#hlitf au

[whatdoyouexpectthistime]

Her Love In The Zombie Apocalypse: Goodbye Goto

Author’s Note: This is the result of a dream I had, and I am absolutely unapologetic for dropping the Instructors in a zombie ridden Tokyo. Who knows... maybe this won’t just be a oneshot?

Happiness doesn’t last, does it?

In the perfect world, we grow to be strong, learn to believe in ourselves and to have the courage of our convictions, and finally meet someone with whom we can be that person – in both strength and weakness.

When you find that person, don’t let the small, the insignificant things come between you.

Embrace.

Embrace your differences and each other and don’t let go. Fight hard and with everything you’ve got.

Because you never truly know when the dream will end.

Panting and laboured beneath the weight of my backpack, I struggle to keep pace. Kaga and Soma are already pulling aside our barricade at the east end of the academy, while Shinonome and Ishigami stand alert for approaching threats.

At my side – always at my side – Seiji remains in step.

His face is smeared with the horror of his narrow escape, much like the rest of us.

But one of us fell, one of us didn’t really escape at all, the others just don’t know it yet.

Seiji doesn’t know it yet.

“Get the hell in here!” Kaga barks, but his curt urgency is no exaggeration now.

The threat is real, however disbelieving we were at the beginning, the truth has well and truly sunk in.

“Christ,” he huffs as Seiji and I pass him, and he and Soma begin to reassemble the barricade protecting our fortress home. “Could you possibly find a smaller pack?”

“Screw you,” I gasp, stumbling into the foyer and sliding the bag from my aching shoulders.

It hits the floor with a heavy clunk, the cans within part of the bounty we’d retrieved from several convenience stores much further from the academy than we have ever venture since the incident. Those closest to the academy have already been stripped bear, and it was the necessity to eat, and to provide for those who also shelter with us, that prompted a much more dangerous run to distant sources.

Roaring in my ears, my pulse refuses to slow, and Seiji looks me over with worry.

“Are you all right?” he asks quietly, leaning against the wall beside me, peering at me with those gunmetal eyes haunted by deep concern.

“Mm,” I nod, giving him a weary smile.

Anything to ease his troubles.

Anything to lighten this heart I love.

Anything to protect it from breaking.

But I can’t.

“That was intense,” I add, as Ishigami joins us.

“Everyone okay?” he asks, the blandness of his expression a stark contrast to the dangle of gore hanging from the left side of his glasses.

“Yeah,” Seiji confirms, and I nod also.

Liar.

But they take my word for it, this trust is what has kept us alive this long.

There are untold numbers of dead in Tokyo, some permanently, some now roaming, shambling, looking for prey – because it all happened so quickly, and people didn’t know how fast the infection spread, how virulent it was.

We still don’t know how it started. Even law enforcement was woefully unprepared, and communication came too slow, too late.

“Let’s get this stuff to storage,” Seiji prompted, shouldering his pack, before collecting mine.

“I’m not completely useless,” I argue, but I’m playful in my scorn.

Oh how many small things has Seiji done for me? When was the exact moment his selflessness won over my heart? I have no doubt, he would gladly give his life in exchange for mine – but this time, he can’t.

 When twilight drifts, everyone goes to their posts. We check our defences, reinforce each barricade, look for weaknesses and plug them, and check night-watch rosters.

Glancing down the list I note who is meant to be at each guard position. It looks as if I’m just doing my job, but in reality I need to know who is where for a very different reason.

Shivering, I pull my jacket more closely around me, and eventually meet up with Seiji in our room.

Our room.

It was going to be a little house, with a yard big enough for a dog and a small vegetable patch. That was our shared dream.

Now, he is all that I have left of that dream, and…

“You look tired,” he tells me, gently taking my face between broad palms. “You’re cold.”

“It’s a clear night,” I point out, leaning into his touch, trying to memorise the sensation. “It’s freezing out.”

“Well, it was a long day,” he smiles, carefully sliding his fingers into my hair and running them all the way to the tips. “Early night?”

“Gladly,” I exhale, hoping he can’t tell I’m gritting my teeth behind this smile.

He doesn’t know I organised a pack of bare essentials while he was showering, and hid it from sight. He’s treating me like he always has – the centre of his world.

Mouth dry, maybe from the gathering nervousness of what I must do, or maybe… I can’t tell if the jackhammer pounding against the inside of my skull is part of my transition, or the spread of guilt and grief and emotional pain so potent it’s a wonder I can stand, let alone smile like nothing is wrong.

And everything is wrong, because the throb in my forearm, hidden by the long sleeves of my flannel pajamas, is a harbinger of my imminent death, and horrifying resurrection.

And I can’t be here when that happens.

Just the same, I snuggle under the blankets, and as Seiji is reaching over to turn off the lamp, I wrap my uninjured arm around him, and press myself mercilessly against his back.

I want to feel the imprint of his body against mine, my fingers, my hands, I want to remember every taut undulation of his chest, and the steady rhythm of his breath.

“Your hands are still icy,” he grumbles, but hugs my forearm tightly.

And I pray he doesn’t hear my breath catch and stick in my throat, or feel the desperation to withhold a sob in the tension of my muscles.

“You always warm me up,” I whisper, hardly a breath at all, and he gives my hand a squeeze.

Nothing in the world would give me greater peace, than to remain here – but if I stay, even until morning… I might truly destroy him. Instead, I listen to the sounds of him, inhale the scent of him, until he falls asleep.

And then I have to exercise the absolute, utmost of my willpower to separate – softly so as not to wake him, when all I really want is for him to wake suddenly, grab me, pull me down and wrap himself around me.

I am my own person, but I would gladly let him consume me like tht.

Cautiously I cover him back up, but the slight motion of Seiji’s head causes his fringe to flop over his closed eyelids.

So innocent.

And yet so fierce in my defence – and this is why I have to go.

He would make excuses, drag it out, maybe even beg me to stay even while knowing my fate is a foregone conclusion.

Go. GO! You have to go. For his sake.

As quietly as I can, I retrieve my backpack. There is hardly anything in it, because let’s face it, I’m not going to be needing human supplies for much longer.

Then there is the letter.

Saying goodbye, face to face, seeing him break… I can’t. And it’s not arrogance to think he will, because his heart and mine are one and mine…

… is being torn apart.

On the pillow, still fresh with the impression of my head, I leave my final missive to him, and bite down so hard on my lower lip, it bleeds. These feet won’t move but they have to.

Go.

My insides are hollowed out, a gaping, weeping wound very nearly prompting a sob when in my retreat from out room I spy Domo-kun.

It’s so stupid that Domo-kun should symbolise our love somehow, but for some reason that gift to me left a lasting impression. And even in the chaos, he stayed with us as a constant.

“Goodbye Domo-kun,” I whisper, slipping out into the hall and closing the door on all I ever wanted.

BONUS:

 “Cold,” Goto murmured, rolling over and groping across the bed for his favourite source of warmth.

It was not so jarring an awakening, for he didn’t yet know the truth. His wife could be any number of places by far more obvious than having snuck out in the night to meet her grizzly fate.

So he clutched at the blankets and tucked them under his chin, and in doing so disturbed the piece of paper beside him.

Rubbing his eyes with the back of one hand, he plucked the missive from the pillow and unfolded it.

And dread began to form, dread that turn swiftly into a panic without description.

(Author/Narrator’s note: I blame @nitelotus​ for the following recording, after she made fun of me for crying as I wrote this. At least I don’t charge stupid amounts for voiced stories right?)

-Click to LISTEN to her letter-

My dearest Seiji,

We said, till death do us part – but, I’m not sure where undeath fits into that.

I am sorry.

I made a mistake and now… the cost of it must be paid. And this is the one time you can’t save me, no matter how many times I call you name, the enemy now inside me cannot be defeated.

You will be angry that I didn’t tell you, that I didn’t… give you a chance to say goodbye, but leaving like this is the lesser of two terrible evils.

I will turn, it’s inevitable, and I don’t want your last memory of me to be as a monster.

Please remember the brush of my fingertips against your forehead.

Please remember the warmth of my body curled against yours.

Please, remember the passionate heat, and the bliss of our every union.

And let me save you this time – let me stand, even at this distance, between you and having to see me as anything other than the woman you took to be your wife.

That woman will soon be consumed, but until the very end I will fix you in my mind and heart, grip you relentlessly, because you have taught me what it means to be loved so unconditionally, so completely; I will not be afraid.

Loving you, and being loved by you, has been a privilege I’m not sure I ever really deserved, but you have been the absolute, the most precious gift I ever received.

I love you.

Your dearest wife.

 The bed beside him was cold.

When in the night had she left him?

He knew she was gone but could not control his panic. It exploded inside him, could not be contained, and it drove him from their room in his pinstriped pajamas. With abandon he threw himself down the corridor, blind almost but for a target in the distance he had no way of seeing.

Morning greeted him with a slap of winter, but Goto struggled through the haze of his desperate breaths lingering in the air, and staggered like a drunkard to the outer most manned position.

“Did you see her?!” he shouted.

“Lieutenant?” the young man queried, looking very confused.

“My wife!” Goto gasped. “Did you see her? Did she leave this way?”

But the pair stationed there could tell him nothing, nor could any of the other outer guards, and finally, her last words to him clutched in his bloodless fist, he sat, in the dirt, trembling.

Why couldn’t he see her face? Why could he only see the back of her, her retreating figure moving with laboured steps through the undead who paid her no mind?

Losing her was… there were simply no words, but to know she had gone alone with such pain in her heart was a wound to him like no other.

 And all he could do was sit, and stare off into the distance.

[somewhatunconscious]

New add ons for Her Love in The Force Fanfic:

Newly added drawings under the Mille-Feiulle one shot featuring Tadanobu Nomura and Hiroshi Kirisawa from Metro PD: Close To You both of which are during the timeline of “The Day He Earned His Detective Badge”....

My draws:

Bonus draws: Includes Tami’s older brother, Toranosuke Hayase as a Police Intern during the timeline...the bromance between Nomura and Kirisawa tho (๑╹ω╹๑ )

[aqvarius]

I been wondering how many untranslated sub stories hlitf left? And which one, that u want to be translate asap

at first i was just going to answer this as “a lot”, but i was curious and really decided to count the actual number. and the answer is A LOT. 129 untranslated substories to be exact!! (128 when ayumu’s episode 0 comes out). i also didn’t count “discontinued stories” or reward stories (the ones you can only get if you met campaign requirements) or repackaged stories (there’s a substory which is just the text version of goto/kaga/shinonome’s voiced stories, and another 5 which are just goto/kaga/shinonome’s voiced stories split by chapter rather than character. i also didn’t check koi cafe. 

there are so many that i want to be translated!! but let me list a few of the ones i want the most:

all of the 勘違い ♡ BABY stories, also bc the SP (bodyguards) appear in these stories~

in kaga’s one, you go on a diet cause he squished your stomach and said it was soft while he was sleeping lol and also bc ayumu is compiling photos for something like a yearbook (graduation album) and saw you about to eat a doughnut and told you that the camera adds 10lbs. because you go on a soy-heavy diet, your period isn’t arriving and you go see an obgyn as recommended by riko. in the hospital, you bump into katsuragi!! anyway you left your phone in the obgyn department and get called to retrieve it on the loudspeaker so katsuragi and shinonome hear it and assume you’re pregnant. you tell shinonome to keep it a secret and then he blackmails you into helping him with the grad album and kaga gets annoyed since you’re listening to someone other than your master. when he finds out that you went to the hospital to see an obgyn he’s just... SO SOFT AND CARING???????? he makes you lie down and sleep and he makes you so much food and is relieved that your complexion is back to normal and when you tell him the reason you started dieting he APOLOGISES ALSKDJFLAS. one of the options to respond to his apology is asking him if he has a fever lol. another option is telling him to stop (apologising) and be mean like he usually is and then he’s like are you a masochist lmao. 

anyway he tells you that if you really are pregnant, don’t hide it next time since “it’s OUR problem” and not just yours. he also says that not speaking up might harm you and that he doesn’t intend for your relationship to be loose/casual (meaning he’s serious about being with you). HELP I LOVE KAGA.

afterwards, katsuragi is in the instructor’s room to do something and then he thinks you’re pregnant so he gives you a congratulatory bouquet from your team and ayumu literally loses it. 

I LOVE THIS STORY SO MUCH i can’t WAIT until it’s translated!! you all know i love soft/caring kaga the most and getting that + pregnancy misunderstanding + katsuragi + ayumu being a brat all in one story? *chefs kiss* incredible. i read this story on sato’s room, my favourite jp blog for hlitf content.

in goto’s one, where you go to a drinking party with naruko but it turns out to be a group date (goukon). sora and kurosawa make an appearance (naturally!!)

kaiji makes an appearance in ishigami’s route in which you go to his place to retrieve some documents for him and find lipstick and a lingering scent at his place after he cancels a date because he’s busy with work...

shinonome’s one is the one i’ve briefly mentioned before where his mc ends up with a porn dvd by accident. ayumu also gets jealous of mizuki in it (since his mc in particular just loves mizuki and is starstruck every time she sees him lol, the same thing happens in one of his vip room chapters too )

soma’s route is the one i also posted about recently where you have a matchmaking meeting with subaru. i’ve mentioned this like 5 times before but i literally am dying to see subaru/soma dynamics since subaru is usually so alpha male but soma was his mentor and senpai and trained him in criminal affairs and he really respects him, so i’m desperate to see them interact particularly in a competitive(?) setting. 

there’s another substory i want which is just for kaga and soma called ふれない夜を過ごすとき (when you spend a night without touching). the common factor in both stories is that mc turns down kaga and soma’s advances in bed (because of different story-related reasons) and it results in a ‘cold’ night where they just go to sleep. it’s so appropriate for these two considering they’re the most sexual/physical in the whole title. 

in this substory, voltage alternates between your pov and his pov for each chapter which i think is so interesting. i also love seeing both instructors being so ANXIOUS? about being turned down, since it never happens. and they’re so accepting of your rejection but so worried and hurt asdlkfs i love it. seeing soma being rattled for once is an incredible feeling lmao. and also seeing the third chapter from his perspective is so cool because you really get to see him put his detective skills to use when it comes to gathering information.

a fun detail in kaga’s route is that at the beginning you watch a film together called “ 私の名は” (obviously meant to be playing on “your name” kimi no na wa) haha. by the way, this is also the substory where we meet akane (who you may have seen in kaga vip room stories and ss3). i’m not going to spoil who akane actually is but let’s just say it was totally unexpected... 

aside from these two i want:

入捜査は蜜の味 which is a substory about going on undercover mission with your man. by the way, in this substory, kosugi from my sweet bodyguard is already a famous actress whose shows sell out in under a minute. 

離れるの禁止！－手錠で１日独り占め♡ー a substory just for kaga, goto and shinonome where you end up handcuffed to your instructor for a day

私を見つけて☆王子様 an AU substory with kaga, shinonome and namba routes since they won places in the 2015 election. the concept is like a cinderella x tanabata situation and it’s honestly HYSTERICAL. 

in the kaga ver, shinonome and soma are your evil stepbrother and stepfather respectively and you can only see kaga once a year. you met him in town last year and you spent a day (and night ;)) together and now you want to go to the ball this year. goto and kurosawa are your wizards (fairy godmothers) and their sprites wear giant witch hats with their regular suits. it’s literally so funny. ishigami is kaga’s butler and honestly, he is such a claude lmao. kurosawa reappears disguised as a prince and tries to get you to dance with him and prince hyogo literally tosses him out of the way and calls him nouveau riche ;alskfdjls. anyway he does the whole “i don’t care about your status” thing and wants to be with you. turns out it was a dream the whole time and you tell kaga about it and he’s like i don’t want that fucking megane to be my butler lmaooo (amongst other cute things that he says)

in the namba ver., kaga and shinonome are your stepbrothers A and B. they’re bullying you as usual and then prince namba shows up. i love how kaga is prince hyogo but namba is just prince namba. he whisks you away to a bar somewhere after joking that you don’t have sex appeal because you’re <30 year old and then butler ishigami comes to get him lol. prince namba tells you to grow a little next time you meet and then ishigami is like stop it with the harrassment, you are already being complained about by princesses from neighbouring countries lmaoooo. anyway you get grounded by stepbrothers kaga and shinonome and your evil stepfather soma and made to stay indoors and do chores for the rest of your life while they go to the tanabata ball. wizard goto appears and he’s SHY LOL and he uses his magic to dress you up and whisk you to the ball, where you see prince namba again. you’re about to kiss and then the bell rings and you flee before the date changes (since wizard goto’s magic only works on july 7 lol). literally an entire year passes and you wish to see prince namba at the ball again and wizard goto shows up to grant your wish. however, your evil stepfamily burst in and tie you and wizard goto up because they knew you used magic to go to the ball last year hahahahahhaa. you somehow escape and ride goto’s horse to the ball and namba sees you cause your horse is like screaming/making some really weird noise. he brings you inside and has a whole bunch of gowns and accessories laid out and is like “this old man doesn’t know what kids like so just pick whatever”. you get all dolled up and he tells you he’s impressed by how mature you look and that he was waiting for you and long story short he takes you on a garden stroll and gets on his knees and asks you to be with him forever. naturally, it’s a dream and you wake up in the reference room where you chat a bit with namba and then you end up going for ramen but this is before namba ms2 probably so you aren’t together yet and you lament that he just sees you as a trainee. 

i can’t find a copy of shinonome’s ver online and i spent all my money on intl voltage so sadly i can’t summarise it but i bet it’s equally ridiculous and funny. 

カクテルグラスに愛をのせて a really cute set of substories featuring ishigami, namba and soma which are all about “cocktail language” (as in cocktails having different meanings). i want soma’s one to be translated so badly so i can see dumbass mc being fooled over and over and over again by everyone’s lies and then soma ultimately being SO cute~ 

彼が野生動物だった件 this one is basically about you and your man not being able to touch each other because you need to hide your relationship from tsugaru’s surveillance - but when it’s over, you get devoured by your frustrated boyfriend... 

カレが妬くと大変なことになりまs aka all of those rival jealousy stories. naturally i’m most desperate for soma v shinonome. also, the first of these stories to come out (a while before any of the other ones) was kaga vs tsugaru, so i thought haha they replaced the “す” with “s” for sadist. they kept the titling like this for every single rival pair (namba v kurosawa, ishigami v goto, soma v shinonome) and i was like oh that does undermine it... but then i realised that as tsugaru once said, their entire department is full of sadists and public safety division should be renamed to SM division so~

aside from all of those, i want all the anniversary stories as well with their accompanying CGs and/or manga!! 

ahh... there’s also the 2/365 birthday story (which is where ishigami gifts you the matching watch btw) which is literally just everyone spoiling you and it’s so cute. anyway if i don’t stop this now i will keep going on and on and on but basically every single hlitf substory is AMAZING? i hope they release the untranslated summer ones soon too as summer is coming up!

ETA: I FORGOT TO MENTION I ALSO WANT THIS WHOLE SET: 逆転バレンタイン- 恋人は専属補佐官 which is a valentine special where basically the roles are reversed and you are the instructor and he is your exclusive aide~ 

and i want the entire kare kiss set as well because you know how much i love a jealousy plot ;) 

EDIT 2: I ALSO FORGOT TO MENTION 加賀兵吾の再調教 if only just for this one image 

and this formalwear sprite

and also just the drama of you being locked in a cage barely conscious for days while kaga has to pretend to sell you to a perverted millionaire 

by the way, the heart necklace you’re wearing in the cg is something that kaga gave in one of his main routes iirc and he literally tramples on it in this special... the DRAMA

[voltage-vixen]

Tears from the Terminal (Request)

(This is an AU story featuring Ayumu Shinonome from HLITF) (WARNING! This is an extremely angsty story, so please read at your own risk.)

“Wait, please come back,” Shinonome cried out while chasing after MC, “I thought you felt the same way!” MC ignored him and continued to run back towards her dormitory, ignoring the concerned looks her classmates were shooting her. “Damn it,” he cursed as he pounded his fist against the wall. The two of them had just finished their most recent mission, and he was grateful to the higher powers that both him and MC had returned home alive. He had vowed that if the pair survived the assignment, he would promote MC from her current role as his girlfriend, to officially become his wife. Shinonome already had everything planned out for his proposal.

Later that evening, he was going to take MC to the special place where he buried the time capsule. He was going to declare his undying love for her, while getting down on one knee and putting a ring he spent hours picking out on her finger. She was going to be overjoyed and cry tears of happiness, all while agreeing to spend the rest of her life with him. At least, that’s how the scene had played out in his mind. Shinonome had asked her to met him on the roof of the academy, and from there he was going to set his plan in motion. However, when he tried to greet her, MC reacted unexpectedly by pushing him away. Her words cut through his heart like a knife, when she screamed that she no longer loved him. That led to her running away, and him pondering where he could have gone wrong. Didn’t she share the same feelings he did?

Shinonome tried several attempts to reach out to MC, but she had made it very clear that she didn’t want anything else to do with him. Even though it meant his world would come crashing down, he reluctantly decided to respect her wishes. One night he caught the bullet train and stood outside of her parent’s house, where she had moved back to live. She had resigned from her position in the PSD, and he assumed this was part of her “fresh start” MC claimed she had been looking for. The weather perfectly reflected his mood, and the rain began to pour down while he watched MC from the window. “Goodbye my love,” he whispered to himself, before making his return to Tokyo.

-Almost one year later-

“Don’t worry about dinner Sachi,” Shinonome informed her, “I’ll pick something up on my way home.” “Alright, sounds like a plan,” Sachi cheerfully replied, “I love you.” Shinonome didn’t bother responding and hung up his phone. While he was mourning the loss of his relationship with MC, he had discovered that Sachi was also suffering from her own heartbreak. They had reconnected and help supported each other through this difficult time. This eventually rekindled some old feelings that had once been present, and they were now engaged to be married. Despite that they were soon to be joined together in holy matrimony, Shinonome still was in love with MC. His proposal to Sachi was done out of guilt, and a fear he had of being consumed of loneliness.

He began to shut down his computer for the day, and he couldn’t help but feel that someone was watching him. Looking up, he saw that Goto was staring at him. Once Shinonome made eye contact with him, Goto quickly turned away and tried to busy himself by reading the file he had in his hands. Now feeling suspicious by Goto’s strange behavior, he decided to walk over and investigate what the cause could be. “Evening Goto,” Shinonome said with a nod of his head, “Something on your mind today?” Although it was only for a brief, he noticed that Goto had a hint of hesitation in his eyes. He could see the internal battle of confliction that Goto was fighting with for some reason, but Goto had eventually decided to confess.

“It’s MC,” Goto quietly responded, “She’s- she’s not doing well.” Shinonome’s face turned pale, and he felt like time had slowed down, and everything was happening in slow motion. Goto waited for Shinonome to say something, but spoke up when he saw that the hacker had frozen in shock. “I only found out by accident, and I had promised MC I wouldn’t say anything,” Goto began to explain, “But she found out she was diagnosed with a terminal illness. She knew you would support her no matter what, so she wanted to try and give you a chance at a happy and fulfilling life. That’s why she pushed you away that one day on the roof.” The men stood there in silence for what seemed like hours, until Shinonome shoved Goto back against the wall. “Why the hell didn’t you say anything?” Shinonome shouted. Event though he was pinned against the wall, Goto didn’t put up a fight, and stood there until Shinonome let him go.

Shinonome collapsed to the ground, and a single tear ran down his cheek. “Why didn’t she tell me?” Goto extended his hand to Shinonome, and helped him stand back up. “She’s been admitted to the hospital in Tokyo,” Goto told his junior, “If you have something to say, now would be the time to say it. Goto’s words of encouragement were more than enough to give Shinonome the push he needed. He soon found himself sprinting down the hallway, and Goto watched on while saying a prayer that his colleague would make it there in time. “Good luck Shinonome,” Goto softly stated.

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“Get out of my way!” Shinonome snapped at the poor nurses making their rounds. Traffic had been horrible, and he had been trying his absolute best to see MC. Judging by Goto’s tone, it seemed like MC’s condition was critical, and he couldn’t spare a precious second. He had finally made it to her room, when he saw her parents huddling her younger brother outside of the door. Her mother looked over at him, and began to sob even harder. MC’s father gave him a sad look, and ushered his family away. Shinonome had a bad feeling about this, but nonetheless, he pushed the door open to find a solemn looking doctor standing beside an unconscious MC. The doctor had been writing something down, but looked up when he heard him approach the bed. “I’m sorry,” the doctor offered, before bowing his head and leaving the room.

“No,” Shinonome began to rage, “No. No. No. NO! NO! NO!” He ran over and grabbed her hand. Shinonome gasped out loud, when he felt the cold, lifeless hand in his. “Wake up,” he ordered the woman who was no longer able to hear him, “Damn it, stop playing games MC!” Pushing his forehead against hers, he gently nuzzled her head. His head sunk down to her chest, while he frantically searched for her heartbeat, or any other sign of life that she may have. It never came though, and Shinonome had now started to reach the conclusion that she was really gone. “You left me again MC,” he wept not caring who saw him, “The only person in the world that I would ever truly call my partner, and you decided that it was time for you to leave.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the engagement ring he picked out for her a year ago. Regardless of his current relationship status, he never once stopped carrying MC’s ring. Slipping it on her finger, he admired the sight, and caught a glimpse of the future he would never get to experience.

“When you left this earth, you took my heart with you,” he painfully admitted, “Wait for me in the afterlife, because I will always come and find you, no matter how far you go. You left me once, but I won’t let you leave me again.” The severity of his words, made the room even chillier, and he left her room with the intent on following through with his final promise.

Feel free to check out my Masterlist!

@agustd54, @hazel2daiki

[leeinkie]

ROMANCE MD: Munechika Takado

I liked this. I was intrigued with the medical theme (I read the KBTBB AU story where they’re all doctors and wanted that AU for other titles, but a whole story is better lol) so I gave it a shot.

PROS:

MC

MC isn’t utterly clueless. She’s brilliant, driven, confident, knows herself. She has goals. She’s competent!

MC reads shojo manga and knows about otome lol! Has an imaginary 2D boyfriend. Come on, how relatable is she??

MC is romantically awkward but in a self-aware sort of way. Like, she recognizes flirting but smoothly side-steps it. She doesn’t freeze up, nor does she gets swept away easily. She’s unashamed about her awkwardness.

She’s so SASSY!!! XD And so geeky.

STORY

There are 30 episodes (I mean wow. But each one prolly shorter than coin stories) so the pacing was, for me, well-set. It’s not like they fell in love by episode 6.

The adorable bickering. It reminds me of HLITF’s MC x Ayumu Shinonome. They are mentor and mentee but I love how MC stands up for herself and holds her own against Dr. Takado.

Speaking of Dr. Takado, he’s as skilled as he is prickly, but isn’t arrogant. He works hard behind the scenes, hides the fact that he cares. No sexual innuendos from him, which is refreshing. He’s secretly kinda socially awkward as well, which is super endearing.

CONS:

While the leading men do really look gorgeous (can’t wait for the Kasumi route! Dark-haired intimidating silent types are my thing lol I mean, hello Ishigami), MC looks like she’s in her early teens in that bed CG, don’t you agree? She’s supposed to be 26. The rare times they put eyes on MC and she looks like she’s fresh out of middle school lol. One of the nurses in this story is supposedly MC’s college classmate - why does she look so elegant and MC’s like that? They’re both geeky after all!

It’s a Love Choice story :(

Rants About Love Choice

I resolved to never read titles with Love Choice, but as I mentioned, I was really curious about the medical theme. I’ve also collected about 109 hearts from all the logins and stories read since late last year, I think. 

There’s also a running promo for this story: no wait times and will get the collector’s edition automatically upon acquiring a Super Happy End.

So I thought my hearts would cover that but nooo. I ended up buying 40 more hearts, which is equivalent to a 400-coin story! So in total, I spent around 150 hearts to get a SHE, which is equivalent to 1,500 coins. How outrageous is that?! Sure, there were 30 episodes but that’s like, equivalent to 3 stories at most, which would only cost me 1,200 coins at full price. Love Choice is such a rip-off honestly.

There was a recent survey asking whether we want to have the option to buy hearts directly instead of exchanging them for coins. I wish they’d do away with it, but if I must make I choice, I think buying hearts directly would be better, as long as they don’t set a ridiculous price. Like, just price it exactly like coins - 1:1, or 1:2 at most. I mean, if it takes 150 hearts to get to SHE, and it takes more hearts to open chapters without waiting, a player would still spend 300-600 hearts per game. 

[reinasescape]

There are Voltage MCs and then there is Saizo’s AU MC

I usually take most of the MCs flaws in mind. Yes, she’s ditsy, not always the most clever, and they add more than their dash of helplessness so she can get rescued by her love interest, but then there is naiviety, and then there’s being so STUPID that she puts herself in harms way.

Sure some MCs have annoyed me (mainly MLFK’s and HLITF’s) but this one takes the cake. How can she be more worried about how Saizo feels about her than her own safety?! Like make sure you are safe, THEN worry about your love life. When her own safety is on the line, she’s lamenting about how her man doesn’t truly care about her.

And then she gets some uppity about him saving her. It’s like YOU WERE MADE TO BE SAVED, NOT TO SAVE YOURSELF. DON’T BE STUPID. Great time for pride when you could be harmed beyond repair

@officialvoltageotome, women are not that man hungry that they would sacrifice their safety just to mope around. Most women have a sense of danger. They are not utterly helpless, especially in a time period where they are especially vulnerable. The flinching and closing eyes thing can be a reflex, but this damsel in distress thing needs to be reined in if your company likes writing sexual assault as a plot point.

And as a company, you need to stop this tone of victim shaming too. It’s so common in your stories, it’s getting to the point of being sickening. Stories written for women and girls should be on the side of women and girls.

[redpantychan]

ちぐはぐDarling注意報♡  Alert: our darling is mismatched Valentine Award 2017 Reward - Body Switch AU  HLITF version - Eisuke Ichinomiya <=> Seiji Goto

I swear I died with this pairing!!! (because as you know I love them both!) Since I voted for Seiji during the Valentine Award, this story was available for free in the substory section for me. It was such a great chapter!

(spoilers under the cut)

MC wakes up and instead of Seiji, she finds Eisuke sleeping next to her, which in fact is Seiji ! Since this is a continuation from the Valentine’s Award, Seiji realized he somehow switched bodies with Eisuke who was a member of his chocolatier group during the Award. 

They head to Tres Spade to find the real Eisuke but they get stopped by the manager to discuss business (which Seiji handles like a pro, proof of his PSD training). They decide to get something to eat before looking for the real Eisuke and head to the hotel restaurant.

There, Seiji sees the menu and says “It’s so expensive” so the waiters FREAK OUT and scrambles to re-price the menu because they are scared “Eisuke” would be mad! LMAOOO Meanwhile right behind them it’s the real Eisuke in Seiji’s body complaining about the stuff he has been served. I DIED.

When everyone, including the bidders discuss a way to solve the body switch, Baba suggest MC gives a kiss to break the spell but Seiji in Eisuke’s body protest because either way would be wrong LOL.

Anyway, they switch bodies back the next day after a night's sleep so happy end.

[aqvarius]

kbtbb has 15 seasons?? well they kept postponing the wedding with the wedding license getting stolen and amnesia shenanigans (i only read the description) so it's not surprising? tbh, out of the top titles it seems that kbtbb (+kop? idk i just read the desc and it seems so heavy on drama) is the easiest to filler? even in im the work projects in every season is related to the lis.

no i think 15 seasons is hyperbolic haha, it’s like 6 or 7 seasons so they do have more content than hlitf despite being... less popular....... 🙃 but anyway i think it’s bc there’s literally no natural storyline progression from the premise since it’s so out there. like... what’s the natural progression from “i fell in love with my buyer after being human trafficked”? so they can literally do whatever they want with the stories without needing to think about any realistic/organic setting progression bc the premise is super unrealistic and inorganic. i think an anon and i have discussed this somewhere else but we found kbtbb to not really concern itself with the mc’s life development outside of her relationship so basically they have free reign to do anything. i think that’s why every season just carts them off to a new country with no problems bc (1) it’s not like the mc has a job or life outside of tres spades/the love interests and as far as i’m aware, she doesn’t get any sort of genuine career advancement on her own and (2) there’s nowhere else for the story to go if they just stay in japan. so since her whole life basically revolves around her romantic relationship AND the premise doesn’t lend itself to realism, they don’t need to centre the plotline around real life or career and can do a whole bunch of wacky and zany things with the characters to test their relationship in different ways. i think that’s why they get all the AU substories and all the wild drama even in main routes bc there’s nothing realistic or organic that naturally comes out of a human trafficking romance premise haha (except like... issues around grooming and stockholm syndrome which is a route they’re obviously they’re not going to take bc this is about ~fantasy love~ not realism). and let’s be real, i don’t think kbtbb fans play it bc they want a realistic/relateable romance story that tackles real life issues haha

[aqvarius]

How is it ktbb has 15 seasons out while hltf only has like three out when they were both released around the same time?? I want more of my public safety boys 😔

i wonder the same thing all the time ;~~; at first i thought it was because hlitf has double route seasons but... kbtbb does too. i’ve never played beyond season 2 so i can’t really say and i’m obviously Incredibly Biased but maybe hlitf takes longer bc the routes are more intricately written in terms of needing to weave together lots of small clues and cases and characters into a wider narrative that’s cohesive not just across the two routes per season but also throughout the ENTIRE title? so the plots are centred around whatever case they’re working on (which usually somehow tie into the love interest’s personal life) and tend to be more work/action-focussed so they can’t really fall back on basing new stories premises SOLELY on more common or easier tropes like “my business rival is attracted to you” love triangle or “you got kidnapped just by being my associate” or “oh no i lost my memory”. i’m not saying that those tropes aren’t used but they all have to be relevant for a wider case and/or mc’s development as a detective, and the cases in part 1 and 2 of any season tend to be related. so for example, while adversaries is literally a love triangle situation, the love triangle/jealousy plot is framed around (and also gives us a positive result regarding) improving as s a public safety agent. likewise, being kidnapped or held ransom bc of being the associate of the love interest is always just one part of a larger case, usually the one they’re working on or it works as a setup for the next part of the season where the case usually gets closure.  

tl;dr: hlitf has more complex routes bc they have to link relationship development and character emotional development with the mc’s career/skill progression AND a reasonable criminal case. 

ANYWAY i totally think that hlitf should have more content tho! i get that we have a lot of substories too BUT i also think that we should be allowed to have more AU substories like kbtbb does, esp bc... im gonna say it.... i'm pretty certain kouan (hlitf) is more popular than suite (kbtbb) in japanese fandom? 

exhibit A: voltage general election 2019

in the top 50 ranking, 5 characters from kouan made it in, while suite only had 2, with 4 detectives ranking higher than the 2nd bidder. 

1. our reigning king HRH shinonome

2. eisuke

3. kaga

6. fresh meat tsugaru

13. goto (btw this is public safety goto, although bodyguard goto is currently pretty high on the weekly ranking chart)

18. soryu (lucky number tho)

27. ishigami 

exhibit B: the recent combination vote

i didn’t take a screenshot of any other couples except team kaga during the time when they were displaying the number of votes bc... i didn’t care... but you can still see the order in which they ranked and amazingly, eisuke/soryu pair ranked in 4th below takado/hosho pair. 

exhibit C: weekly and monthly ranking

weekly ranking: kbtbb places in 6th on the current weekly ranking below the special police (bodyguards). completely unsurprising that mpd is reigning champion as always. they haven’t released any new msb content this past week (or even month) so i’m that it’s placed above kbtbb in the weekly chart for titles, esp since they just released rhion’s wedding season last month and his epilogue yesterday. 

monthly ranking: ahhh look at public safety sitting pretty in rank 2. it makes sense that “i fell in love with you since that night” (irresistible mistakes) was in second place on the weekly bc kamiki rei just got a new season and tsugaru’s release was more than a week ago. kbtbb sits in 4th on the monthly ranking. basically what we can learn from this is that (1) japanese audiences love police stories? and (2) i trust japanese audience’s taste in mcs. 

by the way, this isn’t relevant but i’m really surprised that goto from my sweet bodyguard is somehow ranking in 6th on the weekly chart atm? was there a secret SP!goto fan revival that i didn’t hear about? and naturally my boy tsugaru is ranking #1 on the monthly and then he’s followed by literally NINE mpd characters, i.e. ALL OF THEM. and then araki jun is in 11th and ichinomiya eisuke in 12th. wild. 

i suspect that there’s so much excitement and thrill in hlitf ms that a “regular date” substory has us literally frothing at the mouths since it’s so rare for them to have time to go on regular dates, but i honestly think that more hlitf AU substories would be SUPER popular. 

but anyway you’re right that we all need more public safety content and there’s evidently a huge audience for it so................. 

[somewhatunconscious]

New Update Her Love in the Force Fanfic, Season 1

Chapter 9: In Justice, We Serve (Part 6)

[aqvarius]

You think the only reason why voltage isn’t real song tsugaru route is bc 1) his stories will take forever to translate to English and 2) voltage knows that his route is well wanted overseas and hurt like hell to read so they’re secretly plotting how to raise their sales

i think they must be working on tsugaru! they put out hlitf content a lot more regularly than they used to when love 365 was first released and the standalone apps disappeared (remember the days when there were like... 4 substories only for the longest time lmao). 

he does have pretty long stories but they are shorter than romance md and yet somehow matsunaga’s route is being released within a month/weeks of it being released in 100koi. my theory is that they want to drop tsugaru’s ms1 and ms2 within a few weeks of each other so they have to translate 42 chapters in ‘one’ release (in the same month). in terms of how quickly i thought it would be translated, my most optimistic guess for the earliest they would release it would be august but i think it’s more likely to be oct/nov? 

this is all conjecture tho haha. in the big picture i don’t think that there’s that much international hype for tsugaru relative to like... yet another eisuke AU substory lmao. i think they are building up hype by gradually dropping more hlitf substories (particularly seasonal ones) to fill the gaps between all the season 3 route releases in the beginning 5 months of the year and then maybe mid-end autumn we might finally get tsugaru?! but there are also a lot of new projects coming in the later half of the year (tenbare, the spy title, first love diaries revival) so who knows!! but tsugaru is really popular in jp fandom to the point where he even has a vip room and vip events where he’s the feature character so i’d like to think that his ms1 at least will be released in love 365 before the end of the year

[aqvarius]

concept: hlitf mulan!au where our favourite lying trash puppy mc has to pretend to be a guy to join the academy and kaga is the harsh (but secretly Softe) captain who trains her to be a Man(tm) and she gets kicked out of the academy when the truth is revealed but saves them all from a national terrorist attack 

but also more drama because i want her to get hurt real bad 🤩

[aqvarius]

I actually played Kaga's route straight from MS to MS, and when they suddenly introduced Hana I was all ??? Who is this girl?? Did Voltage skipped some MS content?? Also the thing with Kaga and MC's brother or Namba's Hokkaiso promise to MC, for example. Is this kind of thing exclusive to HLITF? Because I played other titles and substories barely matter in the grand scheme of things, mostly they are extra stories but not major things like in HLITF.

oh nooooo honestly i don’t even remember when they introduce hana - i think it may be the hot love on a frosty night christmas substory? i literally guzzle all hlitf content so i never remember where i read this or that. i thought the thing with mc’s brother happened during his MS2 tho maybe??? i feel like they met when kaga went to drag mc back at some point and then kept texting each other since then.

to be honest i think basically all the hlitf substories are quality on their own and i think they do a great job with worldbuilding and developing the nuances of the relationships which add to the experience of reading the main stories. but i do wish they’d kept key information (e.g. the introduction of major characters or items/scenes that are important parts of main stories) to things like epilogues or at least translated some of the specials that are referenced. for example, things like the matching watch set with ishigami and all those happy memories with soma would have been so much more powerful and devastating to read had we actually read and experienced those moments first. 

i’m not sure if this is as big a problem in most other games although i do know that in some titles, substories may reference other substories (e.g. a valentine’s 2016 route referencing something that happened in valentine’s 2015). but one title that does this to the EXTREME is my sweet bodyguard. goto’s route in msb is ??????? if you haven’t read his gree route since it relies on you knowing about his past with kazuki and it also relies on even meeting him in the first place in the shanghai substory i think. eiji’s first route in london calling season kept referencing a new year substory that still hasn’t been released and did the same thing where it jumps to you having known each other for a while. hayase and koda’s main routes do the same thing too, only i don’t even know when or where they get introduced in the first love again reboot. i do think some of the older titles tend to have a bit more of a worldbuilding feel with all of their content which i enjoy (compared to like kbtbb where so many of the substories don’t really contribute to the overall relationship development and are just.... random occurrences, repetitive relationship dynamics in similar but slightly different situations or AUs lol) (kbtbb fans don’t come after me lol i’m afraid)

[aqvarius]

i think it’s probably not uncommon knowledge by now but i think up a lot of random scenarios and AUs when it comes to hlitf and one of my favourite ones is because i watch kinoshita yuka on youtube a lot and she’s always so cheerful and kind of silly and cute and her personality reminds me of the hlitf mc’s. 

so i have this dream scenario that i always think about which is an AU where hlitf mc does oogui / mukbang videos on youtube and then one day when doing some investigating, kaga ends up watching one of her videos. and then somehow whenever he’s feeling particularly grouchy or exhausted, he finds himself clicking on her videos and watching this tiny, cheerful girl eat a whole ton of food. slowly, this girl that he’s only ever seen on youtube somehow becomes his strength on crappy days. and then one day, totally out of the blue, he bumps into her on the street............. 

[aqvarius]

Can I take that pic you posted of Kyoya Hayase means you’ve read the First Love Again stories?? Cause I’ve been wondering how those are? Are they good in your opinion if you’ve played them? If not thanks for looking at this anyway 🥰

wow i wrote a whole response and never saved it as draft and then my computer decided to restart by itself and i lost it lmao… 

so anyway! i’ve only played hayase’s first love again. FLA is a bit weird because it’s the same game and the premise is more or less the same but you’re a different person? so in FLA, rather than being the prime minister’s daughter, you’re actually the daughter of a scientist who’s trying to develop a vaccine based on your blood? because your cells are special heart shaped cells haha you can’t make this stuff up. but yeah it was confusing because it’s still within the same game as MSB but it’s like an AU even within the game. 

with hayase’s route, i was also really confused at first. you start out having already lived together for a while which is confusing. in that sense, you don’t get the satisfaction of meeting him for the first time (aside from the prologue i guess? but there seems to be a time skip between the events of the prologue and the events of the main route).   it kind of feels like you just get thrown into the deep end - sort of like how it was when the public safety guys became love interests. (i remember goto’s route was bizarre because it assumes you’ve already met him prior to his route and you know about his dead gf kazuki but this is information that only those who played his GREE route know about - i think he gets formally introduced in the shanghai substory maybe?). with hayase, there isn’t even a (translated) substory where you get introduced to him. basically i knew nothing about him, i just picked him because he looks hot lol. 

but in terms of the writing, i always tend to enjoy and recommend MSB because i always enjoy the plots. with hayase’s route, i thought the plot was good and decently original. the climax moment was genuinely really thrilling, and i always enjoy seeing cold/stoic men open up haha. aside from the lack of exposition, there isn’t much about his routes that i didn’t enjoy.

i can’t say what it would be like to be a new character falling in love with the bodyguards we already know. i imagine it would feel similar to rereading yamato’s or ren’s route in my wedding and 7 rings after having already read their routes in my forged wedding? although i do kind of want to play through the other FLA routes now just to see. 

TL;DR: initially kind of confusing and i wonder why they didn’t just create a new/spinoff title a la MW7R (or even like HLITF) BUT the writing quality is as good as ever (probably even improved from the original season 1 main routes) and i like the new characters

[redpantychan]

ちぐはぐDarling注意報♡ Alert: our darling is mismatched Valentine Award 2017 Reward - Body Switch AU

The winners get a special story available for 120pt (or free if you participated in the awards in February)  in their own respective Jp apps in the substory section. In this scenario, characters wake up with their bodies switched and all hell breaks loose. It’s only a one chapter story, but it’s so funny XD!

KBTBB : Eisuke Ichinomiya <=> Toshiaki Kiijima IM : Toshiaki Kiijima <=> Katsuyuki Kobayashi OTBS : Shusei Hayakawa <=> Seiji Goto ASA : Rikiya Mononobe <=> Shusei Hayakawa HLITF : Seiji goto <=> Eisuke Ichinomiya MPDCTY : Katsuyuki Kyobashi <=> Rikiya Mononobe