#at least....phos was happy in the end

[sleepyminty]

Gonna love how studio orange leaving their anime with their characters at their lowest point :legosi now has a criminal record and quit school, vash is suffering with the aftermath of whetever happened in ep 12 and at their erik phase, phos is still at his phase 1 depression.

[sassyfever]

I see a lot of people say that Phos is the black sheep because they have empathy and compassion that other gems lack; But I absolutely disagree with that, Phos has about the same emotional range as any other gem. Phos is an outlier because they are not content with being complacent and ignorant.

[deadinthename]

Houseki no Kuni ch. 108 pg. 15 - The End

cried a little bit reading this.

i hope phos is happy and content, wherever they are. thank you, haruko ichikawa, for all you've done. this has helped me through one of the worst times in my life and followed me into now. i feel like i grew and changed alongside phos and we both ended in a pretty good place. there's much to go for me, but at least for little phosphophyllite, hardness of 3, they'll remain enlightened and content.

[king-paimon]

Houseki no Kuni Chapter 104 Thoughts: "My Way" By Frank Sinatra

Hello everyone! I hope your month had gone by well. Mine had been...eventful, to say the least, though I suppose things could have turned out much worse.

Anyways, that's not what this is about. I just finished going through the latest chapter and... wow. That last image. Many fans have pointed out the signs, and I think it's safe to say that those last few pages confirm how this long saga is finally going to end...

BUT before I get into that, as always, I'll share some of my thoughts in this post. This will be long and ramble-y as usual (I truly meant to keep it short this time, I swear! It just kept getting longer and longer...) and I may come back to update some things. And as always, please feel free to share your own thoughts!

BTW: After reading this chapter a few more times and struggling with a title for the post, "My Way" by Frank Sinatra kept popping up in my head. It's honestly pretty fitting. That's why it's my title now. Please look up the song and lyrics when you get the chance and you'll hopefully see what I mean.

View of Humanity Through Untainted Eyes (Or lack thereof...)

Like the last couple of chapters, this chapter was dialogue heavy and it was admittedly hard to pick which parts I liked the most. Eyeball's (Or should I address him as "Brother"?... I'm sticking with "Eyeball") dramatic performance at the beginning was very funny and informative. It really showed how much he not only hated humanity and yet valued the professor during her final moments. And his talk with Phos at the end of the chapter was engrossing. But for this section, I'll mostly focus on Phos's interactions with the pebbles; I'll focus more on the first pebble in the following section.

Phos has truly become a teacher/mentor-like figure ( and dare I say even parental figure) for these pebbles, especially because of how they spoke to them. Phos literally reminded me of a thoughtful pre-school teacher with how patient they are with each of the pebbles and giving them the chance to express their differing opinions and giving what I think were appropriate responses. In some ways, Phos's mannerisms in this chapter reminded me of Adamant, though Phos's approach with these pebbles seems more gently, at least to me.

Hmm...You know what's funny? As I was writing this portion, a little thought popped into my head claiming that Phos may have inadvertently adopted more of Adamant's habits than I first realized. I'll try to explain more on this in the next portion.

But let me first go back to another thing that I liked about Phos's interaction with the pebbles: their individual responses. It could have been so easy to have the pebbles all be likeminded after hearing the history of humans, but that's not what we got. Each pebble had their own opinion; some were curious, some were scared, some were right in the middle, and a few seemingly blasé. I don't know why but I like how these varying responses further emphasize that the pebbles individuality goes deeper than their varying appearances and mannerisms. And I'm also thankful that Phos and Eyeball weren't seemingly perturbed by their responses... at least Eyeball wasn't.

"I want everyone to be happy": Naivety or Profound Point of View?

Now let's focus on the main pebble, because of course, out of all the responses, their response to Phos and Eyeball had the most weight despite how simple it sounds on the surface.

You can argue that the pebble's response was due to their naiveté, but I think this pebble has repeatedly shown that their nuanced view of the world around them is sophisticated and mindful. After being told by Phos and Eyeball about how fascinating and yet awful humans were and even acknowledging humanities good and bad qualities, the pebble still believed that everyone deserves happiness, even those considered "bad".

I couldn't agree more with Eyeball and Phos on this page:

At first, I thought that these innocent and yet wise responses reminded me of old Phos, but the more I thought about it, this couldn't be further from the truth. While Phos was also very naïve at the beginning of the story, I think they were to lost in their own heads to truly think outside of their own unrealized desires, even when they claim their actions were to help everyone. So if you were to tell old Phos the stories of humanity and ask them the same questions, I don't think we would have gotten the same answers the pebble gave. And the more I think about, I doubt Phos would have ever made the same conclusion at any point in their story. There's nothing wrong with that, but that just has me thinking... It's interesting how this small pebbles seem more empathy for others than the previous human descendants, from the Lunarians, Admirabilis, and the even the Lustrous, even though they looked more human.

Tell me what you think! This was weird character analysis tangent and I'm curious to know if anyone has feels similarly or differently. But speaking of Phos's character... Onto the next section!

Friend to Closed Off Guardian: The barrier between Phos and the pebbles

While I was typing the paragraph that focused on Phos's mentor-like persona, I made a small realization. Is it just me or doesn't Phos's interactions with the pebbles feel different now? Yes, I pointed out that Phos is acting like a kind teacher in this chapter and I could be overanalyzing this, but while this interaction is cute on the surface, I can't help but feel there is more to this interaction. This is why I brought up Adamant, for Phos's interactions with the pebbles in this chapter reminded me of a certain aspect of Adamant's old relationship with the Lustrous.

As you may recall, Adamant assumed a leader/guardian role with the Lustrous over time. He had many reasons of doing so, including for their protection, but assuming this role came at a price; Adamant ended up keeping the Lustrous at an emotion distance. With the exception of Antarctictite and eventually Phos and Euclase, Adamant closed himself off from forming true close relationships to the gems, for their sake and his, effectively creating a barrier between them. This barrier only became obsolete after Adamant finally relented and opened up to the Earth gems after Phos's first attack on them, and even if it were just for a short time, Adamant and the Lustrous interacted on a somewhat equal footing.

Now lets go back to how Phos initially interacted with the pebbles. Not long after Phos found the first pebble, they didn't interact like how Adamant used to with the Lustrous. The two talked freely and sang together without a care in the world. Though Phos and this pebble are vastly different in many ways, it was clear that Phos saw them as a friend. An equal. And Phos was happy.

But now look at how Phos interacts with the pebbles now. I don't see Phos's interaction with the first pebble or any of the pebbles the same way anymore. Yes, Phos encourages the pebbles to speak freely, but to me, it feels like the same can't be said about Phos now. Phos isn't speaking as freely as they did before. They are selective in how they address the pebbles, kind of like Adamant. Phos is acting more like their guardian rather than their friend... like Adamant used to. Phos is fully embodying Adamants old role now and it's a little sad the more I think about.

After being alone for so long in more ways than one, Phos had finally found beings who treated them like a real friend. But because something in them changed, Phos is now slowly but surely assuming their role as the pebbles guardian and in doing so, that friendship connection is being replaced by a similar barrier that Adamant once donned.

Like I said, I'm probably overthinking this and giving Haruko Ichikawa more credit than what's due, but I just can't help but think about the parallels here. What do you think?

Acceptance: The End is Near

The last thing I'll touch on are the last few pages because...wow.

If I remember correctly from posts made by some keen eyed fans, the story had been hinting that the main sun is about to die. And one of the final stages of a star's death is that it would expand into either a red giant or a red super-giant, which was being depicted in that last image.

And if I'm interpreting those last few pages correctly, it seems that both Phos and Eyeball are aware that the sun will eventually consume the Earth. It will take a couple more thousand of years, but as we've seen here and in the previous chapters, time doesn't matter. The real end of everything is coming and those two are accepting it.

Yup. It looks like we have true confirmation for how this saga is going to finally end. And just like those two, I'm ready for it. Not out hatred or anything truly negative towards this series... I just feel like I'm ready for that final curtain call for this unique, thought provoking, and strenuous story.

I just hope the end will be a worthy end.

WHEW. This post ended up being even longer than I originally intended! Sorry about that. Regardless, I hope you liked it. Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts, even if you don't agree with me!

Until next time!

[hananono]

ok some thoughts about the hnk ending now that ive sat with it a little

i think ultimately i am satisfied with phos' ending. theyre among people who are happy just having them around, who have no expectations or ulterior motives—just pure, unconditional friendship. no one's ever offered that to them before. and yes, one day theyll break away entirely, and one day brother will shut down, but thats ok. it doesn't need to last forever. the cycle doesn't have to repeat. the process that lead to all of the pain they were put through isnt going to be renewed.

however, where i feel like things are lacking is in regards to the side characters—pretty much every interpersonal conflict with the gems was never really resolved? like on one hand i think the ambiguity is kind of okay, since i don't think we were ever supposed to see them becoming lunarians as a unanimously happy thing (like, padparadscha is still emotionally distant from rutile, the diamonds are estranged more or less for good, and i think these were left unresolved on purpose)—but on the other hand i feel like a lot of it was just dropped, and there were some things that really should have played out on the page (i am thinking especially of welegato, ghost, and aechmea here). and while i feel like phos agreeing to pray and make them all disappear made sense from an in character perspective, it felt a bit lacking in... vindication? im not sure if thats the right word for it, but emotionally, i felt unsatisfied. aechmea just getting everything he wanted in the end felt kind of lame since he was very much set up as a villain, or at the very least a shithead. i wonder if certain plans ichikawa may have had were changed on the fly, resulting in some of these threads feeling like they were sped through or dropped entirely.

i think one of houseki no kuni's major themes is breaking cycles—and chapter 108 definitely feels like it satisfies this theme, giving us the hope that somewhere out there, these little rocks will do better than the gems, the lunarians, and humanity did. and i think with the direction the manga ended up taking, im not upset with this ending. but i also do kind of wish things had gone a bit differently in regards to a lot of the side characters' arcs, and i think if those had been given the same attention they were given in the early manga, what we could have gotten would have been really amazing. i don't have a super satisfying conclusion to this post either, unfortunately. but i enjoyed the ride regardless.

[houseki-no-suffering]

HIII are you still alive? how are u doing? I just found out about your account because of a cinnaphos post you made on 2018 (one of them, i dont remember which tho) that randomly popped up for me while I was searching a panel from the manga and since then I have been looking through your tumblr and reading all of your analysis (especially the ones about Phos & Cinnabar) during all night and i loved them all so much and i totally agree with you in everything and you just put every thought and feeling and worries and doubts i have about hnk (and about cinnaphos) ans I just lost a whole night of sleep HELPPPP

as i was looking from your oldest posts till your latest one, i got a feeling that you kind of slowly died inside through all those years and from 2022 to now you seem to have gotten very tired (and more hopeless) about hnk, since your posts started to take longer inbetween gaps and you seemed to be talking less in your newest ones and posting less analysis so i got a little worried (though i know Ichikawa has started to take a liiiittle bit TOO LONG gaps between releasing new chapters and us hnk fans have been forced to take some painful breaks of the series) if you were actually doing alright and if everythings okay in your life in general, is it? (゜.゜)

by the way, i really wanted to ask you a very important question (i know that i will probably sob about it but i might also get hopeful depending on what you think):

do you think that there's canon evidence or, at least, a slight possibility that Phos and Cinnabar may end up being together? or at least come into terms, apologize to each other and have a happy ending for them and their relationship?? that something may happen and make that possible??? waiting anxiously for your answer! hugs, sweetie

hello there, this ask is the main reason i resurfaced for a few secs.

I am definitely alive and okay, sometimes I even update my twitter, I simply feel a disconnect with HnK and Tumblr after everything that happened. Also, now that I am a full time nerd with adult responsibilities, I have little free time to dedicate to this space, even if sometimes I miss this community and how we used to scream all together anytime a new chapter would drop.

Thank u for sticking by and enjoying my posts, carry on the cinnaphos legacy for me but do NOT lose sleep on these pebbles, take it from your internet grandma, take care of yourself. As for your question, I do not think Phos and Shinsha will ever end up together (except in the form of the seventh treasure, which I believe Shinsha ended up being, so yay?). Also, I hate to break it to you, but these rocks are no longer part of this plane of existence thanks to Phos praying everyone away and initiating 3rd impact. We can always dream tho, that's what fanfics are for.

[lgbtism]

At least, in the end, Phos was happy

[lakesbian]

hm… freaque 📓

📓 A headcanon about their hobbies

yaaay a silly one :) alec like all of the undersiders does not have a lot of time for a rich hobby life but he 'slacks off' by taylor, brian, and lisa standards so he's got a lil more free time than them. he's not very good at picking up new hobbies or learning things because "it's boring" (read: he has depression) but he likes his art and video games and movies. i think when he was a kid he was really into hiding and drawing for hours to pass the time and he made up a bunch of 7 year old typical OCs. they were all really strong and tough and cool and could fly and so on but really terrible things happened to all of them all the time anyway. not a single happy ending in any of those comics.

he stopped drawing as much when he entered The Pussy Mind Palace from ages ten thru thirteen but then tried it again after he joined the undersiders, discovered he still liked it and was still good at it, and decided to branch out into other mediums (particularly graffiti) for fun too. now he's really into drawing extremely cool undersider costume/emblem/base designs he'll never show them. and sketches of things he saw recently that he thought were interesting. he's drawn all of the other undersiders at least once as a "well i'm bored and the costumes are pretty cool i guess" thing. totally draws himself as regent looking all Cool and Badass and Maybe Even Having A Throne. absolutely tried to act all irony poisoned and detached and uninterested when aisha found the entire page in his sketchbook that was just her doing cool stuff as imp but he's not fooling her. she saw that concept drawing of them Posing Badassly with matching costumes. once every like 30 sketchbook pages there's just the most violent gore and/or sex act and/or both at once you've ever seen, which he thinks says absolutely nothing about him. yes he uses reference images to make sure he fully grasps what exploded heads look like.

oh and he loves being like "i am going to draw something ironically, as a joke, and then post it to PHO, also ironically, as a joke, to troll them, as a joke, ironically." and then he spends 5 hours meticulously drawing something that could, if you turn your head 90 degrees, squint, and assume the most conservative mindset humanly possible, theoretically be mildly inflammatory to someone somewhere. and posts it and reads and likes all of the comments complimenting it.

he kinda sucks at video games btw. there's, like, one (1) he's spent enough time on to be good at and he's smug about it but outside of that he's just genuinely not very naturally good at them. his depth perception is fine and everything he's just not very good at concentrating on strategizing for long enough because there's no actual threat to his life to get his brain going. he totally overinflated his perception of how good he is because brian is Even Worse and he won those incompetent v. incompetent matchups like 75% of the time but then he starts playing aisha and just gets his ass handed to him 9/10 times

[cursedvibes]

Your post about your favourite protagonists reminded me that once Gege said they didn't like too nice characters they're annoying and it's one thing they don't like about shonen. They tried to avoid that with Yuuji and I think that's why Yuuji feels so real and genuine. I usually like protagonists but Yuuji is one of the few I'd call my favorite. I just love how much care is put into his character. I sometimes wish jjk was more character driven rather than plot driven so we'd get more of Yuuji. But ah well! If we get a proper conclusion to his arc I'll be beyond satisfied and that's my only wish for the ending.

Yes, I very much agree! I usually don't like main characters, that's why I made that post, to figure out to me about characters like Yuuji, Phos etc. All too often they are just too perfect. What they say goes. Even if they have the most idiotic plan imaginable it will somehow work out because they are the protagonist. Everyone loves them because they are just so special and can do no wrong.

Yuuji does feel very realistic considering his circumstances. Just a vaguely suicidal boy who has lost everything and tries to survive in this completely new world he has been thrown into. He doesn't try to be a leader, he has only half a year of experience after all. He isn't the strongest and often has to rely on others, but that is his strength and makes the other characters more important than just empty hype machines. He easily gets along with people, but he has a hard time becoming close friends with them out of fear of hurting them or becoming too vulnerable. There are plenty of people who like him, but he is not worshipped. He wants to help as many people as possible, but he doesn't try to play the hero. Not anymore at least because when he did it in the beginning and blindly trusted into Sukuna or luck carrying him through it, he died. I also really like it when his darker side shines through like in his confrontations with Mahito. He will kill you if he has to or hates you enough, he's not above that.

I appreciate Gege's focus on the plot for the most part, since it never makes the story linger too long on tedious parts (until recently), but sometimes I do wish we would linger a little bit longer with some characters and their experiences, especially with all the dramatic stuff that has been happening since Shibuya. The characters don't have much time to rest and reflect though, so that makes sense. I also like this method of giving quick glimpses of a characters struggle, motivation, thoughts etc and then expanding on it bit by bit as the story progresses, it always gives you something to think about and makes you curious to find out more. Like with the reveal of Yuuji's past for example or Tengen & Kenjaku's relationship. I think Yuuji has gotten some good focus throughout the story though, I don't feel like something is missing, even if I'm of course always happy about more. Gege is at their best when writing (about) him.

Only thing that really bothers me is how everything has been put on hold for the Sukuna vs Gojo fight and how the majority of the main characters are just sitting around doing nothing. That feels very unrealistic, especially for Yuuji. I also would've liked a bit more focus on their reunion with Gojo and preparation for the final arc.

Like you said, my only wish for the final arc is a proper conclusion of Yuuji's character and also Kenjaku. Everything else I can live with.

[pemprika]

Hello, my goodness it's been a very long time since I've last read HNK. I thought it ended already until I saw your tags on the newest chapters. So I went to look it up and was in utter disbelief to find out the last time I'd read it was December 2020?! I'd missed out on everything from the hiatus to the return to its near end??? Well. Thank you for reminding me of the story! I wanted to ask what your thoughts were on the latest two chapters, and if you think the story is wrapping up in a way that stays true to its essence. Admittedly, I feel for Phos and I dislike when characters like them don't get some form of closure, a sort of peace they're allowed to have after dealing with such loss/tragedy/etc.

** hnk spoilers ch 98-99

omg!! i'm happy to hear you decided to pick it up again! it's been one emotional roller coaster since the series returned from its hiatus... and i think it might just wrap up within a volume's worth of chapters...(not ready™)

i assume you're talking about ch 98-99! the pacing of the last few chapters has been fast for me, so i feel like i still haven't properly digested everything.... but i still love it.

i don't have much to say about it honestly.. i think it pretty much ended up how i envisioned phos' ending would be like-- left isolated all alone on earth for all eternity, though, i didn't expect the subtle hopeful turn of events from the latest developments in ch 99. i loved the little rock conversing with phos-- their presence and simple perspective really helped phos put their troubles into a broader pov.

it doesn't make it hurt any less now that phos has finally realized all the mistakes they've made and the changes they can't reverse, but it feels like phos can at least accept their own flaws and consequences in this new lifetime of theirs. judging by how the direction of the recent chapter went, i do suspect that ichikawa has some sort of hopeful, introspective ending saved for phos. her past works always tended to be very open-ended, so i feel like she'll do the same for hnk, but i agree, it would be rlly nice to see her wrap up some bows on loose ends and give a proper, peaceful closure for phos.

[houseki-no-shitposts]

Late for this, but just wanted to share my thoughts.

Knowing that all these characters we’ve come to know, even the main villain is now gone forever feels sad. I’m angry at them for not helping Phos, but seeing them go... I didn’t want that.

During the chapters building up to this one I assumed something, anything was going to happen to stop this or help Phos, but guess not, huh... I hope Phos at least gets a happy ending.

Also, how does that rock able to speak? Sensei taught all the gems to speak language, so how does this one speak naturally?

[phossydel]

It's been a while !!

I completely forgot I have a tumblr x___x I forced myself to hold off on posting my valentines day art but ended up forgetting to post it anyways,,, so here it is !! Happy (late) valentines !!

A little after making those, I decided to change my sona's design a little more!! I also made art of them using a picture of Chloe Moriondo as a reference.

And last but not least, I got super hyperfixated on Monster Prom and made some art of it!! Last one was part of an art trade with my friend @neonflynn , who got me into it !!

Guess who my favorite Monster is (don't, actually).

More art is coming! I'm working on a mini OC x Canon of Phos and Damien based on a scene that happens in Monster Camp so keep an eye out !!

Here's some art of my indo OCs (and Phos) pls accept them </3

[escapetheshark]

Off the Deep End | part 3 | swim instructor Bang Chan x fem reader

Genre: fluff; smut; angst

Rating: 18+

Pairing: Bang Chan x fem reader

Word count: 2k

Warnings: mentions of past trauma, drowning, and adult language (warnings will be added to each chapter)

Summary: Hellbent on facing her fears, she starts taking up swimming lessons from one attractive young instructor named Christopher.

A/N: I don't really know what I'm doing anymore, but I promise we'll get to the smut at some point. Just hang in there, the like 3 people that are still reading this.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | to be continued

Masterlist | Network

"So, how was your date?"

Her voice goes down an octave when she asks, wiggling her eyebrows at me with a smirk on her face. I just sigh like an exhausted mother of four.

"It was alright," I shrug, desperate to not talk about it any further, let alone with my co-worker. I shouldn't have overshared about the date in the first place, but I did and these are the consequences of my actions. "But I won't be seeing him again."

"How come?"

"He was a bit uhm, annoying," I explain, biting my tongue so as to not elaborate any further. Maybe it would be nice to just vent, but I could never get that personal with co-workers, and there's no way I'm telling my sister about my shitty date with this guy who took me to Outback Steakhouse, ordered a Superbowl salad and water on my behalf, became aggravated when I told the waiter I'd rather have the steak instead, and then proceeded to call me fat.

Well, I won't be doing that again…! Either way, my co-worker seems to give up on wanting more details. Maybe she understands the struggles of trying to date men in this day and age, or maybe she knows the dance and song by now.

You're so pretty, we should hang out. You're so beautiful, wanna come back to mine?

I sigh again, glancing at the clock on the wall, a little happy that I have just over an hour until my shift is done, and then I can go home to rot a little bit more and uninstall the stupid dating app while I watch some old romantic movie and entertain my own loneliness. Anyway-

"You should just enjoy being single," she concludes. "Value your own company, you know?"

"I guess I'm just lonely," I shrug, desperately hoping she will drop the conversation or, at the very least, change the subject to literally anything. "Maybe I'll just get a cat."

"Just find some guy to fuck and you'll feel better," she unexpectedly blurts, giggling slightly. I snort. "After half an hour with a man, you'll be reminded of why you've stayed single."

"You know, you're right," I laugh as I clean the counters, hoping nobody else comes in or, at the very least, nobody comes in asking for anything more than a simple coffee. "I should focus more on my photography and less on getting laid."

"How's that going along?"

"I've had a lot on my plate lately, so I haven't really done much in that sense, but I should probably just grab my camera and take photos of random shit, huh?"

"Absolutely," she agrees. "Make like an aesthetic Instagram. There's definitely folks out there who make it big through that, why not you? Your photos are good, Jess, I've seen your Instagram."

I'm slightly dumbfounded by the compliment, but I offer a smile nonetheless. I guess she's right. My photos are nice and maybe I should try to do something with them beyond sharing them on my social media every once in a while.

The application has been uninstalled.

I feel my lids getting heavier with each passing second and I end up succumbing to exhaustion on the sofa, feeling good about deleting the shitty dating app.

I haven't used this camera in a while and it suddenly feels heavier than I remember. This time, the pool doesn't feel as suffocating and I'm fully dressed and not wearing that horrendous swimming cap that makes my ears hurt. My models are random kids and staff members who volunteered to be part of a small local newspaper and I'm hellbent on taking the most artistic swimming pool photos Melbourne has ever seen. Well, this part of Melbourne, at least.

"Oh, you're the photographer!"

I turn around to face the source of the voice and I'm faced with the ever-smiling Christopher in his usual attire of swimming shorts and a white tank top, this time he's fully dry and his hair looks a little dishevelled but like he did his best to fix it.

"Yes, the photographer is me," I repeat, cringing inside for the dumb way I said it. I'm trying to not succumb to the temptation of checking him out like my sister suggested, but it's difficult to not stare when he radiates joy and I can't decide whether he's just happy all the time or a complete cunt behind closed doors. It's hard to tell. I'm not sure what's worse: someone so cheerful it's like they can't physically experience heartbreak, someone who hides a world of hurt behind an ear-to-ear smile, or someone who acts kind and friendly on the outside but is a rude arsehole on the inside. What are you, Christopher?

"I hope I look good enough," he chuckles, his ears glowing red as he looks down at his thong-clad feet and tries to fix his hair a little with his hands. "We should have a lady come in to do some makeup, I think."

"Oh yeah, she should be here soon. You guys are gonna be on the Weekly Melbourne, you have to look perfect!" He smiles, his entire face gaining colour. He's beaming, more so than usual, and it's honestly adorable. Jessica, what the fuck?

That's your swimming instructor, don't be like Jamie! I feel my face warm up, but luckily we are interrupted by the makeup artist.

"Jessica?"

"I wish I could have taken some more exciting photos, but they wanted very family style for the article," I can't help but talk with my mouth half-full as I chew on my sundae-covered fries. "It would be so cool to just do, like, an Accidentally Wes Anderson-esque photo shoot at the pool."

"I had no idea you were a photographer," Chris exclaims, unwrapping his chicken sandwich and taking a big bite. "Did you go to school for it?"

"I didn't go to school at all," I reply, trying not to sound bitter about it. "Life got in the way, I guess."

"That happens," he shrugs, his lips around one of the straws in the giant milkshake we ordered to share. "I studied Songwriting and Music Production and now I'm teaching people how to swim. Life does get in the way."

"Oh, so you write music?"

Before he can answer, one of the kids interrupts our conversation to make sure everyone at the table is aware that he won a bet with his friend by finishing his Coke first. Chris laughs and congratulates his student before scolding him about brain freeze, but the kid is too excited about his prize: the little Pokémon toy his friend got in his Kids Meal. The other boy sulked as he handed the winner his toy, but the winning boy decided that he would rather share and let his opponent keep his little Pikachu.

"Maybe this generation isn't so bad," I comment, turning back to look at Chris as he takes another sip of our Oreo shake. "But you were saying?"

"Oh yeah, I make music. It's a hobby for now, but who knows?"

I smile back, it's my turn to drink the milkshake. Somehow, I nearly forgot we're surrounded by a handful of kids, a makeup artist and a couple of Christopher's co-workers from the pool. This isn't a date, I tell myself. But God, I wish it was… Jessica shut up. You're just lonely and horny, don't let your monkey brain take over!

"Well, this was a fun afternoon," one of his co-workers exclaims, escorting the children to her van. "Thanks for the photo shoot, I can't wait to see the article!"

I wave as the van speeds away, glancing around to discover I'm alone with Christopher and trying not to blush at that information. I have to remind myself that the only reason I even looked at him, to begin with, was because my sister insisted he's a hottie - which is true, I'll give him that, and my own loneliness and lack of intimacy got the better of me. None of this is rational, I know, I guess I'm just needy and not thinking straight.

"Well, I'm glad I got to be a part of this. You better have made me look good," he chuckles and I turn my attention to him. "I have to get going, but it was a pleasure!"

"I'll see you tomorrow," I smile watching him walk towards his motorbike. It's starting to get dark and chilly out, I somehow didn't notice the passage of time all day. Time does fly when you're having fun, huh? I even forgot about my plight of solitude for an entire day there. What if life was always like this? Surrounded by laughter, doing something so fulfilling I lose track of time, enjoying an Oreo milkshake on a Friday afternoon without worrying about the burden of being alive, without thinking about the mortifying ordeal of my own existence in this fucked up world-

It was a pleasure…

There's barely any light coming through the curtains, and it takes me a minute for my eyes to adjust to the near-complete darkness. I was drowning… My head was underwater, surrounded by blue as a faded red wave slithered into my sight line. I took my hand to my face and the blood dripped copiously. I was off the deep end, maybe I still am. It's been thirty years and I still see the blood dancing against the deep blue water of the pool, it looks like a bright silky ribbon waving in the air, so mesmerising and beautiful.

The swimming lesson goes by fast and, almost as soon as I entered the water, I'm exiting it and preparing to hit the shower room. I wave goodbye to Christopher and he waves back with a faint smile on his face. I watch as he climbs the pool ladder and grabs his dark blue towel, rubbing at his soaked hair. Maybe it's just my loneliness, the touch-starved nature of my existence and the fact that everyone seems to think he's the hottest thing since Hell was invented, but he's messing with my mind a little. Could also have been yesterday's little photo shoot date, maybe I've been spending so much time on my own that a handsome young man's company for a while felt like a date rather than a get-together.

I'm staring, aren't I?

But what if his hands hold me gently like when I panic in the pool, and what if our noses touch? Don't be ridiculous, Jessica, I chastise myself for my own unfulfilled fantasies. The solution to these fake feelings you think you're feeling for your swimming instructor is to get laid. Your issue is a lack of dick. Well, one of your issues-

Editing the images from the photoshoot means I have to look at Christopher a lot, and that doesn't help my case at all. He looks beautiful in all of them, like he radiates kindness and patience, his warm brown eyes often just a half moon in his face. I would have never noticed him in a crowd but somehow that's what makes him so attractive, just how normal and approachable he is - no artifice, fireworks, just a man radiating joy in his smile. I've lost my fucking mind. But I've selected up to 20 of the photos that I think will look good in the magazine, edited them and sent them back to the editor for further selection and re-touches, so now I can go back to my delusions of being shown some love and affection by a man ten years my junior who holds on to my waist with a firm grip and refuses to let me go, and writes music on his spare time.

Jessica, get out of your head-

[melonisopod]

So I’m caught up on Houseki no Kuni and.

Wow. That’s depressing.

There’s just this odd, really odd feeling about it, where everyone (or almost everyone) else has gotten a happy ending, some sense of fulfillment or self-satisfaction. All except for Phos, who, while everyone else is living it up on the moon, is abandoned on Earth completely alone as they are formed into a godlike being capable of praying for them all to pass on after 10,000 years.

I want to be happy for Cinnabar. For Cairngorm/Welegat. For every Gem and the Lunarians and Kongo. No one is fighting or killing anymore and we even managed to get back Antarcticticite who I thought for sure would simply remain the one haunting the narrative.

Everyone, everyone got to have a happy ending. Except for Phos.

They never asked for this. They wanted to be part of their community, they wanted to *belong*. And it’s so sad cause at the start, everyone is looking down on them and calling them useless because they are two weak and not showing any kind of talent for a job and Kongo-Sensei suggests they comprise an encyclopedia. Which would hav been fine, but never lay out any groundwork of where to even start and that’s just…”I want you to take notes about literally everything in the world,” is such a broad and vague statement and it might be that Kongo isn’t designed to lead or give orders but their instructions always felt so vague it’s like it was doomed to fail and Phos would want to do something else.

But now it’s…Kongo was in on it? He was also planning to shape Phos into a god? Is that what I’m understanding?

And it’s such bullshit, because Phos receives these very skewed memories of everyone hating them and looking down on them and honestly with the latest volume they turned out to be right. No one respected Phos or cared for them truly, until it granted them a happy life which they were perfectly fine screwing Phos over to obtain.

Cinna at least feels some remorse for it. They are the closest to actually seeming remorseful, because they know Phos ended up alone at the expense of everyone else’s happiness and now Cinna no longer worries about mercury or their weakness after becoming a Lunarian and they know deep down they owe it to Phos, they owe it to them in a way Phos never truly asked for and Cinna is the only one still thinking about Phos years later while everyone else is too busy partying.

Their “use” came about in being isolated, in repeatedly breaking and changing themself into something unrecognizable, smashed apart and pieced back together again, suffering endlessly and becoming abandoned all in the name of being a designated means to everyone else’s end to achieve peace and happiness and eventual rest from eternal life.

I don’t blame them for wanting to just throw everyone into the sun.

[red-dia]

It feels like the pacing for this arc and past arcs after the “Phos Goes to the Moon” arc starts to go faster and faster so there is a lot to be desired in between. It feels like the story goes from A to Z without putting in the other letters in between. I really wanted to see how the Gems would react to becoming Lunarians, because their fast acceptance was something I just can’t understand why it was so easy to undergo such a drastic transformation without any qualms. There were also interactions I wanted between some characters that did not happen or were written in an unsatisfying way that felt like the nuance in them just disappears.

I understand that time skips with the length of decades to centuries to millennia means that Gems can change drastically, especially in the setting of the Moon, where the Lunarian world allows the Gems to have more freedom to find themselves and find their own resolutions. Now I just have to hope and pray “The Party at the End” book added in with the special edition Vol 12 preorder will give me some answers and explanations. But part of me also is expecting mostly Cairnmea content in it per usual.

I dunno, part of me feels like Ichikawa is going through both burn out for this series and also wanting to move onto other projects aside from HNK, considering she works with Nintendo and is a character designer for Pokémon.

Agreed to a lot of this; the thing that bothers me the most is that there's so many characters that seem like they're set up to get some kind of development, and then the story kinda leaves it hanging, and for a while I had assumed there would be conflicts and resolutions and closure, but these issues dropped off the face of the earth....

The shift from the gems being hunted for sport for their entire existence only to be integrated among the lunarians, and nobody has hard feelings about it, everybody is happy to have left the earth where they've lived forever, everybody just kinda 👍 their way though it, fine we are lunarians now, okay we can restore dead gems because we changed our minds this is fine actually, whatever happened to Ghost and Lapis though, or whatever complex situation Rutile & Padparadscha had, or whatever are the ramifications of dusted gems coming back to life only to find almost everything they knew is gone and they have to live a new way of life without ever having asked for this :/

Not saying she shouldn't have done it at all, but the lack of extra time to introduce it made it feel pretty ooc to me. Especially given that "everybody has to die at some point" has been admitted as a plot point for a long time, so rushing it wasn't necessary at all. It also feels like there's a lot of missed opportunities...

That's not even mentioning things like the admirabilis, or earth stuff like the ice floes, but i'm still holding onto the hope there might be some more answers for that in the upcoming chapters. I'm also waiting to see if there's interesting stuff in the vol 12 booklet (though i'm not getting my hands on it, so i'm not sure if anything will be shared), but i'm not expecting much either though, but at least it might be fun!

+ regarding ichikawa being burned out, i'm not sure. I do think hnk is important to her because she put a lot of effort into it even when it's not necessary (cf artbooks, updated pages for manga releases, etc). If i had to guess, either she 1. happened to have a different vision of the story and she's fine with that, and/or decided on a deadline (ch108?) and eventually realized she was running late and had to scrap things/rush the story a bit and couldnt say everything she wanted to. The second option seems doesn't seem unlikely to me since hnk can only go so far with 20 pages per month, and she's trying to supplement it with additional material.

Either way yeah, i don't exactly know how hard hnk is on her since she takes hiatuses pretty liberally when she's working on other projects. A hiatus is still pretty different from a finished series though, so you may be onto something if she is trying to diversify her line of work...?

[housekinokuniabridged]

HNK POST CHAPTER 98 THEORIES

I don't really use this account for posts, but I want to spitball about what maybe happen next. I'm pretty sure HNK is going to end on chapter 108, so we still have 10 chapters till we're done.

The final chapters are about everyone in the afterlife. This is the one that's least likely to happen. They did want to return to "nothingness" and that means there's literally nothing there waiting for them.

We go back in time to look at Earth's final days. Also unlikely, we know all we need from that era and I don't know what more can be said aside from "Human's were fucked up eh?". It's too thin to get 10 chapters out of.

The cycle continues. My personal favorite and the one I consider the most likely. Whether a new species disconnected from humanity arises, or Phos's saint powers weren't as all-reaching as they though (or as someone else put it, the oblivion they desired was actually the oblivion of the cycle of reincarnation), the cast returns in new forms to do this whole song-and-dance over again. It won't be entirely one-to-one, the Professor was nothing like Phos after all, the final 10-ish chapters would follow this slightly new cast around and end in a way that parallels the beginning of the manga. Maybe even on a more hopeful note, where the new Phos is allowed to have a happy life this time around.