good for her, but that gets so boring and just... mundane. If everything will be fine, what's the point in doing anything bothersome? She'll probably fall back even further into her cold demeanor. Or in a darker theory, maybe she'll try something drastic to get us to vote her guilty for the last trial? Like attacking someone or maybe something even worse- I mean, if she does recognize the community understands her situation and her reasoning, then maybe she'll become slightly more bubbly and stuff like her 1st trial. Probably open up a bit more. Me, personally, I still support her, and will probably vote her innocent in the 3rd trial, but again, I don't want her to think we're doing it out of our preconceived notions about her.

Fuuta: ... Just taking a look at his recent birthday messages in the timeline- he's so obviously started to listen to Amane and her cultish stuff. I literally can't imagine what a brainwashed Fuuta will look like, but I don't think it'd be pretty. He was suffering so much during the 2nd trial, and he probably did start listening to Amane's spiel because he needed something to ground him. I'm sure the innocent vote this time around did make him feel better though. He's fully aware that what he did to that girl online was bad, and I really don't think he'd be the type of person to think he's fully forgiven just because of this one vote. Though he'd definitely want Es to vote him innocent again in the 3rd trial. And if he's acting generally normal and it's clear he does understand exactly why we voted him guilty and innocent, then...I think I would vote him innocent. Unless he does something horrible because of the whole- potentially might be brainwashed into Amane's cult thing.

Muu: She will not take the guilty vote well, I can feel it. Maybe she stopped hanging out with Haruka as well. I can see that affecting Haruka pretty badly too. I can imagine her getting extremely angry as Es. Or maybe trying to go back to her "boo-hoo look at me who got bullied really badly" thing, to try to guilt trip Es into voting her innocent again. Obviously, that won't work though, resulting in Muu getting really angry/lashing out at him in the voice drama. I think she has a pretty white-and-black view of what's "right" and "wrong." She was probably struggling with herself in the 1st trial, dealing with the shock and guilt over having murdered somebody, but still desperately trying to tell herself she was in the right. Since we voted her innocent then, she was able to fully convince herself she was right, and that's why people voted her guilty then. She needs to see she is in the wrong, while also having a very reasonable motive. That wouldn't end up working though. Because these votes aren't a means to communicate with the prisoners, it's just a verdict. I'm honestly not sure if I want Muu to be voted innocent, or guilty overall. But if being voted guilty overall means the death penalty or something, I don't think Muu deserves that.

Shidou: He knows exactly why we voted him innocent 2 times in a row. I'm sure he does understand his motive can be seen as sympathetic, and he is a doctor. He can patch anybody up if the prisoners get into a skirmish again. He was confused with himself in the second trial, desperately wanting to be given retribution, yet now feeling a desire to live. Being voted innocent twice, and now firmly guaranteed he will be voted innocent overall, he'll either fully accept living again, taking back his skill as a doctor with a sense of pride, or... perhaps fall back into his old thinking patterns. I mean, that's honestly just a thought, but the distorted voice line in the 2nd trial character voice trailer really got me thinking. "You're in my way...hurry up and die." He really had a tunnel vision for saving his wife. (or kids, I'm not entirely sure) His profession as a doctor, specifically one in charge of organ transplants, perhaps did give him a vague sense of superiority. I'm not sure where, but somebody in a comment or something mentioned he may have had a God complex? I'm horrible at explaining this- but it honestly makes some sense to me that he may have had that sort of line of thinking as a doctor. His grief and guilt over the fact he couldn't save his family and the knowledge he was bringing that same pain to so many other families knocked him down a peg. However... maybe the innocent votes we gave him did bring him up again, and he goes back to that sort of mentality.

Mahiru: I sincerely hope she's feeling better after we gave her the innocent vote. Maybe she's started to recover nicely as well! I mean, it's just hopeful thinking, but it'd be nice if she's able to walk again. I do think she'll at least sort of go back to her bubbly personality. Maybe she'll make friends with Amane! Amane did mention Mahiru was nice to be around. Her view on love is obviously pretty warped, but I mean, she honestly feels like a nice lady with good intentions deep down. Unless some absolutely new surprising development happens that makes Mahiru out as really bad- I think I'll be voting Mahiru innocent again. I can see her being like, one of the few generally calm ones in whatever chaos happens between the prisoners before the 3rd trial.

Kazui: Now, in his 2nd trial voice drama, he basically begs Es to truly uncover his sin/lies, because he doesn't have the strength to at this point. It wasn't cheating, like we thought in the 1st trial, and now the leading theory is he's gay. I... I'm pretty sure that is correct, based on all the hints we've gotten so far. I think Kazui would open up to Es a bit more if that was the case, maybe even tell him the full story? I think he'd interact more with the prisoners this time around, being there to protect people if anyone tries something funny. Again, I think he'd be one of the few "normal" acting prisoners in the 3rd trial. Unless some crazy development happens, I'm fully willing to vote him innocent 3 times in a row.

Amane: Now... in the 1st trial we voted her guilty because we didn't want her to fall further into the cult's teachings. That obviously didn't work. Now we voted her innocent. The question is, will this cause her to further validate the cult's doctrines, or in some weird way cause her to realize what we've been wanting her to realize from the start: that she fully deserved to get back at her parents and the cult for everything they did to her, but what she did was STILL BAD. The reason she fell back on her faith was because we rejected her views. Because she needed something to ground her, to protect her from the shock and guilt of murder. So perhaps the opposite will cause her to open up a little more - and not double down on her faith like we predicted in the 1st trial. But the fact she somehow managed to indoctrinate/ in the process of indoctrinating Fuuta into her faith does leave me concerned. Since she's not restrained, I can totally see her trying to attack Shidou or something. Or maybe because Shidou was also voted innocent alongside her, so she wouldn't? Like- him using all his medical stuff is forgivable, but Amane's beliefs that medicine is bad are also forgivable kind of thing. I mean, personally, I'm willing to vote her innocent overall. I actually hope so - because the poor girl literally needs therapy instead of whatever Milgram is. Every prisoner needs therapy.

Mikoto: In his voice drama, John mentioned he'd "disappear" if Mikoto was voted innocent. Because the reason John was appearing more frequently was the stress the guilty vote from the 1st trial put on Mikoto, and now the innocent vote will serve to calm him down a bit more. Personally, I don't think John will fully disappear, but I'm sure John will appear a lot less. (Unless something crazy happens like another prisoner attacking Mikoto again) There's still that thought in my head that Mikoto might be lying to some degree- that he did murder somebody as himself, but with the second trial, that idea has become a lot less certain. It might literally just be as simple as - John killed a bunch of people and Mikoto himself doesn't remember any of it and was only labeled as the Milgram prisoner because he is the dominant personality. That innocent vote will definitely calm Mikoto down significantly. Maybe he'll open up a bit as well, and not like, put on that fake smile even when he's super stressed. To be honest - I'm not sure if I want to give Mikoto an innocent vote. I mean If I'm looking purely at Mikoto, then, yeah, sure. But John is still a part of Mikoto, and no matter the reason, John has done some pretty bad stuff.

Kotoko: She won't take the guilty vote well, and It isn't only a matter of her getting pissed off at Es. (which she probably will) Her vigilante shtick is literally Kotoko's life, her purpose to live, and we rejected it. She'll be grappling with herself, actually starting to question everything she's done. It will be a slap in the face for her - a reminder that she is truly a prisoner here, a murderer. I think maybe she will actually start being remorseful? Or maybe she'll just fall further back in her mindset like Amane did in the 2nd trial. I can also see that. I can also totally see somebody like Fuuta trying to get revenge on Kotoko while she's restrained. That'd take a lot of sympathy away from Fuuta, (at least for me) and will definitely lead to some drama, so that is a very real possibility. I can also see Shidou hurting Kotoko as well, actually. Though that possibility is a lot less, he did talk about "extracting the fang" in Triage. I don't know if I should vote her innocent or not if that's the case. I suppose it's like a "wait and see" kind of thing.

[kalolasfantasyworld]

Black Clover Pacific Rim Au

Hi everyone I had this idea some time ago and talked to some people about. Few of us actually started writing something and it looked pretty good. This is still an open idea and very much a WIP, but I wanted to finally share it 💕 (took me 1.5 months to do so)

@funky-sea-cryptid @thoughtfullyrainynightmare @lyranova @loosesodamarble @koneko-pi @hybridanafrost

Some main information

Jeager pairings are the same as combo parings in BC mobile game (I'll go through them below)

This is the time, when the jesger program was at its peak, so there is a lot of them and they are well organised

Characters are stationed at the Clover base (which is in Japan) officially run by Augustus Kira (he's terrified of Kaiju and is there only to uphold his reputation and position)

The story starts with Asta and Yuno arriving at the Clover base as new junior pilots with their jeager

Just like in Pacific Rim, this story happens in real world and suit countries are bases

Jeager pairings at the beginning of the story:

(There could be more, these are just a few I have some ideas for.)

Nozel & Fuegoleon

Pilot one of the best jeagers in the whole world and are an extraordinary team.

They usually lead missions as captains.

They are very popular and known for their merits.

Everyone looks up to them and they have big fanclubs.

They go way back, so their drift is very efficient, until recent problems

They come from high situated families associated with the jeager program.

Asta & Yuno

They come from an orphanage and everyone suspects, that their parents died because of a Kaiju attack

They participate in try outs for jeager pilots

It appears that their drift is exceptional so they get it in to the training program, despite no one actually believing in them

Asta wants to become a jeager pilot, to obviously protect the citizens and become the next commander, but he also wants to impress a nun that was taking care of the boys in the orphanage

Yami & Jack

They are a mess to say at least, but at least they are efficient

This team is being sent out, when they need some unconventional methods

Their jeager uses sharp plasma edged swords and fights mostly close distance

Noelle & Mimosa

Since they come from the Vermillon and Silva families they are expected to do great

Nozel doesn't want Noelle to pilot a jeager, he says that she's weak, but she ends up signing up anyway

Girls are in the same training group as Asta and Yuno when they arrive at the Clover Base

However since Noelle was badly treated by her siblings she has problems with trust and her drift is very shaky

Her and Mimosa even though being effective in training fail in the jeager while drifting

However after Noelle gets to know Asta better, she learns how to deal with her emotions and past

Magna & Luck

They are the "wild" team

Their jeager is smaller, but very agile

It shoots fire projectiles and is able to electrocute

Luck's mother pushed him into the jeager program

At first it was hard for Luck to open up to Magna through drift

However later they begin to ghost drift... (This is Tam's and @t-f-t's idea!!!)

Also they are CHRONIC drift junkies (another amazing idea of Tam and Alex!)

Finral & Vanessa

Finral was pushed away by his influential family and ended up in the jeager program wanting to prove himself

Vanessa on the other hand was running away from her abusive mother

They clicked in the barracks, when they were sneaking out to a bar, during their training and it appeared they were compatible

They are a support jeager

Charlotte & Sol

Charlotte took Sol under her wing

They have a female looking jeager

Nacht & Morgen (Not active anymore 😔)

They used to be one of the best teams there were

However an accident happened and Morgen was ripped out of the jeager by a kaiju

Nacht finished the fight on his own, but it took a tool on him

He hasn't drifted with anyone since Morgen

He hangs around the base, but is very closed of, he only talks to few people

Julius (is he really by himself..?)

Julius is the only one known to pilot a jeager by himself

He excels at everything he does and quickly takes the lead

Commander of the forces

He has a secret partner pilot he doesn't know about... (yes it's Lucius)

Some relationships that happen:

Asta & Noelle (I have a story idea for them)

At first Noelle is apprehensive of him, but later, when she sees his good heart she warms up

Asta helps her and inspires Noelle to become stronger

She obviously never admits that she cares for him...

Yami & Charlotte

Their two teams usually don't work together and Charlotte seems to not be fond of Yami

However under the cold exterior she hides her crush on the rugged jeager pilot

They get to know each other while working at the same base

OCs

Briar belongs to @koneko-pi

Neva belongs to @lyranova

Josele belongs to @loosesodamarble

Lisa belongs to @one-leaf-grimoire

Odette belongs to @hybridanafrost

Helena is mine ;)

Solara belongs to @thoughtfullyrainynightmare

Briar (the meeting happens later in the story)

She is a modified human for a project Azure Queen

Azure-Queen was a scientific attempt to create and control their own Kaiju, made by the Diamond base

Azure queens are genetically modified women who can theoretically control the Kaiju

Each Queen has one Kaiju

Briar has Uroboros

Yuno & Neva

They met earlier in the Academy, previously to being assigned to the Clover base

Neva was adopted and taken care of by a famous pilot William Vangeance

She is closed of and at first they did not get along greatly

However with time they learned to lean on each other

Neva was transferred to the Clover base without a partner pilot

She was amazing at the simulators but was closed of and could not drift with anyone

Now she has six months to find a co pilot or she's out

Nacht & Josele

one of the reasons Nacht stayed at the base was Josele

Josele is a coach for the jaeger training program, she takes care of new recruits such as Asta and Yuno

she used to be with Morgen and his death hit her hard

Nacht experienced through drift the memories of Morgen and Josele, so even though he had feelings for her as well he pulled back

Now he can't leave, something urges him to stay and watch her back

Lisa & Julius

Julius saves Lisa during one of the Kaiju attacks

She is grateful and joins the fight against them

She becomes one of the military advisors and watches over the missions

Her and Julius's relationship develops and they become very close

Zora & Odette

Zora is the best on the simulator. He kicks ass of all of those who are "better fit" to be jeager pilots, but there's one problem. He can't find anyone to drift with.

He meets Odette a new trainee brought by Yami

And somehow they click

Now they need to go through training until getting their jeager

Nozel & Helena (obviously I have a more developed story here as well)

Helena is a doctor from Spain who wishes to help with the Kaiju war so she gets a job at the Clover base

Little does she know, that she will fall for a mysterious and cold jeager pilot

Nozel and Helena meet during a mandatory health check up for pilots, because she fills in for his previous doctor, with who Nozel parted on bad terms

Nozel is even more angry about the doctor change and they start off at the wrong foot

Additionally their personalities and views on how the jeager program is conducted differ

However with time something, maybe curiosity, mystery and definitely desire, draws them towards one another, but they keep their relationship secret

However that's not the only secret that Nozel hides...

The only one who knows about Nozelena is Fuegoleon, because he shares a drift with Nozel

Poor Fuego has to watch them be not necessarily proper 😂. However it's not like his attention is not completely swept by a foreign Drift specialist...

Fuegoleon & Solara

Solara is a specialist, when it comes to drift. She compares the memories to the flowing river and teaches the pilots how to navigate and let it flow, so they would more efficient

She was brought to the base by Mereolona, who normally doesn't pilot, but can join in when needed (she's a beast then)

Solara feels a special connection to a certain red headed pilot, who is one of those she's supposed to help with his recent drift problems

At first Fuego and Lara are shy and some misunderstandings slow down the pace of their relationship

However as time passes it develops into something deep and real

There are some problems, because other bases, especially the one she transferred from, need Solara, but the pair fights to be together

Some OC owners have more developed stories for their own OCs. I hope I didn't mix anything here in this summary.

I to be honest have some specific ideas only for two (Nozelena and Astelle).

[good-beans]

hiii ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ i've always loved your milgram posts and was hoping to hear you talk about them more. it's a bit of a vague question but i was hoping to hear your thoughts about the characters or songs? or really anything that's been on your mind! apart from that i hope you've been having a good day (or night!)

!!!!! Omg thank you so much?? This made me so happy ;----; I’m sorry if this is more than you bargained for LMAO, I planned on jotting down a few ideas and then I just kept on writing..... I hope you’re having a lovely day/night as well!✨

So, I’m actually not that great with coming up with crime-logistic theories (timelines, cause of death, etc), but I’ve been really interested in the insights we get on characterization from the visuals – specifically looking at the image of the self each prisoner creates. The videos come directly from inside their minds, so these self-portrayals aren’t biased with any manipulation, or how they want Es to view them. I’ve been bouncing these around in my head for a while, so thank you for the reason to actually put them down somewhere! So here are details I’ve gathered on each of them: (And as with everything in Milgram, this is just how I understood the symbolism – if people have other interpretations, I’d love to hear them!)

I've been adding edits as the videos come out, it's through Double now 👍

Haruka: In T1 he definitely views himself as guilty and dangerous. Though it’s dulled with crayon/mixed media, he conjurs a version of himself that’s committing acts of violence even in his suffering. The fact that his younger self takes place as the victim is huge to me. I know it could mean a lot of different things, but my personal interpretation is that Haruka sees his younger self in his little sister. He’s been in her shoes, at a time his mother loved him best. He believes he is the reason she stopped loving him, so he hates this younger version of himself. And this leads him to hate her now that he’s seeing the similarities. I believe the crimes happened extremely recently, so it’s interesting that he portrays himself as a child in much of AKAA. He’s not trying to gain any sympathy with it, he still genuinely feels like a child because of how much he struggles with everything. I don’t know what it means yet, but I’m really interested that despite all the water imagery he creates, he visualizes himself sinking, but never actually drowning/short of breath.

Yuno: Between both her videos, we only ever see her, her, her. This is because her motivations start and end with herself. I know her situation relies heavily on her clients, but in her mind, the one who was in control the whole time was only her. She’s the only one she can trust to take care of her and show her real love. She got into her line of work to benefit herself, and she went through with the abortion to benefit herself. She's taking the ultimate responsibility for everything that happened to her and everything that she did. Though it makes me happy to see it framed as all self love, it’s also clear that she’s unhappy with her decision. And, when everything revolves around versions of herself, there’s only one person she has to hate... 

Fuuta: His self-imagery makes it really clear how his mindset changed between trials. In T1 he genuinely saw himself as the hero, the perfect knight-in-shining-armor. Once doubt started to creep into his mind, though, he suddenly portrays himself as a criminal hiding/running in dark areas. It also emphasizes what he was saying about he and Es being the same: the girl that he accused of being guilty turned to ash after being sprayed with his paint, and he starts turning to ash along with Es’ accusation and paint spray. I know people took that as his suicidal intent, (and while that’s still a thing he does express in Backdraft,) I actually think his burning is just his fear that he’ll die at the end of Milgram. Another little detail, but someone mentioned Fuuta only lowered his mask in BIO while he’s looking at his phone, showing that he was comfortable being his true self online. Meaning, he had to hide some part of him in the rest of his life. The original post said it was his sexuality, but I feel as though it’s just his general paranoia of living around warriors for justice who are constantly evaluating everyone’s behavior. 

Muu: Like I said, the mvs are unaffected by how the prisoners want Es to see them, soI was confused when people accused Muu of lying in T1 – that’s really how she took the situation! In her mind, that pain and mistreatment made up everything in her. Her being a bully didn’t matter then, because it was her being a victim that led to the murder. In T2, it becomes obvious that she does harbor guilt. No innocent person would imagine themselves as a monstrous, destructive creature like that. If she really saw herself as ‘queen bee,’ her self-image would be flawless and lovable. INMF also showed she wasn’t exaggerating when she said the murder was to free her: we see her self-image undergo a full metamorphosis and sprout beautiful wings to fly away after she committed her crime. Though she feels guilty, she still believes it was necessary to free her and is grateful for it. 

Shidou: I’m still working on something more solid for him, but it’s neat that T1 he’s expressing so much guilt, yet his self-image is engaged in very abstract activities (like gardening and eating). In T2 he’s chilled out a bit, but that’s the video that death is literally following everywhere he goes (flowers dying behind him, ghosts surrounding him). It’s also worth noting he has his doctor’s coat on for most of Throw Down, and then the only time he has it in Triage is at the very end when he’s vowing to help the other prisoners. I’ll get back with a more solid conclusion on his soon…

Mahiru: Like Yuno (and semi-Haruka), the fact that she’s the only one to appear in her T1 mv means all her turmoil at that point was focused inward. She saw herself as the center of her story, which isn’t necessarily a selfish thing. It means she didn’t blame her boyfriend for anything that happened, even though we know it was likely both of their behaviors that led to the crime. Still, she’s taking all the focus on herself, showing off all the things she did and failed to do for him. The fact that everything is styled like magazine pages hints that she genuinely sees their relationship as the picture perfect example of love. After all, she was just “being herself” when she got him killed. Even that deep in her heart, she’s convinced love makes everything glossy and perfect. T2 is an exaggeration on both if these concepts -- she still places all the blame/responsibility on herself, but with the doubt creeping into her mind, she now paints herself as a villain who's actively causing harm. She still believes love can make things seem perfect, but you get the sense she's become more aware that love wasn't transforming her, it was blinding her.

Kazui: So this is an interesting one. I know that the performance aspect in Half is obviously taken as him acting that he loves his wife when he’s fallen in love with someone else. However, the fact that he’s singing the song about how he doesn’t love her, while still on stage/in costume, gives me a different idea. His emotions are so incredibly repressed and fucked up that even in the privacy of his own heart, he feels like he has to act sad about her death when he actually has more complex emotions than that. Not that he’s happy about it per se, but the feelings are too complex for him to show even himself. (We’ve all been there, where even in our private thoughts it’s embarrassing to be excited about something terrible and we pretend we aren’t.) That’s why I think he sounds so different in Cat – he’s able to start processing that he may be relieved, or freed that she’s gone. Or maybe he’s just realizing the murder was indirect, and he’s allowed to mourn her without feeling personally guilty for her death. So I agree the costumes represent hiding his emotions, but I think it symbolizes him lying to himself rather than just lying to his wife. Now with Cat out, he also shows a shift of seeing himself more guilty. Rather than a passive character, his self appears as someone known for manipulation/deception/trickery -- someone in charge of the situation. He's coming to terms with his active role in Hinako's death. There's also a lot of his vices shown explicitly, like his smoking and drinking. He's painting himself in a much worse light as his guilt gets to him. (There's also something to be said about the whole thing appearing under a filter of advertisement/magazine style, but I have yet to form a conclusion I'm happy with on that)

Amane: The major thing I took away from Magic was the idea that Amane really felt isolated in her cult. She saw herself as a normal girl, but no one else is like her. The other children are all animals, and the adults in charge are animalistic or robotic. There’s such a divide between her and everyone else. She’s not living up to their religious standards the way that everyone else seems to be. With the adults, it could be the general feeling that they never listen to or understand her because of her age. In T2, she presents a new idea: she's struggling with how complex and contradictory the self is. The human psyche has so many parts and motivations, all represented by the marching band members. She wants to be good. She's flawed. She wants to help. She's hurting. She knows she's made mistakes. She thinks she deserves punishment. That punishment is killing her. The adults around her make behaving look/sound so easy, but at her age it's so difficult to be a good girl! She wants to show this to Es, since she believes her own misbehavior + following the rules is what led to her murder.

Mikoto: He’s got So much going on with identity and sense of self, but I don’t have a ton on him that hasn’t already been said lol. I’ve joked that the reason Meme got the most views is because it’s the mv that shows the most skin, but on a serious note I think it’s really telling that there are so many bathing/showering/teeth brushing shots. Those are the stereotypical times we’re completely alone with ourselves – cleaning off everything external so that it’s just us in our purest form left when we’re done. An interesting switch I've noticed in Double is that the two major alters never appear beside each other -- there's the reflection in the mirror at one point (and I think they're face to face in the last shot?) but we never see both onscreen at the same time. This is because each one wants to distance themselves from the other: Bokukoto wants to show he's far from a killer, and Orekoto wants to make it clear he's the one who was violent. Neither wants to be mistaken for the other, but it's much easier to do so since they look exactly the same in this video (no color-coded clothes or eyes or lighting.) A minor detail, but the fact that his own mind conjured up quotes around the word "savior" makes it clear that Orekoto is slowly realizing his actions may have gotten Bokukoto into more trouble than they saved him from...

Kotoko: I don’t have too much on her at the moment since a lot of her scenes seem to be memories of her actual life and are already in line with what she’s admitted about herself. Still, I think the running-alongside-wolves scenes reveal a lot. She very clearly works alone, but wolves are known for hunting in a pack. Does she have a pack we haven’t seen yet? Is there a reason she’s no longer with them? Does she just dream of running with one because she craves that belonging so deeply? @tokyogruel pointed out that wolves are known for caring for weaker pack members, and that there have been analyses of the Harrow wolves being Kotoko's family members. This is revealing a more prominent focus on family than she's made known so far. She doesn't see herself as an elevated hero -- she always views herself as part of a team, which can be seen in her 'deal' with Es and all her T2 commentary of their partnership (despite being their prisoner). She's always been working with and for others.

[archivalofsins]

If you're wondering how I feel about the most recent Mikoto answers. Here's the short of it-

Love how people just jumped on the idea that Mikoto or another unknown alter could have jumped Mahiru. When-

A. Kotoko never expressly denied jumping Mahiru. In fact she just said sorry for failing to deliver punishment to Mikoto and Amane, by association showing she considers the state of Mahiru and Futa a successful delivery of punishment by not discussing them in depth. She did her job their so Es can't be angry about that.

B. Literally everyone says Kotoko did it despite how they personally feel about her doing it.

C. Kazui was late helping Mahiru when he lives right next door to her. We have a map of the prison that expressly shows us this and we're told the order of the attacks. Which go Mikoto, Mahiru, Futa and his excuse of being too late only works if Futa was actually the last attacked. He states in his second voice drama that if Mikoto and Kotoko team up that would be the end for him, alluding to the idea he saw Mikoto fight giving him the chance to gauge that if the two teamed up he'd be fucked. Something supported by Yuno commenting on Mikoto's strength in her second voice drama as well and Jackalope stating, Mikoto and Kotoko had an all-out dogfight lasting an indiscriminate amount of time. In the second trial commencement yet for some odd fucking reason I've barely seen anyone cast scrutiny on all those fucking discrepancies. Those just exist unquestioned to go oh he was late that happens.

D. Literally, Mikoto is more than likely just referring to Es another individual that uses boku that has been expressly blamed for and tied to the jumpings by the person who enacted them to Mikoto's fucking face-

22/12/15 (Kotoko’s Birthday)

Mikoto: Ah, Koto-chan. It’s been a while. Both of us have kinda split off from the group, but how’ve things been? A lot’s happened, but fr now let’s try to get along. I mean, it’s your birthday today, right? I got the feeling nobody else was going to do anything, so I came to celebrate.

Kotoko: ……how carefree. It doesn’t matter, a villain like you won’t be forgiven next time either. And when that time comes, it’ll be the end for you. I’ll make sure of it myself.

Mikoto: Ahh?? Just try and do it, you nutjob. I’ll crush anyone who hurts me…… You’re gonna be totally beaten at your own game……!

[TN: The word “me” here uses first person pronoun “boku”.]

Kotoko: Hm. The border between the two is getting a lot vaguer. Your entire existence is a crime. And I will see you’re punished for it. That is what Milgram, and Es, and I have chosen.

Like he's known since this birthday interaction that Kotoko's believes this is not only what she wants but Es as well. Someone who also uses boku and the prisoners are aware of the audience/voters at this point. It wouldn't be odd for Mikoto to separate Es as an individual from the audience like Kotoko seperates Es from the audience and refers to them as a prisoner as well. Mikoto could very well be doing the same thing by referring to Es directly in the way that Es has also referred to themselves instead of just calling them the guard.

F. It's reported to us multiple ways at the beginning of trial two from multiple prisoners that Mikoto has been antisocial and has kept away from the others. Making it difficult for any to feel comfortable approaching him. He blames this on lashing out in his sleep (which one could speculate is what happened with Mahiru, but we'll get to that). Yet it seems during the intermission he was more than likely behaving in a way similar to how Amane has behaved over the course of trial two. Telling people to keep away from him and being visibly agitated. Something that has led to no one other than Haruka wanting to approach him for his birthday.

E. There was this quick jump to that conclusion from this one vague answer despite us knowing Mikoto was preoccupied with Kotoko the longest as reported by multiple parties. So, the idea that he was attacked for the longest period of time, eventually causing Kotoko to fall back and leave him alone just to immediately go and attack Mahiru, is wild as hell. Not even mentioning one of my last points-

G. Even if one were to speculate, Mikoto could have lashed out more after his fight in order to let off steam before the second trial commencement (lashing out in his sleep as he refers to it). We have seen how he consistently lashes out since Milgram started. His lashing out has usually been contained to his own cell. Garnering multiple noise complaints from other prisoners to the point it is noted in his character description on the website that no one knows when he sleeps. Why would that suddenly change now?

Outside of that I'm glad people are picking up on the handwriting differences between Mikoto and Mikoto(i.e John as the prison refers to him) but that's clearly not what he goes by since he also puts his signature on Double and he definitely did not sign that John.

[good-beanswrites]

🎬: About Es being a past prisoner and the secret 11th prisoner in your AU. But advance apologies if I'm overstepping into your AU!

I had this idea from a story that pretty much did the same thing. Going off there are novels/manga on Milgram and there being another Es and their own prisoners running another Milgram (but differently) I imagine this Milgram projects has been going on for a while, and our Es was from a previous project who might have gotten the worst verdict (or the most spared out of everyone), and was given this final task as a warden for the next group of prisoners. This is why they so readily agreed and had their memories wiped for this Milgram project instead of being weary on a shady project on judging an almost crime, they've already been through this.

(BTW is it bad and worrying for one of our ten fav prisoners to be the next Es if this is legit...)

Anyway, that's why Es is in Milgram in your AU, I guess? And the lore drop that Kotoko picks up on them being the 11th prisoner, I can imagine her also talking to Kazui since he's a policeman to see if she could cross out any theories on who Es is (Did they look familiar. Possible missing child. Any cases to do with an almost crime by a child other than the 10 of them here). Kazui knows Kotoko wants to investigate, but reminds her that, like in their prison while the trial is on, the facilities they're in have high security too. They do have the freedom to move about, but still limited.

If they're trying to investigate Es, maybe Fuuta, Kotoko and Mikoto can try to do the hacking on the comp Mikoto's allowed to use to Photoshop some shots for the MVs and photos (Fuuta and Kotoko seem to be able to search up info they need I think...). Yuno, Mahiru and Muu can work on charming the staff to see if they can spill more deets on Milgram. Not sure how much the group can gather, but oh boy fun times in Milgram can turn into another sort of stress in this AU...

No worries!! Like I said before, this whole au has been a fun collaborative project, so there's no overstepping :) I am sorry I won't be writing a lot on the ending until we get more info, but that's just the perfectionist in me who doesn't want to be proven wrong 😅 Still, I love tossing around and digging into ending scenarios, I really love this!

Because that would make a lot of sense why they're so willing to subject themself to the whole experiment! They remember how tough their experience was, and are confident they can care for the new set of prisoners while doing their job. I'm imagining they get the opportunity to return as guard, and get to have a nice talk with their own guard first. Once they fully understand what it's like, they're know they can handle it and sign up. It adds a bit of drama, too, since they must have been really young committing their crime in order to complete a years-long experiment prior to this one. They would have been like 10? Oof. (Now I wanna see their three trial songs 👀)

And like you said, that also brings up the question of the new warden. Though I think it's based on verdict results, I can just picture Jackalope keeping an eye on everyone during filming. He studyies their interactions and personalities, keeping his own set of notes on who would make a good successor. (I'm not going to go through every character but there are pros to any choice, it's very fun picturing them all taking the job.) Haha, on the other hand, maybe the reason Kotoko keeps bringing up her role as Es' partner/bringer of justice is because she did discover the truth. She drops as many hints as possible so she can be chosen next 😅

Ooh, I love her working with Kazui on an investigation! The fact that eh may know details on recent crimes (and almost-crimes) is super fun to work with. He's the last person who's going to spill a secret, so the group could go several trials without realizing Kazui had actually heard all about their situation this whole time.

(Getting sidetrack for a sec, I'm suddenly realizing that he and Kotoko may have heard things about the crimes in canon, too. They're a bit unclear about how much time passed between the murders and arriving to Milgram, so maybe he heard some things. I don't know how well-connected Tokyo police departments are, but Yuno, Fuuta, Muu, and Shidou are all nearby. There's definitely a chance he caught word of the vigilante nearby, and she heard about the odd policeman's suicide. Both of them could have heard about the tragic housefire, the disgraced doctor, or horrible schoolgirl murder nearby.)

Anyway, I like that idea of Kazui wracking his brain for any similar cases. Though, if he had, Milgram may have had the foresight to wipe parts of his memory, too. Maybe he does end up using his call to reach out to Hinako and have her look into it from the outside. Sadly, Kotoko seems the type to sacrifice her personal call to reach out to a connection who can help as well. I'll have to think about how closely Jackalope monitors those calls, hm.

I'm going crazy over prisoner investigation team !! Kotoko and Fuuta had the online knowledge to find some good info, and Mikoto and Kazui seem like they'd have a huge network of people they can ask for info and favors from. Haha, I'm torn whether Mahiru would have flirting down to a science or if she'd refuse to do it since it wasn't real love 😂 Still, she's very good at reading people and could definitely help the others charm and bribe their way into some restricted areas. Amane and Haruka can also charm with their innocence/cuteness (though I'm not sure Amane would). Shidou seems very organized, he'd have a plan and backup plan and backup-backup plan ready, no matter what happens. I think it's even funnier, then if Milgram had run several experiments prior. Jackalope would think this was just another runthrough, and for the first time the ten subjects decided to organize together and Cause Problems.

I think there's a beautiful irony in a story featuring ten prisoners planning a jailbreak to save the prison guard...

[0cta9on]

Hey ✌️🗿

Just wondering, Is the UD series coming to an end?🙂 Really looking forward to the upcoming chapter but I can't seem to sit still after the recent chapter, it was happy fluff worthy moment too😂😵‍💫. Can we at least get Yuno and Minji go onto their first official date🥹?

Heheheheheheh just wants to know the update of the series, That's all🤭

Hello mikeylo! Sorry about the delays for the next UD chapter, UD is far from ever, I just haven't been able to find time to sit down and write it :,) I've only had time to answer asks, which are fun, but I have SOO many ideas for UD that I really want to get to. There's also a level of "perfection" that I want to reach with each chapter release, which ends up taking longer since I'm constantly editing instead of adding more :,)

Thank you for liking UD and showing continued interest in my work in general! It really means a lot :) I'll try to set some time tomorrow to work on it!

[maristelina]

MILGRAM 2nd Anniversary Stream Translation

Translated by @/JuriTea_ and @/CatDraft0307 46 Pages, 11675 words.

🎴 Host

🔸Takuya Yamanaka 🔸DECO*27

🎴 Guest Voice Actors

🔸Amami Yurina (Es) 🔸Arthur Lounsbery (Futa) 🔸Yuuka Aisaka (Yuno)

🎴Start at 5 min

🔸Amami: Good evening everyone! We’ll now begin the 2nd anniversary for Milgram, a viewer participatory interactive music project

🔸Everyone: You tripped on your words already?

🔸Amami: Sorry~

🔸Lounsbery: Now I feel at ease, she lowered the bar

🔸Yamanaka: Now that she’s lowered the bar, let’s introduce our guests today. First, Amami-san who just tripped over her words

🔸Amami: Now, sing your crime. I’m Amami Yurina in the role of Es. Pleased to meet you!

🔸Aisaka: I have an idea! I’ll let you rest your head on my lap for 1000 yen. I’m Aisaka Yūka in the role of Yuno. Pleased to meet you.

🔸Lounsbery: Don’t take me lightly just cuz I’m a prisoner! I’m Lounsbery Arthur in the role of Futa, pleased to meet you.

🔸Deco: I’m the sound producer for Milgram, Deco*27. Pleased to meet you

🔸Yamanaka: I’m the screenwriter for Milgram, Yamanaka. Pleased to meet you. These are the members that will be delivering the Milgram 2nd anniversary stream today

🔸Everyone: We’ll be in your care.

🔸Amami: Yamanaka-san and I will be the MCs for today. I hope our viewers today can participate through comments and join the fun with us.

🔸Yamanaka: Actually we’ve been receiving a lot of comments at an alarming rate even before we started

🔸Lounsbery: Plus they’re coming from a variety of different countries. I’m so grateful

🔸Amami: I don't understand them, but thank you! I feel your passion.

🔸Aisaka: The sentiment makes me so happy

🔸Yamanaka: We don’t understand them, but we feel the love

🔸Lounsbery: Thanks everyone

🔸Amami: Milgram is already 2 years old

🔸Everyone: Time passes so fast

🔸Yamanaka: What are you grinning about

🔸Amami: It went by in a flash!

🔸Yamanaka: Were you able to make friends with the prisoners, Es-san?

🔸Amami: Ah yes… I have the opportunity to work closely with the prisoners the most. In the first year we were a little distant, but now, and we’ll talk more about this in the later half, we’re working towards the second trial, and I’ve gotten a little, you know, with Aisaka-san

🔸Aisaka: Yes?

🔸Amami: Closed the distance

🔸Aisaka-san: Did you need to say something to me?

🔸Lounsbery: What??

🔸Yamanaka: The distance is still there

🔸Lounsbery: Your message isn’t getting through to her

🔸Amami: This partition is in the way

🔸Aisaka: She’s right. The two producers.. Yamanaka-san and Deco-san asekd me, have you guys become good friends yet? I told them that even if they want us to, it’s hard to build friendships within the recording time only. Then I was told to go out for meals together, so we’re planning to go in the future.

🔸Amami: in our fantasies, for now

🔸Aisaka: Right, we still haven’t decided on a date yet, but we agreed to go SOMETIME in the future, so it’s a step in the right direction

Amami: Yes, we’re making progress

🔸Yamanaka: Amami-san said she wanted to make friends, so I suggested they share their LINE with each other… but that only happened after a year and a half after I made the suggestion

🔸Lounsbery: Isn’t that a little late?

🔸Deco: Not just a “little”…

🔸Yamanaka: So I’m guessing the meal will happen around two years… two years and a half later

🔸Amami: Yes.. we exchanged our LINEs just recently

🔸Aisaka: Slowly, you know? Deepen our bond one step at a time

🔸Amami: Exactly

🔸Lounsbery: I hope you guys have a meal together before the third trial

🔸Deco: I hope it happens before Milgram ends

🔸Lounsbery: I hope you guys go before Milgram ends

🔸Amami: Okay but we are talking about going to LOFT in Ikebukuro where there’s a Milgram pop up store now together.. Um, before everything ends

🔸Aisaka: But if I didn’t bring it up, Amami wouldn’t even have thought of it

🔸Deco: I was there when it happened. It was Aisaka-san’s idea.

🔸Amami: Aww… okay, let’s go.

🔸Deco: You have to go

🔸Amami: we’ll go for sure

🔸Aisaka: I guess deep down, she’s shy

🔸Amami: Yes you’re right

🔸Aisaka: You can’t tell from her usual friendly self

🔸Amami: I’m embarrassed. Please don't focus the camera on me that much

🔸Lounsbery: Just go out for meals already

🔸Aisaka: Yes, I want to build our friendship one step at a time

🔸Yamanaka: Amami, Deco-san and I have opportunity to chat during the CD limited events, but it’s been a while with the Aisaka and Lounsbery pair.

🔸Lounsbery: Yes.. I think since pre-pandemic times? When everyone got together to celebrate the start of Milgram just when it launched. I feel it’s certainly been a while

🔸Yamanaka: How did you feel about Milgram?

🔸Lounsbery: Eh?

🔸Yamanaka: Arthur-sensei, what was your view on Milgram?

🔸Yamanaka: Arthur-sensei, what was your view on Milgram?

🔸Lounsbery: I think it comes down to, “Ah, so this person is forgiven while this person isn’t?” I had a lot of thoughts about that. We can see the changes in the votes in real time, so I wondered at what point did people have changes of heart. At first you can have this person with majority votes, but before you realize, the other person has more votes. I’m guessing that’s due to everyone changing their minds as the speculations are updated. I want to peek into the thoughts of everyone who follows the websites that post speculations and theories. Like why did they decide they could no longer forgive certain issues.

🔸Amami: True, true

🔸Aisaka: I wonder if people also change their minds from reading the prisoner’s conversations on the timeline. Like if they see some more personal sides of the prisoners on the timeline, and go “What the heck. You’re actually adorable”

🔸Yamanaka: That adorableness is the culprit behind dilemmas when casting votes

🔸Aisaka & Amami: True

🔸Yamanaka: Whether it’s a good thing…

🔸Aisaka: I wonder

🔸Yamanaka: or a bad thing, we can’t know for sure

🔸Lounsbery: True

🔸Amami: I’m trembling

🔸Aisaka: Trembling?

🔸Amami: I’m trembling

🔸Aisaka: You’re trembling

🔸Amami: I’m trembling. As Es, I get the opportunity to touch on stories of the prisoners, so I have more information than my colleagues. I’m already trembling.

🔸Aisaka: Oh my

🔸Amami: Yes. I’m nervous with fear. It’s pretty intense, isn’t it Yamanaka-san?

🔸Yamanaka: It’s intense. Let’s talk about how intense it is later.

🔸Amami: Sounds good!

🔸Lounsbery: I’m sure everyone is eager to know more about the second trial

🔸Amami: Definitely

🔸Yamanaka: Deco-san, how has the two years been? It’s already been two years since we started

🔸Deco: It went by so fast

🔸Yamanaka: It was quick wasn’t it

🔸Deco: We’ll talk more about the second trial later, but I just want to say that it’s so fun to produce contents for Milgram. We receive votes from everyone who’s sending us comments right now, and we come up with new ideas based on those votes. Milgram isn’t only made by the people sitting here, but also by the viewers. I felt it’s a very fresh take, and I had a lot of fun

🔸Yamanaka: We can’t prepare the screenplay or music beforehand. It really feels like a free-style rap based on the answers we get from everyone

🔸Amami: True true

🔸Deco: It’s a lot of hard work

🔸Yamanaka: Like if that’s how you’re gonna come at us, then we’ll add these factors in. I have that side to me and I’m sure Deco-san does too, like adding new information or setting. That’s also a part of the fun over the last two years

🔸Amami: I’m telling you the second trial is really intense

🔸Lounsbery: I really think writing scenarios is a difficult job. Plus people speculate and write their own theories on how things are going to turn out. Do you ever feel like you never want to make those theories come true?

🔸Yamanaka: Yup. The story progression has already been decided though

🔸Lounsbery: Of course

🔸Yamanaka: It’s already been decided, and most of the time I already have a feel for how people are going to guess, and what kind of speculation will be born. But there are times when I see something that comes from a completely different angle, and I feel tempted to direct the story that way because it’s so interesting. That’s how diverse the minds of our audience are from all walks of life and various parts of the world, and I feel great value in our contents.

🔸Lounsbery: That’s wonderful

🔸Yamanaka: Because we want to hear everyone’s opinions and comments, in this stream we will be hosting Q&A sessions with each of our guests for the first time in Milgram history, and we have announcements that everyone might be interested in.

🔸Amami: I’m so excited

🔸Yamanaka: Please stay with us until the end.

🔸Everyone: Please do~

🎴Trial Results

🔸Amami: The current status in Milgram is that the first trial just ended, and we are waiting for the second trial. Let’s have a recap on what happened with each of the prisoners. Here we have 6 prisoners that were forgiven, and 4 that were not.

🔸Yamanaka: They’re in descending order based on the highest percentages. Looking at the results sorted in this way gives me a new impression. Like who was forgiven with the highest percentage of “forgive” votes

🔸Everyone: yes…

🔸Aisaka: Heh~ (I see~)

🔸Yamanaka: It was a very close vote for Mu… She was on the edge of being guilty

🔸Amami: Yes, she almost didn’t make it to innocent

🔸Yamanaka: Jackalope mentioned this too in the video after the first trial, but we can see the history of the actions taken to arrive at forgive/not forgive and the movement of each vote, and I can say that Mu was really on the edge. We really didn’t know how it would turn out until the very end.

🔸Lounsbery: We might have had a different result if the vote lasted longer by 2-3 days

🔸Yamanaka: It’s that unpredictable

🔸Amami?: True, true, both Mu and Yuno were really on the edge

🔸Yamanaka: Now that we look back on it, for example, is that high percentage a correct result for Haruka, or is it that high because people voted when they didn’t quite understand Milgram yet?

🔸Amami: True, true

🔸Deco: That could definitely change.

🔸Lounsbery: True, when people get more familiar with Milgram, their criteria can change

🔸Amami: True, if he was later in the line, it could be possible that he wouldn’t be forgiven. That being said, it’s amazing that Kokoto, being the last, was forgiven with the highest percentage

🔸Aisaka: True! Amazing

🔸Lounsbery: It’s interesting

🔸Amami: All of this ties back into the story, and it makes me so excited

🔸Yamanaka: Are there anything in these results that caught your attention? Like ah, this person got forgiven, but that person didn’t. It’s going to be difficult, you need to avoid spoilers

🔸Amami: Good point

🔸Lounsbery: It’s difficult. Like you have to…

🔸Deco: You have to avoid spoiler questions

🔸Yamanaka: Point out something that surprised you, but without spoilers

🔸Lounsbery: It still hasn’t been revealed yet what each character has done, so I’m worried that I might let something slip here. It scares me a little.

🔸Yamanaka: But was there anything that turned out differently than you expected?

Deco: Kotoko has a scene in her MV that shows her clearly beating someone, yet she was the most forgiven character, and that was unexpected for me. Like, why?

🔸Yamanaka: Those of you who voted to forgive Kotoko, please tell us in the comments why you forgave her

🔸Amami: Please do! I want to know.

🔸Yamanaka: I think Kotoko left a strong impression in her drama… it’s like her route is branching

🔸Amami: Es was moved by her as well

🔸Deco: If Kotoko wasn’t there, Es-kun would have been in a predicament

🔸Amami: True true

🔸Lounsbery: Those who didn’t forgive Futa, I wonder what were their reasons? I really want to know. He did the same thing as Kotoko, so why did people choose to not forgive him?

🔸Amami: True

🔸Lounsbery: So I really want to know everyone’s thoughts about that.

🔸Yamanaka: Some people are saying they didn’t really know so they just voted alternatingly

🔸Amami: There’s one saying that Kokoto’s justice is the type of justice they like

🔸Yamanaka: There are actually a lot of comments saying they didn’t forgive Kotoko

🔸Aisaka: Some are saying they forgave her because she’s cute. I think that’s valid

🔸Amami: Yup

🔸Aisaka: That is a valid decision

🔸Yamanaka: Valid indeed. All are valid

🔸Deco: There’s a comment saying they wanted to see how Futa would react, so they chose not to forgive him

🔸Lounsbery: There’s another one saying that it’s because they don’t like people who are similar to themselves… Is that even a thing?

🔸Deco: That’s so harsh

🔸Yamanaka: Like Deco-san mentioned earlier, instead of those with blatant depictions like Haruka and Kotoko, those without any depictions, like Mahiru, are less likely to be forgiven. It’s interesting how people approach Milgram

🔸Amami: I was really surprised by Mahiru-chan. I wonder why she wasn't forgiven? I read up on a lot of speculations through comments and hashtags, and realized there were so many different ways of how her character was interpreted.

🔸Yamanaka: “Mahiru kinda creeps me out” says this comment

🔸Deco: “Futa was the most difficult”

🔸Amami: Ah, I see…

🔸Lounsbery: If they chose to not forgive, then they would become a perpetrator too. It’s difficult. But it’s so interesting

🔸Yamanaka: It’s interesting… I want to read the comments the entire time

🔸Lounsbery: It’s so interesting to read everyone’s comments

🔸Amami: By the way, what do the two of you producers think about the result?

🔸Yamanaka: Ahh… I don’t know about Deco-san, but in my mind I kind of had a hunch about if this person would be forgiven, or if they wouldn’t be forgiven. I was wrong about 2 people

🔸Amami: Wow, two people?

🔸Lounsbery: Can we ask who?

🔸Yamanaka: Hmm what should I do? Maybe just one… hm, what to do?

🔸Lounsbery: We want to know at least one

🔸Yamanaka: Should I do it? What should I do… Umm

🔸Amami: Hey, tell us

🔸Yamanaka: Um… Mahiru

🔸Amami: Oh… Mahiru-chan

🔸Lounsbery: Did it surprise you?

🔸Yamanaka: Well, not surprised per se, but I pictured that she would be forgiven in the beginning. How about you Deco-san? From a composer perspective. Like did you have a feel for whether a song would lean towards being forgiven, or not forgiven?

🔸Deco: Mahiru.

🔸Amami: So it’s Mahiru

🔸Deco: I thought the result would be the opposite. It was unexpected. The song itself was cheerful, cute, a girl in love.

🔸Amami: The comments are saying her voice drama was scary

🔸Deco: I guess she has this something that’s seeping out of her, and that’s scaring people

🔸Amami: I’ve been told that it’s unrelated, but I’m pretty sure her cover song is also influencing the results

🔸Yamanaka: It’s totally unrelated

🔸Deco: covers of Deco*27’s songs are completely unrelated. Unrelated.

🔸Amami: I know it’s completely unrelated, but the song choice makes people wonder if she has that side to her too.

🔸Yamanaka: It’s unrelated though

🔸Amami: It makes me read into it too deeply

🔸Yamanaka: We’re telling you that it’s unrelated all this time, but you don’t believe us

🔸Amami: But it really makes me wonder why the cover songs were assigned the way they were.

🔸Yamanaka: To add to why I found the results unexpected for Mahiru, I was more surprised at how quickly everyone was adapting to Milgram. The rate at which everyone understood Milgram was faster than I expected. They really gained the proper skills to interpret Milgram MVs, and that’s what made the results this way.

🔸Aisaka: I was really surprised that everyone is thinking this far, when I read the comments on Youtube. Everyone really is skilled

🔸Yamanaka: In that aspect, the transition from Haruka’s THAT PV to Yuno’s girly PV must have surprised everyone. The imagery and music are vastly different in genres. After I write the scenarios, I just leave everything to Deco-san and Otoiro-san. I’m always excited to see the results

🔸Deco: I think writing the screenplay, which will be the base for everything, is the most difficult part

🔸Yamanaka: No, I’d say the acting is the most difficult

🔸Lounsbery: No no no, now we’re just going in circles. Someone’s gotta stop it.

🔸Amami: I personally think the theories for Amane-chan are the most interesting. People were saying that she’s a child, so if they forgive her… well ultimately she wasn’t forgiven.. But.. was that part of your intentions when you wrote the scenario?

🔸Yamanaka: Yes

🔸Amami: He said yes

🔸Yamanaka: Well what I mean is, I gave elements that could be thought as forgivable or unforgivable to every character. We don’t know what Amane has done yet, but despite her crime, she’s still a child. I’ve added elements that could be interpreted differently by audiences depending on the stage of their lives. For example, opinions may differ depending on if the viewer is a child, or parents, or someone who just had a child. For Amane-chan, age is definitely an important factor

🔸Amami: Amazing

🔸Lounsbery: It’s been thought through

🔸Yamanaka: It would be fun to think about what kind of questions each character has, and what kind of balance they’re carrying

🔸Amami: This was very interesting to hear, as a consumer myself. I think this will increase the theories. We are starting to find more about the second trial ourselves too.

🔸Yamanaka: That’s right

🔸Amami: So when we hear you say that, we have a lot of thoughts too.

🎴Second Trial Production

🔸Yamanaka: So we just summarized the first trial, and of course the second trial is already in production. How are the songs for the second trial going?

🔸Deco: Second trial songs are… intense. Um, for real, they’re … I choose this word deliberately, but they’re hell. Even in the first trial, there were some scary and thrilling songs, but looking back, they were merely self introductions. Just the surface of the character. We’ve only taken the tip of the iceberg to show the viewers. The second trial takes into account everyone’s votes and we’ve reflected the characters’ turmoils, so it’s hell. Really. So those of you who voted – I think we have a lot of viewers here who have voted – you need to fully prepare yourselves for the second trial, or else it will be very mentally taxing.

🔸Amami: It does feel taxing

🔸Deco: It’s taxing. Especially if it’s your bias

🔸Lounsbery: But it’s a result of everyone’s decisions.

🔸Everyone: Exactly

🔸Lounsbery: The second trial is based on everyone’s choices, so as Futa would put it, “It’s all you! You guys did this!” That’s the case here.

🔸Everyone: True true

🔸Lounsbery: yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

🔸Yamanaka: I think if you keep in mind the fact that you influenced the outcomes of the second trial songs, based on your choices and actions in the first trial, you can get a very different impression, compared to merely listening to them.

🔸Amami: Everyone is starting to get scared

🔸Lounsbery: I’m curious about the differences in songs between the innocent group and the guilty group.

🔸Amami: True!

🔸Lounsbery: like what difference will there be in the melodies

🔸Yamanaka: The scenario, just like the songs, is influenced by everyone’s response for forgiven/not forgiven. It’s like you threw a pebble into their self introductions, and now you can see more of what’s underneath the surface

🔸Deco: It’s crazy. The screenplay is also brutal.

🔸Yamanaka: I’m really having fun writing the screenplay for the second trial

🔸Deco: Oh nooo… I can’t give any spoilers, but if I liked a certain prisoner, and they turned out this way, I really can’t accept it. I wouldn’t be able to stand it.

🔸Lounsbery: Now I want to know

🔸Yamanaka: I’m not doing this out of spite, it’s just that if that prisoner was forgiven, then obviously they’d turn out this way. I’m just following the logic. That’s a rule that I stand by, so I hope that you’ll accept it as a consequence of your choices

🔸Amami: I’ve been recording voice dramas here and there, and I’m like “Eh? That’s how it turns out?”

🔸Yamanaka: How was it? Recording the drama for second trial

🔸Amami: Can I say it?

🔸Yamanaka: Yes, it’s okay

🔸Amami: I’ve recorded a drama with Yuno-chan, and I was like, “Eh?! Yuno-chan?! Eh… you were like this…?”

🔸Aisaka: Ah, true. But I felt that it was very in-character for Yuno

🔸Yamanaka: Aisaka-san knows Yuno’s personality very well, so I think it also would be an obvious result.

🔸Aisaka: I felt like there are a lot of points that I can empathize with, when I was playing her role. How should I put it, like, people have certain expectations for someone because of their preconceived notions of what kind of person that someone is. And Yuno has opinions about that… I’m terrified that I’ll spoil it!

🔸Amami: It’s very tempting, right?

🔸Aisaka: Yeah… I felt like I could empathize with her on that. Like she’s right. I felt it was very realistic, and Yuno has her own unique way of feeling things. That made me like Yuno even more.

🔸Yamanaka: Regardless if it’s good or bad, it’s about learning more about that character.

🔸Aisaka: I agree

🔸Amami: At least it feels like no one from the first trial is here, so everyone please look forward to it.

🔸Aisaka: Everyone?

🔸Amami: I Wonder…

🔸Deco: Maybe everyone… like there could be someone who completely changed, and there could be people who’s affirmation in their opinions grew even stronger

🔸Yamanaka: Or it could simply be that they’re seeing new things from a different perspective.

🔸Aisaka: Humans are multifaceted

🔸Yamanaka: Amongst that, we have Arthur sensei who’s still waiting to record

🔸Lounsbery: Yeah not my turn yet

🔸Amami: You’re after Yuno-chan so it should be pretty soon

🔸Lounsbery: I haven’t recorded the drama yet but we’ve finished the song. I wish I can tell you soon.

🔸Yamanaka: The song is amazing

🔸Lounsbery: It’s totally badass. I can’t tell you the contents because it would be a spoiler, but it’s completely badass and I screamed a lot this time too.

🔸Deco: yup you did

🔸Amami: It’s gonna be awesome for sure

🔸Lounsbery: It’s a really cool song so I hope you can listen to it soon.

🔸Yamanaka: I’m having such a great time using these unreleased songs as my personal BGM

🔸Amami: I’m so jealous

🔸Aisaka: Me too

🔸Deco: I hope people can listen to it soon. All songs for the second trial have been completed. Only the voice drama left

🔸Yamanaka: They’re all amazing songs

🔸Aisaka: For real, they really are

🔸Amami: I felt that all the songs for the second trial, and also the voice dramas, reveal new aspects for each of the characters. I really want everyone to be able to listen to them soon. I’m so excited

🔸Lounsbery: I’m so curious

🎴MILGRAM Novel

🔸Amami: Right? So excited. Moving on, Milgram’s main story is super eventful, and it even had this turn of events. Let’s take a look at the PV

28:38: Taking society by storm even before release! Amazon Ranking Books>Japanese literature number 1 *based on 2022/2/5 data

28:39: An astoundingly shocking controversial work exposing the modern day “Crime and Punishment”!!

28:44: Milgram Experimental prison and the girl warden

28:46: Five prisoners charged with murder

28:46: No. 1 Gentle, a young man who always has a kid smile on his lips

28:47: No. 2 Nervous, a girl who harms herself

28:47: No. 3 Close, a girl who is usually cheerful but starved of love

28:48: No. 4 Two Side,a boy who brightens everyone’s mood

28:48: No. 5 Torch, a boy who has no interest in people

28:49: A prison wrapped in mystery where innocent/guilty is decided, “Milgram”

28:52: The one who investigates their crimes is a girl warden who lost all memories of the past, Es

28:54: The past of the murderers that are gradually revealed, and the cruel punishments sentenced to them

28:57: When the truth of the birth of “Milgram” is exposed, the story avalanches towards an unpredictable astounding conclusion

28:59: When you learn the truth of everything, will you be able to forgive?

29:02: A story born from the musical project “Milgram” by

Deco*27 “Vampire” Spark” “Otome Dissection＂ Yamanaka Takuya “Caligula”

29:05: Milgram Experimental prison and the girl warden

Author: Namitsumi Original concept: Deco*27/Yamanaka Takuya Illustrator: Shokumura On sale now! Price 748 yen (incl. taxes) Mediaworks Bunko

29:05 background text: An astoundingly shocking controversial work exposing the modern day “Crime and Punishment”!!

29:10: That is a Milgram that I (you) don’t know 29:10: Read? Won’t read?

🔸 Yamanaka: This novel is called Milgram Experimental prison and the girl warden by Mediaworks Bunko, on sale now. It’s Milgram’s first novel. Let us know if you have read it already in the comments. We have comments saying that they have.

🔸 Everyone: Lots of people are saying they enjoyed it

🔸 Lounsbery: There’s actually quite a lot saying that they’ve read it

🔸 Yamanaka: With this many positive feedback, we are happy that we took on the challenge of making our first novel

🔸 Aisaka: It’s very well received

🔸 Amami: We’re grateful

🔸 Yamanaka: so grateful

🔸 Yamanaka: “I read it too” It seems everyone has read it

🔸 Amami: Thank you

🔸 Yamanaka: I think everyone wondered how we were going to adapt Milgram into a novel when we announced it. We worked together with the author Namitsumi-san and Mediaworks to express Milgram in a way unique to the novel format. We’d love for you to give it a read if you haven’t done so already.

🔸 Everyone: Please do.

🔸 Deco: You need to be mentally prepared before you read this, right?

🔸 Yamanaka: You can go in prepared, or not prepare anything at all. Even if you don’t know anything about Milgram, for example you don’t follow any of the Milgram contents on Youtube, you can still read it. That’s what makes it unique

🔸 Amami: True, it’s a standalone story in a different timeline

🔸 Lounsbery: It’s a self-contained story

🔸 Yamanaka: Yup. And if you do follow the main Milgram contents, it will be even more interesting to read. I think there are some people who joined Milgram through this novel. What an ideal condition to promote it.

🔸 Amami: At first I was surprised. Instead of the current events in Milgram, the novel is about events before the current Milgram started. It was very interesting to see what happened before the current Milgram.

🔸 Yamanaka: We were quite ambitious going into it, but I’m happy that it was very well received by everyone.

🔸 Amami: The contents are quite shocking, but how does it fit into Milgram as a whole?

🔸 Yamanaka: I’d say it’s a different story from the current Milgram, but as those of you who have read it would know, they’re definitely connected. Maybe your understanding of Milgram will deepen by reading this novel, and maybe it will make you reflect on your past votes and wonder if you’ve made the right decision. It could also act as a standard to how you will vote in the second trial. Right now we finished the first trial and are awaiting the second trial, so it would be the perfect time to read it.

🔸 Amami: I’m so excited

🔸 Yamanaka: I really want to address some more comments but there are so many from our overseas viewers, so I can only appreciate the sentiment

🔸 Aisaka: They’re saying “Milgram fan cult”

🔸 Yamanaka: thank you

🔸 Aisaka: Thank you~

🔸 Amami: I wish I can read english

🔸 Lounsbery: There are also English comments saying it’s scary. “Scary”. And also that they’re excited.

🔸 Amami: The Milgram novel is only in Japanese at this point right?

🔸 Yamanaka: Yes that’s correct

🔸 Amami: Wait so… they’re reading it in Japanese? Amazing?!

🔸 Yamanaka: There are people asking for translated versions on Twitter. Mediaworks-san is looking into it

🔸 Amami: Thank you everyone. We’d appreciate it if you could enjoy the novelized version of Milgram as well. Now we will be moving on to addressing the questions we’ve received from you beforehand for the warden and prisoners. Spoilers are forbidden, so our guests here today, if you’re unable to answer any of the questions, please feel free to say that you can’t answer it. Please be careful when answering~

🔸 Everyone: Got it!

🎴Question and Answer #1

🔸 Amami: Yamanaka-san, would you like to start?

🔸 Yamanaka: We received a lot of questions, so I had a difficult time choosing. First, a question for our three voice actors. “There is a lot of content ranging from prisoner’s songs and drama parts. Which parts did you have the most fun with, and which parts were the most difficult?” From username Shiranui-san.

🔸 Amami: Thank you for your question

🔸 Yamanaka: For example in a song, did you have a certain phrase, or part, or in Dramas, a certain scene, or a certain line that left an impression on you?

🔸 Lounsbery: Can I go first?

🔸 Amami: be our guest

🔸 Lounsbery: Or else we’ll just give the opportunity around to each other

🔸 Yamanaka: Let’s go in order of tallest to shortest

🔸 Lounsbery: In order of height. In my case with Futa, we recorded songs before the dramas. When I was recording the songs, I was told what kind of character Futa is, like he’s a little cocky, and he’s hot-blooded. I wanted to add those nuances into the songs, so I’ve reflected them through growling, like “Don’t fuck with me” like that, and shouting at the end of Bring it On. I wanted to condense some elements of Futa and put it into the songs, so I approached the song recording with everything I’ve got, and that’s what I liked the most. That’ll be the same for the second trial, I have so much fun acting. And also, his cockiness… like how cocky can I be? How cocky should I be? It was very interesting to discuss that with the staff as we record

🔸 Yamanaka: The recording for Milgram is very fun

🔸 Everyone: it’s fun!

🔸 Yamanaka: The singers give it their 100% and don’t compromise, and meet everything we ask for in the dramas.

🔸 Everyone: True

🔸 Yamanaka: It’s a really great environment

🔸 Amami: I feel so at home at the recording set

🔸 Yamanaka: Complete opposite from the vibe of the content

🔸 Amami: Exactly! After we finish recording the contents everyone is like “Ah, everyone worked hard today~” and we relax together. I love that vibe. Thank you~

🔸 Yamanaka: Amami-san, how about you?

🔸 Amami: I have the opportunity to work with each of the prisoners in the voice dramas, and I’m also doing covers of each prisoner’s song to celebrate 1,000,000 views, but what I found the most fun was the voice dramas and they left a strong impression on me. I especially had so much fun with Futa’s drama

🔸 Lounsbery: Ah…you had such an evil expression back then

🔸 Amami: No way, really? For other characters, I kind of put on an unapproachable attitude when I act in the dramas, but for Futa, he provokes me so I provoke him back. So I remember it being really fun. I’m really interested to find out how the voice dramas would change for the second trial. I hope the recording day comes soon

🔸 Lounsbery: Right? I want to read the script already

🔸 Amami: Right? I’m dying to know. That’s all from me. How about you?

🔸 Aisaka: For me, you know how Yuno-chan always.. What’s the word.. Not exactly tease Es-kun, but she tends to drag Es-kun into her pace. But in the later half of her first trial drama, Es-kun was kind of handsome. Like he said, “No matter what, I…” to Yuno, and Yuno-chan seemed happy at that. That scene was fun for me. When I read the script and act, I also want to see Yuno-chan’s true self, so I like acting scenes when Yuno-chan genuinely feels something in her heart. That applies to songs as well.

🔸 Yamanaka: This is my personal opinion, but it’s been a while since we finished recording the dramas for the first trial, and everyone improved so much when they came back for the second trial.

🔸 Amami: That’s great to hear

🔸 Yamanaka: I can tell everyone is comfortable in their acting, and I feel so happy that everyone is growing and becoming more experienced as they work on Milgram. That’s what I feel as we record the second trial.

🔸 Deco: Are you their dad?

🔸 Lounsbery: Parental love

🔸 Aisaka: I think we understand our characters better now

🔸 Amami: True, we have a clearer picture of who they are now

🔸 Aisaka: That too, and we learn more about the characters from everyone’s comments. Like, “Oh, this can be interpreted this way… maybe they have that side to them too”. Everyone is so smart.

🔸 Amami: True… everyone comes up with things that never even crossed my mind

🎴Question and Answer #2

🔸 Yamanaka: I want to ask Deco-san this question too, were there any part of the songs and dramas that left an impression on you?

🔸 Deco: Impression, huh

🔸 Yamanaka: Just off the top of your head

🔸 Deco: I think overall, you know how Milgram songs have parts where each character talks? They speak during the songs, and I think that adds depth and atmosphere to the songs. I have a lot of fun thinking about where I want to add those speaking lines into the songs for each character. If I add too many, it might give too much away, and we don’t need that. So in the first trial, I loved the process of trying to find a good balance to make it the most effective for the song, and where it would sound the best.

🔸 Yamanaka: I think the audience has scenes that were memorable to them as well… if they could tweet them, maybe we can read what left an impression for them

🔸 Everyone: we could be reading them!

🔸 Yamanaka: Amami-san do you want to ask the next question?

🔸 Amami: Hm, which one should I pick?

🔸 Yamanaka: Just pick the first one

🔸 Amami: We have a question from Kansen-san. “How did you…” … can you read it for me?

🔸 Lounsbery: Oh it’s in English? English… Kansen-san, from overseas. “How did you feel when you saw the results of the characters that you’ve voiced? What predictions did you have about other characters, and did they come true?”

🔸 Aisaka: What does it mean?

🔸 Yamanaka: What does it mean?

🔸 Lounsbery: Um, basically, what did you think about the results? The first trial results. And… What are your predictions for the upcoming contents, like for the second trial.

🔸 Aisaka: I see I see

🔸 Lounsbery: in a nutshell

🔸 Yamanaka: Especially the characters you were in charge of

🔸 Lounsbery: Yes, your thoughts on the characters you played

🔸 Yamanaka: In that sense, Arthur and Aisaka-san. What did you feel about Futa and Yuno?

🔸 Lounsbery: I’ve mentioned this before, but his cockiness was fun to act, and in terms of songs, it’s almost like a musical.

🔸 Yamanaka: Ah, I see

🔸 Lounsbery: Of course they’re character songs, and even in the category of character songs, you have to bring out their characters as you sing. “I’m this kind of person. Listen to me. Listen to what we have done”, so it’s very musical-like to me. I enjoyed that a lot. And as for the predictions I have for the second trial, hmm, I wonder how it’ll go down. I feel like whatever I say, it’ll be a spoiler.

🔸 Amami: By the way, by the way, I know you haven’t recorded your voice drama yet, but just based on the song, do you think you’ll be forgiven, or not forgiven?

🔸 Lounsbery: Just from the song, can I say this? Can I say it?

🔸 Yamanaka: That should be okay

🔸 Lounsbery: Won’t be forgiven. Definitely won’t be forgiven.

🔸 Deco: Dahh… well, probably not

🔸 Yamanaka: You never know though

🔸 Amami: It’s amazing that you can say that with certainty

🔸 Lounsbery: Won’t be forgiven

🔸 Deco: Maybe the results would be different if you take into account the speculation and MV, but the first impression you’ll get from just hearing the song is that he probably won’t be forgiven.

🔸 Amami: If the composer and the singer both are saying that…

🔸 Lounsbery: But if there is visualization to go along with it, there’s a possibility he would be forgiven

🔸 Yamanaka: Exactly… and if you listen to the drama, the results could be different.

🔸 Lounsbery: Right… I haven’t recorded the drama yet. But I’ve had a lot of fun singing the song. How about you, Aisaka-san? What did you feel during your acting?

🔸 Aisaka: Wait, what was the first question again?

🔸 Lounsbery: It was about what you thought about the results of the first trial, and what were your thoughts during voice acting for Yuno?

🔸 Aisaka: Let’s see… Yuno-chan was really flip flopping between innocent and guilty, but personally I really wanted her to be forgiven. Just my personal thought, not as a voice actor, but just from watching Yuno-chan, I thought it would be more interesting if she was forgiven. Forgive her! I thought. She was forgiven, and I was like, okay, so she was forgiven by a close margin. But if you ask me what I think will happen in the second trial, this will also, for real, Amami, what I mean is, I don’t want the results to be affected by my opinion, but I also want her to be forgiven again. I feel like she probably won’t be forgiven, probably

🔸 Lounsbery: You think so too?

🔸 Aisaka: Yeah.. based on what I felt when singing, I felt like “Ah.. Yuno-chan, you’re saying a lot of things” so she might not be forgiven, but I wonder what would happen if she was forgiven again… I’m so scared! This is getting dangerously close.

🔸 Yamanaka: It’s fine, it’s fine

🔸 Aisaka: I wonder if I said too much.. But um, I really don’t know. I don’t know.

🔸 Yamanaka: Don’t know. No one knows the answer

🔸 Aisaka: I’ll leave the answer in you guys’ hands.

🔸 Amami: You’re so cool!

🔸 Aisaka: Whichever way it rolls, Yuno will be interesting

🔸 Amami: True!

🔸 Lounsbury: No doubt about that

🔸 Yamanaka: Let’s do that. Whichever way it rolls

🔸 Aisaka: Let’s do that, yup.

🔸 Amami/Lounsbery: Thank you.

🔸 Yamanaka: Next up, username Hanchahan-san. A question for Deco*27-san.

🔸 Deco: yes

🔸 Yamanaka: It’s finally here. “You’ve mentioned that you personally select the pairings for cover songs. Were there songs that were difficult to select, or ones that you decided on instantly? Please let us know” You’ve been complimented on again.

🔸 Amami: I want to know too.

🔸 Deco: Yuno’s Stickybug was decided on in an instant. I thought it was perfect for her voice.

🔸 Aisaka: Yay! It was so fun to sing

🔸 Deco: I wonder whose was difficult…?

🔸 Yamanaka: I haven’t seen any that were difficult to pair. I felt like all the decisions were quick

🔸 Deco: There hasn’t been any that was difficult. I had clear visions for each character’s voice, and I decided who would cover each of my songs pretty fast.

🔸 Yamanaka: it’s a bit different from being difficult, but Deco-san is releasing a lot of new songs, but did you ever feel like one of the new songs would suit a certain character better?

🔸 Deco: I did change some in between

🔸 Amami: Every time a new song is uploaded, I think a lot about which character’s vibe it gives off.

🔸 Aisaka: Now that you say it, that’s another way to enjoy it

🔸 Deco: All because you became Milgram fans.

🔸 Amami: Exactly

🔸 Deco: Every time you listen to Deco*27’s new songs.

🔸 Aisaka: True!

🔸 Amami: Every time a new song is uploaded.

🔸 Aisaka: That seems really fun

🔸 Amami: Like, “This feels like this character” and “doesn’t this one feel like that character?”

🔸 Aisaka: I agree!

🔸 Deco: I see, that’s a new way of enjoying them

🔸 Yamanaka: Milgram fans think you wrote a new song for one of the characters to sing

🔸 Deco: Ah, I see

🔸 Aisaka: That’s so interesting

🔸 Deco: I like that style of enjoyment

🔸 Aisaka: It’s the perk of being a Milgram fan

🔸 Amami: Maybe the second trial cover songs will be exactly as how everyone predicts

🔸 Aisaka: I’m looking forward to it

🔸 Deco: I do want everyone to take a guess though.

🔸 Aisaka: Sounds fun!

🔸 Amami: true

🔸 Deco: I think they’ll probably get it right.

🔸 Yamanaka: Do they get any prizes if they guess right?

🔸 Aisaka: Eh? That’s great. There are prizes? Just for having fun?

🔸 Amami: I think there are those who are starting to record their cover songs now, but when it gets to Kotoko at the end, Deco-san will probably have more songs.

🔸 Yamanaka: That’s right

🔸 Lounsbery: Good point

🔸 Deco: The cover songs for characters going later might change. I might feel that new songs would suit them better.

🔸 Yamanaka: You’re making too many songs, are you okay?

🔸 Deco: I’m okay

🔸 Amami: True, it’s a lot

🔸 Lounsbery: It’s very fast paced

🔸 Yamanaka: You’re releasing them at an intense pace

🔸 Deco: I’m totally okay

🔸 Yamanaka: You’re even making a lot of songs for Milgram, and I often wonder if you’re doing okay. And you keep releasing new songs on top of that.

🔸 Deco: I’m okay.

🔸 Lounsbery: Let’s have everyone take a guess in the comments about which songs we will cover

🔸 Amami: True!

🔸 Deco: Then let’s have everyone guess Yuno and Futa’s second trial cover songs.

🔸 Aisaka: Ah~ Sounds fun

🔸 Deco: We gotta make sure to not give anything away from our facial expressions

🔸 Lounsbery: We definitely can’t give it away with our facial expressions

🔸 Deco: All five of us here know

🔸 Lounsbery: And we’ll all read the comments, so we’ll know if it’s right or wrong

🔸 Aisaka: That’s gonna be so hard

🔸 Amami: Poker face! Poker face!

🔸 Deco: Poker face

🔸 Aisaka: That’s so hard

🔸 Lounsbery: I wonder if everyone can guess right

🔸 Everyone: Oh~

🔸 Lounsbery: I see…

🔸 Amami: I see…

🔸 Lounsbery: There are also requests of which ones they want

🔸 Deco: By the way, songs that have been covered already in the first trial won’t be covered again.

🔸 Lounsbery: So there won’t be overlaps

🔸 Deco: Correct. For now

🔸 Yamanaka: I see.

🔸 Lounsbery: As expected, a lot of people guessed the newest songs.

🔸 Yamanaka: Not that we’ll give you an answer though

🔸 Lounsbery: We don’t answer anything

🔸 Amami: But there are so many that I agree with! Like “Oh yeah that’s great, I want to hear that too”

🔸 Deco: I agree

🔸 Deco: We’re just making them comment and we’re not answering anything

🔸 Lounsbery: Because then they’ll find out. There’s about half a year to go until the second trial, so I hope they can wait for it.

🔸 Deco: But I like that there are a variety of predictions. I do agree that some of them are pretty compatible.

🔸 Amami: I see… so that kind of song could fit that character too…

🔸 Lounsbery: I hope everyone looks forward to it.

🔸 Yamanaka: Amami-san do you want to read the next question?

🔸 Amami: From Umanoko-san. Thank you!

🔸 Lounsbery: Thanks

🎴Question and Answer #3

🔸 Amami: Is there anything that Yamanaka-san pays close attention to when writing the story?

🔸 Yamanaka: What I pay attention to… What I pay attention to…This can be said about all of Milgram, but I want to make it so that your interpretation of it changes depending on your standpoint, thinking processes, and ways of life. I pay great attention to avoid writing the story in a way that depicts something as absolute good or absolute bad, or one thing is right and the other is wrong. I want the story to elicit a different opinion from you when you revisit it as you get older. Milgram is a long term project, so for example someone might discover Milgram when they’re in elementary school, and grow up with Milgram into their highschool years. When they become highschoolers, they can look back on their decisions they made in elementary school, and see how their thought processes have changed over the years. I’d be happy if Milgram could accompany you through your life. I want Milgram to be something that when you look back on your life, you remember it as something near and dear to your heart. That’s what I think about when I write the story

🔸 Lounsbery: I see

🔸 Yamanaka: I gave such a serious response

🔸 Amami: Not at all, you’re completely right. It took about a year and a half to complete the first trial, so everyone is probably already aware that it’s a long term project. It’s completely probable that elementary school kids could become highschoolers during the duration of this project.

🔸 Yamanaka: In the current times, entertainment is very fast paced. Like “Here’s a new mobile game!” and it thrives for a year, then it starts to decline. The society thrives on fast consumption. I hope that Milgram can provide content that progresses at a slower pace, which you can enjoy in between your favorite manga or games as a change of pace.

🔸 Amami: I like that a lot. Thank you for the question

🔸 Yamanaka: Should I read the next question?

🔸 Amami: Please do

🔸 Yamanaka: Username Haru-san. “Good evening, a question for Yurina-chan. You cover the prisoner’s songs as Es, and I always enjoy your commentaries about what happens afterwards. I think your commentaries are always easy to understand. I love Yurina-chan’s covers, and I want to ask which prisoner’s song do you like best? I’d love to know if there are any lyrics that are impactful because they’re from a certain prisoner, or any stories you might have because you covered the songs.

🔸 Amami: Oh~ I see

🔸 Yamanaka: Yurina-chan’s fan

🔸 Amami: There are still some songs that haven’t reached 1,000,000 views, so I haven’t covered those yet, but what I personally enjoyed the most was surprisingly Throw Down…

🔸 Deco: Oh, it’s Throw Down?

🔸 Amami: It was very fun. Of course, songs like “This is How To Be in Love With You” ended up completely different from the original. I wanted to sing in a cute way at first, but Deco-san said let’s not do that.

🔸 Deco: Es would sing it more gruffly and brusquely

🔸 Amami: He told me to be more like Es. So I sang that song in that way. Among the covers of songs that have reached 1,000,000 views that haven’t been released yet, I think you can see a new side to Es in Throw Down. But Umbilical was super fun too.

🔸 Aisaka: I’m glad to hear that. It’s a good song, right?

🔸 Amami: I hope you can enjoy Es Covers while you wait for the second trial

🔸 Aisaka: I want to hear Es sing “Yatchattanda Shitchattanda” (I messed up, I found out) as soon as possible. I think it’ll be great.

🔸 Amami: I think you can hear it sooner than you think. I think it’s the next one?

🔸 Yamanaka: Yes, it’s the next one

🔸 Aisaka: I’m so excited!

🔸 Amami: So I think Yuno-chan’s cover will be released next

🔸 Aisaka: I can’t wait

🔸 Yamanaka: What do you think as Futa, the original singer, about Es’s cover of Bring it On?

🔸 Lounsbery: It was fresh. I did expect Es to sing in a gruff manner, but I was surprised by the talking parts in the later half. It was really fresh. So I really want Es to cover the second trial songs soon.

🔸 Yamanaka: So let’s get the second trial songs over 1M views fast

🔸 Amami: Please, everyone

🔸 Lounsbery: I started thinking about ways how Es would cover it in my head already

🔸 Deco: Ah it’s quite difficult… all of season 2's songs are difficult.

🔸 Amami: Yes… personally –

🔸 Deco: I felt everyone was so amazing for being able to sing them, especially in character.

🔸 Lounsbery: It was properly difficult

🔸 Deco: certainly

🔸 Yamanaka: Every song was difficult, really.

🔸 Amami: Personally, I felt that second trial songs are more in line with each character compared to the first. It shows more of their personal parts. I’m really excited to know what kind of directions I’ll receive when I cover them as Es. I hope everyone, including the prisoners, can look forward to it.

🎴Question and Answer #5

🔸 Yamanaka: Amami-san do you want to ask one more?

🔸 Amami: Yes~ Let’s see which one… Cute… a cute one

🔸 Lounsbery: Which one will you choose?

🔸 Amami: Ice cream…

🔸 Lounsbery: That's great. go ahead and read it

🔸 Yamanaka: Let’s go with that one

🔸 Amami: Is this one okay?

🔸 Lounsbery: You can just read it

🔸 Amami: It’s from Link-san. What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?

🔸 Deco: They asked, what your favorite flavor of ice cream

🔸 Yamanaka: This is a question specific to Milgram, so please do answer it

🔸 Lounsbery: This has almost nothing to do with Milgram, just what flavor of ice cream you like

🔸 Yamanaka: They want to know

🔸 Lounsbery: What flavor do you like?

🔸 Amami: I like the classic, milk flavor

🔸 Aisaka: Heh~ that’s so like you

🔸 Lounsbery: Milk?

🔸 Deco: Vanilla?

🔸 Amami: Ah, Vanilla! Vanilla milk. I don’t know. Vanilla. I like vanilla

🔸 Aisaka: That’s a good answer

🔸 Yamanaka: That’s a classic.

🔸 Amami: What about you? Yamanaka san?

🔸 Yamanaka: Well, vanilla.

🔸 Deco: We got two vanillas

🔸 Lounsbery: Vanilla is good. Hmm, I don’t really know what flavors are available at foreign Baskin-Robbins

🔸 Yamanaka: You don’t need to think that deep. Just answer casually

🔸 Lounsbery: I like Popping-Shower, but in terms of more standard flavors, I like vanilla and cookies and cream. I like vanilla

🔸 Amami: Hm?

🔸 Lounsbery: what about you Deco?

🔸 Deco: Azuki bar

🔸 Aisaka: It’s delicious

🔸 Lounsbery: True, it’s good. For real.

🔸 Amami: So yummy

🔸 Deco: More than the flavor, it’s about the brand

🔸 Lounsbery: Yes, the brand name. Delicious.

🔸 Amami: They almost break my teeth. Like “Gahh”. What about Aisaka?

🔸 Aisaka: I like mint chocolate

🔸 Amami: It’s so yummy! I love it too

🔸 Yamanaka: Please support Milgram

🔸 Amami: The room is so relaxed

🔸 Lounsbery: We just talked about our favorite ice cream flavors.

🔸 Yamanaka: I like it. We also have a job interview-esque question. From username Yua-san, question for the three voice actors. “How do you feel about getting selected as the voice actor for Milgram characters?”

🔸 Deco: Seriously, it’s a job interview

🔸 Yamanaka: Please respond.

🔸 Lounsbery: I feel like I’m being tested

🔸 Aisaka: I’m very happy, but I do wonder what they saw in us when they chose us. They didn’t ask me to audition for Yuno, so I wonder what they saw in the voice sample on my production company’s home page. But I felt very happy.

🔸 Yamanaka: You didn’t refuse us, so

🔸 Aisaka: Of course not, I would never. I was very excited when I saw the project.

🔸 Lounsbery: True, that’s my case too. When I read about Futa’s character and the script, I was like, this is nothing like anything in my voice samples

🔸 Yamanaka: True, you’re right

🔸 Lounsbery: I’ve never acted for this type of character until Futa came along, so I wondered what they saw in me – like, do people think I'm attacking people on social media? Do I look like the type who’d attack people behind their backs? But I really had fun acting as Futa, and I really like it, so I think it’s a brilliant casting decision. I’m very grateful.

🔸 Yamanaka: We’re choosing for Milgram afterall, so instead of something we’ve heard before, I wanted to excavate a side that no one knows yet. Arthur-kun is elegant in all aspects. I want to hear a Futa from someone who is elegant.

🔸 Amami: That’s a great point

🔸 Yamanaka: That’s what I feel when I’m making the contents, and Arthur-kun’s fans probably also want to see this new side of you, so it’s a win-win if I can excavate this side of you.

🔸 Lounsbery: True. I’m so happy to hear that. I feel like all that growling paid off.

🔸 Amami: It’s really great

🔸 Yamanaka: Warden, your turn

🔸 Amami: Eh~ I wonder… Personally, I’ve always wanted to play a shota-like character

🔸 Aisaka: It’s really great.

🔸 Amami: really?

🔸 Aisaka: I stan Es because it’s Amami

🔸 Amami: I’m so happy! I’ve also always liked Deco-san’s songs, so I wanted to sing them with a shota voice. I was so happy when I received the offer. The casting was done by Yamanaka-san, right?

🔸 Yamanaka: It was a group decision after listening to you sing

🔸 Amami: He was the one who found us though

🔸 Aisaka: How did you find us?

🔸 Yamanaka: I don’t know if I can say this, but we took on Amami as a new challenge for us too. I think for a central character, it’s important to choose someone who wasn’t already known for being in other works. I hope that being at the center of Milgram can have a meaningful impact on Yurina’s career in some way.

🔸 Amami: It has already! Thank you so much

🔸 Yamanaka: It was a new challenge for us too, and we hoped that you would also be able to go beyond your potential

🔸 Amami: I’m so happy, thank you so much

🔸 Lounsbery: That’s a heartwarming story

🔸 Aisaka: I’m so happy

🔸 Amami: I feel warm and fuzzy now

🎴Question and Answer #7

🔸 Yamanaka: There’s one more similar question. It’s about acting. From the username Chikushi-san. Are there characters in Milgram that you’d like to play as, other than your own?

🔸 Amami: Ehh~~ I see…

🔸 Lounsbery: A character that I want to play as?!

🔸 Yamanaka: They’re also asking me, and Deco-san, to answer.

🔸 Deco: Everyone?!

🔸 Aisaka: I want to know!

🔸 Yamanaka: A character that you want to play as.

🔸 Amami: Time to think

🔸 Lounsbery: I’ve never even thought about acting as other characters.

🔸 Deco: Can I go?

🔸 Yamanaka: Go ahead

🔸 Deco: Futa

🔸 Amami: I can see that, you do give off that vibe.

🔸 Deco: It seems fun

🔸 Lounsbery: It’s fun

🔸 Deco: Yeah. He just said that with a huge smile. It looks really fun.

🔸 Aisaka: You were practicing Futa’s lines in the dressing room just before, right?

🔸 Lounsbery: Show us

🔸 Deco: Why?!

🔸 Lounsbery: You were practicing them just before this, in the dressing room

🔸 Amami: It feels lonely, we start by saying our characters’ lines first but Yamanaka-san and Deco-san don’t have any.

🔸 Lounsbery: How about the line on the first page

🔸 Yamanaka: We don’t want to be introduced as cringelord producers

🔸 Lounsbery: Say “Don’t take me lightly just cuz I’m a prisoner!”

🔸 Aisaka: Yeah! You were saying it just a while ago

🔸 Deco: I have to really use my throat right?

🔸 Lounsbery: yup

🔸 Deco: “Don’t take me lightly” like that?

🔸 Aisaka: yes

🔸 Amami: Sounds good

🔸 Lounsbery: Should I do an example first? “Don’t take me lightly just cuz I’m a prisoner!”

🔸 Deco: “Don’t take me-”…. Can I recuse myself?

🔸 Aisaka?: Eh~ But I want to hear it

🔸 Yamanaka: I’m sorry to mention another one of my works, but Deco-sensei has debuted as a voice actor in the game I made, Caligula2

🔸 Amami: That’s amazing!

🔸 Aisaka: Already debuted

🔸 Deco: Thank you for the opportunity

🔸 Yamanaka: He has so much stability that you wouldn’t think it’s his first time. I don't want to sound arrogant but he has great aptitude for it.

🔸 Deco: Really? Then please, cast me for Milgram too. Any role

🔸 Yamanaka: Let’s switch someone out

🔸 Amami: Switching them out?!

🔸 Deco: Then, Shugo

🔸 Yamanaka: Let’s switch Shugo out

🔸 Deco: with Shidou, lol

🔸 Yamanaka: Any characters you want to play as?

🔸 Amami: Eh~

🔸 Aisaka: Yes

🔸 Yamanaka: Go ahead

🔸 Aisaka: I want to play as Haruka

🔸 Yamanaka: Haruka?

🔸 Aisaka: It seems really fun, everytime I listen to him. Horieru seems to be doing both the songs and lines with so much fun. I’m envious. So if there’s an opportunity, I’d love to try playing as Haruka.

🔸 Lounsbery: I see.

🔸 Aisaka: I want to laugh creepily like “gufu gufu” like him

🔸 Yamanaka: “Gufu Gufu”?

🔸 Amami: Eh~ For me it’s…?

🔸 Lounsbery: Go ahead

🔸 Amami: Ah, do you have one?

🔸 Lounsbery: I think Mikoto would be fun to play. I feel like it’s fulfilling to act as him because of the way he is. I want to act as Mikoto in my own style.

🔸 Aisaka: I can see that

🔸 Amami: Yamanaka-san do you have one?

🔸 Yamanaka: When I’m writing, who I think the most fun would be is… I hear their voices in my head, and excuse me for my word choice but I think the one that makes me feel the most complicated is Mu.

🔸 Deco: Do you want to give it a go as Mu?

🔸 Yamanaka: I can’t do it

🔸 Amami: Give it a try!

🔸 Deco: Let’s go!

🔸 Yamanaka: I personally feel like Mu’s character is very exquisite, like she irks me but at the same time I want to forgive her. She has this childishness to her. She has a pretty appearance and pretty voice that makes you want to fawn on her. Like when you see a cute baby, you want to gobble them up.

🔸 Amami: Gobble them up

🔸 Yamanaka: It tickles a hint of my sadism. She’s a complex character

🔸 Amami: Ah I see…

🔸 Yamanaka: Rather than wanting to act as Mu, I want to see many different actors’ versions of Mu

🔸 Everyone: Ah I see~

🔸 Deco: You totally ran away just now. You escaped from doing her impression

🔸 Yamanaka: I ran away and used up a lot of air time doing it

🔸 Lounsbery: you took your sweet time saying a lot

🔸 Yamanaka: We don’t have a lot of time left so let’s move on

🔸 Deco: Not like I can say much, since I recused myself too

🔸 Amami: not at all, not at all

🔸 Lounsbery: This is great

🔸 Aisaka: How about Amami?

🔸 Amami: For me, it’s Mahiru-chan. I respect that she’s so dedicated to love. After listening to O-Miho’s Mahiru-chan, I felt that those kinds of girls are wonderful, so I would like an opportunity to play as her too.

🔸 Yamanaka: There’s a lot going on within her, but on the surface she is always very positive, so she’s interesting

🔸 Amami: That was a very interesting question

🔸 Yamanaka: Now that we have answered a lot of questions…

🔸 Lounsbery: We’ve received a lot

🔸 Yamanaka: We’re almost out of time

Lounsbery: Time goes by so fast

🔸 Amami: It really went by in the blink of an eye. We are approaching the end of the program.

🔸 Lounsbery: Too fast!

🔸 Amami: Let’s take a look at the information for the second anniversary.

🔸 Yamanaka: I’ll take it from here. Please take a look at the slide. This information has been announced already, but we have received a brand new illustration from Akka-san to commemorate the second anniversary. It looks so cool

🔸 Lounsbery: It’s so cool

🔸 Amami: Amazing, so cool. It’s also very different from the first anniversary

🔸 Yamanaka: It’s a perfect illustration after the first trial had concluded. In addition to that, the next slide please. There will be a lot of merch going on sale using this illustration. There is currently a pop up store to commemorate Milgram 2nd anniversary in Ikebukuro Loft. Amami-san, you went already right?

🔸 Amami: Yes! I went.

🔸 Aisaka: So fast!

🔸 Amami: I wanted the can-badges, but because everyone adopted so many, so I wasn’t able to adopt any

🔸 Aisaka: But that’s a happy thing

🔸 Amami: Yeah!

🔸 Aisaka: We’re grateful for that

🔸 Yamanaka: I see..

🔸 Aisaka: I see..

🔸 Amami: Thank you so much everyone!

🔸 Yamanaka: The pop up store will be available for the dates on screen, so please give it a visit everyone

🔸 Amami: Please go~

🔸 Yamanaka: Next slide please. If you purchase over a certain amount, you will get one special post card at random. Each one comes with the prisoner’s signature.

🔸 The slide: You’ll get a free post card “Event limited post cards (12 kinds)” at random with purchases over 2000 yen

🔸 Amami: I want them all!

🔸 Yamanaka: Signed by the prisoners. Please check them out

🔸 Amami: So wonderful~

🔸 Yamanaka: Another piece of information that’s already available is that we are giving pin badges to our members with annual membership on the official Milgram app for the 2nd anniversary. All of our annual members can get the badge by submitting an application, so please don’t forget

🔸 Amami: It’s available until 4/28, which is tomorrow.

🔸 Lounsbery: It’s this

🔸 Yamanaka: It looks cool

🔸 Lounsbery: Yup. Milgram badge

🔸 Amami: It looks cool

🔸 Lounsbery: Please get it

🔸 Yamanaka: It really looks cool

🔸 Lounsbery: Stylish

🔸 Amami: I wear mine here

🔸 Lounsbery: Your collar

🔸 Amami: Yup, it’s here. It’s available until 19:00 on 4/28, so please don’t forget~

🔸 Amami: Okay! Everyone has been waiting for this right? From this point on, we’ll announce the new information

🔸 Yamanaka: Next slide please. Milgram’s official online store will be open soon. This store only carries Milgram products

🔸 Aisaka: I’m so happy

🔸 Amami: They’re the best

🔸 Yamanaka: A store dedicated to Milgram. There are merchandise that can only be obtained here, and there are more products being designed specifically for sale through this store. It will be open in the near future. Please check twitter for updates.

🔸 Amami: It’ll be open soon~

🔸 Aisaka: I’m so excited

🔸 Yamanaka: Next please. It’s been decided that Milgram merch will be made by the popular merch site AMNIBUS as a part of their popular merch series “Ani-Art”. “Ani-Art” is a popular artistic merch series by AMNIBUS. As you can see behind us…

🔸 Aisaka: Ah, that’s right!

🔸 Amami: It’s so great

🔸 Lounsbery: You can see behind us, our own characters and the other characters too

🔸 Aisaka: They’re so stylish

🔸 Lounsbery: There were a lot of comments asking about these illustrations

🔸 Amami: there were!

🔸 Lounsbery: So here’s the answer.

🔸 Deco: They were leading up to this

🔸 Amami: Please check them out!

🔸 Yamanaka: It’s very different from the usual art

🔸 Everyone: Yeah it’s very different

🔸 Yamanaka: I think it’s great

🔸 Amami: So cute

🔸 Yamanaka: Let’s move onto the next slide. Undercover LINE stamps will be on sale soon

🔸 Amami: They’re finally here

🔸 Yamanaka: Undercover has reached over 3M views

🔸 Amami: Thank you!

🔸 Yamanaka: So it’s been decided that we will distribute the LINE stamps from Undercover. These will also be available in the near future so please check our official Twitter for updates. And now…

🔸 Amami: The atmosphere will change from here

🔸 Lounsbery: It’s time, finally?

🔸 Amami: I feel restless

🔸 Yamanaka: There was a hint in our conversation earlier in this stream

🔸 Amami: I wonder what it was?

🔸 Deco: Ice cream?

🔸 Yamanaka: Ice cream

🔸 Amami: Ice cream! Vanilla, maybe?

🔸 Deco: Milgram and ice cream collab?

🔸 Yamanaka: Milgram and ice cream collab

🔸 Aisaka: That’s so good!

🔸 Amami: I want that

🎴FINAL THREAD FINALLY.

🔸Yamanaka: Next slide please! After the novel, it’s been decided that Milgram will be made into a comic!

🔸Lounsbery: Manga!

🔸Yamanaka: It will become a manga.

🔸Amami: What a surprise!

🔸Yamanaka: This was a surprise for us too

🔸Deco: It was quite a surprise.

🔸Yamanaka: It wasn’t like this was decided from the start, it’s because the novel did so well, and we were asked if we wanted to make it into a comic

🔸Deco: We’re so grateful

🔸Yamanaka: It was received so well, and everyone was so passionate about it, and that’s why we were offered to make it into a comic.

🔸Lounsbery: wow

🔸Yamanaka: It will be based on the story in the novel, but I feel like it will also have its own unique story.

🔸Amami: We as the main story can’t lose! Let’s work hard

🔸Aisaka: Exactly, the novel is too popular.

🔸Yamanaka: True

🔸Aisaka: I’m worried people will forget about us.

🔸Yamanaka: That’s so scary, what are you talking about

🔸Amami: Eh?! I’m so worried

🔸Yamanaka: A horror story

🔸Aisaka: I don’t want that

🔸Yamanaka: The last announcement. I feel like there are a lot of people who came today to listen to this.

🔸Deco: Probably

🔸Yamanaka: I’ll announce it now. Slide please! Milgram second trial, commencing July 2022

🔸Lounsbery: Finally!

🔸Deco: It’s finally happening!

🔸Lounsbery: Summer

🔸Deco: The second trial is coming

🔸Yamanaka: The second trial is coming, everyone. How about it, the second trial

🔸Amami: Eh? How about it?

🔸Yamanaka: Just by mentioning the second trial, everyone gets so hyped.

🔸Aisaka: I only have excitement for it

🔸Lounsbery: It pains me that I can’t say anything

🔸Yamanaka: You can’t say anything

🔸Lounsbery: We are so limited in what we can say that people will think we have no love for Milgram

🔸Deco: We’re too scared of spoilers

🔸Lounsbery: Exactly. We can only say things that barely touch the surface

🔸Deco: So it’s just a little over 2 months away?

🔸Yamanaka: yup. You might have thought that the second trial can’t come soon enough, but you only have 2 months left where you’re safe

🔸Amami: Hell is coming

🔸Aisaka: Eh~ but I’m really looking forward to it. I wonder what decisions everyone will make

🔸Yamanaka: I think everyone will see a new side of Milgram, so I hope everyone can watch it.

🔸Lounsbery: I want everyone to watch it soon

🔸Amami: Thank you everyone! Now we are really at the end of the stream. Let’s get a closing comment from each of our guests today. First up, Aisaka-san

🔸Aisaka: I’m Aisaka Yūka in the role of Yuno. I’ve already completed recording for the second trial for Yuno. I hope everyone can listen to them soon. It’s really hard to say without spoilers, but I’m worried that when you first listen to them, you might not forgive her, but I will leave it to everyone’s sensibility and their own interpretations. “This character is saying this, but my decision is that” and maybe it’s a decision similar to what you would make in your own life - I hope that you can make the decisions in simple ways. Please forget everything I said today, and listen to Yuno’s song/drama with a blank slate of mind. I felt lonely because it’s been a while since recording until the second trial, so it’s really great that you guys asked a lot of questions and I was able to address so many today. Thank you everyone!

Amami: Thank you~ Next, Arthur-san please

🔸Lounsbery: First, I want to thank everyone for watching today. Now that the first trial is over, we are heading into the second trial in July. Whether you have listened to all characters’ songs and dramas, or whether you follow only your bias, Milgram can be enjoyed in many ways, even individual contents. You can pursue a single character, and you can also enjoy the novel and the upcoming comic. Milgram is expanding as we speak, and the range of how you can enjoy it is also widening. And as we mentioned today, the second trial is pretty hellish. The songs have powered up since the first trial, and they’re even more enjoyable. Please prepare yourselves for July. Whatever the results may be, “They’re the results of your decisions! Enjoy them until the end!”

🔸Amami: That’s amazing, thank you so much!

🔸Deco: So cool!

🔸Amami: Next, Deco-san please

🔸Deco: Thank you for coming today everyone! I felt your passion once again through your comments today. The recording of second trial songs have been completed, and we are working on the MVs. We’re doing our best to match your passion level to drag you all down to hell. Thank you so much for today.

🔸Amami: Thank you! Next, Yamanaka-san please

🔸Yamanaka: Everytime I visit the set, I really feel like the content creators and the voice actors are really enjoying their work. I hope that the more we enjoy our work and face it head on, the stronger our work can leave an impression on your life. Arthur-kun has said this too, but you can enjoy Milgram just by listening to the songs, or just enjoying the illustrations, and you can listen to the dramas too. There are many different ways to enjoy Milgram. I think Milgram is something that will become more interesting the more people participate. The more different opinions and interpretations there are, the better and more complicated the world of Milgram will be. I want everyone to be aware, and proud that you are a part of what’s making Milgram interesting, and take responsibility Everyone: Scary!

🔸Yamanaka: Milgram is interesting because of everyone’s participation, and I’d be grateful if you can continue to make Milgram a fun content. That’s all!

🔸Amami: Thank you~ Lastly, my turn. Thank you for today everyone, I am Amami in the role of Es. I said this near the beginning too, but as Es, I have the opportunity to work on Milgram longer than the others, so I prepare myself to experience hell before every recording. First trial has finally ended without troubles, and the second trial is starting in July, and I really want everyone to be able to watch the second trial soon. Until then, in the 2 months leading up to July, Es’ covers will be uploaded, so I hope you can enjoy that in the meantime, and fall down to hell 2 months later

🔸Lounsbery: So the hell is a given?

🔸Yamanaka: It’s really hell

🔸Amami: It’s really hell! Haruka and Yuno-chan’s voice dramas are done already, but I can say they were hell.

🔸Yamanaka: It’s not that I intended on making them hell

🔸Amami: Yamanaka-san I think you have terrible personality

🔸Yamanaka: they just became hell naturally

🔸Amami: I felt malicious intent

🔸Aisaka: For real though, Yamanaka-san has bad personality

🔸Amami: It’s bad

🔸Yamanaka: I just calculated everyone’s forgive or not forgiven, and as a result it became hell. That’s all.

🔸Amami: But really, from looking at the votes and all the comments from the wardens today, I feel like a lot of you are onto something. So especially those of you who watched form the first trial, you might be like, “oh, it was like this” and regret your decisions, or you might feel reaffirmed in your choices, so please look forward to 2 months later. Thank you for your continued support of Milgram! We are now approaching good-bye time. We will continue to post new information on the official Milgram twitter. Please look forward to the second trial, and continue to support Milgram. Thank you so much for today!

🔸Everyone: Bye~

[kindlyanni]

For anyone who’s all ”????” at my NoPixel fanart:

NoPixel is a Grand Theft Auto (GTA V) roleplay server. (Actually NP has multiple servers, with a whitelist one and some public ones, I follow only the WL). The NoPixel WL server is very modded, you have to apply for it and pay to join. It is very popular on Twitch and other platforms, and it has streamers all over the world (and some players who don’t stream).

The characters can be cops or criminals (it is GTA after all) or civilians, EMS, doctors, judges, lawyers… many players have multiple characters, and many of them have interesting lore from several years.

I got into NoPixel in 2021 via a streamer called Sykkuno, who played Yuno Sykk, a hacker of the crim group Cleanbois. I watched a lot of CB streamers, and other characters too, but then I moved to watch more cop streamers and mainly watch Myles_Away on Twitch now. He plays Connor Stubble, a very action movie type of cop. Think of Jason Statham and you’ll have a very good idea of him. He’s a good, sensible guy (a bit of a jokester/stirrer). He’s a good cop (I know, can you believe?) and many people like him but he’s also married to his job and very emotionally constipated.

Myles is also very sensible streamer and a good roleplayer. He steers away from drama and tries to make sure that other players are having a good time. He recently said that while other players want to be the main character of their stream, he wants Stubble to be a good side character for others. (He also has a chaotic crim character Jim Littleman, the number one kidnapper in the city. He and his brother Tim, and all of their 50 siblings are rich little shits who do crime for fun.)

If you wanna get into NP streams I suggest Browsing the gta streams on Twitch and looking for nopixel (WL) in the title/tags. Unfortunately, as it is a big popular server, it has some toxic streamers and characters and chatters, but there are lots of good and cool people too, and many queer players/characters too, (it had cool pride month celebration last year). So it’s a bit of a hit/miss to find the streamers you enjoy, and even then keep in mind that the characters interact with others on the server so they might run into some bad eggs. The NoPixel fandom wiki is a good place to check and read what any character is about.

If any NP enjoyers see this feel free to suggest your fav streamers in the replies 👇 for anyone to check out.

[giggly-squiggily]

OK OK OK - I think I finally had a fun idea for a request! I've been getting back into Black Clover recently and I love this idea: Asta and Yuno are having a tickle fight while - of course - fighting over who's going to be the next Wizard King, and Asta is getting upset because he thinks Yuno is letting him win. But, either because Yuno admits it or Asta's one braincell (affectionate, ofc) puts it together, he realizes Yuno's actually enjoying being tickled and it turns into a very unfairly one-sided tickle attack where Yuno is trying not to completely lose his composure. Bonus points for lots of teasing! <3

Only if you want to, of course, friend! I hope you're enjoying your break and have a wonderful Halloween! Stay hydrated! ^^

*flies into the sun and back again* AHH YES!!! God I love this prompt- and these two! And LEE!YUNO! I'm absolutely smitten by their friendship! I've gotcha covered, friend! :D (Snuck some Yunleo in because it's me lols)

No matter the setting, where they were or how far in their own journeys they come, Yuno and Asta’s relationship stayed the same.

“I’m gonna become the Wizard King first.”

“Nah, it’s gonna be me.”

Asta sat up from his spot across the campsite, glaring halfheartedly at his friend. “You always say that.”

Yuno looked up, raising a brow. “Say what?”

“You know what! The whole ‘No it’s gonna be me’ thing!” Asta turned so he was properly facing Yuno now, face lit by flames. “I can’t tell if you mean it or you’re just trying to motivate me.”

“Oh I mean it. One day, I’ll be Wizard King.” Yuno nodded. “You can be my right hand if you want, though we might need to get you a stool to stand on.”

“A stool! Who are you calling short?” Asta mock gasped in shock, standing in indignation. “I’ll have you know I’m the perfect height for a Wizard King! You on the other hand are too tall. When I get there, you’re gonna have to sit all the time as my right hand.” He nodded, already envisioning Yuno crouch sitting on one of those tiny stools Sister Lily made them use whenever they acted up. “Heh, you’d look like a goblin.”

“So I’d look like you, right?” Yuno’s lips quirked up at Asta’s glare. “Sorry- was that a low blow? I figured it would go right over you.”

“Oh, you're itching for a fight, aren’t ya?” Asta cracked his knuckles as he slowly made his way around the fire, eyes gleaming with guaranteed mischief. “Just so you know- I’m not going easy on you.”

“I don’t know- you better go all out. I might not feel it if you don’t.” Yuno couldn’t fight down the laugh when Asta gaped.

“Oh it is ON!” The shorter boy roared as he tackled the other, beginning to wrestle. Sure, the fire was a good three feet away, and there was the possibility they might roll into a rogue ant hill like last time.

But hey- that’s the fun of adventure right?

Soon Asta was sitting comfortably on top of Yuno, fingers flying over his sides, drawing out a variety of giggles. “HA! Take my ultimate attack, Yuno! Asta’s Wizard King level tickle!”

“Thahahahhat’s not even a thiihihihng! Shohoohohohrtstahahahhahaa!” Yuno yelped beneath him, legs kicking helplessly behind them as he attempted to curl in on himself. His hands came over his face almost immediately, hiding his growing smile. “Wahahhahahahait!”

“No way! This is what you get!” Asta declared, even as his voice started losing steam. He paused then, brows furrowing as he looked down at Yuno. “Are you going easy on me?”

“Eh..eheheh..whahaht?” Yuno asked, his laughter dying down when he met Asta’s eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“Are you going easy on me? It seems like whenever we fight lately, you let me win.” Asta seemed to droop then, face clouding over. “It’s like you don’t wanna play anymore. Like…you’re just bearing through it to get it over with quicker.”

“What? No, that’s not it at all.” Yuno reassured him quickly. Perhaps too quickly.

“Well, what is it?” Asta asked, anger touching his voice. “Am I too weak for you now? I know I’m not in some fancy team like yours, but I’m still-”

“Asta.” Yuno cut him off, glaring himself. The look held so much conviction it choked off the remainder of the shorter boy’s words. “Don’t say that. Never say that.”

“Well, what is it?” Asta asked, quieter this time. Anger was gone now, replaced with confused hurt. “Why don’t you fight back?”

Yuno’s own glare dropped, replaced with…embarrassment? He averted his gaze, cheeks starting to redden. “I erm…it’s stupid.”

“So is your face, but I’m still here.” Asta replied automatically, earning a shove and a snort.

“Shut up…okay fine, I’ll tell you. But you have to promise you won’t laugh.” Yuno glared at him until Asta nodded. “I…kindalikeitokaysothere.” Yuno covered his face again, ears bright red.

Asta blinked. “Uh…that was a bit too fast. Could you say it again but slower?” Yuno groaned behind his hands. “What? I’m not good at fast sentences.”

Not to mention Yuno- usually unflustered, cool as ever Yuno, was a blushing mess! This must be something pretty important for him to act so…different. Asta hadn’t seen this version of him since he told him he was dating Leopold.

“Alright, alright. I…kinda like it. Being…tickled.” Yuno seemed to wince at the confession. “It’s…nice. Really nice actually. I don’t really know how to react when it happens so…yeah.” Yuno didn’t move his hands, too scared to see what would happen.

Asta chewed on it for a moment, humming. “Oh. Okay.”

Yuno blinked, finally looking at him. “Huh?”

Asta looked relieved. Happy really. “I was scared you were gonna say you were bored of me! That’s all? Man, Yuno- you act like that’s something to be ashamed of!” Asta shook his head fondly, reaching out and flicking the other’s forehead with barely any strength. “So that’s why you don’t fight back huh? You’re too busy having fun.”

“Erm…yes. I suppose so-ah! Ahehehehehehhe!” Yuno snorted when Asta’s fingers returned to his waist, pressing into the soft spots there once more. “Wait, whahahhahahahait!”

“Wait, nothing! You just told me you like being tickled! I’m not gonna let this info slide!” Asta grinned, a new determination in his eyes. “Now I know you’re having fun, I suppose I can go all out, huh?”

“Hahahahng on! Not ahahahahhahall ohoohohohohut!” Yuno could barely talk now; Asta’s fingers worked their way up his ribs, scratching into the spots between with surprising precision. “Ahahahahhahsta!”

“Oh, it’s Asta now? What happened to Shortsta?” The other teased, delighted. “Hm, your Ki reads differently. I guess that should have been my sign you were enjoying yourself all along, huh? My bad. Looks like I’m gonna have to make it up to you!” He dropped a hand to Yuno’s stomach, earning a squeak. “Heh, still so ticklish here.”

“Shhohohoohohortsiahahhahhaha! Plehhahahhahhahahse!” Yuno gave up on covering his face, pushing at the hands tracing random symbols against his stomach. His face was pink with laughter, and his smile was warm and charming. Oh, if only he had a spell that allowed him to make records. He’d show everyone it- “Look at him! Look how happy my friend is!”

One day that might change. For now, he’ll enjoy it for himself for now.

“Aahahahhahahhahstahhahahahahaha! GAH NOHOHOHOOO!” Yuno’s voice nearly cracked when Asta went for his neck, making him scrunch up and shriek. “DOHOHOOHON’T NOT THEHEHHEHERE!”

“Remind me to do this in front of Mimosia and Sir Spectacles next time we meet.” Asta grinned cheekily at Yuno’s reaction. “I bet they’d be thrilled to hear it.”

“SHUHUHUHUHUSH! GEHHEHEHET OHOOHOHOHOFF!” With a blast of wind that sent Asta flying, Yuno squirmed backwards, gasping for breath as he rubbed his neck. A foot away, Asta landed gently on the soft dirt, unharmed and near breathless with his own laughter. “Oo, do that again!”

“No whahay. Not with the fire.” Yuno groaned, unable to stay annoyed with Asta laughing before him. “You’re such a child.”

“Oh, we’re back at the short jokes, eh?” Asta grinned, though he made no moves to attack him. Instead he got comfortable, laying in Yuno’s spot. “Whatever. We’ll see who’s making jokes when I’m the Wizard King.”

“I already told you, it’s gonna be me.” Yuno rolled his eyes before lying down as well, not bothering with relocating. “But seriously…thank you. For not thinking I’m weird or anything like that.”

“Oh I think you’re weird, but it’s never for things like this.” Asta grinned, laughing as a gust of wind pulled his bandanna over his eyes. “Thanks, I needed an eye mask.”

Yuno snorted before closing his eyes, letting sleep take over as well.

No matter where they were, who they became or what journey lies ahead, Asta and Yuno would forever be them.

And they couldn’t ask for anything better.

I hope this was good!

[sourearth]

long overdue yuno & nijirō art post update 5!!

part 4 | part 3 | part 2 | part 1

work has been kicking my ass up until recently so i havent felt like working on this in a while, but im getting back into the swing of things now! i have spent lots of time adding clutter, looking for more references, adding more clutter, allowing the clutter to melt my brain, etc

as with the last post i dont have many interesting workflow insights, this stage has mostly been very grindy. i have also noticed that where i am very rusty with photoshop & no longer have my favourite brushes, everything is mad inconsistent - idk how much effort i can muster to correct that LMAO

the lack of lighting was also driving me insane so i did a (very) rough pass with some ambient occlusion!

i still need to add more clutter (aaaaAAAAaa) but once thats all finalised ill give the lighting another pass and then merge everything & paint over what needs polish! the end is in sight!! here’s the updated process gif:

ALSO very important note @wrenbii​ gave me the idea of yuno having pet rats and i was instantly enamoured, they’re perfect

(feat her additions of ken & her oc lerean hehehe)

[gunsli-01]

@dearmahiru So, this is my response to that last thing you wrote up. I want to preface this by saying there aren't any hard feelings on my part. However, I felt this needed to be said.

You questioned,

"My question is, "If it's compelling enough to be the literal conclusion of the novel then why only ask the non-interference question to those who paid money?" Moving on!"

My answer to this question isn’t too different from what I said regarding the novel before. Just because something was compelling enough to be addressed in a book doesn’t mean everyone has to enjoy that thing. Someone else finding it compelling enough to write about it or read doesn’t negate another person not feeling that way.  I don’t feel that way about the book. Personally, the premise wasn’t compelling, it was predictable and a drag to read.

For a litany of personal reasons that I discussed during my previous response.

For me it would be rather easy to vote Yuno, Futa, Mahiru, Kazui and Kotoko innocent if their murders were an indirect result of an action they chose to take. Especially in comparison to the people they're paired with, unlike those people they never bludgeoned, choked, or stabbed anyone. However, the point on non-interference has already been touched on in Milgram and it's not with any of the characters within this theory.

It’s literally a point Muu tries to make in her second voice drama when it comes to the bullying. This is done through her stating she never hit anyone or poured water on their heads. Yet, she let it happen regardless. Es even points out she let other people do it for her. So, this point has already been addressed in the series proper.

Even Mikoto in his written interrogation denounces violence entirely stating he hates it. So, that already says a lot when it comes to the other prisoners and this question. I don't believe there would be a point to separating the prisoners neatly between direct and indirect murders taking into consideration that they can and have covered the angle of non-interference with characters who did directly kill already.

Outside of me personally not liking the idea. Simply put there are just other possible explanations as to why Yuno, Futa, Mahiru, Kazui and Kotoko could be shown together outside of  the possibility of their murders being indirect.

For example, all of their cover songs since the beginning of Milgram have been about one-sided relationships. Yet, no one has highlighted that connection between them or attempted to investigate it further. Their trial two songs even continue this trend.

Furthermore, the novel has a different writer and was intended to be a different self-contained experience overall. This is usually how tie in media works. The creators and staff have made changes to the prison based on collaborations most recently they added a karaoke room to Milgram due to one.

However, no changes have been made to Milgram proper in regard to the novel. This may be because the novel seems to take place before Milgram as we know it now. Something alluded to within the story itself. If the events within the novel take place before Milgram proper sure they would have an impact on the facilities' growth, but it would not be a shot for shot recreation.

If anything, the novel shows us how Milgram has developed as a facility and gives insight into Jackalopes and the Guards roles within it. That’s kind of how tie in media works in general regardless of whether the material is a prequel or not. It doesn't make it any less important, but it doesn't necessarily mean it will heavily impact the other parts of the franchise.

I never had to and still don’t have to defend or explain how I feel or may continue to feel about the novel. Yet, I attempted to. Now was it as tactfully or politely as I could have? No. However, given that my personal tastes were used as a point of contention and then interrogated to the degree that they were I don’t feel it falls on me to apologize for that.

“ "I mean they could it would certainly be boring and stupid but they could."—Boring and stupid as opposed to...? Are you claiming it'd be better writing if there wasn't a pattern to the prisoner's crimes? You'd prefer if it was random? I suppose calling the idea stupid is meant to be karma for calling Mahiru poisoning someone ableist so I'd like to apologize for that again.”

I could very well do what you did with your response and just say moving on! Yet, I feel that would be a bit dismissive. Despite my personal media taste not having anything to do with the theory that Yuno, Futa, Mahiru, Kazui, and Kotoko’s murders were indirect. Nor do I understand how it got wrapped up into this. I don’t like the novel, it’s bad. Anyone else can think it’s good that doesn’t change the fact I think it’s bad.

Outside of that, yes for me personally it would be better if it turned out that there wasn’t a pattern like that between the crimes of the prisoners. Even though the prisoners within Milgram are just characters in a narrative it has been stated that they are being written with the intent of them coming off as real people, someone that a person could come across on the street, not caricatures. In real life not all people fit into certain patterns and neither do all crimes.

I believe it would be an unfair comparison to even pair them up in the way they did at that point. It’d be as simple as well I saw Haruka and Muu kill someone but Yuno and Futa never meant to intentionally harm anyone. Plus, they never even directly hurt anyone. They were just being themselves and living their normal lives. It’s not difficult for me to not punish someone to the extent that Milgram does over what would basically amount to an accident.

I’m not going to cut off someone’s leg because they screw up a dance routine. In the same vein I’m not going to force someone to undergo what we’ve been expressly told is mental torture and restraint because someone else decided to end their life cause they couldn’t deal with living in a world where they existed instead of I don’t know dumping their girlfriend, blocking Futa online, getting a divorce, or in Yuno’s case I’m not voting someone Guilty because they failed to use contraceptive properly and didn’t want to be a mom at eighteen so they got an abortion.

It's not as you put it,

“Okay, so you agree that "Would you punish someone even if their murder was indirect?" is a morally complex question. Glad we're on the same page here.”

I never agreed and the assertion that I did is a lot like putting words in someone else’s mouth, isn’t it? Something you accuse me of doing to you despite the language I used in my initial response being specifically chosen to avoid that. In fact, I’ve been saying this whole time that to me it is not entertaining or interesting or a complex question to ask because of the circumstances being discussed.

There are so many solutions or actions people outside of the prisoners themselves could have taken to remove themselves from the situations they were in. Now, before someone tries to say that’s victim blaming, I’m not saying they’re at fault for what the prisoners did to them regardless of if they caused harm to them directly or not. I’m saying if this is truly all they did anyone on earth could have made the same mistake as Futa and people continue to make that same mistake on the daily basis.

No, one knows what goes on behind the computer screens of others. For example, I openly stated in my reply to you that I was,

Feeling frustrated and spoken down to. “However, right now I don't know if you're making fun of me or not.”/ “I don't know if I'll be able to give this the attention it deserves since I am a bit ruffled.”

Not having the best week. “Sorry, sorry it's been a rough week ignore that. Gotta appreciates wins when you see them.”

Now, if I took your accusations of putting words in your mouth, misinterpretation of my statements, criticisms of my personal tastes any of that to heart and decided to harm myself. Would that suddenly be your fault? It's my belief that if I decided to do that without attempting to communicate the issue it wouldn't just be because of this instance but an accumulation of things within my life. That doesn't change that this one thing or interaction could have been the straw that broke the camel's back.

Still, if I decided to do that, if it got to that point that would be my decision and I wouldn't want anyone feeling responsible for that. Regardless of how they treated me in life. Because at the end of the day they didn't end my life I did. They can feel guilty about how they could've been nicer, been there more, said something a different way but like outside of that it's not their fault. So, no to me that's not a compelling or complex question, the only thing that would make it compelling or complex is if for some reason they knew full well their actions could have led to that outcome.

Like in the case of displaying suicide within media which many a psychiatrist has said impacts suicide rates. It's compelling to think if creators have a responsibility not to display or discuss those things in media given that knowledge. It's not compelling to me for people to seemingly put forth that accusing someone of doing something wrong online even with proof is a slippery slope because you never know how someone may take that sort of thing and media spaces social or otherwise tend to get carried away when it comes to punishing people outside of the law.

Something Milgram already pointed out during Yuno's first interrogation because she pretty much says that in reference to how the media treats adultery cases.

Blaming Futa for the hat girl's death just because he uses the internet is asinine. To be quite frank you very well could have made the same mistake he made three times over at this point.

People make mistakes even more now that the internet is a thing. People can get reckless with their words and sometimes mistakenly misinterpret others. That’s not them being complicit in causing indirect harm that’s making a mistake. Conflating that sort of thing to willfully killing a person doesn’t come off as complex to me, it comes off as demeaning to human life and suicide in general.

It sucks that the hat girl was harassed. It sucks that there is a precedent for that sort of harassment in online spaces. However, I severely doubt there’s one person in the Milgram fandom who hasn’t involved themselves with or interacted with a callout post. Especially given how many of the English-speaking fans over on Twitter and here call out fan artists daily.

Oh, or even those currently leaving comments to staff on videos telling them the way they translated a work they are releasing mostly for free is wrong. Something they didn’t have to go through the trouble of translating into English at all. If what Futa did under your theories framing of the events is murder and harassment. Then the only difference between most people who use the Internet and Futa is they haven't run into someone at a low enough point in their lives to do that in response to their callous behavior yet.

The indirect murder theory doesn’t appeal to me. It doesn’t make Milgram a more enjoyable series for me if I accept it as more than a possibility. It’s a possibility but it’s one I don’t like. So, I hope it’s not that. That isn’t a big deal in the slightest.

However, as I stated in my previous reply. It’s been a rough few weeks this one being the roughest so far. I’m irritated at feeling spoken down to and then when articulating my points being told I’m not doing so in the appropriate way i.e you yelled at me, you put words in my mouth, well you could’ve said that more nicely. Admittedly, I looked over my words before responding several times to not only put it as delicately as possible but take into consideration all of your points. It took all day to do and I did it even though I felt a certain way about it.

I went forward with the benefit of the doubt and admittedly a side of pettiness at some parts. Something I apologized for through dms. Before even reading all of what you said because I recognized I may have hurt your feelings. Yet, my feelings seem to be getting overlooked. It is not nice for me to be accused of doing things I didn’t do while seemingly having them done to me. It’s not fun to have my personal tastes used as a talking point to the benefit of someone else’s theory.

Then like I said before it wouldn’t even be fun for me if Milgram was that simple. That would be boring to me and I wouldn’t consider it to be redefining sin. It would be a surprising letdown coming from the writer behind Caligula Effect. A game gives the player the option to just kill everyone in it and cause societies collapse. Yet, the worse thing some of these prisoners did is use the internet, want control over their own bodies, get people who committed crimes incarcerated for said crimes through the legal system, cheat on their wife, and be a smothering presence for their romantic partner. Bet.

If that is the case, I have every right to find that boring and all five of them would be the least interesting prisoners to me.

“ "If you want to claim Fuuta indirectly killed the victim after they were already dead, then I'd like to know how that was."—It's really simple actually! I did not say that and I'm really confused where this came from.”

Now, I don’t know if the definition of the word “if” has been lost to time but for clarity’s sake.

I even highlighted my intended meaning when using the word for further clarity.

So, by the definition of the word “if” highlighted there one can infer that my statement was quite literally… If that is what you were trying to imply/say, then it would not make sense in the context of your theory. Then I went on to explain why I thought that.

My apologies in advance for interacting with this next statement through a lens of distrust.

“However, I'm once again confused by this section because it kinda feels like you're putting words in my mouth? Like, even if I called it ableist, at no point did I say it was untrue. I said there was a dissonance.”

During your response to my previous points despite the language you highlight me using.... It seems at every turn you're accussing me of putting words in your mouth or directly disagreeing with statements I did agree with over the course of everything I wrote.

At this point its semantics. You used inflammatory language in what could appear to be a deliberate attempt to shoot down my point even if you never said it was untrue.

“Also forgive me but there's a bit of a dissonance here for me that Mahiru wouldn't intentionally stress out her boyfriend but could exploit his allergies and even go as far as to keep the food in his throat. If she has such genuine hatred in her heart for her boyfriend to commit such a vile, blatantly ableist method of murder then I don't see why she wouldn't make him feel worse for kicks and giggles.”

I know you apologized for referring to it as ableist and I apreciate and accept the apology. This more so leans into a point I'm going to make later. I am not attempting to rub it in.

In comparison all the accusations hurled in my direction in your response, the number of things it purposely skips, and what it chose to highlight has left me feeling belittled, ridiculed, and as though most if not all of my sentiments were blatantly ignored or warped to their most negative extreme.

For reference and admission, I did take several petty jabs at this behavior. Those were bringing up Ageism and Nazi's. I'm a tit for tat type of person if you're going to use inflamatory lannguage it's best to be prepared for the other person to do the same to you. However, unlike with the ableism statement there was a basis to both of those statement.

I’ll go into your response to being met with the same behavior later.

“Okay, I'd like to preface this that I very much said it was my own opinion that Fuuta didn't doxx Magic. If you disagree with it then that's cool and fine and whatever. I'm not invested in arguing this point much.”

I'm going to be petty for a moment here, but I guess it’s really nice for people to be entitled to their own opinions and personal tastes… I wonder what’s that like. I’m trying my best not to be petty but at this point I feel as though I’m being treated like I’m less than a person and every sentence of this response I read is like rubbing salt in the wound.

Especially given how I used "if" in the statements previously highlighted by you and I was accused of putting words into people's mouths. At this point I’m starting to believe that the word doesn’t work how I believe it does. So, by using the same logic and scrutiny my words were treated with previously I’d be led to believe that here you could possibly be saying that I am in fact most definitely disagreeing with the Futa didn’t dox the hat girl theory.

When on the contrary I’m not disagreeing with a theory that my literal closest IRL friend came up with and has been pushing since I got her into Milgram far before Backdraft even came out. She been framing this guy fromd ay one she said and I quote, "They never give faces to people in anime unless they're important! Why this pink hair bastard got a face what did he do?!"

I was all like oh so having a face is crime now you gonna frame him for having a face when Futa's victim doesn't even have one... Now we know because of Rei that's just a true statement. Yeah, yeah egg on my face I said she was reaching because she liked him and look who got proven wrong and lives with it. That's how it goes.

The thing that I was and am still disagreeing with is the idea that it supports the indirect framing brought up within the theory presented. Because I do not see how it does which I said in my previous reply quite plainly. It’s even something you highlight at the beginning of your reply.

“However, the "Futa wasn't the one who did the doxing" theory used in this way directly serves to undermine the assertion that you put forth that murders can be indirect. I know Futa in general kind of puts a wrench in that normally because he's a bit of a difficult character. Everyone else in the group certainly has some give for there to be some room to doubt they directly killed someone. Yet, with him it's a bit difficult to believe that's the case given the very personal nature of the circumstances presented and the way they mirror Mu's.”

Yet, for some reason my words were misinterpreted here. To make it as simple as possible. I do believe Futa didn’t do the doxing and I did not set out to disprove that better yet. There’s something that’s never highlighted in your reply to what I said that proves I wouldn’t do that.

“So, let's run this back. You're saying there's a funeral lantern outside I can't dispute that and to be honest I really don't want to. Simply put this means Futa just never did anything wrong in his life and he shouldn't be here. Something I'm happy to hear. I definitely have a friend who would love to hear it as well.

Futa Innocent streak two in row. Never did a thing wrong but have fire songs. Okay maybe he took a picture of funeral lantern but the girl was already dead so why you going after him. Doxing been there done that can't dox someone when you didn't have their fucking address. Until after the fact complicit apart of the mob but you guys just keep singing along. Chirp, chirp, tweet, tweet click and send then the Innocent party can once again begin.”

Simply put, I mind the business that pays. It doesn’t pay me to disprove a theory I literally helped write after telling my friend for months she was just a notorious simp for redhead which she is and looking for an easy target to blame instead. I've been down this road I'm not doing it again that's the end of it. Egg on my face gonna wash it off and move forward. I don't want anymore I told you so's I get he didn't dox her I'm not doing this again you have me fucked up.

Because if she sees this she's gonna be like is this you, how many times do I have to teach you this lesson. Then I'm gonna be out here like it was misinterpretation of my wording I don't need this lesson again I'm minding my business I swear. You've proven it enough please just not again I already felt stupid once she thinks what's one more lap but it's like I'm already down can you not. I don't need this her chances of seeing this are slim but they exist and that's too much already.

Now, in my personal time I do reexamine my own beliefs and go over old hypothesis that I’ve had regarding the series. However, there’s enough information regarding Futa’s case to make the chances of him being responsible for the doxing not just questionable but completely unlikely. Something you and I both point out over the course of our replies.

I have no reason personally (oh god do I really have no reason personally) or intellectually to argue against that point. Behaving as if I did even hypothetically is just disingenuous because I made it incredibly clear that was not my intent. Given all of that this would just be you putting words in my mouth while accusing me of doing the same to you.

I took this a step further I messaged my friend asking her what she would do to me if i was going around online saying Futa did the doxxing still. Haven't gotten an answer yet because her phone is off. I did try calling first. I will be adding it once i do get the answer though.

You then continue to explain something to me that I already know.

"The way the first bolded point is framed, from my perspective, makes it looks as though Fuuta was working with total strangers when it came to Magic. This isn't the case. Fuuta had an entire friend group that he sent to harass magic."

However, you say Futa had an entire friend group and compare him and Mu's situations.

" "Fuuta is the bully and Mu is the bullied" is easily the most obvious parallel in Milgram. Yes, there's more nuance to it than that but Fuuta isn't some random guy passing through."

Let's take this logic a step further then, we've come to discover Mu was the leader of her group. If their situations are meant to contrast each other's then that's reason enough to interrogate the idea that Futa was working beneath someone.

Along with what I pointed out in my previous reply. Futa being quick to state that Kotoko is just being used by Es in his second voice drama. Them stating his father is a civil servant, his sister a beautician. Two service-oriented occupations. Here's some fun food for thought what if Futa's sister was Mahiru's beautician. Also, Futa being dressed as a knight and being the first to charge or storm in (ha ha get it Storm Pazuzu like storm a castle or siege it) at the end of Bring It On while Mu was the very last person to get her hands dirty in the situation she was in.

Also, knights tend to work beneath monarchy or for the people they aren't free agents and there's usually someone above them giving down orders.

Taking it a step further Pazuzu in Mesopotamian religion is the king of Wind Demons believed to have helped humans ward off other demons.

"Written sources which appear starting around 670 BCE describe Pazuzu climbing a great mountain and undergoing mythological combat against wind demons, a battle from which he emerged victorious and proved himself a threat to other dangerous demons. He is portrayed as a potential ally to humans who call on him for protection or display his icon, believing incantations and appeasement could instrumentalize his malevolent power against other demons."

Even the demon in his moniker is a literal servant to people. Jewelry having their likeness on it to ward off other demons.

Furthermore, the earliest archaeological evidence of Pazuzu was found in the grave of royalty. Even the lyrics of Backdraft pay homage to Pazuzu.

"Burn, burn! Open this door and check if you want to I’ll deign to hear your last words if you want, a vanishing FIRE."

"Pazuzu's iconography has puzzled archaeologists because of it's sudden and fully realized appearance in the archaeological record, displaying no apparent evolutionary stages. The lack of any earlier identifiable representation renders it impossible to pinpoint the exact geographical origins of the imagery, though it most likely developed in either Egypt or Mesopotamia."

"Bless me, please, with one more chance."

"He is portrayed as a potential ally to humans who call on him for protection or display his icon, believing incantations and appeasement could instrumentalize his malevolent power against other demons."

"Just like O2, burn yourselves into oblivion."/ "It’s so hot, so hard to breath, there’s no solace for my heart."

This one is sort of self-explanatory for someone associated with fire, the demon is specifically associated with wind. O2 is literally just two oxygen molecules. This also goes into the point of the next line.

"Flames closing in, are both sides losers? Flames closing in, can’t douse this FIRE."

"Pazuzu's head is sometimes depicted alone, it is often paired with the faces of other Mesopotamian Demons or Gods. Some Pazuzu amulets have images inscribed on their backs of deities who were considered permanent allies to humans, such as Ugallu and Lulal. Archaeologists conjecture that these pairings were meant to ensure Pazuzu's power remained directed away from human targets and protect the wearer from danger."

One could even make the argument that some of the physical traits Futa were inspired by Pazuzu as well. Though that sort of argument may only work for his teeth. What I'm getting at is at this point there's a reason they'd have Futa present as a knight and then Mu refer to herself as a Queen during her second trial and even call her second voice drama Queen Bee to am the point home.

Yet, it's this continued seemingly talk down attempt at educating me on matters I already know about that's giving me the impression you're either looking down on, making fun of me, or ignoring my points entirely in favor of only looking for statement you can contradict. These are all things I have discussed before and am rather familiar with which is why I added the references I did. Because again I extended the benefit of the doubt assuming that you may not have seen those posts.

"And it's not like I'm treading new ground here. "Fuuta is the bully and Mu is the bullied" is easily the most obvious parallel in Milgram. Yes, there's more nuance to it than that but Fuuta isn't some random guy passing through. To reiterate: I believe Fuuta harassed Magic but he didn't specifically doxx her. That was it."

This is another phrase that from my perspective only serves to further rub salt in the wound. It's definitely not treading new ground for me. To me this is the equivalent of walking down a remarkably familiar road as someone who just discovered it attempts to tell me the best places to eat at as I keep going,

"Excu-excuse me? Um, yeah that place is nice but- um you're being very kind explaining this to me but- no don't keep going. Fuck... Look, I live here okay! Right over there actually I don't need this tour it's polite but stop! I just wanna go to the corner store. You can come too but like can we have a conversation instead of you trying to educate me."

"Whuh—huh?? I wasn't intentionally skipping over this I've never heard the theory that Fuuta killed his previous friends before. Like, yes I've heard the theory that he was framed for doxxing but I thought it was too outlandish to bring up. I must've accidentally skimmed something you mentioned because I don't know where this came."

I linked it at the top for the purpose of avoiding this exact situation. I wrote it last year in October. Yet, it's very long... So, I understand why it would possibly be ignored. However, I even quoted it in my previous response and linked again.

"Oh, my god if someone knew that this person was your friend. Yet, encouraged you to do this anyway- Oh, fuck... "You already knew, the whole time. You can't escape how do you like the taste of punishment." Him angrily holding Es in undercover yelling at them. His heavy focus on making sure to take care of the folks younger than him in Milgram now. Despite what he says in the new voice trailer. It all makes so much more sense..."

I don't really have the right to complain about someone not doing the reading especially for something that is a hobby and done for personal entertainment. Regardless it doesn't stop it from coming off as a bit hurtful that I did everything in my power to avoid a misunderstanding and one seemingly occurred because all those efforts either went ignored or overlooked.

At a point you stated shock/alarm at the fact I would bring up Nazi’s regarding our conversation. Wondering how they played into anything. However, the conversation in my eyes seemed to directly mirror the point the original Milgram experiment set out to make. Something that I had apparently wrongfully assumed was common knowledge,

If Wikipedia isn't a good source there are others. X

This one is literally from an educational website. It has study questions and everything.

Here are some more some of them even arguing against Milgram's assertion that the study in anyway absolved what nazi's did some saying it did. X, X, X

Milgram gets its namesake from this psychological experiment while drawing inspiration from the Stanford Prison Experiment as well. It's a fact that one of these experiments has notable ties to the Holocaust. In that way this topic is directly connected to the point you presented. Since as you stated,

" "Would you punish someone even if their murder was indirect?" is a morally complex question."

That is quite literally what the Milgram experiment set out to prove albeit with Nazi's. It set out to show that people could not be blamed for their individual actions when being led or ordered by individuals they perceived as having authority. Because people were more likely to listen to authority figures or people they thought knew better than them even if what the authority figue was telling them to do was morally wrong.

This ties back to the idea that Futa was working beneath someone and felt more comfortable acting out in the way he did with the support of those around him. Who he may have believed were more knowledgeable and informed than himself. All that to say, it's not out of left field and it does have something to do with the discussion. Even if people don't enjoy the kneejerk reaction using terminology such as Nazi can elicit it was completely within the realm the conversation had been brought to even if it was done out of pettiness.

Directly and honestly engaging in the point you presented would logically lead to someone informed about these facts revisiting them. Again, though me bringing up Nazi’s specifically was a tit for tat jab at you using inflammatory terminology in what I felt to be an attempt to belittle my own theory of Mahiru poisoning someone. This was also the case with the ageism comment.

Anyone can use inflammatory language to undermine someone else’s speculations or beliefs. If one does it to someone else, they should rightfully expect it to happen to them in return. No, one likes to be accused of being something or affiliated with something they are not.

I'll say it one more time here me disliking the book and finding it boring and that ableism statement have extraordinarily little to do with each other. That’s just my personal taste and should never have been scrutinized. I’ve grown up on psychological thrillers and murder mystery media. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the story being the novel told would be predictable or boring to someone familiar with the genre.

I almost forgot to cover it but the reason I was saying that picking these five prisoners and saying that what they did might not be as bad as what the others did or was more indirect or unintentional wasn't me trying to say you were showing favoritism. Simply because if it were about favorites, I doubt Kotoko someone who jumped Mahiru would be a character high on any of the people that like Mahiru's list of characters to defend. Though that's just speculation on my part.

I said that because honestly I've seen how that whole this character proably isn't that bad thing plays out. First trial with Mikoto people just thought he was a little funny office worker MeMe came out and he was killing multiple people with a baseball bat something Undercover showed him doing and shouldn't have surprised anyone. This trial Haruka who in his first mv showed he killed animals was met with shock when it was like oh it's not that he doesn't understand he's a little fucked up actually. Like excuse me the first mv showed this. Then the whole Muu isn't a bully she's a victim who had to kill to stop the harassment oops our bad fuck her actually I feel lied to for falling for it.

Now she has the biggest Guilty verdict of any trial. Just because no one wanted to believe or even engage with the idea she could have been a bully. Taking into consideration all of that I don't necessarily see how claiming Mahiru or anyone's murder was indirect would help secure them an Innocent verdict when the mv could come out and depending on what's said in the interrogation we could hear or see her doing exactly what she was portrayed in Undercover doing. Like three other prisoners have been shown doing already then what she's guilty because oh it turned out she did do it with her own hands.

I've decided it's much better to interrogate the logical extremes than let people expect less than what we may get and react poorly once it comes out and vote a prisoner as guilty as Muu got voted day one. There's no coming back from that once it happens. So, expecting the unexpected is much better than being caught off guard.

[archiveikemen]

Abe no Yasuchika Main Story — Chapter 15

This is a fan-made translation solely for entertainment purposes with no guaranteed perfection; expect mistakes, grammatical errors, and some creative liberties. All original content and media used belongs to Cybird. Please support the game by buying their stories and playing their games. Reblogs appreciated.

Read this before interacting┊aikm’s Genjiden Glossary

He pushed my shoulder, causing me to stumble backwards and my back hit the door.

I ducked my head in fear when I realized I couldn't escape.

Yasuchika: You naughty girl.

Yasuchika: Since you're so desperate to find out more about me, why don't I personally share about myself with you?

Yasuchika: After all, you might never be able to return to the Shogunate.

(Does he know… what I was investigating?)

(Relax, Yuno. Don't panic.)

I took a deep breath and smiled.

Yuno: I have not the slightest idea what you're talking about. Is something wrong, Yasuchika-san?

Yasuchika: …

(Yoritomo-sama, this is fine… right?)

I recalled a conversation I had with Yoritomo-sama.

== Flashback Start ==

It was on the day I met up with Yoritomo-sama to report to him about my investigations in the mansion…

Yoritomo: Listen carefully. There is a high chance that Yasuchika is already suspicious of us.

Yuno: Um… that doesn't sound good.

Yoritomo: Whether good or bad, there has been a lot going on in the Imperial Court.

Yoritomo: As long as we don’t openly confront them about those, they will keep quiet in order to avoid causing a scene.

Yuno: Is that so…

Yoritomo: If they're up to no good, it means that they could be planning something that involves the war between the Shogunate and the Rebels.

Yoritomo: But since you’re part of the Shogunate, you can’t interfere with that either. So you can just take it easy.

Yuno: That's a relief to hear… although it's impossible for me to take things easy.

Yoritomo: We will pretend to behave as we usually do, but in our hearts we know that we are fooling them.

Yuno: Fool them… can I do that?

Yoritomo: Absolutely not.

(He didn't even hesitate!)

Yuno: Can you at least pretend to hesitate a little before straight up rejecting me…

Yoritomo: Letting you deal with Yasuchika directly without a solid plan is too dangerous.

Yoritomo: I only want you to remember one thing.

Yuno: What is it…?

Yoritomo: Smile.

(... Smile?)

Yoritomo: Basically, it means… “I’m not going to surrender to your threats, but I don't want to hurt you either.”

Yoritomo: He will know what your smile means if he reads between the lines.

Yoritomo: At this moment, the Imperial Court has yet to reach the point where they can simply get rid of you. So that should be enough to keep you out of trouble.

== Flashback End ==

Yasuchika: … Right. If you’re clueless, that means I was just overthinking.

(... I think I can go with the excuse that it was a coincidence that I witnessed what happened just now.)

Yasuchika: Well then, did it surprise you to see something like that?

Yuno: Yeah… it did.

Yuno: I always thought that the art of Onmyō magic was a graceful power used to help people. So, why?

Yasuchika: You want to know why I’m using it to do evil deeds?

Yuno: … Yes.

Yasuchika: I receive countless requests from court nobles to help them defeat their political opponents using black magic.

Yasuchika: Usually, I’d turn them all down. But recently… I just thought it's not a bad idea.

Yasuchika: Ayakashi want to harm humans. Humans want to harm one another. They're the same thing, don't you think?

Yuno: What about the victim…?

Yasuchika: I’ll interfere if things get too messy.

Yasuchika: But I don't really see why I should involve myself in a fight between people who take advantage of their political positions to fill their pockets and the spirits of the mountains and rivers.

I couldn't tell what I was feeling at that moment. Was it anger? Or sorrow?

I clenched my fists tightly and forced back my tears.

(I don't know whether black magic has anything to do with the Imperial Court’s plan, but I can’t keep silent about this.)

Yuno: … Then, what about you? What do you think about all this?

Yasuchika: Hm?

Yuno: Back in the garden at the castle in Kamakura, you showed me your Onmyō powers.

Yuno: You told me that you invented that spell when you were a child to make it look like there were stars glowing everywhere in the dark night sky…

Yuno: Do you really want to use black magic to hurt people?

Yasuchika: …

Yuno: You’re capable of such beautiful things.

Yasuchika: Pretty things are of no use.

After a stifling moment of silence, Yasuchika-san lifted a corner of his lips.

Yasuchika: Onmyō magic is the work of human beings, it’s no miracle.

Yasuchika: Unlike the kind of powers Ayakashi have, we have many restrictions. The more powerful we become, the greater the price we have to pay.

Those words were like poison to my heart.

Yasuchika: We could sacrifice a bone, a piece of flesh… or more than that.

Yasuchika: But for a goal we’re willing to even go down on our hands and knees for… it's only a tiny price to pay.

(What’s making him want to go to such extremes?)

Yuno: What is your goal…?

Yasuchika: Well.

Yuno: Is it for Akihito-sama?

Even though I stepped closer to him, I couldn't see any hints of discomposure in his face.

Yasuchika: If you want to go that deep into my heart, you’re going to have to pay for it.

Yuno: What’s the price?

Yasuchika: For example, I could get in the way of your plans.

Yasuchika: How about I stop you from participating in the war and helping the Shogunate?

Yuno: … No way.

Yasuchika: You can't do that?

Yasuchika: Then I’m done talking.

(— He’s cornering me.)

Yasuchika: The two of us live in completely different worlds, and see different things.

Yasuchika: Don’t you think it's better for you to avoid dealing with people like me?

Yuno: I…

Yuno: I’m going to be your assistant until the day I return to Kamakura.

(Even though you’re on the enemy’s side, my desire to understand you is genuine.)

Yuno: Is it wrong for me to look up to someone who lives in a different world from mine, and want to understand him?

Yasuchika: … Yuno-san.

Overwhelmed by emotions, my voice grew hoarse.

Yuno: Despite spending so much time with you already, I still don't know a lot about you.

Yuno: But… just because I don't understand someone, it doesn't mean that I can't like them.

Yasuchika: …

(I’m well aware that what I’m saying right now could be dangerous.)

I bravely looked straight into Yasuchika-san's eyes.

Yuno: — Please excuse me.

Yasuchika-san didn't stop me when I opened the door and left.

After Yuno left…

Yasuchika: …

After standing still for a while, Yasuchika placed a hand over his chest.

Yasuchika: It's all in my head.

Ibuki: What's all in your head?

Yasuchika: …!

Yasuchika frowned at Ibuki, who entered the room through the open door.

Yasuchika: What are you talking about?

Ibuki: I was surprised to hear that. I just happened to be passing through the corridor when I came across a crying Yuno, it made me hesitate to mess with her.

Ibuki: It was worth my effort coming in here to see that stupid look you have on your face.

Yasuchika: I wonder how the hell have you been alive for 1200 years but still have nothing better to do for entertainment apart from mocking others.

Ibuki: People like you are the ones keeping me entertained.

Ibuki: So— what’s the matter, Yasuchika?

Ibuki gleefully directed his gaze toward Yasuchika's hand.

Ibuki: I’m going to laugh my ass off if you tell me Yuno stabbed you in the chest because you went overboard.

Yasuchika: Like hell I’ll do such a thing.

Yasuchika: But…

Ibuki: But…?

Yasuchika mumbled reluctantly.

Yasuchika: I don't know what it is… it's like there's something in here… and it hurts.

Ibuki: …

Yasuchika: What's with that face?

Ibuki: — Nevermind.

Ibuki shrugged. He seemed to have changed his mind after wanting to say something.

Ibuki: Maybe it’s an eel bone that got stuck again.

Yasuchika: Huh? What the hell are you saying?

Ibuki: When you were a kid, I was kind enough to feed you the best eels I could find. But you made a fuss about it, remember?

Yasuchika: You knew I hated them, and yet you kept using them to pester me.

Ibuki: Even a man who would break his own fingers without a second thought can say such weak things just because he choked on an eel’s bone one time.

Yasuchika: Those are two completely unrelated things. This is why you demons don't get human emotions.

Ibuki: — At least I have a more “human” interpretation of what could be happening to your heart than you can ever come up with.

Yasuchika: …? Come what now?

Ibuki: Nothing.

Ibuki pretended he didn't mutter those words under his breath.

...

The day before the meeting Doman mentioned…

(Yoritomo-sama mentioned that Yasuchika-san could be trying to forcefully gain control of the Imperial Court’s internal affairs.)

I had already reported to Yoritomo-sama regarding Yasuchika-san’s usage of black magic.

As I was strolling through the garden in between my errands, I recalled a past conversation.

(By providing the court noble with black magic, he will defeat all his political opponents. Then Yasuchika-san will take advantage of it and force that court noble to join his side, and change the balance of power in the Imperial Court in his favor…)

(Is that what Yasuchika-san is trying to do?)

(If that is the method that will give him results in the shortest amount of time… I can see why he chose to do it.)

Ibuki: Got something on your mind?

Yuno: Oh, Ibuki.

Ever since then— I had been spending time with Yasuchika-san and the others as usual, although that was what it looked like on the surface.

I looked down at the baggage he was carrying.

Yuno: Are you headed somewhere?

Ibuki: There's going to be a festival tonight, so I thought I’d stay outside Kyōto.

Yuno: During the festival, all the Onmyōji will be working together to perform a ritual to reinstall the magic barriers surrounding Kyōto, right?

Yuno: Considering it’s a large-scale ritual, I thought you would stay behind to help Yasuchika-san.

Ibuki: Unfortunately, my presence will only get in their way.

(Get in their way?)

Akihito: Yuno. Ibuki.

Yuno: Akihito-sama!

I bowed when I saw Akihito-sama walking towards us.

Ibuki: Oh, Akihito. Are you going to tonight's festival?

Akihito: I won’t get in its way, but I won’t be of much help either.

Akihito: I have some business to attend to outside Kyoto, so I won’t be going to the festival.

(I see…)

(If Yasuchika-san were to make use of the Imperial Court to backstab the Shogunate, what roles would the two of them play?)

(Of course, they’d be involved in the planning process.)

— The Shogunate has been looking into the backgrounds of Akihito-sama and Ibuki, but they haven't found anything so far.

Akihito: Yuno, are you going to assist Yasuchika?

Yuno: I’ll help out a little with the preparations for the ritual.

Yuno: Since I can’t help him with the ritual itself, I guess I’ll just stick around to watch what happens.

Akihito: It’s a grand-scale festival, you should take the chance to enjoy the beauty of Kyōto.

Ibuki: Don’t get lost, yeah?

Yuno: I’m a grown woman!

(How I wish… all suspicions will be cleared up and we can laugh together like this again.)

My heart ached because I truly enjoyed our friendly chats.

...

As night fell, the festive lights in town lit up.

(The festival is so lively!)

After walking around the night market for a while, I moved away from the crowd to take a break…

Woman: Excuse me! By any chance, have you seen a lonely little boy around?

Woman: His kimono has green dye patterns on it.

Yuno: I don't think so… is he missing?

Woman: Yes, he vanished the moment I took my eyes off him… I wonder where he went.

Watching the mother panic made me feel bad for her.

Yuno: If you want, I can help you look for him. I’ll take him to you if I find him.

Woman: Oh, um… will that really be okay with you?

Yuno: It's dangerous for young children to wander off by themselves.

I made an appointment with the mother to meet up in a few hours, and left to search elsewhere for the missing boy.

…

Yuno: Hm… it's so hard to look for someone here.

(I ended up in a place where there's not a single person in sight.)

Suddenly, a fog surrounded me and made me feel uneasy.

(Yasuchika-san should be in the middle of performing the ritual now, right?)

I couldn't help but smile wryly at the way Yasuchika-san was the first person I thought of in such a situation.

At that moment —

I heard the faint jingling of bells amidst the thick fog.

(There’s something up ahead… oh!)

An old makeshift shrine came into view.

A group of people dressed in white and carrying parasols were walking around it in a procession.

(That shrine looks kind of strange. And why are they dressed in white when there's a festival going on?)

(I had a bad feeling about going somewhere outside the main town like this…)

I got the creeps and hid in the shadows when…

A strong gust of wind blew away one of the parasols in the procession.

(Ah.)

Ayakashi 1: This is useless.

The face that was previously hidden by the parasol had only one eye.

Yuno: …. Ggh…

I crouched down and tried to stop myself from screaming.

(Could it be that… everyone in that procession… is an Ayakashi!?)

Ayakashi 2: I’m hungry.

Ayakashi 3: Doman-dono, you told us that we would have humans to feed on.

Ayakashi 4: Eat. Eat. Eat.

(Those Ayakashi are the work of Ashiya Doman!?)

(There's too many of them… I need to hide.)

Ayakashi 5: It is just as you said, Doman-dono. All the Onmyoji in the capital, with the exception of one, are a bunch of idiots.

(That “one” is referring to Yasuchika-san, right? And Doman is involved again…?)

Ayakashi 6: It was so easy to fool them all.

Ayakashi 7: After tonight, Kyoto will belong to the Ayakashi.

Ayakashi 8: That's right, there’s even a festival tonight.

Ayakashi 9: Our festival!

Ayakashi 10: Hold on.

The procession that had been going on as they spoke, suddenly stopped.

(Eh?)

Ayakashi 10: I smell a human being nearby.

Yuno: …!

(Was I discovered!? What should I do—)

Right when I was about to run for my life…

Child: Uwaaaaaahhhh…!

(A child…?)

One of the Ayakashi picked up a small child from behind the bushes.

Child: Let go of me! Mommy…!

(A kimono with green dye patterns! This is the little boy I’m looking for…)

Ayakashi 10: It’s a human child. Let’s eat him.

Ayakashi 11: Count me in! I want to eat too!

Ayakashi 12: Give me one of those pretty little eyeballs.

Child: Ueee… someone… save me…

(... Darn it, I can't just leave him alone.)

Ignoring my fear, I sprinted towards them.

Yuno: Take your filthy hands off that child!

All Ayakashi: …!

I snatched the little boy away and held him tightly.

Ayakashi 13: This woman…! That's my prey!

Child: B-Big sis… who are you…?

Yuno: Run!

I pulled his little hand and started running.

All Ayakashi: Hey!

(Kyaa!?)

My body was shoved from behind by an invisible force, causing me to fall forward.

Child: Onee-san!

Yuno: Don't stop! Run!

I pushed the little boy’s back to urge him to run, then turned around and raised my palm at the Ayakashi.

Yuno: Powers of the Nine Tailed Fox — take away their powers!

An invisible attack from one of the Ayakashi sliced through the air.

But a golden mist rose from the ground and absorbed its powers with every attack.

Ayakashi 14: What the hell!? Who is this woman—

(That child must escape to safety. I need to hold them back…!)

I scolded my legs for trembling.

Yuno: Just a little more…

(... Fortunately, I have some experience in dealing with Ayakashi. Thanks to Yasuchika-san.)

I felt the burning in my palm and stared straight ahead.

(If only Yasuchika-san were here.)

But I knew that was too much to wish for.

(I'm suspicious of Yasuchika-san, and he’s aware of that… we don't have the kind of relationship whereby I can call him for help.)

Ayakashi 15: This lowly human being is so arrogant!

Ayakashi 16: We can get rid of her fast if all of us attack her at once.

(... Uh oh.)

Tossing aside their parasols, all the Ayakashi approached me at the same time.

(Is this the end of me?)

I was beginning to lose all hope, but then—

Yasuchika: — Looks like it's not only humans who tend to get too carried away during festivals.

Yuno: Yasuchika-san!

A revoltingly reassuring voice sounded out. Yasuchika-san was standing right next to me.

(Why is he here…?)

Yasuchika: … You need to quit being so reckless.

Yasuchika: I seriously can’t take my eyes off you for even a second.

Yuno: You really came to save me…

I felt a warm hand on my head when I was about to burst into tears.

Yasuchika: You did a good job hanging on by yourself so far. Good girl.

[whispersbelongingbird]

 Hahhahhhaahhahah It’s done! I finished this earlier than expected, I usually take awhile.. But here it is!  Just a thank you to @clowncatss for the idea! I really enjoyed writing this so thank you again! And i hope you enjoy!

Falling Under

“Yes! Sure! I know he is very busy and being the prince of the spade is hard.. But two whole months, Noelle?!”

Leopold was in the middle of rambling to Noelle about his boyfriend. Yuno has not been Yuno recently.. He has been away in the spade for awhile now, he would come back to the clover every now and then, but a lot of that time would be him in the Golden Dawn drowned in paperwork.

Yuno used to send Leo letters on about how he is doing and when they will meet up next, but that only lasted for about three weeks.. He would come by to say hi and everything but it happened about once a 5 or 6 days.

“I’m sure he-”

“Stop, we all know he isn’t paying and mind to that” Leo interrupted watching Noelle as she took a deep breath.

“Listen, Leo I know how you feel but I think you should see it from his point of vie-”

“He has been so careless lately!” Leo interrupted again

He took a seat on Noelle’s bed, staring down; hands in lap. “I’m not mad at Yuno.. It’s just..” Leo stopped himself trying to find the right words.

He truly wasn’t mad at Yuno! That was pure honestly! He was just hurt and it only grew more as Yuno was away. As a royal he understood the amount of stress Yuno must be under, it’s not something easy to deal with, but it just seems like Yuno couldn’t care less anymore.

Noelle put a hand on Leo’s shoulder and smiled softly towards him. “Hey.. I’m sure he feels the same way as you..”

“He is the one being neglected is he..” Leo mumbled to himself  “What?” “Nothing”

≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫

Leo was walking through the crimson lion kings headquarters, head down thinking to himself.

‘Did I do something wrong?.. Of course being super busy is a thing but it doesn’t me avoid me for a whole two months along with that!.. I mean he came by a few times, but it is only a 30 minute maximum thing. Ugh! Why can-’

“Leo!”

Leo whipped his head to the voice from behind him. Thank god they stopped his thoughts, otherwise who knows what conclusion he would have ended up with. He was working on not to overthink things, failing horribly so far..

“Randall!” Leo smiled at the older man as he walked over to him. “Do you need anything?”

“Not me, but the captain wants to talk to you, I’m going on a mission” He smiled back.

“Okay then.. Thanks for telling me and good luck on your mission!” Leo respond waving at Randall walking away from him slowly. 

‘I wonder what he wants..’ Leo thought looking down away.

As he continued to walk he ended bumping his head into the door of his brothers office. He hissed in pain as he brought a hand up to his forehead. ‘Well that’s one way to knock’

“Come in!” His brother yelled from inside the room.Leo took a deep breath as he reached out to the door knob twisting it slowly and pushing it open. 

His brother greeted him with a small smile, Leo gave one back in return.He closed the door behind him and took a few more steps forward.

“Randall said you wanted to talk to me?” He tilted his head.“Oh! Yes, nothing serious I just wanted to let you know we will be having a family dinner today. Which means mum and dad will be there” Fuegoleon smiled.

Leo paused, the words ‘family dinner’ flooding his brain. It doesn’t sound too bad..

“Okay! Thanks for telling me, is there anything else?”

“Actually, I heard Yuno came back from the spade, I haven’t seen you two interact that much, maybe you could go and catch up with him” Fuegoleon turned to him, his expression soon turned into a confused one as he saw the look on his brothers face. 

Leo was looking down, you could see the sorrow expression he was displaying. His brother only looked at him confused and concern for the younger.

“Leo, are you okay? Did something happen between you and Yuno?” Fuegoleon questioned seeing how Leopold’s head shot up.

“Me and Yuno? No we are fine don’t worry! Speaking of Yuno I’m going to go to him! Bye!” Said Leo speed walking out of the room leaving his brother stunned.

Leo closed the door behind him and started to make his way out of the headquarters. 

‘Yuno’s back.. but he hasn’t reached out to me. Maybe I could confront him? No! He is just going to think I’m selfish, what if he doesn’t even want to see me? Argh! Screw it’ Leo stopped his thoughts as he ran out making his way to the Golden Dawn.

≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ Leo stood outside of Yuno’s room debating whether to go in or not. Mimosa had told him where he was but she had also told him he was very busy. Leo would knock but if he did Yuno would probably not respond since he is most likely absorbed into what he is doing. Leopold took a deep breath and slowly reached out to the door knob. ‘come on Leo! It’s not that hard.. Just open the door and go talk to him!’ Leo tried to reassure himself.  He turned the door knob slowly and gave the door a slight push. ‘Leo.. You have already opened the door, there is no backing out now..’ Leo told himself as he fully opened the door and closed it from behind him not daring to look at Yuno.  Slowly turning his head around he sees Yuno sitting down with a pile of papers next to him. Leo sighed and walks over to Yuno. ‘He hasn’t even notice I came in!’ Leo thought as he stood behind Yuno’s chair.  He put a hand on the back of his chair moving to his side to see what Yuno was writing. 

After a few seconds of standing there Yuno finally notices Leopold. “Oh! Leo?! Sorry, I didn’t see you..” Yuno mumbled glancing over at him. Leo just stared at him and smiled softly.  “Hm.. Hi!” He smiles as Yuno gave him a smile back.  Before Yuno was able to go back to what he was doing. Leo shot him a hug wrapping his arms around Yuno’s neck giving him a kiss on the cheek. Yuno was surprised but he hugged back and let out a chuckle.  Yuno was expecting Leo to Pull away but he didn’t so Yuno softly pushed his chest moving Leo away from him. “Sorry Leo..I’m a little busy right now.” Leo moved away from Yuno and crossed his arms turning his head away from him. “You know.. Would it hurt just to spend some time with me?” Leo said then covered his mouth as he didn’t mean to let it out. “Did you say something?” Yuno questioned turning to Leo who was avoiding eye contact. “Sorry I didn’t hear..” Yuno apologised seeing Leopold look down a clench his fist. Yuno put his hand on his and looked at him. “Leo..?” Leo snatched his hand away and took a few steps away from Yuno. Yuno stared at him in shock then back at his work. He didn’t have time to deal with Leo. Yuno sighed and turned in his chair to face Leo.

“what happened?”  “You happened” Leo Yelled putting both arms by his side and turning his head away from Yuno. Yuno stared at him in shock, he was confused. He thought Leo was upset because of something else, he didn’t think that he had done something..?

“Two months Yuno! Two months I have had to deal with you avoiding me! Yes you are in the spade and all but that doesn’t mean you come back and lock yourself in the Golden Dawn, Yuno what about us?! What about our relationship, yes being busy is a thing but how much more longer am I going to have to keep up with this?!” There it was. Leo let everything out and looked down while Yuno stared at him.

“You know, it’s not easy going back and forth between kingdoms? Yes I’m sorry I have haven’t been myself but you can’t be mad at me for that?” “Yuno! I’m not mad at you I’m upset! Yes I understand you don’t have things easy but you’re making things harder for yourself by doing it all at once, you are neglecting our relationship Yuno! Yes I know how you feel you are stressed, tired and you want to get this all over with! But you are letting your emotions effect on how you treat other people! Do you really think that’s fair?!” Yuno looked at Leo then stood up from his chair. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Mimosa put her ear onto the door listening to Yuno and Leo argue. She sighed as she pulled away turning to Klaus. “Neither of them are in the wrong.. They both have their reason, it’s just..” She stopped herself. Klaus lifted his glasses and put an arm on Mimosa shoulder. “ They will make it up soon, hopefully” He smiled at her, she smiled back as they walk away from outside of Yuno’s room.

≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ A family dinner, right after an argument, great! There was Mereoleona, Fuegoleon and his mother and father present at the dinner. He really didn’t feel like eating anything right now..  Mereoleona eyed her brother as Leopold poked at his food head resting on his arm. She threw her fork at him making him shot up. “Mereoleona!” Her mother interrupted shooting her daughter an annoyed look then turning to Leopold. Leopold look down avoiding eye contact with his family. Mereoleona was good and seeing emotions, she is going to figure something out and make him spit it out, he has to be careful around her. "What?! He is obviously upset" She complained turning to her mother. "Can't we have one family dinner where everything is calm.." Their father mumbled looking down. Everyone got back to eating while their Father was explaining some story, Leo had no idea what she was talking about but his mother and Fuegoleon seemed invested. Mereoleona kept eyeing Leopold, she clearly knew something was wrong with him.. Leopold only turned away from her to look at his Father. He could see his brother staring at him from the corner of his eye. Hopefully this would end soon so he can lock himself up in his room. 

‘What did I do? Where did I mess up.. Why did I visit Yuno!? If only time travel was a thing.. But maybe Yuno will think about it and see it from my point of view. God, who am I kidding! It’s not like has enough time to be thinking about me..! Why can’t he just understand that he is messing up things for me and himself! Is it that hard to accept your own mistakes?! Sure yes he is busy and stuff bu-” Leo had to cut his thoughts as he realise he had bent the fork he was holding from clenching his fist. His whole family was now staring at him in confusion.  “Leo.. Are you alright?” Fuegoleon asked looking at his brother. Leo only gave a smile smile and looked away trying to avoid eye contact. “I’m fine! Just been thinking that’s al-!” Mereoleona interrupted Leopold by slamming her fist onto the table giving him a death stare, everyone flinched back staring at her. “It’s that stupid Golden boy isn’t it?! Fuegoleon told me you went to visit him and when u come back you act like this?! Where the hell is he!” She shouted getting up from her chair in an attempt to leave and find Yuno, Although, Fuegoleon stopped her. “Don’t assume things so fast and sit back down, what if Yuno didn’t really do anything?” Mereoleona took a deep breath then turned to Leo. If Fuegoleon wasn’t her brother, he wouldn’t have been alive right now. “Fine then, Leopold.. Was it Yuno who got you acting like this?!” She questioned in an aggressive tone.  “Calm down all of you!” Their father yelled gaining all the attention.

 “Mereoleona, Leopold will tell you whats bothering him whenever he feels like it, for now sit back down!” He shouted towards the end. “You think I’m just going to let that boy-” “JUST SHUT UP!, I’m tired of all this! I’m not five I can take care of myself, yes me and Yuno got into an argument but that’s between us and you have no right to interfere!” Leo snapped catching his breath, then he realised what he said and covered his mouth. He looked around and quickly lowered his head. “Sorry.. I think I need some air..” Said Leo speed walking out of the dinning room ≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ Leopold has just exited the Vermillion estate. Everything was going way too fast. His thoughts couldn’t keep up with him and he couldn’t keep up with his thoughts..  He just kept on walking until he realised he hadn’t brought his grimoire.  It didn’t matter too much as the Vermillion estate was right there. Then again you never know what could happen. Leo took a few more steps until he took notice of a certain someone. “Asta!” Leo shouted trying to gain the attention of the boy. He saw Asta turn around and his eyes widen as he run up to him. “ LEO!” HE yelled throwing his hands onto Leopold’s shoulders. “Leo! Yuno has been looking for you! Where have you been!”  Yuno? Looking for him?! Weren’t they fighting 4 hours ago.. Leo would think Yuno wants nothing to do with him currently, but it seems not.  “He just left! Ill go get him you stay here!” Asta yelled as he ran off leaving Leopold stunned.  Everything was going fast, too fast! Nothing was making sense! Leo just wanted to do nothing but sleep his problems away. If only it was possible..  -- -- -- Asta had brought Yuno to Leo and currently the two were staring at eachother. The last time they met didn’t go so well. So hopefully they will make up! That is.. if one of them will talk first.. They stood there for sometime until. “Um.. Yun- Yuno.. I’m sor-” “No.” Yuno interrupted making Leopold’s eyes widen. “I’m sorry. It is true I have been a total jerk! I should have payed more attention to you and how you feel, it must have been hard for you to have to deal with.. I am sorry! I’m really not good with stuff like this but leopold I really a..m..” Yuno stopped himself, startled. Leopold had went in and gave Yuno a hug. He closed his eyes and laid his head on his chest. Yuno did nothing but hug him back. “I’m sorry.. You didn’t have it easy either.. Like you said, going back and forth... I must have sounded pretty selfish back then..” Leopold apologised moving back to look at Yuno, he gave a small, as did Yuno. “It’s fine, we were bound to get into an argument sometime..” Yuno chuckle. “So, we good?” Leo questioned hesitant. Yuno nodded his head making Leo jump into his arms  “Love you!”.

This went by fast.. Very fast but in the end it turned out alright. People get into arguments time to time, but that is just something normal most people go through! “Love you too..”