#len'en botc

[kurohebi-pseudohuman]

me making a meme each time my botc staff stand in front of a window staring out into the rest of the world

[yabutsuba]

Shrine team

[maideninorange]

(Fic Request) FumiIyo go out for ice cream.

I put way too much thought into the existence of ice cream within Mugenri for a simple fluff with light angst fic lol. Why am I even surprised, knowing me?

(TW: Just References to Iyo-san's Tragic Past for this one. Because this is me writing this lol. Otherwise, it's a fairly straightforward fluff fic.)

The Ice Cream Merchant

The ice cream merchant only comes around once every five year.

A shadowy legend to children everywhere, the merchant goes from village to village, region to region, distributing a strange cold, sweet cuisine those who had visited them had only called "ice cream". With colder sweets being quite the rarity this far away from Devanagara for the peasantry, the merchant often draws in crowds by the tenfolds. For some, it will be the only time they get to taste anything like it.

...Or at least, that's how Fumikado had described it to them. It was also why Iyozane was not back home lounging around in the river, and instead standing behind a long crowd of children and curious adults.

So far, Iyozane couldn't see what all the fuss was about. This guy looked like just another merchant with their bright and colorful stand, if one that specialized in what may be a pretty rare product. But even with that in mind, they weren't holding their breath.

Merchants are complete and utter parasites, funneling away money that could've gone to hardworking individuals for themselves. And so far, this one seemed to be no different than the rest of the lot. If it weren't for Fumikado's eager pleading, they doubt they'd be here to begin with.

As if sensing Iyozane's silent seething, Fumikado gently nudged them, snapping them out of their straying thoughts. (The fact that their definition of "gently" sent them a few sun forward probably helped with that too.)

"Look, I know you don't like merchants, but this guy isn't like those other parasites, I promise! Their treats are to die for!"

"...So far, all I'm seeing is gaudy colors and lots of children. Feels kinda shady to me. And what is this 'ice cream' treat, anyway?"

"One of the best things you'll ever taste! So come on! Trust me! When's the last time I was irresponsible with our funds anyway?"

Just last week, with the "brilliant" idea to spend hundreds on an expensive shawl I saw. It wasn't even made of real gold! Iyozane wanted to say, but by the time they opened their mouth, Fumikado had already taken off.

...And by the cries of children that just rang out, right into the middle of the line. Iyozane let out a loud, put-upon sigh as they trudged after them.

"Sorry..." They mumbled towards the angry people now behind them, tugging their haori closer. It was the least they could offer, knowing how rude and impatient their boss can be. That sort of thing tended to make people angry, didn't it?

When it wasn't done by a royal it seemed, so some of their siblings had claimed every now and then to them in a past as distant as a bad memory. But Iyozane wasn't a royal anymore. They didn't even get to indulge that privilege even once before they lost it.

The dark thought washed over them like a plague. They turned to berate them for cutting in line, as the alternative was letting it weigh on their mind. But then Fumikado beamed at them, and the poison died from their lips.

"You're gonna love it Iyozane! I promise! I know all the best flavors!" They reassured them, "Trust me! I am the seer of ice cream!"

Considering Fumikado's track record when it comes to foresight, that did not inspire the confidence they had intended such a statement would. Still, it was a little hard to be overcome with dread when their strong and dignified boss is bouncing on their heels like a giddy little kid.

Okay, incredibly hard actually. It was hard to stay nervous with them behaving like that. Iyozane lowered their head, looking at the ground and their wobbly feet, the tension eased slightly from their shoulder.

Perhaps it was from Fumikado skipping ahead in line, perhaps it was their own thoughts siphoning away the time, but it felt like Iyozane had only blinked before they were both at the front of the line. They had to rub their eyes at the feeling when they were suddenly met with the sight of the bright pink wooden counter.

Fumikado held up a couple fingers to the smiling person behind the counter, "A box of mochi please! Give us chocolate, vanilla, and matcha for Iyozane here!"

The merchant nodded, "Coming right up. Your enthusiasm is much appreciated, but next time, please wait your turn. You might make the much more patient children cry."

"Oh." They glanced nervously behind themself, as if to check. Iyozane couldn't help but follow their gaze, as they so often did. The children directly behind them looked more annoyed than anything. But it seemed even the mere thought was enough weight on Fumikado's conscience, as they swiftly turned back to bow apologetically, "...My bad!"

The merchant gave a light chuckle, holding out a small basket full of little mochi. Woah, that was fast!

"It's alright! Just remember for the future."

Fumikado tilted their head forward as they took the basket with both hands, "Will do!"

The merchant waved them off, and just like that their little trip to such an odd merchant stand was over.

Iyozane didn't stop reeling until Fumikado found them a nice bench to sit on. They then tilt the basket forward so they can see.

"Go on! Try one! I stake a claim upon one of the chocolate ones!"

Iyozane looked the mochi over. They saw brown, green, and white at its bottom. They could tell the green ones were obviously the matcha ones, and Fumikado plucking up a brown one indicated it was the chocolate flavor. So the white ones were this "vanilla" flavor? They're kinda curious about that one, actually...

Fumikado popped the chocolate mochi into their mouth, "...Mm!!! I missed you, chocolate!"

Iyozane chuckled a little at this display. They've actually never got the opportunity to try anything with the label of "chocolate" before now. In the distant past, they only heard it in passing. Mitori had told them extensively about it in such a way that left their mouth watering. None of their wardens attendants would let them try it, saying it will rot their perfect teeth or make them sick. They weren't allowed to eat any sweets, actually. But chocolate especially.

But the present is not the past. They are no longer a lonely bird in a cage, yearning to experience the horizons beyond their window. They are a free person (if an indebted one), and able to decide for themself what to put in their own body. And if that thing rots their teeth or makes them sick?

Then let it!!!

And before they could let it stop them, Iyozane reaches into the basket, takes a green mochi between their fingers, and takes a large bite.

...Bliss.

It was definitely cold to the touch, but it was very sweet, like all the green teas they were familiar with. A touch of bitterness, which balances out the sweetness. It hurt their teeth to chew, but it was absolutely worth it.

Iyozane heard a chuckle beside them, "I take it you like the matcha flavor?"

They swallowed, smiling earnestly now, "...Guess so! Wasn't expecting it to be so cold though."

"Well duh! It's called ice cream, you dummy! It would probably be called somethin' like fire cream if it was hot!"

Iyozane rolled their eyes, "That is the worst name for a sweet I've ever heard."

"Well, I personally think it sounds pretty cool myself!" Fumikado huffed.

"Whatever makes you feel better," was all Iyozane had to say to that, directly before popping the rest of the mochi into their mouth.

Wowie...They had no idea how they went their whole life without experiencing this. How many sweets have they missed out on? How many people even got to try anything like this, knowing how unreliable Fumikado can be at times?

As if reading their mind, Fumikado leaned back, inhaling a matcha mochi they plucked up when Iyozane wasn't paying attention, "Rumor has it that the ice cream merchant is from the Outside World. Brought this sweet with, and now goes around Mugenri selling it."

"Mm," Iyozane nodded in agreement. They go for a so-called "vanilla" mochi. They took a bite as Fumikado continued.

"I can't remember who told me that rumor. Probably a servant some long time ago... but either way I knew we couldn't miss this! A shame Tsugumi didn't want to come..."

"For a rumor, it certainly has some merit to it, with a merchant stand looking like that," Iyozane pointed over at the stand in question, swallowing the rich sweet iciness in their mouth. In the distance, children rotated in and out of the line for the garish pink stand. Some clutched upside-down cone shaped cookies with brightly colored, larger versions of the filling within their own mochis.

"Hm...Good point, my dear servant! I suppose even a moron can be right every now and then."

Please don't confuse me for yourself. We walked past this stand three times trying to look for it, Iyozane sneered inwardly, too busy finishing off their vanilla mochi to actually jeer.

Not that it mattered for too much longer, for Fumikado's next words nearly made their heart leap out of their chest, "But I digress! Thanks again for coming with me today, Iyozane! It really means a lot to me!"

Iyozane had to do a double take at that. Fumikado? Sincerely thanking someone? Not their odd roundabout way of showing gratitude? They never thought they'd see the day.

In fact, Iyozane isn't used to gratitude like this at all. In another life, all of those suffocating expectations were just that: expectations. You were supposed to fulfill them, or otherwise be punished. Also, Fumikado is their boss. If anything, a lack of gratitude was to be expected.

So with that in mind, one could certainly pardon Iyozane for their flustered reaction. They fan themself with their hand, sweat beading down their forehead, and thankful the blazing heat of summer disguised their anxiety well. Although, their voice probably gave it away when they heard themself stammer a smidge:

"Uh...You-You're welcome, Fumikado-san. I mean...it's not like I had much else to do today, right?"

Scratch that. They sounded very, very nervous to their own ears. Not good not good not good-

However, if Fumikado noticed, they certainly didn't say anything. They just crossed their leg, rubbing the back of their head as if nervous themself.

"N-No! I really mean it! Whenever I got the chance to visit the ice cream merchant here, old Pops, may he rest in peace, never let me go with anyone. Well, it's not like I had many to go with to begin with. Just Chouki, but..."

Their pointy ears twitch, like most youkai do when anxious. Unbelievable. But like...in a good way? Fumikado sounded in over their head over taking them to somewhere as simple as the marketplace, and yet Iyozane couldn't help but find it weirdly endearing in its own way. The way they chuckle awkwardly was doing strange, terrible things to their heart and makes their legs go weak, and they couldn't begin to comprehend why.

They hid it well, in their opinion. They just raised an eyebrow, saying, "So you're saying you're lonely?"

"Not lonely!" they huff, "Just...in need of companionship for this very special occasion is all!"

"...So lonely?"

"No!!! You're utterly impossible sometimes, Iyozane!"

Iyozane had to cackle a bit at that. "Why of course I am. If I wasn't, we wouldn't get anything done. We'd probably still be terribly lost right now if it weren't for me."

"Don't be so arrogant. I'm the one in charge, remember?"

"Then act like it."

"Okay! Sheesh. Even emperors make mistakes, don't they?"

There was no malice in either's words. Iyozane felt a wide grin had graced their face, and Fumikado was beaming equally as much. They both laugh once more.

"Why yes. Yes they do. Would appreciate if you had a better sense of direction somedays though," Absentmindedly, Iyozane reaches into the basket for the last mochi.

And that's when, ever so suddenly, fingers, big and slightly sharp from retracted talons, brushed against their own. Iyozane let out a small yelp of surprise as they both grabbed for the little sweet, raising it up.

"Oh...Uh, whoops?" Fumikado offered awkwardly, shrugging.

It took a moment for Iyozane to respond. They were too busy staring at the chocolate mochi between their hands. If they moved just the wrong way, they could easily end up gripping Fumikado's hand instead. The thought didn't quite disturb them as much as they'd expect it to.

"Um...It's the last one...I've never had chocolate anything before..." they eventually mumble, looking away.

"Seriously?! Not even a little chip?!"

"No. Locked away for most of my life, remember?" Iyozane gently chided.

"Oh right! Uh...So how about we share it then?"

"Share it?" Iyozane parroted back at them. They looked back over to see Fumikado tug at the mochi between their fingers.

"Yeah! I get half, you get half! Think of it as generosity on my part, as a token of appreciation."

"You just want me to try chocolate, don't you?"

"And so what if I do? It's a crime against sweets for you to never have even tried it!"

That sounded like something Mitori would say as they attempted to slip them some. The guards would always catch them back then, alas.

But that was then and this is now. And right now, that sounded delightful. Iyozane nodded, their hand clenching the wooden bench beneath their hand.

And then they split the last mochi in two and ate their respective halves. The taste made all the needless struggle all the more worth it.

"...So what did you think? Was it everything you expected?" Fumikado asked, their mouth still full.

Iyozane waited a moment as they swallowed. It...wasn't quite how Mitori had built the taste up to be (though it could just be because it is cold), but it was well worth it in the end. It almost melted in their mouth, even (albeit rather literally).

"Hm...I'd say so! Can definitely see why Mitorin always loved the stuff now, at least."

"Oh come on! No shock and awe at the taste?" Fumikado pleaded.

They shook their head, "What were you expecting? I'm nowhere near as dramatic as you typically are, you know that."

"Why excuse you!!! I'm as expressive as an emperor should be!" They crossed their arms, pouting.

"Which is really dramatic apparently, but who am I to judge?" Iyozane couldn't help their snicker at the aggravated shout Fumikado let out at that, proving their point.

But that's Fumikado for you. Loud, boisterous, and more than a little dense. There's a certain charm to them though. Otherwise, they wouldn't have stuck with them as long as they have. Still doesn't explain the heart racing whenever they see them smile like that though.

But that's a question for another day. The two just chattered and babbled amongst themselves until the sun set and they had to head home. It wasn't a very interesting story, in Iyozane's mind, but it was well worth it all the same. Tsugumi had missed out! And neither of them could wait to tell them all the ways how.

Psst! Hey! I'm taking requests now! Feel free to drop one in my inbox after reading the rules here (might need to go on desktop first though)!

[fumitori-forced-me]

They put BotC in a Coma

http://lenen.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Kanae_Tabinoki/Stream_Summaries/Week_45#3_December_2023

[singular-yike]

Musing on Ancient Mugenri History

I've been thinking about this topic recently and there's a lot in my mind, so I thought to write it down before it starts fading lol.

To be clear, this is going to involve a lot of speculation, and not much is gonna be based on concrete proof, which is a rather great departure from what I usually prefer, but hey, speculation is fun every now then~

This is gonna be split into several parts, which I hope makes things neat enough. In any case, let's begin!

The People of Mugenri

Before we look into the general ancient history of Mugenri, let's take a quick look at what the residents of Mugenri could've been like in the distant past.

Canon Information

First, let's start with the history of its population. Here, we look at these this line from A World That Isn't Fantasy — To Mugenri:

Hoojiro "Another world….. A land of a race that broke off from mankind long, long ago."

Haru immediately recognises this as referencing the "Land of Non-humans", which Tsubakura had apparently been looking into prior to being spirited away.

This land is generally accepted to refer to Mugenri, and this is the assumption I will be going off of here as well.

Additionally, let's also take a look at this bit of information from the 2021 Interview with JynX.

Characters (BPoHC) — Question 242 Q: Considering that God is moreso a qualification rather than a species, are Yago and Souko's longevity thanks to their original species rather than their status as a god? Does becoming a god even grant you new abilities? A: They both gained their longevity after becoming gods and were originally human-like.

Interpretation

Putting these two together, I propose the following: Mugenri was initially inhabited by a "primordial race", the very human-like race that Yago and Souko belonged to prior to their ascension to godhood.

Somewhere a long the way, this original race split into "humans" and "non-humans", who once co-existed peacefully but had a fall-out of some sorts.

This lead to the event Hoojiro described, the non-humans "breaking off" from the humans and settling in Mugenri, creating the "Land of Non-humans"

Caveats

There are, I think, 2 major caveats to this idea:

I'm making an assumption that the non-humans "breaking off" from the humans applies to both their evolutionary path as well as the relationship between the two.

There's nothing explicitly connecting the "human-like" race and the modern humans and non-humans.

Mugenri's Ancient History

This is where we get really speculative, as all I really have to go on are these names from BotC Back Issue EE Yabusame's Route - Stage 1:

Gods' Tabooed Land

Garden of Eden

Lost Horizon

Oppressed Land of Exile

It should absolutely be noted NiLU suggests that not all of these names originally referred to Mugenri, but that they only got conflated with Mugenri later down the line.

Nevertheless, they're helpful for taking a glimpse into Mugenri's nature. So, let's try to piece a timeline together using these names.

Step 0. Gods' Tabooed Land

"Tabooed Land" is a concept from Shinto that refers to a location said to be reserved for the gods and within which humans are forbidden, often believed to be where the gods descended to and from earth.

Admittedly, I'm unsure whether this step would be placed here or further down, hence "step 0".

If we were to place this here, this would refer to when the gods first descended to earth and started their work, landing in what would become Mugenri and creating "human-like" beings to inhabit it.

Step 1. Garden of Eden

This of course refers to the biblical paradise mentioned in Abrahamic religions where the first humans Adam and Eve once lived before being exiled by God for eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

It's a rather safe bet to place as the first stage of Mugenri, as it is where humanity originated. Paralleling, in the case of Len'en, Mugenri being where the human-like primordial race came from.

It would also be during this period that Yago Ametsukana ascended to godhood, and perhaps Souko Shirami as well, though I'm have less proof for that one outside of the two gods' basis sharing a similar time period in the irl myths.

I would guess that somewhere along the way, whether they have already speciated into human and non-humans aside, the original inhabitants of Mugenri got themselves exiled from Mugenri.

Fondly remembering the paradisical life they used to lead in Mugenri, and lamenting its lost, the land eventually became known as, or equated with, the name "Garden of Eden".

Side Note — Yago's Ascension You might be curious as to why I'm so sure that Yago's ascension is so likely to have taken place in this stage, even specifically before the residents got exiled. This comes from a spell card of theirs, Sword Shot "The Cherubim and the Whirling Sword of Flame". This spell references what the Abrahamic God sent to guard the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve's exile. Thus, Yago having this spell card quite heavily suggests that it was the Ametsukana who forged the "whirling sword of flame" and sent it with the cherubim to guard the garden.

Step 2A. Lost Horizon

Lost Horizon is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton, famous for being the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamasery.

Having been banished from Mugenri, and as the time passed, it's not beyond belief that the people (especially the humans) would've forgotten where Mugenri was once located, rending a truly lost location from their perspective.

It is also during this phase, I would guess, that the two categories of humans and non-humans must have came to be, no later than this. Explanation to come later.

Step 2B. Gods' Tabooed Land

Yep, the "Gods' Tabooed Land" returns once again. For those who did not forget Mugenri, where it was and its history; or perhaps from the gods' own perspective, Mugenri isn't "lost" at all, it's right there!

Instead, these people would've understood Mugenri as a place now exclusively belonging to the gods, and where humans especially are not allowed to enter.

(After all, while the line between human and god is fairly clear, that between youkai and god is often less so.)

Step 3. Oppressed Land of Exile

Unlike the other names, this one doesn't seem to be a reference of any sort, but is just a simple description of the land.

It is during this time period that I propose the "breaking off" between humans and non-humans must've occurred. For whatever reason, the two races were no longer able to peacefully co-exist.

This lead to the non-humans returning to Mugenri (like I mentioned, it's a lot more likely for them to know where it is after all this time). There, they either locked themselves within to cut all possible contact with the humans or they got locked within by the humans.

Having been exiled from the outside world, the inhabitants of Mugenri started a new era of their lives, adopting the Ruri calendar. "Ruri" meaning "exile", further strengthening this idea.

Side Note I've been using "Mugenri" to refer to this location this entire time, but it only makes sense to assume that this name isn't always what it was called. In fact, I think it's rather likely that it was only used after the barrier was created and a separate world formed. Here, I'll use "Ruri Mugenri", named after its Ruri calendar, to denote specifically the Mugenri as we know it now, separated from the outside by the barrier.

The "exiled non-humans" theory does raise a curious question though: Why are there also humans in Ruri Mugenri?

Of course, this could be explained simply by the fact that humans occasionally wander into Mugenri, but I get the impression that humans have always been in the Ruri Mugenri from the very beginning.

There are, in my opinion, three ways we can explain this:

These early humans were sympathizers to the non-humans, and in solidarity joined them in their self-imposed exile.

These early humans were those who sacrificed their own freedom to forever trap the non-humans in Mugenri.

These early humans were not interested in the race conflict, but was simply hoping to start anew or escape the outside world.

Personally, I would imagine that all these cases could be found, though I'd like to focus on the 2nd option. Because this, I believe, is the origin of the Senri Shrine.

We know that the 1st Senri priest was among those who created the Mugenri Barrier, and considering their successor, Tsurubami Senri's, stance towards youkai, it's not hard to see how I came to this conclusion.

Additionally, this also answers the question of whether the non-humans willingly shut themselves in Mugenri or were trapped in there by the humans.

This idea is somewhat supported by this from the 2021 Interview with JynX:

Mugenri — Question 86 Q: Can you think of Mugenri as a trap or prison, maybe a birdcage? Why else would it be so easy to get in but extremely difficult to get out? A: Something like that. The details are secret~.

Unhelpful JynX aside (lol), they did agree, to some extent, that Mugenri is a trap or a prison, further strengthening the idea that the non-humans aren't exactly willing participants.

The Human/Non-human Conflict

Finally, let's take a quick look at what could've caused this conflict between the two sides in the first place. I have a few theories, so let's go into that here.

First off, there's always the good old human fear of the unknown and the different, the easiest and most typical explanation for these situations and plots.

Perhaps the humans gradually grew more and more intolerant of the non-humans, and eventually took to taking up arms against them, leading to this conflict.

Of course, it's frankly hard to believe that these primeval humans would've been able to fight against the myriad of youkai and other non-humans all by themselves.

Here I suggest that the humans weren't alone, but were instead supported by a certain subset of gods. To see where this idea comes from, let's revisit A World That Isn't Fantasy, this time looking at Alice Leaping Atop Lily Pad Ice.

Hoojiro "Have you ever heard of it? The story of the imperial family and the Earthly Gods buried by history's darkness."

This is, at first glance, seemingly just a throwaway line. Hoojiro brings it up out of nowhere, and Haru quickly brushes her aside.

But even ignoring why Hoojiro brought it up, from an out-of-universe perspective, this line is far too loaded to be nothing, especially from a writer like JynX.

From an in-universe perspective, Hoojiro then follows this up with the talk on the Land of Non-humans in the next section, To Mugenri. This, to me at least, seems to hint that these two must be related somehow.

After all, Tsubakura was looking into the Land of Non-humans, and Hoojiro would've certainly had a good idea of everything they looked into and found.

So! Let's try to figure out what this is about.

First off, I'll tell you right now that this is referring to the mythologised telling of how the Yamato dynasty of Japan came to rule over these islands.

See the imperial family of Japan, according to their mythology, is descendant from Amaterasu Ōmikami, a sun goddess. She is what is considered a "heavenly god" (天津神 amatsukami), gods belonging to or originating from the heavenly realm of Takamagahara.

The counterpart to these heavenly gods are thus the "earthly gods" (国津神 kunitsukami), the native gods of the earth. They were the original rulers of the land (Japan), and it was through both diplomacy and force that the heavenly gods got the earthly gods to relinquish control of the earth to them.

This, I am certain, is the "story of the imperial family and the Earthly Gods", Hoojiro refers to. And I have a feeling that this is what caused the relationship between the humans and non-humans to sour.

Basing it on the myths, it would appear that the heavenly gods chose, for whatever reason, to side with the humans in the conflict, allowing them claim the world as their own.

Having identified the heavenly gods with the humans, this would leave the earthly gods with the non-humans, neither of whom fared very well in this exchange, and were forced to submit before the heavenly gods and their humans.

Thus the losers of this conflict, the earthly gods and non-humans, were "exiled" from the known world, put into an almost mirror-dimension-like plane of existence, their only way back out into the greater world through the outside, the Land of the Humans.

Note — Too Harsh on the Humans? History is written by the victors, or in this case, the imprisoned losers. All the sources we have so far are fairly Ruri Mugenri-centric, even those from outside. There is every chance that the humans were somewhat justified in their attack on the non-humans at first, perhaps the non-humans first took over and oppressed them, much like how the earthly gods were the original rulers of Japan. If this were true, that it'd be rather easy to see why the heavenly gods sided with the humans, perhaps out of pity, or a desire to use them to eliminate a common enemy.

Ending

Phew! That was a lot, wasn't it?

But this indeed concludes my thoughts on what the hypothetical ancient history of the land of Mugenri might be like, from it's initial inception to the establishment of Ruri Mugenri.

Like I mentioned at the beginning, a lot more guesswork and speculation this time, so its canonicity is very doubtful. Still, I think it's at least plausible.

As usual, I hope you enjoyed it~! :)

[sealed-valkyria]

I spent time making BotC Tsurubami do the chicken dance from Madness Combat 1. It was worth it.

I used the sped up version of the chicken dance gif though. It's funnier that way, methinks.

[yamanoskk]

(Traditional stuffs)

[dailyiyozane]

64 Reasons You Should Vote For Iyozane In The Next Popularity Poll

Someone on Discord said they'd vote for Iyozane if I came up with 64 reasons why they should. Naturally, as the number one Iyozane fan of the fandom, I took up that challenge. Of course, I couldn't come up with all of these reasons on my own! I also had some help from some discord buddies. Their names are BlueKirby, Tree, snaa, my man, and showtime. Now, let us begin~

They're pathetic.

They say "heek!" sometimes and I think if they had voiced lines that particular line would be cute.

They have so much audacity (based on "Well I'm related aren't I?" in response to Tsugumi's shock at them being the former crown prince).

Sometimes they say shocking things and don't elaborate (based on the entire New Emperor Brilliant Route).

They seem too stubborn to give up on things, even when they probably should (this is based on them still boating people across the strait despite the capital getting a ferryboat and sticking with Fumikado despite the plan failing).

They want to be a pirate (pirates are cool).

Despite not being a proper pirate, they have a spell card named "Great Pirate Iyozane" (it's hilarious).

They're friends with ghosts.

Their ghost friends are adorable.

In BoTC their ghost friends spin (this is FanBOX exclusive content as of now but trust me it's adorable).

They're cool.

They can play many instruments.

They carry around a flute in RMI.

They carry around a paddle in BPoHC.

They have a tragic backstory (perfect for angst).

They used to be the crown prince (come on, I know there has to be at least one monarchist in this fandom).

They used to be stuck inside all of the time (as a user of the Internet, you should be able to relate to this, no?)

They managed to recover from their tragic backstory enough to say they have a pretty good life.

They get an extra point for saying this while elbow-deep in debt with Kuroji.

Their backstory also makes their involvement in RMI so funny in retrospect.

They're pretty.

Their hair looks fluffy.

Their hair also looks like it's taken care of well.

They have a cute side ponytail.

They have a boat (boats are cool).

They probably have arm strength from paddling said boat so much.

This implied arm strength also implies that they are toned.

Their ability to cross over waves means that you probably won't get seasick on their boat.

Their smile is adorable.

Their frown is adorable.

Sometimes they open their mouth a little like :o and that's adorable.

They keep Fumikado from doing stupid things.

They think they're above getting involved in stupid things despite very often getting involved in stupid things.

They can wear a coat on their shoulders without it falling off.

This coat also stays on while they're flying.

This coat also has a special compartment for their paddle (if you check their player sprite in BPoHC).

They're good at making chilled tofu.

They're good at making chilled Chinese noodles.

Their soul is drinkable.

They have a specific portrait for getting their soul drunken (JynX is really dedicated~).

They came back to life, which if you think about it makes them kinda like Jesus.

They're siblings with Mitori and Sanra, which means you can draw cute family fanart with them.

You can ship them with many characters, such as Fumikado, Kunimitsu, Tsugumi, and maybe even Kaoru if you try hard enough.

Their design isn't too complicated, which makes them easy to draw.

Their color scheme is calming.

They look like they taste like candy.

Their last name, Fujiwara, can be translated to "Wisteria Field", and wisterias are very pretty~

Their RMI theme slaps.

Their BPoHC theme slaps.

Sometimes they say "yousoro" and I think it's cute (which is translated as "steady as she goes" within Len'en, but I like the way "yousoro" rolls off the tongue better).

According to Mitori, Iyozane is good at playing dumb (imagine the implications for their characterization).

Despite having the desire to be influential, Iyozane has no idea what they're going to do with said influence once they achieve it. (I think it's funny.)

Their spell cards are filled with cool references to boats and the afterlife and whatnot.

They throw lanterns at you in one spell card.

They also have a boat in one of their spell cards.

In a couple of their spell cards they have spirits. These spirits look like flames and it's very cool.

Their spell card background is pretty.

They have consistent safe spots.

Their bomb sounds cool.

Their clothes look soft.

Some of their clothing articles are shiny.

They have big poofy sleeves, both on their shirt and their shoulder jacket.

They don't wear shoes.

Their defeated RMI portrait makes their flute look like it has a bandage on it (I think it's funny).

[anemicbloomer]

Another somewhat depressing Len'en Vocal Arrange. This time it features the UTAU Milk. Since Iyozane's BoTC design got revealed today, I felt like it was appropriate to upload this.

[ensoua]

despite how much len'en is trying to peel itself away from touhou with bpohc and the upcoming botc, ppl still call it a touhou rip off it makes me =( sad

[singular-yike]

Getting into Len'en Lore: Part 3

This'll be the end!

★ Spinoff Game: Book of the Cafe

Curious title screen, isn't it? You can't even see the game logo yet! JynX said that it'd be revealed one day, but until then, here's the 5th released game in the series, though officially it's the 0th game.

This is Len'en Cafe ~ Book of the Cafe (abbr. BotC), and is the mobile social network game that JynX is actively working on at the moment.

Story Reading Order

The game's story is separated into three sections, the Main Story, Sub-stories and Back Issue stories. There's no particular order between these three, so I'll only list the order within each of them:

Main Story

Opening

Tutorial

Chapter 1

Back Issue Revisit past games' stories, learning new information about them!

EE — Yabusame Houlen's Route

EE — Tsubakura Enraku's Route

Sub-stories None exist yet.

Additional Reading

There's a lot of non-plot, and even non-lore related text in this game, here I'll list the pages that have major flavour texts and such. Though feel free to explore the BotC pages to learn more.

Compared to the other 4 games, these aren't nearly as crucial, and are more just fun reads. maybe with the exception of the 1st item.

Skill Names and Flavour Text

Music and Music Comments — Trioid Toykeat — Len'en Cafe ~ Re:Boot — Trioid Toykeat (ONAIR-version) — Mnemonic => Extraction — Infinite Zero-Point Ego Eris

Cafe design item descriptions

In-game Notices (α Version, β Version & Full Version)

Memory Archives stage descriptions

Items Descriptions

Other Important Reading, Videos and Characters

And that concludes all the reading you would need to do for all the series' main entries. Now for other important reading to supplement the main series entries:

Video: Critical Point Bidding its Last Farewell

Critical Point Bidding its Last Farewell, full title Fumbling Dimensional Tour ~ Breaker and Pursuer /* B-P-B */ Protection against Breach ~ Request Colorful Dreams, Detest Empty Illusions (yes it's that long), is a music video uploaded onto Niconico back before Len'en was even released.

It was unclear if and how it related to Len'en, but with the release of AWTIF, it became clear that the characters depicted in the video are the main characters of the albums.

Additionally, it introduces the "Wings of Magritte", an interdimensional transcending limited express train that gets a brief mention in BPoHC.

As for reading, I can't really introduce much of an original source for it, but its page on the wiki and the Wings of Magritte's page is recommended.

Reading: Interviews with JynX

There has been 3 interviews with JynX so far, all overflowing with lore, of course. A 4th one is currently in the works too, so look forward to that!

2015 Interview

2017 Interview

2021 Interview

Not much else to say about this one, just go check them out!

Reading: Peing

Peing is a Q&A social media platform where fans could've sent JynX questions back in 2019. JynX has since abandoned its use, in fear that it'd make information too scattered, but what was answered has been documented.

April Questions

February Questions

Videos: YouTube Videos

Above: Thumbnail of the second video featuring the androids, depicting Rei.

JynX also has a YouTube channel, run by the "Vtuber androids" Rei and Zelo (and Lin too), more on these three later.

The channel has official soundtrack uploads, videos about the androids and videos where the androids announce Len'en-related news. They'd mostly be to get a grasp on the android's personalities, I'd say, though there are lore scraps in there as well.

They're all translated up on the wiki, so go check them out here.

Characters: Monochroids (Rei, Zelo and Lin)

Above: From right to left, Rei, Zelo and Lin, all in their chibi yukkuri forms.

Specifically speaking, these androids are actually called monochroids. Despite them mainly having appeared in videos and on Twitter only, there's a surprisingly amount of lore to them, especially on Rei.

It's a much deeper rabbit hole than one'd imagine, so go check it out!

Reading Materials

Wiki page on the Monochroids

Wiki pages for Rei, Zelo and Lin

Other Minor Sources of Information

Once all that's exhausted, you should already be quite the lore master, I would wager. Though if you really want to go the extra mile, here's just a bit more for you to chew into.

Art: Illustrations by JynX

Above: The first explicitly Len'en-related illustration JynX ever made, released even before the character's own appearance in-game.

JynX occasionally does illustrations for various occasions, be it seasonal events or the Len'en anniversary. They sometimes come with little comments, which you can read here.

Events: Len'en Anniversary

Above: The 2nd anniversary's celebratory art, which, while not canon at all, comes with a few pieces of dialogue.

The Len'en series celebrates its anniversary on 11th November, not the day the games became available to the public, but the day JynX finished work on the first two Len'en games.

Often, JynX will release a YouTube video on the day, which we've already covered up above, but sometimes it'd be just an illustration instead, with some text to go with it.

All the anniversaries and their related celebrations can be seen here.

Blog: Unreal Indolence Record

This is JynX's old blog, the only real lore-related piece of information you'd find here is when JynX changed the kanji for Len'en, and even that's only tangentially related.

Though if you're interested, the blog is translated here.

Blog: pixiv FANBOX

Technically speaking, pixiv FANBOX is a monetization platform first and foremost, allowing fans to donate to their favourite creators. You can do so to support JynX too, and in return you'd get a sneak peek into upcoming Len'en content.

Additionally, JynX also uses its posting system as their new blog these days, and there are actually quite a lot of lore-related and adjacent information here, like the music comments I linked to previously.

They are translated and available for reading here.

Vtuber: Kanae Tabinoki

Yep, JynX is also a Vtuber! Their Vtuber persona is called Kanae Tabinoki, and have near daily streams where they usually work, chat or game.

Strictly speaking, they're not really related to Len'en, though being played by JynX, it's rather inevitable that scraps of lore slip through their mouth.

All lore scraps are documented on the appropriate page on the wiki, though if you'd like you can also read their page and summaries of their streams to look into the details.

Social Media: Twitter

Finally, we come to the end. There are 5 twitter accounts that are relevant to the Len'en series in one way or another. They are:

@mugen_Jinx: JynX's own twitter account

@TN_Rei: Rei and Zelo's shared twitter account

Now these two are absolute gold-mines of lore, back when JynX didn't really realise how crazy fans will get about the lore, they would just drop random scraps onto twitter.

They don't do it much anymore, probably for the same reason Peing isn't used anymore, but I've started a project where I collect and translate all JynX and Rei/Zelo tweets, for future posterity.

The project isn't complete yet, but what is there can be found here. I've already found all lore scraps and documented them onto the wiki though, so there's no urgent need to read these at all.

@EnHaL03472833

@3DM5r5AOnKN9RPN

These two are accounts belong to in-universe characters, and so in fear of spoiling things, I've left their names out.

Being much more important tweets, part of the overall narrative of the series, they have their own dedicated wiki page to translating them here.

@Kanae_Tabinoki: Kanae's twitter account

To be completely honest, in terms of lore, Kanae's account is barely relevant. He mostly uses it to announce upcoming streams. I'm just listing it here for completion's sake.

Final Note: On the Len'en Wiki

Like I mentioned in part 1 your best friend really will be the Len'en wiki, the primary sources and their translations on the wiki are 100% trustworthy, be it game dialogue, associated files or even tweet quotes.

Pages where information needs to be synthesised on the other hand I would be slightly more careful with, there's not a lot of us wiki editors so many of those pages remain un-updated beyond the bare minimum. Misinformation should be kept to a minimum, though.

However, I will guarantee the quality of the Origin and Name sections! I've poured many hours into research for those, and I'm quite proud of them.

Also, there's a glossary navigation box that has a lot of pages for terms, key items and organizations listed there.

I mention this cause while the characters and location navboxes are probably easy to come across, this one might be a bit more obscure. The Youkai page is one example where it can be found.

Finally, the Len'en kanji change and what it signifies is detailed on the Len'en Project page, specifically under Name and Concept & Story Arcs, so there's also that to check out.

Ending

And that! Concludes everything you have to know to start fully immersing yourself into Len'en lore, to the point where you can drown in it like I have.

There are also announced but yet unreleased games and things of the like, but you can explore the wiki to find out about them, or even just ask other fans!

I must reiterate, I wouldn't be too worried about learning and reading up on whatever I've mentioned here in part 3. Part 1 and 2 are already a lot, after all and they're really the main basis you need to dig into the lore, getting immersed in all that does kinda snowballs into the obscure stuff naturally though, so you'll be back~ :)

And finally, to be completely shameless, I do some pretty neat Len'en related analyses and theories here that I feel aren't quite solid enough for the wiki. So if you somehow manage to consume all this and still hunger for more, come visit, yeah?

Anyways, I really, really hopes this helps. And happy lore-ing~!

[singular-yike]

The Name "Saragimaru"

A Challenge From JynX

Now that Kanae's 80-hour BotC work marathon is over and I am free man once more, I've suddenly gotten an inexplicable burst in motivation to work on the JynX & Len’en Tweet Collection.

It's exactly what it sounds like, Twitter is, well what it is, these days, and it'd be a shame if we lost such a treasure trove of Len'en history and lore.

It is in the middle of this that I stumbled across this pair of tweets, which is quite interesting indeed:

RIP Clause aside, what really got me is that bit about Yaorochi and Saragimaru's inspirations, especially that bit about how their inspiration right there on their names.

With Yaorochi it's extremely obvious, both its pronunciation and kanji clearly allude to Yamata-no-Orochi; But with Saragimaru, things fall apart real fast. What on earth was their name based on?

Let's take a very, almost certainly overly close, look at the name Saragimaru (蛇穴丸), and try to piece together what it may be about.

Splitting the Name

This is a completely blind area of research for me, and I could scarcely find anything about this on both Japanese and Chinese wikis that had Len'en information.

Searching Saragimaru (蛇穴丸) on its own got me nothing but Len'en either, so I decided to split the name in the most logical way I could think of: Saragi + maru. Now let's take a look at them separately.

Maru

-maru (丸 lit. "circle, round") is a fairly common tomeji (止め字), suffixes commonly added to kanji names, such as ko (子 e.g. Kanako 可南子 or Minako 美奈子) or tarou (太郎 e.g. Kentarou 健太郎 or Kotarou 虎太郎).

Nowadays, -maru is most commonly associated with ship names, but it's still used in a wide variety of names, from people to animal to object names.

It's unclear where it originated from, but a dominant theory is that it comes from the Heian period first-person pronoun maro (麿 or 麻呂). This later came to be added to the names of people who were loved and respected.

This idea of love and treasuring the thing being named would become one of the central ideas of the -maru suffix, often being attached to pet names, especially dog names, as well as names of swords.

Additionally, it's believed that maru, meaning "round", was a euphemism for excretion. It's thought that naming someone with particularly loathsome names could actually protect them from demons and disasters, so they were commonly used for the names of young boys, especially those who were to become warriors.

It is this last angle that I think is relevant here, -maru as a tomeji used for warriors. Saragimaru is certainly a warrior themself, wielding both a one-handed sword and a naginata.

To be honest, this whole ramble about the -maru ateji could really end up being nothing. On one hand, -maru is very likely just another ateji for the everyday Japanese person, but on the other, this is JynX we're talking about, so I though to give it a dive all the same.

Saragi

Now onto the main focus, Saragi (蛇穴), the good thing is that this was a phrase that shows up intermittently throughout Japanese history, so we do have several possibilities to go off of.

Unfortunately, none of them really feel that connected to Saragimaru, so I'm not sure if I'm on the right track at all. Nevertheless, let's check these out from most relevant to least.

Saragi and Autumn

First, let's ignore the reading of saragi and just look at the written phrase 蛇穴, literally "snake hole". It's used in a kigo (季語), words or phrases associated with a season in traditional Japanese poetry.

The phrase is "entering the snake's hole [nest]" (蛇穴に入る), which points autumn in the 9th traditional month, since that is when snakes enter their burrows and hibernate.

This is potentially relevant as EMS in fact takes place in autumn.

Saragi and Pottery

Next, we look at a proposed etymology of the word saragi.

It's believed that the way snakes curled themselves up to dig their burrows used to be called saraki (さらき), this was later loaned to refer to clay pottery, as the process of shaping the pottery was compared to a snake curling up.

This would be relevant to Saragimaru through Sukune Kanato, a clay pottery artisan with whom Saragimaru had some dealings, even requesting the clay replica of the Tasouken from them.

Saragi Village

There is a settlement named Saragi (蛇穴), located in Gose City, Nara Prefecture. There are several theories as to how this name came to be, and is where the above point came from.

But rather than the name itself, what I'd like to draw attention to is a local festival, the "Snake-pulling Soup-scattering Festival" (蛇曳き汁掛け祭り), which takes place on the 5th May every year.

The story goes En no Gyōja (役行者), an ascetic and mystic said to be the founder of Shugendō (修験道), would pass through Saragi Village every day on his way to train on Mount Katsura.

A young girl from the village fell madly in love with En, but he would not even glance at her. Eventually, her feelings grew so strong that she transformed into a snake and chased after him.

However, it happened to be the rice-planting season, and the villagers were working in the field. It was then that they saw a giant snake spewing fire as it slithered across the field.

In their fear, the villagers took the miso soup that was meant to be a light meal for the field workers, and threw it at the snake, chasing it away. The villages gave chase, finding that it ran into a well. They covered the well up with a great boulder, trapping her.

There they built the Noguchi Shrine (野口神社), next to the well the snake was sealed in, to enshrine and provide for the girl's spirit.

The shrine is also dedicated to a dragon god, who has dominion over water. While it's not too clear where it comes from, it seems safe to me to assume that it's the same great snake that the girl transformed into, especially since snakes and dragons were often considered similar beings having power over water.

Below: The "Snake Mound" (蛇塚), where the snake is said to have fled into.

This leads to the "Snake-pulling Soup-scattering Festival", which, as the name implies, has two major events.

First is the "soup-scattering", which is believed to summon rain for good harvest in the coming year.

It used to be that the miso soup is actually thrown at the attendees of the festival. Though because the soup is actually constantly heated by fire, this is no longer done for safety concerns.

Below: The priest of the shrine scattering the soup, yes this is literal.

Next is the Snake-pulling, a giant snake made out of rice straws is made, said to carry the blessing of the dragon god of the Noguchi Shrine, and is even offered a whole bottle of sake.

It's brought to every house of the village, ensuring everyone gets a good harvest. At the end of the parade, its brought to the well, where it's positioned to sit in a coiled position over the well.

Below: The great straw snake atop the well.

That concludes, roughly, the tale of Saragi Village and its extremely unique festival (with some extra details too cause dang it's interesting).

There could be some rough threads drawn between the two

The girl's all-consuming love for En no Gyōja could be compared to Saragimaru's intense devotion to Yaorochi.

The girl's transformation into a great snake, rendered similarly as 大蛇 (lit. "giant snake") in the records.

The festival's purpose to calling upon rain could relate to Saragimaru's ability to manipulate cloudy weather.

In the end I won't say it's really a perfect fit for Saragimaru, but it's certainly the closest I think any of these saragi-related lines of thought have brought us.

Conclusion

And that's really all I was able to find, no satisfactory conclusion this time, just a few potential connections for you to ponder on and drawn your own conclusions with.

This, at the very least, would placate my burning desire to figure out what JynX really means with that tweet, even if it's not the right answer.

As usual, I hope you enjoyed~! :)

[singular-yike]

"Lily Pad Ice" Dimensions

As you've probably already realised reading the title, this is going to be... a rather complex one today. Still, I'll try my best, so please bear with me.

Len'en has a lot of big concepts, most notably dimensions and timelines, which are often associated with Suzumi Kuzu, perhaps the most complex character in the series.

Today I'll try to go over a semi-theory of how dimensions and timelines are understood in Len'en, along with trying to understand related terms in relation to the theory.

The "Lily Pad Ice" Model

To start off, the reason I call this a semi-theory, is that it relies on a comment not directly related to Len'en, but definitely not unrelated either.

When the album A World That Isn't Fantasy came out, JynX gave the new music tracks comments in several pixiv FANBOX posts. Notable to for us today is that of Alice Leaping Atop Lily Pad Ice, which reads:

"Lily pad ice" forms when the ice on top of frozen seas and lakes melt and the ice chunks bump into each other, their edges get curled up and they get their lily pad-like shapes. In my mind, there are several images for other dimensions, other worlds, other wordlines and parallel worlds, one of them is quite similar to lily pad ice. What once was whole breaks apart, it's pieces bump and they roll up, creating walls in between, and thus the pieces no longer interact with one another. These lily pads of ice are hard but brittle and eventually disappear, and something's skipping around the thin sheets elegantly…

Below: Lily pad ice, or pancake ice, atop the water.

Basically, my internal image, understanding and theory about dimensions and timelines in Len'en are all based on this passage.

I hesitate to take it as 100% canon to the universe of Len'en, since it's about JynX's personal word view rather than that of Len'en, though it's certainly the most we've gotten.

So! Based on that passage, the framework has three central concepts:

All dimensions comes from one source, one origin point.

A new dimension is formed when a split action is taken.

"Timelines" and "dimensions" are, in truth, the same thing.

Point 1: One source, one origin

No. 1 doesn't really need much more explanation, everything comes from one source, a single piece of ice.

Though I would like to note that while, in theory, there is an origin point for all dimensions/timelines, when applying the framework we can also freely set our own "origin point", pick out a single piece of ice from the myriad to track its progress.

Point 2: Split paths, split dimensions

This can be nicely demonstrated in my example for point 2. Here I'll use the beginning of the Shrine Team's route as my "origin point", the ice piece that I'll be tracking the progress of.

In one timeline, the Shrine Team met Souko, in another Kurohebi, in yet another Jun and so on and so forth.

This is basically, as JynX describes, "what once was whole breaks apart", they start out as one event, "the Shrine Team is kicked out of the Shrine", but with the game, a myriad of alternate timelines are created.

Point 3: Timelines, Dimensions, Realities

Now, for point 3, we can quite easily demonstrate it by doing a little thought experiment: Say I envision a random scenario, "Yago decided to take up gardening rather than blacksmithing".

Think about it, is there any difference in me saying

There is an alternate timeline where Yago is a botanist.

There is an alternate dimension where Yago is a botanist.

Functionally, not really. The terms "dimension" and "timeline", in this case, really collapse into one thing: "reality". There is an alternate reality out there, in which Yago is a botanist.

And this I think is key to understanding many of the terms, concepts and scenarios in Len'en, some of which I'll go over in the next section.

Notable Terms, Scenes and Situations

Timelines and Dimensions

Despite my claim that these two terms are functionally the same thing, we can still try to define them somewhat.

Under this framework, you could say that the closer-related each piece of the ice is, the more likely they are to be considered timelines, rather than dimensions.

For example, most people would agree that the events of BPoHC all happened in alternate timelines. Despite the variety of events that can happen in the game, they are all ultimately rather close, all coming from the same "source", the BPoHC prologue.

Conversely, lets go back to the botanist Yago thought experiment, in that reality, the Tasouken would've never been made, the powerful clan leader perhaps never murdered, and thus orochi youkai would never have been created.

Even if everything else goes the same, the world is separated into "outside" and Mugenri, Taira no Masakado's rebellion still fails, Tsubakura's mother still passes away, Tsurubami still spirits them away to Mugenri, etc.

It is undeniable that this would create an alternate reality where EMS simply, cannot happen. When things are this distant, I feel most would be comfortable calling it an alternate dimension.

Continuing with this as my example, the entirety of BPoHC, as we know it, may take place on a single piece of ice on the right tree, and it is that piece of ice cracking into its many pieces that gives us the timelines of BPoHC.

Thus we see that there's no true division between timelines and dimensions, those closer to one another in the universal pond are called alternate timelines to one another, and those distant are called alternate dimensions.

Homeologues

Homeologues, a concept introduced to us through Suzumi, is perhaps one of the most confusing and intriguing in the series so far.

A term coined by Tsubakura, it refers to "similar people across different dimensions, although they do not necessarily exist in every dimension."

There's a lot of confusion as to what this really means, but looking at the original Japanese terms shows us that it's really just the character version of the lily pad ice model.

The term is "common originator lifeforms" (同祖体), and therefore it refers to beings that share a common origin, somehow.

Under the framework that dimensions and timelines are really the same thing, the easiest type of homeologue is therefor simply the same person across different timelines.

For example, the Tsubakura who drank ink for breakfast on the morning of BPoHC and Tsubakura who drank Yabusame's coffee instead are homeologues to one another.

Of course, I kind of doubt that Tsubakura invented the term to be used for these cases, but rather for realities that are further separated from one another.

Though with the lily pad ice model, it's easy to see what this means, even if separated by a great many pieces of ice, there will still inevitably be people who "correspond" to one another.

Back to the botanist Yago scenario again, for one botanist Yago and blacksmith would definitely be homeologues of one another.

The Tsubakura Enraku equivalent born in the "ice pieces" originating from the botanist Yago line would be the homeologue to the Tsuba we know and love.

However, since the whole Tasouken line of events could not happen, it would be unlikely for there to be a Yaorochi homeologue other there, thus, "[homeologues] do not necessarily exist in every dimension"

Suzumi Kuzu

Suzumi's ability to let them turn back time can also be understood by the lily pad ice model, they are the "Alice Leaping Atop Lily Pad Ice", the figure "skipping around the thin sheets elegantly".

Their ability basically allows them to travel to a different sheet of ice from their own, and of course, since their destination would undoubtedly have a Suzumi of its own as well, it causes the clone situation.

It is here that I do want to point out problem with the lily pad ice model, it pretty much requires us to freeze things and look at them in terms of snapshots.

Suzumi is unable to travel to the equivalent point of time in another timeline, they must go back in time, and go through a different string of events to reach a different conclusion.

So perhaps you could say that Suzumi breifly reforms the ice, right before it cracks apart and jumps across the crack, entering a different timeline.

Mugenri and the Outside World

Mugenri and the Outside World are rather curious cases, it's sort of implied that Mugenri is but a pocket dimension of the Outside World, but it doesn't exactly make it clear what it's relationship with the Outside World is.

Is Mugenri itself a parallel Outside World, despite being made out of it? Is Mugenri and the Outside World, on a cosmic scale, just two places on the same piece of ice?

This is one question that the lily pad ice model simply cannot answer, unfortunately.

The "Mugenri of the world where we were born in"

In BPoHC, ??? Team VS. Yaorochi, we get the following Suzumi monologue (Quote for Hamee and brackets for Ardey):

"Really though, there sure are a lotta familiar faces 'round here~." (Those would be "homeologues," yeah. Can't say I like usin' the name Tsubakura gave 'em, but whatever.) [...] Yaorochi: "Who goes there?!" (See, now here's a good example.) [...] "Ooh, now here's another familiar face. I'm not even surprised anymore." (Seems like their name's still "Yaorochi", even in this world.) [...] "But there's still, like, a LOT of homeologues here. Isn't that weird?" (It's 'cause this is the Mugenri of the world where we were born in. There's more than a few red threads running off us.)

There are two curious things here:

Ardey's implication that they've seen a different Yaorochi before

The "Mugenri of the world where we were born in".

To be completely honest, I'm unsure how to interpret #1. Personally, I've always been under the impression that Suzumi is comparing our Yaorochi with one that they've met in a distant dimensions.

However, apparently a lot of people think that this refers to a parallel Yaorochi in the Outside World instead.

Given what I've mentioned about the ambiguous relationship between the outside and Mugenri, I must honestly say I have no answer for this, and can only leave the mystery be.

As for #2 though, I believe that with the lily pad ice model, it's extremely easy to see what Suzumi means here. They are taking their own birth as their "origin point", every version of Mugenri that exists this event, would be a "Mugenri of the world they were born".

Conversely, any Mugenri extending from universes where this particular Suzumi was never born, are the "other Mugenri's", like the one from botanist Yago's line.

Ending things off

So yeah, this was a bit of a ramble this time, I must admit. It's a very ambiguous topic that we don't know much about, so I was perhaps over-ambitious in trying to tackle it so casually.

Perhaps I would've done a better job getting my point across if I could illustrate it better, but that's just not my forte, so I hope what is there helps.

In any case though, if nothing else I'd love for more people to read about the "lily pad ice" vision of dimensions that JynX has, and come to their own conclusions as to how it all works in Len'en.

As usual, I hope you enjoyed~! :)

[maideninorange]

How fast can the Len'ens run?

You got a decent mix of speedsters and slowpokes overall it seems, if their speeds in-game are anything to go by (at least for any that got to be player characters).

The fastest of the lot are easily Tsubakura and Saragimaru. Tsubakura is known to reach mach speed mid-flight, and their speed on the ground is probably not not different (although they tire out more easily in that case). Saragimaru's main combat style (at least outside spell card duels and when not trying to ambush people) is built around quickly slashing at opponents in order to overwhelm them. They can run pretty fast too for short distances when it isn't winter (in which case they are pretty slow because snakey).

Sese is also stupidly nimble for some reason. No one really knows why, not even Sese themself. Perhaps being made of bones means not getting exhausted as easily? It's not like they need to breathe anyway. Either way, they are never fun to play tag with. (They are great at hide and seek though!)

Slowpokes include Fumikado and Tenkai. Fumi is forever weighed down by their armor and favoring of long, heavy hitting attacks, frequently leaving themself wide open without the speed to escape (they're a tank though; so don't count on it). Tenkai is more very cautious in order to avoid stepping on their clothes and tripping over themself. The cost of this carefulness was their speed. Not that it helps much considering their power over barriers. (And yes, Tsurubami did tease Tenkai for being a slowpoke when they were still around.)

Yaorochi is also pretty slow. They aren't even weighed down by all those tails that much. They just tend to waste their energy on charge up attacks and baiting opponents into making the mistake of attacking first. They have a pretty swift lunge though, so perhaps going slow is their way of holding back? Hm... Although it could also be bulky clothes. Yeah, definitely the bulky clothes lol.

Everyone else is either completely average or just not fast or slow enough to say something about. At least to me lol.

[sealed-valkyria]

I made Argalia into the style of Len'en Book of the Cafe for some reason.

[sealed-valkyria]

The Book of the Cafe Beta experience.