#masu japan

[shilohsylvanian]

Japanese brand Masu source Please, I need it

[tanuki-kimono]

Is there any pattern with inspiration/relation to Konohana Sakuya?

Hi! Konohanasakuya-hime is the titular deity of Mount Fuji. She's traditionally associated with fleeting cherry blossoms because of this part of her myth:

Sakuya-hime met Ninigi on the seashore and they fell in love; Ninigi asked Ohoyamatsumi, the father of Sakuya-hime for her hand in marriage. Oho-Yama proposed his older daughter, Iwa-Naga-hime, instead, but Ninigi had his heart set on Sakuya-hime. Oho-Yama reluctantly agreed and Ninigi and Ko-no-hana married. Because Ninigi refused Iwa-Naga, the rock-princess, human lives are said to be short and fleeting, like the sakura blossoms, instead of enduring and long lasting, like stones (via wikipedia).

I have never encountered kimono or obi directly hinting at this goddess, but if you'd like to reference her, any sakura (flowers on trees or not, falling petals etc) and mountain pattern (Fujisan if possible of course ^^) would work nicely!

She's also a goddess associated with sake brewing, so sakura + sake objects (like masu or sakazuki cups for ex.) would be very cool!

If you are going a darker route, sakura + fire pattern could hint at the birth hut episode of her story - which also links her persona to volcanoes. (Note that sakura+braziers is usually a pattern association hinting at nighttime cherry blossom viewing parties)

(anyone played Okami around here? I just realized the camellia sisters could be a reference to this part of Konahana's mythos :3)

[todayisafridaynight]

the sun will explode before rgg starts regularly giving everyone birthdays but they'll absolutely host a funeral event for the dead bitches

[redsamuraiii]

Born to be a Flower (Ep 5)

We all just want to be accepted and loved for who we are.

[albumsivelistenedto]

MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS - ワールドイズユアーズ (2009)

MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS – ワールドイズユアーズ (2009)

[digit-zero]

M A S U ss23

https://instagram.com/masu_officialaccount?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[yumeka-sxf]

Japanese Linguistic Observations in Spy x Family - part 1

This is a post series I've been planning for a while and I've finally had the time to complete part 1! 😃 I may have mentioned here before that I got my B.A. in Japanese/East Asian Studies, and even though I'm not fluent, I know the linguistics of the language fairly well. So I thought it would be fun to examine the interesting aspects of the Japanese version of the SxF manga that aren't reflected in the English translation. It might also be an informative experience for those who don't know any Japanese to learn a bit about the language through SxF! I'll try not to get too technical with the linguistics and keep my explanations at a beginner's level.

-----

Part 1 - Twilight's "honne and tatemae"

One of the main themes in SxF is how many of the characters have secrets they want to hide, so they act a certain way in front of others in order to mask their true selves. Japanese has a word for this phenomena called 本音と建前 ("honne and tatemae").

I remember learning about the concept of "honne and tatemae" during my Japanese college studies – a quick google search will yield a lot of publications on the topic and its relation to Japanese culture in particular. While the idea of hiding one's true intentions behind a fake facade can exist anywhere and is not something unique to Japan, it is enough of an occurrence in Japanese culture that there are specific words for it. The Wiki article has a basic but good definition of honne and tatemae, to quote:

A person's honne may be contrary to what is expected by society or what is required according to one's position and circumstances, and they are often kept hidden, except with one's closest friends. Tatemae is what is expected by society and required according to one's position and circumstances, and these may or may not match one's honne. In many cases, tatemae leads to outright telling of lies in order to avoid exposing the true inward feelings.

Sounds very much like the characters in SxF, doesn't it? Twilight especially, because unlike other characters like Yor and Anya, who simply have secrets they need to keep but don't create fake personas for themselves, Twilight does – the cheerful, friendly Loid Forger is a different person from the cold, calculating Twilight after all. Also unlike Yor and Anya, who speak the same way consistently no matter who they're talking to, Twilight uses different speech levels depending on which persona he's using and who he's talking to.

There are many different levels of speech in Japanese, ranging from super formal to totally crude. These speech levels are distinguished mostly by the pronouns the speaker chooses to use for themselves and who they're speaking to, as well as how they choose to conjugate the words they use. For example, 座ってください (suwatte kudasai), 座って (suwatte,) and 座れ (suware) all mean "sit," as in, telling someone to sit down. But the tone being conveyed is different: the first one is polite, the second one is casual, and the last one could be seen as rude if you're not using it with a close friend/family member.

As Twilight, he uses casual speech with the masculine and less polite pronoun 俺 or オレ (ore). This is the speech he uses when talking to a fellow spy like Fiona, and for his own inner thoughts.

As Loid Forger, he uses the polite 敬語 (keigo) speech, which is basically comprised of using the -ます (-masu) conjugation for verbs and the "to be" verb です (desu). He also uses the pronoun ボク or 僕 (boku), which is the standard male pronoun and more polite than "ore." He uses keigo to address pretty much everyone who doesn't know his true identity. When talking to a higher-up like Sylvia, he'll still use "ore" but will use polite speech instead of casual speech.

Anya is an exception to this: with her, he uses his most casual speech, the same as he uses with Franky.

I discussed a bit about this in part 24 of my Twiyor analysis posts, but this could be because Anya is a little kid, so he doesn't feel the need to put on any airs with her (same with Bond, whom he also uses casual speech with).

An interesting side note is that, as a child, Twilight used the pronoun "boku" but then changed to "ore" as soon as he became an adult/soldier.

Another aspect of keigo, besides using the more polite forms of pronouns and verb conjugations, is putting the honorific さん (san) after people's names. Twilight does this all the time with Yor, as she does with him. However, he switches to casual speech and drops the "san" part in her name when addressing her in front of people who (supposedly) believe they're a real married couple, such as Yuri and Fiona – because it would be weird for a real couple who have been married for a year to address each other in such a formal way, especially the husband. In the below panel when Fiona visits them, he's calling her "Yor" instead of "Yor-san" and using casual speech instead of keigo.

Oddly in these situations, while he uses just "Yor" when addressing her directly, he still calls her "Yor-san" when talking about her. During Yuri's first visit for example, he calls her "Yor-san" when telling Yuri how much Anya loves her (talking to someone about her) but then calls her just "Yor" a few moments later when telling her that he'll clean up the spill (talking to her directly). It's strange to me that he wouldn't just consistently use "Yor" whether he's talking to her or about her in these situations...I'm honestly not sure if he does this intentionally or if he just slips up since he's so used to using "Yor-san" in her presence.

*UPDATE* Thank you to @dentedintheworld-blog for enlightening me with the below reply about this!

"In Japanese, when speaking to your spouse's family about your spouse, you address her/him by attaching "san" her/his name out of respect for her/his family. This is also to show her/his family that you respect your spouse. That's why Loid calls Yor with san when he talks about how much he loves Yor to Yuri."

That definitely makes sense for why Twilight switches between "Yor" and "Yor-san" in these situations.

Regardless, this is why the scene in chapter 86 is so significant – when Yor isn't present, there's no reason for him to refer to her as "Yor-san," especially in front of a fellow spy like Fiona who knows he (supposedly) shouldn't have any feelings for her. Yet, even after he just called Yuri by his full name "Yuri Briar" a moment before, he doesn't do the same for Yor and continues to call her "Yor-san" here, much to Fiona's dismay.

In the same chapter, it's also significant that he uses "ore" when addressing Yor directly in his thoughts. Even though he's not speaking out loud, I believe this is the first time he's speaking directly "to" her as Twilight and/or his true self and not as Loid Forger.

But despite all this, I think that both Loid Forger and Twilight are tatemae…they're both masks to hide the person he truly is. The person who fondly talked about his mother to Yor on the park bench, the person who genuinely expressed gratitude for her sacrifice when leaving the resort island, the person who refused to kill Yuri in a life-or-death struggle because he knew it would hurt her…that's his actual honne. But of course, the ongoing conflict of the series is that he has yet to realize this. He won't even show his honne to his closest friend, Franky. Seems like it mostly comes out in dribs and drabs during his interactions with Yor...no surprise there, lol. The man is certainly a work in progress. When he finally starts letting his "honne" show, I'm curious what form of speech he'll adopt.

-----

Continue to Part 2 ->

[vashtijoy]

terms of address: maruki

I was asked how the squad refer to Maruki, so here goes.

first, the normies

Many of the cast refer to Maruki exclusively as "Dr. Maruki": 丸喜先生 Maruki-sensei. These mentions are universally in kanji.

Ann has 41 of these, and often uses sensei by itself;

Haru has 26 of these, and uses sensei alone a couple of times, during Maruki's Palace;

Makoto has 27 of these. She uses sensei alone quite often;

Yoshizawa has 41 of these total, 14 as Kasumi and 27 as Sumire. She calls Maruki just sensei often.

Noticing anything? Yeah: they're all the girls. These particular characters consistently seem to have relatively colourless and unmarked speech. This may in itself, of course, be a form of marking, since expectations around gendered speech in Japan can be so strong.

the relatively boring

Ren appears to always use "Maruki", apart from one instance very early on when an option, "Ask about the counsellor", includes Maruki-sensei. He also always uses kanji; protagonists don't have to be polite.

He calls Maruki sensei alone once, during his confidant. Kawakami gets it more often, while Takemi gets it constantly.

slightly more edgy

While Futaba always uses "Dr. Maruki", she slurs it a little, making it slangier: 丸喜せんせー Maruki-sensee. She always uses kanji for "Maruki", except in the text chat after he visits Shujin, where she's only heard his name spoken!—which is a cute detail. Occasionally she uses せんせー sensee by itself, which is distinct from her 先生 sensei meaning "a teacher".

Ryuji, again, virtually always makes it "Dr. Maruki", usually Maruki-sensei in kanji; a few mentions very early on, when they're still talking about the new counsellor guy, are just straight "Maruki". Also, in his counselling session, Ryuji almost just calls him that!—ultimately deciding to make it "Dr. Maruki":

Ryuji なあ、丸喜⋯センセーってよ、よく『変わってる』って言われね? naa, maruki... sensee tte yo, yoku "kawatteru" tte iwarene? Hey, Dr. Maru— ah, I mean, Doc. Anyone ever tell you you're kinda… not normal?

The meaning is a little lost in translation here, with Ryuji cutting from the normal form of address to a nickname. Also, in Maruki's Palace, he recognises Maruki on one of the videotapes, and starts off in hiragana before finishing in kanji. It feels a bit as if he isn't initially sure what he's seeing:

Ryuji まるき… 丸喜先生？ maruki... maruki-sensei? Maruki... Dr. Maruki?

He uses sensei by itself a couple of times, far fewer than you might expect; his "Doc" is usually either glossed in, or was originally Maruki-sensei, "Dr. Maruki".

He also uses 大先生 daisensei, "great leader/teacher/artist" etc, as a term of abuse, aimed at palace bosses such as Shido and Madarame. 獅童大先生 shidou-daisensei—"that stuck-up bastard Shido!".

the slightly outlandish...

Morgana overwhelmingly uses katakana for names, and Maruki is no exception. He talks about him a lot, always in katakana, as マルキ Maruki. He never uses any honorifics for him.

He has only one use of kanji, 丸喜 Maruki, in "will you meet with this confidant?" text, around I think rank 5, which looks like it may be a slip.

the strangely polite...

Akechi, of course, fails to grace Maruki with his title of "doctor"; he's just plain "Maruki". The localisation sometimes makes it "Dr. Maruki", but that's a gloss; Akechi never once uses sensei (or any other honorific) about him.

But he uses an honorific to Maruki, once:

That "isn't that right" is ですよね desu yo ne, which might seem startlingly polite for third semester Akechi. In fact, he's rather consistent about his masu forms to Maruki—and only to Maruki—during the third semester.

He has no uses of desu or -masu/-masen, for instance, to anyone else in the third semester. It's actually rather cute, because it makes it clear a number of his lines in the 1/2 and 1/9 Palace are directed not to Ren or Yoshizawa, as it might seem, but to Maruki.

So this looks like a sardonic little aside, and I'm sure there's a lot of that in it—"Maruki-san". But this is also the only time Akechi ever addresses Maruki by name. And since he has all these desu and -masu forms going on around Maruki, then maybe he just calls him Maruki-san, full stop.

Did I mention he's a weird boy?

...and the downright weird

That leaves us with Yusuke, who (as nobody will be surprised to hear) does his own thing that raises some fascinating possibilities.

Yusuke only appears to address Maruki by name once, when they first meet in the courtyard, and as you'd expect, he calls him sensei—丸喜拓人先生 Maruki Takuto-sensei, "You are Dr. Takuto Maruki, correct?".

But every other time Yusuke uses sensei in the script? He's referring not to Maruki, of course, but to his sensei, Madarame. That initial approach to Maruki, stranger to stranger, face to face, is the only time he uses it to anyone else.

So what does Yusuke call Maruki? He calls him 丸喜氏 Maruki-shi.

what is shi

氏 shi is a very formal and exclusively third-person term, usually seen in writing, or heard from newsreaders. It's often translated "Mr X", which can be very odd to hear in media that retains honorifics like -san and -kun; "Mr. Akechi's coming on!" is an example, from 6/10. And Akechi is, in fact, usually mentioned as Akechi-shi on the evening news.

Yusuke's Maruki-shi is universally translated as "Dr. Maruki", as if he'd just said Maruki-sensei like everyone else. Which is a little bit of a shame.

Yusuke also uses shi for one other person—the art patron Kawanabe, in his confidant, before you meet up at the sushi bar. Most of the rest of the time, before and after, Yusuke just calls Kawanabe "Kawanabe" in third-person, with no title; he pulls out a Kawanabe-san at rank 10, after he's won the contest—face to face, of course, since shi is only third-person.

On the other hand, Yusuke never mentions Maruki at all without a title.

the other time yusuke uses sensei

Okay, I lied: Yusuke has one other instance of Maruki-sensei. This, like Morgana's single lapse into kanji, is in prompt text: "Are we going to Maruki's Palace today?" Again, I think this is likely an error.

revision history

Click here for the latest version.

v1.0 (2023/12/29)—first posted.

[recurring-polynya]

Izakaya Kamenoya, part 3

It's been so long, and I kept getting busy with stuff, but rest assured, I have not stopped thinking about every shinigami's favorite watering hole, Izakaya Kamenoya, for even one second of that time, and today I am going to talk about what's really important: what kind of booze can you get there.

The multiplicity of drink options is honestly the thing I really love about Kamenoya. On a meta level, someone has to draw all this stuff, like, with their hands. I have no idea, actually, if the animators consider this sort of thing a break from all the powering up and sword fights and rolling across cave floors, or if they consider a Trip to the Bar to be really tedious. My point is, they very well could have just always drawn people drinking out of the same cups, except they didn't, they drew a series of loving close ups of sake-pouring and a variety of drinkware styles. On a more Watsonian level, I just like the idea that, like Alice's Restaurant, you can get anything you want at Izakaya Kamenoya. So let's get into it!

I think the thing that really made me notice this was this scene from the Amagai Arc, where you see Kira doing mokkiri, or overpouring his sake. (At least I think that's what he's doing. The articles I read sounded more like the server is supposed to do it, which emphasizes the establishment's generosity, so maybe Kira is just being a messy drunk. I'm pretty sure you're also not supposed to pour yourself sake, you're supposed to do it for your tablemates)

Often, mokkiri is done into a masu, which is a small square box that was used as a standard measure for rice. You can see Nanao drinking out of one here!

What kind of cup to drink your sake out of is a huge topic, but basically, it depends on the flavor and characteristics of the sake. The fact that Kira and the Lads are drinking out of clear glasses might imply that they're drinking chilled, summer-style sake (or possibly trying to appreciate the clarity of the vintage, as if this is what you call up Iba and Renji to go to the pub for).

I am not an expert, so I'm not going to attempt to identify exactly what these different cups would be classified as, but you can see a variety of shapes, sizes and materials.

I found less information on different shapes of tokkuri (that's the slightly bigger bottle that you serve from), but those come in a variety, as well. Mostly, they have either the large, oval-shaped jugs you can see in the first picture, or the more slender white ones in the second. I am really fond of these tall boys that Kira and Hisagi have, which seem to have straighter sides than the other kind, kind of like a milk bottle.

While we're looking at that picture, there's an ad on the wall for beer. Beer!

In modern times, beer is actually the most popular alcoholic beverage in Japan, which Wikipedia tells me came about after WWII because of restrictions on the use of rice. They've had beer since the Edo era, though, and many of today's major breweries got started in the late 1800s. I love the idea that beer is a thing you can get in Soul Society, but it's clear that it has not overcome sake in popularity the way it did in the World of the Living--which makes sense, because of they never had those restrictions. (In other words, throw this in the bucket of stuff like tattoos and attitudes toward homosexuality that I think diverged from the Living World because of weird quirks of history).

In fact, Kamenoya apparently imports beer from the World of Living (maybe it also has local brews as well).

Look how lovingly that bottle of Kirin is drawn. 😂 The fact that it's shown in a glass mug in the ad, but served in a Pilsner glass here supports the idea that there are multiple kinds of beer available. Now, I believe that Kirin Zero is non-alcoholic. It's surprisingly hard to do research on beer labels from 20 years ago. I couldn't find a label that looked exactly like that, and Kirin's non-alcoholic offering seems to be called Kirin Free now (Kirin Zero is now zero-carb and I couldn't figure out if it's alcoholic or not). In any case, I am choosing in my heart to believe that this is because of weird TV censorship and in no way implies that Rukia is not one of the champion drinkers of the Gotei-13.

Don't get me wrong! I love a bar that offers non-alcoholic options! You can also get tea at Kamenoya, which you can see Tobiume and Okyō drinking below; Momo has some as well (they also have a discussion about it)

earlier posts in this series: (part 1) (part 2)

[daily-hyosatsu]

Do you recognize the name 辻 Tsuji? We've covered it once before, along with why I think it's so cool (it's written with a cross 十 and a road 辶, and it means crossroads), but we're covering it again not only because this carved and painted nameplate charmed me BUT ALSO because I just learned that 辻 is a 国字 kokuji, or Japan-made kanji. Which is why it has no on-yomi; it doesn't exist in Chinese.

I took some time to look at other kokuji, and here are some others we've covered here so far: 畑 (farm/field/garden), 桝 (masu), 俣 (fork/junction/crotch), 杤 or 栃 (horse chestnut) (yes, a kanji that is both Japan-made and Japan-simplified!), and 栂 (southern hemlock). Lots of plants! Which makes sense given that we're dealing with proper names.

You can find a more complete list here but a lot of them are pretty specialized or obscure, so here's a few that are very useful but unlikely to come up in names:

働 (hatara.ku, dō)* to work

込 (ko.mu, ko.mi, ko.meru) to be crowded, mixture, including/inclusive, inserting, in bulk

匂 (nio.u, nio.i, nio.waseru) smell, fragrant, to stink, to glow, to insinuate

枠 (waku) frame/framework, spindle, spool

*This one is unusual because it has both on-yomi and kun-yomi readings! I don't know if any other kokuji do. It takes its on-yomi from the Chinese-made 動 (ugo.ku, ugo.kasu, dō ) meaning to move. So, person radical 亻+ 動 move = work.

[four-loose-screws]

So glad to see you're enjoying engage! I love the game myself! I'm curious to see if there's any differences in Alear's character depending on their gender? Like, in English I get very different vibes from them due to the voice direction of their VAs despite them both having the same exact dialogue (I am biased to male Alear). Their model expressions also read differently, but I was wondering if there was actual text differences in the original script for Alear's different forms.

Fair warning: a basic understanding of Japanese pronouns and speaking styles will help this post make the most sense. But the general point should get across to anyone.

So a bit of context first, for those who may not be familiar with the Japanese text of the FE games since Awakening: For Robin in Awakening and Corrin in Fates, each gender has a couple of different I-pronoun options to choose from, to allow players to further customize their My Unit. Each I-pronoun variation genders Robin and Corrin's speaking style in slightly different ways. It's all very Japanese, so the options couldn't translate over in localization.

There are also conversations that are completely different in subject matter between male and female Robin/Corrin, mostly because romance was being limited to opposite-gender pairs. That's a totally different level, so generally those different conversations were translated over in localization, with the occasional exception - the only example I can immediately think of is Corrin / Rhajat being commonized to the m!Corrin version.

For Byleth, there's not much to say about how they talk. No surprise there as we all know they are mostly mute.

So considering everything I know about Robin and Corrin, I was VERY surprised to learn the answer to anon's question!

There are zero dialogue options to choose from for Alear, and not only that - both m!Alear and f!Alear speak exactly the same. The writers achieved this by choosing the most gender neutral style possible for Alear.

Alear ends all their verbs with desu/masu conjugations. Different sentence endings can have different gendered connotations in Japanese, with desu/masu being essentially the default, and formal option. Japanese people use desu/masu in pretty much all situations when they are not with family and friends. (Though laidback people will speak as little desu/masu as possible. Higher-ups can also be casual with those in a position below them. Etc. etc.)

Alear's I-pronoun is "watashi.' Like with desu/masu, you can consider this I-pronoun to be the "default" in Japanese.

And their you-pronoun for everyone else is 'anata,' again the "default."

This is not to say this is the only way the JP writers could have achieved f!Alear and m!Alear having the exact same dialogue, but it is the most straightforward route. Other pronouns like 'boku,' 'atashi,' 'ore,' etc. would have implied different connotations when one Alear used them over the other. And there are further options, but the deeper you go into the list of JP I-pronouns, the more specific in usage they get - like 'atai' or 'ora' implies characters are "country bumpkins" like Jean, Donnel, or Mozu. (This is because those pronouns are from different regional dialects in Japan.)

Of course, there are not zero differences in the text of m!Alear vs. f!Alear's conversations. But the differences are just limited to he/she, Veyle calling them Big Brother vs. Big Sister, and anything in that vein. That's it.

P.S. - For a fun fact on the voice direction between m!Alear and f!Alear's voices in JP: f!Alear speaks a little bit faster than m!Alear! This video of f!Alear's Ring Supports is 1 h 37 mins long, but this video of m!Alear's Ring Supports is 1 h 40 mins long.

[mugenloopdalove]

I would like to hear more about Aiko Gahana please.

Sure!! I'm actually using her in a college/town rp server that's also abo but shhh. She's an alpha she's a "townie" meaning she's not enrolled in the school but instead works within the town! I'll get to that later tho (also her art and kin wheel are under the read more as well :3)

As a fox, she found a small temple. The family running the temple instantly recognized her as not an ordinary fox but a powerful spirit, and gave her home there. She found a particular fondness for a shrine maiden that would practice music at the temple, and would frequently lay nearby while she played. Sadly, with time the maiden left the temple to get married. Aiko knew though, that once she took on her more human form, she wanted to be a musician.

Once she took on her human form, she quickly got to learning to sing and play different instruments, actually learning pretty fast and doing well for herself! She stuck to the shrine until non-humand were more widely accepted (in the lore of this rp server it took some time, despite their constant existence, for humans to be accepting of those who aren't such). Once they were, she took to a more wide variety of stages. Her traditional style mixed with more modern music almost seamlessly, and in 2008 she was scouted to be a part of a three person idol unit consisting of all animal-human hybrid idols: TailTale with the stage name Kiinee

However, the unit faced a lot of abuse from their company, and as the leader, Aiko got the worst of said abuse. Exhausting rehearsal schedules, cruel "critique," and overall deplorable treatment took a toll on the group within a year.

To make matters worse, the other idols not just in TailTale all because jealous of Aiko's popularity and took it out on them constantly. The other talents of TailTale, a cat yokai with the stage name "Masu" and a rabbit girl with the stage name "U-chan" both began spreading rumors within the production company, and no one bothered to question them. Aiko was isolated with no true friends in the company, and this on top of everything else would prove horrible for their mental health.

Her outbursts and meltdowns were at first just limited to in private or at most during a practice, where she would cry if scolded to much. But since no one within her company cared to help and only watched her break judgementally, things only got worse. Her once cheerful social media posts turned bitter, depressing, or even cryptic, and they'd lash out at fans or security during public events or just start crying. Gossip articles were pretty fast at picking up on this. Once again this extra weight only made things harder for Aiko and she broke even more.

Finally, at the start of a concert, a group of rowdy "fans" of TailTale began hurling insults just as the group walked on stage. This left Aiko stunned, and she finally crumpled in stage in a meltdown. The concert was ended and "Kiinee" was never heard from again. TailTale continued as a duo and now, most people wouldn't be able to recognize the name Kiinee and even if they did, talking about her was seen as taboo in fan circles. Her company was also great at erasing any evidence of her, and within 3 years Kiinee was completely gone.

Aiko spent some time hidden away, only going out heavily disguised when needed, living off savings until she began to run low on funds and realized that she needed to. Not be so isolated.

She fully changed her appearance and moved into the fictional city in Japan that the RP takes place in, where she's opened a music shop that sells all kinds of music, as well as instruments and merch. Her hope is for her shop to become a place for music lovers everywhere.

(art by my bestie @/probablydinosaurs :3)

[redsamuraiii]

Born to be a Flower (Ep 8)

[blogmatsu]

Guys, it finally happened. We got lost between trains, and a kind Japanese guy approached me to help. He spoke half in Japanese and English.

I finally got to use what little Japanese I knew to communicate. But fudge, I think I spoke rudely maybe? And I used 'Ore' instead of the general 'Watashi'. I didn't end my sentences in '-masu'.

AND I BLAME YOU TWO!

About 99% of my Japanese is from watching you guys talk.

I mean it, I really did learn the minimum amount of Japanese I have solely from you two. And you both talk so casually and use 'Ore' constantly!

Anyways, at least I had the basic decency to know how to say 'Arigatou'. Thanks so much to him, bro walked us all the way to the station himself 😭

He was the good fortune that came to me after losing the 1000 yen in that arcade. Ichimatsu was right about 戒め！

DAY 4

Kura Sushi 🍣! Where the sushi is on a conveyor belt. We spent about 45 plates of sushi and it amounted to around 6000円 which was a fairly decent price (⁠✯⁠ᴗ⁠✯⁠)

I got some charms (Omamori 御守) from the shrine for a couple of my friends.

Remember those handmade charms Ichimatsu made for Karamatsu in that one official fan anthology.

I'd have like some made by Ichimatsu too, it shows he cares. But I guess the ones from the temple will do.

Also that last omamori is for me, the money charm, or rather, prosperity charm. Cuz imma need money back from all the stuff I bought recently here in Japan (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠)

Whenever I pull out some money I just think "Look it's the man in the 1000円 bill who Hajime Shisaka's hair was inspired from!"

DAY 5

😎: Ohhh~ my dear deer, please do not look at us that way, we are not food.

😒: Ah, sorry I only have cat food.

Fed some deer at the park today 🦌 You can bow at them and they'll bow back when you feed them. So cute!

<<Prev 1 2 3 4 extra Next>>

[abbatoirablaze]

Catered To You, Yuki Tsunoda

Word Count: 791

“Just go in there and fuck things up,” Danny Ric smirked as he clapped his fellow driver on the back, “say you’re trying to help and then mess things up…but in a way that she has to help you.  I mean, she won’t be too mad.  It’s the end of the season…and it’ll give you an excuse to talk to her over the break.”

“That’s stupid advice,” Pierre said with a shake of his head and an eyeroll.  He looked to the smaller man, “Yuki…just go up to her and ask her out.  You don’t need to hide behind anything.”

“I don’t know,” the Australian shrugged, “I heard last week Lando tried to ask her out with the whole straight-forward method, and it didn’t work.  Offered to buy her a plane ticket to his flat and show her the sights…he’s still walking around with his tail between his legs over it.”

“Lando’s not interested in her!” Pierre grumbled, “stop messing with him.  Yuki.  Trust me.  Savannah likes you too.  You just need to walk up to her and tell her that you like her.”

“How do you know that she likes me?” The Japanese driver asked quizzically, “she-“

“She made you a whole birthday dinner on her day off…” he reminded his friend, “and she always brings you little treats from catering…remember when you got homesick after we left Japan and she made you a whole Japanese inspired feast?  People don’t do that unless they like you.”

“She was just being nice!”

Both Danny Ric and Pierre looked at one another, Daniel in a state of disbelief, “Wait…she did all that for him?”

“Yeah!”

“You didn’t tell me that,” the Australian said quickly, “yeah.  If she did that then she definitely likes you.”

Yuki felt a blush rising to his cheeks as he looked between his former partner and his current one, “you really think so?”

“Yes…now go and ask her out already!”

Yuki felt his nerves racing as he stepped through the back doors of the catering area and into the kitchen, hopelessly looking for Savannah. 

He smiled when he saw all 5’1” of her in the back making some desserts.  His heart thudded wildly in his chest as he started heading back to her. 

But he was stopped by one of the kitchen leads, “what are you doing back here?”

“I-uh-“

“Drivers and mechanics aren’t allowed back here.  You know that, Yuki,” he said with a frown.  He raised his pen from its clipboard and pointed at the small wrapped bouquet he’d brought along, “just like you know that you can’t bring non-food items back here, Mr. Tsunoda..”

“I-I’ll only be a se-“

“Out!” the leader of the kitchen said firmly, pointing towards the door, “get out before you contaminate my kitchen.”

“I-“

“Jeffrey, it-s’okay.  I’ll escort Mr. Tsunoda out!” a voice replied quickly. 

The lead moved and Yuki felt a blush rising to his cheeks as he saw Savannah quickly removing her apron.

“I’m counting this as your break!” he grumbled, disappearing. 

“Yuki, wh-what are you doing here?” she asked quickly, looping her arms through one of his and turning him towards the door.  Yuki felt like his throat was closing up as she walked him back out of the kitchen and through catering’s cafeteria, “Yuki, are you alright? Daijoubu desu ka?” (Are you alright?)

Yuki’s eyes went wide as they stopped outside the front door. “Nihongou ga hanase masu ka?” (You speak Japanese?”

She paled.  Yuki felt his heart racing even faster as he watched her. His lips moved quickly as he felt the adrenaline, “Tsukiatsu te kure mase nichi ka?” (Will you go out with me?)

Savannah stared at him blankly as he held the flowers out to her.

“I-Yuki…”

Yuki frowned, and his adrenaline plummeted.  He had thought that she would accept a date with him.  With a heavy sigh he turned to walk away, before he died of embarrassment. 

“Yuki wait!” she said quickly, turning the man to stop him, “I-why are you leaving?  What’s wrong?”

“You said-“

“I-I don’t know what you said,” she said quickly, cutting him off, “I-I’m sorry.  I’ve been trying to learn Japanese, but I-I haven’t gotten very far.  I-“

“You don’t know what I said?”

The young couple stared at one another for a minute while Yuki processed her reactions.  She shook her head and Yuki smiled, “I-I thought you knew Japanese when you asked if I was alright.”

“I know how to ask if someone’s alright and to say that my name is Savannah…I-I didn’t-“

“Go out with me?” Yuki tried again as he cut the young woman off.  A blush rose to her cheeks as he held out the flowers, “I-will you go out with me?”

[lawain-dimensional-heroes]

Drabble - To the other world (Project Sekai Timeline)

"Miya...Masu...Zaka... Miyamasuzaka Girls' academy, right?.. Miyamasuzaka Girl's academy, here I come."

Hanaka, now having made up her mind which school she goes is now getting to the interdimensional train that was going to depart to the train station in Shibuya. Once the three were at Lawain's city train station waiting for the train to arrive, Hanaka typed away on her phone in the group chat with her friends including Maroon, Rin, Len and of course Miku.

[Hanaka]: Hey guys! I'm going to go on a mission right now in Japan. I'm heading to Shibuya with MEIKO and KAITO right now and we're riding first class too! [Hanaka]: Since I'm heading to Japan anyway, do you guys want something from there? I can try and get the cash to afford some-- I think thanks to the agreement between Shibuya-- or Japan in it's entirety and Lawain city I can turn some of the credit I have into Yen, right?

Minutes later and they were still waiting for the train, but Hanaka got a couple of notifications back, from many of her friends.

[Tsukine]: Wait-- [Tsukine]: Japan, really!? [Akari]: She did state that on her message so yea-- [Akari]: But hey, if it's possible, maybe some neat little gadgets from there would be nice, [Tsukine]: Awesome! [Akari]: ... [Tsukine]: Ah whoops srry! Σ(･o･;) ﾊｯ! [Akari]: Anyway, have a great trip there regardless. So this means that you're temporarily studying in a different school, right? Which one? [Hanaka]: Miyamasuzaka Girl's academy-- (Edited) [Hanaka]: ARGHSDHS WHY DID IT TAKE ME SO LONG TO TYPE IT RIGHT!? [Tsukine]: F [Akari]: F [Rin]: F [Len]: F [Maroon]: F [Hanaka]: (°ロ°) !!! [Hanaka]: sfhjsfjkhksfhkj you guys!!

Once Hanaka finished typing that text she could feel KAITO lightly tapping her shoulder, before he pointed at the train that was now stationed next to them.

That was the train to Shibuya alright. With that, Hanaka grabbed her luggage and entered the train.

Once the three were sitting in first class, Hanaka once again pulled her phone out, while the two idols were looking curiously at the conversation that already formed when she wasn't on her phone.

[Miku]: You also have trouble typing Miyamasuzaka as well, huh? (Edited) [Miku]: As I was saying.... [Miku]: You're kind of going through the same situation me and the others did-- going to another world. I'm very happy for you to go there, Hanaka! I recall my early school days not being all that eventful. You could say they were... Boring. [Maroon]: But it's not boring in Lawain City now, right? [Maroon]: You've got the twins, Tsukine, Akari and the others you can have fun with! [Maroon]: and of course there is me you're enjoying the most with, amirite? 😏 [Tsukine]: Booty call isn't until midnight y'know!! jskfhjkskhjs [Rin]: AYO-- 😳😳😳😳 [Len]: Rin, [Len]: Did you seriously just try to act like one of those kids? [Rin]: I just wanna be trendy for a bit!!! [Maroon]: Anyway [Maroon]: So about that mission [Maroon]: What's it about? [Hanaka]: My mission is to found out what is causing these recent disappearances and reappearances to happen. [Hanaka]: KAITO and MEIKO told me about this and it got me to think that it there's a slight chance that something about it has to do with these other worlds you guys are checking out.

[Akari]: hold on-- other worlds...? Again!? [Maroon]: ( o_o);;; [Tsukine]: (o_o );;; [Miku]: Uhmmm... [Hanaka]: Akari there's no need to get upset again. [Hanaka]: But yes, they're going there again-- Well, Maroon's going there again but somehow the three got dragged in by accident. [Hanaka]: Right? [Maroon]: Yeah. Though these worlds have to do with other versions of them as these are bubble dimensions. [Maroon]: This one place we're in is a big amusement park weirdly enough-- even weirder is that random floating merry-go-round that is constantly blaring music [Maroon]: Like for fuck sakes can we get some peace and quiet here!? Or some random citizens walking around!? All I'm seeing here are sentient plush dolls and it's weirding me the fuck out!! [Tsukine]: But I think they're adorable! [Maroon]: It reminds me of that time I was in Mapleworld-- specifically in ludibrium where the people are mostly sentient toys! Remember that one pinkette I told you that looks like you, Tsukine? [Tsukine]: Oh yeah-- but you said she wasn't from Mapleworld, right? [Maroon]: True, but she did come from Grandis, basically Mapleworld's neighbor at this point. I should invite Angelic Buster or any of the heroes of Maple or even my old team-- Jack and Oz would surely love a vibrant place such as this! Yamato might not, but oh well. [Hanaka]: gee, mr.unlikable sure does have many friends, huh? ¬w¬ [Maroon]: You'd be surprised how friendly the people in the Mapleworld are. [Maroon]: Anyway, sis. This is your first time willingly going to another world. It's basically a clean slate in your case, with you basically going to a world were don't know about the heroes of Lawain or you or even mom in this case. [Hanaka]: That is true... [Hanaka]: But that means I'm going to be experiencing something new, plus I can potentially make some new friends! I'm going to have a good time here in Shibuya. [Hanaka]: Speaking of places, that amusement park you guys are at-- what's it called? [Maroon]: Ah, yeah-- lemme check [Miku]: Wonderlands x Showtime [Maroon]: Oh, so that's what it's called? [Miku]: Maybe...It just came into my mind, that's all. [Miku]: It's kind of weird to say this, but this is not the first time I'm experiencing something like this where I just know something. Moments ago, I sensed a feeling somewhere. It's weird to say, but maybe it's the other me Zephyr mentioned? [Maroon]: ...Could be. [Maroon]: If that's the case, then it's likely that the other you has been here before and then it's likely the others are here too. Not only that, it's also likely you have a connection with the other you and at the same time she has one with you. Either way, it's best to hide your true identity for the time being [Maroon]: Same goes for you too, Rin, Len. [Hanaka]: Ahah, you all go ahead and enjoy yourselves-- I'm going to catch up with MEIKO and KAITO while riding first class onboard the train to Shibuya. [Rin]: First class, noice~! [Len]: Good luck dealing with MEIKO-san-- [Hanaka]: Len...She can read your messages too. [Len]: ....Shit

And thus, Hanaka was looking through the window she was sitting next to as the train departed.

A new adventure awaits for Nanada Hanaka - the white angel.